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Joined 1Y ago
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Cake day: Jun 07, 2023

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The helium makes it float, so they got a guy to rub his spit on the rocket using his finger, but that process takes a long time so we’re just refilling the rocket in the meantime until we find it.


That is a fantastic painting! The artist nailed it.


if the car was running, the alternator would be charging the battery. would it be able to keep up with the drain of the fridge of just extend the time a bit?


He’s gaslighting us. We’re possibly heading for a recession in the US. China’s real estate market is jacked, Japan and the UK are in a recession. As tied up as our economies are, it would be expected. The one thing I, as someone that is in no way an expert on economics, think could save us is the major economic legislation headed by Biden that has been recently. Actually, I would expect the legislation to solely reduce the impact of a recession.



Here’s the text that I got on my desktop:

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The Impact of Corporate Trolls on Reddit: A Growing Problem The rise of social media has brought about a new battleground for the spread of misinformation, manipulation of public opinion, and promotion of products and services. Reddit, one of the most popular social media platforms, has not been immune to this phenomenon.

Two significant studies, the Pew Research Center study conducted in 2018 and the Computers in Human Behavior study published in 2020, have shed light on the prevalence and impact of corporate trolls on Reddit.

Pew Research Center Study: Unveiling the Reach of Corporate Trolls The Pew Research Center study, conducted in 2018, delved into the experiences of 2,505 adult Americans who use Reddit.

The findings were alarming, revealing that a considerable portion of Reddit users had directly encountered the influence of corporate trolls.

The study found that 11% of the respondents had been contacted by a bot or troll attempting to promote a product or service. Even more concerning was the discovery that 13% of the respondents had witnessed a company manipulate public opinion on the platform.

The study’s demographic analysis further highlighted the targeted nature of corporate trolling. Younger users, particularly those aged 18–29, were significantly more likely to be contacted by corporate trolls, with 17% of them reporting such experiences, compared to only 7% of users aged 65 and over. This age-based discrepancy underscores the strategic approach of corporate trolls in engaging with a demographic that is often more susceptible to their influence.


Woah, sounds like a whole bunch of unnecessary drama. I was wondering if there was something related to AI or relevant, but it doesn’t seem like it.

Thanks for answering! 😀


What’s going on with OpenAI?
I see news posts about the CEO being fired, all the staff threatening to leave, then the CEO being rehired and the board being fired. What the heck is this all about??
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I went to the Ford site to look into their EVs earlier this week. Their site on EV info is so disorganized and unhelpful. Trying to figure out how much charging would cost and the logistics of long-distance travel is way too confusing. They’re even messing it up with a subscription plan to their in-network chargers.

I suspect this is part of the reason people aren’t buying Ford EVs. Buying a car from a dealership is already too antagonized because we all know they’re trying to rip us off. To try to balance it out, shoppers try to gain as much knowledge on the car so they know what they’re agreeing to. However, when the car comes with all this new technology that changes the way we maintain them, and available info is scattered, indirect, unclear, and potentially costs even more, that will push away people that don’t want to deal with it.


Voices of the Voiceless by Lowkey & Immortal Technique (NSFW)

Guerra/War by Residente

English translation of lyrics:

spoiler

[Invocatory Prayer] Heavenly King, comforter, spirit of truth, you are everywhere filling everything, treasure of goods and giver of life: come to dwell in us, purify us from all stain and save, you who are good, our souls

I see you and my anger touches you; When I scream without using my mouth; And my fury eats up people; Because it bites, even thought it has no teeth;

Pain causes me no trouble; Today the pains will recite poems; I eat the world without a plate; The fear cleans my shoes.

I melted fire; Today the nightmares do not sleep because the think about me; Today I can see what the other one did not see; And I make them pray though they do not believe in God.

Today the tears cry before dying; And I make the history books take note; Let Earth’s legs start shaking; Today I came to win and I’m made of war.

(Made of war); (And I’m made of war); (And I’m made of war); (And I’m made of war); (I make them pray).

I’m the hole that was left, the bomb that was dropped; What fertilized, the mother that gave birth to me; Since I was born I’m part of the menu; Because I reached the ovum before you.

I’m the jungle that runs barefoot; In the middle of the sea I survive without raft; I’m the caudal that moves the current; The battalions that clash head to head.

My rivals, let them come two by two; Today not even thunder raise their voices at me; I’m your defeat, your two broken legs; The nail that penetrated the boot.

I’m the strategy of any combat; Today there is victory or defeat, there is no draw; I’m the sorrow of your happiness; The war at the night and the war during the day.

