Whenever people call me an elitist, I am flummoxed. I am from a working class background, I am a product of public education my entire life, and I spend my free time creating a podcast that aims to make great books accessible to all for FREE.

Make them irrelevant > Hold a grudge

Holding a grudge is the easy thing to do.

But holding a grudge is not the right thing to do.

A grudge puts poison in your body & rewires your subconscious mind.

You consume the poison & destroy your reality while your attacker sleeps like a baby.

Just because.

Here's an interesting story about a man you've almost certainly heard of, think you know stuff about, but probably weren't taught any of the good, funny, ludicrous stuff that makes it really interesting.

It's long. You might hate it. I'll take that chance...

In 1588, Spain launched a huge fleet with the aim of overthrowing Elizabeth I and conquering England (sorry Britain, I'm taking about the "it's still just England" era).

At least in part, they did this to stop our pirates from being such a monumental pain in their arse...

As the 130 Spanish ships approached our coast, the English packed our most ancient and decrepit boats with junk, set them on fire, and shoved them into the Spanish lines.

The Armada scattered, and the weather took care of the rest, driving them towards the Dutch coast...

Thus, the great military achievement of the Elizabethan era was settled by a combination of a typical English summer, and an aquatic bin fire.

But somebody had to come out of it a hero, and that somebody was Sir Francis Drake...

The things you know about Drake are practically all false: he didn’t finish his game of bowls before being bothered to defeat the Spanish – that story didn’t appear until some 40 years after the events, and bad weather kept in in Plymouth: not fannying around with ball games...

I have now been sick with #longcovid for almost a year—below, some reflections on my convalescence. (1/10)

While remaining mostly functional, in many ways, I'm more sick in 2021 than I was in 2020. Two weeks ago, when I last felt well enough to walk outside, I managed only 0.7km before the post-exertional malaise came on: brain fog, fatigue, pain in my neck and arm. (2/10)

I was formerly a (somewhat) competitive distance runner. It's not that I'm ignorant of how to push my body, nor the consequences. During my first marathon, I pushed through hypoglycaemia, black and white vision, before having a seizure just over the finish line. (3/10)

Post-exertional malaise is different, sustained, worse. And it comes just as surely from over-doing it at work, or in researching long covid, as from exercise. I used to have so much energy. Where is that man I was just last year? I miss him. (4/10)

The closest I've come to death was in a single-vehicle accident in the remote Pilbara. In the air, in the desert, upside-down, I remember a moment of stillness, of acceptance, of simple knowing that my agency, at that moment, was subordinate to basic physics and biology. (5/10)

Let’s talk about hope & despair.

[THREAD]

Crank this up for the

1/ One of the more memorable—and frightening—lines from “Nineteen Eighty-Four” reads: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever.” In Orwell’s dystopia, resistance is futile. Big Brother wins, inevitably.

2/ I refuse to believe this applies to the USA in 2021. I won’t have it. I don’t care how much dirty money mobster spy psy-op disinformation data manipulation corporate MAGA Christofascist QAnon Fox News weapons these fuckers have in their arsenal. WE shall prevail. Not them.

3/ Is this second impeachment infuriating? Yes. Are Trump’s lawyers and his GOP lickspittles gaslighting us yet again? Yes. Does that mean that all hope is lost? Hell no.

4/ I’m hearing this w/r/t impeachment: “’Mueller is coming’ didn’t work out so well.” Can we parse that for a minute? Yes, we wanted Mueller to arrest ALL of them, and he didn’t—because he couldn’t. Rosenstein didn’t allow him to follow the money. Barr cockblocked the Report.

10 Types of Toxic People You Should Avoid in Life

=A THREAD BY WD=

1. The Manipulator

It’s one of the most seen toxic traits.

They pull time and energy out of your life.

Manipulators always want something from you,
They’ll do anything to win you over.

2. The Liar

If a person lies to you for the first time; forgive them. If a person lies to you for the second time, avoid them.

Never lie to someone who trusts you. Never trust someone who lies to you.

3. The Gossiper

“Great minds discuss ideas, average ones discuss events, and small minds discuss people.”

They also have an uncanny ability to put your success in danger.

Stay away from the gossip. They’re unkind, unproductive, and will hurt your chances for success.

4. The Envious

Envious people are jealous of your achievements, happiness, success, and the love you receive.

Keep an eye on such types of toxic people to avoid disturbance in your life.