Loukas (They/Them) 🏳️‍⚧️

🌲MSc at Swedish university of agricultural sciences (Uppsala)

🏥Stockholm psychiatric health: board rep. for Autism Association

Public Key

npub1324pvu8sclj7pqwfen2c022dt68cehll5h7m4pxwcsfe0xs5473qqzu38w

NIP-05 Address

Loukas@mastodon-nu.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsg42skwrcv0e0qs8yue4v849x4aruvmll6tld6sn8vgyuhng22lgspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsu06hm6

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1324pvu8sclj7pqwfen2c022dt68cehll5h7m4pxwcsfe0xs5473qqzu38w

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Last Notes

2024-07-20 07:20:01 UTC

Swedish people I am begging you to remember that 'lust' in English is a very different word to how you use it in Swedish.
I've seen highly-educated people, including authors and CEOs, use it wrongly in front of English audiences.
My theory is these people are so important no one around them has dared to correct them.

2024-07-14 09:43:40 UTC

Something that's interesting about BlueSky and Mastodon is a lot of us are stuck in our twitter behaviour. When you have a potential audience of 100m including most politicians and corporations then yelling is sometimes a useful political activity.
When you're in a small forum with thousands of people who mostly share your views already then different kinds of activity are the useful ones.

2024-07-08 05:18:44 UTC

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The survival of democracy, even the most compromised and problematic democracy, is simply not a priority for the controllers of capital.
Their power is literally dictatorial because it is regulated as ownership, and they seek to extend their own absolutist form of power as far as possible.

2024-07-08 05:14:57 UTC

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'"Markets won't like a far-left government having a say," said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.'

2024-07-08 05:13:17 UTC

The fact that 'French political gridlock' is the mainstream news angle on the result isn't really about journalists being ideologically in favour of fascism.
It's simply that this angle is what the 'markets' take.
And 'the markets' is our name for the controllers of capital.
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/euro-eases-on-french-poll-gridlock-dollar-sluggish-after-us-payrolls/ar-BB1pzE40

2024-06-08 09:47:17 UTC

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@npub1067…fdvg Next pledge is to reverse the result of d-day

2024-06-05 17:08:26 UTC

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@npub1pcr…tq84 ironically "gentle reminder" is an even higher level of aggression

2024-06-05 16:41:31 UTC

"Friendly reminder" is now an unfriendly thing to say.

2024-03-03 04:42:21 UTC

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@npub1580…yj0z that side-eye is so memable.

2023-10-25 15:30:48 UTC

Etymology makes language learning so much easier for me.
When I strip away the layers and see that German 'gleich' is basically just Swedish 'lik' wearing a *big fur coat*, it's suddenly super-clear how, for example , 'gleichartigen' is the same word as 'likartad'.

2023-10-25 07:54:24 UTC

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@npub16x8…8j53 maybe rather than this being their latest statement they are publishing a new translation of an older text. The fact he says October is 100 years old makes me think it's an older text, and if this is the author then i doubt he's a member of their collective, rather they are likely making his work available https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Karasu

2023-10-07 10:58:41 UTC

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@npub1qfp…2xdk I'm talking about how it doesn't match how I feel and identity. Not about the aesthetics per se.

2023-09-28 11:28:37 UTC

I'm not aiming this at anyone in particular, but if you want to help someone who's having a bad time, especially who's depressed, try to find another way of helping instead of saying "is there anything I can do to help?"
That offer seems helpful but it means the person who is suffering now has a new task: finding you something to do.
Instead think of a way you can help and offer that.
It takes the burden onto yourself, and crucially it shows what level of help you actually mean.

2023-09-23 15:38:03 UTC

I've set up a Medium blog where I'll be collecting all my work regarding Tolkien and Lord of the Rings.
If you can help by following and reading the articles I think that helps, and would be appreciated :)
https://medium.com/@astarshines
#Tolkien #LordofTheRings #writing #medium

2023-09-22 05:46:55 UTC

Swedish companies and industry associations have discussed their future pricing plans to such an extent that it means they are not competing enough to offer low prices, says a state watchdog. https://officiell-info.se/@sr_ekot/111107206841830979

2023-09-21 12:52:43 UTC

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@npub1rhg…rm9l from how long ago is the skeleton?

