Most countries have a form of eminent domain, that isn’t an indicator for authoritarianism in and of itself. What’s relevant is the checks and balances that are applied, and if they’re effectively applied.

How is that an oxymoron? An authoritarian government isn’t excluded from doing good things. Most authoritarian governments have done some good, it’s just not an excuse for the authoritarianism or whatever else those respective governments are up to.

And take a closer look at California high speed rail. Public consultations have factored into how things are/were planned. It’s far from ideal, and especially in the US there are plenty of problems (take a look at Europe for better examples, even though they’re far from perfect). And at least in the US, there are elections that, as very imperfect as they are, the citizens still (emphasis on still) have a certain say as to how things are running.

I mean, yeah, working in the transit branch, I would love to ram things through the way they do in China - it would make my job way easier and I’ve had colleagues fantasize about it, but in the whole of things, I am glad that the people still hold a certain amount of power here. Unchecked power is never a good thing.

How do I cut my wifi cable

To be fair, China’s high speed rail network has also grown so quickly because there are no public consultations or similar. They just build it, the people be damned. If you don’t have a democracy, that works. But I would rather live in a democracy than an authoritarian state (at the same time, I’m glad I’m not living in the crumbling democracy that is the US).

Of course, what Elon is saying is total BS, and the US could have started much earlier - or, that is, improved the north east corridor and used that experience to bring more high speed rail to the US much earlier. But anyway…

Yup - I’m for it, in a very specific combination. A universal basic income that is regularly recalculated to ensure that it provides for all basic needs, connected with a flat tax on any income earned through other means and an abolishment of the minimum wage. What it means: taxes become much simpler, the vast majority of people don’t need to do them at all. Employers only advertise with net income, so you immediately know what you’re getting at the end of the week/month. Since there is no minimum wage (and since one isn’t necessary any more due to everyone having their basic needs covered), the economy is more inclusive, since jobs that don’t attract as much money but still benefit society like being a musician can be done that much more. Employees have more power since losing their job doesn’t mean the threat of losing the ability to afford necessities, meaning they also have a stronger position at the bargaining table.

yt-dlp ist schon echt genial…

MKBHD. He used to be, IMO, the best tech channel out there. The reviews were honest, well produced, and held companies’ feet to the fire. The old MKBHD poked fun at the companies’ shortcomings (I specifically remember him telling iPhone users to add a widget - then going “oh, wait…”). The new MKBHD interviews Tim Cook and doesn’t properly question any of the BS he speaks.

Meine Entscheidung, ein bestimmtes Unternehmen nicht unterstützen zu wollen, halte ich für legitim.

Ist es auch, nur er hat dir niemals versprochen, dass er sich das nicht von Amazon besorgt. Das ist so ähnlich wie wenn du bei einer Veranstaltung etwas kaufst - da verspricht dir auch niemand, dass Händler X nicht im Spiel ist. Wenn er geworben hätte, dass Amazon außen vor ist, wäre das eine andere Sache, dann hätte er betrogen, das ist aber vermutlich hier nicht der Fall.

Others have explained pretty well how to examine your threat model, and what is realistic and what is not.

What I notice though, is that you seem kind of panicked. You’re worried about a myriad of different threats. Is there something that has happened in your life that has drastically changed your threat model or did you just read a lot and start worrying?

If it’s the second, slow down. Things won’t drastically change. Pick one thing (Let’s say the recording without your awareness aspect), read up about it, just not on conspiracy websites, understand how privacy controls work, what they can and can’t control, how the OS handles these things, etc. Look at what your settings in that regard, look at what you want to change (if anything), and how it affects your day-to-day life. Live with the changes for a while, until you get used to them. Then move to the next topic.

If it’s the first, then still look at the different aspects one after the other. You won’t be helping anything by panicking.

Ow, now my brain hurts.

I would generally do this. You can do much more by supporting shelters, addiction recovery services, mental health services than the like than by giving individuals money.

In some cases (depends on where you live), you might actually be doing more harm than good. In many major cities the begging is pretty organized, sometimes with clan leaders who then take a part of the donations they’ve collected. It’s much better to support services that can help people out of those situations, because that will go a lot further to give the people the life they deserve.

Wait, 12 year gap? How fucking old is Trudeau??

Yeah except it gets that much more difficult to get up when everything around you is fucking freezing.

Might also want to mark those which are open source, that can be an additional criteria when choosing.

…und da würden trotzdem alle darum streiten, ob es das Bahnnetzwerk so braucht oder ob man es nicht doch durch eine weitere Autobabnspur lösen kann.

Ja gut, Tampon, fairer Punkt.

Dafür gibt’s Urinellas 😉

PdS: du hast den Wald neben der Raststätte nicht gesehen

Aha, danke!

Eichelpapierschnitt? Was?

Ich glaube, ich werde zu alt.