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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TIL the planetesimal Arrokoth is the first object to be discovered after the space probe sent to examine it was already launched. After New Horizons launched in 2006, new targets were searched on its path for it to examine after passing by Pluto, leading to Arrokoth’s discovery in 2014.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/486958_Arrokoth?wprov=sfti1#Exploration
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1pgdvo9/til_the_planetesimal_arrokoth_is_the_first_object/
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Most Immigrants Arrested in City Crackdowns Have No Criminal Record
The federal deployments that have swept through major cities as part of President Trump’s immigration crackdown have led to thousands of arrests. But they have been less effective at apprehending immigrants with a criminal record than more routine operations elsewhere, new data shows.
In high-profile Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and across Massachusetts, more than half of those arrested had no criminal record, compared with a third of immigrants arrested nationwide.
#ICE #immigration #criminalrecord
ICE Arrest Data Shows Many Immigrants With No Criminal Record
In high-profile operations, more than half of those arrested had no criminal record, an analysis shows.Albert Sun (The New York Times)
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🇪🇺🇺🇦 Europe is persuading Zelensky not to agree to withdraw troops from Donbas, — Bloomberg
"Europe's main goal is to avoid a situation in which an exhausted Zelensky would be forced to withdraw troops from the Ukrainian Donbas and agree to a deal without serious American security guarantees."
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the best persuasion will be lots and lots of weapons
volume matters
i have a deepening suspicion that this is less deliberate and more about the west being incapable of manufacturing on that scale anymore. the skilled labor and machinery isn't there even if we wanted to.
all the fancy designs are reliant on supply chains and materials we don't, and aren't realistically llikely to, control.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/02/nyc-firefighters-pfas-forever-chemicals-bill
*New York City bill aims to ban toxic "forever chemicals" in firefighting gear.* The states of Massachusetts and Connecticut did this last year, but New York City is a bigger market than either of them.
New York City bill aims to ban toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in firefighting gear
Approval of legislation to ban Pfas would be major win for advocates pushing for safer gear alternatives across USTom Perkins (The Guardian)
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Hallelujah, they’re actually going to re-release the original 1977 version of Star Wars theatrically in February 2027. Hopefully, they release it for the home market too so I never have to watch the special versions ever again.
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Hopefully we get a 4K UHD DVD release of the original version, so I too can ignore the reworked silliness.
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https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/cdc-acip-hepatitis-b-birth-dose-reversal-recommendation-rfk/
In RFK Jr.’s Upside-Down World of Vaccines, Panel Votes To End Hepatitis B Shot at Birth - KFF Health News
A session of a vaccine panel dominated by skeptics was chaotically at odds with past practices of the CDC, which HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has described as a “cesspool of corruption.KFF Health News
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We're proud to be one of the few brands offering the necessary resources for users to develop and run their own software. We publish kernel sources, device trees, and work hard to maintain buildable code for our devices. We also published this week our detox feature Moments of our Gen 6.
https://www.fairphone.com/en/2025/12/04/were-big-fans-of-open-source-buildable-code-at-fairphone-heres-why/?trk=feed-detail_main-feed-card_feed-article-content
We're big fans of open-source buildable code at Fairphone. Here's why. - Fairphone
If you can't open it, you don't own it. At Fairphone, that includes the source code as well. Learn more about our approach to open-source.Agnes Crepet (Fairphone)
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#Fifa
A Fifa peace prize?
A peace prize by fifa.
Ohhhh now i get it
Its a fifa appease price...
Come on...
Thats all it is...
I mean fifa...the "non profit" that had south africa...change the law for them, so a sponsor of the world cup could sell white ass water..(thats what budweiser means, right?) And prevented small businesses from selling wares. Same as street vendors being banned near the stadium (street vendors areb part of south African football culture)
And just like with the
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TIL about a Hunger Games that took place on a ship in 2011. Over the course of a month, 33 people attacked each other on the ship. In the end, 22 died and 11 survived.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_Lurongyu_2682
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1pgdils/til_about_a_hunger_games_that_took_place_on_a/
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Want Amazon to give your delivery driver $5 out of the company pocket?
https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=18271648011
Yes, delivery folks should be paid better, absolutely. We shouldn't have to click a button to say "throw my driver a scrap." But welcome to America.
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Great opening:
"President Donald Trump, a man who’s overseen the killings of dozens of people on boats over recent months, was awarded a “peace prize” by FIFA on Friday. It’s was an absurd gesture from the international soccer body to placate our childish president and his disappointment in not winning the Nobel Peace Prize, but at least it briefly gave us some funny memes."
Trump’s FIFA ‘Peace Prize’ Ceremony Is the New Touching the Orb Meme
https://gizmodo.com/trumps-fifa-peace-prize-ceremony-is-the-new-touching-the-orb-meme-2000696409
Trump's FIFA 'Peace Prize' Ceremony Is the New Touching the Orb Meme
Will we even remember this absurdity in a few days?Matt Novak (Gizmodo)
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MAGA: Giving foreigners the same benefits as native-born citizens is immoral. This is why we need a government based on the Bible.
