blackbagboys

8 ms·

1.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
If Tesla refused to cut the power but required the work to be done anyway, it's absolutely their fault.
2.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
On the other hand, you're much more likely to be able to carve out a niche for yourself and be niche-famous in a huge and varied country like the United States.
3.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
According to the government, every leak of classified information "may" put the goverment's personnel and interests at risk. That doesn't mean it's true, and even if it is true it's not necessarily a sufficient
4.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
Good point! Hopefully the Kickstarter crew will incorporate the "incinerate whole families based on probabilistic guesswork" card in the public release.
5.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
Doesn't seem particularly true to life. Where are the cards for kidnapping innocent people off the streets, keeping them locked in secret prisons, pulverizing their internal organs and torturing them to death?
6.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
Nah, this is wrong. Putting a Nazi symbol on your car with the intent to piss people off is a juvenile provocation and in no way requires that the perpetrator actually harbor a secret desire to bring about the extermination of the untermens
7.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
At absolute best, it's tasteless, and certainly grounds for social exclusion, but criminalizing and especially pathologizing mildly anti-social behavior is profoundly immoral, reckless, and inhumane.
8.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
Ironically, this is exactly the sort of conformist, vindictive, authoritarian mentality that helped the Nazis stay in power.
9.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
They were good problem-solvers and Tesla needed a PR win. Let's not mysticize Musk more than has already been done.
10.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
Monasteries of the medieval / renaissance time period usually had very large complements of lay staff and tenant farmers, who maintained the estates and produced goods for both internal use and sale at market. This is not to say the mo
11.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
True. Any organization in which the incentives for an executive to increase or maintain their own power within the organization trumps the incentives for them to work for the benefit of the organization as a whole.
12.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
Tuchman in her heyday was the recipient of an enormous amount of opprobrium from her generation of academic historians (of which the nearly-fossilized Bachrach is a member), mostly for being a non-academic, extremely successful female popul
13.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
There's a book I remember reading - I can't remember, but it may have been The Dictator's Handbook - which talked about how this is a common management pattern in authoritarian dictatorships (although typically somewhat mor
14.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
This is a useful academic introduction: https://www.amazon.com/Oligarchy-Jeffrey-Winters/dp/05211829...
15.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
companies and wealthier people moving in makes everyone in the area more wealthy. This would only be true if everyone owned their own residences and profited from the increase in land values. In reality, the inhabitants of gentrifying nei
16.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
It's worth keeping in mind that, by and large, this is how the oligarch class thinks. Their top priorities are protecting and justifying their wealth and power. A journalist who exposes a massive fraud and probably saved lives isn&#x27
17.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
President John Tyler (born 1790, President 1841-1845) has two living grandchildren.
18.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
There is no 'battle' here, and all political discussion is inherently ideological, so either the site should ban all political articles or you should specify which ideologies are acceptable.
19.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
There are very few people actively trying to prevent lower class people from getting into the upper class, but it's competitive to be in the upper class and there are only so many spots. You don't get to be prestigious by letting
20.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
Yes, that's the point. University admissions are a ridiculous sham, the primary purpose of which is to justify the political power and wealth of the elite professional class. But not every member of the elite professional class gets to
21.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
Yes, I take that as strong evidence in favor of demanding that society make higher education free and available for anyone who wants it.
22.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
This post is a perfect example of this mechanism in action. It takes as a given that the criteria for university acceptance are fair, objective, attainable - 'meritocratic'. The only explanation for underrepresentation is that the
23.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
Yes, this is exactly what the upper class wants to think about itself, and sort of the point of the article.
24.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
The underlying point is that these professional-class distinctions are cast in moralistic tones and serve as an ideological justification for denigrating and ignoring the material needs of the bourgeois's class enemies. This is most cl
25.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
gwern rejects Diamond's hypothesis later down the thread, so I'm interested in hearing about any alternate hypothesizes he may have.
26.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
A more interesting question to discuss might be why Africans were never able to accidentally domesticate zebras as useful insect-resistant beasts of burden when Europeans/Asians/Americans were accidentally domesticating all sorts
27.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
It was acquired by a Japanese company, but it was originally an American company / brand.
28.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
I’m a little curious as to why this comment, of all comments, has attracted downvotes. Is there something about the comparison between these two types of bathroom attendant positions I’m overlooking? Genuinely curious
29.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
This is also common in higher-end nightclubs and bars in the U.S., although these aren't full-time jobs and the attendants work mostly for tips.
30.
by blackbagboys 8y ago
When you say you consider the gaps in employment (of which 'one-man shop' is just a subset of) to be a 'red flag', is that in the common sense of 'immediate disqualification' or just 'something to follow u

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