Elliot @Elmkast@refactorcamp.org

What's going to happen in 2019?

Almost every "life hack" is worthless in comparison to the difference a good haircut makes.

Obviously in human terms, beginnings and endings are very real. But even then it's impossible to specify a moment where, for example, the Soviet Union "ended".

Do beginnings and endings actually "exist"? My (very) limited understanding is that no, they don't.

There was never a moment where something didn't exist at all, and then suddenly existed.

Nothing has ever not been moving, and then suddenly was.

if bezos wealth was literally just divided among 3 mid tier no name billionaires people would be wayyyy less engaged about it lol

I am someone who feeds on adventure and uncertainty. For better or for worse.

So it feels like a bit of a contradiction that I'm so attached to daily habits for a feeling of security.

Intuitively it seems like a good idea to occasionally break habits just for the sake of it. Rut-proofing, or something.

But often what happens is I just lean hard on other habits to pick up the slack.

Had kind of a staggering realization this evening that one of my close friends is being emotionally abused by his partner. If anyone has any reading that they would like to share on the subject I would be really grateful.

I also feel terrible that I didn't see it sooner.

montrealers using "y'all" in place of "vous" have my heart

"some guy did a bad thing to make money" is not an indictment of money

the way young people talk about capitalism is such a failure of education

not that "not being angry" is necessarily virtuous, angry people have gotten a lot of shit done in the world

but it's increasingly feeling at-odds with how id like to approach problems

i don't really struggle with anger myself, i can't remember the last time i was actually angry

today in the elevator a classmate was like "--politician-- is a piece of shit" and he said with so much vitrol

instinctively my brain went off like "avoid this guy"

anger is energy i am trying to avoid in 2019

It's unlikely that an answer to your original question will actually come to you, but this is a great method for finding patterns in your thinking that may be distorting the issue.

> state question in the way that you most commonly think about it

> examine every word and look for "deeper questions" based on your phrasing

> make a gradually unfolding list of questions, resist the temptation to actually answer any of them

> continually try to rephrase questions with who what where when why. (you might realize that a "why" question is more of a "who" question

I just tried "unfolding" a personal question which has been bothering me for a while - idea came from this excellent post:
https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/08/10/questions-are-not-just-for-asking/

it was incredibly eye-opening and I'm beginning to think that this is 90% of what therapists do

I'm looking for interesting telegram or slack groups!

Learning InDesign like the back of my hand has been an excellent use of time.

Under what conditions may someone believe that they are a good person?

The good news is that we don't have to choose - we can do that and other things at the same time. But it does mean that when we get a chance to pass major climate legislation, we should focus on the "big-ticket items".

And in this sense I agree with Noah that helping other countries to modernize without skyrocketing their emissions should be out #1 goal.

seems to me that we should really just make a list in ranked order of the most effective things we can do to reduce emissions.

I'm an urbanist as much as anyone else but getting even 50 million Americans car-free probably does very little from a global perspective.