theguardian.com

WatDabney, to news in Israel-Gaza war live: Israeli hostages mistakenly killed by IDF in Gaza were holding makeshift white flag, official says

Just makes me wonder how many Palestinians they’ve murdered in similar circumstances, and we just didn’t hear about it because they weren’t Israelis, so it was treated as if it didn’t matter.

Devi,

I mean, the answer is loads. There was a hospital where they had to move all patients away from the outer rooms because the Israeli army were using snipers to pick off staff who came to attend to them. Uniformed doctors who were engaged in treating their patients were shot with no warning.

Zworf, to news in German prosecutors charge 27 over alleged far-right plot to topple government

All the while in Holland the extreme-right is taking over the government fully legally. What a world… :(

Plume, to news in German prosecutors charge 27 over alleged far-right plot to topple government

It feels so good to see countries not tolerating the far right. As a French, they’re basically everywhere now, everyone on talks like the Far Right on TV, now. My country has gotten so complacent with it…

I hope Germany keeps doing this and more act accordingly.

valgarf,

I fear your optimism ist unwarranted. The far right is attracting more and more voters here.

The ones arrested are not the far right you see on TV. They are conspiracy nuts who want to return to the time Germany had an emperor. They planned a revolution and hoarded weapons.

Probably wanted to regain the old empire’s territory as well, especially the regions belonging to France now…

Intelligence_Gap,

Have you seen American news? Were on the fast track to electing a guy who lead a coup and said he wanted to be a dictator

valgarf,

I follow US news a little. You seem to be much further along on your way to abolish democracy. But to be fair, the “winner takes it all” voting mechanism and resulting two party system really helps in dividing a country.

Also “hoarding weapons” seems to be an acceptable pasttime in the US.

Lophostemon, to upliftingnews in Long thought to be extinct in Kenya, giant pangolins are now being helped back from the brink

Don’t tell the Chinese or they’ll be over in a flash claiming all of them for their stew-pots under the guise of ‘historical boundaries’.

TheFriendlyArtificer, to news in Danish MPs vote to ban desecration of religious texts after Qur’an burnings

Can I expect similar protections for The Satanic Verses, or is this another instance of religion being afforded a special status with the power to control non-adherents lives?

I always get the two mixed up.

Thcdenton, to fuck_cars in Paris mayor plans to triple SUV parking tariffs to cut air pollution

Just SUVs? Why not Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bently, or all the other luxery vehicles? This seems pretty arbitrary at first glance. I don’t know french car culture very well but aren’t SUVs more of a middle class thing?

tenacious_mucus,

French car culture isnt much different than European car culture in general, for the sake of the topic here. Small displacement engines (1.6, or 2.0 liter usually) and small footprint because of space. Scooters and pedal bikes are super common around places like Paris, tho…parking, gas, weaving through the congestion, etc. However, some of the wagon variants of cars and these luxury cars you mention sometimes have a much larger footprint than small and mid-sized SUVs. Unless overhead clearance is an issue, like in parking garages, i don’t quite understand the reason for singling out SUVs here.

This, of course, is all stated with European sized SUVs in mind that share the same small displacement engines as other cars. Not the giant American sized ones that have much larger engines where emissions issues now come into play. However, all those luxury cars usually have even bigger engines and sometimes the loud exhaust as well…sooo…🤷

Ulijin,

Could it also be to do with the increased lethality of SUVs? A study in Ireland shows 11.5% of pedestrians hit by an SUV were killed versus 4.5% for a car.

No law is perfect and there’s always an edge case to provide a reason for doing nothing. This is definitely a step in the right direction to stop the arms race that purchasing larger vehicles has become though.

Pons_Aelius, to archaeology in Archaeologists unearth ‘most shocking example of Roman slavery’ at Pompeii

As the article states. Slavery is an aspect of Roman society that is so often hand waved away or basically ignored by pretty much every historical discussion or documentary.

When you hear about Julius Caesar in Gaul: one third of the entire population was sold into slavery over the course of a few years.

The entire roman economy ran on slavery.

Spartacus is a staple of modern media thanks to Giovagnoli's novel and its translation into English but the brutality with which it and the other two "Slave wars" were put down in the space of 60 years are rarely touched on.

regul, to fuck_cars in Paris mayor plans to triple SUV parking tariffs to cut air pollution

Anne Hidalgo does some very cool stuff.

qyron, (edited ) to fuck_cars in Paris mayor plans to triple SUV parking tariffs to cut air pollution

I have to drive a freaking pick up truck for professional reasons and even I loathe the freaking thing.

