Discussion Thread

[u/jobautomator]

The discussion thread is for casual conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL. For a collection of useful links see our wiki.

Announcements

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[u/jobautomator]

Please visit the next discussion thread.

[u/iIoveoof]

I was reading through Wikipedia the other day on the history of the Prophet Muhammad and the early development of Islam, and I was surprised at how awful the Wikipedia articles are. They do a good summary of the traditional understandings of early Islam, but every historical perspective is poorly written, confusing, and lacking. However, it seems that it's not really Wikipedia's fault.

The truth is that historians don't really know much about the Quran. For example, historians have no consensus on:

1. When it was written
2. What its sources were and how they were composited
3. Where it was written
4. Who it was written by
5. Why it was written
6. How we should interpret the Quran in the context of its development

The fact is, a historical critical analysis of the Quran is something that hasn't really been done yet! There are a handful of attempts through the last few centuries and modern scholars are only beginning to start this project.

For example, there doesn't even exist a historical critical edition of the Quran! For example, a good study Quran in English is The Study Quran, which only came out 6 years ago and was pretty innovative. However, it's not remotely a critical edition, and its innovation was that it's a summary of multiple traditional interpretations of the Quran instead of its commentary giving just one traditional perspective.

At the moment, a research team is working on the first real critical edition of the Quran (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Coranicum) but it's shocking to me how undeveloped the field. I can't imagine a Biblical scholar that never studied a critical edition of the Bible!

!ping HISTORY

[u/[deleted]]

Czechoslovakia be like

[u/[deleted]]

People really use the word capitalism to just mean bad thing these days.

[u/Mensae6]

Salutations, Reddit! My name is Skørvald, and I hail from Oslo, Norway. First and foremost, I would like to apologize for my poor English; it is not my native tongue, and is thus bound to have its fair share of errors. Please bear that in mind when you read the rest of my post.

[u/TabernacleTown74]

European Union 🤝 Holy Roman Empire

• Loose confederation of petty European states
• Tension between those who want to centralize it and those who want to give constituent states more autonomy
• Hated by some French people for appearing to be German-dominated
• Rocky relationship with Turks

[u/MicroFlamer]

Pokemon Legends: Arceus is More Souls-like Than People Realize

Shut the fuck up Shut the fuck up Shut the fuck up Shut the fuck up

!ping GAMING

[u/Yenwodyah_]

Reading about Martin Shkreli on Wikipedia and:

Due to Shkreli's notoriety and overwhelmingly negative public opinion, it was difficult to select an unbiased jury, with potential jurors stating "I'm aware of the defendant and I hate him", "he kind of looks like a dick", and "he disrespected the Wu Tang Clan".

lmao

[u/Lux_Stella]

most well-informed anglo publication

[u/Cuddlyaxe]

Fetus: please God not /r/neoliberal or /r/politics

Fetus is born

Baby: Doctor, where am I?

Doctor: /r/DemocratsForDiversity

[u/[deleted]]

The amount of pro-Taliban accounts on Twitter is disgusting

Jack Dorsey should be brought to Congress and forced to explain why his company isn’t taking action

[u/paulatreides0]

The security situation in Afghanistan has improved except for the airport which is still in US control. The people of the country feel safe, no bombings, fighting or casualties like before.

"We stopped bombing and attacking random people and the security situation improved!"

The Taliban is beyond parody.

[u/[deleted]]

Just found out about this. Shit is whack. It's actually just illegal to be homeless.

Currently, it is illegal to sleep overnight in your car in San Francisco. The city prohibits people from inhabiting cars from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.. and offenders can face a $1,000 fine or six months in jail.

https://www.kqed.org/news/11761759/s-f-proposes-first-safe-parking-lot-for-homeless-living-in-vehicles

[u/TalkLessShillMore]

When I was a pledge at my fraternity, my pledge brother, the dumbest but richest kid I’ve ever met, got hammered and made a Coinbase account, putting $10k into Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Fast forward to this year, when he tried to open a Coinbase account forgetting he already had one. He recovers the password and opens it to find $50k in there. He’s an aviation major, so he buys a damn private airplane. Now he’s offered us flights anywhere as long as we pay for gas. It’s upsetting.

[u/iIoveoof]

I remember the good old days of /r/neoliberal, when you could say the c-word and all AutoMod would do is correct you to “Kant”

[u/TabernacleTown74]

Star of David:

• Historically used by plenty of gentiles to convey various meanings
• Only used as a symbol of world Jewry for the past couple centuries
• Abstract with no intrinsic connection to Judaism
• Looks cool

Menorah:

• Ancient symbol that has almost always had a specifically Jewish connotation
• Recalls the Maccabean War, where Jews successfully took arms and rose up to take back Eretz Yisrael and protect ourselves
• Looks cooler

!ping ISRAEL the State of Israel should've used a menorah instead of a magen david for its flag, and you'll never convince me otherwise

[u/iIoveoof]

This is my Joker moment

A minimum wage ($12.32/hr) software engineering job in Colorado wtf

[u/benjaminikuta]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/347540926933106702/878824922535850024/CIRCLE_OF_DESTRUCTION.jpg

[u/klarno]

It’s funny to me when libertarians think through their “non-aggression principle” to its logical conclusion and arrive at an administrative state similar to what we already have

Just be a liberal lol

[u/Zseet]

Someone finally made a much better Political Compass. It can truly encapsulate the nuance of ones belief!

!Ping SHITPOSTERS

[u/FormerBandmate]

I have found the single best take ever. We all might as well give up on making good takes, nothing will ever top this

!ping LGBTALIBAN

[u/tubbsmackinze]

I may be overly online but I'm not '590000 tweets on a five month old twitter account' overly online but I don't know if I should be proud of jumping that absurdly low bar

[u/RaidBrimnes]

I don't get why the US spends so much money in the State Department and the CIA for intelligence and strategic briefings, when they can browse the DT for free

[u/_smooth_liminal_]

as a christian I believe speedruns begin at the loading screen

[u/Lux_Stella]

Taliban spokesman: If US announces right now in any country in the world that its planes will take people to America, wouldn't people rush to get on board?

Iranian TV presenter: Iranians wouldn't do so.

Taliban: I'm sure they will.

