@4c5b260f In most cases it would be a dangerous thing to do, for the obvious reason that the military leader has command of the military.
If you're planning a coup, you need the military onside otherwise they will simply wipe you out.
@15582ef4 Same at my house: sprightly young cat, fresh from the cat shelter, chases portly older cat up and down the hallway, giving portly cat much needed exercise.
@dd10be64 Yes, I've been advocating this for a while. A random selection of citizizens would do a better job than we've seen from elected governments over the last several years. People with actual life experience, who won't be making a career out of politics and owe nobody anything for their place in parliament.
A randomly selected parliament would be way more representative, with women and minorities just as eligible as white males.
Having my usual giggle over people posting pictures of yellow oxalis flowers. In Australia they're an invasive weed. #soursobs I guess this sort of thing happens a lot.
@3967703f People can be replaced with machines but then you have to dispose of all the surplus, non-productive people. In the 19th century, colonisation was the answer. Many of the convicts Britain sent to its colonies were farm workers made redundant by mechanisation, who'd resorted to petty crime to support themselves. Other unwanted people like the rebellious Scots and Irish were given subsidised passage to the colonies.
Not so easy to do now, though witholding welfare and health care can raise the death rate, as can inhuman working conditions like requiring people to work outside in the hot sun with no water breaks. These kinds of policies see human life as disposable.
@452504bc They're used a lot in public landscaping here because they're so tough and drought proof. Mine are arranged in a circle and when they had flower heads all around last year they looked really pretty.
@452504bc I have these in my garden in Adelaide, South Australia. Here we just call them Dietes. Didn't know they were called fortnight lily. Is there a reason for the name?
@bdabbff7@0ecd8d1a@4183a04c@3a447f2a If someone's going to put a robot in my house, I'd rather have one that does some of the housework rather than one that watches and records me not doing the housework. Kinder, I think.
Today's disasters:
Volos, Greece - flooding
Eastern Australia - heat column, high temps
Derna, Libya - flooding, destruction, many dead
Massachusetts, USA - flooding
Scandinavia - high temperatures
I'll update as I find them
#climate #ClimateCrisisIsNOW
@4d95224a I don't know why this stereotype persists. There've been grey heads at climate protests for many years. Its not new, the media have just been so prejudiced by their own idea, they've been blind to it.
@66421d65 When asked why I don't have a microwave, I reply that I don't like things that beep in the kitchen.
I'm told "Oh I couldn't live without my microwave!"
Yes you could. Millions of people live and have lived without microwaves. There are other ways of heating food.
@6f334c2f If it's "No" I think there'll be a lot of activist energy unleashed to improve Indigenous equality by any means available. I know, personally, I will be incensed if the #Voice is knocked back, and I'm not Indigenous.
#auspol
@6f334c2f It's fascinating. Australians are happy to be racist, they just don't want to be called racist. Whenever the issue of Indigenous equality comes up, it's "Don't mention the R word".
"Who, me? Racist? How dare you!"
At least they know it's bad.
But knowing that doesn't alter their behaviour. They've given "racism" such a narrow definition (lynchings?) that they can declare themselves innocent and be blind to the racism being practiced around them.
#Voice #auspol
@f05dec22@af52a964@916657b3 I guess its " safer" to blame the dams, but it takes a hell of a lot of water pressure to make any dam wall explode outwards. And that water came from *rain*.
#LibyaFloods #climate #climateDisaster #ClimateSurvival
@adc8087c I very much favour the idea of Universal Basic Income, especially if we're going to have frequent large-scale natural disasters taking people's homes and livelihoods.
And at the same time, cut everyone's working hours by half. Produce less useless stuff. There's so much automation now, and on the horizon, humans shouldn't have to work 40 hrs a week.
@adc8087c I remember the 50s and 60s and people were more relaxed and had way more time.
Today I see people rushing frenetically between one self-inflicted( yet believed to be necessary) activity and the next, and the next, and the next.
@c614d6a0 Plane trips, interstate meetings, conferences, all contribute to one's sense of one's own importance, while not actually being of much benefit to society or one's field of endeavour.
@eddcc259 I'm so pleased to hear that you decided against air travel. So many people are cooking up excuses - reasons why *their* plane travel is an exception, that there's been no change in the overall number of flights. And people who declare themselves concerned about climate change are still doing it.
What is it about "urgent" and "emergency" that people don't understand?
#climate #climateEmergency
@85783b44 The BOM is always a bit conservative in its predictions. They say things like "reasonably significant" when what they mean is "fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!"
#Australia #Climate
Oddbean new post about login | logout
Notes by Chookbot | export
🎶 This is Ground Control to Major Tom, You're getting Medicare 🎶 #MedicateASong #hashtagGames