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Brendan Rodgers posted:That would mean they planned and executed this in like 6 weeks. Presumably there were earlier signs of that rapprochement that would have been apparent to people plugged into the relevant diplomatic and intelligence channels
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Oct 8, 2023 14:04
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Microplastics posted:You said truculent twice in that post. I let it go the first time but when you said it a second time you forced me to look it up. So now I know a new word. It’s a solid word, fun to say as well. Matter, just finished Surface Detail and really enjoyed it. Only got this and Hydrogen Sonata to go ‘til I’m done with Culture 
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Oct 8, 2023 14:22
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the only one I could never finish for reasons I forget is Look to Windward
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Oct 8, 2023 14:24
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LtW and Matter were the least page-turny for me, but I loved them all. I'm now just going through them again slowly as audiobooks while I fall asleep. Hydrogen Sonata was great, now I'm in Use of Weapons and the disjointed chapter structure combines with my sleepiness in a way which makes it really kaleidoscopic
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Oct 8, 2023 14:27
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Recently, I read and enjoyed Raw Spirit. It's not his M stuff but it is pretty good.
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Oct 8, 2023 14:27
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Beefeater1980 posted:According to Al-Jazeera the specific casus belli was allowing Jewish tourists into the Al-Aqsa mosque over the holidays, whereas you would think it would be the indignities and cruelty of the occupation. Trying to pin something that must have been planned and prepared for months if not longer and occurs on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War on any recent events sounds laughable tbh. What Hamas leadership's motivation was for staging an operation of this scale may remain a mystery, it's not easy for a secular western humanist to get inside the head of a religious nationalist extremist and see what they see. It's just as difficult as it is for outsiders to rationalise why Tory leaders were so eager to walk repeatedly into rakes with Brexit when every rational analysis told them that they would only get a rake handle in their face.
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Oct 8, 2023 14:31
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its because they were paid by the rake makers op
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Oct 8, 2023 14:34
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i've only read a couple of Cultures but i like it when the robots say "gently caress"
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Oct 8, 2023 14:38
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NotJustANumber99 posted:its because they were paid by the rake makers op 
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Oct 8, 2023 14:44
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Jakabite posted:Only got this and Hydrogen Sonata to go ‘til I’m done with Culture Have you read Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds?
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Oct 8, 2023 14:45
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Brendan Rodgers posted:Have you read Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds? Oo no, tickle a similar itch?
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Oct 8, 2023 14:51
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Jakabite posted:Oo no, tickle a similar itch? Yeah it's like space opera written by an Astronomy PhD so it's got a similar thing going where you get that grand space opera narrative but with more of a focus on cool science stuff instead of laser sword duels. Little more of a cosmic horror vibe though, also there's no FTL, so you get relativistic space travel shenanigans.
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Oct 8, 2023 14:53
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I can defo jam with that, thanks!
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Oct 8, 2023 15:10
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https://twitter.com/SophyRidgeSky/status/1710992586050039910 My twitter troll friend is a greater threat to democracy than these cunts 
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Oct 8, 2023 15:21
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Brendan Rodgers posted:Have you read Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds? Space Anarchists at war with Space Hivemind Communists while the Space Libertarians cruise around replacing their torsos with accordions.
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Oct 8, 2023 15:32
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If you like space opera, I recommend Pandoras Star and Judas Unchained (a 2-parter) by Peter F Hamilton. Ian Banks, my favourite is the Algebraist, and that's not a culture one. Its a bit heavy at the start too, takes a good 1/3rd before it really kicks off, but the least half is worth the buildup imo.
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Oct 8, 2023 15:42
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New threat to democracy just dropped. Not really different than fake news except for *~*AI*~*. Seems like it would be less effective against someone who has a better-defined public persona and set of principles.
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Oct 8, 2023 15:49
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OzyMandrill posted:If you like space opera, I recommend Pandoras Star and Judas Unchained (a 2-parter) by Peter F Hamilton. The problem with Hamilton and Reynolds is that they can get a bit liberal/libertarian/fashy, compared to Banks. There are other writers even worse than that obviously.
