Ukraine

[Crasher]

The meejia is responsible for so many of the crises the world has to endure it almost brings the right of a free press into dispute because they are not doing anyone any favours. We have so much "news" these days the bastards are falling over themselves to dig up the next pile of shit to stir the masses up. If they aren't careful there will be calls to control the media and their squeals about freedom of speech will be quashed and later, other parties could use new rules to suppress things people should know about, Russian media springs to mind as an example.

 

[Sebastian]

Is it really "the media" or is it especially media using clickbait and articles/pieces targeted to those with a deficit to attention for details? In my experience it is the latter. We became used to not paying for our media consumption by actually paying with our attention to advertisements and in the respect excessive tracking of our activities. Who here reads actual detailed journalistic pieces?

 

[PetrolDave]

Who here reads actual detailed journalistic pieces?

Me. And when I do the biased 'reporting' is all too obvious, especially (in the UK) from the BBC. They so clearly have a left and 'green' agenda that their 'journalism' is closer to propaganda than unbiased reporting of facts.

 

[Crasher]

A recent good example for us here was when the Daily Mail said something along the lines "don't panic, there won't be a fuel shortage if we all act normally"... Did people act normally? Fuck as like did they, so... we had a fuel shortage, quelle surprise; morons! There was a picture of a woman filling up a plastic bag with petrol and then putting in in her car... mind you we used to call this "natural selection" but people are allowed to be stupid now and survive their own stupidity by blaming someone else. I think the toilet paper fiasco is also a good worldwide example. Half of me says ban all independent media and have it controlled by professionals who publish facts, not opinion and the other half of me screams freedom of the press; I used to trust the BBC, I still do to an extent except on anything to do with alleged climate change.

 

[HMC]

Me. And when I do the biased 'reporting' is all too obvious, especially (in the UK) from the BBC. They so clearly have a left and 'green' agenda that their 'journalism' is closer to propaganda than unbiased reporting of facts.

To the contrary, I sometimes find their efforts to be balanced slightly irritating. The need is to differentiate between impartial reporting and journalistic investigation.
Regards HMC

 

[DV52]

Who here reads actual detailed journalistic pieces?

Me too!!! However i suspect that I share one important attribute with @PetrolDave and @HMC ; I suspect that all three of us have experienced a time when we got our news from unquestionably reputable sources. In the dim recesses of my ageing brain - I think that it happened way back in the last century when journalism was a craft to be admired and news was actually "reported"

Alas (and ironically) at a time when information has never been so important and so plentiful, news no longer has authority - I think people call the change process, "progress" (not). And, what laughingly passes as journalism is in reality motivated by private interests and click-bait (as you say).

The problem is not reading "actual detailed journalistic pieces" - these abound in their hundreds!! The problem is sorting the chaff from the wheat! Is it any wonder that in our desperation to find some semblance of truth in news amongst the maelstrom of journalist opinions, we cling to the few remaining sources that we think can be trusted!

And as for the rise of social media (which of itself is a good thing) as actual news - I despair!!

Don

 

[Sebastian]

This project shows what Ukrainian cities and towns look like after being attacked by Russia - 360war.in.ua

360war.in.ua

 

[Crasher]

It is heart breaking what is going on, I watch interviews on You Tube from 1420 and these people are brainwashed or terrified… what a way to run a civilised country in the 21st Century, it will take many decades for the world to even begin to forgive Russia for what they are doing. All that progress hard worked for since the 90’s destroyed by a sick (and I’ll) old man… utter wanker.

 

[JMR]

what progress in Ukraine ? What, few McDonalds and couple malls can be called progress ? Ukraine is as much as a backward country as my country even though we are in the EU and they are not . Rampant corruption, politicians just getting fatter and fatter pays,no infrastructure, no real economy ( other than exporting grains , which is at best agricultural economy ) few people with millions, the rest just peasants stuggling to get by... That ain't no progress bud ..just a fresh painted crumbling house

 

[RGH0]

what progress in Ukraine ? What, few McDonalds and couple malls can be called progress ? Ukraine is as much as a backward country as my country even though we are in the EU and they are not . Rampant corruption, politicians just getting fatter and fatter pays,no infrastructure, no real economy ( other than exporting grains , which is at best agricultural economy ) few people with millions, the rest just peasants stuggling to get by... That ain't no progress bud ..just a fresh painted crumbling house

well ukraine made enough progress to fight the mighty russian army to a standstill and to pull itself slowly out of the soviet and post soviet corruption. Not perfect but better than many

 

[Crasher]

what progress in Ukraine

In Russia's relationship with the west, I spent the first 25 years of my life being made to worry (by the press) about the end of the world and when communism ended, relations started to improve to a very good extent and then some soviet era mad man comes along and starts it all off again and for what? In the end, good will always triumph over bad and a man of his age should know that, he could have left a shining legacy but now he is going to die as someone despised by any right thinking individual. It is not as if he will ever go down in history for being the worst killer in history, he isn't even in the top 100 so just a failure in all respects.

