PuddleOfKittens's recent activity
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Comment on Why do so many people think US President Donald Trump is good? in ~society
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Comment on Duty-free no more: Parcels worth under $800 no longer qualify for a US tariff exemption in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentTo misquote John Carmack, the justification for the "emergency" is like the story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but its not that important.To misquote John Carmack, the justification for the "emergency" is like the story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but its not that important.
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Comment on US Food and Drug Administration limits approval for new coronavirus vaccines to high-risk people in ~health
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentThe base thinks vaccines are unsafe. Govt echoing the base's beliefs is amazingly vindicating for them. After all, the main argument against fringe nutjobs has always been "you're a fringe nutjob;...I just don’t understand why. Is there literally any benefit to limiting it?
- The base thinks vaccines are unsafe. Govt echoing the base's beliefs is amazingly vindicating for them. After all, the main argument against fringe nutjobs has always been "you're a fringe nutjob; the establishment disagrees with you", so now they can flip that on it's head against pro-vaxxers.
- RFK Jr literally doesn't believe in germ theory. The why is perfectly understandable here: the people in charge want to kill vaccines.
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Comment on The Alaska Summit and the war in Ukraine - the meeting, battlefield and what comes next? in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentIf Ukrainian pipelines stop flowing, then Hungary et al can start being obstructionist on EU aid. IIRC earlier someone in the Hungary club did start acting obstructionist (Slovenia?) and Ukraine...If Ukrainian pipelines stop flowing, then Hungary et al can start being obstructionist on EU aid. IIRC earlier someone in the Hungary club did start acting obstructionist (Slovenia?) and Ukraine did indeed cut pipeline shipments in response, until they dropped the obstructionism.
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Comment on No comply: private equity and skateboarding, or how private equity is gutting skateboard culture in ~finance
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentI think the biggest reason is 'gravity' ("why'd the bridge fall down?"). By that I mean that instead of having a positive cause, it has a cessation of an anti-cause. Or realistically, multiple of...I think the biggest reason is 'gravity' ("why'd the bridge fall down?"). By that I mean that instead of having a positive cause, it has a cessation of an anti-cause. Or realistically, multiple of them.
I suspect that finance and a change in business norms (and corporate raiding, if that's not included in the category already) has made it easier to buy out a real brand and enshittify it on a large enough scale that the value of brand loyalty itself has reduced, which has triggered a market for lemons on the consumer market.
I think it's become increasingly easy to rip off a brand online and then cannibalise the original market on Amazon, to the point where investing in quality brand is less worthwhile in the first place.
I think the flood of billionaire capital has run out of progress-generating assets to buy and has to sate itself with increasingly skeevy options, which materializes as buying perfectly functioning low-profit stores and forcing them to pretend they're high-profit by killing their gooses that lay their golden eggs.
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Comment on Donald Trump shock spurs Japan to think about the unthinkable: nuclear arms in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentAIUI the bigger ones are only months away - Germany and South Korea being the big two. Nukes have two hard parts - the nuclear part and the missile part. The missile part can be completed as a...AIUI the bigger ones are only months away - Germany and South Korea being the big two. Nukes have two hard parts - the nuclear part and the missile part. The missile part can be completed as a non-nuclear power, and its difficulty depends on your target (if SK only needs to reach NK then they could potentially fire the nuke with artillery if they wanted to, whereas if Iran wanted to threaten the US then it would have to make a very a specialised intercontinental missile), whereas the nuclear part mostly takes some time, access to the right fissile material (having civilian nuclear industries really helps, since they have people trained in very similar fields), and a ton of centrifuges.
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Comment on The crisis of the US university started long before Donald Trump in ~finance
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentIf only 10% of nuclear engineering majors got jobs, then they wouldn't have much bargaining power and nobody would want to offer them millions when they could offer the unemployed 90% pennies instead.If only 10% of nuclear engineering majors got jobs, then they wouldn't have much bargaining power and nobody would want to offer them millions when they could offer the unemployed 90% pennies instead.
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Comment on Derek Thompson article: "the anti-abundance critique on US housing is dead wrong" in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentI'm saying that the 'argument' usually involves onw-way throwaway phrases (without any explicit argument attached), and you're responding to something that I wasn't talking about.I'm saying that the 'argument' usually involves onw-way throwaway phrases (without any explicit argument attached), and you're responding to something that I wasn't talking about.
