Not enough Whisky for this Tango Foxtrot

[River]

Yes, but look where Germany is today. Reunited. An industrial powerhouse. With the Nazi Party banned. And then let's think of those twelve years. Countries conquered and then liberated. Industrialized genocide. Why, if Hitler hadn't decided to turn on his Russian ally, just imagine what he could have become. Perhaps the 1000 year Reich would have lasted more than a dozen years.

On second thought, don't imagine it. Just. Don't.

[Frelga]

Nah, he was always going to be a crap leader. Théoden had a point about "oft evil will shall evil mar."

There is a lot of bull about how charismatic he was and how Germans were mesmerized by him. If you watch his own propaganda films, he had all the charisma of a demented chihuahua, although that seems unfair to the dogs. He just gave enough people an excuse to be at their worst with impunity. Another, greater portion of people could pretend that things weren't that bad or would get better any moment now, until it became too dangerous to not appear loyal and enthusiastic.

[narya]

He just gave enough people an excuse to be at their worst with impunity. Another, greater portion of people could pretend that things weren't that bad or would get better any moment now, until it became too dangerous to not appear loyal and enthusiastic.

That sounds unsettlingly prescient.

[RoseMorninStar]

He just gave enough people an excuse to be at their worst with impunity. Another, greater portion of people could pretend that things weren't that bad or would get better any moment now, until it became too dangerous to not appear loyal and enthusiastic.

That sounds unsettlingly prescient.

I agree. However, if you ask people today, many are divided as well. There are some who listen to the discombobulated (and dangerous) blathering of the president and wonder how anyone can take him seriously and wonder about his competence and sanity, others hang on every word.

I've read that those who read Hitler's speeches had a totally different take-away than those who saw him in person. They didn't think he could possibly win. (ahem) While I do think a large part of the problem is/was as Frelga states, I think some are caught up in something else entirely that I don't see as quite rational. But fear often isn't rational and such demagogues prey on the fear of other, the fear of change, the fear of loss of superiority.

[Sunsilver]

Hitler played on people's fears, and whipped up his audience by shouting. My parents heard this first-hand: although they didn't understand the language, newscasters would have provided an interpretation, and news reels shown in the cinema would have given them a visual look at his speeches. My mom said Churchill was such a reassuring contrast to this, with his calm, measured speech, especially when he reassured people "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

[Frelga]

Not fears. The path to fascism is to telling mediocre but belligerent people that they are special and deserving just for their eye color, and then give them a few less deserving targets.

[narya]

Wait - you mean my brown eyes aren't special???

[Frelga]

Everything about you is special as far as I'm concerned.

[elengil]

And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go for a pair of brown eyes...

(Oddly I noticed just this weekend my dad's are gray! Númenor blood!)

[Sunsilver]

My history teacher very sarcastically pointed out that Hitler did NOT meet the Aryan ideal. Ironic, eh?

[Alatar]

I actually started to feel a bit sorry for her until she made her speech. Epic trolling.

NSFW language.

[Jude]

So is she still unaware that the whole thing was a hoax?

[Alatar]

I presume she knows now!

[Frelga]

A different flavor of Whiskey Tango.

Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware

Tractor hacking is growing increasingly popular because John Deere and other manufacturers have made it impossible to perform "unauthorized" repair on farm equipment, which farmers see as an attack on their sovereignty and quite possibly an existential threat to their livelihood if their tractor breaks at an inopportune time.

...

Kenney and Kluthe have been pushing for right-to-repair legislation in Nebraska that would invalidate John Deere's license agreement (seven other states are considering similar bills). In the meantime, farmers have started hacking their machines because even simple repairs are made impossible by the embedded software within the tractor. John Deere is one of the staunchest opponents of this legislation.

I like how no one even asks why Ukraine has the cracked tractor firmware for sale.

Maybe they need to import Ukrainian tractors instead. Yuzhmash used to make ballistic missiles, I'm sure they are making great tractors.

[River]

Ukrainians crack anything they can get their hands on. This was how my husband acquired expensive engineering software for dirt cheap back when he was in grad school. He knew a guy. He (my husband) went straight after he struck out on his own because he was afraid he'd get himself or a client in trouble.

[Maria]

I'm glad our tractor doesn't have software.

[Frelga]

I was going to make a quip about red states pushing to regulate a private business instead of letting free market to magically fix the problem. Then I looked it up, and Nebraska splits delegates based on district votes. Good job, Nebraska.

[RoseMorninStar]

A couple of years ago there was a lawsuit brought against printer companies which required people to buy their brand of ink at premium prices. Off market brands or refills would not work in these printers. Consumers won that lawsuit. It was determined (to the best of my recollection) that once the consumer purchased the device in question the company could not force them to purchase more of their product to use something people owned. I am not sure how that might apply to tractors, but Tesla and some vehicle makers also use software to control who can repair their products.

[Frelga]

Yes, speaking of Tesla.

Tesla remotely disables Autopilot on used Model S after it was sold

The company now claims that the owner of the car, who purchased it from a third-party dealer — a dealer who bought it at an auction held by Tesla itself — “did not pay” for the features and therefore is not eligible to use them.

Tesla is the Facebook of cars in that it's very popular, but I am highly suspicious of both and want nothing to do with either.

[Inanna]

Waaayyyy to go in reducing consumers' perceived risk in adopting these technologies. Good job!