Sternhammer

Every single thing Trump does is about the grift.

It’s a brilliant book, though I have yet to read the sequel. Can’t recommend it enough.

I don’t think there’s any coherent end game for global oligarchs, just the habit of acquisition and growth without limit. It’s a kind of mental illness, in my opinion. As they say, the world has enough for everyone but not enough for the rich.

In terms of population and the ruling class it’s interesting to consider feudal Europe. Lords had complete control over those who worked their land. Serfs even needed permission from their lord to leave their village for any reason, they had no freedom to look for a better life elsewhere. (Incidentally this is why there are so many accents in the places like the UK—isolation lead to language differentiation.)

The Black Death destroyed the feudal system due to population collapse (on a scale that’s difficult to comprehend) and the nobility suddenly had to compete for workers, offering better pay and conditions to lure them to work their land. This lead to increased social mobility and the rise of the middle class.

We may be heading towards a new feudalism but it’s difficult to predict what it might be like, especially if there’s a population crash. Capitalism needs consumers no matter how much automation is employed to produce goods.

I was driving from Brisbane → Tasmania last week and a helpful truckie definitely used the right indicator to tell me it was safe to pass. Thanks, mate!

Of course you treat it as a suggestion, nose out and judge for yourself before trying to overtake.

To each his own, of course, but coy swearing is still swearing.

Actually I do sympathise. I swear too much (but not more than the average Aussie) and wish I could train myself to use some other intensifiers in my language but most of them lack intensity. By Jove! My word! Sweet zombie Jesus! Drokk!

You KNOW people are bigger assholes when it's hot. We ALL do

I don’t agree with this at all. That’s not my experience as an Aussie.

The documents also show that the Bayesian could begin taking on some water at angles that appeared to violate the safety threshold set by the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Clearly safety rules shouldn’t apply to the rich and famous. For example, princesses shouldn’t need to worry about wearing seat belts in cars speeding away from Parisian paparazzi.

Yes, it’s such a beat-up. People don’t understand how important aesthetics is to Apple and I’m totally there for it. If you can’t stand the thought of needing to take a 10 min charge break to get through the next few hours (because you ignored the low battery warnings) buy a different mouse.

As soon as they’re on the wrong side of the free market they demand government intervention.

I think it’s pretty good for what it’s trying to do, which is relay scientific data to non-technical readers.

Riddick’s first name is ‘Richard’? Dick Riddick?

I read this to my partner; we both said, “that’s us!”