we can get engines more efficent, but, the question is is, "is it worth it?"
#politics
mystic ermine
For cases where electric can't do yet, we really need to look into alternative solutions and have some form of understanding that we still gotta move crops around the place and what have you
shut vine
Well the biggest question is where the funding should be spent. Because all of the technologies will require some breakthroughs to make a large impact.
foggy fern
I'd ignore that Stanford link, it looks like it's from a student who thought ICEs used the Carnot cycle
shut vine
I'd ignore both of those links, both of them have clear errors
foggy fern
shut vine
My gut feeling is spending the money on nuclear technology will have the biggest impact long term, but not sure what the shortest term impact would be.
foggy fern
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-will-global-uranium-deposits-last/
https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/nuclear-power-in-the-world-today.aspx
Those two links are why I think nuclear is at best a short term stopgap
shut vine
Yeah I'm not talking fusion.
mystic ermine
To my understanding we already have stuff in the lines to deal with all the "big issues" people are talking about
foggy fern
I'm not talking fusion either
mystic ermine
at worst it acts as a stop gap
But, I mean, it's the same set of arguments on both sides of renewables vs nuclear
There's a lot of stuff we do know and a lot of stuff we don't know about both solutions long and short term
both have their merits and disadvantages
shut vine
Yeah that's the issue.
foggy fern
At current usage we have enough uranium for 200 years that makes economical sense to mine. Current usage is only 10% of the world's power generation.
I don't think it'd actually only be 20 years if we scaled up to 100%, simple economies of scale would make more of the known reserves worth mining
It does suggest it wouldn't be the final answer
shut vine
Solar and Wind have similar limitations.
foggy fern
We'd still need to do the research on solar and wind and figure out how to move to them
mystic ermine
which is really part of why I like nuclear to act as at least at least a stopgap
shut vine
Current resource acquirement of materials required to supply the world for 1 year in say 2050, will exceed 10-14 times the amount we can mine in 1.
mystic ermine
Part of the issue is that we stalled on nuclear for so long, however
it's not 100% yet for our targets, but, if we don't start getting some started in the next few years, that's gonna such ass as a lot of nuclear capacity goes offline
foggy fern
Current resource acquirement of materials required to supply the world for 1 yea...
I'm assuming you're talking about lithium?
The arstechnica article I linked earlier is about a new study that suggests massive amounts of storage won't actually be needed
shut vine
Materials like terbium, silver, dysprosium, praseodymium, indium.
mystic ermine
depends on your scope, really,and the stability of renewables ofc introduces some concerns, but, flywheels go brr?
shut vine
Neodymium.
mystic ermine
Like, there are ways to do it without requirng large amounts of battery capacity if you're willing to accept that we're still going to need to burn something else
There is biogas
and there is the expectation that am not sure that even if we say that we're gotta stop burning oil our needs to still obtain it are going to diminish, etc
foggy fern
Given infinite power we can easily make all the hydrocarbons we'd need for things where energy density is a concern
mystic ermine
it's more stuff like plastics for me, etc
There are alternatives, but, not sure anything is really designed for long-term products, but, god knows
foggy fern
More realistically we'll still be mining oil for some plastics, aviation fuel, and rocket fuel
mystic ermine
yea
shut vine
Diesel
mystic ermine
defo wanna see more bio-degradable plastic take off, but, it's caveated
foggy fern
Pretty sure we can make the hydrocarbons you'd want for plastics too but I doubt we'd bother unless fusion was a thing
mystic ermine
I know that one of the companies I used to buy stuff off use non-biodegrable stuff for the sole purpose that less stuff goes to trash if the product is protected properly ad there's no real current viable alternative
shut vine
The fusion pellet ICF reactors look interesting.
mystic ermine
the liquid stuff looks interesting too
if the reactor over heats, the fluid melts the plug and literally falls out into tanks
foggy fern
Guessing you're talking about fission there
shut vine
The liquid lithium for cooling?
foggy fern
With fusion the struggle is to keep it running, not figure out how to make it stop 😛
shut vine
If you mean me, no.
foggy fern
The only risk of fusion is that it'll stop with a blast of X-rays or something instead but they're shielding for that and trying to figure out how to convert it to electricity anyway
mystic ermine
Yea, am thinking fission, MSRs probably what I got in my head
shut vine
They actually are looking into liquid lithium for ICF's.
foggy fern
That sounds insanely toxic
shut vine
The issue with some ICF's has been cooling.
foggy fern
foggy fern
Wow South Dakota doesn't get legal weed after all
Judge ruled the amendment was unconstitutional because it addressed medicinal and recreational at the same time and amendments are supposed to be single issue
It was a lawsuit brought by the governor
Oh no it's worse than that, medicinal was a separate ballot measure
In her ruling, Klinger said that marijuana legalization would have touched on business licensing, taxation and hemp cultivation. The amendment would have given the state’s Department of Revenue power to administer recreational marijuana, but Klinger ruled that by doing so, it overstepped the authority of the executive and legislative branches of government.
So because "make weed legal" takes more than one step the argument is it should have been multiple ballot measures, I guess?
dusky raft
@foggy fern I know a fix, any purpose
dont make separate medicinal/recreational statements.
also, is there any rule saying state amendments have to be single purpose?
foggy fern
There is a rule in SD, apparently
The reason the ballot measure didn't just say "allow it" or whatever and instead trying to lay out how to administer it was because the Governor and State Congress were on the record as being against it so unless they were forced to put systems in place the only choices were to make it a free for all or to keep it illegal
Free for all doesn't get as many votes, people are swayed by the promise of increased tax revenue and regulations preventing underage users and such
If the measure just said it wasn't outright illegal but was up to the Congress and Governor to set up appropriate systems they just wouldn't set them up so it'd still be effectively illegal
weary obsidian
man seeing this new footage, shit was insane, way more force was justified there
glossy sandal
What footage
earnest prairie
Footage of the capital riot I think
foggy fern
weary obsidian
why is it so hard for these people to not let kids use their work computers
restive seal
While it shouldn't be the case for anyone in congress with their salary, remember that for some households the parent work laptop could be the only good computer in the house. 🙂
near glen
In many cases i doubt it's kids
weary obsidian
govt should be supplying assets lol. that would be a huge no no to use personal machines for government data
restive seal
Sure would be! But that doesn't mean it isn't the only good laptop in the home and people are always using company/govt equipment for things they shouldn't.
shut vine
Wait who's doing that now?
arctic tangle
honestly, these kinds of things are small victories that I savour
as the generation responsible for killing off napkins, diamonds, cruises, marriage, divorce, gambling, golf, and doorbells... it's nice to see when someone's complete disinterest to becoming computer literate bites them in the ass in embarrassing but ultimately harmless ways
mystic ermine
You gotta remember that a lot of this tech really hasn't been "main stream" as much as it was until the past like 10-15 years or whatever
most people can write a word doc, but, find where some brand new app is hiding stuff, it's not really something in the tools which most people having issues with these apps will find in other stuff they use
god knows hooow the fuck to do all the effects and stuff in snapchat and all the other apps, if I had to in a pinch I probs could, but, like, eeer
My grandma can use a sewing machine like it's first nature, get her to change the clock on the boiler, that became my job when I lived with my grandparents as I could do it in like 1/10th of the time
foggy fern
pfft, a teen or early 20s wouldn't have been able to turn that cat off either
We've made smartphones and tablets now and kids don't know shit about computers
dusky raft
desktops and laptops are now this magical box of wonders for two groups, boomers and gen z.
well, the latter part of gen z
mystic ermine
all my mates who have laptops generally use it for web browsing and netflix, etc; when it comes to video, it's generally stuff like whatsapp where you're generally on the phone
restive seal
The real secret is that every generation is full of folks for whom computers are magic boxes of wonder.
mystic ermine
pretty much yea
and especially with how powerful phones have become, and the existence of tablets, the need to really know how to use a computer, is slim
foggy fern
Wow, Trump's defense team is only going to take one day
Originally they were going to go Friday and Sunday with Saturday off because one of the lawyers is Orthodox then they realized that'd be a bad idea so went back to Friday and Saturday with that lawyer just not taking part on the second day
Now they think they'll only go tomorrow
brisk cradle
He's not wrong. https://twitter.com/chflorelius/status/1359661231091679234
Even Bernie Sanders, who is considered left-wing by American standards, is just barely a social democrat by any other standard.
foggy fern
When Mr Trump told the lawmaker that the rioters were actually antifa, Mr McCarthy bluntly told him that they were in fact a MAGA mob.
“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” replied Mr Trump said, according to lawmakers briefed later by Mr McCarthy.
