Tharrulous's recent activity
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Comment on Special tag: "Active" in ~tildes
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Comment on Collapse comments? in ~tildes
Tharrulous (edited )Link ParentI'm also culpable in writing long comments. However, I've now realised this greatly affects navigation, especially in busier threads. When you've got 50 comments to read, it sucks to have comments...I'm also culpable in writing long comments. However, I've now realised this greatly affects navigation, especially in busier threads.
When you've got 50 comments to read, it sucks to have comments extending past the entire height of the computer screen. This is worse for mobile users.
It also makes it difficult for other users to engage with not only your comment, but every comment below yours. I've noticed that in many threads, engagement noticeably decreases after these long comments.
So what I've started doing is to:
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Split long comments into subheadings
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Put each subsection into collapsed spoilerboxes
(See this comment for example)
I would like to ask other people's opinions on this. Is this something you'd prefer?
Another thing
Incidentally, I've also played around with manually adding a 'Continued Below' spolierbox when the comment is too long.
See this comment
I removed it previously because I wasn't sure about it, but I've re-added it right now to demonstrate.
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Comment on All aboard the bureaucracy train in ~transport
Tharrulous Link ParentThe interview provides valuable insight into the interplay between civil servants and bureaucrats, so it's definitely appreciated. However, the interview is a bit narrow in scope. If you're not...The interview provides valuable insight into the interplay between civil servants and bureaucrats, so it's definitely appreciated.
However, the interview is a bit narrow in scope. If you're not familiar with Alon's works and find it hard to keep up, I recommend this article: Why does it cost so much to build things in America? (Vox.com)
The Vox article, which also cites Alon Levy, provides a broad overview of the predicament. Since it's not in interview format, it provides a clearer and more articulate analysis. It delves deeper into issues alluded in this interview, such as lack of experience, scope creep, and institutional inertia.
The article also covers a wider range of issues, including legal and procedural delays, citizen lawsuits, and special interest groups that entangle transit projects in years of delays. As well as the stakes and potential outcomes.
Definitely highly recommend checking it out.
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Comment on The 24-hour city: In a push to bolster nightlife, cities are changing laws to keep bars, restaurants and transit systems operating round-the-clock in ~life
Tharrulous (edited )Link ParentThat sounds similar to what happened in Sydney, with its post-2014 Lockout Laws. After a series of deaths at King's Cross — once Australia's most prominent and famous nightlife district — the...That sounds similar to what happened in Sydney, with its post-2014 Lockout Laws.
After a series of deaths at King's Cross — once Australia's most prominent and famous nightlife district — the state government imposed heavy-handed legislation across the whole city centre and King's Cross, utterly destroying the city's nightlife.
All existing licensed venues — whether they were pubs, clubs, restaurants, beer gardens, live music or even karaoke bars — now had new curfews and onerous restrictions.
After midnight, there were heavy and arbitrary restrictions on alcohol: e.g. you can't drink scotch by itself; however, you can drink it with Coca Cola mixed in it, but you can't drink it if the Coca Cola was pre-mixed and put into a can...
Curfew (lockout) begun at 1:30am. New licensed venues weren't approved. Most ridiculously, the City of Sydney banned kebab sales after midnight... yeah.
Occasionally, police in riot gear with sniffer dogs will close off an entire street to inspect a venue. If drugs were found on a single person, everyone gets kicked out and the business gets a 72-hour operating ban. Three strikes and you're permanently closed. Yes, they did this with a 3000-person venue during the busiest weekend of the year (the venue failed). Yes, they also did this with pubs, restaurants and beer gardens.
Evidently, this wasn't sustainable. The conditions and economics to operate a nightlife business became very difficult. The result? Hundreds of licensed venues closed. The live music scene — decimated. Century-old venues — gone. As new venues were prohibited by the license freeze, the ones that closed weren't replaced. Many inter-dependent businesses that relied on traffic from these venues (e.g. convenience stores, McDonalds) have also shut down.
Funny Story
So, apparently Bruce Springsteen's manager once called a nightclub to organise a few post-event drinks for his band. The nightclub told them they were closing because of lockouts. The manager then asked where else they could go, and the nightclub embarrassingly had to tell them that they literally didn't know, as everything was closing or closed already.
My Thoughts
These types of responses are immensely disproportionate and counterproductive. Sure, you've stopped nightlife-related assaults and bad fights, but you've done so by killing off your nightlife. Similarly, you can also stop car crashes if you remove all cars from the road!
Continued Below (Click Here)
Sydney's Lockout Laws merely lasted 5 years, yet its legacy leaves a lasting mark on the city. King's Cross, the once-legendary heart of Sydney's famed nightlife, is now a shadow of its former past. Most pubs, clubs and bars are gone and the once-crowded streets are empty at night. It is now the haven of the gentrified, rich and boring, who live in apartments that tower the corpses of the old venues. (yeah... good luck reintroducing nightlife with these newcomers)
The better solution to dealing with nightlife-related violence is to ensure people make it home safe. This is what Sydney's southern neighbour, Melbourne, decided on. It relaxed liquor laws for smaller bars and venues, ensuring there was a more diverse mix of venues and patrons. It introduced 24-hour public transport on weekends, getting people off the streets after closing time, when it is most dangerous. It put police presence on every single one of its 200+ train stations after 6pm, ensuring human presence at lesser used stations after dark.
