They just are.
They just are.
I forgot these were there, and there are still more, but 22 is enough for one post.
One of the first things in my feed this morning was an article from CNN titled, “Baring it all: Breasts take center stage at this major exhibition” The focus is an exhibition in Florence, Italy’s Palazzo Franchetti. Why they didn’t invite me to participate, I don’t know. I definitely have enough content to fill a room or two without including any one pair more than once. I’d be offended by the exclusion if I had the energy. That’s okay, though. I’ll settle for entertaining you with re-processed images from 2013’s Rite of Spring series. And hey, there’s no admission fee this way.
Thoughts this afternoon have turned to Hawai’i and how much I’d rather spend this afternoon there than here. If I’m going to have to choose an apartment in which to spend the rest of my life, I’d rather it be there than here. If I’m going to be someplace where people slowly forget about me, I’d rather it be there than here. I know a lot there has changed since the fires, and it’s certainly a lot more expensive to exist there than it is here, but I could get by. I don’t need carpeting because it makes me unstable. I don’t need a pool because I no longer swim. I don’t need excessively large spaces; these pictures were shot in a 10’x12′ room.
I only need beautiful neighbors, food, and coffee. Hawai’i has all that. And just think what I could do on the islands.
My phone keeps waking me from my naps as news updates keep coming in at the end of the week. To be honest, not everything I’m being sent strikes me as news. And some of the news I’m getting has me rolling my eyes at the levels of stupidity being displayed.
For example, take the self-immolation of a man outside the courtroom where the former president is being tried for a hush-money scheme. The initial reaction was that it had to be a response to the trial. Nope, the poor man is critically ill and consumed with conspiracy theories he’d gotten off the Internet because, ya’ know, it’s all a conspiracy. The man is currently in stable but critical condition. Is there any real hope for his mind, though? Probably not.
Israel apparently sent ONE missile to Iran. Just one. And now, on the backside, neither Israel nor the US are admitting that anything was sent in Iran’s direction and Iran isn’t admitting that they were attacked. The rest of the world is waiting to see who flinches next. Crude prices have stabilized for the moment, but no one is thinking that the conflict between the two countries is over. If this seems like a strange way to run a war, you are correct.
Democrats saved the funding bill for the Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan after three Republicans on the committee attempted to sabotage the bill by voting against it. Normally, a bill with the Speaker’s blessing would move forward on a party-line vote, but Reps. Massie (KY), Norman (SC), and Roy (TX) voted against advancing the bill. This signals that the pro-Putin minority in the house, traitors everyone, is likely to find that Democrats don’t give them the victory of unseating a second Speaker, either. More Republicans are voicing their concern that the pro-Putin clan is possibly violating the law, which may not go well in an election year like this one.
Oh, and there’s a new issue of the Wonder Woman comic, #8, where the villain uses a “Rope of Lies,” the opposite of her Lasso of Truth, to trick the superhero’s mind into thinking that she’s a beleaguered housewife under the rule of a cruel husband who keeps throwing malicious Bible verses at her to keep her under control. At the end, her mother helps her escape and she yells to her captor: “Your Christian god means nothing to me!” Of course, there’s a lot of right-wing clap back and one DC artist has refused to work on the issue. That doesn’t surprise anyone as it’s been their response to any challenge for the past 20 years. They don’t have any facts on their side and everyone knows it.
So, after having my nap interrupted so many times, I’m going to go take another one, short as it may be.
I’ve been hearing sirens annoying close since 4:00 AM this morning. There are a lot of problems. I think the best solution is to stay home and stay naked.
Tipper rarely brings home homework from school. There’s seldom anything for her to bring home at all. Yesterday was the exception. She came home, emptied the pockets of her hoodie, and placed the folded pieces of paper on the kitchen counter. Both were already completed on the ride home. That’s not a big surprise for a young woman who often finds school boring.
I picked up one of the papers and looked over it. She’s dyslexic so her handwriting isn’t the neatest and can take a moment to translate. After I’d looked over it a couple of times, I asked her if she would mind if I shared it. She asked why. I told her that it’s because what she said was something that every artist needs to hear, no matter how old they are.
So, with her permission, here’s what she wrote:
Something I am passionate about is art. One way I want to change it is that you don’t need to be a professional to draw or craft because lots of artists give up because they can’t draw right or craft it correctly. I can change it [art] by telling young artists that it doesn’t need to be perfect. Just practice and don’t compare your art to others. It can drop confidence.
