Unfortunately I haven't been recording the rituals - I'm attempting to set up a recording studio where I can do so, but I'm planning to move in the near future so it's a bit on hold.

Thanks! I made quite a few paintings this last week due to stress (specifically job interviews over the phone are NOT fun for me) so hopefully I'll be able to photograph and post a few more for you!

LOL at tower defense map!

Yeah I like the perspective of berries in the snow, with small animals (mice/birds) leaving their tracks!

I hadn't seen it as a battle field before - nice!

I'm a westerner who lives in Hawaii, which has a strong Japanese influence... could be why it has that kind of general theme.

Hmmm I like the idea of the red representing rage against tranquility - this would be very true for my personal style.

For writing, I find making an outline of what I want to talk about very helpful. You mentioned ideas and feelings you want to impart - write those down as single sentences in some order that makes sense to you, then fill in your writing around those sentences.

Businesses do take a lot of time! I prioritized startups while in school and my grades suffered a lot. On the other hand, I learned the skills that got me my current job.

I'm glad to hear you're seeking feedback from people you trust! Good luck on your idea.

Hmmmmm

Don't be afraid to discuss your ideas for feedback and criticism... often the work barrier is much higher than the originality of the idea, so people rarely steal and implement your idea. It can happen though...

I am glad my painting stimulated such an interesting interpetation! The painting makes a lot of sense as a cross section of the subject's brain.

I'm glad that you liked the process and rationale - that's what I liked about my painting. I do think it's a mess, and I do like it because it's a mess.

Who is Sister Wendy?

It's not like there's a wrong direction.

Let things take time to work. It sounds like you've been deciding to do things. Don't be sad if you give up. Just accept it, and return to it when you are ready again. Change takes time.

You seem to be moving in the "right" direction, or at least a direction that I find interesting

You're right - that's why I prefer a negative income tax. One big problem with UBI is you give out money to people who don't need it. Negative income tax doesn't have this problem.

The USA doesn't have a true negative income tax, but there is an earned income tax credit that behaves the same way, but only for people with jobs. It was put in place under the Clinton administration and seems to have been a success at reducing poverty. Politically, it might be easiest to focus on expanding this program. A compromise might be struck with budget deficit hawks by cutting other welfare programs that are less effective.

Depends on how it is funded,and the state of the economy.

If it is funded by printing money, it could result in inflation.

However, if the economy is experiencing deflation, as Europe is now, it would reduce deflation.

So the answer is preventing inflation is a balancing act. In the USA, the federal Reserve has been printing money to buy assets from big banks (QE) in order to combat deflation, but without causing inflation. They have succeeded.

I think the point of the article is less a criticism of European politics and more the story of how Google failed to translate their lobbying expertise in the US to the EU.

No, I think that friendships with people who believe differently from me are valuable.

For me, I view a persons beliefs as a result of upbringing and culture plus biological tendencies.

If I isolate myself from "bigots" not only do I lose access to people who might actually be right (albeit partially) I also lose the ability to help change their views.

EDIT - in my personal story, people who took the time to befriend me in spite of my bigoted beliefs changed my values, albeit after many years....

It's not like this is me giving a lecture - it's more like a conversation. Like any conversation topics drift. But maybe to give an example, If I say "I don't think homosexuality is wrong according to the bible" then the response is usually either "why? What about..." or "you are wrong." If it's something like the first - great we can have a conversation about this! If it's the second, I say "we'll maybe you're right" then depending on the context either shrug it off or justify my position with a short sentence such as "Romans chapter 1 is ambiguous." That allows the other person to discuss or not discuss the topic as far as they are comfortable with it without hurting the friendship.

Trying to communicate effectively with a community that shares views different from yours is very challenging. I don't really have any advice that guarantees success. I usually try to listen more than I speak, and be ready to change my opinion no matter how obvious to me I am right.

As an example, when talking to Christians who strongly oppose homosexuality, I discuss how the bible emphasises love and compassion repeatedly while the new testament has only 1 passage that can be interpreted as antihomosexual, and many christians don't interpret it that way.

It doesn't usually work.

It sounds to me like you are doing well! Try different motivational ideas from here and elsewhere, remix into your own, and you'll be alright. But you're already doing that!

Go ahead and write - but unless you're willing to risk everything on it, perhaps consider a career that you would at least halfway enjoy and would allow you to continue to write as a hobby.

I hope I was able to help a bit.

If you don't mind me asking, is there a particular goal you have in mind?

Wow this was so amazing! Everything was labeled too... I wish the network at my work was that gorgeous... ours looks like it was done by a 3 year old with too much sugar

Find what works for you.

My advice - break down big goals into small ones that you can achieve in 1 day.

If you fail, don't stress! Change can take years.

Even 15 minutes of achievement matters. Every big goal is achieved through an accumulation of 15 minute portions.

In my own life, I taught myself how to program by giving up constantly. The first time I tried to program, I didn't even succeed in getting the compiler to work! I couldn't even get the "hello world" program to run. I gave up for months. But I kept coming back to it (and giving up) and now I'm pretty good - I even lived off income from programming contract work for 2 years.

Don't use Facebook unless you're trying to advertise....

Hubski obviously.

Most forums have boards that have a positive vibe (well except voat...). Reddit has places, 8chan has places, heck I even used to hang out in a chatroom on Kongregate a few years back with some really cool people, albeit with the occasional troll...

IRC is also great place to meet people, just have to find the right group.

If you like to code, certain open source projects have a positive culture.

EDIT: how could I forget the wonderful people at Simtropolis? Haven't been there in a few years... but still

Even people with obnoxious views (sexist, racist) aren't terrible; sexism and racism are usually a result of history and social norms not personal choice. Gently planting anti-sexist ideas in a non-confrontational way allows you to have a positive relationship with such a person without ignoring the negative aspects.

The platform matters as well. Facebook is designed in such a way that self-promoters and low-brow content fill the news feed.

I disagree that people are terrible. Internet publicity introduces a selection bias because the Internet, and especially social media, make relatively uncommon acts of stupidity, hate, or plain terribleness visible to everyone.

Internet publicity can also make uncommon acts of love, intelligence, or beauty visible.

My personal choice is to place myself in internet communities that emphasize the positive aspects of people rather than the negative aspects. Because of this choice, I've come to have a more positive view of people.

Now a days I only visit Facebook to run my client's ad campaigns...

EU should write off their debts to Greece but continue the pressure to institute structural reforms. Pretending that Greece will ever pay off their debts is ridiculous, but so is allowing them to build up such a massive debt load again.

My tip: don't beat yourself up for what you didn't do. Think about whatever you did do (however small) and congratulate yourself for it.

Second tip: If you feel completely unmotivated, make yourself a small task that you can do in 5-10minutes. After you're done, keep working if you can and if you can't congratulate yourself for at least doing something.

It may take a few years, but I found this technique to work far better than trying to summon non existent energy to complete a task.

To me this looks like a case of overfitting. You could just as easily make a model that fits past data that would predict a Democrat presidential election win.