@Octale@nerdculture.de
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

Octale

@Octale@nerdculture.de

Once upon a time, I did a podcast about video games and put things in space. I spend most of my time these days laughing at hypocrites, charlatans, and journos who prefer narrative over fact. I have contempt for the institutions who spent 50 years lying to The People about everything that matters.

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astroptere, to random
@astroptere@masto.ai avatar

We did it! After 8 long days of continuous testing, we successfully finished our first System Test on the Europa Clipper vehicle! It simulated the Launch, Cruise, Jupiter Orbit Insertion and Science Tour using the real hardware and flight-like sequences! I’m so proud of the team!

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@astroptere congrats. Huge win for you and your team.

HeavenlyPossum, (edited ) to random

When I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. I soaked up the vibes of a high-tech, utopian future. I internalized the trajectory we were on was good, that we had reached the End of History. There might be a few bumps on the road, but the direction was inevitable and the destination was inexorable.

It turns out that the fastest a human being has ever traveled was 39,897 kilometers per hour. That was the crew of the Apollo 10 mission returning to earth. That happened on 26 May, 1969.

Fifty-four years ago. We peaked more than half a century ago.

1/of several

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@HeavenlyPossum finish the story. Tell the story of The Immigration Act of 1990 brought in the H1B visa was the result of a secret study from 1986 that gutted skilled labor’s ability to demand wages. NAFTA destroyed blue collar labor unions. The largest wealth transfer from working people to the rich started in 2009 and continues to this day.

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@HeavenlyPossum okay, I admit I was a tad aggressive, but do you want to accurately tell the story of the last 50 years, or do you want to be a DNC corporate shill? There’s no in between. Everyone is to blame.

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@HeavenlyPossum the only names you named while telling your story were Nixon and Reagan, who bear a good bit of responsibility for the state we’re in, but you forgot Clinton and Obama, who also bear a good bit of the responsibility. It’s an oversight a guest on Maddow or Ezra Klein’s podcast would make to obfuscate the truth.
If I did you dirty, my bad, but that’s the reason.

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

Offensive question?

What is with New Yorkers and bodegas? I don't get the obsession. I understand that it's nice to have a place you can get stuff you need around the corner, but if you transplant one of these stores to literally anywhere else it's a dingy overpriced shop with low selection. I get it as a need, but not as a thing to get weird about. What am I missing?

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@ZachWeinersmith Nothing, because the thing they won’t tell you about the bodega/corner store, at least in Europe, is that a)they run out of things you need and b)not everyone stocks the same things, so you might go looking for something basic and not find it. When I walk in to an American grocery store on a Tuesday, I know shelves will be stocked with the basic things I need with 100% confidence. In Europe, every trip to the shop is a gamble that you picked the right shop.

Sheril, to news
@Sheril@mastodon.social avatar

I understand that newspapers need support through subscriptions, but I often worry about about how this makes reliable information a luxury for those with the means to afford it.

Meanwhile misinformation & disinformation are widely accessible & free.

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@Sheril except supporting MSM through subscription is supporting disinformation monetarily. You’d be WAY better off supporting independent media via subscription.

GottaLaff, to Georgia
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

KUDOS to , MSNBC for refusing to carry any possible remarks from live.

Maddow: If he does that, we're not gonna take those remarks live… as we said in the past there is a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things.

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@GottaLaff she lied about Russia for 6 years! She doesn’t care about the integrity of her news organization. It’s a vapid virtue signal.
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/trumped-up-press-versus-president-part-1.php

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

As a very woke radical leftist I'm beyond tired of hearing people like ... Joe Biden and federal prosecutors(???) called "radical leftists."

They did not. They are not. They did not earn that title! That is mine! We are NOT the same OK?

Anyway, on the bright side, when real radical leftists start showing up what are the republicans gonna call us? "Super duper extra spicy double plus hot crossed buns radical left?" You spent your biggest move! You've got nowhere more shocking to go!

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@futurebird that’s the gag: you’re never getting power, because every time you get close to it, Democrats and Republicans put their fingers on the same side of the scale to ensure it never happens.

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@log @futurebird ironic that you’d invoke Star Trek, considering just today @georgetakei started with “you have to vote for the Democrat, otherwise they win…” nonsense.
So fingers are already being put on the scales in case working people get uppity.

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@log @futurebird @georgetakei Great! I'm on board. If your goal is the fascists AND the oligarchs lose, then it is certainly true a correct choice for president in 2024 is Dr. West over either of the major parties. At this point, I'd vote for third parties in all state and local elections as well, but YMMV.
Anyone who thinks electing Biden somehow means the fascists and oligarchs lose is a fool.

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@futurebird @log @georgetakei As is your choice.

My guess is Dr. West made the following analysis: if 50 years of corporate, mono-party rule led to backlash resulting in President Trump, what will the backlash to 70-80 years of corporate, mono-party rule look like?

He can't/won't win the Democrat nomination is his lifetime, so what other choice does he have but to run third party?

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@futurebird @log @georgetakei Isn't ballot access the reason he moved to the Green Party from the People's Party, or am I misinformed?

Also, why can't the calculus be that simple. Neither the Dems or Reps give a damn about the working class or the planet or democracy.

Dr. West doesn't strike me as power hungry when I've seen him speak. I'm certain I'm oversimplifying, but I don't think I'm far off.

...and I'm petrified of what the next Trump looks like.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Hillary is on with Maddow, laughing at the timing of her segment.

“I don’t feel any satisfaction, just great profound sadness.. former pres. Indicted for so many charges… at heart of whether democracy will survive.”

