smoke-in-the-wind

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is the largest undeniably singular object in the universe a star? Probably a very large star. I guess you have those super massive black holes, but obviously the actual object is very small. Hmm. It’s weird how the universe scales in size. Everything seems way too comparatively small. Too much space in space

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two wonderful things i saw online today

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how hard is it actually to play chess entirely in your mind? Like still between two people but with no board or notation. It’s the go to for “genius rivalry” in fiction but with a little bit of practice I feel like most people could do it. 64 squares, 32 pieces. As long as you move slowly enough you could train yourself to “check” the board’s placement every turn. Other questions though is if you need to be able to visualize the board or if people with aphantasia could do it too

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it’s weird that chess is such a hierarchical talent. It doesn’t feel like it should scale that high. It makes sense you can be good or bad at it but it’s weird that some people are really really good at it.

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i know this person means well but this is absolutely insane.

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generating electricity from magnets is a lot more aesthetically pleasing than generating it from chemical reactions I think. Batteries are like. Trickery. You’re fooling the poor electrons. Generators are honest though, like a well.

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I mean there’s only one gender but we’re all different subsets of it

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I don’t think I’m a woman cause I think if I was a cis woman I would feel the same way but in reverse. Like. I think I feel jealous of a hot man or a hot woman in the exact same way. I just want to have every human experience. Greener grass and all that

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i know nothing about the chemistry or legality, but based on my intuition i kinda believe amphetamines and hrt should be over the counter substances. It should be my god given right to be high af with a nice bust

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Have the Turks ever claimed to be the descendants of the Hittites? Feels that would be a natural bullshit ethnographic claim

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by Roger Haus

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Macrocheles Rettenmeyri is a species of mite that latches onto the end of an ant's foot, and acts as a surrogate foot (while draining blood). same deal a foot gets

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wait why do people make fun of the Poles? Or like. You can make fun of the Poles, but it’s never for the right reason. They’re weird about religion. Kinda pessimistic? But the jokes are always about them being stupid. The most famous Pole won two Nobel Prizes!

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Used as the opening epigram to Deleuze’s Spinoza: Practical Philosophy

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New Year's Resolutions

Bring back totalizing ideologies

Exalt Man as the center of the universe

Acquire teak furniture

Develop a progressive vision of history

Glorify human will, intellect, and beauty

Build a new, rational, and scientific language to unite the nations

Develop a new kind of man

Make sure buildings emphasize structural innovation over mere adornment; construct grand cities along grand designs

Practice a broad, ecumenical tolerance that incorporates diverse traditions into a novel, yet densely referential, whole

Bring low the existing order of the world and set a new one in its place

Become an individual, empowered, rational agent

Promote collective childrearing

Initiate a new kind of warfare

Live always in the shadow of a future too awesome to comprehend

Hubris, hubris, hubris

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what percentage of people at sports matches actually care about the results? Like. It’s fun cheering and booing and all that, but i could go to any game and just choose a team all Willy nilly and that’s fine. And i suspect most are like that. But i suspect there’s a certain amount of true zealots. How many of the are there though?

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another reason not to trust psychology studies is that they are generally not even a representative sample of the students at the university where the study was conducted. there's a very certain type of college student personality who reliably volunteers for psychology studies in exchange for free pizza; you can usually spot them at other functions that give out free pizza or burgers or sandwiches

which i know because i was one of them and i kept running into the same few dozen people over and over.