GraniteM @ GraniteM @lemmy.world

Posts

38

Comments

950

Joined

2 yr. ago

I'm curious: what would that mean, within Brazil's borders? Would they be able to prevent Starlink from being used? Broadcast a Starlink jamming signal over the whole country? Or turn it into a diplomatic issue, with the US State Department getting involved?

Brienne of Tarth

10 out of 10

I mean... some kink shaming if you're into necrophilia.

Russia would never threaten China with nukes, because 1) China ALSO has nukes, and 2) China has been the only thing keeping Russia afloat recently.

But it would have to be a scorched earth kind of invasion. The kind that pisses off basically everyone, because it leaves every single Russian, military, or citizen, dead. They'd have to come in, take everything, and kill everything. Take the land.

First of all, if you're being invaded by an army planning to genocide your entire population, then you have no reason not to use every weapon in your arsenal. If the options are A: China kills 100% of your populace or B: Launch nukes and even 1% of your populace survives whatever follows, then B is the most rational choice.

Secondly, there's no reason to assume that states will make rational decisions to begin with. I'd say the current state of affairs in Ukraine is a very good example of that in action. So even if China wasn't planning to genocide all of Russia, even if it was some kind of "benevolent" invasion where they were going to tiptoe around the flower beds, gently pry Putin out of the Kremlin, and basically leave everything the same except that now Russians pay for groceries with renminbi instead of rubles... there's still every reason to imagine that Putin and his top brass would still launch nukes on the mere principle of the thing.

So no, let's not glibly plan for a fast forward on nuclear Armageddon, thank you very much.

The difficulty in locating the original is that Republicans are ALWAYS trying to destroy public education and public libraries, so it's kind of like trying to Google John Smith.

Not to mention the security that comes from being able to not pay if you get scammed for whatever reason. I paid for a course at a community college with a credit card, but then my schedule changed so I tried to cancel the class before it even started. The college gave me a whole runaround, and whether it was willful or just simple incompetence, I wasn't able to get a refund. So I called my credit card company and explained the situation to them, and they resolved the whole thing for me. Sometimes even mentioning that you'll refer such a problem to the fraud department at your credit card company is enough to get someone to back down and give you a refund.

Credit cards have issues, especially if you have problems with using them responsibly, but that's one particular way in which they can save you a lot of headache.

There are people who, disturbed by "big government" today and its tendency to curb the advantages they might gain if their competitiveness were allowed free flow, demand "less govern- ment." Alas, there is no such thing as less government, merely changes in government. If the libertarians had their way, the distant bureaucracy would vanish and the local bully would be in charge. Personally, I prefer the distant bureaucracy, which may not find me, over the local bully, who certainly will. And all historical precedent shows a change to localism to be for the worse.

—Isaac Asimov, Nice Guys Finish First, collected in The Sun Shines Bright, 1981

So help me there was some big deal right wing personality who talked about how the government shouldn't subsidize education by saying that when he was a kid he wanted an education so he... went down to the public library and read books there. Not a hint of irony. Can't remember exactly who it was, but the dissonance stuck with me.

I think SMBC nailed it with All-Despising Baby Skull back in 2012. Make advertising as horrible as possible, then jack up the costs on making it go away.

I grew up near Calais, Barre, and Charlotte, and none of them are pronounced how you'd think.

I didn't even consider how many people with cardiac issues must be looking at that screen.

Such magnificent floof...

"Shrunken SUV" or "Took a normal 2- or 4-door and injected it with experimental growth hormones."

I swear I see one once a week that would make sense and carry the same number of people and stuff at half the overall vehicle volume.

Qi users need not apply.

Most bugs do groom themselves, but here's a fun fact! Bed bugs don't groom themselves, and this makes most standard insecticides ineffective, because they won't ingest any of the poison they might get on their bodies!

Another fun fact: bed bugs are the fucking devil and I don't hate them, I haaaaaaaaaaaaaate them.

I bought a warhammer. Then I bought a second warhammer. Don't regret either purchase.

When something is posted, automatically search to see if that exact thing has been posted before. If it has, then deduct a percent of votes, with the percent increasing each time that exact thing has been posted before. Say, if it's been posted once before, then you deduct 1%, if it's been posted twice, then 2%, and so forth. Feel free to adjust this math in a way that makes the most sense.

If something is legitimately excellent, or if enough people have forgotten it to upvote the repost, then reposts can still make their way to the frontpage.

Otherwise, repeat posts will naturally wither away, while encouraging original content.

"Trump Secures Coveted Worm-Eaten Brain Demographic"

"Experts Say Worm Eating Brain May Induce One to Endorse Trump"

"Man with Worm-Eaten Brain and Man with Adult Diaper to Form Unstoppable Super-Ticket"

First devouring all of Fantasia, now this.