mladenkovacevic

I didn't downvote you since legitimate opinions shouldn't be downvoted but the reason I think you're wrong is that US is a particularly chronic case of the government serving the needs of capitalism above and beyond the population at large.

It's like saying don't blame Catholicism, blame the Vatican. One is a direct expression of the other.

Or maybe they never saw it because it didn't happen in the magnitude or significance that they all must now agree was definitely the case.

Well it's natural given the circumstances in which we exist (fighting for scraps under a perpetuated myth of scarcity).

You could say "Well, humans are just animals and we were always fighting for scraps so this is our natural state". But humans only thrived and evolved because we were so good at adapting to changes. So if now our social and economic reality is artificially rigged by those with wealth and power to stagnate everyone in some paleolithic struggle for survival, instead of being allowed to enjoy the true fruits of our advancement as a species, how natural is it really? And are we being deprived of the next step of our evolution because of the resistance to keep leveling the playing field for everyone instead of the few.

I'm not a scientist so I don't know the answers to any of these. I actually sort of believe in the idea of arrow of time so literally everything "is natural" and unavoidable. It is natural that the "few" have wrestled control of resources from the "many". And maybe it is natural that this goes on forever.. but it's just as likely or even more likely that it doesn't go on.

I'm not so interested in what is cruel and what is not (although I certainly want everyone to prosper and lead a life of fulfillment and meaning). But life of any kind is such a rare thing in the universe and keeping it going seems to be a dance on the sword's edge. So I'm more interested in what is better for ensuring that life just keeps going, rather than keeps going under a set of pleasant circumstances.

I always wonder if Puritanical roots in US have something to do with it. There seems to be a general belief that people "get only what they deserve". The belief that evil and misfortune comes from within each of us and some cosmic scale is constantly judging whether each person's demons are getting the better of them. These beliefs also carried through to capitalism where individuals who out-exploit and out-hoard everyone else are able to claim most of the rewards of society but any accountability for failing is also placed on individuals who just didn't "work hard enough", or didn't "want it badly enough", weren't "strong enough". Basically if you have any genetic propensity for addictive behavior, mental illness or self-destructive behaviour, belong to a group that's discriminated against, were born in poverty or with parents who didn't have the means or the time to raise you "properly", it's nobody's fault but your own and society doesn't owe you any help, support or compassion. A very heartless and cruel culture that'll ultimately cause our stagnation and eventual downfall.

I think this is the current record. 24 minutes and 3 seconds. It's hard to comprehend.

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-ti...

I already recognize their number at this point. They'll call at least twice per week.

That's quite drastic. If you don't like the taste of pure vinegar here's my method. I inhale all the way, then while holding my breath drink a glass of water. Doesn't that work for everyone?

Yes yes, this happens to me as well, but I don't make an effort to conjure these thoughts... they come on their own as I drift to sleep. Perhaps if your brain is too active at bed time, it needs a little boost to get it into sleep-mode, in which case intentionally creating these thoughts helps.

Yes I find that immediately before my brain falls asleep, my thoughts turn very abstract or even surreal.. like they don't make much sense.

It's hard to remember of an example right now because this all happens in some layer of subconsciousness and evaporates as soon as you fall asleep/wake up but it's something like "oh I'm just here smelling this colour and it kind of tastes like cinnamon."

Actually probably even more abstract than that, but that's the best I could do on short notice while fully awake.

You first said that the Qatar pipeline is not going anywhere because of destabilization in Syria... I guess you should've been honest from the beginning and said that it's not going anywhere because the project to remove Assad from power has failed.

I didn't mention US in my post, but since you insist... here is what is declassified and publicly known: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_Sycamore

Because Assad was going to let a Qatar pipeline go through Syria in the first place? Hmm I wonder which foreign powers destabilized Syria and have been trying to overthrow the current government for close to 7 years now.

Was just reading about this "retro-mod" of a GAZ Volga that cost $500,000

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/volga-v-12-coupe

I don't know.. that chassis is the best looking thing on this car... can I just get that with a regular combustion engine and without the shitty headlight kit?

Your world-view is wrong. Russia wants to be a stabilizing force in Syria. US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and UAE have thrown literal billions at arming and training jihadist militias to take towns and terrorize the Syrian population. Compare stability and the rule of law in areas retaken by government forces vs those still being held by militants.. Night and day.

Some articles about refugees returning to Syria and who is even interested in that or rebuilding Syria.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-russia-syr...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-seeks-u-s-help-in-return...

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/return-of-...

She also had the financial fate of the DNC in her hands, and, as early as 2015, had a secret agreement giving her power of the party's finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Additionally, as per Donna Brazile: "Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff."

This is the rigging that took place.

Humans are cars that run constantly. So the human analogy to a car with 20 miles would be a baby.

Can you describe how rare do you feel it was for US officials to straight up lie on or off the record? Also based on what data did you make this assessment?