The California congressman lost his cool and told the president that rioters were trying to break into his office, and asked him, “Who the f*** do you think you’re talking to?”
that's some sloppy grammar in the second sentence
foggy fern
restive seal
Senator Ron Johnson
We never should have this impeachment trial it's just – it's not healing it's not, it's not unifying it's just like opening up a wound and just rubbing salt in it and I thought we were going to come to a conclusion here today and it was just rip the wound back open let's rub more salt in it
I know this isn't a new argument, but it's upsetting every time I see it. This idea that we should just move on from the awful event and accept that one political party wants to have no accountability and thus deserves not accountability.
near glen
5 reps voted for witnesses
how many reps are needed for impeachment?
numbers pls, lol
absolute numbers pls
also nice typo
and how many dems are there?
is it 50:50?
ok so 5 is a lil short for 2/3
sad
opaque prairie
they need 2/3s of senators present
which means when you see a a repub senator or someone walk out the ratio goes down
foggy fern
Although since they're compelled by law to be there that doesn't really mean much
Well, compelled by Constitution and Senate rules which can be enforced by the Sergeant-at-Arms literally carrying them back in to the room handcuffed
(this has happened once, in the 80s)
foggy fern
They got 7, they needed 17
Trump released a statement welcoming the decision, saying his movement "has only just begun."
Twitter
restive seal
I'm surprised it was as high as 7.
43 senators willing to avoid responsibility. Here's hoping for charges to start coming in now that the senate process is over.
New McConnell precedent - when the senate makes a ruling [e.g. the trial is constitutional], if you disagree with it you can ignore that. That's totally fine.
tough cedar
lel, delay the trial until he's out of office
declare the trial unconstitutional after he's out of office
restive seal
They're so afraid of Trump's supporters they're willing to allow Trump to encourage his supporters to storm their own offices without consequence.
tough cedar
tbh 4 years ago i didn't think i'd really ever vote democrat
now i don't see how i could ever vote republican even if i might agree more with them on the actual issues
on real actual issues, not the stupid shit they've done in the last 4 years
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/13/mcconnell-votes-for-acquittal-but-says-no-question-trump-responsible-for-riot.html lol what is his angle here though
“There’s no question” that Trump “is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said just after the Senate acquitted Trump of inciting the attack. “No question about it.”```he gives himself so many ways to weasel out of any responsibility
“He didn’t get away with anything, yet,” McConnell said, noting that “we have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being [held] accountable by either one.”``` what criminal charges could he still face?None of his actions with the election or the riot are a part of his duties as President so he wouldn't have immunity for them
The only problem before was the DoJ said they couldn't go after their boss
In reality it's unlikely they'd go after him unless someone had video of him shooting someone
dusky raft
Its really vague, and has been extorted to all extreme by the democrats who had an axe to grind since 2016
foggy fern
What?
dusky raft
I dont really have enough for myself to see if he did or did not incite the riot. Sure, his supporters maybe took his words literally and broke into the house/senate. However, I find it so strange how during the summer of last year the democrats dragged their heels on BLM protests, and did nothing to protect their cities. Now suddenly they care only when there is a protest on their doorstep.
and I honestly stopped caring about who did what
well protest/riot
tough cedar
i mean... his biggest defender literally said he caused the jan 6th attacks...
dusky raft
mitch?
tough cedar
yes
dusky raft
he never was huge into trump in the first place
they were not friends by anymeans, and they have traded blows over certain things, such as the stimulus package
though, I have a few questions, mainly where was security in DC?
shut vine
The problem from the start with the trial was that it was too narrow.
dusky raft
I'm surprised biden didnt try to hang a pardon over trump's head.
shut vine
Even if he was convicted it was highly likely the supreme court would overturn it for not being constitutional (i.e. freedom of speech causes incitement especially with political speech to have a very high burden of proof).
foggy fern
I don't think the Supreme Court gets a say
Even if they thought they might they'd reject the case as being a political question
shut vine
It's highly debated, most constitutional scholars think it's most likely the supreme court can adjudicate cases when the specific article has constitutional protection.
dusky raft
If it was on the basis of the first amendment, that will cause issues, as it can bring to light what people have said in the past
shut vine
Yeah they have no obligation to take it up most likely.
If the trial itself was constitutional was also in question.
dusky raft
again, considering the riots back in the summer of last year
tough cedar
i mean... you can impeach a president for anything can't you?
shut vine
Only while they're in office.
Impeachment is only a means to remove someone from office.
shut vine
But he was not in office when the decision would be made, thus the legal conundrum.
foggy fern
"misdemeanor" for impeachment means anything that damages the office which means it's political and can mean anything, yeah
And the founders and previous senates already decided you can impeach and prosecute people after they've left office
shut vine
Well, misdemeanor has no clear definition in the constitution for the purposes of impeachment. It's basically up to Congress to decide.
foggy fern
That was covered on day 1
restive seal
And the founders and previous senates already decided you can impeach and prosec...
The impeachment managers did a really good job breaking this down with the precedent in the US as well as the historical basis for US impeachment. Any claims from senators that he can't be convicted after he leaves office are made in bad faith at this point.
shut vine
But basically my point is it's pretty divided as to if an official can constitutionally be convicted after leaving office. I don't have a firm opinion either way about it, the supreme court has never really answered that question.
Well there was no point bogging down the Senate with that argument, it's not up to the Senate to really decide on it. It would be up to SCOTUS after they do it.
I think there have been 2 or 3 cases where trials went ahead after, but never ended up before the supreme court.
tough cedar
then the republicans should've voted to convict and let the supreme court decide if it was constitutional ...?
shut vine
If they thought he was guilty yes.
restive seal
It's "pretty divided" in much the same way as anthropogenic climate impacts or the safety of smoking. You don't need the supreme court to point out how insane it would be for resigning office to save you from being prevented from running again.
shut vine
So you're saying nearly 50% of experts dispute safety of smoking?
You sound quite high.
Either way, the fact they made the impeachment so narrow (included the single article, instead of all the other ones they had last time), was a misstep or they were not actually serious about conviction.
restive seal
No, I'm saying there's nothing "pretty divided" about the constitutionality of this. Using the votes of a bunch of "party over country" senators to call me "quite high" is not a polite argument strategy. Please do not bring in insults to future discussions with me.
shut vine
Many constitutional scholars believe it would be unconstitutional. It is definitely highly disputed.
I'm not saying most, I'm saying it's not an answered question. Additionally the constitution is not clear as this particular detail. It is literally the realm of SCOTUS.
Oh also, I never said anything about Senate votes being evidence of it being highly disputed at all.
foggy fern
I suppose it depends on if you subscribe to an "original intent" view or not. If you do then there can be no dispute, the founders clearly meant for it to be possible because they tried to do it.
shut vine
Which instance was that? I knew of a couple more recent ones.
foggy fern
It was brought up on day 1, Congress tried to impeach several people while the founders were in office and all of them were people who were no longer in office
shut vine
I personally think it should be possible with stricter rules, but it's still technically something that hasn't been clearly decided.
foggy fern
I think the argument Trump's team tried to misquote does a pretty good job of laying out why it's allowed, let me try to find it again...
shut vine
If I had to guess I'd think SCOTUS would say "well precedent".
foggy fern
He was putting all of the reasons for and against it he could think of and explain why they did or didn't make sense, Trump's lawyers tried to quote him as supporting their view when the bit they quoted was him tearing down their view
shut vine
I think there are dangers of it being another tit for tat weapon if it were allowed without stricter rules.
Lol, typical of politicians and lawyers.
I wouldn't be surprised to see that he said he'd impeach Clinton in the past, to be honest.
shut vine
Yeah makes sense
brisk cradle
near glen
I mean, how do you even defend smth like that
brisk cradle
Then of course, this. https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1360760957572677635
near glen
poor lawer
brisk cradle
GOP priorities, folks.
near glen
well, they cant scare of the last supporters they have, so they need to be careful how they condemn those domestic terrorists
shell shuttle
restive seal
Typical pro-snowy-roads propaganda, IMO.
near glen
Republicans try to proof that climate change isn't real by flooding the internet with snowy roads, don't fall for it!
brisk cradle
Almost like giving Obama the Nobel Peace Prize for the accomplishment of not being George W. Bush https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56081182
dusky raft
yeah
states went in every direction when it came to covid, from fuck it, your going to catch it anyways, to lockdown everything, or close to everything.
my state was a 50/50 split, having more reasonable restrictions, but not impeding small businesses
shut vine
“I am not joking when I say this: If you are ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot. No ifs, ands, or buts,” - TJ Ducklo's Boss, 2021
restive seal
If that's the worst scandal we get in the first month out of Biden we're doing fabulous.
shut vine
Yeah that's true, he's not touched any kids yet.
restive seal
I meant compared to the previous president's first month but okay let's jump to that...
shut vine
Ah you should probably be more specific then.
I mean, verbally threatening someone and sexually demeaning them is rather scandalous especially when you spend 20+ days trying to cover it up.
foggy fern
Tyler Joseph Ducklo is an American political advisor who served as a Special Assistant to the President and White House Junior Deputy Press Secretary for the Biden Administration from January 2021 until February 13, 2021, when he announced his resignation.
I'm confused about why this came up today
He was put on leave as soon as the White House heard about it then they told him to resign and save some dignity before they were forced to fire him
shut vine
Because I just heard about ti today. Also he wasn't fired as per the declaration Biden made on inauguration day. They also brushed off the situation with a "he send her a personal apology note".
