Post ATjyP0ic9LWdhcVi6K by plantgeek@geekdom.social
(DIR) More posts by plantgeek@geekdom.social
(DIR) Post #ATjy9s5rw1BobpAWTw by stux@mstdn.social
2023-03-18T12:49:35Z
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I hate weapons very much but the development has always amazed meFor example the cat-and-mouse game between tanks and anti-tank weapons is insane, almost like chess!At the end it's still money wasted if you ask me. How is it that we can design cruise missles that are launches from submarines in the ocean, can fly 4500KM, dodge radar and bust bunkers meters below the ground but we cannot clean water to make it drinkable in most countries
(DIR) Post #ATjyKk1EITxQkcBKpE by ravensrod@mstdn.social
2023-03-18T12:51:41Z
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@stux Water companies don't make enough profit to buy governments, arms manufacturers do.
(DIR) Post #ATjyOanKXBqhIiW6qG by stux@mstdn.social
2023-03-18T12:52:17Z
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@ravensrod I know but it's insane 😮 Aliens should be laughing at us so hard "Oh you dumb monkes"
(DIR) Post #ATjyP0ic9LWdhcVi6K by plantgeek@geekdom.social
2023-03-18T12:52:24Z
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@stux it’s true, old school tactics and formations are pretty intense and interesting, that’s why I enjoy a good RTS with tanks and warfare👍🏻
(DIR) Post #ATjyj1xPFpjpKryXx2 by vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de
2023-03-18T12:56:02Z
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@stux we could quite possibly have had (more affordable) mobile phones, wifi etc in the 1970s, but a lot of the expertise in radio frequency technology was diverted to the military industrial complex as part of both Cold War paranoia and leftover paranoia from WW II - and heavily gatekept as to who could use it (in my country even radio frequency allocation lists were classified information until the late 1990s)
(DIR) Post #ATjynwY6mxjC0jU9Me by stux@mstdn.social
2023-03-18T12:56:51Z
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@aetios that would be the best :D
(DIR) Post #ATjytv2jIk4N4qepSi by stux@mstdn.social
2023-03-18T12:57:59Z
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@vfrmedia Yup! Space travel also gave us a looot of new mainstream tech, maybe more exploration :mastogrin:
(DIR) Post #ATjzG8gjFXFplexiU4 by jeber@mastodon.social
2023-03-18T13:02:03Z
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@stux We are spending far too much to fulfill the wet dreams of the DOD and the JCOS. Something we often overlook is that the military budget also includes classified budgets of the intelligence agencies. Reigning those in is extremely difficult. I know during my time in the Army I saw a great deal of waste. There’s no incentive for them to control spending. All the money wasted every year could really help society.
(DIR) Post #ATjzOrakBQv5LlK4lU by stux@mstdn.social
2023-03-18T13:03:36Z
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@jeber And the amounts always amaze me so much, it's not even to comprehend by the 'normal person' and such agencies throw around with it like it's nothing
(DIR) Post #ATjzlO9PoG8GhYHTcW by 4bz@freeradical.zone
2023-03-18T13:07:38Z
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@stux @jeber I remember a buddy in the army trying to explain it to me. Essentially felt like it boiled down to "if you don't use it you lose it"So they'd have a day where they just go ham at the range and burn through all their ammo so they'd get the same amount on the next shipment - he'd bring me boxes of MREs that needed to "disappear" etc
(DIR) Post #ATjzoD1fd0v34D0GLQ by Mats@sueden.social
2023-03-18T13:07:44Z
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@stux We could clean water easily, but we don't want to.
(DIR) Post #ATjzude3ZW6pMW1XQu by nuncio@mstdn.social
2023-03-18T13:09:23Z
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@stux Military greed. Big generals are like big CEOs. Except instead of gigayachts they have islands in the South Pacific.
