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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>04 September, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Virtual-Reality School as the Ultimate School Choice</strong> - The conservative education activist Erika Donalds envisions a world where parents unsatisfied with their public schools can opt out by putting their kids in a headset. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-education/virtual-reality-school-as-the-ultimate-school-choice">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Twilight of Mitch McConnell and the Spectre of 2024</strong> - On the dangerous reign of the octogenarians. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-twilight-of-mitch-mcconnell-and-the-spectre-of-2024">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Texas’s Dying Swimming Holes</strong> - Taking a dip in the summer was as central to the state’s identity as barbecue and Willie Nelson. Then came a population boom and climate change. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/texass-dying-swimming-holes">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mark Thompson, CNN’s New White Knight</strong> - After a turbulent year under new ownership, the cable news network is hoping that Mark Thompson, a veteran of the Times and the BBC, can turn things around. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/cnns-new-white-knight-mark-thompson">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hurricane Idalia’s Explosive Power Comes from Abnormally Hot Oceans</strong> - By burning fossil fuels, humans force the oceans to soak up the heat equivalent of a Hiroshima-size bomb, over and over again. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/hurricane-idalias-explosive-power-comes-from-abnormally-hot-oceans">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<li><strong>Will I just keep spending more and more money forever?</strong> -
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<img alt="A small figure holds up a huge collection of oversize belongings." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vuPEQL4SHQAzBA_lJxjQiJZgVIk=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72609296/OnTheMoney_8_31.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Paige Vickers/Vox
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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How to cope with both inflation and lifestyle creep.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IBtRo9">
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<em>On the Money is a new monthly advice column written by Nicole Dieker, a </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/personal-finance"><em><strong>personal finance</strong></em></a><em> expert who’s been writing about money for over a decade. For Vox’s Money Talks interview column, she’s written stories about couples who run </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23569412/money-talk-small-business-six-kids"><em><strong>small businesses</strong></em></a><em>, navigate </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22722672/money-talks-couple-different-backgrounds"><em><strong>different relationships with spending</strong></em></a><em>, handle </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/12/10/21003110/money-talks-health-insurance-self-employment"><em><strong>health insurance</strong></em></a><em>, and more. If you want advice on spending, saving, or investing — or any of the complicated emotions that may come up as you prepare to make big financial decisions — you can </em><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXuTsmpi2VQ6ZoRVEeHrgBSpkPkWSRWDH4zeY_TMBtPAhc4w/viewform"><em><strong>submit your question on this form</strong></em></a><em>. Here, we answer two questions asked by Vox readers, which have been edited and condensed.</em>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XcYXCz">
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<strong>I’m a single man in my late 20s. Every month, I rent one room of a shared house in a high-cost-of-living city for $1,050, have a $72 commuting-to-work expense (covered by my employer), spend about $60 on games and a gaming PC, $300 on food, $300 on going out (dancing and the like), $200 on travel (averaged out, very spiky) and $250 on other incidentals (health care costs after employer-provided insurance, clothing, presents, and gifts, etc.). That’s about $2,250, and from my perspective, I live an indulgent and sybaritic lifestyle that still allows me to pay my taxes, donate 10 percent of my income, and save aggressively.</strong>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iIxzSd">
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<strong>I know that some of my peers have to pay off </strong><a href="https://www.vox.com/student-loan-debt"><strong>student loans</strong></a><strong>, but for many of them, it seems to be more than that. I’m worried that lifestyle creep, or whatever it is that happens to them, will affect me as well. How can I watch out for it? Where is it most likely to come from? </strong>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HHj5V3">
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I don’t know if you will ever become the type of person who spends more than he earns. It looks like you’ve already identified your key financial values — saving aggressively for the future, donating money so other people can have a better future as well — and those are the kinds of behaviors that tend to stick over the course of a lifetime.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="te6tad">
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That said, I can almost guarantee that you will spend more in the future than you are spending right now.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iSQZW8">
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Why? Because someday you’re going to decide you’re tired of living with a rotating cast of roommates, or you’re going to make the kind of career move that requires you to spend more than $50 per month on clothing, or you’re going to meet the kind of person who becomes an integral part of your life and connects you to all kinds of new family members who all require gifts, travel, food, going out, and so on.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kSrT9M">
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Lifestyle creep happens when we change the way we live — and even if you plan on living like a single 20-something man for the rest of your life, spending your sybaritic, indulgent days gaming and dancing, that’s probably not going to happen.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RKQ2UO">
