Your pointless thoughts & observations

[marf]

I think in the future satire is going to look hokey, Like an ancient greek play looks to us. Like all these impersonators on snl is just going to look sooo corny

[ambermonk]

On 8/14/2020 at 3:37 PM, Stickfigger said:

Ordered some Korean chicken last night and woke up to realise I left it out on the kitchen bench all night . It's winter here so was about 14 degrees all night . Keep or chuck ?

Where I'm from that's early fall weather. I'd say reheat it on stove top if in doubt. Heat sterilizes.

[iococoi]

lordy..

reminds me of ..

 

[zkom]

I'm trying to work a bit too tired after waking up so early and keep chuckling every time I read "graphic designer" because in my mind the designer is graphic like violence or a sex scene can be graphic.

Need more coffee.

[dingformung]

Is 11 early?

 

[Limo]

Is it 11 yet?

[dingformung]

At places it is

[zkom]

38 minutes ago, dingformung said:

Is 11 early?

 

I woke up p 6.10am. Cleaned the cabin I was staying in, packed my luggage, returned the rental car, jumped on a train and started working on the train. Now on a local bus to the office. Pretty busy morning.

[data]

On 8/10/2020 at 2:09 PM, zkom said:

I don't know what the phenomenon is called in which old tools, consumer products, etc become decorative pieces? Like somebody might use an old mechanical typewriter or tube radio as an ornament. And it seems to happen some years after the item has become obsolete. For example now you can buy ornaments that look like rotary dial landline phones but are not actually functional.

Anyway, I started to think is there some piece of obsolete or old fashioned technology that isn't going to have that happening? And maybe the 80s-early 2000s beige box computers? Did anyone ever think they actually look good? F.e. can you imagine this being used for decoration without at least some kind of repaint or similar? It's just so incredibly boring looking. I've seen corrugated cardboard boxes that are more interesting to look at.

 

i love this stuff and have been actively searching for well preserved, non-yellowed old 90s setups just like this. i also love brutalist architecture however so maybe there's a correlation there.

 

[zkom]

6 hours ago, data said:

 

i love this stuff and have been actively searching for well preserved, non-yellowed old 90s setups just like this. i also love brutalist architecture however so maybe there's a correlation there.

 

I get the brutalist architecture a bit, like old concrete bus shelters. How do you feel about other gray or beige colored office equipment like fax machines, photocopiers, desk phones, etc?

[dingformung]

Germany will be testing a universal basic income for 1 year next November (but only with few people). I would gladly volunteer and registered, hope they pick me. It's 1200 EUR a month. I hope it will be fully implemented within the next two legislatures for everybody.

I doubt it though and I also doubt that a trial with only a couple of hundred people for just a year will tell much about the larger scale economic and social effects. I think the results might even be used to block the basic income.

Edited August 18, 2020 by dingformung

[zkom]

1 hour ago, dingformung said:

Germany will be testing a universal basic income for 1 year next November (but only with few people). I would gladly volunteer and registered, hope they pick me. It's 1200 EUR a month. I hope it will be fully implemented within the next two legislatures for everybody.

I doubt it though and I also doubt that a trial with only a couple of hundred people for just a year will tell much about the larger scale economic and social effects. I think the results might even be used to block the basic income.

In Finland they had a similar trial but pretty much crippled it from the start, possibly for political reasons. But what they found out was that even though the trial didn't bring much economic change to any direction, the people were happier because they had to worry less.

Anyway Finland in general has a very high level of social security and free healthcare etc, so if you're a citizen it's pretty hard to fall completely outside the society and end up homeless even without the universal income scheme. Those people do exist though who fall through the cracks in the system or are just so completely fucked that even if you give them a free home and money for food they just use the money on drugs or alcohol and trash the home.

[dingformung]

20 minutes ago, zkom said:

In Finland they had a similar trial but pretty much crippled it from the start, possibly for political reasons. But what they found out was that even though the trial didn't bring much economic change to any direction, the people were happier because they had to worry less.

Anyway Finland in general has a very high level of social security and free healthcare etc, so if you're a citizen it's pretty hard to fall completely outside the society and end up homeless even without the universal income scheme. Those people do exist though who fall through the cracks in the system or are just so completely fucked that even if you give them a free home and money for food they just use the money on drugs or alcohol and trash the home.

I heard about that Finnish trial and here it is used by both supporters and opponents of the universal basic income to support their argument for different reasons. I think a UBI can only reveal its real effect when given to everybody over a long period of time.

Here in Germany the social security is also comparatively high, on paper, but in reality the bureaucratic processes are too difficult and intense so people give up, especially when it comes to unemployment benefits. Bureaucracy is - nonsensically and probably illegally - used as a disincentive. I remember reading that like 3/4ths of unemployment benefit answers are illegitimate and the recipient has to formally oppose it and play a few rounds of paper ping pong to see any money (or the correct amount of money). After that's done unemployed people are bombarded with low wage job offers and can be sanctioned for not taking a job they have never applied for in various ways. It was only this year (or end of last year, don't remember) that the Federal Constitutional Court (not politicians) decided that taking away 100% of unemployment benefits as the hardest form of sanction is unconstitutional and it can only go down to 60% now (which would still put you below the poverty line). It's very neoliberal policy making and definitely not a "social hammock" here and lots of people fall through the cracks for stupid reasons. Finland is probably way better in that regard. As for drug addicts, just decriminalise drugs and do what Portugal does (it works).

