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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 10th, 2023

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  • I heard about this from a podcast called The Missing Cryptoqueen from the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p07nkd84

    In a way it’s a classic ponzi scheme so in that sense it’s not that novel. But this Dr. Ruja, as she was known by people who “bought” OneCoin, sold herself and OneCoin super well and took full advantage of the crypto craze. The scale and then disappearance are crazy.

    Maybe this is in the article but I think the leading theory is that she’s in the UAE or Qatar or something. I assume she can’t really travel but she can just live like an actual queen over there and those governments won’t care about where he money came from.





  • It is probably a politically popular move in South Africa and especially considering the many problems South Africa is facing I understand your skepticism. However, it also makes historical sense SA does this.

    Israel was one of the very few countries that continued its relationship with South Africa during apartheid. Israel would buy raw materials and South Africa weapons as well as technologies like nuclear. It’s the reason why South Africa actually had nuclear weapons for a while and still have nuclear energy (pretty sure still the only African country). Israel also helped them make petrol for vehicles out of coal, which sounds insane but was a way to seal with the sanctions against South Africa that prevented them from importing oil. The apartheid regime undoubtedly lasted longer because of Israel, and South Africans haven’t forgotten this.

    The support for Palestine is widespread in South Africa because of this as well as the parallels between the apartheid regime and the Israeli government.

    So yeah, it makes political sense for SA to take Israel to court like this, but I honestly think a big reason for it is historical and showing genuine support for Palestine.





  • It would be if it were true, but they’re just working on forming a coalition to create a majority in parliament and that always takes time. As a Dutch person I really don’t agree with the idea that Wilders is having a particularly hard time forming a coalition. If anything it’s going more smoothly than I expected. I think in a month or two we’ll see prime minister Wilders sitting next to Willy (the king).





  • Yeah I understand the context of Pim Fortuyn of course and I agree it’s not a good joke or anything like that. I just feel like this is made into way too big of a deal for what was probably an off thr cuff comment.

    I do think that “fuck around and find out” should be true. Baudet for example is just a fascist who is friends with the Russians and wants to destroy democracy in the Netherlands. I honestly think that until his party is outlawed it’s a good thing he gets hit with umbrellas and beer bottles. Fuck him so hard, I don’t think what he says should be tolerated.



    1. Just because I have heard of NordVPN doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily use it (in fact I use arch mullvad, btw.)
    2. Let’s see some numbers that ads work. You can’t just calculate how life would be without ads, but I wonder what would happen if ad expenses for all companies would be capped somehow. When cigarette companies were severely limited in terms of advertising they saved a ton of money. Of course people already knew their brands, but still.

    I think ad space sellers wildly overestimate the effectiveness of ads and google has made it far worse with targeted ads. People have gotten used to saying things like “ads work” and “brand recognition” but does anyone know the numbers? Or is this just repeating some phrases you’ve heard?

    I don’t know the numbers myself, but I’m quite skeptical.




    • the government doesn’t take climate change seriously
    • it is basically impossible for a large group of people (including me) to ever buy a home
    • any sort of nature here is dead and over half the country doesn’t seem to care
    • inequality has been growing for decades
    • the country is incredibly polarized
    • after over a decade of neo liberal VVD policy, the majority of people apparently yearn for even more right wing policy
    • Ajax are 12th in the eredivisie

    Or course I’m being a bit dramatic but considering how things were I do think the Netherlands is going to shit a little bit. Of course it’s a better place to live than many other places, but in my opinion it’s definitely getting worse.