I didn’t really want to make a post so soon after my last post, but there are a few things that I should write about. First of all, since I make several donations on Patreon every month, it’s worth informing the people that receive money from me that a problem has come up. I recently had to change my credit card. Because of this, I had to update my credit card information at the end of the month when it comes to my subscriptions and donations. The only website where I haven’t been able to update my credit card information is Patreon. I’ve tried doing this several times, but every time I get a message stating that my credit card information can’t be updated at this time. I’ve even tried to use a few other methods of payment, but nothing works. Therefore, the people that receive money from me on Patreon didn’t get a payment this month. I haven’t been able to find a solution to this problem. What’s left for me to do, I suppose, is to create a new account on Patreon in order to resume donations. Hopefully, this will work, though I must say that I’m not in a hurry to do this because setting up a new account can be time-consuming. I can add that I haven’t been interested in the work of a few of the people that still receive donations from me for quite some time. If I were a normal (neurotypical) person, I would have ceased donating money to these people a long time ago. But, since I’m autistic, I continue making donations because, for example, I think that they did some good work in the past. It turns out that the attitude of autistic people toward money and other things is different from the attitude of normal people. Another thing that’s worth mentioning is that I recently found out about a new drug that’s very helpful when it comes to my health problems. I already mentioned in one of my posts that I consume aspirin when I need to and that I consume probiotics in order to help me with the two conditions that I have, one of which is autism. The probiotics that I take that help me when it comes to my autism problems provide me with a little extra energy and they help me to think more about the important things in life. Since I’m autistic, it’s easy for me to get distracted and to stop thinking about the important things in life, such as trying to make a living or spending my money on necessities like food and clothes. But the probiotics that I consume also have a somewhat unpleasant effect on me because they can make me feel anxious and gloomy since they improve the functioning of my brain and force me to think about my autistic behavior and the problems that autism creates for me in public. By the way, probiotics have to be consumed when you’re eating a meal or even a little before you’re eating a meal in order for them to be most effective. What I really like about probiotics is that they provide me with at least a little of the energy that I need because I’m almost always drained of energy because of my two health problems. The fact that I’m autistic drains me of energy because I have to interact with people, which is something that doesn’t come naturally for an autistic person. The acting that I’m forced to do when I’m in public is very energy draining. Some autistics call the act of trying to fit in and act normally in this neurotypical society that we live in masking, but I prefer the word acting. Unless an autistic person finds a niche in life in which he or she can feel comfortable most of the time (which isn’t easy to do), life remains an almost everyday struggle, and this is definitely still the case for me. The other health problem that I have also drains me of energy if I’m not very careful, in addition to causing some other serious negative effects. Therefore, I’m glad that I discovered that aspirin and probiotics are beneficial for me. The new drug that I recently found out about is called serrapeptase. Serratiopeptidase is a proteolytic enzyme (protease) produced by enterobacterium Serratia sp. E-15. This microorganism was originally isolated in Japan in the late-1960s from silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) intestine. Soon after, it became a bestselling drug in that country, later finding its way onto drugstore shelves in Europe and North America as a dietary supplement. Serrapeptase capsules are even more beneficial for me than probiotics because they provide me with considerably more energy and they help me to feel better. Thanks to these capsules, I don’t feel burned out, as I usually am. Therefore, I can think better, I can be more attentive, I can act better, and I can fit in public better. Serrapeptase capsules, while providing me with energy, don’t make me feel anxious and gloomy. Because of this additional energy, I can feel more confident. Serrapeptase capsules aren’t made specifically for autistics. Therefore, I assume that they have beneficial effects for normal people too. So, I’ve learned a lot about autism since August of 2023. As it turns out, I don’t really need a so-called stim toy. What I really need is something that provides me with energy. Aspirin, probiotics, and serrapeptase are the things that help me to feel better. I mean, I just wish that I had as much energy as Rich Evans. Sure, that’s not really possible because Rich is a god, one of the seven sons of Odin. Rich, whose real name is Bragi, lives on this mortal realm of ours disguised as a typical clueless American, who spends his time talking about junk cinema with two senior citizens and sellouts called Mike and Jay. Of course, Rich isn’t perfect. I think that he could have picked a better American name when he settled on Midgard. I would have preferred Chuck Lafarge or Gus Jenkins. And Rich, being the god of bad movies, doesn’t really do much nowadays, but that’s only because he’s trying to avoid Ragnarok. Well, let’s just hope that Rich pays his taxes, though, with all of his great power, he can easily avoid doing this. Still, Rich did take the time to bring sexy back several years ago, after Justin Timberlake famously brought sexy back in 2006.

