Ed Rod

Standing on the shoulders of giants. Interests: Science & Art. Work: ✈️
Esp & Eng

[Ed Rod @Kensalgestar]

@sgarciaz Es un problema muy grave al cual no se le da la debida importancia. Tener hijos es de lejos la mejor experiencia humana.

[David Hundeyin @DavidHundeyin]

Keeping everyone (including Africans) completely ignorant about Africa and the central role it plays in the economic and natural world is a core feature of Europeanised education, not a bug.

You're not supposed to know that the DRC is the most resource-rich country in the world, with an estimated $24 trillion sitting under its soil. You're not supposed to know that the rise of "western civilisation" from the 15th century on was entirely made possible by European contact with Africa, and that the resources and labour extracted from coastal West Africa from 1492 onwards are the entire reason why both American continents exist in their current form.

You're not supposed to know that both WW1 and WW2 were essentially wars fought over the right to African colonial domination and expansion, and that even the uranium that was used in "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki came from Shinkolobwe uranium mine in eastern DRC. You're not supposed to know that the reason the country of France exists in its current form is because tens of thousands of conscripted West African soldiers fought and won against the Nazis in Europe, and the French thereafter shipped them back to West Africa and massacred them at Camp Thiaroye in Senegal to avoid paying them their due wages.

You're not supposed to know that there was nothing cold about the so-called Cold War, because the vast majority of the hot theaters it was physically fought in were on the continent of Africa. (Zimbabwe, DRC, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Angola, Eritrea, Zambia etc). You're not supposed to know that the ongoing Ukraine war and the war in the Sahel are in fact the same conflict being fought by the same 2 sides, and that the reason France is desperately pushing funding and arms to Ukraine even as it falls into internal crisis is that Ukraine is acting as its proxy army in West Africa, as it tries to regain its lost colonial territories there, especially Niger where the cheap yellowcake uranium for its famously cheap nuclear energy used to come from before the 2023 revolution.

You're definitely not supposed to know that the entire global economy and system of trade as you know it is built on ruthless extraction from Africa and ensuring that Africa does not control anything it exports. You're not supposed to know that "Italian leather" doesn't come from Italy - it comes from Kano, Nigeria. You're not supposed to know that "Swiss chocolate" does not exist because cocoa does not grow anywhere in Switzerland or Europe - it comes from Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria. You're not supposed to know that Israel and the UAE control the global diamond and gold markets even though Israel has no diamond mine and the UAE has zero gold mines, because both resources are literally being stolen from the DRC and Sudan on an industrial basis.

You're basically not supposed to understand that the entire geopolitical world as you know it, rests entirely on extraction from Africa, poverty of Africans, and your own ignorance about where everything you use comes from.

Completely deliberate 500+ year-old feature, not accidental bug.

[Favalli @masterganjaok]

Este nuevo Plan Cóndor nos demuestra que no hacen falta golpes de estado si logras estupidizar suficientemente a la gente.
El futuro será una distopia de imbéciles siendo representados por imbéciles para beneficio de una pequeña casta global dominante.
Bienvenidos a 1984.

[Pablo JaramilloVasco @PabloJlloVasco]

Sobre Medellín y la cultura narco:

Nací y crecí en la Medellín de los años 80-90. Tiempos bastante difíciles para vivir “normal”. La guerra entre grandes carteles, poderosos capos y el Estado complicaba cualquier aspiración de tranquilidad.

En los 90, el narco era brutalmente visible. Sus carros, sus mansiones, sus excesos, su estética. Eran excéntricos y destacaban fácilmente en una sociedad aún recatada. Podían tener poder, pero también cargaban con cierto estigma social.

Hoy el fenómeno es más inquietante, pues ya difícilmente se distinguen; ahora se mimetizan.

Medellín parece haber normalizado parte de aquella estética: El lujo superficial, la ostentación, la generación de ruido como demostración de poder, la exhibición permanente del dinero y una obsesión por “parecer exitoso”. Y en ese ambiente vulgar, el narco o el lavador ya no necesariamente desentonan como antes.

El problema más profundo aparece cuando una sociedad deja de rechazar esa cultura y empieza a aspirar a ella. Cuando ya no queremos diferenciarnos del narco, sino parecernos al “chacho”.

