Decline of the western society #2

There was a documentary on RT a while back about American farmers trying to hack John Deer tractor systems.

The problem was that the vehicles were all computerised so when they stopped working it might be something serious that needed the vehicle to be returned to the factory or it might be trivial... the problem was that the Farmer never knew which was the case so when there was a problem he had to stop using the vehicle and get a John Deer representative to come and have a look, which cost a couple of grand and often took all day... they would arrive and connect a laptop and find the problem, which might be a faulty sensor or minor issue which they would fix there and then or it could be something they would have to ship the tractor to a factory to be fixed... they didn't travel with extensive tools and equipment so they could only fix a few things in situ.

If it was serious then it cost the farmer thousands of dollars to shift it and perhaps even more for the days or weeks till he got the damn thing back.

The company would not let farmers connect to their own tractors themselves to save time and money, so farmers got together and got some bootleg software they could load on laptops to connect for themselves and they were trying to change the US laws so they could do basic maintenance and repairs themselves like they used to when the vehicles were not computerised.

John Dere make a lot of money being total .

The problem is that manufacturers want consumer to be dependent on them so that consumers keep buying their stuffs no matter how absurd these stuff are.

The first part of this process is deprive of and deny the access to the means of production.

Vital information, skills and material are controlled by the firm owners and therefore common workers have to beg these "job creators" for mercy.

The most disgusting part of the process is that nowadays the big corporations do not need to appropriate all of the assets from farmers like they did in England in 17th-18th century. They only have to take control of vital assets in the chain of production and distribution and still can take control of the production process of the farmers. The farmers have to make things according to the criteria and protocol of the big corps in order to sell their products and become de facto agriculture waged workers.

The "job creators" claim that nowadays factory workers also own stocks in the company therefore propertyless proletariat no longer exists. Yeah, f**k them.

It is a good things that people has begun to acknowledged that Grab and Uber drivers are waged workers and should be proteced by labor law, not "business partners" like the Big Techs falsely claim.

There was a documentary on RT a while back about American farmers trying to hack John Deer tractor systems.

Well, perhaps if all these farmers began to buy Rostselmash products or Belarusian tractors in large quantities, John Deere would probably be forced to change his policy.

It is not that simple.
A solid agriculture machine can cost as much as a million $.
Even if you are a wealthy farmer, you seldom buy that for cash, you know.
And here comes the magic of the free market&invisible market hand.
You can lease a tractor for 5 years, paying let's say 110% of its value in total.
But not a Russian one. Neither Belarussian.
Only this fancy, shiny&beautifull western made one, as the bank who grants the loans is the western one either.
This is how they subsidize their own export without exposing themselves to antimonopoly or trust laws.

Russia's agricultural subsidies are the same thing now. Providing farmers equipment on a lease or subsidy; but the equipment has to be made in Russia.
Same thing for a lot of other sectors of industry too.

Those are hardly subsidia, to be honest.
First, the machines that are bought with it retain high residual value.
Second, those are used to create added value for the entire lease period.
If the Russian financial system has finally figured the tools to help local producers&farmers, that would b just great.

@Garry re tractors
I think its a similar situation with cars.
Dealers actually make more money out of servicing than selling the cars in many cases.
And cars are becoming ever more complex (unnecessarily so) and I think... are being designed with shorter "service life".

My Beamer has modest mileage, was super well looked after but servicing has become an absolute nightmare.
All bullshit sensors and plastic parts. Its all designed to make it harder for independents to service so either main dealers service it... or more likely, owners give up and buy a new one. And then get fucked over on depreciation again.

Its all sold as "supersophisticated cutting edge tech". But in truth, after 3, certainly 5 years, computer tech loses its credibility in many cases. So people think about changing. Which is a shame when you think there is 2 tonnes or whatever of metal surrounding those cheaply produced circuits and sensors.

