I don’t forgive the nazis or the americans either

I haven’t forgiven them for sending up a dog and a monkey though

Besides gambling hype I think regular people are into it for a couple reasons:

-don’t have to trust the whims of your state government (who could devalue their currency at any time)

-deflationary by design so your earnings maintain value (no one could discover a btc meteor to mine)

-Requires broad miner consensus to change the rules

Despite all the and suffering it has caused and will cause, Trump admin has at least handed us the beginning of a breakdown in US hegemony as trust has eroded with other nations who are all busy pivoting away from it right now.

Unfortunately upon breaking the gridlock, other nations are scrambling to maintain the status quo rather than leaning into the future by redoubling commitments to address human and climate crises before it’s too late for the humans.

Philosophy is excellent food for thought, working through a MOOC course (MIT/Yale?) and doing the prescribed readings might strike your fancy. Happy to give more specific recs if you have some existing curiosity about a topic. Side note that it’s difficult to find people to talk to online about serious philosophical topics, the options I’ve seen (discord groups, facebook groups) usually aren’t very engaging but the reading and lectures and contemplation are engaging on your own imo.

Watch ancient history documentaries like the Fall of Civilizations or History with Cy channels on youtube (Fall of Civilizations is also/originally a podcast if you prefer). Whenever I am feeling empty of interesting thoughts this is my go to. When I watch frequently I constantly find my thoughts combining and recombining history with my current experience in a way that feels awfully close to intellectual stimulation. I also find it gives some mildly comforting perspective on current events.

Built to purpose gadgets. Getting into arduino or similar as a hobbyist can be intellectually engaging. The process of identifying something in your space you could enhance then drafting and executing a plan (including some basic programming) is kind of like a puzzle. Building things you don’t need like an LED based checklist for chores that resets every day, a pedestal that spins to give a house plant even sunlight, or a solar powered bird house might be a fun challenge.

Edit to add that if you live near a university professors will usually let you unofficially audit their class if you’re interested in a topic and have time during the week.

That’s wild!!

Find a nice waterfall and build a hut by it

I ran into a litter of wild turkey chicks a few months ago and it was such a contrast to how little ducklings group together and line up to follow mom. The turkey chicks scatter every which way instead.

Flow charts or bullet lists as visual aid. The higher position your interlocutor is in the simpler you should try to keep your point. If you need their input on a project only bring them one A vs B decision at a time.

On god I have a co-worker named Riz though. Straight bussin’.

I still remember the pneumonic for “pool” in Spanish that a high school classmate came up with: La Piscina — Piss in a pool.

Or badly designed ones with a combo of yield and stop signs that effectively prevent the people with the stop sign from ever proceeding

My mom taught me to never trust a turn signal (or lack of one)

a slight caricature of a real photo

Which number is “there are no girls on the internet?”

HMMM

Remindme! 13 years

Completely plausible! Have you aged since? Or stopped aging at 27?

Edit: If not maybe you needed to add a few drops of purple eyeglass-cleaner sample.

Can relate but I made potions in the bath. With various colors of shampoo. In actual glass test tubes and such from the science supply store (probably not wise @my parents but all the little glass bottles were adorable).

“Passionately Support The Machine While It Crushes Everyone Including, Eventually, Me”