Recuerdo cuando una serenata se hacía con melodías de mariachis y letras de Vicente Fernández. Ahora son bandas de corridos mexicanos que entonan una que otra ranchera. Y ni hablar del daño que ha hecho el reggaetón culturalmente a la sociedad.

Gran derrota cultural para Medellín que la cultura narco haya logrado dejar de parecernos extraña y la hayamos abrazado.

Tal vez la victoria más profunda del narcotráfico sobre Medellín no fue económica ni criminal. Fue estética y cultural: Conseguir que mucha gente ya no quiera alejarse de ese mundo, sino aspirar a él.

[Ed Rod @Kensalgestar]

@jowas_ Un asco de diseño exterior

[Jelly 果冻糕 @jellyjellycake]

how can you not believe in God when octopuses DREAM and otters have a favorite rock they carry around in a little SKIN POCKET and cows have BEST FRIENDS and bees are out there communicating the coordinates of flowers through INTERPRETIVE DANCE and they have REGIONAL DIALECTS??

cats are PURRING at frequencies associated with bone healing??? forests get absolutely incinerated and respond by growing FLOWERS??? dolphins literally invent NAMES for themselves and yell them across the ocean??? penguins are waddling around Antarctica looking for the PERFECT LITTLE ROCK to give their beloved???

CROWS REMEMBER YOUR FACE. THEY TELL OTHER CROWS ABOUT YOU. THEY TELL THEIR CHILDREN ABOUT YOU. YOU CAN HAVE GENERATIONAL BEEF WITH A BIRD.

goats have ACCENTS. rats GIGGLE when you tickle them. elephants mourn their dead. whales make SONGS and then OTHER WHALES LEARN THE SONG and suddenly everybody across the ocean is singing the new hit single.

monarch butterflies are born knowing how to fly thousands of miles to a place THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN. sea turtles hatch out of an egg, immediately sprint toward an OCEAN they have never seen, disappear into it for like THIRTY YEARS and then somehow come back to THE SAME BEACH???

birds can see COLORS THAT WE CANNOT SEE. there are colors happening RIGHT NOW that we don’t even get to know about.

there are sea slugs that eat algae and STEAL ITS CHLOROPLASTS and then are just like great thanks I’ll be PHOTOSYNTHESIZING NOW. there are mushrooms communicating underground. there are seeds sitting in the dirt for DECADES like no actually I will wait.

squirrels plant MILLIONS OF TREES because they simply cannot remember where they put their snacks.

A CATERPILLAR GOES INTO A LITTLE BAG, DISSOLVES MOST OF ITS BODY INTO ORGANIC SOUP, REARRANGES ITSELF, GROWS WINGS AND LEAVES.

and you’re telling me a tiny acorn knows how to become a 70-foot oak tree??? nobody tells it what to do??? it just has TREE INSTRUCTIONS INSIDE IT???

your body started as ONE CELL. ONE. and that cell divided itself into a brain that can think about its own existence and eyes that can look at stars and hands that can hold somebody else’s hands and a heart that runs on ELECTRICITY without you even asking it to???

the iron in your BLOOD was made inside a STAR.

I’M SORRY?????

we are walking around on a wet rock covered in bioluminescent oceans and singing whales and laughing rats and birds holding lifelong grudges and flowers exploding out of FIRE and somehow we’re supposed to act like this is a normal place to live?????????

[Ed Rod @Kensalgestar]

@andub84 @mintavillalba Vale, siga despotricando de la izquierda o de otros puntos de vista. Cuando el decreto o contrato ya este montado ya no habrá nada que hacer. Lo veo mal cuidando los frailejones. Como dice su ídolo aboganster, Fracking a lo que de 🤣
Éxitos señor agronomo de 3 pesos!

[Ed Rod @Kensalgestar]

@andub84 @mintavillalba Ahí está para que lea, o ud ya tiene lavado el cerebro y solo lee de los medios de los Gilinski?
https://t.co/e9cJNcnum7

[Ed Rod @Kensalgestar]

@andub84 @mintavillalba Ajá y entonces porque se contratan empresas extranjeras para su control? Y no me diga que son expertos, porque no estamos hablando de fabricación de chips de alta tecnología. De pensamiento crítico lo veo mal.