 

[JMR]

Meeeh..nope !

 

[JMR]

well ukraine made enough progress to fight the mighty russian army to a standstill and to pull itself slowly out of the soviet and post soviet corruption. Not perfect but better than many

Ntz ! Niet ! Not even the puppet media doesn t support your claims of the russian army being stopped . Funny thing , while a month ago you couldn t open a news channel without being bombarded with fake news..now the news almost dissapeared at all..at least around here there is hardly any mentions of it lately. Now the news is how to evict the ukraineans from sea resorts /ending their privileges because money is more important...this was always about money and nothing else. It s nearly summer time , money making time for EU tourism countries...

 

[RGH0]

JMR you can live in your dreamworld as long as you like. but the russian army is still stuck in the south east of Ukraine

 

[Uwe]

a month ago you couldn t open a news channel without being bombarded with fake news..now the news almost dissapeared at all.

Yeah, kinda strange how media has dropped the narrative that Russia will soon be defeated, isn't it?

JMR you can live in your dreamworld as long as you like.

Dreamworld? Are you aware that @JMR lives in a country that shares more than 600 km of border with Ukraine?

-Uwe-

 

[vreihen]

Dreamworld? Are you aware that @JMR lives in a country that shares more than 600 km of border with Ukraine?

How much border does Romania share with Vlad the Insane, who he seems to be siding with in this conflict?????

 

[DV52]

In the end, good will always triumph over bad and a man of his age should know that................

Wow..... I'm always impressed when someone finds an absolute (in fact, two) in this world of different shades of grey!!! Still, I'm not sure how true your particular absolutes are?

What omnipotent power guarantees that "good will always triumph over bad"? And more important, why is the west's concept of "good" and "bad" correct (I'm sure that decision makers in Russia are equally certain of their definitions) ?

As I'm sure that even @JMR will agree - deciding what is "good" and what is "bad" is the sole right of the winner!! So, perhaps you are correct - but for an entirely different reason!

Don

 

[JMR]

How much border does Romania share with Vlad the Insane, who he seems to be siding with in this conflict?????

I m not siding with him , i like to look at a problem from more than one angle and while you re thinking that my angle is not ok , what makes you think that yours is ok ? It s just like these people that called me the other day at a garage , claiming that their Renault Laguna diesel has a bad ECU because it ll start for 30 seconds then it woud stop. While the mechanics insisted that the ECU was sick and even the owner came prepared with half a starting kit asking me to match the rest of the security chain for the car to start , i ve discovered that the EGR was fully blocked and it kept the car from starting. After cracking the egr a bit , the car started and didn t stop anymore. They were so focused on blaming the ecu they forgot how a basic diesel engine runs and were like zombies around that car. And yes , i charged them as much as they agreed to match the security chain just for starting the car , which was steep , i did it more to punish their incompetence. And guess what ? They were ecstatic that i found the problem and paid without comment.
Also perhaps you re not aware of the EU "s flip flopping everyday about what to do with this conflict It s the funniest shit you can see around , almost entertaining as sad as it is.

 

[DV52]

i charged them as much as they agreed to match the security chain just for starting the car , which was steep , i did it more to punish their incompetence. And guess what ? They were ecstatic that i found the problem and paid without comment.

@JMR: More than a tad off-topic, but with your indulgence - I've always been fascinated with the process of how "repairers" (any sort really -not only those that fix cars) decide their fees.

I've never run a repair business- but it seems to me that the number on an invoice (at least, the labor cost ) is highly questionable. No offense intended -maybe "fluid" is a better word.

I suspect that some repairers simply charge as much as they can ; they start with an outrageous number and negotiate down until the customer agrees! This kind-of aligns with my understanding of economics (I'm certainly not well versed in the discipline) - which says that these services are value based (not cost based) and therefore the end market will accept a wide range of fees. But of course, the down-side of this method is that the market reputation of the repairer's business gets hammered with each client negotiation. The other down-side is that some (most?) repairers aren't comfortable (and aren't good) with negotiation - it requires a certain commercial confidence and personality!

Alternatively, I have a couple of self-employed friends who believe that it's kosher to charge a sliding scale based on customer attitude (i.e. a kind-of variable client tax). From your words, you appear to fall into this category -maybe? I tend to agree that most repairers favor this method and it's the reason why I ALWAYS engage in a few minutes of persiflage (look it up - I call it "the Flarge") whenever I engage a repairer's services. I've lost count of the number of times that it has paid-back dividends -its been amazingly successful and it doesn't require much practice to become second-nature (and it's fun)!!

Please don't tell anyone else - or everyone will want to use "the Flarge"

Now- back to the small matter of possible armageddon in Ukraine!

Don

 

[JMR]

So i ll answer your question in private , that way the thread does not get contaminated