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2 days agoI think an actual official government instance would be a good idea. Probably Mastodon would make the most sense, since it would mostly be one-way announcements. With federation, easy enough to get that viewable wherever it’s needed.
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Joined 2 years ago
Cake day: June 8th, 2023
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I’ll take it. The sentiment was solid.
I don’t think it’s intentional on Xitter’s part, necessarily. It’s a bit of an arms race, and Xitter under new management had cut back on all sorts of staffing.
I also don’t think many people stick on Xitter even notice. The algorithm seems to create a bunch of parallel silos, with outside intrusions provoking a swarm response almost.
In the case of Trudeau posts, most engagement seems to be from MAGAts and Qonvoyers, with probably some choice comments from “Joe McDonaldski” from the Canadian Oblast of Ontario or something.
From Xitter’s perspective, a bunch of MAGAts and Qonvoyers reply, upvote, and engage with “Governor” Trudeau, viewing ads while a bunch of the flock pay for the Xitter check mark.
I think clearing the bots would be difficult, require continuing investment, and possibly reduce revenue in the short term.
I’m just on Xitter for legacy purposes, I rarely see anything meaningful. Granted the algorithm mostly has me figured out, and will show me stuff I already agree with, but just a bit further towards the edges of discourse. I’m under no illusion, I’m certain bad actors are influencing discourse all along the political spectrum.
I still have my Xitter account and pop in now and then. It’s declining steadily. It’s just weird if you step back and look at the difference in discussions on different topics, combined with what gets boosted. They’ve locked down their API Access, so it’s harder for researchers to measure, but it’s my impression that it’s got to be over 50% bots.
I’m sure most of that is going to be old school, using basic swarms to upvote content you want to boost, but with LLM AI getting more sophisticated by the day, and more cost effective, there’s going to AI driven bots actually writing plausible posts soon.
I think the crypto and scam space shows the leading edge, since scammers tolerance for lower quality means they can be early adopters.
But what do I know? I’m no expert. The Dead Internet Theory might stay be true, or we might have a few more years.
Also, good to get into the Fediverse. It may soon be the last refuge if humans.
Also, Twitter has a lot of bots. More than ever before. This shapes discussion in many ways. Most basically, posts meeting certain narratives get more upvotes, quote tweets, etc. resulting in an algorithmic boost. Add in Xitter’s desire to “boost engagement” by bidding controversial content. Finally, so many people are leaving Xitter, or at least using it less at it’s quality declines.
Modern power is based on more than having a bunch of people carrying swords. It’s based on having the economic capacity to build more advanced fighters, tanks, ships and having some soldiers to work it all, while maintaining the infrastructure to advance the technology that all those toys use.
The US didn’t crush USSR in the jungles of Vietnam. It crushed it in the kitchens and living rooms of Europe and much of the rest of the world.
Now Trump is attacking the very source of the US’ strength. The US never needed to occupy any of their allies capitals, to put tanks on the streets of Toronto, Manchester or Munich. NATO countries (despite Kremlin talking points) willingly joined NATO. Now, Trump wants to destroy all that because he doesn’t understand it. A real estate developer of the worst kind.
The real nail in the coffin is that about 1/3 of the people of the US are cheering him on right now. Another third don’t bother to vote. And Presidential authority is now akin to that of a monarch.
I’m less offended by the overall designs than the pointless gimmicks. Pet peeve is those flat door handles. What’s wrong with boring old regular handles?
So many EV’s are designed as luxury vehicles mostly. We need more Chevy Bolt and less Tesla.
Vibes of “Whatever he says, I said it first, honest! Trust me bro.”
They won’t be able to afford our medical isotopes soon. These are raw material inputs into high value industries. This will damage US aerospace, automotive, etc.
Don’t tariff your inputs! This means Boeing will pay a lot more for any aluminum (domestic capacity insufficient, and less price competition vs. eat the tariff).
It’s going to suck, but at least I can revel in the schadenfreude as the US shoots itself in the foot.
Link’s broken.
Shopper+, it’s not as extensive and no third party resellers, but they’re pretty good.
I find “Trump 2.0” useful to differentiate how I expect things to go down. Trump 1.0 came in and and flailed a lot. The US’ system of checks and balances moderated many of his “policy goals”. Trump 2.0 looks to replace competence in the bureaucracy with loyalty, and subverting any checks and balances.
