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| DonJon |
Posted on 19-03-15, 06:11
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 Post: #46 of 88 Since: 11-04-18 Last post: 1882 days Last view: 1882 days |
Posted by tomman oh god, I hope he's not here... the old place had enough troll/sockpuppet as it was... |
| CaptainJistuce |
Posted on 19-03-15, 06:25
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Custom title here
 Post: #322 of 1164 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 63 days Last view: 13 hours |
Posted by DonJon https://helmet.kafuka.org/bboard/profile.php?id=14 He's here, watching the capitalist pigdogs like a good party member. --- In UTF-16, where available. --- |
| wertigon |
Posted on 19-03-15, 06:54
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Post: #22 of 205
Since: 11-24-18 Last post: 156 days Last view: 27 days |
Posted by sureanem Uh yeah, could you provide a more updated map showing everything post-WWII? Because I promise you, I could give you a similar map for the UK, though most of those influences would be pre-WWI. After WWI, british economy tanked and they had severe trouble keeping the empire together. In WWII, the empire collapsed completely, which is why Australia and India now are their own countries (among many other things). Does that mean we should crucify the UK for everything that happened over a century ago? |
| CaptainJistuce |
Posted on 19-03-15, 07:11
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Custom title here
Post: #324 of 1164 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 63 days Last view: 13 hours |
Posted by wertigonOBVIOUSLY. NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET. THE SINS OF THE FATHER SHALL BE VISITED UPON HIS SONS. --- In UTF-16, where available. --- |
| Screwtape |
Posted on 19-03-15, 07:33
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Full mod
 Post: #155 of 443 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 1101 days Last view: 172 days |
Posted by wertigon (a nitpick, but Australia federated its various colonies to become a new nation in 1901. A very Britain-aligned nation, to be sure, and with the British monarch as our head of state, but an independent nation. If you say we don't count as independent until we cut ties with the British monarchy, well, we *still* haven't cut ties with the British monarchy. It *is* true that during WWII, Australia became less interested in European affairs and our alliance with Britain, and more concerned with Pacific affairs and our alliance with America) The ending of the words is ALMSIVI. |
| DonJon |
Posted on 19-03-15, 13:26
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Post: #48 of 88 Since: 11-04-18 Last post: 1882 days Last view: 1882 days |
Posted by CaptainJistuce Try one of these Jamaican cigars ambassador,they're pretty good |
| Duck Penis |
Posted on 19-03-15, 16:31 (revision 1)
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Stirrer of Shit
Post: #85 of 717 Since: 01-26-19 Last post: 1763 days Last view: 1761 days |
Posted by BearOso No, it's true that there isn't currently a militarized rebellion. However that was most likely what they were trying to achieve, with wanting the military members to defect and all. As for the "humanitarian aid," to accept it would be to take the US at its word that there's nothing but aid in it. Clearly, they do not agree with this assessment. For instance, according to the Venezuelan FM, they contained nails and wire, for barricades. The US has smuggled weapons in aid shipments in the past, so it's not as insane a decision as you claim. (It is however a great mystery why they don't just search it before handing it out) I'm not saying the intervention is for oil. My guess would be that it's another escalation in the US/Israel–Russia/Iran conflict, in addition to the US not wanting Cuba 2.0 in their back yard (see: Truman Doctrine) If it's for humanitarianism, then why Venezuela specifically? There are lots of oppressive regimes that the US has never bothered to invade, and some which they even back. The geopolitical explanation makes much more sense. Posted by wertigon Is a list okay? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change#Cold_War_era
In contrast, the only one in modern times Britain did that I can think of would be Rhodesia, and that was their colony after all. Still incredibly rude though, but that's for another thread. Posted by tomman The current USA has done lots more of regime change than that. Ukraine and Arab Spring are fairly recent examples. The reason was fairly simple, they were aligned with Russia when they should have been aligned with the US. If they don't give a fuck about you, then what does "5,000 troops to Colombia" mean? Posted by tomman That's a fair point. Venezuela is probably more capable of an orderly transition than, say, Libya or Syria. It is a legitimate country with legitimate industries and a reasonably well educated population. Cartels pale in comparison to IS, and there isn't much religious extremism in the region from what I know of. So it might turn out like Tunisia if you're lucky. Posted by tomman Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. You're posting in a politics thread, and people can just skip it if they want, so I don't see what makes it inappropriate. It's in the "Discussion" forum and there is discussion in the thread. But if you're feeling extra masochistic one day, why not head to one of the myriads of other forums on-line intended for discussion of politics, Venezuela, or Venezuelan politics? There was a certain photograph about which you had a hallucination. You believed that you had actually held it in your hands. It was a photograph something like this. |
