The analysis revealed distinct shifts in the brain’s topology following alcohol consumption. When participants drank alcohol, their brains moved toward a more “grid-like” state. The network became less random and more clustered.
This investigation provides a nuanced view of acute intoxication. It moves beyond the idea that alcohol simply “dampens” brain activity. Instead, it reveals that alcohol forces the brain into a segregated state. Information gets trapped in local cul-de-sacs rather than traveling the superhighways of the mind.
the whole foundation of capitalism is human trafficking
the gist from Ed Baptist’s book: The Half Has Never Been Told
Europeans refused to accept any other commodity for the goods they traded with African people except slaves. So while the slave trade existed prior to this time, Europeans intensified the demand. Enslaved people were stored in factories on the coast after they were kidnapped while they waited to be transported across the Atlantic. Different trading companies “branded” people with their logo.
Insurance arose out of a need to secure the cargo of slave ships.
Then once people arrived in the New World it became about extracting as much work out of people (maximizing productivity) before they dropped dead. In order to make sure the return on investment was high enough.
We still use the same system and language in modern capitalist context. Enslaved people weren’t simply the labor, they also became the capital that the entire system was built on too. ‘I work at a historic site that was a former plantation. It was originally purchased using two men, Levon & Sam as the collateral for the loan. In 1865, the 23 people enslaved there were worth more than the land.’
The entire system depends on having an exploitable source of labor.
Politics and the English Language
Community building through single use facilities like parking structures. $82 million at a time
A significant milestone discussed at the Mayor’s luncheon was the City of Barrie’s reacquisition of the former Central High School lands, now referred to as the Central Site.
The property was purchased by the city for $22 million, and the first project planned for the site will be a purpose-built parkade. The parking structure is expected to:
Provide approximately 450 parking spaces
Carry an estimated construction cost of $60 million
Support downtown businesses, events, post-secondary expansion, and future developments
City officials described the project as a key piece of downtown infrastructure needed to support ongoing revitalization efforts.
How words are reinvented in 1984 Reduction of vocabulary (Newspeak):
Words are eliminated so people literally lack the language to think rebellious thoughts. If a word doesn’t exist, the idea becomes harde, or impossible to conceive.
Redefinition of words: Existing words are given new, often opposite meanings.
Freedom disappears as a concept. Good becomes good, plusgood, or doubleplusgood, no nuance, no critique.
Elimination of nuance and complexity:
Words that allow shades of meaning, skepticism, or analysis are removed, flattening thought.
Contradictory slogans (Doublethink):
Language is used to normalize contradiction: War is Peace Freedom is Slavery Ignorance is Strength
People are trained to accept these as true simultaneously.
Euphemism and sanitization: Brutal realities are softened with neutral or positive language, distancing people from violence and oppression.
The core idea By controlling language, the Party controls thought itself. The goal isn’t just to lie, it’s to make certain thoughts unthinkable.
about Tim Apple
Tim Cook became Tim Cook because he knew how to glad-handle authoritarians and their lickspittles in China to secure a rock solid supply chain. Is it so surprising that such a person would rely on the same well of skills when the winds of change have occurred here? They called him a savvy business genius for his efforts abroad, but a lapdog to evil when it’s here. Perhaps we’re the ones with the perception problem.
How Ferrari’s F1 Team Improved Medical Care for Children
Observing the pit crew, the GOSH doctors noted the value of process mapping, process description, and trying to work out what people’s tasks should be.
The lollipop man is the one who waves the car in and coordinates the pit stop. He maintains overall situation awareness during the pit stop. In the old hospital handover there was no one like the lollipop man so it was unclear who was in charge.
https://kottke.org/25/12/how-ferraris-f1-team-improved-medical-care-for-children
It’s so easy to love you
the paradox of tolerance
If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.
We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal.
Karl Popper
Trying not to be a total asshole in public can have a trickle-down effect too
Watching your words and how they might affect people around you is a pro-social exercise that should be encouraged in every facet of modern life.
Probably there is more self censoring than ever today. People happily consuming oceans of fascist propaganda have left us no choice.