Andy @ andrewrgross @slrpnk.net

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41

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Joined

2 yr. ago

That looks cool.

I'm kind of excited. I have a weird affection for the concept of the Fantastic Four without really quite clicking with any of their actual stories.

I dig the concept of the characters, even though the execution rarely clicks for me. I feel like that makes them so ripe for an adaptation to screen.

It just shows how great character work transcends dialogue.

Oh cool, thanks for the context!

I agree.

The recipe for this show is just so good. I'm really not into most of the newer stuff where they're trying to one-up every previous series in scope and stakes. I'm thinking particularly of Discovery here. It's fine for those who like these things, but I think having a show that's blasse about the routineness of life-threatening adventures and also presenting characters that seem like Trekies themselves as audience proxies is such a refreshing way to both enjoy the adventures and take the pressure off of the expectation that each show somehow has to out-do all the previous adventures of all the previous crews of all the previous Enterprises.

Can you give the context? I can infer a bit, but I don't know the specific wish you're referring to.

Still, there was such a catharsis to his eye rolling dismissal. I don't have the exact quotes, but when he remarks that the bad guy is certain to be this or that or this or "human Worf" or some other shocking known character I really had to smile. Also his description of it as an endless parade of lazy rehashings was just on point.

Obviously, I still enjoy it, because here we are enjoying it. But at points his weariness and sarcasm were reminding me (favorably) of Rick and Morty. With way less cynicism, but with a lot of the same remarkably well-executed self-aware snark.

I was talking about trials of universal services.

I gotta tell you: if you want to be the spokesperson for a movement, you need to learn how to build goodwill. You're coming off as combative and needlessly hostile when I'm trying to find common ground.

These are great tips.

I think the solution might be using a bunch of these.

Do you have any advice on speeding up their breakdown? Are there any tools or practices that cause them to shrink in volume faster? I think she's just trying to manage slipping on walkways and visual effect, and she has a very high volume.

I think making small piles and letting them rot is probably a good idea. I think mulching them and raking them into beds is probably smart. I'll try stuff and see.

Well, I don't have a lot but I have a little.

Let's see how CA:BNW lands.

To avoid an endless debate, I propose we agree that UBI is a good thing that we should test in more circumstances, and programs to provide more things free of cost (which do allow UBIs to achieve more spending power per dollar) are worth testing.

If such programs perform poorly in a trial, then it's good that we tested them. And if some perform better than you expect, it's also good that we tested them.

Yeah. This article reads like an April Fools Day piece.

'The best part of Game of Thrones, all fans agree, was the stellar ending which perfectly concluded the show by showcasing the characters' consistent ideologies and habits',

'The Simpsons is a show that has managed to somehow get better with every single passing season. And in doing so, its cultural relevancy is as sharp and defining as it has ever been.'

'Star Trek: Lower Decks has ultimately proven unpopular because of its unconventional choice to depict adventuring through the stars as a morose and dreary affair. The dour, rule-abiding protagonist Mariner's recurring catch phrase 'I do not model courage and loyalty to my friends and ideals,' was a perplexing thing for her to shout at a minimum of 6 times in each episode, unprompted.'

The issues that you're pointing out are reasonable concerns, but I think you're falling into a common mental pitfall that assumes that the implimentation must resemble the most similar past approach, while also decrying the irrationality of using those unsuccessful methods.

It doesn't need to look like government cheese. It doesn't need to look like "the projects". All of those programs had systemic flaws that were specific, observable bad public policies.

Universal housing can look like the government acquiring existing apartments from disinterested landlords that are out of compliance and then granting them on a $1 lease in perpetuity to local neighborhood coops so long as they maintain it well. Universal food can look like mandates for grocery stores to provide non-profit collectives unfettered access to discarded items that are still perfectly edible instead of locking up dumpsters full of food that can feed people.

You can have a UBI too. I'm not shitting on the idea. But as you already pointed out, single payer healthcare is a great demonstration most people don't even argue with. Implement a UBI, but where options exist for direct services, provide them and you won't need nearly as large a UBI, and you can cut out tons of waste.

Free public transit is another great example. Do you want to have to include bus fare in the UBI? Or would it just make sense to make the buses and trains fare-free.

The university & school examples seem silly. Why give people a voucher instead of just reimbursing all accredited schools directly and let folks enroll anywhere without having to manage a budget? Just make them tuition free. Otherwise, you have to make a UBI large enough to pay all the administrators that exist just to process payments, and manage the size of vouchers.... The UBI would go so much further if folks didn't have to pay for things that don't need market guidance at all. So many unnecessary middle-men.

UBIs make sense when you want to benefit from market guidance. They're great for that, but for lots of things everyone uses or where consumer selection mechanics break down, there are tons of ways to make them free at the point of use. Is management and corruption a potential problem? Yes... regardless of which system you implement. So you might as well use the best tool for the given need and learn to do it well.

Yes... BUT I'd actually encourage people to consider an even better alternative, which is Universal Basic Services.

As you point out, giving people money is no guarantee that their spending power will be enough to cover their needs. I've heard it said that any UBI which is sufficient is unaffordable, and any that is affordable is insufficient. I think it's still a policy we should experiment with, and I think even a small UBI could elevate poverty. But a more effective alternative is to try and provide essentials directly, free of cost.

What this looks like is publicly owned housing; a robust, fully-funded public education system that includes pre-K and higher ed; universal healthcare; and free food. Some of these -- like housing and food -- sound shocking and difficult, but to an earlier generation, so would the others. And we already have some of these programs for the very poor. The key to executing them is to bypass markets. Markets will always raise the cost of essentials because the demand is unlimited. Instead of paying private landlords for housing, the state or non-profit entities need to own the homes. There will still be costs associated with maintenance, but there need be no dividends or investor profits. Same with food. We might not be able to make everything in a grocery store free. But if you have well-run local gardens, they'll actually produce a substantial amount of food that you can just put in baskets by the entrance and let people take from.

Unlike UBIs, which are inherently inflationary, UBS programs are deflationary. By offering free goods they create competition against market prices and make the stuff people still pay for (with a UBI) cheaper.

If you'd like to see how all of this works, go check out the tabletop RPG my friends developed at c/fullyautomatedrpg, or the world guide for the setting at https://fullyautomatedrpg.com/resources.

I like this observation a lot. Because I was going to say that if we couldn't conceive of a simulation, we'd probably just speculate about the closest thing we could imagine.

Yeah, that sounds right.

I tried following Lemmy users on Mastadon. It was a cool to see that it's technologically possible, but it was not a pleasant way to consume Lemmy content.

Yeah. Everyone who got mad at him is basically like, 'Hey! Fuck you, asshole, for selling before I got a chance to sell! I wanted to do that, but you did it before I could do it! No fair!'

Also: the coins are now with far more than when he sold. So strangely, the folks who got rug pulled ended up with an actually valuable coin and an opportunity to sell at a high price. Which makes zero sense to me. But they apparently have no reason to complain. It worked out great for everyone, somehow.

Very stupid.

I want to respond to this by saying that it is 100% correct.

Get to know your neighbors. Figure out who can do what. Is anyone undocumented? Is anyone good at fixing things? Who has kids and who is good at watching kids?

The plus side is that if we do this right, we should be able to toss out the Christian Nationalists in a few years. But we'll have a much better shot at that if we learn how to take care of one another the way we should've a long time ago.

I'm sorry he hasn't liked it, but critique is how we get better. Hope Mastodon keeps growing.

Still, this basically feels like a speed-run of losing the Prisoner's dilemma.

I believe today is actually the sixty-fifth of the month.

The seventy-second is next Sunday.