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So start asking yourself where you want to be in five years, and then ask yourself what’s likely to happen to your friends and family during the same time period. Do you have a sibling who is likely to have a child, for example? Bump up your travel and gift budget. Start setting aside cash for your friends’ weddings — because they’re going to happen, and some of them will be destination weddings, and many of them will take place <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23410669/wedding-guest-etiquette-empathy-afford-money-time">during the same year</a> — and if there’s any possibility that you might end up planning a wedding of your own, ask yourself how much you might want to spend on the celebration.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lM6B65">
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Next, take a look at where you are in your career and where you might need to move (literally and figuratively) to achieve your five-year career goals. I suspect you value work-life balance as much as you value a balanced budget, so I’m going to let you know something in advance: At a certain point, you’ll probably end up with the kind of work-life balance that is incompatible with a room in a shared house. First because you’ll need the stability that comes with having a space of your own, and second because you may want to use your living space for entertaining family, friends, and colleagues. You’re the kind of person who will probably <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23436672/how-to-start-cooking-beginner-guide">get into cooking</a>, since it’s a great way to save money, and you could end up being the star of your office’s annual potluck.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zeK7Gt">
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If that’s the kind of life you’re likely to have, it might mean setting aside money for a down payment. Furniture. A new HVAC unit, sometime in the next five years. Maybe a car, if you don’t already have one, which means insurance and tires and oil changes and paying to keep the thing clean enough to drive it into the office parking lot without having your employer wonder whether the amount of bird shit on your car suggests that you don’t have your shit together.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="awRzbf">
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That, by the way, is why people spend so much. The amount of money it takes to keep our shit together goes up as we get older — even if you successfully maintain the kind of lifestyle that is built around saving, donating to charity, enjoying the occasional indulgence, and acquiring as few unnecessary possessions as possible.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ja5PrR">
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And yes, it will happen to you.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MPIVN9">
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Get ready.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9XGz3M">
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<strong>How are other millennials coping with the cost-of-living crisis?</strong>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gQToO5">
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I’m going to assume that by “millennials,” you mean “people my age.” You probably aren’t the 20-something in the shared house from the previous letter; you’re the 30-something or 40-something who is trying to maintain a home (whether you’re buying or renting) while skipping vacations, <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23465536/cooking-food-inflation-grocery-prices">spending as little as you can on groceries</a>, and trying to figure out if there’s an even cheaper phone plan out there somewhere.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x9aRMG">
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The 20-something who wrote the first letter might not yet understand what it’s like to be financially responsible for sewer backups and school lunches and making sure you’re dressed for the job you want, even if you only wear the top half of your outfit during Zoom calls. Twenty-somethings, even the ones who save aggressively and donate 10 percent of their income to charity, haven’t been budgeting long enough to notice that we’re all spending a lot more than we used to — and <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/23529587/consumer-goods-quality-fast-fashion-technology">getting a lot less</a>.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zAH553">
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On the one hand, that lack of comparative knowledge could be a plus. Imagine if you never did any of your own shopping until you became an adult, and then you went to the grocery store for the first time and <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2022/3/2/22956966/inflation-explained-by-eggs">a dozen eggs cost $3.50</a>. “This must be what eggs cost,” you’d think. Then you’d figure out how to include eggs in your budget.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="196WSb">
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That is, unfortunately, the same advice I have for you and for all millennials. The way we cope with the cost-of-living crisis is by looking it in the face and accepting it as reality.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NJOwgZ">
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This is what things cost right now.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X8lcdO">
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If you are in a situation where things — eggs, houses, Zoom-appropriate workwear — cost more than you can afford to pay, here are your options:
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NG3TXy">
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<strong>Earn more.</strong> Easier said than done, but very worth doing.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NBCtNT">
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<strong>Spend less.</strong> A little easier to do (since there’s always at least one subscription service to cut), but saving $10 or $20 or even $100 every month probably won’t solve the bigger problem.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7LG6uR">
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<strong>Move to a lower-cost-of-living area.</strong> <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/26/18255131/moving-midwest-cedar-rapids">That’s what I did back in 2017</a>, and I moved to an even lower-cost-of-living area in 2020. Bought a house at 2 percent interest; bought a car with cash. (I know this won’t work for everybody, especially if your family or your career ties you to a specific part of the country, but at least one of the millennials reading this column should seriously consider it.)
