In 2019, the FDA approved the drug bremelanotide for use in female hypoactive sexual desire disorder.
Bremelanotide was discovered a bit by accident. The tiny pharmaceutical company that developed it, Palatin Technologies, was looking for a drug that would let you tan without exposure to light (tanning is the result of certain biochemical changes that are usually triggered by exposure to ultraviolet light, but they thought, what if that change could be tipped off by a drug?)
It didn’t work well, but it did, to the researchers’s surprise, do something else: it made some people in clinical trials super-duper extra special horny. In search of a sunless tanning agent, they discovered the world’s first true aphrodisiac.
Fast forward, skipping over a nasal spray trial that was halted in 2004 ostensibly over fears of blood pressure spikes but, behind the scenes, possibly also because the Bush administration’s FDA didn’t like the idea of a real aphrodisiac (women’s sexuality has always, always been political), some licensing agreements, changes of hands, and so forth, in 2014 bremelanotide was approved as an injectable under the trade name Vyleesi. It has not exactly set the world on fire, likely in part because injectible drugs are not generally popular.
It’s also approved only in women, not men, because once again, women’s sexual desire has always been political. (Men can be dagnosed with male hypoactive sexual desire disorder, but the standard treatment modalities are talk therapy and testosterone supplements, because of course the normal state of men is to be horny all the time, so if you’re not horny you either have psychological problems or you don’t have enough testosterone…but I digress.)
I’ve tried it. It’s available from custom peptide synthesis houses, and man, in me (and about half the people who try it) it hits like a truck. There’s nothing subtle about it, no “hmm, is it working, I can’t tell?”, it’s like being flattened by a train. About half an hour after I take it, I’m ready to kick a hole in a vrick wall, and I don’t mean with my foot.
Now, I honestly think this is a good thing. This is in fact a point that Eunice and I make in the Passionate Pantheon novels, our book series set in a post-scarcity society. People in the City have access to “blessings,” sort of like drugs that allow their users to tailor their subjective experiences in almost any way they can imagine.
The reason being, everything that extends human agency, anything that enables people to be who they want to be and make the choices they want to make, is a force for good. Human agency is a desireable goal.
And honestly, I do have that feeling about aphrodisiacs. I personally know people who aren’t generally horny who would like to be. Something that gives you control over your own libido, allowing you to tailor it to what you want it to be? That’s a boon.
And yet…
I find it highly strange that Vyleesi is only available by prescription to women. The cultural narrative is that women should feel retiscent about sex, so a litle pharmacological boost to their libidos is reasonable and normal, but if men don’t want sex we need to find out what’s really wrong with them.
I bet the fact that Vyleesi is available to women but not men sends a message that a lot of women hear loud and clear: if you’re not horny enough for your man, you need medication. In a world where people all had about the same range of autonomy, bremelanotide would be unremarkable; in the world as it is, I worry that there will be those who want it not out of desire to be more horny, but out of fear that they need to please their partners.
Mind you, I am still cautiously optimistic that available of a real aphrodisiac is a good thing, generally speaking. But i see potential for the pathologization of people (by which, of ourse, I mean mostly women) who aren’t interested in sex, or who are fine with having a low libido, and making it available only to women kind of shows where society puts the blame for sexless relationships.
Paramount lyckades med sin fientliga budgivning som inleddes i början av december förra året. Netflix har lagt sig och kommer inte köpa Warner Bros och HBO Max. I ett uttalande säger Netflix att det inte är ”finansiellt attraktivt” att matcha Paramounts bud.
Paramount kommer betala Warner Bros uppsägningsavgift till Netflix på 2,87 miljarder dollar för att ha brutit det befintliga avtalet. HBO Max och hela Warner Bros Discovery bör nu gå till Paramount. Affären finansieras bland annat genom pengar från Saudiarabien, Qatar och Abu Dhabi.
Amerikanska snabbmatskedjan Burger King har introducerat en AI som håller till inuti anställdas headsets. Utöver att hjälpa till med matförberedelser ska BK Assistant även utvärdera hur trevliga och tillmötesgående anställda är mot kunder.
Burger King mäter bland annat ”vänligheten” genom att hålla utkik efter särskilda ord och fraser likt ”välkommen till Burger King” och ”tack”. Företaget arbetar på att även kunna utvärdera samtalstonen och inte bara basera analysen på själva orden.
