A cautionary tale if you're considering.

Years ago someone left my employer abruptly, and on their desk was left a fancy vertical mouse. It sat there for a few days, and I kept glancing over, at first ambivalent, but as time passed the temptation increased. I debated the dilemma of becoming a vertical mouse person, was that really for me? Eventually I succumbed and thought hey it's worth a try, see what it's like to be one of them... pure learning opportunity...

Then something happened... I got used to it in about a half hour and in the first day my precision improved. A sudden urge came over me to tell all my coworkers, was I really becoming one of those people so fast? Trying to resist was futile and within a couple days I became a vertical mouse person, always wanting to tell everyone how great they are, constantly resisting the urge. I forgot what life was like with a horizontal mouse, and I never looked back.

When the Jewish peace groups sat in for a ceasefire in Washington, spokespeople for the ADL in effect denied their status as Jews and said antizionism is the same as antisemitism.

You can't enforce ethnic land claims without perpetual suppression of undesirables, and the completely predictable effects that will cause.

American Idiot is the millennials' Fortunate Son

There's a bunch of different notions about "the end of politics," but mostly I've seen it refer to the fact that the economic system in the US is basically not up for debate at this point. The issues that are up for debate now do not threaten the basic structure of the political economy, or the economic arrangements of people in this system.

I disagree somewhat about the "both sides" criticism of the media here. This "both sides" approach isn't because the media "hasn't figured out" how to move beyond conventional 90s politics, it's because the media subsists on it's ability to exploit the viewer's attention and emotions. There's plenty of writing and analysis of "real" politics, but the biggest news networks aren't running that as top stories because it doesn't offer the engagement of partisan culture war debates.

It's funnier how this didn't happen but is funny to them to imagine it did

Bon Appétit after the issues at their workplace were raised, they all make some decent content outside the BA brand though. Nice to see Sohla doing so much content too since she wasn't treated the best at BA.

Naïve man children who need validation because being with someone their equal is scary, and the "tradwife" insofar as they exist, wants to be completely dependent on this manchild. Sounds like a great idea I'm sure it works out well all the time. The idea of being with a woman like this hell to me, and any of the associated sexual fantasies involved are hotter when power is willingly relinquished, from either person, not in some weird coercive context.

As of November 5th "Unnamed Democrat" polls up to 8 points higher than Biden with Trump leading in 5/6 swing states. They're both historically unpopular candidates with Biden trending downward. Best thing Biden could do at this point is withdrawal set up another Democrat candidate to run. Downvoting these simple polling facts doesn't make them go away and make everything okay, cause it's very much not okay right now.

Okaaaay new rule. Maher is a great example for how politics has changed in the US the last 20 years, because he definitely hasn't changed, yet he's almost universally despised by progressives now.

Other comedians are going after him now too, Heidecker and Armisen produced a whole half hour satire of the odd chemistry he has on his "Club Random" podcast. Tim doesn't do the voice impression but it's almost funnier for some reason because of that. This is an absolutely hilarious example of it. "Hey you want some dope?" "Oh yeah sure... lets smoke this joint" "It's not weed stupid it's a CLOVE CIGARETTE." I dunno how Jeff Ross holds it together here, the roastmaster that he is.

Norm was one of the first to really go after him as "one of these comedians who try and be smart instead of funny." His appearances on Maher's show in that video are great, totally ruins what Maher is trying to do and makes the audience and guests crack up.

Studios basically want to own the personas of their actors so they can decouple the actual human from it and just use their images. There's been a lot of weird issues with this already in videogames with body capture and voice acting, and contracts aren't read through properly or the wording is vague, and not all agents know about this stuff yet. It's very dystopian to think your whole appearance and persona can be taken from you and commodified. I remember when Tupac's hologram performed at Coachella in 2012 and thinking how fucked up that was. You have these huge studios and event promoters appropriating his image to make money, and an audience effectively watching a performance of technological necromancy where a dead person is re-animated.

China pollutes so much because the biggest consumer economy in the world deindustrialized and outsourced manufacturing to them.

An LMM modeled after the average redditor sounds like the most condescending thing ever.

RollJam and RollBack are the exploits for bypassing rolling codes. These exploits are possible because you can replay captured codes at a later time.

What's happening in most cases is the proximity-based fobs are simply amplified with a device to reach the person's car in the driveway, since most people keep their keys by the door, and in some cases even within reach of the car without a device. It's this low hanging fruit where the theft happens, or just a tow truck...

The Flipper is more of an enthusiast and pranking device. The devices used in actual thefts are like disposable $50 alibaba pieces of shit. Canada is effectively creating a clandestine market for simple radio amplifiers made from the most basic electronic components. As someone in Canada who used to build the classic cmoy Altoid-tin headphone amps to sell on etsy, this is tempting...

There are well over thousands who have skills beyond Mozart today. The few who become well known are determined by very different things, having skills like Mozart is almost irrelevant. He's also just sort of the token "music talent" example for people who don't listen to music, often goes with the idea "classical music" is when music peaked.

