@thekhomish@BowTiedLobster@sonusvarghese Which is crazy in and of itself. Could it be that this pause in fighting from the US wrt Iran is to back Ukraine more while they damage Russian infrastructure? All the while starving China by blockading the SoH? Then go in when they are too weak or beaten to aid Iran?
@BowTiedLobster@thekhomish@sonusvarghese Yes I realize the IRGC must be eliminated in that case. But I am starting to suspect that Russia is being systematically damaged by Ukraine and China is running short on energy is not a coincidence and that this could be a window where their influence is minimized
High school is the only site of the commons in america now— it’s the only place which is assumed collective understanding. This is where the imagination ends in terms of mass culture.
USA. Summer. It is 95 degrees outside, and I am shivering inside a sandwich shop.
I have discovered how Americans forge strong souls.
Outside, the sun is trying to kill everyone. Inside this small restaurant, it is winter. My breath does not fog, but it is thinking about it. A man near me is eating a cold sandwich while wearing a jacket. In summer. Indoors.
In Japan we would simply turn it down. Americans do not turn it down. And now I understand them better than they understand themselves.
This cold is not an accident. This cold is a gift.
The owner has built, inside his shop, a second season. He invites you in from the brutal heat and hands you the one thing the sun has denied you all day: a reason to be cold. To endure it is to be tempered. You walk in soft and sweating. You walk out sharp and clear, a slightly stronger person than you were.
So I did not complain. I removed my outer layer and offered it to the woman at the next table, who was hugging herself. She said, "Oh, no, I'm fine, thank you." She was not fine. Her lips were blue. But she, too, understood the training. She would not break first. I respected her deeply.
The owner asked if everything was okay.
"It is perfect," I said, through my teeth, which were chattering. "Thank you for the winter."
He said, "...I can turn the AC down if you want?"
I told him no. A man does not ask the mountain to be shorter.
I stayed two hours. I ordered a hot coffee to survive. Then a second one, to hold. By the end I could no longer feel my hands, but my spirit had never been clearer.
So now, on the hottest days, I seek out the coldest rooms. I sit. I shiver. I sharpen.
And when I finally step back out into the summer heat, and it wraps around me like a warm bath, I feel it.
Reborn.
A man who has survived the winter, in August, indoors, for the price of a sandwich.
One of my best career tips – share 1-2 positive true facts about your corner of the business every time you meet with your management chain in a substantive way. Every single time that you remember to. It's wild how much better this is for your career.
Your first red pill should be that Lincoln didn’t fight for the continuation of the American republic but instead refounded the country in the bloodiest revolution on our shores
Everything good is a byproduct. Only serendipity ensouls things.
U will never obtain anything worthwhile via the means it’s supposed to be obtained. Can obtain something else good though.
Joe rogan guest : yeah I didnt know weed was illegal in Mexico, I thought I was going to get out of jail that Monday, I ended up doing 8 years.
Joe Rogan: wow, that's crazy.. hey Jamie, look up what a year is and then what 8 of them are
1976 was hardly a great time for America given everything that was going on.
But at least we were still a country. Even the soft drink commercials look like visions of a lost paradise.