Yes.

Number 1... the larch... the larch...

I thought we were an autonomous collective.

What is this, Age of Empires?

I think it's important to understand, these people believe that they already control the world. From their perspective, they aren't "trying", they're doing. And they believe they have the right to do so. They believe that having wealth makes them more important and more capable than everyone else, even though the reality is often that having wealth separates them from having to actually do anything for themselves, making them less capable and less experienced than everyone else.

The rest of us, our needs, our concerns, our desires, our lives... none of that matters to them, except when it either enables or impedes getting what they want.

The only thing preventing the entire world from being stuck in complete, abject despotism is that these people are often at each other's throats. When they collude, everything they touch turns to garbage.

Escalator brake failures can be a real problem:

Boston, 2021

Rome, 2018

Hong Kong, 2017

South Korea is feeling threatened by China, and is worried that the US has become an unreliable partner, so they are making a political move that doesn't involve much direct risk to themselves.

South Korea is feeding a crocodile.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Capitalist_System

Betteridge's law.

Yes, well, constant naval warfare became unfashionable, you know.

And yet, somehow Microsoft can't figure out how to monetize video games.

It will identify the quality of your character immediately...

I would like to live on the cheese coast.

We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.

It was just a place where the priests could go so people wouldn't bother them for awhile.

The best way to harden a Fortigate is to replace it with a device from a different manufacturer.

Please don't spread invasive species.

Please identify yourselves.

Ah, no, see if you demonstrate any capacity for troubleshooting printers you fail the intelligence test.

Donald Trump has done more to promote clean energy use than any single person in history.

It's absolutely 5d chess.