Think of other topics and questions than work, Americans care too much about work outside of work.

Switch your phone apps to celsius and start your brain switching ASAP.

Knowing what country or region you’re going to would help

Lisbon’s main plaza was a parking lot from the 1950s to 1997…

When I last visited Argentina Uber was using the official exchange rates which were just fantasy numbers. As soon as you match with a driver they’d message you and you’d negotiate the cash price. Then the ride in the app would be cancelled.

Uber didn’t mind because they were still getting the ~$1 or so cancel fee for basically being a messaging app.

In my junior high they had a mysterious urinal pooper. They spent months trying to catch the culprit. They even resorted to a $25 reward and a little campaign in the morning announcements. Then it turned out to be a handicap student who couldn’t bend his knees. The posters and campaign quietly disappeared without a word.

I have a friend who can smell cockroaches no joke. We always take her restaurant suggestions very seriously.

Do you ban them from museums? Textbooks? Documentaries? No because they are in an appropriate context. I would never wear or display a swastika and I feel disgusted to see one displayed by anyone with pride. Context and motive matter…

I don’t believe in these sweeping absolutes. Context and motive are important parts of any equation of what’s “acceptable”.

I get what you mean, I’m helping to add nuance to the discussion. Also a bunch of white people coming in and telling Angolans what symbols they can and can’t use to represent their triumph over colonialism and apartheid isn’t a great look either.

Yes I’m aware of the history of Angola.

You asked

Are there any countries that use the symbol that are actually nice places to live with good governments?

Angola has made a conscious decision to stick to this symbol as if transitions to a liberal democracy and stable economy. There were some efforts to change the flag recently because as you said it’s often associated with totalitarian regimes. But those efforts failed because to Angolans it symbolizes the Angolan triumph over the colonial oppression of Portugal and resistance to apartheid South African invasion.

It could change in the future, Angola is still moving towards “good government” and “nice place to live” as you said. But for now it remains their national flag.

And underwear, airplanes, driveways…

Angola

I’m doing my part!

Don’t let them off that easy. They are not victims of some KGB style program or espionage trickery. They did this to themselves. They chose this knowing full well what they were doing.

They are willing allies of Russia.

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A story from back when I worked in HR. Finance handed HR a list of teams to reduce. HR saw who had lowest performance metrics or was most recently hired and earmrked them to be fired. Then HR emailed the managers and said, ‘we want you to follow around Angela and Brian today, the first mistake they make, write it up and terminate them’. The company had laid off too many people and several states it operated in warned the company they would seek payment if too many more ex-employees filed for unemployment insurance.

Most employees skewed right politically and wouldn’t dream of fighting the company for their rightfully due unemployment benefits since they legitimately thought it was their fault, and many thought UI was socialism anyway.

After witnessing this I immediately began switching careers.

Remember folks, HR is not your friend, HR exists to protect the company from employee related lawsuits.

The same funding package gave the Bakersfield to Merced high speed project $3.1 billion so they could buy trains and start running by 2030. The San Francisco to Los Angeles project was originally supposed to cost $9 billion but it’s now estimated between $90 and $120 billion.

Brightline looks like a bargain compared to CHSR.

There is a historic neighborhood in my city with narrow stone streets, it’s got plenty of car traffic during the day. At night it’s prime nightlife, streets filled with (inebriated) pedestrians. When the entitled drivers arrogantly drive there at night honking at pedestrians, they quickly find themselves booed, flipped off, covered in empty beer cups balanced on the hood. It’s a beautiful sight to see people reclaim the streets.

Personal cars and communities are mutually exclusive. Cars make sense in places too sparsely populated to have a community, or where people don’t want to be part of a community.