2023-09-19 08:06:20 UTC

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🧵 Likewise, it's ok to be vague. Journalists and the general public don't need to know the specific type of rock, ice or cloud you're talking about. They don't even need to know your exact title or specialisation.

2023-09-19 08:05:15 UTC

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🧵 It's ok to leave stuff out. Your science colleagues and Reviewer 2 may need you to be exhaustively detailed, but if you already know your research is peer-reviewed and solid you can leave out lots of what would be essential info.

2023-09-19 08:03:49 UTC

I'm challenging myself to summarise climate science articles and papers in a very short format - around the length of a Mastodon post.
Link me your research if you want me to demonstrate.
My aim is a summary that speaks to journalists and the general public.
🧵 These are my tips:

2023-09-19 06:38:21 UTC

Europeans boasting about how their cities were built before cars were invented - listen, when Damascus and Jericho were built, *horses* weren't invented.

2023-09-18 11:57:29 UTC

I've applied for a couple of jobs and done some other work so now I'm going to read the journal of the Swedish tourism association for 1942-43.

2023-09-15 17:39:18 UTC

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@npub10l3…ht5s yes it's absolutely bloodcurdling.

2023-09-15 17:38:50 UTC

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@npub12u7…wtsg @npub1ezx…74mr that's an interesting point, that AV might change how politicians feel about the threshold for striking out on their own, as several did over the last 10 years but disappeared.

2023-09-15 14:25:35 UTC

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@npub1pkm…khar
https://media.mastodon.nu/media_attachments/files/111/069/620/189/512/881/original/3badecae25afa7a6.mp4

2023-09-15 14:22:27 UTC

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@npub1pkm…khar "you cook food, why don't you want to shove a carrot up my ass?"

2023-09-15 14:06:54 UTC

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@npub1xev…cgy3 if I had to choose just one of those options I'd say the politicians.

2023-09-15 14:01:11 UTC

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@npub1xev…cgy3 yes, that's what inspired my post.

2023-09-15 13:57:38 UTC

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@npub12se…mw80 thank you for explaining.

2023-09-15 12:54:03 UTC

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@npub1ezx…74mr it's interesting how in countries with only a few parties the shifts happen within parties, while in countries with PR it tends to happen between parties.

2023-09-15 12:29:59 UTC

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@npub12se…mw80 thousands of people are being murdered, so it certainly seems real.

2023-09-15 10:59:07 UTC

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@npub1ehj…68hn yes Denmark is an interesting case. Is the total DF/Stram kurs vote shrinking or is the far-right just fragmented.

2023-09-15 06:32:45 UTC

The normalisation of the extreme-right by the centre-right in Sweden went like this.
- we will never work with them.
- we happened to vote the same way as them.
- since we know they also like this policy, we will propose it. But we are not working with them!
- our policies are based on extreme-right support so it makes sense to talk to them
- a local council will be run with extreme-right support. But never nationally!
- YOLO national government with extreme right support, it's normal now

2023-09-14 15:07:22 UTC

In medieval England the nobility was mostly made up of the king's drinking buddies. If they had enough bladder control all night long they would eventually be granted permission to relieve themselves, hence the title 'peer of the realm.'

2023-09-10 16:55:59 UTC

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@npub1zsw…e5uk @npub1hyk…3p33 now you've set me off, and I'm going to have to think of the (small) number of SF books that mention unions positively.
I'll start with The Syndic, by Cyril Kornbluth and the Star Fraction series by Ken McLeod.

2023-09-10 09:01:21 UTC

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@npub1ck2…a7y7 jag förstår, men när alla 'sakfel' går i riktningen som stödjer tesen som han får betalt att föra, då kommer jag inte utgå från att det är slarv. Om han börjar göra sakfel som missgynnar honom och hans argument kan man prata om att han tappar greppet:)

2023-09-10 08:40:26 UTC

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@npub1ck2…a7y7 men de är inte sakfel, de är, som du påpekar, en etablerad del av hans politisk diskurs.

