fizzle

China is everyone's biggest trading partner.

Call us a "puppet state" if you will, but we're not as far up Trump's ass as a lot of other allies.

blatant bots posting really crappy AI images

I don't think I've noticed this ?

What would be the motive of someone creating a bot to post bad AI images?

Exactly. So many users are obsessed with how to get more users or whatever, but these are the best days of the fediverse.

If only where was a way users could alert mods and admins about suspicious accounts.

I don't think that's feasible. Imagine for-profit corporations being responsible for nuclear reactors floating around in international waters. I don't trust them with diesel certainly not nuclear.

It's easy to underestimate the maintenance requirements. Australia, UK, and US just signed a treaty to develop and produce nuclear subs. It's a big deal. It's going to take many decades and 100s of billions of dollars before UK and Aus have the capability to build and maintain nuclear subs.

Because money obviously, but not the way you seem to think.

For the last 150 years, there's been loads of the stuff more or less lying around. It doesn't require much effort to bring to a usable state, and a cup full can move you, your wife and kids, your dog, and your car to the top of that hill in the distance.

Until very, very recently that's been a pretty unbeatable deal.

Now we're just building out the infrastructure and developing the maintenance skills. We're in the midst of a transition.

Sorry bro. Not gonna happen.

Australia and NZ really have to stand together just because of the geography. Australia is critical to NZ's security. If a superior force conquers Australia, then NZ wouldn't be able to resist in isolation. Logically then it will always be in NZ's interest to stand along side Australia.

Similarly, Australia needs a bigger more powerful friend to stare down our neighbors like Indonesia and bullies like China. That friend has been the US for the last 70 odd years, and with AUKUS that alliance will be greatly strengthened.

In any conflict since the dawn of time people have wistfully hoped that their own clan or tribe or city or country could stay neutral, but the reality is that to maintain your neutrality you need to be strong enough to defend yourself without assistance.

You've missed a few critical elements.

Firstly, pets can't reason, don't understand what's happening to them, and the worst part - aren't able to minimise their own suffering. For example, I lived with a dog that had quite advanced cancer in one leg. Every time he got up he would hurt himself. The leg just couldn't support his weight but he couldn't not put it down. He had cancer in other parts of his body as well.

Secondly, lots of people are just unable to provide the high level of end of life care that an animal like that needs. Like, if you need to go to work every day, you just can't be there to carry your dog every where they need to go, and make sure they don't hurt themselves. There's no social security for pets, they haven't worked hard and saved up for their end of life care. The vast majority of pet-owners can't afford indefinite high level care.

Every day you own a pet, you are making decisions on their behalf. Yes they can't choose euthanasia themselves, and you have to make that decision as their guardian. Ask yourself, what would this creature choose to do if they could reason and if they were aware of the relevant considerations.

Obviously that's not an easy decision. I haven't had a pet for the last 15 years because I don't want to have to make this kind of decision.

God that sounds horrific. I had no idea.

In my city it would be outside the Library, which happens to be "the town square", on the main street.

Yeah, it really depends on the nature of the societal collapse.

I can imagine situations in which being able to press a gold necklace into the right palm might get you out of a tricky situation.

On the other hand it's hard to imagine a situation where a horde of gold bullion in your safe at home would be very helpful.

This. A cast iron pan just stores so much more heat than anything else. IDK the sciency chef-talk but if you like meat to look crusty and golden on the outside but tender on the inside then this is the way.

I basically just completely disregard any bullshit "seasoning" advice, and I've never had any rust or whatever. I don't scrub it with steel wool or whatever but I don't scrub anything with that. Sometimes I put a few cm of water in it and let that boil off any crusted on whatever.