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q7cq46">
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<strong>Practice aggressive debt management.</strong> Accept that you’re going to go into consumer debt. Build a sterling credit score (on-time payments will get you most of the way there). Get very good at shuffling your balances between 0 percent intro APR cards. If you can snag a personal loan at 6 percent interest, use it to pay off your cards in full. Rinse, lather, never miss a payment.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3TOc8G">
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<strong>Share the cost of living with others.</strong> <a href="https://www.vox.com/ad/22336923/multigenerational-living-home-buying-realtor">Multigenerational housing</a> is a thing! So are roommates, carpools, and community gardens. Even simple day-to-day activities like trading child care or casseroles or Zoom-appropriate workwear with a friend or neighbor can help mitigate some of the rising costs of living.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FkQOuv">
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<strong>Start preparing for where you want to be in five years.</strong> Hey, it’s the same advice I gave the first letter-writer! Figure out where you might want to go in your career, especially if you can position yourself toward a higher-paying job, and figure out what you need to do to get there. Ask yourself what milestones your loved ones are likely to experience, and start setting aside the money you’ll need to cover them. Cut another subscription. Get off social media. <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/2023/8/10/23824235/how-to-invest-money-stock-market-investing-retirement-advice">Invest in what matters</a>, and try to choose the kinds of investments — family, career, community — that offer the biggest returns.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oNXpZk">
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And remember: If eggs get too expensive, you can always substitute unsweetened applesauce.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>Johannesburg’s deadly apartment fire, explained</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Several people in black uniforms and three leashed German Shepherds approach a burned out apartment building, stained black by smoke." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iNNTQFndr8bgKM5870XbTUpVLAA=/198x0:3347x2362/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72608325/1637075645.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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South African Police Service’s K-9 unit arrives at the entrance of a burned apartment block in Johannesburg on September 1, 2023. | Luca Sola/AFP via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Chaos, poverty, and unemployment on a national scale set the stage for Thursday’s fire.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fLy7jW">
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An apartment fire in the South African city of Johannesburg has killed at least 76 people, including 12 children,<strong> </strong>and highlighted the city’s housing crisis, which has led to terrible conditions in unregulated dwellings run by criminal gangs.
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</p>
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The fire — the worst in South Africa’s history — broke out Thursday night, quickly engulfing the five-story building in Johannesburg’s central business district. Around <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/02/world/africa/south-africa-fire-cause.html">600 people</a> were estimated to be living in the building, although officials couldn’t say how many were present when the fire started. People desperate to escape the fire threw their children out of windows or jumped themselves, since the building did not have proper escape routes.
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“This has given us a wake-up call, and I have said that our cities and municipalities must now pay attention to how people live,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-africas-ramaphosa-urges-enforcement-laws-over-hijacked-buildings-2023-09-02/">said Saturday</a> at an event for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party. As Ramaphosa indicated, the lack of enforcement of existing laws against such dangerous and exploitative living situations certainly led to Thursday’s fire, but there are deeper social problems underlying the housing crisis.
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So-called “hijacked” buildings are not a new phenomenon in Johannesburg; gangs take over abandoned buildings in the city center and charge people with no other options rent to essentially squat there. Though the city is the wealthiest in South Africa, there is a huge gulf between those with resources — many of whom live in the suburbs — and those without.
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In this particular building people lived in squalid conditions and even squatted in the below-ground parking garage, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fire-johannesburg-south-africa-dead-a365fc66541584e61ec5cd3e7b375e67">Associated Press.</a> Many of the people who lived in the now-destroyed building were not South African citizens, city officials told the AP, and may have been in the country illegally. That could make identifying victims and notifying their families challenging if not impossible.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iyO0wn">
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It’s not yet known what caused the fire, though some early reports indicated a candle may have been the initial spark; many residents lit and heated their homes using fires and candles, Mgcini Tshwaku, a local government official told the AP. Residents had also set up makeshift homes in the building, using flammable materials like cardboard and textiles as walls; garbage was piled in and around the building, and the locked security gates prevented many people from escaping.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V4lwMB">
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Whatever the initial source of the fire, the real causes are far deeper and more complex, and they put hundreds — perhaps even thousands — more people at risk in dangerous living conditions. Lt. Gen. Elias Mawela, police commissioner of the Gauteng province, said at the scene that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fire-johannesburg-south-africa-dead-a365fc66541584e61ec5cd3e7b375e67">there were approximately 700 similar buildings in central Johannesburg</a>, and a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/31/world/africa/johannesburg-fire-vulnerabilities.html">New York Times</a> report indicates that many of them suffer from conditions similar to the destroyed building.
