zdl

zdl, 10 days ago

@cstross It must be nice to be able to believe that Trump will actually see a prison cell. 😕 I'm far too cynical.

zdl, 10 days ago

Coincidentally today I had the urge to write something long-form (an urge I haven't had in a while). Here's a vision of mine: https://wordsmith.social/zhang-dianli/crown-nobility-and-commoners

zdl, 10 days ago

@micchiato Well the Palestine thing is a sleeper weapon for them. Played properly it guarantees them a loss.

zdl, 10 days ago

@angiebaby LEAVE DONALD ALONE!

zdl, 10 days ago

@angiebaby Got it in one!

zdl, 10 days ago

@angiebaby Argh! Sabbath isn't #HardRock, it's #metal 😮

zdl, 10 days ago

@angiebaby (That being said, great taste in music!)

zdl, 10 days ago

@robindlaws I dunno, Mr. Laws. That galaxy looks pretty ... hot!

zdl, 11 days ago

@edri @jens Literally every despotic law in a democracy has begun as "we must protect the children!"

Perhaps a new approach is needed if children are still at risk after decades of "won't someone think of the children!?" policy-making.

zdl, 11 days ago

@chad Yes. I've got it stashed right next to my pet unicorn!

zdl, 12 days ago

@pressprogress I'm helping someone get a visa to just visit Canada and the sheer bull-headedness of Canadian officials is mind-boggling.

Canadians coming to China whine about how hard it is to get a visa. The "difficulty" is a single two-sided form and a few stock documents (passport, etc.) plus maybe a health check. It took me, the times I had to do it from Canada, maybe three hours total from start to submission (this included a bus trip). Then 48 hours later I had a visa.

🧵 (1/3)

zdl, 12 days ago

@pressprogress So here's some perspective on the other direction. The BASIC form to get a visa to Canada is about 7 pages alone. You then have another form to fill out with your entire family. You have to supply bank records. You have to supply a letter proving your employment and salary. You have to supply proof of ownership of property. (And like for Canada→China you need a letter of invitation.)

Then you have to repeat all that information on an online form.

🧵 (2/3)

zdl, 12 days ago

@pressprogress We're three WEEKS into the process and there's no end in sight yet. And there's no hint yet if he's even going to be given a visa, because every second paragraph, it seems, is a stern warning that even if you supply all the requested documentation it is not guaranteed you'll get a visa.

It's orders of magnitude harder for Chinese people to just get a VISA to Canada than vice versa. So no, it doesn't surprise me that students are disappointed by the reality.

🧵 (3/3)

zdl, 13 days ago

@SteveThompson I wish I didn't already have a whole-country boycott on travel to the USA so I could add South Dakota as a place I will never again set foot.

zdl, 13 days ago

@StephanieMoore @quinn "The medium is the message." — Marshall McLuhan's casual viewin'

zdl, 13 days ago

@ClancyParliament @quinn On the other hand, though, we also had the "inevitable" nuclear holocaust hovering overhead to the point that it shows up in pop songs: Silent Running, Eastern Wind, 99 Luftballons, etc. etc. etc.

I mean in German dance clubs we were DANCING to inevitable nuclear holocaust!

zdl, 13 days ago

@angiebaby @quinn No, it's role-playing games!

zdl, 12 days ago

@BootsChantilly Wow do I feel this one!

zdl, 11 days ago

@stevenbodzin @angiebaby @inquiline "But you see / it's not me / it's not my family / in your head in your head / they are DYING!"

It's always tragic when Dolores' words are seen in real life.

zdl, 11 days ago

@stevenbodzin @angiebaby @inquiline The following words are likely even more descriptive: "What's in your head? In your head? Zombie. Zombie. Zombie--ie--iee..."

zdl, 13 days ago

@carnage4life And as seems to be de rigeur for software ... it fails out of the box for me.

I love the high quality that the word "software" implies!