I don't think a single person is in control of the DNC. More a group of people who each pull their strings, mostly to the left but not all in the same direction.

Well, "Blockchain Radar" sounded so unwieldy and they had to use something to sell their idea so they settled for the next best thing.

Yeah, yeah, we know it all by now, "human race destined for extinction, the sun is going nova, global something will decimate life on the planet, film at 11".

Ever noticed that the "news" is now *constantly* filled with dire predictions of doom, with apocalyptic events vying for a place on the timeline but not getting them because it is too crowded? If you're in the Netherlands or Germany you might have heard about that supervolcano under the Eiffel range which turns out to be active still, with the ground moving up by ~1mm/year. It is like that R.E.M. song "The End of the World as we know it" or "London Calling" by The Clash, the latter at least adding a possible way out in the end:

(London calling), yes, I was there, too
And ya' know what they said? Well, some of it was true!
(London calling) at the top of the dial
And after all this, won't you give me a smile?

On the global something front, may I suggest having a look at the temperature profiles for the previous interglacials to get an idea of what things were like then and how long it took for the temperature to drop towards the next ice age? There is a remarkable similarity between the last 3-4 interglacials in that they all started hot - hotter than the current Holocene - to stay there for a few thousands of years, eventually to peter out into another ice age.

More educated does not equate "smarter", you have to know what that education was before you can come to that conclusion. A city populated with people with STEM degrees from faculties which have not yet fallen to the scourge of "diversity, inclusion and equity" is likely to be a place with an on-average "smarter" population. Then again, a city populated with people who graduated from the likes of Evergreen State with degrees in women's studies, gender studies, critical racism studies, feminist studies and more of the same is a city which, while "more educated", can not seriously be seen as having a "smarter" population. The really smart people who end up in places like that see them for what they are and bail out before being saddled with a life-long debt for a "degree" which amounts to nothing more than a party book for a political party which is unlikely to gain significant power. There are a few con-artist types who manage to make a good living out of certifying businesses for 'LGBTQIA+', 'white guilt awareness' and similar tripe but those snake-oil saleswomen will soon be kicked out of town for the charlatans they are.

Wikipedia is whatever the loudest, most aggressive and most insistent group wants to make it. It is what those people who can spend most of their time editing articles want to make it. Find a loud, aggressive and insistent group which has the time to spend on keeping their view dominant on Wikipedia and you'll have found the same group which takes to the streets to "protest", which writes books like 'In Defense of Looting' (Yes, Vicky Osterweil, I'm looking at you), which turns a blind eye towards any violence within their own contingent because it is "for the good cause".

This is a shame, really. The project started off well but it has been balkanised and is falling victim to the mob. I sometimes take some time to attempt to remove their propaganda but usually see my edits reversed within minutes since (e.g.) the world really needs to know that Yogi Bear is based on racist stereotypes as described by some woke snowflake in a 'study' which is then cited and as such admissible. The slow march into the institutions really paid off here.

Possessive apostrophes are a symptom of white supremacy, the name alone should make that clear. In the new brave world there will be no more possessions and no more possessive apostrophes and anyone who dares to utter such will be re-educated #notmyapostrophe #indefenceoflooting.

> but their version of woke is a whole lot of crazy.

As in crazier than the current version of woke? I'd say any version of woke is craziness, no exceptions.

There is a very simple and concise explanation for this parable: those of the true faith have a fiduciary duty to explain current and past events in ways which lead to the true faith. No more, no less.

Ah, yes, those Saturday morning cartoons I used to envy because we never had anything like that in the Netherlands. While all those American children could just get up and zonk out in front of the telly with some oversweetened cereal and binge watch cartoons we Dutch kids were treated to... nothing, really. Which made us do other things... which I later realised was a far more sensible approach but at that time it just felt boring compared to the American way. It probably helped that I grew up in the 70's and 80's, children growing up now will get a wholly different view of life in the USA with daily news of riots, Portland besieged for 3 months, etc. Life in the latter years of the Cold War was easier in some ways. Not better, mind you, just easier. Things were - or seemed to be - much clearer then, there was a clear adversary who, although in some ways bad, still shared a lot of our values and culture. Things are not so easy now and deciding who is on the 'right' side is nigh impossible.

As long as the device can be rooted, the Facebook app is doomed. Only is it can not be rooted and the Facebook app can not be disabled do they stand a chance but... if a device has an unremovable Facebook app and nobody buys it, does it still please SuckerB?

Of course it is legal, that is what AOSP is for and it is what alternative distributions like LineageOS use. I have a host of Android devices of different plumage around the house and outside, none of them run Google-proprietary software. I do not have a Google account even though I've been using Android for close to 10 years now.

Fear not, a new threat will arise which will make something like air travel the tool of the $insert_whatever_goes_for_devil_here to be avoided if you have any heart at all. Airplanes create vortexes which lead to stratified air being mixed which leads to cloud formation/suppression which leads to extinction, insects are found to be cruising at exactly the altitudes used by airplanes, sound emitted by propellers and ducted fans are proven to confuse migratory birds, take your pick. It won't be Greta doing the complaining as she'll have settled down by that time in some NGO where she is shuttled around the world in relative luxury because she needs to go to places to spread the gospel and those places just so happen to only be reachable through business or first class flights. It will be another poor child, manoeuvred into position by her manipulative parents who are already jockeying for position in the better-off suburbs of major cities in the western world.

> I am usually pretty pro apple

...which is a problem, I see no reason to be "pro" any commercial entity. What I do see is reasons to be pro policies and actions by commercial (and other) entities. Apple happens to have many policies which I consider to be bad, mostly related to their drive to control and monetise. Arch-competitor Google also has a number of policies which I oppose but they at least make it possible to opt out - Google-free Android is a thing, Apple-free iOS is not. Were Apple to open up iOS, release the source, allow side loading and alternative repositories things might change but I will not voluntarily subject myself to their control mania.

If Epic ends up being the crowbar that breaks open the app store monopoly - and yes, it *is* a monopoly in the iOS world, no doubt about that - I'd say he managed to do something *good*. It might lead to anxiety among the true believers who now get to decide whether to stay in the flock or wander to that field over yonder beonyd the walls, with greener grass and a better views and lots of interesting new people after which the rest of the flock will shun them for the apostate he is but so be it. Choice is a good thing, think different.

Run those dodgy apps you downloaded off some random apk-hosting site through virustotal.com before you install them.