So, there are people telling you how to ship packages to a hotel, which is fine. The issue is going to be if eBay will let you. Having packages sent to a hotel is likely going to trigger a lot of fraud warnings, especially as your account is from another country.

The Korean and Vietnam Wars were constrained by not trying to turn the Cold War hot. Also, Vietnam was as much about nation-building as it was fighting an enemy.

The invasion of Grenada met all military objectives.

The Gulf War was such a success that it changed war doctrine for those choosing to fight the USA after.

The USA intervention into Somalia fell apart as the government the USA supported collapsed.

The USA intervention into Yugoslavia got Serbia to withdrawal troops from Kosovo.

The Afghanistan War successfully toppled the previous Taliban government, the USA just couldn’t build a new government to replace the existing one.

The USA toppled Saddam Hussein rather quickly after the Iraq War; the current government is wildly different in form from the old one.

The USA successfully kidnapped the Venezuelan President.

Most of the USA’s war losses were due to attempts to nation-build. If the USA chooses not to nation-build, it can launch major military attacks to disable opponents. In those fights, the USA dominates.

Beep beep beep beep

Even during the halcyon days of CD sales in the late 90’s, there was a decent amount of filler on a lot of albums. It didn’t help that albums were the product while singles were what were advertised.

As an engineer, a lot of engineers do a lot of dumb stuff.

Part of it is that a lot of engineers don’t think through the implications of their design. Part of it is that a lot of engineers coast by on the equivalent of copying other people’s code. Part of it is that budgets for projects are so compressed that you need a high performer to get it done on budget and getting that high performer in this case isn’t always viable. Part of it is that you need someone smart enough to do the job and dumb enough to not go for a higher pay position in another field.

Yeah, that’s a lot worse than OP implied.

Yeah. My previously covered medication now has a $10 copay.

I think there are some natural monopolies where it makes sense to let them be run as monopolies with some form of government control. The energy grid is a good example, you can different suppliers providing electricity but the transmission of it should be within one company/system.

If you ask Greenlanders if they want to be independent, they generally prefer independence.

If you ask Greenlanders if they want to be independent if it means a lower quality of life, they generally prefer to stay part of Denmark.

Denmark subsidizes Greenland to the cost of over €500 million a year. To replace that subsidy, Greenland would need to self generate over €8,700 per person per year. It would also need to do so in a manner that doesn’t invite American intervention.

Alright okay?

And the first part is why a lot of content creators are on it.

At a certain point, a blog becomes more than a hobby. When that happens, a platform like Substack helps people transition the hobby to a job

Texas has to reduce the input of Thomas Jefferson as an Enlightenment philosopher because he was too woke as a slaveowner.

It seems like a descendent of the Shah is currently involved, but I imagine that the replacement government would likely be a constitutional monarchy or a revised republic.

In either case, I expect transfer of several executive powers to elected bodies including control of the military and police.

EU countries did underinvest, but the US is able to invest in multiple weapon platforms and logistics capabilities that wealthy but small countries can’t possibly afford on their own.

The Libyan War was a good example. The EU nations that wanted to intervene in the war needed the US to provide ATC duties and provide supplies after the countries’ missile reserves ran out.

There has historically been a correlation. However, this bubble doesn’t require a lot of labor so wages have been stuck.

Hell, if it weren’t for the AI bubble, it is likely that the US economy would be in recession.

Part of the problem of creating a non-American NATO is that the USA provides a ton of capabilities and logistics that other countries can’t possibly afford.

It is the reason why there has been a push to create an EU military instead.

There really isn’t a “profile” of a peace price recipient.

That said, awarding her the peace prize felt like when the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama; they were giving it for people being the opposite of others without any accomplishments.

Public performance in general can be stressful; people get stage fright all the time.

White college educated males were considered the default in a lot of early and mid 20th century experimental psychology due to the availability of test subjects and biases of people running the experiments. The definition of neurotypical behavior came from a subset of the population.

ADD and ADHD are known to hinder progression through the education system. So, the cohort of people on that part of the spectrum were underrepresented. The bounds for being normal were skewed.

Also, medical intervention is typically only looked at when the mental condition causes a reduction of quality of life. Over the past generation, the need for a formal collegiate education has become greater in developed countries due to shifts in economics. A kid which would be considered energetic and absent minded a few generations ago would have a far greater chance in being economically successful compared to now.

It feels less like “one big problem” and more like death by a thousand cuts.

A lot of sci-fi was generally written to play with a few ideas. I think it would be difficult to create a narrative around several problems with different causes and solutions.