more people have been to russia than i have

Is formatted to be as unconvincing to the nonbeliever as possible

I cannot tell you how much Mad Max (2015) felt like every other lame late 80s/early 90s adventure film---except. With the single and staggering exception of a uniquely unparalleled vision. It speaks in visual poetry, from the sere line of the desert against the sky, the rust-colored sand whirling beneath wheels, the blue velvet of the night, the intricate and brutal steel hulks of the rigs. It took me half the film to realize there wasn't even that much dialogue, because everything I was seeing spoke.

I've talked before about how sometimes it can be useful to look at art through the question of priorities. An artist can't have a fully-developed romance, a complex plot, an intricate character study, and fully fleshed-out world in a single work---so where are they investing the most energy? (You could expand this list indefinitely, to be fair--- writers and poets can put the lyricism of their language first; artists could put the material nature of their oils or clay on display; podcasts or movies can focus on soundscapes, etc.) Still, there's no question to my mind how George Miller answers that question. It's in every frame.

2021:

2018:

2016:

2012:

2010:

I haven’t pissed people off lately by reminding them that ALL types of physical punishment of kids has been proven beyond ANY reasonable doubt to have only negative long term outcomes.

So let me scream it from the hilltops:

Stop hitting kids. End of sentence.

2022:

2023:

2024:

2025:

For example, being exposed to corporal punishment as a kid makes it more likely for a person to commit domestic violence against a partner. In places where corporal punishment is normal, people are more likely to think that rape and intimate partner violence are normal. Kids who are spanked are more likely to be violent with and to bully other kids.

Spanking is literally teaching a kid that violence is okay and normal and it affects the whole society.

(For those currently saying "correlation doesn't equal causation," you're correct! The point of this study was to determine if there were higher rates of disordered eating in adults who'd experienced corporal punishment as kids. If the answer was no, then there's probably no statistical relationship. If the answer was yes--as it was--the research would then move on to "so is there causation here, or are there other factors?")

I don't bring this up because of the study itself. It was a small pilot study, I haven't seen any follow-up research, and the original isn't available online.

No, I bring this up because the author cited many other studies on the adverse effects of spanking to demonstrate why she thought the study was necessary in the first place.

THOSE STUDIES WENT BACK TO 1939.

ONE OF THEM WAS AN AGGREGATE METADATA STUDY.

If you're not familiar, that basically means its authors were studying studies. They took every single study on spanking they could find within a 70-year span and studied them all to see what patterns emerged. What they found was horrifying:

Every single study in that period, from the most rigorous right on down to "you can tell the authors wanted a spanking-is-good result," showed negative results from spanking. These were as diverse as increased risk of sexual abuse to depression to increased risk of substance abuse to poorer educational outcomes to greater likelihood of committing violent crimes as adults.

But that's not the horrifying part. If you're wondering how that could possibly not be the horrifying part, well...

NOT ONE STUDY SHOWED A POSITIVE TRADEOFF FOR THESE RISKS. NOT. ONE.

There was no "sports can cause injuries but can also improve self-esteem, personal fitness, and teach important disciplinary skills." There wasn't even a "homework has marginal benefits at most."

THERE WAS NOTHING. Multiple studies noted that while corporal punishment could produce the immediate appearance of improved behavior, what was actually happening is the kids were getting better at lying and hiding their undesirable behavior, and they were actually more likely to enter the juvenile detention system. The results were so overwhelmingly negative that even the biased studies deliberately designed to produce "it's good actually" results could not deliver those results.

the humor is way less clunky in general, but they're still trying to jam random jokes/moments from the original in at weird places just to check them off the list and they don't land bc the vibe from cartoon to adaptation is so far removed (and it COULD land but they're not bothering to try very hard)

apparently when that interview came out about making toph "more feminine" they only meant barely, so its not terribly grating, but i do wish they fucking hadn't. I am still deeply unimpressed by the shows complete failure on all feminist things the original included. I also wish they cast a younger actress but ig that kids are hard to cast in the first place, and they haven't really found great child actors or adult actors in general* so.....

the melodrama is still strong but they did get me with Sokka & Katara's conversation about grief/Sokka's panic attack

the humor is way less clunky in general, but they're still trying to jam random jokes/moments from the original in at weird places just to check them off the list and they don't land bc the vibe from cartoon to adaptation is so far removed (and it COULD land but they're not bothering to try very hard)

apparently when that interview came out about making toph "more feminine" they only meant barely, so its not terribly grating, but i do wish they fucking hadn't. I am still deeply unimpressed by the shows complete failure on all feminist things the original included. I also wish they cast a younger actress but ig that kids are hard to cast in the first place, and they haven't really found great child actors or adult actors in general* so.....

the melodrama is still strong but they did get me with Sokka & Katara's conversation about grief/Sokka's panic attack

I took the cargo ops class at school but my teacher explained that it doesn't give a certification and I'd only be okay for ship's crane and the school forklifts. she said I could take an online exam and get my cert. I paid 60 bucks.

I'm googling and I'm seeing a lot of resources saying that the online programs cover the classroom part of the exam but not the in person practical aspect.

29 CFR 1910.178 (l)(2)(ii)

ironically its in a book about female sex anatomy that ive come across it (Vagina Obscura by Rachel E. Gross). everyone only wants to focus on the secondary sex characteristics and not the bazillion other functions of estrogen, testosterone, and co.