The only computer software I specifically must use at work runs on Java, so it would run just fine on another OS... Even so, there's not a chance in hell I'll be able to use anything other than Windows :(
Look up the McMahons. There are several stories about accusations/investigations of their being directly and indirectly involved in sexual abuses, including of children. If they're not in the Epstein files, it's simply because they already had their own thing going and didn't need him.
I have mixed feelings about zoos. The ones with tiny cages made just for ogling at animals just should not be allowed to exist. The ones which exist to support conservation, research, and educational efforts (and thereby go to lengths to ensure the animals are treated well) I think have a reasonable place in a reasonable society. Although, a reasonable society wouldn't be creating the conditions which make conservation efforts necessary, but here we are.
sometimes it can be really disruptive and long-lasting. Why are we pretending that’s disordered?
Because if it's "really disruptive" then a person might need support to be able to function well enough to, e.g., keep a roof over their head. Insurance companies require a label in order to pay out for that support, so there it is. If you're grieving for 2 weeks plus 1 day, but still able to function, no one is going to arbitrarily slap a diagnosis on you.
Fwiw, "disordered" doesn't necessarily mean abnormal in the context of mental health, it really just means causing problems (or, "really disruptive"). Indeed, it's normal to grieve for more than 2 weeks, but our broader society is geared toward extracting profit from you, not toward making sure you can work through your emotions, so mental health professionals are often stuck with just trying to facilitate the least-bad outcomes. Also, as you said, sometimes the changes are just to appease insurers; the system is dumb, so sometimes you have to do nonsensical things in order to make it help people like it should.
As for narcolepsy/etc., yeah ... As a mental health professional, I am also befuddled. I suppose a psychiatrist with appropriate training could diagnose and treat that, but normally it would be a sleep specialist.
Tl;Dr: the healthcare system itself doesn't make sense, so we do things that don't make sense in order to make it work for patients.
They're not allowed by law - they're allowed simply by being in control of who enforces the law. This kind of government corruption would normally be investigated by the DOJ... Except it's the DOJ doing it, and the only people who might be able to anything about that (the legislature and judiciary) are complicit.
Ouch. Feels. I religiously organize everything in Minecraft and Valheim. I got so frustrated with others I played with not putting things in the right places that I made boxes labeled "sort later", and they dump everything in there and I just sort it myself. Whereas my house always feels like a mess and I have always struggled to change that.
I've adapted by keeping a relatively spartan home environment. Stuff can't be as much of a mess if you don't have stuff you don't need, and the space is easier to clean with less in it.
You gotta meet the people where they're at to get them informed. If this information was hidden away in some privacy/security-centered blog, a fraction as many people would see it.
This. They're told, e.g., that the Epstein stuff is all a smear campaign by Democrats. And they believe it because it's hammered into them and because of tribalism.
If my father believed Trump was involved with Epstein and the raping of children, he'd never have voted for Trump. But instead he's convinced that Trump is God-appointed to save America from those evil Democrats who want to corrupt kids with trans ideology. He's stuck in an algorithmically-secured propaganda bubble.
The majority at least? Where I live, people say we have a church on every corner. Because we almost literally do. I drive past 5 just on my way to work every day. They wouldn't be there if people didn't attend. In my experience, even most of the non-affiliated will say they believe in a "higher power" or somesuch. In the Pew survey, only 6% out of the 29% non-affiliated identified as agnostic, and only 5% as atheist. Living in the south, having grown up in the bible belt, I can say with very high confidence that more than 5% of Christians actually believe in god. I'm sure some do maintain a facade for social reasons (I did myself for a few years, though would have been honest on an anonymous survey), but certainly not 95%+.
I'm sure it varies by location (obviously, the bible belt was thusly nicknamed for a reason), but the idea that less than 5% of Christians anywhere actually practice / believe in god just stretches credulity.
341,784,857 (official population estimate from 2025) * 62% (proportion of people who identify as Christian per Pew survey from 2023-2024) = 211,906,611.
So... You're right, but they were in the ball park, but also about spot on if you include the 7% "Other religions" (who presumably mostly also believe in a god).
Using a system that is known for making mistakes to write safety regulations for an area known to require particularly highly specialized knowledge and obsessive attention to detail?
What could possibly go wrong?
“We don’t need the perfect rule on XYZ. We don’t even need a very good rule on XYZ,” DoT general counsel Gregory Zerzan said, according to the recent meeting notes obtained by ProPublica. “We want good enough,” he said. “We’re flooding the zone.”
Holy ineptitude, Batman! I hope he's talking about just making drafts which will then be edited by human experts, but the article is not clear on that.
Yes, but given that anyone can contribute anonymously, verifying every edit is a practical impossibility. Wikipedia relies on good faith in a world where bad faith isn't exactly rare.
The only computer software I specifically must use at work runs on Java, so it would run just fine on another OS... Even so, there's not a chance in hell I'll be able to use anything other than Windows :(