Came here to make this point.
The CCP's version of "communism" is almost a textbook example to me of how an interesting system that can work beautifully on the local level can be completely betrayed and turned in to something much more like an oligarchy.

I don't understand how someone of reasonable knowledge and judgement could possibly be a tankie in 2024.

no idea why the Institute for the Study of War hasn't been mentioned yet

they issue regular reports on the world's hot spots, and in the case of the ukraine war, nightly summaries of all events during the previous 24hrs

https://www.understandingwar.org/

And then all they do is pay for the bare cost of the ingredients.

They could have tipped an extra $1000 and made a lot of people cheer. But no....

Seems like millions of redditors say just that through the many slaps in the face to users, then hang around anyway. :S

both choices suck

What puerile nonsense.

Trump already demonstrated that he was a complete disaster and Russian asset, and I hate linking to the evil empire, but:

r/WhatBidenHasDone

Doesn't sound that far from Shepard's Pie though, a tasty dish beloved by zillions.

These are good points and good techniques IMO, and to add on--

Humans have always been drowning in the unknown, hence our chronic set of coping mechanisms, but on top of that, in this high-tech information civilisation we currently live in, now we're drowning in information, as well. Which leads to some big problems, of course.

As in-- it takes considerable effort, honesty and openness to form a decent perspective on most subjects these days, particularly significant ones, and because of that hurdle, I fear that most people (you, I, everyone) are inclined to 'settle' for flawed understandings of topics, even with best intentions. Or at worst, some of us form whatever ludicrous opinions simply because it makes us feel better / at peace / self-righteous.

Point is-- it seems like the world just has way too much information for people to handle these days, effectively worsening our collective mental health and communal behavior, one might say.

@CobblerScholar@lemmy.world

it’s a shell of its former self.

And from my reading, its former self was little more than a dictatorship with 'communist trappings,' anyway. Mao was a monster, and nobody to be emulated from what I've learned.

There's absolute mass quantities, as Beldar the Conehead might say.

It's easy enough to guess that plenty of people just grabbed a community name in case they might find it useful one day, but I'm guessing plenty of others legitimately started up a community, put some effort in to it, then ultimately got discouraged and abandoned it. A big part of that likely due to not being able to attract many subscribers and contributors.

Personally what I've found is that if you really want a community to grow, you need to seed it with content on a regular basis; preferably daily. Posting bots are probably a good way to help with that, altho if the sub looks like it's little more than bot posts, I don't think users will be inclined to post or comment much.

What I haven't quite figured out myself is how to incline users to post on their own, but hopefully with time that issue will kind of resolve itself due to sheer user count.

Btw, see here:
https://lemm.ee/c/fedigrow

Sorry to hear that, but I'm guessing that might be related to your specific instance. So far I'm really happy with mine, but some are evidently struggling to keep up with the influx of Rexxiters. (and bots, maybe?)

Anyway, nothing preventing you from hitting the Fediverse from a different instance, yeah?

That clown-thing is one of the worst 'pranks' I've ever seen in my life. Someone could easily get PTSD from that, or someone else could easily assault the clown with lethal force because of the threat implied.

Good pranks are along the lines of the Just for Laughs / Gags series, not these dumbass American vigilante pranks, or that miserable 'clown' prank above.

I think I'll refrain from posting a pic here, but mom had a 'plant-bent' that she followed up on by eventually becoming a certified 'master gardener' via series of courses.

In parallel with that, over the course of many years, mom took the little suburban backyard we had and transformed it in to... holy Willy Wonkas... a sort of 'lush paradise,' and with each square foot or so, it consisted of generally non-native, fascinating species. I.e., plants with interesting herbal qualities, incredible flowers, or whatnot.

Earlier, we'd rescued two stray cats, and it was really fun seeing them go back outside and frolic in mom's garden. Hahaha, it was like an amusement park to them, one in which they became undeniably blissful and non-argumentative. (see, they didn't like each too much, despite being sister littermates)

lemmy alternative

As long as it federates, hey?