2023-09-10 08:31:20 UTC

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@npub1ck2…a7y7 han vet exakt vad han gör. Han är pr-proffs.

2023-09-05 11:54:30 UTC

The woke mind virus is so common in Sweden that almost every single public door here has the word 'drag' on it.

2023-09-04 14:54:18 UTC

Only buy books about mushroom foraging if they have pictures of people with 5 fingers on each hand on the cover.

2023-09-04 13:27:29 UTC

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@npub1a4d…v7ds it's interesting to see the process. Often people keep one aspect of their personality but switch it into a different version. For example I know anarchists who have become effectively far-right, because they have pivoted on the 'owning the libs' angle into supporting whoever owns them the hardest.

2023-09-04 13:22:07 UTC

Me watching my fellow generation-Xers become increasingly grumpy and intolerant of younger people.
https://media.mastodon.nu/media_attachments/files/111/007/079/254/930/202/original/f861ef8a77ba06c9.jpg

2023-09-04 12:50:15 UTC

Me avoiding Baldur's Gate and Starfield spoilers while I save up for a computer that can run them.
https://media.mastodon.nu/media_attachments/files/111/006/956/961/287/902/original/96734ea4b9f39d32.mp4

2023-09-04 05:44:41 UTC

My daughter drew the cats as a birthday present. Miso is the hunter, Piccolo is the longboi.
https://media.mastodon.nu/media_attachments/files/111/005/284/060/012/104/original/5bbf19d1115ffe1f.jpg

2023-08-31 14:23:34 UTC

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@npub19h7…765n
It's very much connected to racism. Sweden has become very segregated because of policies since the 1990s which widened the gap between rich and poor, so often the official world is a white world and doesn't have good ways of reaching the areas where the violence is happening. And Sweden has evolved a society based on norms and soft power so the police don't have the toolbox that exists in other countries. To make a crude description.

2023-08-31 10:59:15 UTC

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@npub1vcy…gzn8 oh no! Do you have covid?

2023-08-31 07:15:21 UTC

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@npub1ctz…zyq5 @npub1fyr…nfva I feel like it would be malpractise to recommend any one news source to trust, I'm afraid. This is why Twitter was so good for news, because you could trust accounts and individuals rather than institutions. If you hope for any one editorial body to give you all you need you'll always have major data problems.

2023-08-31 06:55:39 UTC

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@npub1fyr…nfva he's giving you the inside story. Unpublished polling! So much journalism.

2023-08-31 06:51:15 UTC

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@npub1fyr…nfva no no you don't understand. This is Mark Pursey. Mark! Would he lie to you? His name isnt something unfamiliar like Bongo.
https://media.mastodon.nu/media_attachments/files/110/982/898/844/219/906/original/2a0c6313f0f5ffba.png

2023-08-31 06:44:52 UTC

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@npub1fyr…nfva My journalist analysis - someone just had a very nice London lunch with "Mark Pursey, the chief executive of BTP Advisers".
The entire story is just a write-up of a press release by them, and a diplomatic editor doesn't just write up what arrives in their inbox, rather there has to be something extra to get them to bite.

2023-08-29 18:34:17 UTC

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@npub126t…czfr hjälte!

2023-08-29 10:25:10 UTC

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@npub190w…3ser very excited to hear your podcast, thank you!

2023-08-28 17:21:09 UTC

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Etymology. Not even once.

2023-08-28 17:20:57 UTC

1. Get annoyed by someone using the 'wrong word' in English.
2. Look up the right word.
3. See that it derives from exactly the same root as the 'wrong' word.
4. See that British newspapers just made an artificial division between the words in like 1927... or some English person translated the exact same Low German word two slightly different ways in 1703 for no reason at all.
5. Give up seeing them as wrong and right words.

