Category: Me Myself&I

I recommend.

“Kant’s vision of peace has come closest to being realized by the EU, in a form of cosmopolitanism founded on free trade. Born in 1951 as common market to unify the coal and steel industries of France and Germany—to make war materially impossible—it has since expanded from six to twenty-seven nations. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Over the past sixty years, the European project has shown that it is possible for people and nations to come together across borders, the president of the European Commission said at the ceremony. That it is possible to overcome the differences between “them” and “us.”

lmao.

Nonetheless, it was a big thing to switch to Euro, the money. All countries ditching their centuries-old money to unify? That was pretty cool to live, right before the 2000 bug.

Now Europe is more to each his own than ever, I guess.

“The Syrians complained of the others who’d crowded into Europe when the border had opened for their sake. The Afghans were bitter that the Syrians got more sympathy, when their own war had lasted decades longer, but were quick to say that Pakistanis were not real refugees. An Eritrean told me how much he resented West Africans, who weren’t escaping a dictatorship like him. And the Pakistanis and Senegalese could retort that everyone had left Turkey for the same reason: a better life in Europe.

Prejudices based on color or creed had existed back home, but in the camp they were animated by a new logic, one which justified the way of the world. The migrants were learning to see themselves through Western eyes.”

It’s a great book.

Juxtaposed to my own migration, Ukraine and its 8.4 million refugees since February, Eritrea (5,000 leaving each month), the fact that Syria and Afghanistan have never known peace ever since both my countries France and U.S. have invaded them, the 2015 Paris attacks (two attackers passed for refugees through Greece), what I read about EU-funded prisons for immigrants in North Africa…

It is a lot and it is an infernal mess.

But it’s vital to understand the world and gain some perspective around our first world problems (and why we should be able to solve them very easily and quickly, tf you mean).

I’m telling LeBron:

1. You got us a ring

2. You got us Westbrook

3. You gotta go

(it’s just business)

Because WordPress has so many nesting and sub-categories abilities, I’ve always toyed with the idea of making more categories or hashtags. #lol or #deepshowerthoughts #gamestobuy etc. Curation.

But then people only follow one thing, and miss the rest. Aka, the rest of you. AND you burn yourself out, pressed by the popular specialization.

When I started following people with RSS, it was quite on a specialized basis. When authors would talk about something else, at first, I wasn’t a fan. But then I realized that it’s actually rich.

You realize that you’re not following a topic, you’re following a person. That person is interesting for their specialty AND who they are, in a more general sense. That will also give you all kinds of insights and perspectives, fine tuning your opinion about things.

I think it’s crucial to stay connected to actual people online, and not bot farms and algorithms.

Because it’s not news, it’s people reporting. It’s not #gamedev, it’s folks coding and Perforcing and stuff.

It’s important to minimize losing connection with humanity, when using computers.

The more we specialize the more we virtualize humanity, abstracting it, and that’s usually not good in the long term. Let’s be bold; even in the short term.

Anyway don’t specialize, stay an awesome generalist who loves rabbit holes and comes back, with connected dots.

“today I smoked out of a glass pipe I made. I can’t smoke out of my level 80 night elf druid.

Nor can I combine my level 80 night elf druid with my Diamond IV rank in Halo to get a compounded return. Those two games and skills are isolated. But I can combine what I read in John Dalton’s A New System of Chemical Philosophy with glass blowing to make interesting things that bring me joy (I.e. replicating experiments of John’s at home with purpose built glassware)

It’s not just production for productions sake, or production for the sake of society. It’s increasing my capacity to produce for myself. I feel like I’ve grown in a way that I can build on tomorrow after a session of practicing this class of hobby.

Maybe the distinction truly is arbitrary – but something about this path feels significantly more fulfilling the further down it I go vs. the literal years I spent in virtual worlds. In the virtual worlds the potential felt roughly constant while these hobbies feel like they have an ever expanding horizon of potential.”

Well said (sorry, I often only copy the comment but those are mostly from HN).

I keep thinking of a friend who told me “well, my brother and his son have been playing Call of Duty for a decade, and there’s nothing else in their lives”.

Oof.

As great as virtual worlds are, they never compound. But everything in life does. Balance that I learned on my skateboard, is balance I use when standing on a thin beam, fixing a roof. Spices that I enjoy with a take-out meal, can be retrieved and bought at the grocery store. You get the idea.

The compounding effect is what makes life so interesting, growing, spinning. Otherwise, everything just feels flat and boring quite quickly.

Which leads me to talk about general VS special.

Social media really is destroying any kind of reason, focus and persistence. Sucking up the energy of all, like a brand new Dyson on high speed.

It’s making people loose any sense of control. Imagine Harriett reading on her phone like “bet” and then proceeding through the woods with LEDs flashing on her and a trumpet in her hand. That’s what social media is doing, switching people from being relentless and quiet to loud and scattered.

In crisis we’re supposed to move like lasagna, not like a circus.

Social media in the first place is one of the main reason for Roe vs. Wade to be overturned; petty games online for years, ending up with a party punishing the other more than believing in the decision.

Social media is cancer. The bad one.

gets confused and switches keyboard shortcuts from volume up/volume down to forward/rewind.

I am disgusted, Google.

Seth wrote:

Smart is no longer memorization. It’s not worth much.

Smart is no longer access to information. Everyone has that.

Smart is:

• Situational awareness

• Filtering information

• Troubleshooting

• Clarity of goals

• Good taste

• Empathy and compassion for others

• The ability to make decisions that further your goals

Although good taste is quite relative, the rest is solid.

Far too many people think that memorization and access to information are de facto making one smart. Nope.

Overall I think I’m doing pretty well here.

There is no debate to have about abortion in 2022. It is an inalienable right for women won after many, many deaths and huge debates, data points, etc.

There is no debate to have about abortion anymore, ever again. It is just a useful tool for half the planet. If you’re part of that half, you probably want that tool to be available. If you’re not, STFU.

Bodily autonomy doesn’t have to be in the damn Constitution because it is an inalienable, human right. It precedes being American. It precedes your political stance and your religious views. Bodily autonomy just is. Therefore,

Who the fuck cares if you call abortion a “Constitutional right” or a “law”? Call it a “fundamental right for women” because that’s what it is. And let it go. Focus on building healthy housing instead, damn. We fail on a straightforward, social no-brainer while playing with Angstroms in tech. That’s so crazy.

I’m pretty angry right now.

It sends me back to someone at the EU parliament saying something like “no one over 60 should be making decisions for societies because they’re not the future.” Still relevant. There’s a bitterness coming in in your 60s apparently, and those folks unleash it on all of us.

It’s still sinking.

*DJ Air Horn sounds x3 *

Over a decade of immigration and life fluttering in my mind.

Right before the ceremony they punch holes in the green card, making it invalid, and keep it. I internally gasped. Oh, it’s realreal now. So absolutely used to having it on me at all times like the law requires it.

Still reading this amazing book, understanding immigration personal processes much better now. I lived it.

It humbles you. It makes you realize a lot of things. The main one being that so many things are relative.

It makes you ponder like a maniac, about everything. I am now at peace.

Relatively.

There was so much love poured into this piece of paper I’m holding up here. In so many ways.

I have an amazing community around me here and things are aligning well.

And I know, welcome 2 overturned Roe vs. Wade hell.

Still thankful and happily exhausted. Onward. Lots going on. Lot to fight for.