Entering pedantic mode:

"But," in Paul's usage, isn't a preposition. And starting sentences with prepositions isn't considered "incorrect" by most grammarians[0]. Or even bad style.

If it's good enough for the Bible[1], it's probably good enough for you.

[0]https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/10/26/102560_can-you-start...

[1]https://biblehub.com/nlt/genesis/31.htm

I’m certainly no grammarian or even much of a writer, but the Bible seems a particularly odd piece of writing to use as a guide.

It’s been translated to the nth degree, is ancient & frequently obtuse on purpose...

Translations of the Bible, at least in historically Christian cultures, are usually treated as authoritative examples of proper written usage.

No they aren't.

Where did you get this idea?

(deleted)

So you derived the idea axiomatically?

I'm sorry. It's the game I'm poking fun at, not the players (I'm as bad as anyone) and I can see how I could have communicated personalized contempt rather than general bemusement. I apologize and promise that I don't think you're full of shit.

Thanks. In retrospect it's kind of funny that I ended up making one of those mistaken remarks that the original essay explicitly recommends against.

I'm not sure I even agree with that, since I just spent my lunch down a 20 minute rabbit hole of researching the regard usage experts have for English translations of the bible, and it's actually a pretty interesting digression. I shouldn't have jumped on you for it; I made the thread worse.

I'd be interested to see what you found out!

There are so many complications when it comes to REALLY understanding the health effects of weed. The science is really tough, and underdeveloped.

One problem is that there are so many varietals, and so many different vehicles for administration (smoking, vaping, eating, tinctures, lotions, etc) — that make it hard to announce, globally, that "marijuana does X to your brain."

Really, the most we can say after a given experience is something like "Strain Y, when inhaled as a combustible, appears to show effect X."

Another problem is the weed that's available for experiments in the US. There is one — and only one — weed crop that the FDA will approve for clinical studies. From a farm at the University of Mississippi. (https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pot-monopoly-20140529-s...)

And according to a weed researcher I spoke to (Sue Sisley - https://medicalcannabis.com/about/faculty/suzanne-sisley/), that Mississippi weed is very low quality — aged, with a lot of stems, seeds, and adulterants.

None of this is to say that weed can't be beneficial.

But I'd argue that anyone making any global claims about weed's health benefits are, at the very least, overgeneralizing.

Of course. Because my definition of rich/poor is w.r.t. people around and not some world's mean/median. Many people in first world nations cannot afford to have as much kids as even 40 years ago.

It also reduces road traffic and all manner of queues.

Yeah, some rich people don't get why poor people want to have kids and pollute this planet (according to them). Fortune's list suggests that the median number of kids is 2-3.

My bad, about the Epstein thing. Ungenerous assumption on my part. Sorry!

Lived in China for a while. Us (admittedly, extremely white) American ex-pats had a very fratty attitude toward "the baij."

Maybe it's because we could only afford the cheap stuff — but any baijiu we got our hands on was really, really nasty. Only palatable with a 1:25 Sprite solution.

I've tasted expensive Baijiu. It's also pretty nasty, possibly even moreso to my taste than the cheap stuff. I think it's one of those machismo things where everyone pretends they like something that is objectively terrible to prove their manhood, or something. Comparable to ultra-bitter IPAs in the west.

My roommate brought some of this stuff back with him when he went out to China a year ago. He told me it gave him the most terrifying nightmares ever, so I've kept it on my shelf and avoided it so far.

One advantage of paper maps, for me, is that they're much better at installing a 'model' for a city in your head.

With digital maps, I can navigate from place to place to place pretty easily. But then I retain virtually no information. I end up with no 'nose' for how to find my own way home.

But if I study a map on paper, laboriously plan my route in advance, and then follow it IRL — it's like magic. That route is installed there forever.

Do that enough times, and navigating even really crazy big cities starts to become instinctual. No GPS required.

Yup, that's basically what I do on my motorcycle. I map out a route in my head and try to memorize it. Even if I miss a road, I have a pretty good mental model for alternative routes.

Oh, people on such plans incur massive bills all the time.

Suppose you're in a bicycling accident, you're knocked unconscious, and an ambulance takes you to a hospital that isn't in your insurance network.

Boom. Out-of-network charges.

If your bicycling accident was so bad that you need surgery, a five figure bill is a certainty. A six figure one is rarer -- but absolutely possible.

What's really messed up is that, even if you end up at an in-network HOSPITAL, you might get care from an out-of-network provider.

In this bicycle surgery hypothetical, for instance, your hospital and your surgeon might be in your network - but the anesthesiologist isn't.

Boom. Another out-of-network charge.

(Thats called Surprise Billing, btw)

At median income levels, there's no amount of HSA savings money that can insulate you from costs like that.

The current US insurance system asks consumers to walk an insane tightrope of cost controls.

It's no wonder a lot of us fall.

> (Thats called Surprise Billing, btw)

Yes, and in some states, it's starting to be illegal.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/upshot/california-surpris...

You're conflating in-network, out of network with HSA -- as these also apply for POS and HMO plans - only traditional plans don't get the plan cost savings, tax deduction, (or if they're lucky the employers savings into an HSA account)

Your bicycling example isn't far off though (as someone who had an HSA and was in a bicycling accident). I had a ~$3600 deductible, and that was spent between an ambulance ride, ER visit, blood test, and MRI.

So, at that point, all costs would be on my insurer and I would theoretically no longer care to price discriminate for follow up visits (to get stitches removed)

I still have an HSA, though I make sure I get the lower deductible now.

Jazz is so cool.

"Look. Look where your hands are. Now."

"Son ain't what a woman say; it what a man do"

Very good point! Envy has layers! Hard to keep that in mind in the throes of it — but certainly a smart approach.

Really resonated with me. "Seeing the kid more often" is the hardest hitting observation.

"Its just a fucking job" indeed!

Wow. Lived there for years, studied Chinese, and never noticed these little variations of thickness / weight / line height.

What a cool peek into the obscure subculture of sign-crafting!