valek879

Let's celebrate Canada's mountain West too! I guess I'm not saying this is unique to the US just that it is something that is genuinely worth celebrating. That's actually the question you were asking, what is genuinely good.

There's a lot of bad to focus on. The Rocky Mountains are both gorgeous and worth protecting and the ancestral home of native people that our ancestors murdered in order to claim.

And yet, I think it's cool to actively look for good things, not as a distraction but to try to understand what we want to have more of and what makes something special. Especially with the US feeling unsafe and unstable.

Legitimately, the Mountain West. I am super biased because I grew up in Colorado but I think the Mountain West is something in America that should be truly celebrated. The small mountain towns are incredible. You get roughly 6,000-10,000 people together living in a valley and they decide they want bike paths and rec centers and decent bus service. The towns are small and walkable and there is a lot less sprawl. Property lines might be defined but people are more lax about things and walking past someone's house to get to a trail isn't a terrifying adventure in will they shoot me or not? And then the outdoor space. Everywhere I lived outside of Denver I could walk down the street and be in a National Forest in less than 10 minutes. Some places I could walk off the property and be in a national forest.

It's crazy to live in a big city now and I feel less safe riding my bike to the store despite it being 10x closer. Getting outside and walking is so much easier because there is space that isn't "owned" by anyone. It's freeing for the mind and soul.

There are problems but when I moved away a few years ago even the people on the trump train we're still community members looking to support everyone including gay people, trans people, and women. All the opinions I heard were summed up by, "Well, it's their choice, it don't affect me."

Also don't let go of your "standard drink" stuff on the side of piss. I loved that while I was there. Sure I can guess how much alcohol I've had in the last couple hours by reckoning my 3 or 4 beers had 5%, 6.5%x2, and 8% and this means I'm tipsy. But it's so much easier to understand how drunk I am when it's 1+1.5+1.5+2=6 standard drinks.

It's just a good system despite the many flaws.

My partner just told me a more interesting question and probably your intent was to ask: is Turkey in the European Union? And no, it is not however Turkey has many ties to Europe especially in defense. Much of the EU is part of NATO and many Europe adjacent countries are also party to the treaty. This includes Turkey.

Turkey is also split between Europe and Asia. Most of the country is in Asia. But the country is split in Istanbul by the Bosporus Strait. The European part of Turkey is on the North side of the strait. This gives Turkey a land border with Greece and Bulgaria.

Also, in the past, the Ottoman empire was pretty damn expensive pushing much further North and containing much of what we call Eastern Europe. Modern Czechia, Austria, Croatia, Poland, and Ukraine form the border for the lands claimed by the Ottomans.

Yes, the European part of the country is part of Europe and the rest of the country is in Asia. Source: I listened in middle school.

Then by your reckoning, they're doing pretty well. Colorado has a population of 6 million.

It needs to be in the streets but it's hard to be the first to do it. And where I love I'm not even sure who, what, or where to protest.

I grew up on Gundam Wing. It's quite the ride now that I'm older and see a lot of the politics at play. And in much the same vein I loved Gundam 00.

But Iron-Blooded Orphans might be the best/most accessible series in the franchise.

Witch from Mercury hits hard at the end of the first season which is a good thing and a staple of the franchise.

Unicorn is bright and shiny. I watched it twice and that's all I can remember.

Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket is probably the most succinct and existential series with 6 episodes and a build up to reveal how fucking horrible war is.

I dunno, you kind of just gotta jump in and get dirty. The themes vary from series to series but the main timeline, called Universal Century (UC.) is almost always focused on the human aspect.

Gundam is about space battles and politics and giant robots... Until it is about the stress and rigors of war. Not sleeping because you see the people you've killed. Overcoming the horror of losing friends, mentors, and loved ones to the fighting.

But again there are a bunch of series, each one is basically it's own self contained narrative that requires little in the way of prior knowledge. If you see something that interests you just jump in and watch it. I'm currently gearing up to watch the second Gundam Thunderbolt movie. The first one was pretty damn intense and I needed a three week cool down period.

On a more general anime note, I highly recommend the Apothecary Diaries.

Or when your kids are dying from school shooters...

Every ad adjacent to Nazi content needs to be shared far and wide. We need it to look like:

Deport all immigrants! Brought to you by Disney!

The backlash needs to be loud.

These fucking morons don't understand a thing about soft power. They're so ridiculously eager to remove the US from a place of global leadership. The next decade is going to be wild beyond anything any of us millennials have ever lived through.

Damn! That's pretty cool. Mine are definitely coins, mixed in with a bunch of coins from other countries I've been to...I just need to find the yogurt container they all live in.

I'm pretty sure I have some Kuna around somewhere