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markstoneman

@markstoneman@zirk.us

Ind. historian, editor, and translator; caregiver, grandfather, and more; Conway, NH, and Washington, DC. markstoneman.com 🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇦

This is my main 🦣 Mastodon account. It is bridged to 🦋 Bluesky by https://fed.brid.gy (beta) and can receive replies from there.

#AcademicPublishing #AcademicBlogging #HistKnow #HistGermany #WarAndSociety #HistSocial #HistCultural #HistGender #MilHist #HumanRights #atrocities #historiography #histodons

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

randahl , to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

The US is preparing to send up to "a few hundred" military contractors to Ukraine, thereby enabling in-country repairs of US military equipment.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/25/politics/biden-administration-american-military-contractors-ukraine/index.html

markstoneman ,
@markstoneman@zirk.us avatar

@randahl Contractors, i.e., civilians.

randahl , to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

Whooops!

Fox News just realized, being a convicted felon does in fact matter to voters.

https://www.foxnews.com/official-polls/fox-news-poll-three-point-shift-biden-trump-matchup-since-may

markstoneman ,
@markstoneman@zirk.us avatar

@randahl That's no more than a margin of error.

randahl , to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

The Lukoil refinery in Afipsky in Krasnodar is wondering if invading Ukraine was amongst Putin's best ideas.

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markstoneman ,
@markstoneman@zirk.us avatar

@randahl Thinking thoughts is strengstens verboten.

randahl , to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

Year over year the price of potatoes in Russia has risen 49.7 percent.
https://ria.ru/amp/20240605/kartofel-1950782867.html

In total, inflation is 8.28.
https://tass.com/economy/1805593

markstoneman ,
@markstoneman@zirk.us avatar

@randahl Don't they still have food? Is this a labor or environmental issue? BTW, https://markstoneman.com/2024/06/19/images-of-returned.html

randahl , to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

There is an American presidential candidate touring the country, talking about deporting the "criminal immigrants".

Also, that presidential candidate is from an immigrant family himself, and is himself a convicted felon.

markstoneman ,
@markstoneman@zirk.us avatar

@randahl Yeah, but he's a rich-TV-star-turned-savior,

luckytran , to random
@luckytran@med-mastodon.com avatar

As usual Asian people have been left out of the discussion about masks and hate. Asian people have been attacked throughout the pandemic for wearing a mask. A mask ban would further stigmatize mask wearing and encourage further harassment and violence against mask wearers.

markstoneman ,
@markstoneman@zirk.us avatar

@luckytran I thought all this talk of masks had to do with hiding one's identity during protests. Problematic enough, but there is no way anyone is going to ban me from wearing a mask if I feel I need one. (Now I wanna go back to not knowing about the evil things people are brewing up.)

Nonilex , to random
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

host 'pep rally' w/ in his 1st visit to Capitol Hill since attack

3½ yrs ago, Trump incited a violent at the Capitol in a bid to overturn Joe ’s election victory & remain in power, a special cmte concluded after a lengthy investigation.

Today, gave a him hero’s welcome.


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-meeting-republicans-first-visit-capitol-hill-jan-6-rcna156779

markstoneman ,
@markstoneman@zirk.us avatar

@Nonilex 🤢

molly0xfff , to random
@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar

Altogether, the exercise reinforced my previous opinion: LLMs are terrible writers, but decent editorial rubber ducks.

https://www.mollywhite.net/micro/entry/rubber-duck-editing-with-llms

markstoneman ,
@markstoneman@zirk.us avatar

@molly0xfff Just thinking outloud here and with no experience with such LLM feedback, wouldn't one potentially useful prompt be to ask it to read you thing and summarize the key takeaways? Earlier in my life, getting that kind of feedback from a human was helpful. It only had to be a human who was smart, educated to whatever level was necessary, and who knew nothing about my particular topic. 1/2

randahl , to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

Picture 1, June 4: Russia loses 65 artillery pieces and 1290 soldiers.

Picture 2, June 5: Russia loses 40 artillery pieces and another 1280 soldiers.

These are records breaking numbers, and the war is currently more costly than when Russia invaded Bakhmut. That battle lead to Prigozhins armed rebellion, and I wonder what the new battle for Kharkiv leads to.

We have already seen mass surrender of Russian troops in Vovchansk, and I have a feeling we will see more of that.

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markstoneman ,
@markstoneman@zirk.us avatar

@randahl I always feel these kinds of numbers convey a sense of clarity and certainty that this war cannot possibly have. (In a completely different situation, the U.S. Army came to measure progress in terms of enemy killed in Vietnam. But these body counts captured only a thin slice of reality.)

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