SallyStrange

SallyStrange, 4 months ago to Economics

"Debunking degrowth" or trying to, anyway

"In the degrowth literature, a caricature of the typical economist is presented as believing in unlimited economic growth, and that growth should be pursued regardless of its environmental impact. This is a straw man. It would be a naïve economist who did not recognise that constraints exist. And economists usually limit their projections to a few decades to come, rather than to the infinite future, in which they supposedly believe in unlimited exponential economic growth. Certainly, there are theoretical economic growth models which portray the possibility of exponential growth into the infinite future, but economists have had enough common sense not to assume stylised theoretical models are the be-all-and-end-all when it comes to public policy."

Then why, Mr. Tunny, is it so hard to find an economist who can tell us when the economy should stop growing?

#degrowth #capitalism #Economics

https://www.cis.org.au/publication/debunking-degrowth/

SallyStrange, 6 months ago to Economics

Been reading up a lot about neoliberals lately.

Turns out that the people who love capitalism the most and want to protect it at all costs don't think that it inevitably leads to democracy. In fact they think too much democracy leads inevitably to socialism, and sought (often successfully) to encase capitalism within the protection of national and international law in order to fend off democratic attacks on "economic freedom," aka, the right of a small slice of humanity to take their piles of money wherever they want and be assured of finding desperate low-wage workers wherever they go.

#neoliberalism #democracy #economics #socialism #PrivateProperty

SallyStrange, 4 months ago to random

This conversation happens at least once per day on here.

Lefty: Voting is not enough. We must be prepared to do more than vote, because the Democratic Party are not interested in saving anyone from fascism.

Liberal: But you must vote! Trump and Biden are not the same!

Lefty: Ya, I said voting is not ENOUGH, not that I'm against it, although--

Liberal: This is Russian propaganda. Stop doing voter suppression, you fascist! I bet you're soooo privileged!

---

If you're a liberal who doesn't harangue leftists this way, congrats. Go tell your pals to stop shooting the messenger, please.

SallyStrange, 23 days ago to scifi

10 authors, of whose books I've read at least five:

Ursula Le Guin
Kim Stanley Robinson
Octavia Butler
N. K. Jemisin
Becky Chambers
Iain M. Banks
Martha Wells
M. R. Carey
Lois McMaster Bujold
Vonda McIntyre

#scifi #ScienceFiction #SFF #books

#10Authors5BooksEach
@bookstodon

SallyStrange, 2 months ago to StarTrek

Time to purge my phone of memes. This one is my favorite, but I'm setting it free. Time for someone else to watch over it for a while :blobhaj_heart:

#StarTrek #DS9 #DeepSpace9

SallyStrange, 4 months ago to random

Economists when talking to CEOs and presidents: Yes we need endless growth. Make more stuff, forever

Economists when talking to environmentalists: Of course we don't mean for everyone to make more stuff forever, you idiot. You fucking moron. "Growth" just means "increasing the goodness" so if you're opposed to growth then you're opposed to goodness.

SallyStrange, 4 months ago to random

Today in Things That Did Not Happen:

SallyStrange, 3 months ago to random

@mahenderkar take the anarchist out of your bio

SallyStrange, 3 months ago to climate

An article I'm not going to link to: "The way humans evolved may be stopping us from solving climate change"

No doubt it's got some observations from psychology about humans' tendency towards short-term thinking and planning. That may be true, but what's really stopping us from solving climate change is rich and powerful people who simply refuse to do so and instead devote ridiculous amounts of energy and money towards stopping anyone who tries.

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #propaganda

SallyStrange, 4 months ago to random

Finally, the moment you've been waiting for: Sally's Guide to Getting And Keeping a Job in Construction! Focused on USA rules/regulations/culture and aimed particularly at people seen as female or feminine, especially queer kids. Construction was a lifeline for me during a dark time and it could be for you. If you're desperately trying to get out of your parents' house, but don't want to get into college, this could be helpful! Could be in 4 or 5 parts, sincere there is plenty to cover.

ADVANCE PREPARATION:

1. Figuring out if it’s really for you. OK, one big skill you should have is an awareness of 3D space, but how can you know if you have that? Well, did you like playing with legos? Are you into fiber arts such as knitting, crochet, or sewing? Those give you some good skills to build on, e.g.: counting to 10, measuring, cutting, comparing sizes, etc. Are you good at stacking dishes? Good at packing a suitcase? Into Tetris? These are all good signs. Also, cleaning is huge on a construction site. The ability to quickly survey a space and prioritize tasks for getting or keeping it organized is super helpful.

On the people skills side: just have good communication and the ability to ask clarifying questions. Working in a male-dominated field can be frustrating because they downplay the value of communication skills, then spend so much time arguing about pointless shit. Cultivate patience and a sense of humor for this.

Another helpful communication tip: learn conversational Spanish. Doesn’t matter where you are, you’re bound to have some coworkers whose first language is Spanish.

Another SUPER helpful thing to learn is the technical lingo! Just being able to identify a lintel or tell the difference between a rafter and a joist, for example, will give you far more credibility than such trivia really deserves. Watching youtube videos of people doing the type of work you're interested in is a good idea, especially if the videos are made somewhat locally to you.

SallyStrange, 5 months ago to random

omg mstdn.social let Charlie fucking Kirk on there. Recommend to block the whole instance. #Fediblock

Edit: Folks are saying his account is suspended. I trust y'all but seriously I cannot tell that it's suspended. How does one know?

@mynameistillian https://plush.city/@mynameistillian/111584383485056638

SallyStrange, 2 months ago to random

#BlockList

You've got anarchist flags and you're blaming the entire population of the state of Texas for the fossil fuel extraction that has taken place there? Fuck off. It's an "evil or incompetent" situation and I really don't care which one it is.

https://metrobus.masto.host/@dogzilla/112083478530394481

SallyStrange, 4 months ago to random

I've been thinking about doing a little explainer/how-to for youngsters especially, on how to get into the construction business, and how to protect your health while you're in it. (Because those fuckers will ruin your body for $15/hour if you let them.)

There's a few things to discuss, and this is just me brainstorming.

This could be a game-changer for a queer kid in a conservative family who doesn't want to go to college.

Construction workers are DESPERATE for new workers. Some of them are even raising wages (others are hiring cut-rate subcontractors, but that's another story). It's one of the few areas where automation can't take your job for quite a while and you don't need a degree.

The trick is getting in the door and making them think you're going to fit into the culture there. The main thing for getting in the door is showing up and having some tools. Which tools, and how to get them, and how to use them--that's a big topic of conversation.

Not gonna lie: as a woman, I know I lost out on roughly 50% of opportunities compared to a similarly situated man. But it still saved my life when I was in a really dark place.

So yeah, stay tuned for that.

#Construction #jobs

SallyStrange, 3 months ago to random

Someone asked, probably rhetorically, "Who has 12 kids in this day and age??"

I'm gonna answer anyway: the people who have 12 kids in the USA in the 21st century are religious fundamentalists whose ideologies are so unpopular that their best option for spreading their beliefs is to indoctrinate children from birth in isolation from the rest of the world.

Now you know.

SallyStrange, 4 months ago to books

I'l got this for my dad, who plays button accordion. But I wouldn't have known of it except the author was on the Fediverse at one point. Anyone know if Bruce Triggs is still around? #books #history #music #MusicHistory #accordions @bookstodon

SallyStrange, 3 months ago to climate

Remember when your climate president approved the ConocoPhillips Willow drilling project in Alaska? Drilling has begun in places, but some activists managed to bring the decision back into court.

"The government’s attorney, Amy Collier, said experts at the agencies did consider that an increase in greenhouse gas emissions would cause the Arctic to lose sea ice, which the region’s polar bears depend on. But, she said, the link wasn’t direct. They didn’t have evidence that the specific emissions resulting from the Willow project would shrink sea ice in this part of the Arctic, hurting this particular population of polar bears."

