The secret source of humor isn’t joy but sorrow. - Mark Twain

The situation is dire but not serious - Viennese proverb

Life is too important to take it serious. - ome other proverb

Levity is good. It relieves tension and the fear of death - T80

Humanity has a long tradition of lightening the mood in dark situations with (sometimes inappropriate) humor. Internet memes are simply one of the newer iterations…

Republicans are probably fully on board with these new charges. I hear they have quite the obsession with former white house residents deleting stuff that pertains to the government from private systems…

Uhm. GoT isn’t exactly the first to use this expression…

Remove? No. Overcome? We’re already doing it.

Our society is far more accomodating than it has ever been. Different sexes, ethnicities, skin colors, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities and whatnot enjoy more acceptance and equality now than ever before. Something like the EU - a voluntary alliance of this size - would have been unthinkable probably just 100-200 years ago. And for all its flaws the participating nations have grown closer through it.

We still got ways to go particularly internationally and we must be ever vigilat against those that want to drag us backward but the progress is undeniable.

For the people who don’t want to squint at a weird format image:

• Communism: You have two cows. The state takes both and gives you some milk
• Fascism: You have two cows. The state takes both and sells you some milk (someone here has a very benign definition of fascism)
• Socialism: You have two cows. You give one to your neighbor who had none.
• Bureaucratism: You have two cows. The state takes both, kills one, milks the other and then throws the milk away.
• Tradition Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one to buy a bull. Your herd multiplies and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the profit.
• Venture Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother in law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option to buy one more.
• French Corporation: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want two.
• Italian Corporation: You have two cows. You don’t know where they are. You decide to have lunch
• Swiss Corporation: You have 500 cows. None of them belong to you. You just charge for storing them.
• American Corporation: You have 2 cows. You sell one and force the other to produce milk like 4 cows. You hire an independent consultant to determine why the cow died.
• Indian Company: You have 2 cows. You worship them.
• Irish Company: You have 2 cows. One of them is a horse.
• Australian Company: You have 2 cows. Business seems pretty good. You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.
• Iraqi Company. You have no cows. Noone believes you. The US bombs the crap out of you and invades your country. You still have no cows but at least you have a democracy now.
• British Company: You have 2 cows. Both are mad.
• Greek Company: You have 2 cows borrowed from French and German banks. You eath both. The banks call to collect their milk but you cannot deliver. The IMF loans you 2 cows. You eat both. The banks and the IMF call to collect their milk. You’re out getting a haircut.
• Chinese Company: You have 2 cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim full employment and max bovine productivity. You arrest the journalist who reported the real situation.

Relatively little going on so I’m still gonna go back to reddit occasionally because for example on the software development side I’ve found the reddit communities really useful and they simply don’t exist here.

Beyond this I’m determined to stick it out with lemmy. There are cute animal pics. There are memes and jokes. And a few other interests of mine are also reasonably active. It’s almost enough to satisfy my desires for “doomscrolling” without being a total time trap. So that’s nice.

Nah. I don’t see Russia as absolute evil. And there are plenty of means the west does not consider justified. Nobody I know falls into either of these categories.

I don’t want Ukraine to kill poor Russian sods but as long as Russia kills poor Ukrainian sods I think it’s only fair if they get to shoot back.

Most of us just want Russia to go home and let Ukraine be Ukraine.

It’s funny how with certain folks its always the fighting back that’s the escalation, never the original aggression…