Just keep going west until you meet a bunch of dudes wearing SPQR branded swag, they’ll be able to point you further

I’m guessing the point of the story is to motivate the discussion on the subject of knowing another beings’s experience. Unfortunately it’s written in the ancient Chinese philosophy style, very foreign to modern audiences. Maybe it sounds better in the original Chinese, idk.

It has the benefit of putting something in your mouth, and preserving the smoking ritual. Which is as important for many smokers as nicotine.
It’s not without reason that it became so popular in the few years since it went mainstream.

Memorizing things word for word is the best way to make kids hate literature.

It’s probably a good or at least historically important work but you will forever hate it because of the way you were taught.

D-ticket was well intentioned but a bad idea from the start. Discalimer: not a German and I only used it once (well twice because it was impossible to buy just one month)

The administrative overhead of centrally gathering all the funds and then portioning them to individual agencies must be hell. And according to what criteria? It makes the responsibility for funding even more murky than it is. Regional tickets also have to keep existing so it means the entire old ticketing system must remain functional even though few people are using it.

Germany led the way on tariff integration with it’s “Verkehrsverbund”. The difference being that service planning and ticketing were done by the same agency. Involving the central government doesn’t seem like a good idea, sooner or later national politics will start influencing local transit.

There’s also a common problem of no career path for politicians after holding some of the higher offices. It’s either be reelected or elected to a higher position. I think it’s more or less present in most countries.
It’s especially obvious with US presidents, none of them held any other office after being president. Even previous younger ones.

Americans desperate after missing out on the best presidential candidate

I strongly suspect the modern “spectrum” is just grouping and labeling certain personality profiles that have always existed in roughly similar proportions. Meaning that it’s not the proportion that is increasing, it’s that we chose to define certain combinations of human traits as ASD.

On the whole this labeling is probably useful since more people will get the support they need. But the point of delineation is mostly arbitrary.

It’s very human to want interaction with other humans, we’re a social species.

In the case of social media the protocol is a little different than in 1-1 interactions. Everyone broadcasts their thoughts, and reacts to the thoughts of others, also in the form of a broadcast. It’s no more or less valid than other communications contexts. And not new either, technology just made it more efficient and available to everyone.

Those reviews made me feel better when it eventually happened to me personally. It was a sugar-free nutella-like spread. I should have known better. At least the time on the toilet passed faster because I remembered the gummy bear reviews, they made for an appropriate reading

decided to use ice cubes from the ice they just drilled for their whisky

And this is how you get a weird parasite that was frozen in ice for 100k years

4. Concur

For half a second there I thought it was a reference to SAP Concur. But we’re talking about hard problems, not impossible ones

Democracies definitely.

In dictatorships you will have proportionally more money and power, but your options are limited. The only way forward is sucking up to the dictator, and if there’s ever a change your life is in danger. Also regular people hate you so you need security every time you go out.

In democracies you have freedom of movement, personal safety and many options how to exercise your influence without being in constant fear.

Caveat: I’m considering my own criteria of “quality of life”. For many elites dominating over others is the goal, and they willing to sacrifice personal safety and potentially own life in order to get it.

This one is especially harmless

the last recorded instance of an MP taking snuff was in 1989, when 1.5 ounces (43 g) was taken at a cost of 99p

On a dedicated chair set aside just for that

It just struck me that Saint Nicholas had probably never seen a reindeer in his life

“Looking french” is an amazing example of this. French people can have skin tone ranging from the palest of white to the darkest brown, yet when you see them they are unmistakably French.

Well, according to chronically online Americans race is when you speak, dress, eat, and behave in a certain way

The entire first chapter of the Communist Manifesto is practically a grudging praise of capitalism. It even makes Marx’s attack on capitalism in the same document sound somewhat hollow.

And what about Ghibelline mayor?

/s (sorry it was too tempting)