Also that sounds false, since it was announced as far as I can tell that he was on leave starting the 13th of Feb.
Twitter
Oh never mind, I just misread you.
Though there is no reason to believe he was told to resign, and that Tweet would indicate otherwise.
If he was indeed told to resign, it was probably an afterthought after backlash if anything. i.e. for show "morals".
brisk cradle
Of course the right would blame clean energy for the Texas blackout! The facts show it was the fossil fuels (specifically natural gas) that failed, though...
And more generally, well, climate change.
near glen
I also read that power plants shut down because they didn't like the price? So capitalism at it's finest
I also learned that the texas grid is isolated from the national grid because they tried to doge some national regulations?
Sid miller posting we should never build another wind turbine is pure comedy
mystic ermine
from what I've seen it's basically clusterfuck ontop of cluster fuck
they didn't winter proof shit coz they didn't need to so this sudden weathersnap is sorta like a massive fuck-you to the infra
apparently this sorta thing once in a while for a few days here and there is expected, but, not something that can sustain
near glen
What I read is that power plants did shut down because the price for gas was too high for their liking
(price high cause supply low cause pipelines aren't winter proofen)
Also this https://www.texastribune.org/2011/02/08/texplainer-why-does-texas-have-its-own-power-grid/
pure jetty
I also read that power plants shut down because they didn't like the price? So c...
yes their grid is programmed to shed load when the cost of running is too high for the end consumer
the cost per mega watt increased to almost 10k USD since it was high demand and scarce
if the electricity providers were to buy that electricity they'd be losing millions of dollars per day
since most contracts customers sign are fixed rate
so uhh idk what you'd want the companies to do
foggy fern
they didn't winter proof shit coz they didn't need to so this sudden weathersnap...
When this happened (at a somewhat smaller scale) in 2011 they were told by the federal government they should winterize things as this looked like a once a decade event
10 years later...
It was just a suggestion though since they don't have to follow the federal rules
pure jetty
wonder what the cost would be to do that vs the cost of what these last two events costed them
foggy fern
The rest of the south was forced to winterize after 2011
foggy fern
wonder what the cost would be to do that vs the cost of what these last two even...
I saw one suggestion it adds about $5k to the cost of a wind turbine, dunno for the other stuff
mystic ermine
But, just, jesus
tough cedar
its slowly just getting worse can't use water for anything but essential stuff now
i guess it's almost over really
foggy fern
With so many pipes burst I wonder if the water is still safe to drink
tough cedar
not really
lots of counties and cities have boiling notices now
tho they said because of the lack of pressure
it might've allowed bacteria to get in
foggy fern
Yeah, you lose pressure because the pipes burst 😛
tough cedar
oh, duh, right
mystic ermine
that and pumping and filtering stations are hit apparently
tough cedar
maybe they'll make the grid more winter resistant this time 🤔
foggy fern
ha
foggy fern
They'll just blame wind turbines and pretend nothing else went wrong
They're already doing it
pure jetty
in other news
DeepFuckingValue/Roaring Kitty got sued
good to see people being held responsible for this shit
i hope they get a few WSB mods too
mystic ermine
fun
I don't really care about WSB, I really just hope that they nail the original peeps tryna take control over it all
sounds like the guy suing is also only really suing coz he was up to sketchy shit and basically shot himself in the foot and wants to throw the blame elsewhere
faint radish
I really hope some Reddit usernames get into a courtroom transcript somewhere. Would be funny.
near glen
The defendant, deep fucking value, lmao
near glen
good to see people being held responsible for this shit
I don't think authorities need to look at wsb tho, sure, it might not be perfectly ok what went on there, but if you look at the reactions, those were much worse
And those were by companies, not random individual reddit nerds
Everything on wsb is public, which by definition makes it less shady than literally anything else going on at wallstreet
Anyways, i just opened this channel to shit post this https://twitter.com/ZackBornstein/status/1362151993804943361?s=19
pure jetty
I don't think authorities need to look at wsb tho, sure, it might not be perfect...
what reactions are you talking about
near glen
E.g how the trade platforms handled the situation
pure jetty
what was wrong with that
if you're talking about robinhood, they stopped taking buy orders because they had a liquidity issue
nothing they could do
near glen
Suuuuureeee
pure jetty
?
near glen
And hey, their ceo went on TV and said it wasn't a liquidity issue
They also weren't the only platform
pure jetty
because it looks awful to say your company is having a liquidity issue
they spelled it out in their blog post
and other companies had liquidity issues too
near glen
Well, so he lied on record? Misleading his customers?
That's worse than meming on reddit
pure jetty
yes that was a lie what he said on tv
wouldn't call that record
but it would cause a shit more problems for the company itself if he went on and said "we have a liquidity issue"
near glen
I just don't see why wsb did something wrong when wallstreet does the very same thing every day
pure jetty
to put it very simply, the clearing houses were requiring more collateral for trades being processed for some stocks (GME, AMC, etc) due to high volatility
near glen
When wsb even did it all in the open
pure jetty
that increased collateral combined with a shit more volume caused a lot of retail investment apps to hault trades on those tickers
pure jetty
I just don't see why wsb did something wrong when wallstreet does the very same ...
wallstreet doesn't do pump and dumps every day
they're extremely illegal for institutions to do and there are better legal ways to make money as an institutional investor
pump and dumps require a shit ton of volume which cannot be done without getting caught
after 2008 the laws for this shit is crazy strict
near glen
Wallstreet never shorts something and then shit talks the company on tv?
near glen
How is buying a stock for memes manipulation?
pure jetty
because most of the people pulling the strings were the ones saying it was for "memes"
making posts saying "buy buy buy" while dancing around saying it's "because we like the stock" is total manipulation
i'll grant that at the start is was prob a meme but towards the end it 100% became a ponzi scheme of people trying to cover their losses
at the end of the day the hedge funds still won
lmao
near glen
How is that different to saying company x is a short case with some made up stats?
near glen
at the end of the day the hedge funds still won
The bank always wins in gambling, lol
pure jetty
How is that different to saying company x is a short case with some made up stat...
do you have examples of this?
near glen
Idk, wsb just showed how dum wallstreet as a hole is and we should just set it on fire and watch it burn, it serves no value for society anymore
pure jetty
because I doubt this happens let alone frequently
pure jetty
Idk, wsb just showed how dum wallstreet as a hole is and we should just set it o...
this is just uhhh
wrong on many levels
near glen
What value does wallstreet still serve?
It's like the myth of eternal economic growth
All neo-liberal bullshit
Not sustainable anymore
near glen
Startups can (and most the time do) get funding outside of stock markets
near glen
It's just a industry that's so heavily detached from actual reality it's not even funny anymore
shut vine
I mean there is a lot of very interesting speculation going on
near glen
I never did read or participate in wsb, lol
I avoid reddit in general
This is my own opinion about the state of humankind
shut vine
Also if you manipulate the stock market for the "memes" it's illegal.
pure jetty
i mean you won't see charges to your everyman
near glen
Idk, will be interesting to see capitalism adapt in the next years, i think some ppl need to be pretty strong to not burst up in tears
pure jetty
only DFU/WSB mods if any
shut vine
That being said if you are buying because of interest in making money, and don't know there are deliberate attempts to manipulate then you're in the clear
Oh yeah I agree
You have to prove intent
pure jetty
Idk, will be interesting to see capitalism adapt in the next years, i think some...
lol ok
shut vine
And doing that for an individual who bought to manipulate is very very difficult
pure jetty
yeah most of the laws are oriented around corporations
shut vine
Yeah anything organized
dusky raft
its just insane how some people work solely in the stock market
stiff terrace
its a casino so it makes sense
faint radish
Don’t pension funds operate because the stock market exists?
Some amount is invested, and the gains are used to pay pensions?
Also, 401ks
The stock market is a good thing. It creates wealth not always by taking wealth from something else
A company can raise capital by selling a stake it itself and then uses that money to expand the business providing jobs, a service, goods, etc.
People will only invest in a company of they can expect to make money in the future.
faint radish
its a casino so it makes sense
How is that anything like a casino?