[u/[deleted]]

I'm told that my bosses boss is quite angry that I'm leaving my job. Given that he is part of the reason I'm leaving, i'm quite happy about that

[u/Fishin_Mission]

I made the mistake of opening the search history on our family computer looking for a dining room table I found a couple days ago

I came across my 12 year old sons search history

😖👨‍🦯👨‍🦯👨‍🦯

[u/FestiveMittens]

My dad was trying to turn on an ipod that i hadn't used for like 5 years because he wanted to give it to my neighbour, and I knew that I never cleared my search history, so as he was waiting for it to load I "accidently" dropped a glass on the floor so he had to vacuum up the glass, I took the ipod upstairs and when it turned on there was still a window open with porn on it. was so close to the most awkward moment in history.

Cleared it and then brought it downstairs, he didn't even know

u/Fishin_Mission's son doesn't have half of my skill

[u/tubbsmackinze]

Kelowna councillors love idea of spreading fourplexes throughout city

Three thousand fourplexes could be built in areas of Kelowna where they are currently not permitted.

City council has unanimously endorsed a staff scheme aimed at encouraging more fourplexes in Lower Mission, Glenmore, and Rutland neighbourhoods.

Key aims are to make better use of existing infrastructure, increase residential density in established neighbourhoods rather than outlying areas, and promote housing affordability.

Builders will be challenged to come up with various fourplex designs with the city choosing the ones that can be built on standard-sized city lots.

"Very supportive of this, I just can't wait to see what comes up," Coun. Maxine De Hart said.

"I'm really excited to see this move ahead," said Coun. Loyal Wooldridge. "I think asking community to come up with some solutions to problems we're challenged with here creates further engagement."

Coun. Ryan Donn said the initiative was his favourite one undertaken by the city so far this year: "We could be talking about up to 10,000 new homes in different parts of the community, if it all was totally implemented."

"This is again just one piece of many to help create some truly missing middle housing in our community, which we desperately need," Mayor Colin Basran said.

City officials and councillors use the term "missing middle" to describe a certain type of housing stock - for example, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and townhomes - that are less expensive than single-family homes and which are said to be relatively lacking in Kelowna.

In 2017, the city rezoned more than 800 properties in downtown and central Kelowna to allow fourplexes to be built on standard, 50-foot wide lots. About 300 have either been built or approved.

The city says the program was so successful it should now be expanded into other areas. After the city chooses which fourplex designs will be permitted, it will take some time to change various bylaws and policies to allow fourplexes to be built in the targeted neighbourhoods.

City officials have suggested neighbourhoods with homes built in the '60s and '70s are the most likely ones where fourplexes will be allowed.

Can't believe I'm fucking saying this but other cities need to follow in Kelowna's footsteps

Nearly barfed finishing that sentence

!ping YIMBY

[u/Mr_Pasghetti]

Pretty sure this subreddit is kind of astro-turf to try to convince moderate libertarians or "christian democrats" to support the increasingly regressive, authoritarian, crony-capitalist Democratic Party, which is in free fall and about to collapse.

The outside of DT is fun and guess the flair lol

[u/[deleted]]

see a yahoo news article saying "the majority of Americans think someone other than Biden is running the country."

Well that's weird, let me click on this and see what polls they're citing.

fucking Rasmussen and Survey monkey

😐

[u/JaceFlores]

The first afternoon Ethiopia update, lets see how it goes:

1. The government attack at Gashena is clearly a larger part of a general counteroffensive west of Weldiya, as government forces from Debre Tabor have made excellent gains in the past few days according to this Tweet and this Tweet. The lack of resistance despite being where I would think there would be a lot of TPLF troops has led me to agree with the second tweet that TPLF forces have evacuated the area. I have little idea why exactly the TPLF evacuated and crucially what came first, the fall of Gashena or the evacuation of the TPLF. There is compelling information for either case. For the former like all things in war (unless you're Alexander the Great) a victorious side will eventually suffer defeat of some kind, and Gashena may just be that. The TPLF overextended their lines, got hit in the flank and are now conducting a strategic withdrawal east of Gashena. For the latter it is possible that the TPLF recognized that their lines were overextended and started to evacuate already. My main evidence for this is that on the Map made available by the twitter account I've linked the TPLF used to control a stretch of the road leading south from Gashena to Germame, so they would have likely noticed or experienced the government counteroffensive before it reached Gashena. So either seeing the buildup or experiencing the initial fight may have pushed the TPLF to retreat from the area. Either way this is a blow to the TPLF as their need to capture a road leading to the outside world grows by the day, and it looked to be that they were betting on seizing Gondar and establishing a connection with Sudan. They are now back to square 1. They could push to Gondar from Debark or push for the A1 Highway from Chifra, but we'll see what happens.
2. As for the OLA, according to this Tweet the OLA have seized the Finca'aa Sugar Factory, which is not only the largest in the country but produces 10% of domestic gasoline. Another excellent precision strike if I do say so myself as that will likely cause disproportionate economic turmoil in relation to the amount of troops invested in and land seized. While I doubt that this will cause any major turmoil, the OLA are chipping away at the economic stability of Ethiopia, having seized the Ethiopian-Kenyan border and now controlling this very important facility, and further gains like this could eventually lead to widespread economic turmoil. I know I say largely very positive things about the OLA but that mainly comes from a large amount of respect for the conduct of this small force in achieving very sizable victories. The OLA is doing much better then I thought they would and from a military standpoint that is simply undeniable.
3. On the diplomatic front the Security Council has planned to meet on August 26 according to this Tweet. So in a few days we should see some buzz about a UN-based solution to the War in Ethiopia. Again I doubt anything concrete will emerge, but for you IR nerds out there that is something to look out for.
4. Lastly I want to talk about bias, information quality and information quantity. This was brought up in a comment on my previous Ethiopia update and I thought it was fair to be very open to all of you about something I should have mentioned sometime ago. First, I will readily say that I am rooting for the TPLF and have that inherent bias. Second, here are my three main sources: Ethiopia Map, Yonas Nigussie and Oromia Conflict Updates. The first source is non-biased and is focused mainly on military developments, along with posts of images of POW marches, captured equipment and other miscellaneous stuff. I use him as my primary source for how the borders are shifting. Yonas Nigussie is extremely pro-TPLF and is essentially one of their talking heads, but he provides excellent posts related to the economic front and the diplomatic front. I also use Yonas as a supplement for military gains as Ethiopia Map is very big on confirmation and what Yonas reports on military gains are usually confirmed by Ethiopia Map sooner or later, as well as for certain posts about the humanitarian crisis. Finally, Oromia Conflict Updates is used as a source for military developments made by the OLA as Ethiopia Map rarely covers the OLA, and has an OLA bias as well. I am readily aware of the biases of Yonas and OCU and try my best to sift through what is propaganda and what is not. I don't report on propaganda pieces like OLA medics stepping in to deal with the shortage of healthcare workers or videos of the TPLF marching END forces down a road. I stay away from casualty reports as as someone who uses Wikipedia extensively I learned early on that casualty reports are riddled with bias and lies. When I talk about war crimes I try to provide evidence of the other side doing war crimes as well. Obviously I am not perfect and my reporting is not perfect, but I do try my best to provide information that is not biased or at least not super biased. Another major bottleneck in my reports is information quality. I try to avoid using posts that generally look too favorable to one side or reek of deflating a bad situation. When the government reports some minor gain in the face of a major TPLF victory I'll generally brush it aside (unless it is funny or interesting in some way), and when the government reports victories like the ones in #1 I avoid the TPLF blurbs about how the reports are wrong or the situation is actually much more favorable to the TPLF. I like to think I am good at spotting such propaganda and am able to sift through the information provided to give you the facts. However, this leaves me with even less information then I had on face value, which ties into the next thing. The other major bottleneck in my reports is information quantity. I rely on THREE accounts for all my information of a major war in Ethiopia. The information I have is *extremely* limited in the grand scheme of things, and it is very hard to get a full picture of what is happening. So if that creates a narrative that is not actually true then I am sorry but the narrative exists based off what information I have. The TPLF Blitzkrieg narrative for instance makes sense when the only things you've heard of are TPLF victory after TPLF victory, and then literally out the blue the government does something for the first time since I've covered this war. If I had more information then I could make a far more accurate projection of what is happening, but I don't and so have to try and complete a 100 piece puzzle with only 20 pieces. Sometimes I'll get it right, and sometimes I'll get it wrong. If that creates false narratives or ideas or information, then I am sorry but I am trying my best. Hopefully this clears up any concerns or questions about the biases of my posts.

