when I was a teenager, the dominant criticism my closest friends had of me was that I was too arrogant, and they were right. I was too caustic, abrasive, eager to nitpick, quick to criticize, and I was way too certain of myself. I spent my entire 20s trying to correct for this

the social niceties stuff were relatively trivial for me to address. learning to be gracious, patient, I could manage all of that. But "too certain of oneself" goes order of magnitudes deeper. It goes into philosophical territory about risk, certainty, the nature of knowledge

I very seriously experimented with beliefs like "almost everything I know is wrong to a degree I do not understand", "my mental models are contaminated beyond repair", "I have been indoctrinated and need to be deradicalized", I subjected myself and my mind to radical rewrites

Over 8+ years I wrote over 800,000 words of introspective journaling, investigating my own mind, investigating the investigator. I read & talked to thousands of people from around the world to seek out different ways of thinking, seeing, being, believing, knowing, understanding

I tried to think of myself as a robot that needed debugging. I actually made substantial progress with that

I tried to think of myself as a garden that needed tending. I made substantial progress with that

I tried not to think of myself at all, and I transcended progress itself

Undoubtedly there is going to be a lot of conversation surrounding the new viral variants. This is me being completely transparent when I say this: please don’t panic. The most important thing we can do is prevent the virus from spreading. Let me elaborate.

It will take a large amount of genetic diversity to completely render these vaccines useless. These mutations have not been able to alter the S protein’s shape to the extent that the vaccine-induced antibodies provided by these vaccines are not able to bind at all.

Remember these vaccines (especially these using the whole spike protein) make polyclonal antibody responses. This means that the antibodies created will be able to bind the Coronavirus’ spike in multiple places not just one. Hence a broader range of protection even with changes.

We have many tools to prevent the virus from spreading. Physical barriers (masks), social distancing, and proper hand hygiene. We also have effective vaccines that need to be used immediately. We want and need more protected people and fewer susceptible people. Simple as that.

If the virus doesn’t spread it doesn’t mutate. It needs us, as a host, and our cells to do this. If we don’t give it that, it can’t spread nor mutate. With the vaccines, if the neutralizing activity of vaccine sera goes down too much the vaccines can be replaced and modified.

i hate that the school/covid situation is framed as 'reopen schools.' schools ARE open. schools ARE meeting, daily. teachers are working their asses off to make online teaching work. schools. are. open.

the question is when can schools meet in person and start face to face learning.

when you frame it as 'face to face learning' or 'in person learning' it exposes what the REAL problem is. face to face/in person shit is NOT OK RIGHT NOW.

and with that we get the entire avalanche of real problems. some kids are NOT adjusting to online learning well. some kids need resources that online learning can't give. all human beings need to be around other human beings.

AND--it's not safe to be around other human beings in enclosed rooms right now. AND there's variants running rampant throughout our communities and those variants THRIVE in out of control rampant conditions. AND we're on our way to losing 500,000 people to this crap.

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "I want to update Parliament on Cabinet’s review of the current lockdown restrictions which took place this morning."

NS: "Let me confirm at the outset that - with one limited exception - I will not be announcing any immediate changes to the current lockdown restrictions."

NS: "The core stay at home requirement will remain in place until at least the beginning of March - and possibly for a further period beyond that although not for any longer than is absolutely necessary."

NS: "I will however confirm that the phased and gradual return to school that I said we were hopeful about when I updated Parliament two weeks ago will go ahead as planned from Monday."

NS: "I will say more about this - and about the importance of carefully implementing and monitoring it - later.

In addition, I will give an assessment of the current state of the pandemic."

18 First Date Rules that'll improve your results with women

1. Never compliment her appearance even if she asks

2. Avoid saying anything outside a brief interesting story about yourself and simple questions for her

3. Let her do most of the talking my brother

4. Never lie. You don't have to answer every question directly.

it's really hard to explain to people who don't live here how incredibly jarring it was to see the events unfold yesterday, not just because the events themselves were shocking, but because it completely upends the entire psychic geography of this place

fortress DC is, it turns out, a complete myth. and one that for the last 20 years we've been increasingly asked to put up with for... no reason at all?

and the response to this is going to be to double-down. to believe in the myth even harder! to give up more under the promise that that's what's needed

I biked through the capitol complex and past the white house everyday for 5 years. yesterday, with totally insane confidence, I said to my wife 'oh, those assholes will get fucked up if they mess with USCP. Those guys don't fuck around!'

because they don't fuck around... to a random bicyclist who strays slightly off the approved path. Or to someone with a bottle opener on their keychain. Or one of the million other reasons people who live here are routinely and pointlessly harassed