(DIR) Post #ATk0M03YM6Emgizqdc by vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de
2023-03-18T13:14:17Z
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@stux although space travel was itself fuelled a lot by Cold War competition between USA and USSR and linked to the military industrial complex - and premium prices they will pay for such things as RF power transistors/MOSFETS aren't something that companies like Phillips (now NXP) and Motorola wanted to give up. Its no coincidence that mobile phones only really started becoming affordable in early 1990s use of the Internet encouraged to normal public following the end of the Cold War >>
(DIR) Post #ATk13Voy89fxemvITw by kevinteljeur@mastodon.online
2023-03-18T13:22:09Z
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@stux The good guys need tanks to defend the water from bad guys with tankswait, now we have lots of guys with tanks and no water, ok, how do we blow the tanks up
(DIR) Post #ATk2Dt54bdeee5y12G by daniel@mynah.org
2023-03-18T13:35:13Z
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@stux I can't speak about other countries, but in the United States we have endless money for war and no money to feed the hungry, cloth the poor, or house the homeless. It is very discouraging.
(DIR) Post #ATkC1NS3NPKIcEOBvc by IAmDannyBoling@mstdn.social
2023-03-18T15:25:03Z
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@stux PREACH!!
(DIR) Post #ATkC9Rj1N3zSBeAnnE by bubi352@mstdn.social
2023-03-18T15:26:30Z
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@stux well "we" can, "we" just don't find it as lucrative.
(DIR) Post #ATkDm9daebinKxedDE by sambook@mastodon.online
2023-03-18T15:44:41Z
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@stux one word : "CAPITALISM", in full capital letters.
(DIR) Post #ATkGSAd7YQGaUBb60W by martijn@hachyderm.io
2023-03-18T16:14:38Z
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@stux how? Making missiles is more profitable. That’s how.
(DIR) Post #ATkHpPtV4IcgRQuImO by ohiorob@mastodon.world
2023-03-18T16:30:04Z
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@stux “Show me your budget and I’ll show you your values” is a pearl I’ve carried with me for a couple decades. Meant to apply to organizations but really it applies up to government and down to the individual.
(DIR) Post #ATkL2tARqFR0rGwxfM by goodthinking@mastodon.social
2023-03-18T17:06:07Z
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@stux How? This is how:“Water is, of course, the most important raw material we have today in the world. It’s a question of whether we should privatize the normal water supply for the population. And there are two different opinions on the matter. The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs, who bang on about declaring water a public right. That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution.” — Nestlé CEO Emeritus
(DIR) Post #ATkMZ3VD3Isa8FYyXo by ethanc@techhub.social
2023-03-18T17:23:09Z
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@stux “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” - POTUS (and former Allied Commander) Dwight Eisenhower
(DIR) Post #ATkOAP5Js8KljmpHPc by bananarama@mstdn.social
2023-03-18T17:41:12Z
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@daniel @stux The US federal government spends more on social security than anything else. There needs to be systemic change, not just more money.
(DIR) Post #ATkP5eQdUr8fpd5urY by daniel@mynah.org
2023-03-18T17:51:31Z
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@bananarama @stux Socials Security spending comes from payroll taxes specifically designed for the purpose. To compare that with military spending is comparing apples and oranges. The only contribution to the deficit by Social Security is the interest paid on the Treasuries purchased with Social Security surpluses in the past. The money would go to any lender.
(DIR) Post #ATkXxakOCQBbgWZ8Ma by donw@mastodon.coffee
2023-03-18T19:30:46Z
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@stux @donmelton I try to be as careful in my societal language as I am when folks ask me about software development projects. The question is almost never one of ability, it is a question of time, will, and money. We absolutely can provide clean water to almost everywhere. We - for a wide variety of definitions of we - choose not to.
(DIR) Post #ATkcA5DX8bXvTgPRyK by bananarama@mstdn.social
2023-03-18T20:18:01Z
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@daniel @stux That can all be true and the point still stands. The US pays a ludicrous amount of money for many social services relative to what it's populace gets.
(DIR) Post #ATkmNAoCew8U7qRT28 by daniel@mynah.org
2023-03-18T22:12:23Z
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@bananarama @stux On that point we agree. Unfortunately, too many social service programs have been handed off to the states where little of the money ends up in the hands of those who need it. Many states have proven they can't be trusted with things like TANF funds.