“leftist” means a heckton of different things depending on who you’re asking. Some people strongly feel that “leftist” means something distinct from “someone who is left wing”, whereas others don’t make that distinction. Of that latter category, some people use “leftist” to mean someone who is leftwing in an absolute sense, whereas other people use it in a relative sense, such that they would consider Bernie, who is on the leftmost fringes of a not very left wing (but more left wing than the GOP) party, a leftist.

I agree that when we’re talking about politics, it’s important to try to be precise in what words we use (especially when discussing politicians whose views may have shifted over time, as you highlight). However, the reality is that there is no single, agreed upon definition for terms like “leftist”, and no authority by which we can definitively say who is using it wrong or right.

Even if Bernie isn’t a leftist, he was certainly perceived that way by much of his party, who don’t care about making granular distinctions between “Socialist Democrat” and “leftist” when for the Democrats, both of those collapse down to “way more left wing than we want to go”.

Though I would also note that the person you’re replying to didn’t explicitly state that Bernie was a leftist. This isn’t just me being persnickety — I get that they did heavily imply Bernie was a leftist. The point I’m trying to make is that there are a lot of people who don’t think Bernie is/was a leftist, but, as one of the more left wing people in his party, could have been a passageway towards getting more candidates who are genuinely leftist (and indeed, some of the Dems pushing against Bernie likely shared this view)

Props to you for taking your outrage and funnelling it into something productive. I’m a nightmare for saying “I’ll do it later”, which, of course, means I never will (though I’m getting better at not doing this).

I think it’s more the principle of it than the money

Thanks for the link. There have been a few people in this thread making this point, and I was considering asking them to elaborate so that I can gauge what my risk is from using pip for python. I appreciate you providing a resource so I can go learn more about this

There are plenty of Israelis within Israel who are opposed to Israel’s war crimes and other crimes against humanity. If you doubt this, I recommend checking out the journalistic outlet +972, which has an editorial team of both Israelis and Palestinians, and have been speaking out against the Israeli state since 2010. They’ve written at length about how hard it is to operate within Israel when journalism such as theirs is heavily suppressed, but much of their work is also available in Hebrew, because they aren’t just writing for an international audience

Smart if so. Israel’s only been able to keep up its campaign of aggression because of US support (and I’m not just talking about this most recent war), and this seems like it could help drive a wedge between Israel and the US

It sounds like you’re in the affected area. Please accept my well wishes if that is indeed the case. What’s happening right now is disgusting beyond words, and I appreciate you giving your perspective

Thank you. I love you too

I’m really glad to hear this. FIFA might still be arses about it, but by New Zealand’s team being good sports about this, it will make it easier to hold FIFA accountable

Edit: also props to Mexico for making it clear they’re open to host also

Yeah, I hate the word “crisis” here.

Yeah, it’s a big “worst person you know actually makes a good point” moment

Removed by mod

Eid Mubarak, America.

I’m not glad for this war, but given that it is happening, I gotta admit that I am glad to see US hubris challenged so thoroughly

I’m sorry that this is the case. You deserve someone who loves and respects you enough to put in the work to understand what makes you feel loved and appreciated.

I like wearable fidget toys. I have an enamel pin of centrifuge tubes, which actually spins^[1]

I also have a couple of cool interactive pins from AtelierEumori (currently on break). I have this social battery pin and this TTRPG dice pin

There’s a couple of rings that I have long been coveting, such as this one, this one, or this one^[2]. I don’t own any of these, because they’re super expensive, but they’ve inspired me to learn how to make stuff like this — I’ve been learning how to use a jeweller’s lathe.

I like wearable stuff because otherwise I will forget them or lose then. I do have some begleri, which are as much as a skill toy as a fidget toy. This aspect of skill is why I like them — I like the feeling of practicing stuff. For this reason, a standard deck of cards is also something I like to fiddle with. Unfortunately, I tend to forget to take them with me, so I’m not actually very good at this stuff.

[1]: From dorbitalgames, but out of stock

Most of my understanding of the horrors of white phosphorus comes from the game Spec Ops: The Line, a game that initially presents itself as a generic FPS in which you’re a valiant hero, but later forces you to confront the effects of the war crimes you commit in the game.

That’s what’s going through my head right now when reading this. White phosphorus is an abhorrent munition to use, even if there were no civilians in the blast area.

Marmite is really good for this. Some of the other go-to “umami bomb” condiments aren’t vegetarian, but Marmite works well for vegetarians

I’ve found that I actually seem to use more em-dashes since they became understood to be associated with AI — it’s a defiance thing. I mostly type on my phone, and to type an em dash, I just need to long press on the dash.

Thank you! I appreciate you for ensuring the artist gets credit. Plus I now get to see more of their stuff, so that’s neat too

Oh man, you weren’t kidding. This is so cringe:

[Not Epstein]:

Energy is a concept like matter is

It’s first an experience then a human interpretation of hat experience

By reifying flashes of evanescent perceptual snap shots the notion of objective reality is created and gives us the capacity to quantify and measure - so matter / energy are useful

constructs but constructs nevertheless

[…]

Epstein’s reply:

“Invisible… only means you cant see it. . a chair in a blackened room. It is the unknowable that is real.”

That’s so painful to read. It’s not the fact that they’re crudely waxing philosophical about fairly basic metaphysics — I’ve done plenty enough of that myself to be familiar with having thoughts that feel deeply profound and original, but are like metaphysics 101.

However, I had the curiosity to actually go and try to actively learn more about philosophy, which led me to be thoroughly humbled by realising how basic my ideas had been (and how out of my depth I was when trying to understand actually profound ideas). I stuck it out, and now I’m slightly less of a fool than I was then, and significantly more aware of my foolishness. Whereas Epstein and co. don’t have the self awareness to take their philosophising beyond this absurdly arrogant intellectual circle jerk.

These are the rich and powerful who are running the world, folks. Epstein’s mate even said “Dinner with minister for economy tonight.”. Ouch.