Yes, a lot of the first world off loads its garbage onto the third world and these developing countries, in turn, generate just as much of their own garbage. Garbage that usually ends up in toxic/illegal landfills, into various waterways, or floating out into the ocean only to become a part of the humongous island garbage patches dotted around the globe.
In my case, nothing served as a more startling example of the waste we collectively generate than the local city dump. Occasionally, to get rid of old furniture and other random stuff, we've made trips to such a place as this, which allows you to drop off old junk in a giant dumping ground for a small fee. Even for the modest town I live in, this local dump, which is privately ran and is only one out of a couple for this area, has always had a literal mountain of garbage tens of feet high, by tens of feet long. It's sheltered in a very large half-open warehouse and there's always so much garbage there that it's practically touching the ceiling high above. And yet this is a normal amount of garbage collection for them. One that replicates itself week after week without fail. And they're not even the official dump for the city, which means that massive amount of garbage I've seen constitutes only a fraction of that actually generated by this city. And then, when you try to broaden the picture, every city, large or small, generates its own sizable amount of trash. Think how much trash a place like New York must create on a daily basis. Enough to fill hundreds, if not thousands, of warehouses like the kind I described above. Go bigger and think of the trash generated by entire countries, or entire continents. All the oceans of garbage and waste flowing out from our daily activity. And this happens every single moment, every single week, every single month, every single year. It's truly mind boggling. How we're not somehow buried in it up to our necks by now is astonishing.
I'm reminded of a joke by Bill Burr, when he remarks on the highly accurate, but not often thought about fact, that everything we've ever used is somewhere. Think about your entire life and everything you've ever donated or thrown away. All that stuff is somewhere out there. Crushed beneath a landfill, or floating out in the ocean, or, just maybe, is being used by someone else. It's crazy to think about, isn't it? The history of people's trash. Those both alive and dead have all left their mark in this way.
I can't help, but notice how in every single house, down every single street, and in every obscure little corner of human habitation; people are using things, throwing things away, buying new things, gobbling up electricity to heat their homes in the winter or cool them in the summer, ordering take-out, driving their cars, making plans for international trips which involve air travel, or other things they'd like to do which requires enormous fossil fuel energy. In every major city, at every single moment of the day, people go to stores, they shop, they dine out, they go to the movies, they mingle at nightclubs, they go to amusements parks and take in all the lurid sights they can. And all this happens. Every. Single. Day. Year upon year. I mean, just think of how this already has happened for decades now. From Chicago, to Tokyo, to Melbourne, to Toronto. Every single day. Every single night. How in the hell has it managed to go on for this long? With that much energy and resources being used by so many people, in so many places. By rights, it should have all collapsed within a week, yet it's been chugging along for decades now without stopping. Quite the opposite, it's only grown and grown. It makes me realize just how much there is in nature. How much energy to be exploited, how many animals there are to be slaughtered, how many other resources there are to be extracted. And that, as of now, we've squeezed and consumed every last drop out of it. Resources that could have lasted centuries, if not millennia, assuming they were properly managed, with far less people around to need them in the first place (at least less than a billion). Instead, we've taken all of it and stuffed into every belching furnace we could, simply to keep the infernal engine running. Hotels, restaurants, high price getaway resorts, luxury cruises, casinos, and whatever other bullshit you can think of. All so as to keep the lights on and the music booming in every single city across the world, and doubly so for the major ones. Like I said, it's just staggering to me that it's all lasted this long.
For better or worse, the world is unknown to me. In my case, I've been a hermit for nearly 15 years. I've never partied, or traveled, or done anything at all except sit quietly in my room. A tidy and well kept dungeon of near perpetual darkness, with garbage bags and thick cardboard taped over every window, leaving me lost behind my own wall of near perfect isolation. All I can do is sit with myself, stewing in morbid self-attention or mulling over any number of other equally dreary topics. Too much time spent thinking about all the things I'd rather not think about. One such common thought would be whether or not anything else will ever make itself known to me, or if all that I've come to realize is all there will ever be. Perhaps hedonism is really all there is. Perhaps matters of pleasure, for whatever form that might take for each individual, really are the only point to life. Sometimes I wonder that, if the world is going to die anyway, you might as well get drunk and party like there's no tomorrow and experience as much as you can before it's gone. If this is true, as I sometimes think to myself, then I suppose I've truly failed in my life. I haven't enjoyed myself and I have nothing, even on the most base level, that could warrant my time spent rotting on this planet. No good memories, no traveling anywhere, no having unique experiences. I've been as good as dead from the day I was born. Everything I've seen outside my window or through my computer screen, might as well be like pictures in a book. A faint two dimensional shadow of something that can never be anything more than what it is. Resting in my imagination only, but not even passing as a figment of the real thing. I'm a pale imitation of life. One that wishes I could have at least gotten something out of all this, as bad as it is, despite knowing in my heart that I never will.
ADDITIONAL EDIT BELOW:
Thanks for all the info. I hadn't considered some of what was mentioned here and it's given me more to think about. The world is, indeed, a large place and thus affords a copious amount of room for our trash. I'll admit that I wasn't aware of how efficiently garbage can, sometimes, be disposed of. Then again, in a world where a large amount of the air, food, water, and earth is poisoned, I suppose it doesn't much matter in the end how much or how little garbage it is that we actually generate. Well, like I said, it's still staggering to me how long this has gone on for. Consumerism, starting from 1945 and onwards, has been around for a little over 75 years now and, with it, most of our modern conveniences. That's nothing when compared against the rest of human history, let alone the deep time of the natural world, but I don't know. Like I said, it's dubiously amazing to me that it all even lasted a month. The fact that our current arrangements can last longer than a week at most, is even more dubiously amazing.
As for myself, I've accepted my lot in life. For what little that amounts to, I suppose. Not everyone has a taste for life, or is cut out for actually living as one would ordinarily expect. It's a sad thing, but as long as humans have been around for, there have been people like me who have puttered about in their dreary existences. Those who've just sort of trudged through life carried by their own prior inertia and fear of death. Tens of millions have come and gone who have found themselves in this predicament and, to this day, there are still those condemned to do the same. I'm just another regrettable example of it. It's not fine, but I accept it. I am what I am and, for better or worse, no one should deny who it is they truly are. Even if who they are only brings them pain and puts them apart from nearly every living thing on the planet. That's how it is, but I guess it doesn't stop me from complaining about it, as I've unfortunately done here, so apologies for that.
If there are self-made purgatories, then we all have to live in them. Mine can be no worse than someone else's.
Also, for what it's worth, I'm actually a pretty healthy individual. I engage in at-home exercises, have an extremely clean diet, and take Vitamin D and pro-biotic supplements. I do the laundry, I keep my room exceptionally clean, and, along with my mother, I keep our home well kept and decent. Believe it or not, but these are all things I've done for many years now. And you know what? I still feel the way it is I feel. Garbage bags over the windows and everything. Last year, as a matter of fact, I did enough work around this house to have kept at least 3 separate contractors busy for weeks, but, at the end of the day, I was still left with what I otherwise was. I operated a jackhammer and single-handedly cleared away tonnes and tonnes of old concrete that had been blighting our property for years, only to then do the back breaking work of disposing of it as well. I painted our entire fence, I painted and re-sanded our old deck, and I cleaned up the basement, the garage and the shed from top to bottom. It's partly thanks to what I did that we have a brand new driveway now, since I got the ball rolling on it and significantly reduced the cost through my efforts. But, in the end, I didn't do these things because I was ever asked to do them, but to silence the madness in my mind and to briefly make an escape from my isolation.
I didn't have to do these things, but I needed to all the same. Anything to make the pain inside my heart/mind stop, if only for a little while. Like modern media before I was stricken with anhedonia, these tasks were essentially a form of escapism for me. An escapism used to briefly evade experiencing my own empty existence. I don't know what's wrong with me, but, whatever it is, it's been with me all my life. Aside from my mother, and occasionally my older brother when he comes to visit, I speak with no one. I have no friends and, frankly, I have no idea how to make them. This is as true for the digital world, as it is for the flesh and blood one. I don't know what to do about whatever it is I am, but, as hard as it's been, I've tried to accept that this might just be who I was always destined to be. Plus, it's been so many years now. So many years of this. You fall down a hole long enough and, sooner or later, you can't imagine any other way to be. Well, again, it'd just been nice to get something out of all this, this whole civilization thing, besides just being a hermit. I guess in the age of COVID, that's what everyone's encouraged to be anyway. It's like Junji Ito's Army of One made manifest. Who'd have ever thought.

I had a friend who came from this town who told me all about it. It was widely considered to be an "inside job". Interesting that everyone involved has kept their lips sealed for all these years.
Forty years ago, a group of men known as the 'magnetic drill gang' broke into the Bank of NSW in the quiet town of Murwillumbah in the wee hours and stole almost $2 million.
To this day, no-one knows what happened to the cash — worth around $8.5 million in today's money.
The bank is now Westpac.
A country bank in Murwillumbah The bank is now the Westpac bank in Murwillumbah.(ABC North Coast: Donna Harper) The money — $1.7 million — and the gang, whose signature was to use an electromagnetic diamond-tipped drill, were never seen again.
The thieves broke through the bank's back door and used clever techniques to crack the safe open and lock it again, once they had stolen all the cash.
The following morning, a security guard found the back door ajar, and the vault locked from the inside. A locksmith tried to break the safe open, but failed.
Former Tweed mayor, Max Boyd, who was a councillor at the time of the infamous robbery, said a council work crew, who were repairing roads nearby, were called in to help.
"The robbers had spiked the vault door so the bank staff couldn't get inside to see how much money had been stolen, so a council work crew were called in and they had to smash a hole through the bank's thick brick wall to get access inside the vault," Mr Boyd said.
A bank official finally managed to get into the safe and told police "they got the lot".
This slogan was to become famous and was printed on T-shirts and beer glasses that were sold around Australia and the world.
Mr Boyd said many in the community thought it was an inside job.
"The crooks knew that the Murwillumbah branch of the Bank of New South Wales kept cash supplies from other banks in the area, so someone must have told them this as why would they target a country branch?" he said.
He said there were also suggestions that a new police officer in town or one of the security guards could have been involved.
A display of T-shirts and a beer glass with the slogan "They Got the Lot" and a cartoon picture of a criminal running away 'They got the lot' became a slogan for T-shirts and beer glasses, after the daring heist.(Supplied: Tweed Regional Museum) Mr Boyd said he and his brother, Jack Boyd, who was the state member for Byron at the time of the robbery, had concerns about gangsters leaving the big cities of Sydney and Melbourne to move into the Tweed Shire to start up criminal syndicates.
The Boyd brothers successfully stopped former premier Neville Wran's plans to build a casino in south Tweed Heads in the late 1970s.
"Jack was strongly opposed to the casino because he didn't want to see the underworld getting established up in this part of the world and he fought strongly against it during his time in State Parliament and I did too as a Tweed councillor," Mr Boyd said.
Mr Boyd said the famous robbery was part of the Tweed's colourful history, and he wondered if the case would ever be solved.
Police said the case was still open, and they welcomed any new information.
"Even though today marks 40 years since this robbery occurred, the NSW Police remain dedicated to arresting those responsible," NSW Police said in a statement.
"Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-23/murwillumbah-remembers-magnetic-drill-gang-bank-robbery/10519858

