Latest revision as of 17:32, 23 May 2024

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Symptoms of ME/CFS

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling chronic illness. People with ME/CFS experience profound fatigue that does not go away with rest, sleep issues, and problems with memory or concentration. The hallmark symptom is a worsening of the illness which starts hours to days after minor physical or mental activity, and lasts from hours to several months. The cause of the disease is unknown. ME/CFS often starts after an infection, and many people fit the ME/CFS diagnostic criteria after contracting long COVID. Diagnosis is based on symptoms because no diagnostic test is available. The illness can improve or worsen over time, but full recovery is uncommon. No therapies or medications are approved to treat the condition, and management is aimed at relieving symptoms. About a quarter of those affected are unable to leave their bed or home. People with ME/CFS often face stigma in healthcare settings, and care is complicated by controversies around the cause and treatments of the illness. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Badge from a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy video game

... that feelies (example pictured) have been used for everything from copy protection to sexual roleplay?
... that in 1959, Henri Claireaux claimed that a reduction to a subsidy to Saint Pierre and Miquelon had devolved the territory into "a state bordering on poverty"?
... that both Tim Walz and JD Vance were accused of sanewashing in the 2024 vice presidential debate?
... that Kazimierz Sakowicz spent three years recording the murder of tens of thousands in his diary, which was published decades later?
... that Rust Red Hills is being sold to renovate student housing, a court-approved move that museum associations say violates the ethics of deaccessioning?
... that Amaury du Closel founded the Forum Voix Etouffées to revive music that was suppressed by 20th-century totalitarian regimes?
... that 38 per cent of Welsh university students in 1900 were women?
... that Johnny Fripp was described as "a bundle of football-toting dynamite"?
... that Big Motor employees hit cars with socks stuffed with golf balls as part of an insurance-fraud scheme?

In the news

Yoav Gallant

Following parliamentary elections, Gintautas Paluckas is elected by the Seimas as the prime minister of Lithuania.
The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant (pictured), and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif in its investigation of war crimes in Palestine.
Opposition candidate Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi is elected President of Somaliland.
Forty-five pro-democracy activists are sentenced under the Hong Kong national security law for their participation in the 2020 pro-democracy primaries.

On this day

November 25: Evacuation Day in New York City (1783)

Stanisław II Augustus, 1764

1759 – The second of two strong earthquakes struck the Levant and destroyed all the villages in the Beqaa Valley.
1795 – Stanisław II Augustus (pictured), the last king of Poland, was forced to abdicate after the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1901 – Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 premiered in Munich.
1952 – Korean War: After 42 days of fighting, the Battle of Triangle Hill ended as American and South Korean units abandoned their attempt to capture the "Iron Triangle".
1981 – A group of Conservative members of Parliament wrote a letter outlining their opposition to the economic policy of Margaret Thatcher, leading to speculation over a split from the party.

Henrietta Maria of France (b. 1609)
Hermann Kolbe (d. 1884)
Charles Kennedy (b. 1959)
Nick Drake (d. 1974)

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From today's featured list

Hazlewood Marshes

Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) describes itself as the county's "nature charity – the only organisation dedicated wholly to safeguarding Suffolk's wildlife and countryside." It was founded in 1961, and is one of 46 wildlife trusts covering Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The trust manages 3,120 hectares (7,700 acres) of land in 60 nature reserves, most of which are open to the public. The whole or part of nine SWT reserves are Ramsar internationally important wetland sites, thirty-one are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, four are national nature reserves, and ten are Special Protection Areas. One SWT reserve is in Dedham Vale, which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and seven are in another AONB, Suffolk Coast and Heaths. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Thecacera pennigera, also known as the winged thecacera, is a species of sea slug in the family Polyceridae. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, being found in temperate waters on either side of the North Atlantic Ocean, in the Mediterranean Sea, around South and West Africa, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and more recently in Australia and New Zealand. There is a significant difference in colouring between Atlantic populations and Pacific specimens, however. Thecacera pennigera has a typical adult length between 15 millimetres (0.6 in) and 30 millimetres (1.2 in), featuring a short, wide head with two lateral flaps and two sheathed olfactory organs called rhinophores. The body is wedge shaped, being wide at the front and ending in a slender foot with a lateral keel on either side. The general colour of the body is translucent white and the upper side is covered with orange splotches and small black spots. Like other sea slugs, T. pennigera is a hermaphrodite with internal fertilisation and a mating mechanism whereby pairs of animals exchange packets of sperm. This T. pennigera was photographed in the Mar Piccolo of Taranto, Italy.

Photograph credit: Roberto Strafella

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