Post AvFspFNX93h9F3S03M by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
(DIR) More posts by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
(DIR) Post #AvFQwqivticaNOISES by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-18T07:35:00Z
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@gemlog @tofugolem @LaChasseuse It's not really true. Most Texans are very much in favour of a more robust electricity system. But the structure of our State government is vulnerable to well-placed bigots. Witness the recent anti-cannabis bill, forced through by the Lieutenant Governor (most powerful elected office in the State, now held by a conspiracy-theory talk-radio host) despite strong public, legislative, and law-enforcement support for at least partial legalization.
(DIR) Post #AvFRUy6Sy18r6qZc36 by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
2025-06-17T16:06:56Z
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Here's Jerry Wayne Longmire's sketch from his tictok, which I managed to download. Enjoy!
(DIR) Post #AvFRUyomJGaTKHJ07M by 401matthall@mastodon.xyz
2025-06-17T17:56:41Z
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@LaChasseuse This is a glorious delight!Also $700 for a month's electric bill is _insane_.
(DIR) Post #AvFRUzTXrhCHMiNYf2 by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-18T07:41:13Z
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@401matthall @LaChasseuse "Market-oriented electricity reforms" were supposed to somehow lower household electricity costs by "giving people choices", when we had power rates among the lowest in the nation, well below 10¢/kWh. It was an obvious lie, especially given the experience of California with Enron was by then years in the past.In the event, the fuel-oil tanks at the gas-burning steam plants, intended to bridge over interruptions in gas supply, were demolished. I saw it happen.
(DIR) Post #AvFRey1c73eZlL4UYy by WrenArcher@beige.party
2025-06-17T20:21:46Z
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@LaChasseuse I love this more than I can put into words because I am a fellow Texan and because I felt this in my soul and I because feel the shame he does in knowing that "... yet, I will do it again."
(DIR) Post #AvFRez6y4dWx8EaHY0 by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
2025-06-17T20:35:14Z
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@WrenArcher It's funny, but I worked for a company whose HQ was in Dallas so I had to go there once in a while. Being from a cold country, when the others would take a coffee break, I would take a heat break, when I would leave the refrigerated office building and bask in the glorious heat outside! Always turned it off in the hotel room as well.
(DIR) Post #AvFRezxQvZUvkx8BKC by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-18T07:43:02Z
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@LaChasseuse @WrenArcher As a Texan, I do this myself. And my mother recalls doing it when she worked in an office building.I'm in Germany at the moment, and I just have to laugh at people complaining about the heat, when the temperature is below where I set my air-conditioning thermostat in the summer!
(DIR) Post #AvFRlK09JmadetPsyu by hosford42@techhub.social
2025-06-17T20:44:36Z
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@LaChasseuse I never in my life expected to hear the accent of my homeland used so eloquently! Usually it's just stuff like, "Billy Bob! Git down from thur afore I kick yer asssss!"
(DIR) Post #AvFRlKnQMa0O7iTEmm by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
2025-06-17T20:50:17Z
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@hosford42 So true! But it may be closer to how Shakespeare's English sounded than modern English is!My favourite bit rhythmically, in terms of his recitation, is the way he glides up on "you day-anced ⤴️ , now pay".Music!
(DIR) Post #AvFRlLaLQh8YZRMJ2O by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-18T07:44:14Z
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@LaChasseuse @hosford42 Ah, my dear departed Aunt Kay-ren, who called her husband Payut to the end of their lives.
(DIR) Post #AvFSa4MFExYvuRwxCC by jandals@infosec.exchange
2025-06-18T03:10:18Z
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@LaChasseuse Its well done for sure, but I don't believe he's from Texas. There's way too many words with more than one syllable in that speech.
(DIR) Post #AvFSa5E80cfEbZ9zBQ by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-18T07:53:25Z
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@jandals @LaChasseuse The nine institutions of the University of Texas System have over a quarter of a million students between them. And UT is only the largest of the seven public university systems in the State (in addition to which there is one public university not affiliated with a system). UT Austin all by itself has more than fifty thousand students.Texas has many regional accents. None of them implies ignorance or stupidity.
(DIR) Post #AvFsQhutu62WVnM9ku by tofugolem@mastodon.social
2025-06-18T12:42:56Z
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@publius @gemlog @LaChasseuse Texas needs democracy.