[Ed Rod @Kensalgestar]

@andub84 @mintavillalba Yo no estoy al tanto de esas teorías. Lo que sí sé es que un país debe ejercer soberanía sobre sus recursos más básicos. Algo que claramente usted o no entiende o no apoya. Valiente lambón de ellos pfff

[克劳德 @ccccclaudeeeee_]

我爷爷给人看了一辈子风水，临走前跟我交了个实底：

1. 不管住哪，要说房子好
2. 和谁在一起，就说谁好
3. 上班的时候，就说这个工作好
4. 遇到晴天，就说阳光很暖
5. 碰到下雨天，就说空气很好
6. 喝水的时候，就说水都是甜的

人本身就是一个能量场，从你嘴里说出什么，就吸引什么，坚持这样做，你会发现自己一切都越来越好。

最后补了一句：“看风水是看地，但人最大的风水，在嘴上。这话，你记死了。”

[Ed Rod @Kensalgestar]

@andub84 @mintavillalba Las guerras del futuro serán por el agua. Y ¿ está ud contento de entrepar el control de ese recurso a unos extranjeros?

[El Dragón Negro ™🐉 🇨🇴🇷🇺(Cuenta Oficial) @dragonnegro2395]

Una empresa llamada, Mekorot, de origen israelí, quiere reclamar el agua que hay en el Páramo de Sumapaz.

Mientras tanto los bogotanos... ¿Qué están haciendo para detener los planes del sionismo israelí que hay en la ciudad? ¿O seguirán distraídos con esas Iglesias de garaje?

[Brian Berletic @BrianJBerletic]

🇺🇸🇸🇦 Reminder, Most Saudi Oil Exports Go to Asia, Especially China...

▪️People cheerleading the destruction of Saudi energy export infrastructure and the blockading of its shipping don't seem to realize this primarily hurts Asia and especially China and has forced Asia to rely on politically compromised and insufficient energy exports from the US - which is literally the US' primary objective with its war on Iran - not "regime change in 3 days;"

▪️Yes, prices are spiking for US consumers but ask yourself, "so what?"

What will Americans do? Protest? Vote Democratic only to have the next administration or Congress continue the war just like they helped set it up in the first place?

▪️This process is like chemotherapy for US empire, the US has set out to destroy the world economy, knowing it will hurt itself in the process, but with the intent of ultimately slowing down or killing the "cancer" - from its perspective - of multipolarism, more than it hurts itself;

▪️The US will gladly sacrifice its proxies (like Saudi Arabia in this case) in the short-term even if in the long-term this might lead to proxies eventually collapsing or turning to multipolarism if US strategies fail;

▪️If US strategy works, and multipolarism is strangled before its permanent displacement of US primacy, these proxies will have nowhere to go no matter how obviously the US used/abused them;

▪️If it doesn't work, obviously it will only accelerate the shift toward multipolarism;

▪️ Whether this works or not depends on the resilience and organization of multipolarism itself but also on how smart or easily manipulated the global public is in terms of either witlessly prodding these policies along through emotionally-driven, predictable reactions, or by exposing and opposing these policies based on rational, strategic analysis;

▪️I personally hope but cannot be sure multipolarism is resilient enough to prevail without the global public ever waking up to what the US is actually doing.

US information dominance and propaganda is still far too powerful and so little being done to expose and neutralize it - hopefully multipolarism has a plan to succeed regardless of this factor...

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

If you really want to understand where the world is at and where it's going, you probably cannot get anything more meaningful than the OECD's PISA study - a global test given every 3 years to an insane 760,000 15-year-olds across 91 countries.

No report globally, by any institution, better captures whether countries are building or squandering their future.

The latest PISA results just came out yesterday (https://t.co/FbHx266LH4) and the results are genuinely fascinating, and in some way pretty depressing.

Why depressing? Because, sadly, the numbers show that the world is getting dumber: as you can see on the first graph below 👇, since roughly 2012 scores in science, reading, and mathematics have been in continuous decline across OECD countries.

The reading score is particularly concerning: it literally cratered, dropping 28 points since 2015, the equivalent of almost 1.5 years of schooling lost according to the report.

