🧵Apotemnophilia
In the 90s, Dr. Robert Smith, a surgeon at Falkirk Royal Infirmary, performed leg amputations on two men. Both men were perfectly healthy but suffering from apotemnophilia, a psychiatric condition involving the desire to have healthy limbs amputated./1
Dear Residents. Cape Town’s water usage has climbed rapidly to pre-drought levels.
Let’s save water and bring usage down to below 850 million litres daily. 💧
Incredible to think that we're related (i.e. share ~50% DNA) with another living creature, that is almost 5,000 years old. Partly why I believe @davidasinclair is on to something.
The world’s oldest individual tree lives 10,000 feet above sea level in the Inyo National Forest, California. A staggering 4,765 years old, this primeval tree was already a century old when the first pyramid was built in Egypt.
📸: Clinton Steeds
You will never be able to make me believe that there is anything worthy of punishment in simply uttering a taboo word -- no matter the context -- or drawing a picture. In itself, neither of these is bad. We are insane to think otherwise.
1.1 million grade 1s started school in 2010. Less than 80 000 passed all subjects with 50% in 2021. There should be a term for this ratio and that should be the main priority of the department of basic education. Until that’s fixed, we’re punching air really 💔
This effect is most likely exaggerated in rugby, which has far more complex rules and 50-50 situations that require on-the-fly interpretation from referees. Not limited to just crowd pressure either.
Pressuring the referees helps your team: The home field advantage is due to the influence of the crowd on referees. When COVID forced soccer matches in closed arenas, it didn't change performance but it eliminated "one-third of a yellow card for away teams relative to home team."
Retweet this if you would like me to send you a personalised, signed copy of Viral—my new book on the search for the #OriginOfCovid, co-authored with the brilliant scientist @Ayjchan. https://t.co/ZetDkjRJ75
The economic history of empire is one of those subjects, once well understood, where the field has been contaminated by economically illiterate or mendacious pseudo-scholarship. This is well done: “British India and the $45-Trillion Lie” – Quadrant Online https://t.co/iwTgDkc2tr
“At the meeting today, Dean said the party has to be realistic, we can afford to lose 50% of black DA voters but we cannot afford to lose 50% of the Indian vote who will vote for the DA - whatever that means,” said an insider who was at the meeting. https://t.co/KDctp1cXrm