Before Breakfast

Familiarity and the brain’s comfort bias
 People are wired to seek patterns and predictability; familiarity feels safe even when it once hurt. Choosing or avoiding partners who resemble an ex is often driven by this cognitive shortcut.  
That familiar signal can be interpreted two ways: as “I know how to be with this person” (comfort) or “this will end the same way” (warning).

Deciding to grow cannabis at home is more than a hobby choice — it’s a commitment of time, money, and responsibility. This article helps you weigh whether cultivation fits your life by mapping practical options (grow tents, rooms, greenhouses, outdoor plots, and hydroponics), the core equipment you’ll need, and the typical costs and risks involved. You’ll also learn why three biological pillars — seed origin, soil pH, and root-zone oxygen — often matter more to your success than the flashiest lights or biggest fans.

In a world saturated with misinformation, mythic narratives, and elite conspiracy lore, some individuals weaponize fantasy to mask disturbing truths. I met one man. He claimed to be a 1500-year-old alien, a member of the Illuminati, and proudly associated himself with the Cuomo-linked mafia. Beneath the theatrics lay a darker reality: he was a child molester.

Our cultural fascination with darkness — figures who transgress moral and legal boundaries — has deep historical roots. From medieval broadsides recounting the crimes of outlaws, to Victorian penny dreadfuls, to 20th‑century true crime magazines, societies have long packaged deviance as spectacle. Early criminologists like Cesare Lombroso searched for the ‘born criminal,’ pathologizing deviance as biological destiny, while Émile Durkheim argued that crime is a normal feature of social life, clarifying the boundaries of collective morality. In the 20th century, psychology shifted the frame: Freud located aggression and eros within the psyche; behaviorists highlighted reinforcement; and later, social-cognitive theories explored how scripts and schemas shape attraction and imitation. Contemporary frameworks — attachment theory, dark triad research (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy), and parasocial relationships — help explain why some individuals are magnetized by lethal charisma while others recoil. Today’s media ecosystem accelerates these dynamics, rendering the transgressive both hyper-visible and algorithmically intimate.

People who live with, love, or grew up around someone who commits murder face a fraught mix of loyalty, fear, curiosity, moral reckoning, and practical choices. This integrated article maps developmental and social patterns across contexts — childhood trajectories, radicalized mass violence, cartel networks, and serial offending — then explains why ordinary relationships persist, how shared habits and simple interests form bonds, and offers clear, actionable guidance for maintaining connection while protecting safety, centering victims, and preserving your own moral integrity.