You don't need more time, you need fewer distractions.
You don't need motivation, you need self-control.
You don't need more resources, you need resourcefulness.
You don't need luck, you need preparation.
You don't need to be busy, you need to be focused.
You don't need to know everything, you just need to start.
You have everything you need.
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today will be the warmest day we’ve had in maybe 6 months here in New England. 75°!
the forecast calls for one hour of sun without clouds.
what a gentle reminder that in life we do not get to have it all. we will not have a beautiful sunny 75° day without any clouds, as there must be balance. we cannot exist in a world of perfect.
however, we can live in a world of good enough. I’m thankful for the warmth, while making peace with the clouds. it’s good enough for me. I’ll smile at the clouds kno…
I’m going to say something that shouldn’t be controversial but will be. If you are a Christian, you can support border control and immigration being legal vs illegal. You CANNOT celebrate deportations and get off on the cruelty, and be a real Christ follower. Period
You always own your intellectual property, mailing list, and subscriber payments. With full editorial control and no gatekeepers, you can do the work you most believe in.
Pope Francis lifted the world as he led the Church with his profound moral voice. As he returns to God, may his call to humility and concern for the least among us continue to resound.
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Wake up early, buy your favorite coffee, go for walks, eat good food, wear what you love and listen to your favorite music. Create these little moments of joy that make you fall in love with your life.
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How about Elon Musk’s violent Nazi salute from the stage? The only U.S. mainstream media to cover it was The Atlantic. Tons of foreign media had headlines about it along with some of our independent media. Our institutions are already crumbling as fast as they can. How long before societal collapse?
Society ain't going to collapse from this, nor from climate change, nor from wealth inequality. Society ain't going to collapse, it's just going to continue to decline. The bottom will be so normalized by the time we hit it--which won't be in my lifetime--that most Americans won't even care once we're there. That's what decline is: a normalization of decline that self-sustains it.
I want to believe your scenario. But things are happening at light speed already. “Gradual” doesn’t fit what I’m feeling from what I’m seeing. Climate change is going to start a cascade of events already underway.
I predict California will become a flashpoint. Trump will refuse federal funding, then Newsom will promote cessation of paying federal taxes, then . . . a showdown.
Oh I'm not saying it's going to be gradual. Things like climate change and wealth inequality are going to happen faster than the worst predictions expect them to, but it will not lead to "collapse." The country doesn't "collapse" because it gets hit with increasing levels of natural disasters or because the rich have all the money. "Collapse" is what happened to the Mayans. *Decline* is what happened to the Romans. We're going to end up like the Romans, not the Mayans.
According to geographer Jared Diamond, five factors contribute to collapse: climate change, hostile neighbors, collapse of essential trading partners, environmental problems, and the society's response to the foregoing four factors.
Oh I've read his books--including Collapse and GG&S--and I agree with the bulk of his observations. That said, dealing with forest fires and hurricanes is not the same as what he's talking about with respect to climate change collapsing civilizations.
In older civilizations there was not a globalized economy the way there is today, thus, when climate change killed crops and older civilizations lost trade partners for a variety of reasons, they were often fucked. Modern times are *very* different…
Yes, they were. Look up the Gracchi Brothers, Marius, and Sulla. There was about a century of violent unrest before the Roman Republic fully transitioned into an Empire. The rise of first Julius Caesar and then Augustus Caesar marked the end of the transition, not the beginning.
Edited to add: For those of you who don't know much about the politics at the end of the Roman Republic, check out "The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic" by Mike Duncan (amazon.com/gp/product/B…) It will send chills up your spine.