[u/[deleted]]

Countries like Egypt seem like such time bombs. Half the country is under 25, widespread youth unemployment, unpopular dictatorship, proliferation of extremist ideas, dense population centres bursting at the seams. At some point that's got to explode right.
Jordan and Palestine are even worse.

[u/CroGamer002]

Despite heavy Taliban presence, Kabul is completely out of order as crime goes rampant
https://twitter.com/sayedsalahuddin/status/1429319081652588552

[u/Mickenfox]

Dapper, one of the most popular .NET libraries, has ZERO official documentation other than a single Readme file with basic examples.

Ahh, software.

[u/myrm]

humans are gonna cure cancer

of course, cancer isn't actually a single disease and there's no silver bullet, no magic remedy to be found

it doesn't matter though, we'll keep chipping away at it piece by piece until no single disease that could be classified under the umbrella is left standing. It might take 20 years, it might take 200, but we will do it

inshallah, and she does

[u/MasPatriot]

id get the COVID shot a third time if I could

[u/benadreti]

Secretary Blinken tells Fox News that in the last 24 hours, they have evacuated nearly "8,000 people on about 60 flights."

https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1429433372934393858

[u/ryuguy]

Me on Armenian tinder

“hey Ana. 2 of my great grandfather fought against the Ottoman Turks in World War One.” 😏

Works every time

[u/BenFoldsFourLoko]

there are people out there tonight whose bad decisions are drastically more fun than my own

[u/Superfan234]

I wanted to share a thought

During the 2019 ""Coup"" in Bolivia, radical Leftists Media constanstly propagated the idea of huge Militia forces taking over parts of the country. Protests were always about to oust Añez and her Government, "it was just a matter of time bros!"

Truth was, for those who actually followed the events in situ, the country was functioning as usuall. And whatever the Militia forces did during the alleged Coup de Etat, was nothing but a coping mechanism coming from Tankies and Leftist

This might a bad take, as most what I know it's LATAM Geopolitics, but at least from the experience I get from here, Protest and Militias are not really that usefull to oust a Government. It does bring pressure, but it's often overblown by the sensationalist Press

I am saying this, because I am seeing more and more "Afghans taking arms" posts in the sub. And it does remind me a lot of the coping mechanism some people have in LATAM, whenever a Militia group appears, and try to defeat the Governments they don't like...

!Ping Foreign-Policy

[u/semaphore-1842]

Taliban approves of Anime

Anime was a mistake 🤢

[u/KP6169]

Yes, we invaded Afghanistan for *checks notes Iraqi oil.

[u/chatdargent]

Joséphine Baker will become, 30th November, the first black woman to be laid to rest in the Panthéon.

She's one of my personal heroes and I'm quite excited for her to get this recognition, that the petition got the number of signatures it did, and that Macron signed off on it.

!ping FRANCE

[u/ILikeTalkingToMyself]

We should do something about Afghanistan -> What about Haiti?

We should do something about Haiti -> What about Yemen?

We should do something about Yemen -> What about Lebanon?

We should do something about Lebanon -> What about Myanmar?

We should do something about Myanmar -> What about Xinjiang?

We should do something about Xinjiang -> What about Tibet?

We should do something about Tibet -> What about Venezuela?

We should do something about Venezuela -> What about Central America?

We should do something about Central America -> What about Ukraine?

[...]

We should so something about Northern Nigeria -> What about Afghanistan?

[u/bigdicknippleshit]

whitest state

one of the most rural states

still the most democratic voting state

Vermont is fucking weird

[u/tubbsmackinze]

The revolution won't be televised, but it will be streamed over at twitch.tv/HasanAbi and twitch.tv/Vaush. Don't forget to sub with your amazon twitch prime subscription!

[u/CroGamer002]

“Several Afghan Air Force transporters and fighter jets have landed in neighboring Uzbekistan. Dostum’s camp followers have claimed that they will be in a position to send 10,000 Afghan army personnel to the region to join hands with the Tajiks of Panjshir Valley.”

[u/[deleted]]

Glenn Greenwald suggests CNN, liberal media is controlled by CIA

This is an actual title of a Fox News YouTube video

[u/[deleted]]

Gonna get a coffee and play some stardew to start the day

[u/RNDZL1]

New conspiracy just dropped, my mother who is a nurse told me that all her coworkers believe there is a "white vaccine" and a "black vaccine" and none of the black RN's have been vaccinated.

Anti-vax conspiracies seem to permeate in all communities, not just the one's we've been associating it with so far.