| tomman |
Posted on 19-03-26, 10:40 (revision 4)
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Dinosaur
 Post: #223 of 1316 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 2 hours Last view: 2 hours |
So yeah, there goes ANOTHER nationwide blackout: https://netblocks.org/reports/new-nationwide-power-outage-detected-across-venezuela-OxAGaDyz This time, How to know when a blackout is nationwide? Voltage dips, then "rebounds". 110V peaks at 140V AC, "faux" 220V registers at 260V at the display of my DMM (thankfully every single outlet at this house has surge protectors that cut off the power when the input is out of range). 5 minutes later? Nada, total blackout. Cellphones dead, banks shutdown, water stops flowing, the country comes to a complete stop. UPDATE: On the second one, the pattern was different: a small dip, followed by a steady voltage loss, then a sudden zero. In the meanwhile Maduro blames once again Trump (which has bigger fish to fry because of his "non-dealings" with the Soviets), while flying Soviets by the planeload to help him Make Cuba Great Again. The LOLOPPOSITION continues with their empty threats because they're good-for-nothing politicians that still naively believe that bloody dictators simply run away. And I still hate everybody on this country for assuming that this is the "new normal". Waiting for the next big one - it's gonna be great, I tell you! Remember: at Best Korea, at the holy city of Pyonyang (if you're blessed enough for the Eternal Leaders to let you live there), they have like 3-5 hours of electricity a day (if they're lucky), but at substandard voltage levels. Maybe that's where we're headed now... I guess I'll keep the DMM plugged to the aircon outlet, as there still are some nasty spikes flowin' on, because those communistoids can't tell apart between a circuit breaker and breaking news. Licensed Pirate® since 2006, 100% Buttcoin™-free, enemy of All Things JavaScript™ |
| CaptainJistuce |
Posted on 19-03-26, 10:43
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Custom title here
Post: #363 of 1164 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 63 days Last view: 13 hours |
Posted by tomman The autocorrect in my brain left me trying to figure out when they moved the holy city of Pentagulia to Korea. I MAY have replayed Lunar 2 one time too many. As always, best of luck, Tomman. --- In UTF-16, where available. --- |
| Duck Penis |
Posted on 19-03-26, 16:05
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Stirrer of Shit
Post: #132 of 717 Since: 01-26-19 Last post: 1763 days Last view: 1761 days |
If you don't mind me asking this, what are your thoughts on the Russian aid? Do you want for the power situation to improve, short-term? There was a certain photograph about which you had a hallucination. You believed that you had actually held it in your hands. It was a photograph something like this. |
| Nicholas Steel |
Posted on 19-03-27, 18:21
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Post: #163 of 426
Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 499 days Last view: 14 days |
Make that 4 blackouts: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/27/venezuela-blackout-latest-news-maduro-blames-criminals AMD Ryzen 3700X | MSI Gamer Geforce 1070Ti 8GB | 16GB 3600MHz DDR4 RAM | ASUS Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi) Motherboard | Windows 10 x64 |
| tomman |
Posted on 19-04-02, 22:02 (revision 2)
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Dinosaur
Post: #239 of 1316 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 2 hours Last view: 2 hours |
Aaaaand... blackouts never stop. Starting this Sunday at 5:30 VET, I've had exactly 8 hours and a half of power. Other places (including zones at my own city) have had exactly ZERO hours of power since then. The commies claim those blackouts are "rolling blackouts" AKA rationing, but everybody and his dog knows that this is total and complete BULL FUCKING SHIT. Yet still, people choose to behave like irrational morons good for nothing. Yesterday I went to one of the few banks that managed to open (a government-owned one!), to stand at the ATM line to drain whatever funds were remnant on my bank account (I've been unable to work AND get paid since the first blackout, basically). There were like 40 other cardholders at the ATM just in front of me. This particular bank branch was operating off backup generators (since it's located at one of the zones which have been without power since Sunday), and apparently their backup generators were not operating properly. ATMs were going on-and-offline every now and then. What were doing the