I just hope people do look up the numbers a bit. I realize statistics are worse than damned lies but to claim 100 million Americans don't have proper healthcare because the US military is busy preventing a nuclear war is quite a bit far from reality
Unless people are trolling me, in which case, go on
Anyway, the internet is pretty poisonous right now. Trolls belonging to all sides of every conflict in the world are stoking real people's passions and making cool-headed open-minded argumentation pretty difficult
You can't moderate that. Sure trolls can't usually get here because of the 20-rep barrier, but how they have affected our minds has already changed what we think and how we think it.
If bloody Honduras of all places are manipulating their people to vote for their authoritarian party in the elections, what chance do people have of discussing the most controversial issue in the world right now?
I know for a fact that a great many pro-Israeli trolls are out there. I've also encountered some pro-Hamas trolls (not misguided teenagers or anything, legit trolls), but their English has consistently been worse so they're not that effective
Pro-Russia trolls, my goodness, pray you don't encounter one
There are probably no pro-American trolls because the average American neckbeard can do the trolling for free
All that big Mac energy
I mean you can drop a pro-gun control comment virtually anywhere on the internet and some gunhead will definitely show up
Let's see, there are also pro-Ukraine trolls, though also not that prevalent because the average person fluent in English condemns Russia's special military invasion freely and for free. Some French far-right trolls, some neo-Nazis though to be fair they're some of the oldest and most traditional denizens of the internet
Some pro-Bolsonaro trolls, a sizeable number of Chinese trolls, how could I forget!
Does that cover everything?
Oh, and @Andreas
Now we've covered everything.
I haven't encountered Iranian trolls. Maybe because of the language barrier. Iran has been a pariah online since forever so taking a stance against Iran isn't brave or particularly controversial.
I vaguely recall some Saudi trolls when the spirit of the poor chopped up journalist was haunting Western media, or maybe they were just genuinely lost souls.
@JourneymanGeek the likelihood of one entering the Tavern is very slim. It's (almost?) always been a regular feeling a little upbeat.
But as I said, since covid at least, they've reshaped online discourse. It was bad before that of course. One might even say it all started with Zuck or something
And I'm not being alarmist, you know how much I hate being the doomer
The age-old trolls were the politicians of course. It's obvious when you listen to Biden beat around the bush about one important question or another. But they've taken "prevention is better than the cure" to heart.
Anyway thanks for coming to my TED talk
I'm mostly just rambling because it's hot inside the car and cold outside
How are we defining "troll"? To me, a troll is someone who's primarily trying to cause discord. They don't really believe in what they say. They just say stuff designed to provoke a reaction, and to get other people to behave badly.
OTOH, there's the Righteously Indignant True Believer, who does believe in what they're saying. I think the latter is far more dangerous, and you need different tactics to deal with trolls vs True Believers. Of course, simply banning them or deleting their posts works in either case. ;)
@PM2Ring that's exactly how I'm defining it. Since something like 2013, countries have had trained armies of trolls sowing discord online. The most jarring example was the Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
@PM2Ring the RITB I can deal with. They tend to have real lives, and with a few exceptions, don't systematically invade various online circles to enforce that a certain view is popular, or to make others doubt their own beliefs etc.
They've been around since Athens was a city at least.
@M.A.R. Ok. They usually can't be convinced that they're wrong, though. OTOH, while they do try to convince others, they generally don't use the troll tactic of trying to make others doubt their own beliefs.
@PM2Ring the new wave of propaganda-spreading trolls take your most extreme views and make you think they're the norm and you're wrong for thinking they're extreme.
For example, if you're an American who likes to own guns, a Propaganda-Spewing Troll will make socks, create pages, discussions and what-not to make it seem like everyone knows Sandy Hook was staged and they were crisis actors.
Erin Kissane wrote about the Facebook fiasco in Myanmar. Worth a read, though it's depressing.
Especially the third part where it says FB bigwigs, including Zuck, knew long before the 2016 US election that there are state-sponsored armies of trolls out there faking stuff en masse and contributing to the crackdown on the Rohingya people, long before the real genocide itself took place
So you open a Reddit post, or an XXX thread, and you see a comment that makes your ears smoke. Check the user, you'll see their first two or three comments/replies and posts are kitten gifs, and the next three dozen are about Taiwan. Congratulations, you just found an account that belongs to someone paid by the Chinese government.
@M.A.R. Paid trolls are definitely worse than the amateurs who are just trolling for the lulz. The amateurs may have more tricks because they've been doing it for years. But the paid trolls have more incentive to troll. And if they burn out, they're easily replaced.
Badusha, which is literally a south usian biscuit that's frosted... mixture (deep fried mix of stuff. Think tasty deep fried salty breakfast ceral) ...
I think given how many times Muslim caliphates, sultans, kings, emperors etc. tried to invade various parts of modern day India, the sweet stuff is almost guaranteed to be the same.
@JourneymanGeek Indeed! FWIW, I originally included yoghurt in that message, but decided to remove it & keep things simple. Panir from yoghurt is the softest.
Not sure if it's worth investing in a HBO subscription at the moment. Depends on the cost. Already have Netflix and Viaplay, but they're so devoid of content nowadays. Heck, Netflix doesn't even let me watch seasons of their own series. From, for instance. Watched season 1 on Netflix. Had to watch season 2 and 3 (not fully released) while visiting my family, as they have a TV2 subscription as part of the TV agreement. You need TV2 to watch Netflix's own series. Wth? Anyway, I could probably
use a VPN for that.
NRK, the public broadcaster, also just decided to discontinue their PS4/5 app, which is what I relied on for the TV. Now I'm stuck to a browser on my desktop or laptop/HDMI.
Or I'd have to buy new hardware for the TV. Might as well spend that money on another streaming service, then.
Merkhav Mugan (Hebrew: מרחב מוגן) (lit. protected space), also known as a "miklat", is a reinforced security room required in all new buildings by Israeli law. A Merkhav Mugan is deemed preferable to a bomb shelter when the warning time is too short for residents to reach a shelter, which may be located some distance away. It also offers protection against high impact projectiles and chemical weapons.
== History ==
Security rooms are based on a 1951 civil defense law that has undergone several revisions. After Israel was attacked by Scud missiles in the Gulf War, the Israeli Home Front Command...
BTW, I was wrong before, for some time it is a requirement by law to add it to new buildings.
But naturally, most existing buildings don't have it.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The church is also the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Some consider it the holiest site in Christianity and it has been an important pilgrimage site for Christians since the fourth century.
According to traditions dating to the fourth century, the church contains both the site where Jesus was crucified at Calvary, or Golgotha, and the location of Jesus's empty tomb, where he was buried and resurrected. Both locations...
@Marco actually not really. I know most as general knowledge from what I hear and read around. I'm not religious, so don't have much knowledge "even" about Judaism.