Politically? Way worse.

I’d say yes and no. 30 years ago was not long after the likes of Reagan and Thatcher. Things are very much not okay today, but more people were okay with worse stuff back then. I’d argue some parts of politics have certainly gotten worse, but others have nevertheless gotten better.

I think the core issue is that the political systems of some countries are beginning to show their age, and people today are becoming more cognizant of their failings over time. I think it wouldn’t hurt to look at all of the data available to us now and go back to the drawing board on a lot of key components. But in saying that, it’s impressive to even have so many consistent political systems that have remained relatively stable for centuries when countries used to just have revolutions and regime changes to shake things up all the time.

I do agree we are quickly approaching a major economic downturn, though. I feel like the writing is on the wall that we are already there, but for some reason economists have their heads buried in the sand. I’m reminded of videos I’ve seen (ignore the edgy V for Vendetta splash screen before it) shortly after the 2008 recession where a small handful of economists anticipated a significant downturn only to be derided by the majority of “experts” who said everything was going great. Because I keep hearing things today like the economy has never been stronger, but no one around me seems to be feeling that. Scaled for inflation, I’m making more money than my parents did when they bought a house, but that feels like an impossibility for me today.

Depends on how far a species advances, I’d guess. It wouldn’t surprise me if advancements set us (and other potential life out there) on a trajectory where it’s possible to just get most nutrition needed via passive intravenous implants, maybe only with a requirement to drink water to maintain fluid balance. Or we just get to the full cyberpunk cyborg option and all you need is an occasional battery recharge or something.

With the resources available today, mankind has the ability to solve world hunger, but that still keeps the dependency we have on various global supply lines for food. Few nations are truly agriculturally independent. Lenin once said that society is no more than three missed meals away from chaos, and I believe the only permanent solution to that issue would be if a society no longer needs to eat.

Agreed, especially on the psyops front. It’s no secret that Russia has been manipulating global politics for a long time now, and France is another European country which has seen a rising Russia-friendly neofascist movement in Rassemblement National. They’ve just barely been kept out of power the past few election, but as their numbers keep growing, one must only wonder how much longer that can be the case.

Similar with Germany and AfD. Europe is being worn down from within and no one seems to be inclined to do anything about it.

🫘

if you get to this interview it means you’re essentially hired baring you being a complete asshole or similar.

Also worth mentioning that there might also still be others in consideration at this stage, and if they have 3 candidates and 1 opening, it’s still a game of who seems best. And that’s where things can get frustrating, because it could easily come down to an acknowledgement that you are very qualified for the job and they liked you, but someone else just seemed like a better fit.

I didn’t think I could dislike Rogue One until I watched Andor. After finishing Andor and then rewatching Rogue One, I felt disappointed that it wasn’t quite as good.

Not that it means Rogue One is a bad Star Wars film, but that Andor is just that good. I don’t think they’ll ever make another piece of Star Wars media that can surpass it.

The forced trilogy structure also really hurt it. When the Hobbit film adaptation was initially announced (at the time just two movies, even), I thought that it didn’t make any sense to adapt a book shorter than any of the individual LotR installments into multiple movies. When they revealed it would be a trilogy, I knew it was some studio decision to milk it for money and didn’t have high hopes.

There is actually a fan edit floating around online somewhere called “The Hobbit: Extended Edition” which, contrary to what the name might imply, cuts down the trilogy into a single movie of comparable length to the LotR Extended films. Still not perfect, but a huge improvement in quality just from cutting out all of the extra garbage that didn’t need to be there.

I’m reminded of stories I’ve heard of graduate students hiding a note and some cash in the pages of their theses that they submit to the university, just to see if anyone bothers reading it and takes the cash. They return years later to find it still there.

With open source, the code is all there ready for review by anyone, as long as you have the technical knowhow and patience to review the code you use. But like reading the terms and conditions for everything we use, how many people actually take the time to go through all that code?

I think it’s the distinction of whether or not it is voluntary. Buying things is a choice, taxes aren’t (outside of voting for certain political candidates who promise to use taxes in different ways).

A lot of people out there have short-sighted mindsets like “Why do I have to pay for schools when I don’t have any kids?” or “I have my own insurance, why do I have to pay into someone else’s public healthcare too?” People can’t be relied on to make the spending choices needed to support a healthy and stable society on their own, so taxes and public spending make it for them.

To add on to that, not all taxes fund things for the public good. In the US at least, and other countries with large military spending, one must accept that a lot of tax money goes to fund the military industrial complex. Taxes are also used to line the pockets of corporations via bailouts and overpriced government contracts.

Now I also believe there is no such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism, but taxes are nevertheless different from a voluntary exchange of currency for goods and services that one directly benefits from.

Usually services in English will have English (US) and English (UK). Sorry to all the other English-speaking countries out there, though.

Am I crazy or are the shades of blue in the key of that graph completely different from the shades of blue in the graph itself?

The people you’re messaging might, though.

The universe where her real name is Kasumi

Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh too.

Each has real-world analogs. Kanto is the literal Kanto region of Japan, Johto is Kansai, Hoenn is Kyushu, and Sinnoh is Hokkaido.

May constitute a war crime? Israel is a war crime.

Comment still agreeing with the mistaken criticism above, despite the apology, just to be argumentative.

The Earl of Sandwich invents the sophisticated breaddystack only for the plebs to just refer to it by its inventor. Imagine inventing the morphodynamic semioscillating inverter only for the uneducated commons to call it a “Jimothy” or something.

Chopsticks, unironically. Better than having salt all over your hands.

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