CONTEXT: Names have all been changed for anonimity, there's a lot of inside references and memory references that may not seem as significant to any reader, but just wanted to put this out there to let people know to not get complacent in the relationship and let them get away. I still hope one day I find my way back to her, but for now this was the final letter I left her.
Dear Michelle,
I’ve spent a countless number of days staring at this blank piece of paper not knowing what to do with it or what to say. The number of times I’ve scrunched it up and had to restart is crazy. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I still don’t know what I’m doing with this, just putting all cards on the table I guess. But most importantly I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I miss you and think about that gorgeous face of yours all the time. In no way is this me trying to “get you back”, no ill intentions or anything negative, please understand this.It’s been many years since I’ve used an actual pen to write on a piece of paper, the last being your “Get Well Soon” card when you were upset about you and your ex and your Christmas Card. Not having you in my life anymore has granted me a lot of time to myself to think and process my life. Believe me, I’ve done a LOT of thinking, about you, about me, about us and life in general. You’ll be happy to know I’ve done a lot of growing and all this period. All that I ask is IF you do read this, try to take in every word and read it meaningfully with no distractions. I write this with all my heart.
Remember the day I planned on asking you out to make things official? I dedicated the entire day to being all about you and keeping that beautiful huge smile on your face. I took you to get your ears pierced, we then went to Chadstone and shopped around, came home to nap before I took you to the Melbourne Star wheel. The glimmer in your eyes throughout the day and even while in the deck was mesmerizing and I couldn’t have been a happier man, unfortunately we were plagued by the indians and their families in the same cabin so I wasn’t able to fulfill my plan on asking you out but we laughed about it in the car ride home and at least it gave us a funny story on how we came to be official. Although I was grateful and thankful for the amazing time I got to spend with you then and especially the feeling of your warmth and comfort when you were cuddled in my arms and in that moment looking at you watching the view with me I couldn’t help think to myself, I’ve never cared about someone so precious ever in my life but most of all, you’ve never looked more gorgeous than in that one moment.
Or even the night I took you to the Conservatory, you wore my favourite outfit of yours but we were still a bit shy with one another. You were quiet at the dinner table as we were still early together but the vibe was mutually great and the night outside was as beautiful as you were. Never have I seen someone I love look so amazing while messily munching down on a buffet of food, that was the night you showed me you were a Little Piggy. The funniest part of the night was seeing your shock and guilt with the bill, I don’t need to tell you the cheeky laugh it gave me to see you like that as I was doing it right in your face. Although, my favourite part of the night was when we parked out the front of your house and chilled there for the longest time and enjoyed each other's company, in that moment, was when I knew, there’s no place I’d ever rather be than with my arms around you.
My all time favourite moment would have to be the time we spent staying at Crown. There has never been a better set of days in my life as perfect as those. It was all unforgettable, from the moment we came and just jumped in bed to cuddle, going to the Galactic Circus and playing the arcade games, especially the fun playing air hockey having to pretend to lose to you, seeing so concentrated on winning and then the smile that erupted on your face when you did, I couldn’t help but smile and think to myself, this angel makes me feel at home. The coolest part was the dinners on both nights, Korean BBQ the first night then having the pleasure of Jono and Erin to join us at Kitchen Workshop for the second night, the casino with them after it was fun as hell. What set each day in stone in my mind was showing you how much you meant to me when making love to you every night, I’ll never forget how lost I was staring into your beautiful blue eyes, I still do to this day and they’ll always be my true favourite feature of you. I’ve had a countless number of memorable cherished experiences with you and it is an honour for a lot of these experiences with me to be your firsts in general.
You’ve taught me so much over these past couple years that we’ve dated, you’ve shown me how to be a better person day by day by treating everyone with the same kindness, love and respect that you’d love reciprocated by them back. I’ve slowly learnt from you on how to be the bigger person in situations instead of sinking down to their level, how to be a mature man and not the Shaun I used to be before I met you. I love the man I have become because of you and have always hoped that you were lowkey proud of my development, all thanks to how amazing you are. Props to your amazing parents for raising the beautiful woman you are today. I know I still have faults, I admit that and take full responsibility for them all but I have grown heaps especially these past few weeks and am still working on them. You may think I never listen to you but I’d like you to trust me, because I always am, I listen to every word of your recommendations on how to be better, at the time I’m just a tiny bit ignorant about it but don’t let that deter you from thinking that I don’t take your words in.
The one thing I have loved being able to do with you that I am unable to do with anyone else EVER is ALWAYS FEELING COMFORTABLE coming to you whenever I need do things like vent, a shoulder to cry on or help with how to deal with certain situations because I found that no one else could ever help as much as you could and would. I loved being able to vent to you about any and every one of my problems throughout my day or life in general, you were my rock, I felt safe and at home knowing that you genuinely cared and were also giving me endless support and advice. It felt good knowing someone was genuinely listening to me and was there. I have always tried my 100% best to do the same for you and I hope I have reciprocated that same feeling back. I hope that you always knew and felt comfortable coming to me to vent about anything, work, life, any of your problems like your career troubles, friends (I’m not going to name all the troubles, we both know everything). Whenever you did rest assured that I always dedicated you my 100% undivided attention and support and would always drop whatever I was doing and come straight over to cheer you up whenever I possibly could because I wanted to always be there for you, seeing you sad is my least favourite thing in the world, it still is.
Most importantly, the one thing I think of that is most special in my life and that I hold very dearly to me is two words:
2 Weeks
In the little over 4 weeks I spent chasing you, I realised that all it took was only the last 2 that meant something to me. 2 Weeks together. 2 Weeks was all it took for me to fall in love with you. I remember our first kiss like it’s tattooed in my mind. I remember every moment, from coming to Jenna’s house to take you home, meeting Rachel for the first time and listening to her saying “you have a really nice car”, you whispering something to her before she closed your door, something that we will both never know which has always crossed my mind, in a happy and funny way. I remember playing our song OTW in the car going towards Mia's place and you falling asleep while it happened, I remember looking at you there so drunk, yet peaceful and full of life, happy in the moment even though you were asleep, no sight has ever lit up my world more than that. Taking you to Mia's house and conversing and getting along with all your friends was great but then our moment happened. I remember holding you so you wouldn’t stumble while walking me to my car, I remember you caressing my arms while we looked into each other’s eyes and all I could think was, there’s nothing in the world that I wouldn’t do for this angel to keep her happy, then you kissed me. You kissed me Michelle. I felt the touch of those soft amazing lips against mine and you turned my whole world upside down, the funny thing is, I was so full of happiness and shock that a tear came out of me left eye and I’m not even joking, I wasn’t crying but it was just one tear and I was praying that you wouldn’t notice and that it didn’t run across your face for you to feel it, thank god you didn’t and this is the first time you’re hearing about it. I laugh every time I think about it. I remember the drive home being one of the longest drives home as I had the windows, sunroof open pumping my hands and waving my arms around like I just scored the winning shot for the NBA Finals. I remember screaming YES!!!!!! FUCK YES!!!!! WOOOOOO!!!! I LOVE THIS WOMAN!!!! YESSSSSS!!!! ALL THE WAY HOME, I didn't care if any cars next to me heard or saw, loving life. What adds to this is how you became not only my partner, but my best friend as well. I love how I’m able to be 100% weird and silly with you, I love how much I’m able to be myself around you and share my humour with you, amazing how you find the same humour as me funny. We share a lot of history together. We’ve got history. When I started getting you into Chris Brown properly, then you started sharing the same interests and hobbies as mine (reps, Jordans, setups, gaming, tech, youtubers, PCs, shoes, I got you into the Marvel Universe, then you branched out and we kind of shared Star Wars together too, you branching out into streaming, finding your own favourite games like Skyrim), I loved the influence we’ve had on one another's lives and have always tried to support everything you do, I hope you know that (e.g. like always watching your streams to keep your viewer count up, helping you with your setup ideas, stresses, etc).
I constantly thought to myself, where am I ever going to find someone this gorgeous who’s into literally everything I’m into as well but is somehow still unique in her own way (I love how you enjoy listening to game and movie soundtracks, reading into things like lore of games and stuff, the list doesn’t end). Not only were you my girl, you were my best friend, more than Jono or Jack, more than anyone. My favourite thing is how you even kind of listened to Jake Miller and Zayn when I started playing them in the car and you started singing along and suggesting which songs you like, never been happier and prouder than realising our music taste influences one another, that Post Malone concert we went to was another night I won’t forget. I hope we never leave each other’s lives and stay close, there’s no one in the world like you, I won’t lie when I say I genuinely do hope we find our way back to each other but that’s not me telling you it HAS to happen or like forcing you or anything. It also is definitely not my intent on writing this letter, like I said, I just wanted to speak my mind and also put all my cards on the table. I know you told me not to wait, I listen, I completely understand and have accepted it may not work out, it’s just a little bit hope, I say it with full confidence that I’ll never love someone as much as I love you, you’re my best friend, my soul mate and although you don’t like ‘Friends’, you’re my Rachel, it’s you Michelle, it’s always been you.
It’s been mind-blowing to have you in my life and I am forever grateful and thankful for everything you’ve taught me, helped me with, changed in me (willingly, wanting to and for the better) and especially shown me (like how much I can love someone both as my bestie and my partner, taking advantage of every opportunity given in life). I truly mean it when I say thank you for everything, all the memories, the history, everything. You are a blessing on this Earth.
Thank you Michelle.

CONTEXT: Names have all been changed for anonimity, there's a lot of inside references and memory references that may not seem as significant to any reader, but just wanted to put this out there to let people know to not get complacent in the relationship and let them get away. I still hope one day I find my way back to her, but for now this was the final letter I left her.
​
Dear Michelle,
I’ve spent a countless number of days staring at this blank piece of paper not knowing what to do with it or what to say. The number of times I’ve scrunched it up and had to restart is crazy. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I still don’t know what I’m doing with this, just putting all cards on the table I guess. But most importantly I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I miss you and think about that gorgeous face of yours all the time. In no way is this me trying to “get you back”, no ill intentions or anything negative, please understand this.It’s been many years since I’ve used an actual pen to write on a piece of paper, the last being your “Get Well Soon” card when you were upset about you and your ex and your Christmas Card. Not having you in my life anymore has granted me a lot of time to myself to think and process my life. Believe me, I’ve done a LOT of thinking, about you, about me, about us and life in general. You’ll be happy to know I’ve done a lot of growing and all this period. All that I ask is IF you do read this, try to take in every word and read it meaningfully with no distractions. I write this with all my heart.
Remember the day I planned on asking you out to make things official? I dedicated the entire day to being all about you and keeping that beautiful huge smile on your face. I took you to get your ears pierced, we then went to Chadstone and shopped around, came home to nap before I took you to the Melbourne Star wheel. The glimmer in your eyes throughout the day and even while in the deck was mesmerizing and I couldn’t have been a happier man, unfortunately we were plagued by the indians and their families in the same cabin so I wasn’t able to fulfill my plan on asking you out but we laughed about it in the car ride home and at least it gave us a funny story on how we came to be official. Although I was grateful and thankful for the amazing time I got to spend with you then and especially the feeling of your warmth and comfort when you were cuddled in my arms and in that moment looking at you watching the view with me I couldn’t help think to myself, I’ve never cared about someone so precious ever in my life but most of all, you’ve never looked more gorgeous than in that one moment.
Or even the night I took you to the Conservatory, you wore my favourite outfit of yours but we were still a bit shy with one another. You were quiet at the dinner table as we were still early together but the vibe was mutually great and the night outside was as beautiful as you were. Never have I seen someone I love look so amazing while messily munching down on a buffet of food, that was the night you showed me you were a Little Piggy. The funniest part of the night was seeing your shock and guilt with the bill, I don’t need to tell you the cheeky laugh it gave me to see you like that as I was doing it right in your face. Although, my favourite part of the night was when we parked out the front of your house and chilled there for the longest time and enjoyed each other's company, in that moment, was when I knew, there’s no place I’d ever rather be than with my arms around you.
My all time favourite moment would have to be the time we spent staying at Crown. There has never been a better set of days in my life as perfect as those. It was all unforgettable, from the moment we came and just jumped in bed to cuddle, going to the Galactic Circus and playing the arcade games, especially the fun playing air hockey having to pretend to lose to you, seeing so concentrated on winning and then the smile that erupted on your face when you did, I couldn’t help but smile and think to myself, this angel makes me feel at home. The coolest part was the dinners on both nights, Korean BBQ the first night then having the pleasure of Jono and Erin to join us at Kitchen Workshop for the second night, the casino with them after it was fun as hell. What set each day in stone in my mind was showing you how much you meant to me when making love to you every night, I’ll never forget how lost I was staring into your beautiful blue eyes, I still do to this day and they’ll always be my true favourite feature of you. I’ve had a countless number of memorable cherished experiences with you and it is an honour for a lot of these experiences with me to be your firsts in general.
You’ve taught me so much over these past couple years that we’ve dated, you’ve shown me how to be a better person day by day by treating everyone with the same kindness, love and respect that you’d love reciprocated by them back. I’ve slowly learnt from you on how to be the bigger person in situations instead of sinking down to their level, how to be a mature man and not the Shaun I used to be before I met you. I love the man I have become because of you and have always hoped that you were lowkey proud of my development, all thanks to how amazing you are. Props to your amazing parents for raising the beautiful woman you are today. I know I still have faults, I admit that and take full responsibility for them all but I have grown heaps especially these past few weeks and am still working on them. You may think I never listen to you but I’d like you to trust me, because I always am, I listen to every word of your recommendations on how to be better, at the time I’m just a tiny bit ignorant about it but don’t let that deter you from thinking that I don’t take your words in.
The one thing I have loved being able to do with you that I am unable to do with anyone else EVER is ALWAYS FEELING COMFORTABLE coming to you whenever I need do things like vent, a shoulder to cry on or help with how to deal with certain situations because I found that no one else could ever help as much as you could and would. I loved being able to vent to you about any and every one of my problems throughout my day or life in general, you were my rock, I felt safe and at home knowing that you genuinely cared and were also giving me endless support and advice. It felt good knowing someone was genuinely listening to me and was there. I have always tried my 100% best to do the same for you and I hope I have reciprocated that same feeling back. I hope that you always knew and felt comfortable coming to me to vent about anything, work, life, any of your problems like your career troubles, friends (I’m not going to name all the troubles, we both know everything). Whenever you did rest assured that I always dedicated you my 100% undivided attention and support and would always drop whatever I was doing and come straight over to cheer you up whenever I possibly could because I wanted to always be there for you, seeing you sad is my least favourite thing in the world, it still is.
Most importantly, the one thing I think of that is most special in my life and that I hold very dearly to me is two words:
2 Weeks
In the little over 4 weeks I spent chasing you, I realised that all it took was only the last 2 that meant something to me. 2 Weeks together. 2 Weeks was all it took for me to fall in love with you. I remember our first kiss like it’s tattooed in my mind. I remember every moment, from coming to Jenna’s house to take you home, meeting Rachel for the first time and listening to her saying “you have a really nice car”, you whispering something to her before she closed your door, something that we will both never know which has always crossed my mind, in a happy and funny way. I remember playing our song OTW in the car going towards Mia's place and you falling asleep while it happened, I remember looking at you there so drunk, yet peaceful and full of life, happy in the moment even though you were asleep, no sight has ever lit up my world more than that. Taking you to Mia's house and conversing and getting along with all your friends was great but then our moment happened. I remember holding you so you wouldn’t stumble while walking me to my car, I remember you caressing my arms while we looked into each other’s eyes and all I could think was, there’s nothing in the world that I wouldn’t do for this angel to keep her happy, then you kissed me. You kissed me Michelle. I felt the touch of those soft amazing lips against mine and you turned my whole world upside down, the funny thing is, I was so full of happiness and shock that a tear came out of me left eye and I’m not even joking, I wasn’t crying but it was just one tear and I was praying that you wouldn’t notice and that it didn’t run across your face for you to feel it, thank god you didn’t and this is the first time you’re hearing about it. I laugh every time I think about it. I remember the drive home being one of the longest drives home as I had the windows, sunroof open pumping my hands and waving my arms around like I just scored the winning shot for the NBA Finals. I remember screaming YES!!!!!! FUCK YES!!!!! WOOOOOO!!!! I LOVE THIS WOMAN!!!! YESSSSSS!!!! ALL THE WAY HOME, I didn't care if any cars next to me heard or saw, loving life. What adds to this is how you became not only my partner, but my best friend as well. I love how I’m able to be 100% weird and silly with you, I love how much I’m able to be myself around you and share my humour with you, amazing how you find the same humour as me funny. We share a lot of history together. We’ve got history. When I started getting you into Chris Brown properly, then you started sharing the same interests and hobbies as mine (reps, Jordans, setups, gaming, tech, youtubers, PCs, shoes, I got you into the Marvel Universe, then you branched out and we kind of shared Star Wars together too, you branching out into streaming, finding your own favourite games like Skyrim), I loved the influence we’ve had on one another's lives and have always tried to support everything you do, I hope you know that (e.g. like always watching your streams to keep your viewer count up, helping you with your setup ideas, stresses, etc).
I constantly thought to myself, where am I ever going to find someone this gorgeous who’s into literally everything I’m into as well but is somehow still unique in her own way (I love how you enjoy listening to game and movie soundtracks, reading into things like lore of games and stuff, the list doesn’t end). Not only were you my girl, you were my best friend, more than Jono or Jack, more than anyone. My favourite thing is how you even kind of listened to Jake Miller and Zayn when I started playing them in the car and you started singing along and suggesting which songs you like, never been happier and prouder than realising our music taste influences one another, that Post Malone concert we went to was another night I won’t forget. I hope we never leave each other’s lives and stay close, there’s no one in the world like you, I won’t lie when I say I genuinely do hope we find our way back to each other but that’s not me telling you it HAS to happen or like forcing you or anything. It also is definitely not my intent on writing this letter, like I said, I just wanted to speak my mind and also put all my cards on the table. I know you told me not to wait, I listen, I completely understand and have accepted it may not work out, it’s just a little bit hope, I say it with full confidence that I’ll never love someone as much as I love you, you’re my best friend, my soul mate and although you don’t like ‘Friends’, you’re my Rachel, it’s you Michelle, it’s always been you.
It’s been mind-blowing to have you in my life and I am forever grateful and thankful for everything you’ve taught me, helped me with, changed in me (willingly, wanting to and for the better) and especially shown me (like how much I can love someone both as my bestie and my partner, taking advantage of every opportunity given in life). I truly mean it when I say thank you for everything, all the memories, the history, everything. You are a blessing on this Earth.
Thank you Michelle.

The best laid PLANs of mice and men often go awry.
​
Welcome back to another effortpost by me generally on the developing arms race in East Asia, this time covering the People's Liberation Army Navy, hereafter referred to as the "PLAN", and its massive growth... and... mostly, well, its massive growth. What that means is mostly covered in other posts about how other countries are responding to it. The why is a bit difficult because, well, China is not well known for open debate, or open anything, really, which will turn up repeatedly.
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1. What you [might] need to know about South Korea's ludicrous arms buildup
2. We shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches.... uh, what do we do after that again?: The Perilous Defensive Position of Taiwan
3. "You've hit another cargo ship? The Problems with the US Navy: Not all of them begin with "Seven" and end with "th Fleet"."
4. Will China's PLAN survive contact with the enemy?
5. Biden's New START and modern nuclear war
6. First And Last Stand Of The Tin Can Navies [ASEAN + Australia and the smaller adversaries China may contend with]
7. Boned: Problems in the US Air [and space!] Force
8. --Unnamed-- effortpost on Japanese military matters, mostly about how weird the JSDF status is
9. --Unnamed--effortpost on Indian military matters, and why they can't focus on China or buy anything that works
10. --Unnamed--effortpost on the rest of the PLA, mostly the air force though
11. --Unnamed--effortpost on the rest of the US Armed Forces, mostly talking about how the marines are changing and the Army's new love affair with INF-busting weapons
12. Conclusion?