1/6. Are those noisy Punjabis at Delhi’s gates “rich farmers?” The average monthly income of a farm household (avg. 5.24 persons) in that state was Rs. 18,059. Or a monthly per capita income of Rs. 3,450. (NSS 70th Round). Story link at end of thread.
#FarmersProtests

2/6. In Haryana: Farm household avg. 5.9 persons. Avg. monthly income Rs.14,434 or Rs. 2,450 per capita. That’s income from ALL sources: cultivation, livestock, wages/ salaries, non-farm businesses. Gee! Such wealth. What a ball these folks must be having.
#FarmersProtests

3/6. Sure they’re better off than farmers in, say, Gujarat: Farm household avg. 5.2 persons, Avg. monthly income Rs. 7,926 (or Rs. 1,524 per capita). All India average: farm household 5.1. Avg. monthly household income Rs. 6,426. Per capita barely Rs. 1,300
#FarmersProtests

4/6. Please remember that the government has pledged to double farmers’ incomes by 2022 – 12 months from now. A herculean task. That’s what makes the disruptive interference of the Rihannas and Thunbergs all the more annoying.
#FarmersProtests

5/6. It only affects Punjab-Haryana, say the experts. Funny. When last verified by a committee not appointed by the Supreme Court, both Punjab and Haryana were a part of the Indian Union. You’d think what happens there matters to all of us.
#FarmersProtests

A thread of appreciation for Gloria Purvis:

This past year, I was blessed to be in dialogue with many people within the Academy and the US Catholic Church. I mean no offence to anyone, but, amongst them all, Gloria Purvis was easily the most edifying and impressive. She soared.

I had never met nor spoken to Gloria before my interview with her. I sent a few prompts and questions beforehand to show respect and honesty, but we did not agree to anything too formal in terms of the conversation or content of the interview. We had a time set and that’s it.

The moment the Zoom call connected, we got started, with no chit chat. I felt bad initially for this oversight, but she took to it like a duck to water. I opened asking about framing the conversation around anti-Black white supremacy, citing Du Bois. She took flight.

Not only did she accept the frame, she extended it, citing a far less known, and more radical, essay by Du Bois, weaving it into common associations like Our Lady of Guadalupe. She did this with great enthusiasm, but also humility and even a certain pressure on my chosen source.

Seeing this range in her very first response, I realized I needed to dig deeper. Every move I made she accepted on its own terms but then extended and enriched and even subtly challenged or subverted with great joy. But none of this was even the most impressive part for me.

🚨PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST FEMALE EXPLOITATION.🚨

Here are some of my BEST points from The Sexcalation System.

1) "TREAT A WOMAN AS SHE ACTUALLY IS - NOT AS YOU WISH SHE WAS."

👉 Must read for all men who want to completely UNFUCK THEIR SEX LIFE FOR 2021.

[THREAD]👇

2) "The truth is that women are lonely, insecure, sad and bored out of their fucking minds.

They need a COOL GUY to come into their life and save them from themselves.

THAT COOL GUY IS YOU."
👇

3) "One day you will be dead; before that happens live life to the fullest.

A life of playing it safe like a timid soy boy is not a life worth living."

👇

4) "THE GAME IS 100% LEARNABLE.

Did you know that 10% of men get 90% of the women?"

👇

5) "Don’t be a sheep. Think for yourself.

Don’t mindlessly do what the current culture of the times tells you to do.

Don’t be another sheep conforming to the masses."

👇

I'm posting this paper because poor medical communication this year has resulted in a distrust in science. To improve vaccine uptake we need to understand what works and what doesn't.

Increasing Vaccination: Putting Psychological Science Into

Vaccination is one of the great achievements of the 20th century, yet persistent public-health problems include inadequate, delayed, and unstable vaccination uptake.

Psychology offers three general propositions for understanding and intervening to increase uptake where vaccines are available and affordable. The first proposition is that thoughts and feelings can motivate getting vaccinated.

Hundreds of studies have shown that risk beliefs and anticipated regret about infectious disease correlate reliably with getting vaccinated; low confidence in vaccine effectiveness and concern about safety correlate reliably with not getting vaccinated.

We were surprised to find that few randomized trials have successfully changed what people think and feel about vaccines, and those few that succeeded were minimally effective in increasing uptake. The second proposition is that social processes can motivate getting vaccinated.

@6loss I think Stallman's politics is left and libertarian (where libertarian is "extreme liberal"). The intuition most of us had originally is that with enough freedom, the good drives out the bad. As you know, I think we might be discovering that that is "wrong" in some sense ... \1

But it's still a viable and attractive intuition.

