orthogonal to alive @avi@computerfairi.es

soft things are completely underrated. everybody *loves* steel and will talk about how it built the modern world but have any of them a single consideration for the unlimited utility of the humble mattress?

@melissasage >The breakdown of discipline, including fragging, was an important factor leading to the creation of an all-volunteer military force by the United States and the termination of conscription.

damn that's good to know

when i was a kid there was a show on PBS called Mathnet about detectives solving crimes involving math. it made me do math when i wasn't in school. i will never forgive PBS for this

"Vietnam syndrome" is also why America has, in the past 50 years, moved more form hot wars with a draft conscription to volunteer military personnel, extreme classification of military operations, and attempting to keep wars entirely outside of the public eye. They know that the more the public knows, the worse it is for them.

This is also why they invest so much in propaganda, such as underwriting Hollywood movies: they understand that positive marketing for the military at home is key for them to be able to keep doing, essentially, whatever the fuck they want.

i love that the military cries about "vietnam syndrome"- basically the idea that the USA lost the Vietnam war because popular opinion in the USA was overwhelmingly against the war

it's literally the most mask-off antidemocratic idea ever: you can only say this if you think that the military should be able to operate completely independently of the will of the population it's ostensibly "serving".

So Gentle Ice over on Twitter pointed out that the upcoming new Chinese calendar year is not merely a year of the rat but a metal rat.

That's right, starting January 25th is metal rat time. So rock on all you musical, cyber, or musical cyborg rats of the fediverse!

there's a 9/11 truther version of love me i'm a liberal lmao

americans are dumbasses who go "ah yes, this is correct, people actually like having their leaders extrajudicially assassinated because trump had a tummy ache"

on the one hand i am sympathetic to calls for white people to reconnect with their historic cultures instead of the bullshit concept of whiteness but on the other hand ive seen what white people have done with irish and nordic shit so idk how to really do that without it turning into some fuck shit

this is accurate thanks

US politics

2020 candidate Pete Buttigieg "troubled" by clemency for Chelsea Manning - CBS News
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2020-candidate-pete-buttigieg-troubled-by-clemency-for-chelsea-manning/

wish i could be a cog in like a friendly helpful machine instead of a death machine

wow must be brutal living in such a dictatorship regime gang, couldn't possibly imagine

have a fine and dandy #FineFemmeFriday

I see people arguing that punching nazis is bad because it's apparently hard to define who is and isn't a nazi. But it really isn't.

trump’s comments on homelessness are alarming to me; he’s already demonstrated that he’s willing to solve “problems” by putting people in camps