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Glossary:
PLA = People's Liberation Army = the armed forces of the People's Republic of China, or China
PLAN = People's Liberation Army Navy = the naval forces of the PLA
PLANAF = People's Liberation Army Navy Air Force = the air force of the navy of the PLA
Ashm = Anti-ship missile, cruise missile unless specifically described as otherwise--there's only one anti-ship ballistic missile in existence and its efficacy and whether or not it functions is questionable
CIWS = close-in weapons system, like the Phalanx gun or Goalkeeper
VLS = vertical launch system for missiles
AEGIS = Aegis Combat System if described specifically in that context, a US naval warfare system, but we'll usually be talking about "Chinese AEGIS", which is a nomiker used by the Chinese media in particular comparing the Type 346 radar to the AN-SPY family, with which it shares numerous technical characteristics--but how comparable the "Chinese AEGIS" system is to what the US uses is a complete unknown.
SAM = Surface-to-air missile, in this case usually a S-300 derivative
First Island Chain = The islands, stretching from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan, which keep China inside its littoral seas much as the GIUK [Greenland-Iceland-UK] gap has kept various continental powers out of the Atlantic.
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Some PLAN equipment you might see described--the nomenclature is confusing and a relic of the cultural revolution, and as a result China now has more Types than the British.
Type 003 = China's new conventionally powered supercarriers, currently under construction
Type 002 = China's first truly "operational" carrier
Type 001 = China's first carrier, built on a Soviet hull purchased from Ukraine ostensibly to make a floating casino
Type 055 = Guided-missile cruiser, though generally called a destroyer it's probably more descriptively labeled a cruiser
Type 052D = Guided-missile destroyer using "Chinese AEGIS"
Type 052/051B/052B/052C = the gradual progression of evolving Chinese naval tech, largely built as practice/demo ships like the Type 001. Some of the earlier ones are steam-powered but by the Type 052C you have something almost as advanced as the Type 052D, albeit with turbine problems
Type 054A = the standard modern frigate of the PLAN
Type 053[anything] = old PLAN frigates
Type 096 = China's newest SSBN class, under construction
Type 094 = China's first functional SSBN class, very noisy
Type 092 = China's first "SSBN", believed to have never left port with an actual nuke on board
Type 095 = China's newest SSN class, under construction
Type 093 = China's current SSN class, noisy
Type 091 = China's first SSN class, dumb dumb dumb and is at a 1950s tech level
Type 039[A] = China's new SSK class
Kilo = China's older SSK class, imported from Russia
Sovremenny = China's first capable anti-air destroyers, imported from Russia
​
​

1. The Last Time A Rising Navy Challenged A Dominant Foe

The last time we've seen something like this was in the late 19th century. After the First World War shipbuilding was restricted by the landmark Washington Naval Treaty, one of the first great arms control treaties, and during the Cold War the Soviet Union never really had any hopes of surpassing American naval power. China, however, seems intent on replacing the US as the world's dominant naval power, or at least building a force that can stop the US Navy, even combined with the forces of Japan and other regional allies.
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The nations in question, of course, in the last naval arms race, were the United Kingdom and a newly-unified Germany. Germany never reached the level of the UK, but seriously threatened it. Previously the UK had maintained a policy of having more ships than the next two largest fleets combined, but this was no longer possible, and the UK legitimately was fearful for its naval supremacy. It didn't last too long in the end--under a decade--and a resumption was foiled by first a world war and then the Washington Naval Treaty. The impact of the arms race, though, was massive. It set Germany and the UK at odds with each other, it resulted in a general buildup of warships pretty much everywhere [South America was, believe it or not, one of the biggest offenders there], established Germany for a time as the world's second naval power, having eclipsed both France and Russia and turning a small coastal defense navy into something that was able to defeat the Royal Navy itself, though never comprehensively enough to change the course of the first world war.
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China dwells in a much different situation than Germany did at the turn of the last century, so we can only extend the analogy so far--substituting in Japan for the UK, India for Russia, and so on is possible but not, in my view, educational. However, we can see many of the same elements playing in here. China seems intent on replacing the US as a dominant power, or at least as regional hegemon--the ancient tributary system seems to lie fairly heavily on Chinese minds--and in order to do that, it must be able to have some degree of power projection and the capability to deny the US Navy access to areas within the first island chain. It remains to be seen, however, how successful that quest will be. Much as with the dreadnought battleships, I wouldn't be surprised if we never actually do find out if most of the shiny naval toys people have built actually work. But their mere existence shows the mutual hostility developing in the region and demonstrates the size of the Chinese threat.
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Another lesson learned here is that China, like Germany, may not develop a naval force capable of defeating the US comprehensively, but only partially, and that one of the powers--in this case, China--might be pressured to strike first before the US Navy can close the gap. That ~2030 gap I talked about in my last post is, I think, an especially vulnerable point, because China may look at a degraded, but rejuvenating US Navy, then at their own capable forces, and decide to strike then in Taiwan and the South China Sea, only to back down when the US Navy again eclipses them. Whether or not that will happen, we will see--but I find it a very dangerous and perhaps likely possibility.
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2. What the PLAN looked like 20 years ago

The PLAN has undergone an absolutely stunning evolution in the past two decades. In the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis the US could intimidate China with a pair of aircraft carrier strike groups and China could do pretty much nothing about it. Now the US is afraid of sending anything more than a destroyer through the strait.
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Twenty years ago, the PLAN was a bit of a joke. Even Taiwan figured it could hold the seas against the PLAN. It consisted of a few tens of outdated coastal-defense frigates, some Soviet-era diesel-electric subs, and a large number of unsophisticated missile craft. The pride of the Chinese fleet were a handful of destroyers assembled using cobbled-together Western technology--copied French missiles, American gas turbines, the lot. According to American accounts at the time, the instructions for the equipment hadn't even been translated. The most advanced ship in the fleet used steampower. There were nuclear submarines, but of 1950s quality. Of particular note was the fact that the Chinese fleet had no area air defense capabilities--their premier surface-to-air-missile was an unlicensed knockoff of the French Crotale, and couldn't shoot anything outside of visual range, at high altitudes, or really doing anything more sophisticated than trying to kill their ships with low-altitude dumb bombing runs.
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In the past twenty years, however, the PLAN has, much like the German Navy towards the end of the 19th century, gone from an afterthought to the world's second most powerful force. It began, as modern China's military capabilities almost all began, with the looting of the former Soviet Union for naval technology. While Soviet naval tech was generally lacking, it was much better than anything else China could get its hands on after the arms embargo placed on it in the 1990s by the US and Europe in response to Tienanmen and the end of the Cold War. China bought Soviet diesel submarines, Soviet air-defense destroyers, and Soviet aircraft carriers, which it promptly left lying around [and turned one of them into a theme park]. This was combined with copies of various pieces of Western, mostly European, technology for everything from sonars to surface-to-air missiles. China then began developing its first modern indigenous surface combatants, the Type 052C, but there were still problems. The engines were Ukrainian and had reliability trouble, the gun jammed, there was no VLS.
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It is really in the last ten years that things have begun to move extremely quickly, and even only in the latter portion of the decade. In 2012 the Type 001 Liaoning entered service, and although it remains more of a training ship than an operational vessel, and is held back by a poor carrier aircraft, the mere fact that China "built" a carrier was a surprise to many. In 2014 the first Type 052D destroyer came online. It had learned the lessons from the Type 052C, and in just the last six years at least ten have entered service, with a class size of about 23 expected. This rapid expansion is what has frightened competing navies the most--in a little over a decade, the PLAN is constructing more destroyers than the British, French, and Australian navies have in service combined. It is also building the Type 055, which has generally been called a "destroyer" despite being more aptly described as a cruiser in line with the Ticonderoga-class. China has also built 30 modern frigates in the past decade, which has also swelled its numbers, along with numerous smaller corvettes, submarines, and so on.
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This is why the PLAN has become such an object of concern. While it cannot challenge the US Navy yet, at least outside its littoral zones, the decline of the USN and rapid expansion of the PLAN means that it is a serious threat. And the speed at which it has developed has made many fearful. As recently as 2010, the idea of China operating an aircraft carrier or modern destroyers seemed distant, possibly preposterous. Now China speaks openly of having a six-carrier fleet in the 2030s, although, as with many of China's plans to operate full US-replicated tech and doctrine, these may have somewhat caved to realism. China is mighty, but it has already done the easy part--the last part is much harder, in economics and in military matters. Building the software, the institutional knowledge, the hardware to compete with the US Navy will prove difficult.
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3. What the PLAN looks like now--submarines

Submarines are one of the PLAN's weak spots, particularly nuclear submarines. China is, however, making some fairly rapid advances in this area.
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Their nuclear submarine program has been considered a bit of a joke for some time. In the late 1950s when all the cool kids great powers were getting nuclear submarines, China decided [or at least Mao did] that China needed nuclear submarines too. About 16 years later, the product of this effort finally emerged as the Type 091 submarine. Based on 1950s technology, with poor radiation shielding and basically nothing done in the name of noise reduction, and not even a teardrop hull, the Type 091 was probably more of a threat to the sailors who were on it than anyone else, except maybe the two Tench-class submarines that Taiwan operates, which use 1940s technology and are the world's longest-serving submarines, though they're mostly used for training nowadays. Even then, my money would be on the Tench despite the upgrades the PLAN has made to the Type 091. There's only so much you can do to put lipstick on a pig.
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China also produced an SSBN, the Type 092, which was probably the only submarine more useless than the Type 091. About the only useful thing it did for the PLAN was that it served as a test platform for SLBM launches. Reports suggest that the Type 092 is the noisiest SSBN ever made, and is thought to have only ever undertaken a single patrol. It stayed at port for so long that it was thought to have sunk in an accident. And the experience turned the PLAN off from building SSBNs for over twenty years, until the Type 094 came online in 2007.
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More recent submarines are growing in capability, though. The Type 094 is not the noisiest SSBN ever made, and may not even be the noisiest in current service--that honor going to the Delta III operated by the Russian Navy, which uses 1970s technology, and, which, according to the US Office of Naval Intelligence, is about as noisy as the Type 094. The Type 093 is also moderately capable--it actually functions and can fire anti-ship missiles. However, the Type 093 is still considered only comparable to the Soviet Victor III class, again using 1970s technology. Future submarines have not yet been seen, but expectations are that China will make another step forward to late 1980s or early 1990s tech levels, producing something on par with the Los Angeles or Akula for the first time.
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China also operates a fairly capable fleet of coastal diesel-electric submarines. While some are quite old--the Type 035--most are pretty average for the global submarine force, a mix of Kilos and domestic AIP designs. The large number of boats in operation and their anti-ship missile capability means that these should be considered a real threat, at least in the littoral waters near to China, but they aren't decisive by any means, especially since China is facing off against such threats as Japan's Soryu class, probably the most advanced diesel-electric sub in existence.
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In conclusion, the PLAN is still pretty weak on the submarine front--weaker here than on anything but its carrier force, but its capabilities are advancing rapidly and should not be underestimated.

4. What the PLAN looks like now--surface combatants

The surface fleet is definitely the most impressive and capable portion of the PLAN, no questions about it. China once had a fleet consisting mostly of coastal frigates and missile boats. As recently as 2000, its fleet had no real area-air-defense destroyers, and no SAMs that could operate outside visual range. Now, though, the PLAN operates tens of advanced guided-missile destroyers, advanced frigates, and still retains a large number of small, stealthy missile boats.
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The major focus of Chinese warships appears to be on anti-air, with anti-surface being a somewhat secondary concern for all but the smallest vessels. This makes sense when you realize that the primary focus is, at least for the moment, on using land-based aircraft to strike against hostile fleet formations using long-range anti-ship missiles, in a very Soviet sort of way--"Backfire raids" using long-range land-based aircraft with anti-ship missiles were one of the US Navy's major concerns during the Cold War, and the very reason for the F-14's existence along with the AIM-54 Phoenix it carried. However, China has been developing anti-surface capabilities as well using ashms and land-attack cruise missiles [generally the same thing, actually]. Since China has finally developed a VLS system that allows it to use the same launcher for multiple missiles, its most recent ships have become more versatile in that role.
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How effective these ships are at that task is, however, a relatively open question. Their radars at least seem to quite sophisticated, using flat-panel AESA, and have been dubbed "Chinese AEGIS" by the highly reliable Chinese domestic media. The basic platform their surface-to-air missiles are based on also seems to be fairly capable--the HQ-9 is an S-300 derivative, a respectable SAM system though, again, how capable it is against opponents in an active electronic warfare environment is questionable, and it has basically no capabilities against stealth aircraft like the F-35 as far as anyone knows. The efficacy of their CIWS, again, is open to question. Really this is true of everything about the modern PLAN, and PLA in general. The PLA is secretive, has not exported most of its hardware, and has developed largely independently of foreign militaries, though it is definitely influenced by them. Now that the PLAN has moved away from simply copying foreign hardware and patching it together, its capabilities are much harder to discern.
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However, they should be taken as a very real threat, and not written off. My guess would be that their warships are about as capable as most of their non-American counterparts, save those equipped with AEGIS, but that's all my guess is---a guess.

5. What the PLAN looks like now--carriers

The PLAN currently has two carriers in service, and two more known to be under construction, and most suspect that it will build several more. However, at the moment, the PLAN's carrier force is largely a paper tiger, designed around training. The first carrier, the Type 001, basically was a "how do you build a carrier" kit bought from Russia, possibly by accident--the "fully functional" Minsk ended up as a theme park, believe it or not. The hull was purchased from Ukraine and then completed in China years later. It is also believed that the PLAN may have learned some things about aircraft carriers from the HMAS Melbourne, which was sold to a Chinese firm for scrapping--rumor has it the PLAN had no clue this had happened and then had a field day looking at all the stuff that hadn't been taken out. This was back in the old days when nobody could imagine that China would have an aircraft carrier. The Type 002, however, is built from scratch, but isn't particularly capable especially as it's a ski-jump carrier, leaving the Type 003 the first carrier which will prove actually useful.
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The main thing holding China's carrier fleet back, though, is a lack of a suitable aircraft. Originally China was considering purchasing Su-33s from Russia, hardly a good carrier-based aircraft but functional, but after Russia discovered that China had been mucking about building a Su-27 derivative without asking the deal fell through [China tells a different story, saying that Russia demanded exorbitant amounts to reopen production which it was unwilling to pay for a nearly obsolete aircraft]. As a result China operates the J-15 as its naval fighter, with... less than stellar results. It's extremely heavy, and, if it takes off from the carrier, has minimal range if carrying anything at all--it can't take more than two short range air to air missiles into the sky to fight enemy aircraft. However, the J-15 isn't really intended for combat service--it's intended to teach China how to run carriers, and it seems to work well enough for that task, aside from the multiple fatal crashes. There is, however, thought to be a new carrier fighter in the pipeline--most say the J-31/FC-31, which has reduced RCS and a number of carrier-unique features, is being pitched as a carrier-based aircraft and will serve as China's carrier fighter in the future. China also lacks any fixed wing carrier-based airborne early warning, which could prove troublesome--a lack of AEW means that its view is limited by the horizon--and has no resupply aircraft like the C-2 Greyhound. As a result, for the moment at least, China lacks an effective carrier force, but it is likely to continue developing rapidly in the next decade and become a fairly substantial threat. Remember that as recently as 2010, a Chinese aircraft carrier seemed preposterous to many people, and now they have two.

