• 14 Posts
  • 214 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 12th, 2023

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  • Sorry, it probably isn’t common knowledge, I was referring specifically to Waco (M1A1 Abrams tank and several Bradley armored vehicles against civilians inside the continental US, in a 51-day siege that resulted in the deaths of 82 civilians, 28 of whom were children) and the MOVE bombings (dropping bombs on apartment complexes, after which Philadelphia Police Department allowed the resulting fire to burn out of control, destroying 61 previously evacuated neighboring homes over two city blocks and leaving 250 people homeless. Six adults and five children were killed in the attack, with one adult and one child surviving).

    Nothing of significance, of course, happened to the people who did these things.







  • This shift is due largely to users’ bypassing Google to start their search for goods on Amazon. It’s handing Amazon billions in advertiser dollars. Meanwhile, TikTok has less than 4% of U.S. digital ad revenue, but significant potential to expand its share of the pie. A recent TikTok pitch to advertisers reported on by The Wall Street Journal said that 23% of its users searched for something within 30 seconds of opening the app, and its global search volume was three billion a day. The second threat is the rise of “answer engines” like Perplexity which, well, do what they say on the tin. OpenAI has added internet search to ChatGPT, Meta Platforms is exploring building its own search engine, and even AI chatbots that can’t search the internet are proving increasingly capable at addressing many questions. They’re also becoming ever more widespread, as Microsoft and Appleintegrate them directly into the operating systems of all the devices they make or support.

    Non paywalled version: https://archive.today/?run=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Ftech%2Fgoogling-is-for-old-people-thats-a-problem-for-google-5188a6ed




  • Orders already routinely get ignored, it just doesn’t get reported or logged. Maintenance isn’t actually done as written, or in the periodicity specified. Corrective maintenance isn’t actually done correctly, substitutions aren’t actually authorized properly. Gauges aren’t actually read, valves aren’t actually checked, and the sentries are neither alert nor roving. The IDs aren’t actually checked and the guard just waves people through unless there’s an inspection going on and the supervisor is there.

    That’s not even getting to the officers sweeping all this under the rug to look good on evals. Or the commanding officers ignoring stuff to get the ball rolling faster than the next commanding officer, to get that promotion. Equipment failures don’t get reported, personnel issues are just covered up - especially when everyone knows that so-and-so technician is doing this unauthorized vice, but we need said technician so nobody says anything, including back in Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. No, sir, I don’t know where the flamboyant individual is, probably doing the extremely essential maintenance only they are qualified for, sir. Definitely not in the parts locker with another individual of the same sex, which I’m standing in front of to prevent you from entering.

    Whoops, looks like the gender and sex record of the individual had a glitch at some point, must have been IT and Admin again, amirite? Well, the system says he is and has always been a man, sir, says it right there in the computer.




  • He doesn’t understand just how decentralized the military command structure is, and the enlisted-officer relationship that has existed for a very, very long time. Just because anything is written in a regulation and a high-ranking officer with a good idea fairy perched on his shoulder says something or orders something doesn’t mean it happens. Or that the report back from down below is actually true. Officers that actually rise up through the ranks understand that they, too, should sleep with one eye open if the enlisted do not approve.



  • Joining mutual aid groups, coops, triple-checking that you don’t have any subscriptions you don’t absolutely need and doing your best to just use FOSS (it’s free!) instead for the sake of your own limited paycheck, triple-check that you’re taking advantage of the free programs and resources available to you like libraries and buy-nothing collectives, try growing a bit of your own food in used jars and buckets, encourage your children to also take advantage of the free resources they might not even know are available to them and ways to save even more by simply reusing every last bit they can if they aren’t already? Get to know your neighbors if you have any time left in your day, parents of your kids’ classmates? I don’t know your situation - none of these might be realistic for you - but those are some of the free ways I could think of off the top of my head for preparing.