strypey

strypey, 1 day ago to books

Tagesanzeiger review of Minor Detail;

"... the book's first-person narrative and empathetic tone mask a basic problem in the text: all Israeli soldiers are portrayed as anonymous rapists and killers, while Palestinians are victims of trigger-happy occupiers. Violence against Israeli civilians is not mentioned, perhaps because it is considered a legitimate means in the struggle for liberation against the occupiers."

#StefanDege, 2024

https://www.dw.com/en/frankfurt-book-fair-postpones-award-for-palestinian-author-adania-shibli/a-67093842

#books #reviews #AdaniaShibli

strypey, 1 day ago to random

This is seriously the last time I'm taking an #InterCity bus. As usual, I'm desperate for a piss, because for an 8 hour bus ride they only schedule 2 stops where passengers can go to the toilet.

We stop at Turangi, right outside the i-Site, and I ask the driver if I can quickly use the toilet. He grumps at me in his "papers please, comrade" accent, "No! Go back to the bus". No basic courtesy. No information about when we'll next be able to use the toilet.

Fuck this shit.

strypey, 1 day ago to random

Here's an example of a principled conservatives who defends the democratic rights of those they disagree with;

"[David] French is a conservative warrior, who has fought numerous legal battles to protect the right of Christians to participate in the public square. He’s not a squish by any definition. 'I’m going to fight for the rights of others that I would like to exercise for myself because I also know that my rights are fragile', he said."

#StevenGreenhut, 2019

https://www.ocregister.com/2019/09/13/drag-queen-debate-spotlights-creepy-trend-on-right/

strypey, 1 day ago to Podcasts

"A plan to update the system for regulating our media content has been running under the radar for years. Some of the agencies that do it now backed the move to one single body, but this week the government dumped it over fears it could cramp free expression online."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018938976/media-oversight-one-stop-shop-stopped

Thoughts on this? My knee-jerk anarchist response is that democratic governance has no place in decisions about citizens' expression, online or otherwise. But...

#podcasts #RNZ #MediaWatch #MediaRegulation

strypey, 2 days ago to random

"More than 180 New Zealand public agencies have transferred masses of data to Microsoft cloud computing servers in Australia for storage and processing since 2019. Sensitive courts data could be headed that way."

#PhilPennington, 2024

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/495883/growing-government-reliance-on-offshore-cloud-services-has-security-experts-worried

#PublicService #PublicData #DataSovereignty

strypey, 5 days ago to random

"... ads for a Brian Tamaki church event showing a boy carrying a severed head - an apparent reference to David and Goliath - and bearing the tagline 'Time to kill'."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/516805/brian-tamaki-s-destiny-church-notice-with-time-to-kill-tagline-extremely-concerning

Wow. That is extremely concerning. But imagine these people are perched on a ledge about to jump, and likely to injure or kill members of a crowd gathered below. The only viable response is trying to talk them down. Attacking them will make them more likely to harm others, not less.

strypey, 6 days ago (edited 6 days ago) to random

When overcrowded buses replace train services, they should be free of charge. It's nowhere near the same quality of service, and charging for it is kind of rude. If it's free, it encourages train operators to do everything they can to avoid replacement bus situations.

They could make it half price, at the very least.

#PublicTransport

strypey, 6 days ago to random

"Scientists have identified a set of nine ecological and biophysical limits within which the Earth can continue to sustain human society. These are known as the ‘safe planetary boundaries.’

...There are three planetary boundaries that have already been breached. They are biodiversity loss, climate change and the nitrogen cycle."

#RusselNorman, 2020

https://www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/story/greenpeace-briefing-government-on-priorities-for-the-environment-and-build-back-better-covid-recovery/

#SafePlanetaryBoundaries

strypey, 7 days ago to aotearoa

"So here is a call from the NZOSS to the New Zealand Government to set up a Government centric Mastodon instance to provide a conduit for Agencies, Departments, Entities, Schools, Councils, DHB's and any other central or local government organisation to disseminate pertinent information in real time."

#CarlKlitscher, May 2022

https://nzoss.nz/node/2168

#Aotearoa #NZ #GovernmentIT

strypey, 7 days ago to random

"I think the core, critical sin was choosing the advertising model to begin with. Brand advertising is not like direct advertisement, which is more programmatic. It requires something like a Disney to essentially give you a favor, because the only players that matter to them are Google and Facebook. Snapchat, Twitter, everything else did not matter. And these are ads that are essentially throwaway for them. But we made that choice in order to go public."

#JackDorsey,

https://www.piratewires.com/p/interview-with-jack-dorsey-mike-solana

strypey, 7 days ago to Palestine

"The stakes are much higher now than when I was in college. The genocide against Palestinians in Gaza is already a world-historical crime, and the looming invasion of Rafah promises a new magnitude of horror, all of which has motivated students to make sacrifices they might not have otherwise. And the repression they face is far more extreme, with universities directing state violence on their campuses without qualms."

#DylanSaba, 2024

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/student-protest-history/

#Palestine #Gaza #Rafah

strypey, 7 days ago to random

"The idea that trans existence can be debated, in the same way that trans people’s rights to accurate documentation was debated, or trans people’s right to play community sport was debated, does not lend itself well to a discussion by opposing op-eds. Especially if one side is held to a higher standard of proof than the other..."

