Andy

@ andrewrgross @slrpnk.net

Posts

90
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776
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3 yr. ago

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13h ago

Japan eyes adding Japanese proficiency to permanent residency requirements
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Andy @slrpnk.net 13h ago
They wanted to add a test to confirm you're a Japanese supremacist, but realized this test was easier to administer.

13h ago

US sanctions two ICC judges for rejecting Israel's appeal against Gaza investigation

This is nuts.

I'm gonna set this next to "declaring opposition to fascism an FBI flag for investigation" on the shelf of ways to really say the quiet part out loud.

It's particularly wild to me because there's no specific benefit to the US here. Sanctioning them clearly achieves nothing. They're just going on the record as being opposed to the basic concept of war crimes prosecutions.

14h ago

Everyone is so close to grasping your unique vision!

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Andy @slrpnk.net 14h ago

Real

5d ago

Live updates: At least 11 dead in shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach targeting Jewish community, officials say

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Andy @slrpnk.net 5d ago

Yeah, a common them I come back to is cycles of mistreatment: people who were push from their homes pushed people from their homes.

5d ago

Live updates: At least 11 dead in shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach targeting Jewish community, officials say

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Andy @slrpnk.net 5d ago

Chill, man. I'm not here to fight.

I'm also not going trying to white-wash anything. War and tribalism are indeed ancient, and historical echos can certainly be found. But my point is this: the regional conflict between Jews and Muslims is most certainly not a persistent, perpetual, irrational animosity that has stubbornly raged on for millennia. It is true that it is informed by a long cultural relationship. But the violence is modern. It's caused by political forces, and it can be ended by changing those political forces.

Prior to the Zionist movement and the Arab nationalist movement of the twentieth century, Jews and Muslims (and many other groups) cohabitated Israel-Palestine (or Trans-Jordan or whatever you want to call it). They did in fact share the land peacefully in the nineteenth century.

https://www.972mag.com/before-zionism-the-shared-life-of-jews-and-palestinians/

5d ago

Live updates: At least 11 dead in shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach targeting Jewish community, officials say

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Andy @slrpnk.net 5d ago

True. It definitely has a long history. My point though -- as you said -- is that it's really a persistent myth that these people are just oil and water. Their conflict is far more material than that.

It certainly isn't intractable.

5d ago

Live updates: At least 11 dead in shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach targeting Jewish community, officials say

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Andy @slrpnk.net 5d ago

I must politely reject this assessment. There have been decades and centuries of peaceful coexistence. It isn't as though this is a persistent condition.

Prior to 1948, there were a lot of Christians and Jews living in Palestine without major conflict.

The modern ethno-religious tensions are the product of modern political events, not some mystic curse.

7d ago

I used to report from the West Bank. Twenty years after my last visit, I was shocked by how much worse it is today

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Andy @slrpnk.net 7d ago

I think the most important takeaway here is that for those of us in the imperial core, the urgency has never been greater to understand the architecture of power and find the weaknesses in its ediface.

The opportunity (and associated responsibility) to pursue shared liberation is greatest for each of us on in America and Europe.

Divest everything. City governments, schools, business, whatever. My city -- Oakland -- has had great success at this. And each institution that joins the efforts is another crack that will eventually bring end the occupation. We can do it this decade!

We have to have hope enough for ourselves and those with far fewer options.

1w ago

California's cap and trade gets a new name [Cap & Invest] and a new mission beyond cutting carbon pollution

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Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

Alright, I just wasted a bunch of time I should've been working looking into this, and here is the HSRA's most recent report on the subject: https://hsr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Sustainability-Report-2024-FINAL-A11Y-20240916.pdf

From the relevant section, pg 58:

With high-speed rail, the annual GHG emissions reductions are projected to be 0.6 to 3 million MTCO2e. based on 2024 Business Plan ridership models. This reduction is equivalent to the annual carbon emissions associated with the energy use of between 77,000 and 372,000 homes – more than the housing stock of San Jose. The cumulative reductions in well-to-wheels emissions over the first 50 years of operations are projected to be between 29 million and 142 million MTCO2e.

I wish they'd provided a percent reduction in vehicle emissions, but according to another source (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/ghg-inventory-data), in 2023, transportation emissions in California were 137 million metric tons of CO2. The average of the range comes out to around 1.3% of that range.

