American Women Suck

New Delhi plans to add more than 10,000 miles of access-control roads to enable faster travel India is planning to invest $125 billion to expand its high-speed road network fivefold within a decade, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. In a bid to modernize its infrastructure and reduce logistics costs, India will add about 10,563 miles (17,000km) of access-control roads that enable motorists to travel at speeds of up to 75mph, the news agency said, citing people familiar with the matter. The network would offer safer, quicker, and more efficient connectivity than the South Asian country’s existing highways, according to the report. Around 40% of the network is under construction and should be ready by 2030, while work on the remaining part would begin in another three years, with a deadline for 2033, the news agency added. India has over 90,000 miles of highways, but less than 3,000 miles meet high-speed standards, according to the report. Funding for the project would be through a public-private partnership or hybrid system. New Delhi hopes to reduce logistics costs from 14% of GDP to about 8%, Bloomberg reported, citing a report by Rubix Data Sciences Pvt. While the South Asian nation’s economy grew at a rate of 7.8% in the quarter ending June 2025, the country’s infrastructure has failed to keep pace with its fast growth. A report by capital markets rating company Crisil Ratings in June said India would spend $205 billion in the current and next fiscal year on key infrastructure sectors such as roads, real estate, and renewable energy. View the full article

The bloc’s officials reportedly believe that Berlin could withhold troops for a possible monitoring mission EU officials fear that Germany could “chicken out” and ditch plans to send ground troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev, Der Spiegel reported on Thursday, citing sources. An unnamed EU diplomat cited by the paper warned that if Germany wants to remain a leading nation in Europe, Berlin “cannot participate in the planning for months and then duck out.” Moscow earlier signaled it would not accept NATO troop deployment in the neighboring country under any pretext. The diplomat told the outlet that if Berlin limits its support to money, “the international damage to its image would be enormous.” According to Der Spiegel, Berlin is still committed to strengthening Ukraine’s air defense and providing equipment for four mechanized infantry brigades, alongside continued training of Ukrainian soldiers and closer integration of European and Ukrainian arms industries. In August, Bild reported that Berlin had shelved plans to possibly deploy soldiers to Ukraine. According to the tabloid, the proposal was dropped after US President Donald Trump made clear there would be no American boots on the ground. Publicly, Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed that Germany currently has no concrete plans to send troops, although the idea is not off the table. “Many questions can only be answered once we have at least a ceasefire. Until then, there will certainly be no troop deployments to Ukraine,” he said. The report comes after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that 26 countries had pledged to contribute to Ukraine’s security once a ceasefire is agreed. These countries promised “to deploy as a ‘reassurance force’ troops in Ukraine, or be present on the ground, in the sea, or in the air,” he added, without providing details on the exact line-up or roles. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has also accused Germany of “whipping up hysterical Russophobia on the European continent” while trying to play a “leading role” in that effort. View the full article

The Russian president has said the Ukrainian leader would not be in danger if he traveled to Moscow for peace talks Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he would guarantee the safety of Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, should he take up an offer to travel to Moscow for peace talks. Putin has proposed the Russian capital as a venue for talks with the Ukrainian leader on several occasions, although Zelensky has dismissed the idea out of hand. Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Friday, Putin said Russia would ensure Zelensky would not be in danger during any visit. “We are ready for meetings at the highest level. The Ukrainian side wants this meeting... I said: ‘I’m ready, please come. We will fully ensure the working conditions and security,” Putin said. While reiterating a willingness to meet with Zelensky, Putin said he did not currently see “much sense” in in-person talks. Moscow has consistently said the details of a peace agreement must be in place before a top-level meeting is held. Russia has also questioned Zelensky’s legitimacy to sign any peace agreements, given that his presidential term officially expired last year. Focus on a potential Putin-Zelensky meeting increased following the Russian leader’s summit with US President Donald Trump in Alaska last month. Trump suggested that Putin and Zelensky could hold a bilateral meeting before conducting a trilateral gathering with his participation. Earlier this week, Trump told CBS News, “Something is going to happen, but they are not ready yet. But something is going to happen. We are going to get it done.” Russia earlier offered to increase the level of its delegation for the next round of talks with Ukraine, following two sets of discussions earlier this year in Istanbul. View the full article

During a hotel stay, I noticed a vase on a shelf in the lobby. The big, open foyer relied mainly on wood and light, natural colors. As a contrast, the designers had used ceramic tiling for the decor elements, kept in blue and white — the colors of Bavaria. The vase came in those same colors, but something was off. Upon closer inspection, I realized the vase was broken — but not really. The lid was fine, and it sat exactly where it was supposed to be, but beneath it was not a ceramic container. Instead, it was a transparent, plastic vessel in the shape of a vase, inside of which rested the broken shards of what must once have been the original. “Ha! What a great idea!” I thought. Perhaps it was an art piece intended to be half-broken, half-perfect from the start. Maybe someone actually broke the vase and 3D-printed a replacement. Regardless, the object reminded me of kintsugi, the Japanese art of integrating mistakes instead of making them disappear. When a teacup breaks, you can use invisible glue to mend it and hope no one will notice. Or, you can fix it with seams of gold, turning what was once a symbol of its brokenness into the main feature of an entirely new creation. That vase was also kintsugi, but it took the philosophy to yet another level: Sometimes, the best way to repair what’s broken is to not fix it at all. Simply displaying its remains might be enough. After one of my worst alcohol benders, I woke up on a stretcher in the hospital hallway. I had neither my wallet nor my jacket, and my phone was almost out of battery. A kind nurse gave me a bottle of sparkling water, and while it marked the start of my return back to civilization, I promptly lost its cap on the way home. For more than a year, I kept that empty, cap-less bottle on my desk. It was the perfect reminder of knowing your limits, and I haven’t landed back in the hospital since. Whether it’s the lid, the base, or the leader of your book club that no longer wants to serve its function the next time some part of your life breaks, remember: Not every problem needs to be fixed, and even the ones that do don’t have to be put together exactly the way they were before they fell apart. Grab a copy of Nik’s book, 2-Minute Pep Talks. 2-Minute Pep Talks is a collection of 67 jolts of inspiration for more hope, comfort, and love in any situation. With more than two months of daily inspiration across five categories, 2-Minute Pep Talks will make you feel more comfortable in your own skin, remind you to love yourself enough to ask life for what you truly want, and provide you with the world’s scarcest resource: hope. Whether you’re looking for a pick-me-up, new perspectives, or more fuel to accomplish your dreams — if you’re ready to regain that light, passionate, optimistic feeling we all used to possess as children, this book is for you. AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON! — This post was previously published on Niklas Göke’s blog Subscribe HERE *** You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project: White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer What We Talk About When We Talk About Men Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community. A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities. A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community. Register New Account Log in if you wish to renew an existing subscription. Username Email First Name Last Name Password Password Again Choose your subscription level Dating Masterclass - $999.00 - unlimited Dating Masterclass: How to Date and Create Satisfying and Lasting Love and Sexi in this Crazy, Modern World 5 Ways to Build Confidence - $99.00 - unlimited 5 Ways to Build Confidence and Make Meeting and Dating Women Less Nerve-Wracking Monthly Platinum - free - unlimited Monthly - $6.99 - 1 Month Yearly - $50.00 - 1 Year Sponsored Columnist Annual - $1,250.00 - 1 Year Sponsored Columnist Monthly - $150.00 - 1 Month Annual Platinum - $50.00 - 1 Year Annual Gold - $25.00 - 1 Year Monthly Gold - $20.00 - 1 Month Annual Bronze - $12.00 - 1 Year Credit / Debit Card PayPal Choose Your Payment Method Auto Renew By completing this registration form, you are also agreeing to our Terms of Service which can be found here. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo credit: iStock The post The Broken Vase appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

