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Manticore

@ Manticore @beehaw.org

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Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Can't let anything go to waste

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  • This trait is so ingrained that anytime an RPG had dialogue to point out what an ass I'm being I surprisedpikachu.jpg IRL

  • Trump to shut down all 8,000 EV charging ports at federal govt buildings

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  • For many of us overseas, this is seen as the US pulling back the curtain, yes. These ideas have been couched rhetoric for decades, mostly from Reagan or even earlier. The current figures just don't know how to be subtle about it. Or perhaps, feel confident enough to believe nobody will stop them.

    This follows with the people. We've seen Americans make excuses for harmful policy for decades already, preoccupied with which individual social tribes to blame. I think many were (or are) hoping this extremity would prompt revolt or rebellion, but are ultimately not surprised that most Americans have simply become even more divided and hostile. Were begging you to stop it. Most of us are already convinced you won't.

    The groundwork to make men/women left/right native/expat worker/boss Chrstian/Muslim etc blame each other for the suffering in their own communities has been laid for a long time and is now self-sustaining and making uniting against class difficult, if not impossible.

    The ridiculous military funding also makes Americans that do want to resist feel too afraid to do so. You were told it would protect you from the other social tribes, but the tribes being blamed were chosen almost exclusively for the elite's financial or global power reasons.

  • What's the worst present you've ever received?

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  • Wooden plaque that had the words "I swear it was clean yesterday." From my dad.

    I'm not one for impractical clutter. And my dad could be very judgemental. Why I would want an ugly handmade plaque that would imply I was messy, lazy, and dishonest about it?

  • (2020) Motorists Break Law To Save Time, Cyclists Break Law To Save Lives, Finds Study

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  • Cyclists break laws to reduce exposure to cars and their drivers. Even walking on a footpath, you're more likely to be killed by a car mounting the curb, or launching from a driveway than anything else. Car drivers are the apex predator of cyclists and pedestrians.

    The reason cyclists avoid stopping is that our vehicles are pedal powered. If we lose all momentum, we take far, FAR longer to execute maneuvers. It means we spend longer in intersections, which are the MOST dangerous place for cyclists to be. Because of the cars.

    And if we stop and wait, we need a far bigger gap than cars do. We cant inject fuel into our legs for a burst of speed. So drivers get impatient waiting for us to go and try to cut in front of us, turn in front of us, take any gaps we could've taken.

    So the recommended action is to 'take the lane' (be in the middle of the lane so cars can't pass us) and then drivers are angry we're in the way and slowing them down and behave recklessly out of spite. Or politeness, sometimes drivers 'help' by stopping in the middle of intersections to create space, which also causes accidents.

    Or we could be on the footpath, which means we now have to go much slower for safety and oh wait the biggest risk IS STILL CARS because drivers forget the footpath exist and launch out driveways at full speed without even looking. Cyclists, mobility scooters, skateboards; all irrelevant to the impatient driver.

    So yeah, all the things that make using a light vehicle safer tend to make heavy vehicle users pissed off. I can do everything right, but if an impatient driver overtakes me in an intersection and collides with me, I'm still the one who ends up in hospital.

    So... yeah. Being a defensive cyclists means minimizing interactions with drivers wherever possible.