I hiked out to the lava flows in Hawaii when you were still allowed to. It’s pretty cool, but also super scary.
You have to hike for miles over fresh lava flow which creates one of the most difficult terrains imaginable. Imagine rippling hills made of cheese graters and razorblades. And the lava heats the air, so it’s like 130°f. And you have to touch the ground constantly, if it’s too hot to touch or your shoes are melting, or if you hear any cracking, it means you’re likely in top of a lava tube that can crumble away from your weight dropping you into lava.
You have to sit through a 45 minute long safety video before they let you out there, which also explains that due to the heat and the drafts, helicopters can’t get out there, so if you get into trouble, even just succumbing to heat stroke it twist an ankle bad enough that you can’t walk, no one can help you. You need to bring a lot of water.
I was advised once as a young man to travel there. It’s the place where the ratio of beauty between men and women is the furthest off kilter, and that an attractive American with a good job could find a woman with supermodel beauty.
Sounded creepy, never did it. If I go there it won’t be for that reason. Just wanted to add that someone in a mentor position to me advised it for that reason. Maybe there’s something to it
This whole thing is a nightmare. What is anyone’s end goal here?
Hamas seemingly intended to draw Israel into a war. They hide behind citizens. But when Israel makes it crystal clear they will shred an arbitrary amount of citizens to get to Hamas --once that’s known and understood-- isn’t Hamas equally to blame for their deaths. They could have: 1 not escalated, 2 fight openly in uniform instead of cowardly hiding behind citizens.
Tactically, what they are doing makes sense if the goal is to win at a war, but to say so admits they were the first to put the Gaza civilians in danger by starting such a war.
Israel is the only party that can win a war. There can be so much more suffering if it carries on.
I also suspect this whole thing is either orchestrated or exasperated to try to draw Iran in, because Israel and the west would love an excuse to wipe Iran off the map before they get nukes.
So let me hear your opinions, how does this whole thing end? And for the sake of conversation let’s assume cease-fire is out, because I don’t pragmatically see that happening.