Key Thinking (Aloud)

A critique of going to a baseball game, and going to the cinema. Both of these collective experiences should be nicer. Uptight, rigid attitudes and declining quality of product are making them unpleasant.

My dad and I are trying to make a best-of classic rock list. I think it's interesting how we each approach this sort of idea. And one has to wonder, perhaps: is it even worth it? How much energy is worth giving any random project?

A story of a Reddit comments section

Thinking through some of the complexities in this sad act of war by Russia against Ukraine. Is peace possible with Russia? Or does it have too many irreconcilable issues, geopolitically and psychologically?

Freedom, specifcally personal liberty, is one of my fundamental values. There are some current events that might be threatening it. The Canadian government's threats against a trucker Convoy, and the recent attempt at canceling Joe Rogan, are both kind of interesting topics to discuss through the lens of personal freedoms. When are we not allowed to say what we think?

I like recognizing the pagan roots in our holidays. The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, where the sun is at its lowest point. It's a good reminder of the delicate balance of life, of how unkind nature can be, but how bountiful it can be in the future. I'm feeling especially pensive this year, especially worn out, and also sick. I have Covid.

What does it mean to have an open mind? Is it possible to have strong convictions if you're mind is actually open? Are there any dangers to opening your mind to certain ideas? Is it always the coolest thing, or is passé now to be open-minded?

Kyle Rittenhouse is a 17yo boy on trial for murder right now in the USA. Is he guilty? I don't think so. And I say that without any ideological allegiances. Let's take out our political biases and look at this case as rationally as possible (if it is even possible). There's a lot to unpack here.

I aim for a minimalist life with maximum output. I succeed at one of those more than the other. I believe technology and design can help solve my output issues by removing barriers - both physical and mental - in my work. This applies to travel as well, and to my neurodivergent brain in particular.

I took the Wahl-o-Mat online quiz and it tells me I should vote for the Humanist party. "(Die Humanisten) see themselves as a social, liberal and progressive party that focuses on the freedom of the individual. In doing so, she invokes evolutionary humanism and advocates a critical-rational political approach that relies particularly on scientific knowledge and - regardless of the political trend...

Just a bit of an anxiety attack on an autumn day; lots of admin stress. I'm bad at bureacratic work.

Just a few thoughts on the Afghanistan situation that I haven't heard articulated yet. Mainly: Is this even a real, legitimate sovereign country? Maybe its borders are an inherent problem. Maybe the global community should help the major ethnic tribes in the region establish their own autonomous states. Do Westerners who support isolation as a foreign policy really have such little conviction in t...

"A flâneur is an ambivalent figure of urban affluence and modernity, representing the ability to wander detached from society with no other purpose than to be an acute observer of industrialized, contemporary life." I am a flaneur. "The flâneur was, first of all, a literary type from 19th-century France, essential to any picture of the streets of Paris. The word carried a set of rich associations:...

Presence, awareness and trasnscendence of ego - reflections on reading Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth . Be one with the universe.

Pride Month honors the hardfought accomplishments of the gay rights movement, but has become a sort of husk of what it's meant to honor: a limp season of market pandering to an already progressive USA. Rainbow flags are worn by countless logos, signifying a point so obvious to so many as to constitute almost nothing.. except dutiful virtue signaling. What's the point of all this?

Drugs are substances that alter consciousness, broadly speaking. But their subsets are vastly different: psychedelics are nothing like opioids, and even within a class like uppers, crystal meth is wildly different than caffeine. Let's think through the reasons why people take various drugs, explore the underlying implications and consequences, and contextualize each case, especially within party c...

Here's an endorsement to travel again. I can recommend Miami, Florida, for people that want some fun and sun. Covid is less threatening these days and it's time to get back out there.

I used to be "pro-Palestine". Now I'm "pro-Israel", but to be honest, I'm mostly just annoyed by how society talks about this topic. Why is this the singular geopolitical issue that bascially everyone has an opinion about? And why is it so much trendier and cooler to support Palestine?

What is sexism? I don't even know anymore tbh, but I know it's a sort of third rail that I sometimes flirt with, depending on context. I want to discuss this honestly and openly, and really explore what sort of ideas I hold that could be problematic. I'm taking an IDR Labs test here to figure out if I may indeed hold any sexist attitudes.

I remain pretty agnostic about it. People that want a vaccination should get one (and have access to it). The goal is herd immunity; the real goal is freedom of movement, open culture and a return to "normalcy". I want to live! And if getting a little bit of death in my arm leads to that, then I'm for it. But it should be a personal decision, ultimately.

Moral Foundations Theory attempts to explain individual differences in psychology and political intuitions, as well as to make sense of the many instances of moral outrage and offense that are increasingly seen in public debate. This is part 2of 2 episodes, in which I take this Moral Foundations test: https://www.idrlabs.com/morality/6/test.php

Social scientists argue that there are substantial variations in human morality, and that these differences influence not just a person's decision making and reasoning processes, but also their political outlook. In recent years, researchers and scholars from all over the world have converged on the framework on Moral Foundations Theory in an attempt to explain these individual differences, as wel...

Just a little rant about this dumb night I had. Feeling triggered, might delete later.

"The houseless community" is being kicked out of Echo Park Lake, Los Angeles. Activists are protesting this as an issue of compassion for the homeless - the city and police are the villains in that narrative. But how fair is that? Is the argument to just allow the homeless to stay in our city parks? Yes, the city has to do a lot more to solve homelessness, but how is this a bad step?

I'm restraining myself. Sometimes I really just want to rant about something in this stupid world, but then I feel embarrassed by it, as if you'll judge me too much for saying something controversial or "wrong". But what if you don't actually understand what am saying? Or what if you think I don't understand you, but I do? Why is dialogue so hard anyways?