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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bazkie 👩🏼💻 bitplanes 🎵 likes this.
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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[1/2] https://stallman.org/glossary.html#thug
https://stallman.org/glossary.html#thug
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/08/ice-family-college-student-deported-honduras
When deportation thugs grabbed Any Lucia López Belloza as she was boarding a flight to see her family in Texas, other thugs went to her family home and sought to bluff their way into it without saying why. Whether the López family should have residency in the US is a complex question which I can't judge. I don't
Family of student deported to Honduras say they were targeted by ICE agents
Father of student detained at Boston airport on her way to visit family in Austin, says agents showed up at Texas homeAnna Betts (The Guardian)
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Hmm... Sounds like they want to go OTC with both testosterone and estrogen. That could be convenient.
FDA commissioner talks push to loosen testosterone restrictions : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/12/nx-s1-5639883/fda-testosterone-treatment-martin-makary
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Amazon to cut 370 staff in Luxembourg as social plan signed - EUROPE SAYS
Amazon and staff delegates late on Friday signed a social plan that will see 370 jobs cut in Luxembourg.EUROPE SAYS
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Could you imagine a whole society filled with people like this? What a fucking nightmare.
Grant Cardone Says Escaping The Middle Class Means Quitting Savings, Skipping Homeownership, And Avoiding College Debt And Do This Instead https://finance.yahoo.com/news/grant-cardone-says-escaping-middle-154606702.html
Landslides on both sides of Skykomish. What a mess.
#WAwx #PNW #Seattle #PineappleExpress
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSLAjBWCSm-/?igsh=M3BtZWszbGhpd3B1
Jake Whittenberg on Instagram: "Skykomish, WA has been fully cut off."
Skykomish, WA is experiencing record-breaking river levels that have cut off the city, causing widespread damage and disruption. Residents are advised to stay safe and follow evacuation orders.Instagram
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"According to the Johns Hopkins Measles Tracker, by the 48th week of the year in 2023, there had been 41 cases of measles in the country. In 2024, there were 284 cases. In 2025, there were 1837 cases.
All this from just a kid with a dream, that one day people would die by the millions from preventable diseases."
Paul Waldman
#Trump #RFKJr #Republicans #vaccines #measles #disinformation #SouthCarolina #Utah #EconomicElites #SocialDarwinism
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https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/the-rfk-jr-catastrophe-holds-an-important
The RFK Jr. Catastrophe Holds An Important Lesson In the Uses of Power
Just a kid with a dream, that one day millions more people could die from preventable diseases.Paul Waldman (The Cross Section)
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"Campaigning in 2024, Trump said about Kennedy, 'I’m gonna let him go wild on health. I’m gonna let him go wild on the food. I’m gonna let him go wild on medicines.'”
#Trump #RFKJr #Republicans #vaccines #measles #disinformation #SouthCarolina #Utah #EconomicElites #SocialDarwinism
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I love when people appoint themselves to speak for their entire generation.
Such a weird stance. Like we don't all know other people their age.
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it's a great time to not buy anything.
I mean, most times are... but this is, too.
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I (32M) would really like a chatty Norwegian friend, a native speaker to help me learn the wonderful
I really would appreciate some help and patient support here until my tongue is completely comfortable with the language!EUROPE SAYS
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No one owns ProPublica. That’s why it can serve everyone.
Support investigative journalism today: https://propub.li/3XDluGg
Donate to ProPublica
Donate today to support ProPublica's singular mission: to produce deep-dive, well-researched, nonpartisan journalism that spurs real-world change.propub.li
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About a month ago i had a crash on my bicycle, resulting in a hospital visit.
- Emergency room visit
- Seven sutures, local anaesthsia, and irrigation of a head wound. No attention given to various abrasions and cuts on hands, arms, and face.
- one night in PCU, two torso xrays and three head CT scans.
- one meal.
- IV saline
- anti-seizure medication (5 days)
I am fortunate and have pretty good HMO insurance that costs something like $1500/mo for whole family. Got a bill today for $200. Thats my ER copay.
The hospital charges were over $65k. Something is very wrong with healthcare.
