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Post by B.E. on Apr 14, 2021 0:57:23 GMT
More people live on the island of Java than in Russia.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 20, 2021 11:26:56 GMT
Local legend Walter Mondale died yesterday at age 93. Probably known nationally mostly for being pummeled in the 1984 presidential election, he was a protege of Hubert Humphrey, a 2-term senator, a vice president, and then an attorney and political advisor, activist, lecturer, etc.
In some ways he was a throwback: he never owned stocks while in office, worried it would cause the impression of corruption. (Conversely, modern politicians regularly trade stocks related to legislation they pass or information they confidentially receive, and fight against efforts to curtail it...) In others, he was looking ahead, such as naming a female vice presidential running mate in 1984.
He represents an era in Minnesota when Democrats were respected by rural, often conservative voters; and Republicans were respected by urban and liberal ones. Our parties once were staunchly independent from their national counterparts. Alas, bygone days, more gone by the day.
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Post by B.E. on Apr 24, 2021 21:14:42 GMT
Took three days but I finally got through this 3.5 hr YouTube video! It's just something his subscribers wanted him to do. He didn't go in-depth into every election (it would have been 30hrs if he did), but many of the figures I hadn't even heard of. Particularly, the running mates of the losers. Anyway, I do think it's an interesting exercise. The basic premise being that he was living in his home state of Kansas (or the general region prior to statehood) at the time of each election, and that he didn't know what happened in the future. (He stopped after the 1996 election because he didn't want to reveal who he voted for in real life.)
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 24, 2021 21:54:28 GMT
Interesting! Saved to watch later.
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Post by B.E. on Apr 24, 2021 22:04:50 GMT
FYI, the topic starts at the 10 minute mark of the video.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 30, 2021 13:34:40 GMT
I've written here and elsewhere about "authenticity," and how it seems to me mostly either a cynical angle to sell something or a misguided, immature mistake. This morning I stumbled on this essay, "Authenticity is a Sham," from Aeon magazine. To get a flavor of it, here are a few sentences from early on in the piece:
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Post by Kapitan on May 5, 2021 12:40:46 GMT
A little story on an aspect of nature KDS has been complaining is forthcoming: the "Brood X" cicadas. Though KDS, here's a possible solution for you right from your backyard:
"But others are fond of cicadas -- and even munch on them, using recipes like those in a University of Maryland cookbook."
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Post by Kapitan on May 11, 2021 13:02:53 GMT
Maybe you have seen those various pop-psychology tests online before where you can "measure" your personality, political ideology, etc. This morning I saw one about personal philosophy dichotomies--materialism v spiritualism, rationalism v romanticism, etc.--and took it. It was pretty interesting, mostly because I'm generally pretty balanced but have some strange bedfellows among my strongest results.
For example, I'm 64.2% nihilistic over moralistic, but also 60% altruistic over egostic, 58% ascetic over hedonistic and 58.7% pragmatic over idealistic. (I'd have guessed nihilistic would go with egoistic and hedonistic and idealistic to some degree.)
There are also some other categories of dichotomy tests beyond that one. If you're in the mood, take a few minutes and try them out.
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Post by B.E. on May 12, 2021 1:26:06 GMT
My results:
65.8% spiritualism over materialism 65.2% asceticism over hedonism 61.7% moralism over nihilism 57.8% rationalism over romanticism 57.6% altruism over egoism 56.3% absolutism over skepticism 50.8% pragmatism over idealism
I think these results are pretty accurate. The one I feel most uncomfortable with is spiritualism over materialism (particularly in that it's my most extreme position). I could sense as I took the test that the questions in that group weren't sufficient. I'd say that's potentially overstated by 5-10 points. None of the other results surprise me. The altruism over egoism questions were hard to answer as I actually believe that what's good for us as individuals is good for society as a whole (i.e. we should act in our own interest, or, "selfishly"). That said, in the way that the questions were meant, I do believe I'm more altruistic.
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Post by Kapitan on May 18, 2021 15:09:44 GMT
Here's an article I--being a child of the 80s and 90s and thus remembering well the "Satanic Panic" about rock music in the 80s and the disaster at Waco with Branch Davidians--found really interesting.
It's about a recent increase in media framing issues in language related to cults, as well as Americans' history of framing groups as cults. (Spoiler alert: the concern is usually off base to some degree, a hyperventilating overreaction.)
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Post by Kapitan on May 18, 2021 18:23:29 GMT
One of the strangest ongoing--and surprisingly under-the-radar--stories going on these past few years: the slow admission by the U.S. government of unidentified flying objects.
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Post by Kapitan on May 24, 2021 13:44:51 GMT
Twenty-one of 172 participants in an ultramarathon in China died in the extreme conditions this weekend.
And this is why I live by these words: don't run marathons (much less ultramarathons).
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 16, 2021 12:02:37 GMT
I was pointed to this essay by the esteemed Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie this morning. She wrote about two younger writers with whom she has interacted, writers who were quick to try to benefit from her insights, reputation, and connections, but equally quick to betray her publicly online--and both for the same reason: their own immediate reputational benefits. After dealing with each situation separately, she includes the below in the conclusion.
EDIT - I want to clarify that I don't read this essay in the simple, "kids these days ... everything's going to hell with these kids!" but rather more a "what are we doing with our society?" Not so much finger-pointing, even though that's in there, or "get off my lawn." More just looking around in (shared) sadness and disgust.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 1, 2021 12:29:53 GMT
I was surprised this morning that my local paper's website doesn't include on its home page so much as a mention that Donald Rumsfeld, a very controversial, two-time Sec. of Defense, died the day before yesterday. (It was announced yesterday, so it would be in today's news.)
Rumsfeld, 88, was not my favorite by a long stretch. I didn't like his neoconservative (interventionist) politics, and I didn't like his brash, confrontational style that was so visible with the media but apparently also consistent in his off-camera dealings with even his own staff.
That said, he was a naval aviator in the period just after the Korean War, a 3-term congressman in the '60s, and held several executive branch jobs culminating in becoming both Chief of Staff, then Sec. of Defense (the youngest ever) under Gerald Ford in the '70s. He was a private citizen again from '77 until '01 when the second President Bush brought him in as his Sec. of Defense (the second-oldest ever). In that role, he was of course famously an architect of the second Iraq War. The problems of that war resulted in his resignation in late 2006.
Errol Morris's documentary The Unknown Known gives a fascinating look into Rumsfeld in his own words.
Rumsfeld died of a type of plasma cell cancer.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 1, 2021 19:48:27 GMT
What is deja vu? I mean, obviously it is the sensation of having been somewhere, seen something, done something before even when you know you haven't. But what causes it, what is actually happening in the brain?
Nobody knows. But here is a story about how it is being studied and what some experts think.
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