Why would anyone install a proprietary freeware browser?

I like you ask in hypotheticals.

Resist now.

All 30 if us who play it agree.

Right? Wrong?

I asked you a question, I didn’t make an argument or assert a position.

This is surreal. It’s like:

You: why does everyone say good afternoon when it’s only 12:30?!

Me: what time zone are you in buddy?

You: you didn’t answer my question!

Me: I mean, China for example is all on the same timezone regardless of how west or east you are.

You: FINE. YOU’RE RIGHT. I’M WRONG. HAPPY?

Me: wtf man, I just asked you your fucking timezone.

It does. The centre-left in Montreal municipal politics corresponds to the left wing of the left in Canadian federal politics. So if I write a long diatribe lamenting how the centre left in Montreal is not progressive enough, and send it over to someone in Alberta, they would have no idea what I’m talking about.

I’m Canadian, buddy. Which is why I asked about your political context.

I note the spelling “right of centre”. So help me out here: are you Canadian, British, Australian, Kiwi, …? So when you say “everything that just leans right of centre is called fascist” what the fuck are you actually talking about? In your specific political context?

Steven Universe too!

Yup. It should not be a thing.

Meanwhile China is going all in on renewables.

Here is a fact: an authoritarian non-democracy is doing a lot for securing the future of humanity, while the “leader of the free world” are vandalizing the climate and accelerating apocalyptic climate catastrophe.

In 2025, China is a net positive for the future of humanity, while the USA is a net negative.

If that makes you uncomfortable about what our political and economic systems in the West that brought us here, well, you know the meme: “facts don’t care about your feelings”.

If you, like me, care about the future of democracy, we have to do a LOT of digging.

Vodka 25 years ago.

Excellent opportunity to prove the superiority of our localized moderation model!

They haven’t actually signed anything yet. But also, note that hostilities don’t stop before the armistice:

• https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2018/11/08/a-story-of-incredibly-bad-timing-canadian-last-to-die-before-armistice/
• https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/11/08/in-the-final-hours-of-world-war-i-a-terrible-toll/
• https://www.armytimes.com/veterans/salute-veterans/2017/11/10/nov-11-1918-wasted-lives-on-armistice-day/

That said, I have very little confidence that this truce will hold. Israel broke the previous truce in March 2025.

Greta Thunberg is a good explanation of why someone like Joan of Arc could have been so transformative. Like, there is a war, and a peasant girl comes out of fucking nowhere and changes the whole course of history, how could something like that happen. Also the story of Joan of Arc tells of the hatred of the detractors and the lengths they will go to silence her AND how that completely backfires.

Don’t underestimate the power of the slur “westoid” and other similar ones. In much of the world, westerners are automatically coded as naive, idealistic and ultimately stupid. In Greece, we had our fair share of do-gooders who thought they new better than us trying to fix us. The classic cultural example is the film Never on Sunday, which is basically all about the comical journey of an American classicist from naivety to understanding. Even now, in 2025, a prevailing understanding of the 10 years of financial crisis is that austerity was about prudish narrow minded Germans and other westerners ruining our country by enforcing their naive protestant economic superstitions on us. And Greece is an EU & NATO country mind you. So, a swedish schoolgirl going around lecturing people fits the “westoid” stereotype a bit too much.

(I’m explaining, not endorsing. Greta is based as fuck.)

Yea, that’s exactly why I thought it was worth asking.

It seems Aral has actually done the work: https://mastodon.social/@staff/115129752094733480

One of the most interesting explanations I’ve seen is that Western Europe was politically fragmented just enough so that big enough entities were competing with each other for dominance. So there was no central authority strong enough to pacify it, and the individual states were powerful enough to mobilize resources, creating a competitive power race. It was in trying to beat each other that they reached out and colonized the rest of the world.

Edit: I’m thinking now how during the apex of pax Americana, space exploration really subsided for example. When the US and the USSR were competing it was on. Now that US hegemony is declining, it’s seems to be on again. Too strong of a political unification keeps the centrifugal forces in check.

The idea of conquering the world was Persian. Alexander just took over what Persia what already conquered.

The demonization of the Romans is silly.

Slut shaming is not OK.

Fuck Trump.