These are some examples how you can make nightlife safe. By actually making it safe. Not by getting rid of it.
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Comment on How Google is killing independent sites like ours in ~tech
Tharrulous (edited )LinkI was meant to post this article earlier today, so I've already written a summary. I don't want it to go to waste, so I'll post it here. However, I highly recommend reading the article,...I was meant to post this article earlier today, so I've already written a summary.
I don't want it to go to waste, so I'll post it here.
However, I highly recommend reading the article, particularly for the images.
Summary
BuzzFeed, Rolling Stone, Forbes, Popular Science... what have they all got in common?
They all know the best air purifiers for pet hair and the best cooling sheets for hot sleepers; the best home saunas, best beard products, best gifts for teens, best cocktail kits. best. best. best.
But do they really know what's 'best'?
Search Engine Ranking
Sixteen or so 'Digital Goliaths' dominate the Google Search results. No matter what you google, the same publishers keep showing up at the top of the results page.
These big media publishers and their dubious 'best of’ product recommendation lists are ranked above independent sites that actually test the products they review. They recommend products without any firsthand testing, data, or evidence; often paraphrase Amazon listings; and sometimes even promote products from bankrupt or fraudulent companies.
For independent websites that put in time and effort to produce genuine reviews, this is a death knell. Their fates precariously hangs on the unpredictable whims of search algorithms, SEO, and ultimately, their placement on search engine results pages. Thus, any changes to those will impact their websites.
Product Reviews
Back in 2021, Google Search introduced the Products Review Update. After years of silence, they finally heard the pleas. Google will finally promote reviews that dedicated time, effort, and money into actually testing products, countering lazy publishers that haven't even seen the product. This sounds like a good thing, right?
Well... things didn't quite happen as expected.
This isn't to fault Google. Google's Product Review Update did really alter the search landscape; real review websites were rewarded, lazy publishers weren't. Naturally, these big media publishers weren't really happy at the loss of traffic; however, they had a trick up their sleeves.
Untrustworthy Product Recommendations
So, people don't generally start off with specific reviews of particular products. Instead, they need to determine which products are even relevant at solving the specific issue they need to solve. Whether that's a 'best of' list, Reddit thread, forum post, you'd need to start somewhere.
Unfortunately, savvy SEOs at big media publishers have discovered that they can create 'best of' product recommendations without dedicating time or effort in actually testing and reviewing the products they recommend.
"All they had to do was say what they needed to say to pass a manual check if it came to that."
By faking their experience with the product in bogus tests, quoting non-existent subject-matter experts, and exploiting the public’s trust in their brands, these publishers can trick Google and the public into believing their content is trustworthy and reliable.
They merely need to include the right things: E.g. "rigorous testing process", "our lab team", "[X Expert] we've collaborated with", "evaluated with [Y methodology]". Maybe even sprinkle some photos of post-it notes, tape measures, people holding clipboards.
Even when their content is manually reviewed by a Google human, how can one — as a non-subject expert — determine that these seemingly genuine recommendations aren't authentic?
The Web: Inundated
"Why trust us?
Popular Science started writing about technology 150 years ago... first issue in 1872... our mission to demystify the world of innovation for everyday readers... writers and editors [with] decades of experience... trustworthy voices... very best recommendations..."
-Popular Science, at the bottom of every article
Big media publishers have started to recognise the value of their brands. Trusted by people, privileged by Google. What better way to honour that value by pumping out 40 different pages of 'best of' recommendations for home cleaning products? Fully-tested by experts, mind you.
Huh, this Better Homes & Gardens article seems suspiciously similar to this Real Simple article. The photos seem to feature the same person with the same air purifier in the same room at the same time, just at different angles? Same photographer? Same 'expert'? What's going on?
Buzzfeed... is literally just the Amazon reviews copy and pasted. Reddit seems to have good discussion. However, the top comment links to another website... that is simply a word-for-word copy of the Real Simple article. Also, the Reddit account is banned, yet the comment somehow remains.
An aside: If this sounds like a nightmare, it honestly is. I've already given up on general web. But now? Even Reddit has been astroturfed to the abyss. Nowadays, I really don't know where to go for authentic product recommendations. /endrant
The Exploitation of Trust
"Private equity firms are utilizing public trust in long-standing publications to sell every product under the sun
In a bid to replace falling ad revenue, publishing houses are selling their publications for parts to media groups that are quick to establish affiliate marketing deals."
Two results below Buzzfeed, we've got Popular Science. Founded 1872, it was recently sold to North Equity LLC in 2020. In 2021, it switched to an all-digital format. In 2023, it stopped being a magazine altogether.
Gone are the days of its team of journalists and editors. Gone are the days of its lists of authentically tested products. Gone are the days of its truthfulness and trustworthiness. Every single Digital Goliath are pumping up their bottom line with affiliate earnings in lieu of their publications' reputations.
"The strategy of [these big media giants] for their publications seems to be to optimize resources and maximize profit.
However, most readers don't know this. Not only do they slap on a deceptive "Why Trust Us" text box on every product recommendation page, their page recommending Molekule air purifiers was created a month after the company had gone bankrupt. Hugely ironic.
Shouldn't Google Step In?
