I found the rented e-scooter experience in Paris to be a cost-effective, convenient, and quick way to get around the city. I much preferred taking one of them over the subways/bus system or taxis. I did see a lot of irresponsible riders over the years, which is partly why we are here now. My next trip will find me transitioning to e-bikes rather than returning to the old transportation options.
I have a personal story that seems to dovetail with this article.
Back in the days of the pre-Y2K "crisis" hype, I lived in Colorado and was young and more impressionable, I started developing a prepper mentality. While I was pretty sure that we'd get through that, it seemed wise to plan for the future.
So, I fell into a group of like-minded people, and joined in conversations about what would be needed to survive in a post-collapse environment. We honed our hunting skills, pre-stocked camping backpacks, and formulated plans to flee into the mountains in case things went south. We also started looking into what it would take to buy a piece of property and build out a bunker, stock it, and prepare for whatever was to come.
My enthusiasm for this individual prepper mentality diminished quite rapidly due to a single conversation. I was in a "seminar" where we were all discussing the advantages/disadvantages of prebuilt bunkers and how to disguise them on the property. During a break, when I asked one of the "consultants" what his plan was. He took me aside, looked around so that nobody would hear him and said something along the lines of: "Kid, don't waste your time with this hiding in a bunker nonsense. Me and my kids and grandkids live up in the mountains and know where a lot of these preppers have their stashes. If things go south, we're just going use our bulldozers and diggers to dig them out and take what they've stored away for us. They won't be able to outlast a group of us."
I looked at him like he was Judas, but he then said. "Don't think I'm the only one in this business who's planning to do this, we'll gladly take their money and build whatever bunker they want, but at the end of the day, if things go to hell, we'll use whatever means we have to survive, and so if that means cracking open these stashes - so be it".
Then he said "the key to survival is being part of a community you can rely on. Ideally, this is your family as they're much less likely to betray you, but a good like-minded church group could also work".
I was a bit stunned by this, but it crystalized in my mind then, that the individual "prepper" was eventually doomed to fail at some point and it was pretty useless to prepare for it.
So, yes, I now agree that the best approach to "prepare" is to work to strengthen your community.
I'm putting all my chips on the Mormons in the US to make it through for exactly this reason. Also because they keep a year of shelf stable food around.
Yep, as an individual you have to sleep. As an individual you get sick. As an individual you have massive gaps in knowledge and capability.
Any prepper that is an individual and thinks they have it made is just an egotistical disaster in the making.
A few people working together can take any prepper out simply by being patient. If the person is in a bunker then you just poison the bunker. Otherwise you just wait till they come out and pick them off one by one.
A breakthrough in human life extension technologies could help alleviate the need to have more children to perpetuate the species. It is conceivable, as indicated in some research papers, that next century humans might be able to live past 100 with a high quality of life through advanced medical interventions.
Now, of course, we face great unknowns in how things will turn out in the future. So, living past 100 might be a moot point if society has broken down.
But I don't want to live past 100 in an 80-90 year old's body. What's the point? Life extension only makes sense if we reverse aging somehow and stop it at around 25-30 years of age.
It's also worth noting that evolutionary biology tends to lag behind technology quite a bit so while reduced birth rates might be desirable for society as a whole, individuals may still have a natural urge to want to have children. Balancing that societal need with individuals desires might be a bit tricky. We're sort of on the opposite side of that fence right now with birth rates, so it's certainly possible things could just naturally align. I suspect declining birth rates right now aren't entirely due to individual desired choice, however.
As someone who's done a couple of ultramarathons, my first reaction is "That's crazy."
However, the title of the race does have "Transcendence" in there, so it seems a primary motivating factor is to see if you can put yourself into that state of transcendence for the duration.
One thing you discover once you start to look into ultras: no matter how crazy you are, there's somebody out there who's crazier.
This particular crazy is the Sri Chinmoy's whole schtick: they treat running as a form of meditation. And it turns out that it's actually possible to just keep running, as long as you don't worry about how insanely boring it is and ignore how much it hurts.
You do have to learn to distinguish between the pain which indicates actual damage being done, and how much is just your muscles saying, "Surely we have something better to do with our time." They do races like this on a track, which is even more insanely boring, and they have to switch directions every so often to even out the repetitive stress.
I know them only by reputation, but they seem harmless. Weird, but all us distance runners are weird.
The chart reflects what I've observed in the media in a visually appealing manner.
Personal datapoint: I loaded up Threads when it was announced, and then said "meh" because there wasn't enough content at the time. This post actually reminded me to take a look at it again and now I see much more content, so I'll take a second look at it to see what's there.
First - please seek some professional help immediately - you are not alone, and these feelings are common in people who've had a setback. Perhaps there's a slight chemical imbalance in your brain that needs to be reset - but only a professional can guide you there. Perhaps, all you need is some time to reflect and unwinds. Just don't make any rash decisions that have permanent consequences.
RE: startup failing.
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
- Thomas Edison
Having a startup fail is, in itself, a success. At least you tried and with the failure, you learn things that you can use with the next startup.
Don't give up. There's so much negativity in the news we're not seeing the positive sides of things. Technology is advancing quickly and we're on the verge of a new age. It'd be a shame to not see how it turns out.
I’d be curious to know what folks generally think of Photopea?
As an individual, I love it. But I only use it sporadically for surface level features. I’m not a professional that needs this kind of software on a daily basis.
How does it hold up to that? Or does it not?