There seems to be some new idea in society that if you make more money than most people, you are somehow bad. It’s like the study where you ask people what they think of their car. They say it’s great, does everything they need it to, but then their neighbor gets a super fancy expensive car, and suddenly yours sucks.
pure jetty
GME really sparked up a lot of weird claims from people who have jack shit understanding about the stock market
funny that most the people who say that are also the one's screaming late stage capitalism
tough cedar
are hedge funds the ones funding pensions?
pure jetty
there are pension funds that are (or get money from) hedge funds
a hedge fund is just a group of people "hedging" their money into high risk high reward investing
shut vine
The stock market literally works like this. I didn't make 100 million dollars from GME so it's corrupt.
foggy fern
I mean, investment banks are generally corrupt as fuck
They come up with new ways to be corrupt faster than regulators can figure out how to ban them
pure jetty
I mean, investment banks are generally corrupt as fuck
in which ways?
not saying they aren't and not saying they are just curious what you're referring to
shut vine
You seem to forget it's not the banks that are corrupt. It's people. If people know of a way to get ahead and not get caught they tend to exploit it.
pure jetty
well i mean tbf a company can encourage poor behavior of its employees
shut vine
Yeah of course
Just that people only seem to care about corruption when they're not benefiting from said corruption
pure jetty
doesn't have to always be the case
calling out corruption is fine, it's just vague statements about corruption tend to be thrown around without any specifics
shut vine
Yeah that's true
foggy fern
Credit Default Swaps are still a thing, they just changed the name and tweaked them a little so they're legally distinct
As much as possible they went right back to doing the things that crashed the economy in 2008
Err, no, not that one
I forget the name
pure jetty
Pretty sure the most dangerous thing about CDS's were naked CDS's which were banned i think along with naked shorting
maybe after the fact
stiff terrace
There seems to be some new idea in society that if you make more money than most...
aren't you assuming that a casino is a bad thing? the stock market is basically a casino to certain individuals (options people) from my POV
pure jetty
aren't you assuming that a casino is a bad thing? the stock market is basically ...
if you're a retail investor that has no idea what they're doing sure it's a casino
if you're doing months or years of research it isn't
and 99% of institutional investors do research :))
stiff terrace
you guys sure are reading into the word casino quite a bit
pure jetty
what do you mean
stiff terrace
placing bets on things, that is what is casino-like about it to me
all these other things you are inferring are not what I'm getting at
pure jetty
casinos pay out at a certain probability
with no tie into reality
options can be leveraged against tons of research
predictions can fail but you cannot predict with "science" a casino payout
you can predict a stock price with market research
faint radish
yes, that is what I was talking about
stiff terrace
alright I take back the word I used to describe it, what I meant was "you can make a lot of money on it via bets so its not surprising some people do it full time"
didn't realize the word was so loaded
pure jetty
i mean they're not comparable
faint radish
even if you have a barebones knowledge of how it works, just by investing in companies and products you like and use, is smart because other people also like and use them.
pure jetty
one is random the other isn't
stiff terrace
I get it, but I wasn't equating them in my head
pure jetty
alr
stiff terrace
casino just came to mind as an analogue
horse betting might be a better example, find out which horse is most swole and bet on it 
restive seal
Okay, let's compare it to horse race betting? ...damnit nossr too fast
stiff terrace
I'm pro stock market as long as its not a rigged game, not saying what RH did was necessarily rigging the game (as it seems likely they just had liquidity issues and lied about it)
pure jetty
i would agree horse betting is a better comparison, you can leverage bets against the physical ability of a horse
pure jetty
I'm pro stock market as long as its not a rigged game, not saying what RH did wa...
am in the same boat
restive seal
And you can directly observe the horse losing liquidity prior to the race in some cases.
stiff terrace
I lost some money on GME, I should have sold when RH froze things but I sat and watched the dumpster fire
the interesting psychological element of it was I bet money that was not important to me, but I still felt bad when I lost it, which I thought wouldn't happen when I originally bought the stock
now I see it as a learning experience to be paper hands in the future
stiff terrace
honestly seemed solid right before RH froze buying
I was going to sell at 500 which it almost hit
then I had naive hope of it bouncing back which was due to my complete inexperience
anyone else burn their money with GME? 
I think I get a tax credit for stock market losses though, not 100% on that though
foggy fern
lol the domain is clever but they could have used it to promote something instead of asking for the impossible https://fledcruz.com/
pure jetty
yeah that'd set a horrible precedent
should be reserved for the proper crazies like that qanon chick
i mean not that cruz ain't crazy
but i rank him higher than pizzagate qanon girl
stiff terrace
hes not crazy hes just a career politician who will do and say what he needs to
qanon girl actually crazy
dawn flax
There’s bigger fish to fry in the senate
stiff terrace
apparently some allegations of RH sending out very incorrect tax forms to users
shy gulch
He should not be removed for going on vacation :p
I lost the little respect I had for Cruz awhile back but going on vacation is not punishment worthy
mystic ermine
I mean, unless it was pre-planned, super shitty move
shy gulch
Sometimes people need breaks during the most stressful and busy times of their career
Same people making this article also will have no issue with him out of the decision circle lol
glossy sandal
Yeah I like to just get away and ignore everything during the times people need me the most. Really helps relax and destress.
shy gulch
Is a scheduled vacation really related to ignoring everything?
glossy sandal
If its scheduled weeks before no but if it was scheduled the day before yes
shy gulch
Nurses took holiday and vacations during the time when hospital were packed. People in he medical field were most needed at this time but it does not mean them taking a break was not warranted. Not that Cruz has the stress of a front line medical worker but logic still applies.
glossy sandal
shy gulch
Conservatives went ape shit when Obama went on break and took his wife out during Valentine’s Day. During this time the government had a lot to deal with when it came to relations and tension in the Middle East. I still say his break was warranted and no major issue.
shy gulch
People aren’t machines
glossy sandal
It looks terrible for him
Everyone needs breaks and that's not the problem that he should never take breaks
The problem is that he left the state during an emergency to go somewhere else while the whole state had power outages
shy gulch
I am not suggesting that is what you are implying
shy gulch
Maybe my thinking is unorthodox I just personally am not offended
glossy sandal
Wrong place wrong time type beat
shy gulch
Would make sense for someone to take a vacation during a stressful time
Especially if there home is in that condition
mystic ermine
not offended, but, like, shits going down in his state
if there is fuck all he can do, i guess
shy gulch
Maybe I am adding too much of a human element
mystic ermine
would be nice if he could at least stand around to sit around as a pretty face or whatever to the sitrep
but, like, in general 🤷♂️
glossy sandal
Leaders abandoning people during a time of need isnt good even if he cant do anything himself
shy gulch
I’d do the same
glossy sandal
Ur acting like hes just a joe shmoe and not an elected representative of the state that's in crisis lol
shy gulch
An elected representative is just that
A representative
It’s not like the chief firefighter left town
His is a politician
mystic ermine
guy couldn't even stay around to act as a pretty face
shy gulch
I’d take criticism over showing my pretty face
mystic ermine
I mean, he's one of the leaders of the state and should have some form of idea what's going on and be able to reach out for further assistance/co-ordination if needed
glossy sandal
Man with power and privilege leaves state during covid pandemic and winter emergency cuz he has resources to do so when the rest of the state he represents freezes and suffers.
shy gulch
Maybe if he stayed in the state longer he could have air bended the ice storm away
🤷♀️
glossy sandal
Ok imagine it like this: you're a member of an army. You're squad gets ambushed and attacked and everyone is stranded and needs help and leadership. Your leader then flys away in a helicopter back to base and eats Turkey.
shy gulch
But Cruz is no general. He is a political representative.
glossy sandal
shy gulch
I don’t blame my professors for taking a vacation during testing
foggy fern
It's a PR thing, really
mystic ermine
^
glossy sandal
You wouldn't blame ur professor for leaving you guys during your testing for the class you pay for?
foggy fern
If he is there doing PR things it gets attention and lets him put pressure behind the scenes on people to get things improved
It gives him leverage
Sometimes that can backfire though, if the President goes to a disaster area they ruin everything because of the security lockdowns
shy gulch
Most people understand local government does not hault once the man in the suit is gone
If anything it’s better
mystic ermine
it's much ado about nothing, but, woulda looked better on him if he didn't bail the situation in his state
shy gulch
Sure it looks bad on him but he shouldn’t be punished
That’s the argument I’m trying to make
foggy fern
He'll be punished in the sense that he'll have less political power
shy gulch
Right
foggy fern
Ejecting him is nonsense, I haven't seen anyone in here say otherwise
shy gulch
Let the rule of people punish him by voting that clown out
Don’t fuel the fire of the other side
foggy fern
You're arguing against a point no one is making 😄
shy gulch
I simply replied to the article you posted by saying he should not be punished
eager hawk
But Cruz is no general. He is a political representative.
and political representatives hold a higher ground than a medical worker that can have their shift covered by someone else, or professors who take some days off which isn't a life-threatening decision. cruz was elected to represent, defend, and protect his state and he's blatantly not doing the job when the demand is most in need, when people are dying, and likely dying because of what he's doing. Cruz voted for the deregulations that directly and indirectly led to this point in time. Avoiding the consequences for his actions is leaving texans extremely bitter, having to boil water, left with no power for dozens of hours at a time, and witness their neighbors freeze to death, and I understand their angry rhetoric for that. i understand and can agree with you that if you look just at this incident where he's on vacation, as a reason for removing him from office, it seems blown out of proportion; however, removing him from office when cumulatively looking at all the corrupt actions he's taken during his time in senate, i believe is valid and i think you will too. some people can see this trip as a breaking point for having him resign, if that makes sense.
eager hawk
Oof well sounds like Cruz just made up the reason that his kids reeeeallly needed him to accompany them to Cancun. Hence why he flied. Said they just have anxiety when they fly in to a new place, but not out of it. Throwing the kids under the bus to explain his reason for abandoning his constituents, damn
He was originally scheduled to return on Saturday 🙄
shy gulch
and political representatives hold a higher ground than a medical worker that ca...
