absentbird

@absentbird@lemm.ee

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absentbird,

Yeah, everyone knows you can only prevent war by fighting in wars. War is peace.

absentbird,

I think you’re misinterpreting the quote. It’s saying that the pioneers of a warless world (global context) will be the ones who refuse service in current wars. It’s about how a refusal of war is integral to the mindset of a peaceful world. He isn’t advocating for asymmetrical disarmament, but for a global movement for peace lead by conscientious objectors.

absentbird,

Ah yes, the famous quote from fourth century Rome. How did that work out for them? I seem to remember a continuous series of wars leading to the utter collapse of western Rome before the end of that century. It also inspired the name of the Parabellum pistol (AKA Lugar) manufactured in Germany for both worlds wars. The quote doesn’t have the best track record.

I prefer si vis pacem para pacem.

absentbird,

There were many brave and accomplished citizens of allied nations who refused military service and who were integral to victory over the axis.

Alan Turing broke the German cyphers and was staunchly antiwar. Howard Florey won the nobel prize for the mass production of penicillin and rejected military rank. Einstein himself was an outspoken pacifist, but it was his research that made the atomic bomb possible.

If the allies had been as interested in forcing everyone into military service as the axis, it’s likely the war would have been even more bloody and prolonged.

absentbird,

Wars they were utterly unprepared for, yes.

Rome had the largest army ever assembled at the time. They did more military preparation than any nation in Europe. They had 56 legions of professional soldiers. How many more do you think they would have needed to be considered prepared?

Cool. You’re prepared for peace. You get into a dispute with your neighbor. Your neighbor is prepared for war. How does this end?

I’ve never had an issue with my neighbors that could be solved with war. Once I lived next to a guy who was pretty militant, but we got along alright. I hired his son to help mow my lawn. Maybe I’m just not good at getting into disputes.

In a geopolitical sense, it seems to be more about alliances than independent preparation. Nations can prepare for war and still get steamrolled, or prepare for peace and put up a solid resistance. I think a constant paranoia of war is more likely to do harm than conjure safety.

absentbird,

Got any examples?

Britain was absolutely not prepared for WW2 but put up a successful resistance. They had spent the decade prior, focusing on disarmament and the League of Nations. The US was not prepared for WW2 either, the attack on Pearl Harbor damaged nearly the entire battle fleet. For a more contemporary example, Ukraine was unprepared for the Russian invasion, but has been putting up more of a fight than anyone expected.

Or maybe you live in a society with a massive apparatus for the resolution of conflicts that relies on the threat of force in case of non-cooperation?

Then what was the point of your hypothetical?

absentbird,

He was part of the anti-war student movement at Cambridge in 1933.

absentbird,

Alan Turing didn’t refuse wartime service.

He was part of the anti-war movement while attending Cambridge. By your reasoning Gandhi was part of the military because he volunteered as a medic. Turing was not a soldier.

absentbird,

My point is that I’ve lived next to people preparing for war, and it was never an issue. I don’t see why people can’t coexist.

Hypothetically, I’m your neighbor. I feel like killing you. I have a gun. I have no sense of morality. What stops me?

My evasion, guile, and misdirection.

What’s your response to the hypothetical? Shoot first?

absentbird,

Turing was never a pacifist, but he was anti-war. He probably saw his work in signal intelligence as important to ending the war.

absentbird,

Alright, so by your reckoning Rome was not prepared for war, but the US was prepared for Pearl Harbor, and Chamberlain’s Britain was prepared for Hitler? Hmm. How about the Spanish Invasion of Portugal in the 18th century?

absentbird,

That doesn’t answer the hypothetical. Are you saying you’d call the cops? What do you do when the killer is coming for you with their gun?

absentbird,

Battery power could entirely satisfy the need with the right quantity, it just hasn’t scaled up yet.

The typical coal plant takes up 0.7 acres per megawatt of power generation. 0.7 acres of sodium-ion batteries can store 10-100 MWh of energy.

absentbird,

A 1GW plant takes up 832 acres, which would be 12 hours of power with 10MW of storage per 0.7 acres, or 120 hours with a high density 100MW configuration.

Smoothing out the daily cycles is exactly what we’re discussing: absorbing the excess during peak and using it to power through the troughs.

absentbird,

Wouldn’t it take more than an investigation? A grand jury would need to sign off on the indictments.

absentbird,

In a first past the post system of districts with single representative candidates, it almost always resolves to two viable parties. That’s the way it’s been for basically all of American history.

The parties can change, but the shape of the system remains constant: a vote is only effective when cast for the largest opponent of your least desired candidate. It’s unintuitive and discouraging.

The parliamentary systems used in much of Europe, for all their flaws, do allow for more robust and diverse representation.

Greater Idaho movement: 13 counties in eastern Oregon have voted to secede and join Idaho (ktvz.com)

On Tuesday, voters in Crook County passed measure 7-86, which asked voters if they support negotiations to move the Oregon/Idaho border to include Crook County in Idaho. The measure is passing with 53% of the vote, and makes Crook County the 13th county in eastern Oregon to pass a Greater Idaho measure.

absentbird, (edited )

Fuck Idaho. How about instead we go back to Washington Territorial borders and have the Evergreen State annex their whole crooked potato patch. They can have statehood back when they learn to behave themselves.

Washington Territory 1859

absentbird,

Please just don’t do this during a drought or burn ban. So many fucking fires caused by fireworks each year. So dumb. Don’t do it.

absentbird,

Voting is certainly not going to fix all our problems, but another trump term would make them unimaginably worse.

We actually have a shot at retaking the Supreme Court this cycle, but if Republicans win we’ll be saddled with decades of this madness.

absentbird, (edited )

I assume they mean the ones they show on the news after a mass shooting.

absentbird, (edited )

I assume they’re more likely to show pictures of the weapon when the gun isn’t legal or has unusual features. I hadn’t even seen a bump stock before that shooting in Navada made them big news.

absentbird,

I’ve seen stickers around the town where I live calling him “Jihad Joe” for helping the Palestinians. He gets hate coming and going, meanwhile thousands of tons of aid are reaching the people of Gaza because of him.

absentbird,

The pier is having trouble getting aid past the Israeli offensive, but over 1000 tons have already been airdropped, and once logistics are worked out for the pier it’s expected to deliver 500 tons of aid per day.

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