"We might one day see the first page of Google results full of copycat recommendations once they roll out their hacks across all their websites, including Verywell, People.com, Health.com, Travel + Leisure, Byrdie, MyDomaine, The Spruce, Lifewire, Southern Living, TreeHugger, Parents.com… and so many other top tier publications.
Oh, wait, that’s already happening"
Technically, these 'best of' lists are classified by Google as 'reviews', and should provide "insightful analysis, original research" instead of “thin content that simply summarizes a bunch of products, services, or other things”.
In reality, Google has a clear bias towards big media publishers. Sometimes, these sites outrank even brands themselves on their own branded keyword.
Independent Sites are being Killed through Inaction
"This situation just isn’t sustainable. Many independent sites will go out of business if this trend continues."
These Digital Goliaths are not only taking traffic away from newer independent sites like HouseFresh, but also from established websites such as GearLab. Despite producing product reviews based on unbiased, independent testing, these sites have witnessed a significant drop in their traffic in the past few months.
The result? A barren web full of investment firms and ‘innovative digital media companies’ that sell you bad products.
The Future
Recently, Sports Illustrated was outed in using fake AI writers for product reviews. The publisher blamed an outside company, AdVon Commerce.
This is illustrative of the future spearheaded by these Digital Goliaths / investment firms. Buy beloved magazines, shut down their print editions, turn them digital-only, fire the actual journalists who earned our trust, and outsource the affiliate part of their sites to external firms.
Everybody loses but the investment firm.
"Google won’t be the gatekeeper forever, but they are the gatekeeper now.
The ball is in their court."
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Comment on A startup allegedly ‘Hacked the World.’ Then came the censorship—and now the backlash in ~tech
Tharrulous (edited )Link ParentThey have their South Asia bureau there. So they have assets, offices, employees and interests in India that would be jeopardised. The Politico article actually delves into significant detail:...They have their South Asia bureau there. So they have assets, offices, employees and interests in India that would be jeopardised.
The Politico article actually delves into significant detail:
The act of blocking foreign reporting was once simple: Impound some magazines at the airport and call it a day. (...) The confiscation wouldn’t hamper readers beyond the national border.
Now, though, publishing is global. (...) Instead of banning disfavored pieces of newsprint in one particular country, judges are apt to demand that things be removed from global websites. A vast organization like Reuters, with major interests in India that could be sanctioned, not to mention local employees who could get in legal trouble, doesn’t have the luxury of blowing off the judge.
“If you are the Iowa Daily Beagle, and you publish a story that upsets some company in India, that company can go to an Indian court and get whatever injunction they want,” (...) “But if the Iowa Daily Beagle has no assets in India and does no business in India, they can’t do much. It becomes more of an issue for international publishers, like Reuters. They certainly have resources there, and they are subject to the jurisdiction of the Indian court.”
Of course (...) publishers have the ability to geofence content, making it so that an American reader can access a certain page while an Indian reader cannot. But that can backfire. Particularly in a country with historic reasons to be prickly about Western condescension, a judge is likely to take it as a sign of disrespect if an order is ignored beyond the border — not a good move if you are facing trial.
(emphasis mine)
It's really unfortunate that nowadays, since news is digital and global, legal constraints are able to transcend borders.
In the past, it didn't matter if you had global interests, newspaper printing / distribution was inherently a local affair. And once the countless copies were distributed, the works had permanence — no jurisdiction could alter or censor the printed words, or physically remove your access to the article. Everyone, from individuals to libraries and archives would all have copies.
Nowadays, as we've seen in this controversy, the canonical article can be deleted; the Internet Archive backup taken down; works, discussions, analyses, podcasts based off the article removed. It became well-nigh impossible to actually read this article.
And your distribution infrastructure: from the Google links DMCA'd; to your document clouds deleted; to your CDN, domain registry, and domain registrar threatened; etc. It's not just your article, but your whole distribution pipeline that are all vulnerable to such threats. Any infrastructure you rely on that has an India presence will also face this compulsion.
(See Also: Twitter deleting accounts and Tweets of critics worldwide due to single jurisdiction takedown orders — Local employees were threatened if global removal wasn't enacted)
In our interconnected digital era, the clash between journalistic freedom and legal constraints unconfined by geography have become a complex and delicate affair. I really don't know how we can resolve this tension. In the past, due to impracticality, foreign jurisdictions couldn't impact your local press and speech rights. But nowadays, there are increasing precedents that jurisdictions are using to silence speech across the globe.
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Comment on A startup allegedly ‘Hacked the World.’ Then came the censorship—and now the backlash in ~tech
Tharrulous (edited )LinkRelevant article from Techdirt: Sorry Appin, We’re Not Taking Down Our Article About Your Attempts To Silence Reporters Legal Threats Despite receiving legal threats and demands from Appin...Relevant article from Techdirt:
Sorry Appin, We’re Not Taking Down Our Article About Your Attempts To Silence Reporters
Legal Threats
Despite receiving legal threats and demands from Appin Technologies, the author and owner of Techdirt (Mike Masnick) firmly refuses to let Appin Technologies silence his reporters.Initial Censorship
Appin has used the Indian court system and various powerful global law firms to pressure numerous media outlets, such as Reuters*, Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and SwissInfo** (alongside countless others), to take down or censor their stories about Appin and its co-founder Rajat Khare, who denies the allegations against him and his company.*Reuters' article has been replaced with an editors note. Article republished by Distributed Denial of Secrets
**An aside regarding the SwissInfo article
The Swissinfo article is absolutely wild to read!
