Always have to remind myself of this when managers ask me if something could be done. If it's easy, I naturally get a little annoyed that they're even asking. But knowing that is my job, not theirs, and it's good that they ask. There's lots of places where they assume and things go badly.
Putin supported Trump with that view. I think it's wrong to view Trump as Putin's puppet. Rather, Trump is an agent chaos, and Putin hoped to use that chaos to put Russia on a better footing.
Problem is that Russia can't do it. They've been running on the fumes of a dead superpower for over 30 years. They can't build their own fighter jets, bombers, tanks, or boats bigger than a destroyer. Not at the scale they need for such a large mass of land. They've got oil and natural gas, but everyone is finding the exits on that.
China will step right into the void left by the collapse of Pax Americana. Putin is just handing it to them and doesn't realize it.
Somehow, they actually are a good source for political news. The tech press (them and Wired) have been some of the best at covering the second Trump Admin. Possibly because it's crawling in tech bros, and the tech press already knows how to deal with them.
Doesn't work. Even a police state needs a base of support in the populace or it doesn't last long. The constant pressure of enforced conformity is too much for the system to endure.
Also, under fascism, the second string guys are chosen for loyalty first and competence second. If the central guy dies, they fight amongst themselves and nobody wins.
I only take issue with "read it". Shakespeare wrote plays. They were meant to be performed and seen, not read. "Do you bite your thumb at me?" makes a lot more sense when it's done by a good actor.
If their first introduction to Star Wars was reading the script, kids would hate that, too. Having a script can be useful for analyzing and referencing things--I do have a book of the OG Star Wars trilogy scripts--but it shouldn't be the default way we enjoy it.
Try this sometime: handcuff yourself to a tree in the park. Complain to anyone walking by that they put you in these cuffs and they need to let you out. If they don't listen, yell louder that you're being ganged up on.
Lead-acid batteries aren't great, and you do need some care to recycle them to make them like new, but it can be done. They're good enough to run a small hauler that would be useful in and around your bunker.
I think there's a kind of sunk cost fallacy at work with preppers. Many of them start with the notion that it's good to be prepared, just in case. However, being prepared for this sort of thing isn't a casual exercise. It's a whole hobby.
What if the collapse doesn't come? All that time and effort would be wasted. Better do something to make it collapse.
Electric motorcycles? Do preppers have an understanding of how gasoline absorbs water from the air and is substantially worse within a matter of months? Even with stabilizer, you get a few years out of it, tops. What are you going to use for the rest of your life?
To be fair, the writers of post-apocalyptic Hollywood movies don't understand it, either.
Maybe not on mobile keyboards? Giving the benefit of a doubt here.