Magyar Péter (Ne féljetek) * ... @magyarpeterMP Until 31 May, the Orbán puppets may voluntarily step down from their positions. This applies to the President of Hungary, the President of the Curia, the President of the National Office for the Judiciary, the President of the Constitutional Court, and the Prosecutor General. On 12 April, the Hungarian people voted for a complete political transformation. If these officials do not step down voluntarily by 31 May, then - on the basis of the mandate received from millions of Hungarians — we will remove them from office.

Hungary’s Péter Magyar issues an ultimatum.

Renewables have passed coal power globally,. Global electricity generation n TWh, 2000-2025.

Clean energy pushes fossil-fuel power into reverse for ‘first time ever’ | @mollylempriere.carbonbrief.org @ember-energy.org

Read here: buff.ly/XtaYP1D

To clarify, by "like this" I mean the initial write up, not your posts.

Raising Hell From the desk of Royce Kurmelovs

And most EV drivers are average people who are clumsy in trying to communicate excitement about how a better world is possible. They are easily annoyed bc they have been subject to an automotive/oil industry culture war. EVs are different, there is a learning curve and they are still better.

See:

Yes, but that's where it becomes bad journalism. The reporter makes the story about his skill issue with a public charger, than the very real point that there has been a failure to invest—thanks in part to write ups exactly like this that reinforce the idea this is some novel exoticism.

When I was young and stupider, I was initially nervous and confused about which petrol to put in the tank because I understood that if I chose diesel, I'd kill it. The first time you do anything is awkward. Your skill issue doesn't mean a technology is broken.

I've (weirdly) had companies take quotes from me out of context to sell their whatever in ads, so I can't say without risking it being presented as an endorsement.

These monsters from the Valley act as if their own perspective is the organising principle of reality. They flatten the world until it reflects their own image back at them, and they call it order. They recast dominance as necessity, exclusion as clarity, cruelty as truth-telling. What they are building is not just a politics, but a way of being in which other lives appear as obstacles, or worse, as background.

On Palantir’s manifesto, their AI fantasies, and how Silicon Valley billionaires think they are the new Guardians of the Universe.
tdunlop.substack.com/p/the-softwa...

The Strange Death of Orbánism Franz Pokorny

Hungarian taxpayers paid American “post-liberal” Rod Dreher $105,000 last year to produce propaganda for Orban’s regime. www.jaccusepaper.co.uk/p/the-strang...

Yeah, that was the story at the heart of this thread that precipitated a more fully-fleshed out telling of the tale.

Apropos of nothing:

Raising Hell From the desk of Royce Kurmelovs

"People regularly die for the fantasy that, whenever we want, we might burn along the highway of life, at speed, with the sunglasses on, windows down and our elbow up, while we chain-smoke cigarettes and play Free Bird at volume over the stereo."

I wrote about EVs and why bad reporting is an issue.

Personally, I've got no issue there. I know there's etiquette but there's a bigger issue with the lack if infrastructure.

That's nice. I'd love if our governments invested heavily in expanding train networks. I don't live anywhere near one. Neither do many others.

I think there's actually a conflation of issues here. There's the driver experience, and there's the infrastructure. A valid line of inquiry is asking why councils, landlords and governments have failed to plan, support and develop the supporting infrastructure in a way that is nice to use.

Get in touch if you like. I can give suggestions after we just went through the process.

I think y'all are seeing malevolence where a screw up is a much better explanation.

The dream. Get rid of the gas main abd the petroleum powered lawn mower if you have them, and you're basically living the clean dream.

Like I said, the story was more about how he was impatient than how the hardware is used.

We live in a regional area. There aren't that many pathways for pedestrians, too many hills for bike (call me a coward and you'd be right.) There is very little public transport. I'd love to live somewhere with good PT and not own a car at all. But if I have to, I don't want to pay for fuel.

We rent. I'd kill to be able to own a home and install a solar set up. Even without it, we're still getting the car. Paying for fuel is madness.

It's a good question that someone should ask!

Post-script: we just put a deposit down on an EV in the affordable range because where we live, petrol prices are higher than average and we've had enough. There's a two month wait. I'm very excited. The thing will be the nicest car we have ever owned or driven.

Get the EV. It'll be fine.

Her offhand comment has stayed with me as I've continued to write and report on this stuff. Yes, EV's are different and they change your behaviour, but what we're talking about is breaking the real and psychological hydrocarbon chain that keeps us tethered to the old—and paying for it.

/8

The real moment of clarity came a couple of days in when we were driving past yet another service station we had no reason to stop at, when my partner turned to me and said: "You know, I didn't realise until now, but it really is insane we put petrol in cars. Not just our car, but all cars."

/7

I was so very not to see the inside of a service station. We took the thing out into the country and into the city. If we needed a top-up, we charged over lunch or dinner. What it did do is change how we thought about driving. We had to be mindful of topography, but it was fine.

/6

We mostly charged overnight from where we were staying but sometimes used public chargers. My memory is fuzzy so I don't know whether this is accurate, but I remember fuel prices having shot up to $2.30 a litre and laughing as we drove past. There was honestly a genuine feeling of freedom.

/5

The whir as we drove it reminded me out of something sci-fi when we sped up. Charging the first time in public was involved and yes, required an app which was annoying but that was only bc we hadn't done it before. After that it was a breeze.
/4

This thing was outdated even for the time. Starting it up was different but not alien nor off-putting. The first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. It handled well, just about like any other car. Sure, it wasn't a Ferrari but then most people don't drive Ferrari's.

/3

We were down in Tasmania in 2022 and I had the idea to borrow an EV because I kept writing about these things but hadn't actually driven one. I wrangled an old, secondhand Nissan Leaf. I can't remember the range but it had to be about 300ish kms.

It was fantastic.

/2