6. Some attention to land-based aircraft

Land-based aircraft as a naval weapon are not generally used by the US, which has never had a reason to develop them as a doctrinal focus. Sure, you could potentially envision them as being used, and there even were situations where they were utilized, but it just wasn't generally a priority or how things were done. For China, though, taking influence from the Soviets, and lying on littoral seas with hostile powers in the First Island Chain, land-based aircraft and missiles are a key part of doctrine. Although this is often viewed as a new thing, called A2/AD [anti access/area denial], it's really the result of a long historical evolution of naval power, probably most refined by the Soviet Union. As a result, land-based naval aviation plays an important role, firing anti-ship missiles at standoff distances at enemy vessels, and shore-based launchers of anti-ship missiles are also an important weapon. The combination of these systems means that venturing within China's littoral seas is a dangerous proposition during war, and some waters, like those of the Taiwan Strait, are effectively considered closed at this point in the event of hostilities breaking out. For this reason air superiority is also important in this sort of naval warfare, as if either side gains air superiority it can pummel its opponents with air-launched anti-ship missiles. China's capabilities in this area are sophisticated and should not be underestimated, but they are unlikely to go through a rapid period of growth like the PLAN's fleet.
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And a brief note dedicated entirely to the DF-21D "Carrier killer" that the PLA likes to show off. It's a pretty impressive capability, on paper, using a ballistic missile to hit a carrier. The CEP [circular error probable] means that it could even happen, presuming that an aircraft carrier was good enough to sit in one place, not moving, long enough to be detected by China. Aircraft carriers look big, but the seas are huge, and they're surprisingly hard to find. They also move quite fast, in excess of of 35mph/55kph, and thus by the time the ballistic missile has launched it might well be out of range given the fact that ballistic missiles are not particularly known for their maneuverability in terminal stages, at least not in the realm of miles. The DF-21D is not a particular threat to the modern aircraft carrier. It could potentially be one if it evolves into a hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, but that's a whole additional can of worms, that I might address a different day.

7. The PLAN's plans for the future--what will it look like in 2030?

Unfortunately the PLAN is not exactly the most open of navies, as I've repeatedly mentioned. There are no public debates over acquisitions programs, no big fleet shape plans, relatively little detail.
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However, a few things are fairly sure bets or publicly announced.
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China has repeatedly announced plans to build a six-carrier force, including the Type 001 and Type 002, but also a pair of Type 003 [already under construction] conventionally powered supercarriers and a pair of Type 004 nuclear powered supercarriers. However, it seems that the Type 004 is currently on hold. Why, exactly, is unclear, but it seems to be technical difficulties, which are not particularly surprising given that China's experience with nuclear maritime propulsion seem to be rather limited and have had poor results in their submarine fleet. The costs were also expected to be too high--China does not have an unlimited quantity of money, despite what it may flaunt, and nuclear carriers are expensive to develop especially given that China has not built a nuclear-powered surface ship before.
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A new carrier-based fighter is almost certainly in the cards because the J-15 is pretty much useless. The FC-31 seems by far the most likely candidate but it could be another aircraft we haven't seen yet. The addition of this aircraft will greatly improve the PLAN's capabilities.
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China also has two Type 075 amphibious assault ships/LHDs under construction, and I would expect this class to be much more prolific. These ships are much more affordable than the full carriers, and focus on areas in which China is particularly concerned--amphibious assaults, say, on islands in the South China Sea or on Taiwan, and anti-submarine warfare, which is of particular importance given that submarines cannot be easily halted with land-based anti-ship missiles and air-launched cruise missiles provided for in their area denial doctrine--submarines are one of the few things that can slip through that net.
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The surface combatant fleet is likely to continue growing, but I am not sure if it will swell much beyond the ~23 Type 052D ships planned and the 8 Type 055s. We're likely to see the retirement of the classes preceding the Type 052C destroyer and the Type 054 frigate, and they may be offloaded to Bangladesh, Myanmar, or Pakistan--there is substantial precedent here, and it seems that China is interested in expanding the naval capabilities of its partners around India.
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The submarine fleet is likely to see rapid expansion if the PLAN is satisfied with the Type 095 and Type 096 classes, and we're likely to see more diesel-electric subs built as well. Submarines are generally quite good at fighting submarines and conducting area-denial missions, and the large and capable subsurface forces of Japan, Korea, and the United States means that this has to be an area the PLAN invests more in--and the fact that several Southeast Asian nations are also looking at acquiring submarines makes the issue more pressing.

8. Conclusion

China has in the past decade gone from a third-rate navy to perhaps the greatest threat the US Navy has faced since the Second World War. This has significant geopolitical implications, and has resulted in neighbors scrambling to overhaul their naval forces. The growth of the PLAN means that the US can no longer easily defend Taiwan or the South China Sea, or any of China's littoral waters. This, more than anything else, is what has everyone scrambling in the US talking about "great-power competition" because denying access to the US Navy and working on power projection, an inherently naval thing, is essentially a clear sign that China is looking to directly compete with the United States. Underestimate the PLAN at your own peril.
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I hope to have more detail and citations in future posts, but unfortunately the PLAN is very secretive [yes, I've said that fifty times already] and this is a pretty big topic to discuss without going into details about all sorts of naval tidbits. Thanks for reading the fourth post in what I hope will be a fairly substantial series, probably around ~12 posts.
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9. Citations

James Holmes, "The Danger Zone In Naval Arms Races"
USNI, Report to Congress on Chinese Naval Modernization
Hans Kristensen, China's Noisy Nuclear Submarines
Eric Wertheim, China's Type 052D Destroyer is a potent adversary
Robert Farley, Let's Talk About The Chinese Navy's Type 055 Destroyer
Ryan Pickrell, Chinese fighter jet holding China back as it builds carrier fleet
Look, much more here is based on loose speculation, more unreliable sources, and stuff I've picked up over the years, because public info is limited. So take everything I say with a grain of salt, but understand that it's the best information I know of.

Hey Legends! I’m from Melbourne, Australia and recently with lockdown and everything opening up again I feel like the temptation and thought of succumbing to relapsing is stronger then ever...
Pubs all opening with Slots & TABs..
Casinos open again and everyone posting it on social media...
On the topic of media even here in Melbourne you cannot got half a day without seeing advertising either on your phone or out on big billboards..
I guess what I’m trying to get across in this all over the place ranting mess is.... that it’s not going to be easy, some days will be a breeze, and some days will be such a struggle, but just being able to fight for your cause and post that SIGNIFICANT number here on this reddit group and read other like minded peoples posts has literally saved me from my own addiction.
Anyway! To all you battlers out there doing it tough in lockdown and in general keep fighting those demons!! Let’s kill it together and win at life 🤙🏽

This is a space to talk all things Coronavirus & the recent shut down of non essential services.
 
All new posts on the sub including (but not limited to); news and information, discussion, questions, national issues, world wide issues, supply hoarding, what essential services will and won't be shut down, will be removed and redirected here. All posts currently on the sub will be left, unless they are not sufficiently focused on Melbourne, they will be removed and redirected.
 
Shut down info
Stage 1: https://www.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-stage-1
Will be updated as we find out more.
From midday on Monday 23 March, the following businesses will be closed: pubs, clubs, cinemas, casinos, nightclubs, indoor places of worship, gyms, indoor sporting venues
Services that will remain open: supermarkets, banks, petrol stations, pharmacies, convenience stores, freight and logistics, food delivery, bottle shops, hairdressers and beauticians
Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-22/coronavirus-lockdown-what-it-means/12079242
 
Job resources

As part of the $1.7 billion Economic Survival Package, the Victorian Government has announced a $500 million package to assist >people who have lost their jobs at this difficult time.
Under the Working for Victoria Fund, displaced workers will be eligible to apply for different types of work. This presents opportunities for paid work and an opportunity to contribute to Victoria’s ability to manage this event and support the community. Some displaced workers will have skills that can be readily transferred to new roles. The Government can also assist skills development or help people in obtaining immediate accreditation to commence work.
The Government will work across the public sector, local government, the not-for-profit sector and key private sector employers to facilitate job matching. Businesses that need workers can get in touch at business.vic.gov.au.

Twitter thread mentioned specifically about food delivery, public transport cleaning, charity organisation outreach
Source: https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/1241234933978300416
Source: https://www.vic.gov.au/workingforvictoria (thanks ftjlster)
We will add information resources to this post as they become available, if you have a resource to add to this list, please send us a modmail.
 
Resources:

• The Coronavirus Explained & What You Should Do - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtN-goy9VOY
• Australian Coronavirus Subreddit - https://www.reddit.com/CoronavirusDownunde
• VIC Health Alerts & Advisories - https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/about/news-and-events/healthalerts/2019-Coronavirus-disease--COVID-19
• World Health Organisation - https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
• Australian Government Department of Health - https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov
• VIC Health and Human Services - https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus
• VIC Health and Human Services daily Coronavirus update - https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-update?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
• ​Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
• Vic Gov updates: https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus
• Real time stats on confirmed cases in Australia: https://covid-19-au.github.io

 
Other worthwhile links (submit links here):

• Participate on Discord active discussions about COVID-19 plus a general channel if you need human interaction (and pictures of pets)
• Things to do at home with your significant other
• The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra live stream
• https://www.highclassescortsmelbourne.com.au/melbourne-escorts-stop-providing-sex-worker-services-due-to-coronavirus-pandemic/

  Previous megathread parts:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9
Please keep all discussion civil, racism and hate speech will result in bans as always.

Proof:
https://preview.redd.it/xb9iqs5zlob51.png?width=1416&format=png&auto=webp&s=c952b5e5d5a6e582de865619558eac4c29410008
3 days ago, Revenue Universe had their double campaign and Huuuge Casino worth jumped from 3000 to 6000. It may have been higher on other sites or wall, but this was the first time I saw it this high. I actually failed this offer a month back on IOS for 5200 because I ran out of chips at around level 49 and just decided to quit. I decided to bite the bullet on this one, despite my failure, and decided to retry it (this time on Android). To my surprise, 3 days later, I was able to reach level 200. I have also included tips at the bottom of page for anyone who just want to know stuff like how to not run out of chips, when to use your lottery tickets, how much to bet, etc.
IMPORTANT EDIT: This is unconfirmed because I haven't checked on it but according to a few users, Huuuge Casino and other similar casino games have a small safeguard secret prize before level 50 that grants you chips during some level ups when you are under 20 million so it is almost impossible to lose all your chips. That way, you can max bet all the way to level 50 and if you are lucky, you may end up with a few hundred million of chips by then (again I haven't confirmed this yet, but I'm currently doing the Billionaire Casino offer (which is literally a carbon copy of Huuge Casino and vice versa in terms of slot machine, layout, etc) and this seems to be a thing. In terms of the hundred of millions of chips part, that is all dependent on Jackpot luck so take that part with a grain of salt).

Some stats

Time it took me	62 hours. If you did the simple math, that means of the 3 days I used to finish this offer. my android phone was on most of the time. The only time my phone wasn't on was during the last few hours when I was asleep because it turned off while I was spinning on Huuuge Diamond since I didn't want the offer to credit in the middle of the night. However, there is a catch. I used an auto clicker and bought the chips necessary to complete the offer. My phone didn't get all that hot during the 62 hours it was on, but just in case, if you are going to be like me and keep a phone on for 62 hours straight, be sure the phone is lying on something cool like a fan so the phone doesn't overheat.
Other apps used	Yes, I used an auto clicker. Otherwise, it would've taken a lot longer, more attention, and mind-numbingly frustrating. More info about that down below. For the autoclicker, I just downloaded the one that was the first result off of the play store. It was very simple too use.
Amount of chips used	Overall, I had about maybe 1.5-1.6 billion chips in total and used about 1-1.1 billion chips to get to level 200. I don't know if I was lucky or not, so this number can be lower or higher depending on luck but if you buy the 6.99 or 9.99 chip pack, there won't be much of a problem.
How much money spent	I spent on the 9.99 beginners pack that gave 1.3 billion chips, making for a 50 dollar profit. According to other posts I've seen, there seems to be a 6.99 pack you can get once you hit level 100 which should be enough chips to get to 200, but I never received the deal for some reason and I didn't seem to be the only one. Was it worth it? If you are impatient like me, using 10 dollars instead of spending days grinding out 1 billion chips sounds worth it in my book. However, for those who do not want to spend money, this offer can still be easily completed without spending money. Just be prepared to grind out a little over a billion chips.

​

My Level Breakdown

Here's a breakdown of what I did, but if you've read other posts regarding Huuuge Casino, this is mainly going to be repeat information.
Level 1-50 (Or when you have 100-125 million chips): Huuuge Diamond slot.
EDIT: This section maybe obsolete if the secret prize is a confirmed feature. If that is the case, just max bet to level 50, but the amount of chips you will receive will vary. If you want to stay safe, then just 10k bet. In exchange for time, you'll have a more stable end outcome.
This is where I spent my time for the first 50 levels. As to the reason why, on Huuuge Diamond, you can auto spin indefinitely. Nothing will stop the autospin, not even the level up notifications or the charm packs they give you every stupid milestone level up. I realized this when I forgot to check my phone after 6 hours and it was still going at it, so I left it over night and in the morning, it was still spinning. I would say it took me 30 hours or so to get to level 50 (just my estimate since I wasn't really diligently timing everything)
To the people who already finished this offer, they may be wondering "why 50 and not 65? 65 is when the Singapore Roulette opens up." The answer to that was because when I hit level 50, I had about 143 million chips (how I got this much will be explained in the tips, but it's honestly really simple. I never went over a 10k bid) and xp from slots is extremely slow. That's why once you hit maybe 125 million chips or so, it is good to switch to the Melbourne Roulette. By the way, SAVE YOUR TICKETS UNTIL YOU REACH LEVEL 100. According to another post I read, the rewards from the lottery is increased once you hit level 100 so it's best to save your lottery tickets until then.
Level 50-65: Melbourne roulette. Go to the roulette menu and hold down on the Melbourne roulette to start a private room. Bet half on red and half on black. That way, you will only lose if it hits the only 2 greens on the roulette. The max bid here is 1 million, so with over 100 million chips, you shouldn't be hurting for chips. This part, unlike the slots, should go by like it's nothing (I don't remember how long, but probably 1-3 hours). This was also around the time I started using the auto clicker because it will become tedious to tap on re-bet and ready every 5 seconds. With the autoclicker, for these 15 or so levels, you don't have to pay ANY attention if you don't want to. But once you reach level 65, it's time to move onto the final step.
Level 65-200: Singapore roulette. Around this time, I lost maybe 10 million chips from 50-65, so I was down to 133-134 million. Over here, max bet is 10 million, so put 5 million on red and 5 million on black. This was enough to get me to level 120 surprisingly, but at level 100, I started spinning in the lottery so I received more chips there and a 24 hour 2x experience bonus so that should also be taken into account (I also had a small unlucky streak where it green 2 times in a row a couple of times within 7 or spins so that was frustrating...). At level 120, I spent 9.99 to buy a pack that had 1.3 billion chips in. For those who do not want to spend money, this is where the grind begins for 1 billion chips.
Earlier on in these levels, it will be easier to level up and it will take longer to level up as you go higher, but honestly, it isn't that bad until it level 190. I don't know if it was just me, but level 190 to 200 felt waaaaay longer than level 180-190. For those of you curious, from level 199 to level 200, it took around 22-25 minute. In terms of leftover chips, I had 680 million left.

