I’m not trying to shill for Google but I really think it would be a mistake to break up Google without breaking up Microsoft simultaneously if not first. If they actually manage to crack open Google’s search and browser monopoly, who do they really think is going to start filling in that void? Local mom and pop search engines…? No it’s primarily going to be Microsoft with Bing and Edge, and I’m absolutely certain that whatever people don’t like about Google having its monopolies is going to be orders of magnitude worse if Microsoft gains ground there.

I’m not convinced he really believes that OpenAI is going to roll out AGI in the next ten years, but I’m completely sure he’s determined that it’s a good marketing strategy to make people believe that he believes it.

Originally, a qipao was supposed to be a loose-fitting gown

Source for this? From living in Asia (not in China, but in a predominantly Chinese community), I’ve only seen qipao be form fitting, never loose. Even seeing older pictures of women in qipao, they’re always form fitting. And more often than not, women seem to use them to intentionally highlight their figure.

Chinese communities tend to have a strong conservative bend, but that doesn’t mean they’re puritanical when it comes to sexuality, especially the sexually suggestive.

I think the point is that Republicans detest the idea of being weird no matter what, so they would rage at the suggestion of being a good weird anyway. To them “good weird” is an oxymoron, even though they are actually very weird and not in any kind of good way.

I think a long time ago a vicious cycle began in the advertising space where predatory ads had more incentive to pay for ad space, so sensible people start to perceive ads in general as predatory. Now no sensible advertiser that’s trying to promote a legitimate product for legitimate reasons will do so by buying ad space, thus reinforcing the increasingly accurate perception that all ads are predatory.

And you think lending validity to Israel’s claims that its actions are purely to defend itself from a bigoted terrorist threat is going to help anything?

There’s an enormous gulf between asking nicely and spreading imagery that implies you want to literally murderer all Israelis. Have you considered that the most effective action may exist somewhere between those two positions? Also I’m very mad at you right now for making me sound like a centrist. Blech.

Yeah every one of these garbage posts come across as a false flag operation aimed at proving that people (especially leftists) who oppose Zionism are violent bigots.

OP, you are literally playing right into the Zionists’ hands with this crap.

“what could I have done as Winston Churchill or (I think it was) Truman.”

These people were influential but did not have unilateral power. In their position I would have tried to establish refuge for Jewish people and grant them protective status. Then because of how racist and dumb society was, I would have lost my political position and my influence.

Everything you’re saying really just supports the fact that the nations of the time were handling the situation in a wildly immoral way, and the creation of Israel as an ethnostate was part and parcel of that immorality, and remains highly consequential to this date.

There’s no point asking me as an individual how I would personally have solved the crisis if I could travel back in time, because one person can’t unilaterally force a nation to do anything without being a dictator, and people don’t become dictators without doing horrible things.

What matters is recognizing that the Israel of today came to exist out of two factors:

1. Wealthy and influential Zionists wanted to claim Palestinian land by any means possible to further enrich themselves.
2. Other nations wanted somewhere to send as many Jewish people as possible because they were antisemitic and didn’t like refugees.

Now we’re stuck dealing with the consequences of our idiot racist ancestors. Let’s just try our best to not be overtly idiotic or racist ourselves (racist, for example, by turning a blind eye to the genocide happening to Palestinians, as if they’re not even human beings, or idiotic by thinking that there’s any justification for Israel’s insanely disproportionate use of force).

Just to be clear, I’m not accusing you specifically of being racist or idiotic, I’m just describing my general position on things.

Give them sanctuary with protected status in your own country rather than driving other people out of some other country.

I mean scientists tried being polite and give gentle nudges with the climate crisis for decades and look where it got us. Civilization is driving towards a cliff and we’ve thrown away the steering wheel.

When I was younger I used to think that being nice to people and engaging them on their own terms is the best way to win people over to your cause, but at the end of the day people don’t actually bother to change unless they realize that they need to for their own survival. So I’m done putting all my eggs into the respectability politics basket, and I’m not going beat around the bush on what a fucking cataclysmic crisis we’re being faced with.

I certainly won’t win anyone’s affection, but if I can get at least one person to pause and ask themselves “…Am I in danger…?” then I’ll take that as a win. If others think they can win people over with kindness, they’re welcome to try.

Weird take on morality.

I’m eager to acknowledge the systemic challenges of being veg_n since those were barriers for me in the past myself. I’m privileged to not have those issues anymore, but I still recognize the premium that I pay to be veg_n (my partner and I refer to it as “the vegetarian tax”).

I harbor no animosity towards people who can acknowledge the sustainability crisis of the meat industry but aren’t in a position to personally separate from it. The expectation that I have for decent and informed people, in order from the bare minimum to the absolute most is:

1. Don’t pointlessly disparage veg_ns or spread misinformed agrobusiness propaganda. This in fact takes negative effort.
2. Occasionally examine whether you have any opportunities to reduce your meat consumption.
3. Talk to people you personally know about the sustainability crisis and see if you can find others in your circle who are interested in reducing their meat consumption. Work together to figure out effective strategies for doing so in your situation.

I find that meat eaters’ reactionary indignation to the facts of the harm caused by eating meat is way more aggressive than veg_ns trying to point out to people that we’re literally killing ourselves as a species.

It’s somehow even stupider when people who are veg_n like yourself act like it’s offensive to promote the importance of veg_nism to a world that will otherwise die.

I really don’t care how many people like me when it comes at the cost of the continued existence of humanity. I have no remorse about shoving an uncomfortable message into the faces of people who need to hear it.

Because you don’t like seeing people promote lifestyles that are objectively necessary for human life to be sustained on this planet in the long term?

Or because you don’t have the discipline to overcome the upbringing that conditioned you to feel addicted to meat consumption, and you subconsciously realize that veg*nism is the morally and ecologically superior lifestyle and that leaves you with an inferiority complex that makes you lash out at others like an upset child?

You oppose veganism from a moral standpoint…? You think it’s immoral to subsist without needlessly torturing animals, or is there some other agrobusiness propaganda wedged in your brain that you haven’t taken the time to debunk yet?

Honestly it’s the right call. We’re really not worth it.

(On a more serious note, if this is happening to you then you’re not following the instructions to clean the device and replace the filter once a month.)

And you HAVE TO eat it.

This is a rare case where sentient is being used correctly. Sentient beings do have feelings, e.g. dogs and cats are sentient and can have cravings and even feel hate.

Sapient means having enough intellect to understand and reason about the situation. The post doesn’t actually require that.

A statement like “veganism is unhealthy” is so objectively wrong that it really harms your credibility in general. I wonder how much you actually read from the article, or did you just grab the title and run with it?

There are a small number of specific nutrients that are readily available in meat that are harder to come by in a vegan diet. Harder but entirely possible, especially with supplements.

And many of the meat alternatives that you were disparaging earlier are specifically engineered to provide those nutrients (in particular Impossible and Beyond brands).

“Veganism is unhealthy” in the same way that any eating pattern is unhealthy if you aren’t mindful of what you’re eating. Conventional meat-based diets have much higher risk of heart disease due to high cholesterol, so let’s go ahead and label that unhealthy too.