I’m super thankful for men and their physical strength. 🙏

А что там, хороший обжарщик? Дешевый кофе? Я вот научился пользоваться корпоративной скидкой в личных интересах и заказываю микролоты на Тэйсти за полцены.

А похооны сколько стоят?

Звонил другу, он летал в Минск (с Сахалина, разумеется) в стоматологию. Восемь тысяч долларов в этот раз отдал. В следующий раз столько же отдаст (обещт, что на этом все). Ну и это не первый приём у него.

Думаю, у тебя поменьше будет.

— Сколько раз в день ты смотришь на цену?

— Лучше спроси сколько раз в день я НЕ смотрю на цену.

The Nuclear Option

Yes, we are in WW3. And yes, there are nukes on both sides. You might argue we are not in WW3, but there are Western troops on the ground in Ukraine and both sides know it. Just because they aren't announced, nor uniformed soldiers, doesn't mean that NATO isn't directly fighting Russia. In fact the bombing of the Nord Stream 2 was a direct NATO attack on Russia. The suggestion by France that they could put forces in Ukraine, and the leak by Germany of a plan to bomb the Crimean bridge are just the latest in a series of events making it more obvious. The silly distinction of what defines WW3 is immaterial. For quite a long time now, probably a decade, these superpowers have been fighting: in space, under the sea, on the Internet, and in proxy wars from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria to Ukraine. Let's not be pedantic about definitions.

I keep hearing people say that if Western boots are on the ground in Ukraine, then Russia could nuke us all. But that's not a reasonable response. There are hundreds of ways for either side to escalate a war without resorting to "the nuclear option". There is a reason that this phrase is colloquially used to mean the final and most extreme thing somebody can do. Russia will not jump to the final and most extreme thing they could do. They will escalate along one of the many (hundreds I say) other ways. Because neither side benefits from a nuclear strike.

So be prepared for further disruption to global shipping, including to the food supply, disruption to telecommunication, disruption to economic systems. You probably don't need a nuclear bunker. But you probably DO need to live local. Find local food supplies and local trade partners. Be prepared to use cash (yes lightning/bitcoin is nice but you might need something physical again), or amass a colleciton of something you can barter (e.g. bottles of wine). Maybe get a VHF radio. Make sure your emergency supply kit is well stocked. And with any luck you won't need any of this.

i used to own a blackview phone, 100% chinese brand... yeah i mustn't forget i've got a chinese "senior" phone coming in the post soon, as i'm deprecating my mobile to banking only duty, it's chinese make, there is that wapoo brand and a bunch of other chinese cell phone/smart phone manufacturers that have a substantial position in many countries, you especially see them in southern/eastern europe a lot

like in bulgaria, for example, there is big business in direct importing of products from china, mostly tech but a lot of more utility household things, here in portugal there is a brand "mitsai" which does a bunch of budget gear, like i had a HD monitor they made, was very cheap, and a motor-driven standing desk

they aren't dominant, in the west, but they are very visible everywhere on the margins and i imagine many of these brands are all over the place in south america and africa and asia

They won't ban apple products, an agreement will be reached somehow (in or out of court) and apple will comply.

The EU is too big a market to ignore for apple, their primary objective is to make money.

Even if they did ban apple there are plenty of other companies selling overpriced consumer hardware who are willing to bend the knee to the EU.

What do you mean?

I didn't know that, foolishly thought they are the bad guys

Apple does if they want to sell stuff in the EU. They know complaining publicly gets them nowhere in China so they don't.

If the EU was a totalitarian one party state they'd probably just shut up and comply (or work via. back channels).

China: “Remove all VPNs”

Apple: “Sure thing”

China: “…and podcast apps”

Apple: “Can do boss!”

China: “…and also hand over all iCloud data for our citizens”

Apple: “I mean why wouldn’t we? Here you go!”

EU: “Allow alternate app stores, and do it fairly”

Apple: “Ahhh hell no! This is so unfair you guys are bullies! Malware! Privacy! We have standards! Unlike you we care about our users!”

Fuck #Apple