

Seems like anyone attached to this administration would just vacation in lovely Russia. I have to think they would get at least a very good discount!
Seems like anyone attached to this administration would just vacation in lovely Russia. I have to think they would get at least a very good discount!
I feel like he’s in a better position than people give him credit for. Europe is behind him, and Trump wants to have his cake (besties with Putin) and eat it (NATO). If he rejects Trump’s bullying in the negotiations, it forces Trump to decide. If he sides with Putin, that’s pretty much it for NATO, US-Euro relations. Possibly the UN, as well. The US loses A LOT in the way of economic, intelligence, and strategic cooperation all to become a VERY weakened dictatorship’s new best friend. I’m mean, of course that’s what Trump will do because “4d chess,” and “art of the deal,” and whatever.
It all kind of depends on Europe. They kind of want the best of both worlds too (back Ukraine and not lose the US as an ally). Which is more important to them? Germany’s new chancellor offered a hopeful signal after winning the election, and I have a feeling Macron and Starmer won’t ditch Ukraine, but we’ll see if that sentiment holds when shit gets real.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the effort to make joining Lemmy easier has some downsides. One of the nicest things about these communities is how easy it is to have good conversations with internet strangers. I’ve grown to appreciate and hope for Lemmy not trying to be a Reddit replacement. In fact, I’m totally fine with “the masses” staying in Spez’s data harvesting machine. If, one day, Lemmy gets as popular as Reddit, I think it will inevitably have many of the same problems. It just theoretically won’t be selling your data for profit (one hopes, anyway). My wife isn’t super-techy, and I explained the concept of Lemmy to my wife in about 10 minutes. She set up an account in about 5.
To me, it’s not that using or joining Lemmy is hard. It’s that a lot of people have come to loathe change. They’re told that Lemmy is “like Reddit,” so why leave Reddit, all their accumulated Internet points, and their familiar communities/echo chambers? Pretty much all of them also use other data-harvesting social media sites, so they mostly don’t care about that aspect. When I tell my friends about Lemmy I talk about how the size of the communities is really conducive to good conversations from wide enough ranges of opinions and experiences, compared to Reddit’s too much of everything including trolls.
Adding that all the older Stephen King books are worth the read. 11.23.63 was the last one I read, and I really enjoyed it.
If you’re into science fiction, check out the Wool/Shift/Dust trilogy by Hugh Howey. I also enjoyed the Lattice trilogy by Erik Hanberg. You’ve probably already seen some movies based on Robert Heinlein books. GS Jensen also has a bunch of fun series. Finally, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is what got me into sci-fi as a wee one.
Alternatively, head over to a book community, or the books community on BlueSky is pretty active. Tell them some things you really like and ask for suggestions. If you liked a movie or TV show based on a book, there’s a very good chance the book was a bit different and considerably more in depth.
Is that gigabit up and down? What would fibre cost? Just curious as I feel like I get a decent deal (in US terms).