Semjeza

Post-modernism denies grand narratives and puts forward that people will deceive themselves for their own benefit.
And indeed that values and ideals are socially contracted, so what is “Good” will vary across space-time.

Not that there is no Truth.

The WHO does good work, but it’s as much a bureaucractic force as a medical one, and I think due to the desire for geopolitical clout the US cared more about the latter than the former.
Not that way that the US doesn’t also do some medical outreach with military missions as the PRC also does.
But it does make there a minor difference in kind. After all, the selfish jerk who goes around fulfilling people’s dreams just for his own selfish satisfaction of feeling like a good person still is.

More reasonable than the embargo never existing is it finishing in the 90s following the end of the Cold War. Sadly US face couldn’t allow that to happen.

We can’t be sure.

The PRC isn’t blockaded in the same way and has also invested in medicine and sends out lots of medical missions; that said, it had a bigger economy and does that less than Cuba.

And even so, it doesn’t make the blockade right - even if this is a potential silver lining.

Cuba’s medical work is amazing.

The US blockade is has been and remains a crime against humanity.

Aye, I don’t consider myself especially sensitive to such things but a world where hunting and cannibalising babies is par for the course means there’s a lot of horrific moments of very horrific things.
It is a book/series that continues to bother me/come to the front of my thoughts often enough. Albiet sometimes in fun or non-traumatic ways too.

I enjoyed them, but felt at some point in Book 3 that I didn’t care hugely about most of the characters. But then things somewhat redeemed themselves, although I think something with the climax and Wormwood, but can’t quite recall what irked me specifically. Mostly fun romp, however. Sadly did mean I recognised a necklacing in a news headline while browsing International news, however.

Which makes it easy for me to compare and contrast with the not Sci-Fi but actual grim crapsack fantasy world of Red Wolf, Black Leopard (probably racistly since they’re both African inspired stories), where I stopped reading because of how grim and horrible the world and setting was, but the picked it up again a week later because it was so compelling and I wanted to find out what happened.
The horrors and atrocities get worse in Moon Witch, Spider King, and others more cerebral, which made it easier to keep reading.

Sulphuric Acid acts on trousers and carpets. Wooden desks seem remarkably immune.

Found out after getting an actual chemical and chemistry set from a deceased relative. Parents didn’t check what was in it, just “chemistry is educational, good he’s learning”.

I was either dropping magnesium or potassium into a beaker of sulphuric acid as both of them were in the set too. And I was either a butterfingered lummox, or the act of dropping the metal into unbalanced the beaker knocked it over and the sulphuric acid cascaded onto my jeans eating through them and making my leg itchy, and bubbling the carpet into a stinky white then grey foam. I can still picture-ish that sight; and I’m normally not very visually minded, a testament to the deep impression the experience left on me.

Was much more sensible after that: just burning magnesium and chucking potassium into tub of water in the garden like you do in Chemistry class from time to time.

I usually download Eurovision, as the politics isn’t new… Just more apparent.

Maybe find a Eurovision community and ask about alternate viewing methods? I’m sure there are other ways to watch live, which if you’ve got a gathering is the way to do it.

I appreciate the choice made over X-ray fish, Xantops, and Xerus.

Going hard, and I wonder what other letters have.

Other guy did a good job on the main points, but I’ll add something I saw in a study on a kind of bird in the US:

The birds realised cigarette butts had an antibacterial effect, and made efforts to collect and use cigarette butts in their nest building for eggs and chicks.

Learning and making use of novel materials.

You’re not wrong, but I’ve also seen people calling Pluto-Charon binary dwarf planets.

But yes, the IAU tends to only pin down definitions when one is becoming unworkable - in this case the ever larger numbers of trans-Neptune objects that were potential planets.

The arbitrary cutoff size being to ensure continuity of the scientific consensus in popular awareness when I was a child isn’t a stupid rule.

Not even when a larger kuiper belt object is found.

Not even, when since mass is the primary means of estimating size until we fly a probe out there, we estimate a smaller but much with much more mass object to be larger and we debate a 10th planet yet again.

I’m only down with the “Pluto is a planet” crowd, if they rep Ceres and at least one of the others (Eris, Hamuhea, Makemake, or one of the others I forget) too.

So there’s no version of the solar system where there’s only 9 planets. It’s 11+ lads.