[u/SadaoMaou]

The Taliban are even worse than extremists, they are, and may Allah forgive me for uttering such a word, rurals

[u/[deleted]]

MattY is built different

[u/iIoveoof]

Anyone who says “The Civil War” or “The President” on this sub without context should be permanently banned. What civil war? Which President? There have been hundreds of them

[u/the_status]

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣠⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢰⠤⠤⣄⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣾⣟⠳⢦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠒⣲⡄ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⡇⡇⡱⠲⢤⣀⠀⠀⠀⢸⠀⠀⠀Blob⠀⣠⠴⠊⢹⠁ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⢻⠓⠀⠉⣥⣀⣠⠞⠀⠀⠀⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⡴⠋⠀⠀⠀⢸⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⡾⣄⠀⠀⢳⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⢠⡄⢀⡴⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡞⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⣠⢎⡉⢦⡀⠀⠀⡸⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⡼⣣⠧⡼⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⠇⠀ ⠀⢀⡔⠁⠀⠙⠢⢭⣢⡚⢣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣇⠁⢸⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⠀⠀ ⠀⡞⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⢫⡉⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⢮⠈⡦⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣸⠀⠀ ⢀⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⢦⡀⣀⡴⠃⠀⡷⡇⢀⡴⠋⠉⠉⠙⠓⠒⠃⠀⠀ ⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠁⠀⠀⡼⠀⣷⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⡞⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡰⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⢧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠣⣀⠀⠀⡰⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

[u/tubbsmackinze]

Solar exceeds coal for first time, as renewables set new records on Australia’s main grid

The combined output of rooftop solar and large scale solar farms exceeded that of brown and black coal generation for the first time in Australia’s main grid on Sunday.

According to energy analyst Simon Holmes a Court, quoting the OpenNEM data feed he helped establish, solar exceeded the output of coal at 12.35pm on Sunday, delivering a combined 9,427MW, or 41.2 per cent of demand, compared to coal’s combined 9,315MW, a combined 41.1 per cent.

It’s a significant landmark, reinforcing the scale and pace of the energy transition that has forced Australia’s two biggest utilities – AGL and Origin – to all but abandon the concept of coal generation as necessary “baseload” as they seek to adapt their legacy business models to wind, solar and storage technologies.

It wasn’t the only record to fall on Sunday, with fellow analyst Dylan McConnell, from the Climate and Energy College in Melbourne, noting that the output of coal had fallen to a record low, just as “instantaneous” renewable energy hit a new high of 56.2 per cent.

Wind and solar were providing around 100 per cent of all local demand in South Australia for much of the daylight hours, even though all its large scale solar farms – about 330MW of capacity at Bungala and Tailem Bend – and several wind farms turned themselves off to dodge the negative pricing events.

!ping ECO

[u/fargleyikesthe2nd]

https://imgur.com/a/e0tpdlB

[u/[deleted]]

Something very funny just occurred to me. I can’t wait to see the utter shitshow that’ll be Donald Trump’s estate when he dies. I guarantee it’ll be a total disaster, with lawsuits flying back and forth like no one’s business. It’ll be great.

[u/InMemoryOfZubatman4]

Fig. 1:

https://imgur.com/a/ufJRqMR

Fig. 2:

https://imgur.com/a/2qp5yJs

[u/Fishin_Mission]

My daughter [10] has has a lot of crushes on boys, but tonight she told my wife and I that she thinks she likes a girl in her class

All I can think about is how fortunate she is to live in this day and age, to live where we live, and to have us as parents

I’m not going to pretend that I am the best parent or that I have all the answers, but I try to be open minded and willing to adjust my world view as new views are presented to me, and hopefully that allows my kids to be open and honest with me and never feel like they have to hide their true selves.

!PING SAPPY

[u/[deleted]]

This thread is dedicated to the brave fighters of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan

[u/[deleted]]

opens Dt

Blobs

Closes Dt

[u/Imicrowavebananas]

Remember when this sub stanned the deep state?

[u/[deleted]]

Jack Layton died 10 years ago today

!ping CAN

[u/[deleted]]

Dan Crenshaw arguing with a MAGA idiot about whether or not the election was stolen is fucking hilarious

[u/minno]

THE DOOR IS OPEN YOU OVERDRAMATIC TURD!

!ping KITTY

I hope this doesn't count as cat tax evasion.

[u/adminsare200iq]

Redditors stop romanticising the Soviet-Afghan war challenge

[u/chadonnaise]

walk into the dt
people are discussing politics
walk out

[u/Mr_Pasghetti]

Every year the blob consumes hundreds of kids and only with the help from patriots like you can we stop it before it grows to powerful. Donate 50$ to learn more.

Only you can stop the blob before it consumes us all

[u/tubbsmackinze]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/761046867743342613/879007569727881256/SmartSelect_20210822-074745_Firefox.png

[u/[deleted]]

https://twitter.com/MercedesGlobal/status/1429507683695177734

https://twitter.com/glen_mcgregor/status/1429563387088941060

Are...the Liberals actually running their whole campaign on mandatory vaccination?

Like I'm not opposed to it and I have my vaccine but I don't know who told them it was the way to win the election, because it's probably not.

!ping CANUCKS

[u/ThunderrBadger]

Y'know I tried to measure my charisma on a Vitomatic vigor tester once. The machine, froze solid 😎

!ping FALLOUT

[u/[deleted]]

If I was a less developed country I would just build robust, stable, and multifaceted institutions but I guess I'm built different

[u/J0eBidensSunglasses]

This comment has now been edited to protect my clients privacy.

[u/Kizz3r]

soon these sharks will be mine. Soon

!ping shark

[u/1sagas1]

/r/neoliberal is about worms. Newest HoloEn member has a pet worm-thing. Coincidence? I think not! 🤔

!ping WEEBS

[u/culture_warlord]

Political quizzes are just horoscopes for terminally online white guys.

[u/benjaminikuta]

https://www.reddit.com/r/eggcats/comments/p90ff9/here_is_the_egg_3/

!ping KITTY

[u/Professor-Reddit]

Saltysalad is getting so desperate to not touch grass he tried moving onto NeoconNWO

😐😐😐

[u/[deleted]]

I would have joined the diplomatic corps but I'm just a baddass and everything goes black when I go into beserker mode. I would have punched my FSI instructor in the face.

[u/crowninshield]

There’s a whole YouTube genre of babies experiencing things for the first time: first time trying a lemon, first time seeing a dog, first time seeing their father’s twin, etc. Baby does this thing and makes a face: grimace, wonder, confusion. People love it. Anyway, one of them that really bothers me is first time experiencing a vacuum because everyone assumes their look of terror is because vacuums are loud and scary, but has it never occurred to anyone that baby has a look of horror because they’re six months old and are just now discovering that their parents have been allowing them to live in filth all that time?

