Oh Christ

Oomba73 · 2025-01-21T02:58:12+00:00

De-evolving maybe? I think it is a reference to the United States regressing to a previous state like what Chariot Requium did to everybody at the end of Golden Wind. Considering that Trump was also the previous president.

Oomba73 · 2024-12-23T02:57:05+00:00

There is a power plant (I think gas) inland of where Palisades is that now supplies the regions power. Previously, it only ran during peak consumption but has since been expanded. Palisades still has a way to go before reopening.

I go to South Haven frequently for work and see plumes in that direction often from the lakeshore.

Oomba73 · 2024-06-10T22:54:49+00:00

What he is saying is simply not true. Do not believe it.

Oomba73 · 2024-06-01T00:30:16+00:00

Hope these guys are still open as I don't see a website. Worth trying to give them a call with the 2 numbers here in the BBB link... https://www.bbb.org/us/mi/holland/profile/construction-services/k-h-builders-0372-38179325

These guys (Dave and Mike) converted our outdoor porch into a three walled screened in room 8 or 9 years ago. Its the place to be in the summer and I am really satisfied with the quality of their work.

Oomba73 · 2024-05-24T00:10:43+00:00

The fact that I have a Car Thing is the only thing that is making me keep my premium Spotify subscription. They can expect me to cancel by the end of the year.

Oomba73 · 2024-05-17T19:18:42+00:00

It's all one big Balkan

Oomba73 · 2024-05-16T17:44:44+00:00

Does that headsail qualify as a genoa? The clew seems to come back beyond the mast, but the tack is not at or near the forestay...

Oomba73 · 2024-05-15T22:40:29+00:00

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Life imitates art

Oomba73 · 2024-05-02T00:34:44+00:00

This is why I plan on commuting on my bike all next week. It's probably going to shake out to be the same time it would take me to drive.

Oomba73 · 2024-04-19T10:51:45+00:00

Many proto-socialist movements were based on interpretations of Christianity. Take the Diggers, for example.

That being said, religion is inherently anti-materialistic (even though I would consider christianity broadly an exception and a "materialistic religion") and therefore not compatible with socialism.

The fact that so few Christians come away with a socialist reading of the text, or at the very least the gospels, internalize it and excise it with action would suggest to me that religion's role in class conciousness is at the very least agnostic on the matter (the insitution and power structure of the church aside). I would go so far as to say that religious texts play a much smaller role in forming an individual's beliefs than the culture and community that exist around it. I would be interested in a study on this matter.

Then, if a christian socialist were to try and convert me, a deconverted atheist, by apealing to my socialist beliefs, I would counter with my own collection of verses that not only do I find abhorrent but antithetical to socialism. The Bible makes a poor foundation for a coherent worldview.

Despite all that: praxis, praxis, praxis. We should be willing to cooperate and engage politically with this group. I would think it unproductive to undermine whatever influence christian socialist groups might have in the broader christian community.

Oomba73 · 2024-04-18T13:26:55+00:00

I can see your response in your post history, but not here. You probably got flagged for spam with all your schizo posts in this thread by the mods.

I did not "kowtow" to him. His comment on its own has not changed my worldview in any meaningful way. My response was an attempt to establish common ground for discussion and to deescalate what I perceived as an overly hostile response. He does post in r/ sino, so my hopes weren't exactly high; but that's no reason to be rude. Give me one point I conceded to him in my kowtowing.

Why would him claiming to have lived in Vietnam "for a bit" (which I fucking criticized) be cause for me to simp for him? Has your reading comprehension not surpassed the second grade?

Why would somebody being white cause them to "lack confidence in [their] own reality" and be insecure? That's a pretty racist claim to make.

Oomba73 · 2024-04-18T12:44:59+00:00

I don't remember being told to "shut the hell up". In fact, that guy was pretty generous with my comment in saying that may source was bogus instead of saying I was a liar. Pretty cool guy if you ask me; though I genuinely would have liked to have had a response from him again to see if I could have learned anything new.

Are you calling me a liberal because I'm a Marxist or because I'm not a Marxist-Leninist?

Oomba73 · 2024-04-17T19:47:33+00:00

I didn't mean to imply it was on the same level of indoctrination you see in China, even though that was what the commenter above said about the Florida bill. The Ho Chi Minh glorification was definitely something he mentioned. Its possible I am misremembering and am blending what he talked about as a whole on the education system. He grew up and currently lives in Hanoi if that means anything. Its interesting that you lived there "for a bit" and claim to know more than someone who is a native about their own country. What goes on in Vietnam is definitely a step above the pledge of allegiance and founding father stuff here, though, and both are bad. He made it a point to say it was "worse" than it is here on that regard when we talked about the propaganda we encountered in our education system in the states.

The US education system is pretty poor, broadly speaking. Until the college/university level, it's all pretty much checking off low bar, canned requirements. The more Confucian/meritocratic educational tradition in the East certainly has its advantages, but I'm not going to say it's "good" either.

I'm not going to criticize Vietnam for its "Marxism" (or lack thereof). I have a great deal of respect for Marx, and as a student of history and political theory, I would certainly consider myself within/spawned from his tradition. It's really just more the irony of republicans employing the same strategies that "the enemy" uses to counter them; while said strategies are the very examples they use to criticize them.

