fiat_lux @ fiat_lux @kbin.social

Posts

12

Comments

1,008

Joined

2 yr. ago

It wasn't actually to help me feel better, I was hoping to offset some of the doom that is very widely covered by providing some much-needed attention for the people who are putting in real effort. I also hoped to learn about new people who I could support, because they don't receive coverage from their public relations spokespeople putting out media releases that are pasted into articles by journalists.

Criticism of your suggestion is not an attack on you. I'm sorry that you felt it necessary to try to insult me for expressing a difference of opinion, and I hope your day improves.

Ehhhh, I'm going to have to disagree on this. She's obviously better than her ex-husband, but when you have that much money, the amount of interest/dividends it generates would likely offset her tax-deductible donations.

Also, if she has US$36.2 billion and has donated US$3.8 billion in 9 months, that would be like someone who has $100,000 donating $10500. Except you can't generate much money from interest on $100,000. The average person donating 10.5% of their assets is praise-worthy, but there are millions of people who do that without CNN articles praising their philanthropy.

I'm looking for the people who are really helping, not dodging taxes and generating publicity for themselves.

Capitalism rewards cut-throat behavior. No surprises there.

Is that a forehead whisker? Is he unhappy about being a unicorn, or are you just not being prompt enough about food time?

This picture is my life goal. Content, comfortable and safe snoozing. Give winter a gentle pat for me, I wouldn't want to wake them up.

Definitely a huge impact for one person. It's amazing what the right genetic quirks and science can do!

Thanks for helping out a person in need! I hope you're able to keep doing so, and that should the situation ever arise, someone will be able to do the same for you.

Almost everything except the fact that it was dominated by one language, from a culture with an emphasis of computers being an interest that was unnecessarily gendered, and that the internet nd the tools used to create it were only accessible to the wealthiest able-bodied people from a specific demographic due to systemic inequity. And the speed. I don't miss the slow speeds.

Just about everything else about the early internet was better than today by huge margins. Imagine being able to search for a niche topic and not turning up thousands of seo-optimized paid-advertizing affiliate-link-program ai-generated tangentially-relatedish user-tracking sales links. Sure, there were times you found nothing, and it was ugly, but that was better than wasting time sorting through total shit.

Edited to add nostalgia: video of The Simpson's comic book guy attempting to view naked Captain Janeway from Star Trek

Obligatory link to the very old meme version: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=OXuLRqiiKYI

Literally never. What the fuck?

I had this one the other day, and it was even political

https://sh.itjust.works/comment/9636567

Sounds like we had the same programmers. I feel you, Kairos.

Why would I give them a vote of confidence with my money so that they can use it to convince investors that they're popular and they should pony up a billion dollars for Spez's pay?

They're relying on gullible people who think either Reddit is legitimately a good investment or gullible people who think they can beat the market and won't be left holding the bag. I'm nobody's bag holder, let alone Spez's.

if I can quickly make a couple of bucks and then cash out, that might be worth it.

Said every gambler ever.

I've never felt so conflicted. On one hand, I want to hug the puppy. On the other, sand. It makes me sad like porcupines do. Why won't they let me love them?

Thanks for understanding and being willing to consider a stranger's point of view, I appreciate it.

what happened was a logical and known potential outcome and consequence of signing up

It certainly is, but when the burden of responsibility is only placed on the person at the end of the line, it lets the fuckers at the top with the unequal power skirt their responsibility. Perhaps "blame" is too far, but it doss seem like you've perhaps disproportionately assigned blame to thus one shouting guy and his kid.

You make it sound as if the choice is binary between starving and joining the military: it’s not.

Not at all, but I do acknowledge that for many, and in increasing amounts, the decision has indeed become very close to that binary. US hegemony relies on people to do the enforcement. That's obviously dangerous, and thankfully, despite pervasive cultural conditioning, most people aren't interested in killing others overseas while living in an overcrowded dorm eating slop. So the conditions have been put in place by the ruling class to force people into doing it.

If you're unlucky enough to be born in Podunk Nowhere, where disaster capitalism has resulted in the only employers being Walmart, mcdonalds or the shady abattoir that "hires" minors, you don't start with many options. Add in an "education" from a system that has been rotted from within by zealots, complete with in-school army recruiter. Add in a culture that loves guns. Add in a family member in debt from medical accident (probably at the abattoir), or an unplanned pregnancy because of no access to abortion. Maybe they're also living at home with a parent who is addicted to meth out of desperation to avoid their poverty and misery... and the military starts looking like a very tempting option.

You have the chance of dying and disability in the military, and the likelihood that you're forced to murder, but also the glimmer of hope of an education, family healthcare and a way out of Podunk's cycle of poverty. That's a powerful motivator for someone who doesn't see any other realistic options. It's a deliberate funnel into committing murder through economic coercion and military worship culture, and the fault lies with the trap makers, not the trapped.

The only thing that makes the last 80 years different is the efficiency of murder and the new murder weapons they have access to.

And the extent of its reach. A century ago, the US was pretty limited to war on North American soil, and land it claims. When the war is that close, the realities of suffering are hard to conceal from the people whom you need to inflict it. Wars in other continents though can be sanitized by the media, and the people who are caught in the military funnel trap find out after they've signed the contract.

Thankfully the prevalence of video tech has allowed us to mitigate some of that media sanitization, but again, putting the burden of responsibility on the 18 year old who has never been taught critical thinking skills allows the 65+ year old networked decision makers at the top to slide off the hook.

Tl;dr I think it's OK to acknowledge everything on all fronts is fucked for everyone except the ruling class. I also think it's OK to shout at the ruling class, even in their house, when you were invited to be there.

In what way? The RNC will be funnelling cash before the election, and nothing has been done about Trump beyond some civil suits since his presidency. What has happened to make you think his cash flow has been restricted enough to prevent churning new loans that he won't pay? He's been doing it his entire life.

Blaming the people who need to eat instead of the people creating an economy out of death and misery is counter-productive. US foreign policy and economics have centered around war for at least 80 years, Biden has played a crucial role in facilitating it for a few decades.

And the fact a person has been arrested for shouting at the president in the same location where people literally stormed it and engaged in literal violence and walked away free that day? Amazing.

Biden might be infinitely better than the alternative for most citizens of the US (and likely the entire world) - but the non-US part of the world has been bearing the costs of the US military economy that has provided the privileges US citizens currently enjoy.

But fuck the guy who lost his kid, right? He's the real problem. /s

the only beneficiaries will be his victims

He'll be using most of the funds in his closed circle economy of lawyers and lackies who are tasked with preventing his victims from receiving a penny. Those people then pay him and his expenses to keep him and themselves in power and ensure funds keep flowing. Not to mention the constant targeting of opposing parties for harassment by the people he has successfully radicalized.

His victims might get a few pennies, but almost definitely they'll get a whole world of death threats. "Give him everything" is the same short-sighted policy of appeasement they tried on one of his role models.

My rule is that if you intend to touch the butter/spread/sticky stuff with a utensil, that utensil cannot touch the bread. You just drop the portion on the bread from a height until you think there's enough to cover it, and then you can spread it with that utensil, but if you need to revisit the jar, you need another fresh utensil.

You can't get crumbs in there if there's no cross contamination from the equipment to begin with!

You get better at estimating over time, but having one extra piece of cutlery to wash occasionally is less infuriating than unexpected stale crumbs and food that spoils more quickly from the contaminating yeasts and other organisms.