bluGill
The obvious thing is this was poorly defended enemy territory. By attacking here they got through - Ukraine has entered more land in the last 2 weeks than Russia in all of 2024 (entered does not mean control).
This does several things for Ukraine that we know of. there may also be things it does we have not thought of and Ukraine isn’t talking about.
It forces Russia to counter-attack to get their own land back. Defense is generally easier than offense so Ukraine can slowly retreat while inflicting lots of Russian losses. Those are troops that don’t attack in Ukraine. Better yet, Ukraine doesn’t really care to hold this land so they don’t have to make as hard of decisions - if troops will be lost retreat (troops will be lost, but hopefully not as many as there is not much value in trading lives). They can also rig traps that would destroy the land, Ukraine isn’t going to pay to rebuild it after the way so not their problem.
It pulls Russian troops out of Ukraine. Even after Ukraine withdraws Russia will be forced to keep more troops on the border to prevent Ukraine from doing this again. Those are troops (including supplies) that cannot defend in Ukraine and in turn that makes it easier to take back their own land back.
It gives Ukraine something to bargain with. “you want your land back, we wants ours, lets just trade and call it even”. Russia isn’t interested in any bargains at this time, but this gives Ukraine something to work with when they are, and also gives Russia reason to be interested. Overall nobody thinks this is a useful thing at the moment (Russia doesn’t care), but it is a consideration.
Last (because you are most likely to remember what is last this is what I think is most important) this improves moral. Ukraine has been slowly losing land for months now - this gives a great moral boost: we can take land from Russia. Both defending troops celebrate and then fight harder, and also friends (NATO) can say aid isn’t a lost cause as Ukraine can fight back.
Power lifting requires practice of technique to win. However with just body weight and the right technique to make it better you can get as strong. Few people try this though as the good body weight exercise is hard.
Though power lifting can substitute rocks which are easy to “make” at home. (you cannot maintain perfect form with rocks though so you won’t win competition, but if strength is the goal rocks work)
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against a good set of weights, if you want to buy equipment I’d put good weights at the top of the list of equipment to buy. However you don’t need them if you get creative with body weight and are not trying to win competitions (unless the competition is really poor, you need to practice with the right equipment to win).
One more reason I’ll be voting for a third party. I hope enough people join me that it sends a message. Ideally enough that a “safe” state turns out a loss for who it is safe for - thus forcing those who are listening to loud voices hear the quiet ones.
Guess I won’t be buying a Ford. If they won’t produce the cars I want I have to go elsewhere. Keeping my 1999 on the road is getting expensive, but I see no other option. (though my ebike covers about 90% of my needs, that last 10% isn’t much so cheap is important)
Do you really need all that? Is there a local copy shop (often public libraries, drug stores…) that have some of those services? Sometimes they have better quality printers (photo printers for example). While you pay more per page, do you really do whatever it is enough to make it worth the cost of the printer vs just going elsewhere? There are many middle grounds (black and white printer. Use your phone camera as a scanner) that are clearly worse than what you want, but still good enough for most purposes and you can use the better option when you need it.
The answer to the above of course depends on your specific situation so there isn’t one right answer. It is always work thinking about though.