Yeah, they’re pretty behind the times, and I’m happy for that. They gave me a work laptop, but since they didn’t block me from just using my home computer instead, I just do that so that I’ve got an excuse if they ever bring up any strange data they might be skimming from the laptop. It’s been a couple years now without any word from them about it, though, so I think I’m in the clear.

I feel like the high-end buyer’s don’t care about how much they like their possessions, they care about how expensive their possessions sound when described to others. They couldn’t tell that the SI was less pure, but they knew they couldn’t describe it to their friends as the purest, so they didn’t care.

GMO’s trace back further than that - even when we’re specifically talking about modern methods. The first Drosophila melanogaster fruit fly genetics experiments happened in 1910, though it took a while for us to begin actually creating GMO strains; the first study I know of that did so was in 1927 by Hermann J. Muller, using x-rays to purposefully induce mutations. But ultimately, it doesn’t matter who was the first to purposefully modify the genetics of an organism, modern or otherwise.

The fact of the matter is that we can use, have used, and should use genetic modification for beneficial purposes. Again, GMO’s are neutral; it just means an organism was purposefully modified on a genetic level by humans - it’s the purpose itself that determines whether its good or bad. People will use it for bad reasons just like any technology, and we should stop them, but that doesn’t mean we should shun the technology itself when genetic modifications have been used beneficially for millennia, and modern techniques are just as capable of producing incredibly beneficial changes as they are the detrimental ones everyone’s scared of.

They’re a company - their only purpose is to make money. They don’t hate emulation, they hate not making the absolute maximum amount of money they possibly can. Public use of emulation lowers their profits, while their own use of emulation helps increase their profits. It’s not some weird enigma or hypocrisy - money is the singular driving factor for every company; every action they take traces back to making more money. This is why we need much tighter regulation instead of trusting companies to “be reasonable” or “do the right thing.”

Eh, it certainly can be, but many of us could barely afford it, so we had to spend all our free time working. I woke up at 2am Tuesday through Saturday to work at FedEx before class, and would often have lectures until 8pm, since I was double majoring to get everything I could out of the 4 years of tuition payments. Any time I had between classes was spent studying, doing homework, or trying to catch a nap so I didn’t fall asleep in class. I barely even had acquaintances when I graduated, much less friends. I managed to graduate without loans, though! Too bad I still didn’t end up using either of my bachelors degrees, or the masters I got afterward…

I happily described a nice coffee shop as “kitschy” to the guy behind the counter and quickly learned from his reaction that it isn’t the synonym for “artsy” that I thought it was.

They lost my wife just a few months ago. It wasn’t even the pay - her new job pays a little less - it’s the fact that so much is expected of teachers and so little appreciation is given. She loved children when she started 6 years ago, and now she doesn’t even know if she wants one of her own anymore.

It’s sad how the profession sucks every ounce of enthusiasm out of a person, and the longer they try to stick it out for the greater good, the worse it gets. I’m just glad she doesn’t come home crying anymore.

People playing tag 💪

My mom died of cancer a few months ago because she was convinced that a combination of sunlight’s natural vibrational frequency and some expensive “medical” herbal teas would cure her. Placebos affect people, but if you let them believe that they’re an alternative to actual science and medicine, then they’ll use them as such.

Efficient workers get more work if you’re in the office. I work from home, and that allows me to work efficiently until my work is done, set up scheduled emails to go out at the time I would’ve otherwise been done, then do what I want until then.