I'd be interested in learning, because German is the biggest contributor to modern English along with French. Of course the split happened long, long ago, but still...

It would have to be a couple years though, after I (knock on wood) am done getting to about B2/C1 on French.

Meat is a carcinogen.
Fruit and vegetables are good for you

What..?!
From the studies I've seen, meat does indeed carry higher endemic carcinogen and cardio-disease risks, particularly when processed, particularly when fried, compared to other foods.

And yes, too much fruit can lead to glycemic issues, but assuming properly washed and/or cooked, fruits & veggies are indeed an extremely important part of a healthy diet.

The vegan diet is the healthiest diet.

A purely vegan diet means one needs to be careful about getting a full range of amino acids and IIRC some vitamins, but besides that, yes-- a core vegan diet (assuming properly varied) is indeed arguably one of the healthiest diets for most people.

Personally I don't think one needs to be super-strict with it, but the point is that it's a great base to build on.

SCMP is an odd one, as they commonly publish articles critical of the CCP.

They seem to operate along the lines of 'we can't stop anti-CCP news, but at least we can soften the blow for select audiences.' Or something like that. They're definitely an interesting case, though.

In my case I found that creating a community that was missing here, then regularly populating it with content, has worked wonders. That it was not just a good way to get myself engaged here, as well as to grow the Fediverse, but to attract users from Reddit and other places given a bit of cross-posting.

Seriously, I'm not sure how many people understand that right now, given that new content is generated relatively slowly across the FV, that any new community putting quality stuff out there is going to get a *hugely* larger proportion of eyes on it. That's compared to similar communities on Reddit, FB, etc, in which smaller / newer communities tend to get completely drowned out in the ALL streams.

My own niche community (Euro graphic novels) already has 350+ subscribers in less than 90 days. Even for Reddit that's a nice jump-start and growth. Which is why I urge people to jump on this opportunity now, because eventually it's probably going to dry up.

Indeed, maybe it would be good to get this message out to people on Reddit, FB, etc who always wanted to start a sub/community, but the opportunities were 'all filled up' already.

I want to actively build community

That was the key for me. To take one of my favorite communities ("bande dessinée," i.e. Euro comics) and create a version on Lemmy eight months ago. It's taken a load of work (usually daily), and sometimes I get really discouraged, but overall it locked me in to the FV.

Also, you might have to burn me at the stake for saying this-- I still visit Reddit because of the far more prolific content, and do have worries & reservations about the tankie founders of Lemmy. But so far, so good. The more the FV grows, the more I'll have no problem leaving Reddit behind.

chicken powder separately

Unfortunately, the ones around here aren't all that great. Going by a ramen packet right now, it looks like this "Maruchan" version probably has more spices and dehydrated veggies than the straight chicken powder. Also, methinks the OXO cubes would be pretty hard to sprinkle over popcorn(!)

That said, there's all kinds of great popcorn toppings (store bought and homemade), so I don't suspect it's a big problem.

Peanuts taste creamier than other nuts

I think cashews might just take that award.

I hate to say it, but the exodus failed. I’m glad to have discovered Lemmy, but it simply doesn’t have anywhere near the numbers to compete.

I think "failed" is a little strong, and that we have to remember two things, here: 1) Lemmy wasn't in ideal position to handle a major Rexxitor exodus at the time, and 2) Lemmy is best looked at as a long-term project that will ultimately have higher quality of infrastructure, user rights, and users themselves. Much of that is already true, arguably.

What's helped me personally is to start a community where one was needed in the FV, posting regular content there. Others are joining in, and it's fun to see our little community grow. It also means a lot that to me that I don't have to worry about a corporation one day arbitrarily fucking with our community to suit their own ends.

