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Joined 15 days ago
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Cake day: January 28th, 2026

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  • So disappointing and depressing

    It reminds me of a story, forget who told it. During a celebratory and private dinner with Obama during his presidency, table had all the true believers, socialist, leftists when one of attendees ask Obama why despite promising to shut down gitmo he hadn’t done it.

    Obama had looked at him and said something along the lines that basically the life of his daughters had been threatened and that even he wasn’t going to risk the lives of his family to change this stuff.

    Considering we are seeing one of the most vilest, most evilist conspiracy of child raping torturing murdering psychopaths play out in front of our very eyes this story, of incredibly powerful oligarchs, working with some of the worst regimes on earth, using violence, extortion, blackmail and coercion to further their malfeasance, this story about Obama doesn’t seem that far fetched.

    It wouldn’t be surprising if Mamdani has been warned that he can push things only so far.

    That said excluding the conspiracy take, the other explanation for his actions is that the city of New York is broke (considering the crapulance of Adams that wouldn’t be much of a surprise) and Mamdani is super dependent on the State providing or at least underwriting, loans for Mamdani to meet his initial promises ie universal daycare and subway/bus travel. In return for their support he has to endorse what’s her face’s run for governor.

    Still really fucking depressing.


  • When the rule of law has failed in Israel to stop the fascists from engaging in wars of aggression and genocide its kinda laughable to even imagine much less believe that Israel would respond much less admit guilt for the murder of aid workers.

    I get this stuff needs to be published and broadcasted but the context should be for the citizens of countries around the world to stop buying Israeli made stuff whilst conversely pushing this matter into the political agenda.

    It still does my head in that in Australia, NSW the premier (head of our centre “left” political party, Labor) can hand the conservatives an easy win by pushing the cops to brutally beat up protesters who are protesting against Herzog visit and Israel’s genocide.





  • I don’t think people understand how completely different French nuclear weapons and doctrine is compared to the UK and NATO.

    The French have a nuke first strike policy "dissuasion du faible au fort”, deterring a stronger power by threatening unacceptable damage.

    Their policy, is to use a Rafale to, from a Carrier, fire a ASMP-A nuclear tipped cruise missile across the bows of anyone dumb enough to antagonise them.

    Conversely the British have no tactical nuclear weapons like the French. All they operate are the Trident II D5s from their ballistic missile subs, even then they only carry 5 MIRV (est) warheads per missile.

    And no first strike policy either.

    Don’t get me wrong. I very much favour a European military alliance that pushes Europe off the US teat. But the idea of the UK and France changing their doctrine (and a host of other elements) without non nuclear states contributing a significant amount of money is pretty unlikely.


  • Really one day I realized I rather eat lunch with my cats than any of my coworkers and have never looked back

    I know right. Being with my animals, (and I suppose, even my family) is priceless to me.

    I’ll have a puddle of cats on my bed whilst the GSD is wedged between my chair and the bed, my lights are off, my room is dark and cool with a silver of light coming through the top shades. I got my tunes playing and I’m not getting interrupted.

    I got my computers around me, I’m running multiple processes. If I get tired I can roll onto the bed.

    The dog and cats are just happy to hang, we play, do commands and I get to take my dog out for a long lunch time walk.

    Sure the cats do talk back a bit but it’s so much nicer to hear them meow then colleagues crapping about crap.

    I hate going to work. I’m sitting in my office (forced to come in several days a week) and I realise I do not want to speak to a single person. Sometimes I try to avoid speaking to people for an entire day.

    I guess it’s the 20 years I spent running frontline customer service teams that makes you despise humanity. I am in absolutel awe that the vast majority of humans have mastered the skill of inhaling and exhaling. I’m still astounded that people have worked out how to use the buttons on their shirts, or worked out how to pull clothes onto their bodies.

    Seriously I used to image customers sitting at the kitchen table with a shirt over their face and various items of clothes half on their limbs alwhilst trying, but missing, to insert a spoon of cereal into their mouths.

    I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had to make sure the goddam fucking computer was turned on (“oh is that why internet didn’t work?”) before going through troubleshooting steps, only to be meet with a “oh wow it’s working”.

    Argh.

    The other thing about work from home is that 10 years ago when I started my job I might have taken 8 hours to do a particular job.

    Now I’m able to do it in 1 hour (ok fine, 5 mins via scripting and shit). I don’t need to explain or justify to my boss what I’m doing in the 7 hours as long as the job he pays me to do is getting done (I do time sensitive shit so it’s also being available at a moments notice to jump into action).

    Most jobs come down to attitude. Now yes I’m doing my own stuff, picking the kids up at 3pm, walking my dog at lunch, but when the shit hits the fan I’m up at 2am, getting stuff back up and running and hitting/beating deadlines. I don’t mind the messy complex fucked up job and I don’t whinge/give my boss grief (unlike most of the staff I work with). He knows he can give me shit and it’ll get done, properly (not half assed), returned with even a bow tied across it and ready to present to his bosses without any further handling.