2023-08-28 12:27:40 UTC

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@npub16qp…uyt7 thank you, that's really interesting! So it would depend on the right kind of rock being available.

2023-08-28 11:40:38 UTC

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@npub1cjx…z842 I'm not talking about an orderly transition to a non-car transport system, I'm talking about the chaotic end of those systems with very little else to replace them. Which is why we need to try to get ready for them as much as possible.

2023-08-28 11:03:07 UTC

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@npub1v2v…c84u @npub15fa…wrwc ja precis. Och även om det är svårt att förutspå kan man sätta rimliga gränser genom att ha koll på de konkreta krav. Som till ex höjder precis som du säger

2023-08-28 10:46:36 UTC

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@npub15fa…wrwc yes, I'm thinking vegetation would have increased quite aggressively and maybe even transformed parts of the tundra swamp to forest, or at least be growing far higher than the current tree line.
I don't know about hydrogen, doesn't it need a lot of infrastructure and energy? Something like pumping water to use as a hydro 'battery' seems more likely.

2023-08-28 09:32:55 UTC

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🧵 Energy would be a major issue. I'm imagining a largely electrified system. No solar power during the long winter, so it would have to be wind.
Could a post-industrial society manage to keep producing and recycling enough copper wire and magnets to keep this going?
Possibly with some energy inputs from timber that would grow further south.

2023-08-28 09:31:02 UTC

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🧵My story also imagines global heating of something over 3 degrees. Does this mean Arctic summers would often be over 40 degrees centigrade? And with chaotic storms from a moisture-heavy weather system?
The civilizations might need to have deep shelters for the summer, and rise to the surface during winters in that case.

2023-08-28 09:28:03 UTC

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🧵So my main questions are about what the ecology of a melted Arctic would look like.
Would the coasts all be swampy melted post-tundra?
I'm thinking the societies will need to intensively farm the seas in order to produce enough food, because the local soils are not rich enough?

2023-08-28 09:26:28 UTC

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🧵The basic idea for my story is that it is 1,000 years in the future. The Arctic has melted into an ice-free sea and most of the Greenland shelf has melted.
Human civilizations cluster around the Arctic coast in a way that resembles how they formed around the Mediterranean 5,000 years ago.

2023-08-28 09:24:51 UTC

🧵 I have an idea for a science fiction story, but it needs to be based on solid facts about ecosystems.
I'll pin this thread and update it as I find out more.
If you know about climate change, ecology and related systems I'd be happy for your contribution.

2023-08-26 12:46:07 UTC

Autistic authors writing neurotypical characters:
"They were the kind of person who read between the lines without even knowing the lines were there.
A natural smile played on the face of their un-headphoned head, and they functioned executively down the stairs."

2023-08-25 11:12:16 UTC

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@npub1ex3…c58j congratulations on 30 years. And did you bring a little Scotland to that corner of a foreign field?

2023-08-25 09:42:27 UTC

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@npub18ue…x887 I don't understand your question. Politics happens all the time, not just during elections. She exceeded her powers because she actually thought the fake policy could be framed as a real policy, and was quickly reeled in.

2023-08-25 09:23:13 UTC

Sweden's right-far-right government, which was elected promising to build up nuclear power very aggressively, has deleted a recent press release where a minister promised to build more, and the role of nuclear in the future energy mix of Sweden is "unclear" says an official.
In other words, even with the best will in the world, the role of nuclear was as a piece of culture war to win an election and no one actually thinks nuclear is feasible. https://mastodon.nu/@intichavezperez/110949502359183925

2023-08-25 04:38:37 UTC

Ok it's 0637 in Sweden and I've already seen more Trump mugshots than I wanted to.

2023-08-24 16:24:09 UTC

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That suggests to me that if remaining Wagner do mount any rebellions it'll be later, after their absorption, rather than in the next few days. And that any rebellions will be over bread-and-butter issues, like a lack of equipment or feeling mistreated by superiors, rather than ideology or revenge per se.

