s3r3nity

Or, you know, design trade-offs like every other hardware ever made.

I don't want to feel like I'm wearing one of those customer support head mics. I'm ok with shorter stem, and never had a problem.

Then…don’t? You are free to not do so, while others (like myself) can choose the opposite.

>One of the things I have disliked about the Iranian conflict is that their propaganda/messaging has been, by quite a margin, more reliable than what the US/Israel have been putting out.

Kek. Tell me you live in a bubble without telling me you live in a bubble.

"Both are doing propaganda, but one side's propaganda is totally less propaganda" gave me a good laugh today, thank you

Did they stop teaching "actions speak louder than words" in schools, or something?

Nah I’m good, and we’re pretty good overall.

See how I can have a different opinion and not get arrested? Whereas if you ask someone in China if they’re communist, they’re not allowed to say “No.”

> The US government is now more authoritarian than the Chinese government

Nah we’re not playing this game.

Try asking the CCP officials in person about Uyghur internment camps, or Tiananmen Square, and see if your family isn’t all arrested.

Ask Olympian Alysa Liu how the CCP targeted her father to try to coerce her to skate for China.

The last World Cup used slave labor to build their stadium in the desert, in a country that banned beer/alcohol consumption - the latter of which was relaxed eventually due to heavy lobbying (and possibly corruption.)

Relax.

Can't tell if this is sarcasm or not.

These don't magically appear - people have to create / store / distribute those things, and/or develop the science / engineering to do so.

lol if you think $ was the barrier there, I have a few bridges to sell you too…

With so many recent leadership hires / acquire hires with Facebook Growth Team backgrounds, ya’ll are naive if you think OpenAI _isn’t_ using this business data for their own means…and/or intends to lean more heavily into this direction

Ex: if you’re a Statsig user, OpenAI now knows every feature you are releasing, content you produce, telemetry, etc.

So was WeWork

“… FTC when it challenged Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a convoluted process that didn't formally end until May of 2025—almost two years after the deal closed.”

This process needs to be faster for these types of challenges to be more successful - both in the market and in consumer opinion. Markets move too fast, and the answer can’t be “FTC needs more of my money to hire more people.”

No, boomers and NGO's who raided the coffers blew it and left us with $36 trillion in debt, along with $1.2 trillion on _just the interest payments_ - which is more than the US spends on Defense.

Now we can't build anything, and the other side is still holding out hope that eventually we'll be able to fix by just taxing more - despite the fact that Congress won't even vote to prevent themselves from insider trading...which means the middle class will continue to bear the downward pressure.

It’s more of a “yes, and…” comment. Namely, both are relevant, but previously only one side was highlighted.

Biggest issue with Democrats is learning that "People are born with different abilities."

Biggest issue with Republicans is learning that "People are born with different abilities."

These tend to work through in stages: fastest ones to accept were already looking, and next up are those that are on the fence, and so on...

The 8-month buyout offer is significantly better than the one-time offer from Clinton in the 90's [1], even adjusting for inflation, so I'd expect that there's a large group of individuals & families that are just taking the time to evaluate the decision.

[https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-the-buyo...]

Their Blessed Homeland vs. Our Barbarous Wastes

>But at the same time we -- meaning Trump and the GOP Senate -- just appointed the least qualified candidate in the history of the US...

I'm old enough to remember when Biden nominated someone with no aviation experience to lead the head of the FAA, and also had corruption charges while acting as head of the LA transit system....AND Democrats were in _favor_ of that lack of experience:

"Democrats...spinning his lack of direct involvement with aviation as a positive, theoretically making him less likely to be aligned or swayed by any of the many interest groups or companies in the industry."[1]

I'm also old enough to remember when Pete Buttigieg was appointed Transportation Secretary, despite having virtually no experience in mass transit (no, a McKinsey deck doesn't count) and whose highest office was mayor of a small Indiana town.[2]

So can we stop with the hyperbole? Yes there are many good candidates, but the US could do much worse than a guy with experience in Iraq/Afghanistan/Guantanamo + 2 Bronze Stars + Joint Commendation + 2 Army Commendations + Expert Infantryman Badge + degrees from Harvard & Princeton.[3]

[1]https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/faa-nominee-quizzed-on-a... [2]https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-polit... [3]https://www.aetc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4042297...

>A government full of cronies sucks...

>A meritocratic...government sounds like a dystopian novel.

