[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 hours ago

Technically, yes, the offensive does consume like 3x of what is needed for defense the same position, but it works right only if that's a war of equals. Ukraine was and is underpowered on it's own, and even with the stuff other countries donated. Them gaining an edge in the warzone in the last years often involved either technological trickery or great insights and tactics using their limited resources.

One other thing that breaks that rule and makes this change in the narrative significant - is that russians could deploy their bombers, fuel, supply centers near the border, thinking they can't get effecrively hit, that giving them a big boost whatever they do, and if this handicap gets denied, they'd have a harder time supplying another operation from further away.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 hours ago

What analogy? I didn't draw any direct comparison, I think. Was there one?

Arms are given to Ukraine with every state dictating how they should not be used, with Ukraine being autonomous in their decision-making – as it sounds, they consult other countries, but decide things themselves. To my brief knowledge of past wars it was usually a 'use how you want' deal or a direct involvement and control from other party with boots on the ground, both don't fit this exact situation. And it becomes even more unique since there are not one party, but a lot of them, all citing their own conditions on exact shipments, adding even more confusion to the situation.

I want to highlight the fact it's one of the first very public case of countries donating weapons with such policies limiting their usage against enemy troops.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 1 points 17 hours ago

Yep. But half way through it I don't see him mentioned.

8

I've stumbled upon that in my feed.

Saneek (don't confuse it with Sonic™ or Sonichu©) is my spiritual animal.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Every war is weird it's own way, but that thing is probably unprecedented. How can a war-torn country fight having one hand strapped to the back with a country having 4x it's population and resources? And still managing to resist after 2,5 to 10 years of warfare? Imagine that in fiction and you'd call it unbelievable.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'd up that to 95% and I feel it's for our own good,

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Somewhen in the 00s I had a probably friendship-breaking argument with a pal of mine about the whole 'patriotism' thing. Indeed, we lost any connection in the following years, and I suppose that was one of the reasons. Back then, we couldn't formulate what patriotism is, and he stood on the ground of defending this ephemeral construct while I was all for ditching it.

In the coming years I repeatedly reevaluated what it is for me, and for others, and for the state. While the state's position is obvious - patriotism is like an oath you take when you enter military service to unconditipnally follow what the state wants. For others it's a mixed bag, greatly defined not only by the great achievements of the past, but by insecurity that they'd lose even more if their tsar lose support, and the state how it is, even openly criticized, guarantees our material conditions would decline slowly and for a right reason, while the other choice is a chaos that would turn everything upside down like it was in the 90s.

For me, personally, the patriotism started to be a thing after I had a conversation with a lot of people from different regions and backgrounds. We, after all, a family that lives in a large house. Some of the rentees are deeply consumed by the war and the state propaganda, some aren't, but in the end we all share the same living space and would continue to do so whatever happens. What we all share though, and what led to such a degradation, is a decline in material and social conditions orchestrated by the kremlyads. And if there's a patriotism in loving your country and your own contrymen, it goes against the current admin, them stealing everything and sending our men into a meatgrinder, them bankrupting our culture, them exchanging our future to get loans from the likes of Iran and China, them giving handshakes or handjobs to Talibs and Kim.

A russian patriot, if there's one, gonna hate these phoney moves by the state instead of education, hate how it strips russian people bare and send them to die because it felt like it, hate how in a course of an endless VVP admin we turned from a promising country with a hope of establishing a democracy with living wages we turned into pariahs that can't even leave that bestest vision of the Motherland if we aren't rich like top propagandists do owning multiple properties in Europe. What I see the best for my country is not aligned with what 'The collective West' (as dumbfucks call it) wants us to do, it is to our own egoistic interest to return to the path of development and reinclusion into the world of less shitty states, because it would lead to us not having a second thought about buying okayish meat and bread instead of priced down garbage when we do groceries, and would make us raise kids without a fear that they'd be put down for some greater good.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'm surprised BC hasn't been ruined by Epic yet. At the time of a deal I was very afraid for them declining fast but I still don't see any effect on the platform. I guess EG has that much money they don't need to milk BC for what ammounts to a pocket change for them. They just wanted their presence in that market too.

!remind me in 5 years, lol

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Besides checking these address and phone number (did anyone check them?), the printer that produced these may be IDed if it leaves special secret marks:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_tracking_dots

65

As I always move fast I have a problem with feeling like I loosely strapped a brick onto myself when I put my phone in my pockets, including waist and knee ones. It chaotically moves at each step and I'm tired of that. To the point I take it in my hand when I'm in a real hurry.

I guess, Lemmy has a lot of people who either run or do outdoors activities and labor.

What are the best positions on the body to make it move less when you walk or run? Are there some great smartphone holders, straps that you can recommend? Can I use it with casual clothes without it looking weird?

I suppose the ones you place on the belt are obvious to suggest first, but I haven't seen them since the death of small button phones and current smartphones are kinda big for that to work. And no, putting it into a bag, a suitcase or a backpack wouldn't work for me for I prefer not to be dependent on carrying them on me.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago

If it's set in stone now, does it mean they are on the course to further investigate russian and other foreign ties in american media and politics? I' musking for a friend.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 days ago

I see screencaps from that show but can't figure out what it is. May anyone guide me?

