manxu

Right? I feel like the labels for Italy and France should be switched.

The logical option is that, since these are net gains, there were massive job losses in men-dominated fields?

I don’t think the UK sales tax has an exception for primary residences, is that correct? That is the key ingredient that is missing: regular people should be able to buy and sell their homes to each other without a tax penalty, it’s only when corporations buy and sell that it should apply (well, individuals, too, if they buy more than one or two).

There is one huge flaw with the idea, whose aims I fully support: banks regularly own hundreds and thousands of homes through foreclosures. They need to be able to take back a home, because that is what makes it possible to have cheap mortgages. Banks are in fact some of the largest home owners in the country.

What might work better is a sales tax. Everybody pays some godawfully huge amount of money, like 10%, when they purchase a home. You add a 0% sales tax for a primary residence (which of course needs a resident, which is a physical person), maybe a 5% tax for a secondary.

The main goal is twofold: make homes artificially expensive when purchase is not tied to occupancy and discourage short-term speculation. This saves the ability of banks to repossess a home (there is no sale here), and it allows for expansion of rental housing, since the tax is one-time and not recurring, meaning its impact is minimized with prolonged ownership.

I am super proud to be late to the party and still have one useful submission: Flash Gordon, the 1980 hot mess that George Lucas passed on to make Star Wars.

The soundtrack is not the finest work by Queen, but is worth a tenth re-listen nonetheless.

What a shmuck. Rick Scott, the former governor of Florida, was CEO of a company that had to settle for more than $2 billion of health care fraud. Health care fraud: do a little, ten years in jail; do a ton, become governor of a state.

It’s weird: just like America’s refusal to get on board with climate change action affects island nations first that had nothing to do with the problem, America’s war will drag under countries that had nothing to do with it, that just happened to have a credit crunch or a moment of political instability.

I think he declared in the last installment of the Milo High Drama Show (made up name) that he’s ex-gay now and married to a woman.

Which is exactly the kind of thing you would expect him to say.

I think there are two Costco stores in Paris. Not sure about anywhere else.

I think the real question is whether CSAM increases or decreases the likelihood of actual abuse. I have seen no studies dealing with this, but the suspicion from regular pornography is that readily available regular pornography leads to a significant reduction in actual sex being had.

What happens if AI CSAM actually reduces real life abuse?

Yeah but then he’ll want back in and the cycle starts again :-(

YOU CRIMINAL are the reason the neighbors complain about my crazy laughing! 😀

Whose state capitals? I am European.

It’s as a European that I say Europeans have to get over internal differences and stop thinking European countries are equivalent to the big players in the world.

The UK thought it was super special and better than the rest, and it got exactly what it deserves. We Europeans are probably better off forgetting the “geopolitical clout of Poland” and considering it embedded in that of Europe as a whole. It’s no coincidence that Europe’s enemies fan the flames of nationalism in European countries.

Thanks for the link!

Apparently, the guy had stage 3 colon cancer when he murdered the victim and died of it in prison. Almost as if nature had decided in advance this guy was no good.

Why, it’s easy! Wyoming is the rectangle above the Best Rectangle!

I love how if the government reads this post, then all Flock cameras will henceforth be outfitted with coal-powered steam generators.

The last point does not mention Montana?

If you mean the point above that, then the comparison is between Poland and Florida. Florida’s large Cuban community has been a driver of the support of Republicans in Congress. It is both a reason why the President is a Republican right now, and why America is thinking of invading Cuba. So, yes, Florida is very important to international geopolitics.

if you meant Montana, then let me point out that the population of Montana is somewhere between Cyprus and Luxembourg and has the geopolitical clout of either.

Appreciate the warning! I think the real problem is that Europeans never accepted they are becoming a single political entity and still don’t necessarily consider themselves European. I think that’s sad, as Europeans are extensively closer to each other than to nations outside of Europe. Also, the EU is a decent model for how smaller entities can work with larger ones without being suffocated or absorbed.

Having lived and traveled both “places” (and speaking in jest):

• America’s cities are vastly more uniform than European ones, especially the mid-size ones. The approach goes big box stores > strip malls > suburbs > trendy strip malls > abandoned downtown > highrise downtown complex. In Europe, it’s more quaint medieval village > commercial area > medium density living > high density living > medieval city core

• America’s landscapes are vastly more uniform than European ones, outside of a few highlights. Driving cross-country is city > farm land > more farm land > desert > National Park (yay!) > desert > farmland > city. Europe is more city > shrubs > border wait > mountains > border wait > lake > valley > border wait > city

• Europeans think of any European country as an equivalent to America as a whole. That’s simply stupid. America as a whole is equivalent to Europe as a whole, and American states roughly equivalent to European countries. States are on average half as big as countries in Europe, but America as a whole is roughly equivalent to the EU. So, yes, a European should know what the capital city of Florida is if they expect an American to know the capital of Poland. (Only Germans and people from Montana can reliably tell you the state capital of Montana, though.)

• American regional cultures are almost as diverse as European ones. Europeans seem to think that it is the language barrier that keeps regional cultures intact and diverse, but an American from California and an American from Texas use the same language but might as well be from different universes. People from Utah think drinking coffee is sinful and drown their uncaffeinated selves in thinly diluted sugar while next door in Colorado climbing 14ers (4300 meter mountains) is a social event that requires crowd control and permitting.

I am not a mocha kind of guy, but I discovered that oat milk makes phenomenal mochas, better than cow milk! 💕