He and his nation are in a tough spot I don’t begrudge him any decision he makes at this point.

It just grinds my gears that if I go searching (which I refuse to do) I know it will take me 5 seconds to find a maga citing this as evidence that Trump’s bullying is clearly effective foreign policy and that Zelensky’s cooperation represents an admission that everything said to him in the oval office was correct and OK.

Yeah that effing sucks. I really didn’t think they’d bend the knee. I can’t blame them, but it still makes me sad.

I think we can do without this sort of reddit-like passive aggressive backbiting here.

Yeah it was rough. But in the same sense that I’m glad I didn’t own a sportbike when I was young (because I’m certain I’d have hurt myself or others with it at that age), it’s probably not a bad thing that I got some firm discouragement against that kind of experimentation. It didn’t end my experimentation, but it certainly helped me realize I wasn’t immortal.

(I do none of that kind of thing for decades now. Just nothing I want to mess with these days.)

It’s a great episode and late in the show - I’d suggest don’t skip to it. IIRC it’s an episode that will hit harder if you have seen everything that led up to that point. (Which will make sense when you see it.)

Clearly for some folks it’s great. I dunno maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind. It hits you all at once, there is no buildup, and that may have contributed to me freaking out.

Don’t get me wrong, I intended my comment as a warning, but with a trusted sitter in a safe space maybe someone else will have a better first time.

My understanding is it’s not a particularly high risk drug, despite how intensely it kicks you (or at least me) in the face. (but again, don’t take my word for it)

I had no hallucinations - they may have been inhibited by my absolute panic.

It was a very long time ago for me but from what I can recall -

I felt immediately mostly disconnected from my body, and like I was constantly falling or about to fall. I essentially laid there starfished on the bed telling myself over and over that it was supposed to be really short and wondering if I’d just killed myself until it passed, then got up and decided I’d never touch that shit again.

Salvia Divinorum

At one point in time I could probably have been convinced to try a lot of things. Fortunately for me (probably) Salvia Divinorum was the first thing I tried after marijuana, and it so thoroughly destroyed any notion I had that I could control my experience that it put me off trying just about everything else I was curious about.

Thank god the entire experience is single digit minutes.

Thanks, I’ll check it out, though it’s going to take more than motivational books to pull the US out of the current nosedive…

I harbor a similar hope!

Excellent point!

Does EVERY axis in life have to be fucked up at the same time?

Can we have one thing that is just doing ok?

Government - fucked.

Education - fucked.

Healthcare - fucked.

Environment - fucked.

Societal and Social Cohesion - fucked.

Wealth Inequality - fucked.

Personal Technological Autonomy - fucked, and under continuous attack.

Technological Enshittification - Running like gangbusters. So really - fucked.

Damn, someone give me some kind of ladder to climb out of this pit of despair.

Shit I try not to think about for $1200, Alex!

(But I can’t disagree with a word.)

Thanks!

I never thought I’d be a cheerleader for arteriosclerosis, but here we are!

Well, we’re clearly talking about two different thresholds, but my happiness doesn’t require us to agree, and yours shouldn’t either.

Good day to you!

I’m sorry you feel that way. I welcome your mockery if we have something resembling a normal 2026 midterm and 2028 general.

I’m a little surprised so many folks don’t seem to realize we have crossed a threshold that may indeed spell the end of the US as we have known it up to now, and seem to think this was just another election. But, I guess for folks who haven’t witnessed that many of our elections in their lifetime it might seem that way.

If more people did realize that, I’d have a lot more faith that we’re going to be able to stop it.

Bold of you to assume we get more free elections.