As an example I know someone who sold his 2 yr old Merc because the main dealer couldn't fix a sensor even under warranty. (apparently the bonnet badge was causing the error and the warning was blocking out of the speedometer!)And his daughter had a BEamer where birdshit fucked up a sensor at it was off the road 2 weeks!
My own BMW has been absolute AIDS in regards sensor errors.

If this is what so called "premium marques" are like, I fear for anyone buying a mid or budget make!

I think its a similar situation with cars.
Dealers actually make more money out of servicing than selling the cars in many cases.
And cars are becoming ever more complex (unnecessarily so) and I think... are being designed with shorter "service life".

Here in New Zealand BMWs are very rare, because they are expensive and not just any mechanic is allowed to work on them under warranty.

Sort of gives them a reputation though... I guess the few owners think that means they are in an exclusive club... but most people I know think BMW drivers are tossers to piss away their money like that on something that isn't even very good.

We have gone through phases here where this or that car is more affordable and therefore popular, but new rules on rust and safety features like airbags etc means classic old cars and even just cheap simple cars are no longer seen on the roads anymore which I think is sad.

Sure the big old Holdens were gas guzzlers (the only time most kiwis use the word gas to refer to petrol), but then modern SUVs... are they any better?

Can you believe their specs?

Most farmers need lots of equipment to get their work done and in the past the machinery they used was simple but not really cheap.

They could generally fix things for themselves and most farmers became mechanics just because of the money and time that saved being able to fix things for themselves.

These days you connect a laptop to a USB port on the vehicle and diagnose problems that way.

Bootleg software to help you do that is becoming more and more popular, mostly because these companies that make equipment are literally milking the farmers of money, which many can probably afford, but also wasting enormous amounts of their time when they can't work... which they really can't afford and which can cost them rather more.

Would like to see Russian companies who make tractors and trucks and other equipment make the software available to the customer so they can check what is wrong... they could create programmes that transmit some information to the company so they get to find out how often these problems occur for product improvement purposes... it would mean less time wasted by the tractor support people so they can be called out for serious issues only that require company support.

Russia should write into law that when a customer buys a product that the company that makes that product can't use support to earn an income... it is like printer companies charging way too much for ink cartridges... I remember it came to a head in the 1990s where it was often cheaper to just buy a new printer than to buy full replacement ink tanks. The printer I am currently using cost me $80 but the toner drum was $160. Of course I don't print a lot so I went for a cheap laser printer and I have been using it for 20 years without problem... No ink wasted cleaning the tubes for inkjet printers every time you use it after a while of inactivity...

Apple deliberately designs its crap not to be fixable and makes sure that essential ICs are
impossible to source.

Not just not fixable, but also not compatible... try using a USB memory stick on an Apple... they want you to rent space on the cloud...

Happy to see the new Apples use USB C but only because the EU forced them....

When Russia was still messed up in the aftermath of the disastrous 1990s, absolutely disgusting things were flourishing in the impoverished segments of society, such as the killer homebrewn drug "krokodil" which caused horrific wounds and even amputation.

Now that is pretty much history and in a total reverse, Russians are now healthier than ever before in history. Drug use, alcoholism, smoking, everything's at an all-time low. Violent crime as well (which was always strongly linked to to alcohol). Quite remarkable.

Anyway, back to krokodil. The US apparently has its own variant since the early 2010s, called "tranq", that has skyrocketed recently:

NYT wrote:A veterinary tranquilizer called xylazine is infiltrating street drugs, deepening addiction, baffling law enforcement and causing wounds so severe that some result in amputation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/health/fentanyl-xylazine-drug.html

https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/27/4/395

So if that's any indication, regarding the topic I mean.

The funny story was the latest Grandpa Joe visit on the border.
Where they have cleaned the whole neighborhood from the illegal homeless shelters&tents they had all over there.
So we see the next stadium already

Like the G7 or 8 meeting some years ago in the UK. Most of the shops in the town were empty so the regime
put curtains into the windows with scenes of goods and shopping people on them. 

Re Biden: The people of LA want a visit from him now so that the authorities clean the streets. 

