Hyperreality
No, CNN. Doritos does not think we want a nacho cheese flavoured booze.
The PepsiCo marketing department think lazy journalists will copy paste their press release as a light hearted little puff piece, giving one of their brands free advertising in the run up to the holiday season.
Are you sure someone hasn't already posted them on one of the torrent sites?
I remember seeing ads for a gay christmas party called HO HO HO MO.
For now it's just barking. But we'll have years of this bullshit if the Russians 'win' in Ukraine, especially if Trump wins and weakens NATO by even hinting at the US not coming to the defence of allies.
Even if Putin isn't dumb enough to actually invade the Baltics or Finland, the Russians will engage in an endless stream of provocations. Military exercises and buildups near the border, bomber runs that are aborted at the last moment, that kind of thing. The likelihood of a miscalculation or mistake will increase dramatically.
On the other hand, if the Ukrainians win, Russia will never be able to withdraw significant amounts of troops from the Ukrainian border. Ukraine is a large and highly educated country, with a battle hardened military, and with a long history of weapons making. Russia will effectively have been muzzled for the foreseeable future.
Copy paste of my comment on this story in another community:
For those wondering:
Based on revenue in 2022, that means Twitter faces a $264 million dollar fine.
The DSA isn't the real danger for twitter. That would be NetzDG. From April, 2023:
It'd be funnier if he flees to Russia only to be photographed fighting on the front lines in Ukraine. Shovel in one hand, colostomy bag in the other.
For those wondering:
Based on revenue in 2022, that means Twitter faces a $264 million dollar fine.
The DSA isn't the real danger for twitter. That would be NetzDG. From April, 2023:
He will allow the USA to become much more independent and cut off paying for other nations' wars. He will allow the USA to become much more independent and cut off paying for other nations' wars.
Kowtowing to countries like China and Russia, allowing them to win strategic victories, will make them more powerful and give them more influence on US politics. Ie. the US would become less independent.
You don't become more independent by telling countries like China that you give up.
In the case of Ukraine, they're one of the world's top exporters of grain, which is in part why food prices have been rising globally.
We don't need the rest of the world.
You do. The world has globalised. At least 40 million American jobs are directly reliant on exports. The rest of the world also produces stuff like oil. Fuel prices would skyrocket.
A lot of unprofitable stuff has also been moved overseas. It would cost money to make it in the US. Many resources are also rare in the US. Stuff like rare-earth elements. Good luck importing from countries which have signed deals with China, because they're the new super power. Combined with de-dollarisation this would also cause massive issues, rampant inflation for example. You think it's bad now? You ain't seen nothing yet.
Our military can stomp out any invaders.
No one needs to invade the US. It's cheaper to simply buy a candidate or blackmail him. This allows countries like China to push through legislation which favours their business and strategic interests. Eg. dropping support for Ukraine or dropping support of Taiwan so that China can take control of advance chip industries.
In the long term, the US would find it hard to sustain a huge military budget when facing economic turmoil and a debt crisis. Especially in relative terms. China has a population of 1.4 billion. If the US withdraws from the Asia-Pacific and Europe, they're likely to become part of the Chinese sphere of influence. A country of 300 million, will inevitably be pushed around by a power bloc of 3 billion.
Of course, none of this will convince a Trump supporter, because most base their support on emotions not reason. And once they find they can't afford to fill up on gas, or groceries, they'll blame anyone but themselves.
The iPod was released in 2001. Back then it was mac only. Creative offered MP3 players with more storage earlier.
The real innovation was pairing it with itunes, allowing you to be able to organise your music collection, convert cds, etc. That and the itunes store a few years later.
The form factor was different though. Large storage, truly portable.