SallyStrange

SallyStrange, 15 hours ago to climate

Really irritated with this phrase:

"Scientists have not yet established a direct climate change link with this particular storm."

20 years ago, scientists predicted bigger, wetter, more extreme storms. Now we're getting bigger, wetter, more extreme storms. The only thing that benefits from this pusillanimous "journalism" is fossil fuel companies. And this is from "Inside Climate News"! It's not like it's CNN or something.

#Climate #ClimateDenialism

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21052024/todays-climate-brazil-flooding-disaster-rescue/

SallyStrange, 1 day ago to random

"Democrats need to--"

Bitch they WILL NOT. What do YOU need to do?

#USpol

SallyStrange, 1 day ago to random

Hot take: profit does not exist.

If you fully implement ecological accounting--that is, deducting from the balance sheet the cost of any environmental damage or degradation caused by production--then you come out even. That's the best we can hope for, because we live in a system that is, apart from the sun's daily energy input, closed.

In other words, all "profit" is exploitation.

SallyStrange, 1 day ago to news

Remember Patrick Braxton? The absolute legend who got sick of his small Alabama town being run by a bunch of unelected racist anti-vaxxers? The guy who ran for mayor of Newbern, AL, and won, despite said unelected officials trying to give him the wrong information about running for office? The guy who was then subsequently locked out of the mayor's office by said racist anti-vaxxers and sued?

Well, he has had a minor setback: a federal judge refused to grant his and other plaintiffs' request for an immediate injunction forcing Haywood "Woody" Stokes III (the unelected, white mayor who inherited the mayoralty from a 60-year-long chain of unelected white men) to stop locking Braxton out of town hall and step down. She noted that the plaintiffs, by waiting over a year to file the suit, failed to show the urgency of the request. However, she also noted that his argument in the trial, set to begin this September, is likely to win out.

#USpol #ALpol #racism #WhiteSupremacy #DemocracyDocket #PatrickBraxton #News #breaking

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/federal-judge-in-alabama-denies-black-mayors-motion-to-force-white-town-leaders-to-allow-him-into-office/

SallyStrange, 2 days ago to random

Good morning. Good news, a meeting has been canceled! Please, go about your business.

SallyStrange, 5 days ago to random

Ways in which liberals who claim to care about the outcome of the 2024 presidential election can help Trump win: post shit like this. Blame voters for getting upset about being asked to vote for genocide.

https://universeodon.com/@spaceghoti/112456930150848088

#USpol

SallyStrange, 5 days ago to random

The problem with reading a lot is then you learn a lot, and then you want to tell other people about the things you've learned, and then they resent you for being a "know-it-all" (no I just know some of the things)

SallyStrange, 6 days ago to random

seems unfair that trash cans are expensive

they should be free and, like, made of trash

SallyStrange, 6 days ago to random

A bot that toots "AI can help______"

SallyStrange, 6 days ago to Economics

"The literature on degrowth routinely argues (appropriately so) that the global north rather than the global south must be the target for change, but it may well be that the vanguard for degrowth resides, paradoxically, in the global south. It may be that subconscious bias causes us to believe that the global south must catch up with the economic production of the wealthiest states, rather than encouraging us to imagine that the wealthy states need to catch up to the level of consciousness displayed by the most radical societies in the global south."

By Phil Wilson

#DeGrowth #DeGrowthCommunism #Economics #EcologicalEconomics #capitalism #ClimateCrisis

https://www.resilience.org/stories/2024-05-07/is-degrowth-an-academic-field-or-a-mass-movement-taking-degrowth-to-the-people/

SallyStrange, 7 days ago to Economics

(Some) ignorant leftbros: "Class first! No idpol!"

Scholars of right wing politics/economics: "All these right-wing thinkers are much more comfortable thinking about the blurred lines between sexual and economic politics than many thinkers on the left. And they understand that Keynesianism rests on a certain kind of sexual contract. Any challenge to this order—whether it be an escalation of wage or benefit claims, or the flight from sexual normativity, or unmarried women claiming welfare benefits—disrupts the fiscal and monetary calculus on which Keynesianism rests."

Above remark from "The Extravagances of Neoliberalism", an interview of Melinda Cooper (author of "Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance") by Benjamin Kunkel, in The Baffler.

Archived, no paywall link: https://archive.is/pLYsA#selection-929.1-929.479

Original link: https://thebaffler.com/latest/extravagances-of-neoliberalism-kunkel

#Economics #Neoliberal #neoliberalism #books @bookstodon

SallyStrange, 7 days ago to random

so... are @hachyderm mods just deleting other people's posts rather than, you know, moderating?

SallyStrange, 7 days ago to climate

A fun climate adaptation update from the world of roofing construction:

-blue roofs, which are designed to retain water. New to me. One must design roof deck to hold greater loads, of course, but this is going to be a requirement across the board regardless of whether one builds a blue roof or not, just because of increased storm severity. Anyway, the water retained on a blue roof can be directed inside to water plants or, I suppose, flush toilets. Or it can be released into the storm drain system, but slowly, thus reducing local flooding. Stored water can insulate and it can actively cool a building during hot weather as it evaporates.

