Yikes. Iowa Republicans want public schools to hire untrained Christian chaplains
https://open.substack.com/pub/friendlyatheist/p/iowa-republicans-want-public-schools

E Jean Carroll to spend $83m defamation award on 'something Donald Trump hates'

That doesn't rule out much, does it?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68131209

So, I'm high and pondering all this. Considering for the first time in my life that the timeless pull of gravity on my bones is akin to a dented arc of spacetime that suspends the sensation of acceleration towards the ground and draws it out over eternity, perpetually accelerating and yet going nowhere.

Man, this is great weed.

I'm high right now, so I decided to find out how Einstein arrived at his theory of general relativity that time and gravity are related.

Turns out it started with his use of the Equivalence Principle, which suggests that an observer cannot distinguish between the effects of gravity and acceleration. Kind of like those fighter simulators that simulate acceleration by tilting the cabin up.

This principle led him to consider the gravitational field as a curvature of spacetime.

[Telling Jefferson Lies] America's Premier Historian: Origin Story #tellingJeffersonLies
https://podcastaddict.com/telling-jefferson-lies/episode/169886993

After Trump dies, my sons and I are planning a family trip to Trump’s grave to get a family photo of us dunking our nutsacks on Trump's headstone.

ChatGPT seemed unclear on the legality, but when did Trump ever let the law get in the way of things?

Thinking about all the January 6th rioters in prison 3 years on. Thinking and smiling.

Justice isn't swift, but it's comforting to see that it does exist because if nothing else, it shows that those assholes failed.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/30-months-jan-6-attack-capitol

It's considered impolite to speak ill of the dead, so since former PM Gordon Brown is still with us, I'd like to take the opportunity to say he was the worst thing to have happened to Scotland since Margaret Thatcher.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/gordon-brown-scottish-government-scots-andy-burnham-mark-drakeford-b2349297.html

Help push back against Christian Nationalism in Oklahoma public schools by having the mandatory posters printed in Arabic.
https://gofund.me/952e0a8b

A fascinating deep dive into the suspiciously sparse background of our current house speaker and how he rose.

https://youtu.be/F5BOpx81ldw

Changes I've made as a result of all this over the past two years:

I have more 1:1 time with my wife and kids.
I cycle 100 miles a week to maintain my health.
I take way more weed gummies and laugh a lot more.
I've adjusted my finances to retire earlier.

Once you've accepted the finite nature of the canvas, you can start to paint your life on it.

While it might take a while for our society and laws to come to a healthier position on these matters, we can start today on a personal level by accepting our own mortality and writing the story of what we're going to achieve and experience. We can talk with those we love about this. Perhaps most importantly, we can live for the now, since that's all we're guaranteed.

This whole experience with my uncle has caused me to think about my end as an integral part of my life, just like my education, career and retirement. It's caused me to bring forward plans that I'd left semi-formed. I think about and prioritize what's important to me. I find joy in the now because old age is coming and it's not particularly kind.

Ultimately, I will spend my $11,000 in my late 40s and enjoy it more than $11,000 of semolina and bedbaths in my 90s.

I hope this continues and that we can move to include this ultimate freedom for ourselves in what is often claimed as the land of the free.

In many ways, religion has framed how we view suicide just as it has framed how we view abortion. It's a sin. But a sin is just a violation of God's law and I'm not convinced there is a God. So there's no reason to worry about what they'd think of how I choose to live my life.

While recent Supreme Court and GOP-led states influenced by religious world-views have sought to restrict bodily autonomy, recent elections and Pew research studies indicate that we are becoming a more secular society.

On a personal level, I've made it clear to my wife and kids that I don't want the same end as my uncle, gradually losing the will to live along with my senses and faculties with the boundaries of each day shrinking into a world of sodoku, loud TV, and easily digestible meals. It's not for me, and the earlier I can plant that in their minds, the easier it will be for them.

Beyond needing to make assisted death statutes more widespread, we'd need to open access to those without a specific terminal condition.

If my life is truly mine, then exercising my freedom should include how I choose to end mine.

I want to do that in a way that allows my loved ones to be there without fear that they're participating in something that may carry legal consequences for them by being there.

Since the ideal death for most of us is to be surrounded by those we love and to go peacefully, with lucidity and not racked by pain, I would like to see people have planned finale events. These wouldn't be in hospitals, they'd be at home or in a place of significance to the person.