Books touched on:
- The Death of Privacy and Truth: 1984 — George Orwell
- The Corruption of Power: Animal Farm — George Orwell
- The Golden Cage: Brave New World — Aldous Huxley
- The End of the Deep Dive: Fahrenheit 451 — Ray Bradbury
- Rights Are Made Up: The Handmaid's Tale — Margaret Atwood
- Greed Above All Else: Parable of the Sower — Octavia E. Butler
- A Cruel Game that the Privileged Don't Have to Play: The Hunger Games — Suzanne Collins
We're already living in every dystopian novel — Mr. Beat
Mr. Beat explains how some of those dystopian novels we were forced to read growing up in school have already (partially) come true.Disclaimer: Mr. Beat offers opinions in this video
Uh ok, so this is, like, the description of the video so keep reading. Produced by Matt Beat and Beat Productions, LLC. Filmed by Matt Beat. All images and video by Matt Beat. Additional images used under fair use guidelines or found in the public domain. Music by Electric Needle Room (Mr. Beat's band), Bad Snacks, Kwon, MK2, Otis McDonald, Patrick Patrikios, and Underbelly & Ty Mayer.
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Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem: reshared this.
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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Oooh, this is nifty visualization from The Guardian (scroll down to the animated visualization of marine traffic)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/02/iran-strait-of-hormuz-oil-gas-visualized
How escalating Iran conflict is driving up oil and gas prices – a visual guide
A near-halt to shipping in strait of Hormuz and attacks on Middle East refineries are threatening supplies and stoking inflationRob Davies (The Guardian)
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1500 kw flash car chargers appear operational in China. 3x the speed of tesla's fastest. Cost is about 18 US cents per kilowatt-hour....that is cheap. (6kw chargers where I live are 50 cents per kwh.)
US automakers will spend hundreds of millions of $$ on lobbying to ensure Chinese EV tech is never allowed into the US. They're so far behind.
#EV
BYD spotted testing 1500 kW Flash Charge in China, nearly triple Tesla V4 power
Single-gun peak rating of 1500 kW reported at demonstration flash charging station.Adrian Leung (CarNewsChina.com)
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Content warning: rant about the current state of computing
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The Land of the Free
And Home of the Brave
And they say Americans don't do irony.
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/iran-ready-for-long-war
'Unlike the United States,' Says Security Chief, Iran 'Has Prepared Itself for a Long War'
"Trump plunged the region into chaos with his 'delusional fantasies' and now fears more American troop casualties," said the secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani.stephen-prager (Common Dreams)
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I dunno, maybe we should stop electing septuagenarian nazi war criminals; because listening to these guys it becomes increasingly clear that the Trump administration is totally prepared for the American political environment of 1971...
Watching Hegseth promise to do war crimes while alluding to the Vietnam "stabbed in the back" myth about "rules of engagement" being why we lost the war really crystalized it for me.
They're fighting three wars ago.
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Even without knowing that the US has basically lost every single fucking war since... the current US regime is going to lose this so fucking hard by any reasonable metric.
they have no idea what they're doing. I suspect their "plan" was to pull a Venezuela and assume Iran wouldn't fire back.
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State Department instructs all Americans to "DEPART NOW VIA COMMERCIAL MEANS" from essentially the entire Middle East
So yeah, that's... not great
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🤦
Waymo robotaxi blocks EMS responding to Austin mass shooting https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2026/03/02/waymo-vehicle-blocks-ems-austin-mass-shooting
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How to see tonight's 'blood moon' total lunar eclipse from Australia
All of Australia will be treated to a "blood moon" tonight wherever the sky is clear. Here's how you can catch a glimpse of the last total lunar eclipse until 2029.Amy Briggs (ABC News)
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https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/02/notes-on-iran/
Preliminary Notes on a Planned Decapitation - CounterPunch.org
Trump has done the world a service. He has abandoned pretense and clarified the true nature of American power.Jeffrey St. Clair (CounterPunch.org)
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This is a no-brainer. https://www.commondreams.org/news/bernie-sanders-billionaire
'Enough Is Enough': Sanders, Khanna Propose Billionaires Tax to Raise $4.4 Trillion
"In a democratic society, we cannot tolerate 60% of our people living paycheck to paycheck—struggling to pay for housing, food, and healthcare—while 938 billionaires have become $1.5 trillion richer."julia-conley (Common Dreams)
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Random Russian car stops now, for "phones containing Western propaganda".
...because somehow we're the Nazis.
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Gregory Bovino Is Now Under Criminal Investigation
Content warning: Former Customs and Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino’s use of chemical irritants during the Department of Homeland Security’s “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota is among 17 criminal investigations now underway in Hennepin County, where Minneapolis is l
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The United States is expected to soon complete the delivery of 108 new M1A2T Abrams tanks to the Taiwan Army - EUROPE SAYS
Following the start of official deliveries at the end of 2024, the final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks supplied by the United States to the Taiwan Army isEUROPE SAYS
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570 citizens and non-citizens of Latvia are stranded in the Middle East. In fact, there are more - EUROPE SAYS
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the actual number of Latvian passport holders there may be higher, as not everyone registers and seeks help, LSMEUROPE SAYS
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so 3 courts + US Copyright Office say you cannot copyright nor patent anything made primarily with LLMs because automata aren't human.
