Notices by simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net), page 21
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simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Thursday, 22-Sep-2022 01:03:26 JST 
simsa04
♪ Axis of Awesome, "4 Four Chord Song" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I
[Needed that right now.] -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Sep-2022 13:25:51 JST
simsa04
Orysia Lutsevych, "Experts predicted a stalemate in Ukraine, here’s why they keep getting it wrong" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/19/experts-russia-ukraine-war
« War is an expression of political culture on the battlefield. And there are stark differences between Ukrainian and Russian culture. »
[Worth reflecting on.]
#Ukraine -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Sep-2022 08:32:25 JST
simsa04
Andrei Loschak, "Nur eine Niederlage kann Russland aus dem Sumpf der Putin-Herrschaft befreien – doch die Russen dürfen ihre Zukunft kein zweites Mal verspielen" https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/ukraine-eine-niederlege-koennte-fuer-russland-eine-befreiung-sein-ld.1702485
« Die Ukrainer setzen ihr Leben aufs Spiel, um sich zu wehren, aber auch, um uns die Chance zu geben, Russland von innen zu befreien. Schaffen können wir das nur selbst. »
« Ukrainians are risking their lives to fight back, but also to give us [Russians] a chance to liberate Russia from within. We can only do it ourselves. »
[A humane and touching opinion piece that is worth your time.]
#Ukraine -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Sep-2022 06:41:27 JST
simsa04
New blog post: "How Do We Survive?" https://simsa01.wordpress.com/2022/09/19/how-do-we-survive/
How priorities change when we change the subject that is important to us. -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Sep-2022 05:48:49 JST
simsa04
My shortlist of stuff I find sensible is:
• hygiene products, esp. with the needs of women in mind, i.e., not just soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, but tampons, sanitary pads, diapers for toddlers as for the old
• cleaning agents, not just antiseptic and multipurpose cleaner, but cleaning fluid for contact lenses.
• Water can. Authority recommend storing about 20 litres per person for two weeks, but people need to take into account not just the additional water needed for drinking and cooking but for all hygiene like washing clothes, flushing the toilet, individual hygiene
• Small gadgets and games for children, books and personal memorabilia (photos on paper, not stored in your your devices) to fend of boredom
• Tools and first aid kits (and the usual list of food stuff for yourself and those around you).
The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that being able to maintain personal hygiene is most important: for self-esteem as for the ability to act compassionately and to fend of egoism. Then come stuff to pass the times of insecurity and boredom, i.e., times without a perspective.
Food, candles, money, etc., they all seem to me to come far later in the list of priorities when we think about preparation from the perspective of others instead of our own.
3/3 -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Sep-2022 05:46:02 JST
simsa04
If I start to think: What do I need to purchase and store in order to survive two weeks, what I do is look for items and food stuff that may carry me (or me and my family) over a stretch of time. I can do that, but then I fall into the first horn a) -- I turn antisocial and take part in creating an atmosphere of shortage and fear. I begin to think in terms of my survival while forgetting others and take part in creating a climate in which the law of the jungle is not far away. And if I don't want to create (or take part in creating) such a climate, I either ignore what is going around, and with that potentially dangerous situations, or refuse to think at all, by which I fall into the second horn b).
My way-out with regard to both is to ask: How do I need to prepare in order to be best capable of assisting and supporting others?
What then comes into focus is preparation and storage of stuff that not necessarily benefit me, but may prove invaluable to others.
2/3 -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Sep-2022 05:45:08 JST
simsa04
I'm thinking about how one would prepare for a partial, i.e., local, breakdown of the electricity grid. (What the yokels call a "black out", which it isn't.) I'm *not* thinking about a (nationwide) blackout in the proper sense of the word, with power plants decoupling themselves from the national grid and a nationwide shutdown of large parts of the infrastructure like utilities, sewage, electricity, banking, retail, etc. thereof. The difference: A power outage is local and can be restored in days or weeks; a blackout is a nationwide shutdown (of infrastructure) that is not fixed in days or weeks but takes years. I don't think that preparing for a blackout makes any sense.
So, how to prepare for a power takeout that may last for, say, two weeks? That is: How to get around the two follies of a) antisocial prepper behaviour, and b) succumbing to the fear and panic in face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles? The first creates egoistical attitudes; the latter may lead to paralysis of thought and action.