📺 Dolby Vision 2 announced: The next generation of TV picture quality is coming, going beyond HDR. It’ll use “Content Intelligence” (AI) to adapt your TV to what you’re watching and the room’s lighting. Think clearer dark scenes, sharper contrast, richer colors and higher brightness. Hisense will get it first. The post Dolby Vision 2 announced appeared first on Komando.com. View the full article

Experts stressed sanctions resilience, the shift to national currencies, and shipping autonomy as key factors for a multipolar economy An expert session of ‘The Future of the World’ Open Dialogue, focusing on “Investments in Connectivity” was held at the Primorye branch of the National Centre RUSSIA on Friday, bringing together specialists from different countries to discuss “Transformation of Trade and Connectivity in the New Reality.” Opening the discussion, Maksim Oreshkin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, stressed that new global trade solutions are now being driven by BRICS and the Global South. According to him, traditional institutions are becoming obsolete. “We already have everything: the new realities of the global economy and the technologies to support them. A new architecture of world trade is emerging. It does not replace old institutions or routes – it complements them,” Oreshkin said. Rakhim Oshakbayev, Chief Economist at the TALAP Center for Applied Research, argued that sanctions imposed on Russia spurred innovation and resilience. “The result is evident, and it surprises not only outside observers but even Russian economists – how much the Russian economy, through a mix of policy, governance, and private initiative, has demonstrated such strength,” he noted. Oreshkin echoed this, adding that large economies like China and India would soon feel similar benefits. Another major trend, highlighted by Jian Lian, founder of Beijing Hengce Investment Consulting, is the shift to national currencies. “We are moving to national currencies. This creates new conditions for economic efficiency – and we are achieving it peacefully,” he said. Connectivity in trade also depends on shipping capacity, stressed Pyotr Ivanov, head of logistics at Rosatom and CEO of Far Eastern Shipping Company. When international firms controlling most of global trade left Russia, freight rates soared tenfold, striking at connectivity and commerce. For Ivanov, “focusing on our own fleet is the foundation of stable international trade.” The session underscored that sanctions, currency diversification, and shipping autonomy are reshaping global trade – not by dismantling the old order, but by layering new structures upon it. Russia and its partners frame this transformation as part of a broader move toward a more multipolar and resilient global economy. View the full article

Moscow always keeps its diplomatic options open – as long as its sovereignty is respected US President Donald Trump’s recent statement that the US has “lost Russia to China” makes for a good headline or soundbite, but the reality is more nuanced than that. Russia isn’t anyone’s lost cause. It’s doing what it has always done: maneuvering pragmatically, engaging when it sees opportunities, and reminding the world that it plays by its own rules – not by someone else’s bloc mentality. The eagle looks both ways At the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin brought this point across in a vivid metaphor of the two-headed eagle, Russia’s national emblem. “Did we turn our backs on anyone? We did not. The eagle looks both ways just like always,” Putin says. That’s a powerful way to frame Russia’s approach. Moscow has long insisted that it isn’t closing doors, whether East or West. Its message is straightforward: we are open to work with everyone – as long as our sovereignty and interests are respected. This isn’t a new idea. Even during the most heated confrontations with the US and Western Europe, the Kremlin has kept repeating it. And the examples Putin gave weren’t abstract diplomatic niceties. He pointed to concrete projects: joint natural gas ventures in Alaska, where American resources could be paired with Russian liquefaction technology; and trilateral energy cooperation in the Arctic with both US and Chinese partners. These are tangible ideas. The only thing that could stand in the way of this cooperation, Putin stressed, would be political will in Washington. Which brings us to the Anchorage summit in August. For the first time since the Russia-Ukraine war started, the leaders of the US and Russia sat down together on American soil. The choice of Alaska was deliberate: a US territory with historic Russian roots – a reminder of old ties, of geography, of shared history that neither side can erase. Read more Russia never turned its back on the US – Putin The meeting didn’t deliver an immediate dramatic breakthrough, but in diplomacy, sometimes the symbolism is the story. Just the act of holding the summit was itself a statement: these channels remain open, the US and Russia still have business to discuss. Putin spoke of “understandings” that could pave the way toward peace in Ukraine. Some skeptics saw this as more PR than substance – but even that doesn’t erase the fact that dialogue happened, and that it was framed around practical cooperation, not only confrontation. One of the clearest signals of this practicality is the involvement of Kirill Dmitriev in Russia’s talks with the US. Dmitriev isn’t some anonymous technocrat. He’s the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, Harvard-educated, Wall Street-seasoned, a figure who knows the logic of global finance inside out. In February he was appointed as Putin’s Special Presidential Envoy for foreign investment and economic cooperation – a role tailor-made for someone who can bridge Moscow’s goals with Western business interests. Dmitriev’s involvement is significant because it speaks of Moscow’s desire to not just talk policy but translate it into projects that investors and companies can actually get behind. It is a clear indication that Russia is not after political theater, but tangible progress. To say that Russia is “lost to China” is to ignore this entire dimension of Moscow’s diplomacy. If Russia truly considered the US irrelevant, if it had really “gone East” once and for all, Dmitriev wouldn’t have been there. His very presence is evidence that Moscow sees value in exploring cooperation with America. Read more Fyodor Lukyanov: Trump and Putin are closing the era that Reagan and Gorbachev began China is a natural partner, not a cage Of course, none of this denies the obvious: Russia and China are drawing ever closer. That’s not some geopolitical surprise: they are the two biggest powers in Eurasia, sharing a vast border and centuries of intertwined history. Economically, politically, even ideologically, they’ve found common ground – particularly in rejecting the idea of a world dominated by Western institutions. But closer partnership with China doesn’t mean closing the door to the West. Russia has never operated that way. Its foreign policy DNA is multipolar, pragmatic, and balanced. Cooperation with Beijing is natural, but so too is keeping channels open with Washington, Brussels, Delhi, or anyone else willing to engage. This is why the bloc mentality that implies that Russia must belong either to the US or to China simply doesn’t fit Moscow’s worldview. The Kremlin prefers options, leverage, and room to maneuver. Russia isn’t lost because nobody owns it. It’s deepening ties with Beijing, yes, but at the very same time it’s inviting American businesses to partner in Alaska, in the Arctic, in energy and beyond. It’s sitting down with Washington’s leaders. It’s sending seasoned, globally connected negotiators like Kirill Dmitriev to the table. That’s not the behavior of a country that has written America off. It’s the behavior of a country determined to keep every option open, to maximize its leverage, and to ensure that no one – not China, not the US, not anyone – gets to dictate its choices. View the full article

