Desire and aversion, though powerful, are but habits. And we can train ourselves to have better habits. Restrain the habit of being repelled by all those things that aren’t within your control, and focus instead on combating things within your power that are not good for you.
~ Epictetus
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I have a confession to make: even though I love sound, I don’t really like sound equipment. […] Unfortunately, my bad attitude clashes with an important truth about audio storytelling: your equipment matters.
~ Andrew Wardlaw from, Recording Kit Tune Up
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Today, more of a bookmarking post than deep thinking. If you do anything with recording interviews—or even if you just own ONE cable to charge your phone—this article is chock-full of neat ideas.
…of course, if you’re into recording, I recommend handing your cash/cards over to someone you trust before reading it. I confess I was off on a few sites hovering over the buy button on a few new toys. ;)
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This editing continues until the painting is finished. The criterion for what constitutes a “finished” work is reaching the stage at which you are no longer sure whether applying additional changes makes it better or worse. So there is a real possibility of making things worse than they were by not stopping at the right moment. Incidentally, this is the main argument for taking frequent breaks from your work, even at the risk of interrupting a flow state. Doing so allows you to take a more detached, if not completely objective, look at the current state of your work and thus avoid making costly mistakes.
~ Peter Oshkai from, Ways to fail
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This is a brilliant way to tell when to stop.
I also believe that stopping while in the flow state is a good way to set oneself up for the next working session. I call it “parking on the hill”—which is a reference to strategically parking one’s car, nose downhill, on a hill so that it can be jump-started using the manual transmission. When stopping a work session, it’s obvious how to pre-position all the physical materials, the space, etc.. But stopping mid-flow also means, in my opinion, your mind is “parked on a hill” as well.
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Do you remember how you felt, and what you said, when you were trying to put forward the best version of yourself to win someone’s amorous attention? Really think about that for a minute.
Now, presuming you are lucky enough to be in a relationship at the moment—perform the following exercise:
Sit down with that person and start bragging about all of your shared stories as if they were things you did before you met them…
“One time, I went to the Grand Canyon in the winter and saw the most awesome snow squall blow up the valley!”
…then they counter with, “Neat! I once was strolling up a side street in Paris and I stumbled over a famous bakery that I’d read a book about—the Madelienes were to die for!”
“Wow! I once saw the sunset from the top of the Tokyo tower and then ate the best sushi…”
“I was in Trafalgar Square for Guy Fawkes night and then I went and listened to a Vespers concert in a church…”
“omg that reminds me I saw the Salisbury Cathedral and had this conversation with a random person who was crazy-passionate about how they built the cathedral…”
“…huh, I once hiked miles into the forest, to the top of a mountain in Kamakura Japan—oh, the mist and the wind and the trees where amazing.”
“wow! I spent a week in the French Alps with a couple of the people who created Parkour—except that’s not what they call it…”
“Really? I once rented a car and drove all over the Cottswalds in England…”
“Neat! I took a road trip to Boston and walked the entire Freedom Trail and had a picnic lunch at Bunker Hill in the shade.”
…and so on and so on.
Let me know how it works out.
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What’s the shortest question that can make a difference?
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I’ve always had poor hearing.
(Yes, it’s been looked into. No, there’s no specific reason. Pro-tip: Some humans have sub-average hearing.)
So so so many things I could unpack about my personality, and who I am, which I now think are related to my hearing. For example, I’ve always been loud and gee, I wonder if being louder was related to my hearing. :) Put cotton in your ears and see how loud you start talking… Anywho.
Exactly three years ago I went and got hearing aids. Now most people who need them, hem and haw and fight their wives—oops, did I just call out the men? I flipped to the “team hearing aids” in one conversation.
I was at someone’s house, in the evening after a wonderful meal. Bunch of us hanging out and we’re having an incredible conversation. I was about 8 podcast episodes into my [what would become the] Movers Mindset project. One of the people in the conversation was someone I really wanted to interview; not that night, but soon.
