zeruch

57 ms·

511.
by zeruch 5y ago
"if Russia could've been called that" Yes, they could have. For a long time, they absolutely were. In the sense that their arsenal is still operational and capable of mass death, it still is. But that is the only way that th
512.
by zeruch 5y ago
Russia didn't do "“invisible hand” and optimism", they did laissez faire "no rules" capitalism and rapacious (eventually oligarchic) cronyism at scale. The hand was an administrative machine that changed the appeara
513.
by zeruch 5y ago
Oddly, this works for most things...except Twitter support itself, which is so opaque it leaves every user feeling like Helen Keller.
514.
by zeruch 5y ago
RR deciding to lobby in the UK for business where they have few competitors (versus in renewables where their competitive landscape is considerable and growing by the quarter) doesn't seem like an ROI I buy into, much as Phillip Morris
515.
by zeruch 5y ago
I still haven't seen a canonical bit of (non lobbyist funded) ROI that shows that same dollar investment isn't better spent on alternate means (varies by nation of course but by and large some combo of renewables for most geos see
516.
by zeruch 5y ago
It's not just a pay issue (although I do not want to under-emphasize its importance) but also of a professionalization and standards aspect. Both the Baltics and Finland have strict competency requirements for teachers, and national s
517.
by zeruch 5y ago
"Not sure there is any comparable figure today that comes to mind." There isn't. Every single one of that breed is gone (from the conservative to the liberal, because there is no replacement for Molly Ivins either). The clos
518.
by zeruch 5y ago
I don't think he was mean-spirited at all, at least through the mid-90s, but he didn't really start to lose the plot until he became a CATO fellow/left Rolling Stone in the early 2000s. He was terse, and spoke things out loud
519.
by zeruch 5y ago
It was hosted on FAS, which had/has a long history of doing such things. Steven Aftergood was its co-founder and his bona fides are quite well known: https://sgp.fas.org/aftergood.html
520.
by zeruch 5y ago
"What would be an example of a joke that would have been career ending for an edgy American comedian or satirist 40 years ago, but not now? " The SNL sketch between Richard Pryor and Chevy Chase is emblematic.
521.
by zeruch 5y ago
I mean their style of humor often touched on tropes and used verbage that would now be considered...problematic. Case in point, I once got into an argument with someone over Hunter S Thompsons use of the word "queer"...I couldn&#x
522.
by zeruch 5y ago
PJ was part of my holy trinity of American political satirists when I was in high school/college (PJ, Hunter S Thompson, Molly Ivins)* and to this day I have yet to encounter any current satirists who CONSISTENTLY come close. Part of
523.
by zeruch 5y ago
"There wasn't really any indication of Ukraine joining NATO" Yes there was. Going back to Clinton, there were moved to expand NATO eastward (at least once Nuclear possession was sorted out under Bush I/Baker) and it&#x27
524.
by zeruch 5y ago
I agree on that point, and it's history with Finland is quite...terse. It's been a duchy inside Czarist Russia, a buffer zone between it and Sweden (when both were kingdoms), it's had civil unrest fomented by the USSR, etc. I
525.
by zeruch 5y ago
I never thought I'd miss "Freshmeat.net" (admittedly focused on FOSS stuff, but it's listings and descriptions and updates were pithy and clear, in chronological order). Stuff like PH is a boondoggle.
526.
by zeruch 5y ago
This is a very valid question. While Russia likely cares, I'm not sure this is "top of mind" for them to dedicate resources against.
527.
by zeruch 5y ago
The wealth fund doesn't need "PR", as it's one of the world largest already (actually the largest, even surpassing Chinas and both of Singapores combined wealth funds) https://www.swfinstitute.org/fund-ra
528.
by zeruch 5y ago
" there's nothing that can't be quantified" That is indeed....your opinion.
529.
by zeruch 5y ago
I've worked in this industry long enough to understand when people are "McNamaranites" and I tend to push back against them....vigorously. To be a person is to not be reduced to an array of arbitrary scores in a worksheet.
530.
by zeruch 5y ago
"Shareholders" and the McNamara Fallacy mostly
531.
by zeruch 5y ago
"China won’t ever stop working with them." Not really. They've had a co-opitition things for decades (in the 60s they nearly went to a nuclear exchange, and it stayed frosty well into the 90s and has been touch and go since d
532.
by zeruch 5y ago
"Now of course your definition of "change the world" comes into play here" Indeed. Cloud Infrastructure = playing catch up to a player that set the stage (and still leads), Go I don't think "changes the world&q
533.
by zeruch 5y ago
I've actually wondered if this whole gambit of his is a last ditch "legacy" hail Mary pass, because he's nearing some personal or administrative fin de ciecle (or both); whether because of his own mortality and/or b
534.
by zeruch 5y ago
We don't pay the majority of it and we gain a considerable amount of leverage for it.
535.
by zeruch 5y ago
This is akin to winning the best complexion award in a burn unit; my normative position aside, based on track record,, what do we expect the lifespan of this product to be (and I'm seriously asking this, as I think it may impact where
536.
by zeruch 5y ago
The Patriot Act had a timer built in years, not days. That, coupled with foreign intrigue that kept the velocity of interest ongoing (and endless threats -some valid, some not- from said foreign actors) made extending the PA easier for a m
537.
by zeruch 5y ago
They don't have to. They just have to be a better option to look for acceptable "answers" (and can be acquired even via google anyway, at least for now). The real underlying point is the degradation of Google's default
538.
by zeruch 5y ago
Mostly true, but there is always nagging truths that surface at which point denial becomes worse for them. It all depends on what they are allowed to get away with; if other states balk vs capitulate, there are more rounds of diplomatic c
539.
by zeruch 5y ago
He had been under pressure for quite some time and held off for ages. I suspect he saw down the horizon and got out while the getting was at least good-ish.
540.
by zeruch 5y ago
...as an American, I find it strange to see a POTUS feel like the laws have no bearing on him (I am not a fan of ever expanding and oblique "executive privilege"), especially to be given exemptions for behaviors not otherwise allo

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