Gary > Recent Status Updates

Chapter 23 has many great ideas about policies. This man should be president, maybe the outlook wouldn’t be so bleak for the future of the planet with people with better principles in power. Of course anyone can write a book, taking action is what matters at the end of the day.

Chapter 17: Insecure economy really outlines how the stock market could care less about working class people. It makes really regret being so invested in it and our whole “neoliberal” outlook (the economy comes first!), will we ever escape it without destroying everything in the process?

“Under capitalism, social problems resulting from exploitation and the maldistribution of resources are understood as individual moral problems, not systemic problems. Getting support at a place that sees the systems, not the people suffering in them, as the problem can help people move from shame to anger and defiance.

“In this context of social isolation, and forced dependancy on hostile systems, mutual aid—where we choose to help each other out, share things, and put our resources into caring for the most vulnerable—is a radical act.”

Who’d have thought that old timey Canadians (preWW2) were such racist assholes too lol. Chapter 3 talks about Canada’s “British Immigrants, please” policies.

“Immigrants good; policies bad”: couldn’t agree more! First part blames policies and businesses for trying to fill low paying jobs with immigrants rather than paying a decent wage and making the job desirable to Canadians.

Some decent advice so far. Mostly “get a good variety of fruits, nuts, seeds, and vegetables and you can have your cake and eat it too.” I hope I don’t find after reading this that she is a notorious wellness industry grifter, happens too often lol.

I can see the significance that the author is trying to place on reason (sense) and feelings (sensibility), all the characters seem to possess one but lack in the other. The character that the story follows closely (Elinor) is rational beyond all measure and therefore unable to comprehend human emotions and why they act in such ways (relatable) and Marianne, her sister, is all emotional and unable to tame herself.

The psychology portion of this book (50%+ maybe) is meh for me, personally have always hated the subject (to each his own). But there are some sections which are fairly interesting.

So far it’s just “you think money could make you happy, it could, but what if it can’t. Here’s an example of where it could but it didn’t…”, rinse and repeat. Kind of boring.

Interesting portrait of the life of the "phantom of the opera", it systematically shows him acquiring all the talents that you think would be necessary to his character in the future. Wish I had some advanced skills to mask my inner ugliness, I'm vanilla on vanilla lol.

I’m so glad to be born in the 20th century life seems hellish in this era, just diseases and misery lol

Great so far! I didn’t know about similarities with other planets in our solar system and ours! Especially what can be learned about climate from Venus (extreme atmosphere) and Mars (depleted/non existent ozone)

Pretty enraging deportment by the Chinese government, especially towards the Uyghur communities in the west. Now I understand why my Chinese friends say “Uyghurs are benevolently given free university!”, they probably think their WeChat app is listening…

Interesting book, doesn't seem to be much of a plot. Just the happenings of a not so interesting little family...

Not really sure when the story starts but it’s a cute family dynamic lol

First half of the book is kind of a memoir and grievances on the American political system, as a Canadian J don’t really care, US is singular in its political system. Last half is possible solutions to endemic social problems (Medicare, education, labour etc.) as a Labour Party counsel member I found this very useful.

Feel like I got roped into reading a memoir but the actual facts about congress that Sanders shares are infuriating (and he drops names!)

I watch a lot of the Gilmore girls and the grandma character and her mother in law remind me of the pretentious characters in this story. Glad I was born in a normal era (normal by whose standards? …)

Doooom

A really eye opening book about the realities of climate change. 2nd chapter talks about how companies like Exxon have some of the best climate research models around that clearly say humans are causing global warming, but the companies bury under a veneer of uncertainty. Glad I’m not having any kids 😅

Thought this was supposed to be a horror story lol. The monster is but a child learning to see the world in all its beauty but was deprived of any of it. It makes me grateful to live in such a world and to be able to be a part of it. I’ve read in other reviews that Frankenstein himself is the monster. It made me think of one musing I have that god is the monster for creating us in this world of war and desperation.

So far so good! Mary Shelley so seems to be ahead of her time. The trial of poor Justine who was coerced into a confession. The rise of creations without the considerations of ethics (AI anyone?)

I really like this book so far, it’s a nice blend of artistic thought and philosophy. Way better than most “self-help” books. Understanding others and connecting with nature (but not is a stupid spiritual way lol). If I were to write a non-fiction book this would probably be it…

The author talks about “exercises in attention” and I fully agree with her here. If you are stressed out take a walk in nature and actually notice things, not just the greenery but the different ecologies, the balance between the species that inhabit it.

I’ve always liked the moniker “artist of life”, it sounds poetic in my mind. Odell, an art teacher, so far, writes about things such as non-compliance in the form of union protests and non-conformance in art. I have a few viewpoints which have very closely been touched on in this book which I think is kind of cool.

The author talks about his LSD use the whole way through the book and seems to cite his understanding primarily from that and perhaps the books he reads (Jung, Freud, etc.) as well as a lot of self help quotes and pop cultural references. I understand that these drugs and some books on psychology can help some people like they helped him but I don’t think this is a universal one size fits all.

The author is desperately clinging to a priori reasoning. He seems to belief all anxiety is a result of childhood trauma. I admit his anecdotal evidence is convincing but he doesn’t seem to elaborate with any cold hard science…