Simulated tornadoes don't make wind! ☭ ------------------------------------ 06/04/2025: When I returned from my 3-month stay in Germany a few days ago, I kept thinking to myself "What local 'thing' did I take from this experience". Most often I tend to go somewhere and obsess over one 'thing' for the entirety of my stay. I think what stayed with me is that Germany, as a country but predominantly as Germans, seemingly, are stuck in the past signaling progress. They are 'extreme' in many ways, which was - as an adolescent in comfort-loving Austria - one of the things that interested me about our neighbors. But now - as a man in lib-heaven Netherlands - I can say, they're fucked.