-Tipper (age 14)
Go ahead. Screenshot it. Share it. Take the message to heart. And don’t give up.
Tipper rarely brings home homework from school. There’s seldom anything for her to bring home at all. Yesterday was the exception. She came home, emptied the pockets of her hoodie, and placed the folded pieces of paper on the kitchen counter. Both were already completed on the ride home. That’s not a big surprise for a young woman who often finds school boring.
I picked up one of the papers and looked over it. She’s dyslexic so her handwriting isn’t the neatest and can take a moment to translate. After I’d looked over it a couple of times, I asked her if she would mind if I shared it. She asked why. I told her that it’s because what she said was something that every artist needs to hear, no matter how old they are.
So, with her permission, here’s what she wrote:
Something I am passionate about is art. One way I want to change it is that you don’t need to be a professional to draw or craft because lots of artists give up because they can’t draw right or craft it correctly. I can change it [art] by telling young artists that it doesn’t need to be perfect. Just practice and don’t compare your art to others. It can drop confidence.
-Tipper (age 14)
Go ahead. Screenshot it. Share it. Take the message to heart. And don’t give up.
One of the primary tenets of the First Amendment of the US Constitution is the right to “peacefully assemble,” re. the right to protest. It has been an anchor in the right to free speech and has been presented to us as one of the underlying differences between the US and other countries. The fact that we allow our citizens to protest is supposed to be one of the things that make us better than anyone else.
Well, as of Monday, April 15, 2024, you can pretty much toss that one in the can. The Supreme Court of the United States, in its endless bafflement, ruled against the First Amendment in rejecting an appeal from DeRay Mckesson in a case that stems from a 2016 protest over the police killing of a Black man in Baton Rouge. What the court appears to have said is that the person who organizes a protest is responsible for the actions of the people participating in the protest.
There are some caveats. First, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned lower courts to “not read anything” into the decision. In other words, by rejecting this particular case the court does not rule out the possibility that it might take up the full matter at a later date. Second, it is important to realize that in rejecting the case, justices did not hear full arguments on the matter, which would give the matter the weight of precedence in subsequent cases.
However, the decision is still troubling. The decision will most definitely hold some influence over lower courts. Yet another Pandora’s Box has been opened (how many of those damn boxes does Pandora have?).
What’s all the fuss, Gus? Back in 2016 (remember 2016?), a man named DeRay Mckesson organized a protest in Louisiana after police killed a black man in Baton Rouge. During that protest, someone unidentified threw a “rock-like object” and it hit an officer. Since the rock thrower couldn’t be identified, the officer, hiding behind the moniker John Doe, decided to sue Mckesson for not controlling the protest he instigated. The initial federal court threw out the suit, which was, unquestionably in my opinion, the correct decision. However, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to pick it back up because Mckesson didn’t lead the protest onto the highway, resulting in a standoff with police and the injury to the officer.
If this is going to be the case, someone let that former president know that he is now on the hook for every action taken by protestors on January 6, since he organized that melee. It’s all his fault.
More seriously, though, we have to look at this decision as a warning to anyone who might consider organizing future protests. How the fuck are you supposed to “control” a crowd who is righteously angry? Do you remember what was going on in 2016? We were finally standing up to the fact that people of color were being indiscriminately murdered by police! There was every reason in the world to protest and every reason to exhibit anger as part of those protests.
So, what happens when the Supreme Court does something really stupid like take away the right to gender-affirming care for everyone, not just trans kids in Ohio? Is that topic safe to protest? Can we get everyone on the highway? What happens this fall when Republican Governors mobilize the National Guard because they don’t like the way the elections go? Is that going to be safe to protest? What about when the Supreme Court overturns the January 6 convictions on a technicality? Are we safe to protest that fatality of justice?
The nature of protests is that the more people participating, the more seriously the protest is taken. However, the more people protesting, the more likely it is that someone is going to misbehave, often out of anger at a gross miscarriage of justice and the fear that their opinion is not being heard by those in power. The more government leaders attempt to shut down protests, as they did the Black Lives Matter protests of 2016, the more angry protestors are going to be. If elected leaders aren’t going to pay attention to their constituents through the manners prescribed by law, then protestors are more likely to resort to more extreme manners of communication.
Did we learn nothing in history class?