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Comment on The crisis of the US university started long before Donald Trump in ~finance
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentOr maybe employers consider STEM graduates are in it for the money, which disadvantages them in every job outside their specialty compared to the equivalent art major. Or perhaps humanities are...Or maybe employers consider STEM graduates are in it for the money, which disadvantages them in every job outside their specialty compared to the equivalent art major. Or perhaps humanities are seen as more likely to make an individual well-rounded (and capable of handling people stuff) than Dr Applied Math.
Or maybe when everyone keeps saying "go study computer science" for 10 years straight, then lots of people do that, resulting in a glut of coders but not enough jobs to match.
I think the best answers here are less about the graduate themselves and more about the world around them and the perception of them.
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Comment on Derek Thompson article: "the anti-abundance critique on US housing is dead wrong" in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentYour phrasing of the 'argument' has more than one word, which misses the point. It's less of an argument and more of a thought-terminating cliche.Your phrasing of the 'argument' has more than one word, which misses the point. It's less of an argument and more of a thought-terminating cliche.
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Comment on The crisis of the US university started long before Donald Trump in ~finance
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentOkay, counterpoint: STEM PhDs tend to be highly specialised, with their expertise often not that transferable to different fields. Also,...Okay, counterpoint: STEM PhDs tend to be highly specialised, with their expertise often not that transferable to different fields.
Also, https://bsky.app/profile/sarahebond.bsky.social/post/3lvvznsrdvs2d
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Comment on Derek Thompson article: "the anti-abundance critique on US housing is dead wrong" in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentAIUI when you hear it, it's normally in the form of "monopolies" or "Blackstone".AIUI when you hear it, it's normally in the form of "monopolies" or "Blackstone".
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Comment on $30K Ford EV truck due in 2027 with much-simpler production process in ~transport
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentOoh, is that a new name for cocaine? I like that more than the typo-less version.I think they’ve been fully taken over by truck guy snow.
Ooh, is that a new name for cocaine? I like that more than the typo-less version.
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Comment on One Piece | Season 2 first look in ~anime
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentTo be clear, I really liked the One Piece live-action. I loved how they took Monkey D Luffy and made him real, like he could be an actual person (personality) that exists. I just think they...To be clear, I really liked the One Piece live-action. I loved how they took Monkey D Luffy and made him real, like he could be an actual person (personality) that exists.
I just think they blatantly dropped the ball multiple times, and in entirely preventable ways as demonstrated by the quality of the rest of the show.
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Comment on Why aren’t armed US citizens overthrowing the current government? in ~society
PuddleOfKittens (edited )Link ParentThinking about it a bit more, the right answer is to fund (either privately, or by outright seizing money from other parts of the govt e.g. NASA could transfer $1B to the court or such) the...Thinking about it a bit more, the right answer is to fund (either privately, or by outright seizing money from other parts of the govt e.g. NASA could transfer $1B to the court or such) the supreme court enforcing the contempt of court against the US govt, on the basis that when the executive takes illegitimate actions they don't get to strip the funding of their own checks and balances. That's at least only a financial illegality, as opposed to an outright reach beyond their legal powers.
Edit: to be clear, this may involve police (sherriff, IIRC) action, but that doesn't count as violence IMO. Taking any sort of direct enforcement action requires either the consent of the criminal in yielding to the cop, or use of force to make the criminal yield. There's always a risk Trump will just blanket refuse to yield to the law, and in such a circumstance there's no option but some form of coercion. That or passive refusal to acknowledge their power, which to be fair is a common method of thwarting a coup, but is vulnerable to violence wielded to force submission.
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Comment on One Piece | Season 2 first look in ~anime
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentOne Piece's filming was a bit hit-and-miss IMO. For instance Sanji's flashback to when he met (his mentor, forget the name) was really hamfisted. The actors did what they could with the dialogue...One Piece's filming was a bit hit-and-miss IMO. For instance Sanji's flashback to when he met (his mentor, forget the name) was really hamfisted. The actors did what they could with the dialogue as written, but it just sucked.
Hopefully season 2 will have more consistent writing, because when it's good it's really good and it's fun how they realised the characters so far.
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Comment on Why aren’t armed US citizens overthrowing the current government? in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentI don't know. The Dems have had so many windows of opportunities and they've let them pass by (the entire Biden presidency, refusing to accept various department heads, stonewalling bills in...I don't know.
