Alsjemenou

@Alsjemenou@lemy.nl

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Where has the tax money "saved" in uk austerity gone?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Two things, firstly the one thing that needs to be avoided at all costs is raising taxes. Since this robs working and succesful people from their personal ability to take care of themselves and their families. Secondly that there needs to be a class distinction between the people who take advantage of the system and those who don’t. That is to say that in their mind society is functioning in such a way that anybody can ‘make it’ through some effort. And that those who supposedly don’t put in the effort aren’t supposed to be cuddled and given handouts, as an incentive to put in the effort as well.

  There is perfectly fine education, care and protection through private parties. Just hire those. You can’t? Well I guess you aren’t trying hard enough. We can concentrate police presence in criminal neighbourhoods. We can concentrate care and education in the neighbourhoods that do function correctly.

  This is their ideology I’m describing, not my own, just to be clear. Im being sarcastic.

  Reality is ofcourse more nuanced than what im saying, after all the neocon ideology needs to exist in the real world and adapt to it. Which mostly seems to lead to populism.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Where has the tax money "saved" in uk austerity gone?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  There are several dials that can be tweaked to balance the budget. A (neo)liberal is for low taxes, small government, and selfcare. So their cuts, when the governments expenses are higher then the incomes, are in public services. And they won’t put it back, because that’s against their ideology.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨100% vegetarian⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes, but only if you got it from a civet that is roadkill.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it everywhere?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Some sounds just become the thing they are supposed to represent. They aren’t used because there are no more sounds to be made. Two reasons.

  First. Directors won’t use a schnauzer as a guard dog in a movie, because they don’t portrait the intention of a guard dog on screen. For exactly the same reason you can’t use a gong as a laser sound, it doesn’t portrait a laser.

  Second. People have collected sounds and made them available. There are stock sounds, just like there are stock pictures.

  And so, certain sounds have become used for certain things. And the more they are used the more iconic they become. The Wilhelm scream, red tailed hawk, and many more.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A small art gallery in Japan just happened to have these pictures next to each other. And then it morphed into a popular meme template⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I have denied my personal reality and substituted it with yours.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ant on a dating show "I like long walks on the peach"⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  axe murderer: I like long gurgles in your screech

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Time to pluralize titles.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Supermen

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It must have been a whole lot more difficult to design and build tall buildings before computers existed⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The processes in manufacturing largely remained the same. Doing things faster makes things easier not more difficult.

  Look at the Eiffel tower for example, immensely complicated, wild design and largely pointless (compared to modern standards).

  Or compare old wooden windmills to one of the most modern structures, large open water windmills. hundreds of meters tall, simple tubular construction.

  The ability that CAD and computer power in general gave us was the ability to simplify and not use more than necessary. The ability to model strength, rigidity and whatever forces necessary, that’s where the real power lies.

  and i think that we can’t really speak about more or less difficult. The structures and designs clearly have a very high level of complexity, while most modern constructions deliberately eliminate complexity. But we can’t do that without computers.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I got mine after having a stable relationship and a partner without a child wish.

  i knew from a very young age i didnt want kids, and have always picked partners that shared my view. I also knew that I would make a great dad if it ever came to it. So i never got the snip until i was 39.

  I don’t think I would have mind if I did it earlier, but it’s also not as necessary as you think. If you pick your partners carefully and be open about your wishes. This shouldn’t be a real issue. If you are having fantasies about fucking around a lot, you should wear protection anyway. And as a matter of fact, not being snipped will help to wear that shit.

  I want to mention lastly, please don’t get into a deep lasting relationship with a person who has a child wish. It will end badly.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Everybody gets one [choose wisely]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Finally i can get my jacuzzi!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Everybody gets one [choose wisely]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Ah great, I would like everything i ever would need to buy ever, always be on super sale. Thanks.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why democrats under Biden administration didn't release Epstein files?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Okay. Let me give a sane outsider take.

  First thing you have to understand is that there is a big disconnect between the conviction of Epstein and the influential connections he had. All the conspiracy talk about the island being a childporn hub for elites is nothing more than that: conspiracy fantasy. His suicide fueled many more ideas about the elite killing him, but again no evidence at all.

  However, there is a strong public pressure to research the connections between Epstein and the elites he knew. This has most likely been done in the background, since Epstein did shady finances. But Trump has campaigned heavily on the popular sentiment. And it lives in the minds of people a solution to lock up all the elites/draining the swamp.

  So now there is a big problem for the maga populists, there is a ‘list’ of connections to epstein. But there is no further evidence (yet) that those people did anything illegal, or is entirely complicated financial crime. The list probably includes just about the entire political spectrum includes donors and includes Trump. So everybody wants to handle this the correct way, including those donors. Nobody wants their name public because they spoke to a shady financial advisor. And any case against a super wealthy person needs to be watertight, they can afford a legal team.

