494 karma · joined February 10, 2016
Most bacteria in boogers and sweat is pretty harmless stuff, and a lot of it can be used to metabolize some tasty compounds. Even some clostridiums (same category of bacteria as the disease c. difficile and an omnipresent type of bacteria in our stomachs) are used to produce esters in rum.
That's because it is. I had to take the metro in Montréal to get to work this week, hadn't taken it in months because I usually bike, it's such a shitty experience. It smells bad, it's hot, it's filled with tired people that don't feel like going to work (you feel it in the air), beggars harass you, it's slow (it can take 3x as much time as riding a bike to get where you want to) and it's operating past maximum capacity during rush hour. I haven't even gotten started on when service is interrupted and you show up over an hour late to work or class. Anybody who can afford a bit more for reliability and comfort will spend it without looking back.
In Montreal we have heavily government funded universities, tuition is less than 4k a year. It works great, we're building leadership in AI right now.
It is of strategic importance because Assad was about to start selling oil in another currency than the USD. The moment the USD stops being the main oil trade currency the monetary bubble will explode just as it did in the late 60s (after which the current petrodollar system was instituted) and america won't be able to run on printing money anymore.
It's easy to make something look rational when you pick and choose axioms. The republicans don't have a rational interest in decriminalization because their financial backers don't want it, and they have moral qualms about it since 100 years of government lies convinced them it's the devil's plant.