That part where the constellation of cybershits all over the country suddenly went Maximum Overdrive and plowed into all the nation’s public libraries and burned all the books was pretty impactful.

It got too weird to watch after the starlink satellites started shooting laser beams to blind anyone who voted blue. I had to learn from my kids, who kept watching, about the parts showing the compulsory Neuralink implants and subsequent shock-induced enslavement.

Believe it or not, I think the Christian Science Monitor puts out good articles. I’m not religious. I’m also not in the current US conservative camp. It’s too bad it’s paywalled. But the few articles I’ve read actually seemed nicely nuanced, pretty balanced, and interesting.

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The Things We Make by Bill Hammack is engaging and talks about the history of engineering as its own pioneering thing (and not just a practical application of scientific discoveries).

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn is pretty engaging.

1491 by Mann is a particular favorite of mine.

I guess I believe in quantum mechanics in the immediate nanoscopic realm and diffusive entropic dominance in the long-term gigantosphere. Hard to say which side Gravity will favor…

I always liked this Faye Wong song. Not hard enough to be metal, but I think it’s still edgy and kind of haunting.

No Lacuna Coil?

Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil. Does Blackmore’s Night count? Actually, I don’t know if any of these technically count as metal. But I like them anyway.

At least the bag of frozen shrimp smells better than he does.

Thanks, yes, that’s the 3 second summary. Lots of foreign aid never does anything for the intended recipients and can actually prolong their suffering and deprive them of meaningful work while keeping the POS small coalition ruling class in power. It basically provides a free pass for the shitheads to keep them in power and is a way to buy loyalty to policies beneficial for the lending nation, but not for the recipient nation.

I didn’t…sorry. I’ll delete my comments.

Not really. It’s easy enough to find at the library, Libby, or PDF via Google search. Probably even archive.org has it. My question was intended for the author, anyway. I still recommend everyone find and read that book, though.

Edit: sorry for being snippy. I haven’t eaten in 42 hours and I was about to be sedated for a medical procedure and my blood sugar is low and the book itself is really worth a read and I was worried I wouldn’t do it justice with a brief rushed summary.

Curious to hear your thoughts about Chapter 7 of The Dictator’s Handbook by Bueno de Mesquita and Smith.

Puppetrump

I like to think of it as Canadish.

You have lucky kids :)

Sorry, but unless you REALLY want to be a parent, parenthood can be its own special kind of hell. Subtract social support, or even exacerbate it with a society unafraid to be hostile or cold toward children, or, more likely, parents, in public spaces, and it’s a recipe for childlessness. While the children can, and do, offer special and genuine comfort and joy, they also bring a relentless onslaught of tedium and obligations. Some people live for it and can’t imagine a life without it, and good for them, but others, especially the reluctant parent to an enthusiastic, or perhaps just momentarily naive, partner, have trouble living with it. It’s hard for me to fathom what a single reluctant or resentful parent must feel.

If a society wants net positive reproduction, it really needs to step up its incentive and support structures, otherwise the responsibility of producing for the most naturally self-centered beings in existence within a selfishly competitive society just isn’t worth it. Just my own cynical opinion as a reluctant, and probably pootly suited, parent. And I don’t at all intend to sound judgy toward children for being self-centered; I recognize it’s a normal stage of development, which does help take some of the edge off of it as a recipient.

I have next-to-zero basis to judge a sinocentric view of reproduction or child rearing, as I’m in a completely different part of the world and whose time in China is better counted in hours than days or weeks.

Honest question - are Canadians generally fine with normal US citizens with no untoward agenda still coming to visit and shop in Canada? I love partaking in the cuisine, a museum, and a library in a relatively nearby border town. Especially the more ethnically-diverse cuisine, because shitty generic Americana fare gets tiresome. Canadian Tire is fun, too, although I do secretly wonder why it’s not Canadian Tyre. Curious to know if US plates on a car in Canada generate a negative response nowadays.

Also, I’m sorry about the reality for which I felt the need to ask this question.

Rubio told Sikorski: “No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink. And say thank you because without Starlink, Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now.”

In fact, Russians are already on the border with Poland because the Russian region of Kaliningrad lies on Poland’s northern border.

“Say thank you” - Marco

What is it with MAGAsites demanding thanks from everyone?

He meant a concept of a plan.