That’s amazing, gotta love strange cats.

Those really look like opposable thumbs.

Teslas are so bad for this, that whole “all the controls are on a big ipad” setup should be illegal.

I didn’t read too far, but,

To restrict car manufacturers and other companies from selling consumer car-related data, increase transparency regarding data practices, and for other purposes.

already skips over collecting the data, so yeah. I would guess this bill just exists for the optics, and isn’t actually intended to challenge the industry.

I can’t trust a car no matter how Japanese it is, but… I watched a lil docuseries on dangerous roads, and it seemed like at least 80% of the vehicles (outside of heavy trucks) were Toyota. I dunno if it’s because they’re the most reliable, or because Toyota just has the market in many of these developing countries, but it was interesting.

Well, I am always looking for book recommendations… I’ll put this on my list 🙂

I wish people didn’t have such a tendency to think of things as binary, when basically nothing is. It’s super unhelpful.

When I worked for a guy who kept chickens in the back yard, the eggs came out in every shade from dark brown to white, and some had freckles. I don’t know how they get them to be just two uniform colours (brown/white) in the grocery store, but I assume the white ones must be bleached. Some are naturally brown, others may be dyed.

But I agree that we should be suspicious whenever marketing is involved.

May he have pineapples shoved up his arse in hell, right next to old hitler.

Oh interesting, I’ve never really delved past the movies.

They did also choose to humanize a storm trooper with Finn in the new films, but I don’t remember him going through any “deprogramming” or anything, he just kinda realizes he’s a nice guy one day.

It would have been much more interesting to see him struggle with his changing worldview.

Nuh-uh, Xi pressed the big red communism button and now all the capitalism is gone!

[is joke, obviously that’s not how it works]

“It’s just never worked” is ignorant though. Every nation that has tried to dump capitalism has has successes and failures, and there are many factors that contribute to each. Economies are extremely complex and you simply can’t say anything intelligent without getting at least a bit more in-depth than “works/doesn’t work”.

The USA and the international institutions they control have done an impressive job making it look like open markets equals prosperity, but when you look just under the surface, a different picture emerges.

Vietnam, for example, was denied access to IMF loans, while trying to rebuild after an absolutely brutal war that basically set them back to the stone age. Only once they agreed to certain liberal reforms were they allowed access to the funds and resources they needed.

If you’re not really paying attention, it looks like you’re right.

That’s true, the storm troopers and stuff are basically presented as automatons. I guess some audiences like not having to think, but it would have been much more impactful to show them as people with their own beliefs and motivations and stuff.

Sadly true. And most people aren’t aware that they did pretty much the same thing to Laos, who they weren’t even at war with. They just carpet bombed the whole country, “just in case.”

Fuck the USA. They’re literally the evil empire from star wars.

You could probs add Burkina Faso to that list too.

Mostly this, although Vietnam is doing quite well, especially considering their circumstances.

Cuba is also really interesting…not thriving, to be sure, but you have to end the US blockade before you blame them for their own hardships. And in spite of everything, they have democracy like we’ve never seen in the west.

Edit: also what beejboytyson said about Cuba.

I see China building renewable energy capacity, and crazy fast trains, faster than the rest of the world combined.

I see Cuba, a tiny island nation, still independent after 64 years of brutal US sanctions.

I see Vietnam, a popular retirement destination for American ‘expats’.

I see Russia, being fairly shitty and also 100% capitalist for 25 years.

Hmm, seems like you may have been told a bunch of times that communism is bad but never really looked into it.

Download Firefox

Change default search engine

Problem solved 😁

Copilot seemed to be a bit better tuned, but I’ve now confused it by misspelling strawberry. Such fun.

One time they told me I had 3 days left to enjoy YouTube with my ad blocker, and then I would have to buy premium, or they would just lock me out of the site. I was like “welp, it had a good run, I guess that’s it for ol’ YouTube.”

But then the 3 days went buy and nothing ever came of it.

That tactic probably did get them some preemptive subscriptions though, unfortunately.