That is some insulting sophistry. #BullShit #ClimateChange #Climate #ClimateCrisis #FossilFuels #Oil #WillowProject #USpol #KeepItInTheGround

https://alaskapublic.org/2024/02/05/willow-opponents-try-again-this-time-in-a-u-s-appeals-court-to-block-conocophillips-oil-development-in-alaska/

SallyStrange, 5 months ago to history

ever heard that factoid about empires lasting 250 years? Sometimes it's claimed that this is an average, one person even claimed that it was an upper limit.

This is probably false. The claim originates with a fellow named Glubb. Dude was born in the 19th century and served as an agent of British military control of the Middle East. He wrote a short book/long essay called "The Fate of Empires and the Search for Survival" in which he made that claim. He was not trained as a historian, offered no citations, and excluded American and African empires. (He did say it was an average, though.)

Anyway I thought I'd mention it since I brought it up during a conversation with @poiseunderchaos and they were like, "yeah I'm not so sure about that."

#history #Empires #MiddleEast #BritishEmpire @histodons

SallyStrange, 6 months ago to random

"OMG Trump called his domestic enemies vermin! This is a lot like Hitler, who called his domestic enemies rats!"

Listen, you're not wrong. But let's not forget how USA propaganda called Japanese-Americans "vermin," yes, in that exact wording, and compared them to insects as well as rodents, to justify the Japanese internment camps. How USA propaganda called Italian immigrants rats (anarchist rats at that!) to justify cutting off immigration from there.

Yes, you should be alarmed. I'm not saying don't be alarmed. I'm saying you're not alarmed enough. #fascism #fascismUSA #pol #USpol

SallyStrange, 4 months ago to random

Remember when your school class acted up and the teacher would get mad and yell "this isn't a democracy!"

Yeah, schools should be democracies. If you can't get the consent of the kids to be taught, then you shouldn't be teaching them.

SallyStrange, 5 months ago to random

#FediBlock this instance:

https://fedi.keinpfusch.net/about

"You are encouraged to express all that is permissible within the German legal framework, while refraining from engaging in any discussions or sharing content that would contravene these regulations."

Meanwhile one of the two moderators is enthusiastically promoting fascism. Like, not "these are my conservative beliefs for which I have been censored" but all "fascists are cool and smart."

#fascism

@Uriel to me: maybe. but they show attitude to fight, and people likes this. @Uriel: well, at least a fascist would try to fight. Maybe this is why people is voting for them.

SallyStrange, 5 months ago to random

if you've got an option to end democracy on the ballot, then voting for democracy won't be enough to preserve democracy

SallyStrange, 3 months ago to random

"If raw economies of scale are the deciding factor in struggle, then meaningful social change can only come through proletarian uprisings or movements of sufficient size. Hence anything that isn't building up working-class institutions and/or The Party is a waste of time.

But if capitalism is riddled with inefficiencies and potential exploits, then actively being able to search through them to find critical points of leverage is far more effective because it enables force multipliers and attack vectors which can give you capacity on par if not exceeding mass movements."

Cheers to whoever posted this. It's an excellent essay. Yes it's long but it needs that.

#Capitalism #Anarchy #Marxism #LeftUnity

https://wedontagree.net/we-dont-agree-on-capitalism-(essay)

SallyStrange, 5 months ago to random

it's my actual factual birthday and I'm sitting at work with a mask on, the COVID lower back ache that I thought had gone is still here, my tummy hurts because I'm still taking paxlovid, this timeline sucks

I'm less miserable than I sound, don't worry

but also please have a better day than me lol

SallyStrange, 1 month ago to random

Everyone needs to be a bit more silly.

Some of you need to be a LOT more silly.

SallyStrange, 29 days ago to random

Aww looks like the frost got some of the ants in my front walk. I'm sure the queen is fine tho