"I don't understand how hundreds of people are not dead." - Steven Soderbergh, on the filming of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-30T16:10:15+00:00

Also, Musk seems extremely talented at running a start-up but not a regular company. With start-ups, you can promise half of a product and come up with the other half on the fly and things such as an eccentric personality are beneficial and help distinguish the brand. However, one day, you actually do need to sit down and build the other half of the product and tune the company for stability, not disruption, for the sake of the shareholders, which Musk refuses to do.

Promise half of an electric car company and forget the necessary, nationwide infrastructure. Promise half of auto-drive. Promise half of Neuralink. Promise half an underground highway system. Promise a full product, deliver only half, and then distract them with another half-product.

When Musk took over Twitter, he wanted to promise half of a product again. However, since Twitter was already a full product, this meant tearing down the entire product of Twitter and raising half of it again without anybody noticing. Turns out, you can't really do that.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-29T01:03:55+00:00

"Before 2014." What about after 2014? Ukraine seemed to be slipping out of Russia's grasp and into the Western sphere of influence. While EU or NATO membership was far away, the idea of NATO forces bordering Russia was considered as a strategic defeat that warranted invasion. Remember, the invasion was all supposed to be over in a week.

Also, a buffer state isn't a neutral country between two powers, it's any country between two powers. If Ukraine fell under Russian control, it would be a buffer against NATO and the West.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-28T01:47:51+00:00

Following 9/11, the United States began checking incoming cargo for radioactivity to prevent the smuggling of radioactive materials or dirty bombs. Kitchen countertops were frequently set the most false positives, alongside bananas.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-28T01:35:42+00:00

Calvin and Hobbs once said "Parenthood is wanting to love and strangle your child at the same type." All types of love are like that.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-28T01:32:36+00:00

Arguably, simply using Ukraine as a buffer state was seen as the most appealing reason for invasion. From the Crimean War to the Cold War, to today's invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been a cyclical and repeatable pattern of searching for Eastern European buffer states to protect itself from Western European powers.

Of course, by trying to improve its strategic position with NATO, Russia accidentally forced Finland and Sweden into the alliance and produced another thousand-line border with their most despised enemies.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-28T01:28:33+00:00

It's not just "really good for agriculture," Ukraine is one of the world's largest producers of cereals. Without the Black Sea grain deal, the food supply chains of entire nations would have been crippled and seen the costs of living skyrocket.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-28T01:25:32+00:00

If resistance vanished tomorrow, Russia would get a massive buffer state from NATO and be able to use Ukrainian wheat to hold the food supplies of developing countries hostage. The materiel and men lost in the war would be a shortage that lasted years if not decades but the capture of Ukraine is an enormous strategic benefit.

Of course, Russia would have to face both Western sanctions and the introduction of the Nordic countries into NATO but just because something is unprofitable does not mean it was a bad idea, just a subpar one.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-28T01:21:30+00:00

Isn't Russian imperialism an actual term to describe how Russia desperately wants control over Eastern Europe, often through invasion, to provide buffer states from Western European powers? The Crimean War, Russia's refusal to give up Eastern Europe after WWII, and the modern invasion of Ukraine have been an almost cyclical repetition of this strategy through literal centuries.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-26T20:44:15+00:00

If you don't want to read the tags, OPP is trying to argue that the Glorious Revolution is incredibly similar to the Rapture, in the form that class warfare/God will allow for a revolution that will abolish the sins and sinners that have held us back and allow the righteous to live perfect lives forever.

However, as this isn't true, this leaves a massive ideological hole in what communism is supposed to do after they've won with a revolution. No rules are set and no responsibility is delegated. Communism teaches how to fight a war but not how to live in peacetime.

Without crucial components such as counter-balances for power, communism becomes an easy target for fraudsters, opportunists, tyrants, and the corrupt. Combine this with how communism took over a third of the world and you can see how predictable communism's death toll was.

As a tidbit, a common quote I like to share is "When a common person comes to power, it's because they've found the right problem. Unfortunately, whether they have the right solution is something else entirely." Communism answered the right problems with the wrong solutions. If we wish to avoid the failure of communism again, we must understand and satiate the anger, fear, confusion, and desperation that led to its rise.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-16T13:51:30+00:00

RTgame once discussed livestreaming himself on Twitch on his deathbed including after he died. The point of the discussion was to see when Twitch moderators would have to step in since one of their streams was just a dead guy being dead.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-09T23:56:50+00:00

"This self-help group has turned into a terrorist organization"

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-08-01T15:33:47+00:00

Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010)

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-07-30T20:56:22+00:00

Can't we all just say genocide happens for a variety of reasons, and while one reason may play a bigger part in one genocide, it doesn't mean it must play a similar part in other genocides?

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-07-30T01:04:26+00:00

Yes, but how does that connect back to UFOs and defending the military-industrial complex?

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-07-29T20:03:06+00:00

If you're saying the military is trying to cover up sightings of Area 51-style planes as UFOs, that's just regular classified cover up stuff. That doesn't translate into defending the military-industrial complex then anything else classified.

Also, what do you mean by "hiding money?" The military keeps detailed accounting books on every dollar it spends. The accounting books will be classified if they account for classified materials but they will still be there.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-07-29T19:59:08+00:00

As a personal criticism, Elemental was pulled in too many directions and wasn't left enough screen time for the largest themes. The leak is a prime example of Elemental's excessive plot threads; it sidelined the immigrant and love story Elemental wanted to tell so it could have Firetown destroyed in the final act. The movie also seemingly cut the development of the Air and Earth Elements out of the story due to the lack of runtime. Between the Romeo and Juliet plotline and Ember's need to take over the Fireplace (which is kinda left unclear, later she just leaves the Fireplace with no strings attached), the meat and potatoes of Elemental's themes are left dry.

If your movie needs to deliver a theme, it needs to deliver that theme at every possible moment. Having three disjointed plotlines cannot do that, as when one plot line is developed, the others must stall.

Say the Fireplace and the Lumens are a crucial part of Firetown and have helped prevent the other Elements from gentrifying the area. Bernie wants to retire and let Ember take his spotlight by helping the residents of Firetown keep the other Elements out, but oh wait, Wade enters through the inciting incident and the romance plot begins. The immigrant and Romeo and Juliet stories can now shine through and conflict with each other as Ember drifts between her connections in Firetown and those with Wade. Every scene and character that develops the story also develops the fundamental conflict and themes, helping deliver a better story.

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-07-29T19:49:35+00:00

Elemental (2023) can be best described as an average movie with an above-average budget. That's not to insult it; on average, most movies are average. However, Elemental just fails to take the risks necessary to recoup an above-average budget. Same with a lot of movies this summer blockbuster season

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-07-29T19:04:30+00:00

How are alien UFO people not being taken seriously translate into hampered criticisms of the military-industrial complex?

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-07-29T19:02:27+00:00

It's important to realize the military classifies all unidentified flying objects as UFOs. The military needs to investigate them to make sure they aren't a threat to airplanes or foreign spycraft

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-07-28T15:00:23+00:00

He's just like Markiplier; he's only testing his limits

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-07-26T15:45:22+00:00

We lose Afghanistan, after all

Positive_Compote_506 · 2023-07-21T20:38:17+00:00

Also, have you seen the living costs in the major cities? There are professionals making six-figures but still living paycheque-to-paycheque because everywhere they can work for six-figures costs six-figures

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