The "gifted piano prodigy" I grew up with is a burnout in his 30s. There's an unassuming data analyst I work with who likely exceeds his skill and just teaches on the side. My local symphony had to cancel this season due to lack of sales. A band at the jazz school my brother attended (BBNG) got sampled by a rapper and were a breakthrough success. This is sorta what it looks like for the Mozarts of today.

Ask the Kurds what it's like to be America's ally.

Hey America how's it going?

Jesus Christ.

Soon there will be content created and consumed entirely by generative "ai," an almost shadow-culture.

Yeah "only worked 150 days" glosses over how much work daily life was. If you were lucky you lived with pigs and cows and their shit in your thatch hut and it didn't cave in during the winter leaving you for dead, maybe you survived through your thirties without dying of lung disease, because you'd constantly have fires going in the hut. You'd have to wash clothes in the river even during the winters and hang them up to dry in the smoke of your hut.

On the plus size in good times, and ironically, you could have a healthier diet than the lord. It wasn't like being a lord was a worry-free place to be either, despite all the luxuries they could afford. Christmas was basically 2 months in the winter and festival season could be full of pleasure if you were well situated. "Peasant" encompasses a wide variety of economic arrangements and many of them could live comfortably, relatively speaking. There was no one single "feudalism" and it's debatable whether the term is useful to sum up the period.

They already own their home and are enjoying life.

-by exploiting other's labor and creating a bigger wealth disparity than has ever existed

Yeah I actually think this is really cool because buying this sort of laptop, you have to know a thing or two about computers and intentionally buy it. It's not a default choice, she had a reason to get this specific category of gaming laptop. She's probably a gamer with a watercooled rig at home, but as a lawyer is often on the go between clients, and she wants to get in on some sidequests and grinds whenever she can.

Exactly and she's a lawyer, so if she really wants to game at a serious level she needs a portable rig she can use between clients. She probably has a rig at her condo.

People's identities become fully commodified then a technology is invented to simulate it. Late stage capitalist dystopia things.

E. V. Debs' Statement to the Court, Upon Being Convicted of Violating the Sedition Act, September 18, 1918:

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

I listened to all that was said in this court in support and justification of this prosecution, but my mind remains unchanged. I look upon the Espionage Law as a despotic enactment in flagrant conflict with democratic principles and with the spirit of free institutions…

Your Honor, I have stated in this court that I am opposed to the social system in which we live; that I believe in a fundamental change—but if possible by peaceable and orderly means…

Standing here this morning, I recall my boyhood. At fourteen I went to work in a railroad shop; at sixteen I was firing a freight engine on a railroad. I remember all the hardships and privations of that earlier day, and from that time until now my heart has been with the working class. I could have been in Congress long ago. I have preferred to go to prison…

I am thinking this morning of the men in the mills and the factories; of the men in the mines and on the railroads. I am thinking of the women who for a paltry wage are compelled to work out their barren lives; of the little children who in this system are robbed of their childhood and in their tender years are seized in the remorseless grasp of Mammon and forced into the industrial dungeons, there to feed the monster machines while they themselves are being starved and stunted, body and soul. I see them dwarfed and diseased and their little lives broken and blasted because in this high noon of Christian civilization money is still so much more important than the flesh and blood of childhood. In very truth gold is god today and rules with pitiless sway in the affairs of men.

In this country—the most favored beneath the bending skies—we have vast areas of the richest and most fertile soil, material resources in inexhaustible abundance, the most marvelous productive machinery on earth, and millions of eager workers ready to apply their labor to that machinery to produce in abundance for every man, woman, and child—and if there are still vast numbers of our people who are the victims of poverty and whose lives are an unceasing struggle all the way from youth to old age, until at last death comes to their rescue and lulls these hapless victims to dreamless sleep, it is not the fault of the Almighty: it cannot be charged to nature, but it is due entirely to the outgrown social system in which we live that ought to be abolished not only in the interest of the toiling masses but in the higher interest of all humanity…

I believe, Your Honor, in common with all Socialists, that this nation ought to own and control its own industries. I believe, as all Socialists do, that all things that are jointly needed and used ought to be jointly owned—that industry, the basis of our social life, instead of being the private property of a few and operated for their enrichment, ought to be the common property of all, democratically administered in the interest of all…

I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.

This order of things cannot always endure. I have registered my protest against it. I recognize the feebleness of my effort, but, fortunately, I am not alone. There are multiplied thousands of others who, like myself, have come to realize that before we may truly enjoy the blessings of civilized life, we must reorganize society upon a mutual and cooperative basis; and to this end we have organized a great economic and political movement that spreads over the face of all the earth.

There are today upwards of sixty millions of Socialists, loyal, devoted adherents to this cause, regardless of nationality, race, creed, color, or sex. They are all making common cause. They are spreading with tireless energy the propaganda of the new social order. They are waiting, watching, and working hopefully through all the hours of the day and the night. They are still in a minority. But they have learned how to be patient and to bide their time. The feel—they know, indeed—that the time is coming, in spite of all opposition, all persecution, when this emancipating gospel will spread among all the peoples, and when this minority will become the triumphant majority and, sweeping into power, inaugurate the greatest social and economic change in history.

In that day we shall have the universal commonwealth—the harmonious cooperation of every nation with every other nation on earth…

Your Honor, I ask no mercy and I plead for no immunity. I realize that finally the right must prevail. I never so clearly comprehended as now the great struggle between the powers of greed and exploitation on the one hand and upon the other the rising hosts of industrial freedom and social justice.

I can see the dawn of the better day for humanity. The people are awakening. In due time they will and must come to their own.

When the mariner, sailing over tropic seas, looks for relief from his weary watch, he turns his eyes toward the southern cross, burning luridly above the tempest-vexed ocean. As the midnight approaches, the southern cross begins to bend, the whirling worlds change their places, and with starry finger-points the Almighty marks the passage of time upon the dial of the universe, and though no bell may beat the glad tidings, the lookout knows that the midnight is passing and that relief and rest are close at hand. Let the people everywhere take heart of hope, for the cross is bending, the midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning.

Yeah I'm a huge pirate but I also have subscriptions to publications, buy a bunch of games, buy music and even have almost every release from a few labels, go to concerts as much as I can. It's not about the money for me at all

Saying this is antisemitism is a stretch.

They openly say antizionism is the same as antisemitism, even that Jewish peace groups protesting at the US capitol for a ceasefire weren't Jews.

Having experienced the news cycles for the previous 3 escalations of this conflict, this time around it's very different. The Israeli press and propaganda is making it very obvious how they're trying so hard to control the perception of this conflict, and that alone draws suspicion because it's of such low quality.

I've been on both sides of this as a sysadmin for almost 15 years then as a data analyst. IT has so many requirements and barriers and any end user tool you have free access to will possibly be an easier route than procuring a boutique solution through IT. Yes of course IT will do it proper but that takes longer, just build a tool in excel and use an access database on the file server cause its something you can just immediately do. Yeah its not "right" by IT standards and causes headaches for IT but sometimes it's whatever gets the job done next week is what's going to be in the businesses best interest.

Also a lot of these tools are used how they were designed to be used. If a couple people have a function they need fulfilled and some excel tool with macros can provide that in less than a month and save those people a ton of time then I don't see a problem with it. Just make sure SLA is very clear make it clear they can't blame IT if there's problems, offer the best advice for risk management.

Reddit has been commodified and monetized too much at this point. It was a great platform for niche interests for so long, but all the good internet stuff is on forums, discord servers, patreon, youtube, etc now. Twitter/X and Insta are even more productive content producers than reddit is. Reddit used to have this reputation for authenticity, but that gradually died out over the last 5-7 years and it's now just another shitty "online community." It still has activity but not much happens on reddit anymore, it's just a site where people post links to other sites and comment on them. A lot of the negatives about reddit as a platform also apply to lemmy but at least it's open source and nonprofit.

Why do we fall prey to the need to comment on something so irrelevant?

We lack political agency that has any ability to impact the economic arrangements we find ourselves in, instead we react to politics happening, from opposing ends of this economic consensus that alienates us, by engaging in the hyper-real spectacle of politics. This is what the Trump era represents, decaying neoliberal consensus, increasing internalized anxieties, and alienation from political institutions.

I long for the day "Trump says" is no longer newsworthy.

Everyone wants X Files but it's just countries spying on each other and military experiments. Anything fantastical like the mummies are news spectacles meant to drum up publicity. There's no reason why aliens would match cartoony depictions made up in science fiction. If actual aliens are here it basically means travelling faster than light is possible.

Canada's public/private system has a lot of this as well. Drug, dental, optical, anything else are part of employer's group benefits. There are public drug coverage options where your deductible is calculated as a percentage of your net income, and a public senior's plan with a flat deductible.

Scotty has the most clickbait titles. "If you have a car you will REGRET this ONE SIMPLE TRICK and DESTROY YOUR ENGINE" (video is about winter octane stabilizers or something completely mundane)

Maybe it's not so much they're "pro-Palestine" but anti-genocide.

We paid for streaming networks but our rural internet was too shitty to stream, so I'd torrent everything instead. Now we have good internet but all the streaming services are too expensive to sign up for. Just like the old days, the only available solution to see what you want at a fair price is piracy.

Time for the usual political debate to run it's course and nothing to happen, because any change to the conditions that generate this violence run against capital interests.

Suggesting there's a better option breaks American's brains.

The American public have no say this stuff either, by design, because "America's security interests" as determined by the military industrial complex are what really drive the nation's politics and foreign policy. Obviously antifascism is antiAmerican, because fascist governments enable private American companies to extract their resources, and antiracism is a threat under an economic system that invented the very notion of race and is inherently racist.

lol I doxxed one of the_donald mods to the FBI after Jan 6th, they used to advertise and gloat about a bunch of their "business" stuff on the site, and registered their LLC to their home address. Clicked on a link they shared, highighted and searched the LLC on Google, clicked on registered address and streetview and there's a shitty car plastered in Trump stickers in the driveway. Never doxxed them anywhere publicly or did anything bad with their addy until I had a legit purpose for it.

Andrew Callaghan sad to say because I was a huge fan and I guess there's been actual rape allegations come out although he hasn't been charged with anything so who knows. That style of journalism I just love so much and he is so good at it so it's a shame.