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</p>
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<h3 id="NhGUiy">
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Social problems like poverty and inequality are at the root of the Johannesburg fire
|
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="firstHeading">
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There are laws in South Africa to keep people from illegally occupying buildings like the one destroyed on Thursday, but they aren’t well-enforced and courts often halt evictions, even if the buildings are illegally occupied and unsafe. The Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE), passed in 1998 to undo apartheid-era legislation that allowed the white government to <a href="https://ejournals.library.vanderbilt.edu/index.php/ameriquests/article/download/4451/2386?inline=1#ftnt1">evict Black South Africans and destroy their residences</a>, makes granting an eviction difficult.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sGhI7m">
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The people who live in the city’s abandoned buildings are among the poorest of Johannesburg’s poor and have nowhere else to go. “No one chooses to live in a hijacked building,” Brian McKechnie, an architect and heritage expert in Johannesburg <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/02/world/africa/south-africa-fire-cause.html">told the Times</a>. “They were only there because they were desperate.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iRYdJt">
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Ramaphosa and others have blamed city officials for the fire, and they certainly deserve at least some of that blame; residents pleaded for help from the police and fire services, and inspections dating back at least to 2019 show how desperately bad and dangerous living conditions were. That year, after city inspectors’ reports, police raided the building and arrested 140 people for illegally charging rent — but city officials haven’t been in since, even though it’s a municipally owned building.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ug0V7I">
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As <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/02/world/africa/south-africa-fire-cause.html">the New York Times reported Saturday</a>, there were multiple indications that the building was, in the words of former Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse, “quite frankly, not habitable.” Phalatse visited the building in January 2019 and described its squalid and dangerous conditions to the Times after the fire. At the time Phalatse visited the building, she saw open sewage and unaccompanied children wandering the halls of the building in dirty clothes; a later report noted blown-out electrical outlets and melted wires in the rooms.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GDSSsI">
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But the problem is much more widespread and complex than just poor conditions in one building — political conditions in Johannesburg and high poverty and inequality in the nation overall set the stage for Thursday’s horrific fire.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zHQX5C">
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Johannesburg <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/world/africa/south-africa-johannesburg-mayor.html">has been in a state of chaos over the past few years</a>. As the ANC has lost its dominance in municipal politics throughout the country, smaller parties have led Johannesburg’s city council in coalition — only to throw the body into disarray when those coalitions break. That has meant more than six mayors have led the city in the past two years, making it difficult to enact any one political platform, or any real change for Johannesburg’s residents.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6lRLcx">
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South Africa is Africa’s most industrialized economy, yet has one of the world’s highest unemployment rates — <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-africas-unemployment-rate-down-slightly-326-q2-2023-08-15/">officially about 33 percent</a>, though it is likely higher. The country also suffers from an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/life-inside-hijacked-johannesburg-building-where-scores-burned-alive-2023-09-02/">affordable housing crisis</a>, exacerbated by conflict and poverty in other African nations which have pushed hundreds of thousands of migrants to the country since the end of apartheid. Widespread poverty in South Africa further aggravates an already strained country: According to an <a href="https://databankfiles.worldbank.org/public/ddpext_download/poverty/987B9C90-CB9F-4D93-AE8C-750588BF00QA/current/Global_POVEQ_ZAF.pdf">an April World Bank</a> report, 55 percent of South Africans lived at or below the national poverty line in 2014.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cKnPIp">
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It’s also one of the most unequal countries in the world, due in part to “structurally high inequality of opportunity,” according to the World Bank. That high inequality of opportunity is part of the legacy of colonialism and apartheid that persists in South Africa, despite <a href="https://www.britannica.com/question/How-did-apartheid-end">the end of apartheid in the early 1990s</a> and the election of Nelson Mandela as the country’s first Black and democratically elected president.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DpS8GW">
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Johannesburg is a prime example of that inequality and of the legacy of apartheid, as the Times noted in a recent report. While illegally run, dangerous, and shoddy housing proliferates in the city center, and services like garbage collection and policing are hard to obtain, glitzy malls and stately homes fill the suburbs and trendier parts of the city.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uOvGvJ">
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The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/life-inside-hijacked-johannesburg-building-where-scores-burned-alive-2023-09-02/">now-destroyed building itself was a ghost of the country’s apartheid past</a>. During the era of white rule, Black South Africans were forced to carry papers, called a “dompas,” allowing them to work in white areas of the city — which were distributed from that same building.
