The Lurkdragon's Lair

The right wing aspect of it is slapping an air conditioner on Global Warming as a patch, instead of working on leaving fossil fuel behind and other centralised measures. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Also, in a lot of places, in historic districts, it's really not that easy, or even possible, to install AC due to architectural design.

I also want to remind the lovely Americans I follow that US is having crisis with ACs too. It's not a given your grid will be able to handle the increased pressure (or that you guys will be able to afford that). my US acquaintances already reporting blackouts in 35-40+ temperature. So like. You can ridicule the Greens concern all you want, but it may involve you too...

And I know that when most people say "Europeans" they think about EU specifically. But consider this: russia is routinely attacking Ukrainian electrical grid; widespread AC adoption is not possible here. Even now - without any massive attack recently, - we already have scheduled blackouts in some places. The war can easily spread to other European countries - besides, russia already started the sabotage campaigns, proving that it can and willing to target civilian infrastructure.

I even seem to remember Western Europe, particularly Germany, buying Russian gas exactly for this reason. So buying Russian gas for heating is fine and using coal for heating is fine, but everyone is supposed to condemn people to death rather than use A/C. Hello? In what world does that make sense? And Germany's case is self-inflicted, which is even worse! Nuclear energy is bad, shut down the power plants, A/C is bad, we're gonna build our new hospitals without a way to cool them and do cardiac surgery in the 100F heat and will morally condemn everyone for not doing the same, but heating is important so we're gonna buy Russian on the cheap. ????????????

And yeah, the US is definitely having an electricity crisis due to the heat- the DOE issued two emergency declarations yesterday to prepare for the heatwave this week. Not having A/C in a heat is in fact an emergency because the heat will kill people. That's the point. The DOE declaring emergencies and preparing ahead of time only emphasizes that. Even the fucking Trump DOE is taking this as a serious threat. Because it is.

I don't particularly think Ukraine's case is relevant to this when both A/C is legitimately not possible under bombardment and I don't believe (or at least haven't noticed) Ukrainian politicians are morally condemning others for using it. I did speak loosely when using European as a catch all, but given some European countries outside the EU (hi, UK) are also bizarrely anti-A/C, 'European' was still a more accurate catch all to use. Yeah #NotAllEuropeans but I did think that was obvious without specifying. If I remember correctly, I think Italy and Greece etc can also be excluded from this post as well because I generally remember them having A/C where they could afford it and I don't see them mudslinging either. Like I'm not angry at the inability to install widespread A/C. I'm pissed off at the moral rejection of it.

And if by political climate you mean extreme antisemitism, particularly in Europe and particularly in France, as well as a nationalist knee-jerk anti-Americanism because many European - and definitely Canadian too - politicians realize they can just rail against The Orange Man to boost their popularity instead of addressing very real problems (eg A/C but also antisemitism and collective defense) and then turn around and have the audacity to wonder why parties like AfD and National Rally are rising in the polls, then I think I can use a joke to point that out. Because that is exactly what Audrey Pulvar was doing here, and fuck her for doing it. Why admit France's failure to do something about an issue everyone knew was coming for years when she could just blame the US and score easy political points? Fuck her and her high horse, she doesn't have a point about anything and I'm not going to pretend she does, she's as much of a nationalist and eugenicist as anyone in MAGA and being an environmentalist doesn't change that. Meanwhile, China is currently a much bigger polluter than the US, but I don't for a moment think they should cut their A/C and just let their vulnerable population take one for the team.

the mighty dragoness did pass away recently. she was very old even for a dragon, so it was bound to happen. her niece inherited the cave, and she seems very sweet but she doesn’t really understand the traditional point of the sacrifices and has no interest in accruing further wealth so she just sort of asks for anything on her mind at the moment

a nervous girl wearing a flowy robe walks slowly along the aisle the service has made for her, a basket of golden brown beer-battered onion rings and a cup of honey dijon mustard in her outstretched arms. she sets them on the sacrificial altar and steps back as the dragon emerges from her cave and bends her nose down to sniff at them

everyone watches with bated breath as she gently picks one up and eats it. as she roars her approval, the mountain ledge explodes into cheering and applause

as everyone is leaving, she holds up a claw, and everyone falls silent again. she says it might be silly but she was going to watch a movie and if anyone wanted to come they're welcome to watch the movie and maybe play some board games with her? about half the congregation volunteers immediately

roommate: is there a problem?

cat: RAH!

roommate: oh no, is the door shut? did charlie lock you out of the bathroom?

cat: mweh...

roommate: well you see, i could fix that problem for you—

cat: MYEH!

roommate: —but due to social rules that you probably couldn't understand even if i explained them,

cat: gWAAH... mow..

roommate: yeah, dude, i hear you, but it's not gonna happen.

cat: MRRRR..!

roommate: i know i have opposable thumbs, but my hands are tied, thumbs and all. i'm sorry, i wish it didn't have to be this way.

Them: What happened to your leg? Me, making uncomfortably direct eye contact: Nothing. (I have a connective tissue disorder, not a leg injury)

Them: You're too young to need a cane. Me: You're too old to say something that stupid.

Them: You're too young to need a cane. Me: I'm actually a hundred and forty years old, I just have a great skin care routine. I bathe in the blood of people who say stupid shit.

Them: What's with the cane? Me, quoting The Princess Bride: It's just that they're terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be using them in the future.

Them: Why do you have a cane? Me: It's for hitting people who ask stupid questions.

Them: Why do you have a cane? Me: This is my whacking stick.

Them: What's with the cane? Me: What cane?

Them: I hope you get better soon! Me: I won't, thanks.

Them: I hope you feel better soon! Me: Wouldn't that be a miracle!

I spent almost an entire work shift drawing this tooth-rotting fluff

I’m talking showing scenes of something bumping the van in the middle of the night while they’re sleeping shoulder to shoulder under a single blanket covering everyone. Scooby tumbles across the four of them and insists it was something outside, not him chasing a rabbit in his sleep.

In the mornings the guys wash and dress on one side of the Mystery Machine and the girls on the other. They shout theories over the van, occasionally getting side-lined by debating who’s setting up the gas cooker to make breakfast.

While Fred or Shaggy drives Daphne tests Velma with questions from textbooks so she can stay up to date on schoolwork. Fred always claims they’re students from a nearby city on a road-trip for a school project whenever they’re pulled over by the cops.

Each time they get paid for solving a mystery they stock up on non-perishable food that can be stored in the van (including Scooby Snacks of course!). Then they make a budget plan for stretching their money, fuel and supplies long enough to get to their next paid mystery.

Sex and drugs can be an underlining thing, but it doesn’t need to be a cheap source of humour. While they’re lounging in the back of the van Shaggy could be shown casually rolling a blunt while trying to convince everyone they shouldn’t venture into that abandoned office building the mayor insists is closed for repairs. Fred and Daphne sometimes insist that Shaggy, Scooby, and Velma go search for leads for a few hours while they’d stay at the van and “talk over some trap plans”.

On top of that, if they wanted to go dark mature they could add in backstories of the kids having troubled home lives, hence why there’s no concern for them being essentially homeless and dropping out of school. Also an explanation on why their parents haven’t sicced cops on them to bring them home.