2023-08-24 16:21:17 UTC

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So on the one hand that means a lot of the remaining Wagner main officers will be military craftsmen, rather than the blend of diplomat and politician and administrator that western senior officers are.
This means they may find it hard to organise what is basically a political task - an opposition to being absorbed into regular forces, or another PMC.
But this also means they'll likely be hard to force into the underlying role that the regular forces would expect them to play.

2023-08-24 16:18:48 UTC

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The major takeaway from this is how Wagner is different from the regular Russian forces. Firstly, they actually have a meritocracy and relatively little corruption, because they are a results-based organisation. Secondly they have a lot of veteran commanders low down in the ranks - and as a corollary to this they actually have mission command, allowing these experienced unit officers to have a large degree of autonomy.

2023-08-24 16:13:01 UTC

We have a Prigorzin podcast! Featuring Rob Lee, who is Michael Kofman's representative on Earth, at least. https://mastodon.acc.sunet.se/@toxy/110944802510532510

2023-08-21 14:52:57 UTC

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@npub192z…y8qt nooo

2023-08-21 11:11:07 UTC

Who else can get today's https://framed.wtf/ in one clue?

2023-08-21 10:40:50 UTC

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@npub1cnz…fezh
Yes, I think there should be a kind of pay-what-you-can-afford expectation.
Although I don't know whether that would be enough to actually pay a living wage to people doing the work, so we may have to see voluntary labour as the basis for a long time.
Even though I've been unemployed I've not cancelled my subscription, since I think it's one of the few essentials.

2023-08-21 06:19:04 UTC

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🧵 I think so far we've seen proof that Mastodon is good for people who care about building alternatives, and who don't want to be under corporate control.
I think it's also god for scientists.
Since EU governments have created a presence here I think we can also conclude Mastodon is good for those who want to work within the EU legal framework for data and social media, and similar models.

2023-08-21 06:17:13 UTC

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🧵 What do you think Mastodon is really good at?
I'll say what I think below, but I'll leave this as a basic question, in order to not colour the responses.

2023-08-21 06:16:18 UTC

🧵 Few accounts are signing up to Mastodon, despite the constant stream of apocalyptic announcements coming from Twitter.
I think this indicates that we're in a period of consolidating what we've built so far, rather than seeing lots of new people arrive.
Season One of Mastodon is over. The cast is established and most of the major plot lines are here. So where do we go?

2023-08-18 08:03:38 UTC

So 'Beautiful anarchkitty' keeps on following and unfollowing me in an attempt to get me to follow back. Lots of other people say the account does the same to them. I'll be blocking it and advise it to change its ways.
@npub1g2d…83a0

2023-08-17 16:44:21 UTC

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@npub1hwr…dsgk
I think that's exactly what's needed!
And I think it's needed, not so much because it will directly cause people who attend to sign up, but because events like these, where established social actors talk about innovative and radical paths like Mastodon as normal things, are what make choosing these paths 'normal' and raise their social legitimacy and hence lower the threshold for people to start or reactivate accounts.

2023-08-16 19:09:15 UTC

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@npub192z…y8qt is it a reboot?

2023-08-16 18:36:32 UTC

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@npub1ezx…74mr @npub16qp…uyt7 @npub17qm…uz8c absolutely. They thought the means justified the ends and we need to learn the lesson that the means and the ends are the same.

2023-08-16 18:27:07 UTC

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@npub1ezx…74mr @npub16qp…uyt7 @npub17qm…uz8c yes, and he explicitly went against Marx by claiming the countryside was already thoroughly capitalist, in order to justify this.

2023-08-16 16:05:47 UTC

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@npub1d7j…u8xc @npub17qm…uz8c @npub1ezx…74mr As an aside, let's remember the tragic period in the history of Chinese Communism where they tried to do Marxist-Leninism by the book, through organising the progressive working class TM, and got slaughtered by the fascists of the Kuomintang for about ten years until this Mao guy said, hey just saying, the peasants are 99.99999% of this country, maybe we should talk to them or nah?

