Dr. Gonzo

For me, I think 5 cities is too much. You've got to think about the logistics of going place to place, checking in/out of hotels & you don't want to feel rushed while you're at the places you've planned to go to because you've planned to do too much. I think I agree with @nudge, I like to travel at a pretty slow pace and try to enjoy as much of every second in each new place I go to. Biggest issue with the recent trip I did in Italy is my wife wanted to do so much around the country, because she'd never been, but also a big chunk of that trip was sort of logistically out of our hands and when we went to Bari/Fasano it was way out of the way. And imo we spent too much time getting around Italy compared to just actually enjoying ourselves. It was still a great trip, don't get me wrong. I had a great time. But I would have had a better time if I didn't have to deal with the logistics of going to 4 different places in 10 days. The time in Naples and Florence felt pretty rushed tbh. And Naples is an absolute dump so that wasn't so bad - but Florence is brilliant so that was a bit shit although I think a lot of the hassle could have been easily avoided if we didn't have to deal with Tren Italia. Having said that... Italy's a lot smaller to drive around than Germany, so you'd need to consider the routes you'd be taking, the average driving time, etc... because imo, you don't want to eat up too much of your time just going place to place and you want to have more time to enjoy these cool new places you'll get to see, soak in the different culture, eat spatzl, drink tasty beers, etc. I know the "home base" idea doesn't really work out logistically for your planned trip. So I'd recommend trying to limit it to 3 big stops (you can always stop off at little towns and shit like that as you go between those big stops), if it were me. Especially if it's your first time in a country - I don't think you want to be constantly dealing with going from place to place.

I'll do it on a nicer day. Today's been pretty shit. I can't see the ocean though - I can just see in the direction of it. I definitely overestimated how good my vision is

I'd heard it was splashing down fairly close to me. And my flat faces the ocean so I thought maybe I'd be able to see it as it comes down to earth. So I stayed up pretty late to see if I could see it. Waited for hours and hours until the thing was actually in the water (also was watching it on TV). Couldn't see a fucking thing - basically didn't sleep for no good reason.

@Cicero when you had a Teso quote as your signature... do you know if he got a notification every time you posted?

I'd probably only drive between big cities and leave the car parked at the hotel (or Air BnB... but fuck Air BnBs tbh, the hidden fees + having to clean up someone's house when you're done) - you won't really need it much beyond getting from A to B and from B to C imo. Europe's not really like the US where not having a car can be a handicap in many places. Smaller towns I imagine parking wouldn't be so difficult. With that many cities (and smaller towns too)... I definitely see the convenience being a big factor in renting a car. And like you say, you'd be on your own schedule not the train schedule. Having said that, I'm sure you'd be just fine relying on trains too.

I would go with option one but I've not spent a lot of time in Germany so I dunno. I'd probably rent a car to go from city to city as driving is more fun than sitting on a train... although my friend moved to Munich for work temporarily 6 months ago and he's not driven a single time since he's moved there I think & seems quite content with that. But tbh I also tend not to rent cars when I go on trips unless it's absolutely necessary because the public transport options aren't great - with Germany, I don't think that's the case so in all honestly... But the only thing that'd make me say you might want to rent a car is seeing that many cities in just 14 days can mean dealing with shit that's not the most relaxing for your trip... and it could be worth it to rent a car to not have to deal with going to train stations and waiting around if there's late trains/strikes/shit like that.

I like how he says "Sam Bankman-Fried" needs to be investigated. He is being investigated I assume he's saying it because the guy was a big Biden donor. And that's true - he was a big Biden donor. But the part conservatives don't like to talk to was... he was also making fairly large campaign contributions to republican politicians as well. So like many other corrupt billionaires in America... he's funding both sides because that's literally how corruption works and they've got legalised corruption in the form of campaign contributions. It's a big deal... but it's not actually illegal. And the guy did actual illegal things that are probably a bigger issue. Because I doubt he cares all that much that the guy was committing fraud - which is obviously wrong... and what he's getting investigated for. And until they close the loopholes that allow for bribing politicians legally in the US, that's really all he can be investigated for (and even if they did close those loopholes, I think he'd get away with it because he'd done it before those loopholes were closed). But at the end of the day... I don't think the investigation into the FTX improperly handling money of "investors" (which let's be honest... they're not investors, if you're into crypto you're a speculator because everything about cryptos is speculative... even their ultimate usefulness) is a pressing issue for the United States at this moment. One... it's literally already happening... so that makes it a bit of a non-issue as to whether his crimes are being investigated. They are. And imo it's not even the biggest fraud issue in the US. The PPP (paycheck protection program) loans that were issued post-COVID have been a source of serious fraud using taxpayer money. This remains uninvestigated and unpunished. I think theft of taxpayer money is probably more of a pressing matter to most people... Twitter's not a big issue either. First off, the idea of "free speech" under American law has fuck all to do with private companies. And guess what... Twitter is a private company. And they're not even a journalistic or news media company, nor do they claim to be. That they "hid" certain stories is no more egregious than Facebook promoting certain right-wing bullshit. It's not ethical, but it's not illegal. And they're social media companies... so being surprised by the lack of ethics is a bit weird - they're not ethical at their core. That Elon Musk is trying to make it a massive issue in support of one political party isn't a surprise either - he's found something that the selective outrage crowd that makes up the US right-wing will be furious about, thrown the words "free speech" around to work them up, and is trying to rally his supporters into backing politicians that will... keep his taxes low and are unlikely to impose any sort of regulations on his businesses. To me, the only issue with Twitter is Twitter's now been ruined by a rich idiot that wanted it as his plaything... on the grand scale of political issues it's about as unimportant as things get tbh. All social media being used for political messaging is problematic - same with all regular news media, tbh. Yes, they should be regulated more by governments (all around the world tbh)... ... but is that as pressing as the mounting economic issues the west faces? Fuck no it's not - and there's so many issues there that need to be addressed? Is it as important as the increase in one political party having a split between those that hold western democratic values & the anti-democratic members of the party pushing extremism and authoritarian views into the mainstream? Absolutely not. Is it as important as the work these extremists have put in to roll back and continuously attack other Americans human rights? No, of course it's not. Overwhelmingly polls (and recent US elections) show that most voters view the biggest issues in America as economic issues. That shouldn't surprise anybody - the economy affects everybody.

