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1 yr. ago

  • OK, here goes, everything I can think of. Probably forgetting some things or remembering them wrong. I'll put question marks around things I'm not sure of. Feel free to correct anything I get wrong.

    • Burma / Myanmar: two different names derived from the same language but from different registers. "Myanmar" is from ¿the formal register? And "Burma" from ¿the informal register?
    • Also related to "Bama", the main ethnic/linguistic group, who are traditionally Buddhist and speak a language that is part of the greater Sinitic-Tibeto-Burman group. Its own script (¿but related to Indic scripts?)
    • Many Buddhist monks and nuns, ¿often not for life but for a shorter period? A few monks extreme ethno-nationalists, expressing / inciting hatred of ethnic minorities in public and on social media (Facebook).
    • Lots of other ethnic groups around the edges of the country: Karen, Shan, Rohingya etc. Several long-running (like, since the 1940s) ethnic rebellions against the central Burmese state, often based in inland mountainous areas. These ethnic groups and rebels often finding refuge just across the border in Thailand, sometimes fleeing by boat to Bangladesh, India and Malaysia.
    • History of wars with Siam (Thailand). ¿Powerful empire 11th to 18th centuries? War elephants!
    • Bordered by Thailand to the east, China (¿Yunnan province?) to the north and Laos to the northeast; India and/or Bangladesh to the west, and the Bay of Bengal. Amazon Prime series Jack Ryan got the geography wrong (IIRC they claimed some "cove" (i.e. an inlet of sea or ocean) in the Shan state, which is up in inland mountains).
    • Mandalay is a major city ¿and port? there. And the inspiration for a casino in Las Vegas.
    • Coastal areas subject to cyclones, occasionally truly devastating.
    • Former British colony, briefly united with British India. Eric Blair (George Orwell) worked there in the British colonial administration.
    • Occupied by Japan during World War Two. British and some US forces fought against IJA there, inc Chindits and Joseph Stillwell. Lots of dense jungle warfare. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was set there, written by Pierre Boulle, the same author who wrote "The Planet of the Apes"!
    • "Golden Triangle": Kuomintang forces exiled from China by Communist takeover established themselves in northern Burma and went into the opium growing business. The Triangle, I think a reference to the area where the borders of three countries meet: Burma, China and Laos. Later, that area became a centre of both legitimate cross-border trade, and transnational (often Chinese) organized crime: people-trafficking/slavery, scam call centres, smuggling, casinos etc.
    • Aung Saan key leader in Burmese independence, assassinated. Father of Aung Saan Su Kyi.
    • Since independence, mostly long periods of authoritarian, military control, often with a socialist bent. The military is often called the ¿Tatmadaw? Oppressive, ready to use violence against the people.
    • Ne Win was one such military leader, Burmese of Chinese (¿Hakka?) ancestry.
    • Occasional periods of democracy or almost-democracy (e.g. the military writes rules that favour themselves, like guaranteed seats in the legislature; ¿veto power on legislation?). Periods of democracy usually ended by violent action from the military.
    • The Tatmadaw have dictated changes to names, flag, capital etc. "Burma" to "Myanmar", "Rangoon" to "Yangon". Moved capital from largest city Rangoon to ¿purpose-built? ¿Napidaw?
    • Old flag a bit similar to and often confused with the flag of the Republic of China (Kuomintang, still used in Taiwan). Some people from Taiwan now bring the old Burmese flag to international sporting events that ban the Republic of China flag, e.g. the Olympics.
    • Aung Saan Su Kyi long a leading figure in the democracy movement (NLD?). British husband. Spent long periods in exile and house arrest. The military wrote the rules to specifically exclude her ¿and her kids? from power e.g. 'no one with a foreign spouse or parent or children may become president'. So when she did "achieve power", she essentially governed through a proxy president. Subject of the film The Lady. Lost some favour outside of Burma when she seemed to be OK with the Tatmadaw's persecution of Rohingyas (Muslims accused of being Bangladeshi migrants).
    • Latest coup... 2-3 years ago? (The yoga influencer with the coup happening live in the background!) Led by a general whose "business interests" were beginning to be threatened by the actions of the almost-democratic government. Tacit or open support for the coup from China and Russia (including ¿arms sales?), condemnation from the West. ¿China building/already built major port or naval base in Burma?
    • Finally greater cooperation between mainstream Bama democracy supporters (especially younger ones, students) and the ethnic rebellions. Quite a lot of defections/surrender by Tatmadaw personnel to the rebels. Some battlefield successes for the rebels, including taking the major city in the Golden Triangle and freeing the slaves in the scam call centres. China maybe now more ambivalent: they prefer the pro-China authoritarians of the Tatmadaw but many/most of the victims liberated by the rebels were Chinese, and they want the Chinese gangs suppressed, which the Tatmadaw didn't do (¿too profitable?).

