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subego · 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by reader50

Government doesn't make a profit. The group tasked with solving a problem will get reassigned, but everyone else will have a shot at their former budget. So there's no system-wide motive to fail.

The reasoning does break down with very large efforts.

Adding personnel while maintaining the former budget is equivalent to a loss, no?

turtle777 · Apr 13, 2018, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot

What is actually a much more pressingly obvious conclusion is that healthcare should under no circumstances be profit-driven.

Nonsense.

*Somebody* is going to profit from it, regardless.
If it’s government run, it’s just a different bunch of cronies.
You can’t truly eliminate “profits”, even if you play games with how you name it.

Free market enterprise systems are NOT the problem, crony capitalism or Statism is.

-t

andi*pandi · Apr 13, 2018, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by subego

Adding personnel while maintaining the former budget is equivalent to a loss, no?

Which he's stated is his goal. I think he submitted a budget of zero. He's torpedoing the department intentionally.

What good is it to stay under budget if your department does nothing? He can pay everyone double salary to sit around and play farmville.

Spheric Harlot · Apr 13, 2018, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Nonsense.

*Somebody* is going to profit from it, regardless.
If it’s government run, it’s just a different bunch of cronies.
You can’t truly eliminate “profits”, even if you play games with how you name it.

Free market enterprise systems are NOT the problem, crony capitalism or Statism is.

Nonsense?

Crony capitalism is literally the result of a market left to run “free” (as in “out of control”). You’re living the dream right now. Goldman-Sachs just summarised it nicely.

Regulate the hell out of it and make sure the system doesn’t reward keeping people sick.
Reward them for curing people. Stop privatisation. Health is a human right, not something to be put at the mercy of profit-maximisers. Here in Germany, we’re seeing privatised hospitals here pushing people into expensive back surgery, for example, long before all other options have been explored. Hospitals are closing emergency units for being too expensive, except for those right by the autobahn, which have a state mandate to remain open, so they’re just starved down to a minimum.
These things should not be happening.

subego · Apr 13, 2018, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by andi*pandi

Which he's stated is his goal. I think he submitted a budget of zero. He's torpedoing the department intentionally.

What? Huh? Who?

subego · Apr 14, 2018, 01:10 PM

Have you seen this building?

That’s a serious question. Didn’t know it existed until yesterday.

mindwaves · Apr 14, 2018, 08:47 PM

My first time also. Where is it?

The Final Dakar · Apr 14, 2018, 09:49 PM

Yes. Mid-east, right? Or is it Southeast asia?

mindwaves · Apr 14, 2018, 10:45 PM

Originally Posted by mindwaves

My first time also. Where is it?

Found it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel

subego · Apr 15, 2018, 12:47 AM

So, yeah... it’s in freakin Pyongyang, which is why I imagine no one here has ever seen it, and I hope qualifies it as random and ridiculous.

It’s also an empty hotel, so it could have gone into Woops!

Spheric Harlot · Apr 15, 2018, 08:55 AM

Wow! They’ve done the exterior! That apparently happened in the last six months, after thirty years of raw concrete.

Huh.

09:47 AM

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subego · Apr 20, 2018, 10:54 AM

Bank passed me ****ing counterfeit money.

Laminar · Apr 20, 2018, 11:21 AM

Did another bank find it? Or did a retailer marker it and catch you? They probably didn't give you the bad bills back for you to return to the bank.

subego · Apr 20, 2018, 11:29 AM

I passed it to someone.

They tried it at a self-checkout, and it was rejected.

Assuming it was a glitch, they passed it to someone.

That person, I assume trying to pass it themselves, found out somehow, and the information worked it’s way back the chain to me.

I was considering starting the “pen test” with what I get from the bank, but the Internet tells me most fakes can beat it.

