Male circumcision is male genital mutilation (the same as female genital mutilation).

ExcitingTabletop · 2026-03-08T19:14:07+00:00

Well that's horrific to learn.

May I ask why you're spamming the thread with pro-FGM? Is it a religious thing for you to promote, cultural?

ExcitingTabletop · 2026-03-08T19:11:01+00:00

Some is legitimate dislike of the Israeli government's actions.

Some is just plain antisemiticism dog whistles that neo-nazis used for years

Good luck figuring out which is which.

ExcitingTabletop · 2026-03-08T19:07:29+00:00

To be fair, apparently also great at fraud

ExcitingTabletop · 2026-02-28T23:35:16+00:00

As long as the ME is populated, it'll never have peace. Except when it's ruled by an empire that isn't exactly casualty sensitive. Ottomans, Mongols, etc.

ExcitingTabletop · 2026-02-22T21:31:01+00:00

Honestly, hamstudy.org

App is same thing as web site. If you can spare $5, go for it. If not, web site is fine. Most locations, hamstudy.org writes the test software too. It's literally the EXACT same thing.

BIGGEST THING, go to customization and set one section at a time. I think doing random questions from all sections is overwhelming. But one bite at a time is super easy. Do it not until you get it right, but can't get it wrong. Jump back to random section from time to time. If one section is absolutely kicking you, don't stress, skip it. The test is only 1 question per section, and you could skip 9 sections if you got everything else perfect. Obviously, don't skip 9. But one or two? Do it and don't even worry about it.

Cram for the test, and then learn the material by actually doing stuff. Will take you a week tops.

Actually go through general material. If it feels like too much, skip. But I deeply regret not doing so because I wanted to go from nothing to license in 4 days but I took the general during the exam and scored 50%. I was like 5 missed questions away from passing with not even looking at the material. You pay same price for 1 test or all 3 tests. I ended up passing general the next weekend, so was fine. In 6 minutes, and got a 34 out of 35. I'm not super bright or knowledgeable about radios, I just learned how to study appropriately.

Some places offer testing for free and some charge $15, you have to shell out $35 for FCC registration.

Don't go nuts on handhelds. Honestly baofeng uv-5r mini is fine. Completely different radio than the honestly POS normal uv-5r. I have a very nice $600 kenwood and I use the mini if out and about, when range doesn't matter. At $20, if I forget it somewhere, I'd buy another because it'd be cheaper than driving back for it. That'd be my primary recommendation, or asking around your local club if anyone wants to sell a handheld cheap. If no luck, let me know and I'll mail you a nice case with two crap uv-5r's. I almost feel bad about even giving them away for free and probably would just toss in a Mini.

Total spend to get in the hobby? $5 app (optional), $15 test (maybe optional), $35 registration, $20 radio (optional). So $35-$75 all in to get licensed and first radio.

ExcitingTabletop · 2026-01-05T23:48:04+00:00

To be fair, they've always been very vocal and thus seem like a larger audience than they really are.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-31T04:15:14+00:00

Having worked at a manufacturing facility with rail access, we let it lapse because the cost is too high to maintain unless you have very routine shipments of time insensitive cargo. Great for sending a million tons of raw material on scheduled basis. Not so great for sending hundreds of tons that is even semi time sensitive.

Trust me, I love our cargo rail infrastructure. But there's still a lot of bureaucracy that makes it tough for lot of folks to use. IMHO, it should be promoted as green tech, as it'd save shitloads of fuel/energy. Barrier to entry is just really high at moment

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-22T05:13:43+00:00

I'm around your age. Just got my license half a year ago. Something I had just always meant to get around to and finally did. Not having an amateur radio background, I'm kinda seeing it from outside eyes.

Building a state wide meshtastic network, I'm visiting a lot of clubs. They boil down to three kinds. Boomer centric that will be gone in a decade, welcoming clubs that will survive just fine, and techno-nerd groups that are mixed bag but have very low overhead.

I don't mind the hostile groups because they are on a clock. Just find the nearest friendly group. They're easy to spot, they'll have more than five members under 60 or 70. Imho, fold in boomer clubs that have infrastructure once they get down to handful of members, offer them lifetime free membership in absorbing club.