people at the line, standing in quietly while waiting its turn? NO! Those pigfuckers were brawling between each other for trying to jump the line because they value more the six highly-devaluated VES 500 bills that were being dispensed rather than the fact that THE ENTIRE GODDAMNED CITY WERE WITHOUT POWER AND RUNNING WATER! Unbelievable, but that's Soviet Venezuela for you: the country where the philosophy of "ME, ME, MEEEE!!!!" trumps over basic freedoms. THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE A COUNTRY TO COMMUNISTS, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! Bonus: a military convoy full of Another asshole (possibly another commie-funded pigfucker) at the bus stop was bitching against those that dared protesting during the blackout. Another young student (possibly at one of those newfangled ideology universities from the regime) was calling against "foreign invasions", South Korea being dirt poor (yet you love your Samsung cellphones and LG aircons, you imbecile!), 9/11 being staged/inside job/insert your favorite conspiracy theory here, and OMGPOOR NORTH KOREA BEING BLOCKADED BY THE COMMIES! You can't even make this shit up: our future is being dearly brainwashed as we talk. Since next to no banking is possible due to the lack of power and phone/mobile/data coverage, retailers are taking advantage of this: $5 for a bag of ice? $20 for a bunch of vegetables? Meat charged in EUROS!? (for reference, minimum wage here is FIVE MEASLY AMERICAN DOLLARS PER MONTH, far less than any country in the continent. Even Haitians and Cubans -yes, Cubans!- earn MUCH more than us, yet they starve to death!) Once again, welcome to Soviet Venezuela. All of this STRICTLY CASH ONLY! (And forget about cents: all prices are rounded to the next integer) I've yet to see the first USD/EUR/BRL paycheck on my hands, but apparently everybody else does because that's the next logical stage at a very chaotic hyperinflation. So much for (not) engaging in revenue-generating works :/ Speaking about data services? Don't get me started with CANTV: almost all of their internal systems/applications have been down since the first megablackout (the March 7h one). You can't pay your phone, top up your cell service, or report service outages. My phone line will not get fixed, that's a fact. Movilnet CDMA network is de facto gone (it was due for shutdown last December, but in the words of a Movilnet technician: "they're shutting it down every year, but it will actually shutdown itself"), so I already lost one of my cellphones. Only Movistar service has been somewhat reliable here during the blackouts, but YMMV (curiously Movistar is DOWN right now, despite having power service: maybe some shitbag just stole another fiber line mistaking it with precious copper cable). Don't bother selling your junk at MercadoLibre: Assuming you have Internet to contact your sellers, parcel service shipping prices skyrocketed (about $8-$10 in average), rendering online business unaffordable for everyone. Your only option is to buy local... and hope you have some greenbacks handy, as everybody is charging in those, rather that stacks of sovereign banknotes that noone (but overseas collectors) want. My computers are feeling the effects of the blackouts in full force: my laptops sometimes have problems to turn on. But Saki, my routerbox, has been badly hit since January (due to a completely unrelated series of blackouts at my zone, but the effects have exacerbated since March 7th): this rock-solid i430VX system started giving troubles at boot, with the GRUB prompt causing the machine to reboot at random. Then, kernel oopses. And yesterday, for the first time EVER, a kernel panic. Checked RAM with every memory checker I could find: nada, those rare 32M EDO SIMMs came up clean. Cleaned up the PSU, nope: 5V is at a solid 4.99V, well within range. Then, I tried the CPU stress apps at UBCD, and sure enough, I managed to get the system to crash. Not reliably, but the kernel errors were the same. Let's see if a CPU swap helps, as I have neither working replacement PSUs of any kind nor a fresh Socket 7 mobo I can use (I did got a working M571 last weekend, but sadly it died during testing - after swapping the famelic P166 CPU with a uncommon 6X86MX, the mobo never came back). Oh, and my trusty Broadcom/Linux-powered ZTE DSL modem is about to give up the ghost, because now it requires to be powercycled several dozen times until it boots correctly. Looks like those CrapXon electrolytic caps are honoring their infamous reputation. Oh, and my fridge is empty. Not that it matters as I can't afford to buy meat/fish anymore, but it would be pointless anyway as those would get rotten in the next day-long blackout. Extreme temperatures outside (sometimes around 40°C) don't help matters. "Dry your meat" you say. Except that basic kitchen supplies like salt or vinegar have also fallen prey of the hyperinflation too, so you can't afford those anymore too. At least both my meat and fish guys have been willing to give me credit, being in the know that their payments will be delayed... but that's of no help among all this chaos. All credit cards at this house have been maxed out, overdraft, and tightly squeezed dry, but then credit limits are a joke, and we're at the verge of a bank run in any moment now (if your bank is still operating CRT-based NCR ATMs made 15 years ago, recycling VES 2 bills that noone wants for anything -not even as toilet paper-, that pretty much explains the health of our banking system right now). It will be worse than the 1994 one, that's for sure! Fuck this shit, yo. Licensed Pirate® since 2006, 100% Buttcoin™-free, enemy of All Things JavaScript™ |
