campfireSmoresEaten
No bio...
User ID: 2560
campfireSmoresEaten
1d ago
https://liquipedia.net/smash/Major_Tournaments/Ultimate
If you look at who is coming 1st and 2nd in Ultimate "majors", there are still a lot of non-Steve and non-Sonic finalists. But I have heard they are boring to watch. (I don't follow Ultimate)
campfireSmoresEaten
2d ago
A cautious monster is not necessarily preferable to a reckless one.
campfireSmoresEaten
3d ago
What is your argument in plain English?
campfireSmoresEaten
3d ago
The Soviet Union was a fare more compelling adversary to both parties than its descendant, Russia, or the new upstart, China. It was a nuclear superpower with large land borders and a hostile ideology. Russia might retain the nukes, and is a great power if you squint, but it no longer has any meaningful ideological drive or desire to spread it beyond "if you trade with us and speak favorably of us, we'll back you". Even China has strong trade relations with Europe, and also is not culturally hegemonising to the same degree.
Maybe in some respects, but in other respects China seems more dangerous than the USSR.
- More of a manufacturing giant.
- Not committed to the dubious economic theories of Karl Marx, only uses Socialism as a convenient branding tool.
- Probably others I can't think of right now.
campfireSmoresEaten
3d ago
The benefit is fewer wars and more stability, which helps everybody.
Plus more military bases I guess. Better to have one somewhere than to need one somewhere and not have one.
campfireSmoresEaten
6d ago
I think it's fine to focus on bureaucratic efficiency. He could never have done everything, and that seems like as reasonable a thing to focus on as any.
campfireSmoresEaten
6d ago
I've heard that fentanyl is strong enough that there if even a single truckload gets through the border, that's already enough doses to saturate the market. This was from a podcast, probably Freakonomics, but I'd have to double-check.
campfireSmoresEaten
23d ago
Well I certainly don't want it to seem like no level of agreement will ever be enough for me.
PEPFAR is among the organizations with paused funding, and when I've seen the executive orders discussed in other places it has been the focus of the discussion.
The claims made in these specific articles are supported by the evidence, which you will see if you read them.
In this case I felt justified in bringing up the subject, because it is the primary organization which is being discussed with respect to foreign aid being paused.
If massive numbers of botched circumcisions isn't a reason to get worked up about the topic, what would be?
Here are two articles about PEPFAR (EDIT: one of the organizations for which funding has been paused) that I think are worth reading.
https://brendonmarotta.com/4454/pepfar-plans-to-end-infant-circumcision-in-africa/
tl;dr: PEPFAR is responsible for an unknown but very large number of botched circumcisions in Africa, perhaps hundreds of thousands.
https://brendonmarotta.com/4475/pepfar-to-experiment-on-african-children-with-the-shangring/
tl;dr: An article about them moving from a circumcision device with an unacceptable rate of botched circumcisions to a new device with an unknown rate of botched circumcisions.
Any circumcision on someone who cannot consent is a human rights violation. I realize some of PEPFARs other tasks are praise-worthy, but I cannot possibly support an organization that engages in this sort of unnecessary cruelty.
campfireSmoresEaten
24d ago
If people have become disaffected from dignity and decorum, there's probably a reason why. It might not be a great reason, but it's worth pondering.
campfireSmoresEaten
28d ago
"Me
Not a war, just a special military operation ;) "
I disapprove of mixing a serious discussion with low-grade snarkiness.
campfireSmoresEaten
30d ago
Not necessarily. Just as one might be turned on by both women and men, so might one find both "educated" and "uneducated" to be appealing qualities.
campfireSmoresEaten
1mo ago
I think one of us has misunderstood the other. I'm saying what if there never was any corrupted data and the FBI guy was just talking out of his ass?
campfireSmoresEaten
1mo ago
https://cha.house.gov/2025/1/chairs-loudermilk-massie-release-january-6-2021-pipe-bomb-report
"The FBI’s Investigation into the Pipe Bomber: The FBI did not receive “corrupted data” from one of the major cell carriers in connection with its investigation into the pipe bomber. A former senior FBI official testified that the major cell carrier companies provided “corrupted” cell data to the FBI and suggested that that “corrupted” data may have contained the identity of the pipe bomber; however, in responses to letters from the Subcommittee, the major cell carriers confirmed that they did not provide corrupted data to the FBI and that the FBI never notified them of any issues with accessing the cellular data."
I'm not sure the corrupted cellphone data thing is as you're describing it.
Based on this report, it seems like either
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There was no corrupted data and the FBI guy just said something completely erroneous out of incompetence.
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The cellphone companies are not aware of the corrupted data, but it's real.
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Some sort of miscommunication based on different definitions of the term "corrupted data" between the FBI and cell phone companies.
campfireSmoresEaten
1mo ago
The j6 pipe bombs could have been planted by a foreign adversary, couldn't they have?
campfireSmoresEaten
1mo ago
Our cheap raw materials and manufactured goods all rely on unsafe, exploitative labor performed in the Third World.
Some of it is exploitative, some of it is just because life in poor countries is generally not so great. Of the part that is exploitative, some of it is because the politicians and other elites in these countries are corrupt, and it is genuinely difficult for even a benevolent rich country to change that.
Based on historical evidence and my understanding of the underlying economic mechanisms, it seems to me that trade is very good for making poor countries not poor anymore. I think that rich countries have screwed up many times in this area, but:
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For the most part, life in poor countries is bad because that's the definition of being in a poor country, not necessarily so much because they're being exploited by rich countries.
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When poor countries don't get rich, there are other factors at play besides the machinations of rich countries.
Those factors would be:
a. Corrupt rulers.
b. Locals who use their power to support economic policies which turn out to be counter-productive, whether the locals are the rulers or the public at large.
Some would say this is what happened in Mexico with their domestic oil company, Ghana under Nkrumah, Brazil's attempt at trade-substitution, the Sri Lankan energy crisis, Argentina under both Peron and the military junta that deposed him, etcetera.
I know this is a tangent, sorry.
campfireSmoresEaten
2mo ago
staple statement
What about things that are both highbrow and lowbrow, like old Buster Keaton films? Or for a more recent example, the cartoon Over the Garden Wall?
Edit: for that matter, what about the first three Indiana Jones films? Not highbrow, but are you really going to criticize an adult for being an Indiana Jones fan?
campfireSmoresEaten
2mo ago
Cook for her? That's my only idea. Desserts are generally fun to make, too. And for the meat side of things, I endorse this recipe: https://www.keepingitsimpleblog.com/food/ottolenghis-seeded-chicken-schnitzel/
campfireSmoresEaten
2mo ago
The idea of trying to make theme park-like rides and themed entertainment for cruise ships is kind of interesting to me from a design perspective, but I wouldn't want to ride on one.
campfireSmoresEaten
2mo ago
Well, we may or may not suspect that a giant orgy has a pernicious effect on one's psychology like taking steroids and pro wrestling has a pernicious effect on one's body, but I don't think we know that first part for sure.
campfireSmoresEaten
2mo ago
The grey tribe attributes dysfunction in healthcare to evil CEOs less than any other group in the world, it feels like. It's always complex economic arguments. Evil CEOs only come into the picture with regulatory capture.
https://www.ssbwiki.com/SSBMRank_2024
Ten characters in the top 12 this year.
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