Update for Everyone VIII: He who laughs have the last laugh

[President Johnson]

Heading off for a ten day vacation in Greece tomorrow. It won't be a traditional one as I'll be staying with my dad and stepmom's summer home. They bought a house down there last year after going into retirement. It's located about 25-30 miles south of Thessaloniki (second largest city of Greece) at the coast of the Thermaic Gulf (Aeagan Sea). I've never been at their summer destination before. I'm pretty exicted now, especially for swimming in the sea, visiting some interesting places and obviously Greek food. And of course seeing my parents again, after they went down via car back in April.

I guess I'll check in here and make a few posts from time to time as they have internet access.

Returned save back home yesterday. It was a pretty colorful experience with different activities, both city and a mountain tour as well as a lot of swimming and relaxing on the beach. Also enjoyed the time with my dad and stepmom, who will return to Germany in late August/early September. But as much as I love vacation in Greece, it's always good to be at home again. My bed is definitely more comfortable and things in Germany are generally "more organized". Especially driving in Greece is challenging as nobody seems to give a sh-t on the rules.

A few impressions:



Scene from the village of Makrygialos, where my parents bought a summer home. It's located at the Thermaic Gulf (Aeagan Sea) south of Thessaloniki.




A fish dish from a Greek restaurant




Evening scene from the city of Katerini, the next major city




Mountain village near Katerini, that can only be reached through a small road.




River near the Olymp mountain (highest in Greece). We did a small hiking tour there.




Beach scene at Katerini Beach. The tourism level is moderate; no mass tourism, but still stuff going on.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Louisiana lunch stop on the way back to Texas for the 2.5-month job assignment.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I'm in a pretty good mood today, believe it or not. My YouTube channel, under the same name as this account, just hit 50 subscribers.

Nice!
Best of luck growing your channel.

[SnowLabrador]

I'm in a pretty good mood today, believe it or not. My YouTube channel, under the same name as this account, just hit 50 subscribers.

Nice!
Best of luck growing your channel.

Thanks very much! I’m having a lot of fun.

[Mr. Smith]

I'm at a sheep museum. Just left the Witchcraft one.

Doing this while my phone charges.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I didn't want to create a new thread or bump an old one, but there's something I wanted to say.

A few weeks ago I said that I couldn't support an atheist for president. After talking with some Christian friends, I realize I was wrong in saying that. While it would be difficult for me, God works through people of all creeds. An atheist president who wants to do what's good for humanity is preferable to a devout Christian president who wants to make life harder for marginalized people.

So, I take back most everything I have said on this subject. While I'm a firm believer in the value of spiritual guidance for world leaders, irrespective of religious tradition, my way is not shared by most people in all likelihood. I am not one to judge any individual's relationship with God, whether that is a "one-sided" relationship or not. Only God knows the hearts of men and women, and it was arrogant of me to say that only people who profess (not necessarily apply) faith should be president.

I will take a moment to note that, for every post critical of atheists, there's at least a dozen posts directed at evangelical Christians. Evangelicals, like atheists, are also very diverse. If it is bigotry to say I wouldn't vote for an atheist, it is no less bigoted to say all evangelical Christians are evil. Jimmy Carter is an evangelical. William Barber is an evangelical. But the very word "evangelical" has, arguably, lost meaning over time. But there should still be consistency.

[Sir Mohamed]

Just came back from spending 2 weeks back in my childhood home of Dubai, UAE. Haven't seen my parents in person close to a year, the second longest streak in my life, only surpassed by the "peak phase" of the Covid pandemic. I actually thought I'd find some time to post here in between, but really had a busy schedule between various activities. My parents will eventually visit our home the coming October again.

That said, I'm glad to have another week off from work to relax a little before everything is fully back to business as usual.

[Crumpets]

Went on a lovely date today, have date #2 scheduled for the 20th. Definitely the high-water mark for social/romantic optimism since ~March.

[Virginiá]

Ever since Crumbl cookies opened in my area I've literally gained at least 2 lbs. I mean you can practically see the butter in the cookie after a bite.

These monsters need to be stopped.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Went on a lovely date today, have date #2 scheduled for the 20th. Definitely the high-water mark for social/romantic optimism since ~March.