Qatar officials basically hired a private firm, Global Risk Advisors, to specifically target all sorts of people, ranging from World Cup officials, to World Cup critics, to the presidents of organisations of competing bid cities.
This firm used Appin to target their email accounts, computers, phones, etc., and even targeted their friends and family members.
Qatar World Cup critic and former German Football Association president, Theo Zwanziger, even had attackers build relationships with his friends, family, and associates. The firm created a "network of assets, sources, and contacts” who were active all over the world, working on influencing him, pressuring his to change his opinion. Despite being retired. Simply because his words had weight.
Uncensored Article (archive.org)
Swissinfo.ch Article (with references to Rajat Khare removed)
These removals or edits are an appalling abuse of the legal system. Particularly when considering the vital importance to the public interest and time-consuming nature of the in-depth investigative reporting these outlets were doing. These articles uncovered how these networks are being used, by who, on whom, for what reasons, with what outcomes. Exposing the global-spanning espionage networks used by corporations, hostile governments, the underworld, etc. to target businesspeople, journalists, politicians, officials, critics and individuals of interest.
This was especially egregious, as these articles primarily target audiences outside of India, where the dodgy court order didn't apply. Yet, faced with unfair and dubiously questionable legal pressure, and relentless compulsion from "powerhouse media assassin firms”, these outlets were forced to erase or adjust their articles for the whole world. Even the security research firm, SentinelOne, who analysed the data, withdrew their report "in light of a pending court order". Internet Archive took down their archive of the Reuters article. Legal analysis from Legal News site Lawfare was censored with any mention of Appin, rendering the analysis unreadable. The cybersecurity podcast Risky Biz removed their episode discussing this article.
(Rajat Khare also has a history of fraudulent (but successful) Google DMCA takedown claims, by forging evidence, metadata and other information).
Censorship about the Censorship
Soon, Appin started targeting those who simply reported on the removal or censorship of the initial articles. Appin claimed that merely quoting the Reuters article is a violation of the Indian court order (it isn't, and the court order doesn't apply outside India). But even if you didn't quote the article, many outlets, such as Techdirt, still received takedown notices. Similar demands were sent to their CDN provider, domain registrar, domain registry, and so on... Yeah... ouch
The Streisand Effect
Appin's attempts to silence reporters appears to have backfired on them. This has attracted more attention to the initial stories, as well as new ones by the Politico, Daily Beast, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Columbia Journalism Review, and the Wired article posted here. Distributed Denial of Secrets, a non-profit that preserves data in the public interest, has republished the original Reuters piece as part of its new Greenhouse Project to combat censorship. (I highly recommend reading the piece, linked earlier)Rajat Khare and Appin could have simply been content with the original takedowns, which snuffed access to the Reuters investigation worldwide. Instead, there is now more attention on the underlying claims than there would have been otherwise. Talk about the Streisand Effect! (Interestingly, it was Mike Masnick of Techdirt who actually coined this phrase).
The Fight Against Chilling Effects
Thanks to support from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Techdirt was able to rebuff Appin's legal threats, asserting their rights under US law (First Amendment and the SPEECH Act). They also helped do the same with MuckRock, who rehosted the primary source documents the Reuters reporters used in their investigative report.EFF does good work, which is why I donate to them. Many smaller sites cannot afford to fight against the massive amounts of legal resources and pressure Appin has thrown at them, so I don't begrudge them for removing or censoring their works.
However, the whole situation has been particularly troubling. These attempts to abuse the legal system and stymie investigative reporting have left a colossal chilling effect on journalism. The fact that Reuters was forced to take down their article globally, not just in India, is concerning. At the very least, it's good Reuters is fighting this court order.
What's more concerning are the outlets who can afford to fight back but didn't. Those that don't have an India presence. Those that removed Khare’s name or their article completely without a public explanation. (*cough* The Times *cough*).
Incoming Rant about The Times
What the heck?!
Seriously, aren't they supposed to be one of UK's premier papers of record? How can they go censoring their own articles without any notice! They absolutely can afford to reject attempts to silence their reporters. Very disappointed.Although I shouldn't be surprised, since it's owned by NewsCorp / Murdoch
Concluding Thoughts
The controversy has blown up large enough that sites and outlets without an India presence are safe
(presumably... hopefully Tildes doesn't face legal threats :)).This controversy will continue to blow up. It really needs to. For the sake of quality journalism, in-depth investigative reporting, and the public interest, the industry cannot be marred by the coercion forced upon it by the like of Appin.
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Comment on Pace of electric car adoption has markedly slowed in the US in ~transport
Tharrulous (edited )Link ParentYeah, I remember there was someone really knowledgeable about this topic, as they'd worked in this industry in Japan. There were multiple exemplary comments and threads, and I actually saved some...Yeah, I remember there was someone really knowledgeable about this topic, as they'd worked in this industry in Japan. There were multiple exemplary comments and threads, and I actually saved some of their comments. Alas, they're not there anymore.
