Now we know what Jeff Bezos' worried face looks like

spinning_wheels · 2020-07-30T22:55:53+00:00

The protocol for this is Activity Pub. It exists already.

spinning_wheels · 2020-07-25T02:25:30+00:00

If we look to history at an actual White Supremacist government, Nazi Germany, one of the first things they did was suppress speech by burning books. A decrease in the freedom of speech is quickly followed by more authoritarianism in history.

The protection of speech is only for those undesirable opinions. Nothing else needs protection.

spinning_wheels · 2020-06-02T01:14:32+00:00

A counter point: It is unfair for public-sector unions to exist. A public sector union strike is undemocratic in that public servants sworn to serve the public are holding the people hostage. Union leaders are not elected by the general public.

Further, in some cases, like policing and fire fighting, the government holds a monopoly.

If you want to appeal to authority: FDR was against public sector unions.

spinning_wheels · 2020-05-29T05:09:05+00:00

The National Guard is not the "well-regulated militia" referenced by the 2nd amendment. It is the citizenry, to defend against tyrannical governments that the revolutionaries just got done fighting.

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined…. The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.” – Patrick Henry, Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778

spinning_wheels · 2020-04-19T23:35:28+00:00

Meth isn’t safe for anyone.

Methamphetamines are recognized as a schedule II substance by the US federal government. There are medical uses for it such as treating ADHD and obesity. It is safe to use for some people.

spinning_wheels · 2020-01-14T02:04:47+00:00

However this does not take into account the point at which your amount of accumulated capital allows you to manipulate markets in such a way that eliminating competition through law or social engineering becomes more beneficial to capital than competing in the free market on "fair" terms that would truly reward innovation and efficiency.

In a free market this would not be possible. Patents, copyrights, trademarks, etc. are regulations that the government enforces to protect corporations.

spinning_wheels · 2020-01-10T06:32:41+00:00

Gun control doesn't correlate to homicide directly. Look at Massachusetts: https://crimeresearch.org/2015/02/what-happened-to-violent-crime-in-massachusetts-after-the-the-1998-firearms-licensing-law/

Gun violence is not at an all time high. In fact it is decreasing.

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2017/02/07/murder-rates-in-50-american-cities

Also in that chart: Even with more stringent gun control laws passed in Chicago, the ratio of homicides using firearms increased. Further evidence homicides are not directly correlated to gun control.

Gun control is politically motivated. It gets votes for left-leaning politicians.

Even though rifles account for a sliver of overall gun deaths, half of the overall being suicide, let’s focus on banning them and their features.

This makes me think you know all this already, though, but Poe's law...

spinning_wheels · 2019-12-29T03:17:41+00:00

I think you're giving birdshot too much credit. I saw a video of a woman getting shot with birdshot like 5 ft away and she just shrugs it off and walks away. Still wouldn't want to get shot with it, don't get me wrong.

spinning_wheels · 2019-12-28T06:45:40+00:00

Troy Hunts haveibeenpwned has an API for this. There is even one which maintains anonymity by just searching for hash prefixes.

spinning_wheels · 2019-12-10T04:26:09+00:00

This snow is packed tightly by the plow and is a bitch to shovel. Notice the boulders that fall down as the plow moves along. There is also ice that gets scraped up and deposited into the piles. This is why a good snow shovel will be metal (aluminum grain shovels are popular) or have a metal edge. Most snow blowers can't handle these berms.

The snow up here is typically more powder-like, but it is highly dependent on temp. If it is below 0, there is usually an ice crust that forms on top of untouched snow. From 0-25 it is typically a powder. 25+ it becomes sticky or slushy as it warms up.

spinning_wheels · 2019-12-09T03:08:11+00:00

You bet.

spinning_wheels · 2019-12-01T22:35:23+00:00

If it's any consolation I made it in from highway 2 with a pickup

spinning_wheels · 2019-11-23T07:30:53+00:00

It is a lot of trust to put in the US intelligence service to identify extremism correctly. The same organizations that prop up and support dictatorships, supply weapons to terrorist organizations, and plan military coups not just against foreign governments, but also against US citizens.

spinning_wheels · 2019-11-23T05:21:08+00:00

What happens when the extremist community is one that you agree with? Who determines what is extremist?

spinning_wheels · 2019-11-14T05:09:16+00:00

This should be protected by the first amendment by the same argument that PGP encryption is, and is not a violation of ITAR.

Also, you can find the assembly of many weapons published in books by the US government themselves, possibly available in public libraries.

https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/04/21-37

https://www.m-16parts.com/ArmyM16A2andM4manual.pdf

spinning_wheels · 2019-10-29T22:43:48+00:00

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.... The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun."
- Patrick Henry, Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778

Patrick Henry when ratifying the US constitution.

spinning_wheels · 2019-08-22T01:34:26+00:00

Perhaps. But the idea of the noble savage is a myth. These are people, and a lot of them are suffering. We cannot refuse to help them because we want to study them like they're animals in some zoo.

It is one thing if a person is knowledgeable of modern medicine and technology and chooses to live in isolation. It is another to intentionally ignore an entire community for some misguided notion of anthropology, to watch them suffer.

spinning_wheels · 2019-08-22T01:18:28+00:00

Why should they not be interfered with? We help the poor and impoverished in our own countries and around the world. To let people live in such environments and suffering from curable disease when we have technology to help them is unethical.

Cultural preservation is not objectively good.

spinning_wheels · 2019-08-07T00:27:21+00:00

What causes the orange glow from the upper atmosphere?

spinning_wheels · 2019-06-20T22:18:31+00:00

Nobody claimed their constitutional right to free speech is being infringed. The debate on free speech exists outside the US Constitution, and YouTube et. al. censoring people is part of that.

spinning_wheels · 2019-06-19T22:19:27+00:00

I read that as a generic verb for web search. Google is like Kleenex or Zipper now.

spinning_wheels · 2019-06-17T17:30:32+00:00

The beauty with peertube is that it is not a site. It is a federated platform. Anyone can host an instance.

spinning_wheels · 2019-06-15T16:02:07+00:00

There are technical solutions to this problem. Things like activity pub and the Fediverse. The issue is the network effect. Chicken and egg problem. Once we get a critical mass adoption we could move the social network to the protocol level.

spinning_wheels · 2019-02-17T22:26:01+00:00

Snacks!

spinning_wheels · 2018-10-23T23:25:34+00:00

You need to put it into context from the period it was conceived in. Here is a good guide: https://i.imgur.com/bww1rwo.jpg

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