@MechMK1 meterpreter

Are questions seeking tool recommendations off topic here, like they are on Stack Overflow?

@FireQuacker, I guess that's what some security researchers do, probably maintaining a list of IPs related to specific attacks and infections, and giving them a name (even giving names to hacking groups)

@ConorMancone if he was so racist, why was he dating a black woman then?

I mean, that kinda doesn't make a whole lot of sense, now does it?

@MechMK1 I can barely form a coherent sentence because that whole thing is so stupid.

@ConorMancone It reminds me of something, let me find it

I hate the way that so many people use "Trump Supporter" as if it is a captial offense. I'm not even one myself, but apparently half of the US thinks the other half should be drawn and quartered (or at least reported to the FBI)

"Hmmmm... this guy sounds like he's racist. Let's report him to the FBI". So stupid

youtube.com/c/TheraminTrees/videos

This guy made a fantastic essay which I have to find among his other fantastic essays

In it, he speaks about how if we have a perception of group A and find behavior that conflicts with that perception, there are multiple ways we can deal with that

We might adapt our perception of group A, saying "I used to believe they all do X, but it turns out some do Y as well"

We might rationalize that the person we talk to "isn't really a member of group A", since they do X.

Or, even more sinisterly, we can claim that they fake doing it.

Imagine thinking "Every Trump Supporter is a racist". And you find a white Trump Supporter dating a liberal black woman. You can say they only fake not being racist, in order to seem normal.

Racism is a very complex matter, which involves the fact that racism has always existed, and I don't believe it will go away soon, if ever at all

@reed I agree, and I think it also greatly depends on how we as a society as a whole want to deal with the issue

Do we wish to pretend race does not exist? Or do we wish to celebrate differences in races? We can't have it both ways.

This was the video

The logic behind racism is common to all humans, it's about abstractions, simplifications, also fallacies, defense of values and territory, interaction between cultures, etc.

The "us" and the "others" is deeply ingrained into all of us

So it really pisses me off to see people treat racism like it was a simple fashion, something that will go away if you wave a flag or shout a slogan or "take a knee" (whatever this latest sign is called)

@reed We did it, we set our profile picture to a black square. We solves racism.

Fuck virtue signalling

See, that's the advantage when you are like me. You have no need to virtue signal.

Oh, I thought you were racist too :D

Speaking of her, how is she? Can she already return to the UK? I hope she's doing fine where she is right now

I hope things will go fine for you, I really do

I do have my own worries. I hope the germans don't close the border until the 19th

Perhaps she could apply for a visa if she had a job in the UK?

How so? Conflict with India?

.....

@MechMK1 that's pakistan that has a border with india

Or what country was india having quarrel with for decades?

Fuck

Pakistan, yes

and china

and...

Damn, I need a coffee. Give me a second

make it a double

Ah yes, palestine was the country that is in the situation we're not allowed to speak of or else we're anti-semites

uh

Technically

Palestine isn't one country

@J.J for certain values of destroyed

That's an upside at least

I don't think "taking over" palestine is anything more than a political ploy

That Israel would win easily because the US would happily support them

@J.J uh, not really. It will cause a conflict fuelled by various parties who don't actually give a shit about the palestinians outside as a proxy for wars they lost.

Israel is the US greatest ally in the middle east, even though before the US were allied to Israel, the US had no enemies in the middle east.

Now, as a normal user, I might walk in on this conversation, go "nope" and slowly back away. As a mod, I feel a strange responsibility to make sure everyone is behaving. So, is everyone behaving?

@schroeder Yes, everyone is behaving well

I also had my coffee, so I am now more than 30% conscious too

@MechMK1 cool.

Plus I'll be off for 2 weeks anyways, more or less, since I will be on holiday

That might mean you will barely see me, or you will see me all too much

@J.J the region hasn't ever been peaceful in modern times

the hell with politics, the hell with everyone, and I hope you get your girl out.

Same!

