Notices by Eh Eye Ate Dub Yah ✡︎ :ally: (admin@mastodon.ai8w.ddns.net)

@nerthos

Lockheed designs products used in the civilian and commercial sectors as well. In fact, most of their products are used in, or the source of the derivation of products used in, non-military applications.

Taking a job at Lockheed wouldn't necessarily mean you're designing weapons to, for example, shoot someone named Brian in the back in the wee hours of the morning...

@sun

@nerthos

Is not one of the State's jobs to defend its citizens?

How is a State (Israel, Iran, Germany, the US, etc, etc, etc) supposed to defend its citizens - one of the jobs its citizens pay taxes for - without the use of weaponry?

States which do not have a strong (or overwhelming?) military industrial complex end up in situations like Ukraine is in now - under attack by other States (Russia, in this case) simply because a leader wants better ports to launch more attacks from in order to engage in World Domination (my impression, not necessarily fact).

@sun

@nerthos

I'm uncertain where you got your impression stated in your last paragraph of your latest reply (regarding the last paragraph in my reply)...

In essence, I stated your point. Russia is using its military-industrial complex to take territory - exactly in the way you describe. Ukraine's M-I complex isn't/wasn't strong enough to be a deterrent to that attack, so Russia did what it did. The US (and NATO, the EU, and other entities) are using their M-I complexes to help Ukraine defend its citizens. This is, in my view, an honorable use of weapons.

In short, from my perspective, and given the information I have on the subject, Russia is doing the evil things, Ukraine, the EU, NATO, the US, and others are doing the Honorable things, using these weapons "of war" to do what they're doing.

If Ukraine has done something to threaten Russia that I don't know about, I blame the news media for not reporting it.

Israel is defending itself from terrorist attacks coming from Palestine - honorable. The collateral damage from Israel's attacks is devestating to non-combatant Palestinians - not honorable. Both are using the products of the M-I complexes of their (and others) country (countries) to root out a terrorist group which has, unfortunately, nearly fully integrated itself into the population of Palestine.

Palestine (and Hamas) were trying to retake lands that were taken from them by the UN back in the 1940s after WW2. They were/are attempting to regain what was taken from them by force.

Both parties' intentions are, in essence, honorable. It's difficult to NOT see that if you take a step back.

I have no issue with a State using its M-I complex to aid an ally, or a country which is being unjustly oppressed. (Ukraine/Russia situation there).. I do have an issue with States (and yes, I see Palestine as a State in and of itself.. not a US State, mind - no orangeman crap here) using their M-I complexes to defend themselves while ignoring collateral losses (what's going on in Palestine now) or to attack purely civilian targets which have no military or defensive value (Hamas' attack on the music festival, or launching mortars/missiles at civilian neighborhoods in Israel).

There is no black/white dividing line here. It's all grey. How dark that grey gets determines the morality of the action. attacking military targets embedded in civilian areas requires surgical strikes, not bombs and explosions - Israel is using its M-I complex the wrong way, there. So is Russia, given the news reports I've seen, which, I'll grant, are slanted towards the "Western" viewer here in the U.S.

So, where do you get that I won't be convinced, when, it seems, we agree on this subject? Or are you just shitposting?

@sun

@lain

That's a fair point. Perhaps I should've stated "all PUBLIC universities in the US"... Hillsdale, being a fully private institution, may not take federal funds - I don't know and haven't got the time to research that right now - however, what I stated applies to all public universities in the US, including UC Berkeley, Harvard, Yale, and others.
Notre Dame is, AFAIK, fully private.. yet they produce engineers, too.

@sun

@sun

A couple of questions to clarify where you're coming from, so I understand your point of view.

1) Are all weapons systems inherently evil?
2) Are weapons used to defend or deter attackers evil?
3) Are the things used to destroy the library at Columbia considered weapons?
4) are the companies that produced the shoes used to stomp and break tables part of the military industrial complex?
5) are the companies which produced the cloth which was (in this case) used to try to shield the identities of the "protesters" at Columbia part of the military-industrial complex because they produced articles which were used for "stealth"?
6) how far do we stretch the definitions in order to justify waging war on a university in order to protest the waging of war?

