Fichtre

Thank so much for sharing with such details this painting ! I always thought of Sauron’s Barad-dûr when I laid eyes on this tower (you can really see it from afar, and it stands out against the usual parisian architecture), so seeing so many peoole living their lives in Mordor is enchanting :)

It is expensive indeed, but it’s mostly a replacement for a phone rather than a companion as the Xteink x3 and 4. They did release a competitor for Xteink with the picco though (feels a tad expensive too, and I think Crosspoint is more stable on Xteink devices now. To be tested !)

The picture is close to perfection : how they are grinning with such contempt and arrogance (like they know how f****** rigged the game is). It really makes you want to lose even more !

Hey @LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone : thanks for the post, the comments are awesome ❤️

A bit more context from the article (and being a lefty French) :

• 1st of May is labour day, where few fields are allowed to work with severe conditions for leisure ones (ie. Restaurants, hotels) : only volunteers can work, you must double their usual wage
• The right parties have been trying to undermine French public holidays for years, if not decades (if people want to work, let 'em / we need moneeeeeey / right wings BS)
• Earlier in 2025, the government even proposed to remove one public holiday and they chose the 8th of May (which marks the WW2 allied victory : the move had all the wrong symbols, coming from a government that always shies away from anti-fascism. Especially since there are many other religious holidays that could fit). They also wanted to remove the monday after Easter [not in article]
• So, going after Labour day when the right wing government has done nothing but weaken workers rights ever since it came to power is definitely another attack : usually, unions and left wing parties demonstrate on Labour day and everyone can enjoy a day off
• So they start small with florists and bakeries ! Let them work, if they want to ! Same conditions as restaurants and hotels !
• Buuuut everyone knows it’s a foot holding the door for more leniency later
• Florists might actually be more impacted though (bakeries have a steadier income over the year, we’re not called oui oui baguette for nothing). Labour day is also synonym with lily of the valley, and those are sold illegally on labour day by street hawkers because florists are closed. Buuuuut since street hawkers prices are low, I don’t see florists competing especially since the profiles of illegal vendors is unusual : it’s mostly white families and youngsters (sometimes Romanis, but hardly where I live) [not in article]
• A draft of the law exists but needs to be adopted in parliament. So for this Labour day, it was indeed illegal for florists and bakets to open
• So the prime minister said that no controls will be done throughout the day, and even intervened to cancel a fine given by labour inspectors (which is a gross abuse of power : no prime minister can do that but hey, remember the anti-fascism part in my comment ? Abusing powet starts here too)
• So the government keep doing its stupid union-bashing and even if this move could help some small companies, let’s face it : it ain’t for the small companies. More actions are possible to relieve these fields, and it ain’t in removing Labour day for them (ie. Support florists by forbidding big stores to sell flowers at a very low price point) [Not in article]

So many things, but the one that pops out is how my cat hugs back when I hold her in my arms.

My left arm is bent over my stomach, her hind legs standing on it, and my right arm is stroking her. She just puts her head on my right shoulder and will bonk my neck, while her fore limb grips my right arm (the feeling is AMAZING)

Oh, another ! When she sleeps, she usually rests her chin on whatever is here, so being the whatever is really cute too !

HA ! We don’t do that in honhon baguette land mdr

Welp, cheh !

Oh he’s so good at parodies it’s scary (like AI CEO vs. Engineer)

I wouldn’t say they are highly concerned (lots of pictures are from African or Asian countries) buuut they mention it. Sometimes.

It definitely transpires in the article (“An Institute for Justice review of media reports has identified at least 14 cases nationwide”), and assumes it’s when the causes for termination are disclosed. And damn, how the providers state they have safeguards to prevent that and yet, most of the cases where discovered by the victims, not the safeguards (what a surprise eh).

Anyway, for the United States fellows out here : https://haveibeenflocked.com/

Definitely yes ! In the scenario you propose where its legal worldwide, the comparison between countries would be brutal (aaaaand now I see buzzfeed-like articles everywhere “You won’t believe what France brought back”, “Best countries where to (legally) die” and “My absolution : from soldier to death caregiver, the story of the man who kept killing legally”)

TLDR : yes but (Wished it was for the greater good only, ie. respect and help people decide how they end their lives but capitalism will use it with its own vision and how it values human lives -not much-)

In addition to the usual religion + human life being supposedly more valuable than pets /many other animal, there’s the “utility” angle.

Someone here already mentioned the “is grandma Suzanne still valuable as an asset to society ? Aaaww she had a good life then. 'K bye” and it’s actually pretty huge : in a world where governments are cutting more and more social welfare budget (well, when there was one to begin with at least), promoting the right to die must include the stories of people that don’t benefit from proper care and who are way more susceptible to go with the legal way out of euthanasia. And this number, with the budget cuts, older population, whatever incapacitating fuckery that might happen will grow quickly if not properly safeguarded (and I dont trust anyone in power right now to safeguard it).

I used to be completely in favour of euthanasia as a proper, respectful ending for people in pain : we had this story in France with Vincent Humbert that encapsulated all the reasons why it should be legal.

And then, capitalism kept happening and this idea of euthanasia, as beautiful as it is if properly set, increasingly became in my mind a tool to stir the masses towards global productivity/efficiency, with a few happy yet sobbing endings.

So yeah, I’m still hesitant on this matter, and I wished it could be implemented to relieve the many persons who just want a little more respect for how they wish to die. But at the same time, if nothing more is done to increase social welfare budgets, welp. We might end up with the suicide booths from Futurama 😅