Moscow always keeps its diplomatic options open – as long as its sovereignty is respected US President Donald Trump’s recent statement that the US has “lost Russia to China” makes for a good headline or soundbite, but the reality is more nuanced than that. Russia isn’t anyone’s lost cause. It’s doing what it has always done: maneuvering pragmatically, engaging when it sees opportunities, and reminding the world that it plays by its own rules – not by someone else’s bloc mentality. The eagle looks both ways At the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin brought this point across in a vivid metaphor of the two-headed eagle, Russia’s national emblem. “Did we turn our backs on anyone? We did not. The eagle looks both ways just like always,” Putin says. That’s a powerful way to frame Russia’s approach. Moscow has long insisted that it isn’t closing doors, whether East or West. Its message is straightforward: we are open to work with everyone – as long as our sovereignty and interests are respected. This isn’t a new idea. Even during the most heated confrontations with the US and Western Europe, the Kremlin has kept repeating it. And the examples Putin gave weren’t abstract diplomatic niceties. He pointed to concrete projects: joint natural gas ventures in Alaska, where American resources could be paired with Russian liquefaction technology; and trilateral energy cooperation in the Arctic with both US and Chinese partners. These are tangible ideas. The only thing that could stand in the way of this cooperation, Putin stressed, would be political will in Washington. Which brings us to the Anchorage summit in August. For the first time since the Russia-Ukraine war started, the leaders of the US and Russia sat down together on American soil. The choice of Alaska was deliberate: a US territory with historic Russian roots – a reminder of old ties, of geography, of shared history that neither side can erase. The meeting didn’t deliver an immediate dramatic breakthrough, but in diplomacy, sometimes the symbolism is the story. Just the act of holding the summit was itself a statement: these channels remain open, the US and Russia still have business to discuss. Putin spoke of “understandings” that could pave the way toward peace in Ukraine. Some skeptics saw this as more PR than substance – but even that doesn’t erase the fact that dialogue happened, and that it was framed around practical cooperation, not only confrontation. One of the clearest signals of this practicality is the involvement of Kirill Dmitriev in Russia’s talks with the US. Dmitriev isn’t some anonymous technocrat. He’s the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, Harvard-educated, Wall Street-seasoned, a figure who knows the logic of global finance inside out. In February he was appointed as Putin’s Special Presidential Envoy for foreign investment and economic cooperation – a role tailor-made for someone who can bridge Moscow’s goals with Western business interests. Dmitriev’s involvement is significant because it speaks of Moscow’s desire to not just talk policy but translate it into projects that investors and companies can actually get behind. It is a clear indication that Russia is not after political theater, but tangible progress. To say that Russia is “lost to China” is to ignore this entire dimension of Moscow’s diplomacy. If Russia truly considered the US irrelevant, if it had really “gone East” once and for all, Dmitriev wouldn’t have been there. His very presence is evidence that Moscow sees value in exploring cooperation with America. China is a natural partner, not a cage Of course, none of this denies the obvious: Russia and China are drawing ever closer. That’s not some geopolitical surprise: they are the two biggest powers in Eurasia, sharing a vast border and centuries of intertwined history. Economically, politically, even ideologically, they’ve found common ground – particularly in rejecting the idea of a world dominated by Western institutions. But closer partnership with China doesn’t mean closing the door to the West. Russia has never operated that way. Its foreign policy DNA is multipolar, pragmatic, and balanced. Cooperation with Beijing is natural, but so too is keeping channels open with Washington, Brussels, Delhi, or anyone else willing to engage. This is why the bloc mentality that implies that Russia must belong either to the US or to China simply doesn’t fit Moscow’s worldview. The Kremlin prefers options, leverage, and room to maneuver. Russia isn’t lost because nobody owns it. It’s deepening ties with Beijing, yes, but at the very same time it’s inviting American businesses to partner in Alaska, in the Arctic, in energy and beyond. It’s sitting down with Washington’s leaders. It’s sending seasoned, globally connected negotiators like Kirill Dmitriev to the table. That’s not the behavior of a country that has written America off. It’s the behavior of a country determined to keep every option open, to maximize its leverage, and to ensure that no one – not China, not the US, not anyone – gets to dictate its choices. View the full article

More than a dozen people have been killed by the Zaire strain of the virus in DR Congo, according to health authorities At least 16 people, including four health workers, have died in a new outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), authorities in the Central African country have announced. So far, 28 suspected cases have been reported in Kasai province, and laboratory tests have confirmed the Zaire strain of the disease, the Congolese health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. “The case fatality rate is estimated at 57%, although investigations and laboratory analyses are continuing to refine the situation,” the ministry stated, adding that the latest cases mark the 16th epidemic recorded in the DR Congo. The government said it has deployed rapid response teams, supported by World Health Organization (WHO) experts, to boost epidemiological surveillance and set up triage and isolation facilities. Ebola, a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever, is spread through direct contact with infected bodily fluids or tissue. Symptoms often include high fever, fatigue, headaches, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, skin rash, and internal or external bleeding. Congo last recorded the virus in 2022 in Equateur province, after a devastating 2018–2020 outbreak killed nearly 2,300 people. The country, currently gripped by armed conflict in its mineral-rich eastern provinces fueled by the M23 rebel group, has also been experiencing severe outbreaks in recent months, ranging from those described as “mysterious” to the Mpox virus, formerly known as monkeypox. The WHO has said it will deliver two tons of supplies, including personal protective equipment, mobile laboratory gear and medicines, to support Kinshasa. It added that Congo has a stockpile of treatments and 2,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which will be sent to Kasai to vaccinate contacts and frontline health workers. Earlier this year, neighboring Uganda also declared a new Ebola outbreak after a 32-year-old nurse died from multiple organ failure. The WHO recorded 14 cases, including 12 confirmed and two probable, with four deaths. In June, Ugandan health official Diana Atwine said the country had “swiftly” contained the outbreak with help from Russian partners. Russia’s public health agency Rospotrebnadzor said in January it had supported Uganda with an epidemiological investigation and anti-epidemic measures after donating a mobile laboratory in 2024. View the full article