| Duck Penis |
Posted on 19-04-02, 22:28 (revision 1)
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Stirrer of Shit
Post: #162 of 717 Since: 01-26-19 Last post: 1763 days Last view: 1761 days |
Holy shit, man. How much does it take for things to start happening? You seem to be relatively well-off by Venezuelan standards (educated, family), and you're still on the brink of starvation. That should leave a fair chunk of people even worse off. And even the most demoralized and obedient citizen could only keep calm for so long under such conditions. Or is that what the soldiers are there for? EDIT: On the plus side, assuming the hyperinflation continues, at least you won't have to worry about debt as long as it's denominated in bolivars. There was a certain photograph about which you had a hallucination. You believed that you had actually held it in your hands. It was a photograph something like this. |
| Duck Penis |
Posted on 19-04-30, 15:28
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Stirrer of Shit
Post: #228 of 717 Since: 01-26-19 Last post: 1763 days Last view: 1761 days |
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics/venezuelas-guaido-urges-troops-to-rise-mass-protests-planned-idUSKCN1S60ZQ https://www.apnews.com/1b271ef1f15940f394343dd2027a23e2 Is it happening? There was a certain photograph about which you had a hallucination. You believed that you had actually held it in your hands. It was a photograph something like this. |
| tomman |
Posted on 19-04-30, 17:32 (revision 2)
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Dinosaur
Post: #280 of 1316 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 2 hours Last view: 2 hours |
Still refuse to believe (I'm not watching the news, as usual) To be blunt, I have anything but good wishes for this shithole. As they say, "believe no one, trust nobody". Whatever it is the outcome, it will be ugly. And we will still starve to death because this is "everybody vs. everybody" (that's what we wanted, according to the deepest desires of most Venezuelans), even if Maduro gets the fuck out of here (hopefully DEAD, but that's me being selfish I guess). Please, forget about Venezuela, we basically no longer exist for anyone that cares. Also: gotta love when half of the Internet breaks when the communitards force your ISP to block Google and Twitter. Dude, I don't even WATCH the news, much less participate into the "social media" cesspool, so why punish me too?! Oh right, communism at work. Licensed Pirate® since 2006, 100% Buttcoin™-free, enemy of All Things JavaScript™ |
| Kawaoneechan |
Posted on 19-04-30, 17:39
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Upper Class Twit
 Post: #211 of 599 Since: 10-29-18 Last post: 195 days Last view: 8 hours |
I'm sorry. I'd love to not care about Venezuela, but there are two individuals there whom I can't not care about. |
| tomman |
Posted on 19-04-30, 21:13
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Dinosaur
Post: #284 of 1316 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 2 hours Last view: 2 hours |
Convince your foreign leaders to take action then, instead of wasting their words with more token efforts. "Strong words" and "polite petitions" don't bring down bloody dictatorships. Effective and massive military action do. Nobody inside Venezuela can't (or won't, depending on their particular agenda) solve this situation anymore. The rest of the people simply don't care enough. Some protest, you see volumes at some of the largest cities, but the rest either don't give a fuck, or already left the country in the (naive) hopes that "other people can clean up the mess later". As for me, I lost all hope years ago. Sorry for sounding like one of those "I hate everybody, get off my lawn" guys, but... I'm at my limit, sadly :/ Licensed Pirate® since 2006, 100% Buttcoin™-free, enemy of All Things JavaScript™ |
| tomman |
Posted on 19-05-20, 23:34
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Dinosaur
Post: #338 of 1316 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 2 hours Last view: 2 hours |
