My understanding is thay weed typically reduces blood pressure and increases heart rate, likely one being the reflexive response to the other (I believe that BP drops, so HR increases in response to maintain the BP.

I don't think it's quite that simple, but I do think that calorie deficit is the central factor for weight loss in most diets. I do think there is some role for timing and body state in the efficiency with which someone absorbs calories and how they metabolize them that can produce an effective calorie deficit between calories invested and calories that are usable and I think some diets capitalize on that. There may be some role of body-integrated calorie catabolism during ketosis states, but I'm less sure of the legitimacy there and haven't read enough to really know.

Yeah, unfortunately this study tells us exceptionally little and doesn't really support intermittent fasting per se--though it certainly doesn't detract from it--primarily because it was compared to normal diet and so there's no way to attribute the blood pressure improvement to the diet versus the weight loss. It would be interesting to compare to average changes in systolic blood pressure with similar weight loss. Incidentally, this paper is pretty damn embarrassing in that it literally never (as far as I can find), not even once, mentions what unit the damn weight is measured in (nor any of the other measures except once to say mmHg). It kind of makes a big difference between pounds and kilograms. I presume it's kilos, but how hard is it to put the unit in a couple times? Hard to say if the weight difference is considered clinically significant too because the studies ranged in length from 1-12 months.

I'm not saying don't try it or it isn't helpful for people, but this doesn't add much or anything to support its use.

Speaking of which, there's also vinoski winery, though it's a bit of a drive. Interesting venue with some good acts, but a very non-traditional and non-ideal setup for music.

There's also Jergel's rhythm grill a bit north of the city that has some decent old national acts, some of which used to fills stadiums in the 70s and 80s. Kinda shitty crowd/vibe but some shows are great.

As far as guitar stores, there's also backstage guitars in Lawrenceville, empire music in Mt. Lebanon, NStuff music in blawnox, and guitar centers in Monroeville and Robinson.

Sadly, the music scene in terms of venues has definitely retracted in recent years, in part due to the pandemic (or asshole neighbors for James Street). There doesn't seem to be a very well-connected or cohesive music scene of any sort here but there are some great artists/bands around.

Wait, how does this INCREASE microplastic abundance? Wouldn't it at the very worst keep abundance the same? I presume that ocean plastic is a big source of microplastics because they're created as the plastics in the water are slowly degraded; if so, removing it from the water should decrease microplastic abundance at least for now, producing a depot for it at the worst case scenario. By supplying needs with recycled plastic, it would reduce new plastic creation. Am I missing something here?