SDF Chatter

From Liberation News – The Newspaper of the Party for Socialism and Liberation via this RSS feed

See the Qatari energy chief's statements yesterday: https://hexbear.net/post/7875589

Locally fuel prices have shot up before any of the actual consequences of the shipping disruption have begun, and I'm temporarily shielded from the real initial shock by domestic production. The 1973 Oil Crisis was a big contributor to cars becoming more efficient and EV technology being re-adopted. My city's bike trail network began construction in response to how many people switched to cycling after it. That initial network, which is much cheaper and faster to construct and easier to maintain than a road, induced demand for a whole socioecological shift in the city's development. Intact concrete panels from the 1980s wind along protected waterways and high-density housing, cleared of snow within hours of a storm by a single pickup truck, with everyone of every age being able to birdwatch in native habitat for free.

Even with the price of electricity increasing for AI slop, I'll pay around $20 to replace 99% of my urban driving this year. Anything within 80km is achievable with the current batteries and those are rapidly advancing, especially in terms of fire safety and recharge time. The experience is the complete opposite of everything I hate about driving. As a tech, it's poised for a Ford Model T moment of mass adoption that we started seeing with COVID. Most of the parts are there and they're waiting on economies of scale to make it into cheaper bikes more than they are new developments.

I think/hope/Timmy-pray that this will be the generational shock in oil and natural gas markets that break people out of car brain. Even if I wanted to trade in my car for an EV to avoid the fuel shortages/prices, the broader economic collapse makes that a pipe dream. People can at least afford something that costs 1/5th-1/10th of what a reliable used car does, and I think this might spiral into a crisis catastrophic enough to spur mass advocacy for the initial bike infrastructure in the places lacking it.

Otherwise I agree with the demons doing it that the war is apocalyptic, but it'd be nice if this is the big one for bicyclists. We might get barriers and happy neighbours.

Do you think congress may have forgotten how their job works? Like I remember learning the importance of congress in middle school. Power of purse and all that. Why is the congress petitioning the president for legislation? Can we please replace the congressmen who don't understand what their job description is? Every day in the news its just "Legislator asking someone else to do their job" "Legislature confused on how laws are made" "legislator claiming the presidents office is just better at making laws"

Studio Khara accidentally included high-quality footage of the full anime film in its copyright takedown emails sent to those who shared the camrip, such as Chibi Reviews on X (formerly Twitter).

Ok so this is fun. We are finally redoing our deck on our house that was built in the 70's.

The stair treads were these nice wide low-angle kind, using a bracket made by Erecto-pat, which is no longer in business at all! I find it baffling that NO ONE makes a stair step bracket like this, at least nowhere that I can find! Literally the only thing I could find on the entire internet is this ebay listing:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324682985573

If anyone knows a similar part, that would be super helpful. Otherwise I am going to have to go to a custom metal fab shop to get some made!

Side note, their patent expired, so if you wanna make some bucks, start making some of these up! They work perfectly for stairs. The only reason I need new ones is some are rusted after all these years.

Watercolor and ink on paper.

Smashing Pumpkins - Bodies → Mother Mother - Body of Years

Measles has been all in the news, dominating the headlines. But the once hot new trend is starting to lose its lustre as more people die from acute (more like un-cute) outbreaks of the disease. Luckily, our tiny friends under the microscope are revving up to remind you of the disarmingly silly sounding mumps.

Largely forgotten, fashion insiders tell us mumps is set to make a comeback in a big way during next year's season. We have an exclusive quote from one of our sources giving us all the important details on this not-so-dusty old disease.

Mumps! Its just so fun to say! I have mumps! Look at the lumps from my mumps!
- carolyn p mordentheaux, american infectious disease expert

As for us here at hex bear? Well, lets just say we're pessimistic as usual, but maybe bumping the mumps is just the panacea we've been waiting for.

Simplification is the game with art. And I wanted to do something with more detail than I normally include. Looks like a real face.

Timelapse: https://mastodon.social/@BallShapedMan/116190909115860493

I heard there is a sequel but dont have the courage to watch it.

full movie here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm2FbJE2wsQ

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/43968625

Does the US really want to play this game? 90% of Israel's water comes from desalination plants, and now we've given Iran the justification to strike back in a similar manner.

Trump’s private comments have not focused on a large-scale ground invasion of Iran, but rather on the idea of a small contingent of U.S. troops that would be used for specific strategic purposes, sources say.

Donald Trump has privately expressed serious interest in deploying U.S. troops on the ground inside of Iran, according to two U.S. officials, a former U.S. official and another person with knowledge of the conversations.

Trump has discussed the idea of deploying ground troops with aides and Republican officials outside the White House while outlining his vision for a post-war Iran in which Iran’s uranium is secure and the U.S. and a new Iranian regime cooperate on oil production similar to how the U.S. and Venezuela are, the sources said.

The president’s comments expressing serious interest in deploying ground troops have not focused on a large-scale ground invasion of Iran, but rather on the idea of a small contingent of U.S. troops that would be used for specific strategic purposes, the U.S. officials, the former U.S. official and the person with knowledge of the discussions said. They said Trump has not made any decisions or given any orders related to ground troops.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/memes/p/930951/the-next-de-generation