Since a follower of mine recently asked me what I think of Bloodborne (2015), and since other followers have asked me what I think about some video games that got released in the last several years, I think that I will reply to these and other questions. First of all, I have to say that I still haven’t played Bloodborne, though it’s one of the games that I think that I should play as soon as possible. But, somehow, I keep on picking other games to play. Perhaps this is because I still haven’t grown attached to my PlayStation 4, which I bought in 2022. In the nearly two years that have passed since I bought my PS4, I’ve hardly used it to do anything. The only game that I’ve managed to finish playing so far on my PS4 is God Of War (2018). Bloodborne is one of a few PS4 games that I’ve already bought, but I still haven’t played it. God Of War was definitely a pleasure to play. It’s acknowledged by many people as one of the greatest video games ever made. Its world design and art direction are impressive. There are many places in this game that feature beautiful surroundings, where it’s pleasing to simply stand and look at the scenery, like plants or a flowing creek. Well, perhaps the big reason why I still haven’t played Bloodborne is because I know that, like Dark Souls (2011), it won’t be an easy game to finish. It will take plenty of time and effort to finish playing Bloodborne. Sure, the time spent on playing Bloodborne will be enjoyable, though sometimes difficult, but I just don’t want to be playing a challenging game at this time, when I’m trying to make changes to my life. Since my affinity is strongest for the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Portable, I keep on playing games that got made for these consoles the most. The PSP, in particular, is an excellent console for playing games on the go. I especially like the PSP Go (N1000). Video games look splendid on its small LCD screen. I even use it to watch films from time to time because you can store video files, music files, and images on it. The program that I use to easily convert files so that they can be played on my devices is called Wondershare UniConverter. The PSP Go is perhaps the easiest console to take with you because of its small size, its great design, and its many features. It’s even smaller than my mobile phone. Sure, I adore the PSP-1000 and the PSP-3000 too, but the PSP Go is simply handheld perfection. The game that I’ve been playing the most on my PSP Go recently is Final Fantasy Tactics: The War Of The Lions (2007), and this is my fourth time playing this game. It’s actually the first PlayStation game that I ever got to play and finish, and I think that it’s also the game that I’ve played the most. When I was playing it for the first time, I wasn’t using a guide, and I had no idea what this game had in store. Therefore, the fight against Cuchulainn surprised me because I didn’t expect for such a non-human enemy to appear. You can’t even find out how many hit points he has when you’re fighting against him. It’s still perhaps the most memorable boss fight that I’ve ever completed in a video game. Final Fantasy Tactics (1997) is known for being one of the greatest video games ever made, and playing it on a PSP console is my favorite way of playing it. Since I’m a fan of Yasumi Matsuno’s work, another game that I decided to play recently is Vagrant Story (2000). Like all of the other games that are stored on my PS3, I bought it before the PlayStation Store got shut down. This is my first time playing Vagrant Story, and I’ve been using an internet text guide for help. It’s the best game that I’ve played since I finished playing Okami (2006) at the end of May of 2023. Richard Stanton’s ‘A Brief History of Video Games: From Atari to Virtual Reality’ (2015) was an enjoyable read for me recently. When it comes to Okami, he had the following to say. “The greatest aesthetic achievement in this period is Clover Studios’ Okami for PS2, directed by Hideki Kamiya. Drawing on a combination of the ancient religion of Shinto and traditional Japanese watercolour art, Okami’s cel-shaded visuals are filtered through a parchment effect to create the overall impression of a moving painting. Okami is a long and involved journey, and what makes it so remarkable is that the visual invention never lets up, the beautifully realized aesthetic the starting point for endless flourishes rather than a self-satisfied whole.” The other PS2 games that Stanton considers to be must-plays are Ico, Shadow Of The Colossus, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry 3, God Of War, God Of War II, God Hand, Resident Evil 4, Manhunt, Bully, Second Sight, TimeSplitters 2, TimeSplitters, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Although Vagrant Story is challenging, mainly because its combat isn’t easy to master, it’s already clear to me that it’s a great game, even though I’ve finished playing only about half of it so far. Well, needless to say, Vagrant Story looks very good on a PSP, just like any other PS1 game. As much as I like the fact that PS1 games can now be played