For all of the doom and gloom of that view of the big picture, I do see a lot of beauty and good in the little things. That’s where I like to focus most of my energy.

It’s not like everybody woke up one day and “ah shit, everything’s fucked! How the hell did that happen. This is unprecedented!” The scale and tools might be new, but that’s about it.

The problem is that “continue on as normal” basically means to continually get progressively worse. Greed and oppression will increase. Division and bigotry will keep growing. Science and logic will be ignored or manipulated by those seeking power. This will ultimately culminate in some sort of horrifically deadly breaking point. Then we reset a little bit and start the cycle all over again and again until the humans go extinct.

I know that this is an incredibly pessimistic take, but that’s my view of current events.

My sister-in-law was diagnosed a couple of years ago. It has only improved the quality of her life by allowing her to work with her doctor on a treatment plan that has mitigated the health issues she used to struggle with.

She is currently looking at going for a PhD in the field of her chosen career.

Are you advocating tags for all inflections of verbal speach or just sarcasm?

You aren’t necessarily wrong. Have you ever seen Friends without a laugh track?

I’ve got a 20 year old Gmail account that I use when I need to sign up for something.

Usually in this order

1. Subscribed - New
2. All - New
3. All - Active or Hot (not really sure what the difference is between those two)
4. All - Top 12 hours

Invictus by William Ernst Henley

When I was younger I clung to it’s message of perseverance. It ended up being the first poem that I ever memorized.

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul.

Ride share is very popular and it offers a similar service to what most people expect from self driving cars.

I think that the majority of people want a vehicle for transportation and those who want a car for recreation are a minority.

Have you tried contacting them with questions about issues that concern you?

For me, it would essentially need to be a TARDIS.

Whenever I think of immortality I immediately go to the end of all other life and the idea of knowing that I would eventually be doomed to an inescapable existence of total isolation. Long before that, but hundreds of years from now, I am sure that I would go literally insane with boredom. I need to know that there will always be something new, different, and interesting. A TARDIS would allow me to go anywhere, anytime, with anyone.

I also fear eternal life in some preeminent imprisonment, either some form of external confinement, like being trapped at the bottom of the ocean by the crushing weight of the water around me, some form of locked-in syndrome. A TARDIS could operate on its own to save me from such a fate.

If eternity ever becomes too much, a TARDIS would also give some options to potentially end my existence.

The phrase “diversity hire” implies that they were not hired for their abilities. It attacks the person looking for a job rather than one making the hiring decision. So yes, it is a slur.

The purpose of phrases like “diversity hire” is to dehumanize and marginalize without ever having to learn anything about the person you don’t like and you won’t bring about inclusion by embracing those tactics, but it is noticed and called out, but it is done as a conversation and against the individual doing the hiring, not against a group of people who were hired and did nothing wrong.

At least that has been my experience.

I dream most nights, though the dreams themselves very rarely make it into my long term memory and are forgotten within minutes of waking up.

Sadly, no. I think most people are apathetic about anything that does not immediately and directly impact themselves. Evil doesn’t need much more than that to thrive. Meanwhile, good requires active participation, selflessness, and continual vigilance to thrive.

Judging by the number of people who cannot literally lift a finger to make roads a safer place through the use of turn signals, I don’t hold much hope for humankind, as a whole, to put in the continual effort to quash “evil”.

For me, it’s a 3 way tie between Tusk, Teeth, and Boxing Helena

Granted. A loud voice, only you can hear, starts to answer every question you have ever had. Questions you never really cared about. Questions you never really wanted answered. Questions you don’t even remember having. All answered in maticulous details, often going so deep into historical or scientific details that new questions pop into your mind no matter how much you try to stop them. Not that it even matters. You no longer want the answers that relentlessly come, one after the other, with no context nor pause. It all becomes nonsensical noise that won’t stop. The voice booms through your head, drowning out all other sounds. Preventing you from holding down a job, communicating with others, or even sleeping. All you want is a moment of silence, a chance to sleep. You wonder if there is any way to stop your slide further into insanity. But you don’t have to wonder. You’ve already been told the answer. You know how to make it stop.