modernangel

joined 4 weeks ago
[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 days ago

Since the odds are so slim of tariffs at this scale further boosting an economy that was already pretty vigorous - I think the more important question is, who are you going to scapegoat when tariffs don't work as advertised? Immigration? George Soros? Biden? Deep State? Panama and Greenland? Her emails? Will you swallow the doublethink when Murdoch and Bezos's fake news tell you a recession is really sort of a boom, and vodka rations are up 8%?

[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago

Very eye-opening! this info and its implications make me feel even better about removing myself from Reddit.

The fediverse needs someone with Maxwell' energy to promote and seed.

[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 22 points 6 days ago

We knew that was coming when we saw Sundar Pichai in Oligarch Row at the inauguration

[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 days ago (5 children)

I was already iffy about Reddit since the r/place #fuckspez whitewashing. I was never suspended - but when I learned Luigi was suddenly an "unperson" topic there, I realized that commercialized social media is inherently compromised.

I'm not swearing off FB/Insta entirely just yet, but every time I visit them I'm more and more vividly aware how tedious Meta channels are.

[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

Amen, let's make sure we can live sustainably on Earth before we start carving up other whole planets

 

Lately SciAm has been running and re-running an article on social media, focusing on plastic cooking utensils, storage etc. as sources of microplastic accumulation in humans.

I'm not disputing that plastics in food prep do contribute to microplastic bio-accumulation - my question is, are these actually dominant sources?

Comparative numbers haven't risen to the forefront of my web searching.

If say 75% of our microplastic uptake is via water and food that was already contaminated (by landfill seepage and wind-borne urban dust) before it entered our homes, then telling consumers to replace all their plastic spatulas and storageware with wood, glass and metal ... is just Big Plastic shuffling off responsibility onto consumers, just like it did with the lie of plastics recycling.

[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 20 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Lots and lots of people, actually. Many identify with the tough-talkin' images being projected, believing it's just what the world needs and that the magic sorting hat will assign them to the privileged class when the dust settles.

[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

In my defense, my family of origin revolved around a cookie cutter Atlas Shrugged minor villain dad - gaslighter, business cheat and mooch, compulsive womanizer - so Atlas Shrugged's heroes were the fantasy I needed when I read it. I knew I wasn't a "John Galt" so I tinkered with a dutiful Eddie Willers identity for a bit. Some good still came out of it - I got interested in philosophy as a respectable formal academic topic, and outgrew the fantasy.