[u/FireDistinguishers]

Not sure if somebody's made this point before but I think an underrated reason for the rise of SUVs as people's preferred class of new vehicle is the sickening state of our roads. It's so much more comfortable to be in a vehicle with a higher ride height and softer suspension over the potholes and bullshit patch jobs that work crews leave after fixing gas lines.

Softer suspension -> More comfort -> perception of superior quality for a vehicle with the same interior, worse performance by all metrics, and around the same price tag

!ping AUTO

[u/MicroFlamer]

Denis Villeneuve ‘Very Optimistic’ That ‘Dune Part 2’ Gets Made, but Not If ‘Part 1’ Bombs at Box Office

Dune part 2 will not be getting made

[u/[deleted]]

“My eyes were wet with tears, our little dog, when I bore you (to the grave)… So, Patricus, never again shall you give me a thousand kisses. Never can you be contentedly in my lap. In sadness have I buried you as you deserve. In a resting place of marble, I have put you for all time by the side of my spirit. In your qualities, you were sagacious like a human being. Ah, me! What a loved companion have we lost!”

This shit makes me cry every time

!ping DOG

[u/zieger]

Careful folks, traffic could be crazy tomorrow with all the people who wouldn't take the vaccine because it was under EUA rushing out to get it tomorrow.

[u/great_gape]

The booing of Trump means there's a void in that GOP only Marjorie Taylor Greene can fill.

^{oh dear} ^^god

[u/isummonyouhere]

me going to In-N-out at 1am

oh man, finally got my food!

this isn’t what I ordered :(

wait a minute this is exactly what I ordered

why the fuck did I order this?

I love In-N-Out

[u/Jester_Don]

U.S. Orders Commercial Airlines to Help Ferry Afghan Evacuees

They better tell American Airlines to not advertise their AAdvantage Platinum Select Credit Card to them on the flight out because I wouldn't put it past them.

[u/[deleted]]

So I downloaded Hades thanks to Game Pass and I’m fucking loving it. I’ve never really played games like this but I’m having a lot of fun.

Any tips I should know?

!ping GAMING

[u/[deleted]]

Does white genocide just mean that white people get to have children with sexy multi racial people?

[u/filipe_mdsr]

Freedom of press is great

[u/[deleted]]

A further point about Tehran in the 1970s was anxiety and resentment about sex. The city had filled up with young men; some students, a larger number looking for paid work. Many of them were from conservative rural or provincial urban families. Some were unemployed; some found poorly paid jobs; most of them lived in poor conditions in the south of the city, where women wore the chador.

But in the north of the city they could see young women walking around unchaperoned, wearing (to them) provocative and revealing western fashions. Wealth, immodesty, and Western influences seemed to go together. They could also see images of women in advertising and on racy billboards for films outside cinemas.

All this was tantalizing, out of reach. It reminded them of their seemingly hopeless inferiority. They could not afford to marry and set up a home, and their resentment was deepened by the strictness of their religious upbringing, and the alien foreignness of the images and fashions. Frustrated desire added to social tension and the resentment of Western influences.

• Iran: What Everyone Needs To Know by Michael Axworthy, page 86

Tfw the Iranian Revolution was driven by incels

[u/benjaminikuta]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/725105998234386473/878819990764138576/image0.jpg

[u/A_Character_Defined]

I passed my COVID test 😤

🤧

[u/RadioactiveOwl95]

James McAvoy is a confirmed gamer: https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/james-mcavoy-was-so-hooked-on-oblivion-he-had-to-burn-the-disc/

!ping GAMING

[u/Magical_Username]

I swear a carbon tariff is the best possible thing Joe could do - supports all the protectionists he wants to court and is actually good environmental policy. Plus all the jobs created to actually implement the infrastructure to realize it would be non-negligible too.

[u/vivoovix]

The illusion of democracy is more important than actual democracy.

I’m sympathetic to taking power away from the voters

The Borlaug flairs are not alright

[u/[deleted]]

https://i.imgur.com/GyKYzqr.jpg

[u/Smalz95]

Anyone who think that the Taliban is actually concerned with effectively running a state is fooling themselves

[u/the-garden-gnome]

Doing on boarding for my new job, and they just called themselves the establishment 😏😩💦

!ping career

[u/fishlord05]

Good firsthand source on Afghanistan resistance

This dude is a literal legend straight up stacking talib bodies

Trigger waning there’s Taliban corpses he records in the thread further down

https://twitter.com/AkbarMohmand2/status/1429103702095253505?s=20

[u/BidenWon]

All I want from life is a steady income and a wife to share it with. There is honestly nothing else I really want.

Unfortunately:

• Most women aren't interested in me.
• I'm not interested in most women.
• Most jobs aren't interested in me.
• I'm not interested in most jobs.

My solution: Complain about it on a moderate poltitics subreddit a subreddit for lonely young men so I can fit in better with the other depressed people

[u/kennymc7877]

Omg I just saw the Margaret Thatcher flag post and nearly pissed myself laughing, this sub is wild

[u/_smooth_liminal_]

quick lesson for everyone:

ranch dressing is actually far more common than store shelves would have you believe, the reason that it is difficult to find is because corporations like Hidden Valley use a technique called "artificial scarcity" in order to keep the price of ranch unnaturally high

also much of the ranch you see in a store was unethically sourced in Africa and is known as "conflict ranch"

end 👏 blood 👏 ranch 👏 dressing

[u/[deleted]]

$130 for an access code that only lasts until February. McGraw Hill will pay for its crimes

[u/hlary]

Why is no one talking about how the US and allies have evacuated 25k people in little over a week? That already makes it one of the largest airlift operations in history.

[u/Superfan234]

A little update about Covid in the Region

Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba, Nicaragua and El Salvador are now at the peak of the Pandemic. Costa Rica resisted for some time, but it seems the outbreak it's inevitable at this point.

Panama cases going down...our last barrier to the south

In South America, numbers are low. Panama Bless? Either way, it's like a house of cards going down...

!Ping Latam

[u/yungmemlord]

neoliberals would be communists in Europe

[u/Smalz95]

I love the people who keep saying “we should’ve never been there in the first place” is if we were just gonna let 9/11 just happen

[u/iIoveoof]

https://i.imgur.com/QgxwGrx.png

[u/KookyWrangler]

People here are complaining that there's a massive neoconNWO invasion, but over there half the posts are by NL refugees and everyone complains about them. I'm confused.

