@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social cover
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Patrickoldhiker

@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social

Retired engineer living in Virginia. Social Democrat; liberal, not left. DIYer, 40 year hiker and trail maintainer. Survivor of the "Bronx is burning" era and the Anthropocene Epoch (so far).

Uses block and mute buttons freely.

My avatar is from Frits Ahlefeldt of Denmark, and is licensed under Creative Commons.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I decided to find out if any progress had been made on the science behind why some ants are attracted to electrical fields. After filtering out exterminators (it's so demoralizing to search for information on creatures you love and find nothing but people who know nothing about them boasting about how they will kill them all) I found what looked like a blog. But, who the heck is "James Brown"? Never heard of the dude. Maybe he could be my new friend if he likes ants enough to blog about them!

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@futurebird @wmd @wa7iut @mistergibson As someone who lived in New York City 50 years ago, there are a LOT more trees on the streets today. So a good many of them did survive.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The decisions and policy that have the most profound impacts on the greatest number of human lives often aren't the ones talked about most often in political discourse.

What is the biggest difference between life in this era and say... European feudalism?

I would argue it's near universal literacy. And along with simply having access to the written word, the highest percentage of a population armed with some scraps of what you might call a "liberal arts education"

The ability to self-teach.

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@futurebird Apparently, IQ tests periodically have to have the norm reset to 100 because of people do better on them over time.

pluralistic , to random
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

"Leave a loose end dangling."

My "Think Like An Artist" card (CBC Arts' answer to Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies deck).

https://www.cbc.ca/arts/feeling-stuck-we-asked-67-canadian-artists-for-their-best-creative-advice-1.7191836

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@pluralistic Is that how you set up the sequel?

wdlindsy , to random
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

Adrian Horton reviews the new documentary "Bad Faith," tracking the rise of Christian nationalism in US politics today. As the film notes, Christian nationalist ideas have always been there in US culture, but they're on steroids today.

The current pseudo-religious political movement got underway with the formation of the Moral Majority by Republican strategist Paul Weyrich in the 1970s.


/1

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/27/bad-faith-documentary-christian-nationalism

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@wdlindsy I saw an interesting theory on a Reddit forum the other day. Specifically, that because they weren’t part of the original Protestant Reformation (with its historical grudges) and weren’t seen as attractive to current Catholics in the way as the liturgical Episcopal and Lutheran churches could be, the US Catholic bishops were willing to ally with them politically.

cstross , to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

I wish all the speculative capital being pumped into hyping AI and cryptocurrency could go somewhere useful instead—like grid-scale backup batteries, photovoltaic power farms, desalination plants, high speed passenger rail, and building car-optional cities. (With a portion reserved for maintenance and infrastructure, which are always neglected by cultists who worship economic "efficiency".)

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@Madagascar_Sky @cstross @landley Capitalism, appropriately regulated, is a perfectly reasonable way to sew and distribute underwear or sell plywood. Where capitalism fails badly is in fields like education, health care, news delivery, and urban housing.

CelloMomOnCars , to random
@CelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

Old oil wells are burping up toxic brine.

"In the oil fields north of Fort Stockton, #Texas, a large leak discovered at the beginning of December has joined a growing list of aging oil and gas wells in the area that have sat quietly for decades only to reawaken and spew toxic water."

“The worst thing about this one is that it’s toxic [and] radioactive #ProducedWater that is going into the #groundwater,” said Burch."

https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/west-texas-water-leak-oil-field-railroad-commission-no-fly-zone/

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@CelloMomOnCars The tail end of the fossil fuel age gets uglier and uglier. Authoritarian governance, health threats, environmental damage, and lack of mobility for non-drivers are just a start.

jeffowski , (edited ) to random
@jeffowski@mastodon.world avatar
Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@jeffowski So glad that I don’t have to try and make sense of religion anymore.

18+ futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I keep seeing these discussions in left circles about how terrible social media is. It angers & frustrates me that Mastodon & the Fediverse don't even merit a mention.

"The Majority Report" goes as far as dissing Threads but never mentions the fedi.

There are only 170 comments. Why not leave a comment asking why "the left" keeps complaining (rightly) about corporate social media but ignoring the alternative?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqY7sLRaUWQ

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@futurebird @secretsloth There are alternatives to waiting to have a large number of follows for a Mastodon feed to get interesting. One is the “Federated” feed of all instances connected to your own. With a larger instance, the home feed from that instance alone can be interesting. As you note, there’s nobody with an algorithm actively working to hook a new member. #feditips

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@futurebird @timdnewman @mattmcirvin @secretsloth Honestly, I have felt the most manipulated by YouTube. Because I watch videos related to railroads and car repair/restoration, which is rather stereotypical for a 60+ white male, I am picked out for a steady stream of recommendations for paranoid right-wing content.

parismarx , to random
@parismarx@mastodon.online avatar

I hope this is the final nail in the coffin of the idea that self-driving cars will make any meaningful difference in transportation. It was never true, but distracted so many people from real solutions for over a decade.

Having more money than sense, Apple threw billions at a bad idea they should’ve pulled the plug on years ago.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-27/apple-cancels-work-on-electric-car-shifts-team-to-generative-ai

#apple #tech #car #transport

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@parismarx Apple is the epitome of a company that spends money foolishly because of the misguided idea that tech companies aren't supposed to pay dividends.

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@parismarx Apple is the epitome of a company that spends money foolishly because of the misguided idea that tech companies aren't supposed to pay significant dividends.

lowqualityfacts , to random
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

The greatest miracle of them all.
https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@lowqualityfacts I'm sure I can turn wine into something with the same proof as Hennessy. https://motherearthnewsmag.tumblr.com/post/41300327996/artisan-home-distilling-use-a-small-pot-still-to

lowqualityfacts , to random
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

Technology has come so far.
https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts

Patrickoldhiker ,
@Patrickoldhiker@ohai.social avatar

@lowqualityfacts A couple of years ago, my wife bought a bathroom scale that ran on a lithium button battery. You could weigh yourself about five times before it needed a new battery.

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