grue

I mean, I am an urban hipster with a cargo bike... or would be, if I were hip. That part of the comment was self-satire. (Also, I did not say anything about it being "impractical!")

As for your first notion, I don't like it either. Now, to be fair, in addition to those farmers markets and "farmers markets" we do also have regular grocery stores that I can also get to by bike. But still, my comment was about factual reality and my actual experience of how it works in my area, and whether I like it or not doesn't change it.

Everybody knows it'd be Sulu wielding the rapier.

That article correctly noted that if they had to wait for an official Administration response on every story, it gives the Administration a de-facto veto by simply being too busy to reply.

This tactic of obstruction deserves more attention.

And thus you explain why they didn't do that.

Trying to sabotage a thing they can't prevent entirely by forcing it to be done in the worst way possible has been a political tactic since forever.

Even if there were police officers directing traffic at intersections, the cars aren’t programmed to recognize & respond to them.

That by itself ought to automatically disqualify any such driverless car for use on public roads.

SpaceX rockets don't have enough ∆V for that.

There are "farmer's markets" and then there are farmer's markets. Riding your cargo bike to the once-a-week market in the urban hipster neighborhood's park to pay $5 for a tomato is not the same thing as driving out to the actual state-run farmer's market and spending $5 for a bushel.

Compare:

https://cfmatl.org/

https://atlanta-state-farmers-market.com/

Not strictly fuckcars material

Yes it is.

I'm also a 'geriatric millennial', but I wasn't in a position to buy until 2009 so my experience was vastly different. I do have some same-age friends who bought in 2007 with stories more similar to yours, though.

Ironically, my mom tried to warn me against buying back then. I would've been absolutely screwed if I'd listened to her.

Folks, check the usernames before downvoting healthy self-reflection.

Principled supporters of things like freedom of speech are called "liberals."

MAGAs, on the other hand, are the truest conservatives we've seen since the NAZIs.

Monarchy/fascism/oppression/maintaining of hierarchy has always been what conservatism has been about. Noises to the contrary have always been lies to hoodwink their marks.

Didn't have to be, though, now did it?
Just the ones in the right place at the right time. You don't need to have an entire organization on board to control and minimize the risks.

And yet now they do anyway, which is a difference, which is my point.

No, knock it off. This level of extreme corruption is not how it's always been, and fuck you for trying to normalize fascism by pretending it was!

Maybe we just get fascism and end up like Russia? Idk.

Stop speaking as if it's a hypothetical. It's here, now, currently happening as we speak. Present tense.

I don't know how many more ways it has to be said to get folks to finally understand...

This was posted in another thread yesterday, and I found it particularly persuasive: https://thompson2026.com/blog/deviancy-signal/

There's a special kind of contempt I reserve for the person who says, "I have nothing to hide." It's not the gentle pity you'd have for the naive. It's the cold, hard anger you hold for a collaborator. Because these people aren't just surrendering their own liberty. They're instead actively forging the chains for the rest of us. They are a threat, and I think it's time they were told so.
...
On a societal scale, this inaction becomes a collective betrayal. The power of the Deviancy Signal is directly proportional to the number of people who live transparently. Every person who refuses to practice privacy adds another gallon of clean, clear water to the state's pool, making any ripple of dissent ... any deviation ... starkly visible. This is not a passive choice. By refusing to help create a chaotic, noisy baseline of universal privacy, you are actively making the system more effective. You are failing to do your part to make the baseline all deviant, and in doing so, you make us all more vulnerable.

Some of my local government boards have been virtual since covid and this sort of thing has occasionally been a problem there, too. I remember one instance where I was scribbling furiously on a piece of paper and holding it up to my camera to stop the chairperson from unjustly censoring me.

The convenience of meeting virtually has been great, but it does have some serious potential drawbacks in terms of maintaining Democratic norms and accountability if the people controlling the software are tyrants. At least in-person, you can stand up and yell at them and they can't do anything about it short of tackling you.

How'd you manage to finish it without it disappearing on you?!

For what offense, you fascist bitch?

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