on a well-made and well-designed handheld console, I still can’t wait for the day when PS2 games, and especially PS3 games, can be played on a well-made and well-designed handheld console. At this time, there isn’t even a good PS3 emulator in existence for a PC. Considering the rate at which electronics have been developing in the last decade or so, it seems that it will be a long time before PS3 games will become playable on a handheld. The PS3 is my favorite home video game console. I very much like the look of the original PS3 console, which was released all the way back in 2006. I even ordered one from Japan, even though I already had a PlayStation 3 Super Slim model. The PS3 is almost two decades old, but it can still be used for things like using YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and the internet. I don’t even need a Blu-ray Disc player because I have two PS3 consoles and a PS4 console. I have an excellent PS3 remote control that I bought years ago. It can even be used to control a TV and an amplifier. I’m not in the habit of playing Blu-ray discs because I watch films and videos on my computer or on my tablet, but I recently decided to watch some films on Blu-ray and on a big screen because I finally set up the big flat screen Sony TV that was given to me by my so-called father (because he didn’t need it anymore). I already had a big flat screen TV made by Toshiba, but it’s slightly smaller and thicker than the Sony TV, and I hardly ever used it because I’m not in the habit of watching anything on a big screen at home. The Toshiba TV was given to me by my sister, but it’s not like I wanted or needed the two flat screen television sets that I have now. Still, after some time, I found a use for both of them. I must say that I’ve been enjoying playing Blu-ray discs. I’ve been watching films on Blu-ray by using my PS3, and it has been a pleasure to watch films in high-definition and on a big screen for a change. Therefore, the PS3 can do a lot more than play PS3 games. It’s even a pleasure to play music and compact discs on a PS3 because it plays some amazing background videos when it plays music. Since I’ve been slowly collecting all of the albums from Time Magazine’s list of the All-TIME 100 Albums on CD for a long time already, I already have a decent collection of great albums to play. Needless to say, a PS3 has several USB slots, but it also has slots for MemoryStick PRO Duo, SD cards, and Microdrive. The Original PlayStation 3 model is capable of playing PS1 games and PS2 games, but my collection of PS1 discs is laughably small. I do have a fine collection of PS2 discs, however. Even so, I don’t really need to use my PS3 to play PS2 games. I own a Slim PlayStation 2, which can be used to play PS1 discs, PS2 discs, and DVDs. I even own a PS2 remote control for playing DVD and CD-ROM on my PlayStation 2. Of course, my affection isn’t restricted only to the amazing PS3. I like many of the other devices that Sony made in the 2000s too. I already made a post in which I explained how I managed to fix my Sony Vaio PCG-3E2L laptop, which was given to me by my sister. I had been using this laptop as my secondary laptop, and sometimes as my primary laptop, since the beginning of 2022, which was the time when I finally managed to fix it. But, a while ago, it stopped working again because its small CMOS BIOS battery needs to be replaced. I then ordered a new BIOS battery on Amazon. Before I discovered that what needed replacing is the BIOS battery, I ordered another used white PCG-3E2L on eBay. This laptop and the shipping cost me $69. This laptop used to belong to someone from Burnaby, British Columbia, and it arrived at the beginning of March to my home. Needless to say, since it’s the same model as my first Vaio laptop, it looks beautiful. It’s actually in better shape than my first Vaio laptop. The white plastic case on my first Vaio laptop has become a little darker and a little yellow-ish, after years of use by my sister and then by her boyfriend from Slovakia. My sister isn’t known for taking good care of her electronic devices. She doesn’t have autism. But, since I have autism, I take good care of my stuff. The white plastic case of the Vaio laptop that I bought on eBay is still in nearly pristine condition. This laptop came without a hard drive, and, therefore, I took out the hard drive out of my first Vaio laptop and placed it in this laptop in order to use it. Doing this was a piece of cake and the laptop easily began to work. The only noticeable difference between the two Vaio laptops is that the one that I bought on eBay doesn’t have a Blu-ray drive. It has a DVD drive. So, what do I do with my Vaio laptop? Although I have newer laptops in my possession, both of which are of the same model (Samsung Notebook 7 Spin), the Vaio laptop is my favorite laptop, even though it’s 10 years older than the Samsung laptops. The PCG-3E2L may be kind of old, but it can do almost anything that a new laptop can do. Not only do I use it as an additional storage device for my files, I also use it to play DVD and Blu-ray discs.

