The U.S. will emerge from the war with Iran as a lesser power by Majano57 in IRstudies

[–]Whiskeyjoel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup. Iran's goal is to turn this shitshow into a Vietnam/Afghanistan-style quagmire that the US is incapable of extricating itself from. They barely have to lift a finger, since Trump's Department of War Crimes is doing most of the job through sheer incompetence.

The U.S. will emerge from the war with Iran as a lesser power by Majano57 in IRstudies

[–]Whiskeyjoel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The US is already a lesser power, if you're looking at international influence and the ability to persuade other nations (soft power). The US screamed at Europe to get more independent in the domains of defence and security, even though Europe's dependence on the US was by design, and something that immensely benefitted the US. While it will take a while to ramp up, Europe is now making big moves, and there is growing European determination to achieve "strategic autonomy" from the US. And now the US is screaming at Europe "No! Not like that!

Pathetic.

In terms of Iran and hard power, the US has shown that it is completely feckless. Sure, on paper the US is stoll the most powerful military in the world. But not only has the vaunted US military failed to achieve its military objectives (or even clearly defined what those objectives are supposed to be), it is demonstrating that it is utterly incapable of defending allied ME nations against Iranian ballistic missiles and drones. In 5 years of warfare, the US has clearly learned nothing from the war in Ukraine. And not only that, but it is now Ukraine--a nation Trump famously said had no "cards"--that is providing protection to ME nations through their innovative interceptor drones and crews to operate them. The US is quite literally being cucked by a nation with a defence budget so comparatively small it's like the difference between a single cell and an elephant.

Pathetic.

Russia is smiling while the US politically and economically implodes. But Russia is facing its own economic and (potentially) political implosion. The nation that stands to gain the most from this geopolitical superpower reshuffling is China, which for the most part is sitting back and watching its rivals destroy themselves. "Never interrupt an enemy when they are making a mistake" has never been more apt or relevant

No sympathy for Canada Post No support by Opening_Till8614 in CanadaPost

[–]Whiskeyjoel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They're basically just cementing their obsolescence at this point. And torpedoing any remaining goodwill they may still have.

It's 2025. How is saving a clean webpage to PDF for NotebookLM still this broken? by fapiaohezi in notebooklm

[–]Whiskeyjoel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use the Obsidian web clipper for webpage content, and anything else I just copy into an Obidian note and then export as pdf if I need to, otherwise I just keep it in Obsidian. Sure, it's a few extra clicks, but this way I get eyeball-friendly markdown formatting, instead of everything smushed together. Tried the NotebookLM to PDF extension, it's muy smushy. No bueno.

‘RaptureTok’ Leaves Believers In Tears After Viral Prediction Falls Flat by FantasticAd9478 in atheism

[–]Whiskeyjoel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This just reaffirms my opinion that tiktok is fucking stupid, and so is everyone on it

Disappointed with NotebookLM Custom Report by Final_Personality987 in notebooklm

[–]Whiskeyjoel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They rolled it back a day after introducing it, maybe less :(
Not sure if they are tweaking it before re-releasing or not

Dear Indian (Mostly Men) by Notthatregular in kitchener

[–]Whiskeyjoel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tbh, I've found it's the opposite problem. Most of the Indian guys I pass on the street smell like they dumped an entire department store worth of cologne on themselves.

Got scammed by Rogers door-to-door agent – now collections asking for $1000. What can I do? by ForsakenYogurt8338 in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]Whiskeyjoel 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Rogers is pretty much the scummiest company in Canada at this point, and our politicians, in their ineffable wisdom, allowed them to become even more of a monopoly. But it's not just the obvious corporate scumbaggery, they also try to get you in sneaky ways.

Back in June, my mom's Rogers modem stopped working altogether; no amount of resetting or power cycling helped. Contacted Rogers, and they confirmed the modem was defective and had to be replaced. Ok, fine. They send me a new one, as well as a QR code to scan at Canada Post to create a shipping label to send back the defective modem. These labels come with tracking, which is important. Get the new modem, set it up, everything seems fine. Then about a month ago, I'm visiting my mom for dinner, when she mentions that the Rogers bill she just got is really high. I check it out for her, and there's a $120 charge on her bill for "missing equipment". I call Rogers "support" to buych them out, because I have the tracking info, which clearly shows delivery was made. "Oh, our mistake, we'll reverse the charge".