I would love to see Cruz out of office
but not in a way that gives the other side a chance to defend his removal
eager hawk
but not in a way that gives the other side a chance to defend his removal
Pretty sure all the other shit hes done would be brought up if he is. Hopefully that'll be the case :)
shy gulch
if he is removed for something like going to Cancun then he will be defended and the other side ridiculed
Look at what Trump did. A majority of conservatives considered his trial unconstitutional lol.
eager hawk
if he is removed for something like going to Cancun then he will be defended and...
Conservative and MAGA media will probably frame the story as such when there's so much more to his corruption, I can see that happening lol
eager hawk
Look at what Trump did. A majority of conservatives considered his trial unconst...
Because they're relying on Fox News for their sources, when they only pick out the juicy stuff and edit them into shaming and blaming the democrats for the shit they do. Fox News lives on feeding up to the desires of conservatives by blaming bad stuff happening in the world to liberals. If any single thing could change the divisiveness of this country, it would be to not only stop Fox, but also cnn with their primetime fear-mongering and hyperbolic news anchors
shy gulch
I understand this
But if the conservatives feel betrayed by Cruz or feel as if he is a bad representative for there party then chances are he is voted out of office
eager hawk
But if the conservatives feel betrayed by Cruz or feel as if he is a bad represe...
yes... and the reason why that won't happen even if the evidence is stacked against Cruz is because they aren't willing to see the overall picture and insulate themselves in right wing media, which will never take a fair stance and only bring up arguments, whether ethos or pathos, to defend Cruz. And they will be convinced. Republicans also support budget cuts and having people pay for education themselves, making accessing quality education difficult... hmm, I wonder why :-/
eager hawk
But if the conservatives feel betrayed by Cruz or feel as if he is a bad represe...
I personally don't think Texans should wait another 4 years to vote him out
Kick him before he endangers our democracy any further
foggy fern
Wait did Cruz fly home after he got "caught" while leaving his family there then blame his kids for why he went?
He sure did, holy shit
It looked bad before but he just keeps digging
Twitter
sweet canyon
What did he get caught doing?
foggy fern
No named sources, of course, but that guy is the kind of reporter who would have contacts at airlines
He went on vacation in Cancun while half his state has no power, water, or heat
sweet canyon
LOL
near glen
What did he get caught doing?
Ted was feeling a bit cold in his home state and I heard food and power were also rare so he chased the sun instead of trying to like, do something for his state
foggy fern
I think as of last night is was only like 25% were still out but yeah
sweet canyon
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1362565125736198147
"Don't be weird pls"
foggy fern
Don't tell Ben Shapiro
stiff terrace
AOC is great
foggy fern
Ted Cruz requires a consistent 96 degrees for his
unihemispheric sleep phaseshuman sleep or else he risks falling into a torpor that only theQueenhuman doctor can revive.
near glen
I like how reps in texas blame the green new deal, when they didn't even implement that in texas. It's their missmanagement of the last decades when they had the power to change stuff to the better but they didn't
tough cedar
just like trump said the riots would be what would happen if biden was elected lol
eager hawk
both gov abbott and cruz need to go :/
tough cedar
no attempt at even hiding the dishonesty
foggy fern
They do kind of have a point that their old super dirty coal and oil power plants would have been more likely to keep working but they didn't replace those with natural gas to save the environment, they did it because it was way cheaper to use natural gas
And that has nothing to do with wind turbines
eager hawk
they didn't winterize their clean energy alternatives, contradicting federal recomendations. that's why the wind turbines aren't working btw.
near glen
Natural gas is a great reserve in general, but like, you gotta do it properly
We use modern natural gas plants here in germany to regulate peaks of renewables
eager hawk
Has Cruz ever won a twitter argument against AOC? Lol
brisk cradle
Elon Musk complains about regulation, then complains about lack of regulation. Genius! https://www.foxbusiness.com/energy/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-slams-texas-energy-agency-as-unreliable
foggy fern
brisk cradle
Then of course Ted Cruz went to Cancun
I'm sorry Cruz, but AOC has been doing more for the people of Texas than you are.
foggy fern
Good thing Tesla added that Camp Mode
brisk cradle
opal moat
mystic ermine
'twas a cold snap, it happens, texas was stupid to not winterise their stuff but one can kinda annoyingly see why they didn't bother
eager hawk
if those people believed in climate change they would've known that the polar vortex has been weakening due to warming climates and hence this cold air from the arctic has been having higher chances of leaking out to the states during this time in the season. environmentalists saw this coming from a mile away
though if ted cruz turns his mind around and actuallly starts to believe in climate change, and tries to persuade other republicans to ignore the possible catastrophe that could happen with their upcoming election losing climate change denier votes and ignore the threats from getting their donations cut from oil and gas companies, man wouldn't that be amazing
tough cedar
i didn't know that was the reason for it being colder in texas lol
i just thought that climate change made the vortex more extreme or whatever
foggy fern
🇫 🇦 🇰 🇪
restive seal
eager hawk
🇫 🇦 🇰 🇪
LMFAO i did not know, thank you for correcting us.
my viewpoint still stands though
eager hawk
i didn't know that was the reason for it being colder in texas lol
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbes-personal-shopper/2021/02/19/best-sales-online-right-now-this-weekend/?sh=13d27dcc3d86 think this article explains it well
FUC
tough cedar
oh yea the best sales
eager hawk
lmao idk why i got the wrong link, i swear i copied it
smoky hedge
Clearly that picture is wrong because the Southern Hemisphere is also currently in a polar vortex too :^)
It’s been an oddly cool summer here, mostly rainy and rarely above 30 degrees - it’s 29 right now at midday on a sunny day which is hella weird for February
foggy fern
According to that post it wouldn't be called a polar vortex over Antarctica right now, it's only over the winter pole
NWS says it's just what the name says, over the poles
smoky hedge
It was big in the news here back in November, something about how the antarctic polar vortex usually breaks down by September, but it was still going strong in November which lead to massively decreased temperatures
Seems last time it happened in Winter was 2015, which from memory was a pretty wild year - snowed in Queensland lol (but not Brisbane 😢)
near glen
eager hawk
not surprised, just numb from this kind of stuff lol. though i wonder how accurate this claim is considering its coming from MSNBC
near glen
as an european that shit is just very sad to read
voting is a right, registering to vote seems such an alien concept to me
if I wanna vote, I just go to my assigned polling station (I get a letter, where I am informed of that, I could reply to the letter saying I wanna vote somewhere else or I wanna vote by mail) show them my normal ID and just vote
or, I can go to the townhall of my district and vote weeks early
again, just by flashing my ID
but, IIRC, america doesnt even have proper ID cards, right?
you guys use driver licences or smth dum like that
eager hawk
we pre-register using our drivers license, social security number, enter our address, etc yeah
near glen
and if I dont have a drivers license?
eager hawk
i think you still have to go to the DMV (department of motor vehicles) and get an ID
and use that instead to register
eager hawk
yeah lmaoooooo
near glen
man, why are IDs not handled at federal level?
eager hawk
this is the voter registration app for califonia in case youre interested
the US is way bigger than any european country, that's also a factor. i think it's fine if the decisions are left to each state. theres places like New York City and then there's Loving County, Texas; having them all organized under a federal level could get messy and unreliable to an extent than how it's currently organized, i could see that happening. just my opinion tho
near glen
hey, at least you trying
"Prior to 2005, each state designed its own driver's license according to its own standards. In 2005, the U.S. Congress passed a controversial bill known as the REAL ID Act, which established uniform standards for the design and content of state drivers' licenses and delegated authority to the Department of Homeland Security to implement and regulate compliance with the Act. One of the more-controversial aspects of the Act was that it requires all the underlying state databases be linked into a single national database"
eager hawk
oh yeah all driver license/ID holders have to also register through that by the end of this year iirc
i forgot about that lol
it printed a special seal on the license
near glen
the controversy around it seems to be hur dur big fed gov overreaching, hur dur big gov shouldnt know my name?
eager hawk
also yo i saw that there were a bunch of fucked up upvoted comments on social media under Boris Johnson's message celebrating the Chinese new year, what's up with the hate speech :-(
eager hawk
the controversy around it seems to be hur dur big fed gov overreaching, hur dur ...
i haven't heard much covered on the media as it being considered controversial. but yeah some people watch and read up too much sci-fi and conspiracy theories about government privacy invasion (which i guess i can understand to an extent, considering the snowden incident from almost 7 years ago) and don't want any more governmental oversight like that
near glen
its just so strange that such a thing doesnt exist
like, without proper IDs, can the gov even tell how many americans there are?