$65,000
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Holy sh!t
"Portion of rural Oregon highway disappears under massive slide"
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"China gets another cool new electric vehicle that the US will miss out on."
https://electrek.co/2025/12/12/ford-bronco-ev-is-real-but-dont-get-too-excited/
The Ford Bronco EV is real, but don’t get too excited
The electric Ford Bronco is rolling off the production line, but not in the US, as you would expect. This...Peter Johnson (Electrek)
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#Via Hamed Aleaziz / haleaziz
4:26 PM · Dec 12, 2025
"The Trump administration is providing the names of all travelers passing through U.S. airports to immigration officials in search of people with deportation orders, a substantial expansion of government efforts to draw on data to hunt down immigrants."
there can't be any barring of entry by delay, burdensome demands, or false charges against a US citizen. that right is fundamentally untouchable if there's to be ANY legitimacy to the US government.
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@bweller @lawyersgunsnmoney @walterolson
This administration really doesn't care much about legitimacy
#Seattle is looking for #Comics artists in #Oregon and #WashingtonState to do stories about transit! $54,000 each!!!
A cohort of six artists will be commissioned to create two original short-form graphic novels each, illustrating stories from communities along Metro’s twelve existing and planned RapidRide bus lines (A–K and R).
https://www.4culture.org/grants/moving-stories/
Moving Stories: Short-Form Graphic Novels for King County Metro Transit RapidRide - 4Culture
King County Metro and 4Culture seek six artists to create short-form graphic novels that illuminate community stories along new and existing RapidRide lines.4Culture
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FBI Leader Crumbles During Basic Questions About Threat of “Antifa” - EUROPE SAYS
FBI Leader Crumbles During Basic Questions About Threat of “Antifa” https://newrepublic.com/post/204308/fbi-leader-threat-antifa-questions-congress Posted byEUROPE SAYS
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Warnings: Climate is breaking, weather is breaking. Life giving rain, is turning into life taking "rain rivers" soil washed away, farms washed away, livestock killed.
They aren't saying how many farms and livestock have been lost, "because chicken farmers are in trauma"
It is MADNESS to ignore these devastating warnings and expand oil, MADNESS to build pipelines.
MADNESS.
#cdnpoli #canada #carney #flood #fire #storm #drought #madness #cbc
Note that US owned Vancouver Sun does not say climate destruction, does not connect to pipelines, does not connect to droughts or massive forest eating wildfires.
Vancouver Sun, like 95% of English newspapers across Canada is owned by an American Republican activist billionaire. He owns the Province too, and the Calgary Herald, and Edmonton Journal, and National Post etc etc
He prevents climate news. Across all 🇨🇦 papers.
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The "bad thoughts" are just sleeper agents given to you by Big Trauma trying to perpetuate itself
Dont let them win.
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This podcast is a really good listen. It discusses how the US is now a #CompetitiveAuthoritarian regime.
[The Political Scene | The New Yorker] How Bad Is It?: Three Political Scientists Say America Is No Longer a Democracy #thePoliticalSceneTheNewYorker
https://podcastaddict.com/the-political-scene-the-new-yorker/episode/212603695
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What's this?? A new instance named after the enzyme that traps glucose inside cells?
boost for federation, it's definitely not a trap
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Lawsuits may force Intel, AMD, and Texas Instruments to do more to control chip supply chains.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/ukrainians-sue-us-chip-firms-for-powering-russian-drones-missiles/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
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Epstein photos just dropped, like a few minutes ago, and some of the people are not surprising. Woody Allen, etc. But there is a photo of Noam Chomsky with Steve Bannon in the Epstein building/house/whatever.
Don’t have heroes.
(I’m not saying Chomsky was with the girls but this is gross)
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Autism itself is one of my long-running special interests, so I read a lot of news, articles, and research on the topic. There were quite a few headlines in my news feed on the topic today, and after once again shaking my head in disgust at the pathologizing language of the researchers -- injection of value judgments and assumptions of superiority or "correct" ways of functioning -- it struck me:
>>> I don't remember the last time I made it through an entire article or paper on autism that *didn't* pathologize us, outside of articles actually written by openly neurodivergent authors. <<<
It's like the horrific racist tropes from 150 years ago. They just *assume* superiority, and everything else is built on that. It's absolutely disgusting, but nobody hears us when we tell them. I regularly email the authors and ask them to reconsider the impact of their words and assumptions, but I never get a response. The scientific community is every bit as intransigent as everyone else.
