Also, a lot of people, myself included, make it a point to go to the bathroom before swimming.

And I don’t usually consume food or drinks until I am (almost) done with swimming. A four hour stretch of just recreational swimming and chilling is easy without food or drink.

Thanks for the effort post with great tips!

I would also really recommend having a physical community near you, not just online contacts.

I would even go so far as to say: join a progressive protestant church It’s not a silver bullet, but the fascists in the US are Christian Nationalists and some of them will hesitate to mistreat a Christian. And some of them will feel an obligation towards a Christian.

This is a big part of why Martin Luther King wasn’t killed earlier. The thugs in the 50s had no problem persecuting “godless heathens” in the McCarthy era, but black Christians were Christians.

And yes, they were also mistreated, but it would have been much worse if they had been atheist or communist.

Fascists divide the world very black and white. Us v. Them

Looking like them provides a survival advantage.

Not all religions claim to know everything.

Yes, the ones that do tend to be violent and oppressive, so I understand the criticism.

But many religions are more about searching truth, learning to love each other and have community. And their followers definitely tend to be modest and have a “I don’t know enough” mentality.

I agree, which is why I advocate for reform, not abolishment.

Perhaps AI companies should pay a 15% surcharge on their services and that money goes directly into the arts.

Sam Altman is a grifter, but on this topic he is right.

The reality is, that IP laws in their current form hamper innovation and technological development. Stephan Kinsella has written on this topic for the past 25 years or so and has argued to reform the system.

Here in the Netherlands, we know that it’s true. Philips became a great company because they could produce lightbulbs here, which were patented in the UK. We also had a booming margarine business, because we weren’t respecting British and French patents and that business laid the foundation for what became Unilever.

And now China is using those exact same tactics to build up their industry. And it gives them a huge competitive advantage.

A good reform would be to revert back to the way copyright and patent law were originally developed, with much shorter terms and requiring a significant fee for a one time extension.

The current terms, lobbied by Disney, are way too restrictive.

We will have to see.

Apple can charge $400 more, but if Samsung doesn’t, then they will lose market share.

And the EU is still one of the worlds three biggest markets.

So I am not really concerned.

And worst case, I switch to a Fairphone, which might not be bleeding edge, but it is still a better phone than my previous gen flagship Samsung or the flagship iPhone that came before it.

I see it as just running 2 years behind.

Also, when it comes to Russia, Ukrainian intelligence is top notch due to historical ties.

But TBH, I do think Europe needs to find a way to make peace with Russia and with the Middle-East, specifically Turkey, Egypt and Iran.

They are our direct neighbours. The cold war idea that we could have a powerful friend across an ocean, while having strained relationships with our direct neighbours just isn’t going to be a good strategy going forward.

Sure, but those are relatively small potatoes.

And if a single person does it a lot, then the tax authorities can easily examine their spending and prove that they are spending more than they are officially earning. And then they can apply punitive measures.

It is, but it’s also a very efficient and difficult to evade tax. For many EU countries the VAT revenue is equal or larger than the income tax revenue.

Most Europeans don’t mind it. You can control your spending, so VAT doesn’t hit us in inconvenient ways, like for example, taxes on cars and property.

European countries compensate poor people with good social programs. So in the end, poor people are getting more benefits than the VAT they pay.