“Finally” our turn? I thought we were one of the first…

Reminds me of this:

“Exclusively for European countries” it’s a bit more complicated than that, technically it’s about countries that are (partially) covered by this area:

The boundaries of the European Broadcasting Area have their origin in the regions served and linked by telegraphy cables in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The European Broadcasting Area plays a part in the definition of eligibility for active membership in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and thus participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. As of February 2022, the European Broadcasting Union has 66 members from 55 countries, 31 associates from 20 countries, and 8 approved participants.

Australia is one of the associate members and got to participate for an anniversary, but for whatever reason they stuck. Morocco participated once in the 1980’s, where they placed second to last. Reasons for the lack of Arab countries are probably lack of interest, the participation of Israel and cold reception by Europeans.

I tried to google “Denguin” once and got a French village where a train derailment happened once: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denguin_rail_crash

Why not both? He then probably felt really smug about saying it to an actual former Soros associate this time.

[Scott Bessent] joined Soros Fund Management (SFM) in 1991 and was a partner there throughout the 1990s, eventually becoming head of the London office. In 1992, Bessent was a leading member of the team whose bet on the Black Wednesday collapse of the British pound garnered over $1 billion for the firm. His bet against the Japanese yen in 2013 brought additional profit.

He absolutely meant it in an antisemitic way though, there’s no other reason to use that as an insult (maybe for anticapitalist reasons I guess, but to specificy Soros specifically would be sus, also we’re talking Elon here)

Yes, often described by my mom as a German-French hybrid abomination, because she considers the two languages phonetic opposites.

The best part is the locals claiming Adolf is an imposter, because his father originally had a different last name, and so they are the “authentic Hitlers”

Oh hey, it’s Melody, or “transfem furry Scott the Woz” as I like to call her. She’s great.

If we take this graph at face value (it’s boxed in by the US party duopoly and the nost extreme young men probably weren’t interested in a poll about their beliefs) it amounts to a political divergence between the genders and young men being relatively more conservative:

Gen Z men, Deckman noted, have “reverted to the mean of men”: while they’re not necessarily more conservative that most men, they are more conservative than their millennial counterparts.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/aug/07/gen-z-voters-political-ideology-gender-gap

In the Netherlands the public broadcaster polled young men and found that one in four “agreed (partially) with Andrew Tate” and that in that group half of them agreed with his statement that women are lazy compared to men.

If you look at support for the far-right, it’s usually much higher among young men than among young women, except in France where the RN scores high among both. On average the far-right is supported by a third of young men, going by an EU poll from 2024: https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-young-people-right-wing-voters-far-right-politics-eu-elections-parliament/

The most damning study is this one, where 60% of Gen Z men believe the US has become “too soft and feminine”: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/aug/07/gen-z-voters-political-ideology-gender-gap

However, it says that this doesn’t make them exceptionally conservative, it only looks like it because young women are turning left at a high rate, creating a large political gap between the genders:

Gen Z men, Deckman noted, have “reverted to the mean of men”: while they’re not necessarily more conservative that most men, they are more conservative than their millennial counterparts.

Note: the graph only considers “liberals” and “conservatives”

It’s in the Xiong’An New Area, a city China is building from scratch to relieve pressure from Beijing. It’s intended as a hub for next-gen technology and some government offices will be moved there as well.

I wouldn’t call it a completely new capital city, but it does remind me of Sejong in South Korea, which was built as a new capital but only some offices have been moved there.

I looked up the judgement in question, here it is: https://www.echr.coe.int/w/judgment-concerning-ukraine-2

It presents a picture of the authorities in Odessa not so much covering up violence by Maidan supporters (it looks at violence in Odessa more broadly rather than just the Trade Union Building fire) out of a political agenda, if anything they likely opposed it, Odessa was a stronghold of Yanukovich’ Party of Regions after all. Rather it was them covering up their own corruption and Uvalde-level incompetence:

Moreover, the Court considered that the investigation into the events of 2 May 2014 had neither been opened promptly nor pursued within a reasonable timeframe. The authorities had caused prohibitive delays and allowed significant periods of unexplained inactivity and stagnation. For instance, although it had never been disputed that the fire service regional head had been responsible for the delayed deployment of fire engines to Kulykove Pole, no criminal investigation had been launched in respect of him for almost two years after the events. In the meantime, he had fled to the Russian Federation.

The applicants’ victims include “Maidan supporters and opponents and, possibly, simple passers-by”, which suggests that the case always viewed it through that lens as well, rather than an explicit anti-Maidan one.

They also found that: “The authorities had been no more diligent in investigating the deaths of pro-Maidan activists than investigating those of anti-Maidan activists.” The investigations were led by the local police and fire service and weren’t independent.

The court presents a picture that generally both-sides the events in Odessa. My intention isn’t to be an authority on what happened, I actively avoid news about Ukraine. I just want to give more insight in what the court judgement actually says so people can react to it.

Geo Stelar from Mega Man Star Force!! (I get to talk about him again!) He starts out depressed and insecure but ultimately he’s kind with a “strong sense of justice” and wants to help people and he eventually dares to make friends and put himself in harm’s way for others. He can even be cool or badass sometimes as Mega Man. He also likes space

I have at various times felt hopeless about socialising, studying, living on my own because of things like chronic procrastination or anxiety. Geo’s story spoke to me, he gave me hope in myself. The first game struck me on a personal level I had never experienced before and felt like the first time I felt 100 percent understood

Oh yeah, Geo is also technically the only Mega Man to kill a millionaire.

I’m planning to study either applied physics or electrical engineering and for the latter it’s about learning the trade so I can grapple these things better or fix/make my own stuff if need be. I recognise your motivation as “because I hate how shit everything is”. I do however also have personal fascination with electrical devices and like the idea of working on such stuff, I guess my attitude to technology is similar to @Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net’s.

But I also like science more broadly and physics was my best subject, so it’s very hard for me to choose. Do you perhaps have some advice?

Two days ago I watched Star Trek: First Contact where some of the clips he showed came from, what a coincidence. I went when Picard started describin space communism.

smartphone-like hand terminal

jack into

You’re describing Mega Man Battle Network down to the terminology