20yrs ago I had to help my comp sci housemate build a website for his module. I was not a CS student.

Some things never change.

Alt: a single pane comic in which a person says to another person: "silicate chemistry is second nature to us geochemists, so it’s easy to forget that the average person probably only knows the formulas for olivine and one or two feldspars.

The other person says: “and quartz, of course”

The first person replies: “of course.”

The caption to the comic reads “even when they’re trying to compensate for it, experts in anything wildly overestimate the average person’s familiarity with their field”

Oof that’s very closed minded of you

That’s not at all what I meant.

I’m an ml user - just because it seemed okay to me when I first started with Lemmy - and now I learn it’s got a rep for being for tankies etc

If you look through my comment history you’ll see I’m probably just some lefty twit from Europe.

I by no means meant you should tolerate the scum that promote Putin or Pooh Bear’s agenda.

Just don’t assume everyone on .ml is a cunt. Be more open minded and less label driven.

Pay walled.

You are wrong.

This war is also in the interests of Putin.

Putin decided to start the war of aggression.

Putin invaded Ukraine.

Ukraine gave up its nuclear arms on the guarantee of security from Russia. Russia has violated that guarantee by invading them.

Putin can end the war today.

US can not end the war today. Even if it left Ukraine alone, Ukraine would still fight to the end.

EU can not end the war today. See above.

The fastest and easiest way to end the bloodshed is for Russia to withdraw today.

Leaving Ukraine to defend itself wouldn’t even end the bloodshed. After Russia has completed its revised objectives it would invade the entirety of Ukraine under newer revised objectives. Then it would invade other neighbours under other revised objectives. The bloodshed would continue until the USSR is reformed and a new cold war begins.

Those suggesting the only way to end the bloodshed is through capitulation to the aggressor need to study their history better to see that capitulation to the aggressor never stopped an aggressor, it just lead to them going further until stopped.

Imagine if the USA invaded Mexico - no one would be saying Mexico should end the bloodshed. And the USA’s adversaries sure as hell would be doing everything they can to help Mexico.

For those in the back: Putin withdrawing from his war of aggression is the only known way to end the bloodshed today. All other solutions would result in further bloodshed.

Oof that’s very closed minded of you.

No, because there are no stupid questions.

Yeah the irony certainly seems to be lost on them. I guess they just hope everyone had forgotten about how they lost the proxy wars of the cold war era, and are looking for a do-over.

Not to be a pedant but the US (and UK) armed and trained the mujahideen who largely went on to become the Taliban who oppressed their population and allowed al’qaeda to reside, train and plan attacks from within their borders which ultimately lead to the 9/11 attacks which precipitated a lengthy occupation by allied forces in which many more thousands died, and the eventual withdraw of said forces resulting in the Taliban taking back control, oppressing their population and no doubt once again providing a safe haven for terrorists aligned against the west.

I would say that if Ukraine ends up “like afghanistan” it would be a very bad thing indeed for everyone. Russia, the west, Ukraine. Everyone.

Europe has 10 sq km. Let’s not compare pommes to oranges.

The US is a net exporter of oil. They don’t have a hard dependency on the list and it doesn’t matter if they’re 6th or 60th - they have more than they need.

Which is what they said…GB is England, Scotland & Wales.

You’re thinking of United Kingdom, which is short for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Note that the island of Ireland is 2 countries and you can’t sink one without sinking the other…unless you saw it in 2 first…

It’s exclusivity deals that are the problem. Governments should legislate them away so that there can be competition.

Then we’d all choose the marketplace of our preference. Like supermarkets.

Video streaming, music streaming, games consoles, even mobile OSs all could benefit from some anti-monopoly legislation.

Gas prices feed through to consumers by raising the cost of energy for everyone except those not using gas. So it seems reasonable to not double count it by adding it to the basket as well.

The only real gas consumers use is for heating and cooking - and that is very low volume compared to the impact on us from costs to producers going up.

I love how readily people are to say shit like “bad programmer”. I bet most the time the person saying it is either not even a “programmer” or is so average they feel the need to belittle others.

Who even uses the word “programmer” to describe a contemporary software engineer anyway? I don’t think that job really exists anymore.

I think a careful balance needs to be found somehow.

Speaking only from my own experience: I have never touched C, and that is undoubtedly because of its legal status…while I smoked for more than half my life, undoubtedly because of the tobacco industry’s highly effective influence through the 20th Century.

I remember when cigarette brands were ubiquitous at sports events and media. Race cars, movie stars, sport stars, soldiers…pubs, clubs, planes, trains and automobiles. It was everywhere - killing people in horrificly slow and painful ways, making everything and everyone stink, staining our hands, clothes, walls, teeth and facial hair, littering our town centres and countrysides alike. And this was all happening with our eyes wide open - it wasn’t ignorance. It’s only through decades of government intervention through health campaigns, law changes and huge taxation that the tobacco industry’s grip finally weakened enough for us all to realise the horror we had walked into with our eyes open. Slowly, some parts of the world have managed to walk it back and smoking is now in the minority, but you only have to look at vaping to see how ready corporate greed is to take advantage of our influential children.

I’m not saying the above to scare people into thinking legalising cocaine would be the same - I am just highlighting what happens when the corporate world is allowed to act with impunity. I don’t think it’d be long before cocaine was back in coca cola.

On the other hand, “the war on drugs” seems to do more harm than good.

So can we trust governments to properly litigate and control legal and responsible distribution? I don’t know the answer, and I have no solutions…but the stakes are high - and so while I hope for change, I am also wary of it.

I think a lot of your post is spot on but one thing I do disagree with you on:

Meta doesn’t do anything “for fun” it does everything for profit. If their exec board thought that promoting well-being and good mental health was more profitable, meta would do that instead of the other shit you talk about. A minor nitpick of your post but I think it’s always worth bearing in mind that companies like meta are singularly motivated by greed.

https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/

You think the US has been sending weapons and money to Ukraine for the last 2yrs out of the kindness of its heart? Fuck no. The US has benefited immensely from the status quo and stands to lose a lot if Russian imperialism is not checked here and now. The only reason the US can even contemplate giving less is because Russia is so fucked from the last 2yrs.

What you see as “begging for money and guns” is just an observation of reality - a small country like Ukraine cannot stand up to a huge one like Russia without support, and it benefits the west greatly to give that support.

US foreign policy is not charitable and never has been.

Also lest we not forget that this is exactly what good relations and alliances are for - to give aid to the one in need because we’re stronger together. It stands to reason that those with the most, should also give the most.

Oh and BTW, the EU has given more to Ukraine than the US has.