context
joined 4 years ago
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The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal loaves of bread.
--Michael Scotus
All simulations are ultimately constrained by their creators’ assumptions: They are self-contained universes ticking along to preprogrammed logic. They don't necessarily reflect anything fundamental about the world as it is, much less how we may want it to be.
exactly. the map is not the territory. no simulation could possibly capture the complexity of an entire neoliberal capitalist economy and predict the long-term equilibrium outcome of such a system.
An artist named Vincent Ocasla, for instance, created a city with a stable population of 6 million. The only catch? It was a libertarian nightmare world. It had no public services—no schools, hospitals, parks, or fire stations. His dystopia had nothing but citizens and a concentrated police force populating an endless plain of one bleak city block, copied over and over.
Without a monopoly or oligopoly, high fixed cost + low marginal cost businesses almost always see prices competed down to marginal cost (e.g., airlines).
true but the airline industry still consolidated into an oligopoly through control of their own currencies (redeemable miles)
might see something similar with gpu computing where the nominal prices are driven down to marginal cost but the real profit comes from control of the supply of tokens that can be redeemed for gpu time
but that still assumes there's a real profitable use for this shit besides ever more individually targeted advertising and various flavors of outright fraud
is that her real name in the screenshot? can you edit that out?
calling him "one of our colleagues, the former president" and then adding, "probably shouldn't say, at any rate"
did he also drop kayfabe and admit they're all working together?
oh no! you're probably accidentally entering the wrong plu code by accident! these stores should hire someone properly trained to stand next to each self-checkout machine to make sure customers are using them correctly.
i'm shamelessly cribbing from wikipedia's on this day page, but here's a few:
1977 – The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit.
1961 – On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-19 suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years.
1951 – William Shockley announces the invention of the junction transistor.
1946 – After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States.
1943 – World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka.
1910 – The Johnson–Jeffries riots occur after African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in the 15th round. Between 11 and 26 people are killed and hundreds more injured. [fucking wikipedia "riots occur" like it wasn't a bunch of salty crackers attacking black people]
1827 – Slavery is abolished in the State of New York.
1054 – A supernova, called SN 1054, is seen by Chinese Song dynasty, Arab, and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.
we're in for a hell of an october surprise, that's for sure
smh people don't want to work for free anymore
thesis: cashiers are expensive
antithesis: self-checkout machines are annoying to use and constantly result in errors, making customers resentful of the entire process and having labor costs offloaded onto them. spiteful customers are prone to shoplifting.
synthesis: fuck! security guards are also expensive!
this is the type of person who, upon having learned about the concept of "freedom of speech" says something like, "wait a minute, you mean i'm legally allowed to cover my entire truck in bumper stickers about my cum fetish?" and being told "yes" by an anonymous internet stranger who properly disclaimed any association with legal professions, becomes immediately and unshakably beset by a feverish devotion to their newfound craft
i hope that's an answer
it's a common misunderstanding and it's actually something of an in joke with the fandom. there's a really good edit someone made that basically changes the canonical order to be:
The Mechanic (2010)
The Mechanic II (2013)
MECHANIC III: New Dawn (2022)
The Mechanic 3 (2015)
MECHANIC 2 (2020)
MECHANIC (2019)
The Mechanic: Revelations (2014)
which works remarkably well. they actually brought back the original director from the first two the mechanic movies for new dawn, so stylistically it fits better even though it was made a decade later. the end result is a sort of rashomon version of the mechanic narrative. it's really a must watch for mechanic fans.