DradisPing
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User ID: 1102
DradisPing
2yr ago
People joke about Yudkowskian airstrikes on data centers; would airstrikes on labs be similarly warranted?
So I'm just going to state this is just theorizing as if I was writing a speculative fiction story. In real life murder is bad.
But it doesn't make sense to do air strikes against labs, there's a great risk of releasing a pathogen.
The weak point is the researchers. There are relatively few of them and they don't live high security lifestyles. They travel to international conferences.
A terrorist group with widespread support dedicated to killing viral researchers would probably be very effective. People would avoid the profession, avoid publishing under their own names, and the research labs would need to move away from cities to more secure locations.
In practice I think a group dedicated to harassment and social shunning would probably be very effective without the need for violence.
DradisPing
2yr ago
What does he provide over Desantis/Haley/Ramaswamy? He didn't build the wall the first time, why would he do it now?
He tried to build the wall but was blocked by Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell.
DeSantis is an old pal of Paul Ryan and has been getting campaign advice from him. He's likely to be talked into not doing anything on the border and only paying lip service to MAGA policy items.
Haley is funded by Bilderburg billionaires like Reid Hoffman. She would never ever try to build the wall. Her major goals would be American troops in Ukraine and Syria.
Trump did deliver economic gains for blue collar workers that DC types have been insisting were impossible for generations. He avoid starting new wars. He improved trade deals. For the "borders conservatism" voter he was the most successful President in a long time. He delivered some major wins in the face of intense opposition from the establishment.
Voting in an establishment friendly politician would be silly.
DradisPing
2yr ago
That's not what defecting means in this context. It's also not really in character.
Defecting would be declaring that Somali migrants are the real true Americans and dumping millions of them into the suburbs. Or eliminating tariffs on China in exchange for a Netflix deal. Or a million other things that benefit the DC and Donor classes.
DradisPing
2yr ago
(What a fucking meme martial art, I don't understand why it was so hyped up in the 90s and early 2000s, even in India)
That has to do with US-Japan relations and immigration laws. Basically Karate movies got some traction in the 70s and a bunch of aikido teachers moved to LA to open schools.
Hollywood has a lot of influence.
DradisPing
2yr ago
But back to the topic at hand; it's unclear what Abbott's actual game is; he's an accomplished constitutional lawyer(literally; that's how he became governor) and knows he's going to lose at court. He's also never been the reckless type and so it's unlikely he did this without thinking it through. Angling for a Trump cabinet seat, maybe? It also surprises me that he did this now; primaries are coming up in March, and Abbott endorsed a relatively wide array of candidates to try to shift the house in a more partisan republican direction; taking a political risk like this one is unlike him.
His problem was that he had to be seen as doing something. His credibility was low with the right.
He's been off side with the base regarding some recent legal issues. Alex Jones was getting railroaded by a far left judge in Austin and Abbott didn't even make a token comment about due process. A bunch of Bushies were upset about Ken Paxton beating George P Bush and teamed up with the Dems to impeach him in a process that abused the rules. After Paxton won Abbott sent out a press release congratulating him on winning a fair trail instead of admitting the problems with the process.
So Abbott needs to shore up his credibility with the right.
Picking a fight over the border is attractive for a number of reasons.
- Biden's border policies are extremely unpopular, to the point that his administration wants to avoid delineating them. Forcing Garland to take them to court likely means forcing the Biden admin
- Under Trump the legal left took the position that States had a number of rights to defy federal immigration law and enforcement. This puts them in a position where they need to oppose their own legal briefs from five years ago.
- Any legal fight will take years and keep illegal immigration in the news for that time. If Biden tries to do something extreme it more of an opportunity for Abbott.
DradisPing
2yr ago
Does anyone know the current status about talking about Eric Ciaramella? Are various forums still censoring his name?
DradisPing
2yr ago
I've always wondered if it was possible to rent a goat for a couple of weeks in the spring. Have a back yard petting zoo. Return it when all the plants are trimmed.
DradisPing
2yr ago
No sane country wants to risk getting their national power grid shut down any time the state department is upset with them.
Plenty of countries, including the US, will export nuclear reactors: https://oec.world/en/profile/hs/nuclear-reactors
Which countries are you expecting to be clients of this program?
DradisPing
2yr ago
The number one news network in Canada is CNN, not any of the domestic channels. The Canadian left is extremely focussed on the culture war in the US.
DradisPing
2yr ago
In the US masking became blue tribe signalling. Anyone who refused to mask was seen as a potential Trump supporter.
It was most likely not so politicized in Europe.
DradisPing
2yr ago
Haley isn’t as “RINO” as her detractors make her out to be
RINO is one of those words that doesn't add to the debate in this context. There's a split between two wings of the party, it's not really the case that neither has the right to use the word Republican.
Haley is from the NeoCon wing and fully supports using the military to expand the overseas empire. Invade the world and invite the world, as Steve Sailer puts it.
Trump's policy is hard borders and prosperous trade. Borders Conservatism and Principled Realism are terms thrown around.
The split is between the nationalist and internationalist wings of the GOP. Before the 90s the internationalists got everyone onside with foreign invasion in the name of anti-communism.
The Bushes were solidly in the internationalist camp, and pre Trump they were the only post USSR Republican presidents.
