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General chat thread

Reader mode
It's really bloody annoying how people keep simping for Tito just because he kept the Balkans together.

Like, he kept it together in the same sense a prison keeps people together. The various ethnic groups still hated each other, it's just that they were way more scared of being tortured to death alongside their families if they defied him.

It was always going to end badly once he died. Nations can't be forged with just fear and force.

If you want an actual modern historical dictator who managed to unify a dozen different cultures, Lee Kuan Yew is right there. His results are infinitely better than whatever Tito's secret police ever managed.
 
Can't imagine why the partisan leader turned autocrat who prevented genocidal bloodletting for decades and turned a bombed out barely industrialized mountain range into one of the centers of the Unaligned Movement in a region whose name has become a byword for "fragmented, unstable, anarchic and dangerous" and kept the standard of living so high that both Soviet and NATO overtures of political manipulation failed to take root.

It's a fucking mystery that only South Slavs will understand, I guess.
 
NuclearBird said:
Can't imagine why the partisan leader turned autocrat who prevented genocidal bloodletting for decades and turned a bombed out barely industrialized mountain range into one of the centers of the Unaligned Movement in a region whose name has become a byword for "fragmented, unstable, anarchic and dangerous" and kept the standard of living so high that both Soviet and NATO overtures of political manipulation failed to take root.

It's a fucking mystery that only South Slavs will understand, I guess.
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This is definitely rule 8 bait.
 
Savinkov said:
This is definitely rule 8 bait.
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Yugoslavia collapsed more than 20 years ago, the Balkans became the source of the meme when the Ottomans first pulled back from Southern Europe in the early 1900s before WW1, Tito's rise to power was in the 40s-50s and the rest is just me repeating Treble's own words topped off with enough sarcasm to make even the most autistic child understand that it's meant to mock Treble's question containing the knowledge that answers itself.
 
NuclearBird said:
Yugoslavia collapsed more than 20 years ago, the Balkans became the source of the meme when the Ottomans first pulled back from Southern Europe in the early 1900s before WW1, Tito's rise to power was in the 40s-50s and the rest is just me repeating Treble's own words topped off with enough sarcasm to make even the most autistic child understand that it's meant to mock Treble's question containing the knowledge that answers itself.
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I forgot I had treble on ignore, so it seemed like this had came out of nowhere.
 
NuclearBird said:
Can't imagine why the partisan leader turned autocrat who prevented genocidal bloodletting for decades and turned a bombed out barely industrialized mountain range into one of the centers of the Unaligned Movement in a region whose name has become a byword for "fragmented, unstable, anarchic and dangerous" and kept the standard of living so high that both Soviet and NATO overtures of political manipulation failed to take root.....what?

It's a fucking mystery that only South Slavs will understand, I guess.
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You didn't finish that sentence, but never mind. My point is that he didn't really create peace, he just monopolized the violence through a reign of terror.

His model was bound to collapse in the short run after his death. What else could happen when the only thing keeping everyone from killing each other is the fear that they (and their families) might disappear in the night?
 
Treble said:
You didn't finish that sentence, but never mind. My point is that he didn't really create peace, he just monopolized the violence through a reign of terror.

His model was bound to collapse in the short run after his death. What else could happen when the only thing keeping everyone from killing each other is the fear that they (and their families) might disappear in the night?
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As an ugly American who knows little of this particular conflict, it sounds like you're making the perfect the enemy of the good enough. Or, at least, that you don't understand why anyone would be happy with good enough instead of a hypothetical better.
 
Idle query. Who else here often also (mis)uses their own emotions/moods for various purposes? Such as deliberately losing your temper for more physical strength/energy?
 
Amazon Climber said:
As an ugly American who knows little of this particular conflict, it sounds like you're making the perfect the enemy of the good enough. Or, at least, that you don't understand why anyone would be happy with good enough instead of a hypothetical better.
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It's more that I don't get why he gets so much hype on the internet when Lee is right there. From all accounts, Tito just operated a giant occupation zone. Lee ran an actual country.
 
