Phoenix

Thanks, @Timberwolf. @hirondelle, on a couple of my podcasts there's been a lot of discussion recently on the move away from reporting into opinion in popular media. I do tend to avoid those persons that are simply contrarians-for-hire or otherwise out there for shock value (Rush Limbaugh, Louise Mensch come to mind). I try to focus on those who do the actual reporting. I'm still bummed because Chris Arnade left twitter, and I don't blame him--when you don't fit neatly into partisan politics, you get it from both sides. I'm not familiar with the other two names, but I've seen some of Milo, and while I do think he has some fair criticisms about social activism on the left, I have little patience for someone with hate speech towards any group.

Just rediscovered The Cranberries, checking out covers of "Zombie."

I didn't think about it until just now, but if anyone wants to follow me on twitter, I'm @tradesofjack. If anyone else here is an active twitter user, I'll gladly follow you.

Depression and anxiety together really are such a brutal combination. But it's great to savor those good moments!

I had a bad day yesterday too. Something in the air maybe? Now I want ice cream. What sucks is I've been good about keeping my binge foods out of the house, and I've been so depressed that I found something I don't normally binge on anyway. So not only did I get that same post-binge self-loathing, the gratification during the binge was like a 4 out of 10. It's like deciding to hook up with an ex and the sex turns out to be not nearly as good as you were hoping.

I'll pick it off if it's on there, but some of it's going to melt in there while cooking and bleh. I don't like sweet tasting pizza. There's a place here that does a great thin crust (I normally don't like thin crust) but their sauce is far too sweet for my taste. They do put corn on pizza in Japan, though, and I'm fine with it. In any case, pineapple is not a dealbreaker for me like anchovies. Can't even pick those off, all that salty fishiness gets into the cheese and everything.

Textile manufacturers, too. Make marijuana easier to grow and hemp production goes up. They don't get as much attention, but they are also in the lobby. There's been talk amongst progressive circles about a nationwide work stoppage but I'd honestly be surprised to see it happen.

Yeah, I read this a few years ago and it's driving me nuts. Between him and Martin I'm starting to think I shouldn't start reading series that aren't already finished. That first book was so great--I love the idea of magic schools, and the only other book I've read that has it is, of course, Stone of Tears. Problem is that was mostly complaining and defiance on the student's part. That's an interesting voice for book audio. Blizzard just put a pretty good audio drama recently for Warcraft, too.

Hah, I actually liked pre-religion Dukat. Third episode of Discovery was much better. I'm sold on watching more. I already like the captain.

Well, I suppose I should add that my libido was through the roof as well (even for me). My friends do suspect it could be another sign, so I'll be looking for that going forward too.

Yesterday was a pretty shitty day at large, and while I don't think I'm directly affected by such things, it probably doesn't help my depressive episode. I do put a little stock into the concept of a global consciousness after all. Just a small note here since there was reaction to the media coverage--the coverage might have been a bit unusual as there was already a lot of out-of-town media around for OJ Simpson's parole. Competition tends make media coverage here less, well, ethical.

Yeah, I was thinking of using the N4 exam materials there as an option. I'll just have to not be very hard on myself if I go that route, as my textbook isn't geared specifically toward the JLPT.

Things just got worse for your boys too, you're going to have to face The Biscuit!

One thing I didn't mention is that my depressive episodes tend to sneak up on me. I don't actually realize I'm depressed until I've been down for days. In an effort to try to head these off, I've been told to identify signs of being depressed, and not enjoying things is one of them. Today I'm in a full-blown episode. I'm so hesitant to draw causation so quickly, but it really does seem like this is a clear indicator. It's been several times now that I've had the lack of interest start a few days before an episode hit.

That's something I noticed when using a calorie tracker--it's so much easier to use the prepackaged stuff. But then, it's not necessarily stuff that's going to be good for you, either. I ended up striking a balance. What I'm really struggling with is that I'm kinda of an experimental cook. I rarely end up following recipes to the letter. That's when my amounts can get all over the place.

That's the thing, Chinese sounds totally foreign to me. A lot of the writing is shared, but the phonemes are totally different.

I loved it, but I can't recommend Seinfeld to anyone who hasn't seen it at this point. I suppose one could still appreciate how well written it is, but the existence of Facebook alone breaks half the jokes. It's one of those in-the-moment things. It really was a cultural phenomenon in the US back in the 90s.