Tips

Join a good club! For those of you who don't want to spend money and for those who do, this is one of the most important rules as you can get a lot of free chips easily from your club members jackpots. I was able to get maybe 60 million or more just from collecting off the club wall because my club was fairly active. While searching for a club, filter your search options to Club level 20, anyone can join, and club members between 90-100. Even if there is only 10-15 members active in the club out of 100, that is still a good club to be a part in.
Do not use your tickets until you reach level 100. Your winnings from lottery will increase once you hit level 100. After using your tickets, you will most likely get a 2x exp bonus as one of your rewards. Use this time well (From level 100-200, I got 3 2x exp bonuses. With all the lottery tickets accumulated up till this point, you\re bound to get at least 1).
Probably obvious, but do not bet more than 10k on Huuuge Diamond. I can not stress this enough. The reason why I lost all my chips the first time I did this offer was because I was cocky and kept winning big with 50-100k bids, but that soon went down the gutter the higher level I got. Bet low, win high.
My slot machine of choice was Huuuge Diamond, but I think, honestly, any machine with a 10k bid can work, but I am not sure on this. I think this is also a good one to grind chips. I think the max jackpot, if you don't get the main jackpot on the top of the screen, is 1.6 million with a 10k bid, so it is still respectable. If anyone else knows of a better machine to grind on, please let us all know.
This website https://gamehunters.club/huuuge-casino/share-links gives you free chips if redeemed on the device you are playing Huuuge Casino on. I honestly did not need to use this site as the chips I bought were enough and the site lags my already super slow phone so it was a hassle to click on the reward, open the app to claim, and switch back.
I may have forgotten to add some things, so if anything comes up, I'll be sure to update. This was meant to give people a sort of guideline to an offer that I have seen given some people frustration (me included because this is the second time I did it, first time being unsuccessful). Once I hit 200, I was instantly credited with no pending. For those willing to spend for the $6.99 or $9.99 pack, this offer can be completed between 60-70 hours, give or take. For those who do not want to spend money, I would say to double the expected time, but finishing in 2 weeks is still doable. Good luck everyone and I hope this guide lightens a bit off your shoulders.
P.S. Sorry for the long guide. I talk a lot lol

This is a space to talk all things Coronavirus & the recent shut down of non essential services.
 
All new posts on the sub including (but not limited to); news and information, discussion, questions, national issues, world wide issues, supply hoarding, what essential services will and won't be shut down, will be removed and redirected here. All posts currently on the sub will be left, unless they are not sufficiently focused on Melbourne, they will be removed and redirected.
 
Shut down info
Stage 1: https://www.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-stage-1
Will be updated as we find out more.
From midday on Monday 23 March, the following businesses will be closed: pubs, clubs, cinemas, casinos, nightclubs, indoor places of worship, gyms, indoor sporting venues
Services that will remain open: supermarkets, banks, petrol stations, pharmacies, convenience stores, freight and logistics, food delivery, bottle shops, hairdressers and beauticians
Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-22/coronavirus-lockdown-what-it-means/12079242
 
Job resources

As part of the $1.7 billion Economic Survival Package, the Victorian Government has announced a $500 million package to assist >people who have lost their jobs at this difficult time.
Under the Working for Victoria Fund, displaced workers will be eligible to apply for different types of work. This presents opportunities for paid work and an opportunity to contribute to Victoria’s ability to manage this event and support the community. Some displaced workers will have skills that can be readily transferred to new roles. The Government can also assist skills development or help people in obtaining immediate accreditation to commence work.
The Government will work across the public sector, local government, the not-for-profit sector and key private sector employers to facilitate job matching. Businesses that need workers can get in touch at business.vic.gov.au.

Twitter thread mentioned specifically about food delivery, public transport cleaning, charity organisation outreach
Source: https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/1241234933978300416
Source: https://www.vic.gov.au/workingforvictoria (thanks ftjlster)
We will add information resources to this post as they become available, if you have a resource to add to this list, please send us a modmail.
 
Resources:

• The Coronavirus Explained & What You Should Do - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtN-goy9VOY
• Australian Coronavirus Subreddit - https://www.reddit.com/CoronavirusDownunde
• VIC Health Alerts & Advisories - https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/about/news-and-events/healthalerts/2019-Coronavirus-disease--COVID-19
• World Health Organisation - https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
• Australian Government Department of Health - https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov
• VIC Health and Human Services - https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus
• VIC Health and Human Services daily Coronavirus update - https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-update?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
• ​Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
• Vic Gov updates: https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus
• Real time stats on confirmed cases in Australia: https://covid-19-au.github.io

 
Other worthwhile links (submit links here):

• Participate on Discord active discussions about COVID-19 plus a general channel if you need human interaction (and pictures of pets)
• Things to do at home with your significant other
• The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra live stream
• https://www.highclassescortsmelbourne.com.au/melbourne-escorts-stop-providing-sex-worker-services-due-to-coronavirus-pandemic/

  Previous megathread parts:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10
Please keep all discussion civil, racism and hate speech will result in bans as always.

This story comes from Melbourne, Aus, where the liquor laws are pretty strict. TL;DR at bottom.
We had a local pub near work that did $5 wines/beers during happy hour. It was a bit of a dump but we didn't mind. Three of us would go regularly every Friday to relax. We usually bought rounds for each other, so 3 at a time, or maybe just 1 each if not all of us wanted a top up. Since this is a modern world, we'd pay by debit and just tap our card on the little machine. Simple. Easy.
One week I get to the pub before the others so I went to order a wine for myself and reserve a nice table in the sun. When I went to pay, the bartender informed me of the manager's new rule: to pay by card is now a $20 minimum. For cash, a new ATM had been installed in the corner that only gives 20's and charges $3.50 per cash-out, of which the bar gets a good cut. Now I know it costs for every electronic transaction to occur, and it's not unusual to find small coffee shops asking for a $5 minimum to cover those costs, but $20 was outrageous, especially in a dive where all drinks are dirt cheap. It wouldn't even cover a usual round for us 3. The bartender had to shrug and insist it was the manager's new rule. I tried to argue against it, since I just wanted a single glass. The manager came out and firmly reiterated that I'd have to either buy 4 wines or get cash from the ATM. But I refuse to spend money in order to access my own money.
I ask for 4 wines.
Now, I am a petite woman, it doesn't take too much to get me sloppy. I paid by card and sat there at the empty bar and pounded these 4 cab-savs with the same speed that I'd usually nurse one. By the time I had finished, my friends were still not there. I asked the bartender for one more glass of wine. The manager was also still there, cleaning glasses. He told me again what he was instructed to say before: there's a $20 minimum, so...
I ordered 4 more wines. The manager looked pleased that his system was working. He was pretty smug about it all and wouldn't budge on any customer's request.
Before I paid for my second 4-glass round with my card, I asked the bartender, within clear earshot of the manager, a pretty basic question:
'You've both got your RSA's, right?'
All bartenders and bar owners are required to possess a Responsible Serving of Alcohol licence, obtained through the state's Commission for Gambling and Liquor. It's a heavily regulated industry, and a pretty strictly-enforced licence. Plain-clothed officers will try to catch out bartenders who don't carry their licence on them while serving drinks, and they'll sit to observe in bars for wreckless behaviour, such as knowingly serving alcohol to an inebriated customer. I am not someone with any legal authority, but I know enough people in the bartending/casino industry to be aware of the laws.
'Of course, why?' the bartender asked. He probably expected me to pull out a badge, but I am just a customer who wanted a glass of wine.
I explained that it seems pretty irresponsible to serve a small woman 4 drinks simultaneously, when all I was asking for was one. Seems as though, by the bar's lack of attention, I have become quite drunk, and now you're about to happily process my second purchase of 4 drinks, knowing full well that I'm here alone. 8 drinks in less than an hour? Does that seem responsible to you?
The smug look on the manager's face quickly turned to anger.
'I think you've had enough, then.' 'No, no! You've already poured 4 more. Here, take my card. Go on. Can't let all that wine go to waste. I mean, all I wanted was one, but if I HAVE to get 4...'
The bartender was very confused and a little worried. Losing their RSA would mean losing his job. The manager refused to process my order, and angrily poured 4 glasses of wine down the drain, a loss far greater than the small electronic transaction fee that would have come with my basic wine order.
I was sad to see the wine go, but I was happy to tell them that I'm reporting them to the state commission for breaches of their RSA. A petty move, but the manager chose greed over customer service and got what he deserved. I actually downloaded the complaint form online and began filling it out there at the bar, all while my body was now feeling the full force of 4 smashed wines. I was giggling while doing it, and slurring my words while asking for the manager's name and today's date. The bartender was very apologetic, and knowing none of this is his fault, I happily kept him off the form.
By the time my friends arrived I was pretty drunk. After telling my story we decided to go somewhere else, and we definitely never went back. I don't know what came of the complaint exactly (likely a big fine) but the place shut down about 6 weeks later and became a brunch cafe. Seems like they lost all their regulars to a $20 minimum rule.
TL;DR: Local pub tries to enforce a $20 (4-drink) minimum. Turns out it's not a responsible way to serve alcohol, especially to someone under 5'3.
Edit: Opening a tab is not a regular thing here. Many small bars, including this one, don't do tabs.

Australia’s success in curbing Covid-19 infections is allowing it to slowly ease some restrictions even as it remains largely closed off from the rest of the world, taking its economy back to the pre-globalization era.
Mining and agriculture continue to support exports and a government-sponsored group is looking at ways to revive manufacturing. But the flow of foreign tourists, students and immigrants has been frozen, pinning hopes for a rebound on local consumption.
The closed borders and domestic reliance has the economy harking back to the 1980s, before the lifting of tariffs opened up trade and Paul Hogan offered to put another shrimp on the Barbie for international visitors.
Services Driven Nearly two-thirds of economic output from service industries
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Nominal gross value added, 2018-19
The capacity of services to quickly turnaround and the fact Aussies aren’t blowing savings on holidays abroad could help the nation fare better than many developed-world peers. Much will depend on the mood of households as unemployment rises, with a poor construction outlook adding to headwinds.
What Bloomberg’s Economists Say “Close to 1 million Australians per month traveled overseas in 2019. They will now be looking for a change of destination, heading to Noosa instead of Nusa Dua; Port Douglas, not Penang; and catching up with friends at bars in Melbourne Laneways, instead of Hong Kong’s mid levels. Containment measures change the economics of international travel.”
James McIntyre, economist
Household consumption, which makes up around 55% of the economy, has been boosted on the one hand by people stocking up on essentials during the lockdown, but hammered on the other as they couldn’t eat out or go to the movies. Shops and restaurants are gradually reopening but, for consumption to drive any rebound, households must put aside concerns over job security and debt to drive spending. That may be tough.
Wesfarmers Ltd. is seeing shift in consumer behavior across its retail portfolio. Home improvement and office products stores, Bunnings and Officeworks, have seen significant uplift in sales, while general merchandise stores, Target and Kmart, have seen sales slow.
Pessimistic households have consumption outlook seeming bleak Even before Covid-19, Australian households were among the most indebted in the developed world, with debt almost double disposable income. The threat of unemployment to people’s ability to meet their debts is now key, and the Reserve Bank of Australia has long acknowledged it as a major risk facing the economy.
The unemployment rate is currently 6.2%, with the central bank expecting it to peak at around 10%. Banks are offering repayment holidays to help tide homeowners over and have quadrupled provisions for an expected surge in bad debts.
Australia Passes Massive Stimulus Measures as Virus Spreads People wait in line outside a Centrelink office in the Bondi Junction suburb of Sydney, March 2020.Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg The absence of skilled migration due to closed national borders will also hit pause on what had been steady stream of profitable mortgage lending for the banks. That could flow through to housing prices if sustained.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia said its base case is for an 11% fall in home prices, though in a prolonged downturn a cumulative 32% slump is possible. National Australia Bank Ltd. said in a severe downturn, prices could plummet 21% this year.
Uncertainty and job insecurity impacting property market Residential construction typically closely follows house price movements, and the sector was already scaling back activity following the previous flood of new stock still working its way into the market.
The RBA earlier this month said that indications from the initial stages of the development process suggests demand for new housing “has deteriorated significantly.” It expects dwelling investment to plunge 17% in the 12 months through June and remain a drag on growth until 2021.
Property investors have been hit by the six month moratorium on tenancy evictions during coronavirus. Without renewed interest from investors, it’s challenging to get a new apartment development, particularly of any size, into construction.
The same holds for business investment. Unless the project was already underway, or is related to creating a covid-safe environment, capital expenditure plans have been parked until demand returns.
Natural Endowment Things look brighter as you leave the cities. Internationally, Australia is known as a commodity powerhouse. While it accounts for just 10% of output, it is a key source of export income and prosperity in the country.
Iron ore shipments from Port Hedland, a key export hub, hit a record for April, while gold sales from Perth Mint -- the main refiner -- also surged. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. lifted its projected annual iron ore shipments in a wager on China’s recovery. “We are selling everything we can possibly produce,” Chairman Andrew Forrest says.
Net exports important source of economic growth It’s less rosy for the liquefied natural gas producers. Just as the coronavirus sent the global economy into lockdown, Russia and Saudi Arabia began a standoff that sent oil prices tumbling below zero.
Top producers Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and Santos Ltd. have slashed spending plans and deferred flagship growth projects -- worth over $15 billion -- in line with drastic steps by energy majors worldwide to hunker down during the pandemic.
On The Sheep’s Back Virus Fears Grow In Sydney As Growing GDP Expected To Be Hit Rolls of toilet papers sit in an empty section of a supermarket in Sydney, March 2020..Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg As supermarket shelves were stripped bare, a panicked nation was reminded of the sheer mass of food the country’s farmers produce. Domestic food production services more than 90% of fresh produce sold in supermarkets and still is able to more than match that amount in exports.
The industry could also become an unexpected source of employment. Backpackers and workers from Pacific Islands flock to rural areas to pick up work with seasonal tasks, but with borders shut and jobs being lost across the economy, farmers are likely turn to the local community for the extra labor.
Other producers have greater worries. Barley and meat exporters have been caught in China’s crosshairs in retaliation for Australia’s public call for an independent investigation of the coronavirus outbreak, while the wine industry is looking on nervously.
It’s been a tough year for wine, even before the virus. Clonakilla winery in New South Wales, north of Canberra, decided against producing a 2020 vintage after analysis showed unacceptably high levels of smoke taint from wildfires over the summer.
Exploring Our Own Backyard Australia's China Reliance Backfires as Virus Fallout Spreads Students sit on the grass at the University of Sydney, Feb. 2020.Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg The education industry was one of the first to feel the pinch from coronavirus restrictions. When the government imposed travel bans on flights from China in February, around 100,000 international students were unable to enter Australia to begin the academic year and left universities bracing for a costly fallout.
The University of Sydney, where students from China represented nearly one-quarter of the total student body, projected a A$470 million loss this year. Other institutions, including the University of Melbourne and Monash University, are bracing for similar hits. Even smaller regional institutions that don’t attract nearly the same level of international students have been affected.
With a lot of money at stake, there could be a relaxation of international border restrictions for students to study in Australia, before leisure travelers are allowed. But for businesses catering toward an offshore audience, demand is unlikely to snap back.
Qantas Airways Ltd. is currently operating just 1% of its network and has canceled overseas fights until at least the end of July. Its main competitor, Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd., collapsed into administration in April.
Virgin Australia Collapses After Pandemic Halts Air Travel Virgin Australia check-in kiosks inside a deserted Sydney Airport, April 2020. Photographer Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg Crown Resorts Ltd. and Star Entertainment Group Ltd., which both target big-spending visitors from Asia, were forced to close their casinos in Australia as the country locked down. Crown is just months away from completing a A$2.2 billion luxury gaming resort in Sydney.
The tourism industry was already reeling from the wave of cancellations following the December and January wildfires. The silver lining is that Australians will have no option but to spend holidays on home soil once inter-state travel is allowed again.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-19/australia-goes-back-to-the-1980s-with-economy-closed-to-world?sref=s0L1qQ1H

