https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll6ONO-ae4o&si=dpeX-RyeLH6I1fAi

Brain plasticity is absolutely a thing, and there are exercises you can do to maintain and even regain some of your brain plasticity.

What Hamas did was horrible, a terrorist attack and atrocity for sure, but we're watching an actual genocide and half of the world is cheering it on. I feel like I'm talking crazy pills. What the fuck is wrong with people and what can we do to stop this?!?

I am by no means an expert, but what I have gathered is that it, like almost everything in combat, is incredibly complex.

With the correct support and combined arms usage tanks are an absolute devastating force on the battlefield still. Used correctly they can completely change a battle.

But they aren’t war winners by themselves, and have never been. Unsupported a single tank is exactly a big expensive target, just like a modern fighter and or a single soldier.

The idea that tanks can be wonder weapons and that they alone can turn the tide of a war has existed since WW2, but they have always had weaknesses that need to be covered by supporting elements in order to be used effectively.

How the Abrams will do in Ukraine is anyone’s guess. The Abrams has never seen combat without the might of the US’s military logistics backing it up.

All that being said, if you are in a firefight, would you rather have a tank backing you up, or not? I’d take the tank support.

Yup, my wife and I both want kids.

We’re now pretty set on adoption.

Cosplay- I am a big movie nerd, and love movie props, scifi and fantasy armor and weapons specifically, and making them is so cool to me. Beyond that I do community events (kids hospital visits, parades, star wars nights at sporting events, museums, etc) and interacting with kids who genuinely believe I’m the character I’m portraying is loads of fun, and seeing their smiles is a fantastic feeling.

Tabletop games- for war games I’m actually more into the painting aspect, it’s so relaxing and cathartic, to put on an audio book or podcast and just paint for an hour or two is a huge stress relief, and now that I’ve gotten into DnD, the creative aspect. DMing is loads of fun as well. I keep a small notebook on me at all times now to jot down ideas I have throughout the day, even if I don’t use them, it’s still nice to get the ideas out and have them available for later.

I’ve gotten into 3d printing as a result of the other two hobbies, and it isn’t particularly fun, but is an incredible tool, and so I would consider it fun because of the output. I can start with an idea, and for a few dollars and hours I can have a new prop or mini without having to put on pants or leave the house. It’s the coolest thing.

I played games before, but my first obsession was Pokemon Blue, Diablo and 2 got me stuck into RPGs, and Halo CE got me into shooters.

Chilling with hobbits sounds pretty cool.

Eat lots of good, local food, drink loads of beer, smoke tons of weed out of sweet ass churchwarden pipes.

A decent flashlight.

A streamlight stylus pro is $20, uses 2 AAA batteries, is barely bigger than a pen, and can be an absolute life saver. It produces way more light and throws it way further than your phone’s light, and I’ve been carrying the same one every day for nearly 15 years now with no signs of it failing. I use it nearly daily in my personal and professional life, you will genuinely wonder how you manages without it if you make it a habit of carrying it.

Or go nuts and get yourself a something like a surefire G2. Bigger, heavier, but more durable and incredibly bright.

Using it to determine if you get pregnant and then suddenly aren’t. So they can charge you for getting an abortion.

Two have basically nothing to do with each other.

We are still the richest nation in the world. 2.3 billion sounds like a lot, but its nothing to the us gov, it’s nothing to the defense budget alone, and it is actively wrecking the military capabilities of one of our top geopolitical rivals.

I’m not going to pretend to understand the intricacies of the Russia/Ukraine situation, but I know this is peanuts compared to what it could cost us, and we don’t even have boots on the ground. This is the deal of a century.

Be mad at the corrupt piece of shit republicans forcing you to go into crippling debt for healthcare and education, not the innocent Ukrainians fighting for their lives and democracy.

+1 on the way of kings

Great book, great series

Exactly where I am as well.

I’m not interesting/talented enough to generate content, but I’ll do my best until more interesting and talented folks start to fill this place with better content.