Not so sure about Iran. I have looked for unambiguous quotes from them but can only find kooky religious stuff about Mahdism which is kind of like extremist Christians with their second coming madness.

Well educated Iranians seem to be Atheist whereas even intellectuals in Israel can be right wing religious nuts.

Certainly Iranian proxy groups like Hamas have unambiguously calked for a global caliphate

“Hamas, which is widely recognized as an Iranian proxy, has leaders and official rhetoric that go beyond the goal of liberating Palestine and at times explicitly reference the ambition of establishing a global Islamic caliphate.“

“On December 1, 2023, senior Hamas official Fathi Hammad declared on Al-Aqsa TV that the Palestinians are preparing to establish an Islamic caliphate with Jerusalem as its capital. He and other Hamas leaders have repeatedly stated that the liberation of Palestine is just a prelude to bringing all Islamic countries—and eventually the entire world—under Islamic rule, referencing the conquest of Rome and America as future goals”

https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-leaders-our-goal-establishment-global-islamic-caliphate-not-just-liberation-palestine

For the record, my housemate of two years in Australia is Iranian. I also make music with an Iranian in Mashhad via the Internet (we jam electronic music). He is an extreme loner but tells me what society is like there.

Thanks.

And I didn’t know Signal had spam filters. It makes sense to not make that open source.

In my circle of 20 there has only been one instance of spam over several years. 3 of us got the same message.

Wiki citation:

86. The United Nations verified the recruitment and use of 4 Palestinian children (3 boys, 1 girl) by Israeli forces as human shields (3) and by the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades (1) as combatants in the occupied West Bank (3) and the Gaza Strip (1).

So that’s 4 examples of the IDF and 8 of the Palestinian militants. The numbers are not a scorecard though. These are just children and just the ones they had evidence of. Must happen a lot more, especially if you count adult shields.

I expect better from IDF since they represent a democratic government and so we should be hearing of the rogue soldiers being disciplined (jailed even). We rarely hear that.

Got a citation for that claim?

There are also claims of IDF sending civilians ahead of a raid in potentially booby trapped buildings.

But why waste our time on hearsay? It is hard enough examining all the documented evidence from each side.

In feel like there just aren’t enough of us trying to get at the truth. It is more like a game of football from the comfort of our Western homes where we encourage our team to keep going regardless of losses (on the ProPal side the encouragement for Hamas to not surrender is especially buzaare).

Going by this very targeted attack video, I find those numbers difficult to believe.

There just isn’t much explosive you can secretly pack into a pager. The strategy relied on body proximity.

Neither side seems interested in murdering everyone on the other side.

Iran’s intention is to eradicate a Jewish state in the Levant. Hamas have stated that they would repeat Oct 7 over and over (seems a stupid thing to say out loud even if one is on their side) and in fact their insane leadership called for world Islamist domination.

“We Will Repeat The October 7 Attack, Time And Again, Until Israel Is Annihilated; We Are Victims – Everything We Do Is Justified”

Whether we agree with the establishment of Israel in the first place or not, it aint going anywhere so to continue trying to eradicate it 77 years later exacerbates suffering.

Aboriginal Australians got a raw deal but are still doing better than Gazans because they didn’t continue warring. They are still fighting politically and rightly so.

Unfortunately the source code is not open

Wrong.

https://threema.com/en/why-threema/open-source

They are monthly not daily popups. They are daily at the start kust to make sure you memorize your PIN, then they peter off.

However if you ignore a monthly one then it doesn’t disturb you until the next monthly reminder. What is the point of a PIN if it can be ignored?

The pager attack was pretty targeted. Very low percentage of civilians killed (unlike the percentages of Hezbollah attacks on Israel).

It will be remotely human run.

Consumer car

Podcast on 99% Invisible with the guy, also talking about other one handed keyboards on the market (and why they suck).

40 minute uncut video of Tesla robocar in LA. Impressive. It may be a cheat using remote drivers I suppose.

Here is a short video showing Tesla robocar ignoring a school bus’ stop signs and flashing lights.

Don’t forget that there is also income from advertising and ticket sales.

I am no fan of Eurovision but it is good value for national pride:

Eurovision is funded by participating broadcasters and this contribution is a total of €6.2 million (£5.2 million), combined.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/tv/who-funds-eurovision-song-contest-24173525

Olympic gold medals don’t make money. It is for national pride. Even hosting the games does not always make money.

Actually I am Aussie. 12 years ago it was calculated that each gold medal costs us AU$12m (so about US$11m in today’s money). It embarrasses me.

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/they-kill-us-for-their-sport-williamson-laments-arts-funding-cuts-20121115-29ejt.html

Even if we were the only country researching…

I have heard GOP politicians saying something like “why should we fund a cure for a disease and everyone else benefits without spending a cent?”

Why doesn’t their national pride on the world stage extend beyond sport?

Why should the world benefit from our taxpayer funded research? I want my taxes spent on training Americans so as to let the world watch (for free) fast running and swimming.

Am still waiting for a skipping event in the Olympics.

A fairer comparison would be Eliza vs ChatGPT.

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