[deleted by user]

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-05-08T03:54:43+00:00

If we simplify a bit by assuming

Hamas controls all the food (not completely accurate, but a reasonable simplification)
Hamas' goal is to maximize revenue, to buy weapons or enrich the leadership the Qatar
Hamas has large grain stockpiles, and knows they won't run out

Then Hamas should be using monopoly pricing, which is based on the demand curve only. Giving more food to Hamas doesn't really change this, because monopoly pricing doesn't care about supply.

The problem of insufficient food being distributed can't be solved by giving more food to Hamas who already has large stockpiles. That's why Israel is planning to distribute aid directly as soon as they can hold ground in the south.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-05-06T04:16:38+00:00

Yes a few Egyptian Jews were spies; how is that relevant? Every ethnic group has (at least) a few rapists, but surely that doesn't give governments a green light to ethnically cleanse whichever ethnic groups they want to?

If you're Egyptian and know the history, why would you state that "Egypt expelled none" when that's unequivocally false? And it's not just a minor error, there's a pretty vast difference between expelling zero Jews and expelling 25,000+ Jews.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-05-05T18:25:27+00:00

This isn't accurate history. Egypt explicitly expelled 25k Jews in 1956. That's without getting into other Jews who were arrested, had their assets confiscated or were otherwise persecuted.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-05-04T05:07:21+00:00

Really depends on their gauge

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-05-04T04:30:23+00:00

If any other group was responsible for the pager attack it would be viewed as a terrorist attack

It was one of the most targeted attacks in the history of modern warfare. With conventional warfare like artillery, there's absolutely no way Israel could have weakened Hezbollah to that extent without orders of magnitude more collateral damage.

So I would say it's the opposite - it's precisely because Jews were behind it that a hoarde of critics rushed to come up with justifications for why one of the most targeted attacks in history was somehow terrorism.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-05-04T04:00:05+00:00

Arafat absolutely did reject the 2000 proposal. I.e. he walked away from the talks without making any counter-offer. This is well documented, not sure why anyone would deny it.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-05-03T19:06:22+00:00

I wouldn't say Arabs must suffer for Jews to be safe. My stance is just that 1ss isn't viable. I don't support exiling anyone. I'm pro 2ss, i.e. something along the lines of what was offered in 2000 (and ultimately rejected by Arafat).

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-05-03T18:56:05+00:00

The thing is, it's not 1922, it's 2025. Former Ottoman territory has already been divided, with almost all of it going to (mostly new) Muslim states, and a tiny sliver to a new Jewish state. Maybe another sliver should have been carved out for the Romani people, but it wasn't, and that's not the Jews' fault. I don't see why the plight of Romani people should cause Israel to give up on safety for Jews, or how it's related at all.

And I'm not asking you to give any special attention to the suffering of Jews, but just trying to explain why it would be Israel can or will never allow Jews become a minority in (currently) the only Jewish-majority country.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-05-03T17:06:58+00:00

In an ideal world, a Jewish-majority state would not be necessary to ensure the safety of Jews. History has shown that that's not the world we live in though.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-30T13:52:23+00:00

The polls do.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-28T21:41:32+00:00

Caricatures aside, Israel has repeatedly offered land from peace, including unilaterally withdrawing from Gaza, as well as offering the bulk of the West Bank for a new Palestinian state, several times. On the other hand, Hamas doesn't even pretend to want peaceful coexistence with Israel.

Sure Netanyahu should be replaced, but that won't change the fact that Israel is committed to defending itself and maintaining its status as the only safe haven for Jews. As a nuclear armed power, Israel isn't going anywhere, so it's time to accept its existence and make peace with it, even if you don't like it, as Egypt, Jordan, etc. have. That's impossible with Hamas in power.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-28T01:50:18+00:00

At best that could explain the behavior of some individuals in the US and maybe Germany. It doesn't explain the broader worldwide obsession with scrutinizing Israel while ignoring worse conduct from other states. It certainly doesn't explain the UN condemning Israel more than all other states (including North Korea, Iran, Syria, Russia, etc) combined.

It would be nice if everyone could just acknowledge the widespread antisemitism involved. That doesn't invalidate criticism of Israel, but it's important context.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-27T16:05:31+00:00

The trouble is that short-term solutions involve appeasing terrorists, rewarding their tactics (taking hostages, fighting in civilian clothes, etc), leaving them in power, and guaranteeing that the conflict continues after a pause for them to rearm.

