Countries need good marketing, nowadays. All of our attention is spread so thin, that you have to actively compete, advertise, and build trust, to get the world to care about what you care about. I think the USA thought it became so rich and powerful because it was so wonderful, but it became so rich and powerful because _we thought_ it was so wonderful. Now, we think it kinda sucks. We want our money back, we stay away, and we avoid buying their stuff. What changed? Their marketing changed. Rather than being inspirational and aspirational, it's creepy gazillionaires led by Old Man Yells at Cloud. (But not at The Cloud, just a literal cloud.) Other countries just seem cooler or more deserving, or have charming and charismatic leaders, so our money is being redirected to there. **The global economy is an attention economy.**

I'm so envious of people with an e-bike 🚴‍♀ . Any halfway-robust one puts me back nearly €2000, tho.

I feel mildly distrustful of women who wear a lot of makeup. If they aren't being recorded for a video or on a stage under bright lights, or something, I mean. Theater makeup is a thing, but it's just weird to walk around like that all day.

Stop kneading your bread.

Far-right and far-left logic be like: > Stephen cheered when John was fired. > We do not like Stephen. > John should not have been fired. This is a logical argument the Germans call _Beifall von der falschen Seite._ Where you judge everything based upon what some third party thinks about it or how they respond to it, rather than examining the situation from your own standpoint. This is why extremists are rightly seen as unfit for government. Their minds are completely addled by tribalism, so that they cannot think clearly about anything at all. Dumb ideas that come from "The Good People" are considered Good Ideas. Smart ideas that come from "The Bad People" are considered Bad Ideas. They never entertain the option that even a broken clock shows the correct time, twice per day.