Notices by Jack of all trades (jackofalltrades@mas.to)

Ok, Jesus.

"""
“I have said many times that I consider the Russian and Ukrainian people to be one nation. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours,” Putin said.

“There is an old rule: ‘Where a Russian soldier sets foot, that is ours.’” An audience of Russian politicians and business figures responded to the president’s words with applause.
"""

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/putin-ukraine-russia-war-peace-talks-b2774375.html

#Putin #Russia #Ukraine #war

Another perfect headline for my collection.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9vy191rgn1o

#NotTheOnion #ClimateChange #ClimateDiary #COP30

"""
In early April, a Chevron well on a pad near Galeton suffered a “blowout,” and spewed water, chemicals and crude oil uncontrollably for nearly four days. The spill reached an elementary school, roadways, multiple properties, and created an oily sheen in nearby waterways.
"""

https://www.cpr.org/2025/05/15/chevron-oil-spill-clean-up-5-years/

#oil

What a set of headlines, can't get any more dystopian than that. The rich go into vanity trips into space, while the common people down below drown.

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #climate #space #spacex

Oh no, not the oil!

https://globalnews.ca/news/10636678/extreme-weather-oil-and-has-impact-canada/

#Canada #oil #ClimateChange #ClimateDiary #NotTheOnion

Wtf who are these people.

"Seven in 10 hiring managers say that they believe the practice is morally acceptable."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fake-job-listing-ghost-jobs-cbs-news-explains/

#hiring

Look at the Pope going full doomer.

"Unfortunately, we have gotten to a point of no return. It's sad, but that's what it is. Global warming is a serious problem. Climate change at this moment is a road to death."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-urges-action-on-climate-change-its-a-road-to-death/

#pope #PopeFrancis #doomer #doomerism #collapse #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

"How do you lead your daily life and at the same time participate in one of the largest killing machines in the history of mankind?"

Arguably, this is what all of us are doing right now, only the killing is predominantly on the other side of the world and delayed into the future.

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/28/1082564304/billions-of-people-are-in-danger-from-climate-change-u-n-report-warns

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #collapse #holocaust

In the past, countries used fossil fuels to develop, as these happened to be the energy sources available. Now we have renewables, so we can abandon fossil fuels.

Environmental destruction is not inherent to industrial civilization, but is caused by capitalism. The growth imperative is a feature of capitalism and not part of any unchanging human nature.

By adopting a different economic/political system we can resolve all ecological tensions.

Is this story true? How would I know if it is?

@uanrah @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala

That's the thing though: "everyone will be free to decide for themselves" is mostly incompatible with "regulation is dearly needed". You either allow everyone to freely decide or limit (regulate) their behavior in some way.

Today, with scarcely any regulation, people (with the means) are free to choose, and they choose to travel regardless of the environmental damage it causes.

@tobi82 @uanrah @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala

Unfortunately that seems to be the case:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/02/many-europeans-want-climate-action-but-less-so-if-it-changes-their-lifestyle-shows-poll

It's not the minority of "laggards" that doesn't want to change, it's the majority. Democracy is necessary to enact and legitimize these changes, but at the same time it means only small incremental changes are being accepted.

In the words of William Rees: "The politically acceptable is ecologically disastrous, while the ecologically necessary is politically impossible."

I guess that's the last place we haven't exploited yet...

😔

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/05/11/russia-uncovers-oil-and-gas-reserves-british-antarctic/

#Russia #UK #Antarctica #FossilFuels #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateDiary

"Lin’s mother was informed of her death two days later when CCP officials handed her a bill for the bullet used in Lin’s execution."

Goddamn, that's cruel.

https://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/lin-zhao/

#China #history #communism

"""
The destruction of the planet isn't a mistake, isn't a misunderstanding, isn't an accident. It's largely a deliberate process driven by economics and the material reality of the society we live in. Everything that we produce and consume in an industrial civilization is dependent upon the destruction of the planet.
"""
-- Max Wilbert

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #environmentalism #collapse #ClimateDiary

Amazing that this exists:

https://archive.org/details/MagicTheGathering2010Edition

Abandonware made functional on modern systems by hobbyists and freely available on archive.org.

I remember playing this game a lot in my teens. Installed it a few days ago and I'm hooked again.

#mtg #magicthegathering #videogames

"""
Repressive power forces us to do what we don't want to do. Normalizing power, on the other hand, makes us want to do what we have to do anyway. It turns us into people who automatically, by their own will, do what society wishes them to do.

The need to apply [repressive] power implies a failure. A boss who has to threaten employees is not really in control. A boss who is really in control is obeyed without the need for threats.
"""

https://invidious.fdn.fr/watch?v=keLnKbmrW5g

"There cannot be relations of power unless the subjects are free... If there are relations of power throughout every social field it is because there is freedom everywhere." -- Michel Foucault

https://invidious.fdn.fr/watch?v=tTJNOEvCQFY

#philosophy #Foucault #power

I learned a fascinating fact the other day.

It is estimated that during the Roman Empire 20% to 30% of Italy's population were slaves. For the empire as a whole that share was between 10% and 15%.

In these times, even modest Roman households might expect to own two or three slaves.

1/13

Today our global economy does not depend on slavery (albeit it has not been completely eradicated), but has a different, and more invisible, dependence.

Buckminster Fuller called it "energy slaves", to describe a dependence on mostly fossil energy, expressed in energy equivalent of work done by a human worker.

2/13

Take a look at this photo.

In 1860 it took two strong men to carry the rich lady around.

The smallest cars today have about 70 horsepower engines, which is comparable to 200 (yes, two hundred) athletes pushing the car.

4/13