Aphorisms/Shorts
The real cruelty of America to its young is not that is denying them the American Dream. It is denying them the Human Dream of starting a family that they can keep healthy and free from deprivation. This is unsustainable. If it is the first unsustainable thing to pop, then that will be for the good. If it is toward the last, there will be no American society.
My advocacy of frugality is based on quality and personal freedom, not signaling. And the help to the environment is a bonus.
"Live and love sincerely and vividly. Abstractions don't precede embodiment, they follow it." Nathan Spears
I know modernity's shtick is efficiency. But twitter does not efficiently give you information; rather, it efficiently kills time.
You are not asked daily to participate in democracy. You choose to freak out about things you can't control. This is not the same thing, and you need to learn the difference. However, you do make daily decisions about consumption and production. We should think about those more.
It's not an exaggeration to say late stage capitalism keeps wrecking my sleep.
Contra neo-mania: rather than debating a banana and duct tape (yawn), we should be debating lobster-phone versus fur-lined cup.
When our country puts kids in cages, it invokes images of the holocaust, a horrible past. When we use killer robots in the sky to kill kids, it is part of the future, a disruptive future. No wonder progressives can accept the latter.
Reddit
Yes, the phone of the counter-revolution is a work of art.
I know I've been hard on Republicans lately. Here's me really getting into it with a Democrat trying some of that sweet, sweet virtue signalling for Reddit karma.
I wrote some responses to the last episode of Bojack Horseman after binge watching the last episodes the day they came out.
Three little posts, one, two, thee without a home or a family tree. Oh, and a bonus one on a fan theory.
Links
Article on the impact of Hilary's "deplorables" comment. As a bonus, here is something to know about swing voters: "[they] didn’t care whether he [Trump] paid taxes or not — and thought he was smart to pay none." (See, people love to scam the government).
I had never seen Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" 1981 music video. It is most delightful camp. If it had been made today, it would be the source of innumerable memes.
Side research for my piece on UBI lead to Changing my Mind about AI, Universal Basic Income, and the Value of Data.
