Do you think if Mamdani fails to deliver on his socdem policies, he will exhibit the same kind of immunity to false promises that Trump demonstrated? Zohran was definitely helped by the vibes but he's not a post-truth candidate like Trump was.

You have to remember that a key feature of Trump is that he was elected on vibes, not policy. So when he fails to deliver his radical proposals, it doesn't affect his popularity.

Mamdani doesn't have that. He was elected for policy. When he fails to deliver on it, he will fall.

Muslim scholars differed on the permissibility of music. But let's set that aside.

Music = lots of dopamine. Listening to your favorite music throughout the day is like a dopamine IV drip.

You've raised your dopamine baseline. Now wonder you can't get anything done.

Wherein I try to explain to politically-inclined Muslims (like Sneako) Islam's totalizing role in politics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy7DwciO4i0

Introducing a new idea into society is easier than re-introducing an old one (all else being equal).

i) Blank slate. You have an opportunity to shape the brand from scratch.

ii) intrigue. When an idea is fresh, and people don't fully understand it yet, that makes it cool.

Why would I want to acquire a taste?

I asked ChatGPT to add a glass-shattering effect to the old Syrian flag. What in God's name...

what if every problem you have in life can be attributed to a deficiency of a vitamin/nutrient you didn't even know existed?

That alluring idea is the basis for the $200B supplement industry.

"faith" has christian baggage of a personal/private spiritual practice. "character" is one piece of the islamic personality.

It would be more correct to say Islam has everything to do with worldview (aqeedah), law (sharia), and spirituality (tasawuf). iman/islam/ihsaan resp.

I've heard before that the West standardized the Mercator projection to make themselves look bigger (compared to SA, Asia, Africa, ME, etc). I didn't realize how insane the effect was until I saw it on this map.

"A modern morality, on the other hand, can only point with absolute conviction to the horrors that follow breaches of law; its only certainty is a certainty of ill. It can only point to imperfection. It has no perfection to point to" -- G.K. Chesterton

Those in the know are not surprised by what Joe Biden did today. The elites care (only) about their families. The rest of us can rot.

talking of course about the web version. don't really use my phone much.

One thing I'm liking about bluesky: minimalist layout. My X UI has gotten so crowded. Look how clean this is in comparison:

I've heard that bluesky is what twitter was before all the engagement farming and rage bait. If so then it has the potentially to really rival twitter, unless and until Elon gets his mess cleaned up.

I keep pronouncing it "blue-ski".

What's the bluesky business model?

to dethrone twitter?

or provide a "left-wing" alternative (much like rumble is right-wing youtube)?

Salam world!