Strypey (was at Quitter.se) @strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz

If and when #ganja is legalized for recreational sales in #Aotearoa (#NZ), I'd be happy to see commercial sales limited to cooperatives, co-owned and democratically governed by those who buy the products. I didn't spend 20 years campaigning for cannabis using communities to be free from persecution, so that venture capitalists can set up cannabis corporations and make huge profits off us.

I'm told that drug dealing cartels use growing and selling cannabis as a way to build up the capital to pay for imports of actually dangerous drugs like opiates, cocaine, and meth, which they can't easily produce themselves. Taking the cannabis market away from these cartels, by creating a market of licensed, R18 vendors, would seriously undercut their ability to import more dangerous drugs into the country. Again, it's a no-brainer!

The best way to keep kiwis safe is to do everything we can to keep people out of prison. If the #NZLabour government follow's Uruguay and Canada's example and legalizes cannabis, including a taxed, regulated market for recreational sales, that will significantly reduce both violent crime and prisoner numbers, as well as drug-related harms. It's a no-brainer!

How can the #NZNational party leader say "[the government] have to build more prison beds to keep New Zealanders safe" when all the evidence says putting people in prison causes makes them more likely to commit crimes not less, and makes people imprisoned for non-violent offences more likely to commit violent crime?

Not familiar with "biopower" so I may be missing some nuance here. Any good (+relevant )links on that?

Also Shel's list is classic militanti privilege. Not everyone is privileged enough to be a childless, jobless, landlord-less young punk in full health, who can define political effectiveness as putting themselves at risk, because doing so doesn't put a family or whole community of dependants or carers at risk. But we can still be highly affective without putting anyone at risk.

So if your songs are honest, connecting with how you really feel about the subject of the song, you're opening a door for someone to step through. You don't have to sell them on a specific position, so much as show them there are ways of thinking that are compatible with how they're *feeling*, but that they had never been aware of

I just watched the "anti-cheese" edit of ep 1. It was a notable improvement on the cinema release but left me wishing someone would make a #fanedit mashing up Ep 1 and the 'Fear and Loathing ...' film, so the pod race becomes the Fabulous Mid-400 desert race ...

@freakazoid In theory, I like the way both G+ and #Diaspora allow posts to be directed only to 'circles'/ 'aspects' containing contacts most likely to be interested. But this also creates data silos, for example if a contact only knows me as 'that #SoftwareFreedom dude', I might miss all their posts on #SciFi or #comedy, which I'm also keen to hear about. More importantly, I miss the stuff I didn't know I cared about until I read it

@freakazoid true, but subscription-based online media create the opposite problems; echo chambers, heated agreement, and so on.

#Jamendo is also downgrading the visibility of #CC licenses, if not removing them from their platform. #SoundCloud used to support them but it's harder and harder to find CC-licensed stuff on there, same with #BandCamp. What's with the backlash against #CC licenses on commercial platforms of late?
https://mastodon.social/@trwnh/100293221234711222

An intriguing comparison of #DuckDuckGo ad #StartPage, including #UX, #privacy, #ownership, #hosting, and more.
http://securityspread.com/2016/10/24/duckduckgo-startpage-2016-update/

When I get back from the upcoming trip to the UK for Open 2018, I'm thinking about doing a series of blog pieces on 'advice for windows users'. The first piece of advice would always be 'back up all your user files and install #GNU + #Linux. But assuming they're still not ready to do that, it would be interesting review what their options are for browsers, for example. Suggestions welcome.

Not in his blog piece:
"Last month, the government made a change to Work and Income's policy so any decision to suspend a benefit had to be approved by a second senior-level person."
OR
"Karen Pattie from the Beneficiaries Advocacy and Information Service in Auckland ... "said the new rules were a good move - and she was pleased they were having an immediate impact."
OR
"Ms Sepuloni said this was just one small step in the government's plan to overhaul the welfare system"
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/360495/benefit-suspensions-drop-after-new-policy

Left wing blogger snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/06/27/yay-the-new-government-are-20-less-cruel-than-national-what-a-win/