I can recall of a number of occasions during the Bush and Obama era where high-level officials were caught lying, sometimes in public testimony. And I don't even have any data points for Russia because we don't get their official statements on our news so I don't even know how I'd compare. How did you get both sides of the story accurately enough where you feel so confident in your beliefs?

And you've constructed a belief system that we better believe anything that comes out of the NSA about adversaries of the US because well, I feel the NSA is really competent and what else are we supposed to believe anyways.

My belief system isn't convincing me that Russians didn't hack the election system, or that they aren't capable of it. Just that this particular document is not the smoking gun.

I don't know about Sam Biddle, but a former CIA agent and whistleblower who served 30 months in prison for leaking CIA's torture techniques, also names Matthew Cole as another reporter that worked on this article and has previously also burned him as a source: https://twitter.com/JohnKiriakou/status/872087259985694721

Can anyone name one of these "gig-economy" startups that treats their contract workers fairly?

If somebody leaked internal FSB analysis docs claiming but offering no raw intelligence that Ukrainian government is full of US spies and Euromaidan was financed by Soros, would any mainstream media outlet take this kind of source as "evidence"?

Nope, just a major subway-bus transfer in the Toronto west-end. Materials used look like leftovers from a 1970s apartment complex construction site. I think even the worst NYC stations have at least some interesting tile or signage preserved from when the original station was built giving it some character even if it's not well-lit or feels too claustrophobic.

It's certainly not as ostentatious as the major stations in that article but the ceiling height, apparent quality of materials used (marble on the columns, slate floor, not completely horrendous tile on the subway walls) and the abundance of light make for a functional and safe-feeling environment.

Compare that to the first east-bound station on the Toronto subway line (one of the few stations with sometimes-usable bathrooms). https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Ki...

  The one I grew up next to is pretty drab: https://flic.kr/p/C6QcXj

That's still pretty nice to be honest.

I dunno man the whole thing is a mish-mash not resembling anything specific to be honest. Random obfuscation to hide true origin perhaps?

But the correct use of definite and indefinite articles indicates someone with a more than competent knowledge of English (whatever their nationality may be).

Amerikanski is used in those languages to indicate ownership (eg. This is an American car) so to someone of slavic speaking origin this would be wrong (they would've said Amerikanci to indicate plural). But even aside from that, this honestly sounds so put on. Even the worst english speakers I know from eastern Europe know that you add an "s" to form plural. We all take English from elementary school and nobody would make that mistake, not to mention that it's a mistake even in a slavic language.

A much more common mistake you will find is not knowing when to use "the" or "a".

Edit: unless it is a Russian pretending to be an American who is pretending to be Russian which, who the hell knows, anything is possible.

This is merely an anecdote but I've had knee pain most of my life (since age 8 or 9).

I started doing squats in my late 20s and by the time I reached my body weight I've never had knee pain since. I'm in my mid-30s now.

I do recognize that with bad form and overloading your knees in the wrong way the result could easily have been completely blown out knees.

I use Buffer as a marketer and I think I can see what keeps them from growing the number of their paid users.

I have a free plan and I'm completely OK with keeping it that way. It helps me schedule posts 10 per network at a time and not knowing any better I'm perfectly happy with this little convenience it offers and they are doing very little to break me out of this routine.

There is very little messaging to the user in terms of missed opportunities that a paid plan opens up. Actually even with a free plan they could do more messaging to bring me back to their product outside of my "go to schedule some tweets" routine. How about sending me an email when a Twitter account with more than 10K followers re-tweets me. Perhaps it's worth something to me to know that this has in fact happened and suggest some follow-up actions that might maximize this opportunity.

That's just a small example but there are tons of other growth tactics that would communicate to marketers that Buffer can help them become not just "more efficient" marketers, but better marketers overall. I think that's where the true value of most marketing technology lies.

This stage of their company evolution is notably harder and perhaps arguably more boring so it's not surprising to see people leaving. After working on the core product for a while and squeezing out all the potential growth from that, it takes hundreds if not thousands of tactics adjustments, product optimizations and management changes to fine-tune the company engine for slower but steadier growth from then on. And even then it's not an exciting roller-coaster ride anymore but a slow long-haul freight train journey. It takes a markedly different kind of employee to thrive in that kind of environment and this is what they have to optimize for going forward.

ADDENDUM: There's also the added risk of Buffer's success being tied to all the individual social networks, some of which are thriving, others which may not be here tomorrow, so it would be in Buffer's interest to develop their relationships with their users outside of their interaction with those platforms they have no control over. I mean marketers will always have to find the best way to do their job regardless of whether Twitter exists or not. This is probably pretty common sense advice considering how many times we've seen the rug pulled out from under smaller tech companies who built their business around some platform created by Google, Facebook, Microsoft or one of the other big companies.

This one has that sublime absurdist quality so characteristic of eastern europe but it keeps you thinking and translating the characters and concepts into real world situations. Love it.