Russia contains the largest area of natural forests in the world, covering 49% of Russia’s landmass and 815 million hectares, 23% of the planet’s total forest area. Yet, much of the country’s forests are under the threats of rapid deforestation. From 2001 to 2019, Russia lost 64 million hectares of relative tree cover, equivalent to an 8.4% decrease since 2000 and 17% of the global total. In 2018 alone, Russia lost 5.6 million hectares of tree cover followed by Brazil with nearly 3 million. What obstacles does Russia face in preventing deforestation?

Russia’s forests stretch from the Baltic Sea to the Sea of Japan, encompassing the last wild forests of Europe and a substantial portion of the vast wilderness of Siberia. With their ability to soak up carbon dioxide and expel oxygen, the world’s forests are often referred to as the “planet’s lungs.”

Poor Forest Management

The forests of Russia are owned by the state and are used for commercial reasons by the private sector. Forests can only be licensed as concessions to enterprises for one to 49 years, but the Office of the President of the Russian Federation reported an approximate 66% increase in illegal logging from 2008 to 2013 in the Russian Federation.

Action to combat illegal deforestation is taken by the Federal Forestry Agency of Russia, which is responsible for forest policy, regulation of forests as well as enacting new laws. The 2013 Russian Roundwood Act requires the timber process to have documentation for Roundwood transportation, logs of valuable hardwoods and Roundwood sales to be declared in an open-source database alongside the implementation of penalties for non-compliance with the law concerning the Roundwood transaction declaration.

Additionally, an export tax in 2008 aimed to restrict log exports, reduce the loss of forest resources and increase domestic processing, jobs, and revenue for the domestic forestry industry.

Despite this, there are millions of hectares where it is unclear whether they are agricultural or forest areas, making it difficult to understand where illegal logging takes place; the government and administrative bodies often lack the funds to get clear indications of this.

Most illegal logging occurs through permits being issued illegally. The UN has stated that 14.2% of timber firms experienced at least one bribe payment request in 2012 with an overall lack of transparency during concession licensing processes with unfair competition and licences issued based on auctions to the highest bidder or given to individuals with connections to the issuing authorities.

In general, with little oversight by the government and high levels of corruption, many illegal timber activities are left unchallenged resulting in deforestation in Russia occurring unabated.

