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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   1611 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 4, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, I was thinking about a brief exchange I had a little while ago with @gattsuru, as well as an earlier thread on the arrest of the guy who started the Palisades fire (plus perhaps some other comments here and there about how mass shooters and such tend to have poor target selection, as is entirely understandable with their being of generally unsound mind), I find myself asking: setting aside very-low-probability scenarios, how much damage could a reasonably-competent solitary actor — “a lone man with a grudge against the world,” to quote @Edawayac_Tosscount — pull off in a single “attack”?

"Left-wing extremists" have been bombing electrical grids recently (Associated Press, Reuters). Presumably they've put more thought into this topic than the denizens of this forum have.

50 worthless internet points at evens that "left-wing extremists" in Berlin is a euphemism for Islamists.

Deutsche Welle:

Left-wing extremists from the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group) had claimed responsibility for the power outage, claiming in a statement on Sunday that it had "successfully sabotaged" a power station.

In the statement, the group said its main target was the fossil fuel industry, pointing out that the action "resulted in power outages in the more affluent districts of Wannsee, Zehlendorf and Nikolassee."

"We apologize to the less affluent residents of southwest Berlin," the group added.

Reuters:

In a letter posted on website kontrapolis.info, [Vulkangruppe Tesla Abschalten] said destroying Tesla was "a step on the path to liberation from patriarchy".

So I don't think so.

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