hootener

Alabamaian here. We’re mostly all pissed at this clown. Alabama was a front runner to get the space Force command from Colorado. Recently the Biden administration elected to keep it in Colorado. The local scuttlebutt was this move was at least partially retaliation for Tuberville’s nonsense.This angered a lot of big money interests in Alabama, especially in Huntsville, which is a city built off the back of the military industrial complex.

Tuberville fucked around and will likely find out on this one. My guess is big money interests will at least attempt to primary him with a more … coachable… republican candidate.

The greed is baked into capitalism, though, because it’s fundamentally baked into humanity. This is what happens with the unregulated pursuit self interest, and that’s what capitalism encourages.

Because markets inherently aren’t “free”. Real competition is an illusion because capitalism doesn’t account for all the non-capitalist levers (e.g regulatory capture, cronyism, collusion, political lobbying, etc) that businesses will pull to serve their own interests.

Capitalism is an incredibly naive approach to economics because its ability to account for human behavior – the fundamental driver of economic systems – is rudimentary at best. And that’s just one of its problems, really.

My advice is just pick a broad direction and try to optimize for not limiting your options.

When I was 18 I liked math and science so I went to school for engineering. Did I want to be an engineer? I had no idea at the time. But I figured the first couple years were mostly math and science courses anyway so if something else caught my attention (computer science, chemistry, etc) I could narrow my focus when the time came.

If you don’t plan to go to college, that’s cool too. My advice in that case would still be not to limit yourself. Pick something in your broad interest area that challenges you and has a clear path of advancement (certifications, etc). If you don’t like it after a few years find something else. Just make sure with whatever you pick the growth path is pretty clear and at least somewhat in your control.

There’s a lot of advice here to work for money and that it’s a fool’s errand to “follow your dreams”. This is the same advice I got twenty years ago when I was 18. I followed it. That path led to money but I’m not sure it precisely led to a life of fulfillment or contentment. I often wish I’d spent more of my early twenties taking more risks and chasing more dreams. You’re only young once, and age accumulates life baggage (e.g., bills , mortgage , life partner, maybe kids) that discourages risk taking. Don’t forget to take a risk every now and then, you might end up surprising yourself.

This is going to sound snobby, but until you’ve played metal gear I don’t think you’ve experienced the pinnacle of stealth. That series basically defined (access arguably perfected) the third person stealth action genre.

If you don’t want to play them all, I highly recommend metal gear solid 3 and V. But the “demo” ground zeroes game is a great way to get a feel for the series in a more contained experience

Runner ups in my mind that others mentioned:

• Splinter cell
• Thief
• Deus ex (you can choose stealth in this game but it isn’t specifically a stealth game imo)
• Dishonored (superb)
• Prey (essentially dishonored meets system shock)

You gotta go grab some metal gear, though. Oh how I wish I could experience those games for the first time again.

Portugal also has a pretty great “digital nomad” visa program. At least they did the last time I checked. Worth checking out if you’re s remote worker with aspirations of staying in the eu long term.

I think Cool People who did Cool Stuff is pretty leftist/anarchist.