Net Neutrality

Remember the good old days, when Net Neutrality used to be an issue? Like so many others, it got lost in the maelstrom of turds that was the Trump presidency. Some of my more prescient friends started downloading as much porn as they possibly could, but like most, I was quickly swept away by the latest debacle of the moment, as Net Neutrality was lost under President Trump’s watch.

Flash forward and Pornhub has been forced to purge approximately 80% of its content, and legislators and media conglomerates are using credit companies as the muscle.

On December 10, 2020, Mastercard severed ties with Pornhub, and Visa and Discover quickly followed suit after New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof alleged that Pornhub “is infested with rape videos” and “monetizes child rapes” in an opinion piece. …

Nuclear power is the cheapest, safest, and cleanest by far, but it pushes the wrong emotional buttons. It just doesn’t fit into our picture of an ideal world, so we dismiss it, and we justify our rejection with flawed perceptions and dated information. But it’s coming anyway, because there’s no other choice.

Flawed Perceptions

How many people died at Fukushima? Now how many of those people died because of exposure to radiation?

Those are two very different questions with very different answers, but in a world where most of us rarely scroll past the headline, the two have become conflated.

Over 15,000 died at Fukushima due to the earthquake and tsunami. The number of people who died from exposure to radiation is either 0 or 1. …

The right wing propaganda mill is obsessed with bashing her because they’re afraid of her.

AOC is every good thing that Trump pretended to be, and they’re afraid that not even Trump supporters will be able to deny it unless they’re inundated with propaganda against her 24/7.

If Trump supporters had any integrity at all, they would at least support her in principle.

AOC has no PAC sponsorship. She received no support from any establishment politicians. So regardless of what you think of her or her policies, nobody owns her. She works for her constituents, and not for some corporation or special interest group.

AOC graduated cum laude from Boston University with majors in economics and international relations, and somehow this makes her obviously stupid. …

There’s an old saying that if you have nothing, making $10 million is almost impossible. But if you have $100 million, it’s practically inevitable.

For every article you’ve read about the 10 habits of billionaires, there are millions of broke people out there with the exact same habits. You aren’t going to be reading much about the Joe the hobo who straightens out his boxes every morning.

The advice of billionaires is not applicable to you, as you don’t have $100 million you can just park in Coca Cola.

There is no quick and easy way, but you still have a chance, and you should take it. But first . . .

Save enough to survive for six months before you start investing.

If you’re working from home, you’re already saving money. The metrocards, gas, and trips to Starbucks add up. So get your debts under control and save a little before you start. …

You write a book and pour your heart into it, and crickets. One of them is traditionally published, and the 14 people who’ve read it love it, but it also dies on the vine.

So one day, you figure to hell with it. I’ll write some smut and see how that goes. And it sells immediately and keeps selling. No promotions, no social media posts, no nothing, and people keep buying it.

Earning money writing is close to impossible, and this is not to denigrate any writers of erotica or porn, but never before have I sold this many books and felt so depressed about it. The world is telling me something I don’t want to hear. People could give a shit about my novels or articles about nuclear power. …

If only I’d known then what I know now or had the power of an adult to make consequential decisions. We can never go back, but maybe some of these lessons might help future generations.

Murder

You kill someone as a minor, and you typically come out clean at 18. Depending on where you live, juvenile detention might be an improvement. At least you get fed.

A lot of this depends on who you murder. You kill a pretty white woman and you’re getting the chair, child or not (NY used to have the death penalty). But a fellow delinquent or evil bully? …

I used to stop at bars before work to pull myself together. The hair of the dog works, at least for a little while. A few hours later I’d sneak out for a cigarette and another quick beer. Once I made it to lunch, I had a full half hour to load up for the rest of the shift.

Now, I no longer have to commute. All I have to do is drag myself 10 feet to the computer. And conveniently, the fridge is right behind me.

There’s been a lot of overtime and stress in general, but for me, it’s mainly the boredom. And when it’s too busy to write on the side, I can still drink beer and listen to music. …

Facebook had been keeping a lot of my “friendships” on life support. Maybe quitting in 2019 wasn’t such a good idea after all.

The person I speak with the most is my boss. The only people I messenger or text are my co-workers.

I finished college in 1997, before social media, so my few friends from that time have disappeared into the ether. I’m still in touch with a couple of people from high school, but the frequency of our interactions diminishes with each passing year. …