#SCOTUS won't review these rules because copyright is meant to protect human creations, not software or automata.
this may mean #AWSlop #Microslop are “de-copyrighting” & “de-patenting” their own proprietary software as they let automata “code” 🧐
❝ AI-generated art can’t be copyrighted after Supreme Court declines to review the rule
https://www.theverge.com/policy/887678/supreme-court-ai-art-copyright
AI-generated art can’t be copyrighted after Supreme Court declines to review the rule
The US Supreme Court has declined to hear a case over whether AI-generated art can be copyrighted.Emma Roth (The Verge)
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BTW
as Google attempts to turn #Android phones proprietary, what with the way techbros have conspired to use embeddables as backdoors; should be insteresting to do a whole a full auditing of the hardware and software used in Android phones specifically manufactured for the USA market.
basically, techbros have hidden behide “trade secrets” and "security" to take control away from us.
i would assume auditing for what’s built with automata should render that proprietary part null.
Flint UAW local cancels anti-ICE protest
UAW L.598 officials claimed they canceled the event out of concern for the "safety of our members" without citing any specific threats.World Socialist Web Site
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Record solar output in Romania pushes power prices into negative territory - EUROPE SAYS
On Friday at 11:39 a.m., commercial solar output, excluding prosumers, reached 2,048 MW, while demand stood at slightly over 6,000 MW, Romanian mediaEUROPE SAYS
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This Made My Day (12 Photos)
Content warning: Some days the city just hands you a high five. A sleepy cat the size of an apartment. A wall that turns into a joke. A drain that sprouts tentacles. Here are 12 pieces of street magic that can rescue a bad mood in seconds. More: Made Me Smile Instantly (8
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https://mastodon.vendor7682965.pro/241500826
Also, if you do not pass the verification within 24 hours, your account will be suspended until verification is completed.🔓
Don't delay, start earning with us. Best regards , the Mastodon team.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/02/maximum-pressure/
The Policy of "Maximum Pressure" on Iran Finds Its Ultimate Conclusion - CounterPunch.org
Americans should not be fooled or led astray by the corporate media or the Beltway consultant class: fact-free fearmongering and warmongering about Iran have been among the most thoroughly bipartisan positions in Washington for many decades.David S. D’Amato (CounterPunch.org)
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Iran doesn’t run the Fed
Iran doesn’t lobby to import infinity brown people into my country
Iran doesn’t demand we pay them billions a year while we starve
Iran doesn’t run the pornography industry
Iran didn’t adulterate our education system
Iran doesn’t run Hollywood
Iran doesn’t own YouTube
There are no antiaryanism laws on the books in my country
Noticing Iranian control of my leadership isn’t a thing because they don’t
The central bank of Iran isn’t owned by a Rothschild
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#Alt4You
2 BBC article headlines.
1st: "At least 153 dead after reported strike on school, Iran says". The word "strike" is underlined, with note "A lightning strike? Unclear, neutral wording, no attacker identified". "Iran says" notated with "Framed as accusation."
2nd: "Nine dead in missile attacks on Israel as Iran strikes region". "Missile attack" has note "'Attack', not a retaliation. Framed as fact, not an accusation". "Iran strikes" has note "Culprit clearly identified".
Content warning: A really fucking sizzling hot take, US pol etc, shield your eyes and that
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Content warning: re: A really fucking sizzling hot take, US pol etc, shield your eyes and that
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Content warning: re: A really fucking sizzling hot take, US pol etc, shield your eyes and that
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Content warning: re: A really fucking sizzling hot take, US pol etc, shield your eyes and that
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Content warning: re: A really fucking sizzling hot take, US pol etc, shield your eyes and that
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Content warning: re: A really fucking sizzling hot take, US pol etc, shield your eyes and that
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Reminds me of the time a colleague asked me to sit down so he could tell me about his "EPIC PEN!".
My confusing was visible when he then presented some plastic contraption that looked more like an emergency flare than a 1000 euro gold plated Swiss fountain pen.
That's when I learned about the concept of the EpiPen as a device to deal with serious allergic reactions by injecting some magic chemical.
Pete Hegseth said this. Out loud. And then put a transcript of what he said up on a site called war.gov
Traditional allies who care about long-standing internationally agreed upon rules of engagement are deemed to be wringing their hands and clutching their pearls
This is as clear a declaration of, "We are committed to committing war crimes and will continue to war crime and just try and stop us!" as I have ever heard
And I was alive during the Bush years
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@MAKS23/116161183130520628
Thanks, US. The world now needs to proliferate in order to counter you. :(
I remember boycotting French wine because of their nuclear testing. Now the US is the greater evil.
And no one wins with nuclear arms.
MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@MAKS23@mastodon.social)
Attached: 1 image 🇫🇷 Macron announced France's plans to increase the number of nuclear warheads. 🇩🇪 Merz announced that France and Germany are creating a joint nuclear deterrent group.MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (Mastodon)
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Can we please just put the women in charge.
More nuclear warheads = greater certainty that you will die as a result of a nuclear war.
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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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