Best of luck! Hopefully you find someone who suits you.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

So much for 2016 and he said Trump gonna win absolutely FL Scott in only up 4

OSR and 2016 and Redban thinks every Edays Rs gonna win the same red states NO ITS CALLED IAN AND VOTING  and 65M impoverished and CA reparations let the cat out the bag most blks are motivated to vote and 1/3rd of us are impoverished

The same gonna happen to Cruz in TX

I was at the gym working out and I didn't changey map back my battery was DEAD now I changed my map back to a nut map these aren't final maps we can change it

It's called wave insurance for a reason it's not 303 but Ds can still win them look at LA G users still have it Lean R and Wilson is competitive and same with compiled map  FL is Lean R these are the same users that had FL and NC Lean D in 20 like Xing and Sir Muhammad

Xing said in 2020 FL was Safe D and now we have a poll that has Scott only up 4

I'd the poll was off Biden down 10 in FL that means Biden isn't down 8 in NC

Woody Woodpecker laughing,,😃😃😃 and we lost FL by 20

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2635094/EXCLUSIVE-Revealed-MAFIA-helped-Ronald-Reagan-White-House-Shocking-documentary-reveals-Mob-connections-catapulted-presidency-probe-thwarted-highest-levels.html

It says right here Italian Mafia helped Ronald Reagan get into WH

Italian Mafia helped Nixon get into office because Oswald had ties to Mafia and Jack Ruby helped kill JFK a letter was found dated Oct 4,  1963 that both Ruby and Oswald were gonna kill Gov Connelly

Bingo and Ruby was found later on the corner of the book depository, after the Assassination. Ruby was a Mobster

The FBI also hid the whereabouts about Bin Laden, he was killed at Tora Bora due to Dialysis Zawawi was alive and so were his son to kill Bhutto in 2007 they neve4 killed Bin Laden sons like they did Hussein son and perhaps his son was killed on 2012

But we know the assailant was tall they killed in 2012 he has to be related to Bin laden

[Battista Minola 1616]

Today I was in Monterosso al Mare and drank a lemon squeeze, so I felt inspired to write a translation of Eugenio Montale's poem I limoni.

Listen, the poets laureate
only move among plants
with little used names: boxes privets or acanthus.
I, for me, love streets that lead on to herbaceous
ditches where in half dry
puddles boys catch
a few sparse eels:
rows that follow embankments,
descend into tufts of canes
and lead to gardens, among the lemon trees.

Better if the birds' ruckuses
fade out swallowed by the blue:
clearer one can listen to the whisper
of friendly branches in the air that almost does not move
and the senses of this smell
that is not able to take off from the ground
and a restless sweetness rains in the chest.
Here of the amused passions
by a miracle the war quiets down,
here even the poor of us are entitled to our share of wealth
and it is the scent of lemons.

See, in these silences where things
give in and seem to be close
to betraying their ultimate secret,
at times one expects
to discover a mistake of Nature,
the dead point of the world, the ring that does not hold,
the thread to be untangled that may finally put us
in the middle of a truth.
Glances search around,
the mind investigates conciliates undoes
in the scent that floods
when the day most languishes.
These are silences during which one sees
in every human shadow that leaves
some disturbed Divinity.

But the illusion lacks and brings us back to time
in the noisy cities where the blue shows up
only piecewise, up high, between the moldings.
The rain tires the earth, then; winter's boredom
thickens over the houses,
the light gets scant - bitter the soul.
When one day out of a door not fully closed
among the trees of a courtyard
we are shown the yellow of lemons;
and our heart's coldness thaws,
and in our chest pour down
their songs
the golden trumpets of sunshine.

[jamestroll]

In the fall, I will go to Spain. My first foreign country besides Peru, which I have been to many times.

I have nearly a month. I may add Portugal or Germany, but Spain is my priority.

I made a map of countries I would like to visit (green), maybe visit (yellow), and won't visit/no interest (red).

Much of the red is either due to visa requirements, lack of interest, politics to a lesser extent.



I don't have much interest in the "developed world". Anything they have, the United States likely has better to see besides history. I am more of a nature tourist anyway.

Germany is only green due to language and heritage, and even there I am kind of meh. Would rather visit a place like South Carolina if given the choice.

[Santander]

I don't have much interest in the "developed world". Anything they have, the United States likely has better to see besides history. I am more of a nature tourist anyway.

Your map does not say nature tourist at all, nor does it have any coherent logic other than liking Latin America.

The only good thing there is to see in the US is nature. Anything built by humans in the US is terrible.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The heat that we are experiencing is due to Climate change and oil drilling and cars and it's not just US it's the Global warming and Trump set us back and everywhere it feels like Los Angeles 100 everyday it's not the actual temp it's the Heat index that's why it feels so hot in HI and no one campaigns in Hawaii for Prez it's too hot

That's why Trump o should not return he is gonna deny climate change

[Crumpets]

I don't have much interest in the "developed world". Anything they have, the United States likely has better to see besides history. I am more of a nature tourist anyway.

Your map does not say nature tourist at all, nor does it have any coherent logic other than liking Latin America.

The only good thing there is to see in the US is nature. Anything built by humans in the US is terrible.