@sun

Again, a general statement without any supporting information.

How are colleges and universities a "necessary part of the war production pipeline"? Are their products (educated people, in this case) ONLY used for the "war production pipeline"? If not, then what percentage of their students end up engineering "weapons of war/defense"?

Please clarify your point.

Please understand that it's difficult to take anyone seriously, or assume that they're being serious, when they post from a domain such as "shitposter.world"... I can't tell if you're being serious (and, thus, engaging in discussion) or shitposting (and, thus, attempting to divert or misdirect the discussion, or simply waste time, like a discordian).

If you're attempting to engage in actual conversation, then simple one-line statements do nothing to add understanding to your point of view - I can't glean from "X's actions came to this result" without understanding how you came to that conclusion. I can't tell if you're simply parroting views you've heard because they sound like they fit with your feelings, or if there's been any kind of real thought process behind your point.

So, the hard question: are you wasting my time by shitposting, or are you trying to engage in real discussion?

@sun

Directly? In what way?

Did Columbia accepting federal funds (which ALL universities in the US do) pull any triggers? Launch any missiles? Start the engines on any tanks?

I am, of course, assuming you are equating "military-industrial complex" with the US Federal Government.. I'll grant there are ties between the two, but they are not one and the same.

I am still trying to understand and grasp the mentality: "I am angry about the actions of X, so I should be allowed to destroy the property of Y and Z." where Y and Z have little to nothing to do with X.

Example 1: "I am angry about Musk and Doge, so I should be allowed to destroy the cars owned by Tom, Dick, and Harriett."

Example 2: "I am angry about Palestine, so I should be allowed to destroy the library at Columbia University."

How does this make any sense? Could someone explain it?

If the musk haters were destroying musk's personal vehicles, I could see my way to understanding at least part of it, but destroying the private property of someone who bought a Tesla? Wrong target.

...unless I'm missing something?

@sand

Well, if you can convert litres to bowls of poutine, those in the South of the US can convert that in their heads to bowls of gumbo, and then the prices become apparent.

Wow... Just.. Wow...

#Funny

There seem to be a lot of misconceptions about how to set up #mastodon .

I'm here to clear them up.

1. You do not have to sacrifice a duck. Any waterfowl will do.
2. The bit about dancing around naked in a forest glade? While dancing is fun, you may just walk.
3. When the demon appears, you needn’t chant in Latin. It is fluent in all languages.

The rest of the guide is correct.

#MastoAdmin

NEW #PRIVACY ISSUE WITH #facebook As of tomorrow, Facebook will creep into your bathroom when you're in the shower, smack your bottom, and then steal your clothes and towel. To change this option, go to Privacy Settings > Personal Settings > Bathroom Settings > Smacking and Stealing Settings, and uncheck the Shenanigans box. Facebook kept this one quiet. Copy and Paste on your status to alert the unaware.

@MastodonEngineering

Just upgraded to this (via glitch-soc) and everything seems smooth...

One thing I wish existed was a way to set a max-chars-per-toot variable once in a main config and have all the various spots that need to be edited reference that variable instead of the fixed value of 500.

I'm sure someone has suggested this in the past, but every time I update (which is weekly) I have to stash my changes, then re-edit three or so files to get back to where I started.

Thanks for all the outstanding work. I'm actually learning things from your (the plural "you" there) code.

@GossiTheDog @jerry

The memes today are ON POINT! #Crowdstrike

@freemo I (mostly) agree with your point.. it was just the troublemaker who blocked you isn't the author of the first toot... and you're probably better off without that troublemaker anyway.

@freemo
To be fair, though.. the toot to which you replied was authored by a different person than the one who asked for citations... or at least a different account.

To those who believe that hating those who hate you will accomplish anything at all: you're wrong.
Those who hate you will only feed on your hatred of them, which will only feed your hatred of them, which will only fuel their hate even more, until all that is left is hatred.
If you're someone who hates those who hate you, tell me now so I can engage /dev/null.

@wild1145

There are people who would moderate for free given the right motivation.
"Keep the actual nazis away" is a good reason to want to moderate... but you'll want to find people who know the difference between "someone slightly to the right of me" and actual nazis...

@freemo