I agree with your point. I'll just add that in my country, at least, the facade of democracy seemed to provide society with infectious glimmers of hope. The hope is fading quickly, and the general mood is both sour and bitter, straining interpersonal relationships.
Anyway, I'm not sure how democracy can really work in huge super-complex societies. This is why we have the "iron law of oligarchy".
If time permits, this is a good era to learn guitar if you haven't already. Or some sort of creative brain or muscle hobby where screens aren't the central focus.
I never cared for the "learning how to learn" line. We start from infancy and learn to walk and talk, albeit in that very special way. We are always learning, every day.
For me personally, earning by bachelor's and master's degree was a continuation of K-12 and I made sure to be a top performer. The looming debt was the underlying, motivating factor.
Looking back, I learned most outside after K-12 was done for the day and I was free to explore and get hurt.
Those around me just write a lot more slowly, writing in print (they don’t connect the letters like in cursive, they can’t easily read my very-clean cursive either, which gives a feeling that my cursive is a sort of superpower)
So often I watch/read various excavations with resulting museum/institutional acquisitions and I think to myself, “things may have been undiscovered, but now that they’re discovered these artifacts are on borrowed time, long-long term.”
That particular illustration is an artistic interpretation of another older illustration. I wish I could place a link for reference right now but I’m using my phone and that’s no fun.
There’s a YouTube video somewhere that explains all of this and shows a more accurate physical model (or as accurate as can be reasonably expected) that is located somewhere in Bologna, which suggests that there were quite a few towers but not that many and not that tall as shown here. In any case it still had an impressive skyline for its day.
If I remember to do so, I’ll come back here and post a link.
I see one right now near the bottom limb (observing from North America). It's been slowly moving to right the last few days as the sun rotates. I'm using cheap eclipse glasses.
The Times, at least a few years back, had a quite frequent habit of using phrases such as "sources say" or "according to sources" or "people familiar with the matter." It wasn't always like that.
Some of that is fine as people sometimes would like to remain anonymous and have the trust of the publication, journalist, and readers. Sure, many touchy stories are important and people can give quotes on background. But that can't become a consistent habit without, at some point, providing better attribution when a string of stories bear some relation.
I've cut back on the Times for the most part due to my issues with "sources say," but maybe they've improved.
The Internet is not Detroit, but like Detroit it expanded very very fast and was very very innovative and open. Then it consolidated, which is ongoing. Things settled… for a while. The early days of Detroit saw hundreds of little innovative experimental companies that over time became the big three. The rest is history. Detroit is the victim of its own invention.
Luckily my analogy isn’t a very good one, the Internet is nothing like Detroit. It is, however, interesting how quickly wild things can be tamed, and that may beckon a cautionary lesson.
They may be a monopoly, but fans are willing to pay to see LiveNation concerts. Acts and venues go with it. I’ve found there so many other options out there for entertainment lately that I haven’t gone to a concert in 20 years! In a way I kind of like what Ticketmaster is doing, I wish I could get a cut.
(Seriously though, we have so many olig/monopolies I’ve lost count. Sad.)
I left [swing] state-level politics after working for one party, and then the other, after becoming disgusted with internal partisan politics. This is a very unpopular thing to say, but on the inside they both seemed so similar and out of touch to me. Talking about voters with disdain and reminders about the importance of donors and special interests. I had to get out; my experience fundamentally changed my view of our system and changed some of my life goals.
When prices kept rising on cigarettes it was easier to quit them for good. It's been many years now. I was and still am thankful for that pricing regime.
Lately I find I waste a lot of time "relaxing" on YouTube, but I've noticed it's become TV for me; a habit like smoking was. Sure, there's thought-provoking stuff on there, but that's not what seems to show up in my feed. It looks like cable TV. I suppose I have terrible viewing preferences. This is just my experience, of course.
So, I'm ready to kick the YouTube habit and to do more "pulling" of information. Having experienced what cable TV did (eventually throwing a huge amount ads into an expensive subscription) the new fee structure makes kicking the habit an easier, healthier, and more prudent choice. I think I know where they're heading.
I'm thankful for it, frankly. It's wind at my back to pull away from too much screen time. It'll be much easier to break the habit. I've paid enough by providing my viewing preferences anyhow. And when already-profitable monopolistic non-essential services start squeezing tighter, it's surprisingly refreshing to search for new pastures.
If/when Reddit kills "old" reddit, that'll be good too.
My great grandmother and her family traveled across the U.S. doing bit pieces in vaudeville. They loved it, so I was told. A life of adventure, for them at least. Taking trains everywhere, often along with the circus.
By the time my grandparents were children, those days were over and they had to become farmers in Michigan. The family tried to stay in the performing arts but ever-increasing division of labor and modernization made that difficult.
I wish I had seen the days of vaudeville. The scrapbooks are amazing.
If it's expected that children of today will spend most of their adult time indoors, then maybe it's a very good idea that children and teens get outside now before the opportunity to live outdoors passes!