(The war during the night and the war during the day); (The war during the night and the war during the day); (The war during the night and the war during the day); (The war during the night and the war during the day); (And I make them pray).

I kill the war without shooting it; The war fears hugs; The war wears camouflage; So nobody sees when it gets sad.

The war loses all of it fights; When the enemies listen to each other; War is weaker than it is stronger; It can’t handle life, so it hides behind death.

(And I make them pray); (And I make them pray).

Edit: Warning. These songs and corresponding video can be emotionally intense.



What’s going on with major changes to privacy on Chrome?
What changes are they making, and how to prevent them affecting users? Also, does Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin, or a VPN with ad-blocking and anti-tracking prevent the new data collection through Chrome?
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Where can I respectfully ask the question, “Is Russia today what the US looked like during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq?”
Note: I am not asking my question here, so please do not answer it. I am merely asking for a good lemmy/kbin community in which I can ask it and receive respectful responses. The answers to this question should be pointing me to a community where I can ask the question.
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Note: This is a developing story. My response will likely be edited as news comes out and the progression of events becomes clearer.

Last update: 6/26/23 @ 1650 EST

Russia invaded Ukraine in Feb 2022 on what the world overwhelmingly believes are false pretenses. The arguments were that Ukraine was taken over by nazis and that the country was actually supposed to be part of Russia, not sovereign. The world thought it was going to be a quick war, but Ukraine fought really hard with economic, intelligence, and military-equipment support of the West. Russia severely overestimated its military might, particularly its training and logistics. What was expected to be a quick invasion turned into a long war of attrition.

To help with the war, Putin hired a group of mercenaries he had previously helped build into world prominence. This allowed Russia to commit military objectives and behaviors that would otherwise be considered illegal for the Russian government to accomplish. The mercenaries are called the Wagner Group and have been more effective at accomplishing military goals in Ukraine than the regular Russian military. The Wagner Group grew up to ~50k troops, with most leaders being skilled and experienced military veterans while lower-ranks had Russian prisoners fighting for their freedom. This group is known for committing horrible war crimes, and the leader of the group is widely accepted as a terrible person.

The leader of the Wagner Group is called Yevgeny Prigozhin. He has been vocal about the management of the invasion of Ukraine and at odds with Russia’s Ministry of Defense leadership, something that is in part a result of how Putin likes to run Russia: pinning his subordinates against each other. Another tactic that Putin uses is to place relatively powerless people in powerful positions. This make sit hard for the to topple him because they lack elite political connections to do so. Prigozhin was a criminal that started a hot dog street vending business, made a restaurant change out of it, and then became Putin’s chef. The person he assigned to Minister of Defense was a also of “low status” as a person from the countryside and minority ethnicity. In line with his approach, Putin pitted the Minister of Defense (Shoigu) and Prigozhin against each other to prevent military forces from toppling him. This, along with their “low status” history, ensured neither accumulated too much power because if one started getting too powerful, the other would take them down.

Back to the war and recent events, the Ukrainians make a stand at the Ukranian city of Bakhmut. Russia assigns Wagner to take the city. The ferocity of Ukrainian fighters caused Wagner to take heavy loses. During this battle, the Russian military coincidentally did not provide Wagner the supplies they were requesting, leaving them in need while fighting their battle. On at least one occasion, the Russian military promised to give him the supplies, to then not deliver them. Prigozhin, frustrated with the way he and his forces are being treated by the Russian military, trades the city of Bakhmut with Ukrine for intel on the locations of high-ranking Russian military officers. Towards the end of the battle, Russian forces attempted to swoop in and take partial victory for taking the city. Additionally, Prigozhin claims that his forces were purposefully attacked by Russian military, losing several men to the attack. Around or after the battle of Bakhmut in which Wagner loss a lot of men, Putin announced that the remaining Wagner Forces will be absorbed by the Russian military. Prigozhin objects to the deal and insists that he replace the Russian MoD (Shoigu). Putin declines the request, and the following happened within the last week, bit mostly over two days.