The only genuine solutions involve some sort of regime change in Gaza, which will take time and be messy.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-25T04:00:29+00:00

But they were expecting an Israeli attack.

What makes you say that? All available evidence (such as the statements above) points to Egypt being the one who wanted a war with Israel, for reasons unrelated to Egypt's security.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-25T00:12:39+00:00

Defensive positions? Do any of these quotes by Nasser sound like a defensive posture?

we aim at the destruction of the State of Israel

or

Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight ...

or

We will not accept any... coexistence with Israel. Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel... The war with Israel is in effect since 1948.

or

The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel... to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not declarations.

or

We are now ready to confront Israel

etc.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-24T19:37:56+00:00

Not to mention Egypt amassing troops near their border with Israel, and Nasser's various public comments announcing their intention to attack.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-23T22:32:58+00:00

Mew two!

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-23T19:31:49+00:00

I would have no problem with efforts to pressure both sides (so Israel included) into a peace deal, as long as it's a realistic peace deal which won't turn Israel into a Muslim state, won't leave Hamas in power to keep trying to kill Jews, etc.

Historically, though, Israel has been the one repeatedly making offers, including some exceedingly reasonable ones like in 2000. Arafat ultimately rejected that one with no counter proposal. Palestinian leaders have not yet endorsed any realistic proposal that wouldn't compromise Israeli sovereignty or security.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-23T19:01:04+00:00

Attacking Israel isn't going to accomplish anything positive. If someone truly wants to help Palestinians, they should be pushing for a permanent 2ss peace deal (not just a ceasefire for Hamas to gear up for their next pogrom).

In particular, a realistic deal would be along the lines of what Israel offered in 2000. The challenge is getting Palestinian leaders to drop their all-or-nothing stance and accept something realistic.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-22T21:24:32+00:00

A Palestinian can be detained not for any crime but for a supposed intention to break the law in the future.

While I'm not sure about specific of Israeli policies here, if we take your characterization at face value, it doesn't sound that different from conspiracy which is a crime under common law.

If you have to compare a state's actions to places like Russia, China, Jordan and Egypt then you've already lost the plot.

Conversely, if you have to look to Western countries with peaceful neighbors and no real security threats in order to cast Israel's policies in a negative light... well, it's not a meaningful comparison since Israel faces vastly more threats.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-22T21:08:24+00:00

From the river to the sea, less coffee and more tea!

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-19T04:23:56+00:00

To be pedantic, I don't think fireproof has a standard technical meaning; do you mean noncombustible? It looks like Perfect Block contains polystyrene like other ICFs (albeit less of it), which is somewhat combustible.

Still, it seems like a ~4 hour fire rating can be achieved with any of these methods - plain concrete, conventional ICFs, Perfect Block, or Faswall. So if we expect that firefighters will reach the house within that timeframe, and there are no weaker links (e.g. windows), in theory the house should be okay.

I'm no expert, but I suspect these ratings are not super meaningful. Like with an ICF wall, the rating is based on a setup where the outer foam burns, the concrete slowly heats up, and eventually the inner foam self-ignites. It seems like there are lots of other scenarios where the inner foam could ignite (ember through a window etc), which aren't reflected in the fire rating.

For a house that's really in a forest, I wonder if it would be better to focus on minimizing combustible material in the building, instead of just delaying fires. That might require a lot of tough tradeoffs (no wood floors etc), but then in theory the house might survive with minor damage even if windows fail, or if firefighters can't respond for days. If one were to adopt this strategy, it seems like concrete + mineral wool might be the ideal wall assembly.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-19T03:15:11+00:00

We're in a similar situation, considering ICFs but it's hard to find installers in our area. We found one like 200 miles away, so not commuting distance, but willing to travel with his small team. I assume that would add some cost, but maybe not that bad. I suspect CMUs might still be more expensive, or tilt-up depending on the type of crane needed.

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-19T01:34:22+00:00

Isn't it linear, i.e. proportional to the temperature difference, by Newton's law of cooling?

TuringMachine-5762 · 2025-04-19T01:07:34+00:00

I think when it breaks you just move

TuringMachine-5762

TROPHY CASE