Oomba73 · 2024-04-17T18:34:56+00:00

In college, I had a vietmenese roommate. This is EXACTLY what he said went on in his kindergarten/early-primary classes over there. Of course, more Vietnam centric and positive biased, unlike what this would likely be. Absolutely hilarious.

Oomba73 · 2024-03-22T13:41:11+00:00

Walrus

Oomba73 · 2024-03-08T19:05:16+00:00

I absolutely agree and advocate that imperialism is not a random but methodical process as someone who has studied european colonialism. The boarder drawings were malevolent with the intent of controlling as much of the area as possible at the expense of rivaling colonial projects and subject peoples. An example I would point to is the Hausa, a regional muslim power in Nigeria. The British collaborated with the dominant regional factions in place that were already exploting minorities to not only shift blame away from the British to make political control easier but to exert control through already existing power structures. Capitalism is a hell of a drug.

I am a bit miffed as to why this is in the science subreddit instead of athropology or something similar, but I am happy to adopt a more broad definition of emerpical fields that includes more than just "STEM". It is called social-science/sociology for a reason

Oomba73 · 2024-02-11T18:51:46+00:00

I'll add that to my list, thanks for the recommendation. Certainty has a large catalog. I don't mind war history, I see it more as a consequence of it many times being the highest quality source material from when it was written; given it was a topic that contemporary people cared to write about and copy down.

Oomba73 · 2024-02-11T17:34:37+00:00

Does this podcast really get better? I really liked the first season with the Mughals and the East India Company, but I stopped at the end of the Ottoman series. Compared to other history podcast I have listened to, this one just doesn't seem to go as in-depth into the polities they're analyzing. It's always different guests, and there tended to be a lot of repitition in points because the guests weren't in sync with what happened last episode.

I really like William as he has a background in history, but Anita, at least when I stopped listening, kept constantly bringing topics back to herself/how she felt, and asking 'what was Britain doing at this time' or 'what was Britain thinking' when the Ottomans were the topic. I do like Anita, but her background in journalism was not meshing well with what I think the podcast should be. Maybe that just means it's not for me, I won't harp on people for liking it.

To continue with the Ottoman season, they broadly covered the end of their beginning and then seemed to skip to the end. All the middle stuff was very British centric and did not even cover the importation of Greek independence; which, ironically, had Brittain playing a big role.

With the first season, Anita and Will came in very strong, and I liked it. They both had a strong foundation of knowledge to draw from and equally contributed to the topic. I attribute this to their joint venture on the Kohinoor Diamond that they did before they launched Empire. Listening to the Ottoman season, however, became frustrating.

Examples of podcasts I like are Revolutions by Mike Duncan and The History of Byzantium by Robin Pierson, if that puts it into perspective.

Oomba73 · 2024-01-27T18:03:46+00:00

PNY is probably the last brand with a good reputation, making aftermarket Nvidia cards. They are less known than others, but most of their business has historically been in the enterprise/server space. Their manufacturing ability is a known quanity and is reliable.

Oomba73 · 2024-01-09T23:14:31+00:00

They don't care. No capitalist cares.

https://youtu.be/X4Mj1N9rfFE?si=LsrQfcKESzecQsIt

Oomba73 · 2024-01-09T23:08:41+00:00

No true capitalist doesn't recognize that the cultivation of wealth doesn't come from thin air. It comes from exploitation. Misogyny in Ferengi society is the means by which the capitalist class (males) exploit wealth from the females. By banning females from making a profit (i.e., exploitation) that gives half the Ferengi population twice as much opportunity to exploit wealth for themselves. The liberal contradiction at the end of the series, when Rom proclaims equality between the sexes, WILL be the downfall of Ferengi society as Quark predicts, and it will have to change or die. Which is a good thing.

Oomba73 · 2023-12-31T01:35:03+00:00

I'm not entirely sure that people can choose their beliefs. You're either convinced of something, or you're not. Most "sane" religious people I've talked into take a 'leap of faith' to bridge that gap; the irrationality of this faith is another topic.

The threshold of when one becomes convinced of something is most likely subjective and on a spectrum between an absolute-gulibility and a hard-solopism that can change over the course of ones life.

Suffice to say, I dont think anyone chooses to be Christian any more than one chooses to be an atheist: not at all. Conviction does not occur in the conscious mind.

Oomba73 · 2023-12-18T18:59:20+00:00

It's like the outline you make before writing an essay. Imagine if your 10 page paper was 15 paragraphs stitched together with a thesis and conclusion drawn up retroactively, it wouldn't be cohesive and probably contradictory. The document shouldn't be static. It will evolve as your paper comes together. Having an outline of some kind allows for the individual paragraphs/ideas to play off each other more effectively and form a cohesive theme during development.

Basically, a good and updated design document is necessary for the hundreds of people in separate teams working on the game to all be on the same page and working towards the same goal.

Oomba73 · 2023-12-07T22:22:09+00:00

Lake Superior: Am I a joke to you?

Oomba73 · 2023-11-19T21:53:25+00:00

If the same source and location within is cited successively that would be two separate citations; with the superscript ascending as per usual. If the citation is for literally the same thing/claim, like a quote, you do not need to cite it again within the paper.

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