andi*pandi · Apr 20, 2018, 02:15 PM

Did you ask the bank? I'd be worried about the rest of my cash, for certain.

~~~
While perusing pinterest, I noticed a friend of mine had a board for "war binder." Since she isn't really a warhawk, I was surprised to learn that these are religious christian day planners, with sections you add for favorite prayers I guess. Seems an odd name for a book of prayers to the prince of peace. I'm a little sad that she's gotten mixed up with the superevangelical crowd.

https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=war%20binder

subego · Apr 20, 2018, 02:52 PM

It worked for the Templars.

subego · Apr 20, 2018, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by andi*pandi

Did you ask the bank? I'd be worried about the rest of my cash, for certain.

I’m not sure what I should ask them.

andi*pandi · Apr 20, 2018, 02:55 PM

I would start with, "Hi, this money i got from your ATM on X Street on April 13 was flagged as fake, WTF"

subego · 04:52 PM

I actually got it from a teller.

My assumption is there is nothing they can say or do.

Their system obviously isn’t bulletproof. I’ll tell them as a courtesy I guess, but I suspect they know.

I’m assuming whatever low chance I could get it back is made 10 times lower by me not having the bill. Not to mention it would make a literal, federal case out of it.

andi*pandi · Apr 20, 2018, 04:44 PM

You've missed your chance to solve crime and be a hero, come one!

Thorzdad · Apr 20, 2018, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by subego

I actually got it from a teller.

It’s 420. Simple mistake.

subego · Apr 20, 2018, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by andi*pandi

come one!

Come all!

andi*pandi · Apr 20, 2018, 05:02 PM

The teller is obviously money laundering. I know because I watch TV.

subego · Apr 20, 2018, 05:08 PM

Jeez... I think I have to go back to go all the way back to To Live and Die in LA for good counterfeiting reference.

The TV one seems like it would be less dangerous for me to get embroiled in.

andi*pandi · Apr 20, 2018, 06:35 PM

The gals in that show have a lot to learn from Nancy Botwin of Weed, but they're getting there.

subego · Apr 21, 2018, 03:30 AM

Chloe from Smallville looking at 15 to life qualifies.

India Oxenberg, who remarkably enough I’ve met, is in the cult, and is also apparently going to prison.

Waragainstsleep · Apr 22, 2018, 02:43 PM

Someone finally pushed CTP over the edge?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43855097

Laminar · Apr 23, 2018, 09:52 AM

subego · Apr 23, 2018, 02:01 PM

We could use a palate cleanser.

subego · Apr 23, 2018, 02:05 PM

A cry for help?

subego · Apr 24, 2018, 01:50 PM

This is random and ridiculously cool.

This is from the surface of the comet Rosetta landed on. IIUC, the dots are dust and the lines are cosmic rays.

https://twitter.com/landru79/status/...075463168?s=21

reader50 · Apr 24, 2018, 04:19 PM

The dots are probably background stars. The comet rotates, so this is doubtless a long exposure. The lines are more likely dust motes moving around in the low gravity.

subego · Apr 24, 2018, 11:45 PM

I’ll admit, I thought the stars were dust, too, and my brain didn’t register that’s what they were until you pointed it out, but those are moving slowly and consistently in an arc. There are also dots which do a “floater” type thing, and then there are “fast walkers”, which zoom perfectly straight.

There are for sure examples of the first in the foreground, and it looks to me like examples of the latter as well. They’re in front of the “cliff wall”.

09:48 AM

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andi*pandi · Apr 30, 2018, 05:13 PM

Guy who got his Jersey's mixed up gets free trip:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/201...iewed#comments

Call him the “accidental tourist.”

A Massachusetts man who confused the state of New Jersey with the British Isle of Jersey, which sits off the coast of France, ended up getting an all-expenses-paid trip after locals there crowdfunded his plane tickets, offered him free hotel rooms, and treated him to three square meals a day — as well as beer, of course — for a week.

Waragainstsleep · May 1, 2018, 05:37 AM

Jersey is a tax haven. You have to be a millionaire if you want to move there.

Doc HM · May 1, 2018, 08:00 AM

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep

Jersey is a tax haven. You have to be a millionaire if you want to move there.

But if you are born there you are allowed to stay to look after the wealthy. Keep their machines plugged in and feeding tubes clear, that sort of thing.

The Final Dakar · May 2, 2018, 07:57 PM

I mean, you could pay better wages or give better benefits, buy drug patents and make them cheap, etc...

subego · May 4, 2018, 09:48 PM

Stogieman · May 4, 2018, 10:22 PM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

I mean, you could pay better wages or give better benefits, buy drug patents and make them cheap, etc...

Laminar · May 7, 2018, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

I mean, you could pay better wages or give better benefits

I literally don't think he could. That portion of the business is going to be dictated by market forces and the pressure on the board to maintain profitability for the shareholders. Their goal is to get the most possible labor at the lowest possible price. They're pulling from a labor pool with limited options and low skills, so they can be "abusive" and give poor pay and benefits without worrying too much about low quality or high turnover. And when quality gets low or someone nuts up and quits, they're easily replaced by the next person desperate for a job. Unless Bezos personally writes everyone a check each month, I don't think he can demand that Amazon pay higher wages than are necessary to maintain the workforce that they need.

And I'm also assuming that his wealth lies mostly in the value of the stock that he holds, and not in a salary that he receives, so it's not like he could even direct the board to repurpose some portion of his salary toward worker's paychecks. Maybe an occasional bonus?

Chongo · May 7, 2018, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by subego

News to me. I would not have asked on Twitter, though. She may as well asked what a “Brony or Pegasister” are.

BTW New Times founder Michael Lacey was arrested and charged with sex trafficking, among other sex related charges over the “Back Page” website.

mindwaves · May 8, 2018, 01:00 AM

https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/7/17...-2018#comments

Kind of akin to you have two boys, age 5 and 10. You say to the 5 year old kid, "Hey Bill, tell Bob to wash the car" when Bill and Bob are both sitting on the couch next to you.

subego · May 8, 2018, 01:25 AM

Originally Posted by Chongo

News to me. I would not have asked on Twitter, though. She may as well asked what a “Brony or Pegasister” are.

subego · May 8, 2018, 06:47 PM

Smoke pot, kill a dog.

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local...home-top-story

If Illinois legalizes marijuana for recreational use, law enforcement officials fear job losses for hundreds of officers — specifically, the four-legged kind...

Because many K-9s are trained not to be social so their work won’t be affected, Larner said a number of dogs would likely have to be euthanized.

turtle777 · May 8, 2018, 07:41 PM

I don’t see an issue. Sell them to restaurants in China town.

-t

09:48 AM

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Thorzdad · May 8, 2018, 08:47 PM

Don’t legalize weed, or we’ll kill the dogs.

andi*pandi · May 8, 2018, 08:56 PM

that's baloney, considering the police dogs that are retired to good homes.