We need to protect the right to protest. When those we’ve elected to uphold the law take it upon themselves to ignore the law, protest may become the only way we have of solving the problem.
Happy Tax Day!
A FRIENDLY REMINDER OF WHY YOU NEED TO VOTE!
Some days we just need to be quiet. That explains why I’ve not posted anything extra over the weekend. With the weather being better, I was able to relax and sleep, repairing some of the damage done by almost two straight weeks of rain. When I wasn’t sleeping, I watched the news unfold in Gaza, sitting outside with the dogs, and enjoying Tipper celebrating her birthday. The kids managed to mow the lawn without too much arguing. The dogs rolled around over the fresh-cut grass. We watched as a neighbor’s two-year-old tried kicking a soccer ball and missed repeatedly.
I mentioned yesterday about the huge furry head Tipper got for her birthday. It’s roughly three times the size of her normal head with blue and black fur and a textured face that looks rather vicious. She decided to wear it while G was moving, along with her white and red cape. It was an interesting look.
We have a lot of families who walk through the neighborhood when the weather is nice. A family with a little one, probably 14-16 months old, was out about the same time as the kids. The little guy was already fussy. He absolutely wanted to be carried. Then, he saw Tipper. The volume of his screams went up enough that I heard them from inside the Recovery Room. The little guy was wrapped around his dad’s leg, screaming as much as his little lungs allowed. I think his dad thought the baby was just continuing to fuss, but the look on this baby’s face said otherwise. I’d be willing to be Tipper was in his nightmares last night!
Today iLearn testing begins in Indiana. This is that wonderful time of year when the state attempts, miserably, to make all our multi-shaped personalities fit into the round hole that adults think they need to fit. I cannot say enough bad things about standardized testing. Studies have repeatedly shown how deficient they all are, and iLearn continues to be one of the worst ever conceived. Neurodivergent children are especially misserved during this testing. There are limited resources to help kids get through these tests and if you don’t know about them and advocate for your children, they won’t get the help. I hope our kids will grow up and outlaw this imbecilic means of pushing children toward sameness rather than glorifying their individuality.
We’re still keeping a close eye on the Middle East. President Biden has said that the US will not help Israel retaliate. What the weekend proved, however, is that we can help minimize the effects of attacks without setting foot on soil. Israel is not a member of NATO, yet we are spending MILLIONS to help them defend themselves against attack. Why won’t we do the same for Ukraine? If one deserves our help, there’s no reasonable argument for denying the other. Either we’re in, completely, or we’re out. We can’t afford to let Russia win any more than we can afford to give Iran any manner of foothold. Both are controlled by absolutely insane people who have no concern for human life. We need to put them both out of commission.
G told me yesterday that he needs AA batteries. So, I put together a small order that’s being delivered this morning. A third of the cost is taxes and fees that I wouldn’t need to pay if I could drive. 😒This drives me nuts. On the bright side, it was here before 7:30.
It’s been over three weeks since I’ve set foot outside the confines of the yard. I’m feeling that maybe it’s time to get out again. We’ll see how safe I feel wandering with the dogs today. Meanwhile, Solaris has the zoomies. No place on the bed is safe.
Let’s talk briefly about this morning’s picture. It was taken almost exactly 16 years ago. This is the first time we shot with Alicia. The rain you see is real, not manufactured. We originally processed the 8-megapixel image in black-and-white because technology at the time barely made the rain visible in color. For this morning, we took the processed .TIFF file (because I don’t have the RAWs) and colorized it, then enhanced the texture to pick up on the rain.
Alicia was just stepping into modeling. Her eldest son, Benjamin, was still the tiniest little guy. Now, she’s happily married, living in Florida, and has two more little buggers running around keeping her busy. Looking back on memories like this makes me smile, and make me very happy there was no lightning that morning. I miss moments like this and cherish them to the core of my being.
Roberto Cavalli died today at the age of 83. I wish you could have known him. Or maybe not. He was a unique character in the fashion world, his own life shaped by the loss of his father, shot by nazis when he was three years old. That event did two things that lasted: it gave him a stutter that could make his words difficult to understand whether in Italian or English. It also sent his now-single mother to make dresses, from which he would learn great skill.
Cavalli loved three things: art, women, and wine. Art was almost always behind the purpose of his fashion, but bringing out the sexiness of the female body was behind the silhouettes that graced his runways. And wine? Cavalli never shied away from throwing a party. In fact, the party atmosphere of his fashion shows was pretty much a staple.
