Despite all the and suffering it has caused and will cause, Trump admin has at least handed us the beginning of a breakdown in US hegemony as trust has eroded with other nations who are all busy pivoting away from it right now.

Unfortunately upon breaking the gridlock, other nations are scrambling to maintain the status quo rather than leaning into the future by redoubling commitments to address human and climate crises before it’s too late for the humans.

I only played it late, after they basically gave you free legendary stuff, so I can definitely see that being a dealbreaker

Had a lot of fun playing it with friends for a few weeks. People are haters.

Journalists too. Not too long ago it was quite taboo to kill journalists, especially foreign ones, but the taboo seems to be gone altogether there is no outrage.

Philosophy is excellent food for thought, working through a MOOC course (MIT/Yale?) and doing the prescribed readings might strike your fancy. Happy to give more specific recs if you have some existing curiosity about a topic. Side note that it’s difficult to find people to talk to online about serious philosophical topics, the options I’ve seen (discord groups, facebook groups) usually aren’t very engaging but the reading and lectures and contemplation are engaging on your own imo.

Watch ancient history documentaries like the Fall of Civilizations or History with Cy channels on youtube (Fall of Civilizations is also/originally a podcast if you prefer). Whenever I am feeling empty of interesting thoughts this is my go to. When I watch frequently I constantly find my thoughts combining and recombining history with my current experience in a way that feels awfully close to intellectual stimulation. I also find it gives some mildly comforting perspective on current events.

Built to purpose gadgets. Getting into arduino or similar as a hobbyist can be intellectually engaging. The process of identifying something in your space you could enhance then drafting and executing a plan (including some basic programming) is kind of like a puzzle. Building things you don’t need like an LED based checklist for chores that resets every day, a pedestal that spins to give a house plant even sunlight, or a solar powered bird house might be a fun challenge.

Edit to add that if you live near a university professors will usually let you unofficially audit their class if you’re interested in a topic and have time during the week.

That’s wild!!

The chart is on a page discussing this:

My workplace is NSF funded and supports a number of activities designed to increase interest in the discipline among young kids or improve teaching techniques for k-12 teachers. Similarly, we run an REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program to give undergraduate students exposure to hands on research (and hopefully encourage them to stay in the discipline for graduate school).

A majority of our funding still goes to PhDs doing fundamental research, but the pipeline that feeds academic research begins with children, and research funding priorities aren’t blind to that.

‘you wouldn’t download a car’ energy when they read the campaign promise list haha

Find a nice waterfall and build a hut by it

We could probably recreate the sound without burning gas, the newer electric cars sound like alien ships which is definitely a different vibe

Flow charts or bullet lists as visual aid. The higher position your interlocutor is in the simpler you should try to keep your point. If you need their input on a project only bring them one A vs B decision at a time.

How do we meaningfully resist, but politely and without coming off like we would ever cause physical or emotional harm to our attackers?!

I forget the title but there’s a sci-fi story where there’s a galactic council between sentient creatures but they don’t invite newly discovered sentient species to the council until they survive the milestone where most sentient species nuke themselves out of existence

I’m sure the office has just as much fresh air circulating as the stables -_-

That’s ridiculous and invasive they turned the mask thing into a tribunal on your private habits outside of work.

Worth noting that you’re going to have a lot more Zionists in Israel than in the general population.

At least 1/3 of the protesters that show up for Palestine in my woods are Jewish Voices for Peace folks.

Israel is an antisemitic project.

See, now you have something useful to leave for the next generation

I consume both those things frequently, I’ll have to try it! I switched to freshly grinding my nutmeg earlier this year and will take any excuse to try it in different things.

Bay leaves in savory dishes

Nutmeg on/in sweet things

Fancy pickles are always such a disappointment to my taste buds. I do appreciate a fancy cheese occasionally.