Too long, too wide, too tall, too everything and anything for any road and I drive in country roads.

The craze for ever growing vehicles is going to extremes.

Tax and penalize these cars until it hurts.

SuiXi3D,
@SuiXi3D@kbin.social avatar

Bruh, my only vehicle for close to two years was a truck that I inherited, a 2002 Chevy Silverado 1500 LS. I believe it got about 8mpg on average, but I dealt with it because I didn’t have any other way to get a different vehicle at the time.

Nowadays I drive a 2018 Ford Fiesta SE. The difference is night and day. Stops on a dime, accelerates quickly, I can fit it anywhere I want, and it gets an average of 34mpg. I went from paying between $75 to $125 every week and a half for gas to spending about $30 over the same time period.

qyron,

I drive small cars in my personal life, although I currently own 2 station wagons because of family and pets. I usually get an average consumption of 6-7L/100km, which is not bad at all.

My first and most beloved car was a hatchback that could get 5,5L/100km.

I have to drive a pick up for work but I do not enjoy it, to the least degree.

MajorMajormajormajor,

Most of my friends that are in the trades prefer small vans over pickup trucks. They can fit more tools, better organized, and easier to secure. Pickup trucks are very niche vehicles.

qyron, (edited )

Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there are no risen raised vans or with 4x4 traction, which I often require to reach some remote locations, especially with rainy weather.

But I would gladly trade it in for a small van.

Either that or a 1990’s 4x4 FIAT Panda, with a roof rack.

swope,
@swope@kbin.social avatar

So use that vehicle in austere places, and don't park it in Paris (or any other city).

qyron,

The issue here is oversized vehicles becoming norm, not exception.

Zpiritual,

Pretty sure mercedes has some vans like that. I know of a company that build them into off road & off grid camping vans and they do rock climbing, or whetever one would call it, in them. They are still quite long and big but not like the sheer stupid toys that a modern pickup is.

tenacious_mucus,

There are, not sure what your qualifications for a “risen van” are, but Ford Transits and Mercedes Sprinters have an AWD variant. Dodge has had 4wd panel vans since the 90s, not sure if they still are, tho. There’s probably other makes out there, but that’s what I know off the top of my head. I think there’s also aftermarket companies that can mod vans into 4wd, but that’s getting a little crazy for just a basic work van.

qyron,

At least 20cm of clearance from the road, awd capable, with high torque setting for rough terrain and steep inclinations, as I sometimes need to use trails not even fit to be considered goat paths.

In a van, it’s an exotic combination.

tenacious_mucus,

Ya, it’d be doable for sure with the craze of all the overland van-dweller builds the last few years. Ive seen plenty that meet all your requirements. But, whether it would be cost-effective or not for a work van would be the major issue, especially considering most trucks can do all that without being a special order for probably less than half the price.

Unfortunately not a lot of demand for such a thing, like you said.

Years ago i was in a spot where i needed the same as you for basically all the same reasons. The old van kept getting stuck everywhere, and then it actually got rolled from hitting a patch of black ice one winter, so it was totaled. These high-top vans had just started coming to market which was great, but I couldn’t convince the boss to spend the extra money for at least an AWD version, nevermind the higher ground clearance or low-torque options. I still got that thing stuck so many times…having a high-top I could stand up in was nice though.

vanderbilt, to news in Danish MPs vote to ban desecration of religious texts after Qur’an burnings
@vanderbilt@beehaw.org avatar

The scope of the bill seems too broad. This will give political ammo to the right-wing populists, who are already riding the wave of anti-immigration.

Kidplayer_666, to news in Danish MPs vote to ban desecration of religious texts after Qur’an burnings

The problem is, as usual, Flying Spaghetti Monster showing that it’s hard to define what is a religion, therefore abuse

otter, (edited )

I think intent plays a role here. If the goal is to incite a reaction or to hurt a population by publicly burning something that they care about, it’s probably not a great to do

One of those things where you know when you see it, but it’s hard to define explicitly.

If anything, it might help as a temporary measure to reduce tensions and inflammatory incidents

Hirom,

The bill has since been reworked to specify that it only applies to holy books from religions recognised in Denmark.

I guess it’s now more clearly defined to reference to religion recognized by Danish administrations.

Kidplayer_666,

Didn’t they get legal recognition in like Germany or something? Maybe Denmark is next

Faydaikin,
@Faydaikin@beehaw.org avatar

Hard to say. I doubt it though.

