@KingSlareXIV - eviltoast
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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 22nd, 2023

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  • Very few people WANT a war in Ukraine. But as China keeps adding dashes to their map, it’s pretty clear there’s a reasonable chance to be an even bigger war around the corner, whether we want it or not.

    The Ukraine war woke the west up from its slumber, and it has allowed us to put the old stuff stuff cluttering our closets to good use, as well as test some new weapons concepts, and to get ourselves ready for the bigger conflict on the horizon.

    If we are really lucky, China is looking at Ukraine and having second thoughts about kicking the hornets nest at all, saving a lot of lives on both sides.

    If we are not that lucky, then Ukraine has allowed us to be much better prepared for the coming conflict.

    So am I glad Ukraine happened? Not a bit. Can I see the silver lining thru the clouds? For sure.



  • Credit/debit systems appear to have existed for at least 5000 years. Money is just an abstraction technology to make the credit/debit economy work more smoothly and scale up.

    As money is a foundational tech for civilization, you’d need to find a replacement tech that serves much the same purpose, but avoids whatever downsides you feel outweigh it’s benefits. That’s a hard problem.

    Then implement it in such a way that civilization doesn’t implode during the transition. This is a very hard problem.

    And then prevent humanity from finding a way to exploit that tech for the benefit of the few, bringing you right back where you started. This is a nearly impossible problem.


  • Well, that’s not at all what I said. Japanese compact cars were generally pretty cool and affordable in a way most similar small American cars were not, so of course they get customized a ton more that their American equivilents.

    The people who actually made their cars perform were the racers, those who did the truly terrible mods were the ricers.

    Yes, racist due to stereotyping. But it was more wordplay for insulting the taste of the person in question in comparison to the racers, not their ethnicity or the origin of their car. Bad taste is pretty universal. And as with pretty much anything in language, people can and clearly have used it as a racial insult. I just don’t think that was it’s origin.

    I am really amused it has morphed into a more positive connotation with the *nix crowd, while still meaning essentially the same thing. Language truly is a living thing.