  • The Linux Mint forums have been knocked offline multiple times over the last few months, to the point where the admins had to block all Chinese and Brazilian IPs for a while.

  • I do. Used to use Google Reader, since its demise, Feedly, but exploring other possibilities like free-gratis hosting of FreshRSS (signed up tp Cheredeprince.net found via this page on free-libre online hosts: Chatons.)

    Great all-round feed: Metafilter, an old school content aggregator, collating "the best of the web" since 1999. Interesting content on all kinds of topics.

    If you want, you can even subscribe to posts with specific tags, .e.g. startrek :D

    Other feeds really depend on your interests.

  • Picard, on El-Adrel, perplexed AF

  • I wonder if that gif is banned on Reddit.

    RIP Brian Thompson.

  • Then put your little hand in mine There ain't no nebula or wormhole we can't climb

  • Nice report on FF mods and forks.

    To me things like Librewolf and Zen are FF mods, whereas Pale Moon and Basilisk are forks. Mods track the mainstream project, incorporating its updates. Forks say "Goodbye" and go on their own merry way. My 2 centavos.

    Got a bunch of these on my computer (FF, mods: Firedragon, Floorp, Librewolf, Zen, ¿Agregore?; fork: Pale Moon) and Zen has been my mainstay since last autumn.

    Also tried out a handful of non-FF-related browsers (Dillo, Falkon, Kristall, NetSurf, Servo). Falkon (using it now) seems to be the only one I can really use for proper web browsing. Servo is getting there. Netsurf and DIllo just don't seem usable with the modern web.

    I think I'll keep Zen as my main web browser, and Pale Moon or Falkon as a lightweight backup or for special purposes (e.g. web radio). And keep an eye on Servo.

  • TL;DR - After Durov's arrest and subsequent increase in Telegram content moderation, the Neonazi terrorists have migrated to... Twitter.

  • As a child he was homeschooled

    I think that's the bigger red flag.

  • Interesting, thanks.

    I didn't really know anything about AT Protocol. The idea & potential of the PDS sounds great. The centralized control of the PLC directory is concerning.

  • That's messed up.

  • They didn't want to stump up the cash for the fines & other costs.

    But there was nothing progressive about the fines the city was racking up: San Francisco’s Supreme Court win negates proposed EPA penalties in the hundreds of millions of dollars and mandatory sewer system upgrades that would cost billions and billions.

  • I can't tell if Picard is about to say "Engage", or is playing the world's smallest violin.

  • [So that they could avoid having to publicly vote for or against the "emergency" the Dear Leader is using as an excuse to impose economy-destroying tariffs]

    House Republicans inserted in their measure on Tuesday declared that, “Each day for the remainder of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day” for the purposes of the emergency that Mr. Trump declared on Feb. 1.

    https://lemmy.ca/post/40490906

    Me: There are 365 calendar days!

  • Truly, an earned death!

  • Hopefully that ↑.

    But I suspect most will be like ↓

  • Because they only lip sync. (You didn't think they could really sing, did you?)

  • Why the hell did you have to put that image in my head?!?!

    Nobody google biden-choking-chicken.jpg!

  • Also,

    Whoa, whoa, whoa! There's still plenty of albumen on those eggshells! You take 'em home, throw 'em in a pot, add some broth, a potato...

  • Also, Fox supports coops.

    Note: the "p" is silent.