It bothers me to a significant degree that, more often than not, the first thing in any list of recommendations for the cures for psychiatric disorders is medication. The prevalence of the most societally persistent psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety, reflects more on the structure of society and how modern life is incompatible with human needs rather than a large proportion of the population suddenly evolving to have significant biochemical imbalances in the past century. A primarily biological interpretation of a depressive disorder misses the point. It is not only a pattern of chemical production in the brain that can be chronic — a philosophy can be life-determining, persistent, and chronic, too. I experienced a strange spell of chronic depression recently, which my therapist concluded to be an accumulation of low serotonin during winter, hormonal factors, and childhood trauma unconsciously modulating my thoughts and behaviours. I was crying several times a day consistently. I failed to concentrate on productive activities, except for some essays I compulsively wrote during that period in chase of brief emotional relief. My therapist suggested I change my medication since he concluded that this one wasn’t working as effectively. But an odd thing happened. I realised that the source of my anguish was a persistent self-hatred, snowballing into an anxiety over having feelings of self-hatred in the first place. The thing about shame is that it compounds. You experience primary shame over the main thing, like your inability to concentrate, which causes you to experience secondary shame over feeling ashamed in the first place, further decreasing your already-fledging concentration ability. No matter how hard I tried to argue against the loud voices validating reasons to loathe myself, I couldn’t get close to believing it, which is another failure to add to the list of reasons why I am a failure! So, I had to change my strategy, and I did. All I did was imagine that I was temporarily inhabiting my best friend’s body: Would I have treated her the way I treated myself? And then, my perspective shifted utterly. I absolutely could not, in any universe, imagine the vile beliefs I had about myself to be true about my best friend. I could not let her not eat for the whole day, and my disgust at the thought of disrespecting her like that motivated me to go out and buy groceries. I was about to buy instant noodles, but then I remembered that I never would feed my best friend unhealthy food, so I bought meat and vegetables instead. I was so focused on my ruminations that after queuing and with a full basket, the cashier asked for my card, only for me to realise that I had forgotten my card at home. This incident was embarrassing, and I usually would have blamed myself for it, but I could not imagine speaking that way to my best friend or that those harsh criticisms were valid. It made me realise that we always view the world from tinted glasses, and there is no removing them. Humans are fundamentally subjective creatures, and our lens determines how the world ‘objectively’ appears to us. Art’s function is to make us aware of these other subjectivities. Indeed, my favourite artworks — like my favourite movies and books — usually remind me of all the possibilities, of the incredible capaciousness of art. There are so many ways to write a thing, so many ways that only I could write it. Over time, we start to narrow our thinking about what a piece of writing — what a particular story — can be and how it needs to be told. Partly, this is because we get attached to the most familiar narrative. We connect to the one we tell ourselves because it makes persisting easier. The cause of this limiting of our range and scope is inertial: it is the narrative we have been told about ourselves and our stories, and so that’s the narrative we tend to speak. I’ve spent my whole life being prescribed narratives about my mind: how it should and shouldn’t be, what it should or shouldn’t do, and its value. Mainly, I have learned a lot from my culture, media, government, men on the streets of whatever city I’ve lived in, men whom I have loved and not loved, women whom I have loved and not loved — and what I have learned is how being emotional is hysterical, a truthful reaction is an overreaction, and that I should tailor the recounting of my experiences in a way to avoid causing men discomfort. The degree to which this education has affected my life is impossible to overstate. It has defined my relationship to my identity, how I present myself to others, how I treat myself in private, my relationship with men, politics, art, food, clothing, money, and medicine. This internalised narrative about how my mind was supposed to function and its value has governed much of how I think of myself and what I have spent the minutes of my life contemplating and doing. The outstanding work of anyone’s life, I believe, is to attend to the project of its undoing, of discerning what thought processes are possible to undo, what must be lived with, and how to situate what must be lived within the mind and life, so that it does not do the work intended by its embedding: to undermine any power one might have that does not serve men. So, here’s a challenge: Write about your personal experience the first time. Then, rewrite that experience, but you cannot use similar words or synonyms. Then, repeat that with another set of different words and synonyms. This method will train you to view things from different perspectives and broaden your subjectivities. You are, in essence, purchasing new glasses to view the world — and this, I argue, is what medication tries to achieve, only to crudely scratch the surface. Medication might remove your previous glasses but not give you new ones. Adopting new glasses requires an arduous journey, meticulous vetting of other potential glasses, and determining whether they fit you. Poor self-perception is not a biological problem — it is a philosophical one. Almost everything I’ve ever written started with a secret, with the fear that my subject was unspeakable. Without expectation, writing about these subjects has not only freed me from that fear but from the subjects themselves and from the bondage of believing I might be alone in them. What I have also observed is that avoiding a secret subject can be its own kind of bondage. We are indeed monsters. And to deny the monstrous is to deny its beauty, meaning, and necessary devastation. Every personal author writes a history that could not be found in any other book. We tell the stories no one else can tell and give each other this proof of our survival. While the question of who cares is an important one for every writer to ask themselves, embedded in my contemplation of it were more than twenty years of conditioning to believe that the subject of girlhood was not worth a few minutes of a reader’s time. It was a very meta experience, an example of the efficiency of social conditioning. Whenever this insecurity struck, I would ask myself whom I was imagining when I imagined that uncharitable reader. It was not me or any of the people who mattered in my life. It was that one guy I slept with who argued that the MeToo movement ruined men’s lives. It was that one guy who happened to be my regretful sperm donor. It was not anyone whose opinion I valued. It was not my intended audience. It was the people whose approval I’d been trained long ago to seek, whose stories I’d learned to value over my own. The white man, being the ‘default’ interpretation of humanity, has his accounts extrapolated into the universal. In contrast, works written by women, queer, or people of colour are relegated to works of niche and particular identities. When produced by people of marginalised groups, personal written work is often labelled as ‘navel-gazing’. By labelling it navel-gazing and convincing us to police our own and one another’s stories, they have enlisted us in the project of our continued disempowerment. I don’t think it’s a stretch to wonder if the navel, as the locus of all this disdain, has something to do with its connection to birth, body, and the female. Now that I have rooted that belief out of myself, my tolerance for it is at an all-time low and sinking. Former favourite books by French male philosophers are intolerable. Bring me your books about girlhood, queer families, and sex workers — I will read them all. And I kept writing. The process continually revealed new layers of conditioning, functions of my mind that prioritised the feelings and desires of others — sometimes total strangers — over my own. It is through that very writing that I was able to undo it further. Being healed by writing does not excuse you from the extravagantly hard work of making good art. I laboured endlessly behind every essay I’ve written. But occasionally, I still fielded insinuations that I had gotten away with publishing my diary. When, in fact, writing about your personal experiences is not easier than other kinds of writing. To write an essay, I had to invest the time and energy to research and craft plots, scenes, descriptions, dialogue, and pacing — all the writer’s jobs. I also had to face some unpalatable truths about my accountability. Becoming a better person is often more challenging than writing a better book. I prefer to read books that evidence this emotional confrontation with the self. I want to feel how the writer changed the page and how the act of writing changed them. The risk of honest self-appraisal requires bravery. To place our flawed selves in the context of this magnificent, broken world is the opposite of narcissism, which is building a self-image that pleases you. As Rilke wrote in Letters to a Young Poet: “The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.” Don’t tell me that the experiences of most of our planet’s human population are marginal, irrelevant, or political. Don’t tell me that you think there’s not enough room for another story about sexual abuse, motherhood, or racism. There is no writer’s block; there is only fear. And you can be afraid and still write something. No one has to read it, though when you’re done, you might want them to. The only way to make room is to drag all our stories into that room. That’s how it gets bigger. You write it, and I will read it. — This post was previously published on Writers’ Blokke. *** You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project .10 Things Good Men Should Never Do in a Relationship The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex .. In Modern Relationships, We Cheat Every Single Day Here’s What Happens When You Find The One Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * Subscribe If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. Photo credit: iStock The post Medicating a Philosophical Problem appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

🤳🏻 Instagram finally has an iPad app: It’s different from the phone version. The app opens straight into a feed of Reels, with a new Following tab to see posts in chronological order. Comments show beside videos, and the DM page displays your inbox next to chats. Download it here, and drop me a follow for more tips. The post Instagram finally has an iPad app appeared first on Komando.com. View the full article

