Five Things: NATO, US Conservatives, Surfing, ChatGPT, Spargel

I'm waiting for spring. And Spargel and strawberries.

If you read this, it’s probably Sunday. Thanks for opening this email in your inbox. I hope you liked what I picked for you to read this time. I enjoyed all five articles.

Saturday was the last day for the remaining three nuclear power plants in Germany. While conservative pundits still argue that everything will turn dark without them, I actually think that we spent way too much money subsidizing nuclear energy instead of investing in solar and wind sooner. The nuclear waste of these power plants is still an unresolved issue and therefore I think it makes a ton of sense not to use nuclear energy anymore. I think we’ll find lots of clever ways to use wind and solar in the future. Unfortunately, Germany stopped producing solar panels a while ago when the government decided not to focus on alternative energies and now we’re dependent on China for this, which makes little to no sense. Anyhow, this is a good development and I like it that Germany does the right thing, even though the rest of Europe seems to disagree and still focuses on nuclear energy. Solar and wind will provide clean energy and no, nothing will turn dark here.

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All Unquiet on NATO’s Eastern Flank

It’s really disconcerting to see how the Western European states have neglected their armies and are now unable to fulfill their obligations within NATO. We’ll see how fast this will change, but I assume that it will take a long time. It’s good Finland joined NATO, they can protect us… (Foreign Policy)

US conservatives love to warn of creeping fascism. Do they understand what it is?

The GOP is interested in power, not in democracy. Trump was not an accident, this happened on purpose and we will continue to see evangelicals and the far-right join hands to fight against the core of a liberal democracy. (The Guardian)

The Buddy System

One of the regrets I have about life is that I never learned to surf. I learned windsurfing on a lake in the mid-80s, but that was not even close to what I suspect riding a wave would be like. This text is really beautiful and resonated a lot with me. (Longreads)

‘Overemployed’ Hustlers Exploit ChatGPT To Take On Even More Full-Time Jobs

AI will change the way we work, that’s for sure. But it will probably do it in a lot of ways we never imagined. So called Prompt Ninjas are making a ton of money right now, which reminds me of the time SEO was all the rage and people were being paid ridiculous sums of money to ensure a company was ranked high in Google search results. (Vice)

The Cult of the Spargel Eaters

This article might seem to be full of exaggerations, but it is all true. In our household the asparagus season always starts on April 22nd, which is my wife’s birthday. And we always take the thinner Spargel, supposedly b-quality, but we like those sticks better than the thick ones, and no hollandaise sauce for us, thank you, we take butter and salt. And smoked ham along with it. Also potatoes of course, we’re Germans. And strawberries for desert. The season ends just before my birthday in June and by then we all cannot stand asparagus anymore. (40% German)

That’s it. Have an amazing Sunday!