Iceblade02

joined 2 years ago
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Honestly, I would recommend not books on atheism per se, but rather ones exploring non-theistic philosophy. Schools of thought amongst atheists and agnostics are just as diverse, if not more so than amongst theists. My world view is made up of many things, humanitarianism, empiricism and so forth. Ideas that build a foundation.

There is also the more emotional side, finding beauty and purpose in life. Personally I find myself coming back to the works of Carl Sagan, particularly "The pale blue dot". Capturing, at least for me, a lot of essence.

Here is a short excerpt that he read. Just, wow.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

What is the direction of causality here? Being physically able to bike to work inherently filters out a lot of at-risk groups. It'd be good to actually be able to read the study in order to check the methodology, and whether they compensate for these sorts of things.

Unfortunately, the uploader does not reference the source, which makes it difficult to check, and I'm not going to watch an entire video essay to try and find a reference in there (if it even exists).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

There's also umu!

It essentially (if I've understood things correctly) aims to replicate the behaviour of proton.

Works like a charm, I have a simple alias set up that will run almost any .exe - even installers and stuff. Only thing that hasn't worked so far was my digital exam software (that is essentially a windows rootkit) because it couldn't find the cursor images lol.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Idk if I'd call it 5d chess, more like a showman that uses drama with the intent of social manipulation without any scruples. That's how he managed to win both the 2016 & 2024 elections.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (4 children)

No, I highly doubt that. For one, it isn't feasible. A declaration of war wouldn't make it through congress, and is highly unlikely that the US military would actually execute such orders.

The primary purpose of Trumps posturing - at least in my analysis - is a retarded way of intimidating EU countries into militarization to enable shifting US troops to other theatres (Middle East, Asia).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Well, that's just called lying - US politicians haven't been fiscally conservative in a long time.

Compared to Sweden

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago

The tax rate is never the issue.

Maybe not where you live, but here (Sweden) where the average worker pays ~60% tax on their earned income the perspective is a bit different :)

Right now certainly isn't a time to be cutting taxes, but when the gov:t ends up... checks notes... spending 74mSEK on modern art for a rail link that had already overran its budget by 30% - it gets a bit jarring. Meanwhile hospitals across the country are in full cost cutting mode due to the ongoing recession and inflation.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Usually fiscal irresponsibility comes in the form of lavish promises (subsidies, tax cuts, projects etc.) with a jarring absence of an answer to the question "How are we going to finance this?"

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

Euro perspective - When I hear fiscally conservative, that means supporting a governmental policy that is frugal with spending and responsible with public assets and finances.

This has several parts, here are some of the most important:

a) Keeping a balanced budget - the government should not be spending more than it is collecting from taxes and income. (A little debt in dire times is fine, but that should be payed off when possible)

b) Responsible management and long term planning - the planning horizon should be counted in decades

c) Focusing on core tasks: national security, infrastructure, healthcare, education etc.

d) Not raising taxes unless strictly necessary, lowering them if it is permissible according to the above.

Socially liberal => supports personal liberties

Now why does government debt even matter? Well, because debt is owed somewhere, and if it becomes large may mean that the government is beholden to other parties for the debt.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago

Most research on human embryonic stem cells - currently impossible in western countries due to ethics concerns.

Theoretically, if a few stem cells from every embryo early on and frozen that might be a huge boon for them once they grow up to adults with potential health issues. Need a new heart? Grow one in a lab from the preserved cells - perfectly compatible.

Currently these kinds of things can't be explored, and whilst the ethics may be dubious the potential medical benefits left on the table are astonishing.

 

Feel free to also elaborate on life goals that you have achieved or failed to achieve, and how/why that happened!

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/24914378

[The following text is partly based on the linked article, and partly on other linked articles in Swedish.]

Salwan Momika has been assassinated on his balcony in Södertälje, Sweden, during a livestream. He was shot dead with five bullets, of which four were to the head (according to unverified sources), near midnight on the 29th of January, the night before his court verdict for alleged incitement was to be delivered. The verdict of his companion Salwan Najem has been postponed until February 3rd.