  Is it possible that there was deeper predatory connections? sure. Epstein had easy access and no question that he was willing to share. Is that going to be written down in a list? absolutely not. Epstein did finances the shady way and that’s more likely the reason so many rich people were interested in his business.

  So this isnt a political issue. Of course, now it is. But that’s because Trump made it one.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Solar powered personal umbrella with battery?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Why not add a bluetooth speaker and some search lights, maybe a perfume dispenser and a toothpick holder. fucking genius.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Do you still remember?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  '99 Renault Megane scenic 1.9D

  it was dangerously slow. And I failed my first test because of it. I was supposed to merge in front of a truck, but i simply couldn’t get up to speed in the space i had. The exam lady refused to believe me that it couldn’t.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How come nobody does anything about North Korea?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  First of all, there are a lot of people willing to die for their country as it is. As soon as people are willing to give up their lives, you’re not changing shit. These people didn’t grow up like you and me.

  Secondly, there is a world of difference between stepping in and stepping in. One of the main reasons that North Korea is so isolated is because of sanctions. That is also a form of stepping in.

  Thirdly, we already saw war and foreign meddling in that area. That’s exactly why America is the great evil opponent of North Korea. That’s not a coincidence or just because Kim Il Sung, Kim Jung Il or Kim Jung Un hated “freedom”.

  Now you ask, what other solution is there?!

  Well, a lot of people are actually working on that. By launching information campaigns and spreading Western/foreign music into the country. Real change comes from within. But please remember that this country is now lead by the third generation of absolute leader.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  :p would be rude to call someone dumb otherwise.

  Look, you’re completely right about big poluters. Obviously.

  But them polluting doesn’t rid you from your responsibilities. Car manufacturers make cars go 150 but you still need to keep to the speed limit. And because everybody does that, at least to a fair degree, we can all drive safely.

  You can just toss your thrash on the side of the road.

  You can just exist on a red meat only diet.

  Its all the same. Have some common decency. Don’t consume polluting products when you know that it’s the worst option and there is much better available.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Okay. But as an individual we still have a choice. And knowing what clearly is worse, while having minimal impact on your life if not doing it. It doesn’t exactly feel like a smart decision, to have red meat/animal products in general. Can i at least call you dumb?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Everybody talks about beliefs like they're this big important thing.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes. And also explains why worldviews are so different between cultural, linguistical and geographically different groups of people.

  Even though we’re becoming more and more unified, through the internet, through logic systems like maths or science in general. This is not to be mistaken for truth. Western scientific ideology specifically has as unspoken ‘truth’ that when ideas ‘win’, they are more valuable. While English, our logical rules, our ideologies are winning not because they are true but because they are believed more, or over, other languages, logic systems and ideologies.

  Ofcourse these systems of beliefs create opportunities and knowledge for people. Don’t mistake my dismissal of truth for disaproval.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Everybody talks about beliefs like they're this big important thing.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Because everything we can say about reality is through the human perspective and the construct of language. We believe that this can yield us truths. But its just a belief. Our human-ness might just as well blind us to what is actually true. And as such, most of everything we think we know is based on belief. There is no escaping this problem.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨You learn something new everyday⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The numbers for 1993 werent in yet?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  People are idiots andll try to whack that seed full force with a blunt potato peeler.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If you gotta go, you gotta go law.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Restcloset*

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If this is you your priorities are all screwed up⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh shut, thanks for the wake up call op.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨So, is the USA screwed?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  In a sense it is done. That sense is being a beacon of progress. All presidents before Trump understood the relationship America had with the world as being a world power. While there always was a conservative voice in America, conservative presidents were always able to mask self interest under the flag of progress, bringing democracy, peace and free markets. Now ultraconservative fascist are no longer masking, Trump and Musk are literally not smart enough to understand. The USA played a very important role in the world order and the current administration is basically giving that up.

  Trump and Musk, because they really aren’t smart (i can’t stress this enough, they lack the mental capacity), are not considering the value of that role, the services the US provides. They only think about the value of things and of money. More rockets, tarifs on goods, expenditure… And see these as things along which progress is measured.

  While that does, to a small extent, captures progress. It forgets the foundations of progress, peace, education, financial security, social cohesion, to name a few. Sorry, i say forget… But really what i should be saying is dismantling. They are also clueless about the value of services and the service economy. Which is, or has become, another measure of progress.

  Anyway the point is, the US can’t maintain their position in the world order. They can’t maintain a government that understands their responsibility in that order. They abandoned their classic role without providing the world with a new/better one.

  The US has been degraded to a trade partner.