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Ending USAID is the exact reason hundreds of thousands suffer more today than they did a few years ago. It is the reason mass migration takes place from developing to developed. The total ignorance and outright stupidity of comments like this is why Yanks should really take a seat when it comes to talking about geopolitics.
Who say's I haven't read it? Yet, Elgin still stole the marbles. Justified it by claiming the barbarism of the Ottoman's was to blame and he was only doing good, despite this being disputed. And hilarious as his removal caused permanent and untold damage to the marbles. And the British refuse to return them even though they would be safe today.
Furthermore theft of antiquities isn't quite the same as slavery, genocide, apartheid... Although culturally relevant, it does form part of ethnic cleansing - which the British Empire excelled at.
I judge people exactly how my moral's and principles determine they should be judged. People love to use "of the time" type quotes to excuse slavery for example, when in actual fact it was well known at the time to be despicable.
Or perhaps a better example is "of the time" quotes to justify apartheid South Africa, a place my parents grew up in. Many friends parent's were blindly ignorant or supportive, but that doesn't mean they didn't know the facts. They just go, "that's how it was". When I know from my parent's it wasn't like that, and White and Black people knew exactly what was going on. Same could be said for Nazi Germany.
And certainly same can be said for everyone on here that works at FAANG, or Palantir or any US defense contractor. They are knowingly and willingly aiding genocide or mass surveillance. They cannot claim ignorance.
We live in a day and age where people far too easily give up their freedoms, give up moral stand points because it is difficult or divisive. Yes, that's exactly what it is meant to be.
Maybe if we judged people more harshly we wouldn't be seeing a rise in fascism today, because views are just accepted as they are. Hell no. I hope I am judged down the line. Don't be too blase about accepting shitty viewpoints because people are morally ignorant, or lack principles and in doing so divide humanity along spurious lines.
That's if you get caught. YOU won't get caught because you're smarter than that and you know what a plan is.
This is such an hilarious answer. For most of the non-Western world, we don't distrust China because they have created benefits for the developing world. Whereas the USA has been outright imperialist for the past 60-70 years, undermining and overthrowing developing democracies, putting in dictators, using international organisations as debt traps, waging and funding wars that put our lives and economies at risk.
It is so pathetic how American's see themselves, and are so deeply afraid of China. I am far more fearful of the predatory nature of the USA and its agencies than I could ever be of China who would never have any interest in me.
Your life doesn't end. Your perception of your life along this current trajectory and within this current system could end, but it could start you on another much more powerful path. I don't just mean this in relation to flock camera's but rather direct action.
Crap quotes like this is what people use to justify slavery, fascism, genocide, apartheid.
Or move to Europe/China/insert lovely tax haven here. They don't have to base their operations in the USA, they CHOOSE to. I will cancel my subscription because of this, and happily use DeepSeek/mimo or whatever else comes for a fraction of the cost. China won't and mostly can't do anything with my data, the US government can and certainly will.
I'll pick my poison thanks and choose Chinese surveillance.
Ah this is great. One of my all-time favourite games, and I have coincidentally been making a hobby updated version lately to try out flutter web.
Here it is if anyone is interested: https://dopewars-flutter.web.app/
Essentially been trying to make it modernised with updated events, skill sets, locations etc. Just to make it a bit more fun for me to play around with.
I also have no doubt there's bugs as this is very new and only put a few hours into it over the past few weeks.
You say I'm not even close to the facts when I can substantiate everything I have said based off released data. Let's go through your points
- You make the claim that "official numbers on connection to water, electricity etc. are pretty much a joke" yet provide nothing to back that up? Why? I would say giving access to water and electricity to over 90% of the population in under 30 years is a win. And a case against the term "steady decline". No doubt drought ravaged regions like the North West, which if you'd been to, is understandable that consistent water cannot be provided. So does they fall into the 10% of non-connected water residents? I would assume so.
