I eventually just gave up and started buying expensive notebooks. The cheap ones always fell apart before I finished them, so at least this way I get to the end!
Came here to say this! All the different islands with their overlapping but different cultures, talking dragons, great magic system. It's awesome. I love the nomadic tribes on their huge floating rafts, especially.
I'm very forgetful, so I guess in this scenario I have an eidetic memory. I become one of those weird guys who wins every game show due to my fantastic recall of everything I've ever read, seen or heard.
I try to make everyone adopt the duodecimal system so that we can divide shit by three without ending up with 3.3333333333. Everyone is so aggravated by my bullshit pedantry about numbers that I never pass any other reforms, the second of which was going to be to introduce IPA as the standard script for every language.
No, we understand. In fact, if anything it's easier if you say soccer! If someone with an American accent says 'football' I normally assume they mean gridiron, so sayings soccer is actually a little clearer.
Of course, in different parts of the world, 'football' might mean rugby (either union or league), Gaelic football or Aussie rules football. So, the potential for confusion is pretty wide!
Saw a group of 14 year-old boys refuse to admit that it's harder to hold a pool cue out from your body if you hold it at one end than if you hold it in the middle (simple demonstration of leverage).
I agree with your description of him, but the only thing that's relevant here is the insurrection. It's important not to muddy the waters with the other stuff!
Prior to the election, Donald Trump incited the Proud Boys specifically and other militant groups to insurrection with his 'stand back and stand by' comments. These were taken by many observers and the Proud Boys themselves as calls to seditious conspiracy. Members of the Proud Boys then planned the 6 January attack, including planting bombs around Washington DC, and were involved in the attack on the Capitol. Many have been convicted of this conspiracy, so there's no legal question as to whether it happened. I don't know if incitement to an insurrection counts as insurrection in and of itself. It might do, but I'm not a lawyer.
Having lost the election, Trump knowingly engaged in a conspiracy to undermine a free and fair election, which he knew he had lost, in order to keep himself in power. Some aspects of that conspiracy have gone to trial and defendants have been found guilty. So, there remain some legal questions as to the extent of the conspiracy, but it is quite clear that people involved broke the law in the pursuit of the conspiracy. The conspiracy constitutes an attempted insurrection in itself.
When his conspiracy failed, he then incited a violent attempt to overthrow the election (the 'fiery stuff to a rally') and allowed it to continue as people were violently attacked. This also constitutes an attempted insurrection.
Right, it's like when people try to justify colonialism. Would they be okay with their country being conquered and turned into a colony? No? Okay, so we've established colonialism is wrong. Everything after that is increasingly ludicrous special pleading. 'Oh, but country X was more economically developed, so it was okay,' is only a consistent argument if you actually go on to say '... and that's why it would be a good thing if South Korea conquered Italy.'
Normally, to be honest, it's because they want to hurt someone. Look at the Conservatives in the UK, who are desperate to repeal human rights legislation so that they can send refugees to Rwanda without right of appeal.
Note that those Conservatives still think that they have human rights. Their excuse for depriving refugees of human rights is that some of them have entered the country illegally. Yet, none of them thinks any Conservative MP should be detained arbitrarily or deported, even though they now acknowledge that they, their government and their party have broken the law in various ways. No, they want to strip rights from other people. Their argument doesn't wash.
You're probably right about the post-COVID thing of not wanting to be in enclosed spaces, actually. There was also a big increase in cycling right after the 7/7 bombings, for similarly depressing reasons.
Yes, I think the increase in WFH is likely the biggest factor. Still, the bike lanes are probably helping more people make active travel decisions and keeping them safe when they do, so it's all good!
I eventually just gave up and started buying expensive notebooks. The cheap ones always fell apart before I finished them, so at least this way I get to the end!