rlamacraft @rlamacraft@qoto.org

(I have to say that, if you listen to the popular 'Rest is Politics' podcast, you cannot help noticing that its presenters, while by no means billionaires, are consuming air travel at an absolutely astounding and grossly irresponsible rate.

We REALLY need to adopt the Swedish practice of #Flygskam into anglophone culture!)

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190718-flygskam

I get where people are coming from when they say that society would be better if scientists and engineers studied humanities like sociology and philosophy and ethics, but it cuts both ways. I can't help feeling the world could also be improved if more people in charge - and let's be honest, that's usually not scientists and engineers - were better at figuring out what's real.

#bitcoin #btc

@ardgedee As a programmer, sometimes I think I'll be making off-by-one errors until the day after I die

The rich only allowed a welfare state and worker rights to stop the poor from revolting. Now that Communism is effectively dead, they're doing everything in their power to return us to the 1930s.

To put a billionaire in perspective, it's more interesting to think about the income than the capital. You can get a 5% annual return from some fairly low-risk investments (and you can further reduce risk by spreading your money across a load of these). You can often get higher, but 5% is a fairly good baseline.

If you start with $1bn and do nothing clever, you can get an income of $50 M per year by doing nothing. Even with the kind of 95% tax rate that we had for the highest income levels when The Beatles sang about it, that leaves you with $2.5M/year in income.

That's enough to buy a nice house every year, with no mortgage. It's a daily disposable income of almost $7K. It's enough to take a first-class transatlantic flight every day.

And that's just one billion.

Even with a 95% tax rate on investment income and a conservative investment strategy, someone with a billion dollars would have a daily disposable income that's more than the monthly income of anyone in the bottom 99% of earners, without having to work.

Now try these calculations again with real tax rates and Musk or Bezos' wealth.

Sam Altman side by side with Aaron Swartz.

I can't stop thinking about it. One was prosecuted by the US for downloading copyrighted data from 1 source for noble purposes, and committed suicide to avoid prison. The other is widely celebrated for doing this on a much larger scale*.

Edited: *(and not for noble purposes)

#humor #foundontheinternet #genalpha #skibidi #toilet

Wanna learn a Nordic "fun" fact?
The longest pre-trial solitary confinement outside of Guantanamo Bay happened in Iceland in 1974. 655 days

Did Iceland learn their lesson? Well, the UN Committee against Torture raised their concerns for Iceland... two years ago, and had investigated 5 times prior

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu%C3%B0mundur_and_Geirfinnur_case#Aftermath

The irony drips off like honey from a spoon.

https://mastodon.accessinformationnews.com/@news/113310853138342532

@Ellen Take a look at this graph. Source: https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/6b2fd954-2017-408e-bf08-952fdd62118a/Electricity2024-Analysisandforecastto2026.pdf

If it’s horrific or not should be your own decision.

@anon_opin it’s a 15 minute space station. The libertarian Stormtroopers hate it.

Posted without further comment 🔻

#meme #absurdist #geometry #blog

Scientists: “God, LaTeX is a fucking nightmare. I hate it.”
Laypeople: “Why don’t you use Microsoft Word instead?”
Scientists: “Are you high?!”

It's been eye-opening lately to see which drownings at sea get blanket media coverage, and which simply don't.

Save yourself £20 on the latest hyped diet book by avoiding crisps, chocolate, takeaways, sugary drinks, and instead move more and drink more water.