abootstrapper

I mean, given the demands of modern society, I wouldn’t be surprised if every other person was honestly battling some kind of mental health issues at some point.

I mean hell, it’s tough enough being sentient and dealing with mortality, throw in social issues, politics, propaganda, conspiracies, lack of health care, lack of social safety nets, caring for dependents, dating, paying bills, social media, “Instagram culture,” and a god damn pandemic. It’s rough out there.

Honest question. How would you have to dispose of the tree to capture the carbon? Burry it? Wouldn’t composting release the carbon?

Risk of long term covid side effects seems greater to me than long term vaccine side effects.

Gonna need a citation on that all caps “proven.”

I don’t know about the downvotes, perhaps because it’s only tangentially related to the post? But I appreciated the thought. Talk about an unsung hero. Whoever died on the placebo died so that the rest of us can have the knowledge that we have a safe and effective vaccine. We should be grateful to them.

Dumb people like teachers, doctors, nurses, first responders, the infirm, grocery stockers? Dumb people that have to work to pay their rent, mortgage, put food on the table? I know there are a lot of idiot anti-maskers running around, but being dumb is not a prerequisite to catching covid. Not everyone has the luxury of working from home.

I’ll let you know the long term effects of the vaccine, and you can let me know the long term effects of Covid-19.

Sorry, I’m still hung up on the drug metaphor. Regulation of drugs does work. You know your prescription of X is not cut or laced with something because it’s regulated. It’s how you know how strong your alcohol is. It’s how you know what your buying is what it is claimed to be. I trust the pharmacy over the street corner. To reiterate, I’m pro legalization, but I’m also pro regulating.

Bad metaphor. Drugs are heavily regulated by the government. I mean, personally I think recreational drugs should be legalized, but definitely regulated. Further, maybe you can’t stop determined individuals from hurting themselves, but policy and regulations absolutely solve problems at large: seat belts, traffic laws, FDA, manufacturing laws keeping led out of your kid’s toys, etc.

I’m in the “fewer cars camp.” But I entirely disagree with your dismissal of car culture. Cars aren’t just necessary in American culture due to our car centric infrastructure, we have car clubs, car enthusiasts, and hobbiest. People race them for fun. There are art cars, and cars used as status symbols. Cars take lead rolls in our films, art, and music. Car culture is alive, well, obvious, and huge. If you want cleaner electric cars, you gotta build them with respect to the culture. Tesla is doing a good job of that. Just look at the Cyber truck. It’s a big ass overpowered truck, just how truck owners like their trucks.

*Added: I can imagine a conversation in my old home town of a Cyber truck owner saying, “yeah my truck is quite, but the glass is bulletproof!”

Yearly flu shots.

He’s a tenured professor at that! How many of those spots are available to go around again? Sounds pretty elite to me.

Programming and IT in general is such a bummer in that regard. 20 years of relearning how to do the same thing differently wears on you. I learned JavaScript 15+ years ago, and I’m still having to relearn that nonsense every couple years. “JavaScript on the server now!? What? Why? Ok, fine. Here we go again.”

Future headline, “Man removes own appendix by watching YouTube video to avoid unnecessary medical expense.”

Eh, sounds like cigarette manufacturers defense. Social media is addictive. They know it is, they leverage that to make money. They have some responsibility for their products affect on people.

Is it “free speech” to deliberately create a misleading story/propaganda for your advantage, then spend money on fake accounts to astroturf your propaganda and give it fake credibility on third party corporate services? — That sounds beyond the intent of “free speech” to me.

BTW, I use to run “blue ribbon campaign” banners on my 90s era webpages. So I understand where you’re coming from.

If all you have is an AK-47 everything looks like an enemy combatant.

I understand what you’re saying, but I will not be gaslit. Some sources are better in quality than others, considering multiple sources is better, critically considering the information in those sources and discussing it is the best. It is entirely possible to still get at the truth. The propaganda is the USA is bordering absurdity in its believability. The president says exactly what he means, and his words are interpreted by others like a horoscope to mean whatever they want. This is the reality of the situation. Unless you’re traveling at the speed of light or some bullshit.

Ugh. Those adults watch a few conspiracy YouTube videos and Fox News and consider themselves educated and informed.

Sure doesn’t seem aggressive enough, yet it’s the most aggressive stance on gas transportation to date, that I’m aware of.

You said it yourself. You can’t fix climate change on your own. Neither by personal conservation or political stumping. It will take a majority of us to solve climate change.

Like any movement for societal change, you have to accept you can’t do it alone. But you must still do your part. Do it by leading by example, voting, and campaigning for change. Don’t give up! Focus on what you can control.

You could vote for reps that believe in universal healthcare or at least support ACA. Those reps will overwhelmingly be democrats. So vote D down the ballet.

Ridiculous claim. There are much better odds of fixing health care with Biden and democrats in power. The progressive dems are pro universal healthcare and the moderates will expand or at least maintain ACA.

Focusing on the election is focusing on climate change.

Survivorship bias perhaps? I suspect even more people felt profound conflict about not having achieved their goals only to continue to fall short of their aspirations.

> Writing 500 words before noon is not an unrealistic expectation.

No doubt. To me it seems that the author is writing about being unable to meet basic goals due to depression from not having met more fanciful goals.

Everyone here is reading this article as a cautionary tale on procrastination. To me it’s about the unrealistic expectations we place on ourselves. Maybe that’s due to our fake meritocratic society, or comparisons made on social media, or our parents expectations.

I thought I’d be a millionaire by now, changing the world for the better, with a Wikipedia page and a yacht. But what I really want now is to put down the measuring stick, and be ok with being me. It’s time to stop beating myself up for not living up to the absurd expectations I set for myself as a child.

That’s wishful thinking. The US has and had the ability to mitigate covid19, but the Trump administration is incompetent, and our citizens have thrown up their collective hands in frustration, and have settled on the strategy of “what can ya’ do?”

Giving everyone the ability to exercise their creativity, pursue their passions, take care of their families, while simultaneously eliminating poverty would make the US less competitive globally? I just don't see how.

Then get a job, a hobby, or volunteer. Contribute to open source projects. Create a startup. Spend more time with your kids. Take care of your aging parents. Sit around and play video games. UBI creates so many opportunities.