Hyperreality

Obviously, there are many reasons why that's a good thing. But I do worry that it'll erode the boundary between work and free time even further. The best jobs I've ever had, were when I had a time clock.

I arrived. I clocked in. I was working.

I clocked out. I was no longer working. I didn't really think or worry about work that much.

With working from home, there's a danger you keep working for longer, or are never truly mentally 'off the clock'. The work day ends, but you're in the kitchen and remember that thing you had to do, and quickly log back in. Or the boss, who's used to calling you, calls you after hours to check something.

It's important to have a hard dilineation between work and not work. For all its downsides, the commute to and from the office offered that.

If work from home is the new normal, we need to find new ways to safeguard that dilineation, and ensure work time doesn't bleed into free time. Also, that the work space doesn't invade our personal space too much. Like a box of work documents in the kitchen that makes you slightly stressed by its sheer presence.

Oh, you're not alone. People think the choice is between national interests or Europe.

You won't agree with me on this, but in reality the choice is arguably between European interests or Chinese/foreign interests. Instead of choosing strength in unity, we're choosing to be divided and conquered.

Just look at the result of prioritizing national rather than European interests for defense. Not enough industrial capacity to support Ukraine, redundancies, limits on benefits of scale, taxpayer money disproportionately funding jobs in the US defense industry rather here in Europe, and Europe being to weak to scare off Russia from interference or perhaps even worse.

Just look at the greatest Eurosceptic parties. Inevitably they have ties to Russia or are pro-Russian.

Just look at alleged interference in the brexit referendum. The Kremlin had a good laugh about that one.

I don't expect to change your mind on this, and don't worry yours is the popular opinion. A European state won't happen. But I hope you understand why plenty of people are exasperated by this. Continued division will accelerate our decline, and rather than being able to defend our geostrategic interests, we will continue to be pushed around by superpowers. And it won't be inevitable. It will be a choice that we made.

Good thing Belgium has properly invested in its nuclear power plants, so it isn't forced to rely on plants that are now almost 50 years old, because it was blindingly obvious that it's not a good idea to rely on Russian gas. /s

Plenty of them know. But they're only able care about the next election, because if they don't, a party with simple solutions will decimate them at the ballot box. Not likely to be entirely a coincidence that pro-Russia politicians are also pro-fossil fuels, is it?

Look at the Netherlands. The Dutch government tried to do something about nitrogen. They'd waited too long, the courts got involved, so they had no choice. The result? A farmers protest party won the most seats in provincial elections, and now far right Wilders won big in the national elections. They're fans of coal and gas, not so much wind and solar. Joy!

Similar in in plenty of countries in Europe and the US.

Fun. Fun. Fun.

I remember reading Santos implied he had kompromat on some of his colleagues. I wonder if he'll release it now.

Also, whatever happened to the baby he apparently took from a colleagues office? No, I'm not joking.

This meme is innaccurate. The soldier on the right is crying because he no longer has legs.

Overall, we rate The South China Morning Post Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor the left and Mixed for factual reporting due to poor sourcing.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/south-china-morning-post/

The Devil's Calamari.

Look, I'm really not in a good place either, as I assume you gathered. It's been so long for me. At one point I found myself crying into the toilet I was cleaning for one of my night time temp jobs. Like you, I'm basically hanging on by a thread. It's been going on so long, I no longer know where depression ends and I begin or if the original me still exists.

I don't know about you, but I really shouldn't be having this discussion, so we'll leave it at that.

I'm just going to wish you luck, strength, or whatever gets you through today and tomorrow. Even if it's drowning out the noise, even if it's spite, anger or curiousity about something like the conclusion of a dumb tv show you don't even really like.

Maybe things will get better for us, even if right now we perhaps don't really believe in it anymore.