@schroeder surprisingly well. As evidence by the fact no one is mad at me :D

@J.J its cyclic really

right now is probably going to be extra bad cause of all the politicians needing to hide their own inadequcies

speaking of politics

I voted today!

What did you vote on?

I however am not going to encourage you all to vote, unless you have a vote to vote, in which case what the hell are you doing go vote already

@MechMK1 for my MP(s)

Ah, I'm austrian, so it doesn't apply to me

I thought it was a meaningful vote, like new moderators or such. I'd vote to keep the ones we have

and indirectly, the shape of the government that will likely be dealing with Covid

@MechMK1 uhhh

Moderatorship is pretty much till death pain till you quit or are removed

Well there's a third path to it, but that's getting hired

Ah that make sense

If someone asked me whom I would trust more, the SEC.SE Moderation Staff or any of our current politicians, you know who'd get my vote

The sad thing is, if I had to vote today, I would not know who to vote for. I feel like all parties here are backhanded, claiming to have integrity while only working into your own pocket. It feels like voting for any one party is only to support corruption

I would go to the election, so they register that I participated and wasn't too lazy, but I would not mark any party and turn in an empty paper

You've just perfectly described my feelings towards US politics. The only difference is that I vote 3rd party which in the US is worse than not voting because everyone views it through the lens of "By not voting for my guy you are voting for the other guy, and he is the devil incarnate! You are literally murdering children!"

I'm not sure where the connection to murdering children comes in, but when I mention voting 3rd party that's usually the level of the response, from both sides

Because you are the enemy! You did not vote for me, so you must hate everything I value

@MechMK1 I'm in an interesting situation

I'd rather vote for one of the big two opposition parties

but they are not standing here.

(well we have a third this election and I kinda like em, but I want more fire and blood in parliment)

politics usually are the "Sofia's Choice"... no matter what you do, the results are terrible anyway

I have a directory with permissions drwxr-sr-x+. What does the + mean?

@JohnZhau More special attributes I think

@JourneymanGeek I used to vote for the opposition too

I think noscript just updated, and now google loops forever. Might be a bug, or might be something only I am experiencing

so now I'm forced to use Duck Duck Go :D

You weren't using DuckDuckGo already? :O

no, because years ago they said there was a big difference, Google was THE search engine. Although now they say DDG is catching up

but I haven't been using it

and I've never felt like making a thorough comparison of the results, with periodic tests, although it would be cool and I'm sure somebody else has already done it

I can't bear to use Google anymore because it doesn't have !commands

With DDG, you can stick a !w on the end to be redirected to a Wikipedia search, or !whois for a whois search, or !g for a Google search

There's a whole bunch of !commands

nice

After a quick test, I have to say I really like DDG. Results seem pretty good. Thumbs up

Interesting, didn't know about that

Here's a page about it: duckduckgo.com/bang

After you get used to them, it's hard to live without them

Can I ask a stupid question?

Why is wearing a face mask such a problem in the US?

I see people making claims that "they can't breathe" in a mask. My uncle has COPD and even he has no problem wearing a mask

Is this some political statement?

Probably

"I don't like it" quickly becomes "MY FREEDOMS"

But doesn't your own personal freedom clash with the freedom of others as soon as your freedom puts others at risk?

For example, a primary school teacher has the freedom to smoke cigarettes at home, but once they smoke them in the classroom, it would begin to affect others.

In that case, the "my freedom" argument would be the same, right?

Would I as a primary school teacher have the freedom to harm my students lungs?

@MechMK1 Yes, obviously it should, but you're assuming a certain amount of unselfishness

I mean, it's quite a philosophical question, isn't it?

How far may my own freedom tread on others?

I think this is partially why people hold so vehemently to the "masks don't work" or masks make people sick" lines.

The truth might be that you're a selfish asshole, or you can convince yourself that you're basically Robin Hood, trying to save people from an evil government.

I certainly understand the appeal of wanting to belong to an elite group who know "the truth" that everyone else seems to be too indoctrinated to understand. But in this case, the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming.