Wednesday, November 02, 2022
I Forgot About The Humanoid Robots
Those aren't happening, either.
Solar Shingles (aesthetically integrated solar cells) were another hyped thing everyone forgot about. Total fraud to get tax money.
We Hate Our Children
Couple of responses to various comments on this since I don't think I made my points well (it happens):
1) I wasn't trying to whitewash the tax avoidance industry, just passing on the assertion that "funneling money to the grandkids because they dislike their own children" was often a genuine motivation
2) That these parents hate their kids does not mean the kids are necessarily bad. Parents often hate their kids (and often they don't!)
3) My broader not well stated point is that mixed feelings about progeny undermines the already somewhat bizarre dynastic impulse motivation for planning to die on top of your hoard of treasure.
4) They certainly aren't spending all that money very well, if gabbing with Lonnie or wasting time on the bird app generally is a big part of their existences.
5) Life is short, and you can't take it with you!
1) I wasn't trying to whitewash the tax avoidance industry, just passing on the assertion that "funneling money to the grandkids because they dislike their own children" was often a genuine motivation
2) That these parents hate their kids does not mean the kids are necessarily bad. Parents often hate their kids (and often they don't!)
3) My broader not well stated point is that mixed feelings about progeny undermines the already somewhat bizarre dynastic impulse motivation for planning to die on top of your hoard of treasure.
4) They certainly aren't spending all that money very well, if gabbing with Lonnie or wasting time on the bird app generally is a big part of their existences.
5) Life is short, and you can't take it with you!
NPCs
The people affected by these lies (school admin, teachers, students) face harassment and worse, but to most political reporters these people don't exist. Just pieces, red shirts, in The Politics Game, the greatest game there ever was.
(not Andrew, he seems like a good guy)The school had to issue a statement after our story.https://t.co/RNtLxNE6T7
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) November 2, 2022
Liars
One thing about reporters living on twitter is you know that are aware of good faith criticisms of things they do. And that they at best ignore them or quite often misrepresent them.I refuse to pretend that the reporters spreading this bullshit don’t know it is bullshit, and you should too.
— Jamison Foser (@jamisonfoser) November 2, 2022
The fraud they perpetrate on the public regularly is deliberate and they will not admit it or apologize, ever.
I used to feel bad about making such sweeping generalizations. You know, #notallreporters. But they never call bullshit on each other, so...
You Don't Have To Hand It To Him
"We" all know now that Musk is a malign idiot, but in April people were still writing embarrassing things like this:
The man's been lying about everything for years, and while there are a couple of exceptions, almost none of his "important work" is what people think it is, and it's all pretty much hit a dead end at this point. There will be no robotaxis, there will be no mission to Mars, there will be no hyperloop. There will certainly be no brain implants.* All of these things were carnival barker scams, ways of keeping the hype going to goose the stock price and keep the free government money coming.
*I always forget about Neuralink, one of his more frightening scams because you know he's going to do human trials some place they let him.
Much of this has been built on the back of public subsidies, government contracts, loan guarantees and tax credits, but I don’t take that as a mark against him: He’s the best argument in the modern era that the government and the private sector can do together what neither can achieve apart. If anything, I fear that Twitter will distract Musk from more important work.Being a Muskologist was one of my more annoying weird hobbies, as the gap betweent the reality of his endeavors and coverage of them was always vast. I have no interest in Musk the man, but my associated weird interests brought me there.
The man's been lying about everything for years, and while there are a couple of exceptions, almost none of his "important work" is what people think it is, and it's all pretty much hit a dead end at this point. There will be no robotaxis, there will be no mission to Mars, there will be no hyperloop. There will certainly be no brain implants.* All of these things were carnival barker scams, ways of keeping the hype going to goose the stock price and keep the free government money coming.
*I always forget about Neuralink, one of his more frightening scams because you know he's going to do human trials some place they let him.
Musk, the world’s richest person with an estimated $256bn fortune, said last month he was cautiously optimistic that the implants could allow tetraplegic people to walk.You're all just monkeys to him.
“We hope to have this in our first humans, which will be people that have severe spinal cord injuries like tetraplegics, quadriplegics, next year, pending FDA [Food and Drug Administration] approval,” he told the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council summit.
“I think we have a chance with Neuralink to restore full-body functionality to someone who has a spinal cord injury. Neuralink’s working well in monkeys, and we’re actually doing just a lot of testing and just confirming that it’s very safe and reliable and the Neuralink device can be removed safely.”
What's It All For
Once I had a brief conversation with a guy who does estate/planning trust stuff. I have no idea if what he told me was true, but basically he said that most of what people like him do isn't, contrary to popular belief, about tax avoidance (though that too!), but about bypassing (to some extent) their failsons and faildaughters, who they hate, and setting up the grandkids instead.
