I mean before the invasion Russia was building walls and moving them forward overnight to slowly take territory. It's not entirely off base about Russia.
Edit: cause some jackass is implying I'm a bot - I should have joined a union and a union would've protected me from the mass layoff in '23 but that doesn't change that while there I never thought about needing a union because it was such a nice place otherwise.
As someone who previously worked at Google - they didn't have any antiunion propaganda.
They just, like, paid well, had top tier benefits, great perks, and had a good work life balance.
Taiwan is a natural fortress as well. Even if the mainland invaded the guerilla fighting in the mountains would be a new Afghanistan for the occupying force.
All for the political victory of "we did it!"
Taiwan has few natural resources that China doesn't already have. They mostly have high tech industry... Which would be annihilated by an invasion. No way chip fabs survive: either they get bombed while softening up a landing or they get sabotaged as a spoiling action.
I honestly think that difference in opinion speaks highly of Banks as an author - the books speak to us differently and he wrote diverse enough stories that they capture each person separately.
The latest releases ChatGPT 4o costs $600/hr per instance to run based on the discussion I could find about it.
If OpenAI is running 1k of those models to service the demand (they're certainly running more since queries can take 30+ seconds) then that's 200M/yr just keeping the lights on.
Good luck yourself - Everyone's journey is different. My ADHD was crippling for decades and it worked out. I hope yours does too - but if it doesn't ever quite work out I hope you give yourself the grace and the space to be imperfect.
Every single word in the original post clarifies more than plain English. It is more specific and has better nuance than a plain translation.
That doesn't make it a useful explanation because the audience of the statement is not the in-group using the jargon.
One part of my daily job is translating "technical" into "manager". The translation always loses fidelity to the original. Jargon exists because it's useful, not because there's a deliberate attempt to keep others out. Some will then use it as a shibboleth but that does not mean it's original purpose was such.
For what it's worth: that's true of all translations. I've done real time translation from Italian into English and it's always missing the nuance of the original. I've read the divine comedy in English and Italian and the English is always missing the context and nuance.
Language is an abstract representation of concepts and never maps faithfully.
I was definitely in a similar position but at a younger age. So I'm not sure how applicable my experience is to you at 40+
For me what helped most was 3fold:
Bupropion. I can't state how much this antidepressant/ADHD combo medicine helped me chill out, function, and relax about social situations.
A major cognitive shift from "I must make friends" to "I'm totally happy alone, friends just make things better"
Learning to always assume the best. People aren't out to get me, nor do they hate me. They're generally busy, almost certainly have a small clique of friends they like to spend time with, and I'm not in that group. And that's totally fine.
It took from age 23 until 26 for me to get that all straight in my head. I spent almost a year of that pulling back from all social responsibilities and taking time to be alone and heal.
Reading through your comments here reminds me of myself before that process and I'll give you the same advice that a dear friend gave me - you need to go talk to a psychiatrist. Your mental state is unhealthy.
You don't heal a broken leg by walking on it. You shouldn't try to heal a broken mind by force of will. Medication is a modern wonder, and I'd seek it out every time in your position.
Interact with them just the same as before. they're still friendly people, they're just friendly people who didn't come to an optional social event.
How many optional social events do you say no to? Personally I will decline dozens of invites to do things every year for various reasons including: nah I don't feel like it.
It's not that I don't like the people doing the inviting: it's that I have a limited social battery, limited free time and a lot of things I want to do.
And in the meantime: become even closer with the 5 who showed.
I really expected it to say colonial for some reason