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</p></li>
|
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<li><strong>Burning Man’s climate protesters have a point</strong> -
|
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<figure>
|
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<img alt="A fire at the Burning Man festival" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5c8g--BO-93O2fZWMfo7_6YK7QM=/0x0:3264x2448/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72593975/GettyImages_1239673779.0.jpg"/>
|
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<figcaption>
|
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The weeklong festival in the Black Rock Desert produces about 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide. | Jordan England-Nelson/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
|
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</figcaption>
|
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</figure>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Building a temporary city of 80,000 people in the desert is actually bad for the planet.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="adx9ut">
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<em><strong>Update, September 3, 8:45 am ET:</strong></em><em> This story was originally published on August 30 and has been updated to include the following new information.</em> <em>After a series of storms rolled through the Black Rock Desert Friday and Saturday evening, approximately 70,000 Burning Man attendees have been left stranded as conditions in and around the festival </em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/02/us/burning-man-storm-flood-mud.html"><em>have deteriorated</em></a><em>, turning the dry lake bed into thick mud. Organizers have asked festival-goers to shelter in place, and the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office said on X, formerly Twitter, that “the Bureau of Land Management and the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office officials have closed the entrance to Burning Man for the remainder of the event.” There were also reports of a death at the festival which is under investigation; as of this update, no cause of death has been released. </em>
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AWFlRl">
|
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|
Sunday was not a fun day for the thousands of people on their way to Burning Man. In the days leading up to the bacchanal, traffic is typically a nightmare on the two-lane highway that leads to the barren former lake bed in the Black Rock Desert, a national conservation area that, for a week every year, becomes known as Black Rock City, population 80,000.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wzajz9">
|
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But this year, a small group of climate protesters <a href="https://twitter.com/michellelhooq/status/1695937392157626448?s=46">parked a 28-foot trailer across the road</a>, causing <a href="https://twitter.com/FreedomNTV/status/1695945731876762056">miles of gridlock</a>. Seven Circles, a coalition of organizations that includes Extinction Rebellion and Rave Revolution, made some simple demands of the Burning Man Organization, which hosts the annual desert party: “Ban private jets, single-use plastics, unnecessary propane burning, and unlimited generator use per capita at the nine day event in Black Rock City, Nevada.” There were also calls for the organization to mobilize its members “to initiate systemic change.” But the ban on private jets — that seems pretty straightforward.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1zJUEv">
|
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|
“Burning Man should aim to have the same type of political impact that Woodstock had on counterculture,” Mun Chong, an organizer with Extinction Rebellion, said in a statement. “If we are honest about system change, it needs to start at ‘home.’ Ban the lowest-hanging fruit immediately: private jets.”
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R3Zbp2">
|
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|
The protesters, it deserves to be said, had a point: Burning Man is <a href="https://grist.org/article/hey-burning-man-your-desert-party-sucks-for-the-rest-of-us/'">famously</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/14/737708644/federal-clampdown-on-burning-man-imperils-festivals-free-spirit-ethos-say-burner">bad</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/07/burning-man-nevada-trash">for the planet</a>.
|
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</p>
|
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<aside id="II30HB">
|
|||
|
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<div>
|
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</div>
|
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</aside>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P7aaSD">
|
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|
The many tens of thousands of people the event attracts must travel through some of the most remote parts of the country to a destination where there are few natural resources, where everything gets trucked in, and where vast structures are lit ablaze on the last night of the festival, pumping carbon-filled smoke into the atmosphere. But over 90 percent of the event’s carbon footprint comes not from the fires themselves but from travel to and from Black Rock City, according to <a href="https://medium.com/beyond-burning-man/burning-man-project-2020-environmental-sustainability-report-df757260c9c5">a 2020 environmental sustainability report from the Burning Man Organization</a>. Another 5 percent comes from gas- and diesel-burning generators that keep lights and air conditioners on during the festival.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mb7V9M">
|
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|
|
All things told, each Burning Man generates about 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide. That’s more than <a href="https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator#results">about 22,000 gas-powered cars</a> produce in a year.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mAmwxc">
|
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But while the protesters had the moral high ground, the protest did not go well. After an hour-long standoff, trucks from the Pyramid Lake Ranger Station, a tribal law enforcement agency, showed up and <a href="https://twitter.com/FreedomNTV/status/1695976656106905623">promptly drove through the barricade</a>. The officer who destroyed the barricade then yelled over a loudspeaker, “I’m going to take all of you out, you better move,” before exiting the vehicle, drawing his weapon, and then handcuffing protesters who said they were not armed. At least one protester left with a bleeding head.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z5mdcx">
|
|||
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|
After it was all done, Burning Man attendees, also known as Burners, got back in their cars and RVs, stepped on the gas, and headed to the festival gate.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DIoBUs">
|
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|
“Non-violent climate protesters are ordinary people exercising a basic democratic right, in an attempt to protect us all from catastrophe,” said <a href="https://www.climateemergencyfund.org/margaret-klein-salamon">Margaret Klein Salamon</a>, executive director for the Climate Emergency Fund, which has funded some of the groups involved in the Burning Man protest. “They deserve our respect and support, but instead, they were met with violence and repression.”
