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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 14th, 2023

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  • Might be workable if you settle on combining only 2 to 3 keys (small, medium, large) per hex.

    Or, learn metallurgy and material science to find some new polymer or alloy that would be strong enough.

    But honestly, it sounds like a really expensive endeavor that even if you made it work, isn’t practical enough to justify the cost.

    Maybe something like the universal socket wrench style could influence a design that’s workable as a multi-hex, and be made cheaply enough.





  • Foreign policy is always about power, end of story.

    America has been trying to remove itself from the ME, or at least significantly shrink it’s footprint, without leaving a power vacuum for Iran to fill. The plan was to have KSA and Israel fill that void instead, along with Turkey.

    Morality and principles only directly impact foreign policy decisions if they impact the domestic political calculus. For example, if MBS believed moving forward with the Israeli partnership would result in him losing power.

    This is not reflective of my own feelings or values. It’s just a neutral observation and assessment of the situation.


  • You’re not wrong, but maybe you’ve noticed that whenever any country announces they’ve arrested a spy, or foreign intelligence asset, the country they’re accused of spying for always, without fail, denounces it as political persecution and denies the allegations of spying.

    So…while there’s recent precedent for political detentions of citizens under false pretense of spying, it’s not like it’s that hard to believe they were a spy.

    The only real evidence we have that they aren’t a spy is that they weren’t summarily, and quietly, executed.

    We’ll just have to wait and see how they proceed. Will they be used for a prisoner swap of detained Chinese intelligence assets? Or held indefinitely.

    Because indefinite detention probably means innocent of spying, and waiting to be used for a political bargaining tool.


  • No, that’s not what’s happening.

    Poor women and women in poor counties are used as baby ovens for the wealthy, or those with the means to rent their wombs. Which is why he specifically refers to it as the “commercialization”.

    He’s saying that’s exploitive and immoral as there as children waiting to be adopted. So instead of “renting” a poor women’s womb, adopt a child instead.

    Also, FWIW I’m pro-choice, but that doesn’t mean I should pretend everyone who thinks differently is evil.

    Opposing abortion isn’t always about a misogynistic need to control women. For some people it’s a genuine belief that life begins at conception, which is what Pope Francis appears to sincerely believe.

    That doesn’t extend to everyone, and I’d go so far as to say most of the Evangelical American pro-life movement are just reactionary hateful shitstains who are genuine misogynists that wouldn’t hesitate to get their mistress an abortion.

    Anyways, just my $0.02


  • Security expenditures are just numbers on an Excel sheet, just like HR, and legal…it’s a business.

    You know what else is a big threat? Executives of cost-center departments not understanding how to articulate their needs in terms of profit, or profit loss.

    HR and legal departments are generally much better at explaining their concerns and needs in terms of profit, and not abstract concepts i.e. security.



  • AliExpress is not even close to Amazon except for the fact that it does a great job at providing a wide selection of Chinese products, but cheaper and with longer lead times.

    What makes Amazon, Amazon, is its customer service. Without that, it’s like eBay. But even eBay has significantly better customer service than AliExpress.

    Speaking as someone who has used AliExpress a lot, it’s pretty good, but only if you understand that all sales are final. Best cast scenario, the seller makes you pay for shipping which generally costs anywhere from 50% to 250% of your original purchase price.

    Their customer service always defers to sellers in my experience, and even if they approve a return, what’s the point if you lose money by shipping it back?




  • That’s not what’s happening here. If anything, this the US flopping it’s massive dong on the table and asking if anyone else wants to prove they can dick her down good enough to take over.

    The post-WW2 global economic order is built on the security guarantee that maritime trade is secure because the US Navy will fuck anyone’s shit up who uses force to interfere with it.

    Ironically, the biggest benefactor of this arrangement has been China. That’s also who would be most impacted by long term closure of these particular maritime routes.

    So knowing that only the USN is currently capable of providing the long term security guarantees for this situation, they are going to make a show of it, or extract something of value their efforts - even if it’s just countries voting for some UN resolution that goes against their public statements or political rhetoric.

    Please understand that this explanation isn’t my personal endorsement, approval, or disapproval, of what’s happening, or why, it’s just a very high level statement of facts and neutral analysis on the situation.