(DIR) Post #AvFspFNX93h9F3S03M by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
2025-06-18T12:47:28Z
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@publius On the rare occasions when the temp reaches 20ºC (roughly room temp) in Edinburgh, people go right round the bend. I've seen bus drivers have total meltdowns at 20ºC, it's nuts! @WrenArcher
(DIR) Post #AvGOqqEYnhXgMx3d6O by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-18T18:46:12Z
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@gemlog @Amgine @LaChasseuse Capitalism and feudalism (recalling that feudalism existed on a very similar pattern in Japan and some other non-Christian areas) are broadly similar in that they have an owner class and a non-owner class, but they are structurally very different. In pure feudalism, there is no "exchange" economy : all goods and services transfer by obligation or gift.That is a factual point, not a moral one. If it has moral implications, they lie outside the scope of my comment.
(DIR) Post #AvGVKzF0TZeSiW1Xrk by tofugolem@mastodon.social
2025-06-18T12:48:37Z
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@gemlog @LaChasseuse @publius We need to separate boardroom and state with even greater vigor than we separate church and state.
(DIR) Post #AvGVKzwxq8oUuqaeNk by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
2025-06-18T12:54:33Z
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@tofugolem I would go a step further and get rid of church and boardroom, because that is where the patriarchy sits.@gemlog @publius
(DIR) Post #AvGVL11Frfq8ERbai0 by tofugolem@mastodon.social
2025-06-18T14:38:09Z
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@LaChasseuse @gemlog @publius Get rid of boardrooms? I would not mind that.But get rid of churches? How would you propose to do that without violating human rights?Religion has a way of binding itself to people's sense of self worth through emotional manipulation. Anything you try to do to ban it will just trigger a backlash and extend its lifespan.Hopefully, over time, it will become less relevant, but I don't see anything good in trying to accelerate that beyond apologetics discussions.
(DIR) Post #AvGVL1pwpCOClfK4iu by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
2025-06-18T19:37:57Z
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@tofugolem China has made good headway at banning religion and other superstitious and unhealthy practices.@gemlog @publius
(DIR) Post #AvGVL2aO2XXJ5h3A6i by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-18T19:58:47Z
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@LaChasseuse @tofugolem @gemlog Ah, yes, China, well known for human rights and all that stuff that we can't have because religion blocks the way.
(DIR) Post #AvGYttDTASLU1sdhx2 by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-18T20:38:50Z
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@gemlog @LaChasseuse @tofugolem Less sarcasm than pointing out that if you say, for instance, that religion is bad because it stultifies freedom of thought, and your example of progress away from that is a country where it is forbidden even to mention the date "june 4th 1989", you aren't making a very compelling argument.
(DIR) Post #AvGZqhqt3yGVrx7faC by Amgine@mamot.fr
2025-06-18T20:46:51Z
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@gemlog I think, in this case, @publius refers to 'barter', as opposed to an exchange economy. That is, negotiating trade of goods for goods, rather than economic tokens for goods - although commodity-backed currency is in practice still barter.Broadly speaking, feudalism is the holding of land in exchange for service or labour; it is also currently controversial as a useful construct among medievalists.But throughout European feudalism currency-driven markets were the norm.@LaChasseuse
(DIR) Post #AvGZqin1ZolmmGK6CW by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-18T20:49:31Z
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@Amgine @gemlog @LaChasseuse There are at least two basic patterns of movement of goods and services. One is "do ut des", exchange, which may be barter or mediated by currency. The other is the pattern of obligation and gift.In mediaeval Europe, the money economy was extremely underdeveloped. Money exchanges only occurred, basically, at the margins of society ; one symptom of this is that the velocity of circulation was very low, and Roman coins were still being used in Spain in the 1600s.
(DIR) Post #AvGaakWjRxXBUCeO2a by tofugolem@mastodon.social
2025-06-18T20:57:47Z
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@publius @gemlog @LaChasseuse Wait.Are you suggesting that nations that have more religion are more progressive and better than nations with less religion?Suppressing religion generally involves doing things we would consider oppressive, but if you are making a broader claim about religiosity and societal health, I don't think you're going to like what the data has to say.
(DIR) Post #AvGaqyYd3InbdPH6fI by Amgine@mamot.fr
2025-06-18T21:00:28Z
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@publius @gemlog @LaChasseuse They are still being used, for that matter. And people are still finding caches of them, in the UK.But the economy, even lacking actual currency, still tracks the price. If you have an idea how much [thing] equals a solidus (or fraction,) then you can calculate if the offer is high/low. That is, the market is driven by currency as a useful measure of relative value.It is also not an exchange economy as most people are producers, rather than solely consumers.