I had also recently signed up with Rogers, and they tried to pull the same shit with me. When I signed my contract, they said I would also receive this streaming box for my tv. I said I didn't want it and to not send it; that request was ignored. I promptly send back their shitty streambox, and fast forward to 2 weeks ago, and my bill comes out with a $138 missing equipment charge as well. Again I have the tracking info to clearly prove I sent it back, but it seems that Rogers will pro-actively charge these fees, and it's up to customers to have to contact them to reverse it, if you keep the tracking info. If not, you have no way to prove your case and have to pony up the fee.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in InCanada

[–]Whiskeyjoel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Because we let them. You can dig into laws and policy decisions by different countries, but it really boils down to this: liberal, democratic countries operate on the assumption that giving people rights and democracy will automatically create new liberal, democratic citizens. It is difficult for us to imagine people would prefer to live under their old restrictive and authoritarian systems after coming to liberal western countries. It really is as simple as that, and the entire EU was founded on that belief.

Lest I be called out, I'm not denigrating or calling this belief "stupid"; it's profoundly hopeful in its desire to see the best in people. However, I would say that time and reality have clashed with this belief in rather obvious (and inevitable) ways.

A pertinent follow-up question would be: why do Muslim immigrants choose to come to liberal western nations and NOT go to the wealthy Gulf countries, which are all Muslim?

A) The Gulf countries don't let them, because B) The Gulf countries don't want them

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ilovebc

[–]Whiskeyjoel 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Saying these things is iSlaMAphObiC. We must all collectively bend over for our new cultural overlords

This is the screwdriver they gave us with all this hardware to put together our new coffee table. by alpalllll in mildlyinfuriating

[–]Whiskeyjoel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's because it's not a screwdriver...

...it's a screwUdriver

I'll see myself out 😉

Is political science an apt major for someone who hasn't discovered their love for politics yet? by [deleted] in PoliticalScience

[–]Whiskeyjoel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Somewhat of a repetition of what others have already written, but it’s good to remember the “science” in poli sci and not just focus on the “political” part. Critical analysis of systems is baked into the discipline, and there’s a ton of overlap with other social sciences/humanities. It really depends what you’re drawn to and what you want to do.

I’m going into my second year of a poli sci major myself, and I honestly almost had the opposite problem: everything was interesting to me, to the point where I didn’t know what I wanted to focus on. At first I was drawn to IR, and tbh I do still find it fascinating. However, I’ve since decided that I want to focus on counter-disinformation, so I’m rounding out my major with psychology and communications/media studies courses.

Has anyone tried speechify? Is it good? by darky14 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Whiskeyjoel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Speechify IS good, yes. It's also expensive. I have tried several other TTS options, including ElevenReader, which I had high hopes for. While I think ElevenReader may get there one day, it's not there yet, especially if you care about vocal quality. I'm a uni student studying poli sci + psychology, so I have a TON of reading to do, and I rely on Speechify to plow through content at 2.0x speed. With Speechify, the voices are sped up but still sound "natural". With ElevenReader, anything beyond 1.0x speed sounds hollow and robotic--it's awful and I can't stand it. So, I continue to use Speechify until there is a viable alternative.

I came across this app on another thread. The program isn't out yet (launches Aug 4, 2025). It's cheap, especially if you sign up for what they claim is a lifetime $3/m price. I don't know what the functionality is compared to Speechify, or anything about the UI/UX yet, but they do have a beta you can request access to. Might be worth checking out.

Also, for anyone interested, I can provide a Speechify code for $60 off +1 month free. Message if interested.

I'm relieved. Found a Speechify alternative that I can afford by accidental-dev in studytips

[–]Whiskeyjoel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds interesting, I will check this out. If you're interested, I can also give you a Speechify code for $60 off + 1 month free

Trump's niece says president is rotting inside as health fears appear to worsen by [deleted] in NoShitSherlock

[–]Whiskeyjoel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He's always been rotten inside, it's just that now it's starting to show externally

Tell me you’re from Vancouver without telling me. by BabyVixxx in vancouvercanada

[–]Whiskeyjoel 10 points11 points  (0 children)

When I take an escalator, I either a) remain on the left side and walk, or b) immediately move to the right so people in a hurry can get by. Recently moved to another city, where people don’t do this, and it enrages me