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Anyone else get unreasonably annoyed that literally everyone's point of reference for everything is WWII? Every authoritarian movement is 1930s fascism, bad leaders are Hitler, the use of "concentration camps" for places where nobody is being killed, etc. I find it especially irksome when I agree with the person making the argument! What was the standard reference before WWII? Kinda mindblowing: So the slowdown in productivity growth from 2007-2019 refers to a growth rate of about 1.5% a year. From 1945-1973 it was around 2.8%. But like, 1.5% a year still means that in a single generation, an hour of work produces 45% more stuff! In 50 years it's more than double the stuff. 2.8% *is* much faster (double per generation) but still! By historical standards, 1.5% is zany fast.
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 @ZachWeinersmith so assuming 2% growth for the period between: And I think we're all aware where the difference in value has gone (I think it was significantly faster, but that isn't material for this part)  @ZachWeinersmith I think the difference vs the past is that we live in an age where credit drives so much economic anxiety, and credit is basically assuming growth at a certain rate. Oh god, this is the sort of thing that keeps me from wanting to try French in France! It's funny, being in Switzerland made me realize it's probably the best country on Earth to learn French, Italian, English, or German, because *everyone* is struggling with some language, and you never know which combination you're about to encounter.  @ZachWeinersmith Speaking with people who spent their entire lives learning a standard version of a language that they donβt use with friends and family is definitely interestingβI found the Swiss Germans and Swiss Italians didnβt really care about the particulars, but they were great at helping me be understood in both languages. (Are you on a long sabbatical in Switzerland?)  Once in Luxembourg I was obviously lost. A guy approached me and asked (in French) if I needed help. When I responded (in French) he noticed my accent and said βif it helps, I also speak English, German, and Luxembourgish.β I just had a controversial opinion and absolutely stuffed it down. Feeling great about it.
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Anyone wanna link me to a thoughtful podcast or debate or whatever on Israel/Palestine. (Snarky rejoinders less appreciated than sharing the thing requested)
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@ZachWeinersmith https://guerillahistory.libsyn.com has been doing great episodes since october 7. They have done episodes on indigeneity, apartheid, colonialism aspects in detail. Hosts and the guests are mostly history scholars.
@ZachWeinersmith Some More News is informative and entertaining, although their take was more pointedly about genocide denialism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrGlRax9AiY If you want analysis of current events that often includes historical context, the Majority Report podcast/youtube is good. They cover Israel/Palestine quite a bit these days since the most recent stage of the genocide began last year. If you really know nothing about Israel or Palestine, ypu might be best served going back to their podcasts/videos starting last year or so.
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Could just be my exposure to Twitter People, but have you noticed people have started using "strawman" to mean bad argument, as opposed to "arguing against an incorrectly weak form of your opponent's position" ?
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 For people attracted to men: Are hands a sexy body part? Not what can be done with hands -- just their aesthetic appearance. Anonymous poll
Poll
Yes
111
35.1%
No
42
13.3%
Show results
316 people voted. 163
51.6%
Voting ended 17 June at 12:42.
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 @ZachWeinersmith Don't ask the question if you don't want to know the answer. @ZachWeinersmith based on this poll it seems like most of your audience are attracted to... statistics  Kinda crazy: I was just reading that China drops in population ~2M people per year now. It's a huge country, but jeez, that's a Chicago per year. US by contrast puts on about 1.5M per year, majority from immigration.
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@ZachWeinersmith unfortunately that is also why people expect a conflict with China in the next decade: they have a demographic ticking clock where their population βadvantageβ is dwindling away, and Xi Jinping is perfectly aware of it; their window of opportunity is closing.  @ZachWeinersmith There has been a lot of ink and electrons about the Chinese demographic crisis. They'll be half senior citizens about the time I die of old age (should I make it that far), and currently their immigration policy is "No." That's thought to be one reason China wants colonies and dependent states: they'll have no workers when this generation reaches retirement age.  @ZachWeinersmith What is the economic demographic of these figures? Several areas in the U.S. are concerned about Chinese buying up property, and Florida has just outlawed it (Chinese Exclusion Act). Crazy. Highest prime age labor force participation rate in a generation. Too bad nobody wants to work and immigrants took all the jobs.
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@ZachWeinersmith comparing the 50s-60s to today looks very much like whether both partners in two-parent households are working Today I learned about the traditional English "Lamb's Tail Pie," which is made of the tails cut off lambs for hygienic reasons: http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/lambstailpie.htm It's amazing how a single fact can remind you how poor life used to be. Though, probably today you could sell it as a delicacy.  @ZachWeinersmith I remember fighting with my brother for the pig's tail when we were kids. Pro-tip: corporate AI can't do any sexy stuff, so if you want to be camouflaged to AI, just wear a suit with a pattern made entirely of huge dicks.
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@ZachWeinersmith ...or just get naked. I learnt from a very interesting book that Earth is the ideal planet for this.  @ZachWeinersmith @cstross Possibly a new revenue stream for the @vagina_museum⦠This is drastically oversimplified, but one thing that really helped me understand international law, and why it's worth defending, is if you stop thinking of it as trying to fix any particular current situation and focus on the goal of preventing a nuclear Great Power war.
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 Why would you want to prevent something that has "great" right there in the name? Please think before you toot, Zach.  @ZachWeinersmith There is someone in YouTube who calls international diplomacy 'great big poker game where everybody's cheating', and I like that metaphor as well ( not that your point is wrong) I think of it as being closer to a system of formal politeness than anything otherwise described as a legal system.
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 Parenting  @ZachWeinersmith @ZachWeinersmith The real key is using the proper scope for directives like "consistency" Coverage  @ZachWeinersmith to be fair, if nobody had ever been murdered in years, a single murder would be global news.
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Gregory's Server
@ZachWeinersmith Didn't concentration camps come in with the Boer War?
@ZachWeinersmith Iβm guessing WW1 or the Civil War?
@ZachWeinersmith
Tell George Takei he didn't grow up in a concentration camp. They are not synonymous with death camps.