The concept of time and higher dimensions. I don’t understand the physics, but listening to others explain the concepts and spending time to think about it can keep me busy for hours
I always have such a hard time with the 4th dimension concept. (Not the time one though, the other one) Sometimes I grasp it for a bit and then minutes later I’ll be confused again.
I use LastPass because my company pays for it, I also export to all of my browsers because LastPass doesn’t fill or save passwords right on some sites and the browser auto fill works better. Sometimes that means I have to search a bit for the right password for an account, but the system works and I haven’t had a compromised password that was my fault in a long time since I use autogenerated passwords. As always 2FA the important accounts.
I’ve been going to the gym 2-4 times per week for about a year now. It’s a massive chore every single time and I don’t enjoy doing it but I do it for health benefits.
I do this too as a way to escape my thoughts. Meditation/mindfulness has helped in the past and it’s probably the healthiest solution. I don’t do that enough though…
Oooh as a communist… where to even start. Most of this is US/anglo centric…
Actually read fucking theory. Most of it was literally written for 19th century German factory workers with a third grade education who worked 16 hour shifts in the orphan crushing factory. When people say this it isn’t because they want to feel smart, it’s because you’re saying dumb shit that got litigated out in like the '60s and you sound like a moron.
This does not include “video essays” on “breadtube.” If I wanted something explained to me badly by a pedophile I’d join NAMBLA.
For the love of all that is holy, read something written after the second World War. Vast intellectual strides have been made in the past several decades. We do not need to relitigate the fucking Sino-Soviet split in the year of our Lord 2023. They both kinda fucking sucked. Read Debord. Read Tiqqun for all I care. But if I get handed one more Trotskyist zine I’m gonna fucking lose it.
Any modern communist party, especially in the imperial core, is probably dogshit. The IMT are sex abusers, PSL has terrible politics, and I’m not even gonna touch the western Maoists.
We are not in an era of resurgence for the Left. Comparing the intellectual and political influence of the Left in e.g. the '70s vs today is straight up depressing. The average SNCC/BPP member could run circles around 90% of Twitter “Leftists” while ripping a fat joint of the worst dirt weed known to man.
Anti-intellectualism is an extremely bad look. We should seek to deeply understand as much of the world as possible, not fall back on misunderstanding and anecdotes. That isn’t to say that the modern state of academia isn’t godawful, but forming opinions off screenshots of headlines does not lead to a coherent worldview.
For anarchists especially: stop fetishizing mob violence. “Death penalty without trial for alleged rapists!” is not a progressive opinion, and will give free reign to the worst elements in society.
Horizontal organization is not a panacea for State repression. While the BLM protests would have been more immune to COINTELPRO than was the BPP, it was dead easy for the government to shut them down through standard curfews and kettling because the whole thing was so goddamn disorganized.
While deplatforming is often effective as a tactic, it can easily be turned around on the Left. Big business is only your friend so long as it’s profitable, and will kick you off as soon as an advertiser complains about anti-landlord discrimination or some dumb shit.
Opposition to technology is also not a progressive viewpoint. It is important to separate a given technology from who owns it. Computing can be used to democratize production and allocate resources – the fact that it is primarily used to further the aims of the capitalist class is an implementation detail of the present economic system. Personally, I’m gonna keep taking aspirin even though it’s manufactured by Big Pharma.
“Shrill panic” is not a good tone, especially when your understanding of the facts is limited. Would Fred Hampton have had a meltdown on main because some junior state senator in Idaho proposed a piece of legislation that was clearly never going to make it to a vote? No? Ok so shut the fuck up then.
US pigs are terrible, but that isn’t a unique phenomenon. “Of course the French can protest that good, they don’t have US police!” sir the French police literally love beating protestors to within an inch of their life, you sound like an idiot.
It’s not enough to say “thing sucks.” You have to come up with something better. And that’s often fucking hard, but incredibly worthwhile.
I truly do have optimism that we can build a better world. Every once in a while, it shines through the cracks: kids partying in the street while cops look on powerless, a little old lady cheering from the window while marchers chant “fuck 12,” even a single trans person finding a community that accepts them wholeheartedly.
But damn do you internet mfs make it hard sometimes.
Not sure which game was first, but I have early memories of Tomb Raider, COD2 and Larry on a Win95 PC. My first used console was an PS2 while the first I owned was an original Xbox. My first used handheld an original GameBoy, with the Advance SP being the first I owned myself.
The oldest ones I used are different tho. I’m not that old but I went back to try a few older devices over the years.
For me there is no greater endorphin rush than listening to some really good bassey music and really pushing myself on a cardio machine
Rum & bass + rowing machine really got the adrenaline going for me, was actually comparable to being high for a period of time
Lifting weights is different but feels very good to see yourself in the mirror lifting something heavier than you’ve ever done before and you get addicted to chasing that feeling
I think part of the mindset is getting yourself to embrace the physical punishment and actively seek it out, couldn’t tell you exactly how to do that but for me a lot of the time knowing it’s going to be difficult will get me more excited now
Growing up, my bedroom faced a main road (even though it was a decent way aways), always want the bedroom window open. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
Some kind of Pong game. I was really little and it was my grandmother’s, so I don’t even remember what the actual unit looked like.
Then the Atari 2600 (my aunt’s), then the Atari 5200 (my grandmother’s - she was unstoppable at Pac-Man and could start from Cherry and work all the way up to nine keys without dying once).
Then there was the day we rented an NES. That day changed my life.
It was Super Mario Bros. Start the game. “Oh hey, the screen moves sideways! Good lord, this is a huge game.” Dies a bunch.Find pipe shortcut. “Oh wow!” Finally beat level 1-1. “Yay, I beat the game! Oh wait, World 1-2? WTF?!?!?”
It’s hard to explain the feeling when the most immersive game you’ve ever played was Pitfall.
The hottest I’ve been in was 117°F (47.2°C) when I lived in Las Vegas. Was actually slated for a 10 mile run that day, but it was mercifully cut down to 4 miles.
Coldest without windchill would be -35°F (-37°C), just a couple of winters ago. I’m surprised it’s not lower, not too far from here a city set the state record at -60°F (-51°C) not too long ago.
Yes, I now love taking exercise in most ways but I came to it quite late. Today for instance, as training for a sprint triathlon I’ve decided to to, I ran to the swimming pool, swam the required distance and then ran back. It felt great to be able to do it. Some bits of my body were sore but not in a bad way, just a reflection of the fact that I worked hard and accomplished something if not done before, it feels great.
A few years ago I downloaded a browser extension to stop showing me recommended videos, both on the homepage and on the side of videos. I can only watch what I’m subscribed to and what I search for - you’d think its a big sacrifice because you can’t discover as many videos, but in reality I’ve gained so much more of my time back and control over what I actually want to watch.
If silence is the real culprit you should try out a white noise generator, generally speaking it should overload/excite you less then music or human voices and could help you sleep faster.
Where I live silence during the night is not really an option, and I had had problems only when on vacation “away from civilization”, but small stuff like white noise, a fan or similar low but continuos sounds helped me out without asking for my attention (which happens with movies, music or similar).
There are even apps that simulate different kind of sound and let you mix them (like rain, birds, wind) but I didn’t have enough patience to really dig on this solution.
I enjoy it in that I find it helps me disconnect from work. Not even consciously, I just find after running for 40 minutes any lingering mental hangover from my office job are gone. It’s similar to what happens when doing volunteering or community work.
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