1/3 -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Friday, 16-Sep-2022 10:53:19 JST
simsa04
@lnxw48a1
I'm off a couple of days but keep my fingers crossed. Perhaps there is good news on Monday or Tuesday...? Enjoy your time with the grandkids as I do with my niece (3y old) and nephew (9 y old). -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Friday, 16-Sep-2022 10:50:41 JST
simsa04
I'm off a couple of days visiting family. Have a nice weekend. -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Thursday, 15-Sep-2022 11:56:22 JST
simsa04
Michael Brächer et al., "How Bad Will the German Recession Be?" https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/energy-crisis-fallout-how-bad-will-the-german-recession-be-a-9e1f479e-5fef-4e62-b5ca-2f9e87b9bbca
[A recession will hit Germany, with consequences for many sectors. Main reason is high electricity prices and high natural gas prices. With regard to electricity production, the merit-order system at the electricity exchanges that covers and coordinates various electricity generating sources, creates such high prices that German industry stops being competitive against international suppliers. At the same time, high electricity and #energy bills hurt private households which react by cutting back on consumption. Even with the 6 #nuclear power plants connected to the grid, the costs for electricity would decrease only marginally as the merit-order of electricity generating sources spreads the price of the most expensive generation (natural gas) onto all other sources (#renewables, hard and lignite coal, nuclear).
I don't understand, though, why the exchanges not simply exclude natural gas from the merit-order. It would then leave coal as second most expensive source of electricity generation (and allocate its price to natural gas).
So there are two different topics: the physical supply of electricity, and the trading of electricity. The current problems seem to be related primarily to the second topic, not the first.]
#talkingtomyselflettingyoulisten -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Thursday, 15-Sep-2022 10:45:18 JST
simsa04
seems like gunsocial.cc is gone... -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Wednesday, 14-Sep-2022 13:46:51 JST
simsa04
Robyn Dixon, "Putin, tone deaf and isolated, pursues war ‘goals’ and refuses to lose" https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/13/putin-war-ukraine-russia-retreat/
« But [political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya] added this approach [i.e., Putin bet that the West will fall apart eventually and Ukraine will give up one day, so today's problems won't matter, in Putin's vision] required Russia’s elite to blindly follow Putin’s vision of a Russian victory cementing its place as a great power in a multipolar world, without knowing how this would happen.
“This is his stake, but he can’t explain it to the elites, because it’s nonsense. You just can’t be convincing about it. This is why he doesn’t really speak about it. He doesn’t explain how he is going to win,” she said, adding there was “a growing problem” with Putin’s leadership.
“He creates too much uncertainty. He is completely unclear about where we are going, what our goals are and how we’re going to win. He has detached himself from the elites. And following Putin, without knowing where we are going, can’t last forever.” »
[Good observation on the latent instability of Putin's leadership. Reminds me of Hitler's lack of perspective (aside from simply going on) in the later years of WWII. The same "hope" that the coalition of allies would fall apart and each adversary could then be dealt with individually. And the lesson that a leading figure needs to communicate goals in order for his followers to stick with him.] -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Wednesday, 14-Sep-2022 12:31:35 JST
simsa04
But what soothes all paranoia is the sound of the steady night #rain outside my window. It's been raining for hours and with every minute I grow more grateful. Which is something I didn't notice before: Rain waters the earth, plants, and humans alike. But in humans it nourishes gratefulness. -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Wednesday, 14-Sep-2022 12:22:37 JST
simsa04
It only now occured to me plainly that I cannot arrange my books according to topics, authors, category, etc. I far more have to pay attention to the static of the floor, the directions of the load-bearing walls, etc. It Is indeed unpleasant to constantly feel insecure in your own flat because you simply don't know whether the floor is capable of carrying all the weight. #paranoia -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Sep-2022 11:45:43 JST
simsa04
Seems to me like free software is still a western white male's tinker pleasure... where nobody cares about providing good support for languages like Singhalese or Tamil. Biases and privileges abound... -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Sep-2022 07:34:52 JST
simsa04
Passing off cowardice as prudence – the main trait of the Germans. -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Sep-2022 00:03:08 JST
simsa04
The German coalition government denies solidarity with Europe. The Social Democrats refuse to deliver tanks and armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine, the Greens refuse six nuclear power plants to stay connected to the grid. And the Liberals are too power-obsessed to leave this coalition. It's a mess and it's a disgrace. -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Monday, 12-Sep-2022 11:45:49 JST
simsa04
They love keeping us glued to their whims. -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Monday, 12-Sep-2022 05:16:39 JST
simsa04
Well, you might have had the similar results plus a violent dissolution of the Soviet Union with major warfare, internal deplacements, spread of nuclear weapons, warfare between autonomous republics and suppressed minority populations. In that sense all have been very lucky. That the disintegration of the Russian Federation under Yeltsin had its own violent dynamics which in part explains the rise of Putin's mafia state (not an "authoritarian state" but a mafia organisation with the rights, tools and means of a sovereign nation at hands), is a different matter. -
simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Monday, 12-Sep-2022 04:15:48 JST
simsa04
Putin's opening of the "Moscow Sun" ferris wheel yesterday reminds me of the last days of Erich Honecker, Nicolae Ceaușescu, Saddam Hussein... in power. Acting as if everything is normal while all around them things fell apart. Putin's end may come quicker than we all imagine. And that may trigger a dangerous disintegration of the Russian Federation, with independence efforts of many republics and minorities. We may have less luck this time than 30 years ago.
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