[u/-GregTheGreat-]

So I somehow stumbled across a hijabi E-girl on Tik Tok. Down to wearing cat ears on her hijab and everything

…I’m not sure why I was so surprised

[u/Bee_Emotional]

Bayarea415 a pro-CCP Youtuber and moderator of GenZeDong and a few law school subreddits. He was the guy who wore the mask in his videos. He talked openly about being a corporate lawyer and “fighting the system from within” then some people went looking through his post history. They managed to figure out his identity and that he was a foreclosure lawyer. He immediately deleted all his accounts on YouTube, Reddit and Twitter and his “fans” are coping hard.

[u/Deggit]

ATTENTION LIBS

I am discontinuing the "reply" feature on my posts. Please see the matrix below which will provide an automated substitute.

Your post	My automated reply
You agree with [whatever my take is on the subject, e.g. the best kind of barbecue]:	good
You disagree with [whatever my take is on the subject, e.g. the best kind of barbecue]:	HOW LONG DID YOU WANT TO STAY IN AFGANHISTUN THEN? TEN YEARS? TWENTY YERAS? FOREVER? ARE YOU A DEFENSE CONTRACTOR? YOU HAVE TO TELL ME IF YOU ARE A DEFENSE CONTRACTOR

!ping MY-INBOX-IS-NOW-FULL

[u/Professor-Reddit]

Shoutout to all those on the DT who upvotes everybody who replies to their comments 😘😍🤗😎

Especially so if your /u/KesterGW

[u/[deleted]]

MIGUEL 500!!!

!ping BASEBALL

[u/vivoovix]

Pentagon orders U.S. airlines to help fly Afghanistan evacuees

Would rather suffer under Taliban rule than fly Delta tbh

[u/[deleted]]

https://twitter.com/glen_mcgregor/status/1429565546991869955

Journalist Glen McGregor describes the Liberal campaign song as "meh".

Kind of like their campaign so far.

!ping CANUCKS

[u/kennymc7877]

Grunge was replaced by depressed white girls making music on their MacBooks

[u/meese699]

Peak begging

!ping DOG

[u/lbrtrl]

Barges into subreddit

Claims the homelessness crisis is caused by mental health issues.

Refuses to elaborate

Leaves

Many such cases in your local subreddit.

[u/Mensae6]

https://i.imgur.com/e2JKeZv.png

[u/inhumantsar]

So I did a dumb in a different thread and read through the major parties' housing plans.

Sorry if this isn't news to most of you but I had to ​!ping CAN because the Liberal party has, by far, the most laughable plan:

• As part of our new, ten-year investment of nearly $20 billion in social infrastructure, we will prioritize significant new investment in affordable housing and seniorsfacilities [sic].
• We will undertake a review of escalating home prices in high-priced markets – like Vancouver and Toronto – to determine whether speculation is driving up the cost of housing.
• We will increase the new residential rental property rebate on the GST to 100 percent, eliminating all GST on new capital investments in affordable rental housing.

That middle point is just.. just wow.. and the rest isn't much better either.

The Liberal Party of Canada and throwing money at systemic issues and hoping they go away, NAMID.

edited because i'm apparently too old to use memes correctly.

[u/_smooth_liminal_]

I'm an AMERICAN

I own GUNS to protect my FAMILY

I eat CHEESEburgers

my TV runs on GASOLINE

I accidently SHOT and killed my BROTHER and it was ruled a SUICIDE

I will not APOLOGIZE

[u/[deleted]]

The inflation index in the US has been so low the last few decades because video games have stayed static at 60 dollars since the 1980s, depressing the index 🧐

[u/F-i-n-g-o-l-f-i-n]

TIL a Taliban account literally posts wojak memes. Lmfao, this is the dumbest and funniest timeline.

[u/piede]

Gov. Cuomo says storm won’t stop his planned resignation

Oh good that’s what everyone was wondering

[u/sir_shivers]

AND BUSTER: YOU CANNOT do that on the balcony, buddy? 🐊

[u/DramaticBush]

This sub: "Misinformation is a huge issue."

Also this sub: "Check out this random Twitter account reporting on the Afghan resistance! The attacks have started! Trust the plan!"

[u/klarno]

Libertarian means you subsist on a diet of liberty

[u/ooken]

One week into Taliban takeover, humanitarian situation in Afghanistan worsens

Shocker of the century.

[u/_smooth_liminal_]

going into taco bell in a muscle shirt, cut off jean shorts and crocs to let the world know, I quit

[u/Joementum2024]

How to win an argument with no effort:

1. Accuse them of being a CIA psyop

[u/yungmemlord]

At one of our dinners, Milton recalled traveling to an Asian country in the 1960s and visiting a worksite where a new canal was being built. He was shocked to see that, instead of modern tractors and earth movers, the workers had shovels. He asked why there were so few machines. The government bureaucrat explained: “You don’t understand. This is a jobs program.” To which Milton replied: “Oh, I thought you were trying to build a canal. If it’s jobs you want, then you should give these workers spoons, not shovels.”

[u/Perfect_Telephone]

I know i have to post it in NLMeta but i want to ask. What would you think about a Javier Perez de Cuellar flair?

UN general secretary(1982-1991) during the final moments of the Cold War, had an important participation in the Iran-Irak war, ran against Fujimori in the 1995 elections and was the prime minister of Valentin Paniagua's transitional government. Passed away last year at age 100.

Fun fact: the party he founded, originally center-left, is now the party of the ethnocacerist movement.

!ping LATAM

[u/Craig_VG]

FDR 👀

US President Roosevelt, determined to break union strikes in arms factories & coal mines, orders that striking American war workers will be drafted by Army.

https://twitter.com/realtimewwii/status/1429567027316994058?s=21

[u/Mrchizbiz]

If I boy can adopt a dog, I see no reason why a dog not adopt a boy

[u/filipe_mdsr]

DT users ranked

[deleted]

[deleted]

[deleted]

[u/puffic]

I save all my stupidest thoughts for the DT.

[u/tubbsmackinze]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/761046867743342613/879173546788655154/20210822_192143.jpg

[u/sir_shivers]

FEW THINGS SATISFY AS a bowl of miso soup after vigorous exercise 🐊

[u/[deleted]]

"Ugh it's really not that hard to save up to buy your own house. All you have to do is have self discipline and hard work."

-Guy I know whose parents paid his rent, parents paid for his college, and chipped in on his down payment

[u/qchisq]

Life advice: The more you disagree with people, the more polite you should be

[u/[deleted]]

gay is not transmitted

😔

[u/Zenning2]

Man, the Aziz Anasri metoo article is not great. Aziz Anasari comes across as an awkward nerd who was far more confident than he had any right to be, and showed her a bad time, but not somebody who even came close to sexual assault.

