4 ms·

mouth taping is dangerous for many reasons, you should not be advocating it in a public forum

breck 2y ago
You are right, on the list of things that are dangerous, you would find mouth taping, probably right next to using a fork.
- mikestew 2y ago
  You’re right, medical advice from the 1870s and TikTok videos, what could go wrong? But I did “look into ‘mouth taping’” as you suggested, and I’ll bet half the page titles were “Mouth-taping: is it safe?” or “…does it work?” At what point does Betteridge’s Law of Headlines[0] kick in? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines
  - breck 2y ago
    > You’re right, medical advice from the 1870s and TikTok videos, what could go wrong? Have you read the book? Do you think I'd be recommending something that didn't have a very strong dataset backing it? > At what point does Betteridge’s Law of Headlines[0] kick in? Nothing is easier to manipulate than digital symbols. Thus, when talking about patterns one finds in digital symbols, one much be very very careful to build a trusthworthy dataset. Do you have a trusthworthy dataset on Betterridge's headlines?
    - wizzwizz4 2y ago
      > Do you really think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies? — Buster Baxter (written by Matt Steinglass, 2005) People make stuff up, especially online. If you expect others to believe you about your "very strong dataset", you should provide that very strong dataset (complete with provenance).
      - breck 2y ago
        Did you miss the very first thread, where I provided a link to the book containing the dataset, which came out 100 years before "online" invented?
        hombre_fatal 2y ago
        I just skimmed the whole book. Could you point out any of these "datasets" you think exist in the book and how you think they support the claim that all these ailments stem from not closing our mouths while we sleep.
        breck 2y ago
        Page 2: "During my Ethnographic labours amongst those wild people I have visited 150 Tribes, containing more than two millions of souls ; and therefore have had, in all probability, more extensive opportunities than any other man living, of examining their sanitary system ;"
        wizzwizz4 2y ago
        That's what you call a "very strong dataset"‽ It doesn't have a single controlled experiment! No studies of individuals in a population. It's just a series of anthropological observations, and then the author's guesses at the reasons for those observations. The book has stronger evidence for the harms of alcohol than mouth-breathing. This author is one of the good 19th-century anthropologists (as judged by his scathing criticism of the institutions of 19th-century anthropology), but he's still a 19th-century anthropologist. The books' framing device is the idea that “the Tribes of North and South America” (including Sioux! with horses!!) lived in a “primitive condition”: while his observations are careful, and believable, his conclusions are incredible leaps of logic. I can confidently assert that mouth-breathing does not deform the spine.
        breck 2y ago
        "During my Ethnographic labours amongst those wild people I have visited 150 Tribes, containing more than two millions of souls ;" > That's what you call a "very strong dataset"‽ Yes!!!

You are right, on the list of things that are dangerous, you would find mouth taping, probably right next to using a fork.

mikestew 2y ago
You’re right, medical advice from the 1870s and TikTok videos, what could go wrong? But I did “look into ‘mouth taping’” as you suggested, and I’ll bet half the page titles were “Mouth-taping: is it safe?” or “…does it work?” At what point does Betteridge’s Law of Headlines[0] kick in? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines
- breck 2y ago
  > You’re right, medical advice from the 1870s and TikTok videos, what could go wrong? Have you read the book? Do you think I'd be recommending something that didn't have a very strong dataset backing it? > At what point does Betteridge’s Law of Headlines[0] kick in? Nothing is easier to manipulate than digital symbols. Thus, when talking about patterns one finds in digital symbols, one much be very very careful to build a trusthworthy dataset. Do you have a trusthworthy dataset on Betterridge's headlines?
  - wizzwizz4 2y ago
    > Do you really think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies? — Buster Baxter (written by Matt Steinglass, 2005) People make stuff up, especially online. If you expect others to believe you about your "very strong dataset", you should provide that very strong dataset (complete with provenance).
    - breck 2y ago
      Did you miss the very first thread, where I provided a link to the book containing the dataset, which came out 100 years before "online" invented?
      - hombre_fatal 2y ago
        I just skimmed the whole book. Could you point out any of these "datasets" you think exist in the book and how you think they support the claim that all these ailments stem from not closing our mouths while we sleep.
        breck 2y ago
        Page 2: "During my Ethnographic labours amongst those wild people I have visited 150 Tribes, containing more than two millions of souls ; and therefore have had, in all probability, more extensive opportunities than any other man living, of examining their sanitary system ;"
      - wizzwizz4 2y ago
        That's what you call a "very strong dataset"‽ It doesn't have a single controlled experiment! No studies of individuals in a population. It's just a series of anthropological observations, and then the author's guesses at the reasons for those observations. The book has stronger evidence for the harms of alcohol than mouth-breathing. This author is one of the good 19th-century anthropologists (as judged by his scathing criticism of the institutions of 19th-century anthropology), but he's still a 19th-century anthropologist. The books' framing device is the idea that “the Tribes of North and South America” (including Sioux! with horses!!) lived in a “primitive condition”: while his observations are careful, and believable, his conclusions are incredible leaps of logic. I can confidently assert that mouth-breathing does not deform the spine.
        breck 2y ago
        "During my Ethnographic labours amongst those wild people I have visited 150 Tribes, containing more than two millions of souls ;" > That's what you call a "very strong dataset"‽ Yes!!!