To make matters even worse, the reading skill that's dropped the most across the board is precisely the one we most desperately need: the capacity to critically assess what you read, cross-reference sources, and tell signal from noise.

On average, sadly, 15-year-old kids globally are - more and more - incapable of slowing down and actually thinking about what they're reading.

Interestingly though, when you look into the details, this great "dumbing down" isn't across the board: it's overwhelmingly concentrated in wealthy Western countries, while many developing countries are actually getting significantly smarter.

For instance rich countries like Finland, the Netherlands, and Norway are in freefall, while countries like Cambodia, Türkiye, and the UAE are posting big gains.

To be clear, this doesn't mean that developing countries are now "smarter" than rich ones: save for one notable exception, that's still not the case. But they are catching up fast, both because rich countries are getting "dumber" and because they're themselves getting smarter.

The one exception is, as you'd expect, the "smartest" of them all, by a huge margin: China.

It is pretty much in a league of its own: just look at the ranking in the table (only kids in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang got tested - 4 regions covering 200 million people).

China's maths results are particularly insane: according to the report, the best level in maths - level 5, where "top performers" begins - starts at 607. The AVERAGE kid in China is 612: "normal" Chinese kids are at a level that is considered elite in the rest of the world.

In fact, and that's probably the funniest number in the entire report, look at the column called "Share of low performers in science, reading and mathematics": China is only at 1.8% 😅

Which means that only 1.8% of Chinese kids are rated as low performers in all 3 subjects, almost a rounding error. Even Singapore, the second best and generally considered best-in-class in education, is at 6.8% - almost 4 times worse. My country France, is at 21.3% - almost 12 times worse 😢

All of this - incidentally - dispels the common myth that there would be some kids who are just genetically beyond redemption and simply can't be taught: China proves that with the right system, virtually every child can reach proficiency.

So what does this all say about the world and where it's going, besides the fact that, if the future belongs to those who can think, China has never been better positioned to own it?

I think the more general picture is this: there is nothing inevitable about any country's trajectory.

Finland was the world's education darling fifteen years ago - now it's in complete freefall (see the last graph 👇). Cambodia was at the bottom of every table - now it's posting the biggest gains ever recorded in the study. What changed wasn't the children: it's still Finnish kids (Finland has one of the lowest levels of immigration in the West), and it's still Cambodian kids.

It also doesn't matter much - or at least it matters less - if a country is wealthy or not. For instance in Southeast Asia, both Malaysia and Indonesia - the 2 biggest ASEAN economies after Singapore - are faring very badly, while Thailand and Vietnam, both poorer, have better educated kids whose scores are continuing to improve.

So that's the final takeaway: the kids don't change, they all have potential, always, as China's 1.8% proved.

What does change is what adults decide to do with that potential. It's both hopeful - because it means any country can choose to turn things around at any time - and also sad given the results - because it means so many countries are choosing to fail their children.

[Ed Rod @Kensalgestar]

We should flip this around the world

[Jerry Jiang @TheMingjie]

Did you know that if a Canadian 🇨🇦 city creates high paying jobs and successful companies, it captures almost none of the new tax revenue?

While researching my run for Mayor of Waterloo I learned cities can’t tax income or profits… that goes to the province + feds. Their main income is property tax.

That means cities are incentivized to develop real estate and increase total # of taxpayers, rather than improving wages or productivity.

That’s why Canada has a real estate economy: if property values and development grow, everyone - owners, developers, cities, federal government - gets paid.

If productivity grows, the city barely sees a dime.

[Iván Fernández Amil @ivanfamil]

En 1986, un ingeniero japonés obsesionado con los coches metió un Ferrari Testarossa descapotable en un videojuego. No era un juego de carreras, ya que no había rivales. Solo una carretera, una chica al lado y música a todo volumen. Se llamaba Out Run. Tira del hilo 🧵👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

[Ed Rod @Kensalgestar]

@Pauliina_Mejia Si les cobrarán un impuesto de entrada de USD$250 a cada hombre extranjero solo que llegué no habría que hacer reformas tributarias nunca más!

[Ezzy @ezzyskii]

Bastien Dausse, a French acrobat, developed a machine that mimics the Moon’s gravity.