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raw men cuisine (sh.itjust.works)

alt textA picture of a group of first Christians praying in a circle. They are in the roman Coliseum. A lion slowly approaches them. The text added over the picture reads 'VEGAN DIET'.

2
About the russian Memo (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works to c/interestingasfuck@lemmy.world

FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone posted it around a lot, and it sounds legit due to it being on the .gov site.

I wanted to dig into the original version since I'm a native and have some edge in using it over my homies. Even some rewards at that, kek.

Welp. Mostly it's an easily translateable basic vocab including media-specific words. I suspect it's an american or a russian-american person writing in Russian and sometimes\always using an automatic translator. And they are stupid at that, as they don't know how complex punctuation works or don't read what they post. The punctuation is kinda confusing, sometimes hinting that it's a copy paste from a translator.

  • отличается от таковой - is a rare turn of words that many russians fail at, just like americans fail at they're. I don't know many persons who can correctly put it into a sentence. That's probably a translated text since they can't handle the right placement of commas.
  • ставленником - is a weird archaic word that's sometimes used by nerds of polisci or other humane arts weirdos, it isn't used anywhere else. That's maybe a clue to who wrote it.
  • нового глобалистского социализма - sounds weird, like a direct translation from English.
  • Next, there is a division between the elephant and the donkey, both lowercase, without any punctuation to tell them they are referencing parties, not animals. It's fucking stupid. And not stupid as a result from an AI prompt that can produce a correct phrase, but from a literal translation of a literal translation that lost any indication of what it refers to.

That's just the first picture. All of that sounds weird to my ear, and my assumption, clouded by the US gov's decision to put it onto display, is that it can be legit, but it is written by a person with a political\media background, creating a draft in English, that they lazily translated into Russian. That may be on RT employes, especially international ones.

There are a handful of russian-speaking users on fediverse who can tell I'm wrong.

Ah, yeah, and it really mentions 'manga' although it doesn't make any sense.

69

Since Russia started to use DPI to block YouTube and other stuff, there arised a couple of solutions to fuck with it. I've come around this repository or, even better, the end of it's page for many cross-platform tools that may let you avoid DPI, and I've used some of them to prove they are working.

https://github.com/ValdikSS/GoodbyeDPI

They don't work for resources that are explicitely banned, it only undoes this one layer of blocking. As Russia didn't block YT (like Twitter) that's enough for that one usecase. It's no private VPN or something, but it may become useful in the future.

-29
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
  • Babylon is in modern Iraq, one of the countries invaded by the US in the aftermath of 9\11
  • Both claimed to be the highest towers in the world
  • Both are in populated influential trade centers
  • The Babylon myth with different languages VS the War on Terror, affecting policies worldwide, growing tensions and fear in the post-USSR world, now - post 9\11 world
  • The pronounced reasoning behind the 9\11, told as a fatwa by Osama, starts as follows: All these American crimes and sins are a clear proclamation of war against God, his Messenger, and the Muslims. Not that far from what caused the abrahamic god to prank Babylon.

This connection is loose, lacks context and mixes very different things together, but I haven't got a pleasure to shower any longer than that to think things out.

How BS is it?

97
A shitpost (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works to c/tenforward@lemmy.world
63

Making it 17+, changing cast and visuals don't count. Let's say it's live action with heavy CGI. What would be here for the main attraction, the plot, the cast of characters?

48

Durability-wise? Pain-wise? Covering or showing-wise? Where did you inked your first one?

61
15
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

I'd assume we want everyone to survive and carry on with their lives equally. Yet, if we can't, there's a choice of distributing our doctors' time and equipments towards some of patients rather than others.

Policies deciding that choice in general, if implemented, naturally smell like death. That'd organically lead to some marks for a cut-off, the obvious one is the age - like excluding 70+ patients from active treatment and supporting them as they are instead, while prefering younger folks, because they have more projected lifespan ahead of them (AND MORE VALUE TO THE REGIIIIME!). Then, there is a game of chances for recovery. Then there are biases against lung, stomack or skin cancer patients who neglected their bodies themselves etc etc etc. And we don't even touch the problem of these policies being sexist, racist or otherwise based on unscientific grounds.

But if not over-generalized policies that can mark some categories as not-worthy patients, we'd then assume the power to decide is in the hands of individual doctors who do have the problems in the last paragraph, but with individual power to decide as well as individual responsibility for that (but they can ask patients themselves if they want it?).

My question is: should we even seek a universal answer to that dillema? What is the beacon to navigate us here, balancing general policies and individual responsibilities? How'd we personally judge a party who'd make such decision (+ if we are their patient and we don't want to die)?

I've tried my best not to suggest any answer and not to instigate any sort of an infight, but if it's not ok, please delete it.

1

Today I've visited TechCrunch from a posted link

https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/24/crowdstrike-offers-a-10-apology-gift-card-to-say-sorry-for-outage/

and after some reading couldn't exit it at all tapping both my back key and the back arrow on the top.

Due to how inconvenient the arrow on top is, I suggest to make it the exit button that closes the browser and returns user to Lemmy at once, while usual back buttons keep acting like they are now.

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andrew_bidlaw

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