I've got another batch of split pea soup on the stove - I have it on very low, just let it sit for an hour or so - because its so dense, it really keeps the heat inside so it does not take much to keep it hot - yeah, bay leaves would be great - I decided to take my one potato out of it - because I don't think it adds anything - as the soup is, you can reduce it and put it over pasta or something - if you like your meat, you could add some beef to it - if I ate meat though, I would put that as a side portion - I am not eating meat at the moment - the price of meat in New Zealand is insane. A lot of zoomers seem to be waking up and doing the "Depression comparison" - even I did that one myself six months back - people are hurting, and hopefully that pain will make them think more about just what monstrous form governs us all:

LINK: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/were-silent-depression-tiktoker-went-114500783.html

Here in New Zealand - there is pretty much zero talk of the massive increase in the price of food / housing- they go to hilarious lengths to not talk about it.

Hopefully the younger generations are learning a valuable lesson here. Sad thing about it, it will get worse before class is over for the day. I expect the hike in food - which seems exclusively to involve western counties for "mysterious reasons"- to continue. I guess there are other countries as well - but Russia seemed to have some nice cheap food going on. *I am currently stocking up on split peas, because they are cheap and can be stored for years.

About 3d printing space craft - this is very interesting. I would be very powerful if the open source community got to the stage they could crowd fund space projects - that would be a game changer - although I am sure there would be massive sabotage - the sheer amount of projects would make it hard to subdue. About the asteroid - there is a lot of opportunity there. Self creating robots, that mine and then build more advanced robots - under humanity's control - would be the way I think we will end up exploring the stars. It would be more space travel by slow seeding.

About bringing life to the universe - some people think that is what we are. Or at least that is one of the main theories of the UFOs - don't know if it is true, but makes for interesting thoughts - That the grey aliens you hear of - are just robots of an AI seeding program to spread our DNA (human) throughout the universe - recently they said they think the universe is 26 billion years old - of course, some people think that it is even older - maybe even infinite - so such programs could have started at star systems so faraway they could break our minds. Sometimes I look at the sky and wonder - that what if the universe was not just dark space, but in fact teeming with life. Some people who are more cynical perhaps would reply to the classic question "where are they" with "they are hiding". Because if there is one law of nature - at least on our planet, its that apex predators are the only ones that don't hide. But bringing life to all the ends of the darkness - to bring light - sounds like a beautiful concept. I hope it happens. It would be funny if at the end of the day - the aliens we meet, if we got to know them, just have the same problems as we do - maybe they have corrupt governments as well. Maybe that phenomenon is the only constant.

Have a Merry Christmas! Enjoy the time with your family!

Thanks!