I did read the link, and I also read other sources about Intelligent Speed Assist.

Intelligent Speed Assist is not necessarily a speed limiter, unless the EC has created new guidelines since 2024 that require hard speed limiters that I’m not aware of.

Sure, speed limiters aren’t required on ebikes either when you’re not on a public road, but 99.9% of vehicle usage is on public roads, even for racecar enthusiasts. EU regulation makes it very easy for manufacturers to make cars that double as racecars, since ISA can be disabled easily by the user. But neither racecars nor e-bikes are meant to race on public roads. ISA clearly does not go far enough.

There are much bigger issues with car safety than just speeding, I just wanted to point out that we knowingly allow car drivers to kill people with reckless driving on increasingly more complex and more dangerous machines. And we as a society are very resistant to any harm reduction tools that would prevent drivers from breaking speed limits, or otherwise adapt cars to fit better in the cities where they’re driven. Even historically-large 2-door economy cars are referred to as “clown cars”.

The reality is that the modern car is a high speed impact-armored vehicle designed for intercity cruising at speeds traditionally reserved for trained professionals. They are increasingly unsuitable for the intraurban environments they spend the vast majority of their time in. Cars might be important in rural areas, but personal mobility needs more variety than just cars, walking and the occasional sport cyclist.

Here is a video about intermediary vehicles that used to exist, but were abandoned immediately as soon as we could build something faster.

https://youtu.be/7NxFBbLSOzs

Until the average car driver gets some self-understanding about the vehicles they operate, modern cars do not belong in civilized urban neighborhoods at all. Speed limiters are just the tip of the iceberg.

Manufacturers aren’t required to use speed limiter software, the law allows for cars to only play alert sounds when a driver is breaking speed limits. I rented a 2024 Mercedes in Europe recently that beeped when you were speeding, but otherwise didn’t do any active safety measures.

Also, while these speeding alerts are on by default, they can easily be disabled, so most people who understand how to configure their car will probably turn them off.

Plenty of articles online with drivers freaking out that they’re being punished for breaking speed limit laws, and explaining how to turn off the alerts.

Compare to ebikes in the EU, where all (legally-imported) ebikes will turn off their motors above 25-30 kmh, and firmware hacking the system to disable it is illegal unless you register it as a moped. Disabling the speed limiter is illegal even if you are riding it on 50 km/h streets where it is legal and safe to go faster.

The majority of electric vehicles have speed limiters (I.e. escooters and ebikes), but the moment somebody suggests putting speed limits on cars, the #2 killer of children (behind guns), everybody loses their minds.

It was outside of the environment

It became 2% after the Russian invasion of Crimea, but it was increased to 3.5% (+1.5% infrastructure) this year, due to threats from both Trump and Putin.

They have been pretty vocal about not being able to afford the 5% GDP spending target.

Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about?

Canada and Australia are Fptp, not PR

I know what you mean, but I’d argue that the balance of powers principle in the US giving the president so much power has done the opposite of what it’s supposed to do. Instead of the executive being restrained by the other branches, it has completely taken over them because the other branches are worried that they would lose too much by resisting.

Whereas in a PR parliamentary system, it is extremely rare for any one party to have a majority, so they need to compromise with other parties to elect a prime minister. Even during war time, it’s common practice to use a unity cabinet that includes all major parties. The judiciary seems to be more independent and can enforce the basic law. Also, 50% of MPs or the president/king can call an election at any time if the PM is getting too spicy.

Tyranny of the majority is tricky though. Most of the responses to that seem to be devolution or international cooperation.

Definitely.

I like searching the library of Congress’s site for the federalist papers when researching about the (surprisingly advanced) political science discussions during the Enlightenment.

Federalist papers 67-70, and 73 make some comparisons between kings and presidents. It’s definitely clear that a king is a common example in the political discourse at the time, which makes sense since their system had a king just 10-15 years before.

Yeah, there seems to be a weird reversal in the powers of a king and president. Federalist#73 says that kings fear challenging parliament, so a president who has to face reelection should be even less powerful, but it really seems like the opposite these days. The US president has so much influence over congress. It also seems like they have more of a mandate to override congress because of how involved they are in campaigning. The modern system of prime Ministers where the executive comes from parliament seems to play out better in modern politics.

Off-topic, but Federalist#66 is suuuper unfortunate to read in the modern day. The idea that senators will feel empowered to impeach officials they previously endorsed, just because individuals in the senate might feel like an official has betrayed their trust? The idea that a majority of congress would never act tyranically? Hamilton, what the fuck? I guess the main issue though is that parties have become much stronger than democratic pressure on individual seats in the senate.

In many countries, the president is the head of state, they manage the transition of power and act as diplomats, in place of a king. Finland has both a president and PM.

Was giving literal gold to Donald Trump part of that campaign to save the users?

Both Tim and Pinchai paid Donald Trump money to attend his inauguration and lick his ass on a daily basis. They both have one very big incentive to invade their user’s privacy: American fascism.

You don’t understand Marx or Lenin if you don’t understand their belief in the relationship between capitalism and communism.

My point was that there’s more nuance than just “capitalism always causes social fragmentation”

We should all get together and shit on that orange fuck’s grave when he’s good and dead.

It’s not that cut and dry. There is a lot of overlap between capitalism and communism.

At the risk of quantizing humor, I’d argue that this isn’t really that funny.

It’s basically only enjoyable since it’s celebrating the death of someone we don’t like, and mocking the people who feel like we should be mourning him. Gore similes aren’t really “funny”.

Like it’s enjoyable to animorph Hitler into a burnt corpse, but if someone posted the same meme with George Floyd and a crushed snail, I don’t think anyone would find it funny.

Anyways, reee shitpost in my diaper give me tendies

Oh, TIL. I’ll have to check that out next time I’m in Germany.

The commenter above was comparing working environments in Trader Joe’s (a US only store), Costco (majority US), and “Aldi”. The logical assumption is that this comparison is with Aldi US.

It would be strange if the commenter was comparing working environments in specific store franchises across countries with completely different labor markets. Furthermore, why would they specifically compare Trader Joe’s to German Aldi in North Germany?

I am certain that the above commenter was comparing Trader Joe’s to Aldi Süd and specifically their US subsidiary. These two brands are not the same company, despite Aldi’s naming quirk.

Aldi US stores are owned by Aldi Süd, which is different from the Aldi Nord that owns trader Joe’s. You can see it in the logo that Aldi US stores use.