Nothing makes you hate cars more than living on a busy street, forced to listen to their din day in and day out. >:(
Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud — Not Just Bikes
Urban noise is a common problem, and the vast majority of it is created by motor vehicles. Noise is far too often dismissed as a minor nuisance, rather than the legitimate health issue that it is.The book "Curbing Traffic" has a chapter about the health impacts of noise pollution. I explore the research in the book, and visit Delft, the city that is highlighted in the book as being a shining example of what can happen when noise pollution is taken seriously.
This video explores the problem that farting cars, farting motorcycles, and farting mopeds create in our cities.
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From here:
There is no 'free' market, and there never has been. The 'free' market is predicated on the belief that all players will act honestly, and make informed choices based on available information. This is a completely false assumption, and has been proven so time after time.It completely ignores human nature whereby someone will always lie, cheat, and steal to achieve their own ends -- this is what we see here.
Industry players will always form cartels and collude in anti-consumer behavior -- price fixing being the prime example.
Without someone to keep corporations in line, the market would steadily skew to all of the power being in the hands of a few.
There is no such thing as a 'free' market, and there simply never has been. It's a utopian myth which can never be true.
People who go around spouting about the 'free' market are either naive, self deluded, or actively lying.
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damn, so we've had 11 years of this very thing getting worse.
when will people get it?! people keep voting for these pro corporate parties and it's depressing
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well, the same is happening here in the Netherlands. people have been voting the neoliberals into power for decades, despite things going to shit, and other parties being available here.
it's the propaganda that's working; most people still believe that free market capitalism is great, and it will take a lot more downfall before they understand it's shit.
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@bazkie about 10 years ago when I had learned just enough Dutch to read sites where younger folk hung out (and chat to them) I learned a fair few thought all the bicycles, good public transport (which folk in UK often envy!) and the high cost of learning to drive (which is same as UK) was imposed by "big government/EU" and they wanted to have cars just like young people in UK, enjoyed watching Top Gear and thought folk in UK and USA had more "freedom" (and those youths would be 30-40+ by now, many with families of their own)
At least you are highly unlikely to get Nexit as everyone can see the mess the UK is now in 5 years later..
@vfrmedia UK has been a lovely warning sign for us indeed!
..tho people have been voting far right the past few years despite Trump, so maybe most people don't really understand warning signs 😅
and about that dutch youth; keep in mind we've had neoliberal rule for decades now, so the whole "free market good, nationalization bad" has been really hammered in.
not sure if we'll get rid of it in my lifetime tbh. but most of the lovely social policies we have left stem from the more progressive governing we had before I was born 😅
btw why did you learn dutch? (maybe I asked before)
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I love pirate radio!
I don't know if it's actually a pirate station, here's an FM broadcaster near Quinault Lake here that plays all kinds of odds and ends with weird stuff in between. It might fall under LPFM, but I doubt the FCC would hassle them anyway since it's in the middle of nowhere and low power.
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@vfrmedia what's LPFM?
I wonder if maybe the FCC is a bit more relaxed these days since people listen to FM radio less (or well, I imagine that they do)
the "free market" is to economics what the frictionless spherical cow is to high school physics.
The very existence of corporations means there is no free market. Corporations are a legal construct of governments that grants a business (and later even a mere collection of assets) status as a district entity separated to some degree from the owners and workers within.
As such, there is no choice between "government vs corporations" because they are *two sides of the same coin*...it is all one big hegemony.
We have all been thoroughly conditioned to think otherwise for a couple of centuries now. It is thoroughly ingrained the minds of everyone in the "free world" that corporations are the capitalist free market and government is the socialist planned economy but that is pure BS.
The biggest economies in the world have arrived in the same place from two different directions...the US being a corporatocratic regime and China practising state capitalism.
As such deregulation just means re-regulation.
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Since 2022, numerous clinical trials investigating psychedelic medicines for treating conditions like depression have shown promising outcomes. Researchers are exploring these substances' potential to alleviate symptoms where traditional treatments often fall short.
These trials highlight a renewed interest in psychedelics, suggesting they could revolutionize mental health treatment. The results
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg936l88e7o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
Should the NHS use magic mushrooms to treat mental health?
Many clinical trials to test the use of psychedelic medicines for conditions such as depression have been underway since 2022 - with surprising resultsPallab Ghosh (BBC News)
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Woody Guthrie Creates a Doodle-Filled List of 33 New Year’s Resolutions (1943): Beat Fascism, Write a Song a Day, and Keep the Hoping Machine Running
Woody Guthrie Creates a Doodle-Filled List of 33 New Year’s Resolutions (1943): Beat Fascism, Write a Song a Day, and Keep the Hoping Machine Running
On January 1, 1943, the American folk music legend Woody Guthrie jotted in his journal a list of 33 “New Years Rulin's.' Nowadays, we'd call them New Year's Resolutions. Adorned by doodles, the list is down to earth by any measure.OC (Openculture.com)
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TIL about NETosis, an immune response where your cells use their DNA to form a net to capture pathogens like bacteria, viruses and parasites
https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/826/netosis-at-the-intersection-of-cell-biology-microbiology-and-immunology/magazine
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1q1ykvq/til_about_netosis_an_immune_response_where_your/
NETosis: At the Intersection of Cell Biology, Microbiology, and Immunology
NETosis is a unique form of cell death that is characterized by the release of decondensed chromatin and granular contents to the extracellular space.www.frontiersin.org
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Bank of America finds spending gap between income groups widens in US - EUROPE SAYS
The Big Money Show panelists discuss a report indicating that Gen Z is cutting back on holiday gifts, opting for experiences and personal presence overEUROPE SAYS
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What is clear sign that a country is failing drastically?