Cavalli could be fiercely competitive and one of the fastest ways to get on his bad side was to be wearing Armani in his presence. So fierce was his competitive nature that he would threaten to file suit if his Milan show was within two hours of Armani. He wanted to be the biggest show of the day and throw the biggest party afterward.
While the designer loved seeing a woman in a dress, it was the stretch denim fabric and the resulting jeans that made him stand out. The jeans hugged a woman’s curves in the sexiest way possible, often leaving very little to the imagination. He’d pair the jeans with a daring low-cut top covered in sequins and rhinestones and five-inch tall stiletto heels, They were looks that were impossible to miss and anyone in the know recognized the look at Cavalli’s.
Roberto hasn’t been directly involved with the brand for some time now. With age came the loss of motor functions, making it difficult to sketch, and exaggerating his stutter, making it difficult to communicate. Finding someone to replace him was difficult, though. Designer Peter Dundas failed miserably at the house, failing to understand the basic look of the brand (despite his kind words in Vogue). Eventually, Fausto Puglisi took the creative director’s post and has continued with designs that match Cavalli’s concept of making beautiful women impossible to miss.
Yes, there were some issues with Cavalli as the world changed. The designer loved being around models and that gave rise to accusations that were less than flattering. While I never witnessed anything inappropriate, his personality certainly made it difficult to dismiss the charges, especially those made regarding the ’80s and early ’90s. He kept such matters private, though, and as he aged was much more careful about his interactions with the women who walked his runways.
Cavalli could be gruff and fun at the same time. He might complain about a sample not falling the way he wanted, demanding to know who had done the sewing or why the wrong stitch was used, but in the same instant, say, “Oh yeah, I did this, didn’t I? Maybe I should fire myself.” Everyone would laugh, and then he would remove the piece and either fix the problem on the spot or remove it from the show.
Cavalli was part of fashion’s Old Guard, a group that really only has two or three members left. Younger designers are coming along with new fabrics and ideas that are better suited for today’s women. He’ll be haunting someone, though, if his legend is ever lost behind Armani’s. Be sure of that.
Today has been unpleasant as the rain continued with little abatement. I’ve not been able to rest more than 30 minutes at a time. I’ve been unable to eat, so I’ll need to force myself now. Even watching anything of length has been challenging. So, I’ve edited old pictures.
I rarely toss someone out in the rain because of the threat of lightning. Showers are a much better way of getting someone wet, but they have the problem of having perhaps the most boring background in the world. So, I went back to some different shoots, some all the way back to 2008, and fixed that problem a bit with AI. This achieves an effect we wouldn’t dare try in reality. I suppose we could have faked it, but the cost factor would be problematic. The biggest challenge here was that the 2008 shots were saved at a small 72 dpi, forcing us to upscale them. Again, the AI helps keep the image from pixelating. I hope you find them interesting.
Plenty of times, I’ve had to do a shoot with less-than-optimal resources. I’ve shot against bare concrete walls, in dim light with a single bulb, and in places where we all needed a shower afterward. I usually can make almost anything work. That doesn’t necessarily mean I like all the photos. Seven (really? seven?) years ago, we did a shoot here at the house because it was cold, wet, and rainy outside. I hung up a couple of sheets to use as a backdrop, and then, for reasons I really don’t recall, I asked the model to hang from a chin-up bar. For the few images I processed, I simply smoothed out the color of the backdrop and ran with it. The results were, in my opinion, boring.
This is where I feel AI makes a good addition to my bag of tricks. I like the model and I like the poses. She did a great job and given that she moved to Florida and had a baby, I’m pretty sure I’ll not get to work with her again. AI gives us the chance to replace the boring background with one that is at least a bit more interesting.
For comparison, here’s a RAW, unedited image from the set:
While AI gives us a lot of choices, I chose to go with fantasy-styled themes that invoke a lot of vines. This, hopefully, gives the impression that, even though you can’t see her hands, she’s hanging from something solid and not just running around with her hands in the air. Of course, that means doing a lot of post work to make sure the model and the background work together. Ugh. Nothing ever comes as easy as one might think. This certainly isn’t a one-button solution. Still, in my opinion, the images are more interesting than a plain background. Let me know if you agree.