That said, if you're simply a content-devourer, then I agree that Lemmy is going to be less useful than Reddit for the time being. But there's also a fairly unique opportunity to help change that, as many are doing here. <3

if it’s once a year. If we did it every night…

Around here (MidWest city), fireworks go off every night for a month before, and then a month after the fourth. And I don't mean a small amount, either. More like some version of the Vietnam War. It's nuts.

Basically, most of summer is devoted to fireworks play, with the fourth being a deluxe version of the "fun."

These are really well done for the most part. Very light-hearted, but rather devious: (Just for Laughs Gags)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyGz1AYQMhM&amp;list=PLEB4EBCDDCF605225

French.
I figured since I was exposed to it for a year as an infant, it would help me out when I was farting around with electives in school. Well, nope-- that 'infant period' was just too early I guess, and classroom learning didn't work for me, regardless.

What actually helped a tonne was just vacationing in Paris for a week (i.e. helpless immersion), and later, developing a passion for Franco-Belgian comics, which led to me using the DuoLingo app on phone whenever I'm bored or have a spare moment.

~Six months in, I'm just blown away by how much I can read without too much trouble. Google's vanilla "Translate" app helps a bunch when I'm stuck. Of course it's also good to have other aids, such as a handy chart of verb conjugations, etc, but really it was just DuoLingo that caught me on fire.

Feel free anyone to drop by our Lemmy community devoted to European graphic novels if you're interested.

While I don't dispute any of that, it seems to me that Google's CAPTCHA services can also cycle endlessly no matter what.

For example, I'll have uMatrix give full permission to the service early in the day, and the queries will never end. Come back a few hours later and it will work first-time, no problem. Other days it might loop in images more than usual but will eventually work.

As if they have no issues with my particular setup, but sometimes lose track of my progress through the CAPTCHA.

Rain at a festival isn’t.

That's pretty much stripping all relevant context from the situation. The rains are absolutely a big deal for a special campout-celebration that's held in a fairly hostile natural location, with ground that becomes disastrous in terms of movement when there's heavy rain.

It would be one thing if BM was just a frivolous celebration, but it's heavily art-oriented, creative in nature, and meaningful for a whole bunch of folks who are trying to engage in something special once a year. So it's not The Holocaust, no, but more than just the loss of the festival, there's still some real danger going on for hundreds of folks right now.

They’re probably conservative dickheads.

Hah! It doesn't even take that. All you need is a middle-management who doesn't support the rights of their workforce, is inconvenienced should a customer gin up complaints about OP's hair-color (whatever it is), and is generally just lazy and indifferent, learning from upper mgmt that growth & profits are 99% the things that count, followed by limiting liability situations. The workers themselves are just an inconvenient expense in the equation.

What if we all go through our subbed reddits and make them here?

That's exactly what I did with a fairly niche community, and so far we've got 400+ subscribers in only four months. Pretty good for Lemmy, I think.

TBF, I think part of why it took off so well is because Lemmy's ALL stream is relatively slow enough such that small niche communities have a much higher chance of being randomly seen. Compare that to Reddit, where they'd typically be buried.

So there's a prime opportunity right now to start a community on Lemmy and have it take off relatively easily. That might not be so true in future.

Bonus pts for wetting the tortilla first, depending on ingredients. That can help bring out its flavors and give it more complexity in terms of the cooking.

Another one is adding a few drops of ghost pepper chipotle sauce, grated parm/cheddar, and garlic powder to the ingredients. Tajin can be nice, too.

A leftist social platform centered around community building through discussion, shitposting memes, and sharing content.

24.8K users / 98 Communities

Seems a bit specific for "lost Redditors" in general, but okay. I'm sure there's plenty of good stuff there. That said, I think for most folks it's pragmatic to pick and choose one's communities from the *entirety* of the Fediverse rather than to limit oneself to a single instance.

Damn. All that is relatively common knowledge, yet you're getting some weird downvotes.

Also Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol

Or completely non-strange once you understand the method behind the madness. Either way, a damn cool/funny song IMO.

