No Logo by Naomi Klein.

Unfortunately, it made me really against sweatshops and child labour. But most people want to hate stuff that come with very marginal costs, rether than things that force you to rethink how you live.

“I hate structural racism!”
“Like our clothes?”
“No, no…”

People have answered pretty well but I’d also come at it from a different angle, the EU also probably wants ways to deepen connections without full blown membership. (Consider the headaches that Orban caused for years.) In an era that looks increasingly like it will be defined by great power rivalry, having the EU create a more nimble sort of partnership than full blown membership could be very attractive to many middle countries (especially in East Asia as countries reassess their security guarantees from America against China’s increasingly bellicose behaviour.)

Anytime! Anything in support of people watching weird shit!

No, the synopsis is absolutely correct. But the protagonists are a superhero (Green Lantern) and a superhero in training. They use powers etc but yeah, mostly it’s been mystery/sci fi, just in the context of a super hero world?

(Green lanterns deal with space shit, in the show, seems like space shit happening in the Midwest.)

Don’t really have much TV time in the summer but I’ve almost been keeping up with Lanterns, President Curtis and Strange New Worlds.

President Curtis has been a completely unexpected blast. I think part of the charm is that it is a really fun take on the Presidency that comments on trump without ever even alluding to him. Throw in some decent dialogue and fun ideas and I’m sold. (Admittedly, I am a historical politics junkie so a lot of the references feel aimed directly at me.)

Lanterns was a surprise. Buddy whom I trust recommended it, despite both of us being burned out on super heroes, and goddamn, he was right.

And Strange New Worlds… Man, they’re just having an absolute blast and I’m here for it. Long live silly Trek!

Ha, fully agree. I felt kind of burned out of super hero stuff (I’ll go see spiderman eventually though) so was wary about Lanterns but it’s been an absolute blast.

I’m just a bit ahead of you (maybe 2/3rds through season 2) and I have to say, in my ignorant opinion, things really improve as the second season goes on. (Admittedly, I mostly stopped as it’s hard to find time in the summer but that’s my memory.)

Amazing, I didn’t know about this either! Thanks!

As you note elsewhere, these are often highly upvoted and honestly, the fediverse is so small that without those posts, I worry about how much content there would be. (We can cry that people need to post more original content until our lungs give out but…)

So, I’d say this is probably a fine tuning issue. We probably want people to choose if they want to filter out as much content from reddit as possible, bot content only, mass reddit posters etc.

Oh for sure, the AI bubble is terrifying as I think I noted very early on in the thread. But, even excluding the last half dozen years (so as to ignore American’s absurd covid recovery and AI hype) American stock returns have significantly outperformed European ones.

Oh absolutely, I’m not saying that this won’t help, I’m just saying that there is a very real trade-off and it would be unwise to pretend there isn’t one.

Ehhhh, a little bit this is also a drastic oversimplification of how the stock market works.

American companies tend to have higher profit returns and growth potential. There aren’t many Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia’s etc in Europe. There are also huge hurdles to growth (navigating almost 30 different sets of regulations plus EU regulations, or however many languages) that American companies do not face.

The total value of the US stockmaket is 70+ trillion. 400 billion is something but not even a significant percentage.

Tricky one. I love the sovereignty but I also wonder how much that will cut into someone’s pension etc as American stocks have wildly outperformed most other stockmarkets. Admittedly, I’m also worried about a serious crash but…

Like I said, tricky one.

Goddamn you are cool!

Honestly, I thought Russia attacking NATO by 2030 was a little far fetched (a war against one smaller country is not going particularly well) but this legit raises my guess it’ll happen by some 10% or so?

If you walk down any street, most people are wearing clothes made by children in sweatshops.

In general, people don’t really care about abstract ethical concerns even ones affecting them until it actually harms them or someone they know.

As a guy, we can be real jerks.

My guess is that he probably wants more short term casual relationships but also knows that most women want long term (and those who want short term have no end of possible suppliers.) So, if he wants to sleep around, he probably has to claim he that ultimately he is looking for a long term relationship. (Would you have gone on a date if his profile just said casual?)

I’m also striding through middle age and sorry to say, in a lot of senses, dating doesn’t get easier. Honestly, I think a lot of people have coupled up and a higher proportion who haven’t, haven’t for a reason.

There’s also an interesting phenomenon I’ve seen in early middle age where guys who seem dependable etc couple up with women who would seem “out of their league” as priorities shift to starting a family etc. Of course, the flip side is this also removes a lot of the nice but kind of unremarkable guys from the dating pool.

All that being said, I’d say there is still hope! The big advantage of dating later on in life is that you know who you are, what you want and hopefully, you’re not afraid to ask/demand it! Meeting people in person, whether community groups, sports, hobbies, volunteering or anything else is tricky but deeply rewarding. The other folks around our age who also don’t have families and kids are often pretty friendly and happy to make new friends as our old friends get busier with their new families etc.

Good luck out there!

The best joke is always in the comments.

This was really well put, thanks!