Föreståndare kan utnyttja AI-assistenten till att se hur restaurangen presterar gällande ”vänligheten”. Thibault Roux från Burger King säger att assistenten är tänkt att vara ett ”coaching-verktyg”.
I Sverige sker nästan all beställning i snabbmatsrestauranger via automater, så interaktionen mellan kunder och anställda är ofta nästintill obefintlig. Burger King-personalen kan ställa frågor till assistenten om saker likt matförberedelser och rengöring. Assistenten håller dessutom reda på ifall maskiner är nere för underhåll eller ifall ett menyval inte längre är tillgängligt och uppdaterar menyerna automatiskt.
BK Assistant ska integreras i alla amerikanska Burger King-restauranger innan årets slut.
In a sweeping interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Andor creator Tony Gilroy directly discusses the show’s parallels to current U.S. politics under the Trump administration and confirms that Disney discouraged the Andor team from using the word “fascism” during the series’ 2025 promotional campaign.
“Diego [Luna] and I had some early, super long-lead press, and we tiptoed out. We were like, ‘Oh my God, this is really electric,'” Gilroy says regarding how the team navigated that time with the restrictions that were suggested. “The actors have a broad spectrum of political ideas, and we didn’t want anybody to perjure themselves or violate their conscience. So we came up with a legit historical model, and it’s a version of what I’m telling you now.”
That historical model Gilroy refers to involved studying the patterns in the rise of authoritarian regimes throughout history and identifying the common tactics that even an empire in a galaxy far, far away may also employ.
“We were pretty much doing a story about authoritarianism and fascism, and the Empire is very clearly a great example of that,” Gilroy says. “So you get out your Fascism for Dummies book for the 15 things you do, and we tried to include as many of them as we could in the most artful way possible.”
Despite the Andor team’s research and their efforts to express that research as artfully as possible via the show, the team was still discouraged from using the word fascism (and, reportedly, genocide) during the 2025 promotional campaign for Andor‘s second season. It is certainly no coincidence that said campaign coincided with the inauguration of Donald Trump and the start of his second term as President of the United States (as well as other global political events occurring at that time).
So, even though Donald Trump had said “sometimes you need a dictator” in regard to his current administration, has threatened to imprison journalists, publicly attempted to discredit various intellectual institutions, has continuously spread false and disputed narratives regarding subjects like fair and free elections, and generally exhibited many of the traits historians commonly associate with fascist regimes, the Andor team was discouraged from using the word fascism during the early days of Trump’s second term. Mind you, many of those events occurred before Andor‘s season 2 premiere (and related press tour), so they do not account for actions such as the DHS occupation of the city of Minneapolis which has resulted in multiple civilian deaths or the imprisonment and deportation of children and U.S. citizens.
And while it’s true that some scholars dispute the precise validity of the word fascism in regards to the specifics of the Trump administration’s broad political policies, Disney’s publicity fears concerning the use of that word are more likely related to the concerns regarding that administration’s possible political and legal retaliations. ABC and Disney controversially settled a defamation lawsuit with Trump in 2024 that resulted in a $15 million payout and have approved actions (including the brief suspension of Late Night host Jimmy Kimmel) that have left some Disney employees concerned about the company’s desire to appease the president. Now that Gilroy is finished with Andor, though, he’s allowed to be much more open regarding his thoughts on such matters.
“How were we supposed to know that this clown car in Washington was going to basically use the same book that we used?” Gilroy says. “I don’t think it’s prescience so much as the sad familiarity of fascism and the karaoke menu of things that you go through to do it. You could list them from the show, or you could list them from the newspaper. In the beginning, it was very confusing. People were like, “Oh, you’re psychic,” or, “The show is prescient.” But in the rear-view mirror, it’s really a much sadder explanation than that.”
As far as what may come next, Gilory once again looks to history to make what feels like less of a prediction and more of an observation.
“We were stunned [about the prescience] for a while, but we’ve really gotten to the point where it’s really sad. It’s just sad how predictable and lame and obvious and wrong it all is,” Gilroy proclaims. “Fascism is just a total fail in the end. It eats itself up in the end. So this will have been an incredible waste of time, an incredibly wasted opportunity and an incredibly dark period in America’s history that it may never recover from.” [end-mark]
———————- LAGO DI TESERO, Italy — A local dog made a bid for Olympic glory Wednesday morning, breaking out of his doghouse and onto the homestretch of the cross-country ski course in the middle of a race.