I guess this is where the concern about dead ppl voting comes from, lol
foggy fern
"You wrote that Susan Collins is, quote, 'the worst.' That Tom Cotton is a fraud. That vampires have more heart than Ted Cruz. You called leader McConnell 'Moscow Mitch' and 'Voldemort,' " complained Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. "How do you plan to mend fences and build relationships with members of Congress you have attacked through your public statements?"
Seems Manchin agrees with him https://www.npr.org/2021/02/19/969587197/manchin-opposes-neera-tandens-omb-nomination-a-blow-to-her-prospects
heady pier
Social security numbers, man.
heady pier
I guess this is where the concern about dead ppl voting comes from, lol
It's only a concern tho
Not a reality
glossy sandal
There is a census like every 10 years or something that counts population and based off those numbers they determine representatives and other stupid shit like funding
Only reason dead people voting is a thing is from manipulative politicians trying to undermine elections kek
Normal us stuff ya know
shut vine
There's also the perpetual voter pre-registration for absentee ballots. But yeah dead voters are not a huge issue.
heady pier
Preventing people that are valid voters is actually a REAL and current problem
near glen
Yeah i understand that
Well, no, i acknowledge it, i can't understand it because it's so alien to me
heady pier
The punishment for fake voting is so bad that nobody's stupid to do it
and when they do it, it's caught efficiently because of the backend services the government uses to prevent such thing.
shut vine
I mean, I'm not specifically arguing for whatever legislation is being implemented, I've not really had a chance to find any substantial information and what's been linked thus far has been op ed's. But it's a bit illogical to argue that because there are penalties and security measures in place to catch violations that more shouldn't be done.
I don't think early voter registration should be removed, that's a great convenient method. Perpetual absentee registrations sounds like one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard though. I also don't think a means to identify voters to ensure the process is indeed above board is at all problematic as long as there is no cost to the individual (24th). Many developed countries have a requirement that voters prove their identity.
near glen
Problem is that you don't have a central ID system
Also, mail voting should not require any explanation, it's a right
shut vine
Not in the US it isn't. The right is just to vote.
near glen
The link i posted (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-february-2021) mentions the exact legislatures
shut vine
Though I didn't specifically argue any of those points.
near glen
Not in the US it isn't. The right is just to vote.
Voting always needs to be accessible
Just your long lines before polling centers should be unlawful tbh
Because it actively restricts voting
shut vine
That one just has their opinions about what the legislation implements.
near glen
Well you can read the actual text it you don't trust them
shut vine
The only protections the US has is equal protection clause, and that there should be no fee associated with voting.
They don't link it.. lol
mystic ermine
reminds me of when you work for some company and you see their paperwork system is horrifically inefficent so much so that it pisses literally everybody off and nobody wants to deal with it and each time management has an idea to fix it, some random department in the company throws up their arms and screams
shut vine
My issue with the US system is mostly that the laws are different per state for voting.
I mean that realistically is the most efficient when it is working well, but I think there is a low chance of that occurring with neither "side" playing nice. Also think for something so important uniformity is important.
I suppose the advantage is that there is lower chance of the system being totally corrupted by a single party.
glossy sandal
Doesnt help voting lines when state legislators remove polling sites to 1 place per county no matter county population
cough texas
brisk cradle
Neera Tanden. Good thing Manchin opposes her, she also cheesed the social democrats in the Democratic party.
DeReGuLaTiOn WoRkS!!!!111!!!11 https://www.dallasnews.com/business/2021/02/20/griddy-customers-face-5000-bills-for-5-freezing-days-in-texas/
shut vine
Well those customers signed up for that deal.. they made the choice.
Though complete deregulation is insane.
As with anything there is a balance between anarchism and totalitarianism.
brisk cradle
"Griddy" is supiciously close to the word "Greedy"
pure jetty
good tbh, people were told not to use power and if you're being charged that much you probably were using a shit ton of power
shut vine
It's also suspiciously close to "Grid".
mystic ermine
$9 a killawatt
shut vine
Yeah exactly.
mystic ermine
I mean, that's crazy
pure jetty
a few power companies were shutting off power because they had fixed rate power but seems like griddy has fluctuating rates
mystic ermine
considering how much people are being pushed towards stuff like electric heating, that's fucking crazy
shut vine
That's like 600 KW.
pure jetty
well it was due to the high demand low supply of power in texas
mystic ermine
I mean, US voltages are like 1/2 of the UKs, we commonly use like 1KW or even 2KW heaters
I mean, I have central heating and burn gas
The entire situation is fucking moronic, you'd imagine that a service like griddy would have some form of safety net but I guess nobody cared as it's never been an issue before
shut vine
They do, their app.
mystic ermine
wa, so, you can set a cap?
shut vine
Or wait, maybe that's a different supplier
Never mind, it's that one
You can see current price, current usage, etc
mystic ermine
Yea
shut vine
Current cost
mystic ermine
I mean, it's a moronic foresight issue ontop of a "who'd expect this to happen"
shut vine
Their whole model is passing the wholesale price to the consumer
"Real-time alerts for high and low prices"
pure jetty
which is fine in normal situations
shut vine
"Prices spike only 0.6% of the time, but with our real-time alerts you will never be caught off guard. You’ll get price notifications when:"
shut vine
Yeah.
pure jetty
so you could for example charge your electric car at night when rates are lower
shut vine
Yeah the fixed rate they add in the cost for paying for the insurance in case their is a huge cost blowout.
pure jetty
what's energy rates like over there?
mystic ermine
I currently pay like £0.15/kwh
pure jetty
ah so like 21 cents
shut vine
It's like 0.22 USD /kwh
pure jetty
thats pretty expensive
shut vine
Yeah, it's like 0.08 USD in texas
mystic ermine
I'm renting so basically top up like every 2 weeks with a key thing as we don't have a smart meter here
pure jetty
7 cents in my state
mystic ermine
So, it could be cheaper if i wasn't a rentee, but, kinda glad am paying fortnightly as it makes it easier to manage so am not tryna deal with ensuring I keep the cash for it cos low hours cos 10/10 health
But, I mean, a few months ago, my electricity price went up
by like a few p or something
but, my gas price did go down like 2p, sooo
\o/
pure jetty
at the start of covid my state had gas prices of like 70cents a gallon
fuckin crazy
i think i heard something about someone who bought a shit ton of oil futures lowered the price of gas
mystic ermine
I mean natural gas, not gogo gas
mystic ermine
houses over here generally use central heating
shut vine
I would imagine in the next few years your electricity prices will go down
mystic ermine
bahahahahaaaaaaaaa
shut vine
I'd be interested in if my prediction is correct
mystic ermine
I mean, all I see is them going up
And, like, we're going to be losing a good chunk out of one of our stable sources of energy which provides like 20% of our energy usage
shut vine
Yeah I know, I suspect they will for a while, while your trade agreements get sorted out, and while new businesses start to provide electricity
But I think overall in 2-3 years your prices will go down due to less insane regulations.
mystic ermine
No idea, I got some kinda doubts as UK regulations sorta like vary
shut vine
Price of many goods probably will be similar.
mystic ermine
Like, in some areas we sorta teeter on the minimums, on others, we go far above what the EU requires
shut vine
But it's a prediction from someone who is not an economist.
mystic ermine
I doubt that energy is gonna get cheaper given the whole, they've been fucking us off for years and we're about to lose a good chunk of our cheaper capacity over the next few years
shut vine
Yeah your issue was you had UK regulations competing with EU regulations.
Making it really hard for competition to thrive.
pure jetty
UK really is going to set the ground if other countries follow it
mystic ermine
i mean, might help skimp some off, but, most of it's gonna be tryna get some cheap stable generators on the grid
I don't think I pay all too much over wholesale rates, tbqh
shut vine
We'll see.
I think the crux of it is trade deals.
I believe Spain is going to leave soon.
eager hawk
at the start of covid my state had gas prices of like 70cents a gallon
cries in Californian lol
shut vine
They were on the edge of departing before polling would suggest, about 47% wanted to if I remember right, and polling would suggest the opinion they had prior to Brexit was that if Britain left that the numbers would easily break 60%.
mystic ermine
i mean, apparently euskepticism has gone crazy over the past few years
a couple of contries already said that if we make it out nicely they'd probs follow
apparently even germany has a niiiiiice % of people who are all WTF over the EU
And the vaccine roll out really shines the entire issue with the EU as a whole
shut vine
Yeah doubt Germany will leave anytime soon
Spain is probably the most likely, then maybe Italy, Greece, France.
