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437
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • "Eventually" might be a long time with radiation.

    20 years after the Chernobyl disaster the level of radiation was still high enough to give you a good chance of cancer if you went to live there for a few years.

    https://www.chernobylgallery.com/chernobyl-disaster/radiation-levels/

    I don't know how much radiation these "tactical" weapons release, but if it's comparable to Chernobyl, even if the buildings were not originally damaged, I don't know how fit they would be for living after being abandoned for 30 or 40 years.

  • Thanks, I hadn't seen that. To be fair if they really have this itch to bomb a city, let it be Agrabah.

    That magical energy they are developing can't be only for peaceful uses. They must be stopped! We should oust the current government and help Mr. Jafar be Sultan, I hear he's a very modern and business-friendly guy.

  • Quick recap for future historians:

    • for a really brief part of its history, humanity tried to give kindness a go. A half-hearted attempt at best, but there were things like DEI programs, for instance, attempting to create a gentler, more accepting world for everyone. At the very least, trying to appear human to the people they managed was seen as a good attribute for Leaders.
    • some people felt that their God-given right to be assholes to everyone was being taken away (it's right there in the Bible: be a jerk to your neighbor, take away his job and f##k his wife)
    • Assholes came back in full force, with a vengeance. Not that they had ever disappeared, but now they relished the opportunity to be openly mean for no reason again. Once again, True Leaders were judged by their ability to drain every drop of blood from their employees and take their still-beating hearts as an offering to the Almighty Shareholders.
  • The narrative was that Israel had gone behind his back and it made him look weak. Now it looks like Israel is winning and Trump needs to claim he was part of it. No, not "part of it", the reason why.

    Particularly in foreign politics, he badly needs a win: turns out international trade is not as easy as imposing tariffs and waiting for countries to call him with big offers and Diplomacy (who knew) takes more than a "Vladimir stop" post on social. He needs something quick to show in-between golf games to get his popularity above "get my teeth drilled by the dentist" level again.

  • I get what you mean and it's a fair point. But I would still go with Meta as the most immediate threat in a war with the US.

    As the ignorant I am, my understanding is that the phone manufacturer has a level of control on the way Android works and so it wouldn't be as easy for Google to access any individual Samsung or Xiaomi phone as it is for Meta with WhatsApp, an app they fully control with permissions to use (way too many) phone features regardless of brand.

    Plus, getting both Google and Apple to cooperate and coordinate sounds harder to me than just going to one company, that is basically controlled by only one person.

  • They are basically at war with the US and there is this piece of US Tech that nearly everyone is carrying around and that can access their communications, precise location, microphone and camera.

    It's also owned by a company, Meta, that has a history of being used as a tool to manipulate public opinion. I have no particular sympathy for Iran's leadership but I can understand why they would advice that (and I don't think WhatsApp is the only way for people to communicate with the outside world).

  • I don't live in the US but my country has also had a lot of immigration, invasions (true ones with armies, not mean ways to describe immigration), internal migrations from poorer parts of the country, you name it... Basically almost everyone is an immigrant in one way or another.

    Well, our version of the far right has a lot of support from first or second generation immigrants.

    One part of it is to pull the ladder up after ourselves and avoid others coming in and competing with us for the same jobs. Another part is that immigrants are on average poorer and angrier about the state of things, and for the populist far right, anger is fuel.

    But also, Populists are becoming increasingly good at blurring the lines and making certain people feel included in the "in group" at election time, even if they are going to kick them in the head as soon as the ballots close. Case in point, AfD in Germany being led by a gay woman with an immigrant partner, "Brothers of Italy" being led by a single mom.... Usha Vance is not an isolated edge case, she seems to be part of a playbook, whether she knows it or not.

  • Trump is good (only?) at "fixing" problems that he himself created by.... stopping the thing that he did to create the problem. That's the TACO way. Enough backlash and he'll let go and claim he "brought peace to LA".

    The problem is that "clamping down on immigration" is actually too popular (or not unpopular enough). The backlash Trump needs is about getting him to look bad, not shooting on the police and compacting the fuckers who already think they are on the right side. Peaceful resistance might actually be more powerful and effective in showing exactly who the bad guy is.

    On the other hand I don't live in the US and I am aware how easy it is for me to say this from a safe distance....

  • I can't tell if it's "the true cause" of the massive tech layoffs because I know jackshit of US tax, but it does make more sense than every company realising at the same time that they over-hired or becoming instant believers of AI-driven productivity.

    The only part that doesn't make sense to me is why hide this from employees. Countless all-hamds with uncomfortable CTOs spitting badly rehearsed bs about why 20% of their team was suddenly let go or why project Y, top of last year's strategic priorities, was unceremoniously cancelled. Instead of "R&D is no longer deductible so it costs us much more now".

    I would not necessarily be happier about being laid off but this would at least be an explanation I feel I'd truly be able to accept