Let’s just say that you’re sounding very American.

American culture, and I’m generalising, there are a million sub cultures obviously… Emphasises the individual. The American dream of you working hard to get some payoff, is an example. As such there is a lot of cultural pressure to not correct people when you are in conversation, it’s more polite and acceptable to play along. Their stupid ideas, their problem.

And that’s where Americans (again I’m generalising) are weakest here. Because stupid ideas are everybody’s problem. Because once people go off-the-deep-end there is no easy way of getting them back. And a large amount of people involved in conspiracy fantasy is legitimising it.

So no Americans are not more prone to conspiracy fantasy, but American culture does permit fast growth of ideas. MLMs are another example of this. You can use cultural taboos and cultural elements to sell bullshit.

Pay them to care more?

Look at what the justice Democrats have done. They put highly progressive people in power. It’s not a simple task.

You have to find the right candidates to put the money behind. Cover the expenses and make sure they can put all their time in their campaign.

I hope you’re right. But the ideas of ancaps are going to do the exact opposite of preventing corruption and budget misuse. In fact it’s going to make it much easier. Since the amount of money that the government receives through taxation is not going to go down much, while many programs are being dismantled and privatised. Just textbook neoliberal stuff, the government is going to have to spend more money on privatised infrastructure while social programs, healthcare and education are squeezed. Or worse, privatised and only available when profitable.

Privatisation doesn’t get rid of corruption or budget misuse. It does place it outside of democratic control. If its the rules that need to be changed, there is absolutely no need for ancap ideology. If the rules aren’t helping now, dismantling the government isn’t going to change anything. They either need to be changed or enforced.

Anyway, I think it’s very predictable what policies he will steer towards and since there is an economical crisis, finding support for big austerity measures, isn’t going to be difficult, I assume.

It’s a reference to an attitude that is prevalent in conspiracy fantasy circles. It’s a deflection of ownership of ideas to lend them more credibility, it’s not actually about researching anything. There is no discussion about research conclusions or facts. there is discussion, but it’s the exact opposite of research, it looks like, what questions give the right answers and how to connect the conclusions to the data. What they mean by saying ‘research’ isn’t what it actually means. Conspiracy fantasy wants you to stumble upon coincidences to lure you into their worldview.

Nah. It’s more about inherenting eating habits than genes. Also it’s much easier to gain weight if you’ve been obese during your youth. Eating is also an unhealthy coping mechanism for a lot of people. Genes is probably on fifth place if not lower.

A good dietician will limit your fat intake, because that is where most of the calories come from and where cholesterol is. Sugar is also problematic but only in refined form, and in fat people. The theory being that it’s fat that limits the response to sugars, I’m oversimplifying but this theory is at the heart of the sugar/fat debate. Dieticians aren’t debating this, mostly health gurus and doctors online are. The research into health versus diet is very clear and very much understood. Less processed food, more whole foods, less animal products, more plants. (fruit, grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts and seeds.)

And yes I do agree that the availability of healthy food is very limited and that understanding how or even what a healthy diet is, especially from consuming social media, is hard. The food industry is a multi billion profit industry, there are a lot of conflicting interests. But heart associations, diabetes association, association of dieticians, world health organisations, and many more are screaming from the rooftops. So it’s also not impossible to figure it out. But if you’re left to the almighty wisdom of ‘the market’ you’re fucked. Yes, it’s hard to stay healthy and skinny.

That’s why we call it a condition though, not a disease. People have a right to make mistakes, right? We can call the consequences of mistakes, conditions. Lung cancer from smoking, a broken arm from mountainbiking, tennis arm from leisure activities. Life choices can lead to conditions, regardless of their perceived healtiness.

I didn’t expect this thorough of an answer, thanks.

It’s maybe time I give it another look.

A what with a what?

Wait. Before you explain… Tell me what it costs.

It’s the only way I can listen to music in my car. I could upgrade, but I don’t need to because I have the jack.

Adhd is not ‘loss of control over attention’. It’s an executive function disorder.

Meditation isn’t ‘getting control over attention’ it’s paying attention to your inner self in order to create a distance between you and your thoughts. It’s more about the realisation that you aren’t your thoughts, feelings, emotions, but that the real you is having them.

You don’t need to be meditating to control your attention.

I literally write down all names in notes. I’m so incredibly bad with name recall that I forget names of people I worked with and known for years. That app is a life saver and I open it a lot.

I also use the trick to imagine their name as something completely over the top absurd. Which works because the image is so much easier to recall. For example Karen would be then behind the wheel of a Ford Ka running on its back tires. A Ka Run… But this is very difficult to do in the moment.

Otherwise yeah I can lose names at any moment of anything at any point in time. People, towns, events, brands, objects, concepts… Just gone. My mind went passed it with a 1000 miles a minute and forgot to grab it.

Fuck you. Use a reputable source.

Tankie gaslighting in action.

Sounds like a lot of work

It’s considered a positional stalemate, and that is politically advantageous for Russia. Both parties have been able to set up considerable defensive positions, making progress extremely costly. Both parties are still fighting for progress nonetheless, where Russia has the most trouble achieving it and Ukrainian forces are making small gains (field by field) on a consistent basis. But knowing that the frontlinie is many miles deep and there is intense trench warfare to make a few yards progress… There will be no swift or decisive victory on either side.

Putin has most of his followers convinced that he is fighting nato backed nazis. So even when Russian war tactics are brutally inefficient and the losses in personell and equipment are enormous, there is little internal political backlash. Internationally the conflict is seen as a regional dispute. Since Ukraine isn’t a part of a large international alliance. Western sanctions on Russia aren’t as impact full as they could have been.

It’s looking likely that the war in Ukraine is going to last a very long time. With guerilla attacks on Russian territory becoming more likely and higher in frequency. Russia doesn’t have the equipment left for large scale invasions, doesn’t have the money to create meaningful reserves. And the kremlin needs defensive power in other places along its border.

European and western sentiment is that Putin will not stop until the old ussr borders are back under his control. And being securely and unquestionably positioned as world superpower.

It’s going to open a tab in the browser while closing the app. That’s more trouble than I wanted.

In teresting