And I was seriously pissed that I couldn’t hear half of what was being said.
Next day I made an appointment for the following week. I bought a pair (they aren’t cheap) at my first appointment. I call them my cyborg implants; I am Craig of Borg. Everyone who knows me well, was like, “hey what happened to Craig he suddenly got drastically quieter?”
What does any of this have to do with my title?
OH. MY. GAWD. BECKY the world is loud! The birds and the planes—did you know jets make noise when they fly over?—and the highway a mile over and the road when you drive and people… holy cow are some people REALLY LOUD! And podcast interviews… when I’m interviewing people, with headphones on, or talking in person, or strolling down the street where I can’t see their lips (aside: I read lips very well)… ambrosia through my ears. But the world is LOUD.
…and I love every second of it.
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On Castbox.fm — Weston Edwards | Chronic Joint Pain & Unresolved Injuries
How can individuals navigate and manage chronic pain, and what role does movement and mindset play in the recovery process?
Movement can both exacerbate and alleviate pain, depending on how it’s approached and integrated into daily life.
[I]f movement is part of your life, then movement has to be part of the answer. Especially because most people will have an association of movement with either increased risk of injury, [or] increased fear of doing further damage.
~ Weston Edwards (13:11)
The conversation explores the complexities of chronic pain, emphasizing that recovery often blends personal experiences, emotional resilience, and movement practices. Weston shares insights from his own journey overcoming fibromyalgia, highlighting the need for both scientific understanding and intuitive, experimental approaches to healing. Movement, despite its association with injury, often becomes a key element in managing and alleviating chronic pain.
Another key topic is the role of emotional support and community in dealing with long-term pain. The conversation stresses that individuals suffering from chronic pain frequently encounter isolation and misunderstandings from those around them. Holding space and offering empathy without attempting to fix the problem becomes essential. The importance of owning one’s healing process and embracing trial and error is also underscored, as the journey through chronic pain rarely follows a linear path.
Takeaways
Chronic pain and emotional impact — Chronic pain often isolates individuals emotionally, making support and empathy vital.
Movement as therapy — Incorporating movement into life can aid recovery, even when pain creates fear around physical activity.
Contradictory experiences — Effective healing practices may conflict with logical explanations, highlighting the individualized nature of recovery.
Role of community — Unconditional presence and emotional support are often more helpful than advice or attempts to fix the issue.
Self-guided journey — Recovery requires personal ownership and a proactive approach to exploring potential solutions.
Resources
Art of Retreat — Organization behind the leadership and education retreat.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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Remember how long you’ve been putting this off, how many extensions have been given you, and you didn’t use them. At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; what power rules it and from what source you spring; that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.
~ Marcus Aurelius
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I recently read Ray Bradbury’s, How To Keep And Feed A Muse. It’s a great essay by the way, and I suggest reading the entire collection in his book, Zen in The Art of Writing.
When I give my thoughts on interviewing, depending on who’s asked me and why, I sometimes veer off into describing where the questions come from; right smack in the middle of the interview, where do all the questions come from? Sometimes I do actively try to think them up on the spot; I’ll run through the topics we’ve covered, the ideas I had before we started, and then I’ll grab a thread of thinking and tug. But that rarely works and it’s always obvious to the guest, to me, and in the recording. Most of the time however, the questions just come to me. Like, *flash* …they come streaming at me far faster than I could say them. So what’s up with that?!
Maybe it’s my muse?
Have you heard of tulpas? A “tulpa” was originally, “a concept in mysticism and the paranormal of a being … created through spiritual or mental powers.” (Wikipedia) No, not that tulpa.
More recently, the term is being used to refer to… Well, you’re not going to believe me, so I’ll just pull-quote it:
A tulpa is an entity created in the mind, acting independently of, and parallel to your own consciousness. They are able to think, and have their own free will, emotions, and memories. In short, a tulpa is like a sentient person living in your head, separate from you. It’s currently unproven whether or not tulpas are truly sentient, but in this community, we treat them as such. It takes time for a tulpa to develop a convincing and complex personality; as they grow older, your attention and their life experiences will shape them into a person with their own hopes, dreams and beliefs.