LEVITICUS 19:34 : "The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God"
MAGA: Not that part of the Bible
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![Holy Bible - Cherry Picked Edition - All verses Christians do not want to follow have been omitted.
Get yours today, so you can eat shellfish, get tattoos, control women and, as a bonus, we've added anti-gay verses Jesus never said!
*[Latest version might even be signed by Trump...with a Sharpie, of course.]* text not in image](https://f.kawa-kun.com/photo/preview/640/5082745?blur=1 "Holy Bible - Cherry Picked Edition - All verses Christians do not want to follow have been omitted.
Get yours today, so you can eat shellfish, get tattoos, control women and, as a bonus, we've added anti-gay verses Jesus never said!
*[Latest version might even be signed by Trump...with a Sharpie, of course.]* text not in image")
🏆
After my prostate examination, the doctor left, then the nurse came in and whispered three words that no man wants to hear...
'Who was that?'
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US judge orders unsealing of court records from abandoned Jeffrey Epstein case
by Nardine Saad
December 5, 2025
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ge8p0n0zko
Jeffrey Epstein: US judge orders unsealing of grand jury records from abandoned case
A similar request was rejected earlier this year, but a law passed by Congress last month overrides it.Nardine Saad (BBC News)
How the solar storms that cause the Northern Lights can wreak havoc on Earth
https://www.bbc.com/weather/articles/c4g4ey8zxnzo?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
Posted into Top Stories @top-stories-BBCNews
How solar storms that cause the Northern Lights have the power to wreak havoc on Earth
The aurora borealis can bring stunning night skies, but hidden dangers can accompany the Northern Lights to disrupt life on earth as Chris Fawkes explains.Chris Fawkes (BBC Weather)
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https://mass.streetsblog.org/2025/12/05/boston-data-show-streets-with-new-bike-lanes-successfully-shift-traffic-from-cars-to-bikes
Mayor Wu has hard evidence that her bike lane projects are helping reduce traffic – but her administration is reluctant to share it.
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"Trump wants to recreate a white America that never existed"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/06/trump-immigration-whiteness
No, MAGAmoron wants to create a white America that existed when Blacks were slaves, Asians were coolies, Hispanics were servants and Others (handicapped, mentally challenged, blind, deaf, mute, etc) were entertainment.
Trump wants to recreate a white America that never existed
The persecution of brown people and mass deportations will not create the white country of far-right fantasyRebecca Solnit (The Guardian)
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Some simple moral clarity. Our country is run, and our public life is dominated by, wicked people. I wish there were a party -- or christ, just a substantial faction of Americans -- who stood up for love, compassion, & decency with the same vigor these fucking ghouls celebrate murder.
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Kilauea erupts, destroying webcam
[video]Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK2N99BDw7A
Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46177645
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https://atlantablackstar.com/2025/12/06/noem-pushes-through-ice-recruits-with-gang-white-power-tattoos/
‘Anything with a Pulse’: Noem Pushes Through ICE Recruits with Gang, White-Power Tattoos and Some Who Can’ ...
As the deadline imposed by the immigrant-averse Trump administration to hire 10,000 new ICE agents by year’s end to carry out the president’s goal ofJill Jordan Sieder (atlantablackstar)
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#DonaldTrump #rapist #thief #StochasticTerrorist #fraudster #DomesticTerrorist #slanderer #insurrectionist
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National Parks Now Honor Trump's Birthday — But No Longer Black People & American (Black) History
https://crooksandliars.com/2025/12/national-parks-honor-trumps-birthday-not
> Free entrance days at national parks no longer include MLK Day and Juneteenth - but you can get free entrance for Dear Leader's birthday.
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if society abandons you, proceed to making a new one.
🤷♀️
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@tk mhm. there will be outlets one way or another.
it's up to the government to decide if they want to have a say in how that happens or if they de facto abdicate and it just happens to them.
like the whole thing with the WH press corps. MAGA doesn't get soft power. the dog caught the mail truck and had no idea what to do with it.
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"Under the new law, which went into effect on Thursday, abortion providers could face penalties of at least $100,000 if they mail pills into Texas. Manufacturers of abortion pills are also eligible to be sued, although women who take abortion pills are not."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/04/texas-law-abortion-pill-access-lawsuit
#healthcare #ReproHealth #ReproJustice #pregnancy #abortion #mail #PrescriptionDrugs #ShieldLaws #WomensHealth #texas #txlege
New Texas law allows residents to sue those suspected of providing access to abortion pills
Abortion providers, and even manufacturers, will be liable for penalties over pills mailed into the stateCarter Sherman (The Guardian)
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Yesterday's post by Heather Cox Richardson should be an urgent call to action.
The new US National Security Strategy gives an indisputable nod to racism, imperialism, and is a direct threat to reproductive rights.
Carney must stop playing footsie with Trump and if you read in the news that Trump "likes" our PM, that should be a dire warning that our sovereignty is in danger.
/more
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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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