- You state that 10-15% of households are off-grid. I would make a claim that that show's progress in society and not decline. Despite the reasons, it means that there will actually end up in the long run being more electricity for the population overall. Let's also look at overall manufacturing and I will provide sources: PWC you may have heard of them forecast 5.7% growth in manufacturing over the next decade (despite short term decline of -0.4%) due to reforms in regulation and fixing of electricity supply. Here's the link: https://www.pwc.co.za/en/publications/manufacturing-analysis...
- Healthcare is impressive if you take in the fact of providing healthcare free of charge to 60 million people within less than 25 years, is not only a feat but something that is literally the definition of impressive. It's far far off where it should be, no one doubts that but you seem to have a blinkered view that everything must be of a first world standard within the shortest timeframe. We could have gotten closer if it weren't for years of corruption but the aim and the goal and ability to provide healthcare to the people is still impressive.
- If you don't think violent crime has anything to do with Apartheid's spatial planning, has nothing to do with the Apartheid government arming and supplying gangs with drugs, has nothing to do with purposefully underfunding education within townships, ensuring little public transport to working hubs, and the entire multi-faceted list of socio-economic destruction that took place. Then, my friend, you literally do not know what you are talking about, nor the socio-economic reasons for crime to occur. If you think Apartheid has nothing to do with the unemployment rate due to generational injustices, maybe you should take grade 10 history again.
- What makes me think there is less corruption now? Well yes the fact that more comes to light, the fact that we even had the Zondo commission and have the recommendations taken on board in part by parliament and the implementation of the Public Procurement Act of 2024 will have a positive long-standing affect.
- Let's talk foreign investment. I'll just paste links because foreign investment is up over 80% since 2013. "Down something like 29%" without providing any links, or facts is nebulous at best. Mostly due to the fact of the vast increase post-covid caused a huge spike in FDI which if you look at without that context you'd think it is down, which is statistically a misnomer due to the societal causes of a sudden huge increase in investment when economies opened up.
Here is Lloyds banks analysis: https://www.lloydsbanktrade.com/en/market-potential/south-af...
The IDC backs SA as Africa's top investment destination: https://www.idc.co.za/sa-is-africas-top-investment-destinati...
FDI has increased in Southern Africa over the past year: https://unctad.org/news/africa-foreign-investment-hit-record...
So yeah I fucking hate the ANC. I hate the corruption. But I can see the bigger picture of the 30 year positive change, you can take a microscopic view as you have done - but this conversation is around "steady decline" and you have proven nothing to indicate that it is.
Literally no one said there isn't a problem. No one said that. But disagreeing about a 'state of decline' when the facts of the quality of improvement of the lives of the entire population has increased over a 30 year period disputes the rhetoric of 'state of decline'. Decline from what? When Apartheid made the lives of 10% good and the lives of 90% shit?
So you don't have links to back up your claims.
What is also hilarious is ad hominem trying to call me a communist (which I am not), and shouldn't matter either way. But what is funny is how you decry the state of things currently, which is happening under capitalism, yet the extent of your criticism of the society can't reach to the system within which it exists. However you create a nebulous hypothetical in trying to plaster me with an insult that another system would be so much worse, when according to you the state of how things is bad as it is.
So where is your critique of capitalism?
- Please share which communities rely on water trucks?
- Loadshedding is no more.
- The tax issue is precisely the problem that needs redressing and is primarily because of past injustices. You're almost there.
- I have been treated in public hospitals and while not perfect the access to healthcare is impressive.
- I agree with the race laws. Your basis that SA has more race laws is gaslighting due to the fact of the homeland act. But let's not let facts get in the way.
- Violent crime rate is because why? Apartheid spatial planning. Read up and learn all about why this has re-enforced violent crime.
- Unemployment is high, yes. Doesn't mean the country is in decline.
- Corruption has hit its peak and on the way down post-Zuma years.
I have a close friend who owns a huge furniture company, and builds everything in house and grows year on year very well. So your anecdote is countered by mine.