• 1. Studio LPs & EPs

1965 Jokers Wild (Dave Gilmour)(320)
1966 Tonite Let's All Make Love in London
1967 Arnold Layne
1967 Relics
1971 Pink Floyd - Relics (Remaster AU 1987 CDAX 701290)
1967 Scream Thy Last Scream
1967 See Emily Play & Scarecrow EP (Remaster UK 2007 Bonus CDM 40th ADEd. 50999 5 03919 2 9)
1967 The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (UK Stereo First Pressing 24bit-96khz)
1968 A Saucerful of Secrets
1968 Pink Floyd - A Saucerful Of Secrets (Remaster Japan 1988 CP32-5272)
1968 It Would Be So Nice
1968 Point Me at the Sky
1969 OST More (Remaster Japan 1987 CDP 7 46386 2)
1969 Soundtrack From The Film More
1969 Ummagumma
1969 Zabriskie Point e Ultimate Z. P
1969 Ultimate Zabriskie Point [FLAC]
1970 370 Roman Yards 1970 (The Lost Zabriskie Point Album) [MP3]
1970 Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother (Remaster US 1994 UDCD 595)
1970 Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother (UK LP EMI Harvest SHVL 781 24bit-96khz)
1970 Roger Waters - Music From The Body (Soundtrack)(320)
1970 Syd Barrett - Barrett
1970 Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs
1971 Pink Floyd - Meddle (Remaster Japan 1988 UDCD 518)
1971 Meddle - 24-96 Vinyl Rip (FLAC)
1971 One Of These Days Single Vinyl 7 (Italy 1971 EMR-20388)
1972 Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds (Remaster US 1987 CDP 7 46385 2)
1973 Money Vinyl 12 (Remaster Netherlands 1981 Vinyl 12 1A K052Z - 78068)
1973 The Dark Side of the Moon - (Vinyl LP 24-96 UK Remaster 30 Harvest SHVL 804 24Bit 96kHz) - 200g Vinyl Rip (FLAC) - Audiophile MFSL Pressing VINYL {FR1 Cartridge SYBORG} - Unreleased Tracks
1975 Wish You Were Here
1975 Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (Remaster UK 1984 CDP 7 46035 2) & Unreleased Tracks
1977 Animals- (2016 Master) VINYL {FR1 Mk3 Cart} - (2016 Master) VINYL {Stanton 881 Cart} - (Remaster US 1985 CK 34474) - (Vinyl LP 24-96 US Columbia First Pressing JC 34474 24Bit 96kHz)
1978 David Gilmour - David Gilmour
1978 Rick Wright - Wet Dream
1979 The Wall - (Remaster Germany 2007 2xCD CDS 7 46036 8) - (Remaster US 1989 2xCD UDCD 2-537) - US UltraDisc 2CD- (UK Vinyl 2xLP 24-96 SHDW 411 24Bit 96kHz) - The Wall Work In Progress
1981 Nick Mason's - Fictitious Sports
1983 Not Now John Vinyl 7 (UK 1983 HAR 5224)
1983 The Final Cut (Remaster EU 2007 Oh By The Way Boxset CD14 50999 511267 2 8, 511 2672)
1983 The Final Cut (US 1983 QC 38243)
1984 David Gilmour - About Face
1984 Rick Wright - Zee Identity
1984 Roger Waters - The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking
1986 Roger Waters - When The Wind Blows
1987 A Momentary Lapse Of Reason - [1987] [FLAC] - [2019] Remix
1987 Roger Waters - Radio K.A.O.S. (320)
1992 Roger Waters - Amused To Death
1994 High Hopes & Keep Talking (France 1994 CDM 881 777 2)
1994 Take It Back (Netherlands 1994 CDM 7243 8 81278 2 0)
1994 The Division Bell - (2014) [HD Tracks] 24.96 - (Japan 1994 SRCS 7324) - [UK 1994 Vinyl 24-96 EMD 1055]
1996 Rick Wright - Broken China
2002 Roger Waters - Flickering Flame
2004 Roger Waters - To Kill The Child & Leaving Beirut (Single)(320)
2005 Roger Waters - Ca Ira
2006 David Gilmour - Arnold Layne EP
2006 David Gilmour - On An Island
2006 Smile (1-Track EU Promo CD Single)(320)
2006 Smile (2-Track EU CD Single)(320)
2007 Roger Waters - Hello (I Love You)(Single)(192-320)
2010 The Orb and David Gilmour - Metallic Spheres
2014 The Endless River

• 2. Live

1967-03-18 My Uncle Is Sick Because The Highway Is Green
1967-09-13 Starclub, Copenhagen
1967-09-25 BBC Playhouse Theater, London (BBC Sessions)
1967-10-30 Games for May - England
1967-11-13 Ahoy, Rotterdam, NL
1968-02-24 Bouton Rouge
1968-05-06 First European International Pop Festival, Piper Club, Rome
1968-05-23 Paradiso, Amsterdam (Late Show)
1968-07-27 Shrine Exposition Hall, Los Angeles
1968-12-28 Margriethal, Jaarbeurs, Utrecht
1968-12-28 Owed To Syd Barrett
1969-03-27 Saint James Hall, Chesterfield, England
1969-04-14 Royal Festival Hall, London
1969-04-27 Careful With These Tracks
1969-05-09 University Of Southampton, Hampshire, England
1969-06-22 Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England
1969-06-26 Royal Albert Hall, London
1969-08-08 The Journey Through the Past
1969-08-09 The Paradiso, Amsterdam - Celestial Instruments
1969-09-17 Amsterdam '69 (TSP-CD-052) 1990 [VBR]
1969-09-17 Complete Concertgebouw
1969-10-11 Song Days Festival, Essen
1969-10-19 Around the Mystic - London
1969-10-25 Interstellar Zappadrive - Mont de L'Enclus, Amougies, Belgium
1969-11-21 Montreux Switzerland
1969-12-06 Afan Lido Sports Center, Port Talbot, Wales
1969-71 Echoes Of Atom Heart Mother
1969-73 Rare & Live Tracks - 3cds
1970 - 1971 Eclipse (2001)
1970 Fat Old Gigs 4cd
1970 Pepperland In The West
1970-01-18 Fairfield Hall, Croydon, Surrey
1970-01-23 Hotel de Champs-Elysees a Paris, Paris
1970-02-11 Town Hall, Birmingham
1970-02-28 Refectory Hall, Leeds University, Leeds, Yorkshire
1970-03-12 A Trick of the Light
1970-03-13 The Injustice of a Kaleidoscope Sound
1970-03-14 Meistersinger Halle, Nuremberg
1970-03-15 Niedersachsenhalle, Hannover
1970-03-20 Akademiske Foreningens Store Sal, Lund, Sweden
1970-04-11 Gymnasium, SUNY, Stony Brook, NY
1970-04-22 Capitol Theater, Port Chester, NY
1970-04-29 [HRVCDR016] Interstellar Fillmore - San Francisco, CA
1970-04-30 [HRVCDR034] - KQED
1970-05-01 Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA
1970-06-27 Bath Festival Of Blues And Progressive, Shepton Mallet, Bath
1970-06-28 Holland Pop Festival, Kralingen, Rotterdam (JFE remaster)
1970-07-12 Open Air Pop Festival Aachen, Aachen Soerser Stadium
1970-07-16 Focus - Paris Theater, Regent Street, London, England - BBC FM
1970-07-16 Libest Spacement Monitor (TSP-CD-027 1989)
1970-07-16 Mooed Music - BBC Session Live, Paris Cinema, London
1970-07-18 Hyde Park, London
1970-08-08 Les Nuits Musicales, Saint Tropez (Pop 2 TV Show)
1970-09 & 1971-03 - Eclipse - APE
1970-09-12 Parc De Vincennes, Paris
1970-09-16 Pink Is The Pig (Live In London)
1970-09-16 Pink Floyd - Focus 1971 [FM]
1970-09-16 Playhouse Theatre, London
1970-09-16 Rhapsody In Pink (Italy 1990 LLRCD 044)
1970-09-26 Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
1970-09-27 Fillmore East, New York City, NY (Early Show)
1970-10-17 Pepperland Auditorium, San Rafael, CA
1970-10-23 Creatures Of The Deep Disc 1-3
1970-10-23 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA
1970-11-06 Mind Your Throats
1970-11-07 Grote Zaal, De Doelen, Rotterdam
1970-11-11 Conserthuset, Gothenburg
1970-11-12 Falkoner Centret, Fredriksberg, Copenhagen
1970-11-13 Vejlby Risskovhallen, Aarhus
1970-11-14 Ernst-Merck-Halle, Hamburg
1970-11-21 Smokin' Blues (Montreux Casino, Montreux )
1970-11-22 Altes Casino, Montreux - Swiss Made
1970-11-25 Fridrich Ebert Halle, Ebertpark, Ludwigshafen
1970-11-26 Messehallen, Stuttgart
1970-11-29 Circus Krone, Munich
1970-12-22 City Hall, Sheffield
1971 Atom Heart Mother Goes On The Road
1971-02-12 Lecture Theatre, University Of Essex, Colchester
1971-02-13 Students Union Bar, Technical College, Farnborough
1971-02-25 Grosser Saal, Musikhalle, Hamburg
1971-02-26 Stadthalle, Offenbach
1971-04-03 Oude Ahoy, Rotterdam
1971-05-15 Crystal Palace Garden Party, London
1971-05-18 Pathfoot Building Refectory, Stirling University
1971-06-04 Philips Veranstal Tungshalle, Dusseldorf
1971-06-05 Echoes - The Return of the Son of Nothing (West Berlin)
1971-06-05 Sportspallast, Berlin - Mauerspechte
1971-06-05 Vierundzwanzig Teile von Nichts (HRV-CDR-029)
1971-06-12 Palais Des Sports, Lyon
1971-06-19 Palazzo Delle Manifestazioni Artistiche, Brescia
1971-06-20 Palaeur, Rome
1971-06-26 Amstel Free Concert, Amsterdamse Bos, Amsterdam
1971-07-01 Ossiach Festival Stitschoff, Ossiach
1971-08-06 Hakone Aphrodite, Hakone, Japan
1971-08-09 Festival Hall, Osaka
1971-08-13 Festival Hall, Melbourne
1971-09-18 Live in Montreux
1971-09-23 KB Hallen, Copenhagen
1971-09-30 Meddled
1971-09-30 Meddler
1971-09-30 One Of These Days (TSP-CD-034 1989)
1971-09-30 Paris Cinema, London
1971-10-04 HRVCDR010 - Pompeii Rev B
1971-10-04 Live at Pompeii - Remains
1971-10-04 Pompeii (Remaster Netherlands PFP-A0118)
1971-10-04 to 07 In The Shadow Vesuvius - Italia
1971-10-04 Volcanic Destruction
1971-10-07 Live At Pompeii
1971-10-10 Great Hall, Bradford University, Bradford, Yorkshire
1971-10-16 The Eye of Agamotto - Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica
1971-10-17 Convention Hall, Community Concourse, San Diego
1971-10-17 From Oblivion
1971-10-17 Wind And Seabirds - Convention Hall, San Diego
1971-10-27 Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
1971-10-28 Hill Auditorium, Ann Harbor, MI
1971-10-31 Fieldhouse University Of Toledo
1971-11-05 Hunter College - New York City, NY
1971-11-06 Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
1971-11-10 Labyrinths - Pavillion De La Jeunesse, Quebec
1971-11-12 Irvine Auditorium, State University, Philadelphia, PA
1971-11-16 Something from Nothing
1971-11-16 The Return of the Sons of Nothing
1971-11-20 Embryonic Madness
1971-11-20 One Of Those Days
1971-11-20 Taft Auditorium, Cincinnati, OH
1971-11-20 Taft Auditorium, Cincinnati, OH (2-source blend)
1972-01-20 The Darkside Rehearsals - Brighton Dome, Brighton, England
1972-01-21 The Guildhall, Portsmouth
1972-01-22 Eclipse Of The Dark Side - Winter Gardens, Bournemouth (Recorder 2)
1972-01-22 The Dark Side Winter Gardens - Bournemouth (Recorder 1)
1972-01-23 Gathering On The Moon - The Guildhall, Southampton
1972-01-27 Waiting for The Moon - City Hall, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
1972-01-28 You Are Number Six - Refectory Hall, Leeds University, Leeds
1972-02-17 - Rainbow Tapes Day 1
1972-02-18 - Rainbow Tapes Day 2
1972-02-19 - Rainbow Tapes Day 3
1972-02-20 - Rainbow Tapes Day 4
1972-02-19 Finsbury Park - Disc 1
1972-02-20 Finsbury Park - Disc 1
1972-02-20 The Best Of Tour 72 (TSP-CD-049 1990) [VBR]
1972-03-06 Acid Moon - Taiikukan, Tokyo, Japan
1972-03-08 Natural Dark In Osaka. Japan
1972-03-09 Echoes From Osaka
1972-03-13 The Dark Side Of The Ice - Saporro, Japan
1972-03-13 The Great Gig On The Moon
1972-04-28 Chicago
1972-05-21 2nd British Rock Meeting - Germersheim, Germany
1972-06-28 Eclipsed By The Dome - Brighton [MP3]
1972-09-22 Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, CA
1972-09-22 Staying Home To Watch The Rain[VBR]
1972-10-21 The Oxfam Concert - London [MP3]
1972-11-15 Echoes Of The Past, Sporthalle Böblingen, Stuttgart, Germany
1972-11-15 The Great Gig In Böblingen
1972-12-01 Harsh Realities [Stereo Tweaked]
1972-12-09 - In a Neutral Land - Zurich - Suiça (FLAC)
1972-12-12 Across The Swiss Border
1972-73 Nebulosity
1972-73 The Great Gig In The Sky (UK Unofficial SSR 41925)
1973-03-06 The Valley Of The Kings
1973-03-11 Yeeshkul!
1973-03-14 Live Music Hall - Boston, MA
1973-03-15 Dark Soundboard of Philadelphia
1973-03-17 Dark Side of Radio City
1973-05-19 Supine in the Sunshine
1973-06-17 On Stage Saratoga NY
1973-06-20 Breaking Bottles In The Hall
1973-06-20 Merryweather Post Pavillion, Columbia, MD
1973-06-29 When You're In...Tampa
1973-10-13 Set The Controls... - Vienna [MP3]
1973-11-04 Obscured At The Rainbow [VBR]
1974-06-24 Shine On Paris
1974-11-15 Black Holes In The Sky
1974-11-15 Work in Progress
1974-11-16 BBC Archives (HRV CDR 033)
1974-11-16 No Room Upon The Hill
1974-11-16 Time In London
1974-11-16 Wembley MTX-V2
1974-11-16 Wembley Pre FM-Master
1974-11-16 Wembley Wizards
1974-11-17 Getting Better All The Time
1974-11-28 Empire Theatre
1974-12-09 Manchester Day '74
1974-12-14 Stairstep To Abandon - Bristol, England [Vinyl]
1975-04-08 Azimuth Coordinator Pt. 1
1975-04-13 Riding The Cow.Cow Palace,California,USA
1975-04-26 Cruel But Fair
1975-04-26 Dogs And Sheep
1975-04-27 Hogs in Smog
1975-04-27 Los Angeles, CA master
1975-06-15 Faster Jersey
1975-06-15 Jersey Not Mother
1975-06-16 Random Precision
1975-06-18 Boston Garden Matrix Version
1975-06-18 Boston Gardens
1975-06-18 Crazy Diamonds [VBR]
1975-06-18 Echoes In The Gardens
1975-06-22 Heavy Rain
1975-06-28 Master Reel - Ontario (RTR-DAT-Source 2) (flac)
1975-80 - Azimuth Coordinator 1975 a 1980 (6CD box 1998)
1977-01-05 Iron Pigs On Fire - Fort Worth, Texas
1977-01-23 - If Pigs Could Fly
1977-01-23 Bugger's Eyes
1977-01-29 Desk Pig In Berlin
1977-01-30 Absolut Floyd
1977-01-30 Hunting Animals - Berlin, Germany
1977-02-01 Test Flight - Vienna, Austria
1977-02-20 Animals In Belgium - Antwerpen [FLAC]
1977-02-20 Ducks On The Wall
1977-02-20 Thirteen
1977-02-22 Dragged Down By The Stone
1977-02-22 Pavillion de Pigs
1977-02-27 Animals On The Wing
1977-04-22 Hurricane Floyd Hits - Miami FL
1977-05-01 Iron Pigs On Fire
1977-05-09 Animal Instincts
1977-05-09 Mr Pig - Oakland [MP3]
1977-06-19 Chicago '77
1977-06-19 Soldier Field, Chicago, IL (1st gen Charly C.'s tape - source 1)
1977-06-27 Boredom and Pain (Boston Gardens)
1977-06-27 Boston Garden, Boston, MA - The Perfect Day (FLAC)
1977-06-27 Boston Garden, Boston, MA (Lampinski)
1977-06-27 Pink Floyd 1977-06-27
1977-07-01 Live at Madson Square Garden
1977-07-02 In the Grassland Away
1977-07-02 Live at Madson Square Garden
1977-07-02 Prog King - Madison Square Garden
1977-07-02 Welcome To The Machine
1977-07-03 Madson Square Garden - New York
1977-07-03 Pigs Might Fly
1977-07-04 Sheep Independence Day (FLAC)
1977-07-06 Azimuth Coordinator Pt. 2 - Last Animals
1977-07-06 Fire Works Show In The Canadian Walls
1977-07-06 Montreal
1977-07-06 Who Was Trained Not To Spit On The Fan
1980-01-01 The Wall Rehearsals 1980
1980-02-07 Azimuth Coordinator Pt. 3 - flac16
1980-02-08 Little Black Book With My Poems In
1980-02-27 The Wall Live In Nassau
1980-02-28 Nassau - Coliseum - NY
1980-08-09 Soundboard on the Wall - Earls Court, London, England
1980-1981 Is There Anybody Out There The Wall Live
1981-02-19 Tear Down The Wall
1981-02-20 The Sixth German Show-Westfalenhalle, Dortmund
1981-02-20 Westfallenhalle,Dortmund, Germany
1981-06-16 Earl's Court, London (Watching The World Upon The Wall)
1984-04-30 (Gilmour) Live At The Hammersmith Odeon (London )(320)
1984-05-22 (Gilmour) Beacon Theater - New York City-NY
1984-06-16&17 (Waters w. Clapton) Sidewinder (Stockholm)
1984-06-29 (Gilmour) New Game - Berkeley [FLAC]
1984-07-12 (Gilmour and Friends) In Floyd We Trust (320)
1984-07-12 (Gilmour) Westwood One Concert (48kHz)(320)
1984-07-18 (Waters) Eric the Player, Roger the Singer
1985-03-20 (Waters) Live Radio City Music Hall, NYC [FM]
1985-03-28 (Waters) Complete Hitch Hiking Perfomance
1987-09-16 Echoes By The Lake Disc 1-3
1987-09-19 Prism
1987-11-01 Live at the Orange Bowl, Miami
1987-11-07 (Waters) Goodbye Mr. Pink Floyd (Remaster)
1987-11-30 MONEY GOES WEST - (The Sports Arena - Los Angeles, California)
1988 Delicate Sound Of Thunder (UK 7914802)
1988-02-19 Live in Melbourne (SOUNDBOARD)
1988-02-19 Melbourne - Soundboard Recording
1988-02-19 Tennis Center, Melbourne
1988-07-08 Nothing Is Changed (Modena, Italy) [VBR]
1989-06-12 Globe Arena, Stockholm
1989-06-13 Globe Arena, Stockholm
1989-06-14 Globe Arena, Stockholm
1989-07-01 Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy, Paris, France
1989-07-15 Live In Venice 1989 {FLAC]
1989-07-15 Venice, Grand Canal
1990 (Waters) The Wall - Live In Berlin
1990-06-30 Of Promises Broken
1990-06-30 The Knebworth Tales
1994-03-30 Miami - The Live Bell
1994-04-16 Your Favorite Disease
1994-04-21 Pigs Over The San Francisco Bay
1994-04-21 They're Blowin Me Away - Oakland Master DAT
1994-05-31 3 Pigs At 3 Rivers
1994-06-11 The Bell Gets Louder
1994-07-18 By The Light Of The Silvery Moon
1994-08-13 The Sound Surrounds
1994-09-04 Softly Spoken Magic Spells - Feyenoord [MP3]
1994-09-13 A Night In Italy
1994-09-13 A Passage Of Time
1994-09-15 Udine - Italy
1994-09-19 - The Nights Of Wonder
1995 Pulse
1995 Wish You Were Here Live (CDM 7243 8 82207 2 9)
2000 (Waters) In The Flesh (Live)
2001-06 2002-01 David Gilmour in Concert (320)
2002-03-05 (Waters) The Happiest Night of Our Lives - National Stadium, Santiago
2005-07-02 Live 8 Reunion
2006-03-07 (Gilmour) Mermaid Theatre - London
2006-03-19 (Gilmour) Regathering Our Senses - Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam [FA025]
2006-05 (Gilmour) 2007 - Remember That Night
2006-07-29 Happy Birthday Dear Richard (Archive Konigsplatz Munich rec 4)
2006-08-26 (Gilmour) Live In Gdansk
2006-12-07 (Waters) Milan, Italy FM
2007 (Gilmour) 4 Tracks Live From Abbey Road (US Promo CD Single)(320)
2007-03-14 (Waters) 50000 Lunatics on The Grass Chile '07
2007-07-07 (Waters) Live Earth 2007
2008-06-15 (Gilmour) Ron's Psychedelic Supper Vol.2
2010-07-10 (Waters & Gilmour) The Hoping Foundation (320)
2010-09-15 (Waters) The Wall Live - Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
2010-09-16 (Waters) The Wall Live - Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
2010-09-18 (Waters) The Wall Live - Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
2010-09-20 - Roger Waters - The Wall - Chicago [MP3]
2010-12-18 (Waters) Flickering Flames On The Wall - Palacio De Los Deportes, Mexico D.F
2010-12-19 (Waters) Flickering Flames On The Wall - Palacio De Los Deportes, Mexico D.F
2010-12-21 (Waters) Flickering Flames On The Wall - Palacio De Los Deportes, Mexico D.F
2011-03-25 (Waters) Madrid - Experimento
2011-05-15 (Waters) Live At O2 Arena, London, England
2017 Live at Pompeii [FLAC]
David_Gilmour - Live Tracks - MP3