The Russian president has outlined his vision on the national economy and resolving the Ukraine conflict, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an address to the Eastern Economic Forum in the far eastern city of Vladivostok on Friday, which mostly focused on the domestic economy but also covered issues including the Ukraine conflict. Putin highlighted a renewed interest from Western businesses in re-entering the Russian market, commented on the possibility of a meeting with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, and dismissed the need for Western troop deployments to support Kiev. Here are the key takeaways from the Russian leader’s speech. Poverty in decline Putin reported that the poverty level in Russia has fallen from 11.3% to 7.2% over the past decade, calling the trend “positive.” He also expressed confidence that inflation – currently estimated at 8.8% – could be lowered to a minimum while maintaining economic growth. He stressed that his goal is to make Russia “an economy of high salaries.” “This is no populism, this makes sense economically,” Putin said, adding that the unemployment has decreased from 7% to 2.4%. Western business wants return to Russia Putin noted that numerous Western businesses had exited the country after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 and the imposition of sanctions on Russia, “at a loss to themselves due to ‘political reasons.’” However, he said many firms “are eagerly waiting for all these political restrictions to be lifted.” Putin also observed that some foreign companies “continue to operate in Russia despite political disagreements between their governments and Moscow” and “even want to expand cooperation.” He stressed that Russia remains open to cooperation, particularly “with our friends.” “But we are not isolating ourselves from anyone… we have never turned away or pushed anyone out. Those who want [to come] back in are welcome.” No ‘resources trap’ for Russia Russia is not at risk of a dependence on selling crude oil, gas, and other natural resources abroad, Putin said, adding that such a threat would only become real if Russia remained passive. “We must create conditions for the development of innovative sectors of the economy… so that the people needed for work in these spheres come here,” Putin said, referring to the Far East. He added that Russia’s partners “will gladly invest in those promising enterprises.” 100% security guarantee for Zelensky Putin reiterated that he is ready for in-person talks with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, but “does not see much sense” in them, explaining that any agreements on the territorial dispute between Moscow and Kiev could be settled only via a referendum in Ukraine. Russian officials earlier also pointed out that Zelensky’s presidential term expired last year, making him unfit to sign any binding agreements. At the same time, Putin said he was ready to talk with Zelensky in Moscow, adding that Moscow is willing to provide a “100% security guarantee” for the Ukrainian leader. Zelensky earlier declined the invitation. “We are ready for meetings at the highest level. The Ukrainian side wants this meeting... I said: ‘I’m ready, please come. We will fully ensure the working conditions and security.’” Foreign troop deployment in Ukraine There would be “no sense” in a Western troop deployment to Ukraine once a lasting settlement to the conflict is reached, Putin said. “Nobody should doubt that Russia would implement the agreed terms fully. We will respect security guarantees that both Russia and Ukraine need to be offered,” he added. The Russian leader also warned that if any Western troops arrive in Ukraine while the hostilities are ongoing, Moscow “would consider them legitimate military targets.” Arctic cooperation with the US US companies are ready to engage in economic cooperation in the Arctic with Russia, and Moscow is open to this prospect, although political will is required to kickstart projects, Putin said. “It is not up to us – we are also ready, but if there are political decisions, we will move in that direction,” he said, adding that Russian gas extraction and liquefaction technologies are more efficient than those developed in the US. According to Putin, Moscow and Washington have also discussed potential trilateral cooperation in the Russian Arctic with China. Cooperation in the oil and gas sector would be mutually beneficial, the Russian president added. People before AI Pivoting to the role of artificial intelligence, Putin remarked that he was certain that AI could be used in the decision-making process. However, decisions ultimately “must be made by a specific person, who must be accountable,” he added. “You can’t hold artificial intelligence accountable – it is just a tool, it is people who must work.” View the full article

Washington slaps tariffs on allies while Russia and China demonstrate unity, Kaja Kallas has said European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has criticized the United States for weakening its own allies through trade tariffs, warning that such policies give Russia and China the upper hand by underscoring Western disunity. Superpowers “sometimes overestimate their own power and underestimate how much they need others,” Kallas said Wednesday at an event hosted by the EU Institute for Security Studies, the bloc’s in-house defense and security think tank. Kallas pointed to US tariffs targeting nations aligned with Washington, including Canada, Australia and Japan, arguing that the measures “make those countries weaker” and embolden Moscow and Beijing. She recalled attending an Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting where the Russian delegation emphasized Moscow’s historic ties with China. Kallas claimed to be surprised at Russia and China's joint commemoration of victory in WWII, in which both countries incurred up to 45,000,000 military and civilian deaths while fighting the Axis powers. “Russia was addressing China, like, ‘Russia and China, we fought the Second World War [and we defeated] Nazism.’ And I was, like, ‘OK, that is something new,’” Kallas said. “If you know history then, you know, it raises a lot of question marks in your head.” She went on to claim that many people today don’t study history enough and “buy these narratives.” Kallas confirmed that in her view, the Russia-China partnership appeared to be resilient. Her remarks coincided with China’s military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of Imperial Japan’s defeat and the end of World War II. Ahead of the commemorations, Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping underscored their countries’ shared duty to preserve the historical legacy of victory. “Our ancestors, our fathers and grandfathers have paid a huge price for peace and freedom,” Putin said. “We remember that. That is the foundation of our achievements today and in the future.” View the full article

Russia is not reorienting its foreign policy, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed, adding that doing so would be a mistake Russia is not shifting its foreign policy to the East or anywhere else, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said following President Vladimir Putin’s recent four-day visit to China. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Peskov was asked if the president’s trip could be interpreted as official “documentation” that Moscow has reoriented eastward. ”You can’t put it that way,” Peskov objected. “Nothing has been formalized, and it is impossible to formally record any kind of turns. Furthermore, Russia is not planning to turn anywhere, that would be a mistake. In fact, it has already always been in the East,” he added. The spokesman added that Russia continues to develop its strategic and privileged partnership with China, as well as ties with other countries in the region and with the Global South. According to Peskov, the ongoing processes of global transformation are leading many of these states to unite around a shared vision of the need to transform the international system. Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Friday, Putin stressed that Russia had never turned its back on anyone and always “looks both ways,” just like the two-headed eagle on the country’s national symbols. He emphasized that Russia has always been, and remains open to economic cooperation with the US, and that American businesses could greatly benefit from joint projects if Washington allows it. The president also pointed to the opportunities that exist in the Arctic. He stated that three-way operations with China and the US to begin developing the region “right now” were possible, only requiring a “political decision.” Meanwhile, Moscow and Beijing have unveiled new agreements covering energy, governance, and travel. Putin confirmed increased gas exports to China through the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline while China announced visa-free entry for Russians from September 15, with Moscow set to reciprocate. At the SCO summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping also launched a global governance initiative, with Putin backing the proposed reforms. Western officials have warned that the closer partnership challenges their rules-based order. However, Putin has stressed organizations like the SCO are not aimed against third countries, but rather at creating a more just world order. View the full article

