21–30 of 112 posts
Thieves are strategic. They’re not looking around in parks for lost wallets, nor are they going to libraries hoping they can lift a bunch of unattended books.
Recently, we were at a resort in Switzerland. Arguably one of the safest countries on earth. But: as we exited the swimming pool house, our umbrella was gone. I said „what an irony, the first time we have something stolen is in Switzerland“. Two hours later, the umbrella was again where we had left it: someone must have borrowed it to protect themselves/their children from heavy rain. We understood why there were no…
Tangentially, is it just me, or is "To date, all the books have been returned." a bit of an awkward sentence? If I were going to use "To date" - I feel like I would use it to indicate there is more to happen at a future date, but in this context, it seems there is nothing left to happen? Not trying to be pedantic or nitpick, genuinely curious if I've been using To date incorrectly.
Tangentially, is it just me, or is "To date, all the books have been returned." a bit of an awkward sentence? If I were going to use "To date" - I feel like I would use it to indicate there is more to happen at a future date, but in this context, it seems there is nothing left to happen? Not trying to be pedantic or nitpick, genuinely curious if I've been using To date incorrectly.
It was indeed 2023. Was it so hard to say "Over the following week, all the books were returned.? Not only does it provide more information, but it even makes the story more compelling that the uninformative and useless "to date"!
Are they still expecting tomorrow that some of these books will no longer have been returned?
If you read the news every day, you might be forgiven for thinking that most people are naturally evil. In reality the vast majority are actually good, or trend towards acting in a positive manner at the very least. I've seen two sorts of IRL applications rely on this: Self checkout at stores, and sites like wikipedia and openstreetmap. Or just western society in general, if you think about it. Most of the time we tr…
Tangentially, is it just me, or is "To date, all the books have been returned." a bit of an awkward sentence? If I were going to use "To date" - I feel like I would use it to indicate there is more to happen at a future date, but in this context, it seems there is nothing left to happen? Not trying to be pedantic or nitpick, genuinely curious if I've been using To date incorrectly.
> It was a quiet revolution [...] “It felt good that everyone behaved exactly as usual "
Not sure how I feel about "revolution" when things don't change.
If you read the news every day, you might be forgiven for thinking that most people are naturally evil. In reality the vast majority are actually good, or trend towards acting in a positive manner at the very least. I've seen two sorts of IRL applications rely on this: Self checkout at stores, and sites like wikipedia and openstreetmap. Or just western society in general, if you think about it. Most of the time we tr…
Don’t forget Karen acting out is still not evil just shitty.
If you read the news every day, you might be forgiven for thinking that most people are naturally evil. In reality the vast majority are actually good, or trend towards acting in a positive manner at the very least. I've seen two sorts of IRL applications rely on this: Self checkout at stores, and sites like wikipedia and openstreetmap. Or just western society in general, if you think about it. Most of the time we tr…
It's funny, I've watched these documentaries about this guy going about seeing what kind of scams are ongoing in major cities. Pickpockets, taxis ripping off customers, vendors giving counterfeit change... The guy confronts them and asks them to explain their scheme. Almost universally the thief/scam artist/whatever justifies their actions: "I have to feed my family!" .. These people aren't evil, they're desperate.
Of course there are definitely some real straight-up colossally destructive people out there who engage in seriously despicable acts. I still can't bring myself to call it "evil". I'd rather just understand it (and know how to avoid it). I mean, I was picturing like murderers when I wrote that, but then I realized it equally applies to say, bloodthirsty dictators, or someone who decides to raise a $12 medication to $750. It doesn't help much to label it as evil, but it does help my understanding of the world in which I live to at least try to make sense of it. It's not like they have a little demon on their shoulder.
I don't have a perfect thesis here but I wanted to share my thoughts on that topic.