Zompist Bboard Again

So, what do you all make of Putin's new nuclear doctrine? Mostly posturing; he's trying to discourage European countries and the US. One idea I had is that he's specifically trying to scare the voters , who may or may not care strongly about Ukraine and could pressure their governments for peace. T...

So one part of is that every country voting in 2024 has rejected their current governments because of inflation due to Putin and megacorps. What if Putin did it deliberately? Inflation in these past few years has many causes; the chief ones being COVID and energy prices (corporate greed also, but t...

I'm posting this here because I'm not sure where else to post it. It's a writing question, about something I'm trying to write (although I didn't manage it to write anything for the last few weeks). I'm putting it behind a cut because it contains spoilers for something I may or may not publish some...

I'm pretty sure Céline (so early 1930s) uses it with the 'dude' meaning. But most Céline characters are pimps(*) so that doesn't help.



(* not actually true, they're just immoral; but the joke is funnier that way!)

On a lighter note, the Académie Française came out with a new edition of its dictionary, and it's so out to date as to be hilarious. But do we really expect anything else? Plus ça change, plus ils sont la même … No, it's exactly what I expected :) I did learn an interesting bit of etymology!

Nort, your descriptions of conservatism are excellent. As for TERFism -- from what I see, it seems to be a way for kind-of conservative women to be conservative while denying they're conservative at all. At least part of it. [hr] On a lighter note, the Académie Française came out with a new edition ...

As far as I can see, 4B is a reaction to misogyny in Korean culture, which from what I gather is incredibly bad and made even worse in recent years by anti-feminist backlash. I don't know realistic that reddit thread is: https://www.reddit.com/r/Feminism/comments/1e4pzqg/what_the_hell_happened_in_so...

Why would the Russians suddenly become competent? Why would the Europeans suddenly kowtow to a US that rejects them? Even taking Russian incompetence into account, the Ukrainians can't do much without Western help, specifically weapons and military supplies. That's something a Trump presidency may ...

Thinking back on all this... I think it's fair to try to understand the defeat, and to figure out what motivates Trump voters. I certainly try to myself! But I think a certain amount of 'what the fuck is wrong with you people?' is understandable too, and probably being a bit tough towards far right ...

I admit that my knowledge of history isn’t great, but my understanding is that most real-world monarchies haven’t been all that stable, despite all this being true. No matter how much prestige there is already, there’ll always be some people who want even more… Monarchies can be stable. The French ...

I've just learned that a valued colleague--one that I publicly defended when the University was trying to punish him for his participation in a pro-Palestinian rally on campus--has been credibly accused of preying on women here. I don't blame myself for not knowing (abusers are notoriously skilled ...

As for the economic stuff, yeah, that's true, but it's neither anyone's fault, nor can anyone do anything about it. It's part of the nature of things that in a large, complex economy, wealth is created by a lot of complicated processes that are more likely to happen in cities than in the countrysid...

The congratulations are a given; Meloni looked enthusiastic though; Orbán is definitely overjoyed. It's hard to interpret such things, but Macron was among the very first to congratulate Trump (before the AP calls). I doubt Keir Starmer is a Trump fan, but he'll still place the special relationship ...

We definitely have all the branches of alternative medicine mentioned here too. Especially where I live. That bit with the cow horn (which also has to be filled with cow dung) is part of something called biodynamic agriculture. It's very common in wine growing. Most people figure biodynamic agricult...

Man in Space wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2024 12:32 pm I found this series of slides illuminating.

It was, and so was the article. And, I should add, curiously relatable.

Sorry about derailing the thread! I wasn't expecting that. <snip> Thank you, very interesting! Do you have that kind of folk healers in Germany? I'd expect you do -- the cultural gap is not that great. Coupeurs de feu are folks that can supposedly cure burns. In France, people wholeheartedly believe...

It was a coupeuse de feu talking about her gift, on Threads I think. The trouble with these <redacted> <redacted> <redacted> apps is that you can't find posts anymore when you look for them. Coupeurs de feu are folks that can supposedly cure burns. In France, people wholeheartedly believe in them, e...

My first thought is that magic or no magic, demographics matter a lot in war. So Melland is going to have trouble against Xularn in an open battle, magic or no magic. This could be made up through logistics, or superior terrain. One possible model is to treat the fireball throwers as artillery, and ...

Oh, I hear apparently Scholz is talking about some sort of deal with the CDU to keep things going?

No. There is still reason to keep living — as Kamala Harris just said, to ‘keep fighting’. There are still things you can do to enjoy life. Talk to someone: call 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org/ Life will never get better for me. That much is obvious. All the bloggers and pundits I follow agre...