As insincere/foolish as our politicians can be, they do seem to take that part somewhat serious.

Like, Scientology isn’t recognized as a religion and such. The list of religions outside of the abrahamic ones is surprisingly short.

derbis,

It was in Austria, I think. You’re thinking of the colander-head ID photo?

DragonBallZinn, to fuck_cars in ‘People are happier in a walkable neighborhood’: the US community that banned cars
@DragonBallZinn@hexbear.net avatar

I find it interesting that despite all the ways we can dunk on yanks, yanks do seem to be genuinely interested in walkable cities. All the walkable cities are so expensive because they are high-demand areas. CHUDs may like to dunk on San Francisco or New York, but they’re expensive because they’re desirable.

For all the whining about “freedom”, CHUDs sure do love forcing Americans to live in a way that they don’t want to live.

achille225, to news in French parliament backs proposal to ban vapes

It seems the title is misleading to some people : France is just banning the use of SINGLE-USE vapes, not all vapes.

nicetriangle,
@nicetriangle@kbin.social avatar

Hard to blame them. The amount of e waste is staggering

autumn,
@autumn@beehaw.org avatar

good. i found a ton of these nasty little things in my backyard when i moved into my current house. the house was (no surprise) previously occupied by a bunch of undergrads.

maynarkh,

Isn’t that a massive fire hazard apart from being bad for the environment?

vhstape, to news in French parliament backs proposal to ban vapes
@vhstape@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

I do not take personal issue with vaping. Humans have been consuming nicotine for thousands of years, and even though it is unhealthy, I don’t think it’s ever going away. However, the article specifically covers the banning of single-use vapes; and I absolutely agree that these have to go. They are extremely attractive to children and adolescents, and they’re terrible for the environment. I think the best approach toward regulating vapes is to ban flavors and disposables.

Syldon,
@Syldon@feddit.uk avatar

I cannot understand why there is no law banning the sale of Vape mixture to kids in any shape or form. Prohibition does not work where there is a desire to use a product, and vapes are so easy to manufacture that it will never be effective.

SenorBolsa, (edited )
@SenorBolsa@beehaw.org avatar

There is in most countries. Unless you mean shortfills you are meant to add nic to? In the US those still firmly fall under the laws restricting sale of vapes. Don’t know about the UK or Europe, I know those products exist there though.

Otherwise you can’t legally sell bulk nicotine to underage people, obviously the other ingredients are used for such a wide variety of things they can’t really be restricted like that.

vikinghoarder,

Disposables are very bad for the environment, but in retrospect, so are normal AA batteries, used once and tossed away, regulation on those should also be considered.

Banning flavors is not, hopefully, an option, as the components of the juice don’t have and inherent flavor, unlike tobacco plants.

SenorBolsa, (edited )
@SenorBolsa@beehaw.org avatar

Alkaline batteries are great for remotes and stuff like that, where they potentially last years, in those applications it seems very reasonable, my TV remote still has the included AA batts and I bought it 3 years ago. But they end up getting used in higher drain devices and it gets a bit absurd. Still, at least people aren’t rocking around with their boombox with 6 D cells that last 8hours.

SenorBolsa, (edited )
@SenorBolsa@beehaw.org avatar

As a long time e-cig user and enthusiast I agree. I thought we got away from that garbage a decade ago, but then it came back. I don’t get it, it’s expensive, it sucks, and it’s mind bogglingly awful for the environment.

I don’t even love the idea of pre built coils but I compromised for the convenience now that they are actually good. Feels a lot less bad to toss a little bit of steel and kanthal every few weeks.

I can’t really get behind banning flavors, but less attractive packaging and only allowing open refillable systems would be a huge step to slowing adolescent use, they pretty much all use disposables because they can be bought at gas stations and you have to go to a smoke shop to get the refillables. Not to mention dropping $60 on a mod+tank isn’t as easy to start as $10 for a disposable.

I think the flavors are a big part of why they can be effective as cessation aids you start to no longer associate tobacco with it which helps a lot. I no longer smell someone smoking and get cravings.

Zworf, to news in French parliament backs proposal to ban vapes

Especially the single-use ones are really bad for the environment. I don’t mind this.

However I think vaping is a good way for people to detox off cigarettes (by slowly reducing nicotine content) so banning vaping as a whole phenomenon is a bad thing IMO. Perhaps it could be prescription based for people who are trying to kick cigarettes.

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