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Oct 8, 2023 15:52
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domhal posted:New threat to democracy just dropped. Not really different than fake news except for *~*AI*~*. Seems like it would be less effective against someone who has a better-defined public persona and set of principles. the strategy is to let voters make up their own policies that you believe without you having to say them but not like that
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Oct 8, 2023 15:58
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fuctifino posted:https://twitter.com/SophyRidgeSky/status/1710992586050039910 Galloway has fallen for it lol
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Oct 8, 2023 15:59
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domhal posted:New threat to democracy just dropped. Not really different than fake news except for *~*AI*~*. Seems like it would be less effective against someone who has a better-defined public persona and set of principles. The difference between this and things like the ability to lie, client media, voter suppression etc, is that this is something that is not exclusively in the control of the people already in power.
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Oct 8, 2023 16:00
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Z the IVth posted:Space Anarchists at war with Space Hivemind Communists while the Space Libertarians cruise around replacing their torsos with accordions. Yeah, the radically different real world conditions, locations, and technological paths of those human factions radically changed all their politics, it's quite materialist, not utopian but not quite dystopian either, it simply is what it is.
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Oct 8, 2023 16:03
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OwlFancier posted:The difference between this and things like the ability to lie, client media, voter suppression etc, is that this is something that is not exclusively in the control of the people already in power.
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Oct 8, 2023 16:07
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Alastair Reynolds is one of the few writers that makes space feel big to me and actually examines those implications for humanity. Like when it takes decades to communicate with or travel to the nearest human settled planet, there's no real overarching civilisation any more, and humans kinda start becoming separate, perhaps incompatible species. Just differing gravity levels can have wild effects.
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Oct 8, 2023 16:12
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OzyMandrill posted:If you like space opera, I recommend Pandoras Star and Judas Unchained (a 2-parter) by Peter F Hamilton. Yeah the duology is amazing, I absolutely loved those books. They had such a truly epic feel to them. Reminds me, I need to read his Void trilogy, set a few thousand years in the future m
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Oct 8, 2023 16:18
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Did cyberstarmer commit to a policy? Ken MacLeod is another scottish writer that does sci-fi. The Star Fraction has a bizarro future UK.
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Oct 8, 2023 16:21
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Brendan Rodgers posted:Yeah it's like space opera written by an Astronomy PhD so it's got a similar thing going where you get that grand space opera narrative but with more of a focus on cool science stuff instead of laser sword duels. You call it a space opera and yet I hear no singing.
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Oct 8, 2023 16:29
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Did you know westerns used to be called Horse Opera?
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Oct 8, 2023 16:30
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smellmycheese posted:Galloway has fallen for it lol
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Oct 8, 2023 16:34
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Loonytoad Quack posted:DM me your details and I'll ship you a nice bottle of something, you keep me plenty entertained with all your fash baiting in this thread, it's the least I can do.  THE POISON HAS LANDED!!!! Thank you so much!!! I never expected anything as nice as this, and it's a malt I know well from my previous life. I don't think I've actually sampled this for ~18 years!! Blown away. Thank you.
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Oct 8, 2023 16:35
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Goon love is either excessive or deadly, there is no in-between.
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Oct 8, 2023 16:36
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forkboy84 posted:You call it a space opera and yet I hear no singing. In space no one can hear you sing
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Oct 8, 2023 16:36
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Cringe 
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Oct 8, 2023 16:40
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Brendan Rodgers posted:Did you know westerns used to be called Horse Opera? https://twitter.com/SoloFlow786/status/1669186970629844993
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Oct 8, 2023 16:44
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fuctifino posted:
False advertising there, 'made by the sea'.
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Oct 8, 2023 16:48
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smellmycheese posted:Cringe The weird effect on the flag makes it look like it has 2 lightning bolts in it.
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Oct 8, 2023 16:55
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smellmycheese posted:Cringe I just got an email about that. I haven't paid you in two years you traitorous shits and double gently caress you for 'Your new membership card proudly features Clause IV, Part IV of our constitution: “Through the strength of our common endeavour, we achieve more than we achieve alone.”'
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Oct 8, 2023 17:05
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fuctifino posted:
You're welcome, don't drink it all at once. Or do, whatever, life is pain.
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Oct 8, 2023 17:12
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reminder that the notorious UK goon patio killer was never found enjoy your bottle of
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Oct 8, 2023 17:22
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OzyMandrill posted:Ian Banks, my favourite is the Algebraist, and that's not a culture one. Its a bit heavy at the start too, takes a good 1/3rd before it really kicks off, but the least half is worth the buildup imo. I reread The Algebraist recently! Love the Dwellers. A whole civilisation built on trolling each other and other species. Revelation Space I remember mainly for the tension building throughout most of the book, proper page-turner.
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Oct 8, 2023 17:33
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