My paternal Grandfather died of Alzheimer’s disease before it had that name. He was 82 and the last five years of his life were among the most horrible I’ve witnessed. Last year, my Uncle Joe also died of complications from Alzheimer’s. He was 89 and had been much healthier than Granddaddy, but the last few years of his life weren’t any walk in the park, either. Poppa was 72 when cancer took him, so we don’t know if there were signs of Alzheimer’s in his future or not; there were other medical priorities. Still, it seems obvious that Alzheimer’s runs in the family. Therefore, it makes sense to take reasonable precautions against it.
A Washington Post article from February of this year came across my feed this week with an interesting premise: Viagra may reduce the frequency of Alzheimer’s disease in men over the age of 50. Researchers at University College London studied 270,000 men over the age of 40 between 2000 and 2017. All had been diagnosed with erectile dysfunction. During the study, 1,119 of the men were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. A pattern was noticed: The men who were prescribed Viagra or a similar drug had an 18 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, compared with men who weren’t given the medication.
But wait, there’s more: “The researchers also found an even larger difference in men who appeared to use Viagra more often. Among the highest users, based on total prescriptions, the risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s was 44 percent lower.”
So, to be perfectly clear, the study appears to indicate that, if you have erectile dysfunction and take Viagra, and have sex regularly, you may reduce the chance of getting Alzheimer’s by as much as 44 percent.
Maybe. The study shows an association between Alzheimer’s and Viagra use; it does not show cause and effect. Men who have erectile dysfunction and are prescribed Viagra are told that a) if you take the pill, you need to have sex, and b) don’t take more than one pill a day. To have sex with the level of frequency that might result in a significantly lower risk factor for Alzheimer’s requires a pretty decent amount of physical activity. Physical activity has a higher association with lowering the risks for Alzheimer’s. Therefore, it may be that running around the block each morning helps just as much as having sex, though, I would argue, that one is definitely more fun than the other.
How is this possible? Not surprisingly, this was never the anticipated outcome. Sildenafil, the generic name for Viagra, was developed by Pfizer as a heart medication. During clinical trials for the drug, some men reported that taking the pill resulted in getting an erection. There was no way in hell that Pfizer was going to pass up that marketing opportunity.
For both heart and ED issues, Sildenafil works by increasing blood flow throughout the body. It is also used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension in both men and women. We’ve known for a long time that there’s a link between erectile dysfunction and coronary artery disease. We also know for certain that there is a link between increased blood flow and certain kinds of dementia, including Alzheimer’s. This study shows a significant association as to warrant additional, focused study as to whether there is a direct cause and effect of the medication.
However, the study also raises a lot of questions. The one bugging me most relates to men as they age. For a 40- or even 50-year-old man to have sex on a regular basis doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch. Men of that age are more likely to be in a relationship (for the third or fourth time) and it makes sense that they would be sexually active.
Once we get over 60, though, the entire environment begins to break down. Other diseases, like cancer, interfere with one’s ability to be active. Partners die and finding new ones becomes increasingly difficult. Body parts, such as knees and hips, begin to give out, and replacing them seldom results in a full range of motion.
There are also questions on the sex side of the equation. Is jerking off enough, or do you need to involve your body in the act fully? Does it matter who’s on top or how many positions are used? Who wakes up for the 3:00 AM feeding of one of those little swimmers gets through?
If a direct correlation between Viagra and treating Alzheimer’s disease can be established, can a sex worker then be prescribed as a medical necessity? Would Medicare/Medicaid pay for it?
I agree that a great deal of study needs to happen, and I would hope that it began a couple of weeks ago. In the meantime, I would like to volunteer myself for additional personalized study. Who wants to help?
There are a number of images that have aged off the server. We caught a few and put them back.
From 2010, never published.
The following pictures were taken in 2009 with the subject standing in front of a windowed door just as the sun was rising. One can see how the light changes color tone as the photos progress. The photos were initially dark and any attempt to lighten them introduced too much noise to make them useable. With improvements in technology, we were able to go back and reprocess the images in a more appropriate fashion.
The wind woke me up as its intensity increased with the warming of the afternoon. The instant the dogs realized my eyes were open, they wanted to go outside. I looked outside to see if it was raining. Three police cars sat three doors up to our North. I closed the gate and we went outside. The cops stood in front of the house talking to a man in handcuffs. This is one of many houses in the neighborhood with two cars in the driveway and three more on the grass, low-income families trying their best to fit multiple generations into a three-bedroom home, struggling to get by.
