Me waking up to the news of the shitstorm unleashed in the Gulf region. Again.
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I havenât even waded into that territory here. But yeah, things have gone from bad to worse over here. The Orange Demon seems to want to hasten the rapture for his evangelical friends.
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Bruce Sterling fans, he and colleague Jon Lebkowsky are (starting today) doing their annual âState of the Worldâ conversation on The WELL. It is open to the public to read, no registration required unless you want to comment.
I highly recommend at least reading Sterlingâs remarks as they go along for the upcoming several days.
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Here is a sample from Bruce:
"Barcelona hates the twenty-teens digital vanguard just as much
as San Francisco does. Any allure that globalized network-culture
once held is just over; itâs well past the âNew Darkâ and the
disbelieving malaise, and advanced into a subdued riot feeling.
Anything that American technology tries to pull in Europe has
Trumpâs face stamped on it. Everyone just assumes itâs a lie, a
fraud, a subterfuge and a grift, and theyâre gonna get rooked, if
not murdered by drones. So far, in response, they can riot or
strike â in France, for over a year now â but they canât
accomplish anything administratively, because the entire political
class and the oligarchs have all bought into it.
This is not exactly fascist oppression, but itâs gone well
beyond mere discontent. Itâs an advancing cultural sensibility,
like âNew Dark 1.2,â where everybody knows the lights have been
turned out, but nobody thinks theyâre gonna come back on, because
the guys at the fossil power plant want to make Darkness the
standard."
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Meanwhile, it is difficult for me as an American these days, to not worry about whether our President is taking us into yet another big war. It sure looks like this is what he is doing, especially since it creates a nice distraction from his domestic problems such as getting impeached for another aspect of his idiotic and dangerous foreign policy misadventures. I knew Trump would be an unprecedented disaster, but it wasnât clear how it would play out. Now we know. The man, if you can call him that, will stop at nothing to save his own skin. And his minions in the GOP are at this point at the level of the Vichy Government in France.
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Can only reply as I just Tweeted:
The end of USA global hegemony. Some rejoice without idea of what comes next. The global end of Enlightenment concept of Democracy. Ironically, also end of Capitalism, hastened by tariffs & anti-immigration & political instability. So it goes. Best work on bucket list. Love you.
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I get worked up about this stuff sometimesâŚhard not to when the biggest military in the world is controlled by a maniac.
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I see the harvest of kids gloves will be great this year at the local sliding hill.
#snowharvest.
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I hope to go and visit belgium, but no concrete plans yet 
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I read it. Very Bruce
This week I move my 94 yr old mother from the rehab place where she is nursing a crack in her pelvis, to a new home with a higher level of care than the place she was in before. Modeling good behaviorâŚI hope.
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Blivande is now among the few durian positive office spacesâŚespecially in europe ;). We just had a very nice shared lunch with studio TAU and BETA members. Was great
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Durian??? omg they donât even allow KL restaurants to serve that stuff. I hope you put up a warning sign whenever it is served 
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I have never tried it. Smells bad but tastes good, right?
Never got within 10 m range
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weâll be in Leuven the weekend of Jan 25-26
Itâs actually very nice. Everyone in the office enjoyed it quite a bit as a experience and as a taste, and regarding the smellâŚthe land of surstromming seems to be able to stand it.
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uff, Ill be stockholm then 
yeah um about thatâŚ