FredPret

36 ms·

361.
by FredPret 2y ago
It might be wrong but it's not braindead. The idea was to prevent non-techy users from using it plugged-in all the time, which would look stupid. They wanted to accentuate the wireless nature and easy connectivity of the mouse. Essenti
362.
by FredPret 2y ago
I read a very interesting theory in a great book called the Sovereign Individual. The optimum firm size will go down as the cost of communications goes down. Back when messages had to be delivered on horseback, you wanted all your people in
363.
by FredPret 2y ago
You need to give my comment a very negative reading to come up with that answer. My point - which I thought was very obvious - is that other countries should now pursue their own nuclear programmes because that is seemingly the only deterre
364.
by FredPret 2y ago
I don't know, but let's do a thought experiment. North Vietnam had 13 mil people, South Vietnam 17m. Afghanistan had 20m people at the time of invasion. These were undeveloped countries with very low human capital. Their militarie
365.
by FredPret 2y ago
Perhaps so - but imagine they could somehow have had those nukes ready to go. History would've gone differently; likely in a much, much better direction.
366.
by FredPret 2y ago
For any armed force, even a 2-3 million strong one, fighting a war against an entire population of 40 million goes one of two ways: - unimaginable atrocities that would make Hitler blush, and then they might still lose - Vietnam x 100
367.
by FredPret 2y ago
Having nukes looks like such a great idea right now. - Ukraine exchanged nukes for beautiful promises. - North Korea which has comically bad diplomacy, but also nukes; rendering them un-invade-able. - Even Canada faces threats to its sovere
368.
by FredPret 2y ago
I daresay being invaded would indeed be "deeply unpopular" here in Canada.
369.
by FredPret 2y ago
I've seen two apocalyptic North American scenarios in fiction, and have previously dismissed both as ridiculous. 1. In the Fallout universe, the USA annexes Canada 2. In at least two Neal Stephenson novels (Snowcrash and Termination Sh
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by FredPret 2y ago
What’s your most favourite then?
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by FredPret 2y ago
Idiocracy cometh
372.
by FredPret 2y ago
The US + EU is fighting by proxy (less efficient than direct), in a limited fashion, and very reluctantly at that. Even that's been enough to extend Putin's "three day" war into three years with colossal losses on both s
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by FredPret 2y ago
How in the world can the EU "not hold back Russia"? After the past few years, do you believe that if Russia invaded the EU, it would win ?
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by FredPret 2y ago
Agreed but would be nice to have a backstop in case of invasion from either the North or South. I guess Nato is already supposed to do that though. Furthermore, I was wrong about trade: we already have free trade agreements with all the res
375.
by FredPret 2y ago
As I understand it, we would get: - defensive alliance that includes a nuclear power, France - free trade with Europe to replace some of our lost US trade
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by FredPret 2y ago
You've done much more research into this than I have. I read about it in a biography of him (Caesar: life of a colossus by Goldsworthy), but you're probably right.
377.
by FredPret 2y ago
> stuff that matters Matters to whom? Answer: that's the definition of a customer in an engineering project Matters how / why? Answer: those are the requirements / user stories. Helping people by doing engineering feels go
378.
by FredPret 2y ago
He also ordered a decimation on his own troops. Utterly barbaric.
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by FredPret 2y ago
The best thing about the arc of history so far is that by and large it decentralized power (with some horrific exceptions) God-kings / pharaohs / caesars -> a handful of feudalists -> millions of millionaires vs voters vs la
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by FredPret 2y ago
> a roman emperor (tyrant, mass murderer, and courtier) It's interesting to read up on the lives of famous ancients like Julius Caesar and Alexander. I know it was a different time, but the regular and casual war crimes and mass mur
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by FredPret 2y ago
Here’s an interesting write-up on this. Nietzsche said essentially the same as you: https://theconversation.com/3-reasons-not-to-be-a-stoic-but-...
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by FredPret 2y ago
I'm impressed by this crow's beak-work: all the spikes are oriented inward and covered in leaves, making that nest very strong and not spiky at all.
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by FredPret 2y ago
This type of crazy shit makes me love Canada even more
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by FredPret 2y ago
Maybe they meant changing throughout the year
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by FredPret 2y ago
Are you in an alternate dimension where Snow Crash literally happened?! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash
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by FredPret 2y ago
On the plus side, hunger is decreasing quickly. For the couple of remaining places with hunger, the causes are political as you say. But the rest of the world is in most cases not "letting it" happen. We're sending food and a
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by FredPret 2y ago
Moving some employees from government (which has some economic value and some non-economic value) to the much higher economic productivity private sector will be brilliant for the economy long term. But that doesn't mean the most chaot
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by FredPret 2y ago
This is true but then there are giant corporations earning giant profits trading at a PE < 10. It's only sexy stocks that people get excited by that go to the moon on a paper kite. For example: - Comcast (does the public hate them?
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by FredPret 2y ago
You are hopefully right but this is not a bet you ever want to have to make.
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by FredPret 2y ago
Very large amounts of continuous investment and battlefield testing since 1941. There's no reason this can't be replicated by other rich nations but it won't be cheap or quick.

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