I appreciate you

It annoyed me that I couldn’t see the whole statue. It’s just a statue of the local general but another part of the inscription was also interesting:

THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER WON AND IS ENTITLED TO THE ADMIRATION OF ALL WHO LOVE HONOR, AND LIBERTY.

Uh huh. From a monument built 50 years after the war ended. Physical copium.

It starts before birth. Low socio-economic status affects the health of pregnant people, which in turn has consequences for foetal development. Stress is a big trigger for various latent congenital issues, and that’s one reason climate change is going to result in increased rates of disease.

Not just a defense witness, a former federal prosecutor. A judge had to tell a former federal prosecutor “And then if you don’t like my ruling, you don’t give me side eye and you don’t roll your eyes.” like he was a pouty teenager.

There’s a person who has been living a mostly normal life with 90% of his brain missing. Perhaps we could just re-examine society’s ableism and how we design our systems of government to allow single points of failure instead? RFK Jr. has terrible opinions, but also had them before having a literal brain worm.

Dennett taught me how to find common ground with very different people in discussions which might otherwise be heated arguments. I was lucky enough to see one of his talks some years ago, and his work and methods are something I frequently think about even today. His writing style was playful and accessible, but it paled in comparison to his presentation which really demonstrated his abundant charisma. His passing is truly a huge loss in a world that increasingly needs his teachings. My condolences to his family and the communities he fostered.

Vale, Daniel C. Dennett. I hope I can continue to do even a shred of justice to your contributions.

Edit with link: Dennett (somewhat accidentally) created a community for interdenominational Christian clergy who are also secret atheists. It started with a research paper with interviews and some analysis of their similar/different experiences. Ignore the abstract if academic language isn’t your thing, the rest of the paper is a much easier and interesting read:

Dennett, D. C., & LaScola, L. (2010). Preachers Who are Not Believers. Evolutionary Psychology, 8(1), 122-150

very good mental healthcare

No, it’s just better than other places. It’s overstressed, underprioritised, acute-focussed and failing the population at large. Better than the US, even exponentially, doesn’t mean good.

Switching to what alliance? It’s not like they’re going to join BRICS.

I’m glad she has finally been acquitted but I am so sorry that she ever had to go through any of this

I finally gave in and watched it after multiple independent recommendations from people who had strong educated opinions on quality nuanced literature and media. The last series sort of declined a bit, but overall I was in no way disappointed. It was exceptionally well done, and importantly for me, not too watered down with tired tropes, stereotyped single dimensional characters, painfully predictable plots and neatly tidied moral threads.

I mean, there were definitely some, but, it’s TV. It holds up extremely well even with age.

For sure, but insults are just (nicely crafted in this case) words, and unless the insulter is in a certain position, they ultimately don’t affect much. It’s not like Simon’s statement is going to change Baltimore policy or shipping or things for the citizens, or Greene’s actions. And it’s not like Greene will be able to make funding decisions about Baltimore or declare war on the city.

Like, I enjoy some dramatic shit-slinging, but I wish “news” were more about objective things happening than someone expressing an opinion on social media that doesn’t have any obvious real consequences for anyone.

I don’t consider a TV producer insulting a (obviously terrible) politician to be news, but I do enjoy this particular insult. It’s nicely crafted. It’s a pity he continues to use Twitter.

In what way? The RNC will be funnelling cash before the election, and nothing has been done about Trump beyond some civil suits since his presidency. What has happened to make you think his cash flow has been restricted enough to prevent churning new loans that he won’t pay? He’s been doing it his entire life.

the only beneficiaries will be his victims

He’ll be using most of the funds in his closed circle economy of lawyers and lackies who are tasked with preventing his victims from receiving a penny. Those people then pay him and his expenses to keep him and themselves in power and ensure funds keep flowing. Not to mention the constant targeting of opposing parties for harassment by the people he has successfully radicalized.

His victims might get a few pennies, but almost definitely they’ll get a whole world of death threats. “Give him everything” is the same short-sighted policy of appeasement they tried on one of his role models.

I feel ashamed of how I used to think and act.

Hey friend, I would like to offer you a reframing of this situation. Despite being exposed to some of the strongest cultural indoctrination into warmongering and the military, you made it out and embraced empathy and learning. That’s huge. I’m proud of you, that’s a positive change most people never make. You should be proud of it.

I just hope that is makes it’s way down the ranks

You have a powerful and important story. Sharing it like you did just now helps more than hopes can. Keep sharing it, you never know who might be reading it and encouraged to question the lessons they were taught.

That is not a level of power I officially possess, but it is a level of power that I am able to unofficially implement for the people who solely report to me. I am also able to tailor their roles and responsibilities to whatever causes them the least pain because their job titles are extremely non-specific, which is very helpful for both of us.

Both manager and non-managers are economically coerced into providing our time and energy. I try my best to reduce that burden for as many people as I can without being noticed by the people who are willing to suck the life out of others for personal gain.

The people who are marginalised by the process are the ones who will be doing the real suffering.

Hobbies indicate interest and aptitude. Someone who collects things might enjoy jobs and tasks related to organisation but not necessarily enjoy highly collaborative work that requires many meetings, whereas someone who enjoys team sports might enjoy the more collaborative social meeting type work instead of solo detailed organisation etc.

It is far from the first thing I would use as a hiring choice, but it does give me an idea of questions I might ask someone to figure out what would make them happiest.

Attacking the US brings them to the region.

The US never left the region. Airstrikes have been conducted by the US in Yemen almost every year for nearly a decade.

The US has also bombed Syria and Iraq this year. It is the beginning of February.

Can we… see them?

Edit: some quick math, the minimum recommended space between trees is 3m, 200 million of those is 600km² / 148k ac , which would make the space required bigger than 17 countries (larger than Andorra but very slightly smaller than Saint Lucia). They have a blog with their tree planting updates but I wish there were more photos.