After standing next to the tree, too far away to hear much, we came to the assumption that this was most likely a domestic violence situation. A young woman came out of the house crying. An older woman came outside and tried to console her; the effort didn’t appear to be successful. One of the officers came over and gently walked the young woman away from the man in handcuffs. There was no ambulance but that doesn’t mean harm wasn’t done. Of course, I could be wrong, but we know that domestic violence is all too frequent a crime in desperate situations like these. There’s never a positive spin to three policemen outside your home.
I called the dogs and we walked back inside to the overwhelming fragrance of ham and beans simmering away in the slow cooker. I immediately felt nauseous. I may not be able to eat but at least the kids will have something I know they like. The police are gone now, which, in a way is rather sad. The cars going through the neighborhood have never been more conscious of their driving. Everyone stopped at the stop sign. Maybe the city should just park a car there for a few days.
Meanwhile, I’m lying back down where I belong.
In June of last year (2023), the Texas State Legislature, one of the most brain-dead in the union, passed a law requiring adult-oriented websites to use “reasonable” age verification to make sure that only people 18+ are accessing their websites. You know, they’re so obsessed with “protecting the children.” Lawsuits were immediately filed and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals applied a temporary stay, but at the same time required adult websites to comply with the law. As a result, Aylo, who owns sites such as PornHub, had a choice to make. Aylo said no, thank you, and pulled its websites from Texas. The revenue they receive from Texas isn’t worth the trouble it would take to add the necessary age verification. Insert giant middle finger here.
Some people in Texas took Aylo’s departure as good news. They got rid of the big porn monster, right? Hardly. In fact, what it did was create a fun challenge for teenagers to get around the law. I’m guessing none of the people involved in creating the law know a damn thing about VPNs, IP masking, or anything of the other dozen or so technologies that can be used to hide the location of someone attempting to access a website. People who want access to the material have plenty of options. And should the courts finally decide, incorrectly, that the law is constitutional (let’s face it, no one has actually read the Constitution in 50 years), it’s unenforceable.
For now, though, we decided to check and see if anyone in Texas can see what we post here. We grabbed a handful of images from 2009-10 and we’ll see if anyone can see them. Let us know in the comments if you can, and we’re guessing you can.
You don’t need me to tell you that pregnancy can be rough on a body. There are so many things going on during the gestation of a fetus that one might feel that those nine months are years long. Some people get their youthful feelings back once the baby is born, but plenty of others don’t. This isn’t new information. Mothers have experienced the same symptoms for ages on end.
The scientific study of pregnancy and how cells change continues to be an area of study yielding valuable information. There is so much more that we don’t know than what we think we know. Studies published this past week, however, caught us by surprise as they revealed a cellular elasticity that hadn’t been expected. During pregnancy, a woman’s cells can age as much as two years beyond her calendar age. Sometimes the cells regain some of the youthfulness, even appearing younger than they did prior to the pregnancy. Other times, they remain the older age and continue to age with each subsequent pregnancy. In other words, for some women, the more children you have, the older you’re getting.
I know. Some women are reading this and thinking, “Yeah, and that’s surprising how?”
The fundamental importance of this research isn’t so much the degree to which pregnancy ages a person, but the proof that aging isn’t linear. Perhaps we shouldn’t have been as surprised as we are. After all, we’ve known time isn’t linear. Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity showed us a different way of looking at time that hadn’t been considered, or provable, before. If time isn’t linear, then it makes sense that aging, which is dependent on time, wouldn’t be linear either. Yet, we continue linearly counting our age.
The journal Cell Metabolism published an article this week titled, “The effects of pregnancy, its progression, and its cessation on human (maternal) biological aging.” What they discovered was interesting. In their words, “In mice, the authors reported evidence for pregnancy-associated biological aging, with a partial reversal of this effect after the cessation of pregnancy (i.e., in the postpartum). They also observed pregnancy-associated biological aging in humans, with suggestive evidence from a cohort of 14 women that these effects may be partially reversed in the postpartum.”
Human translation: Working from evidence in mice that pregnancy results in the actual aging of cells, they looked for similar findings among women and observed that not only do women age faster during pregnancy, but that in 14 women, the effects were partially reversed after the baby was born. Are you staying with me here? Yeah, you feel older during pregnancy because your body really is biologically aging faster than you would if you weren’t pregnant. But some women actually see a reversal of that aging post-partum!