~ What Is A Tulpa from, What is a tulpa?
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No, it’s not a joke. There are no drugs involved. They are literally talking about creating an entire, additional, thinking, conscious mind… which just happens to be running in the same physical organ as your mind. Sounds completly ape-shit-bonkers… until you start reading more about it and put some thought into how your mind developed. You [you reading. you as your current mind] certainly weren’t born in your brain. You-as-your-current-mind developed over years. How’d that happen?
What if you could do it again, on purpose, using your current brain?
Today I find myself wondering if I’ve created a nascent Tulpa. It doesn’t seem to mind being stuck in my brain; it has no control, but every once in a while it realizes there’s a cool, novel, human mind across the table, and here are these ice-cream-cone like things with the wires and… “oh OH! I have a question!!!”
…and then Craig’s all like, “now where did that question come from?”
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As people get started in podcasting, the question soon comes up: Mono versus stereo?
For the Movers Mindset podcast, we produce our content as mono, and not because we don’t care about audio quality—rather, because I don’t feel stereo gains me anything. Here’s a bunch of things to consider:
But first, an aside: Newb mistake with voices: Don’t put one voice in one channel, and the other voice in the other channel. This isn’t “stereo”, it’s simply a mistake.
Data file size: Stereo is roughly twice the size as mono. Two channels of data versus one, so double the size. Size directly affects download time, storage size on listeners’ devices, their cellular data usage, and relates to my personal disdain for data-size bloat on the Internet in general; all of which cause me to take that “twice the size” very seriously. If the file is going to be twice as big, I want it to be twice as good—or at least drastically better. Stereo isn’t, and so this alone is enough for me to pick mono.
Monaural listening: Many people only put one ear bud in, and some people only have one ear.
Mostly voices: The Movers Mindset podcast is mostly people talking. In fact, it’s mostly just two people talking… often just one person at a time. That single sound source is picked up by one microphone. The other voice, in one other microphone. So here again, publishing stereo gets me no improvement in the final product.
Music: is usually generated by a collection of instruments and voices and that performance does have a three-dimensional aspect. And that’s why we see music in stereo… but we also see lots of “surround sound” systems that do a much better job than a simple left-right channel setup. Meanwhile, the Movers Mindset podcast doesn’t have any music at all, so this doesn’t even factor into our decision. (We use just simple cords, played on a single guitar, recorded—you guessed it—with a single microphone. So even our “music” is already in mono.)
Immersion: If I wanted to really go all-in, to record what it really sounds like—what would it sound like if I was literally sat there—you need to use binaural recording. This involves using two microphones positioned literally like the human eardrums are. This requires either using expensive microphones that you wear in your ears, or using microphones which are built inside a mannequin head. Because it turns out that the presence of your head and bone conduction all affect how things sound to us.
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Fasting is nothing more than intentionally restricting what, or when, you choose to eat. Over the years I’ve posted a good bit about fasting. If this is new to you, start with my post, Ten years and About that diet.
In my battle with depression, I’ve become convinced that inflammation is a causal factor; being over-weight is generally inflammatory and then eating inflammatory foods can tip me over into an acute episode of depression. To be clear: I’m literally saying that if my weight is up, and I eat the wrong food, the following day will be a shit-show of depression.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about—AWESOME. I’m so happy for you. (That’s not sarcasm.)
…okay, you’re still reading. Here’s something new [as in: I’ve not posted this URL on my blog before] from Pilon:
I’ve found stats saying it’s the 4th leading cause of disability worldwide and that mood disturbances including depression will lead to an epidemic of disease in the 21st century in the western world. It’s clear that depression needs to be addressed more often than it currently is in the mainstream and health and fitness media. I find depression particularly interesting because of the connection with inflammation.