Maybe Greece more likely than Italy.
mystic ermine
am run shop quick
pure jetty
yeah all the big spenders
mystic ermine
But, yea, I can't see german wanting to leave too soon, but, like, they're at the tipping point almost
shut vine
Well UK, Spain, and France make up like 40% of the EU.
mystic ermine
Not there yet exactly, but, give it a few years lol
shut vine
Oh Italy is way up there too
pure jetty
wait a minute does the EU work in the sense that the GDPR no longer applies to U...
looks to be the case
pure jetty
probably because a shit ton of companies have offices in UK and not other EU countries
shut vine
Probably would apply in good faith to any data collected prior to Brexit.
pure jetty
so it was the EU's one attachment point for retaliation
shut vine
Though distinguishing the difference would be problematic
There is a UK replacement for the GDPR anyway, DPPEC
mystic ermine
We've had a data protection act for as long as I can remmeber pretty much
Pretty much any country that we deal with has to offer equal protections or something iirc
(or, maybe, any company)
foggy fern
Wait you still have one of those setups where you have to go down to the shop and buy a card to keep your power on?
mystic ermine
Sorta but not exactly
I have a key and a card, key for electricity card for gas
I take those to the shop to top up
I'm renting and the land lord doesn't have smart meters fitted
foggy fern
I only just heard of those like a week ago, impression I got was only really old places still worked like that
mystic ermine
annoyingly the supplier they had previously didn't allow me to top up nearby, so, ended up having to switch like first thing as with my health it's sorta like, no way I could guarantee i could travel that far to top up
foggy fern
We've got meters that broadcast some kind of low frequency radio signal iirc
Not the more modern "smart" meters that use the internet
mystic ermine
Well, smart meters are still rolling out over here
I thought that the low freuquency radio stuff was just for picking up the meter reading
I'd guess that's purely for those who pay yearly or whatever
foggy fern
I think I remember hearing that in the UK if you get a smart meter they use it to charge you more because they charge for apparent power too
So the power factor of your stuff matters, if it only uses 10W but has a power factor of 0.5 you get charged for 20W
mystic ermine
apparently that was the earlier smart meters and they got bollocked for that or something
foggy fern
Normally that's only industrial customers but with the smart meters they are/were trying to do it to everyone
pure jetty
foggy fern
Resistive loads (heaters) have an almost perfect power factor but electronics have a horrible power factor due to the rectification
foggy fern
Unless you have electric heaters, dryers, ovens, etc most of your power usage is going to be the ones where they want to charge you more
pure jetty
foggy fern
Yeah, that thing has what you'd use for power factor correction but no smarts on when to enable it so sometimes it makes your power factor worse
And it doesn't help much, you'd need a massive device to correct your whole house
The power company has such devices at substations to handle this on their own
foggy fern
TIL your laptop's power brick almost certainly has power factor correction in it
It's the same circuitry that allows it to run on a wide range of voltages
mystic ermine
tbqh, any properly designed device should have proper PF correction in it
Just, erm,few extra chips, you know...
foggy fern
LED light bulbs usually cheap out on this and have a PF of 0.55
I bet most USB chargers do too
Mine probably doesn't because PFC also lets you get away with lower spec components and they're packing 100W in to the space most take for like 20W
mystic ermine
Yea, a lot of low current stuff generally doesn't care to do so for various reasons
I don't really know all the science behind it, i mostly just used to do automation stuff so all the elecronics side of stuff, is, errr....
foggy fern
For industrial and maybe commercial stuff they'll definitely care about it because it costs them money 😛
mystic ermine
most of our stuff runs raw AC and the amount of current of our automation vs the power we deal with on those panels is a sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim faction
a lot of stuff I did was generally more relay logic style stuff for smaller systems
every now and again we'd need a PLC, but, then we where generally using rack mounted power supplies specifically designed and rated for our industry
foggy fern
Good old industrial lego
foggy fern
lol they put in his office number https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOnGNSDlZJU
It's set up like one of those "this deal won't last forever, call now!" ads on TV but the number they give is for Cruz's DC office
foggy fern
Not really on topic for this channel but from our earlier discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA5G7kR_xa8
foggy fern
TIL Tennessee changed it to a felony to stay overnight on state property (like protesters did when maintaining a 24/7 presence in Nashville)
As a fun side effect, being arrested for a felony in Tennessee means you lose the right to vote and have to appeal to get it back after you're done with any jail/prison time and probation
It's not an automatic thing, or even a "fill out this form and after we verify the data you're good" thing, you have to convince someone you should be allowed to vote
foggy fern
Asked to describe what happened during the assault on the Capitol, 58% of Trump voters call it "mostly an antifa-inspired attack that only involved a few Trump supporters." That's more than double the 28% who call it "a rally of Trump supporters, some of whom attacked the Capitol." Four percent call it "an attempted coup inspired by President Trump."
pure jetty
can you not politically shitpost in here
thorny wing
is that... not what we do in here?
near glen
No, this channel is for political discussions
mystic ermine
dump and run memes are just tiring, intent of the channel is discussion
drowsy cradle
eager hawk
https://justicedemocrats.com/volunteer/ in case anyones interested
plush crypt
it doesn't really matter
most folks just set up git repos locally
the switch back it very easy too
smoky hedge
It’s a relatively minor change that had the potential to make a positive impact. And in general it’s a more expressive word, especially for non-native English speakers
It also went relatively smoothly - except for a few GH Actions projects that migrated to main by default and broke a few CI runs that didn’t explicitly set branches - but they got fixed real quick
loud flax
like i get the intention behind it, and it's a noble intention, just this isn't the right way
smoky hedge
Why
loud flax
because it's not a solely offensive word
smoky hedge
That’s not really the point though
loud flax
the point is more inclusion
smoky hedge
Main as a word works significantly better than master anyway. It’s more clear, especially to non-native speakers
loud flax
well if you have to make a positive point about the change then yeah, i can get that
smoky hedge
There’s really no reason not to change it though
Like no downsides - it’s a default setting that can be changed back if someone really wanted to
blazing junco
That’s not really the point though
actually it is politically driven according to github themselves.
smoky hedge
That’s entirely unrelated to what I said
blazing junco
No, it isn't, you directly said that's not the point lol
smoky hedge
The word being “solely offensive” is not the reason it’s bad
A word doesn’t need to be solely offensive to be bad, so it not being solely offensive is not the point
blazing junco
according to github it's because it's bad, so i guess "solely offensive" is not correct but it definitely was the primary factor lol
smoky hedge
I mean, there are words that aren’t solely offensive that you shouldn’t widely use - whether it’s only possible to use a word in an offensive context is entirely irrelevant
blazing junco
I guess I just don't like politics being involved in code. These changes were made during the BLM protests and whatnot and I'd have appreciated it more if they donated to the cause than change something that really won't help anyone and will cause more trouble than not. The word never had a negative connotation attached in relation to the development community.
smoky hedge
I guess the issue there is it’s not really politics
The basic right for someone to exist and to exist comfortably is not really political
blazing junco
The basic right for someone to exist and to exist comfortably is not really poli...
What the heck? No, it's absolutely political when you change the connotation of a word. The development community has never used "master" to reference slavery, ever. lol
smoky hedge
You changed what I said again
blazing junco
No, you changed what I meant by github making a politically driven decision
smoky hedge
No, I disagreed that it can be considered political
The basic right for someone to exist and to exist comfortably is not really political
blazing junco
Yes but what does that have to do with my argument?
smoky hedge
Because you're politicising it
blazing junco
Because it's political, they changed the connotation of a word in the development community
smoky hedge
Politicising of this kind of stuff has been used to strip away rights from marginalised groups in the past
blazing junco
This is completely unrelated. They made it seem that the development community used "master" for some other reason beside development jargon.
smoky hedge
No they didn't
They said that the usage of the word was harmful to certain groups
They never said that developers were being openly racist by using it
blazing junco
which ones were hurt by the use of the word master as dev jargon
i simply don't understand how dev jargon can be seen as racially motivated lol
weary obsidian
You're talking about a 4 month old article that has already came and passed. It's just a default name if you use their ui to provision a repo. Nothing stops using master
blazing junco
yeah i know, more just discussing the decision
smoky hedge
Groups that have historically been enslaved can be harmed by the term master?
blazing junco
When used as development jargon, with no other connotation?
May want to strip out the use of the word cotton.
smoky hedge
In Australia there has been a cheese brand with a word that's equivalent to the n word as the name. When people use that word in reference to the cheese, doesn't mean it's not harmful just because they're talking about cheese
Cotton in no way has the same connotations
blazing junco
Why?
smoky hedge
?
blazing junco
A lot of words had racially motivated connotations. Not the case anymore.
Especially not in the development community.
smoky hedge
If you asked a black person how they would feel if a group of people (non-black) started using the n word when talking about cheese, they very much would not see it as perfectly fine because it's a different context
blazing junco
Master can't be compared to the n word lol
smoky hedge
Like of course that's a person-by-person thing, but it's not something that many people would be comfortable with
Well you asked why to the cheese example
Which is an actual real example
blazing junco
nono i asked why to why you think cotton has no connotations
smoky hedge
How does cotton have connotations to it?
blazing junco
Go and ask a black person if they're wearing a shirt made of cotton when slavery was at large
Words can have racial connotations, but those connotations can phase out.
smoky hedge
That example really makes no sense
smoky hedge
Master as a word explicitly refers to the power dynamic
Cotton is a plant that's entirely unrelated
blazing junco
what
okay lol, well regardless, they made master have a racial connotation, even if it didn't have one in the dev community
smoky hedge
But they didn't, as I already said
blazing junco
but they did by saying it may be harmful
smoky hedge
GH had no control over whether it had that connotation or not. All they said was that some people were harmed by the usage of it
By stating that, they did not cause the word to be racist
They just offered an alternative default to lessen harm
blazing junco
no, but they made people think about it in the light that it could even come close to being racist in the dev community
smoky hedge
I really don't get what you're arguing
My entire point here is it's non-political, they're trying to reduce harm to a marginalised group. And you're claiming that it's politicising developers and making them racist?