  1. Prigozhin took Wagner forces out of Ukraine, abandoning their missions, and into Russia
  2. Wagner Group invaded and took control of the Russian city Rostov-on-Don. This city is the hub from which Russian forces would support Ukraine invasion missions. Prigozhin seemed to have support from the city population, which was disseminated on media. Consequently, the Russian military lost their invasion hub.
  3. Prigozhin went on media to tell the world, including the Russian civilian population, that the invasion of Ukraine was based on lies and that the Russian military is a clusterfudge. This indirectly but clearly and openly questioned Putin’s leadership. This also directly outed Putin as a liar since he is the one that has been promoting the reasons for the invasion of Ukraine.
  4. Russian military forces also lit an oil depot on fire to prevent Wagner from getting more fuel. This means that Russians destroyed access to their own fuel supply.
  5. Prigozhin charged at Moscow with ~5k troops at impressive pace. Throughout the way, he barely met any resistance from Russian military. In fact, some cheered him on. However, Wagner forces did shoot down ~7 Russian aircraft and killed ~12 Russian service members throughout this mutiny. Wagner forces had no difficulty overcoming the very minor Russian military resistance that occurred.
  6. Putin poorly prepared Moscow for a siege by activating local police & military, shutting down internet, calling Monday a day off, and placing rudimentary military checkpoints outside of Moscow.
  7. Putin went on national TV and called Wagner forces treasonous mutineers as enemy of the state and declared that they will be prosecuted.
  8. Putin left Moscow for safety via plane, leaving the city to fend for itself and implying that it could not withstand the siege.
  9. Putin called several country leaders for support, to include Iran, China, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. China and Kazakhstan both publicly declined support and stated that the issue was internal to Russia. The leader of Belarus brokered a deal between Prigozhin and Putin.
  10. Wagner forces made it to 200 km outside of Moscow nearly completely unscathed.
  11. Prigozhin then left to Belarus. As of 6/26/23 @ 1630 EST, no one has seen or heard from either Prigozhin or Putin since, though the Russian presidential airplane has back in Moscow since at least 6/25 @ 1500 EST.

The deal:

  • Prigozhin is exiled to Belarus with immunity.
  • Wagner forces that participated in the mutiny will have immunity from prosecution.
  • Wagner forces that did not participate in the mutiny will be absorbed by the Russian military.
  • Surely, there’s a lot that we don’t know

So, WTH? because this is wild!

  • Russia almost went into a civil war while it was invading Ukraine.
  • The premise for the war was outed as a lie by the most effective military leader of the war.
  • Said leader committed a mutiny using his troops and was charged on TV
  • The mercenary group was abandoned in Russia to be absorbed by the very military they were fighting with/against
  • Everyone saw Putin on TV scared and implicitly pleading for the mutiny to stop
  • Putin called several other countries begging for help, some of which declined to help. The one that did help is generally considered a puppet and ineffective, so Putin was saved by someone with a poor reputation and little to no international power.
  • Moscow was almost under siege by its own men.
  • Russia lost the organization of its most effective troops (Wagner Group)
  • Russia has been outed as being incredibly vulnerable to military attack
  • Russian troops heard that they are fighting for a lie and at the very least acquiesced to a mutiny

Everyone on the world stage is still waiting. This is something that will have severe repercussions for Russia and indirectly Ukraine and the world. It’s like a season finale of Game of Thrones. The big event just happened, and we got left on a cliffhanger. The resolution will likely be played out slowly over the next season, but expect crazy things to continue to happen though not as intense as the build up to a civil war in a nuclear power over 2 days.


OotL: What’s the deal with people claiming Lemmy as a whole supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), dictatorships, denies genocides, etc?
I keep running into comments where users are arguing for avoiding Lemmy, claiming that Lemmy supports authoritarian governments, supports the CCP, sides with Russia in their invasion of Ukraine, denies genocides committed by nominal communist governments, and other similar political claims. I know there are communist instances and whatnot, but I'm well aware that identifying as a communist doesn't mean that someone wants a dictatorial government or denies genocides. - Can we figure this out and have any supporting evidence either way to end the rumors? - Is there any evidence that Lemmy is advocating against democracy, pro dictatorships, denying and/or advocating for genocides? - Is there evidence that using Lemmy supports genocidal aspiring dictators and their accomplices? - Even if there is one instance that advocates for atrocities, genocides, dictatorships, and clearly false revisions of history, what does that have to do with the Lemmy as a system? Can't those instances just be defederated? To be 100% clear, I am not a communist, aspiring dictator, or support genocides. I also do not believe that communism = dictatorships and the end of human rights. I believe in democracy, equitable distribution or power, individual human rights and freedoms. If I had to define a personal political identity, I would mostly fall under the term *anarchist* and do not advocate for violence against innocent people despite their political viewpoints (except Nazis because they're not innocent. Fuck Nazis).
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OotL Request: Can we get more OotL posts going?
I'm almost always out of the loop and depend on people asking about loop things that Im not aware of to get back in. Can y'all start asking more about current events, pls?
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Sucks that hateful jerks can ruin it for everyone.

The history of humanity