So… Ted voted against his own bill?

Probably lots of people in red states. Farmers for instance, people who generally buy the Republican bullshit, but may personally rely heavily on immigrant workers. ICE puts them in a really tough position.

Waaa! He said something mean to me! Waaa!

There could be money involved…

Eh, it’s not the worst rule.

And blocked… What a douche.

A family that may not exist once the Nazis have carte blanche.

That word “may” is the weak point of the argument. In contrast, a family will not exist if they don’t eat.

The fact is money is like oxygen it’s how we sustain our lives. You may be familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, basic needs (the kind that money provides) are at the very base of the pyramid, the most important level. This Nazi takeover falls under the very next category, “safety and security” and it also effects some other tiers up top as well. So to be clear, I’m recognizing the importance of this issue, it’s extremely important without a doubt. But the basic needs are still the basic needs.

With that in mind, I absolutely defend and support the strategy of participating in activism on the weekend and then going back to work on Monday. That is nothing but rational.

If you go home after one day then you achieve nothing.

This is just naive. Building something important takes time. You know that expression, Rome wasn’t built in a day? Well that’s barely even a metaphor here; if you want to build a new United States, a more functional, less corrupt US without all the fascism and corporate control, well that takes time. And again, in that time it takes to make those changes, you need to continue living, continue filling those basic needs.

I went to the no kings protest and honestly I think it was quite successful. It was a show of force, a demonstration of pure numbers. It was a good step, and more will be achieved.

Believe it or not, I have. Nothing to do with No Kings though

Hah. Yeah, I’m certain of it. It’s pretty clear.

Showed up for one day, and then went back to work the next day

You’ll find that many of those people still have a family to feed.

I see that you’re still doing something useful though, whining on the Internet. So good on you.

Have you done any organizing for activist events? Because that would be useful.

Feel free I guess.

Yeah, but that’s a pipe dream. Just move on.

Sure, but that plastic lining is a tiny amount of plastic, practically insignificant by mass.

And sure, glass works too, that’s fine with me. But it’s not simply better. It comes with the downsides of being heavier (requiring more energy to transport), less durable, and requiring more energy to recycle. It’s a trade off.

Currently, aluminum has the highest rate of recycling of all beverage materials. So why not double down on the most successful packaging type in the history of recycling?

Well they’re splitting recycling, but plastic, generally speaking is not recyclable. So it’s the paper and metals that are being split off, the plastic goes in with everything else.

There are some plastics that are theoretically recyclable, but even that isn’t really recycling is down-cycling turning a plastic into an interior plastic that isn’t recyclable at all. Or repurposing and reusing a plastic, perhaps as pillow stuffing or melting it down with other things to make road paving material.

But the life of plastic is never a cycle, it’s a path that can sometimes be extended a bit.

You can it’s just expensive and requires additional fuel.

It sometimes requires “reburning” the combustion exhaust at higher temperatures. But combustion can eventually break down the majority of molecules into something safe. And then if things still need to be removed from the exhaust, you can use processes similar to the catalytic converter in your car, but again, not cheap.

We may need to find an actual solution to all that plastic.

But I’m hearing innovative new ideas in that field. One researcher has proposed an interesting solution, it’s called “aluminum cans” it sounds crazy, and who knows if it could possibly work at scale, but it’s a neat idea.

But they can’t just buy that new car every year anymore.

Yeah, they might try regular maintenance instead…

Over the next 5 years I don’t see anything positive in tech and I see myself largely disconnecting from it.

Ironically I’m optimistic about the next 50 years, just I don’t see anything good happening right now.

You mean besides masturbate?

What types of data does the US sell to advertisers?

Types you haven’t even thought of. Every type of data is sold, and then derivatives of data are sold. Directly collected data, inferred data, guesses, it’s all packaged up.

Fine, give up on hope universally. Just do it less vocally.

(That is to say, shut up)

You seem really invested in making sure Teslas are off the road, but not at all interested in regulation that would keep all dangerous autonomous vehicles off the road. So… do you work for BMW, or Waymo?