The UK is still a lot more multi party at the lower levels of government, compared to the US. Unfortunately it’s erring towards the US system, rather than away from it.

We are in a media bubble. Basically all our media is owned by a few rich arseholes and they bury a lot of anti right messages.

The BBC used to be remarkably honest and independent from government. The conservatives getting their claws into it was the beginning of the real problems. Even worse, the BBC’s impartiality has been so sacrosanct that a lot of older people just believe it.

A mild bit of light. The green party seems to also be making significant advances. Labour have often played the “don’t split the left vote” card on them. Now it looks like green is overtaking them in some areas. It just doesn’t show up well in a FPTP voting system.

The Brexit crowd have gone conspicuously silent about it. Their lack of crowing says a lot about it.

Even before Brexit, the tide had turned, and that’s only gotten stronger. Unfortunately, the government had their vote and hammered it through. (The fact there was an EU rule change, on tax transparency, the next day, and would have embarrassed a lot of rich UK toffs had NOTHING to do with the timing)

Unfortunately, the reform party is far too strong, and trying to drag us to the extreme right. Our “left wing” primary party (Labour) is now further right than the conservatives (center right party) traditionally sit.

It’s… frustrating.

I’d recommend foiling it, rather than clipping. A grounded (0V) metal wrapping will become a Faraday cage. It’s a bit more effort, but is reversible, if you so choose. E.g. when selling it. It is also less likely to trigger a fault sensor condition, and doesn’t void the warranty if the computer craps out.

Abnormalities from “normal” were a critical self defence feature, for our ancestors. E.g. a lack, or change, of bird song might indicate a predator in ambush. Unusual lighting might indicate a storm coming in.

Our brains are wired to learn normal patterns. When those patterns change completely, we are fine with it. When they change subtly we don’t like it.

The threshold for this is different for different people. Personally, I’m fine with completely different maps, but off put by modified real maps. I also cannot watch soap operas, they are too close to “real” and trip alarms at their mismatches. Conversely, sci-fi and fantasy are fine, they are different enough to not set off my alarms. I know others who are set off by sci-fi, but soaps are within their norms.

My childhood cat used to catch and eat mice. Unfortunately, it would leave their entrails on the kitchen floor. Listening to my mother curse, when she discovered them with her bare feet, was an interesting way to be woken up.

I think you got off lightly with the stuffed toy. 🤷‍♂️😅

It’s a book series. It’s a semi utopia based sci-fi. The culture is an amalgam of species (including human). It’s run by “minds” hyper powerful AIs. Humanity is akin to pet dogs. A mix of pampered and useful.

Basically, humans live in a life of luxury and choice. Changing genders, or even species is very common. Immortality is mostly a logistics and boredom issue.

The earth will be fine.

The plants and creatures on it? They will be battered, but recover.

Humans on the other hand… 👎

Watching from outside, I suspect the midterms will go ahead. However, they are planning to screw with them HARD. The army is likely being prepped to deal with the riots expected, when republicans win with a landslide.

I’ve seen quite a few people who make casual use of it. The key point is that it is currently free to them. As soon as it starts costing money, a lot will bail on it.

A bit of a guess, but it might be related to software cafés. They are a lot more common in the east.

Since multiple people can log into the same computer, it might over count them. They are also likely exclusively windows machines.

I believe that was a strike at their centrifuges. They are needed to enrich uranium to powerplant grade or weapons grade.

Iran had agreed to stop using them, as part of the treaty trump tore up. Afterwards, the lack of any detectable fallout indicated that they were not in use, since no uranium was present.

Basically they lost their ability to produce more weapons grade material. It is unknown how much (if any) was previously made, and might be stockpiled elsewhere.

It also shows that Iran seems to have remained in compliance, despite trump pulling out of the deal.

If they are actively going for a 4th, then he’s done something right. Raising 3 kids, with an unhelpful husband would be enough to put most women off having a 4th. Hell, even with a helpful husband!

It’s decent, but I liked it least out of Wier’s books. He seems to only have 1 archetype for his main character. It works really well in the Martian, and project hail Mary, where the main character is a highly competent male. It’s a bit jarring when applied to a teenage girl however.

Pis are excellent mini computers. Unfortunately, their long term reliability isn’t quite there. When I used one, I was getting a couple of lock up crashes a year. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s just enough to be REALLY frustrating to the (less technical) wife. The tipping point is when it goes from “nice to have” to “expected”.

I acquired a 2nd hand NUC, and it’s been bomb proof for a few years now.

It needs a trifecta. Protests, Politics, and “Persuasion”.

The protests give weight to the political group. They also give cover and a place to organise for harder actions.

The political elements act to focus the will of the protestors, and provide guidance to the agitators.

The “Persuasion” group add teeth to the political demands. They also act to defend the protestors, when the government gets aggressive.

The 3 need to work together to achieve major changes. “The Troubles”, in northern island are a good example. The IRA didn’t achieve much/anything practical. What they did was force the UK government to sit down and negotiate in (vaguely) good faith. The protests and marches acted to show large scale support for the changes.

Against an intelligent, aware government, the need for violence is implicit, rather than explicit. It’s a lot better to engage early and diffuse political hot potatoes. Unfortunately, the US government doesn’t seem like they will take the hints.

The marches should be used to crystallise the other 2 requirements. A political agency, to act as a voice. As well as those willing to go further, to act as the muscle.

Most propaganda is aimed at neurotypical wiring. We are out of tune with it, that gives us a measure of protection.

It’s one of the worries I have with AI. While I think we are more protected from propaganda than most (since we constantly want to poke at the crack in a story), we are not immune. It’s perfectly possible to shape it to effect us. They just haven’t bothered, since we are a small target. AI makes that a lot easier to do, so we will see more of it.

A lot of places train their police to de-escalate conflicts, as a default. This leads to far more reasonable encounters.

E.g. in the UK, we have some issues with racism and excessive racial profiling. I know quite a few people who dislike the police (of various ethnic groups). I know very few who fear the police (outside of them doing their job).

I also know a couple of people who work within the police (backroom). They are actively trying to deal with racism within the force. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a game of whack-a-mole, but at least they are trying.

America seems to be an exception. Just seeing your police out and about put me mentally on guard. They don’t radiate professionalism, but bully swagger.

They’ve had to pear it back hard, as well as made some (slightly controversial) changes. It was needed to make the transition however, and the movie flows quite well.

I definitely agree with you.

At the same time. I can’t see how they could fit the awesomeness from the book into a reasonable length film.