More like Latin Americans.

[Mr. Smith]

In the fall, I will go to Spain. My first foreign country besides Peru, which I have been to many times.

I have nearly a month. I may add Portugal or Germany, but Spain is my priority.

I made a map of countries I would like to visit (green), maybe visit (yellow), and won't visit/no interest (red).

Much of the red is either due to visa requirements, lack of interest, politics to a lesser extent.



I don't have much interest in the "developed world". Anything they have, the United States likely has better to see besides history. I am more of a nature tourist anyway.

Germany is only green due to language and heritage, and even there I am kind of meh. Would rather visit a place like South Carolina if given the choice.

A nature tourist skipping Iceland is madness. Pure and simple madness.  None of those green areas have ANYTHING to match this little island...except maybe Patagonia area.

I'm on my last day here, forced to return the stupidity that known as "Below 60 LAT and outside of San Francisco/Seattle Summer", I'm not ready for such things. sigh.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Day two of forklift training is in the books.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Since I won't be leaving the US until at earliest March, I decided to supplement the states map above with a countries map. There are some inaccuracies here owing to the fact that it's a pain to correct them and then re-upload to Atlas. With the exception of Canada and the US, every country on here has been added since the beginning of last September.

Terrible image decay (thanks, jpeg), but whatever. France and Kosovo barely made the cut for "Multiple Nights", as I left or got to the airport leaving those countries early in the morning of the third day. Switzerland and Germany are mostly guesses; I didn't look too closely at the route from Venice to Strasburg.

My rough plan for next year is to have work or school reasons for returning to Eastern Europe or visiting Central Asia. On the basis of interest alone I'd like to do a multi-week Ljublana to Istanbul (or vice-versa) jaunt. I may also have reasons to return to the South Caucasus. Given my funds situation I doubt I'll have much leeway any less-justifiable trips to LatAm or Vietnam.

[Santander]

Skipping Belgium, I approve, but Austria is literally the best country... (the people are definitely not)

[Statilius the Epicurean]

In the fall, I will go to Spain. My first foreign country besides Peru, which I have been to many times.

Bonk

[Mr. Smith]

Next on the list is Denmark [meaning Faroes...not mainland] methinks, depending on if the logistics  hold out again like they did this year ['cuz I don't got good teh moolah or connections like lots o' posters seem to have].

Otherwise, it's time to visit an old pal in Alaska [perhaps via Vancouver just for teh map bagging rightz!]

I want to really pull out the stops in two years, so I gotta keep things scaled down a bit.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Conserv always whine that blks shouldn't be getting reparations they pay seasons passes to see Mahomes play whom is a Liberal not Conserv that ensured George Floyd family got his 33M if Floyd got 33M we should get 30K to 5M on taxes raised on wealthy and they pay high property taxes in FL, NY, HI and CA and they do in Australia that's why if you get rich 9M everyone flocks to Hawaii Tom Brady has homes rented out in Hawaii


Why is Brooklyn rent so high because of Broadway near  Brooklyn celebrities property taxes and rich Italians live in Brooklyn

Blks don't want to live in Brooklyn they want to live in CA

These reparations aren't for us it's for our kids too, just like Kennedy clan gave their inheritance to their children all the Joe Kennedy kids are DEAD it's Joe Kennedy, Caroline, Maria and Mark Shriver and  Arnold Schwarzenegger


Gov Newsom is hurting his 28 campaign because he won't sign an Executive order on blk reparations in CA that's why Harris leading him in the polls he's constantly at 5% to her 30%

He isn't all that great he is another D version of DeSantis can win a Gov but can't win a NATL Eday but at least Harris will debate him, Trump could lose he refuses to debate DeSantis , but Trump crimes will still haunt DeSantis because Trump has an R next to his jame

Whites always had an advantage over minorities because it's called inheritance, whom own the top law firms in this country it's very hard to get a law firm job whites do and whom own saloons and restaurant Blks and Arabs, Asians and Latinos, inheritance wealth

It won't solve all our problems but it will help what do you think game shows like 100K pyramid they give a help to poor that's the only game show. Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud that gives real cash money others offer prizes

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Murkowski says she is voting for Manchin the problem is no Party's Label isn't on the ballot in all 50 states so I am not worried yet they aren't on TX, PA, OH, MI, WI and MN they can have IA but OR, CO and AZ and Manchin and Huntsman don't connect with blks like Ross Perot didnt

They just came out with Electric cars of the future, the faster we convert to Electric the less global warming we have these gas Gulgers are  creating heat and because all the fossil fuels. Trump should never be allowed in oval office he is gonna just drill for oil not convert to Electric, that's why Don Jr helped Vance win Drill for more oil was key in that Ryan race