The United States is experiencing a phenomenon as fascinating as it is unsettling: one of the most advanced economies on the planet, home to some of the world’s finest universities and research centers, has fallen prey to a collective delusion dragging it decades backward in public health, environmental policy, science, energy and technology. The trigger for this piece is an impressive Washington Post article analyzing the devastating floods in Texas over the Fourth of July, which killed at least a hundred people — many of them children — stunning local authorities with their speed and ferocity. The core of the article isn’t just the climate tragedy itself, but the context in which it unfolds: a country where the president, Donald Trump, aims to eliminate the entire federal budget for climate and meteorological research. Zero dollars. None. As well as being an idiot, he thinks that ignoring the problem will make it vanish… This dismantling of scientific knowledge isn’t random or anecdotal. It’s accompanied by shuttering weather stations, eliminating key positions in the National Weather Service (even in vulnerable areas like Kerr County itself), and the systematic gutting of agencies like NOAA, the backbone of U.S. climate and oceanic forecasting. A direct attack on science, on information, and ultimately, on public safety. And by the way, in China they are going in the exact opposite direction: more research, more AI, more prevention, less deaths… But the regression isn’t limited to climate. In public health, the picture is just as grim. The United States is suffering its worst measles outbreak in decades, with cases surpassing 500 in Texas and rising in Kansas and other states. The culprit? Anti-vaccine rhetoric that has gone from the fringes of conspiracy theory to the heart of public policy, now championed by figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose health department has gone so far as to cancel subscriptions to scientific journals like Nature, dismissing them as “junk science” — when the only junk here is the brains of these charlatans. The same Kennedy administration is also pushing to ban fluoride supplements in water and for children, a decision rooted in radical pseudoscientific misinformation. Moves like this are part of a broader trend of systematic assaults on evidence-based science and policy — a disturbing return to institutionalized ignorance. On the environmental front, Trump used his first 100 days to roll back dozens of policies: scrapping anti-pollution regulations, incentivizing gas-guzzlers over electric vehicles, weakening safeguards for national parks, and axing energy efficiency standards for appliances. What’s truly baffling isn’t just that a government would propose such destructive measures — authoritarian populism is nothing new — but that millions of people blindly defend it. That in the 21st century, with all the world’s knowledge at their fingertips, a significant portion of the US population rejects science, embraces climate denialism, shuns vaccines and actively votes to dismantle the very institutions upholding their quality of life. How to explain this backslide? How does a country that invented the internet, won the space race and pioneered mRNA vaccines now march toward a self-inflicted dystopia where knowledge is censored and ignorance is institutionalized? The answer likely lies in extreme tribalism, polarization fueled by algorithms, media echo chambers and systematic disinformation. But there’s also a deeper emotional component: a rejection of change, progress, and the modern world — masked as freedom. Not freedom as rational emancipation, but as a childish defiance of anything that means change. The consequences of this are all too real: more disease, more deaths, more climate disasters, less economic competitiveness. A country that, instead of leading the future, chooses to retreat into an imaginary past where everything was supposedly “better” — simply because no one questioned it — led by a blowhard who represents very powerful vested interests. As Harvard climatologist Daniel Schrag put it this week: “It’s insane for a government to impose its ideology on basic science.” Indeed, it is. But that’s exactly what’s happening. Populism as democracy’s cancer. And there’s no sign it’ll stop soon — nor that other nations will learn from the obvious consequences of electing certain people to power. — This post was previously published on Enrique Dans’ blog. *** You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project You Said ‘Race’, but Are You Actually Talking About Race? Understanding the Nonbinary: Are You Confusing Gender With Sex? The Difference Between Compassion for Those With Disabilities & Ableism? ‘Masculinity’ Is Having an Identity Crisis Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * Subscribe If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. Photo credit: iStock The post The United States Is Now in a Very Dark Place appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

That’s how many AI-powered cameras Flock has watching U.S. streets. The $7.5B startup’s small surveillance-tech empire is peeking at plates, bumper stickers and dents on cars from Atlanta to Anaheim. Think Big Brother, but solar-powered and subscription-based. Cops say it’s helped nail everything from ATM gangs to would-be shooters, but privacy watchdogs are freaking out. The post 80,000 appeared first on Komando.com. View the full article

🤖 Murder chic: Shein accidentally used an AI model that looked exactly like accused murderer Luigi Mangione to sell shirts. The listing sold out before Shein yanked it offline, blaming a “third-party vendor.” Yikes. The post Murder chic appeared first on Komando.com. View the full article

The two countries are intensifying efforts to develop next-generation aircraft and engines, the Russian deputy trade minister has said Russia is looking to partner with India for the manufacturing of civil aircraft, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Aleksey Gruzdev said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Friday. Both Moscow and New Delhi are intensifying efforts to develop next-generation aircraft and engines, Gruzdev said at the Russia-India business dialogue as part of the forum. “We see strong complementarity in our approaches, which opens the door for deeper collaboration in civil aviation,” the deputy minister added. New Delhi and Moscow have also been in talks for collaboration in military aircraft. Earlier this week, the ANI news agency said Russia is examining potential investment proposals to jointly manufacture the Sukhoi Su-57 fighter jet in India. India currently requires at least two squadrons of fifth-generation fighter aircraft, with the main candidates being the Su-57 and the American-made F-35. India, however, told the US in February it was “not keen” on purchasing F-35 fighter jets, Bloomberg reported last month. While President Donald Trump had offered the aircraft during a White House visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, New Delhi said it prefers partnerships focused on joint design and manufacturing, according to the report. At the Eastern Economic Forum on Friday, Gruzdev also identified railway engineering as another promising field of partnership with India. This includes joint work on modernizing and building railway tracks, advancing digital systems, and supplying rolling stock. Russian companies are also ready to take into account the national policy of India to the “maximum extent and participate in the program for localization of products in cooperation with partners,” he added. View the full article

Retail is a highly competitive sector of the economy. It has been characterised by major innovations and continuous evolution, driven by technological advancements and changing consumer preferences. Innovations from Years Gone By: 1. Self-Service Stores (Early 20th Century): Innovation: The concept of self-service stores, where customers could pick their own items rather than having a store clerk retrieve them, revolutionized retail. Impact: This model significantly reduced labor costs and allowed for larger stores with a wider variety of products. 2. Barcode Technology (1970s): Innovation: The introduction of barcodes for product identification. Impact: Barcodes streamlined inventory management and checkout processes, making operations more efficient and accurate. 3. Credit Cards (Mid-20th Century): Innovation: The widespread adoption of credit cards. Impact: Credit cards made it easier for consumers to make purchases, increasing overall spending and convenience. 4. Mail-Order Catalogs (Late 19th Century): Innovation: The introduction of mail-order catalogs by companies like Sears and Montgomery Ward. Impact: This allowed rural customers to access a wide range of products without traveling to physical stores, expanding the reach of retailers. 5. Supermarkets (1930s): Innovation: The development of large-scale supermarkets. Impact: Supermarkets offered a one-stop shopping experience with a wide variety of products under one roof, changing consumer behavior and expectations. Innovations from Recent Times: 1. E-commerce Platforms (Late 20th Century – Present): Innovation: The rise of e-commerce platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba. Impact: E-commerce has transformed the way people shop, offering convenience, a vast selection of products, and competitive pricing. 2. Mobile Payments (Early 21st Century): Innovation: The introduction of mobile payment solutions like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and various mobile wallets. Impact: Mobile payments have made transactions faster and more secure, enhancing the customer experience. 3. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) (2010s – Present): Innovation: The use of AR and VR in retail for virtual try-ons, product visualization, and immersive shopping experiences. Impact: These technologies enhance the shopping experience by allowing customers to interact with products in a more engaging way. 4. Automated Checkout (2010s – Present): Innovation: The implementation of automated checkout systems, such as Amazon Go stores. Impact: Automated checkout reduces wait times and improves the overall shopping experience by eliminating traditional checkout lines. 5. Sustainable and Ethical Retailing (2010s – Present): Innovation: The focus on sustainable and ethical practices, including eco-friendly packaging, fair trade products, and transparency in supply chains. Impact: This shift addresses growing consumer concerns about environmental impact and social responsibility, building brand loyalty and trust. Innovations that could Shape the Future: 1. Personalized Shopping Experiences with AI and Machine Learning: Idea: Leverage AI and machine learning to create highly personalized shopping experiences. This could include personalized product recommendations, virtual personal shoppers, and customized in-store experiences based on individual customer data. Impact: Enhanced customer satisfaction and loyalty, increased sales, and a more efficient shopping process. 2. Smart Stores with IoT Integration: Idea: Implement Internet of Things (IoT) technology to create smart stores that can monitor inventory levels in real-time, track customer movements, and optimize store layouts. Impact: Improved inventory management, better customer service, and a more efficient use of store space. 3. Voice Commerce: Idea: Expand the use of voice assistants for shopping, allowing customers to make purchases, track orders, and get product information using voice commands. Impact: Increased convenience for customers, especially for repeat purchases and everyday items, leading to higher engagement and sales. 4. Interactive and Immersive Shopping with Metaverse: Idea: Create virtual shopping environments within the metaverse, where customers can explore digital stores, try on products virtually, and interact with brands in a immersive way. Impact: A new dimension of customer engagement, reaching a global audience, and creating unique brand experiences. 5. Autonomous Delivery and Logistics: Idea: Utilize autonomous vehicles, drones, and robots for last-mile delivery, making the process faster, more efficient, and cost-effective. Impact: Reduced delivery times, lower operational costs, and a more sustainable supply chain. Additionally, it could address labor shortages and increase customer satisfaction. Future innovations will focus on enhancing customer experiences, improving operational efficiency, and exploiting new technology to meet the evolving demands of consumers. — This post was previously published on Destination Innovation. *** Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * Subscribe If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. Photo credit: iStock The post 15 Innovations in Retail – Past, Present and Future appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

