Bud, Russia is aggressive because Putin’s entire rise to power was built on manufactured fear. He likely used FSB agents to execute false flag attacks on Russian citizens and blame it on Chechen separatists. He has had to build on that fear to maintain power, developing a mythological Imperial past that was “stolen” by the west. Conquering Ukraine is the first step in “resurrecting” that glorious fiction. Russia will not stop pursuing this fever dream until Putin and his government are gone - they can’t. It’s basically the only thing keeping them in power. I don’t like wars either, but until we can collectively figure out how to stop these authoritarian impulses there just isn’t any alternative. It’s the paradox of tolerance, essentially

Susan Collins is a Republican Senator from Maine. No Democrats have voted for any of these psychopaths.

The problem here is too much information, or misinformation. In social spaces, if you post something about vaccines, or join a group that is focused on children’s health, for example, you’ll start being inundated with anti-vax misinformation. People get lost in these walled gardens of bad info, and stop being able to distinguish between truth and fiction. All these systems are designed to drive engagement, and nothing drives that better than fear and anger.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/08/03/paul-reubens-child-pornography/

He’s right about one thing, he doesn’t deserve to be called “dad”. I think I speak for all us decent dads here when I say any one of us would be proud to have a kid who’s as smart, capable, and levelheaded as you sound. Keep your head down and get out as soon as you can.

This is kind of like a mix of HOMM and the Civ games.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/289130/ENDLESS_Legend/

Some Favorites from this year;

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the best - “The Final Architecture” series is also rad, and his standalone novel from this year “Service Model” was great.

August Kitko and the Mechas From Space by Alex White. “Evangelion by way of David Bowie”

Space Opera Catherynne Valente. A very literal play on the genre!

Fractal Noise & To Sleep in a Sea of Stars Christopher Paolini

Murderbot Diaries Martha Wells

Oh hey! Sorry for the slow reply, I just noticed the notification . I got mine at a homebrew store, but here they are on Amazon

Water kefir is another good option - one you get the grains rehydrated it makes a new batch every 24 hours or so, and you can referment it with fruit juice to make a fizzy probiotic drink. It’s much easier to get started with than kombucha

Farmers can actually become a huge part of solving the climate crisis. Regenerative farming techniques can be applied at scale, in any farming system. There are several third party certifiers such as Regenified and Rodale that farmers can use.