Honestly, I'm having a hard time digesting your attitude that federal taxes should be allocated to your vacation home in a fire-prone region, than supporting the victims of an unjust war.
The most important thing I learned from my graduate advisor: anyone can have a worthwhile idea.
I watched him for years coming into weekly colloquia and seeming to tune out reading papers. But, occasionally there would be a speaker that was less than credible, and you could feel the entire hall close off. But, my advisor would hear a tidbit of a good idea (even amongst loads of bunk), and look up from his journals and ask a genuinely curious clarifying question. This would often lead to new lines of research in our labs.
In the end, many of these speakers were on the wrong overall track, but they definitely had insights that were incredibly valuable. Those who dismissed them entirely missed out, while my advisor had a knack for finding the signal in the noise and moving forward with that without missing it due to judgement.
You're ignoring that most "new" language problems have significant overlap with things already experienced, and there's only a minor translation issue, rather than a learning new things from scratch issue.
I'm the same - it's very easy for me to ramp up miles and pace in endurance sports, but I've never been able to do a pull up.
I do notice I weigh 25-30 pounds less than my friends that are same height and waist size. I'm 6'3" and when fit hover a little under 170 lbs, while everyone else is 190-200. I think it's a distinct lack of muscle.
Your point would not be weakened if you left ethnicity out of it, but risks coming across as un-credible and conspiracy driven with the addition. I'd recommend an edit.
I'm in the process of updating my home including whole house sealing. Part of it is an air exchange system that brings in outside air and matches that air to the interior temp and humidity before circulating.
The joke is that anything medical you search for online you'll end up having your greatest fears validated, rather than get helpful and balanced insight.
I want to thank you for posting this. I was not aware of the Merck Manuals, and have often struggled to identify useful information on WebMD or Mayo Clinic sites.
Today my wife had a specific medical concern that we wanted supplementary information about, and because of your link we had incredibly helpful and credible insight that helped us and provided a deeper understanding of what her physician was saying.
In the couple minutes I watched I was surprised that almost every edit I saw was either a sporting event or popular media (bands, albums, celebrities). I would have expected more diversity in changes especially considering that current state of the world and politics. The only update I noticed from the Ukraine site was from Kyiv and was a pop-band.
There's a standup bit, I don't remember who the comic is, where he says, "my elbow was kinda sore after I was playing a bunch of tennis. I looked it up on the internet and oh no! It turns out I have elbow cancer!"
I don't see that insinuation in this thread. Your comments are legitimate from the perspective of a reader that doesn't want long tangents and asides, but your attacks on the book itself are hyperbolic - "Cryptonomicon is in no danger of appearing on any list of favorite Science Fiction books". The book literally is on lists like this.
We're all allowed to like different things, and you shouldn't take that difference as commentary on your intelligence. I think an unemotional reading of this thread lacks condescension or insinuation.
What is your favorite SciFi novel? Maybe highlighting that will help see the difference in style preference. Personally, of the SciFi I've read, after Stephenson I liked Weir and the Altered Carbon series. There's another book that I think of all the time but don't recall the title or author - future dystopia where the USA has split into two countries - conservative middle America red states and liberal coastal states with strongly defended but crossable borders.
I was once put in the position of co-managing a single report. Two managers, one of them a first time manager, and a senior report - it was one of the hardest management experiences I've had. I was far easier to manage two parallel teams of 5 than to manage half of one person.