(DIR) Post #AvGbKL2gX8FllfKoC0 by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
2025-06-18T21:06:01Z
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@publius It's fashionable these days, especially for Americans, to bash China.Why not take a more balanced view? They have lifted more people out of poverty and illiteracy than any other nation ever. It is a remarkable achievement, and should not be overshadowed by the various periods of political turmoil.https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/04/01/lifting-800-million-people-out-of-poverty-new-report-looks-at-lessons-from-china-s-experienceArguably, the Belt and Road project has done more to develop Africa than western aid ever did, as it is focussed on providing infrastructure.@tofugolem @gemlog
(DIR) Post #AvHZ0yFZ2qC6pIxJsu by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-19T08:14:52Z
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@Amgine @gemlog @LaChasseuse The mediaeval European (or Japanese, for that matter) economy did NOT work according to your familiar mental models, any more than the economy of tribal Borneo. This is a hard thing for a modern Westerner to wrap their mind around, but there it is : people's patterns of actions were motivated and organized in a very different way. The social structure is reflective of this.This is distinct from the changes in social structure which come with industrialization.
(DIR) Post #AvHZJ5TutfwST1J8fQ by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-19T08:18:06Z
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@tofugolem @gemlog @LaChasseuse If I am suggesting anything, it is that "you become the thing that you hate", and fervent anti-religion has exactly the same destructive features you identify in fervent religion.Actually, though, if you look at China with the big portraits of Mao everywhere, or even more so at North Korea with the giant glorious tomb preserving not only the bodies of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il but all manner of relics, it's clear that there is in fact a religion here.
(DIR) Post #AvHcQiL97V5SsGX9Cy by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-19T08:52:32Z
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@tofugolem @gemlog @LaChasseuse The surest sign that the official ideology of the PRC is a religion, is the way they venerate the image and words of their founder, and insist they are following his teachings, while doing exactly the opposite of what he said to do.
(DIR) Post #AvHxypKhj1DZRgQzxI by tofugolem@mastodon.social
2025-06-19T12:54:36Z
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@publius @gemlog @LaChasseuse So if I criticize China, I'm just like China?Please clarify your position.
(DIR) Post #AvHyLoPbJcqRFWgWvY by tofugolem@mastodon.social
2025-06-19T12:58:47Z
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@publius @gemlog @LaChasseuse In case it is is not clear, someone else in this thread held up China's suppression of religion as a good thing. I do not believe anyone else in this thread is agreeing with that.Religion seems to lose steam on its own as poverty decreases, but any attempt to suppress it directly triggers a backfire effect. I promise you that those Uyghurs in those slave camps are becoming more devout Muslims, and the Falon Gong are VERY fired up these days.
(DIR) Post #AvI2dN8Bsp8JfWAcCm by Amgine@mamot.fr
2025-06-19T13:46:19Z
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@publius @gemlog @LaChasseuse Uuh, I have a harder time with 'Westerner' and 'modern' concepts of economics. But mostly I studied Elizabethan England worldview, just post the Medieval period, from the literary pov.
(DIR) Post #AvIh1ZqoEvbCEb8YF6 by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
2025-06-19T21:19:01Z
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@publius Giant portraits of Mao everywhere? Good grief, what decade are you referencing? This is what Chinese cities look like now, and here is a newly-built library. China is overwhelmingly urban now, and it happened very quickly.You won't see any "little red books".@tofugolem @gemlog
(DIR) Post #AvIheFSxxlNOJ4QN0K by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
2025-06-19T21:26:09Z
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@publius Hello, this is the 2020s calling ... the Chinese now venerate designer labels more than they do ideology.@tofugolem @gemlog
(DIR) Post #AvKrVvSRrDORnDlvo8 by LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot
2025-06-19T21:39:01Z
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@tofugolem Ah, religion. Such a wonderful thing, innit:"‘I read an interview with a 17-year-old boy who had taken part in the murder of Farkhunda Malikzada in Afghanistan in which she was beaten, bludgeoned, run over with a car and set on fire by a mob following a (false) allegation that she had set fire to a Quran’. [from Ian Pace]@publius @gemlog
(DIR) Post #AvKrVw8zJ3Q9v9fu76 by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-20T22:26:14Z
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@LaChasseuse @tofugolem @gemlog Some people attribute the good things they do (such as founding hospitals) to religious motives, some the bad, some everything, and some nothing. On what basis to strike a balance?To say that the American slave States were more enlightened than the free States because they forbade preaching the Gospel to slaves would be a very bad argument, and yet you seem on the cusp of making it. The inability to see the badness of one's own argument is, strictly, bigotry.
(DIR) Post #AvKrf4CQj2TvVjde3k by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-06-20T22:27:50Z
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@LaChasseuse @tofugolem @gemlog A privileged class which can afford foreign luxury goods — they have that in Angola, too. Doesn't mean the average Angolan is well off.And a shiny new library full of books selected specifically so that they don't raise questions about the official ideology? And not a single copy of "Winnie the Pooh" in it, either? YAWN.