If you think the FSB had good intel, that means you think they decided to ignore it and allow the terrorist attack in Moscow to happen.

I don’t think they’re that evil. But hey, maybe you’re right.

Those Ukrainian Jewish Nazi ISIS supporters! They’re the worst!

Shoddy intel which was better than what the FSB had on offer.

Shame that the FSB doesn’t have better intel on what’s happening in Russia than the CIA.

Perhaps they were too busy tracking the gays after Russia recently labelled the LGBT+ movement terrorists. Perhaps they were tired after ensuring Putin won a sufficient margin against the communists. Or maybe some kid posted a meme on tiktok and they got distracted.

You misunderstand how Russian propaganda works.

It’s this:

The firehose of falsehood is a propaganda technique in which a large number of messages are broadcast rapidly, repetitively, and continuously over multiple channels (such as news and social media) without regard for truth or consistency. An outgrowth of Soviet propaganda techniques, the firehose of falsehood is a contemporary model for Russian propaganda under Russian President Vladimir Putin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firehose_of_falsehood

The Jewish Nazis in Ukraine funded ISIS! The CIA funded the ISIS attack! The CIA didn’t warn us! The CIA didn’t warn us in time! This was done by ISIS! This was done by Ukraine! The attackers were fleeing to Ukraine! They were fleeing to Belarus but we stopped them! We are war with NATO! We are not at war with NATO. If NATO gives Ukraine F16s Russia will be at war with NATO. If NATO gives Ukraine F16s, Russia will shoot them down, but not be at war with NATO!

Etc. etc. etc.

Never attribute to malice, that which can easily be explained by incompetence.

There’s a Craig Ferguson interview, where he says one of the secrets of some(!!!) of the most attractive Hollywood actors, is that in real-life they look like bug people. You know, weird looking, big eyes, huge head, tiny body. Looks great on camera and in 2d, not so much in the flesh. Probably also why IRC some Hollywood insiders call actors lollipop people. Stick with a big head on it.

A real friend wants their friends to be happy. Maybe think about that next time you selfishly decide not to go down on them.

Interesting reading the mod log and seeing what got your comment removed and you banned.

Here’s what I found:

Over the past year, numerous dissidents across Russia have found their Telegram accounts seemingly monitored or compromised. Hundreds have had their Telegram activity wielded against them in criminal cases. Perhaps most disturbingly, some activists have found their “secret chats”—Telegram’s purportedly ironclad, end-to-end encrypted feature—behaving strangely, in ways that suggest an unwelcome third party might be eavesdropping. These cases have set off a swirl of conspiracy theories, paranoia, and speculation among dissidents, whose trust in Telegram has plummeted. In many cases, it’s impossible to tell what’s really happening to people’s accounts—whether spyware or Kremlin informants have been used to break in, through no particular fault of the company; whether Telegram really is cooperating with Moscow; or whether it’s such an inherently unsafe platform that the latter is merely what appears to be going on. … Elies Campo, who says he directed Telegram’s growth, business, and partnerships for several years, confirmed this general characterization to WIRED, as did a former Telegram developer. In other words, Telegram has the capacity to share nearly any confidential information a government requests. Users just have to trust that it won’t.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-kremlin-has-entered-the-chat/

Do you know why NATO annexed Sweden?

Ugh. Short term thinking.

There’s a reason the BBC often has a lot of good stuff. They give some talented nobodies some money, tell them to make a show, with no expectation it’ll be a big hit. Sometimes it turns out to be a cult classic like Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, often the talented nobodies learn the ropes and their next show ends up being great.

Nurturing talent isn’t profitable, but you do it anyway because at least some of that talent will make you money a few years down the line.

Bit of a tangent, but go on the BBC sounds website. You’ll find loads of (science fiction) dramas from authors and actors you’ve never heard of. I suspect the amount of people who’ve actually ever listened to some of them is miniscule, bu itt’s a cheap way for the BBC to give new talent an opportunity to write and act in something, to develop their skills.

Fediverse bug. I see the correct thumbnail, but have seen the wrong thumbnail on other posts when using a kbin account.

Article:

“It’s on the lower end of what we would expect,” said Jamey Szalay, a plasma physicist at Princeton University who led the study. But “it’s not totally prohibitive” for habitability, he added. … “We don’t really know how much oxygen you need to make life,” she said. “So the fact that it’s lower than some earlier, wishful-thinking estimates is not such a problem.”

It’s been a long road…

Indeed.

If I do high effort stuff that takes an hour or more, I’m just discouraged by the lack of even comments. … Do you all even want that (seriously)?