But 20+ years after 9/11 and 30+ after the USSR the nationalist wing wants to scale back foreign interventions.
DradisPing
2yr ago
DeSantis has staff and a legislature that support him. His staff also know how to pick winning political fights in Florida.
Trump expected that after the 2016 campaign was over the rest of the GOP would get onside and work with him, but that wasn't realistic.
Ideologically DeSantis has been more of a corporate republican of the Paul Ryan variety. But he's seen that's not a winning strategy these days and he's politically ambitious.
DradisPing
2yr ago
Nikki Haley is who the establishment GOP and big republican donors have decided to get behind. Murdoch has Fox boosting her.
The poll the Guarding article talks about is just for New Hampshire. Trump is over 50% nationally for the primary and over 70% in a head to head with Haley. I don't see any path to victory for her.
The plan was to convince Ron DeSantis to run by tipping him off about the upcoming Trump charges. Trump, critically damaged by the charges, would go after DeSantis to secure the MAGA vote. A third candidate would clean up as a sane alternative in the race.
Instead the charges made supporters rally to Trump, DeSantis showed some terrible political instincts, and Haley has no hope of winning.
Her campaign is assuming that a Trump conviction would destroy his candidacy, but the reality is that it wouldn't be seen as legitimate by Republican voters. Also it's actually established case law that you can still run for President from prison. Eugene V. Debs did it in 1920.
DradisPing
2yr ago
Either we trust Patton and drop the retrospective moral justification for the war in the garbage, or distrust him.
Patton had been fighting the Nazis for years and respected them as opponents.
Seeing Jews coming out of the camps in terrible shape triggered his disgust reflex.
An ideal person would have reflected on that. But he was an Army General, not some humanitarian leader.
DradisPing
2yr ago
A more realistic alternative would have been halting Lend-Lease after Stalin didn't provide any support for the Warsaw Uprising. That would have limited the USSR's expansion.
Marching to Moscow wouldn't make sense. The war against Japan was still ongoing.
DradisPing
2yr ago
The Southern elites were of the same race and class as the Northern elites, so the Northern elites didn't feel comfortable holding a grudge against them.
It's much easier to hate the poor white people who didn't actually own slaves.
DradisPing
2yr ago
They set up Liberia, but there was never broad support for mass deportations.
DradisPing
2yr ago
Have you tried intermittent fasting? Limit yourself to just the catered lunch meal for the day.
DradisPing
2yr ago
If you want an easy grift with CS skills you need to stay away from anything self actualizing like video game development. Your best bet is to try to find a local company that needs a legacy system maintained.
Anything that seems cool or develops hot skills will have devs pounding at the door. Propping up an older business critical system where young devs don't want to learn the stack is a steady income for a solo dev.
Finding local companies who need your help is the major issue.
DradisPing
2yr ago
Creatine is actually interesting. It inflates your muscles. Also it binds to simple sugars and draws them into your muscles. You can actually add creatine to dishes to make them taste less sweet.
BCAAs are essentially pre-digested protein. You can drink them in the morning to get quick energy, but if you're on a high protein diet they aren't really needed.
Ephedrine is useful, it's a stimulant that opens up your airways. Just stick with one or two 8mg tablets. Some people take large does and that gets scary.
DradisPing
2yr ago
The press loves to imply offensive right coded groups are much larger than they are. The Westboro Baptist Church peaked at 40 members.
Very few far right groups can get 50 people to a rally. Even in Charlottesville most of the people there were for the rally to stop removal of monuments, not for any broader objective.
The online alt-right movement was real but it was based on the idea that the right had to accept that racial identitarianism was the future and there was no choice but to organize a white identity movement.
Trumps victory changed things. Particularly the intense pushback from the GOPe.
It turns out that Paul Ryan wasn't a weak coward. He just loved big donors and hated Republican voters.
So the people who were reluctantly toying with white racial identitarianism switched gears. Replacing the GOPe feels better and is a much more achievable goal, even if it is difficult.
DradisPing
2yr ago
Huge organizations like Ivy League colleges that you'd expect to be insulated from foreign influence thanks to their humongous cash reserves are still under great pressure by deep-pocketed activists.
Qatar and the Saudis have been giving major funding to anti-Israeli academics for the past 30 years. Jewish donors not so much, they considered it more of a fringe issue and didn't push much until they saw how crazy things had gotten after the October 7th attacks.
DradisPing
2yr ago
Frostpunk is kind of the opposite of a post apocalyptic city builder. It's about surviving the upcoming apocalypse, not rebuilding after. The city building isn't really very deep or even the focus of the game.
DradisPing
2yr ago
many people can actually tell the difference between Frank's Red Hot, Tabasco, and store brands without any trouble.
Are there people who can't tell Frank's Red Hot and Tabasco apart? They use different peppers. Frank's has paprika and garlic powder in it. Frank's is much more about adding flavour.
Tabasco tastes like vinegar and fire. It's used when you want to add neutral heat.
Store brands vary wildly.
I think Moldbug nailed it with his analysis. Researchers want to work on the most important problems in their fields. In viral research it's deadly airborne diseases. There's a shortage of deadly pandemic viruses to study, so they create them. That way they have something to write papers on.
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