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OCFEGb">
|
|||
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|
At a time when climate protests are becoming increasingly stunt-based and even aggressive, this one feels a little different. Groups like Extinction Rebellion are known for unexpected protests, like gluing themselves to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/activists-glue-themselves-goya-paintings-spanish-climate-protest-2022-11-05/">famous paintings</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-59969309">planes</a>, or <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/extinction-rebellion-protesters-superglue-themselves-around-speakers-chair-in-commons-12687662">historic buildings</a>. This action, however, set out to disrupt what was once a mecca of progressive art and creativity. You might even argue that the typical Burner — say, someone from the Bay Area who works in tech and enjoys feeling free spirited — would be quick to stand up for climate change in normal circumstances. But these days, Burning Man couldn’t be further from normal.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4rLyb4">
|
|||
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|
The explosive growth and popularity of the festival <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/style/burning-man-sex-tech.html">in the past three decades</a> mirrors an entire history of humans favoring their own version of progress <a href="https://medium.com/beyond-burning-man/climate-change-is-an-existential-threat-to-black-rock-city-de473ab7a01">over the consequences it produces</a>. What started out as a gathering on a beach in San Francisco has grown into a destination for celebrities and the ultra rich, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/fashion/at-burning-man-the-tech-elite-one-up-one-another.html">especially tech billionaires</a>. That’s why private jets <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/burning-man-one-percent-ultra-wealthy-private-jet-personal-chef-2019-8">have become an issue</a>. There are now <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/8/29/11630400/k-street-black-rock-burning-mans-billionaires-row">fancy camps</a>, meals prepared by private chefs, and VIP parties. Bear in mind, all of this is built just for the weeklong festival at the end of the summer, and it all has to be disassembled and taken away after. One of the founding principles of Burning Man is “leave no trace,” but even the event’s organizers <a href="https://journal.burningman.org/2023/03/black-rock-city/leaving-no-trace/2022-moop-maps/">were stunned</a> by how much trash got left behind in the desert last year.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jDbItX">
|
|||
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|
Burning Man 2022 was also a telling reminder of how our warming world is changing. The weekend of the event, a string of wildfires <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Wildfire-starts-in-northern-Nevada-17402122.php">burned just north of Black Rock City</a>. Meanwhile, in the desert, temperatures veered into the triple digits, causing Burners to retreat to air conditioned tents and RVs powered by gas-burning generators. Solar setups could be found sporadically in different parts of the festival, and at least one — but maybe only one — camp <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/burning-man-climate-death-spiral/">was completely run on solar power</a>.
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tDw8kP">
|
|||
|
|
The Burning Man Organization <a href="https://burningman.medium.com/burning-man-project-2030-environmental-sustainability-roadmap-c79657e18146">has committed</a> to becoming carbon negative by 2030, but it’s very unclear how this can happen without completely rethinking the concept. That solar-powered camp required $200,000 worth of equipment to keep the lights on. And because the event takes place about three hours from a major city, all of this infrastructure needs to be hauled in by gas-powered trucks. Even if electric trucks were available, there would be no way for them to charge up for the drive back.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0C1xfA">
|
|||
|
|
“Despite all the green technology being discussed, Burning Man will get dirtier before it gets cleaner — and will miss its own goal of being net negative on emissions by 2030 — unless the Org makes big changes,” Alden Wicker <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/burning-man-climate-death-spiral/">reported last year</a> in Wired, referring to the Burning Man Organization.
