Tom Brown

Techie ||
The cream always rises to the top

[🥷 @_iamhabeeb]

may we not be the guy who had potential

[Araali 🦉 @joelanthony23]

In the same way, people who are brutally honest are never brutally honest about praising you or being kind. It's always the bad stuff they have to say that they feel the inability to temper.

[Sifa @rehema_sifa]

"Good writing doesn't make you look smart; it makes readers feel seen. You can't win people over with intellect. You do it by describing something they've felt their whole life but never had the words for. "

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is probably the single feature that makes China most unique as a civilization in human history: it is pretty much the only one where religion never had a say in political affairs.

We often wrongly believe that China's secularism came with Communism but this couldn't be more wrong. The roots are far, far more ancient than this.

Think about any other civilization - India, Persia, ancient Egypt, European civilization, the Incas: they all had a priestly class that held considerable political power. China? Never.

Never, ever? Actually China, in its very early history, had a brush with theocracy during the Shang dynasty in the 2nd millennium BC. And it is precisely this episode - or rather what came afterwards - that decisively de-linked religion from government affairs.

How so? Because around 1046 BC, the Zhou overthrew the Shang and immediately faced a big problem of legitimacy. The Shang had claimed to rule because Heaven had chosen them. If that were true, then the Zhou had just committed the ultimate act of sacrilege. How do you justify going against God’s will?

The answer the Duke of Zhou (who can thus be credited as the - perhaps unwitting - inventor of secularism) came up with was essentially to say that Heaven's mandate is not a birthright but a contract - conditional on the virtue of the ruler and good governance.

It might not sound like much but this idea completely changed the whole equation: suddenly the legitimacy of power didn’t rest on God’s will but on man’s moral judgement, on whether the ruler had virtue (德, Dé) and governed well. Which meant that, ultimately, the people - as opposed to a God - became the arbiter of whether a ruler is legitimate.

If there is one single decision that most shaped China's destiny as a civilization, it's probably this one. And, as I explain in my latest article, it ultimately shaped all of us in profound ways: through a chain of events involving Jesuit missionaries, Voltaire, and what French Enlightenment thinkers called "l'argument chinois" ("the Chinese argument"), it is this very idea that ended up secularizing Europe too and drove the Enlightenment movement.

That's the topic of my latest article: the origins of China's secularism, how it shaped three thousand years of Chinese civilization, and why - far from being a belief in nothing or an absence of belief as it's all too often depicted - it's on the contrary a faith in humanity itself.

Read it all here: https://t.co/XLwhKFlaNl

[goma @soigomaa]

when you realize that posting for one person on your story is the modern equivalent of gatsby throwing massive parties in hopes that daisy would notice from across the lake.

[Mekatilili wa Pweza @mwakawhat]

Being the youngest employee makes you an unofficial member of the ICT department

[big bad wolf💕 @IndicaBadddu]

Fortunately, they were right. When you surround yourself with high achieving individuals, you have no option but to catch up.

[𝙼𝚄𝙽𝙴𝙽𝙴 @munenechris_77]

For you to thrive in this world, you need to drink a cocktail of shamelessness, nonchalance and audacity.

[Dr. C @chao_mbogho]

This is an interesting thought.

I now have a framework for why I actually like work and I love working. It's because I also really enjoy thinking and breaking down complexities is a favourite thing. It could also be why I love puzzles so much.

[❤️‍🔥 @guineasfinest]

do you now how funny it is that spurs fans can chat like this now 😭😭😭

[Farhiya ✨ @farhiiiyaaa___]

You have to do crossword puzzles to keep the dementia away bc it's going to be really embarrassing when you're 70 and you keep repeating brainrot like, "Darling hold my haaandd nothing beats a Jet2holiday." While your kids and grandkids weep at your bedside.

[Writer | Climber | Mother of Dragons | Kas Ka Gan @Wordslinger__]

I think its beyond individualism - its a culture of cowardice and conformity, having been browbeaten through the school system which "rewarded" standing out with punishment. We carry that into adulthood and tend to want to hide in the crowd because standing out means punishment.

[John Thyroid @banay_john]

We got married btw

[Sahn Lam @sahnlam]

Useful Free APIs for Developers

[Njugush @BlessedNjugush]

You won't believe but they didn't catch the thief...... But honestly guys....in all honesty guys

[Cyprian, Is Nyakundi @C_NyaKundiH]

If you're in danger during a protest, run into a bar, not a church.

Some of these churches will shut the gates and leave you to the bullets.

At least the bar won’t judge you or lock you out.

Let that sink in.

Shame on CITAM church

#SiriNiNumbers

[FERDINAND OMONDI @FerdyOmondi]

Just RT.
#SiriNiNumbers

[I may have @QuincyWandera]

There’s a girl who’s said “my parents sold everything so I can graduate. Now I have no job and they are broke. Maybe if I die tomorrow they will be given ksh 2 million and my death will be my gift to them”

Man! The hopelessness William has caused. #RutoMustGo

[Marcus Olang' @marcusolang]

Heard on Kiambu Road: "Kwa ni sisi pekee lazima tufuate sheria, na hawa watu wa serikali wenyewe hakuna sheria wanafuata? Kwani sheria ni mbili?"

And that, right there, summarises the heart of the matter.

[Njugush @BlessedNjugush]

The unmaking of a dictator