In your example, because many businesses (majority white owned) have riparian rights and those who live on the land need equal access despite being historically disadvantaged from gaining access to said water rights.
I am white. I am surrounded by white people. The standard of living of just about every white person I know has increased in the past 25 years.
It's really simple, we as white people have been given - historically and now - just about every advantage a minority can have. If a white person or their parents couldn't make the most of that well then that's ok, because equality and equity are the goals. And just because a PoC are succeeding more now, does not mean white people are suffering in the least.
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Fascinating you say "a country that is in steady decline" when all the data of the past 29 years since the start of democracy seems to go against that statement. I hate the ANC for their corruption and other stances, but I don't let party political hate get in the way of the real basis of what is going on in the country. I'm guessing you haven't spent much time there? Whereas I have spent the past 25 years and travelled and lived extensively in South Africa.
What is your indication of decline? Some facts and figures:
- Less than 30% of the population having access to water has increased to near 100%.
- Electricity had less than 30% access and now sits around 90%
- Access to education (The matric pass rate more than doubled from 53.4 in 1995 to 82.9 in 2023) to taking that to near 100% in 29 years is pretty incredible.
- Taking 8 million people out of poverty and lower class into the middle class in that time is pretty great.
- Access to free healthcare for the entire country.
- The freedom of not being discriminated towards due to skin colour.
Yes the ANC has had an opportunity to do much greater good, but if you take in the bigger picture and understand that the white population still holds over 70% of the wealth while being 10% of the population - this is an enforced inequality that needs to be righted.
If you look at the freedoms of South Africa, it has possibly the best constitution in the world. Sure, the enforcement of the laws are not as good as the laws themselves - but the rate of improvement in my lifetime has been staggering. Even despite the setback of the Zuma years.
Even now, we have gone from an ANC dominated political landscape to a Government of National Unity, which forces different political factions to work together. Another huge milestone in the burgeoning democracy of a young country.
It is so far from perfect but if you really have spent any significant time in SA and still think it is a country in decline, then I am more inclined to think you're one of the types of expats who love to shit on something that you have no bond to, and not because your arguments are bound by facts. We must interrogate the long standing consequences of white monopoly capitals violent subjugation of South Africans in both the past and the present to paint a fair picture of the country.
Your quote " a country that is in steady decline." certainly does not paint a fair picture.
Couldn't agree more! Not only is the studio kept so well, but the entire museum is a testament to the magnificence of art and architecture. The Miró Foundation in Barcelona is even bigger, equally exquisite and the sheer size is a monument to the brilliance of one of the greatest artists to ever live.
This is such an ignorant First World perspective - for reasons I've stated in other comments. It's mind-boggling there are people like yourself who see's the world in such a narrow vision. As if the Third World doesn't exist and people who develop apps are only in the First World.
Really funny, that you probably consider yourself highly educated, and yet have zero ability to see why iOS is actually not the primary choice for engineers in the global south. Your two cases are beyond laughable.
I'm really sorry I'm being rude, but I highly doubt you have ever built a mobile app yourself if these are your hot takes.
If you care about building a business that generates revenue
You missed the end of that sentence "... in the first world". The ignorance or arrogance to assume all businesses that are started are aiming for first world markets. You think entrepreneurs in Africa, South and Central America, Asia are all aiming to expand into Europe and the US? That Third World business problems don't exist and solely cater for Third World needs?
It never fails to amaze me at the absolute arrogance of these assumptions, as if the Global South isn't relevant in technology or entrepreneurship. Truly astounding.
My problem with this is that it show's almost no forethought by those creating the app. If your goal is first an iOS app that you will develop into an Android app. Then why go this route? It doesn't solve any of the bigger cross platform problems, is a far less mature ecosystem, and will seemingly only paper over the basic needs - but in-depth development will become an issue. But if you're only porting an "initial app" and expecting the next iteration to be either native or cross platform, then start like that rather than waste 6-12 months on transposing the code to a different language.
