E-Something

Boston Tom Levenson @tomlevenson.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 20:45 UTC

To reiterate a point I just made in a response: There is a lot of evidence suggesting Trump is incapable of being president--regardless of what you think of his politics. We know from last term he doesn't read, doesn't process information well, and has an incredibly short daily work window...1/

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 05, 2024 at 02:24 UTC

Thus the illegal fireworks begin. Maybe the local youth will tire of this sh_t before 2 in the morning.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 05, 2024 at 00:03 UTC

Does she express similar depth of concern about "defense" aid for Israel?

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 22:23 UTC

The only time I could work from home in a state of undress was when I did on-call and the batphone rang middle of the night. Otherwise I would make myself minimally presentable every day before trudging down the hall to the home office.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 21:29 UTC

I've long resigned myself to a night of random pops and booms after dark on Independence Day and the resulting poor sleep

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 21:17 UTC

Happy Independence Day

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 18:34 UTC

Living in TX (open primaries) I've voted in a few GOP primaries (as the Democrats often effectively choose not to compete) so as to do what I can to limit the crazy

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 18:31 UTC

My observation in politics - common L/R labels like "MAGA" and "Progressive" are neat outgroups to one another, at least in the reductionist rhetoric the more shrill put out. Venn diagrams of voluntary association have shockingly little overlap.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 18:25 UTC

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_TQ...

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 18:22 UTC

Us-vs-Them has some consequences. It dehumanizes - and neatly inoculates against persuasion by - the outgroup.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 18:05 UTC

Possible, but not via mass communication strategy. The various situations I'm aware of required open individual engagement over time with the willing on the premise they had core legitimate grievances.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 18:00 UTC

There's a growing learned helplessness in America. A silent sense that one cannot engage with government in any meaningful way whatsoever, that the status quo is immovable, and that one should not so much as *try*.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 17:58 UTC

> a broken South bitter [...] was politically useful to Southern politicians Been my casual observation living in LA and TX for >30 years

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 03:41 UTC

Or just forged ... on the wrong side of town by scurrilous characters using questionable methods with materials of sullied provenance, yet the resulting artifact is still hard AF

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 03:33 UTC

I gather transferable M79s exist. A $200 tax stamp for every grenade classed as a DD (destructive device) one somehow manages to secure - a tall order for a non-agency buyer.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 20:53 UTC

Best I can tell they stay out of the way like champs

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 20:46 UTC

Sure they can. But it will be like Putin's Russia where you never know which line you cross that gets you a mere look of disapproval from Dear Leader or you have a freak fatal accident involving a window.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 20:09 UTC

Dallas would again be insufferable with the revival of "world class" being prefixed to *everything*

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 20:04 UTC

Mercifully mine are largely indifferent (living near a major airport has perhaps desensitized them) but are confined to indoors at all times. A departed dog OTOH was definitely *not* OK with fireworks; took an Rx from the vet for benzos to deal with that kind of anxiety.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:42 UTC

It's exhausting elsewhere because the rhetoric is 33 flavours of ignorant, polarizing, disingenuous, and shrill where everyone is either a GD emergency trumpet repairman or a sneering hipster whose transportation needs can be met by a fixie

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:22 UTC

The CA self-described political refugees are certainly a spectacle - until they realize TX ain't the low-cost libertarian utopia of their fever dreams. At which point there's falloff: some decide CA's grass was greener and retreat, some double down and dig in.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:12 UTC

Unfortunately the rush of transplants flush with *coastal states* money from the sale of their prior homes alongside private equity has resulted in (locally) astronomical sale prices being recorded

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:49 UTC

Asphalt develops potholes. Concrete develops craters. Suburbia doesn't collect enough taxes to maintain the roads *anywhere*. Looking at the appraisal district's creative assessments property values reminds me that property taxes makes up for the lack of income tax in Texas.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:44 UTC

A far more enduring meme than most of /r/wsb for sure. One with institutional buy-in given the inexplicable market cap. "Media darling" a better analogue.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:42 UTC

The cost of the electricity - the thing consumers fixate on since the know it well - may well be a marginal thing compared to the immense CAPEX and additional OPEX of a fast charger. Outside of travel corridors, grocery stores and other destination shopping might work them into loyalty programs.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:31 UTC

Memestocks are immune to the ratios and metrics that mere mortal stocks are judged by. Until something else captures the attention of the media and is welded into peoples' identities.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:20 UTC

As long as the memestock effect continues - and the company remains nominally afloat - they're going to live in a very different reality than mere mortal companies.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:06 UTC

But there have been plenty of longstanding reasons other than the persona of its CEO to be leery of Tesla

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:03 UTC

If you're going to be *the* face of a large company that sells a product with wide appeal - like automobiles - you need to cultivate a more bland image than Musk is capable of

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 05:06 UTC

I miss the OR coast. But the *hilarious* property values atop the lack of employment opportunities will keep it in the nostalgia of youth in decades past.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 04:59 UTC

Ah the SA forums. I'm sure I said a reprehensible thing or several there some 20 years ago.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 02:08 UTC

At this point might as well send a letter to - or request an appointment at- 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and argue your case

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 23:43 UTC

... or their understanding is limited to the most bland, whitewashed, watered-down primary-school version of history

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 22:45 UTC

Historically, it's been the incumbent's decision to make

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 18:02 UTC

The time for that shit was 12 months ago

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 16:56 UTC

As one of the roles of politicians is to frame history to make an argument for present policy goals, it's damned important to understand history

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 16:49 UTC

Rural voters have real economic grievances - globalism, the decline of extractive industry, consolidation of agriculture have pounded their economies to dust - but like their urban allies their main focus is social issues and loss of cultural primacy

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 16:46 UTC

And while the rural population is small at ~20% of the population, the mindset has extended to conservative voters everywhere

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 16:44 UTC

Recall a ~2016 piece I can't find any more that summed it up. TL;DR the core rural GOP demo doesn't believe anything will ever get better so they want to see it burn down. Other candidates will carefully torch effigies while Trump is using a flamethrower in public.

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 16:37 UTC

Watching an enterprise system debug in realtime has a Matrix-like quality

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E-Something @nullinterface.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 01:01 UTC

Testing them in my 'burg. Not sure if anyone's tried to shoot any down yet. My location doesn't qualify - presumably because I'm within the innermost radius of the nearby airport's airspace thus even a <400' AGL drone isn't allowed w/o ATC permission.

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