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The idea of neurodivergence itself, is still relatively new and largely misunderstood, especially in the context of the genetic timeframe and the importance to the development of the species as a whole. And finally, and connected, there is a reluctance to see this and autism in particular as something that is both necessary and natural. This is especially true in terms of seeing the neurotypical as being merely a part of the story and not the main and obviously only important, and therefore, valid thread.
These all lead to members of the scientific and medical communities particularly to be set in their ways of viewing us and the ablest and deficit driven conclusions and emphasis that always seemed to be the inevitable result of their work. Often even despite the results of their work
France's central bank faces genocide complicity complaint over Rwanda - EUROPE SAYS
The Bank of France faces a serious legal complaint alleging its role in facilitating financial transactions that may have supported the 1994 genocide againstEUROPE SAYS
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Two Foothills Trail bridges closed pending additional inspection for flood damage
Two Foothills Trail bridges closed pending additional inspection for flood damage
Photo from Pierce County Parks. As expected, we have more concerning trail news to share as flood waters finally start to recede at least for now. Pierce County Parks has officially closed two brid…Seattle Bike Blog
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@NouranKhaledGh/115705880602251851
Are you still thinking of us?
Please donate to help my family overcome this tough time
https://chuffed.org/project/121561-urgent-help-for-ahmads-family
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Here! Finally! I have my sample. The "Live laugh federate" enamel pin.
https://shop.joinmastodon.org/products/live-laugh-federate-soft-enamel-pin
"Live Laugh Federate" Enamel Pin
Find your fellow fediverse enthusiasts in real life by wearing this soft enamel pin featuring the Mastodon mascot with a shiny copper finish and glitter effect. Size: Approx. 30x30mmBacking: Double rubber clutchMastodon
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📩 Read in our weekly newsletter (and subscribe):
- Stop the gatekeeping. The First Amendment is for all of us
- Administration is trolling America with its FOIA responses
- Don’t weaken Puerto Rico’s public records law
- Plus, what we're reading...
https://freedom.press/issues/stop-the-gatekeeping-the-first-amendment-is-for-all-of-us/
Stop the gatekeeping. The First Amendment is for all of us
The Trump administration is trolling America with its FOIA responsesFreedom of the Press
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Sad news,
The last of the Western Electric No. 4 Electronic Switching Systems in Michigan has been decommissioned. LNNGMIMN50T, date of original service May of 1987, trailer code 044T. It felt wrong for it to happen with no fanfare, and no sendoff.
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“I've met a Palestinian woman who was a third time refugee. She spoke to me and she said, with tears in her eyes, 'the world has forgotten us'. I reflected, I thought back to all of the marches back at home and I thought: No. We haven't forgotten you, we have failed you.”
— Shockat Adam, at the #YourParty Founding Conference
Es haben nach meiner Rede viele Menschen hier meine neue Redewendung benutzt „Ladies and Gentlemen and everyone inbetween and outside those social categories”, übersetzt von @janboehm's Anrede.
Diese neue Partei mit so viel Hoffnung startet gleich auf dem richtigen Weg, mal schauen ob es sich langfristig etabliert ;)
If your only tool is a hammer, every issue looks like a nail. If you only think of politics through the lense of electoralism, you'll believe such ridiculous things like a need to back the greens because anything else splits the vote.
Which historic changes have been achieved in parliament? None. They were enacted by a parliament, but fought for by mass organizing and in protest on the streets. The best long term alternative I see to the Tories, Labour, and even Reform, is grassroots community organizing, which is the goal of Your Party.
Emancipating people, showing them how they can fight for themselves, instead of carrying the faulty belief that we need representatives to fight for us.
My speech at the Your Party Founding Conference:
If it can be summarized in one word: hope! Feel free to give it a watch.
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bazkie 👩🏼💻 bitplanes 🎵
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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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