The Dems have had so many windows of opportunities and they've let them pass by (the entire Biden presidency, refusing to accept various department heads, stonewalling bills in congress, declaring that Trump was an invalid presidential candidate as he refused to accept the results of the previous election), and Trump et al have been steadily working to close them. At this point, I think the only answer is for a massive national popular protest (realistically, probably caused by Trump ratfucking the economy and pissing everyone off), and for the Dems to leverage that mass popular support to take decisive action to take down Trump (yes, that's vague, I know).
To be clear, nonviolent and legal are two different concepts. I suspect that the answer would be Dems doing all sorts of illegal things to remove Trump, on the basis that Trump et al has done all sorts of illegal things him/themselves and stripped out all the checks and balances that could stop him.
The key point here is that with sufficient popular backing, Trump et al would probably back down before the fight, to avoid reprisals for unnecessarily fighting a losing battle.
So, what things might the Dems do? Start with the obvious: Trump is repeatedly ignoring the supreme court, and preventing that is a good waypoint. However, he's stripped the supreme court of their ability to enforce anything against an executive that's in contempt of court. In other words, there isn't a viable method for Trump to be held accountable for his breaking the law - except impeachment.
Impeachment requires the support of Republicans in congress. That's not going to happen unless some Rs are pressured to flip, somehow.
The convenient magical solution is to vote out Republicans from congress, and push through an impeachment. Realistically, that won't happen. And at this point, I think too many Republicans are MAGAs to gain a majority in the senate.
So there's no legal option here to my knowledge (but there are probably a bunch of options that lawyers could suggest, the problem is that Trump is playing Legal Calvinball so the laws basically don't matter), the only option is to take direct action to block the executive with the legal basis that this is a constitutional crisis, and hope the executive doesn't successfully escalate to violence. So what would direct action look like?
Well, the best option would have been to shut down govt with a debt ceiling. But that window of opportunity is already closed. The second best option is probably a general strike, with a demand that Trump immediately resign.
If any of this is obviously likely to succeed, then Trump et al will pre-emptively save their own necks like rats on a sinking ship, and the problem will disappear. The only problem is that the prerequisites for success that I've described are best described as fiction.
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Comment on Why aren’t armed US citizens overthrowing the current government? in ~society
PuddleOfKittens LinkI'm also not American, but AFAICT the core problem is that not enough Americans actually recognize the problem, which is why there hasn't been a nonviolent ousting of Trump by the Dems - they're...I'm also not American, but AFAICT the core problem is that not enough Americans actually recognize the problem, which is why there hasn't been a nonviolent ousting of Trump by the Dems - they're afraid that the Rs will frame it as the Dems pulling a partisan coup, and use it as an excuse to escalate, with the average American not backing the Dems or possibly slamming them for their 'partisanship'.
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Comment on The America Party in ~society
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentNo, they'll be called Americas. As in North America, South America, and Elon Musk. We're talking about the America Party, not the American Party. A member of the Democratic Party is called a...then members of this will be called Americans
No, they'll be called Americas. As in North America, South America, and Elon Musk. We're talking about the America Party, not the American Party. A member of the Democratic Party is called a Democrat, not a Democratican.
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Comment on Xbox Series X and S: Microsoft has reportedly sold less than 30 million consoles this generation in ~games
PuddleOfKittens Link ParentYou missed the Gameboy Advance SP. It's just a Gameboy Advance, but with a backlight, rechargeable battery, and folding form-factor. Looking at its name, it's obviously just a version of the...You missed the Gameboy Advance SP. It's just a Gameboy Advance, but with a backlight, rechargeable battery, and folding form-factor.
Looking at its name, it's obviously just a version of the Gameboy Advance (it plays GBA games), kind of like the Gameboy Color was just a gameboy with a color screen.
There's no one single answer, but the main issue is that when Trump talks about getting rid of X, nobody thinks that X means them, just the "Bad Xes".
And native-born Hispanic Americans often put themselves in a different category to recent Mexican immigrants. They naturally assume that Trump will only go after the latter category, because obviously the former is a perfectly respectable category, in their minds, and Trump has no reason to go after members of it.
While not literally true, saying " Hispanics think they're white and Trump won't come after them" is a 99% correct answer - just, not literally white.