|
|||
|
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</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ic6zJO">
|
|||
|
|
So you can see how the climate protesters arrived at their list of demands. For Burning Man to exist in its current form and radically reduce its carbon footprint, major changes need to happen, and it’s not clear if or how the event’s organizers will meet their own environmental sustainability goals. And again, the protest itself did not go well for anyone. Thousands of cars idling in the middle of the desert didn’t exactly improve the greenhouse gas emissions situation. People got hurt. But the festival did go on, and those air conditioners and their generators will keep rumbling until September 4, when they burn it all down again.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rIqNkL">
|
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<em>A version of this story was also published in the Vox Technology newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/newsletters"><em><strong>Sign up here</strong></em></a><em> so you don’t miss the next one!</em>
|
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</p></li>
|
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|
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</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
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<ul>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Indian men’s team enters semifinals</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>It’s My Time, Arc De Triomphe and Raffaello catch the eye</strong> -</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Indian men’s TT team assured of bronze medal at Asian Championships</strong> - The opening singles between veteran Sharath Kamal and Izaac Quek went down to the wire with the 41-year-old Indian prevailing 11-1, 10-12, 11-8, 11-13, 14-12</p></li>
|
|||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Muhseer fires in seven goals in Kasargod’s big win</strong> - The second match between Thrissur and Malappuram, also in Group A, saw 20 goals being scored but the game ended in a draw</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Iga Swiatek’s U.S. Open title defence ends with a loss to Jelena Ostapenko in the 4th round</strong> - Iga Swiatek will lose top rank as a result as Jelena Ostapenko advances to take on Coco Gauff in the quarterfinal</p></li>
|
|||
|
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</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
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<ul>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India’s power consumption grows by over 16% to 151.66 billion units in August</strong> - The Power Ministry had estimated the country’s electricity demand to touch 229 GW during the summer season</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Epigraphists to help study inscriptions on stone slabs at historic Udayamperoor synod church</strong> - Stone slabs were recently spotted during works to shift granite cross in front of church closer to church building</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Man slits throats of three daughters, hangs himself</strong> -</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two companies quote ₹6.88 per unit for medium-term contracts for power supply</strong> -</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Himanta discusses with Shah complete withdrawal of AFSPA from Assam</strong> - Since the beginning of its application in Assam more than three decades ago, the extension of the AFSPA was recommended 62 times, CM Sarma said</p></li>
|
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|
|
</ul>
|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
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<ul>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov dismissed</strong> - Ukraine’s president dismisses Oleksii Reznikov, saying “new approaches” are needed.</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rustem Umerov: Who is Ukraine’s next defence minister?</strong> - The man due to take over from Oleksii Reznikov is a leading member of the Crimean Tatar community.</p></li>
|
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|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine War: Counter-offensive troops punch through Russia line, generals claim</strong> - Kyiv says its troops are gaining momentum in what continues to be a lengthy and bloody counter-offensive.</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Threats, insults, and Kremlin ‘robots’: How Russian diplomacy died under Putin</strong> - Russian diplomacy is no longer about co-operation but “putting Westerners in their place”, say ex-Kremlin insiders.</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Torrential rain in Spain causes major flooding</strong> - A football match between Atletico Madrid and Sevilla was called off as a red alert was issued in the capital.</p></li>
|
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|
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</ul>
|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
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<ul>
|
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|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reddit faces content quality concerns after its Great Mod Purge</strong> - Concerns of Redditor safety, jeopardized research amid new mods and API rules. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961446">link</a></p></li>
|
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|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A look into the REM dreams of the animal kingdom</strong> - Animals’ “active” sleep phases look very much like REM. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964996">link</a></p></li>
|
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|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple details reasons to abandon CSAM-scanning tool, more controversy ensues</strong> - Safety groups remain concerned about child sexual abuse material scanning and user reporting. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964978">link</a></p></li>
|
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|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>BMW’s Neue Klasse points to a radical reinvention for future sedans</strong> - Innovations making it to production include a full-screen heads-up display and e-ink. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1965050">link</a></p></li>
|
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|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two book readers recap a very non-book-ish Wheel of Time season 2 premiere</strong> - The Wheel turns, and new seasons come and pass, leaving reviews that become legend. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1965179">link</a></p></li>
|
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|
|
</ul>
|
|||
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|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
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|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man sees a sign outside a house: ‘Talking greyhound For Sale’</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
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|
|
<div class="md">
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
|
He rings the bell, the owner appears and tells him the dog can be viewed in the back garden. The man sees a very nice looking greyhound sitting there.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Do you really talk?” he asks the greyhound.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Oh yes,” the greyhound replies.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
After recovering from the shock of hearing the greyhound talk, the man asks, “So, tell me your story.”
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The greyhound looks up and says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I joined the SAS, I thought they’d have me fighting, but turned out I was more useful as a spy, so the transferred me to MI5 - they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with world leaders and that , because no one imagined that a greyhound would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
|
Eventually though, the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn’t getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at Heathrow to do some undercover security work, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded several medals.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
|
Did that for a few years, but recently I got married, had a few puppies, and I’ve made a bit of cash over the years, so now I’ve just retired."
