Damn… belligerent is an understatment at this point. They’re outright thugs, encouraged by the protection by the US.

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They only logged the IP. That’s metadata. IIRC Apple refused backdooring its phone encryption. That’s a lot more invasive.

Really? I’m not convinced the Chinese government acts in the interests of its people at all. That’s probably the biggest reason I can’t call it Socialism. Just because government influence is stronger than in the West, the economic system isn’t completely different.

But isn’t the means of production still mostly controlled by capital owners? Sure, some industries are influenced by the government, but that is also the case in the West. The plan is certainly more detailed for China, but to me Socialism always meant labor is controlling the means of production. How’s that the case when an elitist single-party government influences the capital owners?

Enlighten me then. Means of production doesn’t seem to be controled by the party alone. Most of China’s economy still follows capitalist principles. Rich Chinese and owners of businesses are still private citizens. Sure, some influenced by the government, some industries very heavily regulated, but China still follows capitalist principles in most cases.

I always thought Socialism means that means of production is controlled by labor directly, not capital owners or an elists single-party government.

As the life-sustaining places become more scarce, they become more expensive. Your best play for survival is to play the game, amass wealth and afford the trip to Elysium. That’s why even the people understanding the problem are part of it.

Let’s not call China socialist when a single party dictates larger economic trends in an otherwise competitive global market. It’s just not “free” as in free market capitalism.

Otherwise I completely agree with the weaknesses of the western capitalist systems.

Even the biolab one could be both natural and man made: the virus was found and isolated by biologists studying local bat populations. They then failed to contain it properly (remember how surprised everyone was when they realized how contagious it was over the air?) and it started spreading.

Of course not. Extra deliveries past congress. Not that they would block it

You could argue they’re a bit in denial, so France’s clear words may wake them up a bit.

Exactly. You can’t lose if you don’t fight. Khan fights… and sometimes loses

Yeah, on that front he is surprisingly good and it shouldn’t be minimized. But even on workers rights he’s not perfect. Who is though?

He appointed Lina Kahn as probably the strongest antitrust chair of the FTC in a long time.

Sure, he could do more than just wag the finger at shrinkflation, but Khan stopped a lot of mergers already.

You tested it for microplastics? They’re everywhere. Even on top of mountains

Well, not boiling, but we do heat it up

All true, but there’s a reason for lamp shades as well, as they diffuse direct light and make the illumination of a room friendlier. Glare is a real issue and so while placing a mirror next to lamp increases the light in a certain direction it could be uncomfortable looking into the direction of the lamp. A white wall would reflect the light in a more diffuse and thus agreeable fashion, but the overall output measured in the room is gonna be smaller. Illumination depends on your needs in the end.

Biden really doesn’t want these Muslim votes it seems.

Apple products were never really ergonomic, so having over half a kilo dragging down your face seems to be a normal continuation of their design language. The battery on a cable however and the outside-facing screen seem like obvious bad design decisions that just contribute to the unpleasant weight distribution.

And it tries to sell a VR device as an AR device without any real killer use case other than integrating it nicely into their other products. Alone from the tech it’s impressive. Their new R1 and M2 chips do great work and the price reflects how much effort was put into it. But that alone doesn’t sell the device.

Even the positive reviews were mixed and pointed out grave flaws.

In my opinion, for this to take off it actually needs to provide significant advantages for people to accept wearing a comfortable sensor suite plus computer on their head in front of their eyes. We haven’t seen any of this yet… from any product in the space.

I shared Naomi Klein’s support for the “No Label” party on Facebook many years ago. It was of course satire.

Since then I really look into the things people share before I share them myself. Even though I generally trust these people.