    Otherwise WFH is just so superior to WFO, from a cost, time and sheer efficiency point of view.





  • He isn’t wrong

    Cars exhaust contains nitrogen, carbon dioxide, water vapour, oxygen, argon, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, unburnt hydrocarbons, methane, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, lead, platinum, palladium, rhodium, nickel, copper, zinc and chromium. These drift around, settling on roads. Albeit in trace amounts.

    These are in turn washed into storm waterways and creeks where the heavy metals end up in the sediment.

    Car tires and plastics used in roads (cats eyes for example) are also causing major microplastic pollution, again because it again washes into waterways and accumulates.

    In 2004 it was confirmed that creatures at the bottom of the food chain ie bivalves, polychaete worms, sea cucumbers, amphipods, isopods, lugworms, oligochaetes, chironomid larvae and deposit feeders etc are eating that shit up.

    Which, when consumed by predators, bio accumulates in their flesh which we in turn eat.

    Incidentally asianometry just released a video on this incredibly fucked up and depressing topic.

    https://youtu.be/Th1tBdDl5CY


  • A couple weeks later he ran up a pine tree and got stuck for 4 days again. This time I fashioned a pole and just knocked him off the branch. He fell about 20 feet into a pile of leaves and pine needles and was fine.

    I wasn’t 11 but as a young man, newly purchased home owner and father I was struck by an epiphany that I was able to get a cat after years of never ending moving and renting.

    So I went out and got the greatest cat I could ever find. A grey and white tuxedo.

    Well within a month this idiot had climbed a Norfolk pine tree. A good 20 plus feet, right to the fricken top.

    For 6 hours he meowed and meowed. My daughter meowed and begged for me to get him. Now I was by no means a tree climber but I wasn’t gonna leave em and he clearly couldn’t work out how to get down.

    So up that tree, sap, pine needles, webs, all in my fucking mouth, I climbed until I got to the top and grabbed that idiot. It was fucking terrify (I hate heights). I shoved him in my hoodie and somehow got down.

    Thus he became forever known as stupid cat.

    That said he wasn’t that stupid that he ever repeated it. Never went higher then the first branch of a tree again.







  • Greg Egan’s Diaspora sets out how humanity could explore the galaxy and even the multiverse, which if you can’t be bothered reading consists of:

    1. Upload conciousness into computers, leave physical bodies.
    2. Miniaturise computers until we have spaceships in the grams/nano grams
    3. As we’re no longer connected to time we can build massive solar system sized technologies, built by nanotech, that sure could take hundreds of years to build but in our virtual realms we could easily sleep.
    4. Use Lasers to propel our nanogram spaceships to 90% light speed. Even then for the astronauts, time is almost nothing (time goes slower the faster you go). A trip across the galaxy would feel like mere weeks to you. We could explore the universe as immortals.
    5. At this point we should have a pretty good understanding of dark matter/energy and how to move between universes (the multiverse, depending if you accept it as a base for explaining non locality)
    6. Which would allow us become eternal.

    In the here and now the only way to travel to another system with our current tech is via nuclear pulse engines.

    Basically you build a large spaceship. Stick it on massive shock absorbers which are in turn connected to a metre plus thick steel plate.

    Cut small hole in the middle. Have a door that opens closes.

    Eject 1kt explosive device out door. Repeat 500x till you get to orbit.

    Basically you could get a spaceship up to very high speed with nuclear pulse engines to turn a multi hundred year journey into less then 100 years.

    That said the biggest problem with interstellar journeys is that our material science and manufacturing tolerances are pretty shit. Essentially all of the air will leak out through the metal skin of the spaceship.

    I still think carving put an asteroid, sticking engine on it (see nuclear pulse engines) , covering it in ice and water will solve the problems radiation shielding, losing critical gases and provide ample fuel and water for a very long journey.


  • Gaspar Noe’s Climax

    A French film based on a true story where a hip hop dance troupe had their punch spiked with a large amount LSD before discovering they were snowed in the hall they had been partying in.

    The film is continuously shot with no cuts, with the cast adlibbing their lines. The dancing is amazing as is Bangalter’s utterly amazing soundtrack (very far away from any Daft Punk).

    I’m sure Gaspar took liberties with the story but after discovering a child had ingested the punch I became quite sick and horrified. I could barely watch the film after that, the insanity that befores everyone is truly sickening.

    Having accidentally ingesting a large amount of LSD (my first trip) at a young age (14) it bought a lot back.

    And I very much enjoyed a large part of the film but after that part of the plot it really fucked me up.