strypey

strypey, 7 days ago

@fgraver
> together, Canada, USA, Mexico... — ie. North America — are more than twice the the size of China and... bigger than the largest country in the world, Russia

OK, but Russia also seems to offer better rail services than North America;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_Russia

... as does India;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_India

... although neither is as advanced as China. If you look at rail across China, India and Russia as a whole, that's much bigger than North America.

@AccordionBruce @Br3nda @tbaldauf

strypey, 7 days ago

@fgraver
> Should there be better rail offerings in North America? Of course there should. But the problems posed by sheer size are non-trivial

Granted, but I raised China as an example of how size is not a barrier to a functioning passenger rail system if the political-economic decision-makers prioritise it. I doubt we disagree that people in North America suffer from generations of over-investment in roads and cars, and underinvestment in passenger rail.

@AccordionBruce @Br3nda @tbaldauf

strypey, 7 days ago

@AccordionBruce
> Those big open spaces make trains hard to fund with the US’s archaic government

This is my point. It's a political-economic problem. As the examples of China, Russia, India and even SEA demonstrate, the logistical and technological obstacles can be overcome, even with far less wealth (per capital or per acre) than the US or Canada has at their disposal.

@fgraver @Br3nda @tbaldauf

strypey, 7 days ago

@sj_zero
> China is a poor example since to be comparable you'd need approximately 8 billion people on the American continent

Please explain the logic underlying this conclusion.

@Br3nda @fgraver @AccordionBruce @tbaldauf

strypey, 6 days ago

@polotek
> I am learning a lot about mastodon. It's just not the stuff I wanted to be learning about at this stage

Seems you've stumbled over one of the many downsides of Mastodon's engineering philosophy; keep bolting more engines onto your square plane until it flies. Have you looked into any of the other fediverse packages, like Pleroma?

https://fediverse.party/en/miscellaneous/

strypey, 7 days ago

@jackyan
> Prefer telly at that hour

Specifically via broadcast or just a news show with a video component?

strypey, 7 days ago

Falling Down was released in 1993 but I can't think of a 90s film more relevant to our time. It illustrates the fundamental differences between actual neo-nazis, and most of the people who sometimes mouth alt-right talking points (including the Drinker himself). It shows us that most of the latter have more common cause with the left than they realise, if only we could convince them the lies about us are just another part of the Great American Lie they've been sold.

strypey, 6 days ago

NatACT First's cancellation of 3 Waters has forced councils across the country into massive rates hikes and service cuts, so they can absorb the rising costs of bringing neglected water infrastructure up to standard. The local government elections in 2025 will be a chance for citizens to reject councillors who bought into the anti-3 waters propaganda.

strypey, 6 days ago (edited 5 days ago)

"Broadcasting from inside corporate occupied territory, Pepperspray Productions Video Collective formed shortly after the WTO protests in Seattle, in response to the Independent Media Center's call, "don't hate the media, be the media!". We believe that the Corporate Media is not telling us the whole story, and that the people must make our own media if we want our voices to be heard. Be the media!!!"

https://yewtube.com/channel/UCsxg1_0iWd_txFKNnvyLYVA

strypey, 6 days ago

@mpesce
> By default, and without requiring users to opt-in, Slack said its systems have been analyzing customer data and usage information

I have no time for centralised, proprietary platforms like Slack (in the non-SubGenius sense of the word), but I'm not sure this is an accurate summary.

strypey, 7 days ago

@shoq
> How exactly do we “horizontally scale economic systems,” whatever that means

Vertical scaling is what capitalism (and cancer) does. It's how the net ended up like 5 giant websites full of screenshots of the other 4. Horizontal scaling is what decentralised networks (and healthy organisms) do; adding more elements that interrelate, rather than continually adding more servers to one service.

strypey, 7 days ago

@shoq
> How exactly do we “horizontally scale economic systems,” whatever that means, and nurture and then wield the political power that would be required to do it?

The separation of political power from economic power is an illusion. All political power is also economic and vice-versa, and always has been. What political power would states have if they couldn't tax and regulate economic activity? How would corporations grow like cancer without political power to limit tax and regulation?

strypey, 7 days ago

@engagedpractx
> It is FREQUENTLY used by people who know only those two words in Chinese, who say it mockingly and assume all Asian people are Chinese

OK, true. But I said it a lot when I got back to Aotearoa from China, because I was in the habit of saying it to Chinese people after spending 2 years there. Also, I wanted to keep using the little bits of Mandarin I'd struggled to learn, and practicing my pronunciation.

(1/3)

strypey, 7 days ago

I mostly stopped because although I'm pretty good at distinguishing between Chinese and people from other Asian countries, I'm not good at distinguishing between northern Chinese and Cantonese speakers from southern areas who tend not to appreciate being greeted in Mandarin. Especially those from HK, which I can totally understand.

(2/3)

@engagedpractx

strypey, 7 days ago

@engagedpractx
> they were stung and retracted it instantly

I'm not surprised. If I set out to include Chinese Australians in social research, and got accused by another researcher on social media of using a "racist slur" for saying hello in Mandarin in my copy, I'd be making it vanish quicksmart too. Before the dogpile arrived to do a Justine Saccos on my pasty arse.

Do you find public shaming to be an effective way to educate people about the nuances of inter-cultural communication?

(3/3)

strypey, 7 days ago

@lightweight
> I'm pleased to see that Steam has shifted the popular perception that gaming depends on Windows

I was initially excited by the announcement of SteamOS and the Steam Machines. Particularly because the later PrayStations have become yet another surveillance advertising hellscape, like Android TV, Does anyone more knowledgeable about gaming than me know if Steam's attempts to build an open console market got any traction?

@IceNine @billbennett

strypey, 7 days ago

@skyfaller
> I think people who cannot use the command line should consider not using git

I'd flip this around and say people who are considering using git are probably ready to consider learning command line basics too. I'm not much of a command line warrior, but I do use and value the basics I've learned.

@tomodachi94 @alcinnz

strypey, 7 days ago

@jennifilm
> This week they implemented basic following of other ghost publications

Do you know if this work will allow Ghost blogs to be followed from the fediverse?

strypey, 7 days ago

@mcc
> Turns to you slowly, looks you directly in the eye before replying in a monotone

How very Lynchian ; )

@Aedius