sidereal

sidereal, 2 months ago

Like perhaps the shift would not be so extreme now if y'all had not spent the most precious strategic decades in humanity's history or future denying that there was even a problem. I am waiting for a looong series of formal apologies that I will probably never get.

sidereal, 2 months ago

@WhiteCatTamer IDK what it's like where you live but where I live most "farmers" are petit-bourgeois larpers who make most of their money as contractors or business owners and then have a hobby farm which functionally mostly just hoards good farmland. Occasionally they go for a tractor ride. They know nothing about farming.

sidereal, 2 months ago

@hannu_ikonen I once actually respected doctors. I feel like their submission to medical authorities is betraying their actual education.

sidereal, 2 months ago

@hannu_ikonen It definitely is showing which doctors take the professional ethics & oaths seriously and which ones just wanted to drive luxury cars.

sidereal, 2 months ago

@HeavenlyPossum The urge to destroy is also a creative urge 🌱

sidereal, 2 months ago

Like I knew there was rural poverty. I was not aware there are vast areas of America with essentially zero doctors, only nurse practitioners who have to refer to specialists in town for almost everything beyond the most basic care.

Like there are problems in the city, sure. But it is basically not livable "out there."

sidereal, 2 months ago

@HeavenlyPossum Yep, we talk about food deserts in the city but like. As far as I can tell it's just as much, if not more of a problem in rural areas. We have this arcadian vision that rural people can just grow food or something but not if the land is polluted. Which most of it is by now.

sidereal, 2 months ago

There are so many old logging company towns around here where the company folded or pulled out. And now there's no sawmill, no jobs, and no way to get out. The land that remains is all still owned by other logging companies who use modern tech to have way smaller crews. Trucks haul all the logs to sawmills in different regions.

The descendants of the people who came to work are basically generationally stuck up in the timber and there isn't any plan to do anything about it.

sidereal, 2 months ago

In these old logging and fishing towns, logging is no longer a major employer for the reasons I mentioned, and the fisheries are mostly tapped out too. There are far more captains chartering their boats to the local petit-bourgeoisie for sport fishing than actual commercial fishing, which is basically all up in Alaska now.

We mined, clearcut, fished, harvested until there wasn't much left. Now people who live there vote R and blame environmentalists for all the sawmills & canneries closing. 🙃

sidereal, 2 months ago

The local community college has an amazing Marine Diesel Tech program, but there are hardly any more shipyards.

The ferry system is underserved and can't get more boats, bc the only large shipyards that are left are clogged with bulk orders from the navy, who gets priority bc they will pay more 🙃

There are not more large shipyards because the fisheries have been consistently overharvested since colonization. It's all interrelated. It's all backwards because we spent so long going backwards.

sidereal, 2 months ago

@cam Wow, "failed gofundme for an entire fucking hospital" is an America vibe so strong I was not ready for it lmao. I absolutely believe it though.

sidereal, 2 months ago

@CedarTea Man awhile back I visited a friend of mine's farm and he was like "we can't have a bonfire, the local fire department completely fell apart due to a corruption scandal so there just isn't one currently." Things really are unraveling.

sidereal, 2 months ago

@CedarTea Yes, I hope so too. Almost everyone I talk to cares a lot about where they live and wants things to be better. They just don't have a clear idea of how to get there. And there's a lot of money & cultural momentum pushing against them.

sidereal, 2 months ago

@cam Man I looked up this hospital and it didn't even close because they weren't doing business, it was because they were in debt.

This country is evil. Closing down a hospital over debt is just... words fail me.

sidereal, 2 months ago

@cam Like the physical hospital is still there it's just sitting. Empty. While people in town are unemployed.

This is a ridiculous economy

sidereal, 2 months ago

@passenger @HeavenlyPossum Free trade has allowed capitalist overproduction to enshittify everything

sidereal, 2 months ago

@miiamustang Yep. The "throwback" is using real sugar instead of ersatz 😂

sidereal, 2 months ago

@HappyHeathen Yeah I try to avoid them myself for all the reasons (not great for your health, not great for the environment, Coca-Cola is known for murdering union organizers in Latin America as recently as 2003) but it really is better than most sodas. When it has real sugar in it.

sidereal, 2 months ago

@jake2 Yeah it's really fucking weird. It's one of those "I have no idea how we got here, I have no idea how people decided this was the most profitable way to do things" moments in late capitalism.

sidereal, 2 months ago

@jake2 Yes, I'm sure that has to do with it.

Being a Coca-Cola bottler is basically like having a local license to distribute the genuine article. Coca-Cola doesn't mess with the end drinkers, they just make and distribute the syrup. I think it also dates back to a time when more people were more likely to drink soda freshly made at a soda fountain-type establishment, vs. pre-bottled.

sidereal, 2 months ago

I say it's because I'm tired of not having a click wheel in my life. But if I'm being honest. I just miss sharing mp3s in general. Streaming has utility in a different way. But nothing will ever replace biking over to my friend's house with an external HD and very casually copying like 400 absolutely fire/historically significant albums.

sidereal, 2 months ago

It's not about the cost, I go around and send money to all of these artists. It's about getting music recommendations from friends in the form of just copying their entire collection in one fell swoop.