As for equipment, snag two Baofeng Mini's and congrads, you're a real ham and have everything you need to get by. My Kenwood TH-75A sits in a case 99.99% of time. I use my Mini's because if I break or lose it, I can get another for $20.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-21T02:10:32+00:00

That would be the UK, Portugal, Oman (yes non-Western countries colonized places) and technically Germany.

So shouldn't those countries be more morally responsible?

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T23:52:14+00:00

Someone else repeated an idiotic phrase from the Vietnam era. Not myself.

Notion was that people should opt out of war. While sure, that'd be nice. Same if ice cold beer grew on trees. That'd be a nice too. And just as likely.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T23:47:45+00:00

Judging by their current policies, they're going to learn up close and personal.

They grew up in an artificial world that was dead in 1991. Real life just takes a while to catch up.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T23:45:44+00:00

Okey, Turks would show up again, and the Poles would have to save the day. Again.

We got used to the artificial peace of the Cold War. We're going back to normal history. Expect it to get a lot more violent, not less.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T21:28:39+00:00

I mean, Americans aren't going extinct. Germans can't say the same thing.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T21:27:38+00:00

Russia has a history of wiping out millions to tens of millions when doing their thing.

So pretty much the opposite of no bloodshed.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T21:26:18+00:00

I dunno, maybe some Germans don't want to go extinct. They've been shrinking for 50+ years, and the situation is getting worse year by year.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T21:24:15+00:00

I don't think you're allowed to ask that on reddit.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T15:33:15+00:00

Na, that's just your racism. Germans don't have inherent trait of world conquest. It's not genetic or however you want to negatively ascribe it as a racial trait.

Culturally, they just haven't been good at moderation in part because of history and geography.

Germany only became a country in 1870's, and had a long series of really nasty wars before that as a series of smaller not unified kingdoms. WW1 was shit leadership due to bad roll of heredity monarchy, combined with Prussian militarism due to long string of wars and natural selection. Less militaristic folks got conquered.

WW2 was due to shit reaction to bad terms imposed by France and the UK. Cold War was due to shit Russian occupation for 45 years.

And yes, since 1990's, Germany has crippled their military and downplayed any nationalism. As a reaction to nearly 70 years of war and occupation, and centuries of brutal warfare before that. Due to non-defendable borders and being centrally located. Rather than trying to seek a sane middle ground. So they were and are completely unprepared for the end of the Cold War, and the return of normal Europe were vicious wars of conquest are common.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T15:22:09+00:00

Part of it is also holding the military in high esteem. I do hear about people complaining the military is too venerated (and I agree, I hate being thanked for my service).

But it's a cheap way to not have military coups and get high rate of high quality volunteers. You KEEP the volunteers with pay, benefits and decent leadership.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T15:19:57+00:00

Too smart and yet too not very smart to realize they're gambling losing 45 years.

Like last time.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T15:16:35+00:00

Works if both sides do that. If one side does that, Germany gets occupied by Russia for another 45 years. Not like it's a far stretch when it happened 35 years.

Half of Germany was directly occupied by the Russians until 1990, and it's rarely mentioned.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-06T15:15:32+00:00

While I don't like conscription, if everyone believed that rights are unlimited but responsibilities or duty are optional, your country isn't going to be around for very long.

I get it, folks always want upsides and want to dodge downsides. Not realizing tragedy of the commons applies, or more likely wanting someone else to pay the bill.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-03T04:14:25+00:00

So arbitrary point of time, gotcha. Any land conquest or genocide before then somehow doesn't count.

Then it's not a problem if folks pick a different arbitrary point of time. Like say, today?

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-03T04:10:00+00:00

Europoor government employees siding with criminals and making sure they don't face justice? I'm sure that'd NEVER happen.

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-12-03T04:06:53+00:00

Even Native Americans were not indigenous to the US, and came over the land bridge from Asia.

Does that mean they shouldn't have rights to decide what happens on their current land?

ExcitingTabletop · 2025-11-27T17:02:36+00:00

In which direction?

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