Hyperreality @ Hyperreality @kbin.social

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2 yr. ago

As reported on by Sky News.

Do you still think all Western media, like SkyNews, are Zionist controlled Linkerbaan?

I seem to remember you making that claim. You also got upset when I disagreed with you, because unlike you I don't think all western media are controlled by Israeli Jews and their allies.

A common beauty hack is to match your lipstick colour to the colour of your nipple, so yeah.

This being said, maybe the Romulans or Vulcans in question have a fetish for humans.

I live in a western European country. A few anecdotes to illustrate what Americans don't get about healthcare:

I was involved in a serious accident and the passenger in my car was taken to hospital in an ambulance and had to have scans, etc. It ended up costing 1000 Euros.

One of my teeth needed to be replaced by a dental implant. I had it removed, a bone graft was necessary, then a few months later they drilled a metal pin into the jaw bone, then they placed a crown on it. The pin was Swiss made, the dentist did a 3d scan of the inside of my mouth for the crown. I had a few return visits. It ended up costing me 3000 Euros total, but I specifically spread the appointments around the new year: november - january. This was a big deal for me, as I was unemployed and needed to dip into my already small savings.

I had a headache, so I bought myself some paracetamol(tylenol?) at the drug store. 50 for 2 euros.

Sounds ok, right?

Here's the thing that Americans don't get. These are all fully private prices.

The first incident, I received a bill because it would have to be paid by the other party's insurance. 1000 Euros was the fully private cost without government intervention. The accident had happened just across the border in another country.

The second anecdote, this was also the fully private cost. Dental implants are not covered by healthcare. I have supplemental private dental insurance (20 Euros per month), which has a maximum deductable of 2000 Euros per year. Spreading it out meant I ended up spending only a few hundred euros, after I received money from my insurance a few weeks later.

The US system isn't just absurdly expensive for people who aren't insured, it's absurdly expensive compared to fully private healthcare in plenty of developed countries.

Hell, have a look at how much it costs to get plastic surgery in the US. A boob job is likely to cost you less than a visit to the ER, despite the latter being a far more involved and expensive operation.

It seems obvious to me that a lot of price gouging and anti-competitive behaviour is going on in US healthcare, and simply regulating (not privatising) properly would already make things far more affordable. How else can you explain healthcare costs per capita being up to three times as high as comparably developed countries, but outcomes often being worse? Healthcare shouldn't have to cost this much. The healthcare industry can make a reasonable profit while charging far more reasonable prices.

TLDR: you're getting ripped off, but you have no choice in the matter, because what are you going to do if it's an emergency? You can't just leave the country.

A lot of America centric answers, so I'll give a more global one: Ikea or any comparable store which uses cheap meal deals as a loss leader to get you to shop in their store. AFAIK the costco hot dog is the most famous US example.

This being said: eat/cook at home. Rice based meals can be made for as little as a dollar per serving, if you buy in bulk. (Get a cheap rice cooker, it can do more than cook rice, save on energy costs, and takes out most of the hassle.) Potato based meals are also very cheap. Baked potato with a bit of butter contains much of the nutrients you need to survive in the short to medium term.

If you want to use imessage on android:

https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-use-imessage-android/

(includes self-hosting options)

If you want to use whatsapp:

If someone else has an old (and/or prepay) sim which can receive texts, you can authenticate whatsapp that way. IRC you can also authenticate with a landline. Install whatsapp using the landline number, wait for SMS authentication to fail, then it should ask to call you. Say yes, and you'll get a call with the authentication code. Et voila.

My nieces and nephews are all young children so i definitely want to encourage/educate them to get off corporate controlled communications channels

Good luck with that, is all I can say. Kids are very susceptible to peer pressure, especially as they enter their teen years. It's only when they're in their late teens that they'll open up again and start becoming more critical.

You can mask the noise with nuclear strikes.

I suspect it's because a lot of the cyberpunk out there is explicitly neo-noir. So you end up with a noir detective mixed with a robot, like Nick Valentine in Fallout, even if the tubes and cables are slightly Gigerish. Not much Inspector Gadget, because that's primarily a cartoon.

I don't know if they pay per sale, or if they bought the right to sell the game with a one off lump sum as they have done in the past for at least some games.

If it's the latter, my buying the game on gog doesn't send any more money to the original studio.

Gog?

A lot of stuff is meditation.

Eg. so called 'motorcycle emptiness' is very similar to zen meditation. You're entirely focussed on the here and now. Same thing for driving (fast), gardening, golf, sports, etc.

I sounds like you don't actually dislike wayland, but fanboys and toxicity. TBH the linux community is full of that kind of crap.

Imagine if we were all as weird about toasters, having arguments about how toaster brand X was so much better than toaster brand Y.

But luckily people don't give much of a shit about toasters, as long as they work.

Unfortunately IME it's a no go if you're using banking or government/authenticator apps. (Your mileage may vary and this may change.)

Not how it should be, but how it is.

When I bought my phone a few years ago, motorola offered one with relatively stock android, no forced install of facebook or whatever, several years of (timely) android updates, and a large battery. A few years down the line, I'm still getting updates and the battery still lasts days.

And it was plastic and came with a cover, so it's survived the occasional fall just fine.

Honestly don't get why you'd spend more on something that can so easily be stolen.

Fuck the far-right nation of Israel’s and the people who vote them into power time and time again.

IRC the current far right coalition government did not gain an absolute majority of votes. They won a majority of seats, because of recent changes to the electoral system which primarily disadvantaged smaller left-wing parties.

Before I start: what Israel is doing in Gaza is criminal, the far right government of Israel is horrible, what the IDF is doing is disproportionate and needs to stop, and Palestinians deserve to have their own country.

I’ve yet to find an answer to this that doesn’t somehow relate to some form of antisemitism.

Politics.

Israel is a US ally and receives a lot of aid, which means criticising Israel is politically useful for Chinese, Russian, Iranian and allied propagandists and the useful idiots who uncritically spread their propaganda. It's no coincidence that the same people who often spend all day discussing Israel online, are far more likely to deny what's happened in Xinjiang, be opposed to western support for Ukraine, and/or ignore Russian involvement in Syria and Sudan.

Even more unfortunately, these useful idiots then uncritically parrot propaganda which is often very anti-semitic. For example, you'll often see people unironically claim that '''Zionists''' control all western media or even on occassion go on about how cunning the '''Zionist''' is. It's icky.

Unfortunately these are people who like to think of themselves as good, so they're unable to be self-critical. Vanity, it's the Devil's favourite sin. Few people admit their biases even if they're aware of them. It doesn't help that the Israeli right often labels any criticism of Israel as anti-semitic, which offers anti-semites and those who spread anti-semitic propaganda cover. "Zionists say any criticism of Israel is anti-semitic. I'm just being critical!"

Once again: this doesn't mean people shouldn't be critical of what Israel's doing in Gaza.

This comment is overly long, the debate is deeply polarised, people have come to their view on the matter through emotion so no rational argument will sway them, and I will convince exactly no one to moderate their behaviour or be more critical and/or nuanced.

I haven’t ever had a relationship with a woman, but I don’t hate all women either. I just consider myself unlucky. Does that make me an incel?

No, if you don't hate women you're not an incel.

Also this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missingwhitewomansyndrome

Who was clearly inspired by Metropolis:

http://sorayama.jp/hajimesorayama/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/HSpaint132.jpg

More David Lynch Dune than Denis Villeneuve Dune.

Incredibly annoying and passive aggressive, yet somehow still less annoying than actual reddit.