A good environmental philosophy class would cover these same topics and more. My syllabus included works by E. O. Wilson (The Diversity of Life), Lynn Margulis (Microcosmos), and Rachel Carson (Silent Spring), and others. There’s probably and entire Dewey decimal section of you ask a librarian. Stewardship vs leaving nature to itself was a pretty hot topic with lots of debate. But generally anything we can do to support biodiversity is a net good specifically because species go extinct. There’s lots of explanations out there, but like LeVar Burton said, “You don’t have to take my word for it.”

Meditation (for a lot of people) is an exercise in learning that even doing nothing is active. Doing nothing is still doing. Rest is an important part of being productive. Rest is not a waste of time, so you don’t need to feel guilty over it. These are all lessons that the brain can understand on its face immediately, but the body requires reinforcement and practice.

And if stillness is a problem you struggle with, walking meditation or meditation through movement can be a more approachable way to get started. There are lots of ways to meditate, find the ones that work for you. Meditation isn’t a cure all, but it does have wide ranging impacts and it doesn’t hurt to try it.

“Secret Links”, Like that one scene in that Sandra Bullock hacker movie, The Net.

https://triviahappy.com/articles/welcome-to-the-net-every-webpage-from-the-1995-movie-the-net

Wildest dystopian cyberpunk movie ever made. In an underground dinosaur society once ruled by a benevolent fungal king and taken over by corrupt corporation developing trans-dino de-volution technology to control the masses, two sanitation engineers from Brooklyn become heros. To do so they must hack the mycelial network to find the lost king, survive an electric vehicle demolition derby style car chase, and save the princess.

The absolute best are rainy days without lightning in a place with some nature and privacy. I feel like dancing naked in the rain and being able to come back in to a dry house, a towel to dry yourself, a good book, and a hot tea, is a very rare experience these days. Thunderstorms are great too when you have safe shelter. But dancing naked in a thunderstorm feels a bit like tempting fate too much, which is thrilling too in a way but also I’ve got creatures inside depending on me staying safe.

I replied to a couple comments that they seemed to imply had been removed. We’ll see what happens. These were also comments in which they claimed reading was unhealthy, so I don’t expect much coherent discussion.

Is this the comment you claim got removed in the post edit?

Is this the comment you claim got removed? Maybe read up on the issues piefed seems to have.

“See you later.”

“Not if I see you first!”

That’s why I don’t delete contacts. I have a special voicemail black hole for the people I’m making a point to forget.

Common names of animals often describe phenotype not genotype. If it looks like a ducks, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s common name is duck. There are lots of animals with common names grouping them by physical characteristics and ecological niche rather than genetic relationship, especially animals named longed before we had any real scientific study of their genetics.

This is America. Cars, tactical gear, and military vehicles are cheaper than an employee with benefits like healthcare, workers comp insurance, etc. way way way cheaper.

I just wish it was more nuanced than good/up or bad/down. I really miss the old /. style of being able to classify how a comment added to the discussion or not (insightful, troll, offtopic, interesting, etc.). Not sure the implementation ever was perfect on /. either, but it FELT more meaningful, especially because the ability to vote wasn’t given to absolutely everyone on everything all the time. When I got the chance to vote, I tended to put some genuine thought into it. I’d like to think that meant less impulsive and reactionary voting and it was a constant reminder about what that site wanted you to value in a discussion.

“In a Sept. 15 article in Military Times, Hoover discussed possible reasons why younger veterans could have higher PFAS exposures. He noted that previous research has shown that firefighting foams used on bases, munitions, treated uniforms, and burn pits used to dispose of industrial waste may be involved.”

His family name was actually Drumpf. His immigrant grandfather Americanized it on or shortly after arriving in America.

I spent a little more to get the upgraded newest model of the android phone I’m currently typing this on, released in January 2021 and received by me in March. I had to replace my previous phone because the battery started to fail and it was failing behind in Android versions, meaning some newer apps could no longer be installed and some older apps could no longer be updated. Current phone still going strong, no signs of being any slower than it was originally. Mostly have used wireless charging and battery protection schemes in the OS, so USB port still works well and charges just fine either way. I feel like phones hit a performance plateau a few years ago and I see no reason for an “upgrade”. If my current phone needs to be replaced, I fully expect to be forced to pay more for less given the costs of memory these days. Previously I’d been basically forced to upgrade every 2 years because I always bought the contract special “free” phone and updates stopped or the battery pillowed.

It’s all about tense (past, present, future) and the idioms which leave out those implied verbs that indicate tense. You can still wish someone a good night as a form of greeting, but you’ll need to use those “extra” words to avoid the idiomatic expression. Saying good evening is just the common shortened idiomatic form.

I’ve had a tooth extraction or two before. The following advice is based on my memory and experience with that kind of surgery and being poor. I’m not a doctor. It’s highly negligent for the surgeon to abandon you over the weekend after a surgery.

You may not need pain meds beyond ibuprofen (you can take more than the recommended dose on the bottle for a short time). Acetaminophen is useless for treating the swelling and dental pain in my experience. Continue your other after care while you figure this out: rinse with warm salt water regularly, avoid foods with seeds, no drinking through a straw, apply ice packs regularly at intervals to keep the swelling down (ibuprofen will help with this also), whatever else they advised. Keeping the swelling down with ice packs, ibuprofen, and drinking cold water will do way more for your pain than whatever pain meds they prescribed. Sometimes I’d just keep a big glass of ice water nearby and hold the ice cold water in my mouth.

You will absolutely need the antibiotics ASAP though! Call a doctor, any doctor, urgent care, ER, whatever you have to do to get the antibiotics. I wouldn’t even mention the pain meds. When I’ve taken those pain meds, they did nothing for the pain in my mouth, but they did mean I didn’t notice bumping into a table and cutting my leg badly. And there is the non-zero chance that as soon as you mention painkillers, you’ll be labeled as drug seeking. Stay focused on the antibiotics, that’s the important med. Oral infections can go from “Do I have an infection?” to life threatening emergency in a surprisingly short time.

Fun fact, North Dakota (home of the idiot cop and criminally evil prosecutor) has a fewer people than the city of San Francisco in about 150,000 times the acreage. Put another way, there are about 268,000 people per electoral vote in North Dakota compared with about 728,000 people per electoral vote in California and about 670,000 people per electoral vote in Tennessee (home of the grandmother).

Hey now. Hillbillies are a proud Appalachian cultural tradition. The grandmother, being from Tennessee, might have been a hillbilly. And it might not have been an insult for her to self apply that label. The idiot cop and asshole prosecutor were in North Dakota.

Stating directly and unambiguously what you want while asking for consent at the same time is SO FUCKING HOT!

Frankly, even if I wasn’t into someone, they have my respect when they do this.