The 1950s economy was the result of:

1. The New Deal
2. A world war which destroyed the infrastructure of every developed economy except for the US.

The New Deal was only possible because of the Great Depression. Only that level of chaos was enough so that left-wing politicians could push through radical reforms that moved power from the elite to the workers. The reforms of the New Deal remained in place after the war, at least for a while.

The second world war saw the destruction of the industrial capacity of the UK, Germany, France and the USSR. Meanwhile the only attack on the US was an attack on military targets at a Navy base in a distant territory.

So, if you want an economy similar to the 1950s, arrange for a world war which somehow leaves the US unscathed but destroys every other similarly developed economy, then arrange for a great depression which destroys the economy to such an extent that radical reforms can be enacted to hand power to the average worker.

Yes, of course nothing bad would happen if we switched to a 20 hour work week. But, the people with the power aren’t going to just allow that to happen. The 40 hour work week only happened with a massive series of strikes that were brutally put down by the cops. The change to a 20 hour week isn’t just going to happen because some workers think it would be cool.

That’s absolute bullshit. When the 40 hour workweek was “invented”, men were working 12 hour days in factories and their wives also worked. The wives sometimes worked in factories, often worked as domestic servants for richer people, or did home-based work. Home based work was often laundry or cooking for other people, not just their family. They’d sometimes also finish goods that were produced in a factory. Both partners were working 12+ days. And, while women did most of the home cooking and cleaning, it wasn’t as though that’s all they did.

This system ended because the workers used their power and went on strike. The result was the Haymarket Affair and is the reason that most countries, other than the US, celebrate a worker’s day on May 1st. The striking workers were attacked and beaten by the cops, and then because a bomb was thrown at a cop, the leaders of an anarchist group were rounded up and hanged after show trials.

Eventually the striking workers got what they were working for: an 8 hour day. But, it took decades after the Haymarket Affair for it to happen, and it wasn’t something that happened because everyone agreed it made sense. It was a long and bloody fight where that was the compromise that reduced the bloodshed.

If you want a 20 hour work week, join a union, prepare to go on strike and prepare to be beaten by the cops.

Anybody who’s interested in Ukraine should follow Tim Mak and his news site Counteroffensive

I’m not sure if he’s Canadian or American. He’s a graduate of McGill in Canada, but apparently served as a medic in the US Army. He used to work for The Daily Beast and Politico, then for NPR for 5 years. Now he’s running his own news organization out of Ukraine. He and his team are reporting on the ground in Ukraine, living through all the drone attacks, then going out to talk to Ukrainians in person. He also covers military issues between China and Taiwan.

Some of the stories he’s covered are things like the drone attacks deep inside Russia that destroyed their bombers, but also things you won’t get elsewhere like secret apartment concerts in Ukraine.

And if that doesn’t convince you, he signs off all his dispatches with his dog of war pics of puppies he and his team run across while reporting on the war.

Also the search parameters are undocumented internal things that can change or be disabled at any time.

And when it did it also altered the results, making them worse, because it was trying to satisfy “fuck” as part of your search.

Worse is Google that insists on shoving a terrible AI-based result in your face every time you do a search, with no way to turn it off.

I’m not telling these systems to generate images of cow-like girls, but I’m getting AI shoved in my face all the time whether I want it or not. (I don’t).

I’m betting crocs.

If you’d like to abandon society and escape into nature

Where, exactly, can you do that? There’s really no unclaimed nature out there anymore, at least none that can let a person survive on their own. And if you’re not surviving on your own, you’re part of a society.

Do they show shoes or do they show sandals?

Normally not a big difference, footwear is footwear. But, if we’re talking about socks, then the difference becomes relevant again.

How to spot Americans on topics not related to America.

And, while it’s good to challenge dumb social constructs, you should pick your battles. Nobody can fight all dumb social constructs at the same time. Is wearing socks really where you want to focus your energy?

Ouch. Good to know it’s possible though.

You… I like you.

You’d really have liked it if I started talking about how the winters in Ontario, CA are much more pleasant than the ones in Ontario, CA.

Recreation just switches to an early morning or post-sundown schedule.

Ah, right. I hadn’t considered that. It’s interesting that the places with the most brutal heat are the ones with a relatively early sunset. In 2023 Oslo hit 32 degrees, not that hot by international standards, but combine that with the fact it happened on June 15th and the sun never fully sets at that time of year, and it’s hard to find relief.

I usually still get 3-4 hours of sports activities on a saturday or sunday.

Do you live somewhere where the mid-day heat is 35+C? 40+C? To me, those are the only ones where it’s truly brutal and I might prefer long, harsh winters. OTOH, human culture hasn’t really found a great way to deal with brutally cold winters. There are winter solstice celebrations, but no adjustment of the schedule of life to avoid the worst of the cold. But, in places with really hot summers there’s often a tradition of mid-day naps, and I could really get on board with that lifestyle.

For some of them it’s “if you don’t want to risk your life in the armed forces, but really, really want other people to go and murder children and steal land so you can benefit, go study the Talmud”.

It’s about as narrowly targeted a chant as you can get.

It’s not about jews. It’s not about israelis. It’s specifically the army of israel. If that’s not narrowly targeted enough, what’s acceptable? “Down with the members of the IDF who intentionally target civilians but not those members of the IDF who are willing to risk a court martial to make sure that they only attack valid military targets?” Doesn’t make a very good chant.

AFAIK you can also not join the IDF by simply being extremely religious.

Yeah, exactly. Winters in LA or LA might be different. But, winters in places with months and months of snow are awful. You can’t do much outside because it’s too cold. You can’t have your windows open to get some fresh air because it’s too cold. You can dress properly to do outdoor activities, but it often requires so many layers that it’s really uncomfortable. Plus, you can’t have any gaps. Your neck, wrists, ankles are often places where the cold can get in, or worse they can get wet and being cold and wet is awful.

In addition, the world is just miserable in winter. There’s almost nothing alive outside other than other humans. No grass, many trees lose all their leaves, birds migrate away, everything is shades of grey or brown. Christmas can be fun, and it’s no coincidence that it’s celebrated almost exactly on the darkest day of the year. That’s when we need a lot of pretty lights and cheer. But, Christmas is just the beginning of winter. What follows is months of gloomy grey cold.

And, while there are outdoor winter sports, you need special footwear for all of them because of the snow and ice. You can’t even walk across a field or a park without extra effort because of all the snow. Even key winter sports like skating or hockey, if played outside, require that you at a minimum spend a lot of time shovelling all the snow off the ice surface. For a good experience you also have to flood and smooth the ice periodically. So, it’s a lot of work.

Having said all that, if I had to choose between -30 and +40, I’d probably choose -30, because at least you can put on appropriate gear for that and spend some time outside doing something fun. It may be dark and it may be grey, but it’s possible to dress for the weather. When it’s too hot, you really can’t spend any time outside, without risking your life, and it certainly isn’t possible to do anything active. But if the choice is between -30 and +30, give me the +30 any day.

I’ve been through at least 5 different kinds of phone chargers over the years. Starting with the olde-fashioned coaxial power connector, then going to various versions of USB, and at least 2 kinds of Apple proprietary connectors. Standardizing on USB-C is great. I just hope that they’re able to update it in 10-20 years when USB-C is fully out of date.

Ah, so you believe ICE?

There are a lot more, I just grabbed the first few.