Sampson

Damnit. Saw most of the categories but wasted too many guesses on Rex herrings Connections Puzzle #1043 🟦🟩🟦🟦 🟩🟦🟦🟪 🟪🟦🟩🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟩🟩🟩

Switch it off, ignore the sunk cost fallacy of already paying got your ticket. Go out a meal with your parents or your partner or children, or have a drink or play pool or darts or some board or card games with friends, or go swimming or out on a run or to the gym on your own, go to the library and read a good book, go to a museum or art gallery, Don’t give any money to the club, don’t follow the score, just check the result at 10 o’clock and the inevitable defeat. You’ll have a much better evening. Life is too short to subject yourself to this rubbish

I think the summer of 2021 after the FA Cup win was a big one. We had big signs before that after bottling the CL, but we still had a good spending summer where we spent enough that we easily should’ve bought some good players in to revitalise us with that money. Instead we had the worst transfer window in our history and spent £70mil on Patson Daka, Jannik Vestegaard, Soumare Ryan Bertrand and decided we didn’t need to replace Schmeichel because Danny Ward (who we’d spent a further £12mil on a year or two before) was good enough. I mean £82mil for 5 players I’m not convinced are even good enough for League One.

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Got a perfect in reverse order from purple to yellow today. I think this is my best result Connections Puzzle #1042 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨

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Connections Puzzle #1041 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪

Yeah, but conversely, David Cameron was probably the most economically right-wing and least socialist PM the country has ever had (or at least post-WW2), even over Thatcher, with his brutal period of austerity and cuts to public spending. And I think generally at least in Europe we mean economically when talking about right and left. It’s the Americanisation of politics that has meant social policy has started to creep into what people mean by what’s left of right over the last 15 years or so (I always think the massive amount of coverage Sarah Palin and her views got was the beginning of the Americanisation of European politics). To give splinterdream the benefit of the doubt, which his posts probably don’t warrant, I think he’s mixing up social policy and economic policy there by saying the Tories went to the left and bemoaning socialism - socially, if you’re using an American definition of right and left, sure, they had more liberal social policy, but that Tory government between 2010-2024 was the most economically right-wing post-WW2 government the uk has had. I mean saying they moved the Tories to the left economically compared to someone like Ted Heath who was significantly to the left of Blair, Brown or Starmer (and even moreso than Cameron, May, Johnson or Sunak) economically obviously doesn’t track.

Been trying to cut down on online activities in the past few months and actively finding analogue and non-digital things to do when I’m not working. Been reading books, going swimming or cooking meals for me and my partner in the evenings instead of sitting at the computer or watching tv. Been arranging more card and board game sessions with friends or games of darts/pool at the pub (mostly only drinking soft drinks) too. I’m not going to say I’m still not addicted or it’s a cure all, but it’s definitely helping my mental health. Really showing me what a negative affect screentime has on my brain chemistry.

So many red herrings today. It’s gettable but tough. Connections Puzzle #1040 🟨🟩🟨🟨 🟦🟨🟨🟨 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟩🟪🟪

Good luck with everything buddy! Hope having the paperwork and official diagnose makes managing it and life in general easier.

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Failed miserably today

The 3 Body Problem books definitely sounds interesting. A friend of mind also had great things to say. I might start it next month.

Finished book 7 of Dungeon Crawler Carl. These books really helped get me through it all since I started reading them after Christmas. Given they’re the themes are so much about paranoia over AI breaking free of its safeguarding and finding humanity in exploitation by populist governments and corporate tech giants they really have been the perfect escapist reads for me these time. Already got book 8 pre-ordered for its release on 12th May. I want to start a new series, but waiting until I read book 8 next month first. So going to read a couple of standalone books in the meantime. Actually started Operation Bounce House also by Matt Dinniman but thinking of trying some Brandon Sanderson afterwards too.

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Their only allies left are Isreal and Russia. Has there been an instance since WW2 of a single nation causing so much destruction to its own reputation within the space of less than 18 months?

Is Trump really openly saying the US is going to block European, Chinese and Japanese boats through a piece of water halfway across the world from the US that the US has zero jurisdiction over? Feck me. If we weren’t so exhausted by it all, this would have the feel of August 1914 to it. He really is thrashing about trying to do anything he can to stuff the worms back into the can, but is only breaking the can even more as he does.

I just hope when Orban does the inevitable “the election was rigged, rise up for me” schtick that Hungary does what Brazil did and what the US didn’t and throw the guy in prison for life for trying to subvert democracy.

Most important European election of the year today. But it’s the spillover over the next few days which could be key.

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