~ Brad Pilon from, Intermittent Fasting and Depression (an inflammation link?)
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Curious, it’s almost as if what I eat matters…
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Should I write the title first, or last?
Should the title be a clear signpost of what is to come?
…or should the title prepare the reader?
…prime their mental state, jar them out of common trains of thought, give them the first bit of context, …
Should the title be short, or loquacious?
An interrogative or a statement.
Should the tense (present, past, passive, active, …) match, or provide counter-point?
If I practiced by writing 2,509 titles would I be able to write a title for a post on titles?
Could I remove the titles entirely?
Should I remove the titles entirely?
What is my intention for having titles? (Hi Angie!)
Should I have the same intention each time I’m composing a title?
Could the title be revealed last—only after the piece is read?
Email has a subject line; not a title line.
Does a title convey the subject?
…always? …sometimes? …maybe it never should?
Can a subject be a title?
Could a title contain the subject but also serve some as-yet-undiscovered-by-me purpose?
Should a title set the tone?
…create tension? …allude to the subject?
…and be short?
Do people judge what I write by the title?
Do people who read a lot of my posts, versus those who are having their first experience, use the titles differently?
Or maybe the title’s primary purpose is to serve as a mental bookmark for the piece after it’s been read?
Wait. What was I going to write about today?
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Well, then, are we teachers the only idle dreamers? No; it is you young men who are much more so. For, indeed, we old men, when we see young ones at play, are keen to join in that play ourselves. Far more so, then, if I saw them wide awake and keen to join us in our studies, should I be eager myself to join with them in serious work.
~ Epictetus
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How can inclusive coaching practices and a focus on empathy improve learning and growth for diverse groups in movement disciplines like parkour?
When she first learned about parkour back in ’06, Nikkie Zanevsky never dreamed it would lead to her quitting her day job and starting her own movement company. Nikkie sits down to reflect on her approach to coaching, structuring classes, and creating an experience for her students. She shares her own methods of learning and growing, and how it impacts her coaching. Nikkie shares her insights on success, inclusivity and gender in parkour, and the importance of starting before you’re ready.
For me, my favorite part of coaching is activating everyone in the space to work with each other and to learn from each other, but I feel like I can do that better if I know something about each of the people and how to activate that.
~ Nikkie Zanevsky
The conversation explores the integration of empathy, inclusivity, and diverse movement modalities in coaching practices. Nikkie discusses her approach to creating a supportive environment for learners of all ages and skill levels. She emphasizes the importance of understanding individual needs and fostering collaboration among participants.
Key themes include the role of failure as a pathway to growth, the psychological barriers faced by older participants, and the value of blending disciplines like parkour, strength training, and playful movement. The discussion also highlights how societal expectations can influence participation and the importance of challenging norms to create equitable learning experiences.
Takeaways
Empathy in coaching — Nikkie emphasizes understanding and adapting to the needs of each participant.
Failure as a learning tool — Regularly facing challenges and setbacks builds resilience and empathy.
Diverse modalities — Combining parkour with strength training and playful elements enhances learning.
Psychological barriers — Older adults often face mental and social hurdles to engaging in new physical practices.
Inclusive environments — Structured indoor and outdoor spaces can make movement more approachable.
Impact of societal norms — Challenging expectations about age, gender, and ability fosters inclusivity.
Resources
Wildly Fit — Nikkie’s New York-based movement coaching and team-building company.
Grit — Angela Lee Duckworth’s book referenced for its focus on perseverance and passion.
The Movement Creative — A collaborative movement community co-founded by Nikkie.
Firestorm Freerunning & Acrobatics — Mentioned as a model for a thriving parkour business.
American Rendezvous — An event noted for its inclusivity across all skill levels.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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On Castbox.fm — Don Beeson | Overlanding, Combatives, and Event Missions Recap
How can survival, evasion, resistance, and escape (SERE) skills intersect with and enhance the practice of Parkour?
