@oren

I started reading the trending page on Mastodon every day a while back, and took the political compass test again to find that I had moved further leftwards and towards the libertarian side. I don’t know the exact numbers, but it was a big shift.

I guess this tells you something about how the information you consume changes you.

Country hot takes (in order of how hot they are):

• Every possible country should join the EU and NATO

• Let Kurdistan be independent

• Let Kosovo be independent

• Let Catalonia be independent

• Let Greenland be independent

• Let Abkhazia and South Ossetia be independent

• Let Somaliland be independent

• Give Washington DC to Maryland

• Move the Idaho/Oregon border (Greater Idaho movement)

• Northern Ireland should join Ireland. All other UK independence movements should not move forwards, however

• Let all Canadian provinces vote to join America

• Merge Liechtenstein into Switzerland, San Marino into Italy, Monaco into France and Andorra into Spain. Or let them join the EU. Either option.

• Make a single country out of the EU (like a United States of Europe)

This has been an absolutely wild couple of days in the wasteof community (offsite mostly) - I can't speak for everyone but I’m quite tired and tense because of it. It also distracted me from doing homework. So I’m probably gonna not log on for a few days.

It would be funny if the “become oern” button changed your PFP permanently

Raise your hand if you remember this

Morocco once submitted an application to join the EU… It got rejected.

Countries that are on more than one continent:

Some say Panama is split between both North and South America.

Today I learned that states can propose amendments to the US constitution. In Article V, if 2/3 of states agree, the government is constitutionally required to hold a convention to discuss amendments to the Constitution (focused on a single topic they propose). ¾ of states still have to ratify any new amendments proposed. I feel like people have forgotten about this, and it kind of seems like a cheat code to pass amendments.

This map shows state legislature control currently. Republicans have 29, Democrats have 19. 2 are split. If Republicans gained 5 states (not an easy task) they could force a constitutional convention.

Kazakhstan could technically join the European Union, if it was willing to, as it has a corner in Europe.

Russia would probably interfere though.

Top 10 tips for 2025

The Fall Line is a cool thing in the Southeast United States, where the land has a stark transition from soil types. The geography also changes from Piedmont (rolling hills, deciduous trees) to coastal plain (more flat, more pine trees) because of this. I’ve observed this in real life, it kind of splits North Carolina (and all the other states with it) into distinct sections, like the east vs the central part. It’s especially stark in Georgia, where the large majority of the population lives north of the line.

It also has determined where many large cities are. Richmond, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Raleigh, Columbia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Fredericksburg, Rocky Mount, Fayetteville, Augusta, Macon, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa are all on the Fall Line. One reason for this is because there are a lot of waterfalls on the line as it transitions, they built the cities on the coastal side (before the waterfalls) so ships could still get there.

I’m gonna try to make one post every day about something I’m interested in, like this.

Merry Christmas!

I told my uncle about this because they visited there, they actually went to one of the $1 houses to see if it was a scam. It turns out they’re actually a great deal, if you’re willing to put in the work to make them livable.