I think the chances that it will actually be implemented in Germany aren't that low. The elections in 2021 will be very decisive as Merkel had announced that she will quit, so the 15 year long Merkel era will be gone, she will probably be replaced by BlackRock chairman Friedrich Merz, if her party gets to appoint the new Chancellor. But luckily her party (Christian Democrats) is in decline. The power arithmetics have shifted a lot since the last elections. A coalition between democratic socialists, greens and social democrats isn't unthinkable anymore and it's almost precluded that the green party won't be part of the government, so I think, whatever the outcome of the elections will be, a left shift is inevitable. But who knows what happens until then.

[Braintree]

Canada tried it and it seemed like a success: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200624-canadas-forgotten-universal-basic-income-experiment

Quote

At the time it was the most ambitious social science experiment ever to take place in Canada, and saw rates of hospitalisations fall, improvements in mental health, and a rise in the number of children completing high school

 

[dingformung]

And Switzerland already had a referendum on this.

https://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/switzerland-voters-reject-unconditional-basic-income/#:~:text=The group that submitted the,is set at CHF2%2C600.

Quote

Swiss voters rejected by a vote of 76.9% to 23.1% the initiative “For an Unconditional Basic Income.”  The initiative proposed to grant every person in Switzerland a certain amount of money each month, regardless of how much money they earn or how wealthy they are. The exact amount would have been determined by the Swiss Parliament.

But these idiots voted against it  Though 23% were pro implementing a UBI instantly in 2016, that's actually remarkable. Today more people see the benefits and there are good chances some country will start and then others follow.

[iococoi]

[iococoi]

 

[Candiru]

2 hours ago, Stickfigger said:

Ever since our bin had a maggot explosion I have been less interested in eating rice 

Maggots are keto friendly, you’re all good. 

[zkom]

23 hours ago, dingformung said:

As for drug addicts, just decriminalise drugs and do what Portugal does (it works).

I didn't mean the addiction or alcoholism was a problem in itself and I definitely didn't mean a kind of regular substance abuser, but for example the kind of alcoholic who's been drinking for years or decades and if put in an apartment trashes the toilet seat in bathroom, then shits in the bedroom and sets up a campfire in the living room. Somebody who really is so fucked up already that they just can't live indoors anymore. They are a bit beyond help even with the most progressive social security or basic income system. The options that are remaining are involuntary treatment or prison but in Finland you can't get neither if you're just seriously fucked up. Either you need to be threat to yourself or someone else or commit some serious crime.

[dingformung]

36 minutes ago, zkom said:

I didn't mean the addiction or alcoholism was a problem in itself and I definitely didn't mean a kind of regular substance abuser, but for example the kind of alcoholic who's been drinking for years or decades and if put in an apartment trashes the toilet seat in bathroom, then shits in the bedroom and sets up a campfire in the living room. Somebody who really is so fucked up already that they just can't live indoors anymore. They are a bit beyond help even with the most progressive social security or basic income system. The options that are remaining are involuntary treatment or prison but in Finland you can't get neither if you're just seriously fucked up. Either you need to be threat to yourself or someone else or commit some serious crime.

They belong into some form of sheltered housing scheme/assisted living where they are left alone except they have access to some social life if they like and also access to help if they decide themselves they need it, with shared bathrooms and kitchens. Most have some psychiatric problems on top of the alcohol addiction and generally never learned the basics of being a human in a society, like how to deal with emotions, how to trust others, how to keep hygiene, etc.. I agree, that it's difficult to reach everybody, I'm sure if an institution like I imagine it existed (basically some sort of fancy homeless shelter where there is the possibility to get a permanent room) there would still be some people who wouldn't want to live there and do other things. But they know that if they are having a really hard time they can get into a shelter where they get help (one that doesn't stink like piss where they have to share a container with 20 other yelling and snoring alcoholics, where the doors are locked and they have to ask a keeper to get in our out, a huge thing for a lot of people). I think there just need to be better ideas/architectures for modern homeless shelters

[ambermonk]

I feel like we live in an age where independent or divergent thought or opinion is scorned even on a subconscious level. Conformity is pretty much the norm. And this seems to coincide with trends of neo-fascism. Orwellian times innit.

Then again I'm probably just talking out of my ass again.

[Plum]

Next time you’re out & about and you hear a wood pigeon call, sing these lyrics to the tune...

MORE TEA PLEASE BETTY

MORE TEA PLEASE BETTY

MORE TEA PLEASE BETTY

You won’t be disappointed. It’s a total ear worm. You’re welcome. 

[drome]

Society rewards people with psychopathic traits far too much. Until humanity does something about it, things will only get worse.

[iococoi]

[milkface]

i hate abba with a burning passion

On 8/19/2020 at 9:08 AM, Stickfigger said:

Ever since our bin had a maggot explosion I have been less interested in eating rice

this happened to me last summer. turns out those biodegradable bin bags biodegraded before the bins got collected

Edited August 21, 2020 by milkface