If anyone wants to see previous discussion surrounding hydrogen surrounding hydrogen in Japan, see this thread Japan to invest $107 billion in hydrogen supply over fifteen years
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Comment on When the New York Times lost its way in ~humanities
Tharrulous (edited )Link ParentI definitely agree with you that it is possible to report Cotton’s views without giving him a platform to spread his views. I think the NYTtimes failed to uphold its journalistic standards and...I definitely agree with you that it is possible to report Cotton’s views without giving him a platform to spread his views.
I think the NYTtimes failed to uphold its journalistic standards and values by publishing Cotton’s op-ed as it was. It's not a matter of presenting a diversity of views, but of enabling a dangerous and authoritarian agenda.
I reckon a better approach would have been to emulate the Economist's approach with op-eds. They invited John Mearsheimer, who basically claims Russia's war in Ukraine is the fault of the West, to write a guest essay in 2022. Even though the Economist is staunchly against that assertion, they published the piece in its entirety.
However, the Economist also published a separate response by Sir Adam Roberts, who disagreed with Mearsheimer’s view, and invited their readers to share their opinions. That’s how you foster informed and respectful debate, not by platforming Cotton’s op-ed without any scrutiny or balance.
In regard to NYTimes' Cotton op-ed, they needed to make clear that this piece is a guest essay that does not reflect NYTimes' viewpoints. Don't work with him to 'sanewash' his message for NYTimes readers; instead, publish his actual views verbatim. Then, subsequently publish separate pieces that challenge or analyse his argument. This way, his unadulterated views are accurately reported on, alongside with the appropriate context that addresses his inaccurate and unfair assertations.
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Comment on Looking for games like wordle in ~games
Tharrulous LinkMurdle is a fun daily logic puzzle that is murder mystery themed. Each day, you have to solve a murder case, discovering details such as who is the murderer, where did the murder occur, how did it...Murdle is a fun daily logic puzzle that is murder mystery themed.
Each day, you have to solve a murder case, discovering details such as who is the murderer, where did the murder occur, how did it occur, what was the murderer's motive, etc.
You are given a list of facts, and in some cases, mini-puzzles to solve (fingerprints, horoscope, two truths and a lie, etc.). Using the details you've gathered, you have to solve the puzzle using logic and deduction.
Puzzles start off easy at the start of the week (Monday) and get progressively harder throughout the week until the weekend. The Sunday puzzles often challenge me, giving my brain a good workout.
Overall, pretty fun.
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Comment on Transgender people can be baptized Catholic, serve as godparents, Vatican says in ~lgbt
Tharrulous (edited )Link ParentI just read your linked article and explored this topic further. I also found this NYTimes article. Regarding: the article So, it appears Bishop Strickland is critical of Pope Francis, believing...I just read your linked article and explored this topic further. I also found this NYTimes article.
Regarding: the article
So, it appears Bishop Strickland is critical of Pope Francis, believing the (Roman Catholic) Church is not conservative enough. However, regardless of his opinion, as a bishop, he can't just accuse the Pope of "undermining the deposit of faith". To do so, he needs solid theoretical backing and alignment from similar-thinking bishops. Otherwise, he's undermining the authority of the Pope.
The bishop also:
"questioned whether Vatican officials even qualified as Catholics" and "warned that the global meeting of bishops and lay people in October, which is key to Francis’ vision of the church, was a vehicle to threaten “basic truths” of Catholic doctrine".
Yeah... I can see why the Pope would take issue with him. It's one thing to be conservative — a 'Traditionalist'. However, as a bishop practising Roman Catholicism, Strickland is still required to respect the hierarchy and acquiesce to higher authority. If you disagree with the fundamental structure of Roman Catholicism to such a degree, how can you still remain Catholic, let alone Traditional Catholic?
”Regrettably, it may be that some will label as schismatics those who disagree with the changes being proposed,” Strickland wrote in a public letter in August. “Instead, those who would propose changes to that which cannot be changed seek to commandeer Christ’s Church, and they are indeed the true schismatics.”
This statement signifies Strickland's potential separation from the Catholic Church. However, the notion that the Catholic Church can be schismatic to itself makes no sense. How can the pope not be Catholic? That's the whole point of Catholicism, right? That there is an unbroken line of popes to the first pope. Strickland is such an egotist. To act as if he is in the superior position and the Catholic Church is insubordinate to him during this split is laughable.
Regarding: the rest of your comment — the potential schism
It is truly bizarre; (supposedly) 'Traditional Catholics' declaring "total war" on the Pope... because the Pope removed a heresiarch who completely diverged from the Church in liturgy and doctrine.
I came across this comment discussing this trend, and it aligns with what I have seen as well (albeit with the schism within the Anglican Diocese in Australia over gay marriage).
You joke but as a Roman Catholic in America, I am seeing this schism unfolding in real time. You have Roman Catholics who still follow the Pope and you have this growing ultra-conservative, GOP-following, listening to people like Trump over the Pope branch of Catholics that I just call "American Catholic" rather than "Roman Catholic."
