On the fourth date we watch π

I don’t know why, but this headline made me remember the lyrics to the Radiohead song, Talk Show Host:

I want to

I want to be someone else or I’ll explode

Floating upon this surface for the birds

The birds

You want me?

Fuckin’ well come and find me

I’ll be waiting

With a gun and a pack of sandwiches

And nothing

Nothing

You want me?

Well, come on and break the door down

You want me?

Fuckin’ come on and break the door down

I’m ready

Ready

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I agree with that…? People should be allowed to transition but with parental/guardian permission or are legal adults (18, in the US). Is that considered right-wing take? I thought I was a moderate!

I am an American “person of color” (gods, what stupid phrase… fuck this newspeak) who owns firearms (at home; I live abroad currently).

Here’s the exact verbiage of the 2nd Amendment:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Interpret that as thou wilt; we’ve been arguing about it since about 1791.

For what it’s worth, I’d amend the amendment to include this snippet from Marx, just to confuse us all even more:

Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary.

Watched his videos sequentially in order, I’m honestly in a little bit of awe. The Stephen Crowder and Schaub ones were soooooooooo good.

Daimler-Benz AG (which included the Mercedes-Benz brand) merged with the Chrysler Corporation in 1998 to form DaimlerChrysler.

I remember it vividly as a teenager. It’s been in an utter shit show since then, in my opinion.

The caveat is that I’m highly biased towards Japanese manufacturers. My family owned two Chryslers. After they both had tremendous drive train issues, my father said never again and bought Japanese from then on, aside from a 2004 Volvo S40. The Toyotas and Hondas were extremely reliable, fuel efficient, and very easy to perform maintenance on comparatively.

If I were to buy German in this era, my two preferences would be Porsche and Audi.

However, your individual experience is valid as cars’ reliability is largely individualistic to the specific vehicle and its owner.

Classic well-kept Mercedes-Benz are a joy to behold and I suspect to drive as well.

If I had the knowledge, I would love to start an ETF to short publicly traded companies run by assholes and douchebags. Similar to inverse REITs for real estate. It would probably lose money spectacularly, I admit, but I would still run it out of pure spite.

Mercedes-Benz has been trash for many years now, so this tracks.

I don’t know if it’s the root reason, but one gets scoffed at harshly by the average Tom, Dick, and Harry when suggesting that a Monarchy is an archaic and, frankly, insulting form of governance in spite of protestations that the role of the sovereign is purely ceremonial.

Simply put, they (mostly) seem to prefer political masochism, and are ruled by sadists. Sadly, in 2025, aren’t we all?

The Simulacrum

Computer vision models can read/parse pixel geometry.

An opinion you’re seeking validation of? :)

No, I don’t need validation of my opinions, but depending on who it’s from, it’s nice to have when I recieve it. But, touché, nonetheless. 😉

Everybody thinks they’re so damn important, and they don’t matter at all.

On macro-scale, we/they don’t.

I think what hits close to home is that too many people just aren’t fulfilled by only mattering to the people who really do care about them.

Mattering to friends and family just ain’t enough to fill the hole inside, and their either unaware of it, they don’t care, or they’re ashamed of themselves, and the guilt of their need for public congratulation for their shallow desires feeds their nihilistic consumption. Perhaps, vice versa, or even a pathological ouroboros.

Joe Rogan (to me) was “funnier” than Mencia. That’s not saying much.

How Joe Rogan and his sphere of yes-men comedians were co-opted by billionaires with daddy issues (a recurring theme) to usher in a nation-wide simulacrum where anything can mean anything so techno-feudalists can rule with impunity. It also explores the death of satire and stand-up comedy as an art form, another recurring theme from previous videos.

The right to contract is fundamental to our Constitution in the United States. It’s protected by the due process clauses in the 5th and 14th amendments. Though many disagree, the United States Constitution is, on paper, agnostic in terms of economic systems.

The question, for me personally, is do socialist or communist systems produce less corruption in capitalist systems inherently? My answer is no. I am of the opinion that neither arbitrary central planning nor complete laissez-faire economics are inherently more virtuous or morally sound than the other. Economic systems just like their political counterparts are susceptible to corruption in determining what individuals or societies “need”.

Immoral behavior by smaller groups within larger groups is a byproduct of human nature. No matter the economic system, the only way to reduce corruption is to build systems that do not concentrate power, be it the state, or a group of unscrupulous plutocrats that rig free markets in their favor once they’ve cornered them.

I contend that societies that perform the best (i.e., upward social mobility, positive outcomes in hunger, per capita income, life expectancy, infant mortality, and literacy rates) have hybrid systems between socialist and market economies with tightly regulated and enforced antitrust and consumer protection.

Political and economic power must not be allowed to concentrate in individuals, trading guilds, institutions, nor the state.

The insatiable appetite for validation isn’t a new problem created by AI or social media but rather a symptom of a deeper cultural malaise: a society that has increasingly prioritized feeling good about oneself over being good, that has confused entitlement with justice, and affirmation with accomplishment.

A lot of people and self-styled “paragons of virtue” on <insertSocialMediaHere> need to hear and understand this. Even Lemmings.

My personal take is that a lot of this is caused by an apocalyptic fervor in thinking that late-stage capitalism has fucked everything up so badly that simply vocalizing the self-validation of one’s own desires is a “revolutionary and radically moral act” in the face of global techno-feudalism.

The irony is that this behavior on an individual level is exactly what techno-feudalism requires to propagate and entrench itself. The attitude of self-congratulatory nihilist futility feeds “care- not-for-the-morrow” consumerism which, in turn, feeds the economy of inflationary artificial scarcity required by the plutocrats to ensure their hegemony.

I don’t have hard data on this, so it’s just my opinion.

Are you trying to ask what is her weight if she’s 4’11" (149.86cm)?

I’m going to guess around 65kg. She looks a little bit “well-fed”, as they say, but not as bad as many hogs that populate the MidWest, the South, and Texas (holy shitballs, Texas) in the USA.

Unions can also receive fines for organizing illegal strikes. Union heads have gone to jail for organizing illegal strikes, but it’s incredibly rare and hasn’t happed in decades.

I suppose the corollary to my question then is, “What are the traits that an organized strike must have that makes it immoral or harmful to a society enough to enact punitive legislation?”

Simply put, “Where’s the line?”, as they say. I understand military necessity, but Air Canada is a business, despite being publicly traded (as far as I know).