As an eastern European nearing their 30s in a situation much less extreme than yours - do not fall for "patriotism". I do not mean the "go and fight for your people" type. That takes guts and mentality I do not possess.
I mean the "doing X is unpatriotic" type. Usually comes from "patriotic" formations who follow a certain narrative and work for the interests of other countries. Look for buzzwords like traditional values, us vs them, targeting a group of people as a whole, claiming to get back "what is ours" (territory lost centuries ago, not currently occupied land). Big social media presence coupled with self-produced "reports" and "news articles" (bonus points if they have their own mass media channels) are also a giveaway.
Thank you but I won't let your aggressor, through puppet parties, dictate what about my attitude and views is patriotic and what isn't.
Lately when I'm looking for tutorials, my search results are overwhelmingly weird question and answer style "articles", akin to chatgpt prompts, some of which are barely related to what I'm looking for. I'm having a hard time looking for articles written by a human. In fact oftentimes I question whether or not the article is written by a machine or a person who sucks at writing.
And what exactly makes humans superior? In a couple of hundred years we did what millenial cataclysms couldn't do. The human superiority will be in the fossil record as a microscopic toxic line. If anything we're the worst species that has ever emerged on this planet.
Snakes in many cultures are seen as the embodiment of wisdom. They also stabilize rodent populations for example and are hunted by raptors. If snakes disappear tomorrow, there goes your human superiority. See also Mao's war on sparrows and the millions starved after showing their superiority over the tiny birds.
I understand no argument would change your mind on the matters, especially on the Fediverse, but I really hope you read about this from different angles.
This person has clearly never interacted with a bird before. These dinosaurs are clearly capable of thinking, feeling, and voicing their opinions. Of course, the same applies to farm mammals. Just because we're... More resourceful doesn't mean we have to subjugate everything that's "inferior" to us. That sounds like 'ye olde "they don't need equal rights because they're just savages".
Regardless, we don't have workers from our own country willing to work in places like this. Instead we get people from Uzbekistan who spend all their life savings for a better life here only to quit on day 1 and try to go back home after witnessing the horrors of poultry farming.
Banned practices or not, factory farming, resulting from the demand to eat meat daily, is simply cruel, unsustainable, and oftentimes sadistic (to the animals AND workers)
It was fun having to go to work yesterday morning. Nothing was cleared up, no way for cars to get to my house so I had to make a trek by foot. This morning was worse because some of the snow had melted during the day yesterday and it refroze. Everything is slippery now.
One thing outside observers need to know is how incompetent the municipality services are. They knew in advance that this storm was coming. There were warnings all week. It came a day late here so they had extra time. The municipality website showed no information, just some cultural events and an article from two days ago that "the municipality is ready for the winter". At this point we have a saying for poor organisation during winter time when everyone knows it's coming in advance:
Dabbled into gardening (my partner did most of the work sadly but I'm more interested now than I was before!).
Got into birdwatching so I started exploring nature with a much more different perspective.
Set up a bird feeding station that got really popular among the birds AND the neighbours.
Learned how to crochet.
A combination of the aforementioned things somehow taught me how to manage my depression and anxiety better. I'm in a much better spot now than when I was mostly playing video games.
Lately I find myself listening to The Ocean Collective, Mors Principium est, Be'lakor, Soilwork, Between the Buried and Me. Generally more melodic and progressive stuff. Sometimes I put on metalcore which can also be a banger like Monuments (saw them live earlier this year, they were amazing), Periphery, Bleed From Within.
I know some purists would jump on my classification but it's hard for me to put labels on music these days with bands having a much more unique style, rather than fixing themselves into a specific genre.
Death metal. Death metal while birding (or more like processing footage). Death metal while cross stitching. Death metal while crocheting. It's a weird outlet that I mostly keep to myself.
I use streaming services these days but my next phone will definitely still have a 3.5mm. I'm not an audiophile but my 10€ Phillips wired earbuds audio quality would be matched by bluetooths at 5-10x of their pricetag. The wireless buds I have are only 4 imes as expensive as the wired and audio quality is worse, they often lose signal and they tend to fall out of my ear regardless of which rubber plug I use.
Discworld is my go-to these days. Goes well with cross stitching
In contrast I would never want to listen to a Terry Pratchett book while doing something else
Ah well. Sarah J. Maas was also a fun experience. It's so bad it's good. I went with A court of thorns and roses but I hear her other series follow a similar vein. It's hard to miss the important details. Look for the Graphic Audio releases.
Also meal prep for work. Healthier and saves money (5% of my net income per month in my case)