ZDL

So they bought whatever "this" is while Apartheid Manchild was still in the womb?

The Manchild has never been a decent, normal human being. (The upbringing he received at the hands of his creepy father prevented that from being possible.) He was always what he is now. He just wasn't rich enough to not care if people found out.

Back when I still did Christmas at all, I converted first to a religion that didn't have Christmas. It did have, however, a 4-5 day festival of approximately equal importance in the spring. I made sure all my family, friends, and colleagues know that I wouldn't be celebrating a Christian festival, but that I would be giving gifts in March. Then I'd look at what I got for Christmas and did some cynical calculations.

For each person who gave me a gift, I decided if I wanted to lessen the relationship, keep the relationship as-is, or deepen the relationship. I'd then pick a gift of lesser, equal, or greater value (roughly speaking) and give that response gift in March. The only difference? I'd get them all for a song and a dance in the inevitable post-Christmas bankruptcy sales.

So the best time to get Christmas presents is after Christmas. January and February is when businesses get very desperate (to the point of dissolution for many) and prices drop like concussed bees.

Worse.

They're going to have to go to China to get the seals for those.

I mean it took a Chinese maker to get seals for one of the few remaining living people who needs an iron lung: https://www.wired.com/story/iron-lung-maker-community/

A truckload of "actual military support" that has such tight strings attached that it was basically useless except for a very fragile defensive posture.

Only this week has the USA actually finally allowed the Ukraine to go on the offensive with its kit.

Thing is, people leave and decide after a day or two they're comfortable hanging out with Nazis, so they go back to the Nazi bar.

I genuinely think worse—far worse—of anybody with a Xhitter account, to the point of presuming that they can't be trusted with anybody non-male and non-white. There are consequences, in the end, to supporting fascism, no matter what excuses people contrive.

I'm binge-watching The Last of Us this weekend.

I avoided it because it was based on a video game. I was wrong to.

The links left me more confused, not less.

Huh. TIL that Proudhon was a Marxist.

/s ← In case it wasn't abundantly clear.

Don't confuse anarcho-capitalism with anarchism. The former are disguised fascists. The latter are not.

Obligatory Link: Property Is Theft

This is something that can be addressed with owners, but what about passengers? Should they be carrying one around?

How 'bout Tesla just makes fucking mechanical door handles again?

You should not have to watch a video or read a manual to open a freaking car door.

👆 That right there.

The fuck are people supposed to do who don’t even own the car?

👆👆 And that even more so.

We have literally centuries of knowledge of human-machine interaction. We know what works and what doesn't. We know the importance of getting this right from watching what would be a literal lake of blood if put into one location before us. And one of those things that works is making sure the emergency tools are very obvious and in our faces. The rear door instructions for the Model Y alone are a horror show for anybody who has ever been in a crisis before. And then on top of that not all Model Ys have such a latch anyway.

Everything about Tesla's doors are horrific.

1. Not all Teslas have mechanical latches on all doors. Specifically some Model Ys don't have them on the rear doors, apparently. (This is addressed in the article.) ¹

2. The mechanical latches have often been panned on the safety front because they're inobviously located and operated. Point 4 addresses this further, but look at the instructions for the rear door in the Model Y in particular.¹ This is complex and confusing without panic and adrenaline. (This too was addressed in the article.)

3. Not everybody knows about the mechanical latches. While one could argue that the driver should know their vehicle, what makes you think the passengers are going to know this, especially given the poor placement of the latches. Especially given just how convoluted the rear door releases are. (This was also addressed in the article.)

4. When people are in mortal danger, figuring out complicated things, or remembering obscure things like where the manual release latches are, is not going to happen. If the control to open the door isn't open, obvious, and in your face, you will not remember it unless you've been specifically trained to have this in your immediate-recall memory. That's why pilots of aircraft spend so much time drilling the same thing over and over again. Or people in militaries. Or people in emergency services like fire departments. (This was addressed in the article as well.)

¹ From https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/modely/en_us/GUID-AAD769C7-88A3-4695-987E-0E00025F64E0.html "Not all Model Y vehicles are equipped with a manual release for the rear doors."