To me this presents as something a business person with very little knowledge of app development will be drawn to. But the long term drawbacks of this approach far outweigh the short term gains from trying to quickly port an existing iOS app to Android.
Sure there's more money in the Western app ecosystem for iOS apps, but that doesn't mean your app should inherently cater for iOS first. In fact that's a very first world and reductive approach, when there's billion's of people that don't interact in the same way.
Edit: I see you work for Skip, which I think you should state upfront. But I do understand your bias or blinders in assessing the tool.
I get the benefit of being able to share business logic. That's not the issue at stake here. If it was, this wouldn't be a company in the first place as there's multiple frameworks that enable this and do this better - at zero cost.
I don't believe performance issues is a relevant metric anymore, having dealt with them on RN, KMP, Flutter. Non-native UI, is also quite irrelevant these days. Perhaps if we were having this conversation 2-3 years ago I would agree with you. But with how RN/Flutter UI's are now, and the native aspect of KMP it's a non-issue.
Skip solves all of these problems, and because it uses your code as-is on iOS and generates native code on Android, you can trivially and directly mix in platform-specific code wherever you need to, without any bridging.
I will believe it when I see it. You say "Skip solves all of these problems", when Kotlin multi-platform was essentially doing the same thing in reverse, but with far larger backing and it took years before it was production ready. It is not trivial to keep up with ever changing Android ecosystem, multiple API levels that need to be catered for, differing UX interactions, different native API's e.g databases, push notifications, permissions etc. Again you say trivial, not sure what is trivial about this.
I feel like you've either never tried cross platform work on a (large) production project? This is solving an aspect of mobile development that personally I don't see a need for. But if it's for you go for it, in my experience across languages and platforms, I would recommend against this option unless you solely only have iOS Engineers, no ability to cater for a native Android experience and hadn't thought of having an Android app before starting development. Then sure, use it. Any project I plan would be both platforms and wouldn't require this level of abstraction.
In terms of forethought, I can't imagine anyone outside of the US/EU developing an app solely for an iOS user base other than creating an MVP. And then even still, once you have proof it can work why build something that intentionally shuts off the majority of your userbase, or provides a lower quality product to the user base? If you are lean and starting out, don't put all your eggs in a Swift/iOS basket and then hope for a tool like this to sort out your problems. It may be an easy quickfix for a basic app, but once you go even a little bit deeper than surface level you're going to run into problems, have to backtrack and start over with either native Android code, or a cross platform framework.
That said the cost is also something that is odd, when you have free alternatives that provide far more mature ecosystem.
In terms of getting deep with existing tools, what is the difference here when using XCode as to Android Studio or VSCode? The tools aren't difficult to use, at least any more so than XCode. If you're not a developer then sure, but if you are then AS or VSCode should be a breeze. We're far removed from the days of Eclipse and Notepad++ where you didn't have the tooling, online resources or automatic fixes that these tools come with today.
So yeah maybe my experience doesn't see the need for this, which is exactly the issue here. Who is making the majority of the apps we use today? Who is paying to use tools that speed up development? Engineers like myself.
I'm not sure I see the point, other than this being aimed at first world (see US/EU) businesses who solely have iOS application's and want to convert those to Android. So if you only have Swift developers and didn't have the forethought to want an Android version of the app going forward then this is a product for you. I would recommend, going pure native android or starting again with Flutter.
Whereas the rest of the world is Android dominant, and there is no real reason to do this when there's multiple better frameworks for cross platform development. Flutter, React Native and Kotlin MP are and always will be miles ahead. Let alone those framework's being free whereas here there is a cost for professional development.
As someone that has written various projects in Kotlin (including multiplatform), Swift, Dart/Flutter for over a decade I don't see the point. And I would be exactly the target market for this kind of product. The transpiling is the big issue for me, you will have to tap into every single Android API, write code to transpile those and then maintain across every Android version going forward.