• 3. Rarities

1965 - Syd Barrett - Lucy Leave and Other Rarities [FLAC,Tracks]
1965-95 - Pinkie Milkie - Rarities Compilation
1966-67 London '66 - '67 (UK 1995 CDM SFMDP 3)
1966-67 Psychedelic Games for May
1966-71 Sophisticated Colours
1966-94 Early Flights Disc 1-10
1967 Reaction In G
1967-69 Music For Architectural Students
1967-71 Antiques- A Rare Collection of Oddities
1967-71 Antiques And Curios
1967-87 A CD Full Of Secrets
1968 Tonite Let's All Make Love in London OST
1968-69 The Embryo (TSP-CD-020 1989) [VBR]
1968-70 - Old Symphonies 1968-1970 - FM
1968-70 Ultra Rare Trax Vol. 1-3
1968-71 Spiral
1968-74 From Underground To The Moon
1969 - High Time
1969 - The Complete Zabriskie Point Sessions
1969-70 Omay Yad
1969-99 - Roger Waters - Rarities Vol 1-3
1970-71 - Syd Barrett - The Radio One Sessions
1971-72 Studio Outtakes & Demos
1972-06 From the Other Side (DSOTM Outtakes)
1975 - Tour Comic book
1975-76 Abbey Road to Britannia Row The Extraction Tapes (2014)
1978 The Wall- Under Construction
1978-79 Building The Wall
1979 Every Brick In The Wall (outtakes)
1980 - The Wall - Original Film Sessions 1980
1980 The Wall (Demos)
1982 The Final Cutting
1987 A Momentary Lapse of Reason Live Official Tour CD (Demonstration Not For Sale)
1987 One Slip CDM (UK 1987 CDEM 52)
1988 - A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (Official Tour CD)_flac
1990-05-02 - Roger Waters - The London Rehearsals 1990
1994 - Just Warmin Up - The Rehearsals in Tampa - 1994
Pink Floyd - Just Warming Up (Tampa 1994 )
1996 Pink Floyd & Friends - Interstellar Overdrive (Canada 1996 PS-NEMS 1001-2)
2001 Pink Underground
2005...A Desperate Attempt of Perfection
2010 - Roger Waters - Is It The Fifth
A Tree Full Of Secrets (18xCD Box Rarities)
Have You Got It Yet
2008 Have You Got It Yet v2
HYGIY v2.0 Vol. 1
Live Anthology
Roger Waters - Rarities Vol 1-3
Secret Rarities (2014
Star Profile - audio documentary
Variations on a Theme of Absence 8-CD

• 4. Compilations

1965-72 The Early Years Limited Edition 10CD [FLAC]
1967 The First 3 Singles (Remaster UK 1997 7243 8 59895 2 0)
1967 The Syd Barrett Tapes
1967-11-17 The First Singles
1967-1973 - Anthology II [HL 325-326]
1967-68 Masters of Rock
1967-68 The Early Singles (EU 1992 0777 7 80572 2 2)
1967-71 The Complete BBC Sessions
1967-93 - Total Eclipse - A Retrospective 1967-1993 - Italy
1981 A Collection Of Great Dance Songs (Remaster Japan 2001 TOCP-65744)
1983 Works (US 1983 CDP 7 46478 2)
1988 - Syd Barrett - Opel
1992 - La Carrera Panamericana
1992 - Syd Barrett - Octopus
1995 - Greatest Hits 3 - Post Pink - 1995 - MP3.320kbps
1999 - Legendary Rock Stars - Greatest Hits
2001 - Echoes The Best Of Pink Floyd (US 2001 2xCD CDP 7243 5 36111 2 5)
2003 - Roger Waters - Flickering Flame (320)
2007 - David Gilmour - Take a Best (Bootleg)(320)
2007 - Greatest Hits - Star Mark - 320Kbps
2010 - Syd Barrett - An Introduction to Syd Barrett (2010)
2011 - CD Sampler - 2011
Syd Barrett - Wouldn't You Miss Me -The Best of Syd Barrett

• 5. Remixes

1994 Dark Side Of The Moon -[Trance]
1994 Wish You Were Here [Trance]
1995 Meddle (Trance Remix)
1998 A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (Trance)
2000 Welcome to the Remix
2003 Easy Star All Stars - Dub Side of the Moon
2003-01-01 - The Floydian Propulsion Project
2004 Out There
2005 The Dark Side Of A Dream [320]
2006 DJ Fish Remixes
2006 Pink Floyd & Eric Prydz - Proper Education
2010 DSotM - Moon8 - 8 bits

• 6. Tributes-Covers

1995 The London Philharmonic Orchestra - The Music Of Pink Floyd
2002 Pigs and Pyramids An Allstar Lineup Performing the Songs of Pink Floyd
2005 The Piano Tribute To Pink Floyd
2006 Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Pink Floyd

• 7. Interviews & Documentaries

1988 - Audio Documentario - Star Profile
2002 - Wish Youd Been Here - The Pink Floyd Story - Radio BBC
1974 - Tour Comic - 1974
1976 - Songbook
1987 - Songbook (VictorF)
2000 - Guitar Tab Anthology

Wall of text, doing as much for my own thinking as anything else
TL:DR- Did China send infected testing kits to Iran and Italy, and false negative kits since? Deliberate or just crooks? Has this caused unnecessary over reactions globally? why aren't cities or countries already going dark from COVID? The billionaires and non political leaders are strangely silent. The world has fired all its bullets. If this comes back there is no next time. Could something emerge from those ashes?
​
HOW COULD CHINA HAVE POSSIBLY CONTAINED THIS?
How did Wuhan get it, but Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou & Shenzhen etc did not. It is impossible. So the possible outcomes are either

1. It is just not that contagious.
2. Plenty of Chinese in those cities did get it and a few million might have died but overall it is not that bad
3. Chinese got it and all were secretly inoculated
4. They have yet to get it, and when they come outdoors it will eventually break out

