natural consequence of the post-truth world we live in
We _currently_ live in. Truth and trust are older than computers. They will outlive computers, too. Computers and the system we have built will eventually yield to truth, not the other way around.
One can get a credit card and say they are living in a post-scarcity world until they hit the limit, but that doesn't make it true.
It's stupid gambling, nothing more and nothing less. Sports gambling is at all-time highs, also, because people have money to waste and haven't faced consequences for their poor decision making. When people have less money - and understand, this is imminent, at least in the US - they'll have less ability to stupidly waste the money they have.
Prediction markets have gotten attention lately because it's so easy to manipulate them with small amounts of money and get signal amplified in subsequent reporting of the prediction markets "counterintuitive" signals. It is a form of reality shaping.
To that extent, they'll continue to exist, with just sock-puppet level activity until they are ignored.
Holders of US debt have no obligation to give a shit about the statutory background of the Fed, and to just make decisions about who is the best fiduciary of their currency.
If holders of US debt goes away, we have immediate inflation to the point where our currency hits trade equilibriums such that we can service our debt. All of your savings are worthless.
Yes, of fucking course it is. The US elected a convicted con artist who is incontrovertibly violating human rights law, breaking treaties with allies, militarily threatening neighbors, and in general making a global outcast of themselves.
The US is making an absolute mockery over the honor and responsibility granted to in the post-WW2 world. It has sophisticated rivals that are predictably and effectively making use of the self-inflicted crisis. So far the ruling class of the US has been happy enough to let this go, and has been too busy making rocket ships, fake computer currencies, and large estates in south Florida to deal with real world problems.
If you are in the US, buy some gold or a house so your savings aren't destroyed - utterly predictably - by the man who declared Chapter 11 bankrupcy at least 6 times.
> The US is making an absolute mockery over the honor and responsibility etc.
The US was a rather empire without many scruples before WW2 and after it. It engaged in genocide in Vietnam, and was complicit in several others, including the ongoing one in Gaza - which was sanctioned, funded and facilitated first and foremost by the Biden-Harris administration.
So, without detracting from Trump's crimes and jingoist rhetoric and action, his deviation from US foreign policy tradition is not as far as one might imagine.
I'm afraid I completely disagree with you and am not interested in arguing further than this.
Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Gaza, and so many others are atrocities but they are well understood by anyone with a casual understanding of 20th century geopolitics.
Anything you could list is awful but still respected the norms and rules that exist between nation states. There is not a high bar for these things, but some people within a specific flavor of the Republican party reject these rules and norms. By a quirk of history they were able to gain power. I could describe this in more technical and impressive sounding language, but "FAFO, and we are in the find-out stage" goes by many names and is accurate.
> Anything you could list is awful but still respected the norms and rules that exist between nation states.
It absolutely did not. Perhaps the elites and the mass media in the US tell this to each other, but in (most of) the rest of the world, that doesn't fly.
Aging is lonelier and more stressful than ever. The aging brain is already less flexible and there is a net loss of synapses and brain mass.
The internet has become a more unkind and manipulative place that ever. It is making people into the worst version of themselves, to serve the ends of groups that benefit from division.
I mourn many things with this news today. RIP Scott Adams.
It's not okay to casually appreciate the vacation pictures of a corrupt Russian oligarch, even if they overlap with an area of technical interest.
Kapersky is part of a corrupt regime that has killed tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainian civilians and murdered leaders of rival political parties. You can get numb to it, but it is a horrible, historic war crime. He is complicit and his boat pictures can go to hell.
Are you implying that OP hypocritically supports Larry Ellison and Elon Musk? Are you implying that not supporting Larry Ellison and Elon Musk by not promoting their media or avoiding their products is absurd? Are you implying that people should hold Larry Ellison and Elon Musk accountable for US actions, but don't, and therefore doing it to other oligarchs is unfair or unreasonable?
I'm OK with anyone expressing their feelings on Kapersky, Ellison, Musk, their boats, and their politics. My guess is that throwaway has similar feelings about all three.
Personally I do feel that we share guilt proportional to our contributions to the ones hurting others; and I'd be interested in the calculus of their respective moral burdens. My tax payments mean I bear 0.0000001 % of the responsibility for US government behavior.
I don't think either of you have made your point very well. "It's not okay to ... appreciate ... pictures..." Isn't nonsensical, but it doesn't really convey the meaning that I'm assuming was intended (so I guess it's incoherent to some degree). That assumed meaning being that it's not okay to support people that support evil regimes. Even if that support is minimal and indirect.
Would you buy an art book by a Nazi officer in 1942? After all, the officer would only receive a very small portion of the proceeds of the book, in reality providing an infinitesimal benefit to the Nazi party itself. Would you recommend said book to people you know? After all, you wouldn't be providing even that tiny amount of material support. And after all, it's simply the creative work of another human, unrelated to the war or atrocities, not representing the interests of the Nazi party itself.
I'm sure that there are plenty of people that will show up to argue that actually, yes, they would gladly buy the book if they liked it and they would recommend it. And some will have the logical devices to show that there are no moral obligations involved. I disagree. Generally speaking, each of us only have tiny levers to pull, and we should pull them.
Then allow me to ease your mind. Leeches are not a problem in the marine environment of the Florida Keys, unless you are a turtle. They person you replied to changed the topic slightly from the Everglades, where they could be a problem. In either case I'd worry about midges and mosquitos first.
Similarly with alligators, they are primarily freshwater and uncommon in the keys. American crocodiles can tolerate the marine environment better, but they are threatened as a species and have just two confirmed attacks in 75 years.
So wear a personal flotation device and you should be okay.
Incorrect. There is more fructose in HFCS used in Coke, HFCS 55. Fructose is metabolized in the liver, and stored as fat there. Glucose is directly metabolized by cells throughout the body.
Also there is no single reason that HFCS is demonized, there are multiple good reasons why it is harmful in the US. It is also not a singular cause to all US diet related pathologies.
Staying on topic, the chemicals the EPA will no longer enforce the laws for pollution for are demonstrably harmful.
The EPA has unilaterally decided not to do its job because it doesn't care about the health of the citizens of the US.
It turns out the acidic environment in most beverages inverts the sucrose in cane sugar to form a 50:50 mix of fructose and glucose. In the end, the fructose/glucose ratio in cane-sugar-sweetened drinks becomes similar to high-fructose corn syrup, which is about 55:42. And the reaction is quick: about half the sucrose gets inverted in about three weeks. [1]
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