... yet they will laugh about Russkie They have really reached the point, where they are unable to recognize own misery ...

I remember in the 1980s Billy Connelly told a joke that the Queen mother thought the world smelt of fresh paint because everywhere she went about 20m in front of her was a painter putting the finishing touches on the paintwork to tidy everything up.

He also mentioned that priests thought the world was full of broken televisions because everywhere they go the parents tell the kids to turn that TV off and go to your room...

Sad that their is more interest in perpetuating the myths and stereotypes than to actually making things better for everyone...

BRICS is about not competing but working together to help each other to raise living standards for everyone... the west obviously opposes that right down to their very core despite that seeming to be the good and right thing to do for everyone.

The west is interested in the selfish thing to do which is to keep themselves on top and try to keep convincing the rest of the world the only way forward is to become like the west while holding them down and not letting them join the west unless they are useful...

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk0063?fbclid=IwAR16ZUVYaSu-04tQ73QUh8Bc4afMw7LosG38j_biPxKzSz99QyXAYWzZ4nI

For decades, some members of the fossil fuel industry tried to convince the public that a causative link between fossil fuel use and climate warming could not be made because the models used to project warming were too uncertain. Supran et al. show that one of those fossil fuel companies, ExxonMobil, had their own internal models that projected warming trajectories consistent with those forecast by the independent academic and government models. What they understood about climate models thus contradicted what they led the public to believe.

In 2015, investigative journalists discovered internal company memos indicating that Exxon oil company has known since the late 1970s that its fossil fuel products could lead to global warming with “dramatic environmental effects before the year 2050.” Additional documents then emerged showing that the US oil and gas industry’s largest trade association had likewise known since at least the 1950s, as had the coal industry since at least the 1960s, and electric utilities, Total oil company, and GM and Ford motor companies since at least the 1970s. Scholars and journalists have analyzed the texts contained in these documents, providing qualitative accounts of fossil fuel interests’ knowledge of climate science and its implications. In 2017, for instance, we demonstrated that Exxon’s internal documents, as well as peer-reviewed studies published by Exxon and ExxonMobil Corp scientists, overwhelmingly acknowledged that climate change is real and human-caused. By contrast, the majority of Mobil and ExxonMobil Corp’s public communications promoted doubt on the matter.

President Biden signed the “Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act” into law this week. It gives the US the power to prosecute anyone in the world for war crimes.

The 2002 "Hague Invasion Act" protects US citizens from extradition to the ICC for war crimes.

https://twitter.com/MintPressNews/status/1613976096021843968?cxt=HHwWgMDU9ait_-UsAAAA

The coming collapse from its current position of power means America needs such laws so they can take hostages in the near future.

One UN meeting with lots of heads of state will be inundated with US FBI and other law enforcement officials and the leaders or top officials of several influential countries will be marched off into custody to be used as bargaining chips the way the US tried to use that Chinese chick from Huawei...

This will be interesting.

In 2017, for instance, we demonstrated that Exxon’s internal documents, as well as peer-reviewed studies published by Exxon and ExxonMobil Corp scientists, overwhelmingly acknowledged that climate change is real and human-caused. By contrast, the majority of Mobil and ExxonMobil Corp’s public communications promoted doubt on the matter.

What really surprises me is that the oil companies around the world have not gone on the defensive and stated that the geographic record of world temperatures show we should be approaching a cold period... an ice age, but human related emissions of CO and CO2 means it will be warmer rather than colder... which you could argue is more survivable for the human race and food production.

Pay attention to the presence of at least two provocateurs at this discussion. One is allegedly Russian, the other is allegedly Ukrainian. Both are professional propagandists, as far as I understand from their chatter - they repeat the same narrative.

Stop making stupid people famous.
SMSPF.

Maybe Greta should go to a penal colony in Siberia to teach her some work ethics instead of being a useless spoiled POS.

The only lesson she can teach is how to be fundamentally useless.