That's interesting. I wonder what fraction of transit emissions are from passenger travel across the state, vs commercial hauling and inner city traffic. I still think this is an obviously necessary step, but I'm curious what other actions are needed to take care of the other 99% of transit emissions. Perhaps urban public transit and bike infrastructure.

1w ago

California's cap and trade gets a new name [Cap & Invest] and a new mission beyond cutting carbon pollution

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Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

First: fuck this bullshit. This is such a common problem with market-based solutions. I'm a big proponent of them, but you really need to keep politicians from doing this. The goal is phasing out fossil fuels. The money absolutely should be going to projects that fulfill that goal. This is not a piggy bank.

Second:

"While supporters ballyhoo the bullet train as something that would have a major impact on emissions by reducing auto traffic, the High Speed Rail Authority’s own projections indicate that, were it to be fully completed, it would reduce automobile emissions by scarcely 1%. Meanwhile construction actually increases emissions."

This doesn't quite pass the sniff test. You're telling me that if you built a zero-emissions mode of high speed transit along one of the most trafficked routes in the state that there would be no change in emissions? Are the ridership projections zero? Did the model say that for every driver who choses to take the train instead of driving, a new driver will take their place? Is this factoring in the effect on airline emissions from people who train instead of fly? This just sounds like that monologue from Landman where Billy Bob Thorton's character confidently declares a bunch of facts about climate reduction that the writer thought sounded good.

1w ago

Fits surprisingly well

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Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

That was a great ep and this is a great meme

1w ago

What movie trailer was better than the actual movie?

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Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

Holy shit, really?

That is Sony levels of stupid.

1w ago

What movie trailer was better than the actual movie?

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Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

View from the Top.

I saw it when I was in my twenties with a friend because we (two mostly straight guys) thought we were going to see the latest silly Mike Myers movie. And then it turned out that he was barely in it! They just took all his scenes and put them in the trailer! The actual movie was a very dull romcom staring Gwyneth Paltrow and some guy who I don't remember being in the trailer at all.

When it ended, we walked out of the theater and just said to each other 'What the hell was that?'.

Also, I think Shallow Hal kind of falls in this too. I don't recall the trailer being great, but it had to be good enough that it got me to see that terrible movie.

Also, I don't know if this qualifies, but I remember that The Cable Guy staring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick was the first time I saw a movie and realized that a trailer can be misleading. They deliberately promoted it like The Mask and Ace Ventura. I think I was like 12 when I saw it, and it creeped me way the fuck out.

It wouldn't surprise me if it's actually a better movie than people remember, but the misleading promotion was a great way to ensure the movie didn't find its audience.

1w ago

Google

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Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

Please desist

1w ago

Google

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Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

Ulgh.

Blocked

2w ago

My Venezuelan friends say Maduro is a dictator

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Andy @slrpnk.net 2w ago

I feel like a lot of people are missing the obvious conclusion that everyone involved here is awful.

Maduro? Brutal dictator. His domestic opposition? Violent fascists. His international opposition? Absolute war criminals.

It's really sad. My primary opinion is that the US needs to leave Venezuela the fuck alone. If you want democracy in Venezuela, you can't get it through sanctioning the population into starvation if they don't vote the way Chevron tells them to. Did Maduro steal an election? Yes! But his opposition at home and abroad isn't mad that it wasn't fair: they're mad because they think it's bullshit for him to steal it after they stole it first!

Get the fuck out and let them actually decide what they want. The US is the clearly the greatest villain in a story with no obvious good guys.

2w ago

(UK) Schizophrenic neighbour has delusions about my brother and is harassing my entire family almost daily now on purpose, due to his delusions. We all have health problems. Can he be sectioned?

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Andy @slrpnk.net 2w ago

I don't know what your legal remedies are, but my first question is if your neighbor has any family that you could speak to.

I live in the US, but I had a somewhat similar problem with a neighbor. We saw his daughter come by from time to time, so one time we got her attention and shared our phone numbers and explained that we all wanted the same thing: peace and quiet. She was then able to speak to her father and possibly get him to take medication. In any case, things got much better, and when we had issues after that, we didn't go talk to him, we texted her politely to ask that she might do a wellness check and help keep him regulated.