As a wannabe author, I could only be so lucky to get my work “pirated”. Free publicity.

Nice nick name.

That is a fair criticism. I respect it.

I’m not subtracting my own empathy towards those people by choosing to denounce their aggressors through harsh words. I’m throwing vitriole towards their aggressors.

It got a reaction out of you because if the way it is phrased, didn’t it? That was the objective.

Sadly enough, those who triggered this disaster think in these same terms. And look where it has led.

No mandatory service of any kind, full stop.

If there is something that needs to be widely known by the population, you make it part of the daily life, introduce it at school curriculum, run low profile campaigns that steadily grow awareness and make access to developing such knowledge/skills easy to all.

I can think of the example of learning how to use a defibrilator, which has become a standard for any person graduating highschool in my country. Stupidly enough, if I want to learn that exact same skill, today, I have to pay a hefty sum, in a country where lack of preparation to give immediate aid to someone in need has been identified as a serious problem.

It wasn’t that many years ago that a think tank proposed the reinstatement of conscription as a means to reestablish and ingrain notions of patriotism, sense of duty and honor into its population. This was the general sense of the “findings” of such work group.

This is extremely dangerous reasoning to have to argue in favor of military service enforced on a population. To call it badly veilled fascism is being polite.

Basic trainning takes little time. Handling a gun is easy; it’s a very complex machine made simple enough to be handled by a dunce. It also takes very little time to drum in basic notions of rank and role.

Specialization can only take place after that basic training, which serves the purpose to caracterize the individual inside the group, their capabilities and motivation.

If an individual volunteers, usually the motivation is already high. A conscript, not very much.

A country belongs to its people. The notion is too often reversed, which leads to very bad outcomes.

My country had mandatory military service - let’s call what it was - conscription, up to 2004/06 and it only served to fill the heads of young boys with dung.

Volunteer, professional, well trained, well equiped, armed and prepared effectives are the backbone of what modern armed forces are, not quickly churned out cannon fodder.

I smell a very convenient scape goat to have another war declared in a very near future.

No, no and hell no.

It is sickening the notion of forcing someone, anyone, into bearing arms. It serves no purpose besides indoctrinating young minds into a set of ideas that serves no other purpose besides an opaque agenda of whatever government is in power.

If/when push comes to shove and europeans find themselves in true risk of being invaded by any foreign figure, there will be willing people to move to take on the task of defending their soil.

It’s a good number of decades europeans haven’t picked up weapons to kill each other. It’s not like Europe forgot how it is done.

By eliminating the next generation(s) and the females in fertile age, it is more effective at wiping out a population than engaging directly with it.

This is valid for getting rid of vermin, capable of explosive breeding.

No need to guess what the results will be when applied to human beings.

Somehow, I really don’t think this will be the time China will bankrupt.

They accomplish that and the already diminutive presence they have in the world will shrink even more.

Some good humored banter never hurt anybody.

That is the sole thing I draw the line. Scynical as it may sound, ink on skin, no. It feels as an ownership brand that can never be taken off or thrown away.

I personally dislike the notion of being permanent on another life. Either because things don’t work, people grow apart or someone simply dies, from misfortune, sickness or old age, nobody should be tied to another, in any way. Life should go on. Must.

And I’m happily and for a long time monogamous.

What I wanted to convey is, if the mesh is fine enough, the pattern can get marked on the skin, leaving an elegant but discreet - shall we call it - love brand behind.

If you’re going to cheat, at least be bold enough about it and keep the wedding band on.

Use metal and artistic value, like this.

And if the pattern is open enough, sun ligh will leave the mark on the skin. It’s one very discreet way to keep the “mark” of who we love, skin deep.

I’ve seen a Makita eletric brush cutter with an adapter to plug straight into a standard outlet. The person who bought the machine told me it was more expensive than a battery pack but at least it made the machine usable for longer periods of time when energy is available.

Aliens took them, obviously. What else? What other logical, rational, simple explanation could there be?

Thank you.

But… Why do you assume I have instant knowledge of acronyms because I opted to insert a comment on a topic that teased my interest? Does it pressuposes anything about my person?

Good morning.

Let’s call that example the canary in the mine but I’m seeing many similar situations where I live.

Being in a less than urban area, there is still a bit of industry around and some factories are cutting staff and a few have already shut down operations, especially in sectors more closely related with end user products (clothing, footwear, yarn, etc). Industries with ties to industrial use (metal working, construction materials, wood and derivates) are keeping afloat but only replacing workers that go into retirement or that for some reason or another just quit, and these industries, in my understanding, are keeping afloat because of the hard push into more sustainable and efficient houses, which is forcing a good deal of public investment into large renovation projects and funds.

Parallel to this, bakeries, coffee shops, small businesses that rely on consumption, are shutting down. For me, this implies there is less money floating around.

Paired with the hike in housing…

You are going to have to unfold all of those acronyms before we can move forward with this conversation.

I don’t have the palest of ideas of what you are trying to convey.