2023-08-16 15:49:37 UTC

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@npub16qp…uyt7 @npub1ezx…74mr @npub17qm…uz8c he tentatively goes against it in this one special case - although he doesn't make this into a general rule, and admits he doesn't know enough about Russia to be sure even in this case.
But yes, things like this are why we need to have a more weird and multifaceted view of the original Marx.

2023-08-16 15:42:28 UTC

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@npub17qm…uz8c @npub1d7j…u8xc @npub1ezx…74mr a survey of the historical data of 1000 years of peasant life shows a more mixed picture:)

2023-08-16 14:47:47 UTC

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@npub1d7j…u8xc @npub17qm…uz8c @npub1ezx…74mr
aaaaahahaha. Which ones?
Did you know that in William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's The Difference Engine they have Marx leading a Paris-style commune of Manhattan? Maybe they were inspired by this source material you mentioned.

2023-08-16 14:20:48 UTC

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@npub17qm…uz8c @npub1ezx…74mr
aaaahahaha omg what trash!
Mind you, Marx hated peasants and was glad that capitalism was sweeping them away and destroying what he called "the idiocy of rural life." So I'm afraid that may have been authentic karlism ;)

2023-08-16 14:09:39 UTC

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@npub1aq2…4nfw taking up a bold but risky 'non-treason' stance, let's see how it goes.

2023-08-16 13:59:57 UTC

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@npub17qm…uz8c @npub1ezx…74mr often the more small and culty the little groups got, the cruder their marxism becomes, because it is more closed off from a living connection to class struggle.

2023-08-16 13:16:28 UTC

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@npub17qm…uz8c @npub1ezx…74mr the idea of a logical progression to history is more basic than stagism, and is baked into Marxism via his inheritance from Hegel.

2023-08-16 13:14:44 UTC

People think I'm swearing by saying 'heckitty' but really I'm swearing by Hecate, goddess of herbs and poisonous plants, graves, ghosts, necromancy and sorcery.

2023-08-16 09:47:43 UTC

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@npub1txj…vj0d I think knowing why you're depressed is so crucial. Being depressed because of autistic burnout and overload is so different to being depressed because of other factors. So your current medication may not be helping you towards where you want to be.
For me the major gains from my autism diagnosis came from changing my lifestyle and how I saw myself based on self-diagnosis. I would be happy to try to help you get those benefits.
For the adhd diagnosis the medicine helps though:)

2023-08-16 09:38:03 UTC

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@npub1hlv…qdhz
The article still describes it as a Tinder for jobs though:) I agree that we need a single European labour market and totally free migration, but talking in terms of swiping makes me think the real challenge is not being taken seriously, I'm afraid.

2023-08-16 09:25:06 UTC

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@npub1hlv…qdhz suggesting solving a problem with an EU-wide tinder for jobs seems like an example of too much faith in technology.

2023-08-16 08:48:45 UTC

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@npub1hlv…qdhz this sounds too much like a 'disruptive' solution based on deregulation and belief in technology, to me.

2023-08-16 08:39:51 UTC

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@npub17qm…uz8c @npub1ezx…74mr he definitely channeled and codified and crystallised wider forms of thinking and ideas, and opposition to Marxism is often used to discredit those wider forms of thinking.

2023-08-16 06:42:53 UTC

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@npub1an2…lat3 @npub1qg4…augv maybe now I'm misunderstanding, but I think moderation is the core of a social network. No moderation, no platform. Certainly not one that abides by the very basic standards of the Mastodon covenant.

2023-08-16 04:48:21 UTC

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@npub1txj…vj0d I never saw the anime, I only know the memes, so I'm all out of material now I'm afraid.

2023-08-16 04:45:38 UTC

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@npub1txj…vj0d There is no war in Ba Sing Se, as the pope said to Galileo.

2023-08-15 16:34:20 UTC

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@npub1nr8…zsxv But migrants don't get financial support in European countries. The fact that people think they do is simply a political cultural problem, and a part of the problem that I am pointing out here as needing to change.