DmitriKaramazov

To pursue my dreams, passions, and pleasures.
To try to become the best, most excellent version of myself.
To provide for those that I love (wife, children, family) so that they have the best opportunity to pursue their own dreams, passions, and pleasures.
To defend truth and goodness when given the chance.

Those four deceptively simple aims could consume every moment of the remainder of my days. Easy to say, extremely arduous to accomplish.

I am sorry you are grappling with depression. I contend with it myself. It is a vicious, elusive foe that can eradicate all joy and hope. I hope you find your way back to the light.

frick AI and its insufferable boosters. It's a technology that accelerates the demise of human reason, undermines intelligence, erodes independence, and threatens the financial security of American families. Limit it to the sciences and other fields where it serves humanity.

Sorry to hear of your struggles. I sympathize with anyone experiencing job and financial insecurity. I know how stressful that can be, especially if you have a family to support. Hope you find a wonderful new job quickly.

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You left off Portugal, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. The next tourney will be have 6 host nations on 3 different continents. Dumb I know.

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True. It is odd, all to honor the Centennial. Based on what I've read, at least, those South American countries will only host opening matches.

Was at the game. The least impressive of the venues where I followed Argentina. A hot, cramped, generic bowl of concrete set in the nondescript sea of New Jersey. Difficult to get to and exhausting to escape. Miami, Atlanta, KC, and Dallas all had features to commend them. Not so for Met Life. It's only advantage is proximity to Manhattan.

Atlanta was my favorite venue, for what it's worth.

The Final also had the worst atmosphere of any game I attended. Partially because it was a disjointed game and there was nothing to cheer for if you were an Argentina fan. But also because there were too many interlopers there who simply went for the cachet and had no connection to the match. They did not care about the outcome or the teams. Literally watched two (admittedly very attractive) women take selfies and make "content" the entire match. All 120 minutes.

The pre-game and half-time shows were wildly overdone, in my opinion.

All that said, the tournament overall was dramatic and brilliant, even though it ended in heartbreak for my team. Will be a long and arid wait for Spain/Morocco 2030.

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the greatest side in international history doesn’t need divine intervention to beat Cape Verde. frick off with this nonsense

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If they win Sunday, they will be the first team to repeat as world champions since 1962. Between the (potential) two consecutive world titles, they won two continental titles. Not even Pele's Brazil accomplished that feat. They will have done all of this with the same core of players (though not identical), including the best player of all time. On top of that, they have played in three of the last four WC finals.

So yes, if they win Sunday, they should be considered the greatest international side of all time. I don't think you appreciate how difficult it is to win major international tournaments.

But they have to beat Spain first, which is a staggering challenge.

Vamos vamos Argentina.

I've been in attendance at the Argentina knock-out games. Will be at the final on Sunday. This has arguably been the most compelling, thrilling, gripping run of victories in the history of the World Cup. You simply do not see these type of late comeback victories very frequently in elite international football (soccer, pick the term you prefer). If they can beat Spain, which is no mean feat, this will go down as the greatest international side in history. Two straight World Cups and two straight Copas. Seleccion will need to play their absolute best match to defeat Spain, who are rightfully favored. Hope Argentina can make history.

I've been to the last three Argentina matches. Incredible scenes. Back to Atlanta for England.

Why does he want to enter the military? If he has strong convictions about joining the military, 24 is absolutely not too old for college. He will almost certainly be more mature than his peers and hold a different worldview, his college experience might be less orthodox, but he would still enjoy it. I don't think we would be a social pariah.

Was at the Argentina-Cape Verde game last night. Incredible showing from the Argentine fans.