Two-year-old Nazgul was quickly collared by race officials and returned unharmed to his home at a nearby bed-and-breakfast, but not before his genial presence lit up television sets and social media channels around the world — even if he perplexed some of the athletes who encountered him.
“I was like, ‘Am I hallucinating?” said Tena Hadzic, a 21-year-old Croatian skier who encountered the dog on her trip down the homestretch.
But his owners connected with NPR for a brief interview while they were driving to watch an Olympic biathlon race at another venue.
“He was crying this morning more than normal because he was seeing us leaving — and I think he just wanted to follow us,” said the owner, “He always looks for people.”
Nazgul is a “stubborn, but very sweet” Czechoslovakian wolfdog, the owner said.
Race organizers did not make Nazgul available for questions after his capture. ——————-
My favorite part was showing the Omega photo finish.
Fellow Wizards! The time has come to travel back and begin your journey anew. After working together with Armor Games, I’m happy to present you the first three GemCraft games together in one ominous package. Experience Chapter 1, Chapter 0, … Continue reading →
Mozilla har meddelat att alla AI-funktioner i Firefox kommer gå att stänga av. Nyheten kommer vara del av Firefox 148 för desktop som skickas ut 24 februari. De nya inställningarna erbjuder möjligheten att inaktivera alla aktuella och framtida AI-funktioner.
AI-baserade finesser kan även stängas av eller aktiveras individuellt, inklusive översättningar, beskrivande text för bilder i PDF-filer, AI-förstärkt flikhantering, förhandsvisningar av länkar, samt chattbotten i sidofältet. Användares val kommer vara intakta mellan uppdateringar av webbläsaren och inte ändras.
AI is changing the web, and people want very different things from it. We’ve heard from many who want nothing to do with AI. We’ve also heard from others who want AI tools that are genuinely useful. Listening to our community, alongside our ongoing commitment to offer choice, led us to build AI controls.
Counterpoint har publicerat en lista över de tio telefonerna som sålde bäst under 2025 globalt. Precis som tidigare är det Iphone och Galaxy för hela slanten. Apple står för sju av mobilerna på listan medan Samsung har de resterande tre.
Allra bäst sålde Iphone 16 som följs av Iphone 16 Pro Max och Iphone 16 Pro. Trots att Iphone 17 Pro Max bara var tillgänglig i drygt tre månader av 2025 lyckades flaggskeppet ta sig in på fjärdeplatsen, likt föregångaren året innan.
Android har bara en enda toppmodell på listan: Galaxy S25 Ultra. De två övriga Galaxy är budgetmobiler. Enligt Counterpoint representerar de tio telefonerna hela 19 procent av all smartphoneförsäljning under 2025.
På mobiler erbjuds bakgrundsuppspelning i Youtube endast för betalande prenumeranter. Bakgrundsuppspelning innebär att ljudet fortsätter ifall appen som spelar upp videon lämnas, exempelvis genom att gå tillbaka till hemskärmen eller när skärmen släcks. Vissa tredjepartswebbläsare har ändå lyckats erbjuda bakgrundsuppspelning – fram till nu.
Google har bekräftat att bakgrundsuppspelningen stoppats eftersom det är tänkt att vara en Premium-funktion. Användare rapporterar att bakgrundsuppspelningen inte längre fungerar i webbläsare likt Samsung Internet, Vivaldi, Edge och Brave.
Background playback is a feature intended to be exclusive for YouTube Premium members. While some non-Premium users may have previously been able to access this through mobile web browsers in certain scenarios, we have updated the experience to ensure consistency across all our platforms.
By sachpica
A deep-sea anglerfish delivers a quiet truth. Be the light in the darkness. This design blends moody ocean vibes with subtle hope, perfect for anyone who likes their inspiration a little weird, a little wise, and softly glowing.
We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Twelve Months, the 18th installment in Jim Butcher’s long-running Dresden Files—publishing with Ace on January 20.
Harry Dresden has been through a lot, and so has his city. After Harry and his allies narrowly managed to save Chicago from being razed to the ground, everything is different—and it’s not just the current lack of electricity.
In the battle, Harry lost people he cared about. And that’s the kind of loss that takes a toll. Harry being Harry, he’s doing his level best to help the city and his friends recover and rebuild. But it’s a heavy load, and he needs time.