​
WHY IRAN AND ITALY UNLIKE EVERYWHERE ELSE
The BIG question which makes little sense is this is how did Italy and Iran get it so bad, so fast, but nowhere else has had a similar explosion
It does not seem probably that Italy and Iran were that close in time to Wuhan, but the rest of Italy and the world were that far behind them, and it is yet to happen
​
WHY ARE CRUISE SHIPS SUCH PETRI DISHES FOR THIS?
Cruise ships have been a ground zero. In Australia we were in lock-down and in late March, after the lock-downs they let the Ruby Princess just unload passengers at Circular Quay,. It was known at least 7 people had the virus, and ships were a petri dish, and yet late one night someone opened the gangplank and over 2000 people just walked off into the night. At least a few hundred of them we now know have the virus. Anyone who knows Australia’s border security and quarantine, and immigration, knows this just doesn’t happen. How did they get at least 20 people to stand back and let those people disembark
​
PATHETIC PROTECTION PRACTICES THAT ACCELERATED THIS- NEGLIGENCE OR DELIBERATE?
Some international travelers who returned to Australia in early March, before the lock-downs, were found to be super spreaders- but the people they infect don’t seem to be super spreaders which makes little sense. In Australia we had multiple instances of people returning from USA, 1 went to a wedding in Hunter Valley upon arrival and infected 31 of the 51 people there. Another went to a 50th in Noosa and similar spreading, another landed from Aspen went to a party in Melbourne and similar infection rates. So how is this happening, and why are those hundred people similarly not infecting on a mass basis?
Now we aren’t testing much in Australia. Lack of kits and what’s the point- if you have normal cold symptoms just lock in at home and ride it out until you feel better. If a 70+ year old Prince Charles can recover in a few days why overwhelm health facilities over nothing and risk nothing more than spreading the infection on right. (So it is “just like a cold then, right?”)
​
MAKING SENSE OF INACCURATE DATA THAT CONFUSES AND CONTRADICTS
It has now been long enough that those people should have similarly infected people on mass. Yet they haven’t. Unless you want to think a huge number of people in Australia already have it. But that can’t be- if so then this appears to be a con, and why are we bankrupting millions of people and risking our economies to prevent this? It doesn’t make sense.
So how did Italy spread like wildfire but pretty well just stop in the local area. Iran similar.
Now enough data is out that we can see most of those who died in Italy were the old, poor health, the air quality. male, smokers, multiple other conditions. We have perhaps 2% (confirm) who die with COVID where it can’t be attributed to multiple other underlying health conditions, and their cause of death is being put within the COVID death tally
So why is Rome not disintegrating and their death rate beyond control? Do we not think those people in the north did not travel to Rome and it spread there before anyone figured out what was going on up North and they started to distance/ quarantine? No way that didn’t happen
The data we are so far seeing is a blip. If UK lost 57,000 in its last bad flu season, let’s call that 4 months, that’s what, 3,000 people dying from it in a week during the season. 10,000, 50,000, 100,000…1million dead WITH this worldwide would not be unusual
And why have we not seen countries with huge density and poor sanitary conditions just explode? More people travel from Wuhan to Thailand than travel to Northern Italy
How did NYC act as an epicentre but LA, Disneyland, Chicago, San Fran- other high urban and ultra high-contact business districts. Why are they weeks behind NYC?
Why has a Nigeria not gone dark? They have 1 slum with 10 million people living in mud, occupying an area 10x10km. Or Sao Paolo? Or India. (They’re going to die from food riots before COVID) And Indonesia- 1 mosque has 150,000 people in it these places are ground zero for mass fast transmission. Or Manilla. Or Bangkok. Infection through ordinary passenger and people movement in these cities must have seen those cities infect up light years ahead of Northern Italy did.
​
THE ONLY PLAUSIBLE EXPLANATION I CAN SEE TO WHY ITALY/ IRAN INFECTED SO HARD AND SLOW EVERYWHERE ELSE
When this first appeared in Italy and Iran as a new virus that hospitals needed to test for, testing kits WERE sent from China them and these kits WERE infected. It appears that this is what massively accelerated the spike in those 2 locations, and why Bangkok, Manilla, NYC, Rome etc have been a slot burn of person to person low level and accumulation infection.
We will probably find that the Shenzhen company that sent those kits also sent them to parts of France, UK and Spain explaining their high initial deaths
Whether this was deliberate remains to be seen. I am a hard core conspiracy lover from way back, but I can see that this could have simply been more dirty crooked Chinese businesses and this one just really fucked us all good.
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ODD ASPECTS OF IT- WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE AND THE BODIES?
There is so limited footage anywhere in the world showing hospitals and medical centres that appear to have any sense of emergency. Perhaps everyone is out the back and all other things aren’t happening. No kids are in the park falling off a skateboard, no one driving having an accident therefore COVID is the only stuff happening in hospitals and it is “out the back”. That’s entirely plausible
No testing happening- too much footage of empty testing facilities around the world. This is very odd. You'll see a lot of this soon
Only 1 footage of body bags in a NYC hospital – eerie but not proof of anything
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RUMOURS OF HOW COVID WORKS AND IMPACTS

• It is suggested by some that Asian men have a DNA difference that makes them more susceptible
• It is suggested males who recover become sterile
• It is suggested if you recover your lungs are effed.
• It is suggested that you are not immune and will be worse the next time it comes back
• There is too little data to really know any of this

But there is a MASSIVE VACUUM of factual information- how is it that we see footage of and hear of people walking and just dropping dead. What is COVID doing that causes that if that is really happening?
It is suggested that if you get coughed on, or a small exposure, it’s not much- that’s a cold you just caught and just got 10 units of “it”. If so this could explains why for most people it really is a non issue, a mild cold. That could explain how someone like Peter Dutton or Boris Johnson got it but his wife and kids who live shoulder to shoulder in a house and car etc did not catch it
Some suggest there are super spreaders, they are carrying say a “10,000 load”. According to some they may only be capable of passing on a 100 infection load say, And that person might give off a 10 load and so on
What the emerging data does show is that Nurses and Doctors may be the ones in real trouble. They are being repeatedly exposed to asymptomatics with say 10 units, and over and over and they are building up to a 500 or 5000 themselves. This appears to be a slow burn for them and one to really watch for. (When enough of them decide they aren’t going to work we’re in a world of trouble)
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THE SHUTDOWNS ARE NECESSARY BECAUSE THEY ALL CAN’T BE THAT DUMB TO DO THAT IF IT WASN’T A REAL CRISIS
Well yes they can be that dumb. Often leaders are just narcissists who ran the system such that they end up in a position of power and we defer leadership to them not on their ability but they occupy a chair. Their decisions are usually based on what is hoped to be good advice from people who lack information and just see what counterparts elsewhere are doing. It’s often a giant circle jerk and they are relying on little, poor, weak and false information.
Watching WHO backflip since January should be enough for you to know that they are bought and owned and incompetent in this. Their information have been shown to be false repeatedly. You watch, they’ll tell us we need to wear masks now.
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DOGS THAT DON’T BARK
People on this sub know that it isn’t the dogs that bark that are the problem. It’s the dogs that don’t bark. Consider this, think of alllll the non-political leaders around the world. Those who are the captains of industry, the super leaders and super wealthy, Warren Buffet, Richard Branson, each country has them. “Philanthropists” and futurists. Well apparently this is an existential crisis. Billions are afraid for their health and livelihoods, their ability to earn money and provide for their families. It has now gone on long enough that our lives and world will change massively. In the meantime, fear, anxiety, depression, domestic violence, alcoholism, child abuse will explode. Where are they? Where are the great futurists? Where is Elon Musk? Where is Jeff Bezos? Where is Bill Gates? Don't say they are running their empire and its in crisis- they have multiple CEOs do that for them
Ask yourself where are the billionaires and people standing up in your nation saying we need to come together and build community and local digital and physical support networks? I don’t know why but we are being deliberately isolated from each other, physically and psychologically. All of the global elite have gone to ground. Those dogs are too silent
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THERE IS A REASON THEY ARE STAYING SILENT.
My observation is that they either know something and are deliberately staying out of this, or they are truly corrupt and believe this will blow over and keeping their cash dry to buy investments for cents in the dollar
Whatever is happening they appear to know *something*. These people are such psychopaths, narcissists and ego trippers that they just can’t resist in moments like this
There’s a reason they have gone to ground. Maybe they are just ugly without stylists and botox. Maybe it is lack or that adrenochrome, maybe they’re all in NZ. I have no idea. But I smell a ~~rat~~ **bat**
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YOU SAW A LIST OF ALL THOSE TOP 500 CEOS RESIGNING
There’s 500 of them and let’s say they stay on average 4 years in the job, that’s 10 a month ordinarily resigning. Keep moving
But it is undeniable that those US politicians on the inside of this saw something a few months ago and sold stocks and bought others. (In principle they should be on the end of a rope for this)
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TIMING IMPACTS/ SURROUNDING EVENTS
Would any of the following have affected the timing of this?
Happened Right after Hong Kong elections, Right after Taiwan Elections, Right after Chinese New Year, Right after Northern Hemisphere comes out of its flu season period, right after Davos?
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ANTI CHINA SENTIMENT WILL FORCE CHINA'S HAND INTO SOMETHING
You watch, in the next few weeks there will be an explosion of anti-china sentiment. Buy Australian, America First, British Businesses First. The problem is we have sucked so hard on the China nipple that we will starve if Mother Xi takes it out. You want to see half the universities in UK, Australia and Canada close down- just watch. All they have to do is say fine, we won’t buy your wool, or your coal, or iron ore. In Australia’s case it would FINISH us. Overnight. Never mind our dollar should fall to USD$0.40 after the printing we’ve announced it will fall to US$0.20.
Too many instances of Chines people around the world doing weird things to spread an infection- if they had it, licking things – admittedly probably just mentally ill people but it feeds into the anti china hate
People will turn on China and governments will need a scapegoat for the taxes that will come to pay for this. IF China did this deliberately to destabilise and kill or conquer the West or if they are just innocent victims of crooked businessmen and their pride prevented them from admitting that we’ll see I guess
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SO WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
It all Depends on whether it was a State Sponsored plan to destroy economies and destabilise them for whatever objective, or if it was just more crooked Chinese businesses who’s factories sent infected testing kits, and false negative testing kits, and falsely labelled fake-masks (Google fake baby formula, fake eggs, fake condoms, etc). This is entirely plausible as would be a cover up in China of that - the face thing Chinese need to grow up and get over.
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WHAT DO I THINK?
I have no idea. Here is what I think I know

• Everyone lies
• Govts will bankrupt 10 generations to keep people happy tomorrow
• Govts are utterly incompetent
• We are relying on beurocrats and public servants to deliver us from evil. The problem is they have jobs for life and pensions for life. They are incapable of being objective in this
• We have no reason to trust China- Chinese businesses and the Chinese government
• India has 2 weeks or it will go dark. Not from the virus but from food insecurity. First the 2 x religions will turn on each other in small locations, then there will be a wave of exodus for protection, then people will see the govt will not be able to deliver the food, and then the place goes up in smoke
• If this is shown to be a false alarm- there was an unintended/ deliberate infection into Iran and Italy, and unintended spread through false negatives, and a few super spreaders distorted, people who have lost things, like their business, will be pissed off. Casino’s will be the some of the first places to be lit up
• There are too many silent dog

OR
This is deliberate and we are all fucked.
IS THERE AN ILLUMINATI IN CONTROL?
Perhaps. But we have now seen that these NSA, FBI, CIA KGB, Mossad etc intelligence agencies were a myth all along. That anyone with half a functining brain left them and went into private business and the only people left there are zealots, dinosaurs and losers. We know this because they have information but showed no intelligence - none of them saw this or protected against it. No country secretly stockpiled PPEs and Ventilators. Instead it looks like they bought faulty shit from China that fucked them well and good, with economies on the edge of an abyss if a jolt to the system happened during this crisis
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BILLIONS IN THEIR HOMES, FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, ON LINES, SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING- WILL SOMEONE REVEAL THEMSELVES?
If there was a god, a magician, a healer, an ET, a UFO, a time traveler, a reptilian overlord, a simulation programmer from the 25th century well, now is their window to reveal themselves.
Don’t hold your breath, if they are holding back because they somehow know this goes pear shaped then if it is pear shaped no one will be on line to witness their majesty. Their window is closing daily
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THE POWERS THAT BE WILL NOT LET US OUT SOON ENOUGH TO REHIRE AND GET THE ECONOMY MOVING BACK TO WHAT IT WAS
Our economies have been so wrecked that the politicians now need this to be bad to make it justifiable
Their best hope is many thousands dead and they can claim the line was not breached they flattened the wave and we can thank and re-elect them, it was all necessary. The cure was worth the price
As soon as they take the foot off the brake and we come out of our little ice igloos and someone gets an infection they have to shut the economy and travel and movement down again.
Governments and police forces NEVER hand back power given to them…EVER. And we have conditioned ourselves to them
The cure WILL be worse than the cold, so to say
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IT IS INEVITABLE THAT WE ALL NEED TO BE INFECTED WITH THIS
>75% of us need to become infected and immune from this before we can resume any sort of global normal. Borders cannot open for mass travel until then.
Expect rolling infections. They will move medical personnel and supplies zone by zone and turn it from Red to Green. Then you can have your microchip that proves you are not infected. Or a bracelet if you prefer
I am not particularly a deep ended NWO ZOG 666 believer, but I cannot see how this will not be an eventuality. They simply will not allow global travel if they open the doors and this breaks out again. We will have already seen airlines and travel industry go out of business. It can’t happen again. No green check mark, no travel. (And this explains the silence and absence of Bill Gates by the way)
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HOW CAN I TELL WHETHER IT WAS A CON OR A REAL?
There cannot be a nation that does_not_go dark because of this. There HAS to be a country that smashes the line, Shit even if it were a TB or whooping cough outbreak, something, somewhere, very soon. If it doesn’t then we have been had. And if we have been had then there was a reason. And we are all inside. Isolated. Relying on the govt to eat, and when we are allowed to leave our homes to buy food. With dogs that aren’t barking. It was a set up. For some reason. In 2020 just like they said
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REAL THREATS IN THE MEANTIME

• The internet going down
• China blocking supply of Tungsten (the most critical raw material on earth and 90% of it comes from China)
• Someone spikes a local water supply
• A few interconnectors go down sending a city dark
• That this really is a slow burn thing and the nurses and doctors get ill and don’t turn up

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THERE’S ALWAYS A SAVIOR WHO WILL OFFER HOPE
Whoever offers the best solution in or from this- he’s probably the master villain in all this
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ILLUMINATI, 666, NWO, FREEMASONS, ZOG, REPTILES, ICKE, SKULL&BONES

• I guess here we are there aren’t we. The world can be tipped one way or the other and it will happen now in COVID or in the next type of COVID. Just like the starship enterprise in a battle our global shields are down to 20%- we can’t do another bailout, or rescue, we’ve fired all our photons and those that are on order for future delivery. We’ve spent our global pennies and we better hope it works
• If anyone stands up and offers us a solution it can will demonstrate if there really ever was a hidden hand of apron wearing, cult chanting overlords pulling strings behind the scenes after all
• That’s something

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WE ARE 100% EXPENDABLE AND ON OUR OWN IN THIS

• Individually you are 100% on your own in this, No one is coming to help you. Your police will even arrest you if you step out of line or don’t line up for your sedative
• Media, politicians, police, military, sportspeople, business leaders, they all exist to serve themselves, at your expense and that is never been more apparent than now
• Sadly there is probably not much we can do. We are all tiny cogs in a big charade. Of incompetence or design.

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WHAT WILL BE THE OUTCOMES

• Our masters will have more power and they will not hand that back. They never have and never will
• The wealthy will become even more wealthy
• We will all work longer, for less, and owe more, individually and collectively. And death duties. Guaranteed
• If not from this one, within a few years the next “one” will melt the system. THAT is where if I were a hidden hand I would expose myself. Exhaust the people during this one, bleed it dry in this one, strike in the next one

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WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

• I have no idea. Get out of debt? Buy food? Build a bunker? Stock up on toilet paper? Pray? Beats me
• The best outcome might be to simply accept the inevitable and convince your other you might as well become swingers and enjoy it
• Or learn maybe Chinese