Ireland did it in 2005. I don’t remember the cost being an issue at the time. I mean obviously it cost some non trivial amount but I don’t recall any Hullabaloo about it. Wikipedia page doesn’t mention the cost.

I initially thought this was going to be an onion article, but here we are. Class.

Monero is built as a privacy first crypto. Essentially it’s like cash in many ways. You spend it in the shop and nobody knows where the cash you’re handing over came from. When you get your change at the till you know nothing about who had the cash before you that you just got handed. It’s just money.

This is all handled by a bunch of very complex cryptography. If it comes to it there are ways to prove you sent the money etc but only you have that capability to decide to share.

Perfect summary. Harris did a superb job of instantly uniting them under her banner the second it became obvious Biden was fucked. This navel gazing from Pelosi is utter nonsense.

North of 10M voters who turned out for Biden didn’t show up for Harris. She was a great candidate but the democrats message didn’t resonate after the years of inflation.

My eggs are more expensive too. So are everyone elses in the world. I just blame Putin for destabilising and the stores for blatant price gouging the second they felt they could.

I feel like Ireland is still mostly reasonable despite some recent nonsense. Elections just got called yesterday so I may eat my words in three weeks but I don’t think so. The extremists were roundly rejected in the recent European elections which was comforting.

Ah the UK and EU are inexorably intertwined. Don’t stress too much. We’re still best buds.

Europe has been fucking pumping money into Ukraine. Now we need to start pumping arms in. It is ludicrous to imagine that this hasn’t been prepared for. The only question is whether our arms production capacity will be enough or ramp up quickly enough.

Financially absolutely. We do not have the military industrial complex to replace the armaments that the US has been providing however.

I’m sure Ukraine has been preparing for this eventually but I really fear for them and the medium term consequences for us all if Putin gets his way in this war. :(

Well that’s fucking terrifying. Project 1997.

Jesus Christ that last thought hadn’t even entered my head. I can’t see Poland or the Baltics putting up with that though.

FML.

And don’t forget his impeachment over Ukraine too. He is going to fuck them hard. I really hope Europe can pick up the slack on arms production quickly.

Thanks will check then out.

If you get the chance, Sylvan Esso are incredible live. Seen them a few times now.

Shambles. :)

I’m gonna grasp at that being positive. My favourite band at a ripe old age, Sylvan Esso, are from NC.

Did you get your sausage?

I think you hold the record so far!

Edit: also fair play to you for sticking it out.

They cheat to win however they can.

From the outside looking it it does appear that way but it seems so…un-American. I’ve spent a decent bit of time over there over the course of my life (north of 6 months total, mostly up and down both coasts) and I’m genuinely very fond of the US and its people and that has given me this internal sense of what “un-American” is if that isn’t a ludicrous statement.

The whole “rig things to your advantage” thing is really mask off at this point and I’m surprised that it’s tolerated.

Huh, we’ve been to the polls a lot recently, haven’t we?

It does feel that way. Not sure if it’s foreign elections getting more coverage than they did before maybe shifting the balance in my head.

poll workers actually came out and designated someone as the last voter

I did wonder about this. That’s cool to know and seems like a fair way to run it if you’re in the line before the station closes. Thanks for the insight.

Awesome about Rosario Dawson too!

That’s an interesting one. I live in a small town (~10K). It’s a fairly middle-class suburb of Dublin and the only place I’ve ever voted (but many times). Makes me curious if it’s different in other neighbourhoods.