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@GottaLaff Maddow should find her balls and ask Her Holiness about the primary she pilfered.

esther, to random

“What’s your solution then?” Is one of those lazy rhetorical tricks to discredit any criticism of a complex problem.

Like, no, I will not come up with an easy solution to capitalism over a couple of social media posts. But expecting that any anti-capitalist must have a ready-to-use solution to everything they criticize is just a convenient method to shut down that criticism and cement capitalism and “inevitable” or even “natural”, to make even the idea of a different system seem impossible and not worth thinking about.

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@esther I disagree, especially on this topic. If you’re going to criticize capitalism and not have a framework of a solution, then you’re just flinging poo from the cheap seats. Here’s an example of a framework: does your system have a concept of private property or not? If so, the framework is capitalism. If not, then it’s only a matter of time before people with Gina come to take your house away for the good of the state. There are no alternatives.

taylorlorenz, to mentalhealth
@taylorlorenz@mastodon.social avatar

I totally disagree w/ this piece. Trigger warnings simply provide context on pieces of information so ppl can knowingly opt in to consuming it

Saying TWs are making ppl soft (as this piece argues) is like saying rating some movies as “R” is making everyone more scared, or saying parental advisory stickers made ppl unable to endure cursing.

Curious to hear ppl’s thoughts https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/09/trigger-warnings-feminism-teen-girls-mental-health/674759/ #mentalhealth

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@taylorlorenz interesting analogy considering ratings and warnings on video games and music were a direct result of “Chicken Little” moral panics. So too with TWs.

GottaLaff, to iowa
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

UM…

😳Via Michael Beschloss:

Standing next to Trump at State Fair, today says, “We know that only through force can we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington DC.”
Anyone have a reaction?

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@GottaLaff the very last thing I’d do is hand these people a martyr narrative.

HeavenlyPossum, to random

I was thinking to myself, “when will the effects of climate change get so bad that they provoke revolution” but then it occurred to me: they already did. Just in the wrong direction.

Syrians fled a civil war driven by the worst drought in a thousand years and Europe responded with a wave of reactionary fascism.

Central Americans fled rising temperatures that are killing agricultural workers and the U.S. responded with a wave of reactionary fascism.

Russia just happens to be in a war for control of some of the world’s best farmland.

Sudan is in the middle of a civil war and Niger just had its umpteenth coup.

Reactionaries are already at war with us over climate change. It’s only going to get worse as the world gets hotter.

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@HeavenlyPossum so really 50 years of neoliberalism and 80 years of globalism killed the planet.

If we’re ever to solve these issues, we MUST be mature enough to do the second order analysis on root causes.

BlackAzizAnansi, to random
@BlackAzizAnansi@mas.to avatar

What's your favorite obscure history fact?

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@BlackAzizAnansi Slavery was abolished in America 17 years after Feudalism was abolished in Austria.

annaleen, to random
@annaleen@wandering.shop avatar

What if we replaced executives and marketing departments with AI instead of replacing journalists and editors?

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@annaleen excellent idea. They should be next after the journos and editors.

taylorlorenz, to random
@taylorlorenz@mastodon.social avatar

Elon Musk’s new AI company is staffed entirely by men https://qz.com/elon-musk-s-new-ai-company-is-staffed-entirely-by-men-1850633240

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@taylorlorenz Banal story is still banal. Here’s the only appropriate or necessary response:

https://youtu.be/vzmbW4ueGdg

AlCreed, (edited ) to pixelart

Here, have a Macho Man Randy Savage. You've earned it.

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@AlCreed too hot to handle and too cold to hold. Freak out! Freak out! Ohhhhhh YEAHHHHHH!

taylorlorenz, to random
@taylorlorenz@mastodon.social avatar

I have a new YouTube channel where I’ll be posting regular videos about tech and culture stuff!! Subscribe!! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 https://youtube.com/@taylorlorenz

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@taylorlorenz thank god. More content for Brwaking Points.

pivoinebleue, to random

Great. Just what the country needs for president a QNut. SMH.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his group have promoted and partnered with numerous QAnon conspiracy theorists

https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-his-group-have-promoted-and-partnered-numerous?t=Gu2VJuYbV14tyzg0OQ-cXg&s=09

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@pivoinebleue They sure are acting scared of this man who supposedly is a "non-factor".

pbump, to random
@pbump@journa.host avatar

I wrote about the very dumb "debate me" demand that the internet has stoked. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/20/debates-analysis-rogan/

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@pbump
So near, and yet so far.
Distrust in institutions isn't the corollary of the need to do my own research. I have to do my own research BECAUSE I know the institutions have lied about important things in the past, so I have to assume they are lying now.
So, not only do I want debate (your points about shouting matches is well made, but those aren't debates). I NEED the debate, so I can get information from primary sources, versus the institutions that I know lie.

tilvids, (edited ) to twitter
@tilvids@mstdn.social avatar

In watching what's happening with and I'm beginning to wonder if we've moved past the post-corporation period of time in the tech industry. Are they even needed, in a world where decentralization exists? I think about my goal of eventually transitioning to a community-run, non-profit organization. This model makes so much more sense for all parties involved.

What do you think?

Octale,
@Octale@nerdculture.de avatar

@tilvids I remember the early days of podcasting and YouTube when it was enthusiast hobbyists, and it didn’t take 30 lifetimes to find something that doesn’t absolutely suck, then came SEO. Everything became worse. Then big media companies figured out there was money to be made, and everything became worse. Then short form content became a thing, and everything became worse. If you could recreate podcasting circa 2008 or YouTube circa 2010, that would be the best.

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