But time is one thing Harry doesn’t have. Ghouls are prowling Chicago and taking out innocent civilians. Harry’s brother is dying, and Harry doesn’t know how to help him. And last but certainly not least, the Winter Queen of the Fae has allied with the White Court of vampires—and Harry’s been betrothed to the seductive, deadly vampire Lara Raith to seal the deal.
It’s been a tough year. More than ever, the city needs Harry Dresden the wizard—but after loss and grief, is there enough left of Harry Dresden the man to rise to the challenge?
I fell back onto the bed, gasping, my heart pounding against my chest.
The gorgeous woman from the party, I hadn’t caught her name, collapsed atop me. She was shaking and made soft, gentle sounds on every exhale.
“Oh God,” she breathed. “Oh God. Oh God.”
“Shhh,” I said, and began to run my hand up and down her back soothingly. “Shhh. Get your breath.”
A low laugh came from the padded papasan chair just across from the bed, in the shadows of the room. Moonlight came in through the windows and the draping white gauzy curtains. A slim, pale form slith- ered up out of the chair and prowled lithely across the rich carpet to- ward me.
“Oh,” Lara breathed. She emerged into a beam of moonlight that caressed every unclad, perfect inch of her. Her eyes glowed brilliant silver. She touched my hand gently and then caressed the woman’s back, drawing shudders of pleasure from her.
Lara smiled down at me and leaned in for a slow kiss. Part of my brain melted when our lips met, and turned into slow, swirling liquid pleasure, but she didn’t let it last for long.
Not yet.
She drew slowly away, smiling down at me, and said, “That was beautiful.”
It took me a moment to get enough breath and focus together to say, “It still feels strange.”
“It’s been a year,” Lara teased, gently—but her eyes were like mir- rors as she turned to the woman and kissed her with a sudden, sinuous speed that reminded me inevitably of a serpent striking and devouring its prey.
The woman kissed Lara back helplessly, letting out a brief, intense scream—and then melted, her eyes rolling back.
Lara guided her down to the bed, where she lay in a boneless, whim- pering heap, jerking breaths in and shivering, her eyes as unfocused and vacant as those of any narcotics addict. The woman made small animal noises.
“Mmmm,” Lara purred, licking her lips. Then those silver eyes, swirling with faint whirls of violet and blue, so easy to stare at, turned to meet my gaze. She wasn’t afraid of my eyes anymore. She’d gazed upon my soul, and I upon hers, and she wasn’t afraid.
For a second, I wondered if I could say the same.
“Delicious little appetizer,” Lara murmured. She took my hand and drew me up from the bed. “But it’s time for the main course.”
“This is a dream,” I rasped aloud, and opened my eyes.
I found myself in my chambers in the basement of the castle. There were still a couple of candles burning. I had thrown the covers off me and was covered with sweat and trembling. Mister the cat looked up from the bed I’d made for him halfway up my bookshelf, and blinked his gold-green eyes at me, before arching his back, stretching a little, and settling back down again.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed. My head was pounding ferociously. My neck ached from collapsing with it at an odd angle on the pillow. I’d drunk too much Scotch, and my burning stomach crept around the inside of my torso as if looking for a way out.
On the low table next to the little couch in my room, there was still a Monopoly game set out. The place where I’d been sitting had very few dollars left next to the empty fifth. The empty spot across from me had most of the money and most of the properties.
No one was there.
“It doesn’t have to be a dream,” said my voice, from the other side of the room.
I twitched and squinted. I stepped out of the shadows. Well. Not me-me. It was that other guy. That other me. He was dressed in black and had a goatee and didn’t have as many scars as I knew I would have if I looked in the mirror. He didn’t look younger. Just infinitely better preserved.
“The hell was in that bottle?” I muttered.
“Veritas, maybe,” said my double. He went across the room and looked down at the Monopoly board, at the little dog and the thimble. “I’ve never understood why you like to be the thimble.”
“It’s useful,” I said. “And it protects.”
The other me snorted quietly.
“We’re going insane, aren’t we?” I asked.
He studied me soberly for a moment and then said, “We’re decid- ing.” He looked at me and shook his head. “There’s a future out there, you know.”
My heart tried to rip its way out of my chest and crawl over to the Monopoly board. “Fuck the future. I don’t want it.”
“That’s our pain talking,” the other me said.
“Our pain?” I demanded.
“I miss her, too,” he said. “She was a hero. It felt good to have a hero protecting us.”
“Fuck you,” I said in a flat, dead tone.