"The U.S. has over 900 billionaires"
Okay, that does it..
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🚨 The first preliminary analysis from the Japan Meteorological Agency highlights 2025 as the third warmest year on record globally (since at least 1891 in this data).
Additional climate rankings will be released later for other datasets.
Graph and methods by https://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/gwp/temp/ann_wld.html
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NEW ARTICLE // Tacoma Turns to Builder Impact Fees to Bolster Transportation Funding
Article by Ryan Packer via @urbanistorg // 🔗 https://www.theurbanist.org/2026/01/02/tacoma-turns-to-builder-impact-fees-to-bolster-transportation-funding/
https://www.theurbanist.org/2026/01/02/tacoma-turns-to-builder-impact-fees-to-bolster-transportation-funding/?fsp_sid=1923
Tacoma Turns to Builder Impact Fees to Bolster Transportation Funding » The Urbanist
# Tacoma's new impact fee regime, which goes into effect next summer, will charge developers based on expected generation of car trips.Ryan Packer (The Urbanist)
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U.S. Cuts Proposed Pasta Tariffs After Threat of 92% Duties ━ The European Conservative - EUROPE SAYS
The U.S. government has significantly reduced proposed tariffs on Italian pasta, by scaling back duties that could have nearly doubled prices for AmericanEUROPE SAYS
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Wow.. This is timely, i finished @pluralistic 's book #enshitification yesterday and today this pops up on my masto feed. Pretty shameful. I'm not sure if there's really a chance it'll get taken down. so i'll use my comically long character limit for good here.
Originally posted at https://www.reddit.com/r/confession/s/P3zG0fI7sr
"I’m posting this from a library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop because I am technically under a massive NDA. I don’t care anymore. I put in my two weeks yesterday and honestly, I hope they sue me. I’ve been sitting on this for about eight months, just watching the code getting pushed to production, and I can’t sleep at night knowing I helped build this machine.
You guys always suspect the algorithms are rigged against you, but the reality is actually so much more depressing than the conspiracy theories. I’m a backend engineer. I sit in the weekly sprint planning meetings where Product Managers (PMs) discuss how to squeeze another 0.4% margin out of "human assets" (that’s literally what they call drivers in the database schemas). They talk about these people like they are resource nodes in a video game, not fathers and mothers trying to pay rent.
First off, the "Priority Delivery" is a total scam. It was pitched to us as a "psychological value add." Like I said in the title, when you pay that extra $2.99, it changes a boolean flag in the order JSON, but the dispatch logic literally ignores it. It does nothing to speed you up.
We actually ran an A/B test last year where we didn't speed up the priority orders, we just purposefully delayed non-priority orders by 5 to 10 minutes to make the Priority ones "feel" faster by comparison. Management loved the results. We generated millions in pure profit just by making the standard service worse, not by making the premium service better.
But the thing that actually makes me sick—and the main reason I’m quitting—is the "Desperation Score." We have a hidden metric for drivers that tracks how desperate they are for cash based on their acceptance behavior.
If a driver usually logs on at 10 PM and accepts every garbage $3 order instantly without hesitation, the algo tags them as "High Desperation." Once they are tagged, the system then deliberately stops showing them high-paying orders. The logic is: "Why pay this guy $15 for a run when we know he’s desperate enough to do it for $6?" We save the good tips for the "casual" drivers to hook them in and gamify their experience, while the full-timers get grinded into dust.
Then there is the "Benefit Fee." You’ve probably seen that $1.50 "Regulatory Response Fee" or "Driver Benefits Fee" that appeared on your bill after the recent labor laws passed. The wording is designed to make you feel like you're helping the worker.
In reality, that money goes straight to a corporate slush fund used to lobby against driver unions. We have a specific internal cost center for "Policy Defense," and that fee feeds directly into it. You are literally paying for the high-end lawyers that are fighting to keep your delivery guy homeless.
And regarding tips, we're essentially doing Tip Theft 2.0. We don't "steal" them legally anymore because we got sued for that. Instead, we use predictive modeling to dynamically lower the base pay.
