humor
"Humor is what binds humans together and makes difficult times just a little less painful; Sometimes you can't help but laugh. "
Two Mothers, Two Sons, One City
My name is Chen Xiaobei. I was born in '98, graduated in 2019, and found a job in internet operations in Hangzhou. To be honest, when I first arrived in Hangzhou, I was completely overwhelmed. My monthly salary was 4,500 yuan, and rent was 1,800 for a tiny shared room. Later, when my roommate moved out, I couldn't afford the place on my own, so I went on Douban to look for a new co-living arrangement.
By Water&Well&Pageabout 10 hours ago in Humans
AI as a Reflective Surface
Much of the confusion surrounding artificial intelligence comes from treating it as an agent rather than a surface. When people speak about AI “doing the thinking,” “creating the ideas,” or “speaking for someone,” they are often projecting agency onto a system that does not possess intention, belief, or understanding. This projection obscures what is actually happening in many real-world uses. In those cases, AI is not acting as a source of meaning, but as a surface that reflects, redirects, and reshapes what is already present.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcasta day ago in Humans
Why Saying Less Makes Words Feel More Valuable
There is a widely held belief that words gain value through scarcity. When someone speaks rarely, their statements are treated as weightier, more deliberate, and more worth attending to. When someone speaks often, their words are assumed to be interchangeable, disposable, or less carefully considered. This intuition is not entirely wrong, but it is frequently misapplied. Scarcity does affect perception, but perception is not the same as truth, and rarity is not the same as meaning.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcasta day ago in Humans
The Sunday Scaries
THE WEEKLY PANIC ATTACK NOBODY QUESTIONS The Sunday Scaries, that creeping dread that begins Sunday afternoon and intensifies through the evening as Monday approaches, affecting an estimated seventy-six percent of American workers according to a LinkedIn survey, has been normalized as an inevitable aspect of adult working life, something everyone experiences and nobody questions, like rush hour traffic or alarm clock misery, a universal discomfort that is treated as the natural cost of employment rather than being recognized for what it actually is: your body's alarm system telling you that something about your work life is fundamentally incompatible with your wellbeing, and the fact that three-quarters of working adults experience weekly anxiety about returning to their jobs should be treated not as a collective shrug but as a public health crisis revealing that the way we have organized work is making the majority of people dread the majority of their waking lives.
By The Curious Writer4 days ago in Humans
Why Most Lottery Winners Lose It All
Winning the lottery feels like the ultimate dream: instant wealth, freedom from financial stress, and the ability to live life on your own terms. But behind the headlines of oversized checks and champagne celebrations lies a surprising truth—many lottery winners end up broke, sometimes within just a few years.
By AnthonyBTV6 days ago in Humans
Against My Better Judgment: Do I Have ADD?
One day a few months ago, I told Mrs. Judgment that I would be going upstairs to clean our room. Six hours later, Mrs. Judgment grew concerned and came looking for me. When she arrived upstairs, she did not find a spotless room. Quite the opposite. She found me sitting on the bed typing away on my computer, most likely making my 100th budgeting spreadsheet, everything that was once on the closet floor had been moved to the bathroom floor, and papers that were once in my desk drawer were strewn all over the floor. Mrs. Judgment looked at me the way she sometimes does — with a combination of affection, concern, and the quiet patience of a woman who has seen this before. “Babe,” she said calmly, “I think you might have ADD.”
By Against My Better Judgment8 days ago in Humans
Managed, Not Healed
For people living with chronic pain, the most destabilizing realization is not that healing is difficult. It is that healing is often not the goal. The healthcare system that surrounds them is built to manage symptoms, document persistence, and ration interventions rather than pursue restoration of function. Over time, patients begin to notice a pattern. Short-acting medications are readily available. Repeated appointments are routine. Imaging is reviewed, notes are written, and pain is acknowledged. Yet interventions aimed at resolving underlying structural problems, restoring stability, or preventing long-term degeneration are delayed, denied, or classified as optional. The system responds continuously, but it rarely moves forward.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast10 days ago in Humans