The surprise of regenerative cellular development sits in the middle of some not-so-surprising news. In general, pregnancy is rough on the body. When researchers “analyzed changes in blood samples taken during early, mid, and late pregnancy, they found unusually high amounts of chemical wear and tear. That included levels of DNA methylation that they would expect to see in people 1 or 2 years older than the study participants actually were. In other words, the stress of pregnancy may have caused their biological age to increase faster than their chronological age.”
This “wear and tear” is particularly concerning because of the degree to which it makes women more susceptible to disease. While that “aging” process typically peaks in the third trimester, the effects linger. The result is women appear more fragile and prone to serious illness, including cancer and heart disease, after pregnancy. That’s a pretty damn important matter to consider when thinking about whether to add to the planet’s burgeoning population.
But wait! There’s good news!
According to the research, “blood samples from 68 participants, collected 3 months after giving birth, revealed a dramatic about-face. Although being pregnant had initially aged their cells between 1 and 2 years, O’Donnell says, their biological age now appeared to be 3 to 8 years younger than it had been during early pregnancy—with different epigenetic clocks algorithms providing slightly bigger or smaller estimates. The effect appeared to be slightly muted in people who had a higher body weight prior to pregnancy, whereas it was enhanced in women who reported exclusively breastfeeding.”
So now, while one might age a couple of years during pregnancy, they might end up three to eight years younger than when they started! That would mean less body wear and tear, making one healthier. The caveats are that the type of epigenetic clock algorithm used to calculate age makes some difference, higher body weight reduces the effects, and women who exclusively breastfeed come out the best.
Obviously, findings like this demand further investigation. For example: if a 25-year-old woman ends her first pregnancy a net five years younger at six months post-partum, then ends a second pregnancy three years younger two years later, is she, physiologically, only 19 years old? What are the dominating factors in determining who does and who doesn’t experience the regenerating effect?
I know some people look at the research and respond that we’ve known that aging is not linear because of the effects of diet and exercise. May I point out that the effects generated by intentional actions are not identical to those generated by biological processes? You change your diet and exercise habits knowing the potential for physiological change. What this research indicates is that physiological rejuvenation may be part of the natural process of childbirth, not something cultivated by intentional activity.
This is exciting research that could begin to help us answer questions about premature aging, the development of health problems, and why the US mortality rate is so fucking steep. Plus, it’s nice to know that there are physical benefits to having a child that test your patience and sanity at every turn.
Perhaps next they can work on eliminating morning sickness.
Let’s talk for just a moment about how incredible actress Sydney Sweeney looks in this sculpted top from Balmain! I really have to wonder whether Olivier Rousteing made this specifically to fit her body. I can’t imagine this ever being a look that one would find in any store anywhere! The look is nothing short of stunning on its own, but on someone like Sweeney, it reaches its pinnacle of artistry. Cheers to Olivier for such creative and eye-catching creativity!
So, why the hell is the media making such a big deal about the fact that Sweeney isn’t wearing a bra? What level of fashion senselessness does one have to have to even consider wearing a bra with a wonderful look like this? To do so would absolutely destroy the silhouette and cheapen the look! Enough with the damn prudishness already! 2024 is the year of sheer already! We’ve seen dozens of actresses and models out in public with sheer tops and dresses brilliantly showing off a lot more than we see here. There is zero reason for making a headline about there not being a bra under the top. Who the fuck is approving these articles?
We left Puritanism behind in the 16th century. Fashion has done amazing things since then and giving women the freedom to wear whatever they want, wherever they want is central to our progress as a society. Hell, if we can tolerate men wearing loafers without socks, we can tolerate women not wearing a bra, especially with a look as stunning as this one. There are a lot of people who simply need to get the fuck over themselves and let people live.
A NSFW VIDEO FOR BIGOTS
Whether you like someone or not is irrelevant. Everyone on the planet deserves a safe place to exist, a sufficient amount of food to eat, healthcare without prequalifications, personal dignity (respecting how they identify), and love.
You don’t get to deny them these rights. They don’t get to deny you, either. That’s the way it has to be.
IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, THAT’S JUST TOUGH. SIT THERE AND BE BITTER BUT STAY THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY.
FOREVER.
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