For two months, I’ve withheld sins. I’m not Catholic, so I can’t go to a priest. I’ve prayed, meditated, and exercised, but the feelings of guilt remain. Before I confess, let me give you context. Every sin has a story. Warning: this post is longer than usual. But please stay, I need to get this off my chest. It started with pizza. In June, I had out-of-town guests over for dinner. My childhood friend, his wife, and their three children came to visit us. We ordered pizza from an Indian Italian fusion joint near my house. Between slices layered with cheese, curry, and tomato sauce, one of our guests asked if we’d seen Ryan Coogler’s latest film, Sinners. While chewing, my wife and I shook our heads no. Shocked but not swayed from the topic, the conversation continued, and we learned of the Christian controversies surrounding the movie. I listened as they explained how conservative pundits criticized the film because it challenged religious values. Scenes depicting devils as vampires hit too close to home for some. Our friends appreciated the film and Coogler’s artistic interpretations of religion, vampires, racism, and 1900 America. We finished most of the pizza, the children stayed overnight, and I promised to watch the movie. Sin #1 A week passed, and I traveled to Umoja’s Summer Learning Institute(SLI) in San Marcos, California. Due to preparing for a workshop, other work responsibilities, and family duties, I didn’t watch the movie before leaving town. The opening keynote speaker of SLI, Anthony Browder, referenced the movie as he argued for using film to counter dominant narratives and teach history. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” – Exodus 20:16 “I am not deceitful”- Laws of Ma’at Browder mentioned a memorable scene in the movie where a blues singer conjured past, present, and future ancestral spirits in a juke joint. I nodded as he spoke, without context, as he discussed the societal contributions of Africans in the diaspora and Coogler’s ability to foster awareness through his latest masterpiece. He articulated how each actor played a role in conveying meaningful messages. The singer embodied the potential and power of Black voices connected with divine gifts to communicate with the spirit world. Dancers tapped into a rich history of movement and music that Africans acquired to maintain their sanity and culture in the face of oppressive forces. Browder’s analysis of the scene reminded me of capoeira’s history in Brazil. https://goodmenproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/umoja.mp4 The crowd applauded his insights and appraisal of Coogler’s films. Browder reiterated his thoughts with a brief discussion of the brilliant Black Panther series. He encouraged conference attendees to analyze narrative structure, engage in critical thinking, and develop film literacy. Through images, film clips, and book references, he assigned us tasks reinforcing the title of his talk, “Teaching the Truth: Countering the Erasure of African Identity.” After remembering comments made around my dinner table, reflecting on my notes, and reviewing pictures from the lecture, I prayed for forgiveness and rented the film. Sin # 2 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly, defend the rights of the poor and needy” – Proverbs 31:8-9 “I have not acted hastily or without thought” – Laws of Ma’at Despite my promise to limit Amazon purchases due to Bezos’ support of Trump, I selected Sinners and clicked “add to cart” on Prime Video. With shame on my shoulder and awe in my eyes, I watched the movie. No spoiler alert Through fiction and horror, the movie Sinners depicts the experiences Black people endured during the move from rural Mississippi to urban Chicago during the Great Migration. It echoes narratives in Isabel Wilkerson’s (2010) book, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. In Sinners, vampires and Klansmen portray the violence and white supremacy that covertly initiated and maintained slavery by other names, such as sharecropping, Jim Crow, and the prison-industrial complex. From the opening credits, I identified with two of the film’s characters. The preacher, played by Saul Williams, reminded me of my dad. Miles Caton, also known as The Preacher Boy and Sammie Moore, mirrored me. I grew up in a religious home where my father worked as a pastor at a church on Chicago’s South Side. Sammie’s reluctance to follow his father’s ministerial wishes resembled challenges I’ve faced at various moments in my life. Just last week, one of my father’s friends asked me to preach at his church. Like Sammie, I discovered creative outlets outside the church’s walls. While the juke joint scene lived up to Browder’s hype, another moment in Sinners resonates with the Christian controversy my friends shared. In a closing scene, the vampire Remmick, played by Jack O’Connell, baptizes Sammie. Sammie begins to recite the Lord’s Prayer, and Remmick, along with recent vampire converts, finish the prayer. Remmick says, “Long ago, the man who stole my father’s land forced these words upon us. I hated those men, but the words still bring me comfort.” The comments stunned Sammie, and the moment sent an eerie chill up my spine. Sinners hit theaters in April, but if you haven’t seen it yet, I will not spoil the ending and reveal what happens next. It is worth your time and money to support Coogler’s latest masterpiece. Although the movie starts slow, the storyline builds into a climactic depiction of Black life in the 1930s with parallels to 2025. Michael B. Jordan shines in his portrayal of two characters, Smoke and Stack. Other notable actors include Delroy Lindo, Hailee Steinfeld, and Wunmi Mosaku. Is watching Sinners a Sin? That question can only receive an answer from you and your perception of God or a Creator. I confess to procrastinating on seeing the movie and breaking my vow to limit Amazon purchases. While I understand the Christian critique, given the dialogues and images in several scenes, Ryan Coogler does a superb job of using film to reflect white supremacy and illustrate Black resilience. If you haven’t seen Sinners, add it to your to-do list this weekend. Give yourself time to process the images and dialogues. Use this syllabus to create classes around the film’s ideas. Whether you rent, buy, or choose to teach it, please share your thoughts below. Subscribe to this blog and receive more film reviews delivered to your inbox. Support this blog by buying a book or registering for coaching services. — This post was previously published on Vernon C. Lindsay, PhD blog. *** You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project: Escape the Act Like a Man Box What We Talk About When We Talk About Men Why I Don’t Want to Talk About Race The First Myth of the Patriarchy: The Acorn on the Pillow Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * Subscribe If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. Photo credit: Vernon Lindsay The post Confessions of a Sinner appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

Ring of suspicion: Oura announced a Texas plant to make rings for the Department of Defense. TikTok spiraled into conspiracy theories about Palantir “stealing” user data and Oura suing rivals into extinction. The CEO even hopped on TikTok to debunk them. The post Ring of suspicion appeared first on Komando.com. View the full article

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: On YouTube, press Shift + > to speed things up or Shift + < to slow them down. Each tap shifts playback by 0.25. I use it for podcasts and slo-mo replays. The post 3-second tech genius appeared first on Komando.com. View the full article