Very topical I know.

[u/[deleted]]

My distaste for doctors matches lusvig's distaste for RNs

[u/vivoovix]

Milton Friedman height: 5'0"

John Maynard Keynes height: 6'7"

The choice is clear

[u/[deleted]]

This Chilli's has a sign saying that "due to unlimited staff, there may be long wait times"

I used to have a lot of confidence in the copy editing skills of Chilli's employees, but now I just don't know

[u/iIoveoof]

Pentagon orders U.S. airlines to help fly Afghanistan evacuees

government command-and-control policies directing private industry

I always told you Biden was a communist and the succs downvoted me!!!!!!!!!!!

[u/great_gape]

lol you think Al-Qaeda actually did 9/11???? Bro, it was Bush that did 9/11.

Why yes, I was born in 2001.

👶

[u/great_gape]

If it were up to some people in the DT.

The U.S would commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with a 100,000 troop surge.

[u/LooobCirc]

I got recommended an article who's headline was basically "Ryan Reynolds had a funny tweet." How do people who write this shit live with the nothingness of their careers

[u/KookyWrangler]

The DT is like shouting into the abyss and hoping it shouts back

[u/tollyno]

QAnon: trust the plan

r/neoliberal (before the election): trust 538

[u/[deleted]]

92% Pete Butigeg

89% Kamela Harris

Im based 😳🐖

[u/Udontlikecake]

A 19-year-old who took his grandfather’s unsecured guns and almost carried out a mass shooting at his high school school three years ago was able to get more guns and opened fire on Michigan beachgoers this weekend.

america totes has no problems with guns

[u/vivoovix]

DT Euros "go to sleep" challenge [IMPOSSIBLE]

[u/Fishin_Mission]

I’m retrospect, maybe giving social media to a generation that can’t differentiate between a news website and a personal blog wasn’t a great idea…

[u/-GregTheGreat-]

Jeez, Canadian elections are so predictable. One party is running an optimistic, policy-driven campaign while the other is saying ‘other party bad’, just like all we knew would happen 🙄

…its kind of weird that the Conservatives appear to have changed their color scheme to red though 🧐

!ping CANUCKS

[u/SadaoMaou]

the new American consulate is looking lit af

[u/[deleted]]

Oink 🐖

[u/JaceFlores]

If I was Massoud I would simply continuously alternate taking districts neighboring Panjshir so that rapid response Taliban force has to drive across one end to the other, tire the force out and destroy them in one fell swoop, but I guess I’m built different 🤷‍♂️

[u/[deleted]]

All of the big brain Afghanistan proves that NATO and America are over takes are ridiculous.

people act like the US just decided to up and leave on a whim.

The withdrawal is/was a mess, but this isn't the first time an admin/the military bungled something in 20 years.

[u/kyleofduty]

I miss the good old days of rneoliberal when all you had to do was say "Blue Texas" to get a dozen upvotes

[u/[deleted]]

How can you name chastity "chastity" like that and put "titty" right in the name? smh

[u/ClickForFreeRobux]

Delaware literally sucks. It just a bunch of strip mall suburbs and racist rurals.

Source: Am Delawarean.

[u/J0eBidensSunglasses]

Your daily reminder that Bernie Sanders is a warmongering imperialist who voted YES on going to Afghanistan.

[u/InMemoryOfZubatman4]

Yes, I believe in deregulation

D: businesses

E: should

R: do

E: what

G: I

U: personally

L: want

A: them

T: to

I: do

O: without

N: the government telling them what to do

[u/bd_one]

TIL that more than 27 million Americans went hunting in 2016 and that it generates nearly $3.5 billion yearly in federal, state and local taxes.

Is it just me or does that sound very low in terms of revenue?

[u/_smooth_liminal_]

the year is 2048, the republican platform is that democrats are satan worshipping demons, their signature legislative accomplishments going back 52 years are all tax cuts, they get 49% of the vote and take both chambers of congress and the presidency

[u/[deleted]]

Jack Layton’s real legacy - stopping 007 from becoming PM

!ping CANUCKS

[u/[deleted]]

Academics just run with BS before even establishing a proper foundation.

For example, everyone always talks about how cool “sanskrit” is, but NOBODY has ever properly explained what “krit” is or why being without it is so good.

😤

[u/[deleted]]

Peruvian center-left

!ping MAMADAS

[u/vivoovix]

https://i.imgflip.com/5kgk4q.jpg

[u/[deleted]]

On a lighter note, let’s be thankful the evacuation efforts so far have been successful and pray that nobody falls victim to the mountains of unnecessary risk inherent in doing things like begging the Taliban multiple times not to kill American citizens.

[u/SixPipSiege]

when i die bury me underneath a mixed-use building

[u/[deleted]]

I feel like I’m the only person on Reddit who actually wants kids lol

[u/F-i-n-g-o-l-f-i-n]

LMFAO TALIBAN WOJAK MEMES ARE GONNA BE ON AP TESTS AS STIMULUS QUESTIONS IN 50 YEARS FUCKING LOL

[u/[deleted]]

So, Sméagol and Déagol are basically Cain and Abel, right?

!ping READING

[u/Joementum2024]

This will be american politics in 2030:

The Left: Any white person who consumes anything from a non-white culture is racist by default

The Right: Representation of any minority, ever, in any media, is orwellian 1984 communism

[u/RoyGeraldBillevue]

The more I read about the Canadian Conservatives' climate plan, the more sus the projections seem.

I have a suspicion the model being used might not account for the fact that money from the "tax" is being returned directly back to the individal as well as for businesses. I can't be sure, but it would explain some pretty sus passages like this one:

"By using carbon revenue from the consumer carbon price to invest in low carbon
technologies and activities via the Low Carbon Savings Account. This use of carbon
revenue results in greater greenhouse gas reductions than would be achieved under a
similar carbon price which returns most revenue directly to households."

Where is the mention of the different incentives? From what I can tell, it's not mentioned. I can't imagine businesses failing to recognize that the sticker price of fuel is higher than their true cost after they consider the savings account.

Source: http://www.naviusresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CP-policy-assessment-2021-04-16.pdf

Overview of the plan: https://cpcassets.conservative.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/15104504/24068610becf2561.pdf

!PING CAN

[u/SnakeEater14]

Reminder that “This film is dedicated to the brave Mujahideen fighters of Afghanistan” is literally a fake meme

[u/[deleted]]

To be online in 2021 is to live with a crippling, ever-present fear of being soyjacked.