And, yes, the GPL etc. is built on that. So freedom is more important than trying to constrain people to do good.
\2

Furthermore ... pragmatically, this appeal to pure freedom clearly engages and recruits more people than if Stallman had tried to use GPL to enforce his own wider political views. You have "right-libertarians" (ESR, or Lessig) on-board with GPL. \3

Finally, I think there is a question whether you could legally codify and enforce restrictions on use. GPL is all about hacking existing copyright law and its definition of "derivative". Because derivation is a well established legal idea, that bit is "easy". \4

Obviously other things like CC or GPL Affero start putting more restrictions (Eg. non-commercial, or "can't use the software on a server without sharing") which push the envelope a bit. I'm sure others have tried to put restrictions eg. "can't use for military" into licenses \5

Ram Mandir, Donation or Extortion : A thread

These saffron clad people came to my home and my dad being himself asked these extortionists for their details when they stepped inside my house, to which they harshly said they were Karsevaks, while asking my dad his name, gotra etc.

My dad not wanting to invite trouble took a 200 rupee note out to get rid of them, to which they refused and said they don't even have a receipt for less than ₹1000, and people were donating lakhs, trying to shame him.

My father countered by saying if it was a donation he'll give whatever he wants and that he was an educated person who could sense if it was not a genuine donation drive.

To which they harshly said : "Parhe likhe nahin hain tab hi toh Laal Qile jaise kaand ho jaate hain"

And noted down our house number and left without taking the donation, in a manner that seemed like a subtle threat.

All the extortion going on is going to be used for funding of Saffron Clad Riot Causing Local Militia, which will next terrorize your own neighborhood. Mark this

These saffron clad men won't even cut a receipt for less than a Rs 1000, they don't miss a single house, no one dares ask a question if they're legitimate out of the fear of being marked as an "anti-national" or not hindu enough in front of their neighbors.

Breaking News Here a must see confession from a paid actor in tonight’s fresco playing everywhere @SidneyPowell1 @realDonaldTrump @GenFlynn @CodeMonkeyZ @LightworkerCain @Thomas1774Paine @BlancoSombrero @Qanon76 @VincentCrypt46 @Hulkanator11

Some preliminary thoughts and questions about policing. All thoughts welcome, but especially thoughts from professional police officers, criminologists, sociologists, and people who've studied policing around the world:

I take as given that we need the police and will need them so long as the human species remains recognizably human. For any population x, some percentage will be dangerous predators, and without the police, we'll all be the prey.

We need the police. In principle, everyone should feel grateful to the men and women who do the difficult and dangerous work of finding and apprehending predators and bringing them before a court of law.

Yet in practice, it seems there's an immense public uneasiness with the police that it by no means confined to the US. The attacks on the police yesterday in France shocked and disgusted me. There's no possible justification for it.

Yet it's important to understand what the perpetrators were telling themselves about why they sought to kill the men who in principle protect them. The scenes represented a breakdown of some kind in both public trust and public discipline.

Astrology in Tibet and its influences, follow the thread below:

1. Tibetan Astrology is a diverse and complex phenomenon. Tibet, as an ancient kingdom of monarchical regime before the invasion and Chinese domination in itself, was isolated due to its location inaccessible by the predominantly mountainous relief.

2. Tibet received many influences from other peoples, as it was parallel to the "Silk Road", which went from Europe (in the Italic Peninsula), crossed the Mediterranean, and reached China. It received a predominant influence from Vedic culture due to Buddhism and, amalgamating +

3. the local shamanic culture and its local religion later suppressed to conversion (the ancient Bön, currently the tradition "Yungdrung Bön"), also incorporated Chinese elements of Astronomy, Astrology and Medicine Traditional Chinese.

4. The fact is that, roughly speaking, Tibetan Astrology is not unified, but composed of three systems that work in parallel:

Hello new followers! Can I introduce you to some of @RSF_inter’s other priority cases? They all deserve much more attention and support! Thread.

#DaphneCaruanaGalizia was a courageous Maltese journalist assassinated by a car bomb near her home in October 2017. More than three years on, there’s still been no justice for Daphne or the extensive corruption she had uncovered. Some background here:

We are working to support her family’s campaign for #JusticeforDaphne. Follow @daphnefdtn, her sons @mcaruanagalizia, @acaruanagalizia & @pcaruanagalizia, her sisters @Corinne_Vella & @MandyMallia, and her niece @meg_mallia. @TheShiftNews is also an excellent resource.

For the best overview, listen to #DaphneCaruanaGalizia’s son @pcaruanagalizia’s incredibly moving podcast, My Mother’s Murder.

Christopher Allen was a 26 year-old freelance journalist, and dual US/UK national, who was killed covering the civil conflict in South Sudan in August 2017. More than three years on, there’s still been no investigation and no justice.

1. Sat. 16 Jan. Rumor Mills Situation Report:

Conservative MP calls for nationwide rollout of vitamin D tablets, a Spanish region saw an 82% drop in covid deaths after handing out vitamin D.