I worked in another profession for 15 years before becoming a professional developer. I can't say definitely that empathy is much lower among devs than among other people I've worked with. But I got used to it.
They are very upset with what they see as growing authoritarianism from the government -- particularly wrt many covid interventions. (for what it's worth, I mostly disagree but I do see signs of growing authoritarianism among many on both the left and right)
> See, it's as if the US military trains soldiers how to hide in the Appalachian, raid local villages, and steal food and ammunition from trucks,
You should hang out near Fort Bragg sometime. The Special Forces train exactly as you describe.
Also of note: most of them are very unhappy with the way things are going in the US. I disagree with them frequently, but they also have some good points.
> My guess is that more educated women are less willing to be stay at home moms and that correlates with your demographics. When you have a degree and dreams of a career, giving up on them is harder.
This attitude toward stay-at-home moms is not generally found among the poor, just among middle class and up women (and men), typically left-leaning.
Most poor mothers I've know would love to be stay-at-home moms because they're only working to survive and not for personal fulfillment, and because they love their kids.
Well, it's clear from the movie Marion was very young when they had an affair. We don't know exactly how old, but she says, "it was wrong, and you knew it" and "I was a child".
I love the movie. This was one of his big flaws. He's not supposed to be a moral paragon - he was a grave robber and antiquities trafficker, after all.
Edit: Supposedly, the actual script says she was 25 when they meet again, which would have made her 15 at the time.
> Feels like there was something more that led America to Bosnia, and it wasn't just our benevolence and saving the world from itself.
There was a lot of pressure to "do something" in the Balkans, and the military wasn't averse to showing off its goods, so something was done. Imagine the media pressure with Yemen x1000. That was Bosnia and Kosovo (probably mostly because it was in Europe).
Also, US military has intervened militarily in Syria, many times, and even with troops on the ground. Did you miss it?
The Uyghurs are a poor analogy, because despite the intense oppression they're under, they're not being mass-murdered. And a humanitarian intervention in China due to Uyghur situation is just not in the cards, because realism.
So sure, Bosnia+Kosovo interventions weren't just "benevolence". It was a convergance of factors (power dynamics, US President open to idea, media+public pressure, limiting intervention to air campaign, etc). But it wasn't an oil pipeline or some ridiculous conspiracy, either, like I sometimes hear.
I had my first kid at age 34, and part of my deeply regrets not going sooner (wife is much younger). I had some serious health issues by 45, which impeded by ability to raise my kids the way I wanted.
Adopting in 40s? Will the parent even still be alive when the kid graduates college? With good luck, genes, and good diet/exercise, yes. Otherwise, likely not.
Back in my 20s, having spent HS and part of college running track and cross-country, I’d pass guys all the time in their bikes that cost more than my car in my $200 used bike that didn’t even have clipless pedals.
Those days are long gone now, but it was highly satisfying to see the look of panic on athletic, rich banker’s face when some punk kid in a t-shirt, shorts, and cheap bike passed him going up a hill.
> How was I ever going to afford a kid’s college fund? How was I ever going to afford a kid’s college fund?
Uh, lady, you’re 37 years old. If you seriously want a kid, you need to approach finding a spouse with the same seriousness and intention you (admirably) now approach finances. Otherwise, it ain’t gonna happen.
Which arthritis med, exactly? So many have been pulled off the shelf by the FDA.
But Levadopa for Parkinson’s (which I’m highly likely to get if I live long enough), and its newer analogues, may be one of the few worth the trade. Grandparents on both sides w/Parkinson’s.
99% of the other drugs are not worth the tradeoffs, for most people.
That’s how I felt in my 20s. What’s above is my opinion in my 50s, after multiple hospitalizations and serious chronic illnesses.
Best option of all is to stay fit. Some of mine were out of my control (genetics), but some were probably not. And the extent to which the genetic ones expressed was probably somewhat in my control.
As someone (~50) who has spent much of the past 2 months suffering in pain in some hospital, I endorse your decision. Several hospital-issued medication issues there that set me back.
I’m now at home, where I’m slowly healing just as well. As long as I can eat and drink (and failure to be able to do that is what sent me to hosp to begin with), I stay here.
I’m going to come out of this more healthy, I’m determined.
If you’re younger (or older!), I strongly endorse avoiding the pharma industry to the extent possible. The side effects will almost aways catch up to you at some point, usually during a crisis or other sickness. Work on your weak spots “naturally” (eg, if you’re anxious, master meditation and physical workouts). If you’re on a chronic drug, always carefully re-evalulate risks/benefits at least once a year, and find out if there are any new non-pharma approaches.
With a very few exceptions, pharma is about temporarily soothing symptoms while doing nothing for the underlying disease.
> but it's never going to reach the "climb in, sit down and go" ease of a sedan.
For someone fluent in command line usage, this is very wrong. I'm 10000x more productive in a terminal and X Browser session than on windows, and almost never need to look things up (and when I rarely do, it's on man pages, not web).
But otherwise, I don't disagree. I'm not trying to convince windows users to switch to Linux (unless they're devs, in which case they will suffer professionally if they don't).
For most regular users, I recommend Chromebooks these days.