[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 32 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Why are people mostly silent about this shit?

Please, please, please start spreading this awareness with everybody you know!

From the article:

The agency also announced plans to relax a rule requiring companies to report all products containing PFAS and has proposed weakening drinking water standards for the chemicals.

So they are deliberately trying to cover up the pollution crisis in the US.

https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/

We test for, regulate, and monitor about 100 chemicals in our water. There are many, many thousands of chemicals that could be present in our water and harming our health.

Related:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/18/california-pfas-forever-chemicals

https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2025/01/forever-chemicals-sludge-may-taint-nearly-70-million-farmland-acres

[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 35 points 1 month ago

It’s likely in everybody’s best interest that this is a wild success. Not only will game developers be incentivized to actually optimize their games for reasonable setups; this will unseat Nvidia’s monopoly over gamers with their ridiculously overpriced graphics cards and also Microsoft’s monopoly of a gamer’s operating system.

Nvidia’s partnership with Palantir is incredibly concerning and any blow to Nvidia is a welcome one. Encourage these developments and hype this all up.

[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 36 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's likely in everybody's best interest that this is a wild success. Not only will game developers be incentivized to actually optimize their games for reasonable setups; this will unseat Nvidia's monopoly over gamers with their ridiculously overpriced graphics cards and also Microsoft's monopoly of a gamer's operating system.

Nvidia's partnership with Palantir is incredibly concerning and any blow to Nvidia is a welcome one. Encourage these developments and hype this all up.

[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 33 points 1 month ago

a legitimate new business

Interesting framing by Futurism.

[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 30 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

name one bad thing about it.

Okay, the wages and working conditions of plantation workers (modern slaves). The cost of bananas in first-world countries is ridiculously low, and is demeaning to those who work hard to enable this privilege for us.

[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 39 points 2 months ago

Bluesky, which they view as more useful, welcoming, and aligned with their goals.

For now, maybe.

[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 37 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I usually do my best to have substantive layman takes on topics like these, but truly, fuck the economy - the AI bubble bursting will solve nothing for regular people.

[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 36 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yeah, let's just ignore the right-wing think tanks, the majority of conservative/MAGA influencers who aren't on Russia's payroll, and right-wing "news" organizations. It's totally just Russia and not right-wingers trying to destroy the country to grab all the power for themselves...

[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 35 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I doubt they 1) pay well 2) have decent working conditions 3) are looking very hard 4) want Americans at all - instead wanting H-2A workers to replace the undocumented immigrants they are used to exploiting.

[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 33 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

So, all Android users are more vulnerable to commercial exploit companies and governments (especially those on custom ROMs like GrapheneOS)?

If these exploit companies continue to stay in business and thrive, it really says a lot about Google's security. In contrast to my perspective, there isn't a thread where people aren't talking up how good Google's security is, no matter how relevant it is to the discussion.

I don't really care how much Google spends on security, how many people they employ - if people are making a business out of exploiting their operating system... their security must really fucking suck.

[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 32 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Playing the blame game and shaming people isn't going to suddenly motivate or inspire anybody to do better.

Advancing discourse and raising the consciousness of others on a decentralized platform is doing something, especially in a landscape where public discourse is regularly stunted and manipulated on centralized platforms.

Shit-slinging only makes a mess, but so often that is where discourse goes on most platforms. And to what end? So people can get more hateful and angry? So we can cry ourselves to sleep more frequently because of the state of the world and our collective learned helplessness?

I see people forging more productive discussions and healthy communities on the fediverse and I'm certain there is immense value in that.

You don't recognize that as enough, which is fine, but instead of blaming and shaming others for what you perceive as inaction, I'd suggest including a direct call to action in your postings - if you feel it is relevant to the discussion you are participating in. Bonus points if it is actionable for a wide audience. Or don't, your choice - no judgement here.

[-] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 31 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Maybe there would be more than Side A and Side B if we had voting reform and Democrats didn't systematically sue third-parties off the ballot.

People (not just authoritarians) criticize Side A because they have way more tallies than most have been led to believe. Everybody who pays any amount of attention knows that Side B has a lot of tallies. What good comes out of specifically pointing out the tallies of Side B when literally everybody on non-conservative social media is blasted with the knowledge of those tallies? If you want somebody to preach to the choir or inform you about Side B's tallies, just ask. If you think people paying attention to or being informed about Side A's tallies is dangerous and harmful, just say so.

Side A tolerates third-world exploitation (labor, resources, goods) that the US economy still relies on, they tolerate the US economy still relying on slavery and child slavery, they tolerate or support US imperialism and regime change, they refuse to address or come up with solutions for the fresh water crisis (by 2030, demand will exceed supply by 40%), they refuse to properly address many issues that the US people face (the economy, the housing crisis, the health care crisis, etc.), they support harmful policies like fracking, they have allowed corporations/et. al to go out of control under their power, and they generally have not advocated for strong regulation and protections for the American people. Yes, Side B is undesirable, but Side A is insufficient.

If Side A's hands are always tied in a two-party system, then they should impeach the bad actor, push voting/election reform and term limits, and hold fair and democratic primaries and elections. Side A not propping up extreme right-wing candidates (like Trump) and telling the media to take them seriously would be nice, too.

1/3 of Americans don't vote and plenty of people only voted Kamala because they didn't want Trump (and there are other factors than Gaza, misogyny, and Jill Stein voters at play to explain why people didn't come out to vote for her). Plenty of people probably don't want Trump (or anybody like him) if they've been paying any attention and didn't fall for the propaganda.

Side A would get bonus points for not alienating progressives, for supporting the loosening of requirements for ballot access (and stop engaging in lawfare to restrict ballot access), and for supporting fair and inclusive debates on public property where they would have to address perspectives and topics that are potentially uncomfortable or inconvenient for them.

I realize there are plenty of unserious actors who run for president (like Kayne West) who would try their best to poison open debates and abuse expanded ballot access, but there has to be some fair mechanism to filter (openly racist and insane) people like him out. Perhaps a competency test of sorts with independent observation would be appropriate.

And I realize a lot of people find Jill Stein to be harmful (and individuals like her), but maybe we shouldn't arrest her (or any other presidential candidate) and put her in a black site, shackling her to a chair for 8 hours, because she wanted to be present at the presidential debate?

This is an unprecedented time for the American people, with human rights and due process in jeopardy. We are facing multiple serious crises with no solutions or progress in sight - voting and election reform, in addition to term limits, are all urgent and necessary.

I don't care if you want to vote for Side A no matter what — we can only suppress criticism and stay in denial of major issues for so long before (e.g.) the fresh water crisis hits us and humanity is completely and utterly unprepared.

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M1ch431

joined 11 months ago