this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2025
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Memes

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A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.

An Internet meme or meme, is a cultural item that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. The name is by the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972. Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations.


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[–] lazynooblet@lazysoci.al 36 points 1 month ago (5 children)

They are starting to rip out the cables used in car chargers. It's only 2m long, costs £300 to replace and the thief strips out £4 worth of copper.

[–] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 18 points 1 month ago (3 children)

In turkey there are a lot of people who gather cardboard for recycling for a wage of about 30-40 dollars a day

Is the USA version of this just pulling copper?

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.world 41 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Stealing copper, getting under older cars and cutting out catalytic converters, yes. Copper is not a big money maker but it's better than collecting aluminum cans.

The problem with 90% of crime is poverty. They do hundreds of dollars of damage to make a few bucks. If we had universal basic income or better safety nets these crimes would nearly vanish overnight.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Well, except that it's nearly always super damaging.

The US version would be more like collecting cans back when they had a 5 or 10 cent deposit. Today I can't really think of anything like that. Maybe driving Uber/Lyft. Or just panhandling/begging.

[–] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Michigan still does 10 cents a bottle

[–] MadBob@feddit.nl 1 points 1 month ago

People do that now in the Netherlands. The bins on the streets of Amsterdam sometimes have little holsters for bottles and tins so you can leave them for people who'd otherwise (or I imagine who still) dig through the rubbish for the deposit.

[–] frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe 0 points 1 month ago

Several states do this, probably more profit than door dash.

[–] frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe 0 points 1 month ago

We have recyclers too

[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If this is how the Western world arrives at harm reduction and UBI for everyone - that it's just good business - I'm not even gonna be mad.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Like that would happen when they can sell £4 cables for £300.

[–] Shard@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It's not that £4 cable costs £300. £4 is the scrap value of the copper once the insulation has been peeled off. Freshly made cable costs a bit more than that.

It costs £300 to fix because of the cost of the cable, labour and the workmanship.

[–] beaiouns@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Why scrap it when you can turn around and sell it right back to them?

[–] TheLowestStone@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If I break into your house and steal your TV then knock on your door the next day to offer to sell it back to you, would you buy it?

[–] beaiouns@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Depends on how much copper is in it, I guess

[–] TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Not much since I stripped it out and sold it for a cool $4. Now do you want this cable for 1/2 off or not!

[–] Comment105@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

Well, the ones making the cable still probably only make a small fraction of the value in labor. The majority of the inflated price goes to C suite paychecks.

I remember when I made 10s of thousands worth of cable every day from cheap materials and walked away with a couple thousand a month. I ended up quitting that job, but the slightly mentally challenged woman there who was the most efficient and accurate to spec probably still sits there making cables every day.

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

That will be great when I'm on a long trip looking to charge in the middle of nowhere lol.

I have actually been stranded a couple of times already. Still love electric though

[–] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

TBF they do have a large gauge wire in them

[–] frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe 1 points 1 month ago

It's not a long distance and they don't have super large gauge. I'd have expected 0 or 2/0 but apparently 2-4 is common.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social -5 points 1 month ago (4 children)

1: Why's it $300 then?

2: All theft from Tesla owners is valid in 2025

3: Why do people assume they aren't selling the expensive cables whole?

[–] Schmuppes@lemmy.today 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)
  1. Because the damage also includes labor and overhead, not just material.
  2. We're not talking about Tesla specifically.
  3. Even if the stolen cable was left undamaged, who are you gonna sell it to? The company that owns the charging station?
[–] Clasm@ttrpg.network 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

1: Labor & Equipment.

2: Tesla owners don't necessarily own the Charging stations.

3: They are icing wire cutters to remove the cables, destroying the cable in the process.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social -2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

1: Sure it does. What's the other $250 then?

2: Fair

3: That makes sense. I wonder if the solution might be for the stations to just have ports car owners to provide the cables?

[–] lazynooblet@lazysoci.al 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The cables are capable of 100kw and are thick and heavy

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] fallingcats@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Just crimping a connector to such a cable is hard work. You really can't compare that to traditional wiring. Many are also water-cooled.

[–] frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] fallingcats@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago

Yes. The cables are intentionally made "too thin" so that they weigh less and are less stiff. The upside it it makes handling them much easier. The downside is they they get pretty hot pretty fast, and from there you have two options: Actively cool the cable from inside or throttle charging so the cable doesn't melt.

[–] droans@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You know there's more to it than just raw copper, right?

The cable itself, insulation, active cooling, labor, complicated build process, specialized installation, etc.

Don't be daft.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social -1 points 1 month ago

I'm sure they're all handcrafted masterpieces of workmanship, lmao.

[–] MadBob@feddit.nl 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

£300 is about $375, yankee doodle.

[–] frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not everyone has a stupid cursive L on their keyboards, marmite

[–] MadBob@feddit.nl 1 points 1 month ago

I can't be annoyed by someone who knows it's an L and correctly guesses I love marmite!