It's weird coming across these Catholics because they sound and act like Baptists. They are easy to spot among the crowd because they are the Catholics shaking the Bible around and trying to convert people to their Catholicism. At Mass, the women wear the head scarves. Growing up, no one except the Nonnas who were fresh off the boat wore scarves. Now you have young girls wearing scarves for modesty reasons. What? How? Why? When did this become a thing here in the US? I am also seeing a growing, "Young Earth" movement from them. We're Catholics! We haven't done that garbage in centuries. Why is this American Catholic movement going back?
I swear, in another generation or two, they will completely break off from The Vatican and just become a complete political-religious branch of Catholicism. And fine by me. Because you are not making me wear a head scarf and Man did not ride on the backs of dinosaurs.
Could this trend be a consequence of declining number of followers? Catholicism was once followed by a more diverse cross-section of society. As society grows increasingly non-religious, would the people who continue to practice self-select themselves to be more ardent?
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Comment on The bizarre story behind Shinzo Abe’s assassination in ~humanities
Tharrulous Link ParentAre you using Cloudflare's DNS (1.1.1.1)? Archive.ph doesn’t allow people using Cloudflare DNS to access their site. You'd need to use another DNS server (e.g. your default ISPs or an alternative...Are you using Cloudflare's DNS (1.1.1.1)?
Archive.ph doesn’t allow people using Cloudflare DNS to access their site. You'd need to use another DNS server (e.g. your default ISPs or an alternative third-party).
However, if you still wish to Cloudflare DNS and access archive.ph, read this Reddit thread.
An aside:
I did some research to understand the reasoning behind this issue. This is what I found.
The operator of archive.is got fed up with dealing with legal notices, so he set up his CDN so that accessing the site from any given country would get served by a server in a neighboring country (meaning that a takedown would involve international cooperation, so it would almost never be worth the effort). DNS requests have an optional field (EDNS client subnet) that provides part of the user's IP address so the CDN can respond with the closest possible server to the user, which is how archive.is does its country mitigation thing. Cloudflare's DNS does not provide this field. They say it's an anti-tracking move, others have speculated it's a competitive move since it means that Cloudflare will know where a user is located but competing CDNs won't. Because not knowing where a user is located before serving them would cause archive.is trouble, they respond to any DNS queries without the EDNS client subnet information with bad data.
-Credit: ndiddy
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Comment on Down and to the right: Firefox got faster for real users in 2023 in ~tech
Tharrulous Link ParentSame for me. Once I've updated the filters, it fixed Youtube's anti-adblock. However, right now, I've heard it's basically a game of whack-a-mole. New uBlock Origin filters are released, Youtube...Same for me. Once I've updated the filters, it fixed Youtube's anti-adblock.
However, right now, I've heard it's basically a game of whack-a-mole. New uBlock Origin filters are released, Youtube patches it, rinse and repeat.
@MangoTiger Wondering about your custom filters. Are they similar to the ones on the following website?
https://files.enderman.ch/scripts/yt-antiadblocker.html -
Comment on Why Norway, the poster child for electric cars, is having second thoughts – we can't let them crowd out car-free transit options in ~transport
Tharrulous (edited )Link ParentAgreed. The article was a pretty interesting perspective into Norway's EV policies and its evolution over the years. After reading the article, I was expecting much discussion regarding the main...Agreed. The article was a pretty interesting perspective into Norway's EV policies and its evolution over the years. After reading the article, I was expecting much discussion regarding the main topics of the article, rather than the few concluding paragraphs centred on the US (which I agree, does detract from the rest of the article).
Unfortunately, it seems the discussion has heavily veered off-course. The vast majority of comments aren't remotely connected with the contents of the article at all! Most of the page have been deviated into completely unrelated contentions and other miscellaneous matters, rather than the main subject matter — Norway's EV policies!
In the hopes of saving the thread, I've labelled the top-level root comment off-topic.
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Comment on Denmark aims a wrecking ball at ‘non-Western’ neighborhoods in ~life
Tharrulous (edited )LinkArchive: https://archive.li/9S0WR Summary of article: Denmark's controversial program aims to dismantle 'parallel societies' primarily composed of non-Western immigrants. Denmark's government...Archive: https://archive.li/9S0WR
Summary of article:
- Denmark's controversial program aims to dismantle 'parallel societies' primarily composed of non-Western immigrants.
- Denmark's government describes 'parallel societies' as "segregated enclaves where immigrants do not participate in the wider society or learn Danish, even as they benefit from the country’s generous welfare system."
More specifically:
The law mandates that in neighborhoods where at least half of the population is of non-Western origin or descent, and where at least two of the following characteristics exist — low income, low education, high unemployment or a high percentage of residents who have had criminal convictions — the share of social housing needs to be reduced to no more than 40 percent by 2030.
From the beginning, the program’s targeting of communities largely based on the presence of non-Western immigrants or their descendants has attracted widespread criticism.
Several court cases based on the accusation that the law amounts to ethnic discrimination have reached the Court of Justice of the European Union. Even the United Nations has weighed in, with a group of its human rights experts saying Denmark should halt the sale of properties to private investors until a ruling is made on the program’s legality.
Additional context — excerpt from an older article:
Access to social housing, some of which has been earmarked for demolition, has been shut off to “non-westerners”, defined as being people from outside the EU, eight associated European countries, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
People born in Denmark but who have a single “non-western” parent have also been included in the category of people subject to the restrictions.