#JohnPalethorpe, 2024

https://www.1of200.nz/articles/media-amp-the-thousand-families-myth

strypey, 8 days ago to TikTok

Seems TechDirt's take on Biden's TikTok ban is similar to mine;

"Enacting this legislation has undermined this long standing, democratic principle. It has also undermined the U.S. government’s moral authority to call out other nations for when they shut down internet access or ban social media apps and other online communications tools."

#JasonKelley #BrendanGilligan, 2024

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/05/07/biden-signed-the-tiktok-ban-whats-next-for-tiktok-users/

#TikTok #US #FreedomOfExpression

strypey, 9 days ago to random

"If we could expand that, by drawing in local media and cooperating with each other, then that sort of model could be expanded to all the community stations nationally.

This is an essential public service - and a not-for-profit is a good way to go because if it becomes successful, the owners aren't just going to flick it off to a bigger company or shut it down during a downturn which is what's happening to a lot of our old newspapers."

#PeterFowler, 2024

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018938002/bid-to-backstop-local-news-in-tight-times

#MediaWatch

strypey, 9 days ago to facepalm

"The price gap between new dwellings and existing properties is forecast to narrow as tax rules become less favourable for new developments."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/512857/price-gap-between-new-homes-and-existing-houses-expected-to-narrow

#FacePalm

#housing

strypey, 11 days ago to TeslaMotors

"A power system that is already prone to shortages like those currently forecast on Friday is facing never-before-seen demand from electric vehicles (EVs) and big data centres.

Vector is preparing for it - but the lack of laws and regulations and an Energy Ministry are in its way."

#PhilPennington, 2024

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/516449/govt-must-regulate-to-smooth-evs-and-data-centres-demand-on-power-grids-vector

#EV #DataCentres #Vector

strypey, 11 days ago to RSS

"But the real tragedy of Reader was that it had all the signs of being something big, and Google just couldn’t see it. Desperate to play catch-up to Facebook and Twitter, the company shut down one of its most prescient projects; you can see in Reader shades of everything from Twitter to the newsletter boom to the rising social web."

#DavidPierce, 2023

https://www.theverge.com/23778253/google-reader-death-2013-rss-social

#RSS #SocialWeb

strypey, 12 days ago to Podcasts

"I think the defining economic reality of the modern platform media world is that all the platforms realized that an infinite supply of teenage creators are cheaper to deal with than media companies or groups of media individuals or powerful creators."

#NilayPatel, 2024

https://www.theverge.com/24087834/hank-green-decoder-podcast-google-youtube-web-media-platforms-distribution-future

#podcasts #TheVerge #Decoder #platforms #GigEconomy

strypey, 11 days ago to fediverse

Marshall McLuhan wrote books and taught students about his theories of media for decades, and is widely known as "as the father of modern media studies";

https://ama-toronto.com/inductees/marshall-mcluhan/

Phrases he coined are so quoted they've become cliches; like "the global village", and most famously "the medium is the message".

What is the message of the fediverse as a medium?

#MarshallMcLuhan #MediaStudies #fediverse

strypey, 12 days ago to random

Photographed in a backpackers hostel in Te Wai Pounamu. The text reads;

"The truth about using HostelWorld and booking.com

• they take 15% of your payment -
  Try always to book directly with the hostel or hotel
  Owners of booking sites live in luxury and don't do any work"

#accomodation #BackPackers #hostels

strypey, 12 days ago (edited 12 days ago) to Podcasts

"We're also competing against a lot of people in politics who come along and say... it's those rich people's fault, we'll just take even more money off them and give it to you."

#DavidSeymour, 2024
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/30-with-guyon-espiner/story/2018936159/david-seymour

This is the fundamental lie of neoliberal politics. A total inversion of the truth, which is that neoliberal parties say 'it's those poor people's fault, we'll just take the money off them and give it to you', and they do.

#podcasts #RNZ #30WithGuyonEspiner #neoliberalism

strypey, 12 days ago (edited 12 days ago) to random

#FreudianTypoOfTheWeek

Needia (n.): Subscription-based news.

strypey, 12 days ago to random

"Facebook is used by 79% of New Zealanders aged 16-64 last year..."

#PeterGriffin, NZ Listener, May 11-17, 2024

Another way to describe the same data is that 21% of 16-64 year olds - about 1 in 5 - choose not to use FarceBook. Despite the common perception that it's normal for everyone to use it. I do wonder if that 21% includes people who don't count Meta's Messenger as being part of FB. Griffin doesn't give a source for his data, so there's no quick way to check.

strypey, 13 days ago (edited 8 days ago) to Podcasts

"Again, this is that lovely, quaint, sort of late 70s idea, that computers would be better than us at deciding things, isn't it. It's very, very old fashioned. But yeah, they let the computer weigh up the evidence."

#NeoZAZ, 2018

https://neozaz.com/dev-tarrant/

#Blakes7 #podcasts #InCharacter #AI

And this is that lovely, quaint 2010s idea that computers deciding (or designing) things instead of humans is old-fashioned, instead of being the everyday dystopia they were already starting to live in.

strypey, 13 days ago to random

"In the two weeks before October's election, more people than ever before (454,000 people) enrolled to vote, including more than 100,000 enrolments on election day.

The Electoral Commission did not expect this number of late enrolments, putting pressure on its systems, the report said."

#KatieScotcher, 2024

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/516189/official-2023-election-result-final-check-done-in-a-few-hours-under-extreme-pressure

#elections #Election2023