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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: March 13th, 2024

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  • If the concentration camps were started during the Obama administration and (nobody cared), then were operated during the first Trump admin and (the only caring-concern was performative) then they continued to operate under the Biden admin (while still nobody cared) then why would people suddenly start caring now?

    BTW I’m referring to the immigrant concentration camps near the border. What ones are you referring to?


    • Stuff You Should Know -A show that originally came from How Stuff Works. The name is self explanatory
    • Radiolab -A science based narrative type show that originally airs on WNYC, a major NPR Affiliate and it used to be my favorite show but it’s gone down in quality in recent years.
    • It’s Always Sunny Podcast by the cast of Sunny in Philadelphia talk about their shows and personal lives. It’s arguably the most light-hearted show I listen to
    • Philosophize This -a educational podcast that discusses mainstream philosophy and the development of the subject in chronological order. I’m only 29 episodes in and there are currently over 200
    • 99 Percent Invisible -A show about the world of design and the stories behind it narrated by the perfect voice for radio, Roman Mars
    • The Dollop -An American history dark comedy podcast by comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds
    • The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart -The current iteration of Jon Stewart’s podcast where he speaks much more candidly and at length on current events, mostly politics
    • NPR’s Marketplace -a daily radio show on the state of the economy as well as markets
      • Marketplace presents: The Uncertain Hour -A podcast that does season length stories that take a deep dive into the broken aspects of americas economy, america’s failing regulation & safety nets.
    • Behind The Bastards -A Biographical podcast about a lot of historic/prominent people that probably shouldn’t be idolized
    • Sawbones -A podcast about the history of medicine.
    • The Moth -A collection of personal stories of triumph, change, growth, and inspiration as they were remembered and told live on stage. I first heard it on NPR.

    On a more personal level I also listen to various collections of Alan Watts talks in addition to Sam Harris’s Making Sense podcast.










  • I’ve read similar things about lying being associated with anti-social personality disorders. Narcissism is also a common reason, but either way I’m confident he posessed empathy. I typically lean in the other direction that he was deeply insecure but also not the smartest. The stuff that offended colleagues (who were combat vets) was that he started making up stories about his time in the marines even though in reality he was discharged halfway through bootcamp. I asked him why he was discharged more than once and he gave me a different medical reason each time.


  • I had a friend from high school that was a compulsive liar. we were friends for probably ~10 years and I never said anything because his lies were never hurtful lies. They were usually to entertain and were so obvious that any halfway intelligent person could spot them from a mile away. Fast forward to our early 20s and we’re working security together. When I drive him home after a shift one day he started telling a story about how some guys tried to rob him with a knife outside his apartment but he turned the tables and took their knife and broke the guys arm in the process before they ran off. I finally asked him “what really happened?” and he looked at me hurt and didn’t say anything. I later felt like a dick but his lies were growing in grandiosity to the point of offending some other people we worked with. A few months later he takes a shift with our supervisor who also happened to be a classmate and my buddy very intentionally fell asleep at the desk in the security office while using a second chair as a leg rest as the supervisor was doing a walking patrol of the building. Anyways, our supervisor came back and saw our buddy so the supervisor opened an emergency exit setting off the security alarm to see if he’d get up and respond. He did not. -That was my buddie’s last shift. The following evening he texted me with some false explanation for why he was terminated. My response was “Dude, you were recorded on 3 different surveillance cameras sleeping next to the table we all watch the cameras on.”

    I didn’t know that was the last time we’d talk. Less than 6 months later he had a bachelor party and a wedding neither of which I was invited to.


  • Socioeconomic mobility over a lifetime in the U.S. has always been dramatically overstated, but in the past 20 years its gradually gotten worse

    “In the US only 32% of respondents agreed with the statement that forces beyond their personal control determine their success.”

    "According to a 2012 Pew Economic Mobility Project study[24] 43% of children born into the bottom quintile (bottom 20%) remain in that bottom quintile as adults. Similarly, 40% of children raised in the top quintile (top 20%) will remain there as adults. Looking at larger moves, only 4% of those raised in the bottom quintile moved up to the top quintile as adults. Around twice as many (8%) of children born into the top quintile fell to the bottom.[24] 37% of children born into the top quintile will fall below the middle. These findings have led researchers to conclude that “opportunity structures create and determine future generations’ chances for success. Hence, our lot in life is at least partially determined by where we grow up, and this is partially determined by where our parents grew up, and so on.” -Per Wikipedia

    2012 was 12 years ago, mind you.

    Also found this 2021 Guardian Article that claims

    “What about rising from rags to riches? In the US, 8% of children raised in the bottom 20% of the income distribution are able to climb to the top 20% as adults, while the figure in Denmark is nearly double at 15%. Equality of opportunity is also much less viable in the US than in other OECD countries…”




  • If I can offer you one piece of advice on quitting tobacco it’s this: Understand that it may be possible that you don’t succeed at quitting on your first attempt. That is okay. Most people don’t succeed quitting on their first attempt. What is important is that you keep trying to quit.

    There are many different strategies for quitting. Mine involved switching to vaping and mixing my vape juice so that I gradually weened myself off of the Nicotine two years later. Prior to that I tried using Rx Chantix which worked until my prescription ran its course. I also tried the gum with very little success, but that’s not to say it won’t work for you, it might. Explore your options.




  • I’ve got three and I’ve been trying to grow each from seed:

    1. Dawn Redwood because it has an incredible backstory, it is a true redwood contrary to popular belief, and It easily grows where I’m at.
    2. Giant Sequoia because they are massive, it is also a true redwood, and it can allegedly grow where I’m at.
    3. Cedar of Lebanon because I grew up in one of the many U.S. towns of Lebanon named for the trees as referenced in that religious book and I remember the original Cedar of Lebanon referenced in that story I linked.

    Unfortunately, I can’t get the Giant Sequoias past a few inches tall while even acknowledging their infamous 20% germination rate. The Cedar of Lebanon seeds I can’t even get to germinate but I also haven’t found as much academic literature on cultivating them from seeds.

    Shoutout to the Ginkgo Biloba for being one of the OG trees, also.