greenglass

O-rings are known to fail.

Ev are only part of a solution. The energy must come from somewhere and it’s not going to be wind/solar unless something miraculous happens in renewable energy. Europe like California is ditching nuclear while paying lip service to climate change. They are either dishonest or falling into magical thinking.

HMO so yes, costs are a factor. But it was a small cost relative to repeated doctor visits, hospital costs, etc… MRI for massive HMO are not $5000 due to economies of scale. The dr in this case was angry because the MRI revealed brain tumors which needed to be monitored.

I don’t see how we can transition off of fossil fuels without them becoming prohibitively expensive. Unaffordable gas is exactly what our politicians have chosen when declaring all new cars in 2030 will be electric. It is by design. Sort of silly that there’s now this pearl clutching about expensive gas. Even more absurd to see the left attack Elon who is the person doing the most to make their policies actually work. Imagine California getting rid of gas burning vehicles without Tesla. Ridiculous. And if that weren’t bad enough, with 8% and rising inflation California’s genius leader wants to send everyone (presumably even jailed convicts) gift cards to buy more gas! Can’t make this stuff up.

Could having doctors refuse to run diagnostics also lead to anxiety? It has for me personally but I may not be the typical patient. Some people want zero information about medical issues. They just want to leave all of it to the doctors, no desire to research their condition or understand the details; just trust the doc. I am the sort of person if my mechanic tells me I need an expensive repair, I want to know why. Once I had a dr tell me that I was wrong to feel less anxiety after getting an abnormal brain scan, than I would have felt had I not had the scan at all. It was an absurd conversation and very clear to me that the dr was more invested in his opinion on the matter than he was in listening to my reasons why the scan was reassuring to me. It was an mri, so no radiation. But he insisted that my anxiety would be worse having had the scan than if I hadn’t. A bizarre moment. Anyway, maybe doctors sometimes get too stuck on their own opinions and don’t fully appreciate that there are more than one type of patient? Some people like to change their own oil, some do not. Doctors may also underrate the anxiety of having no clear diagnosis when life changing problems occur. One size fits all mentality is probably wrong.

I was not suggesting the opposite, by any means. But I am not sure I agree with your statement either. I won’t even get into hunter Biden’s Ukrainian business dealings and I agree the blame is technically all on Putin, who is an evil madman, maybe even literally going insane from cancer or paranoia or something.

But flooding Ukraine with cash and weapons, with zero oversight or public debate should concern people. It all seems a bit poorly managed, something that most intelligent people now agree is the overarching theme of the current administration. Dropping buckets of cash aid and weapons — 20 billion here, 40 billion there — will probably do more than intended. It usually does. We love regime changing the world, spreading American style peace and democracy, typically with an unwarranted optimism about the outcome. Let’s hope things go better this time.

Why would they be motivated to do that?

If I were Ukraine, I would do all I could to exacerbate global food shortages.

If I were the United States, I might consider how massive aid packages interact with various incentives along these lines.

Supposedly the aid is help get around the sea blockade. Every cost is a negotiation.

I love a lot of modern Art, but I do feel Picasso is both way overrated and simultaneously a bit under appreciated. I think this is true of most of the big names in modern art. “Meme art” if you will. Some of it is deserving, but most of it is going to lose value over the next century, by a lot, and that will be a good thing for Art and for artists.

Really wish there was an easy way to short sell art. Artists themselves are pretty good at judging this stuff, but the market can stay irrational a long time.

For those dealing with chronic pain, insomnia and other debilitating conditions, these people offer a lot that cannot be achieved through other means. Opiates or benzodiazepines are more readily available, and preferred by mainstream medicine, but they too can alter one’s life. Anything can alter one’s life if you think about it.

Libraries are free so no. And, the selection is wider and better given the historical economics of literature vs streaming (steaming?) content production.

Stop watching so much tv! Piracy is one thing, but wasting your life watching all of those “must have shows” makes it sound like your brain has been co-opted by the content producers. Maybe put down the remote and pick up a book?

Can you point me to any good quantitative research on astrology? Steelman style treatment, preferably. I haven’t actually looked into astrology with much seriousness. I worry that I might be like one of those people who dismiss economics because of envy or some other weird psychological mechanism. It sounds like you might have some information to share?

The people who have popularized meditation in the west, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzburg, Joseph Goldstein, zinn, all come at it from the Buddhist tradition.

It’s a useful approach for treating various medical problems. Anything, even nothing, can cause psychosis.