Teaching Parkour athletes to slow down offers unexpected lessons in awareness and strategy.
The nice thing about teaching and in working with the Parkour community, when I noticed this last year, when I first came is that how enthusiastic everyone is to learn in general, everyone is very athletic, everyone’s very physically minded and very intelligent. A lot of the things that I teach people are picking up very quickly.
~ Don Beeson (1:12)
The conversation explores how military survival and resistance training techniques intersect with Parkour, revealing unexpected similarities between the two disciplines. Practical skills like navigation, situational awareness, and movement efficiency demonstrate significant overlap, and Parkour practitioners’ adaptability in both urban and wilderness environments is highlighted. The enthusiasm and curiosity of the Parkour community provide a rewarding teaching environment for instructors with military backgrounds.
Additionally, the discussion touches on night missions and team-building exercises at the Art of Retreat, showcasing how structured physical challenges reinforce leadership, communication, and problem-solving. The conversation goes into the value of slowing down and appreciating movement in new ways, emphasizing the mutual benefits that arise when different communities exchange knowledge and skills.
Takeaways
Crossovers between Parkour and SERE training — The overlap between survival training and Parkour skills provides valuable insight into movement and adaptability.
Navigation and map reading — Parkour practitioners gain new skills by learning topographic navigation techniques from survival experts.
Team-based challenges — Collaborative exercises during night missions foster leadership, communication, and teamwork.
Slowing down to learn — Moving slowly and deliberately enhances situational awareness and leads to better movement decisions.
Mutual learning — Survival instructors learn efficient movement techniques from Parkour athletes, enriching their own teaching methods.
Resources
Art of Retreat — Annual Parkour leadership and education retreat where the conversation takes place.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, and are often studied in psychology and behavioral economics.
~ List of cognitive biases from, List of cognitive biases
While that may seem blasĂ©, it’s worth a look.
…ok, back? Great.
Now gape dumbfounded at the majesty of a modern image format, SVG mixing a magnificent design, with infinite scalability, dynamic styling and clickable links. Just click on this already:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Cognitive_bias_codex_en.svg
Hey also, as far as I can tell, the word “blasĂ©” correctly written as a word in English does include the diacritical mark. I wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me there were any properly English words with accents, but it seems that this is now a thing in the last century or so! (to wit, https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-English-words-that-take-an-acute-grave-accent-or-any-other-diacritics-if-you-prefer )
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Today, I’m drawn to considering refinement of an idea I’ve mentioned a few times.
It’s clear to me that it’s impossible to be happy if my mind is unable to focus. Years ago, I regained my ability to intentionally focus, by disempowering the world—disabling as many as possible of the pathways for everything and everyone to actively grab my attention. Then I set about railing against everyone who has not yet regained their own ability to focus, (or perhaps, has never learned to focus.)
Internally, I often use an idea which I believe I stole from mathematical analysis. When facing some question, the idea is to find the largest contributor, and get a handle on that first; that’s the first-order item. Then find the next largest contributor, and get that second-order item sorted. And so on.
A few decades ago, the largest impediment to my being able to intentionally focus was external distraction. Having now sorted that first-order item, I can turn to the second-order item: Everyone’s inability to focus is polluting my attention. I remain easily distracted by others’ inability to focus.
Est provocationem!
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Test ideas by experiment and observation. Build on those ideas that pass the test. Reject the ones that fail. Follow the evidence wherever it leads. And question everything, including authority. Do these things and the cosmos is yours.
~ Ann Druyan from, Wonder and the Sacred Search for Truth: Ann Druyan on Why the Scientific Method Is Like Love
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Triple bank shot! Brain Pickings/Maria Papova, Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan. Brain Pickings is one of the web sites where I have read every single post. Time well spent in my opinion.
Presented for your consideration without further comment. :)
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(Postcript: Hey! Almost died yesterday. For the umpteenth time. This is not a joke. I didn’t realize I needed to write about it—until I started typing.)
