It depends on what form it takes. Best case, it means Taiwan is deterred from pursuing nuclear weapons with a policy of only using it as mutually assured destruction. As it stands, I’m sure Taiwan is sorely tempted to get some nukes as a deterrence measure. After all, China has millions of citizens with only 100 miles of Taiwan Strait in between them and the shores of Taiwan. That said, it does inch closer to officially recognizing the reality of Taiwan as its own self-governed country.

VS Code, with vim when I need to work in the console.

The positive with Reddit (and Lemmy) is that most of the rules are specific to a community. If you just can’t live with the rules of one community, you can always split off and form your own. The area where is this breaks down is site-wide rules, especially when Reddit has poorly defined rules that get enforced haphazardly by “Anti-Evil Operations”.

It doesn’t sound like the API will be pay-to-use for individuals. Instead, it would be pay-to-use for businesses that are currently deriving business value from Reddit’s data set of comments and posts on Reddit’s dime.

Every time the US tries to ask Israel to show restraint, Israel tells the US to not “interfere with internal affairs”. Sounds good to me. In that case, the US should stop sticking out its neck on Israel’s behalf. We’ve done so for far too long.

This could be positive, but it shouldn’t be premature. As-is, Russia is occupying part of Ukraine. A “peace” that leaves Russia with a sizeable chunk of Ukraine tells Russia that invasions will be rewarded. A peace created by rewarding bad behavior is not a peace that will last.

The deafening roar of chickens in choppers

I’m not too upset about the ones inside Russia. Russia is waging a bombing campaign that is killing civilians across Ukraine. Propagandists are an integral part of Russia’s war effort. They have made themselves a legitimate target. No one is safe in Ukraine, so why should propagandists in Russia expect anything different?

I am more upset about reports of targeting of people who have alleged sympathies toward Russia in areas that have been retaken by Ukraine. Regardless of what happened, it’s more important that Ukraine set itself up for unity and peace. Punishing people for alleged collaboration sets that goal back.

A liberal democracy is an electoral democracy plus:

…judicial and legislative constraints on the executive along with the protection of civil liberties and equality before the law.

Closed autocracies are defined as:

No multiparty elections for the executive; absence of fundamental democratic components such as freedom of expression, freedom of association, and free and fair elections.

They have more on their criteria here. But based on that criteria, it’s pretty hard to argue that the country that’s unabashedly responsible for the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and built the Great Firewall allows freedom of expression or freedom of association.

How consequential is this? In the US, student body elections are barely impactful inside the higher education system, let alone having an impact on broader life.

Where is the inaccuracy?

I keep hearing how valuable a simple locking door is. Having nothing but a tent means there’s the constant stress that anything you don’t have literally strapped to your body can be taken at any time. A locking door means being able to leave possessions at home and reasonably expect they will be there when you come back.

Our local newspaper did a great piece on some of the successes of a “safe rest” program that the City of Portland has been working on. The article isn’t shy that the central example in the story has struggled with Xanax addiction, but is improving with help. It also discusses another safe rest area purposefully placed next to a methadone clinic. The local businesses were maybe not so happy, but what of it? Better some well organized tiny home villages than the mess of ugly tents in our parks and on our sidewalks.

There’s not really that much you can do about it if you’re on a cell phone. Your phone is connecting to the cell tower, and at that point all bets are off on how metadata gets used.

Which he are you talking about? This is the leading opposition candidate who is claiming Russian interference.

Cars blow…

…pollutants in my face when I bike.

I hope Erdoğan gets his ass handed to him in these elections. He was a positive force for Türkiye once upon a time, but that time has passed. Now he just fuels inflation, not to mention his lax building code enforcement was a large cause of the poor building construction that led to high casualty rates in the recent earthquake. He’s become increasingly autocratic, including changes that allow him to rule by decree. It’s time for someone new.

I don’t see this as a problem. Governments are going to naturally put the well being of their citizens first. If that means keeping the US at arm’s reach but growing closer to other regional powers, great. As long as China is kept in check in the region to a reasonable degree, it’s all good.

I’m still frustrated over the withdrawal of the US from the TPP, as was mentioned in the article. It was an insanely self-destructive act by the Trump administration, much like the withdrawal from the JCPOA (Iran deal). Both have allowed other powers to step in and assert themselves while failing to achieve the goals set out. They cast the US as fickle when presidents have historically made an effort in foreign policy to keep some level of continuity with their predecessor.

Reading. Really. I was a huge book worm. I could have stood to have spent more time with friends, though. And I wish that I had figured out earlier that I was gay (aka not been in denial) and started dating.

Video games are fun, but I’m kind of garbage at them so that makes them less enjoyable. Phones didn’t really change entertainment that much. I use them as a more convenient music, audiobook, and podcast player. Most of my social media is Reddit and Lemmy, and those don’t lend themselves to virtual keyboards.

Why crab apples? They’re small and don’t taste very good unless cooked. It’s food security only in the very loosest sense of the word. Asian pears are easy to grow and very tasty. Wash 'em off and you’re good to go.