Let alone the denigrating of cross platform frameworks and promotion of yours due to "animations, accessibility, and future-proof evolution alongside OS updates" doesn't sound like much of a win, when the quality of these in cross platform is already at a very high level. Secondly "And there's a GitHub ecosystem of open-source modules supporting popular frameworks, including SQLite, Firebase, Lottie, and many other common building blocks of modern apps." all of which exist in cross platform and kotlin multi platform.
I'm sorry to the developers and team to knock it, but just my 2 cents coming from a more third world perspective.
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Please let me know if someone has a mirror/alternate link.
Are there any channels that deal specifically with the America's Cup and learning about it and the boats? TIA
That's interesting, because I have had exactly the opposite experience testing GPT vs Bard with coding questions. Bard/Gemini far outperformed GPT on coding, especially with newer languages or libraries. Whereas GPT was better with more general questions.
I don't like to use the acronym LOL on this site, but here I am. As someone from the Third World, where gun violence is a problem. The USA is still mocked for its rampant gun violence, mass murders and police violence. Let alone for being on the precipice of democracy and tyranny - as seen by Jan 6 and the possibility of Trump being re-elected. That and the USA being responsible for much of the descent from democracy into tyranny in so much of the global South. So there you have it LOL.
I do believe you are living in a bubble, whereby your viewpoints are selectively backed up by "world events" that actually do not walk the line between democracy and tyranny.
Of course, I believe the climate crisis is the most important problem in the world. However I don't think former colonial powers have any right to say or rather lecture former colonised countries on their obligations, when the colonial powers haven't properly addressed why the colonised countries are in the state they are in. It is also not just at the feet of former colonial powers, the US wasn't a coloniser but did have a tremendous imperial influence throughout the Third World that has stymied progress and thrown Third World countries into a debt trap that they cannot escape (unfortunately China is doing the same these days). This needs to be addressed too.
And until these issues are addressed, the Third World countries who rely so heavily on coal power cannot get off their reliance on it. It will need a global effort led and on the financial burden of the First World, to support the economies of the countries that are using coal to progress. I believe that is the only way we will turn this issue around, otherwise we are just putting a plaster on a stab wound.
Let's not forget Africa and India's growth over the next century is going to eclipse anything we've ever seen before, and without the correct structures in place we will have no chance of combatting this issue.
We should not pillory other countries, especially not coming from a First World perspective. However the First World had a head start, through various factors being colonialism and the industrial revolution. Putting the traditional Third World in a lesser position when it comes to ability to compete with First World countries.
The issue is, we cannot deride those who use coal to try to catch up, when that was the fuel that got many First World countries to the position they are in. The First World likes to be high and mighty in these terms, however not very often is it introspective enough to realise that the Third World simply cannot operate in the same way. China and India are in a different spot, however both were distinctly at a disadvantage in progression as a country until late in the 20th century.
All of this ultimately leads to a greater question, how does the planet intend to reduce demand on coal while also allowing countries reliant on it to grow? In Africa, there's various steps that need to be taken. In my opinion international debt cancellation, as debt structures that were put in place by the First World org's were and are predatory, and rely on First World demands to be met. Secondly, the big R world, reparations for colonialism and imperialism should be looked at. While these are predominantly monetary steps, these are the great blockers to progress. It is ingrained suppression of Third World countries that ties in to the fractured history the First world has with the Third. And similar steps should be taken with South American countries as a lot of their issues mirror African issues for similar reasons.
Point being it does matter what the First World does on its own part. As the First World's per capita consumption of energy far outweigh's its Third World counterparts. The effort need's to be increased through financial mechanisms to aid countries that aren't able to wean themselves off of coal dependency. India and China are interesting examples, but neither at their rate of growth have the ability to get off coal. India even less so than China, and there quite clearly isn't a global effort to help countries that are struggling with coal dependency.