So nepotism + networking = bad, but meritocracy also = bad...?

>...we can at least hope to get our own cronies in at some point.

OR you reduce the risk vector and limit the size & scope of government. Most people agree with your earlier premises, so why would I support adding powers to a structure where folks I strongly disagree with will lead that structure ~50% of the time?

The cheating element is only _part_ of it, and the dominant regime at the time downplayed / ignored the DEI elements because that was supported by their ideology...like a sacred cow. Litigating "disparate impact" cases across any category became a successful attack vector against capitalist structures, and supported by Democratic leadership.

This isn't "slapping a new coat of paint for propaganda," but rather exposing the rest of the iceberg that was otherwise concealed. Both pieces are relevant.

> Also lots of ads prey on people with worse impulse control who bankroll the rest of us who don't click ads.

This reminds me of the Mark Twain adage of "Telling a man he can't have steak just because a baby can't chew it."

I don't want to pay money & subscriptions to every site I visit because some folks don't have impulse control. Similarly, the prevalence of alcoholism in society shouldn't prevent me from having a glass of wine with dinner.

+1. Folks pushing for equity haven't read (or too young to have read) "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, and it shows.

Instead of handicapping those who are ahead, we should intervene with those who are falling behind. Instead of enforcing equal outcomes, instead prioritize offering equal opportunity for every student to get the highest quality of education.

Nintendo perfected this type of tech with the 3DS back in 2011 (!!). In retrospect, that shit was so far ahead of its time.

Looking Glass has some impressive displays, but honestly every time I pick up my 3DS again I wonder why it didn't get more traction, even as the rest of the industry keeps trying to push 3D TVs / cinema.

This seems to be heavily inspired by Workflowy's "fractal comments" feature: https://workflowy.com/help/fractal-comments/

> As a rushed/unfinished product

What led you to believe it was rushed and/or unfinished?

I agree with the sentiment that it's a _bad_ product with _bad_ choices and _bad_ strategy. It was likely caused by shitty ZIRP-era "MVP product without the 'viable'" mentality, rather than caused by rushing an unfinished product.

> But they are also moving openly towards a fascist dictatorship

Democrats have been calling on Biden to increase his power through just writing Executive Orders to act on their platform, and bypass all other branches of government...but THAT's not dictatorship?

> after California's rules limiting coal for power generation.

Great example & case study for the beauty of the US Constitution's "interstate commerce" clause, and one of the areas the federal government _SHOULD_ focus its attention.

> Homogeneity also comes with its own problems -- smaller, more homogenous governments are much more likely to discriminate against the "out group", for instance.

I discriminately support my family more than my neighbors. You probably do too.

I also discriminately support my circle of friends more than the random stranger. You probably do too.

I also don't think a random stranger can come into my home and get equal footing with myself as the homeowner simply because the other person was "out". You probably do too.

Hell, even at the broad government level, US citizens are prioritized over non-citizens - like literally every single country that has ever existed.

This isn't a real problem.

> They have no policy. They have no plan for governing; they don't like governing.

This is an unfair analysis, and is either naive at best or disingenuous at worst.

I'm not a registered Republican, but I AM strongly against an all-powerful centralized body of government that continues to expand exponentially. I would rather focus powers in a more decentralized direction closer to the individuals and the States themselves. e.g. "Think globally - act locally."

The parent's comment is the EXACT problem that comes with a central government that is too powerful: you have to be mindful that "your party" will not be in "charge" about ~50% of the time.

For a concrete example, I don't like expanding Presidential powers nor extensive use of Executive Orders because likely there will be a president I don't support in that position, and I'd rather her/him NOT have that type of power.

States and local communities are more knowledgable about what their constituents need, and the more local you go, the more homogeneous that group becomes - leading to a higher degree of success for those policies. For example, I have never lived on a farm, nor have every lived remotely _near_ a farm...so how can I properly empathize with their needs or considerations in a fair way?

States and more local forms of government also provide solid grounds for the greatest real-life A/B test of policies in the world: if you are living in an area that doesn't align with your values and/or needs, you have _so many_ other options to consider settling. e.g. if you like living in California where virtually all the policies and politicians are left of center, then great! You can live there and it doesn't impact me in any way over in where I live.

> Deterrence Theory is back-justification to make yourself feel good

Retribution is a valid component of justice.[1]

[1] Stolen from another commenter above