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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • If I was browsing Reddit and saw an interesting video, I might tell someone “I saw an interesting video on Reddit the other day” even if the video itself was hosted on YouTube. The technical detail of exactly where and how the video is hosted is not relevant to the conversation. The listener wants to know how I found it, not where it is stored.

    The same is true for posts on the fediverse. The various instances are the websites that we browse. The technical detail of how they share content and how it can be accessed from various different routes just isn’t important most of the time. If you’re a Lemmy user, you’re reading the posts on Lemmy and there is nothing wrong with talking about it that way.

    If I tell someone I bought a game on Steam or borrowed a book from the library, the fact that they are also available elsewhere doesn’t matter. If I tell someone I read something on kbin, does it matter that the same post also exists on different websites? 99% of the time, the answer is ‘no’.

    New terms may emerge but referring to the platform seems weird, almost ignorant.

    I agree, but you’ve got it upsidedown. The fediverse is the platform that the instances operate on, not vice-versa.


  • Try looking at somewhere that does have high-speed rail, rather than only considering Amtrak’s broken offering.

    As an example; consider the journey from Paris to Nice. It’s a 580 mile drive taking ~9 hours, a 1.5 hour flight costing £129 or a 5.5 hour train ride costing £71.

    Once you include the hassle and time required for airport security, the gap between the train and plane closes significantly. 1.5 hours flying plus 2 hours at the airport before takeoff and another half hour after landing takes it up to 4 hours already, rather than the train where you can just walk into the station and get on. Then there’s the comfort and facilities on-board. A cramped economy flight Vs a comfortable train with leg room, space to move around, charging plugs, etc.

    When you look at it like this, is it worth spending nearly twice as much for a slightly faster but less comfortable journey? High speed trains excel over middle-distance journeys, too long to comfortably drive but too short for flying to really make sense. Imagine a train that would take you from the San Diego to the centre of San Fransisco in less than 5 hours, running 10+ times per day and costing less than flying. That’s the reality of high speed rail in many countries. Can you really not see a market for it in the USA?