I tried some self-help bs some years ago. Stuff about how to be happier, more positive, more confident, the best version of yourself etc. Itâs also called toxic positivity by some people and I must admit that when I forced myself into being happy, even when I wasnât, I behaved like a clown and didnât feel better.
Of course, it has nothing to do with the authors @Conrad_Melville was talking about (it was in fact just some new-age shit, far from being deep or even well thought), and maybe itâs possible to develop a better attitude towards life in a healthy way. But it probably requires time and energy that many people might not have.
I can recommend listening to this. Uploaded almost nine years ago.
I found this stuff just another boulder on the burden. Pretty lucrative for the authors, for obvious reasons (putting pressure and the fault on the person for something outside their control; one canât be happy when starving for example. But all that material pushes that we must, absolutely must find happiness everywhere and in any circumstance).
I found a much more helpful and achievable target, to be calm and accepting (work in progressâą).
I canât help my painful knee, treat it or enjoy it. I donât have to hit it with a hammer daily though, also break my elbow to feel even worse or give up on ice-cream, which requires no knee action to be eaten.
My sneaky mind also thinks that, because scam floats (ew Elon, donât taint our waters), scam is bent on making not-scam believe happiness and success are just a âtry enoughâ away. Duping everyone into accepting scamminess for effort.
This is ongoing for as long as human history. Person A is King because divine, not because they slaughtered their own siblings. We can also reach the top if we donât give up, it doesnât really require to step on someone, thatâs just a misunderstanding.
This is the root of, in my estimate, 90% of average âunhappinessâ in the world.
Life sucks, it is what it is, do what you can with what you have. It reaches its conclusion on its own anyway.
In other news
Damn clickbait, who goes into the sea with their shirt on anyway? That would have been news-worthy.
âMan goes into the sea, with his shirt on. Turns out he was multibillionaire âŠâ
By the way, Elon Musk is not a fan of solar power apparently. 
First, and most important, prepping for a collapse is a young personâs business. The old, overweight, and infirm have little chance of survival. Consequently, I no longer even think in those terms. I would prefer not to survive a collapse.
The big difference in the perspectives presented in the films, aside from culture, is that in Sweden it sounds like they are prepping primarily for invasion from Russia. In the U.S. the contingencies are much more varied, even though barely acknowledged in the film. In the catastrophic category, we have all-out or limited nuclear war, an EMP attack, a large meteor strike, and the Yellowstone hot spot blowing. As already noted, count me out.
Less horrendous, but much more likelyâindeed, the thing that most U.S preppers expectâis civil war, attacks by infiltrated cadres, or a 5th-column coup, any of which could be followed by conventional invasion. Finally, and most likely, natural or human-caused disasters could trigger serious disruptions. Many ordinary people have consequently stocked up on food, water, and medical supplies, a reasonable action in this brave new world of supply chain problems, runaway inflation, and increasing lawlessness. Just a month or two ago, Biden, in his own words, told us, âThere will be food shortages.â
Yeah let me prep for full-scale nuclear war / a Yellowstone eruption / a 10km+ asteroid.
My prep includes, and is limited to: nothing. We all die. Thatâs it. The small mammals get to try and fight for the top again.
It seems more likely that they will be part of it.
Somehow it is hard to imagine that they will sit in a bunker full of weapons and not get trigger happy and choose a side.
We are very versatile and adaptable so, chances are, that some of us will survive and rebuild and so on.
To be honest, if I had any spare money, I would have given the whole prepping thing a try. Even if you are wrong and none of that is eventually needed, it seems like a fun thing to do with all those plans and buildings and learning how to survive.
The only real worry I have on this whole prepper thing is I can see 5000 years into the future a sermon going on along the lines:
âOh ye of litle fate to teh Wholly Bok of Brad, derect dezendant of Gesus, sorvivor of the holley confalgaration, yielder of the maggic iBone and beholden of the pancake earth, harken to yor punismet acording to the 46 comandeerments!â
They are stocking food, but none of them seems to be stocking any knowledge.
I will once again link this
You beat me to posting the link.
I think of this book everytime I hear/read about preparations for disaster(s).
Many fine post-apocalypse stories exist. My favorite, indeed, my favorite SF novel of any kind, is George R. Stewartâs Earth Abides.
Have you read the one I posted, by any chance?
No, but I know of it. I hope to get to it one of these days, like many books. Mary Shellyâs The Last Man is also high on that list.
Game called Stray is out. Cat cyberpunk.
Iâve heard that âStrayâ is a bit small though ⊠I guess Iâll wait for that directorâs cat
You asked previously about forest fires. Is that a good image of our preparations?
Yes, it is the police with garden tools trying to put out the fires. There were reports that at some fronts the police was outnumbering the firefighters. 
Yeah, he said before that heâs unlikely to defend the title. That he would only play Alireza Firouzja. But Alireza Firouzja hecking bombed finishing with less than half points and notably losing 0-2 to Nepomniachtchi in Candidates*. Magnus is cranky. So now the game for title will be between Nepomniachtchi and Liren, makes sense, two best chess playing countries.
And Magnus is gonna chill. Speaking of chill. Now that Karjakin is banned from everything he can have a vacation. Apparently he went to Donbass with supply trucks. I think he even gave a simul to kids or something. Since he lived around there, must be nostalgic.
*