I still can't believe he nuked the Twitter brand. It was like the most valuable part of the platform. X is such a dumb, generic nothing name.
Prevent diseases? As if. Were such a thing possible surely people would be getting nobel prizes for it.
I do agree it's "not normal," especially in the West. It does seem to be significantly more common across Asia.
And I suspect it'll become more common across the West.
And I hate it. Cash is still king for me for whatever reason.
And just in case you think I'm BS'ing here is an actual government policy explicitly stating that stores can refuse cash payments
My friend I've been to countries where businesses don't accept cash and the currency is still considered legal tender.
Like, I've (literally) turned up at coffee shops, tried to pay in cash, only to be told "we don't accept cash, only credit card or digital payment." (the latter in my experience is often via QR codes and the system sucks because 10 second transactions become 25 second transactions)
The legal frameworks in such jurisdictions may be very different than Denmark's.
Edit: Beyond which, does Amazon accept cash? eBay? I've never heard of them doing so and don't recall ever seeing the option.
Can the USA even do that? They're global companies. As whacky as the United States is right now even attempting to do so would be immensely irrational even by Trump's standards.
I'd guess that Mastercard and Visa would shift their headquarters to somewhere like Switzerland or Singapore pretty quickly after that.
I imagine OP isn't saying that there literally is no such thing as cash in Denmark but something more nuanced like "cash is becoming rare."
No idea about Denmark's laws but there are companies (edit: I mean "countries" not companies) where cash is yes still the legal tender but payment at some businesses can only be made cashless. Denmark may have a law stating businesses must accept cash, but you can certainly have systems where cash is legal tender but some businesses will not accept it.
Damn. I know mailing actual letters has been going the way of the dinosaur and this outcome is in some ways predictable, but it's still a big shift.
This is literally from whitehouse.gov, I can't belive this is an official post from the executive branch. I feel like it needs to be shared for posterity.
There's a list of experiments. They mostly sound pretty standard, looking at the effects of various (hormone, etc.) medications on things like breast cancer, reproduction, etc. Tons and tons of medical experiments covering all sorts of different things are carried out each year. And they're a big part of why the USA has long been a leader in drug and medical research.
Edit: The full press release:
This is literally from whitehouse.gov, I can't belive this is an official post from the executive branch. I feel like it needs to be shared for posterity.
so it's not /s
And I am being serious here, it's actually bolded on the webpage.
I want to laugh. I want to cry. JFC. The world has gone insane.
for now, I plan to dig deepering into the actual claim, but the wording of the press release is... something...
A robust Europe that could be more assertive on the world stage is good for the world in the long run. I say that as an American. Best of luck to the Germans, EU as a whole, the UK, and everyone else in the region.
I agree that in general these are good times. Some groups and demographics are struggling and I do think most people are feeling varying degrees of pressure from inflation and other issues.
Of course, people in hotspots, like Ukraine, Syria, and Gaza, are having a much worse time.
What I do think is a serious risk is that a lot of groups could end up hit very hard if the economy were to go into a downturn. People suffer during every downturn, of course, but I think any downturn now could quickly grow severe and match or exceed the Great Recession.
Like I said in my original comment:
"A lot of people are struggling of course,"
The deportations are terrible now. Imagine how they'd be if the world fell into a Great Depression. I'd be legitimately worried about frequent lynchings of immigrants.
yeah it's almost counter productive because Trump is so thin-skinned and desperate to be seen as coming up with every idea. If they can convince him that it was really his idea though, it might work.
Fair. The whole world is on thin ice and things may snowball quickly. I wish the best for Europe in the months and years ahead.
Oh yeah, substantial change will require a huge overall in political and social views, I fully agree there. Right now, at best, it seems like we might get some occasional bandaids.
A huge war might indeed be one of the few catalysts to instill that change. Major environmental crises might do it too, but those events will probably unfold after too much damage has been done.
Wildfires, hurricanes, and everything else have been pretty crazy in recent years but what we're seeing now may pale compared to what we see in say thirty years.
tbh a massive influx of foodstuffs we're short on and ultimately lower consumer prices is probably better than what we're actually going to get, which is probably a future Trump tower in Moscow or some stupid BS.
sigh
Me reading the first paragraph: there's no way the USA is going to willingly let Russia...
(Remembers who's in the White House.)
Ah, yeah, so Russia is going to be in Syria as they as they want to be eh?
I mean, if you were actually capable of reasoning you would have picked up early on that I very clearly stated Europe has world-class technology and potential. As you already noted, along with European leaders and industry analysts, fragmentation is a challenge (among other challenges.)
"the US took the lead there an EU expected support to last"
The USA was clear from the get-go that EU needed to provide a lot of support and that we largely view this is a European war, because, you know, it is a European war.
It's too bad you were so focused on attacking me from the get-go because we actually probably could have had a great and insightful conversation.
I think they'll still be relevant for the foreseeable future but whereas traditional air power was once arguably the crucial element in many wars, it may not be the deciding factor in many conflicts going forward, at least if two modern militaries are facing off against each other.
Drones will be key in every war I'd think. And hypersonic missiles will probably be crucial in wars with modern militaries clashing.