VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
No bio...
User ID: 64
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
14hr ago
I think the only viable option here, which maybe is the needle Trump is trying to thread, is to stagnate housing prices while everything else inflates around them. A sudden drop in asset price is bad (underwater mortgages), but a slow loss in relative value --- in your example, house still $1M, but so is starting salary --- could at least be palatable to existing homeowners and approve relative affordability.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
14hr ago
One would expect the real value of the average house to go down with time.
As a specific example, my understanding is that the Japanese housing market does work this way, largely because there is a strong cultural demand for new houses, to the extent of replacing usable existing structures being common.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
19hr ago
The crew is diverse.
"We're sending the first woman, first person of color, and, uh, first Canadian around the moon."
Although I think a decent chunk of the Artemis program success has been a lack of prominent news coverage. The last few decades of space exploration have largely been dictated by political decisions regularly yanking the chain of the current project in whatever shiny direction appeals to the elected officials "Moon! No, Mars! No, Moon! Shuttle-derived Constellation! No, SLS!". It seemed we'd change things up every time the party in office changed over. If anything. It seems we're here because Artemis might be the only Trump first-term agenda item that Biden didn't summarily cancel (uncertain if due to agreement on direction, or just lack of concern about NASA budget). They "let them cook", as the kids would say.
Which isn't to say that concerns about cost effectiveness are wrong, per se. SLS is hilariously expensive (and I'm sure Orion is too), but the SpaceX fanboys originally advertised Starship HLS on the Moon in 2024, and we haven't even seen the base variant make orbit yet, much less hit the advertised payload numbers (and there aren't public numbers on Starship dev costs). Dino space is at least mostly competent at building things that don't go boom unexpectedly too often: SLS worked on its first launch, as did Vulcan and even New Glenn.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
21hr ago
The need for an agreed-upon null hypothesis is one of the common criticism of frequentist statistics by Bayesians...
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
21hr ago
Samsung has made automated turrets for the Korean DMZ for a long time, and armed uncrewed ground vehicles have started popping up in Ukraine. I think you're right about Western moral qualms about such things, but they have started popping up. In applications where they're more clearly defensive and not typically anti-personnel (autonomous CIWS, for example), they have been accepted for decades at this point.
Smart munitions are going to win at longer ranges where gun accuracy starts falling off, though. That isn't always the case, but I think it's another factor in the decisionmaking there.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
3d ago
AFAIK there are relatively few "journalism"-specific 1A protections, in part because journalism is a bit nebulous around the edges. There is a bit of a tradition of police leaving journalists alone, but a "press" vest doesn't actually impart specific legal protections against, say, lawful disperse orders. If there were, we'd have to decide who qualified: "yes officer, I'm just here because I might blog about it in the next month."
Religion is also a bit nebulously defined, but a church is a pretty central example and there is a long tradition of special protections there.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
3d ago
I don't remember this happening, but it's quite possible I just missed it at the time. Do you have any worthwhile links to share?
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
3d ago
A good fraction of the '60s civil rights infrastructure was oriented at states refusing to protect certain classes of citizens.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
3d ago
It might make sense to make disorderly conduct in sufficient scale and coordination to be a federal felony.
I'm certain that at least some of the Internet packets used to coordinate the event (or live stream it) crossed state lines. IIRC that's been a federal jurisdiction hook before.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
3d ago
Somehow I assumed this was a Death Wish reference, and I was rather confused.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
4d ago
"assault me motherfucker!"
Humorously, this has me wondering if there is any jurisprudence in this regard: "The suspect asked to be assaulted. Like literally, we have it on the badge cameras."
I assume standards of professionalism disallow use of force in this circumstance (absent other details)?
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
4d ago
If it misfired and people reacted off that I think there's sufficient argument for it being a reasonable shoot
IMO it's still bad because they managed to shoot someone who wasn't shooting at them. Maybe a bit understandable to hastily assume Pretti was the one who fired, but still tragic. If the shot had come from elsewhere (another protester? A cop justifiably shooting a different protester nearby? A firework?), I'm uncomfortable generally excusing the death of any nearby suspects being apprehended.
Although with what I know today, I maybe wouldn't fault a jury for declining to convict in this situation.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
5d ago
Still, aesthetics that conjure images of 1930s Germany are to be avoided (that means you Greg).
I can squint and see where the comparisons are coming from, but Bovino's coat looks much more like an M1939 US Army wool overcoat (link is to reproduction) than any German historical examples I can find, which seem to all have different lapels and mostly aren't olive green. And WWII US army issue kit is as definitionally anti-fascist as you can get. This page has a picture of Japanese-American troops in the highly-decorated 442nd wearing these coats.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
6d ago
I don't think I can construct a coherent reason to carry while protesting that takes the premises seriously that doesn't involve an active intent to use it aggressively.
For some definition of "protesting", the Bundy standoffs might qualify as examples here (not endorsing, just observing): as far as I'm aware, the guns were never fired (although perhaps pointed aggressively), and it was quite plausibly IMO part of the fed's decisions to stand down there, rather than repeat Waco or Ruby Ridge.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
6d ago
grainy bus video of a Russian woman
If you mean Iryna Zarutska, she was a Ukrainian refugee of the Russian invasion, and it was a light rail line, not a bus.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
6d ago
Gold/Silver -The discovery of a large new lode made available through new tech.
Eventually (and I'm not going to hold my breath) the asteroid mining folks seem likely to strike it rich.
It's a startup, so I'm not exactly holding my breath, but The American Housing Corporation was recently making the news planning to build manufactured rowhouses.
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