Did ya know that “heartache” is actually physically painful and measurable? It’s true. FMRI studies show that heartache activates many of the same brain regions involved in physical pain. Heartache also produces measurable stress effects, elevated cortisol, increased heart rate and blood pressure, and higher inflammatory markers. And of course, the heart is effected. Heartache can flood the body with stress hormones that actually weaken the heart muscle to such an extent that it’s measurable on EKG’s, via blood tests, and can even mimic a heart attack.

And just cuz I think It’s hilarious, I’m showing you a glamorous photo of me while I tell you a very unglamorous story. I’ve had a bit of a cold and yesterday I sneezed so hard I peed myself. Like I had to go change my pants. Cuz you know life is all about balance. Dancing in a former palace in Portugal and peeing yourself while sitting on your bed scrolling Instagram. ☯️⚖️✌️😝

The internet is overrun with bots, bots designed to trigger fears, cause anger, and sway public opinion. If you are on here passionately posting away about the latest political hot topic, you have been taken in by this scam. These bot farms intentionally create division, between men and women, between trans and cis, between Christian and Muslim, on and on. Don’t get suckered. Do better.

Someone who suffers a traumatic event does not behave ‘rationally’ in the aftermath of that event. Trauma, although quite tragic, is fascinating. Here is how it works… Anything that overwhelms your brain is “trauma”. So that’s going to be a bit different for every person and every situation but let’s go with a classic, war. Memories are stored in different parts of your brain. So the timeline of an event is stored in a different part of your brain than the memory of the physical sensations of that event, etc. In normal functioning these different parts of the brain are communicating with each other just fine and the memory is stored in such a way that it can be recalled with some wholeness. When a traumatic event occurs, such as running for cover as you are being bombed, this causes such a surge in stress hormones, etc. that it interferes with communication between parts of the brain. The whole memory might be stored in the brain, but unlinked, in fragments. This is what causes the classic PTSD “flash backs”. The memory of the sounds of the bombs exploding is in your brain but unmoored from the time and place of that event. Because of this, something that sounds similar, such as fire works, can trigger that unmoored memory and associated neural pathways such as the sensation of fear. First, a traumatic event floods a person with stress hormones which takes a real physical toll, and it often takes time for the body to rebalance itself. Also, because trauma essentially warps how the memory is stored, that memory can get pushed away, or be too scrambled to be fully recalled or understood. A lot of therapies for managing PTSD focus on ‘reintegrating’ memories. For example this is likely why EMDR therapy works. Wow is EMDR fascinating! But that rant is for another day. There are many great books on this topic, but I highly recommend Trauma and Recovery by Dr Judith Herman.

A victim of rape does not act ‘rationally’ in the aftermath of rape, because rape is trauma. A traumatic incident alters your brain and warps how the memory is stored. It takes time to let your body calm down and to properly understand what happened.

Hierarchy is social conformity. Or more accurately put, the instinct for social acceptance, exclusion panic, etc. these things are the fuel that maintains hierarchy.

The bot farms seem to really be out and about swarming posts about this Cornell 7 case. Why? What do you suppose the bot farmers are up to?

Because it hasn't happened to you does not mean that it doesn't happen.

Why I love dive bars: I went out the other day to a dive bar in Chicago. I sat at the bar with the friend that I was there with, but it happened that there was another dude sitting a few seats away. He was very friendly. He chimed in on the conversation. He was very likely a bit autistic and told me all about the sports he likes. At some point in the evening he bought me a drink. We debated what to put on the jukebox and sang and danced along to Destiny's Child and N sync. When it came my time to go I said good night and thanked him for the drink. He said "thanks for your existence" and gave me a hug. And here is the thing, I think he meant that. I don't think he was trying to get laid, or trying to close a business deal, or trying to be in the right place at the right time to climb up some social status hierarchy. I think he was just genuinely happy to have shared a slice of life with another creature. How often do you encounter a person who tells you "thanks for your existence" and means it??

Economic and tax policy has a dramatic effect on a place and often that’s a hidden effect, but other times it makes for some entertaining visuals such as the unfinished look of La Paz Bolivia or the Mansard roofs of Paris. In La Paz the municipal property tax is calculated on the property's declared/fiscal value however an unfinished building (exposed brick, no plaster/paint, etc) is considered "under construction" and assessed at a much lower value, so it pays far less tax. In Paris a law from 1783 capped building heights at 20 meters but measured only up to the cornice line. Everything inside the roof was exempt, so building with a mansard roof gave you extra storeys without breaching the height limit.

I’ve read a lot of things on Economics, I have a whole degree in Economics! But the below are the ones that I think about the most. Which econ books/writings are your favorites and why? Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell – I love this book for it’s ability to explain topics in such a simple and easy to digest fashion. The Mystery of Banking by Murray Rothbard – taught me more monetary theory than my whole university degree. The Use of Knowledge in Society by Friedrich Hayek – Far too dense to share with normies, but it does such an amazing job of explaining that prices are how we crowd source info on the needs and wants of a society. Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson – I think about this book nearly everyday. There are so many theories out there as to what makes a country “great” and this book destroyed my ability to take nearly any of them seriously.

“Women don’t need respect” “Women want to be dominated” “Women find it stressful to make their own decisions” Copium for rapists.

Men are perfectly capable of being both horny and respectful. Rape is not caused by testosterone. Rape is caused by poor moral values. Rape happens when there is horniness mixed with the concept that it’s appropriate to dominate/denigrate/control others.