I've been reading about the other side of it lately, and the polling suggests it's mostly an opinion held by older folks. My mother would be one of them. Unfortunately, the polls also say that support for protests in the US during the anthem is a slightly minority opnion. There's something else at play here too, and I think this is an interesting read on a possibility: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/football-is-the-culture-war/541464/

As some of you know, I left Facebook last year. I recently reactivated my account as per a friend's request, but I rarely read my feed and only log in maybe twice a week to check notifications/messages. The main reason I left is that Facebook is essentially a confirmation bias machine. In order to keep you coming back, the algorithms are specifically designed to show you things you will like, based on data collected on you from Facebook itself along with partner sites. One can reduce a user's presence on their feed or unfollow them altogether, blocking out what may or may not be a quality, valid viewpoint in its own right. The breaking point for me was when I realized I was getting my news from Facebook and starting to get unconsciously lazy about seeking out proper journalism. There's some personal responsibility involved here, but Facebook, by design, makes it that much harder to get outside of your comfort zone. To be properly informed, one must view differing perspectives on the world to see what is actually going on. That means reading things that can make you uncomfortable from time to time, but if you're reading quality sources, it's difficult to dismiss an opposing viewpoint as simple propaganda or without basis in logic and/or science. Here's an example. My political views are socially liberal (in case you couldn't tell!), but most of my family is very conservative. We will differ greatly on topics such as abortion, immigration, and police reform. On abortion discussion, there's been some positives--I can understand their viewpoint that abortion is murder, no matter what, and should be illegal. On the other hand, calls to completely shut down Planned Parenthood, clinics that are frequently prominent in such debate, are not reasonable, as they do provide access to contraceptives and pre- and post-natal care. On police reform, I think it's important to have the discussion that police work is a dangerous job and, in many cases, individuals in law enforcement are held accountable for overstepping their bounds. It is not helpful to call Black Lives Matter a "terrorist organization" and outright dismiss the problems with police in this country. This is where confirmation bias comes into play--with the way we are consuming media now, it is too damned easy to get stuck in an echo chamber of like-minded individuals and end up in a tribe representing a section of political thought. Authority bias comes in when we see things in print, ranging in quality from the random blog to opinion pieces in the Washington Post. If one aligns their thinking with a political tribe, it becomes more difficult to view such writings as merely opinion and not gospel. This is not a new phenomenon, either, at least in the US--the rise of the 24-hour news cycle on cable television years ago resulted in (and propagated) breakouts to ideological corners, resulting in networks of media with political lean. It has grown worse with social media, however. So, what I've done is branched out. Twitter has been my primary resource in this time, with reddit filling in the gaps here and there. The partisans are there, in droves, but one can find proper debate that does not necessarily descend into name calling. One can find quality individuals with opposing viewpoints and follow their feeds, yielding cogent comment and links to professional articles. There's also entertainment, of course, and the nature of twitter is that professionals do not seem to be afraid to express individual viewpoints, so overlap happens. (Also, twitter does have a "things you may like" algorithm that I always dismiss.) On reddit, it's a bit more difficult. Content is generally properly categorized, but sometimes you have to dig for the quality pieces and not be tempted to reach for the low-hanging fruit that's been upvoted to the top by groupthink. As stated above, I think curating a good social media feed requires a dose of personal responsibility and also enough legwork to make it happen. I'm constantly tinkering with my feeds, adding new people on twitter, removing others, adding subreddits, blocking others. Just remember that sometimes the news and political discussion is supposed to make you uncomfortable. If you're going to reach out to the world, there are tools to make your viewpoint accurate and push you towards critical thought.

You LIE. You said there was enough pasta salad for the week! Er, I meant to say, good job this weekend!

Well, in such a scenario I would imagine not standing for the anthem would be criminal (a nationalist demand I'd like to think we're far from, but some days I wonder). But yes, I agree. I've heard folks complaining about the protests say that they wouldn't have a problem with someone kneeling for the anthem if the cause was better care of veterans. Ravens players in Baltimore were booed today for kneeling before the anthem singers were even announced. For those people, the conversation is making them uncomfortable. Acknowledging the inequities is making them uncomfortable. That's precisely what the protest was meant to do.

Yeah, that's how I ended up with my current wardrobe, heh.

I didn't mean literal presentations. Whenever I did lectures or presentations in grad school and late undergrad, it was usually by way of expanding on a rough outline I'd have in front of me, freeflow. So that's how I would plan to do it--writing out an outline with enough detail to be able to present off of it. I would kind of rehearse a "presentation" in my head as I went through it, and if there was anything that didn't come to mind smoothly, I would write it out explicitly in my notes. I hope that makes sense. My flashcard system could work as slides of a sort, listing grammar details that I often forget (it's always the details!).

I actually haven't seen a lot of TV, especially lately. 1. Breaking Bad 2. Law and Order 3. Cowboy Bebop 4. Seinfeld 5. Battlestar Galactica (2003) 6. Mad Men 7. The Wire 8. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 9. Stargate SG-1 10. Fawlty Towers Only listed complete series. I've mentioned Westworld elsewhere, which had an excellent first season, as did True Detective. I didn't even make it to the third episode of the second season of True Detective, though. Yeech.