That is true, but it still feels like a drop in an ocean of unfulfilled progressive policy expectations. From my across-the-pond perspective, Democrats in power always feel like slightly less unhinged republicans who are simply unable to coordinate because of how conservative (or deep in the pockets of the powerful) so…

This is truly one of the most mind-boggling things about late stage capitalism: the crazy amounts of money these people invest in... not spending that money in better work conditions (which turns out is a good investment because people tend to be more productive when they’re not underpaid).

To be fair, labor laws are probably one of the few things Silicon Valley actually considers horrid, so I can see why they’d be concerned.

I was invited into the cockpit less than 10 years ago, and even got to land in the cockpit. In a commercial flight. Landing on a famously demanding airport (often listed on the top 10 hardest airports to land on in the world).

I was invited into the cockpit in a commercial flight once. Someone in our party had a pilot friend who knew we’d be in a flight piloted by his buddy and apparently asked him to surprise us with an invitation to visit the cockpit. We were approached by a flight attendant who informed us of the invitation and we went…

Lipstick on a pig comes to mind, but after a couple of minutes all I can see is a tribute to minstrel shows. Why would any brand make their most powerful car ever look like this?

Pablo Escobar raced in the local Copa Renault 4 in the mid-seventies driving a clearly irregular Quatrelle, but no one had the guts to question his performance. That was one of his first forays into racing, but early in his career as a drug trafficker he was conducting his business in a Renault 4 and was allegedly a…

We do call electric rickshaws tuk-tuks here in Portugal, because they’re very similar to Thai ones, only white. Back when they first started appearing they were still 2-stroke for the most part, but I don’t think people were making the association between the name and the noise of a 2-stroke engine, so the name just…

These have become very popular here in Portugal for the past decade or so, but they’re used exclusively for guided city tours. Back when it started they were all 2-stroke, but fleet operators have been going electric for a long time now. I like them but they have some baggage, since they’re inextricably connected to…

I’d never heard of Kei truck gardens, and holy shit I fucking love it. Seriously, when it comes to modding cars, no one quite does it in the surreal, fun way Japan does. I love Bōsōzoku and Dekotora for the batshit crazy, but this is equally surreal in its own way. And unlike the others, I’d 100% daily a Kei garden.

Well, I’m in my first playthrough of GT4 ever*, so I’m not about to ruin it using these cheat codes, but how amazing is it that we’re still discovering stuff about games that came out decades ago? I think it’s pretty amazing. Also, cheat codes in any Gran Turismo title is a big deal.

This is a direct quote from the article, and it’s about as much sympathy as this guy deserves, without letting the police off the hook since it’s mentioned they’re trained to de-escalate these situations and people still end up dead.

My “sad mode” driving playlist is Burial’s entire discography in shuffle.

I don’t think “hard disk” was ever applied to any kind of diskette (and floppy applies to all sizes of diskettes, even 3.5" hard shell diskettes). 3.5" diskettes did come in either DD or HD format, but that stands for Double Density and High Density (DD being half the size of HD). You could physically “convert” a DD…

Hey man, this really sucks. Hope you find your Beat quickly.

A new one? Separate from the current wave of christian fundamentalism that late stage capitalism ushered in? You know, the one that says EVERYTHING is satanic, and projects all the abuse they commit amongst themselves on other people that just want to be able to ignore them? The one that’s taken the SCOTUS and…

Recycled plastic is great for making synthetic fabrics. You might not want to wear those fabrics, but they’re strong and durable enough for other applications, like car seats and headliners. We’re already making those fibres from scratch, might as well do it while reusing plastic the would otherwise end up buried in…

Oh sure, 100%. British news are also a bit of a worldwide matter, even if mostly out of habit. But here in Europe we all followed Johnson’s tenure with a lot of amusement (with the exception of his COVID policies which at some point made me feel like he was actively trying to balance the Social Security numbers by…

Dude... we do it in Portugal! Watergate was the mother of all scandals at the time and marked a turning point in world politics. I think the -gate suffix will stick around a while longer.

American politics are very much a global issue. It wasn’t our choice, but the USA decided to make it so a very long time ago. It’s not just the USA, pretty much every doomsday-capable nation’s politics get worldwide coverage, understandably.