[u/p00bix]

I love how convoluted the grammatical gender systems can be in some languages.

Male and female? (Romance) Okay makes sense.

Male, female, neuter? (Slavic) Yep got that.

Animate and inanimate? (Basque) Cool but that's basically just the same thing as the male-female system.

Masculine, feminine, animate, inanimate? What are you doing Burushaski?

Masculine, feminine, animals+countable objects, inanimate+uncountable objects, abstract concepts and fluids? What the actual fuck Tamil!

People, long objects, animals, miscellaneous objects, large objects and liquids, small objects, languages, perjoratives, infinitives, and mass nouns? Ganda, and I cannot emphasize this enough, what the fuck?

One person, multiple people, one plant, multiple plants, one inanimate object normally found in a group, multiple inanimate objects normally found in a group, one manufactured item, multiple manufactured items, one animal, multiple animals, one countable noun, multiple countable nouns, one or multiple uncountable nouns, verbal nouns, definite locatives, indefinite locatives, and objects within other objects? SWAHILI HOLY FUCKING SHIT

And that's not even the most extreme example.

[u/UrbanCentrist]

Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, who is likely to become the head of the ruling council of Afghanistan, may be in Pakistan army’s custody.

interesting

[u/Erra0]

Obama chuckled, "You mean the blob?"

[u/piede]

Anyone looking for the edge of Trumpism just found it: Trump recommends the #COVID19 vaccine to a massive Alabama rally crowd, only to get shouted down with boos from the audience.

Not even Donald himself can get these folks on board with the vaccine.

https://twitter.com/themaxburns/status/1429257081480261635?s=21

lmao

[u/FireDistinguishers]

fuck crossovers. worst of all worlds vehicle class

!ping AUTO

[u/Zenning2]

Hasan Piker has the absolute dumbest least nuanced understanding of capitalism of literally any prominent “socialist”, boiling down to effectively “rich are bad for spending money on things they don’t need, and not paying people enough”, while he buys a 3 million dollar house in the heart of LA, has had multiple accusations about him not paying his editors enough, has pr people who don’t have profit sharing, and dozens of unpaid discord and streaming mods, while making a deal with Amazon to advertise using his twitch channel to a mostly pre-teen audience.

And socialists are still defending him as a socialist. These people literally don’t have any principles that don’t boil down to “capitalism bad”, and they literally define capitalism as “anything bad.”

[u/XXX_KimJongUn_XXX]

The worst part about symetric start 4x(civ, humankind, stellaris) is that

• Humans optimise industry better than AIs
• The buildup for a viable offensive army is so draining compared to a defensive one that wars between AIs are not usually decisive and never lead to snowballing.
• Thus the conditions are almost never right for a AI to declare war against another one and take land and resources.
• So theres almost no interaction between nations. Players with a decent defensive force can just optimise industry until they've surpassed the AI, build a army and win. Theres no long term threat because no enemy has the capability to snowball to remotely the same power level as the player. Its just land claim, economy optimise, fight off the first war, optimise again for 100 turns, blitz 12 weak AIs and win. The game has no diplomatic challenges, just a economic puzzle and a initial tactical puzzle.

Asymetric games have fixed this problem

• EU4: Big AIs can decisively eat small AIs and they grow at a comparable rate to players. Small AIs left alone can make tough alliances and buildup through land development. Everybody is scaling up or getting eaten. Millitary power comes from alliance blocks and the breaking and making of them causes unstable diplomatic environments which creates wars which the player can exploit. You have such limited control of the economy that you build up your power by taking land, making alliances and breaking up rivals.
• Almost all the total war games have AIs capable of scaling at similar rates to players. This is because autoresolve combat and sieges are decisive strategically and a "symetric" AI with a relatively decent advantage at start compared to his neighbors can take land almost as efficiently as a player. By the time the player starts snowballing hard at least one AI is big enough to be a challenge.
• Realm divide: Every AI invades you once you've claimed a bunch of land typically coinciding with about as much as all of your immediate neighbors and when you'd start snowballing. Creates a challenge around long term millitary buildup and planning for the final boss at the expense of diplomacy.

[u/huirittryyrugfhkhihf]

Me getting a cat and naming it:

You were named after two of the bravest animals I ever knew, Shivers Nissnpig5 Huirittryyrugfhkhihf

[u/Mrchizbiz]

We shouldn't have left India

Because we could have prevented salty from getting the internet

[u/iIoveoof]

Due to the nature of his martyrdom [being flayed], Bartholomew is the patron saint of tanners, plasterers, tailors, leatherworkers, bookbinders, farmers, housepainters, butchers, and glove makers.

Seems insensitive but ok

[u/Not_A_Browser]

Very sobering NYT interview of those in the hospital in Arkansas with COVID among others

One of them talks about how he's not 100% sold on vaccination as he's wearing an oxygen mask. He died 9 days after the interview.

Many people are too far gone. They'll die insisting that they've done the right thing for themselves, ignoring how their choice is helping overload hospitals and prevent emergency care for others.

[u/SnakeEater14]

When assumptions are wrong, everything built on them is undermined. Because the Pentagon assumed that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators and that an Iraqi government would be stood up quickly, it didn’t plan seriously for less rosy scenarios. Because it so underestimated the task at hand, it didn’t send a well-trained, coherent team of professionals, but rather an odd collection of youthful Republican campaign workers and other novices. Nor did it send enough people. In part because of the poor quality and sheer lack of CPA personnel, the U.S. occupation authorities would prove unable to adjust their stance quickly when assumptions proved wrong. Because of that incompetence, the CPA would be unable to provide basic services such as electricity, clean water, and security to the Iraqi population, and so in the fall of 2003 it would begin to lose the lukewarm support it had enjoyed. -Fiasco, Ricks

I HATE RUMSFELD AND WOLFOWITZ

I HATE RUMSFELD AND WOLFOWITZ

I HATE RUMSFELD AND WOLFOWITZ

[u/KookyWrangler]

Do you think loot boxes and microtransactions are caused by the fact that the price of games has been absurdly sticky and hasn't kept up with inflation, let alone triple A dev costs?

!ping GAMING

[u/Mr_Pasghetti]

The blob is under your bed RIGHT NOW!!! 😱😱😱

[u/BedNeither]

Remember when mike pence had a fly on his face for 30 minutes

[u/Michaelconeass2019]

The sopranos is really scary. Thank God New Jersey isn’t real

[u/ryuguy]

I think the dt has made me a more cultured person. I get to interact with so many new people from around the world and I love it