If the algo predicts you are a "high tipper" and you’ll likely drop $10, it offers the driver a measly $2 base pay. If you tip $0, it offers them $8 base pay just to get the food moved. The result is that your generosity isn't rewarding the driver; it’s subsidizing us. You’re paying their wage so we don't have to." https://social.lansky.name/@hn50/115823935915289539
Hacker News 50 (@hn50@social.lansky.name)
A confession from a mainstream food delivery app engineer Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/confession/s/gbrh2zxeou Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46461578Hacker News 50 (Mastodon)
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I'd like you to know some numbers.
340.
That's the number of brand new billionaires we made in 2025. Roughly one a day and more than any other year.
9 million.
That's the number of people who died of hunger in 2025. Over 24,000 every single day for an entire year.
40 billion.
That's the number of dollars it would cost to end world hunger. Not to alleviate it. Not to lessen it. To eradicate it.
11.
That's the percentage tax we would have needed to impose on ONLY new wealth on ONLY billionaires in ONLY 2025 in order to eradicate world hunger. Eleven percent. That's all. Compared to the vast coffers of wealth they've already accumulated that's a rounding error.
Eat the rich. Tax them now.
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America’s Loss of Science and Loss of Virtue - EUROPE SAYS
The Trump administration has issued a death warrant for science. This kills one of America’s greatest most productive avenues to GDP growth. Simple-mindedEUROPE SAYS
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Zohran Mamdani's first Executive Order as Mayor of NYC - revoking all executive orders by Eric Adams signed after Sept 26, 2024, the date of Adams indictment.
Plans to reissue ones determined to be necessary, but making a statement.
This is how you do it.
https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/01/executive-order-01
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amazing!
#FuckEricAdams (and his legacy, too)
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#FT8 throws curve balls at you sometimes. :P #AmateurRadio #HamRadio
002230 -21 0.1 2748 ~ YP9IKV/P MQ8IGW R BB78
On Mastodon, decentralised means no mobs, no outrage algorithms, and no incentives to tear each other down.
Here, community and context come first.
Support a social web that puts people before profits: Donate #SupportMastodon
https://joinmastodon.org/sponsors#donate
Donate to Mastodon
Donate or become a sponsor and help us build the social web for everyone!joinmastodon.org
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USA propaganda, circa 1989: The USSR is evil.
USSR propaganda, circa 1989: The United States is evil.
Me (born circa 1989), with 37 years of historical hindsight: You're both evil.
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does anybody have any recommendations for "learn to draw" type courses/websites? In 2026 I'd like to learn to sktch.
EDIT: with a pencil
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That is amazing. Full stop.
https://henry.codes/writing/a-website-to-destroy-all-websites/
A Website To End All Websites | Henry From Online
How to win the war for the soul of the internet, and build the Web We Want.henry.codes
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TIL Oreo built an asteroid-proof "doomsday vault" in Norway
https://www.cnet.com/culture/internet/oreo-tucked-its-cookies-into-an-asteroid-proof-doomsday-vault/#ftag=COS-05-10aaa1e
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1q1ogi5/til_oreo_built_an_asteroidproof_doomsday_vault_in/
Oreo stashed its cookies in an asteroid-proof doomsday vault
The cookies are prepared for the extremely slim chance the "Election Day asteroid" reaches Earth's atmosphere.Amanda Kooser (CNET)
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"No way to prevent this", says only developed country where this regularly occurs...
Caught on camera: Car flips and crashes into backyard as driver lands in pool
The homeowner heard the crash and came outside to find his backyard destroyed and a woman floating in his pool. And it was all caught on camera.Andrew Weil (WFAA)
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TIL about the Gaia Theory, which suggests that Earth’s living organisms and physical environment work together as a single, self-regulating system. The idea proposes that life doesn’t just adapt to Earth’s conditions, but actively helps shape and stabilize them over long periods of time.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/gaia-hypothesis
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1q1n579/til_about_the_gaia_theory_which_suggests_that/
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"Can't you just do something normal and mainstream like everyone else for once?"
I literally spend most of my time on Linux, the most widely installed operating system on the planet. I'm pretty much the most mainstream guy ever.
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Following months of mainstream media crying about how he's the worst and is destroying all of #NYC, #ZohranMamdani has been sworn in as #Mayor of #NewYorkCity.
So remember, all the crazy things said they were saying up to this point? About a mere local representative who hadn't actually done anything but talk about affordability.
Zohran Mamdani officially sworn in as New York City's mayor on a Quran full of symbolism
Incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani took his midnight oath of office on a centuries-old Quran, marking the first time a mayor of New York City uses Islam’s holy text to be sworn in and underscoring a series of historic firsts for the city.PBS News
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NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani signs multiple executive orders on 1st day in office - EUROPE SAYS
https://bronx.news12.com/nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-signs-multiple-executive-orders-on-1st-day-in-officeEUROPE SAYS
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bazkie 👩🏼💻 bitplanes 🎵
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Neil E. Hodges
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Daniel
in reply to Neil E. Hodges • • •every time I contemplate "upgrading" the stock exhaust on my bike, I remember it's already louder than a car exhaust.
Most car exhausts, anyway. Not the M3 that my neighbour across the road drives.
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Mira
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