I’m more a visual person, so let me show you some graphs: Famine rates are down: https://ourworldindata.org/images/published/Famine-death-rate-since-1860s-revised_850.png
We can do so much more with our computing resources - Note, logarithmic scale: https://www.singularity.com/images/charts/MicroprocessorClockSpeed.jpg
Billions of people live in a democracy, before 1850 almost none did: https://bigthink.com/the-present/democratic-rights/
Big kid punches little kid “Stop” says little kid
Big kid punches other little kid “Stop” says other little kid
Big kid punches first little kid again and takes his lunch money “Stop” says little kids
Bunch of little kids band together “If you punch again we’re going to punch you back” (raises fists in intimidating stance)
Big kid grumbles and talks about running over all the little kids with his car…
——
NATO isn’t stupid. As a whole, they don’t want to invade Russia. They are there to deter future territorial land grabs and they want to maintain the status quo as it’s good for trade. Quality of life is pretty good or getting better on this side of the fence.
I get it, a whole bunch of kids around your house can be intimidating. They have access to the neighborhood road (Polish corridor). Your little brother started thinking they were cool.
The way this could have and should have gone about is more trade, more connectivity, more upward mobility. But your ruling class got all weird about that, can’t be having western ideals infect the population, they were losing power. And so Russia went the xenophobic path and now we are here.
All the rhetoric. All the hype. All the saber rattling. It’s a form of control, to keep the Russian population in support of this war. To keep them scared so that Putin and his ilk stay in power. It’s a very myopic way of seeing the world.
They’ve rattled so hard that walking away isn’t an option anymore. Too much treasure and blood lost. It would shake Russia to its core. The Russian Vietnam as it were, right on your doorstep.
I don’t know what the end game is here. NATO is not going to capitulate. Russian leadership are backing themselves into a corner.
Is this a yearly average? I don’t think we’re closer to nuclear war than we were during the Cuban missile crisis.
I mean if the Russian leadership wants to die over a piece of land (because they don’t already have enough?), then sure by all means.
Get a Dietician and physical trainer. Use this opportunity to get yourself into healthy shape and never look back. I did something years ago and had no clue just how bad I was actually feeling before the improvement. Both physically and mentally. We are not designed to sit at desks all day.
Do your feet crack sometimes? Consider testing for athletes foot.
Blood, STD and Cancer screenings, as many as they’ll give you. Hell, depending how old you are, maybe a colonoscopy.
Sleep study. MRI, ECG, EKG. Allergy test. Dermatology/mole screening.
IQ test, find out your best skills and then learn how to use them to your advantage.
DNA testing, if you really want to know some things you may be perceptive to…though personally i don’t know if I would want to know if Huntingtons is in my future.
How does this square with the whole libertarian bend?
Not going to go into details due to confidentiality, but I recently was involved in an initiative to utilize AI to scan education databases and identify students who may be at risk of dropping out, with the goal of having an early safety net for these folks. And also raising the schools retention rates, thus better outcomes overall.
So yes, AI can absolutely be used for good.
Right? Why do civilizations fight wars anyway? If not flat out colonialism and dick measuring, then It’s usually for resources, maybe protection for cultural exclaves if it serves the nation’s geopolitical interest.
All that is to say, Russians are not Chinese. And I don’t think many Eastern Russians would welcome the switch. So, China would be instigating a lot of strife for minimal gains.
Taiwan on the other hand, I can at least understand. I don’t agree with the stance, not in the least, primarily because I believe democracy is superior to communism. Nevertheless, if I had my adversaries 100 miles off my border and their existence hampered me economically and militarily, then I absolutely would subjugate them in any way possible.
Starting a daily productivity log. It started as a google form but has morphed into a larger spreadsheet. It contains:
Each row is a day. It also includes a section for bucket list and yearly goals and whether I achieved them.
I don’t fill it out every day and I don’t fill out every field each day either, but I do try to not get more than 10 days behind.
It gives me a sense of purpose. It helps me remember what I’ve done, so days don’t just slip through my fingers. It also, I think, shows how I’ve grown a bit as a person.
It became really special when I was able to bring it out during my wedding vows. I wrote down on paper many of the things my SO and I did on our adventures and got to share them with our friends and family.
I have a tab for each of the last 15 years.
We elect people to make decisions, that’s the whole concept behind representative government. We vote people in at the federal level who are supposed to protect us - it is one of their key responsibilities according to the constitution.
I understand that the concept of representative governance may be lost on people who have little say on those who govern them.
And just to be clear, no, ours is not a perfect system either. I’d prefer ranked choice to FPP voting, but even that has flaws.
Endive it will. It’s as if her ice bergled the rest of her face.
And that scientists name? Albert Einstein.
It won’t be him if he attends anyway. He’s too much a coward to go himself.
So then they’ll move here, not such a bad deal.
But then, who makes sure that ActivityPub doesn’t sell out?
Yuge! > here, you forgot this.
Assassinating someone in cold blood in Berlin’s main public square, then not cooperating with authorities, garnering a whole lot of brownie points from authoritarian leader Putin….
These are not the values we should encourage nor emulate.
Ultimate power ultimately corrupts. It doesn’t matter whether it comes from capital or community.
We must have a way to audit, it’s a tool that helps keep power in check. How do you audit handshakes and wink/nods?
I like it, take the weakness and flip the script on its head.
I will be canvassing and driving people to the polls.
With Kamala, we’ll probably lose Nevada and may lose some of the blue wall, but this will put some southern states back in play.
I think we’ll get Michigan and Minnesota, but lose Wisconsin.
Georgia comes back to blue. NC comes back in play, but it will vacillate depending on what direction the wind is blowing on Election Day. I think there’s a possible chance there that Robinson/Kamala split the ticket.
I have absolutely no insight on politics in Arizona, but I’m not optimistic there.
Florida and Texas will be even more red than normal.
Pennsylvania will be an absolute squeaker, it will take every precinct in Philly to show up and show up hard. It was and will continue to be the most important state for the election.
What I personally need to see from Kamala is passion. She needs use that brilliant wit of hers to cut Trump down to the bone like she did Biden in 2016. But of course there’s a fucking “angry black woman” bias racist bullshit that the media is going to push that she has to overcome as well.
I don’t know about y’all, but I’d prefer not to win a Darwin Award.