I for one would like to look at a simple 2d map instead of having to scroll around frantically just to compare two countries.

How come copyright owners are not legally required to distribute their work?

Copyright is supposedly a deal society strikes with creatives: They create art for society and in return the law ensures that they profit off of their original works. If they no longer uphold their end of the bargain how come the rest of us should still uphold their copyright? If they no longer make their works available their copyright should be forfeit automatically.

Any idea why they apparently reversed the orientation of all characters between 500 BC and 1 AD?

Either that, or, you know, they could have witty, thoughtfully handcrafted ingame ads adding to the atmosphere, parodying the real world.

Elon:

Guys, I think I’ve got it… What if we built another lane but, you know, under the ground, like a tunnel.

At this point I think Elon might know more about management than anyone currently alive on Earth!

On a serious note, the problem with wind turbines is not the total number of birds they strike but the species. Larger birds of prey seem particularly susceptible. Tough this risk can be easily mitigated by not placing the wind turbines directly in their primary habitat or migration paths.

Staatlicher Wohnungsbau ginge sogar mit der Schuldenbremse.

Wenn der Staat das Geld in Wohnungsbaugesellschaften investiert, die damit einen entsprechenden betriebswirtschaftlichen Gegenwert erwerben, sprich Immobilien bauen, dann fällt das unter finanzielle Transaktion und somit nicht unter die Schuldenbremse. Genauso hat Lindner seine Aktienrente/Generationenkapital gerade auch an der Schuldenbremse vorbei finanziert, weil der staatliche Erwerb von Aktien ebenso eine finanzielle Transaktion darstellt.

Das Problem ist hier nicht mal das Geld bzw. die Schuldenbremse, sondern schlicht das tiefsitzende neoliberale Dogma, wonach der frei Markt Probleme grundsätzlich besser löst als der Staat. Deshalb sperrt sich unsere Bauministerin (SPD!) stets vehement gegen staatlichen Wohnungsbau. Wär ja noch schöner, wenn ein Teil der Mieteinnahmen plötzlich nicht mehr an die obersten 1% fließt. Wie kommen die sonst zu ihrer nächsten Yacht?

Heißt das, wenn Bibi und seine rechtsextremen Freunde die Demokratie in Israel erfolgreich abgeschafft haben, dann verdient das Land auch keine westliche Unterstützung mehr? Das wäre doch die logische Schlussfolgerung. Seltsamerweise wird eine solche Warnung aber nie klar ausgesprochen von dejenigen, die mit “Israel ist die einzige Demokratie im nahen Osten” argumentieren.

Can someone explain to me why Americans seem so hostile towards Biden over Gaza all of a sudden?

US support for Israel goes back decades. America has been in bed with all sorts of dictators commiting heinous crimes and still is. Not to forget the illegal invasion of Iraq with hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties or the long list of US war crimes revealed by WikiLeaks and largely indiscriminate drone strikes across the globe. Most of these seemed to elicit much harsher condemnation overseas while the US public appeared generally uninterested. So why does this conflict in Palestine in which the US isn’t even an active party suddenly evoke such an emotional response?

For now reddit seems fine (even though I feel a noticable deterioration of multiple communities). Though the important change is that alternatives have established themselves. Lemmy might not be big right now but from now on reddit has to be extra careful not to upset redditors. Every new step they take that worsens the experience will drive a new wave of users away from their site and now more of them will find communities elsewhere that have been established during the first exodus this year.

At the same time I’m unfortunately quite certain that the enshittification of reddit will continue as investors demand higher profits. So we will see more waves of redditors leaving. Such a migration in waves could also be observed with Twitter, after every new step that Elon took to ruin the site.

Freiheit und Demokratie Europas retten, schön und gut, aber alles zu seiner Zeit. Unser Finanzminister von den Freien Demokraten findet Schuldenabbau zur Zeit eben wichtiger. Man kann schließlich nicht jedes Mal, wenn Freiheit und Demokratie auf unserem Kontinent bedroht sind, gleich eine Notlage ausrufen. Ob sich Putin vielleicht zu einem Waffenstillstand hinreißen ließe, bis die deutsche Schuldenquote wieder unter 60% liegt?

Mir tut jede Dividende im Herzen weh, die sinnlos in das Moloch Staatshaushalt fließt. Was für eine Verschwendung. Davon könnte sich privater Investor am Golf eine, zwei, vier oder noch mehr Jachten kaufen. Ihr CL.

So what? Vor zehn Jahren war die Bundesschuld noch der zweitgrößte Posten mit einem Anteil von 11 Prozent.

Außerdem stirbt der Bürger irgendwann und sollte bis dahin seine Schulden zurückbezahlt haben, der Staat stirbt aber hoffentlich nicht, wobei wenn man sich die immer größerer Zustimmung zur AfD anschaut…

I mean this map/number is just straight up wrong. There might be a point about Mercator projections distorting apparent size away from the equator but in reality the line across Russia is well over 8000 km long not 6400 km.

Can we please stop this eternal debate about the EU becoming a state? I feel like it’s besides the point and only evokes harmful reflexes on all sides. The question should be how to streamline and organize decision making. Who decides on which level about what. As Draghi points out correctly, certain stategic decisions should be made at an EU level. That would be more efficient, more impactful and help Europeans as a whole but it’s not really about “turning the EU into a country”. I get that “the sovereign nation state” has been the single one all-encompassing, all-powerful entity at the heart of political thinking since at least the 17th century but I just feel like it’s no longer necessarily a helpful frame of reference for many developments in the 21st century.

This doesn’t look like a car nor a truck it’s a combat vehicle. Seriously, who’s impressed by Elon’s shooting and steel ball demonstrations? In what kind of failed state do these Tesla customers live? With a tank hull for a frame and sharp edges all around this looks like a serious safety hazard for passengers and especially pedestrians outside the car.

That’s exactly the point many people don’t seem to get. Yes, zoning more land for construction or lowering building cost might help but the key issue is that housing has become a major asset for the rich and especially institutional investors globally. There’s just so much money out there in search of investment opportunities but unlike stocks or Bitcoin housing is a core human need. Coupled with increasing wealth inequality and stagnant wages this is a major problem. When crypto or Nasdaq celebrate new records that’s nice for investors but when the property market goes up and up many people can no longer afford rent.

Privat property investors are part of the problem whether they like it or not. Given these circumstances I find it hard to imagine a solution that doesn’t include massive state intervention in the housing market.

Läuft 👍