Real life is not speech and debate, and it isn’t an ad hominem to look at Meta’s past actions and to expect that they will continue in the same way.

We don’t have to have a crystal ball and be able to detail exactly what will happen and when to know that this is bad news. Expecting random internet users to outthink a mega corp and send an accurate and verified copy of their plan is absurd, and it seems like a bad faith attempt at discussion.

The main thing is that you don’t pull attention. Don’t try to share stories about similar things you’ve gone through immediately, start like others have said - noises that indicate you’re listening. Look up reflective listening skills and do those things.

If they seem to want advice, you can ask, “Hey, I don’t wanna give you any advice if you don’t want it. I can keep just listening, but your (pause / frustration / whatever) makes it seem like you might be looking for a possible solution …” And then see what they say.

I’ve got one like this. She fusses at me if I enter a room and do not stop to massage her. Not just pet. She wants a claws-out-to-hold-stable massage and will follow me around until she gets it.

As someone who isn’t out in nature 1) purporting that I can bring you to the titanic with 2) my home made submarine that 3) I refused industry advice to build, I don’t see how any of our interactions with subs somehow makes this dude less of an idiot.

And you can leave it uncovered in the fridge (use a rack and a drip pan) and the airflow will dry the outside. This gives a better sear overall.

This - I loved multireddit but it wasn’t an autosub. It was just a convenient way to organize your subs once you had them set. If I was feeling too burnt out on the news, I could switch to a multireddit with just cats, hobbies, and food.

That’s the thing. We have never had particularly good spy networks in Russia. During the cold war, it was nearly zero. It was easy for them to get an american to sell out for cash, and it was a lot harder to get a Russian to sell out since their families would be killed.

There’s a great book by Anne Jacobsen called The Pentagon’s Brain that discussed in depth the nonsense that we paid for as “studies” on the cold war and Vietnam. Basically, the generals would direct studies and funding to scientists who supported the arms race war narrative, with nearly no ability to get good information. So most of our “intelligence” was speculation. And turned out to be completely wrong once stuff was declassified.

The thing about dictators is that they want more. For themselves. If gutting 100m worth services or taxes gets them $10,000 that they themselves can personally use, they’ll do it.

Everyone should read the dictator’s handbook, or some other explanation of selectorate theory.

For sure. The arms race was real…we were just sprinting the whole thing and had more manufacturing capabilities still spun up from the war, while Russia was decimated and we just didn’t know.

I’ll check that out. Thanks for the recommendation!