Recently it’s become necessary for me to make many commuting trips approximately an hour-and-a-half each way. Something came up, just as COVID-19 started, which trumps the stay-at-home-order for me—at first, sporadically in February, March, April and now straight-up five-days-a-week in May, I’m in the car commuting. Never mind why, just roll with me here. I’m now on the road a lot, like a regular commuter. It started when there was no one on the roads, and now things are starting to pick up—just starting mind you, I cannot imagine what this is going to be like soon, as things get back to normal traffic levels.
If you… you specifically reading this right now… have been, (or are,) commuting to your job by car. YOU ARE INSANE. “But I need the job/money!” …when you’re dead? Cool story bro’.
I’m not being hyperbolic.
I’ve driven a shit-ton since I was 16. I had a long distance relationship for years, driving 2, 3, and even 5 hours one-way to say, “hello!” I drove a delivery truck for a few years back in high-school. I’m nuts; I even have routines I use, (at all times,) to avoid losing focus. I’ve been in two accidents, both not my fault—both situations with kamikaze drivers. One literally nearly killed me; I was traveling at 60mph in my first Jeep. On a deserted highway. At midnight. When I was CREAMED from behind by someone doing ~90. (Stop here and try to figure that out.) It spun the Jeep—howling tires and tire smoke and those racing-car hour-glass skid marks… and I hit the guard rail. Also, three separate times since February—HOLY FUCKING SHIT SRLSLY T H R E E people have tried to kill me on the road since February! 1) On a two-lane highway curving left, a manic in the left lane, heads for the right-hand exit ramp through me; I managed to navigate between him, and the guy already on the ramp saving us all. 2) A sleepy driver coming off third shift, in the left lane, on the highway, micro-sleeps and veers through my driver’s-blindspot clipping me off the road, into the median towards the on-merging ramp traffic just as that median space went to zero; again, I saved everyone. 3) An oncoming Amazon delivery truck, rounding a bend, turns left across my path, in the rain; my rainy driving skills save everyone for the win. I can go on if you’d like more examples of driving incidents in the past where my skill has explicitly saved me. Once on a metal-grate bridge in the poring rain, in lane width restricted construction, two lanes, slow flatbed tractor trailer in the left lane, me declining to pass on the right, pissed people behind me, down slight grade at end of bridge, road curves right, truck gently touches his brakes and the trailer slides into my lane… would’ve caught me against the right-hand barrier but instead I smugly read the license plate on the trailer; There have been countless times avoiding being hit from behind in sudden braking situations, people crossing center-lines, tail-gaters, people cutting me off. Being on a road is attempted-suicide.
Every single time I narrowly avoid death I think: That is how I am going to die. Right there, like that, in a car. Once, twice … 42, 43, … 206, 207, 208, … how many times can I get lucky? I’ve seen ground-up people in car crashes as I slow-maneuvered around the accident! That’s how I’ll die. Right there under that truck, in that ditch, wrapped around that tree avoiding that other car. I’m going to die a slow, painful death in an automobile. Is it worth it?
oh. I see this is a rant… ok I’m good with this being a rant.
If you are commuting, YOU ARE INSANE. Save your own life and STOP. Quit your job. You can’t spend the money when you are dead. The people you are “working for” prefer you alive.
I’m straight-up begging for a $1-per-gallon gasoline tax to be routed exclusively into a dedicated driving enforcement arm of the State Police—four person officer teams always working in two cars for the stop. (Each stop should take, mandatory, a minimum of half-an-hour on the roadside. So everyone knows it’s hurts even to get stopped.) Also, mandatory every-5-years driver privilege/license re-testing with an evaluator-in-the-car driving test. Also, I want mandatory escrow accounts to qualify for a license—NOT JUST INSURANCE! I want you to put up a $250,000 secured bond before you can get a license. You’re balking? Wait, what value have you placed on your life?
omg ima stop now
 ɕ