I think he watched the last superbowl with that bag on his head On a completely unrelated note… I think my stance on Americans owning guns may have flipped entirely… due to what’s happening in Iran. There’s a fairly significant number of Americans in the religious right wing that are becoming increasingly vocally anti-democratic. In Iran there were people with guns pre-revolution and as rights were rolled back the citizens were disarmed… and I think they’d have an easier time getting their human rights back in 2022, and the ones many people actually wanted in 1979, if they weren’t the only ones with guns. I guess the counterpoint is most gun owners in the US are nut jobs with anti democratic tendencies.

Alex Jones trying to help him out and use the time for him to say “I’m not a Nazi and I don’t stand by Nazis” for him to then go ahead and say “I like Hitler” & claim he invented microphones (he didn’t, in case anyone was wondering) was actually bizarre. You could see a guy who defamed a ton of murdered young children and their parents be visibly uncomfortable to be giving a platform to a Nazi. Just absolutely bizarre.

How the fuck can you be black and also be a neo-Nazi? Also the Pride Boys guy he’s been palling around with, Fuentes… is a Mexican neo-Nazi. Bit weird to pick white supremacy as your worldview non-whites?

He’s always been a piece of shit

Farideh Moradkhani, Khamenei's niece, posted a video a few days ago urging world leaders (mostly EU, UK and India are the ones who can be trusted to cut off these ties) to cut all ties with the IRI. She's been arrested. Got nothing but respect for her tbh, she could have kept quiet about the oppression taken some of the country's wealth and fucked off to Canada or the UK like so many other family members of the leaders. Instead she's stayed in Iran and become an activist. Also I know it is a difficult thing for the EU with Russia being a bunch of cunts, but cutting off the IRI is necessary. It doesn't matter that they have lots of oil and natural gas and Europe needs it right now. Europe can not pretend it stands for human rights while maintaining any sort of relationship with the IRI. The nuclear talks don't matter at the moment either. Maximum pressure on the IRI is the only thing that matters with regard to foreign policy with Iran right now. Sever all ties. Confiscate Iranian assets funneled out of the country by the leadership. Detain, or better yet, deport their families - the way Ukraine deported Iranian students back into harms way... but this time it would be the children of the people who make the rest of the country suffer. People who might actually change Iranian leadership's mind about their oppression. And for those who are curious - here's her video:

I guess the last one, I guess I don’t check this thread enough or I’ve seen you on here and that’s why

I'm late as fuck to this but: Congrats @Lucas and also wtf @JoshBRFC literally looks like the splitting image of how I fucking pictured he would look

Boo!

There's footage I'd like to share... but I also think it might be a bit too disturbing to post on a football forum. It's pretty disturbing following this as closely as I can sat half a world away.

I see your reply but not the Moretti review

Bloodbath in Mahabad (Mahsa Amino’s hometown in Kurdistan) today. And IRGC troops going into houses kidnapping people, giving off some Nazi-esque vibes in the videos that have gone around insta. It’s basically genocide, they’re trying to blame the nationwide protests on Kurdish dissidents and separatists & cracking down on Kurds as a scapegoat.

And for this, Argentina > Brazil for eternity.

It was alright - better than the last 3 seasons of GoT for sure.

Eh he's not really progressed much since his breakout season - I think it's hard to say he's a "key" part of our present right now. He's really got a lot to do if he wants to hold down a regular place in the side.

I sort of think if you're stupid enough to place bets on football as a footballer, you should just be banned for life because you're probably too stupid to be making millions.

How many breaches was Barton? 232 sounds like an absolute shitload I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a very long ban.

232 breaches wtf