Zompist Bboard Again

that's what's being mocked with the "do you condemn llamas" line. You think Hamas are freedom fighters, of sorts. I think they're just power-hungry thugs. I don't think either of us is going to convince the other and that's all right. But, no, journalists asking politicians where exactly ...

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2024 10:18 am I have a nice new computer!

Great!

And yes, they have done everything to squander their goodwill after 7 October and unite the world against them. Sadly, I don't think the Israeli government cares at all about international opinion, or goodwill. What they want is to achieve... whatever they hope to achieve(*)... and deal with world ...

Anyway, I mostly stay out of the "Libs discover world politics" threads, but geez, this one is bad. Not everyone is an American, and people you disagree with are not necessarily 'Libs.' I freely admit there are plenty of things I don't fully understand about the situation, but I don't thi...

Don’t fool yourself. There may be a few exceptions, but what they mostly want is a ‘one-state solution’ where Arabs are second-class citizens. If it really must be said, that’s not a sustainable solution for anyone. I should've been clearer, really :) I don't like the idea either and I'm not terrib...

but there are leaders of the world, and they are machiavellian. it's good to be skeptical of conspiracy theories and ideas what evil hath borne, but not to the point of ignoring reality. Agreed; but antisemitism is probably 80% ordinary human stupidity and 20% machiavellian dealings. While I'm here...

I'm also treated like a foreigner by everyone. Non-Muslims treat me like a Muslim, and Muslims treat me like an apostate. Why don't I get to kill someone? Where exactly did I say anything about 'getting to kill people'? You're right, the Zionists whom Einstein supported were legitimate. But most of...

Oh, that's fun. I did a bunch of tests, using an a posteriori conlang, and an alternate history Italian. The para-Italian was designed to be very close to actual Italo-Romance which will prove to have very interesting results. The first sample was a folk song; ChatGPT thought it was Sicilian (not a ...

I don't think it's an analogy. I honestly don't understand how it doesn't fit the definition of colonialism: "Colonialism is the pursuing, establishing and maintaining of control and exploitation of people and of resources by a foreign group of people." My best guess is that you don't thi...

But then Europeans could have invaded places in Africa with the justification that we are are all originally from there. Were the Swiss or the French treated as third-class citizens and kicked out or killed off by brutal pogroms everywhere they lived? The US sends Israel yearly funding and practica...

Disease spread much faster than the colonists did. This is part of why the European-Americans saw America as essentially "empty" ─ because disease that had been introduced to the Americas by the Spanish had already killed so many Native Americans before they even arrived (if I recall corr...

Would you even mention someone you know closely coming out to you, without knowing that anyone else you or they know also know already, and without them giving you permission to tell anyone? (In this case I don't expect anyone to react negatively if they did find out, for a number of reasons, but I...

bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 5:53 am For all Linux users here: a severe vulnerability has been found in xz, seemingly giving a backdoor into SSH servers. The recommendation is to upgrade as soon as possible.

Damn. This is going to be a long week at work.

Then how did people survive winters in Germany before modern medicine or food distribution? People used to spend a lot more of their time outside exposed to sunlight. Also, rickets were very common. Doctors systematically prescribe vitamin D supplements to babies. It's not just Germany; we have the...

I'm skeptical of a two state solution, tbh: look at it from, say, Jordan's perpective -or Syria or whatever: as long as you have a nuclear ethnostate right around the corner, and one that supports illegal settlements on your land to boot, peace is simply not a smart choice for you. the one state so...

Our heating and hot water are gone, and our landlady and landlord are on vacation. I would call the same service as the landlord and ask them to pay me back. I don't know what your landlord is like. Yes. Chances are your landlord actually prefers you handle that. (though the last apartment building...

Both many of Israel's supporters and many of Israel's opponents like to talk about how important Israel is for Western and specifically US interests, but frankly, I'm not seeing it. Israel directly or indirectly controls a, geographically speaking, tiny part of the Middle East, and outside the area...

I don’t really know much about French Algeria; could you elaborate on why you think it’s a more suitable analogy? (Insofar as any analogy is suitable here.) With the big caveat that I don't think the colonial analogy is entirely satisfying, sure. Algeria was a settler colony, with a large-ish popul...

So I'd suggest the overall scenario: Constantine gets hit by a bus, and turning the official-favor machine from paganism to Christianity is delayed. This proceeds long enough that a more fervent, more personal paganism can arise. (There are candidates: the Magna Mater cult, the Mysteries, Mithraism...

OK, everyone, I need a second opinion: I had a general health checkup at my GP's office on Monday, and the result was apparently that I'm mostly in fine health, but seriously lack Vitamin D, presumably because I don't get out enough. So now my GP wants me to take Vitamin D supplements. Is that legi...