Ritual and ceremony are deeply important aspects of the human experience. What cultures do with their dead is way, way up there with foodways and adornment when it comes to cultural significance.

The increasingly common view in the West that elaborate death rites are unimportant is really new when compared to the rest of human history. It’s probably a postmodern thing? If I’m right about that, that would mean the less reverential attitude towards traditional deatg ceremony is like 110ish years old.

Compared to the 200,000-300,000 years Homo Sapiens have been around (or 45,000 years ago if we only want to discuss the length of time that Northern European-style deathways have most likely been practiced), 100 years isn’t a lot to change that cultural inertia.

Sorry, I know this is a Wendy’s. Just a frosty, thanks.

ikr? If I had a nickel…

Nanny state foolishness. It’s just crewed spaceflight, not rocket science.

With that baby around, I think it’s you who needs to worry about surviving a 20-story fall.

I’m pleased that she’s experiencing the fallout from all this, but whatever logic she used to calculate that political risk is baffling.

Four John Wick movies have grossed over a billion dollars on the conceit that harming a dog is a legitimate emotional catalyst for someone to kill 450 people.

My kinda person. If they were local and I saw the post, I’d be there for sure.

I’m sick of these impossible beauty standards!

Ayy girl, did you fall from heaven? Because it looks like you need a fucking ambulance.

Excellent disposal.

https://media3.giphy.com/media/qEBlgZpZWHihO/giphy.gif

Dopes to Infinity and Spine of God are stoner metal bangers, JIC anyone here isn’t familiar with their stuff from before Powertrip.

I’ve also liked that their later stuff walks a line between glam & sludge metal.

ALMIGHTY KERM

Sure, today is worse than yesterday. But at least it’s better than tomorrow!

Abandoning my DeWalt family heritage in favor of Mikwaukee was almost like leaving Jehovah’s Witnesses. I’m allowed back to visit, but it’s tense.

I will begin handling an Impossible Landscapes Delta Green campaign next weekend.

I’m also considering getting back into lifting weights. I used to powerlift, but I suffered an intercostal tear in my late 20s. Recovery started a domino effect, and I haven’t really picked anything up over 50 pounds in like 6 or 7 years 😒

I love that Springfield instituted the International Fixed Calendar, but replacing Sol with Smarch was just weird.

They meant 24 metric hours.

I think I can speak for everyone that this would be the ideal arrangement.

Reject humanity, return to prokaryote.

I’m a light sleeper with a loud mind, as well, so this kind of thing has always been a problem for me. The two main things I find helpful may not do the trick for you, but here goes:

First, trying to force myself back to sleep always just ramps my brain up worse and makes it more difficult than it already was to fall back asleep. I stopped trying to force the issue, which has counterintuitively sped up the time it takes me to fall back asleep. I don’t get up or engage my mind with anything significant, but if I’m awake, I’ll put soft music on my earbuds or scroll on my phone set to the dimmest setting. I may not fall back to sleep immediately, but I’ve found that lowering the pressure on myself to fall back asleep makes it happen more readily than when I spend 2 hours and 45 minutes being like “if I fall asleep right now, I can still get another 3 hours. go to sleep. fall asleep. sleep will happen… now!”

Second, I’ve increased my oversell magnesium intake. I know you said no substances, but I feel like this is different. There have been a few studies–popular science type stuff, nothing peer reviewed that I know of–indicating that magnesium improves sleep quality and the ability to return to sleep if woken up. Might be the placebo effect, but I don’t care because I’ve noticed an improvement.

Sorry you have to deal with this flavor of insomnia, too. Super sucks.