China’s Wood Demand

China is the world’s largest importer of logs and lumber in the world, becoming a global wood product remanufacturing and redistribution centre. 48.3% of these lumber imports to China are supplied by Russia.

By Russia feeding China’s colossal appetite for wood, China has brought jobs and cash to regions of Russia. Yet China has sharply restricted domestic logging to preserve its own forests, as well as Russian timber facilities to only be staffed by Chinese labour.

Ms Avdoshkevich, the Kansk City Council member said that the Chinese timber barons based in China simply ship as much wood as they can, as quickly as possible, to China, without investment in manufacturing in Russia and without regard to environmental damage.

It is estimated that around 20% of the Russian wood exported to China is felled illegally, helping Russia to become a global leader in forest depletion.

Furthermore, corruption is allegedly widespread in the Russian timber industry. Nikolay Shmatkov from the WWF believes that the law enforcement officials are stretched to their limits and that they stand by without taking action with Russian forestry workers who sell the timber without necessary permissions to China.

Although China’s timber rush has temporarily stimulated Russia’s local economies, it has also stoked localised Russian public anger against China unwilling to let Russia truly benefit from its timber investments while destroying its forests.

Raging Wildfires

Since the start of 2020, it’s estimated by Greenpeace International that fires have burnt through 20 million hectares of the Russian landscape, an area bigger than Greece, and about 10.9 million hectares of forest.

The Forestry Agency says the authorities will not extinguish 91% of the fires because they are located in “control zones.” Forests fall into control zones when the fires have no effect on local populations and when the cost of extinguishing them is greater than the residual damage of the fires.

“The role of fires in climate change is underestimated. Most of the fires are man-made,” said Grigory Kuksin, head of the fire protection department at Greenpeace Russia.

While the Russian government has previously declared states of emergency and dispatched the military to help firefighting efforts, local authorities have dismissed the wildfires as a natural occurrence, saying that putting out wildfires is not economically viable.

Environmental Damage in Russia Beyond Deforestation

In addition to the destruction of carbon-absorbing forests across Russia, the carbon dioxide, smoke and soot released have increased temperatures, with the winter of 2019 being the warmest winter in 130 years according to the Russian Hydrometeorological Research Center. It is these conditions that have invigorated heat and dry tundra conditions triggering forest fires along the Arctic Circle.

“Now we are seeing these fires within 15 kilometres of the Arctic Ocean,” according to Greg Henry, a climatologist and tundra researcher at the University of British Columbia. “Usually there’s not much fuel to burn there, because it’s kept cold by the ocean so you don’t get ignition of fires that far north.”

In turn, by burning so close to the Arctic, the fires are contributing to the thawing of Arctic permafrost which, in some cases, can lead to sudden ground collapse. The Western Russian Arctic is experiencing some of the highest rates of permafrost degradation globally with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecasting that by 2050, near-surface permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere may shrink by 15 to 30%.

“When surface soil rich in organic matter burns, it places the permafrost at risk which serves as an insulator against warm summer temperatures,” explains Sue Natali, Arctic programme director at Woods Hole Research Centre.

Permafrost degradation risks the collapsing of infrastructure as well as the release of carbon feedback.

Another implication of forest fires in the Arctic Circle is the burning of peatlands, carbon-rich soils that accumulate as waterlogged plants slowly decay, sometimes over thousands of years. These are the most carbon-dense ecosystems on Earth; a typical northern peatland packs in roughly ten times as much carbon as a boreal forest and nearly half the world’s peatland-stored carbon lies between 60 and 70 degrees north, along the Arctic Circle.

As a result of Arctic wildfires, northern peatlands could eventually shift from being a sink for carbon to a source, further dramatically accelerating climate change.

Russia ’s lacklustre response to tackle deforestation is in line with the country’s low commitment to addressing climate change, relying heavily on the oil and gas industry as well as having a poor record of enforcing green initiatives that could have greater negative global climate effects simply from not addressing deforestation and for short-term economic gains.