And now, Visa and MasterCard just got banned over here by the commies, after the Angry Trump threatened both to leave Venezuela: http://www.sudeban.gob.ve/index.php/2019/05/09/la-sudeban-supervisa-operatividad-del-sistema-de-pagos-electronicos-de-cara-al-crecimiento-transaccional-de-fin-de-ano-2/ My maxed-out Visa with its abysmally low credit limit? DEAD. All of my Maestro-backed debit cards? USELESS. Online purchases inside our country in our useless currency? NO MORE. Instead, the fucktards from the Maduro regime are forcing banks to come up with its own payment processing system, because that's so EASY MODO, yessir! Or force people to use mobile pay apps (no smartdevice? no wireless access? FUCK YOU THEN!), or pay-by-fingerprints (yes, really - biometrics are the rage... and I actually like it, but then a single bank does it, and it's no other but the government-owned shittyass excuse of "bank" known as Banco de Venezuela, where the lines never end and the SMS never arrive). Good luck getting your shit PCI-DSS certified in 60 days. Or for January 2020. Or ever... Also, have fun getting hundreds of thousands upgrading POS terminals (several flavors of Verifone, Ingenico, PAX, BBPOS), ATMs (Diebold Nixdorf, NCR), internal bank systems, online payment processors, and the like to remove the Visa/MC dependency. And hope you have a fleet of A380s full of fingerprint scanners and fingerprint-based POS terminals to upgrade the entire network in 60 days! In other news, nobody wants to murder Maduro and its pals yet. Licensed Pirate® since 2006, 100% Buttcoin™-free, enemy of All Things JavaScript™ |
| Duck Penis |
Posted on 19-05-21, 00:04
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Stirrer of Shit
Post: #308 of 717 Since: 01-26-19 Last post: 1763 days Last view: 1761 days |
Posted by tomman What, they can't just [expletive deleted]-rig it? Go back to magstripe cards, then do MITM on the modems to get their servers to do the verification. Super cheap to make the cards/readers, and reasonably secure if you use biometric ID cards. No changeover costs, since the system would treat it identically to regular forged cards. I mean, if they're banned by Visa/MasterCard anyway, why bother getting certified when all you need is Glorious Venezuela Certification? There was a certain photograph about which you had a hallucination. You believed that you had actually held it in your hands. It was a photograph something like this. |
| tomman |
Posted on 19-05-21, 11:50
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Dinosaur
Post: #342 of 1316 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 2 hours Last view: 2 hours |
It gets even worse than that, dude: currently, getting ANY bank to issue you a new debit card (for whatever the reason be: lost/stolen/damaged/new account) ranges from very difficult to impossible, as among the imported things in eternal shortages are smartcards. As usual, some shitbags that work at certain branches have turned the scarcity into a business: debit cards are free, but get expected to pay hard currency in some cases the next time you lose your debit card or if yours stops working for whatever reason. Yes, that's very illegal. No, the authorities do not care. Even if we go back to magstripes (which is yet another bag of hurt: no ATM reads magstripes since The Big Switchover, and the very last magstripe-only cards issue over here were barely magnetized, which often involved a lot of cursing with endless card reader errors), said cards still have to be imported. Fun fact (and by "fun" I mean "totally NOT!"): the commies are finally loosening their tight currency exchange controls - now they allow banks (both private and state-owned) to buy and sell greenbacks, at "market" prices. It's still a PITA full of hurdles and gotchas, it's not for everybody, it's not a real floating exchange rate system, and with the impending death of our banking system as we know it, it's unlikely we will be buying food or phones on Amazon with our (now dead) credit cards anytime soon. Country-specific payment processors are nothing new: China has a couple of their own because they're China. Japan has JCB. The "E" in "EMV" is for Europay. If we go to Latam, Chile has RedCompra (with is ridiculously goofy TV adverts which make me think that Chileans do hate debit cards). But all those services didn't started uo as fly-by-night popups that were up and working in a couple weeks with a few unpaid interns - they're DECADES-long operations with HEAVY investments onto equipment, software, and people. No way in hell a bunch of communists that only own a bunch of banks because they seized them is going to come up with the next Maestro, much less to get their own AID running on (non-existing) chipcards for the next year! This is going to be like the Sovereign Bolivar reconversion (where they gave unrealistic tight deadlines that had to be extended TWICE, and it only somehow worked because of the previous Strong Bolivar drill a decade ago... and even then it was a PAIN IN THE TESTICLES for anything coded since then - yes, I had to endure that one, and I still see some fallout to this date) If this (and the current ongoing gas/fuel shortages, but that's another whole can of worms) doesn't get the people out to the streets to finally sack Maduro for good (because noone else cares, since "diplomacy" is pure bull fucking shit), well... nothing will do. Not that we're going to need banks for the next year anyway... in the country where food sellers at the streets ("bachaqueros") not only no longer take anything but hard currency, they even REJECT anything under $10 banknotes! ONLY IN VENEZUELA™, people: the only country where not every greenback is welcome! Licensed Pirate® since 2006, 100% Buttcoin™-free, enemy of All Things JavaScript™ |