“Self-pity isn’t going to accomplish anything. For anyone.”
“I’m doing my fucking best. Asshole.”
“You know, you don’t talk like this to anyone else,” the other me pointed out. “Not to Mab. Not to Marcone. You didn’t even talk like this to the ghoul. You’ll curse at them, but you save the real venom for yourself.”
I sat there and thought about that for a moment.
“Just pointing out the obvious,” the other me said. He looked around my room. It was a mess. It was most nights. I would put it back together before I went out to face the day. He nodded toward the Monopoly board and said, “That really isn’t very healthy.”
“Don’t care,” I told him.
“Obviously.” He shook his head. “Look. I know we don’t always see eye to eye when it comes to your moral and ethical limitations.”
I snorted. “You and everyone else.”
He smiled briefly. “But have you even once considered that life with Lara would have its advantages?”
My body was still recalling the proposed advantages. It was uncom- fortable. It made me feel ashamed. And other things.
“You shouldn’t be ashamed of wanting to live,” the other me said. “Of wanting to embrace life.”
“Mind your own business,” I snapped.
He spread his hands and gave a helpless little roll of his eyes. “Watch Lara more closely,” he said. “You haven’t been seeing the same things I have.”
“Like what?” I demanded.
“Come on,” he said. “You know that’s not how I work.”
“Not interested,” I said.
He glanced at my hips and then shrugged. “If you say so.”
“Lara is a monster,” I said. “And I have a daughter.”
“Who needs you, and who will need you for a few more years,” he said. “And who then will face the world on her own, like all grown chil- dren. You have many tomorrows to think about.”
I let out a half-hysterical laugh. “Figure I should cut them short to be with Lara, eh?”
“Thomas and Justine seemed happy together,” he said reasonably. “What if you could strike a similar balance?”
“I had the balance I wanted,” I snapped.
“Did you?” he asked lightly. “Then why doesn’t Lara burn when she touches you?”
The air turned to crystal.
“You were with her,” said my other self. “You haven’t been with any- one else. If she loved you and you loved her, it should scorch Lara when she touches you. But it doesn’t. Don’t you think there’s some reason why?”
I snarled, surged to my feet, seized the water glass next to the bed, and threw it at the other me.
It shattered against the door to my room.
Two seconds later, Bear slammed my door open, sending the bolt fly- ing across the room as if it hadn’t actually been attached to the door and the frame. She was wearing a long white nightshirt that struggled to con- tain her arms, and her brown hair was down and fell to her waist. She had a knife with a blade as wide as my forearm in her hand that looked as if it could readily chop telephone poles, and her eyes were wide.
She stared at me and then around the room for a moment, her nos- trils flared.
We were alone.
I peered at her blearily.
“You all right?” she asked me.
I started to tell her I was fine.
Instead, I said, “What time is it?”
“Witching hour,” she said. “Three a.m.”
I nodded slowly. Then my stomach rolled and I took a staggering step toward the bathroom. I fell.
Bear stepped over the broken glass and caught me as if I were a child.
“Hey, easy,” she said. “Come on. Come on, you should have drunk that water.”
She helped me to the bathroom and got me there in time for me to hurl my guts out.
I collapsed to the tile floor shaking when I was done, my throat burning.
I felt weak.
I felt sad.
I felt lost.
I felt hollow.
I felt like tomorrow had stopped existing.
There was only a constant now, a single ongoing, endless hour of pain.
Of loss.
“Dresden,” Bear said gently. “Hey.”
I opened my eyes.
She towered over me like some kind of vast sailing ship.
Her hand was held out. Her broad face was gentle.
“Come on, seidrmadr,” she said gently. “You can take my hand.”
My arm felt unbearably heavy. But I did it.
Bear hauled me up. I wasn’t able to give her any more help. There just wasn’t the will inside me. But she took me to the bed. She was careful with me. She took a cold rag to my face and neck. She made me sip some water that had the fizzy sensation of some kind of effervescent antacid. My head pounded abominably. She got me settled into bed about the same time I started shivering. She covered me and started singing.
Her voice was astoundingly melodic, gentle, and precise. I didn’t know the language, and the rhythms were strange. It sounded old, old. A song from a world that had been all but forgotten. It sounded steady. Reassuring. Patient. As if she could continue it all night if she needed to.
I thought I was going to cry but I was just too damned tired.
And that was the first time since Murphy died that I slept until dawn.
