since moving here ive noticed europeans have no concept of how few americans ever leave USA. every american tourist youve met is of an economic crust that is vastly unobtainable to the other like. 85% generously. no matter what you have believed i can guarantee this. even getting to canada isnt really a possibility and the mexico-US border is highly controlled and militarized.
to put it into perspective. a ~2 hour flight from london to warsaw is like. 30 to 45 USD?
and a 2 hour flight from one US city to another would be about 130 USD
it was very cheap to fly here. i make over 100k USD now and i dont know if ill ever be able to afford leaving. if that gives you an idea of how prohibitive travel is here. i havent even touched on how the US has Zero guaranteed holidays by the govt. many people here go years without ever having an entire week off of work
this has had a like. massive impact on American Brain and they dont even know it because travel isnt even a consideration economically. they dont even know how much more vacation time european countries have guaranteed
london to warsaw - which is what they specified - literally is £20. flights from london to poland have always been cheap
£20 is actually $22 so really $45 is overestimating
Science fiction is full of first contact stories, but is there a such thing as LAST contact? Decide exactly what that means, and write about it.
It was too late, when the humans came. They were a young species, still
exploring outwards, vital and thriving.
We… were not.
War had ravaged us,
and sickness, and war once again, until our population dwindled beyond the
point of recovery. We struggled against that, of course… we used genetic
manipulation, and cloning, and even more desperate measures. None succeeded.
When the humans came, we were sinking into apathy, only a few tens of us left.
We had begun to discuss whether we should commit a mass suicide, or simply wait
to fade away.
And then the young
species came, in their clumsy ships, and they asked us why we were so
few.
“We are becoming
extinct,” we told them. “We have passed the point of recovery.”
It is custom to avoid
the races that are dying – once a species reaches the point of inevitable
extinction, even war is suspended, and the fiercest enemy pulls back. The
custom was born of plagues and poisons that could be carried forth from a dying
world to afflict a healthy one, but it has the implacable weight of tradition
now. After we are gone, after they have waited for the prescribed period of
quarantine, there will be a fight for our world. Habitable worlds are few, and
this is a good one, with plenty of free groundwater and thriving vegetation. It
is a bitter thing to be grateful for the custom that allows us to die in peace,
but we are grateful.
But the humans don’t
know that custom, and they do not leave. They seem distraught, when we tell
them we are dying, and try to offer their aid - but their technology is behind
ours, and it is too late. When they realize that they can’t save us, though,
they do something that bewilders us.
thinking abt that episode of TOS where Sulu finds a gun on the ground and is like “sweet” and just takes it
what’s better is that this planet was supposed to manifest your greatest fantasy and while everyone else was imagining sex and power Sulu is just like
even better: this planet is actually supposed to manifest whatever you’re thinking about at that particular moment, meaning that sulu was just strolling around on vacation thinking about Gun
this is 150% consistent with That Episode where the ship flies through an insanity cloud that makes the crew have tearful meltdowns meanwhile Sulu is just runing shirtless through the hallways with a fencing foil
this man’s personality is 30% chilling with plants, 70% historical weapons and manic glee
quality 5.0 difficulty 4.0 One of the BEST professors I’ve ever had the pleasure of being in a class with. Sure the assignments may be tough, but if you’re willing to study and put in the HARD WORK to do things right, he will reward you!
quality 1.0 difficulty 5.0 this guy literally gave me my term paper back with a bite taken out of it