My thoughts:
This is genuinely appalling policymaking! If these were general changes to public housing or immigration policy, it would be less disastrous. However, it is fundamentally and inherently illiberal for a society to target such specific policy based
solely andexplicitly on people's ancestral backgrounds!To base policies by loosely categorising people as 'non-Western' under broadly defined criteria, Denmark's approach practically amounts to institutional racial/ethnic discrimination under the guise of policy. Literally counting people based on ethnic origin for the purposes of housing policy. Not citizenship, nor residency status — merely where their ancestors came from!
Imagine this anywhere else. Imagine if you were Sadiq Kahn, the current Mayor of London. If this law had existed in the UK, he would be considered 'non-western' simply because his parents were first-generation immigrants. Despite being a fully integrated British citizen, born and raised in the UK, with Britain as his home, hardly different from any other Brit, he would be grouped together in the same 'problematic' category as anyone else whose ancestors were born elsewhere. How on earth is this even remotely acceptable?
(Even more demonstrations of absurdity: such policies, if law in their respective countries, would apply to people such as Freddie Mercury, Queen band lead, Rishi Sunak, UK Prime Minister, or even freaking Obama, the former US president!)
*Edit: other commenters makes a good point, ethnic background isn't only the sole criteria, but definitely a crucial one.
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Denmark aims a wrecking ball at ‘non-Western’ neighborhoods
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Comment on How China’s EV boom caught Western car companies asleep at the wheel in ~transport
Tharrulous (edited )Link ParentThanks, this is definitely a good thing to be reminded of. I wanted to highlight key parts, as this is along article is a bit long, but I now realise I have used too many snippets without adequate...Thanks, this is definitely a good thing to be reminded of.
I wanted to highlight key parts, as this is along article is a bit long, but I now realise I have used too many snippets without adequate reinterpretation. ~30% of the article might be a bit too much. I definitely should have rephrased more of the snippets rather than copy the selected paragraphs.
Should I edit my comment to be more transformative? I can remove some less important snippets and rephrase the more important ones. Currently, I've temporarily collapsed the snippets.
(Also please label this comment as noise) -
Comment on How China’s EV boom caught Western car companies asleep at the wheel in ~transport
Tharrulous (edited )LinkWired article — archive: https://archive.li/lU610 Western auto execs never thought Chinese EVs were a threat. This oversight has led to an impending crisis that could threaten the dominance of...Wired article — archive: https://archive.li/lU610
Western auto execs never thought Chinese EVs were a threat. This oversight has led to an impending crisis that could threaten the dominance of Western car companies.
Competition and the rise of the Chinese EV industry
With over 300 companies manufacturing EVs in China, the competition is intense, but one homegrown brand is much, much bigger than the rest. Steered by a billionaire CEO, BYD may well soon eclipse Tesla in both tech savvy and sales.BYD is Tesla’s main competitor in China, and it is soon to be a serious competitor to many of the world’s auto brands. The 28-year-old company is a Warren Buffet-backed manufacturer that’s dominant in EV battery production for itself and others, including Tesla. Indeed, BYD is second only to CATL in Chinese battery production, a sector in which China arguably leads the world.
Even Elon Musk acknowledges that BYD is now a significant player. In a 2011 interview, Musk mocked one of the company’s first vehicles. “Have you seen their car?” Musk asked, giggling that he didn’t consider BYD to be competition for Tesla. “I think their focus should be making sure they don’t die in China,” he scoffed.
Responding to a snippet of this interview posted on X, Musk admitted that many things have changed since then; he’s no longer laughing at BYD. “That was many years ago,” Musk conceded in May. “Their cars are highly competitive these days.”
Auto Industry History Repeating
The failure of 'legacy' automotive companies to foresee the rise of Chinese EVs echoes previous instances where they overlooked the potential of emerging threats, be it from Japanese automakers in the 1980s or Tesla more recently.Auto industry analysts are highly critical of CEOs from legacy brands, believing they should have reacted much earlier to the EV threat Chinese carmakers posed to their businesses. “These people are getting paid 20, 30, 40, 50 million euros (...) It’s their job to know these things, right? It can’t be like, ‘Oh man, China moves so fast, so we didn’t see it coming.’ Well, that’s your job.”
Ex-Chrysler exec Bill Russo considers the failure of traditional automakers to see what was coming as a recurring self-harm. In the 80s, legacy brands didn’t take seriously the threat from Toyota, Nissan, and other East Asian car brands until it was too late, Russo says. The same happened with Tesla, and now history repeats itself with China’s emergence as an EV powerhouse.
Legacy auto companies “tend not to take seriously an emerging threat,” Russo says. “They thought that because the math didn’t work for them, it can’t work for others. (...) The car industry resists change.”
Tu, an industry analyst, agrees. Industry executives “have known about EVs for a very long time — Tesla has been around for 20 years, right? They just thought it was a flash in the pan,” he says. “They had no familiarity with battery power, so they leaned into what they were comfortable with” and largely ignored what startups in the US and battery companies in China were doing.
Warnings
Another industry veteran who identified the threat from China early on was Andy Palmer, sometimes described as the “grandfather of the electric car”. In 2005, he started Nissan’s development of the Leaf, the world’s first mass-market EV. He became Nissan's global chief operating officer, the third-most-powerful exec at Nissan, stepping down in 2014.Palmer says he's been cautioning anyone who would listen, “increasingly vocally,” that China would become a threat to Western and Asian auto interests, and that letting China succeed would be folly. “I’ve been warning about China for 15 years,” he says. “I warned the Japanese, UK, and US governments that there was a real risk that China might get this right. And, ultimately, that has proven to be the case.”