You are making way more of a deal about than you should
blazing junco
By suggesting master has negative connotations in the dev community, they are, yes
smoky hedge
But they're not the ones suggesting it - they're the ones correcting it
blazing junco
Correcting what?
smoky hedge
The affected marginalised groups were harmed by the term
So GitHub decided that they would change it by default to lessen harm
Git made the same change, and I believe before GitHub (or at least suggested it before GH)
blazing junco
Fair point. I guess if there was enough people pushing for it it was only a matter of time. I guess my only remaining question is why this wasn't done earlier
smoky hedge
Because marginalised groups have not been able to have a voice
blazing junco
On github?
smoky hedge
People were listening a little bit more to BIPOC during BLM, so some of the harm that they were facing was heard. Of course it still wasn't great
In general
blazing junco
Well, yes, in general obviously but everyone has a voice on github, this could've been suggested earlier?
smoky hedge
That's very much not how it works
Just because someone has the physical ability to post a message, does not mean they will be listened to. It does not mean they will be respected. It does not mean they can do so without repercussions.
blazing junco
Now I'm more interested in knowing why that couldn't be done? Wasn't it a github issue that sparked the discussion anyway?
smoky hedge
As I said, I believe the discussion happened around Git, not GH
But I very much do not think you understand how difficult it can be to stand up for personal rights in situations like this
blazing junco
that's fair, but i think the change was done late
smoky hedge
Well yes, it should have been done earlier. Not arguing that lol
But "why hasn't anyone complained about it earlier" isn't really a valid point
blazing junco
nah not a point, more like a question
smoky hedge
Fair yeah
blazing junco
you've changed my view on this, thanks!
near glen
You're talking about a 4 month old article that has already came and passed. It'...
It's actually the default in git too
Oh was already mentioned
shy gulch
I’m sorry but changing the word master in GitHub is a little too politically correct for me
Like I don’t care much about it being changed but the word “master” being a problem is mind boggling to me.
At least in the context of GitHub
near glen
If you don't care about the political context, it's just a more descriptive name
smoky hedge
I mean - if you disagree, read my messages above. I feel I covered it pretty well
raven hearth
Shouldn't be politically controversial, but generally off topic. But am currently in line for my second dose of the vaccine. Yay.
opaque prairie
yay chicken! my grandparents got their yesterday
dusky raft
I never understood the change, it doesnt make much sense, considering git doesnt have slaves, just branches...
It wasnt an issue a few years ago,
vital pawn
It was an issue, just wasn't talked about loudly.
Though for me it's just one of the meanings of a contextual word (like master degree, master copy, Kung fu master, slave master,... ).
I do agree that "main" is a better word for describing what that branch is supposed to represent nowadays.
It used to be the branch people would create other branches off of, but nowadays they don't even need to share a single common commit.
shut vine
I don't care what GitHub calls the default branch names. It's irrelevant to me. What I see the change as is positive in the aspect it gives devs more options, you can set the default to anything you want now. But realistically at the end of the day, changing a word doesn't bring about any effectual change in an issue like this, it's literally a publicity stunt.
plush crypt
it's also cool cause now you can use develop as the main branch name, which is VERY fitting for a main branch in a newly created repository
shut vine
Yeah I like the idea from a technical aspect.
smoky hedge
I'm currently in this weird state of vaccine flux, where I'm either getting it in a month or not getting it at all lol
Have been told not to get the AZ one for medical reasons, and Pfizer ones are only available in Aus for the "people with underlying conditions that make them extremely high risk for covid" which I fit into anyway.
However some recent reports came out of the Pfizer one being also rather problematic for people like me, so it's now up in the air on if I get it or not
Leaning towards vaccine, because I was told I have a 10% chance of severe adverse effects of the vaccine, but 90% chance of severe adverse effects of covid. Although where I am is very safe from covid so it does make it a rather difficult choice, as that 90% is very unlikely as there isn't much covid to actually catch
eager hawk
adverse side effects, or adverse long-term effects? my mom received the vaccine and she was basically bedridden for two days from headaches & mild fever, but it was all good as they were all side effects :)
smoky hedge
Like very severe permanent worsening of my condition sort side effects
If it was just some short term side effects like mild fevers and headaches it wouldn't really be a question lol
eager hawk
ohh i see, yeah that's definitely a hard dilemma to face. any clue if the moderna or johnson & johnson vaccines will be any safer for you?
smoky hedge
Both aren’t available in Aus so unsure
I’ve only been given advice on ones available here
eager hawk
ohh i see. well if your current lifestyle suits you and you don't mind delaying receiving the vaccine, it might be worth the wait to see safety with the other two vaccines, if there are plans for them to be shipped to Aus in the near future :)
smoky hedge
Yeah my big concern is that if I don't get it in a month, it may be years lol. Australia is only getting the Pfizer because the AZ production won't start until June or something - from then on out the plan is AZ only
That's the main reason I'm leaning towards vaccine, otherwise I'd probably be leaning towards "don't get it unless I need to travel"
foggy fern
github didn't support having a different default branch before?
Pretty sure gitlab and bitbucket did, I did the "git flow" style using both of those where the default branch was staging and merging to master triggered a release
eager hawk
dang, not the greatest options for you at the moment, i feel for you. continue to consult with your doctors and ask for second opinions if you can. keep us updated if you don't mind :)
mystic ermine
it's supported a default branch for years but don't think that there was a way to set it as sorta like a "new default"
foggy fern
So it lets you set it when you create the project now instead of creating it with master and you having to make a new branch and set it as default later?
near glen
I'm currently in this weird state of vaccine flux, where I'm either getting it i...
Here in germany it's moderna/biontech (what you call phizer) for above 65 or other voulnerable and the AZ one for the rest
smoky hedge
Yeah so basically same as here yeah
Apparently Aus will also get Novavax in the future at some point if it passes some trial stuff
I don’t see much to indicate I wouldn’t be able to have that one, but to be fair I thought I was fine for the Phizer one until like 2 weeks ago
I’m interested to see how the J&J one turns out as it’s single dose - it may be better for people with higher but not massive risk for the vaccines due to less chances for it to go bad
Eg, like 2 doses with a 10% chance of bad is 20% chance of bad, but 1 dose with 10% chance of bad is 10% chance of bad
near glen
How likely is it in australia that you wouldn't have to take the risk because enough of "normal" ppl got the vaccine?
We are currently at 2% with two doses and 4% with one dose, we still a long way away
Like 150k per day, almost 5.5m in total now
And we ain't getting faster
Meanwhile we reopened schools, at the same incidence as the closed them last year, isn't it wonderful how much better we got at fighting this? 😂
smoky hedge
I mean Australia has a bad anti vaxx problem, but we also have been pretty safe from covid in general
I’d imagine there’d be enough for herd immunity inner city tho
foggy fern
The US has orders in for everyone in the country to get Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech eventually but most of us will probably end up getting the Johnson & Johnson one instead
So I guess we'll ship our spare mRNA ones to someone else?
foggy fern
Dude was making $6/hr in the 70s and says that's why the minimum wage shouldn't be raised
The busboy would make more today even with the current minimum wage but the cook back then was making bank compared to basically everyone in retail and food service today
shut vine
Leaning towards vaccine, because I was told I have a 10% chance of severe advers...
Realistically we have low cases right now. Getting it earlier rather than later gives you the highest chance of complications being manageable. If we have another wave then your medical care would be competing with those with the virus.
smoky hedge
The complications I’d likely get is major worsening of my condition permanently, so getting medical care isn’t really a big factor to me
Getting it earlier for me is only helpful as then I can get the Pfizer one as I can’t do AZ
I’m not opposed to locking myself in my apartment if a wave comes so I’m not too concerned about that tbh
shut vine
Makes sense. My boss used to work in the army and "wasn't" bitten by a tick that "didn't" give him Lyme disease which "doesn't exist in Australia". So he's in a situation where the virus "won't" be a death sentence for him, and he's "not" at high risk of vaccine complications.
smoky hedge
Oof, yeah what I have (ME) isn’t super recognised here - but some evidence from blood tests and prior reactions to just getting a cold give enough medical evidence to at least take it somewhat seriously
shut vine
Yeah, he's in a strange position because usually he'd be eligible for compensation (estimated 3 million) but for him to get it the Australian Government would have to admit Lyme exists in Australia.
smoky hedge
Ngl wasn’t aware it was possible to get here, imma be more cautious about ticks 👀
I feel if anywhere Queensland would be where it is (or maybe NT)