Salwan was an Iraqi refugee and controversial critic of islam living in Sweden on political asylum, due to a risk of torture should he ever return to his home country. He became known after repeatedly burning quran books during the Swedish NATO application process.

This developed into an international diplomatic crisis when muslims and islamic nations worldwide responded with outrage and threats, the Iraqi government demanding his extradition. The Swedish embassy in Baghdad was also violently stormed twice and set on fire.

Salwan himself was after this targeted with both a fatwa by Al-Qaeda and a price of two million USD in addition to a quran made with two kilos of gold was put on his head by the city of al-Kufa in Iraq.

Swedish police have not yet commented on the motive for the killing of Salwan, but SÄPO (Swedish security police) is following the investigation closely. Five people have thus far been arrested. According to Swedish Minister of State Ulf Kristersson it is too soon to say how this affects the security situation (original quote in Swedish):

"It largely depends on what the police and the Security Service conclude is behind this. I can guarantee that the security services are deeply involved in this, as there is clearly a risk that there may also be connections to foreign powers."

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/24851831

[The following text is partly based on the linked article, and partly on other linked articles in Swedish.]

In light of the alarming increase in bombings in Sweden, the Social Democrats are demanding the implementation of a large visitation zone in southern Stockholm. This is a type of measure they have previously criticized when it was legalized during 2024 by the current Kristersson government.

The Social Democrat legal spokesperson, Teresa Carvalho, said that "We are in a national crisis".

During the previous week, minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (Moderate Party) called a meeting with the police authority to discuss measures for addressing the crisis.

A press release from the Swedish Police states that many of these attacks, orchestrated by criminal organizations, are carried out by youths & children against entrepreneurs & businesses in order to extort them.

Whilst another five explosions rock the country in the past 24 hours, the Swedish Minister of State Ulf Kristersson commented in writing to TT:

"The criminal gangs show a complete indifference toward the public. This is domestic terrorism that we must combat with the full force of society."

Original quote in Swedish:

"De kriminella gängen visar upp total likgiltighet mot allmänheten. Detta är en inhemsk terrorism som vi måste bekämpa med samhällets samlade kraft."

Edit: Grammar

 

[The following text is partly based on the linked article, and partly on other linked articles in Swedish.]

In light of the alarming increase in bombings in Sweden, the Social Democrats are demanding the implementation of a large visitation zone in southern Stockholm. This is a type of measure they have previously criticized when it was legalized during 2024 by the current Kristersson government.

The Social Democrat legal spokesperson, Teresa Carvalho, said that "We are in a national crisis".

During the previous week, minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (Moderate Party) called a meeting with the police authority to discuss measures for addressing the crisis.

A press release from the Swedish Police states that many of these attacks, orchestrated by criminal organizations, are carried out by youths & children against entrepreneurs & businesses in order to extort them.

Whilst another five explosions rock the country in the past 24 hours, the Swedish Minister of State Ulf Kristersson commented in writing to TT:

"The criminal gangs show a complete indifference toward the public. This is domestic terrorism that we must combat with the full force of society."

Original quote in Swedish:

"De kriminella gängen visar upp total likgiltighet mot allmänheten. Detta är en inhemsk terrorism som vi måste bekämpa med samhällets samlade kraft."

Edit: Grammar

 

This video by the channel "After Skool" is based off of a 40 minute book discussion of "The Quest for Cosmic Justice", available here (1999).

 

Officials on both sides, while stopping short of confirming that a final draft had been reached, described progress at the talks.

A senior Israeli official said a deal could be sealed within a few days if Hamas replies to a proposal. A Palestinian official close to the talks said information from Doha was "very promising", adding: "Gaps were being narrowed and there is a big push toward an agreement if all goes well to the end."

...

Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration is now widely seen in the region as a de facto deadline. The president-elect has said there would be "hell to pay" unless hostages held by Hamas are freed before he takes office, while outgoing President Biden has also pushed hard for a deal before he leaves.

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