My girlfriend would be very unhappy with me I spontaneously left for a couple of days in this way.

There’s a guy in southwest England whose family didn’t leave the village for 9000 years.

Pretty much any video of Mick Lynch.

Most tasks only benefit you indirectly, so they are considered worthless by your lizard brain.

Just get comfortable and have something to eat and you are golden. Maybe masturbate from time to time.

It’s hard to articulate but probably the only thing for me right now is the sheer weirdness of everything. It feels like everyone’s perceptions of reality have been shaken loose and unusual things are more likely to happen.

So nothing concrete; just vibes. And uncomfortable vibes at that.

Also, chaos and upheaval lead to change and the most optimistic part of me hopes that whatever emerges from it will be defined by people who have had the courage to resist all of the fear, hate and greed.

“Don’t bite the anus that feeds you”

There seems to be a general misconception that Europe has been unable to help Ukraine more when it has actually been a free choice for them. That’s the whole purpose of NATO - it binds member states to shared defence. Ukraine was not a member when it was invaded.

Russia + China + Iran +

Russia: Ukraine. China: needs to keeping selling us stuff to keep its property bubble from crashing the economy, far away. Iran: Israel.

Imagining a terrifying and powerful threat and gearing up for a world war is a good way of helping that to actually happen. Fair enough. Some people want that. Perhaps because they stand to profit individually from the economics of it, are lacking purpose or are simply bored.

Grandfather: “How is your garden”

Grandson: “Needs a firmware update”

I agree about that but in the case of defence against a potential Russian invasion of European NATO members I think it’s a false dichotomy. We are already stronger than Russia by nearly all measures and would be better off investing in infrastructure that makes us more prosperous and resilient whatever the future holds.

Don’t get me wrong, what has happened to Ukraine is absolutely awful. But the argument that European NATO countries should respond by spending more money on arming themselves is wrong IMO. First because it’s unnecessary and second because we have other important things that need investment like energy, transport and healthcare. I dont want these things to be neglected for the sake of handing over billions to big arms companies for weapons that sit unused in a warehouse for decades. We need to be invested in a stable and peaceful future.

Hey man you chose groceries as an analogy, not me.

You’re talking like the whole of Europe has been pouring everything it’s got into the war in Ukraine, which it hasn’t even come close to.

I think Czechia is the only country who has not immediately replenished military aid given to Ukraine. UK arms manufacturers continue to supply the international market. Meanwhile Russia is pulling tanks out of museums, begging from impoverished North Korea and has spent nearly three years capturing 20% of a non-NATO country below Egypt and Australia in military rankings.

The issue here is not that Europe is vulnerable to Russia, it’s that there is a renewed American mandate to cut spending on other people’s wars and deterrents and they are wondering whether Europe should cough up more money. Mark Rutte licks Trump’s anus and is making what he thinks are the right sounds. Fair enough. On the flipside European lawmakers are going to be wondering whether Donald will go back to keeping intelligence documents in his bathroom, whether US military bases in their countries are really worth it and whether they want much to do with the US at all as gets more and more nutty.

Why put that aside? It was the whole point of their invasion.

In your analogy it’s like increasing your grocery budget by 25%, knowing that you already have more than enough groceries to see you through the winter and that extra 25% will rot before it gets used. Spending that extra money on groceries has also cost you the opportunity to buy a backup generator in case the snow knocks out your power supply as well as a new starter motor for your snowmobile.

I agree. Fear, hate and greed are not the solution to our problems.

Can’t say I’m a military analyst but if Russia can’t take over Ukraine why should NATO be worried, 2% or otherwise? Russia’s ongoing sabotage against NATO countries is a job for intelligence and policing. Greasing the palms of the arms industry won’t touch that.

All lick the anus

OK. Did I imagine it?

“Come on Elon, you’re going to get us all assassinated.”

Arts and Humanities research.