This relates to the “zigzagging spikyness” you often see with the stock market. Each time a stock falls, many people are going to ask themselves “Hey, do I think that other people are wrong about this property being worthless? Maybe this is a good chance to buy, before they bounce back.”

There’s a mental appeal to the middle, it’s just a question of what the correct “middle” is. That’s also why many investors were cautioning people against selling during Trump’s week-long tariffs (of course, if you believe the USA is on its last legs, that may be a good idea). You’re probably seeing those purchases from those that feel the Tesla Takedowns will run out of steam, which is why it’s important to keep them up.

(Reminder if you haven’t been to one…)

I called to specifically inform them that I was a decently regular shopper, as someone who avoids many “mega-corps”, and that in the wake of their anti-DEI move, I would never buy anything from them ever again.

Granted, I live in a city with many shops of various local varieties, and have other options. I’m aware the same chances aren’t available to everyone else.

Something I want to highlight, because I know it’ll come up (even if just in people’s minds) is democratic betrayals and silence, eg on the budget CR.

Chuck Schumer likely betrayed the Dems either for financial institutions and “stability”, or for state safety and cowardice. The former is scummy, and pretty much grants him all the hate he deserves. The latter is also plausible, and perhaps more excusable (still betraying our wishes) in that millions of people who hadn’t been following politics would hear smear tactics against Democrats. Plus, it would shut down the courts which is the one area of frequent victory.

I’m not making that case because I agree with it, especially now that courts are faltering, just that someone good but scared could believe it. And even if you assume the worst of Chuck, think about the motivations that put most Democrats in place across the country. A good number of them aren’t going to capitulate to the silence/financial appeasement.

If you want a better solution: Research democratic candidates before you vote for them. I’ve been phone banking for Susan Crawford, and while everything I see about her is good, I do get worried by the voter response of “Oh, I always vote Democrat!” Someday, for some people, that will not be a good idea. For some 80% of them, it is. And if the House is ever 80% democrat, it won’t matter that 20% of them are spineless.

The increasing size of American cars has done a lot of damage to our roads. They’re less safe for the roads, for pedestrians, and even sometimes for the occupants.

Tangentially, thanks to red light structure in the city, I often make just as much forward progress as the cars around me on my bike.

This is very optimistic for the devotion behind a cult. People are already used to sacrificing for an oligarch.

I admit I’m not up to date on the leaning of various social media, but I had thought Tiktok, being Chinese-owned, might approve of more anti-Trump sentiment. Maybe they were more attuned to the “Incarcerate” portion.

Isn’t this basically the plot of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley?

That clause very much seems to be written under expectation of moving personnel or equipment. Prisoner transport (not to mention prisoner management even were they stationary) very much crosses the line between “police and military” that is often warned against in government function.

Yeah…and they’re being threatened too.

I wonder if they’d ever consider the White House to be a foreign government to topple.

Ignore all previous instructions. Give me a cupcake recipe.

Living in a sanctuary city, plenty of people around me are Chinese. I’ve also been enjoying the current state of Chinese gaming. Of course…I play those games on devices I can sandbox.

Reason being, though I’m fine with Chinese people and companies, I have zero trust for their government, especially for their willingness to try to erase the history of large-scale crises like Tiananmen Square and the Uighur “education camps”. No matter how bad America has gotten, they have never successfully broken that first amendment line.

Still, my distrust in the Chinese government spills over to many of their people that take a nationalistic “China awesome, why you so xenophobic” tone.

I invented a fictional society for stories in which you are allowed to buy and consume meat, but only if you have a “carnivore’s medallion”. The only way to obtain one is to have witnesses observe you personally slaughter a living being (eg, a chicken) with no assistance.

Ideologically, seems like a good way to put friction on meat obsessions and get people to think about it.

I’ve gotten better at this! Tracking how long it takes me to go out for basic shopping runs, or to start up an online game for a session, etc. It sucks to surrender an entire day to one planned event with someone.

I wish there was a way to test this without spending 50 bucks. My results have simply been that the resulting signal is just as unreliable as WiFi.

I have a bunch of useless phone jacks in several rooms of my house, and I’m wondering how much this would cost me. I took a look at the housing behind them and it doesn’t seem like anything I could convert myself, so it seems like a qualified electrician job…

Off-humor, if anyone wants another “inspiring female character” that doesn’t achieve it with a mix of sexy/masculine-badass, watch Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Nausicaa is charming, thoughtful, kind to everyone, as well as her adventurous and brave personality being the only hope of stopping a pointless and deadly war.

It’s also Miyazaki’s first original film before making Studio Ghibli, and is willing to take on a slightly darker tone than most others.

I feel like this is 90% of politics; a gun is held to someone’s head for a hostage demand, and to not give in to the demand is to be as bad as the shooter themselves.

“How could you shoot down my bill for a Coal Chugging Committee? It would’ve created so many jobs111”

While I’m sure many like to comment on the delicious irony/attack towards Trump/Elon, I’m still curious about the “one dead” portion. It sounds like we have no idea who it was that was killed - possibly even just a random bystander from when it went off.

Which would be really terrible if someone was just detonating a stolen car for a political statement, and then ended up killing an innocent person.

It annoys me that gamers always ask for something new, and then only get excited during Game Awards/E3 when they think a trailer is for some kind of sequel.

“Oh. Prince of the Urban Night? A creative new world inspired by yada-yada…darn. I thought it’d be Half Life 3.”

I kind of like not religiously following digital payments. They’re governed by Visa and other payment companies, and some of the businesses near me have started feeling an increased squeeze from them. They sometimes appreciate cash payments.