I don’t know about you, but for a long time, I mistook intimacy for fusion. Being “in love” meant never wanting to be apart, never needing space, or never turning inward. So… When he didn’t text back within an hour, I panicked. If I wanted a night alone, I felt guilty. If he wanted one, I felt rejected. Somewhere along the way, I’d absorbed the idea that closeness = love. But I eventually learned the hard way that true intimacy is not constant closeness. In fact, that constant proximity is the very thing that suffocates love. … Closeness can be intoxicating. For many of us, intimacy is togetherness without pause. Always texting. Sleeping wrapped in each other’s limbs like a human pretzel. Craving solitude means something must be wrong. We’ve learnt to measure love by how little space exists between two people. And yes, closeness feels intoxicating at first. You know what I’m talking about: the weekend you barely leave the bed, the endless FaceTimes, the “good morning” and “good night” texts that wrap up your day. But once the dopamine wears off, you’re left with something far less sexy: a fusion that feels more like suffocation. Because real intimacy requires air. That ability to step back into yourself without your partner falling apart, or worse, accusing you of pulling away. Intimacy is not about how many hours you spend together, but what those hours feel like. Do they feel alive? Nourishing? Safe? Or do they feel like an obligation disguised as romance? Real intimacy requires air. That ability to step back into yourself without your partner falling apart, or worse, accusing you of pulling away. The energy of true intimacy. The healthiest relationships I’ve seen and lived weren’t the ones where we were fused at the hip. They were the ones where I could say, “I need space tonight,” and he didn’t spiral. Where I could have my own hobbies, friends, and solo Sundays without it being misinterpreted as rejection. Where distance wasn’t a threat. Because true intimacy has nothing to do with constant proximity. It’s when your bodies and souls recognise each other beyond distance. Real intimacy allows for absence. It doesn’t panic in silence. But here’s the twist that very few people realise: the same principle applies to the intimacy you have with yourself. How many of us avoid our own company because the silence feels unbearable? How often do we confuse busyness for wholeness? We fill every spare moment with texts, scrolling, TV, or other people, because we’re afraid of what might surface if we sat with ourselves. You can’t build real intimacy with another person if you’ve never learned how to be intimate with yourself. Intimacy thrives on space. And that space allows longing. It keeps curiosity alive. It makes reunions sweeter. And whether that reunion is with your partner or with yourself, it’s the same energy: a coming back, fuller than you left. Real intimacy allows for absence. It doesn’t panic in silence. The fear of abandonment. The need for constant closeness stems from fear. Fear of abandonment. Fear of disconnection. Fear that if there’s too much space, love will disappear. So we cling. We check in. We text before they can forget us. This mindset treats closeness like an insurance policy: If I’m always right here, they can’t leave me. But true intimacy has a different purpose: expansion. I am not talking about avoiding distance, but creating a bond so strong that even distance can’t shake it. Here’s the difference: In relationships built on constant closeness, validation comes from reassurance. “Are you still there?” “Do you still love me?” “Are we okay?” But in relationships rooted in true intimacy, validation comes from trust. And trust starts within yourself. Because if you don’t trust that bond with you? No amount of “Are we okay?” from someone else will ever be enough. You can’t build real intimacy with another person if you’ve never learned how to be intimate with yourself. Space is sexy. Think about it: desire is fuelled by mystery. It’s why absence makes the heart grow fonder. It’s why the most magnetic moments often come after you’ve missed each other, not when you’ve been breathing the same recycled air for 72 hours straight. Closeness gives you comfort. But space gives you spark. Space lets you miss each other. It’s hot when your partner has something to teach you, surprise you with, or invite you into. It’s hot when they return from their own world, rested, recharged, inspired, and share it with you. The real secret to keeping attraction alive is enough space for longing to stay in the picture. Desire is fuelled by mystery. What true intimacy looks like: being able to spend a night apart without panicking. one of you needing quiet and the other not taking it personally. two fully formed lives that choose to overlap, not collapse into each other. choosing to put the phone away and really listen. choosing to create rituals that keep the spark alive. True intimacy requires initiative. It thrives on conscious choice. When you never let go, there’s nothing to miss. When you never step back, there’s nothing to lean into. Intimacy is the interplay of closeness and distance, union and individuality. Like breath, inhale and exhale. Too much of one, and life disappears. True intimacy requires initiative. It thrives on conscious choice. The reframe we need. Many of us held on to that constant closeness because it felt safe. Because we were once abandoned. Silence used to mean rejection. Space stood for loss. But intimacy will never ask us to erase ourselves. It asks us to bring our whole selves into the relationship. Which means we need time apart just as much as we need time together. It’s having enough self-trust to say: I’m whole on my own, and we’re better together because of it. Closeness should be a choice, not a chain. It’s the thrill of missing each other that keeps the feeling alive. The real test in love isn’t how often you’re together. It’s how safe you feel when you’re apart. So maybe the real relationship goal isn’t constant closeness at all… It’s building something so secure that a little space doesn’t scare you. It seduces you. … Stop chasing. Start attracting. Master the art of detachment now → Download The Art of Detachment Workbook. Learn how to release, rewire, and receive. Your support means a great deal to me. If you would like to fuel my creativity with coffee, buy me a coffee and share your thoughts. Join my Substack: MindsetMatters — This post was previously published on medium.com. Love relationships? We promise to have a good one with your inbox. Subcribe to get 3x weekly dating and relationship advice. Did you know? We have 8 publications on Medium. Join us there! Hello, Love (relationships) Change Becomes You (Advice) A Parent is Born (Parenting) Equality Includes You (Social Justice) Greener Together (Environment) Shelter Me (Wellness) Modern Identities (Gender, etc.) Co-Existence (World) *** – Photo credit: Marlon Schmeiski On Unsplash The post Stop Confusing Closeness With Connection appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

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The authorities have confirmed that 34 bodies and 102 body parts were recovered in Kenya Eleven suspects have been arrested in connection with newly uncovered mass graves in Kilifi County, where investigators have so far exhumed 34 bodies, Kenyan police said on Wednesday. Officials say the discovery points to the resurgence of the cult linked to the Shakahola tragedy in 2023. Local police chief Douglas Kanja stated that four of those detained are considered central to the ongoing investigation. “Thirty-two bodies have so far been exhumed, and two other bodies were also recovered here in this area, making a total of 34 bodies. 102 body parts have been recovered,” Kanja said. “We have sent our best team here of investigators, and very soon, we will come up with a complete investigation file.” The chief noted many of the victims were not locals, but had been brought in from elsewhere, radicalized, and ultimately lost their lives as a result. Kwa Binzaro is a village in the province of Kilifi, and lies about 30km from Shakahola, where prosecutors say alleged cult leader Paul Mackenzie instructed his followers to starve themselves in anticipation of the end of the world in order to “meet Jesus.” In 2023, more than 430 bodies were exhumed from dozens of mass graves in the Shakahola forest. Autopsies revealed that most victims had died of starvation, while some, including children, were reportedly beaten or strangled. Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church and self-proclaimed pastor, has been charged with terrorism, murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, child torture and cruelty. He was arrested in April 2023 after police rescued 15 emaciated church members. In July, a Malindi court authorized the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to continue exhumations in Kwa Binzaro. Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions later said preliminary forensic findings suggested victims there also died from starvation or suffocation. Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen has publicly linked the Kwa Binzaro graves to Mackenzie’s cult. Kenyan President William Ruto’s government has pledged stricter regulation of religious groups and increased community surveillance in response. View the full article