Things I have learned in the last 6 months

[Doktor Howl]

1.  Don't put anything in your ear that's smaller than your elbow.
2.  A nation doesn't go bad in two years.  It was already rotten, it's just that you could ignore it because it wasn't happening to you.
3.  You can't go back.  Thomas Wolfe was a dumbfuck, but he got that right.
4.  A bacon sandwich is worth any number of coworkers.
5.  Simply Red AND the Moody Blues together are still not as good as Deep Purple.
6.  All humans should get on the bus.  WeeOOOWeeOOO.  Like right fucking now.  Fuck it, just go stand by the stairs.
7.  American Science & Surplus sells a de-weaponized bazooka.  I don't even know where to start with that shit.
8.  No matter how much you loathe people, they won't believe you really loathe them, because they are special.
9.  You apparently cannot kill humans just by loathing them.
10.  You can normalize anything, no matter how grotesque and orange it is.

[Doktor Howl]

Bonus:

11.  Ian Anderson was a lying bastard and should be shot.

[chaotic neutral observer]

1.  Don't put anything in your ear that's smaller than your elbow.

From my experience, I have come to suspect that foam ear-plugs, used as directed, will push wax deeper into the ear canal, until eventually it blocks the ear-drum, you go nearly deaf, and have to go to the clinic to get an ear-flush.

2.  A nation doesn't go bad in two years.  It was already rotten, it's just that you could ignore it because it wasn't happening to you.

If you're talking about America...well, you've got a glorious history of slavery, eugenics, and shooting people who express the wrong ideas too loudly.  There may have been an anomalous shift toward civilization and enlightenment in the last century, but I think what's happening now is a return to normalcy, a regression to the mean, rather than some devolution from some hypothetical ideal.

This is true of several countries in the world today, I expect.

4.  A bacon sandwich is worth any number of coworkers.

This had not occurred to me, although it seems obvious, now that you mention it.

7.  American Science & Surplus sells a de-weaponized bazooka.  I don't even know where to start with that shit.

I hadn't heard of those guys.  At first I thought I had discovered a treasure-trove of miscellaneous electronica, but then I realized that they didn't list the manufacturers part numbers, and sometimes weren't even sure exactly what they were selling.

9.  You apparently cannot kill humans just by loathing them.

You can, but it takes decades.

10.  You can normalize anything, no matter how grotesque and orange it is.

Oh, god.  Haven't you got rid of that thing yet?  If it's too heavy to move, can't you just, like, drape a tablecloth over it, and pretend it isn't there?