88 Kilos of Sunshine

So here goes, the complete thread on "The Tyranny of Pretty Things" 88kilosofsunshine.bandcamp.com/album/the-tyra…

Private businesses have a Trump carve out to the fuel blockade. Hospitals do not have access to fuel that private businesses do. That is literally US policy, what you voted for. Everyone in the US should understand their responsibility to change this.

A Danish scientist counted bugs on the same windshield, same road, same conditions, every year for 20 years. By year 20, 80% of the insects were gone. In Germany, a group of volunteer bug scientists did something even bigger. They set traps in 63 nature reserves, not farms, protected land, and weighed everything they caught. Same traps, same method, 27 years straight. The total weight of flying bugs dropped 76%. In midsummer, when insects should be peaking, it was 82% gone. A follow-up in 2020 and 2021 checked again. No recovery. In the UK, they literally ask drivers to count splats on their license plates after a trip. The 2024 count came back 63% lower than just 2021. Three years. A 2020 study pulled together 166 surveys from 1,676 locations around the world. Land insects are disappearing at roughly 9% every ten years. Here’s where it hits your plate. About 75% of the food crops we grow depend on insects to pollinate them, everything from apples to almonds to coffee. One 2025 study modeled what a full pollinator collapse would look like: food prices jump 30%, the global economy takes a $729 billion hit, and the world loses 8% of its Vitamin A supply. Birds are already feeling it. North America has lost 2.9 billion birds since 1970. A study from just weeks ago found half of 261 bird species on the continent are now in serious decline, and the losses are speeding up in farming regions. The birds that eat insects lost 2.9 billion. The birds that don’t eat insects? They gained 26 million. That ratio tells the whole story. One of the German researchers behind the 27-year study drives a Land Rover. He says it has the aerodynamics of a refrigerator. It stays clean now.

look, dad, i know they used to call them "moments of zen" on the daily show but they're "future adam curtis b-rolls" now and they're a Symptom of Decline

For @@ErnstRoets and his flock of domkop followers! You are not African. You are not indigenous. You are Settlers. 🧵 Southern Africa: who is indigenous, who arrived, and when 🏹 1. San — first peoples of the land San communities have lived in southern Africa for 20,000–30,000+ years. They are among the oldest continuous human populations on Earth. 🐄 2. Khoekhoe — pastoral societies Khoekhoe-speaking communities arrive around 2000–1500 BCE. ➡️ That is about 4,000 years ago They bring cattle, sheep, and pastoral economies into a land already inhabited. 🌾 3. Abantu — farming and iron-working societies Bantu-speaking communities begin moving into southern Africa around 300 CE. ➡️ That is about 1,700 years ago This movement unfolds over time. It is: gradual generational shaped by settlement, exchange, and adaptation It is not an invasion. 🚢 4. Europeans — colonial settlers Europeans arrive with the in 1652. ➡️ That is about 370 years ago They come from outside Africa and establish a colonial foothold. 📌 The timeline in plain terms 30,000+ years ago → San ~4,000 years ago → Khoekhoe ~1,700 years ago → Abantu ~370 years ago → Europeans ⚠️ What this exposes All African societies in this timeline form part of pre-colonial history. Movement between African societies took place over thousands of years. Europeans arrive very late, through colonial expansion. 🧭 The point No African people arrived through colonial conquest of this land. European settlement introduced dispossession, forced removal, and racial hierarchy. 📍 Keep it clear This is not a debate about dates. It is a question of history, land, and truth.

One of my biggest problems with people who oppose free healthcare in South Africa, free education, and social welfare is that they always tell us to look to the Western world for inspiration, yet they don’t want us to be inspired by Israel’s free higher education, or by the free healthcare systems in Denmark or the UK.

@merf_sdp That's like arguing that Britain invaded France and Belgium in the first World War. Cuba was invited by the Angolan government.

South Africa’s 🇿🇦 black middle class moved from ~1.7 million to 5.6-7 million people between 2012 and 2024. ~ 64% of black Africans live below the poverty line compared to ~1% of White South Africans. We need to accelerate BEE to close this gap. Poverty & Inequality are evil!

Then no growth must happen if it only happens for a single group. Screw your argument

I think we have a pretty serious problem. It is not the role of a NATO Secretary General to make political comments about a member state of the Alliance. It is even a sheer violation of his mandate, which requires complete neutrality. A stern warning is in order. #Daddy

yes!! yes yes yes!! we should run saltwater through every ai data center!! right now!!

The default & increasingly virulent opposition to affirmative action from South African whites denies their own history with economic empowerment processes that were specifically designed to advantage them @JacoKleynhans @kalliekriel @ErnstRoets @willempet @RobertHersov

@88KOS @Bruceps ...in our first 5yrs. And, we maintained a single digit top 10% to bottom 10% salary ratio throughout (like Nordic countries), of around 6-7. In fact I dare to say we might have done better than Nordic countries. Entirely possible across 🇿🇦, just req's the will to do it... ✨😊

@88KOS @Bruceps And our growth? By adopting transformation as a foundational principle of our business & especially by putting our employees first & foremost in terms of a living wage & their happiness - we quadrupled our turnover in 10yrs, created 110 jobs & salary matched on race/gender...

@88KOS @Bruceps ...across 🇿🇦, thus making transformation both aspirational & inspirational is a complete mystery to me. We could have done it during the pandemic as well for both health & business solutions. 🇿🇦 is the v best country on 🌍 for make a plan/creative, human centric thinking... ✨😊

@88KOS @Bruceps ...in healthcare (one primarily committed to public support & service) that dtic noted it as being in 🇿🇦's national interest & that I be recommended for both a second business permit and subsequently my PRP. Why we haven't run a national competition for transformative models...

@88KOS @Bruceps Have to agree & while I have to add that we didn't claim a single BBBEE point in our first 10 yrs of business, out of principle (why claim points for doing something we should be doing for the love of 🇿🇦 anyway?), we did manage to achieve such a transformative business model...

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Donald Trump is trying to kill us all. Now is the time for Republicans to stop him. They won’t. We will remember their transgressions for seven generations.

is this supposed to be controversial? and what is he doing about it as president?