NuclearBird said:
Yugoslavia collapsed more than 20 years ago, the Balkans became the source of the meme when the Ottomans first pulled back from Southern Europe in the early 1900s before WW1, Tito's rise to power was in the 40s-50s and the rest is just me repeating Treble's own words topped off with enough sarcasm to make even the most autistic child understand that it's meant to mock Treble's question containing the knowledge that answers itself.
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heo6l3.jpg
 
Apparently, asking gpt to write about roman legionnaires receiving Napoleonic artillery fire is too much for it
 
Just re-watched Legend of the Guardians, that owl movie by Zack Snyder, after seeing PointlessHub's video on it, and I gotta say there is something oddly compelling about animals having not just Human-level sapience, but also an actual civilization, complete with art, tools, and so on, to go along with it, rather than being just normal animals that happen to be able to talk and only have an oral tradition.

Here they have goddamn literature. They forge metal. Eat your heart out, Warrior Cats.

Sure, the movie has some plot problems, and the jokes fall flat, but in terms of action scenes, visual design, and the physical worldbuilding around the owls, like how their furniture looks like, it's pretty neat.
 
Saw a joke about loot drops in real life.

That's your Will, I thought.

Second thought: How to destroy a shitty family in your wake: force them to roll Need Before Greed to see who gets what from your Will.
 
Scygnus said:
Saw a joke about loot drops in real life.

That's your Will, I thought.

Second thought: How to destroy a shitty family in your wake: force them to roll Need Before Greed to see who gets what from your Will.
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Lament. That will already happen on its own, don't you worry. Inheritance lawsuits are depressingly common affairs, with the wake I personally attended having a screaming match (incl. legal threats) erupt right in front of the casket.

Those that truly Need will get nothing once lawyer budgets get involved.
 
I just realized I am going to be the last member in my family to have written letters.

Apres Moi, Le Gmail.
 
Treble said:
I just realized I am going to be the last member in my family to have written letters.

Apres Moi, Le Gmail.
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My nephew still writes letters. Sure they're little kid letters, but it lights up the extended family's lives when they get them.

Be the change you want to see in the world, even if that change is just convincing a bored kid to try something new.
 
Amazon Climber said:
My nephew still writes letters. Sure they're little kid letters, but it lights up the extended family's lives when they get them.

Be the change you want to see in the world, even if that change is just convincing a bored kid to try something new.
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I write letters to my young relatives, too.

The key to getting letters back seems to be including a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
 
Just finished a can of canned meat. Tasted fine. Now I noticed it's been 3 years after best before date.

If I don't login tomorrow, I'm probably dead and/or at the hospital.

If I survive though, I have some more of these, so I will be eating them until either they run out or my luck does.
 
And how well-stored said food was, such that conditions degrading the packaging are minimized or not present.

Side note, honey is antibacterial, and if stored in a watertight/waterproof container, can basically stay edible forever.
 
Madden bin'Ladden said:
Don't get botulism, my dude.

Although people eat 50-year-old MREs and are fine, so I guess it depends how much you trust the maker.
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Was a bit sick for a few hours, stomachache but no vomiting.

Also IIRC those people usually skip the meat portion of those rations. I think meat just spoils faster, despite being well preserved.

Hatless Nuance said:
And how well-stored said food was, such that conditions degrading the packaging are minimized or not present.
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Cans were held in a separate larger container (hermetically sealed and of military make) with moisture absorbents sprinkled around. The foodstuffs themselves were made by the company that supplies our military. Bought a bunch of rations and other preserved food just in case before Covid insanity hit in full. Ate through some of them since, but I guess I forgot about what I had left for a while.

I guess if there's a zombie apocalypse tomorrow or the nukes start flying next week the rations would still be technically edible, but I probably should start throwing that stuff out.
 
If it is high salt, acid, and otherwise pickled it is a bit safer. Picked vegetables can last a very long time. Pretty much everything canned has a bit of extra salt for safety. But if it is higher than normal it is safer.

Also, for truly long term stuff, dried and freeze dried lasts longer than canned but generally is less appetizing unless it is snack food,

Naturally dry good stables that are kept double sealed. (In a bag then in a hard size fed container. Is your best bet for long term food storage. So long as it isn't something fancy) rice, beans, flour, last a long time and are also good tasting enough to make rotating through them easy. I find pickled food easy to rotate as well.

