Talked to two Japanese students who went to Europe because they hated their home country, like you do. Both were adamant they would have become a number in the suicide statistic if they wouldn’t have gotten out of the country. They didn’t plan on returning, ever.

Just saying there is a way out, I guess that’s what I thought was needed to be said.

It’s basic state theory, I believe we had that in middle school, along with the division of power. I mentioned the US exception because if you went to school there, your basic state theory might have been different from mine.

The monopoly on the use of force is quite the important part of having a state at all. If a state doesn’t have that, it descends into anarchy (the bad kind, with warlords and gangs). The US is very exceptional in this case as it has in its constitution the provision that such gangs (militia) are allowed, even desirable.

Is this not fairly likely in the US with Mexican Spanish or/and Canadian/Cajun French?

The shortage is not due to an aging population, it’s because nobody wants to go into this field.

And that is due to the pay not reflecting the extreme exploitation of the workers, in an environment that’s not very conducive to a happy life. They all end up burnt out and have nothing to show for it.

They tried keeping the pay down by hiring Eastern European medical personnel, who would work below their qualifications (doctors as nurses for example), but apparently they don’t want to work here anymore.

The problem has been going on for such a long time it is now systemic.

Seriously, “aging population”?

Walking will help sort your guts out as well, so by going for a late walk, you can take the problem to the outside!

Otherwise it’s probably just a question of your gut biome having a lot of gas producing parts.

We should really start to believe them when they say these things, and prepare accordingly.

AI, check the identical blue windows on the high rise in front/lower left, continue with the other wacky windows there.

Nonetheless a fantastic cityscape.

I switched my main gaming computer to Mint after testing it on a laptop. Being away from Windows is awesome. You know how everything always wants your attention on Windows? Your antivirus proudly announces its existence. Windows wants to know if it should remove some printers? Some PDF software needs updated RIGHT NOW. There’s a license change please acknowledge this 20 page document. Animated attention grabbing everywhere. I always think FUCK OFF when presented with this bullshit.

You know what - Mint doesn’t do that. I’ve not been internally shouting at my own computer since I went that way.

It is serene.

Just power-hungry generals? Anything more to the story?

Und jetzt alle! “Ich hab ne Zwiebel aufm Kopp, ich bin ein Döner 🎺”

Oder vielleicht lieber doch nicht, wenn ich so drüber nachdenke.

Yeah that’s not the problem we’re talking about, it’s about still being presented with these 45 years later, with memories from a time when you were a stupid little kid.

Stupid brain.

Yeah obviously, don’t you guys have Mitternachtssuppe?

Fix the stupid little things first.

Do you have a friend? Ask them if they would stick around for a few while you fix a bunch of stupid little problems you can't find the motivation to do by yourself. You'll need them only for structure, or maybe the occasional stimulus "OK, now write that email", not to do any of it.

Most people can relate. Ask them directly, don't beat around the bush.

Germany, born early seventies. Background, there was a strong "never again" sentiment after WW2 and to that end we were educated about the horrors of war from an early age. WW2 and the Third Reich was discussed in school and also very present in living memories of grandparents and their friends.

It was made very clear to us where the first nukes would drop (Germany) and who would drop them (Germans). Flexible response was explained to us, the Nato strategy of using nukes first, as well as MAD. We were given estimated times from sirens blaring to explosion. We visited a bunker, and we were imagining nuclear hellscapes and asking ourselves if one should even try to enter a bunker to try to survive. Pershing II were discussed and MIRV, which were new technologies at the time.

Sonic booms from military jets were common, we would respond to that with "Russians are coming". Not fear, but fatalism was the usual response, and a large number of young men would reject draft and opt for civilian service, wanting to do something productive during service instead of training to get pulverized in the first wave.

Then came Gorbatschow, and Reagan would still pursue his star wars programme, which left us scratching our heads.

There are many factors at play.

Survivability is much higher. A lot of the deaths are attributable to secondary opportunistic infections that are now treatable with antibiotics, which did not exist at the time. We now have a plethora of treatments that did not exist at the time, for example many people were saved from death by covid by giving extra oxygen for just a few days. That would have helped h1n1 victims too.

You two are argueing the semantics of 'well-educated', the one version meaning to have any higher education, the other to also have a well rounded, universal education. Both are valid definitions.

When I turned 50 they asked me if I planned to grow up now 😂

I got the questionnaire and an interview and the psychiatrists said, yeah that’s probably ADHD.

The real epiphany I had when I went into a group therapy setting and suddenly I was somewhere where everyone fucking understood me! That’s how I came to actually believe, yeah, it’s probably ADHD.

However the diagnosis turned out to be somewhat irrelevant, what’s relevant is to change yourself so that you can live with yourself.