Why issue such warnings? “Just in the UK alone, the auto industry sustains 800,000 jobs” (4.3 million in the US). “Automotive engineering also casts a shadow on other parts of the economy. When you lose your automotive industry, you lose engineering expertise, specialist education, and science-based capability. By failing to back its auto industry with sufficient subsidies and other support, the UK government “has been asleep at the wheel,” says Palmer.
“China has a vast market, it has economies of scale, it has subsidies and encouragement from central government, and it has an international strategy that seeks dominance in overseas markets with a product — affordable electric vehicles — that Western manufacturers aren’t able to make,” says Palmer. He saw China’s long-term game plan firsthand when, in 2005, he was a board member of a 50-50 joint venture between Nissan and China’s Dongfeng Motor Corporation.
“I was a rare foreigner in the middle of that environment,” says Palmer, “Even back then, it was apparent that China had concluded that they couldn’t compete with the West with internal combustion engines. Their risky but innovative solution was that the way to leapfrog the West was through what they called ‘New Energy Vehicles.’
China's early investments into New Energy Vehicles
China has been planning the transition to electric power in transportation for decades. Wan Gang, a former minister of science and technology, convinced leaders more than 20 years ago to bet on what became NEVs, selling this leapfrogging of overseas carmakers as a way to boost economic growth, tackle China’s air pollution, and reduce its dependence on oil imports.
“The primary motivation for China to push for EVs was energy security,” says Russo. “Second was industrial competitiveness, and a far distant third was sustainability.”
Makers had to be supported, says Palmer, because such a novel, innovative sector could not be profitable for at least several years without subsidies. “Chinese companies received instructions from central government that they had to move in the direction of EVs. Essentially, the government said it would be stimulating the sale of those vehicles. Initially, we didn’t have that benefit in the West,” he says.
David Tyfield, a professor of political economy at Lancaster University, says there is “no future for the EV which does not feature significant, if not disproportionate, Chinese presence. Chinese companies are just too far in the lead across the whole supply chain of the electric vehicle: from the minerals to the batteries to the building of the cars.”
Response
Policymakers worldwide fret over China’s ambition to control entire supply chains—for instance, the minerals inside EV batteries. Such domination by China is claimed to threaten individual economies and the (Western-led) global innovation system.
Shortly after the EU opened an anti-subsidy investigation against China, Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU’s trade commissioner, said the trade bloc was “open to competition” in the EV sector, but “competition needs to be fair.”
Responding to the imports probe, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association, urged the EU to cease the economic saber rattling. “I firmly oppose the EU’s evaluation of China’s New Energy Vehicle exports, not because of huge national subsidies, but because of the strong competitiveness of China’s industrial chain under full market competition”.
Interestingly, some Western auto brands, have seemingly adopted the “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” approach. Mercedes-Benz has reportedly had talks with Nio that could see the German automaker investing and gaining access to the Chinese company’s R&D capabilities. There have been other German-Chinese auto deals recently too—the latest being VW investment in XPeng to collaborate on EVs.
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How China’s EV boom caught Western car companies asleep at the wheel
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Comment on ‘Instant credibility’: The evolution of sneakers from functional kicks to high-value commodities in ~design
Tharrulous (edited )LinkIt's kinda fascinating how sneakers have transformed from being simple sports gear into a massive cultural phenomenon. With limited releases that see people lining up in front of stores, massive...It's kinda fascinating how sneakers have transformed from being simple sports gear into a massive cultural phenomenon.
The only thing that separates a $40 shoe from a $100,000 “grail item” at a museum, is “branding and the storytelling”
With limited releases that see people lining up in front of stores, massive endorsements from celebrities (e.g. Kayne), extensive marketing campaigns, and a huge collectors' market that sees sneakers listed on the likes of Sotheby's. It's definitely crazy how sports shoe companies such as Nike and Adidas have reinvented themselves. They've gone from just being shoemakers to a massive marketing machines.
“If you have a $25 shoe [made], it is sold to Nike for $50. Nike sells it to the store for $100. The store sells it to the customer for $200,” Jeff says.
This is striking, but it doesn't just end with the retail price. Often, for many sneaker releases, they're purposefully limited to a certain number of pairs, sometimes even in the low hundreds. Once sold, the price immediately shoots up manyfold on second-hand markets. It is notable that the shoemakers themselves don't directly profit directly off this increase. The purpose of these limited releases are to serve as a marketing vehicle for the overall brand. This strategy makes these brands distinctive and desirable.
It's an interesting strategy they've got there. This seemingly raises questions about the future of consumerism. Where the core competency of these "shoemakers" at this point are less about being shoemakers and more about marketing.
Would it be possible to include these examples on the submissions page? It's not easy to determine which tags are necessary, and it seems these meta-tags are actually quite important.
Take the
paywalltag for instance. Typically, I open a random front-page article to get ideas for tags when submitting. Since most articles aren't usually paywalls, adding this tag hadn't crossed my mind at all.