• inari@piefed.zip
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    4 days ago

    If this war results in the divorce between the US and Israel, that’ll be the second greatest thing to come out of it, the first thing being the decarbonization speedup

    • aquovie@lemmy.cafe
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      4 days ago

      There are a lot of dubious “gains”, almost all pyrrhic and smelling vaguely of social darwinism.

      I’m looking forward to US customary units finally dying off because no one is going to put up with fahrenheit-pounds per square toenail anymore.

      In the coming Cold War, I wonder if Europe is ready to emulate the non-aligned movement of India? How long will it take the US to admit it has a failed economy(+) like the USSR?

      (+) Not as stupid as “capitalism bad, commies good” - but we need capitalism with real antitrust action, consumer protection, pro-union laws, and a fully funded social safety net. The healthiest option is a muddy gray, not black and white.

        • aquovie@lemmy.cafe
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          4 days ago

          It was admittedly 3 half-thoughts tied into one post.

          When filling out a form, why is Taiwan a “region”? Because companies are catering to China. Why do we buy 3ft USB cables and not 1m USB cables? Because companies are catering to the US. But if the US makes itself irrelevant, those little courtesies are going to go away.

          And the US is treating its relationship with China like a Cold War. Except our economy is severely crippled right now while China’s is going absolutely crazy. Making the US contemporary analogue to the old USSR, while China plays the part of the post WW2 US. Young people look at it through an oversimplified lens of “capitalism vs communism”. I think the truth is that either system can fuck itself and the real key to success is moderation.

          • A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip
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            4 days ago

            When filling out a form, why is Taiwan a “region”? Because companies are catering to China.

            taiwan is a country

            This is not in the US. I have checked 2 global providers, they sidestep the problem by labeling the dropdown “Country or region”.

            Why do we buy 3ft USB cables and not 1m USB cables? Because companies are catering to the US.

            Doesn’t this suggest the opposite? 1m is more generic than 3ft. And I just measured my USB cables and most of them are exactly 1m or slightly more, and not 91cm.

            I do agree with most of your points though, but I think you should take a deep breath every now and then and think what your point actually is and whether it’s coming across.

          • Ghoelian@piefed.social
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            4 days ago

            While I agree with what you said,

            Why do we buy 3ft USB cables and not 1m USB cables?

            I sure don’t. The only products I ever see over here with US units are imported, everything else is metric.

        • rbos@lemmy.ca
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          4 days ago

          They certainly won’t leave the USA anymore, if trade is significantly curtailed.

        • helvetpuli@sopuli.xyz
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          4 days ago

          Exactly. They will stay in the USA from now on, and leave the rest of us have our metric units.

          • cattywampas@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            We also use metric in the US. It’s taught in every science class from high school if not middle school. All of our medicine and sciences are done in metric, as well as military and aerospace.

            • helvetpuli@sopuli.xyz
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              4 days ago

              I’m well aware. I’m taking about the problem of having to convert when dealing with USA origin consumer products.

              You get to pick and choose but your manufacturers force us to deal with your ancient Roman units. I mean, whose foot was it anyway?