Anyway for the OP, instead of going with the many, many artists who intentionally made strange music, I'll go instead with The Shaggs, three teenage girls who had utterly no musical training, but who tried their best to make conventional, 'normal music':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5T2kaFiFgg

Over the decades, the album Philosophy of the World circulated among musicians and found fans such as Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain. Following a 1980 reissue on Rounder Records, it received enthusiastic reviews for its uniqueness in Rolling Stone and The Village Voice. A compilation of unreleased material, Shaggs' Own Thing, was released in 1982. The Shaggs became the subject of fascination in the 1990s, when interest grew in outsider music, and they are credited with influencing twee pop. --WP

One thing I hadn't thought much about until recently-- the quality of comments is so much higher here, and I don't have to typically scroll through a wasteland of dudebro jokes to get to relevant replies.

So, comments are also 'content,' and from what I'm seeing, Lemmy already has a distinctly smarter / more mature userbase.

Not trying to quibble or be pedantic, but I see it as a complex subject. Laws & taxes are extremely recent practices, while societies were probably around long before modern man came along, ~300kya.

I would also think some of those societies functioned nicely indeed, and were arguably an improvement over what we have now.

No no…we had it fixed for centuries

I really don't understand you there.

No, in fact the very founding of the USA was arguably done primarily so that the ruling class could disregard the respectful boundaries that the English imposed to avoid strife with Native Americans and other colonial powers, which incidentally tended to curb our exploiting the land willy-nilly as we've shamelessly done since. It also locked out women and slave voters, preserving a classist system.

Since then there's been various periods of little / negligible useful social policies, as well as periods in which the ultra-wealthy and common capitalists were UNCHECKED in their ability to thoroughly exploit people and form monopolies, etc etc. Seriously, if the Roosevelts hadn't come along, those things might have progressed scarily unchecked.

So, no-- I certainly don't see evidence that our form of democracy was 'fixed for centuries.' No, the fact is it's been a shaky, wild, perilous ride from the day one.

...the 1964 presidential campaign, as that’s the markings of the first ever attack ad.

Maybe in terms of TV, but TV is just a natural extension of media, and media in the States has been used since... at least the early 1800's? to completely slag-off or outright attack enemy candidates. Indeed, it's been a perfect blood-bath of disinformation at times, which doesn't even address all the nasty, vile tricks used to disenfranchise, or outright turn away undesirable voters at the polls. Which yes-- includes outright violence against undesirable voters across centuries in the States.

So, yeah... that all happened.

Altho I DO agree with you that somewhere between 50-70yrs back, the USA has been outright under attack by right-wingers, paving the way for fascism. Basically attacking most of the progress made under FDR and even Republican presidents like Ike.

Thanks for sharing that, and to add on, so far I've found:

• !art@lemmy.ml
• !drawing@lemmy.world

Both of which specialise in members sharing their own work.

i'm pretty sure a shared tradition and morality handled most of what we might call 'law.' as for taxes, that's something that works with lucre. the vast majority of human history did not seem to function with lucre.

as for a threshold of 1000 individuals, i would tend to think most societies splintered in to smaller ones the larger they grew, as is natural.

a lot of that is speculative of course, but generally seems supported by the history and clues we do have. meanwhile, what i know for sure is that this mega-society is headed for a massive collapse, and is certainly not self-sustaining, nor at equilibrium with nature. cheers.

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) has to get an honorable mention, in which Alec Guinness plays eight significant characters.

I sort of accidentally discovered that when dining at the local cantina.

The restaurant did something neat in serving an appetizer of guacamole on top of pico de gallo. For whatever reason I decided to dump the whole thing in to the bowl of spicy, chicken-black bean soup I was having. The contrast in flavors, and cooked vs fresh, spicy vs cool was an instant game changer. Indeed, I never looked back from there.

and a proper pizza oven. The oven a recipe can’t help with

Fortunately, it sounds like pizza steels do a really impressive job replicating a good oven.