Libra

Don't. Even if it's not a cult (it totally is) it's a scam designed to extract money from people. If you just want to give up a significant portion of your money and feel like you belong you're welcome to buy a shitload of weed and come hang out with my friends and I.

Why? Primary sanctions didn't. The US and Europe effectively crashed out of Russia's economy for the most part; they lost access to Western banking, Western businesses abandoned Russia in droves, and the oil and gas sales to Europe that Russia is heavily dependent upon have been significantly reduced. Yet they seem to be doing fine, so what's left?

Also, why on earth would China walk away from trade with Russia? It's pretty clear the US-led world order of trade is falling apart and China hasn't been the one begging for trade deals over here, they seem fine to just write us off and go on about their business elsewhere in the world, I doubt they would have any compunction about doing the same to Europe if it came to that (which I doubt it will.)

Yeah, so instead of sending down divers with equipment you're hauling hundreds of tons of concrete out of the sea, which means aside from a ship and crew which you'd need anyway you're still going to need specialized equipment (some big honkin' chains and winches at a minimum) and tools and such, and that stuff isn't cheap either. Also they're aiming at a 20 year partial replacement cycle for parts that are going to be submerged in or otherwise exposed to sea water which is notoriously corrosive, some of which will be at fairly high pressure (otherwise the turbines will be less efficient), that seems optimistic at best, even if nothing breaks before the scheduled replacement time, and you certainly can't count on that.

LOL, indeed. I grew up in Oklahoma so I recognize that twang. :P I worked for years to get rid of my southern accent.

If you read the article it includes this line:

The idea is relatively simple: hollow concrete spheres are installed at a depth of several hundred metres.

The pressure is needed to drive the turbine, cause just gently-flowing water isn't going to cut it.

Oh yes, please sign me all the way up for corporations pumping ads directly into my brain, that's a great plan. :P

I fucking love Emperor TTS, that shit was hilarious, I'm gonna have to check out the WoD stuff.

LOL, my best friend's mom had a little Shih Tzu and one time when we were over there for dinner she had just bought him this HUGE red stuffed bull-thing that was like 4 times his size, but man it didn't even slow him down, he just went for it right in the middle of the living room floor in front of everyone. Poor pupper kept falling off and having to roll over on him and shit. Friend's mom was mortified, but the rest of us were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe there for a minute.

Huh, I had no idea. Totally works for the other video tho, cause that shit cracked me up.

Kin ah pet dat DAWG??!

They describe these as giant concrete spheres, but there are (obviously) pumps and turbines involved too, and that those are aimed at a 20-year partial part-replacement lifespan. There's no indication as to how much these pumps/turbines will cost but I'm gonna guess probably more than the cost of the concrete since it's relatively cheap in comparison, and that's before you consider that the major wearing components (which is to say, the expensive stuff) will have to be replaced twice within the intended lifespan. And that's not accounting for things that break and need to be replaced, inside of a giant concrete sphere on the bottom of the ocean where maintenance will be absurdly expensive. Needless to say I'm pretty skeptical of the economic viability of this project. I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.

I don't appreciate that one oligarch is better at lying to us than another one, that kinda makes it worse in my mind. Instead of telling ourselves comforting stories about how generous these societal leeches are we should be telling ourselves stories about how much better everyone else's lives could be if they didn't exist.