-green roofs, you've probably heard about them, it's a roof with plants on top! Also requires increased load-bearing capacity. Can be challenging to maintain, especially during dry weather. But the advantages: insulation and cooling, reduction in flooding and in air pollution impacts. When paired with solar panels, they can increase the efficiency of electricity generation, since photovoltaic panels don't love operating in high heat.

-the simplest roofing climate intervention: changing the color of the roofing membrane or shingles from dark to light. A simple increase in albedo can decrease temperatures in the vicinity 1 - 2 C.

#ClimateChange #Construction #Roofing #Climate #ClimateCrisis #GreenRoofs #BlueRoofs

https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/projects/2024/05/roofs-on-front-lines-of-climate-change-adaption

SallyStrange, 8 days ago to random

What is it about a nation-state that makes it feminine?

A ship?

A car?

A motorcycle?

SallyStrange, 8 days ago to random

Local paper has a poll about whether we support the student peace protests. Currently "no" is at 60%, help me goose it*

*Edit: unless you're in the EU I guess. See replies

#FreePalestine

https://www.thedailystar.com/

SallyStrange, 9 days ago to random

A couple weeks ago I saw someone post about how much they hate the "silly scribbles" account, the one where someone adds silly line drawings to nature photographs, on the ground that it "defaces nature" or something along those lines. And ever since then I can't see a post by @eclectech without giggling a bit.

https://things.uk/@eclectech/112434947177013042

SallyStrange, 9 days ago to random

Every avocado seed I toss in the compost is just one more chance to find a genetic avocado freak that loves cold weather

SallyStrange, 12 days ago to random

The hardest thing to learn in geology is how to think about deep time. Before studying geology, I never thought about how a billion was really a thousand millions, and what that really meant.

SallyStrange, 12 days ago to politics

Jonathan Chait is real mad that leftists aren't taking liberal shit anymore. I got the link from archive.is to avoid giving his BS any extra clicks. It's way longer than it needs to be. This paragraph caught my attention though because it's at least an attempt at clarifying what liberals see as leftism and why they're wrong (which is why they should shut the fuck up, because they have been proven so very fucking wrong, so often, and for so long):

I don’t want to bore you...

lol

by attempting the umpteenth definition of liberalism,

Funny how liberals hate defining liberalism

so I will lay out the distinction as briefly as possible. On economic questions, leftists have an overwhelming bias for state action over markets, while liberals are more selective.

This is incorrect. Leftists differ radically on how much state action over markets is needed. What unites leftists is the belief that we need democracy in economic realms as well as political ones. (I personally don't accept fully authoritarian MLs as leftists, one can debate that, but that's where I stand.) Liberals think it's just fine for us to have democratic politics but for most people to work for institutions that are run as dictatorships.

...On politics, liberals take very seriously notions of individual rights and universally applicable principles, while leftists tend to criticize political liberalism as a recipe for maintaining inequalities of power between the privileged and the oppressed.

Sort of true, but Chait tellingly leaves out the substance of the leftist critique, the reason why they think that political liberalism is a recipe for maintaining inequality, to wit: the lack of democracy in most people's workplaces. If economic power is concentrated while political power is distributed, then inevitably political power will become concentrated as well. Because money is power.

Anyway, Chait hates "Solidarity" the book and he also hates solidarity the concept. Of course he gets paid to represent left-of-center thought at major USA publications. Feel free to discuss your disgust for this type of guy further in replies.

https://archive.is/GBEBG#selection-1529.0-1533.83

#politics #liberals #liberalism #communism #socialism #anarchism #neoliberalism

SallyStrange, 13 days ago to random

Had a weird day. Accidentally killed my car battery by listening to my audiobook (The Last Days of New Paris, China Miéville). I called AAA. They took ~2.5 hours to respond because the one guy who operates in my area of remote small towns was sick so this guy drove from the next county over. And my phone was dying. He did get there eventually, and I passed the time by alternately walking, dozing off, reading a paper book (Whipping Girl, Julia Serrano), and observing this bunny.

Now I'm eating tamales and watching Discovery with Pixie. Spouse is working late.

SallyStrange, 14 days ago to random

First summer dress wearing day of 2024! :blob_smile_hearts:

SallyStrange, 15 days ago to climate

Can economic growth be decoupled from emissions? Yes, for sure, easily even.

Can economic growth be decoupled from environmental degradation in general? Absolutely not. The sheer throughput of materials through the economy, from extraction to waste disposal, must decrease. If we address GHG emissions in isolation from topsoil and biodiversity loss, we will fail to preserve the ecosystems on which we depend for life.

#Degrowth #DegrowthCommunism #capitalism #decoupling #Climate #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #biodiversity #economics

https://aeon.co/essays/how-to-think-about-the-prospects-of-truly-green-growth

SallyStrange, 16 days ago to random

It's official: animals and bugs are people.

I think plants are people too, but there's no scientific declaration to that effect. Yet.

https://nautil.us/insects-and-other-animals-have-consciousness-571584/

SallyStrange, 18 days ago to random

Kendrick Lamar just dropped ANOTHER song. Drake is over. Khadija Mbowe is live, breaking down the lyrics. Check it now because there's swearing, weed, copyrighted music, and allegations of pedophilia, so she might just delete it later.

https://www.youtube.com/live/VSDUNe1g9HQ?si=jNDSlLN4KJhtQO40

SallyStrange, 19 days ago to random

Liberals right now: