This slaps

Fuck this stupid world we’ve built.

Similar to, but not quite the same as the kind of man-child that buys an F-150 on the off chance they need to haul a dresser once every 4 years. Seriously though, if each one of these buyers keeping US truck bloat in style bought a motorcycle instead to cement their self-worth, traffic would be eliminated in most US cities. That’s not possible due to many factors, I know, but it must be said motorcycles are just way cooler.

That’s a heartwrenching photo.

I imagine they’re really itching to torpedo it somehow. Surprisingly long time for them not to do so.

Andrew had one of the worst days in his hot, wet life.

Like kudzu

Based

Thank you for your research.

I guess that makes sense, if there is no night crew then I suppose day crew would just put out the fires next day?

I’m very much a tech person and can confirm for me personally: T9-Word in combination with physical keys was a much faster, one-handed, and even eyes-off experience. Even when I upgraded to a phone with a slide out full physical keyboard (Samsung Intensity), T9 was still faster. For any word that had repeated keys back-to-back, my hand knew to press the right arrow which would move the cursor to the next position.

I’m purely talking about typing while not looking at the screen (for instance in a pocket like OP mentioned). Not sure why you brought screen resolution into it or media players. I’m not a vintage tech apologist–I’m typing this on an S22 with SwiftKey and it’s fine minus a few mistakes. But there was no way I could do this blindfolded. I’d have exited the app and be typing something regrettable into Slack by now.

Overall I think our best hope is with organized labor. Join a union or create one.

Great point, I agree with you on that. Joining a union was the best thing I ever did, even though I’m no longer in that industry/active. In order to tackle the money side of this, it’s important to remember that most Americans are all three: workers, voters, and consumers.

For those who can afford to do so: consuming/supporting local goods/services and avoiding national brands/distributors goes a long way. The new McDonald’s that just got constructed in my town is way cheaper than supporting the local food truck but I’m fortunate to be able to support the local guys–I rued the day that McDonald’s broke ground. I order straight from manufacturers when it makes sense, I buy books from small (online) book distributors or used at local small brick and mortar stores. I don’t know if it makes any damn difference but it feels good, I have to speculate it will have a cumulative effect.

If I take a step back, the general throughline of any of these ideas is decentralization. We’re doing it now, right here. For the individual, the easiest and most accessible way to apply it to politics directly is voting in local elections, which is why I first mentioned that. And of course, the very act of voting can be prohibitive for many, I’m not discounting that.

Broad-based protests do work in my mind, and I posit that they sort of have an inverted bell curve effect. Immediately during and after the protests, they raise awareness, draw media frenzy, and stay afloat in current events and discussion. However, months to years later, after the media has moved on and something else is more novel to talk about (like how the West pivoted from Ukraine to Palestine), it can feel like nothing came about, or too little, too late. However in the long term, it seems like a shift can come about that colors the mindset of a generation and those after it. In the case of George Floyd, I’m a white guy and never had many issues with cops. Before that instant I may have even occasionally been a cop apologist when I was younger. But once that event happened and I joined the marches for awareness, I could never see them the same way again. I will now always have my eyes open when seeing cops interact with others. To turn away and pretend every interaction someone is having with a cop is innocent is naive and dangerous, certainly enabling.

Sorry for the ramblings, I’m no poly sci major, I’m probably not even smart enough to write the above with any confidence. It’s all just my opinions there so take it for what you will.

You’re right, my mistake. I just meant the Democratic Party. Not like it isn’t hive minded by corporate lobbying either, but what else is there to do but vote locally? Someone said recently that only voting in presidential races is like only throwing Hail Mary’s.

I have to think a hard drive and even a VPN service would pay for itself in no time at that cost.

I actually don’t personally know any Biden supporters to verify that statement. I do, however, know many people who will vote for a second term of this second-quartile-ranked president rather than the bottom quartile anaerobic bacteria that we had before. Those people are very painfully aware that not much is “fine” and the US–and the rest of the worldwide governments–have a long way to go.

Most rational people realize that we don’t need a middling, above-average option as president, we need literal superheros as politicians in all seats of all branches of government. That will never happen. However, I’m one of like a thousand who vote in my local elections (not just general), which is insane considering the size of my district. It all starts small. If you want to dismantle a compromised DNC, tear it out by the roots, not the head.

I’m very glad these folks are standing up for what they think is necessary, even in the face of establishment antagonism and some unhinged cops. I hope this spreads like wildfire. We have bigger things to tackle as a species in the year 2024 than stopping sponsored genocide. The sooner we can put pressure on Israel to cease their onslaught, the better.

[…] carrying out what is likely the highest number of protest-related arrests there since the Vietnam War.

That’s pretty telling of the state of things.

Haven’t played it yet but between this and Wartales, I’m really liking this period of indie dev creativity.

Almost to 150k now.

For some reason I thought it was mainly to protect Taylor Swift, with teen girls being the afterthought.

True