hey, amab masc nb person here, i appreciated your write up, thought it was interesting, and cared.

I mean i definitely do in a sense of the word

I think that a separate free market that is isolated from the necessities of life can help fulfill human ambition, but there need not be scarcity of the necessities of life.

or a system and culture that isn’t predicated on a fear of artificial scarcity

I prefer multiple systems of scale based on mutual aid, where all shared institutions and resources are collectively owned and managed by the people working in those institutions without the obligation of profit. Then those institutions would cooperate to form larger scale systems that can form the complex widespread support for our technologically advanced society without having to be centrally managed or owned. Necessarily, but not ideally, there would be a limited free market that is completely isolated from the actual organizational structure (no lobbying, no private ownership of necessities, etc.) to allow interaction with non-collectivist states and entities.

That’s very true and I’d argue more an issue of our regulation (or lack thereof) of both drugs and medication.

Decongestants are a weird one. Pseudoephedrine is available but is behind the pharmacy counter where most people don’t realize they can get it. Pretty much every other nasal decongestant has been replaced by phenylephrine which is extremely ineffective. Both the generic cold/sinus meds and sudafed PE will be most likely be phenylephrine, and you might as well not waste your money at that point. Actual pseudoephedrine (sudafed or a generic if they make it) will help.

Reminder, I am not a doctor, pharmacist, or healthcare worker. I’m just a rando on the internet who has heard a lot about this.

is that chromium?

I think the main issue with outdoor cats isn’t even the danger posed to the cats; it’s the danger the cats pose to everything else. Numerous species — especially birds — have gone extinct specifically because of cats. It’s one thing to have a barn cat or mouser, but cats wreak havoc on ecosystems. And iirc, indoor cats have a lot longer life expectancy than outdoor cats. I understand wanting to give freedom to our furry friends, but cats hunt for fun and are basically murderous little fluffballs to anything smaller or similar size than them.

i like this assertion

According to DuckDuckGo

State Capitalism: An economic system that is primarily capitalistic but there is some degree of government ownership of the means of production.

Basically capitalism managed and owned by the state. This is not communism, nor even socialism. China is communist in name only.

It’s state capitalism with a veneer of communism.

I live in a place that was known for its (less than Minnesota) horrible Winter, and growing up I remember blizzards and at least a foot of snow each Winter.

My city doesn’t have Winter anymore really. We don’t have snow either. I miss the Winter.

My friend recently introduced the concept of the machine spirit to me; the idea that all computers and machines have spirits and that the more complex and complicated the machine and software, the higher the level of technomage required to submit it. Most computers and desktops have low machine spirits so people with basic knowledge can make it work, but machines with purpose or that are complicated require high level technomages to operate. I think about that sometimes when I can fix my friends stuff in minutes but my machine will have issues that take days or weeks to fix.

He was a carpenter after all

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever.