SamosaSultan

YouTube Comment section responding to "What aspect of Roman religion should we cover next?" with "The importance of sacrifice with a focus on the hypocrisy of claiming to disdain human sacrifices while entertaining them for Sibylline prophecy or basically the apex of every Republican triumph. I feel it tells a lot about a culture to know what's sacred, what's profane, and in what circumstances that line gets crossed."

I've always thought you would nail the hypocrisy inherent within Roman human sacrifices... how they were often outwardly against it and still did them REGULARLY at the end of every Triumph or when the Sibylline books were consulted.

Connecting that hypocrisy to modern political rhetoric is so you!

Never forget that all this negotiating, all this posturing, all this headache... it is all to barely get back to what we had under the previous administration in 2024.

They'll call it a WIN when in many cases it is WORSE than what the status quo WAS.

#ArtOfTheDeal

Terrorists once tried to destroy the White House with a plane.

The government accepted a plane from state sponsors of terrorists and destroyed the White House themselves.

"I never forget that I live in a house owned by all the American people and that I have been given their trust"- FDR

In contrast to the previous month, I am posting the very words someone says without having to twist context or deny what kind of person they were exemplified by their quotes:

“Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.”
-Jane Goodall

Royalty is not conferred by divine right. The crowd makes the king.

The way we bow, the way we acquiesce, the way we speak or don't.

A defiant eye pierces as it glances. A lashing of the tongue breaks your own lashes. The more who tighten a clench fist will free that many more held in thrall.

Remember when news websites stopped having comment sections under individual articles because they devolved into uninformed takes at best and inhuman trolling at worst? Those were the storm clouds I ignored while trying to be optimistic.

Yes, the REAL tug of war is between the haves vs the have-nots... but when one half of our side are either apathetic or get off mocking the sweat and callouses of the half on the rope, I want to focus messaging on kicking the useless-half in gear and not kicking the trying-half when they are down.

What is it called when you're more mentally invested but have even less awareness than before?

As s a kid who hated Indian movies, I still knew which good ones were coming up.

Now, despite all my Bollywood-centric social media, I'm completely unaware of the quality until after their run. #Saiyaara

How so? Do you dip them in your coffee like a donut?

@jameshoffmann.bsky.social
Howdy!
Is espresso a wasteful way to make coffee?
In terms of raw soluble materials (I understand good, extractable flavors are in the cup, not the grounds), is there more left in an espresso puck compared to other extraction methods? Can we make anything more with it?

Every time it rains in SoCal, that one friend jokes, "Sorry guys, I washed my car yesterday; the storm is my fault!" Solid, reliable banter.

Middle East bombing by the US is equally common. Can do something similar? "Sorry guys, forgot to fill up gas on the drive home; high prices are my fault!"

I am less concerned with self-selecting facts and opinions due to being in a social media information bubble than I am with going numb having to constantly defend basic truths before even engaging in conversations.

#Pasteurization #Vaccination #Fluoridation #PublicHealth

Why does my local grocery have 3 separate locations for fake/imitation meats?

Near the tofu/Asian fridge you can find the deli slices, next to the organic/humane actual meat are the vegan sausages, and the freezer section houses the bulk of the vegetarian meat alternatives.

#Tariffs increasing price for consumers, #NVIDIA 's 50-Series under-performing while over-charging, the lack of #Thunderbolt5 on so many high-end builds (no-go on #AMD at all), and the lack of quality/timely #laptopreview... probably not worth buying new #laptops all of 2025.

Today's Headlines

Announcing major market-moving policy after the trading day is already over is the same level of hopeful incompetence that your coworker who emails deliverables after-hours hoping nobody sees that the numbers are all made up... and then are "fixed" in the morning.

Very few people acknowledge the privilege it is to be in a position to auto-pay their bills monthly. I am blessed that I don't have to really worry WHAT my utility bills totals are because I know I'll be able to cover it in full... Not having that economic anxiety is incredibly freeing.

I've been thinking a lot about that bumper sticker which says "everything looks like a conspiracy theory when you don't understand how anything works" and folks it's pretty obvious to me that the people in power right now have absolutely no desire to understand how anything works.

How dare you hold me to something I agreed to.

We just decided to tank the US economy. There is no outside cause, no pandemic, no bubble burst. We are causing hardship completely unnecessarily, completely self-inflicted.

My response after failing to 'dress to impress':

I will wear a costume after this is finished. Maybe something like yours. Maybe something better.
-VZ

It's that time of winter where my brain KNOWS it is getting warmer by every objective measure, but no matter what I do, I just can't help but FEEL cold all the time.

My body thermoregulates in the most backwards way for 1-2 weeks every year!

Yes, union membership is declining, but labor leader's words from the 50s & 60s (often broadcast nationally) would really resonate if spoken by politicians today. Simple action plans, humor and wit, all with a who-gives-a-damn about-politeness-because-we're-right! Why do we muddle the message now?

"Who reads books anymore?!?" misses the fact that kids love reading so much, they are loading e-devices to always have their libraries with them and adults are buying books at the highest rate in 20 years. Just because you're not doing it, doesn't mean it isn't happening. Read on!

"It's not polite to talk politics" has shaped my generation's worldview to our detriment- while we may believe things with burning passion, the moment it comes to vocalizing it (especially in opposition to the people around us), that flame is extinguished. It leads us to tolerate the intolerable.

The only services that remained intact are #HBOMax, #Spotify, and #AmazonPrime. If they try anything dodgy, it's trivial to ditch them as well. Special non-shoutout to #Google 's #YouTube for the ads... I am switching over to different browsers just to get past your ads.

Due to the proliferation of ads and ever-increasing prices, we've cut our monthly entertainment expenses 42%; going from $104 per month to $60 per month meant axing #DisneyPlus, #Hulu, #ESPN, #Peacock, and downgrading #Netflix to the lower tiered option. If they get to be greedy, I get to be choosy.

It's becoming increasingly apparent that "The Deep State" and the "Enemy Within" histrionics that I've been hearing about my whole life was just a minimally functional government and all those who were underappreciated in delivering even that.

The USA's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report- the MMWR- has basically been public health's finger on the pulse of America since the 1950s... and on a whim, we decided such numbers shouldn't be shared publicly for the first time in about 70 years because it may make leaders look bad. #transparency

Internet Shaquille's longform cooking videos are completely different than his shorts, yet they feel like they come from the same creator. His "Confusing Groceries" series of shorts are not clickbait-y at all, but are digestible in a different way than his regular recipe videos.