I've posted versions of this before. I know the various potential explanations. But while I'm sure plenty of rich people and their kids and their grandkids are actually living their best lives, or at least fucking them up in understandable ways, the public ones - the ones we know about - lead truly bizarre existences.
Seeing what motivates the various Tech Bros in the orbit of Lonnie Musk, seeing how they very publicly choose to spend their time despite having mountains of money that they could never possibly spend and are in some cases quite clearly not interested in passing it on to their children...
What strange people.
I've posted versions of this before. I know the various potential explanations. But while I'm sure plenty of rich people and their kids and their grandkids are actually living their best lives, or at least fucking them up in understandable ways, the public ones - the ones we know about - lead truly bizarre existences.
Seeing what motivates the various Tech Bros in the orbit of Lonnie Musk, seeing how they very publicly choose to spend their time despite having mountains of money that they could never possibly spend and are in some cases quite clearly not interested in passing it on to their children...
What strange people.
Tuesday, November 01, 2022
Welcome Back To Meet The Press
Which "joking about Paul Pelosi" figure will be Chuck Todd's honored guest this week?
Sounds Good But
I'm guessing Lindsey shows up but says he doesn't AKSHUALLY have to answer questions because everything is related to legislative activity, and this goes on and on...The Supreme Court's order makes it clear that Graham can avoid any questions that are plausibly related to legislative activity, which is shielded by the Constitution's speech and debate clause. But the court won't let Graham avoid testifying about other topics.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) November 1, 2022
Hatred Of The Kids Today
I don't understand all dimensions of it, but contempt for young people really does drive a lot of our politics.
Fox hosts are PISSED about an innocuous study that said cats on college campuses are good
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) November 1, 2022
Campagno: "I don't think these kids need cats, I think they need discipline, I think they need a slap in the face!" pic.twitter.com/WagnZ46io8
Caravans Of Doom
Remember them? Wonder why they stopped.
Somehow we went from inflation back to crime. Did Dark Brandon cure inflation? I can't keep up.
If you ask reporters - and actually get some sort of answer - why they talk about whatever Republicans want to talk about that day, some version of, "they're good at it," is what you get.
Yes they're good at manipulating you and your colleagues. Congratulations.
Of course you go to elections with the press corps you have, not the one you want, so it is true that Democrats should be "better" at this game, as what choice do they have? But it's hardly a defense of journalism!
Somehow we went from inflation back to crime. Did Dark Brandon cure inflation? I can't keep up.
If you ask reporters - and actually get some sort of answer - why they talk about whatever Republicans want to talk about that day, some version of, "they're good at it," is what you get.
Yes they're good at manipulating you and your colleagues. Congratulations.
Of course you go to elections with the press corps you have, not the one you want, so it is true that Democrats should be "better" at this game, as what choice do they have? But it's hardly a defense of journalism!
A Little Bit Stupid
My theory of "scandals" (broadly defined) is that one thing that gives them legs is that they are a little bit stupid. There's an element of "I can't believe we are talking about this stupid thing it's so stupid why are we talking about it" that keeps people talking about it.
Not sure it's deliberate, but this greatly benefits The Right as most of the "scandals" they make up are incredibly stupid, plus mainstream political reporters are trained to talk about whatever Republicans want us to talk about that day.
The Right talks about it, reporters promote it, liberals can't stop talking about how stupid it is.
Which is why "we" will never stop talking about Elon Musk, the stupidest man alive. Sometimes his trolls are deliberate, as he is a troll, but also he's a dumbass.
Not sure it's deliberate, but this greatly benefits The Right as most of the "scandals" they make up are incredibly stupid, plus mainstream political reporters are trained to talk about whatever Republicans want us to talk about that day.
The Right talks about it, reporters promote it, liberals can't stop talking about how stupid it is.
Which is why "we" will never stop talking about Elon Musk, the stupidest man alive. Sometimes his trolls are deliberate, as he is a troll, but also he's a dumbass.
On Offense
It is possible to overreach, of course, but the basic idea conservatives understand that Dems don't is that, in politics, you're either on offense or on defense, and offense almost always looks better than defense. When Republicans start squealing and throwing hissy fits when Dems throw a tiny punch, Dems cower, but that's the way Republicans play defense, and they look like idiots when they do it.
It is true that they are very good at flopping around on the field and calling on the ref (played by Morning Joseph and the Washington Post editorial board) to hand out a red card, but you can recognize that for what it is.
And offense is more, "you're assholes," not, "please stop being assholes."
It is true that they are very good at flopping around on the field and calling on the ref (played by Morning Joseph and the Washington Post editorial board) to hand out a red card, but you can recognize that for what it is.
And offense is more, "you're assholes," not, "please stop being assholes."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)