I'm not sure the damage from vaping is even close to that of smoking, especially if you smoke a lot. Nevertheless, at some point I decided I was way too attached to it- though I only had a small vape with low nicotine and rather neutral taste as opposed to those things that produce entire cumulonimbi of cherry-flavoured vapour. At least with cigarettes I am acutely aware of the harm, constantly try to keep it in check, and to smoke I need at least to reach an open place.
Btw, one thing that helped me a lot are nicotine patches. I've used them for years and helped me reduce smoking down to ~3 cigs/ day, and even stop it for some period.
> Most urgent intervention required in the UK, IMO. We're choking to death on the cost of housing.
Every country in the Western world is. And it seriously hits our economies as well - when companies have to pay wages to match what landlords are asking of their employees, places like China with a massive oversupply of housing are far, far more competitive.
Something horrible I've noticed with a lot of AI-generated design is the size of the typeface.
There's a menu for a place in my town and it's completely illegible. They printed the same thing in three sizes, and you need a magnifying glass to see the text on the smallest two.
Accessibility matters, and is part of the job of a designer. The problem with AI tools is that by skipping the expert, you risk making some horrible mistakes.
We've been in one war or another for most of my adult life.
We are in a perilous position right now in Europe, very close to a major escalation of the Ukraine conflict. This would entail direct conflict between nuclear-armed powers.
I find it deeply troubling that no mainstream party in most European countries seems to think this is a bad idea.
Letting russians take the Crimea without any consequences in 2014 is what led the world to all of this. I dare to say, ALL of it, not just the war in Ukraine.
Letting them do even more horrible lawlessness will only lead to worse outcomes.
Hot war in Europe. We're doing incursions well into Russia. Attempts have been made on the life of Putin and Zelensky, a drone was dangerously close to a bunch of very senior Europeans the other day.
It's dangerously out of control. We should be seeking de-escalation for our own sakes. The last two major European wars destroyed empires. We're playing with fire here.
I do not want to live through, or die in WW3. I'm worried it's already started.
Europe, Ukraine and the west do want to de-escalate and end the war that Russia started, it's Putin who has repeatedly said to negotiators directly and on TV he wants to continue escalating and believes it's still possible to take over Ukraine and parts of eastern Europe.
It's hard for one side to de-escalate when the other side is an avowed irredentist attempting to rebuild the Russian Empire before they die.
To be honest, while Putin is obsessed with irredentism it's either: let him take back all the old Soviet states (which simply won't be tolerated by people there or Europe) or keep up the ongoing defence and make the cost for Russia high enough to stunt them until Putin dies either naturally or by falling out a window.
People like Trump and Elon think a deal can be done with Putin or he can be placated, or there's some sort of solution like you're waiting to hear, but all attempts to even begin negotiation fail because Putin is dead set on rebuilding the Empire. Apparently in any discussion about his war he spends hours talking about Russia's historical claims and ownership and shows old documents and books etc.
I'm sorry it seems to you like no one has come up with a good solution but it's either give Russia one or more countries (and then he'll want more...) or defend until he loses power or dies.
irredentism is a hell of a drug. Putin is fully locked in.
Regardless of Putin's obsession with Ukraine, the problem is that his clan views this war (and future wars like this) as a campaign to create a new world order where the EU and the US withdraw from supporting countries in what they consider their sphere of influence, and, ultimately, give up any ideas of affecting change inside Russia.
It's an age-old story of a crime family holding on to its mafia state.
Yeah, it's this "we continue fighting until Putin eventually dies" line of thinking which horrifies me. Is that our war strategy? That's a recipe for permanent war.
It's based on several flawed assumptions: that Putin's death will happen soon, that Putin's death will lead to a leader with a radically different and more amenable geopolitical vision.
Do understand that the popular narrative in Russia mirror's the ours exactly: "We can't just roll over and let the West have Ukraine".
I'm sorry, but "keep fighting until Putin has a heart attack" is stupid beyond belief. The only way to safely end this conflict is to freeze it. Continuation risks catastrophic escalation.
Of course it's stupid. This is a stupid war.
No one on the Ukraine or EU or western side wants to be in this war.
If you're saying defence is not an option are you suggesting we roll over give Putin back the old Soviet states? Let him do his ethnic cleansing?
Putin does NOT want to freeze this war, he honestly, truely believes he can continue to weaken the west and Ukraine until he can rebuild his empire. Go read any of his writings or interviews for the last 10 years. He's an irridentist to his bones.
This is not the Korean war where a DMZ will be agreed to.
While Putin lives he will keep the war going, keep trying to take over Ukraine entirely and the old Soviet states.
He sees the loss of the ex Soviet states to the EU as a historic mistake and catastrophe that he intends to set right via military action.
While the front might grind to a halt, there's no scenario where he would agree to end the war with just the land he's captured today.
Incorrect, there are lots of people in the West with a vested interest in keeping this war rolling. We're selling guns, doing R&D, Europe now buys its gas from America (at a higher price) instead of Russia, Zelenskyy does not need to face election.
Groups of people in the West are benefiting massively. Most Ukrainians are not. Most normal citizens of Western countries are not, we're shouldering the cost in rising cost of living, elevated military spending.
We have a hot war on our continent. I repeat, this is very fucking dangerous. WW1 was a brutal, grinding land battle with immense costs for all its European participants. It also led to WW2, which culminated in the absolute decimation of European cities and the eventual use of nuclear weapons. This is the path we're retreading.
You continue to personalise this around Putin. It is incredibly naive to think that Putin disappearing will resolve the problem. It will not.
When I started playing online chess, which was around a year before the hype came with corona, I checked out both websites chess.com and Lichess. I very quickly decided to use Lichess since it just appeared superior in all aspects and it, in my opinion, look way better.
Almost all of the people I met who play chess prefer chess.com and I just don't understand it. I just never managed to warm up with that site
She refused to attend court in the UK. After a lot of pressure she reluctantly agreed to appear via video link. She was sentenced in absence by the UK court to eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months. The UK court had no choice but to suspend her sentence as her lawyers made it clear she would never travel to the UK to serve time.
Meanwhile the Wikipedia entry makes zero mention of any attempts by the US justice system to prosecute her. There was an attempt at a civil lawsuit by the Dunn family in the US, but no sign of a criminal lawsuit.
It seems you don't understand the difference between a conviction and serving a sentence. She was convicted, but has not served any time. Your own link confirms that she was convicted.
The equivalent crime in the U.S. is "vehicular homicide" which is a state-level crime. The general sentence for that in the U.S. is usually a suspended sentence of 1 year or less, unless substance abuse or extreme negligence was involved, so she's effectively serving the same sentence here as she would in the U.S., i.e., none. (Yes, the U.S. is very lenient about this.) That's why the U.S. won't extradite her. Over here, she wouldn't have served any time for what she did, and the U.S. generally won't extradite citizens to countries where the punishment for the crime is significantly in excess of what it would be in the U.S. This usually works against the U.S., as many countries (including the U.K.) frequently won't extradite to the U.S. because our punishments are harsher.
If she ever travels to a state with an extradition treaty with the U.K. that also has a vehicular homicide equivalent, she can be extradited to the U.K. to serve actual time. The U.K. has one of the largest extradition treaty networks, so basically she's prohibited from traveling outside the U.S.
But you know, keep ranting about the laws without understanding how they work. It will serve you well in life.
I mean, putting your penis in someone who didn't agree is rape. The fact that you use threats instead of using violence doesn't really change what it is.
All my friends have moved to vapes, and they vape harder than I smoke, and I was on 20 a day before moving to roll ups.
I need to quit, but don't see vaping as viable.
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