A lot of power has accumulated within the office of the Presidency in the US. I used to figure that an advantage of the US system vs the Westminster model is that a PM with a majority in Parliament has very little he can’t do, as long as they are able to whip the votes. It seems that the US has drifted into an elected King almost. Broad authority within the Presidency will probably not go away anytime soon.
This makes for a very unstable government, assuming elections even stay fair.
Trump is old, there is going to be a post Trump era soon, but I don’t see a reversal if this model of governance. We can only deal with the US in 4 year terms from now on. Anything long term is too uncertain.
Developing more stable trading partners as well. The US is closer, and will always be next door, but I think Trump 2.0 has shown us that we should not integrate our economy with theirs at all, rather just trade with them “opportunistically”. Long term partners should be developed elsewhere.
EU (CETA), Asia (CPTPP) and CANZUK need to be focused on.
There are a few of causes for hope.
First, Trump has surrounded himself with loyalists and sycophants, not competence. On the downside, this is how Putin ended up on year 3 of a 3-day “special military operation” in Ukraine. Trump is going to make incredibly stupid mistakes not just because he’s stupid, but everyone he has surrounded himself with will be telling him how wonderful and clever he is. On the other hand, this is a good way to get clobbered by reality.
Canada and Mexico have responded with targeted tariffs and are also planning ahead to next steps. Heck, Canada just finalized a trade deal with Ecuador. Sure it’s not going to replace the US, but it shows many competent people are out there working for Canada. Meanwhile the US government apparatus is going to be gutted of competent people.
Second, Canada does export a lot of raw materials, which should be easier to shift to other markets. Also things like hydo power and oil can probably absorb a fairly high increase in cost without being substantially effected. Hydro power as an example, can easily eat a 10% increase and still be the cheapest source of electricity. Canada could probably slap export tariffs on oil, hydro electricity, and potash and the US will just have to eat it.
Finally, Trump will probably continue tariffing the EU and other countries as well, further triggering retaliatory tariffs. This means Bosch, Samsung and LG will need to make more dishwashers to replace the Whirlpool and Maytag dishwashers that aren’t going to be sold outside the US (as an example). It’s going to suck, but Canada already has CETA and CPTPP to build on, and should be deepening CANZUK ties. The world is bigger than the US, and the US looks set to isolate themselves from everyone. Being on the outside in that case is better.
no one wins trade wars, but the kid who never stands up for himself always loses and for a long time
I would have capital investment to the private sector. More just sign some deals, such as long term pricing or export permits, whatever. Trump is obsessed with oil and gas. If we signed some deals it would send a pretty cheap signal.
Premier Eby made some similar comments wrt approvals for mines and such. Slightly different, but if there is a global market and construction is going to take a while, might as well get building now.
The day before. Mixed feelings about being a member of a political party, but give it a whirl for a year I guess. Probably about to get bombarded with hyperbolic fundraising spam.
I bit the bullet and joined the Liberals just to support Mark Carney. I also think highly of Chrystia Freeland, but Carney’s background is exactly what I’m coming around to thinking this country needs right now,
It’s kind of too bad, I think Chrystia would make a good first elected female PM, in addition to just being a good PM, but Carney’s history with BoC in 2008 and later BoE along with what I’ve heard him say just seems what’s needed right now.
Heck yeah! If USMCA/NAFTA2 is out the window, ditch all that IP BS. Cory Doctorow is so correct!
Disappointingly true. We should absolutely fast track LNG and oil export deals overseas. Slap on an export tariff onto oil and Hydro.Trump already kind of blinked by only putting 10% on Canadian energy, so one of his oligarchs is begging. Double it to 20%, or equalize it to 25%. At the same time increase exports to the west. Prior to the Transmountain expansion, we were doing a “pipeline by rails”. It’s suboptimal, but no one wins in a trade war but not responding means you’re going to loose worse.
Trudeau is too scared of Danielle Smith’s wannabe Vichy Canada administration.
I’ll add that once you are on the island, there are a lot of medium sized communities, plus lots of more rural areas. Housing prices are still kind of high from a historical perspective but can be pretty cheap by Vancouver standards.
Likewise, the Okanagan, Kamloops and Shuswap regions have lots of more affordable communities up in the hills around fairly decently large population centres by BC standards.
Finally, if you start heading north it gets positively affordable. Prince George, Vanderhoof, Terrace, William’s Lake. Long drives are needed to get places though. Still, where else would you get something like the Sandblast?