I write bugs and sometimes features! I’m also @CoderKat@kbin.social.

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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 21st, 2023

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  • I get what you’re saying and that’s obviously a concern, but at the same time… doesn’t it have to be reasonably far in the future? We don’t have either the infrastructure or even enough supply of EVs to change this too quickly.

    That said, I wish they’d use a gradual approach. Start ramping up taxes on gasoline with the proceeds entirely going to EV infrastructure (and similar for purchasing new gasoline vehicles and licensing existing vehicles). Start small and increase as we get closer to the cutoff date. Start limiting gas station development and create zoning regulations for EV infrastructure (especially charging for apartments, which is a huge gap). Make all the laws ramp up gradually so that it’s always small, incremental changes that are never too difficult to do at a time, but will get us in a better place in 10-15 years.









  • It’s so frustrating that such blatant union busting goes unpunished. If I had any power, I’d see execs in charge of decisions like that go to jail. Not a fine – jail. White collar crime is one area where I think prison actually can be a decent deterrent (if there’s enough enforcement that people don’t think they’d go uncaught). It’s a crime where the perpetrator usually is knowledgeable, not in the heat of the moment, and has plenty of time to recognize what they’re doing.




  • Do you think it’s a good world if someone, say, can’t use the nearest small grocery store or has a 50/50 chance that any given taxi will refuse to serve them, leaving them stranded for longer and regularly late as a result? All because maybe they look gay or trans or Muslim or whatever the right wing media is currently drumming up fear towards?

    Your comment is about the perspective of the person providing the service, but what about the people being affected by the discrimination (who are often more vulnerable in the first place)? Do you not care about their experience? Their ability to experience the same quality of life as everyone else?

    And sure, the world is a mean place, but why defend that? Why not try to make it at least a little bit better?


  • There’s been lots of recent stories of teachers refusing the call kids by their preferred pronouns, for one. But also, I think you’re trying to be more rational than these conservatives are. They don’t need there to be a difference in how they work with someone to refuse to do it. Some will literally claim it’s against their religion to be involved with an LGBT person at all.

    Stuff like education is an obvious basic right, yeah, but there’s so much fuzziness. Should the only store in walking distance be able to refuse to serve you? Especially in small towns where there might only be a single business providing a service, they can easily make the area effectively an unlivable area for whichever group is the current focus of conservatives.

    Plus there’s the good ol’ paradox of intolerance. By just allowing people to discriminate, it spreads. When it’s acceptable for one business to discriminate, it’s more likely others are going to adopt the same stance. More people will be taught their intolerance. It’s basically a social illness. Much like a real illness, that needs to be isolated and prevented from spreading.




  • Yeah, it’s unfortunate. I understand it. The flavours do make smoking more enticing to young people, who might not limit themselves to one cigar a month like you do. But it does suck to ban something outright just because some people will misuse it. Mind you, nicotine is addictive, which is a pretty critical facet to this (though I don’t think anyone starts smoking without knowing this risk).

    I dislike smoking in general and do want things that are good for society as a whole. But the logic of banning stuff like this seems similar to, say, banning fast food because some people will overeat (or more extreme, having calorie rationing so that people can’t overeat on any kind of food). It’s admittedly always a balancing act for how much danger is acceptable before we just ban it for everyone. Some bans using this logic are very reasonable, some aren’t, and many are extremely debatable.

    I think I currently prefer the sin tax approach, especially since that best accomodates occasional usage. A hefty tax makes the dangerous thing less accessible to impressionable young people and helps pay for the social cost (though IIRC, smokers actually cost society less because they die younger, reducing the many medical costs of old age). Price influences people’s choices, too. If healthy food is cheaper than unhealthy food, that encourages buying healthy stuff. But even sin taxes are imperfect, especially in a vacuum. They can make the cost of living higher for a vulnerable population. They need to be planned carefully.