PaulT @P3f@qoto.org

COMMENT: A second Trump presidency is not necessarily a disaster for the African continent. Over the course of the next four years, if he is true to form (and there is little reason to believe he has learnt anything from his first term), the rest of the world will be working out how to function without its self-appointed “indispensable nation”. https://continent.substack.com/p/trumps-return-is-africas-signal-to

I have my #Halloween costume ready, and you?

#AcademicChatter @academicchatter

Piketty: How to tax billionaires

https://www.lemonde.fr/blog/piketty/2024/10/15/how-to-tax-billionaires/

> The second argument often heard is that modern governments are too weak to impose anything on billionaires. [...] this argument reflects an abandonment of sovereignty, particularly from political leaders who frequently discuss the need to restore government authority but often find it easier to exercise their authority over the poor than over the powerful.

h/t @pluralistic

#taxtherich

This 50 minute Defcon keynote by @pluralistic isn't for the faint of heart. BUT, if you want to know why everything is so screwed up, he lays it all out plain as day.

The bottom line is that regulation disappeared in the 80's and we are now being crushed by unfettered monoplistic capitalism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EmstuO0Em8

Octopuses Team Up With Fish to Hunt, And Will Punch Them if They Act Up
https://www.sciencealert.com/octopuses-team-up-with-fish-to-hunt-and-will-punch-them-if-they-act-up?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Nature @nature-ScienceAlert

“To their crowds, they scream “illegals” & promise a cruel scheme of mass deportation. To their billionaire donors, they say “tax cuts” & promise a federal government devoted to the upward distribution of wealth & the destruction of the social insurance state….It is drawing from the same playbook that kept the South mired in poverty: You sell the people hate so that you can give capital — the actual ruling class — as much of the pie as it can shovel into its face.” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/21/opinion/jim-crow-trump-vance.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Mk4.GIsF.w87jFz9jmgr8&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb&ngrp=mnp

@nightpaws Sometimes it’s good to live in the EU.

@cdarwin "Can I have your car for free?" - "What for?" - "I want to earn more money and I want to work as an UBER driver at night" - "Why my car?" - "I don't own one." - "What's in for me?" - "Nothing, if I'd have to pay for your car, I'd make less money." - "Then why on earth should I give you my car?"

This would never work in the real world! I sense a little bit of disconnect.

Life floats high over our heads--and might spread diseases long distances. Here's my story about an intriguing new survey 1/2 Gift link: https://nyti.ms/3zc7bQi

Calling for the help of the fediverse!
Help spread the word of our browser extension Consent-O-Matic that helps automate answering those ever-present cookie consent pop-ups.

It's developed by researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark and free to use for Chrome/Edge, Firefox and Safari including for iOS.

Also, it's open source, so if you have a bit of technical skill, you can help us improve the rule set for greater coverage.

https://consentomatic.au.dk

An insane version of Pong that doubles the balls every time one hits a paddle, then adds various power-ups to make the game even crazier. Thanks as always for the interesting link, @clive! https://raould.github.io/pn0gstr0m/

How frequently do you use an RSS reader?

Please boost for more representative data.

Hey francophones - is this how you would say this in actual speech?

In *Blood In the Machine,* @bcmerchant delivers the definitive history of the #Luddites, and the clearest analysis of the automator's playbook, where "entrepreneurs'" lawless extraction from workers is called "innovation" and "inevitable":

https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/26/enochs-hammer/#thats-fronkonsteen

1/

Some of the accounts I follow #OnHere for climate information and other cool science, including transportation: #FF #FollowFriday
@ZLabe
@davidho
@kathhayhoe
@breadandcircuses
@virome_girl
@coralsncaves
@BrentToderian
@Ruth_Mottram
@climatebrad
@GrrlScientist
@petergleick
@capntransit
@TheConversationClimate
@Kyt_Thatsme
@atthenius
@PoLaRobs
@aida
@WeatherGoddess

This is awesome: cobalt comes from thermonuclear supernovae and core-collapse supernovae. Where painters' favorite pigments come from: https://scientificamerican.com/article/some-of-earths-most-famous-art-started-with-stardust/

Vous saviez qu’une initiative citoyenne européenne avait été lancée pour relier toutes les capitales européennes par train grande vitesse ?

https://www.connect-capitals-hsr.eu/fr/

Non ? Et bien personne ne le sait. Elle a récolté jusqu’à présent… 258 signatures en France et 104 en Belgique.

Elle doit en récolté un million.