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The man is amazed. He goes back into the house and asks the owner how much he wants for the greyhound.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Ten quid,” the owner says.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“£10!!? But this greyhound is absolutely amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheaply?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Because he’s a lying bastard. He’s never been out of the garden!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/iamdecal"> /u/iamdecal </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/169ef90/a_man_sees_a_sign_outside_a_house_talking/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/169ef90/a_man_sees_a_sign_outside_a_house_talking/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man goes home to his wife, after being fired from his job at a chips factory..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The wife acts surprised, because the man has been employee of the month for 13 months in a row. She asks “What happened?” “I got fired for putting my penis in the potato cutter. It’s been a dream of mine, and I couldn’t resist it anymore”, the man replied. The wife, even more surprised after hearing what happened, asked if everything is okay with his penis. “Yes everything is fine with the penis”, he replied. “What about the potato cutter?”, she asked. A bit ashamed, he replied “she got fired as well !!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/whyamihere999"> /u/whyamihere999 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/169m5ky/a_man_goes_home_to_his_wife_after_being_fired/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/169m5ky/a_man_goes_home_to_his_wife_after_being_fired/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Putin decreed that all time zones in Russia be unified.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
After this had occurred, the Prime Minister approached him.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
<em>“Dearest Putin, I had a problem. I called my relatives in the east to wish them good night, and they told me they were on the beach enjoying the sun.”</em>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
<em>“And then I called my family in Kaliningrad to wish them a happy holiday, and they said the holiday was already over.”</em>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
<em>“And then I called Xi Jinping to wish him a happy new year, and he said ‘what, it’s still the old year’.”</em>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Putin nodded his head sympatheticly, saying:
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
<em>“I, too, have had these kinds of problems. I called Prigozhin’s family to offer them condolences, but it turned out we hadn’t even killed him yet.”</em>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/form_d_k"> /u/form_d_k </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/169npzo/putin_decreed_that_all_time_zones_in_russia_be/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/169npzo/putin_decreed_that_all_time_zones_in_russia_be/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My wife called me at the bar. Said if I was not home in ten minutes, she was feeding my dinner to the dog</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
I was home in five. I love that dog too much to see harm come to him.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Bidi_Baba"> /u/Bidi_Baba </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16997fj/my_wife_called_me_at_the_bar_said_if_i_was_not/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16997fj/my_wife_called_me_at_the_bar_said_if_i_was_not/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The gambler calls his tax attorney, and they go to see the IRS agent</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
As they are waiting in the office, the IRS agent looks over his paperwork and says:
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“The reason for your audit is that you have a relatively lavish lifestyle but not much income to justify it. Can you tell me what you do for a living?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The gambler says, “I am a professional gambler.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“A gambler?” said the IRS agent with a slightly puzzled and surprised look on his face.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Yes, I make my money by betting, would you like a demonstration?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Sure,” said the IRS agent, “let’s have a demonstration.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“I will bet you $1,000; that I can bite my eye,” said the gambler.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“OK, you have a bet,” replied the IRS agent with a smirk on his face. The gambler pops out his glass eye and bites it. IRS agent is shocked as he did not see that coming, and he did agree to a $1,000 bet from of gambler’s attorney.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“All right, all right, this was not really fair” said the gambler. “I will give you a chance to win your money back. I will bet you another $1,000 that I can bite my other eye.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
IRS agent looks over the guys paperwork and see that he is not legally blind and takes the bet. The gambler takes out his dentures and bites his other eye. The IRS agent is now visibly stressed and sweating from being on the hook for $2,000.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“I tell you what. Double or nothing, I will stand on the edge of your desk, close my eyes and piss into the garbage can on the other side of the room without spilling a drop, what do you say?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The IRS agent is a little perplexed but does not see how that would be possible and takes the bet. The gambler stands on the agent<code>s desk, unzips his pants, closes his eyes, and pisses all over the agent</code>s desk.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“YES!!!” exclaimed the IRS agent knowing he won the bet and does not owe the gambler any money.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Ahh, shiiiit” said the attorney.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“What’s the matter?” asked the IRS agent.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Well, he bet me $20,000 that he will come to your office today, piss all over your desk, and you would be happy about it.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Snowandicefan"> /u/Snowandicefan </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16912rp/the_gambler_calls_his_tax_attorney_and_they_go_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16912rp/the_gambler_calls_his_tax_attorney_and_they_go_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
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