Notices by Strypey (strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz), page 2

Something just clicked for me. Racism is about ethnicity not nationality.

Let me unpack that a bit ...

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#racism

Lithium ion batteries can be a fire risk, yes. But cheap ones in household devices (phones, charging packs, *toys*) are much riskier than the ones in EVs, according to Colin Peacock;

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mediawatch?share=0fc8e854-476a-4b94-a849-ecfac17b8e35

Lithium ion EV batteries are probably no riskier than a tank of extremely explosive fuel. Certainly not risky enough to justify a regressive crusade against EVs in general, which these days may have nonexplosive sodium ion batteries.

#podcasts #RNZ #MediaWatch #EVs #batteries #SodiumIon

Me:
> Lithium ion EV batteries are probably no riskier than a tank of extremely explosive fuel

I stand corrected;

"... we're talking about more than an order of magnitude less risk, so at least 20 times less risk associated with EVs than conventional cars."

#DrTroyBailsden, Co-President, NZ Association of Scientists, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mediawatch?share=0fc8e854-476a-4b94-a849-ecfac17b8e35

@tim

"If you go to Google and type in 'seabirds affected by light pollution', 3 or 4 years ago you would have been directed to our site with an organic link.

Today you get presented with an AI answer that occupies the top thirds of the page, the rest is sponsored links. There might be 1 or 2 organic links at the bottom, or else you're on page 2. And tell me the last time anyone clicked on page 2 of Google."

#JamesFrankham, publisher, #NZGeographic, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mediawatch?share=0fc8e854-476a-4b94-a849-ecfac17b8e35

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#Google

It's been well over a decade since I stopped using Goggle for web search, for reasons of principle. Everything I've heard about its enshittification since has supported that decision. But this description of the horrifying UX facing people these days takes the cake.

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@jackyan
> But in normal circumstances, it hasn’t been my default since 2010

I don't have a clear date in memory I when I abandoned Goggle Search as I do for FarceBook, because I wrote a blog post about that at the time. But it was probably around that same time, not long after.

I remember noticing the enshittification start to kick in hard around the time Goggle turned off federation in GChat and replaced it with Hangouts, which was in 2013;

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/google-abandons-open-standards-instant-messaging

@jackyan
> I remember having Google Buzz forced on us

Buzz or Goggle+? I remember thinking the One Ring to Rule Them All approach G+ involved was profoundly regressive step, pretty obviously done to ape FarceBook.

@jackyan
> Definitely Buzz, 2011

I think we're talking about the same thing using different nouns.

Goggle+ was their attempt to compete with FarceBook (primarily), and doing that involved aping the way they combined all their features under a single login. The integration of Buzz and every other Goggle app that existed at that time was all part of that strategy, and 2011 was when it all rolled out.

@BowsacNoodle
> there hasn’t been a deliberate attempt to break up European (White) countries through mass immigration

No, there hasn't. There's not a single piece of evidence to support this obvious nonsense. There's more evidence for the Loch Ness Monster than for the Great Replacement. It's the racial equivalent of flat earthism.

If you believe this nonsense, I have a harbour bridge you may be interested in buying. Also, would you like to invest in my new crypto coin?

@k0nd0r

If you're interested in the history of big demographic changes, you could learn about the period called the "Age of Exploration". A euphemism for despotic, theocratic empires - mostly but not exclusively European - sending out huge numbers of people to invade other people's countries - mostly but not exclusively brown people - and kill or enslave them.

This is the real Great Replacement, of brown people in their own countries (eg the US, OZ and NZ) by Europeans. Read a book.

@BowsacNoodle

"The short version is that YouTube used AI to 'enhance' the videos of Rick Beato and Rhett Shull. YouTube used an AI smoothing filter that made the videos look like they were AI generated, and didn’t tell Beato, Shull, or their viewers that they were doing it. They only admitted to it after the two made videos proving it happened, later claiming it was only a 'limited test'.”

https://joshgriffiths.site/youtube-is-awful-im-not-posting-there-anymore/

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#YouTube #MOLE #AI #enshittification

"These viruses have unstable boundaries, so many biologists call them “mutant swarms” or “clouds.” Since swarms and clouds constantly change shape, perhaps researchers are warranted in using fuzzy language as they talk about COVID-19 and the SARS-CoV-2 quasi-species."

#EbenKirksey, 2020

https://doi.org/10.1080/19428200.2020.1760631

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"Both influenza and corona are RNA viruses; consequently they have a higher mutation rate than DNA viruses, which have a 'proof-reading ability' to find and repair damaged genetic material. 'RNA viruses copy themselves unfaithfully', writes Lowe, 'making difficult the determination of any original form as well as precise foreknowledge about future forms; the copy is unfaithful to the original'.”

#EbenKirksey, 2020

https://doi.org/10.1080/19428200.2020.1760631

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#viruses #flu #COVID19

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@CatherineOrganic1
> I imagine could be engaged through the GE disregulation their government is trying to force down kiwis throats

I imagine I could. Considering I was an active supporter of the GE Free movement through the late 1990s and early 2000s. Leading to the very world-leading HASNO Act that NatACT First are now trying to dismantle. GM tech needs to become like nuclear tech; strong bipartisan consensus against it, political suicide to deregulate.

@jjcouey @k0nd0r @pmcdunnough

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The vaccine thing is ... more complicated than that. I'm interested in what the evidence says. What I've seen so far doesn't supports a hard pro nor anti position.

I'm in favour of excluding vaccines from the drug patent system (or scrapping it entirely), and de-corporatising all vaccine research and production. That would remove any perverse incentives to push unnecessary or unsafe vaccines, and make all research on them fully open access. See also;

https://senseaboutscience.org/alltrials/

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@CatherineOrganic1
> Patent law in medicine means good medicines are dumped for the new and unproven

Indeed. Also there's a powerful incentive to fund research into novel chemicals or equipment that might get patents. But little or no incentive to research generic plant medicines, or non-medicinal treatments, which probably won't. Even where there's good reason to believe they might be more effective and cheaper to provide.

#patents #DrugPatents

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Antidepressants are a great example. Every 20 years or so the dominant Antidepressants starts to be loudly criticised over safety or efficacy, and dumped. In favour of new, freshly patented drugs.

Meanwhile, vitamin D is a very effective treatment in some cases, especially for seasonal depression. But it remains chronically understudied. So not subsidised by public health systems, while novel pharmaceutical antidepressants are, despite significant evidence of harm in many cases.

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@CatherineOrganic1
> breaking down the science of modified RNA toxicity and its inappropriate use as a 'vaccine' when it is at best a transfection

I'm not sure what this means. Care to expand?

But from your link;

"Dr. James Wilson, the lead investigator, owned stock in Genovo, the company developing the therapy, and stood to gain millions if the therapy was successful."

A classic example of the perverse incentives created by the commercialisation of biological and medical research.

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@CatherineOrganic1
> The alltrials transparency push looks good but again rules without enforcement mean nothing

The original AllTrials campaign, started by Dr Ben Goldacre, pushed for drug regulators like the FDA to ignore studies that were not registered before they began. Preventing companies from running dozens of studies behind closed doors, cherry-picking ones that make their products look good for publication and presentation to regulators. Very enforceable.

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@CatherineOrganic1
> definitely not appropriate for use in organics as a veterinary vaccine, hence entering the food supply

💯%. Nothing involving genetic manipulation is appropriate in organic food or medicine production. Not without decades of noncommercial public research, in a sealed environment. To establish narrow, predictable effectiveness, and rule out unanticipated long term side effects.

Even then, the precautionary principle must be paramount.