Canned fish is cheap though. But you have to eat it regularly for it to make sense to buy. (Both tuna and sardines.) the fish weight and cost is more expensive than chicken fresh, but it is convenient and does spoil anytime soon.
And still cheaper than buying tofu or beef. On par with pork or cheese though. Canned tuna ends up being about 1$/lb more. Or on par with reallt cheap beef on sale. Or slightly nicer cheese.

I mainly like getting foods that last, or buying things in season and cheap and making them last longer.

If you do get into drying or freeze drying, fruit or soup mixes are the easiest to make good. (Making your own dried soup mix with dehydrated veggies is reallt good. And super convenient for instant cheap meals later on.)

Freeze drying jt from home can be great but I don't view the start up cost to be worth it really. But over time it is pretty cost effective and you can get a huge variety that way. And some great party favors I think most people get more mileage for the time and effort just starting a small garden.

For a lot of other uses you get texture issues. Which in my view makes them mostly junk.

Dehydrated apples. Or even just dehydrated apple peals are great. Or any form of 'fruit jerky'

But I prefer pickled veggies for preserves. (Bot super viable to hike with a bunch though in the same way. And I would much rather carry nuts or just pack vitamins than eat trail weight veggies.

Although I also garden a bit, mostly because fresh food tastes better. But I do have a collection of various seeds. And occasionally i let my stuff go to seed tk harvest some more.
I basically only have one tiny plot right now though.

And I mostly plant stuff to save me money, or that I can't get at the grocery store. (Herbs, some squash, lettuce, kale.) rather than like survival foods

I do have enough viable cowpea seed for an acre or so if I really. Needed too. Since I got more than I expected last year. Although, I do eat out of it and only plant a small portion.

I don't see much point in stockpiling years and years of supplies since I figure if anything actually happened it would make you a target. And as long as I have enough for a shorter duration and have the practical skills to be useful there isn't much to worry about.
In that I know how to not kill plants. So, I can swear fealty to whoever I need to

Would rather just do things which save me money and improve my quality of like today. And are also fun.

I actually recently discovered that watermelon rind makes really good stir fries and is like about as cheap as potatoes if you buy whole watermelon in season. With more nutrition. They taste like zucchini.

Like a lot of prepping is a rich or middle class way to waste money. But there are some things which like make your life better today. And if they happen to help you be a bit more prepared that is great. (Although, if you get well off enough they no longer are reallt worth the time investment ironically.)

Like with gardening, gardening to save money in a time efficient way, vs. gardening tk have better tasting food as a luxury because your job gives you a bunch of money and free time is different. Although, there is a slight overlap

Tomatoes are probably the highest taste difference per effort plant. And nice tomatoes are expensive. But cheap ones aren't that bad. Other things that tend to spoil quickly also get more benefit.

(I guess there is also trying to be a vegetable farmer part time but that is different too.)
Tomatoes and lettuce tend to sell
The most and do the best. Although, cucumbers are pretty good too.
I actually used to work on a vegetable farm. During the summers. Did some orchard work too. Tried to become a farmer as my full on career. But it is a hard field to break into. (Vegetables is one of the easiest though.)
And making it work on a small scale means a lot of labor balancing throughout the year.
A lot of framing jobs are bad not because the work is bad. But because they only last like 1 month,maybe 2. Because the farmer planted a whole bunch of one crop and they have a short harvest season. And you have to basically either alternate between construction and farming work. Or travel around the country. There are farms which actually produce all year with good stable jobs. But they are hard to get.

But in a lot of places farms are providing more value to the owner as a tax haven for middle class people than as an actual farm. Because farmland can be an investment and they are barely taxed. And so if you work some other city job, you can end up with a drastically lower tax burden if you are middle or upper middle class and own a farm.

And so a lot of farms are ran to minimize how much time the owner has to spend to get money off of it. Not to make as much money from the land. Or even as much profit as possible. Since they likely are making more money from their off farm job. But because they can have the farm losses decrease their income. And then when they do have farm income it ends up not getting hit as bad tax wise. you sometimes even have farms that lose money but that save the owner more in taxes than the loses.

And just a couple years ago they had one of the biggest anti-slavery and human trafficking busts on record involving farms in Georgia. I think like a good 1/3 to half the farms in the states were using labor contractors who were slavers. From what they found.

Sorry, kind of went off on a rant about how messed up the farming industry is.
 
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