The mayoral election season is nigh in San Diego. In an effort to gain some momentum the incumbent mayor Todd Gloria is finally making it known through the media he is going to clean up our streets, including by enforcing homeless encampment bans.

Furthermore Mayor Gloria is creating/diverting a small team of police to assist in this effort; an effort that is supposed to also clean up C Street (pictured below).

C Street is notorious for its encampments of chronically homeless strung out on fentanyl.

BTW, the ugly building featured in the C Street image is where the City Council meets. Please take note how awful the windowless façade is. Future architects take note.

Mayor Gloria has to do something, his competitor (Larry Turner) is gaining ground in the race to the mayor’s office.

#sandiego #mayor #toddgloria #larryturner

😁😂

#Meme #Memes #FunStr

What aspects do you enjoy most about your favorite sci fi or fantasy novels? Obviously it’s a mix of everything but what consistent themes do you find yourself returning to frequently?

To give an example, I tend to like complex and internally consistent magic systems or “hard magic” systems, eg Brandon Sanderson. He basically invents an alternative physics in a given series and there’s a whole set of stories around that.

I also put a lot of weight on complex characters, eg Game of Thrones. You know it’s good writing when someone can push a kid out of a window in the first episode and then somehow kind of make you almost like the guy later on.

If you don’t like sci fi and/or fantasy, what is it about the genre(s) that you dislike? And do you like one but not the other, or both or neither?

#bitcoin in cyberpunk style

#nostr #zap

#design #lettering

#artstr #nostrart #artsctr #conceptart

#dailyartdose

The laws of economics dictate that

- what you tax, you get less of

- what you subsidize, you get more of

Experience and logics tell us that people get fewer children in urban areas than in the countryside.

Furthermore, families are the only institutions that produce children.

Do you agree with me so far?

Grok estimates that the EU's average fertility rate in 1960 was approximately 2.59 births per woman.

The EU’s average fertility rate is now 1.46

This is a reduction of 77 per cent.

Grok estimates that the public sector's spending as a share of GDP for the five major EU economies between 1960 and 2022 likely has grown by at least 50% to 100%.

By other words, in this period we have seen a shift of economic wealth from the private sector to the public sector comparable to the average reduction in the birth rates.

My best guess is that it's here we find the main explanation.

Shifting of wealth from the private to the public sector is shifting of wealth from those who produce kids to institutions which produce bureaucracies.

What you tax (people), you get less of.

What you subsidize (public sector), you get more of.

And bureaucracies typically grow the most in urban areas, where people traditionally prefer to have fewer children than in the countryside.

In conclusion, less production of kids is a result of the growth of the public sector, which mainly consists of institutions in urban areas that produce bureaucracies instead of kids.

A socialist society is parasitic of nature, and the parasite in the end always runs out of hosts.

The collapsing iron core of a massive star that has exhausted its fuel will quickly reach densities at which electrons and protons can no longer remain separate. They combine to form neutrons in an extremely violent reaction that tears the rest of the star apart and blasts it's contents all over the sky as a type 2 Supernova.

At the time of the explosion the structure of the star looks like an onion. There is an outer shell of Hydrogen gas, then a shell of Hydrogen fusing into Helium. Below that is a shell of Helium fusing into Carbon and Oxygen. Deeper still is a shell fusing Carbon into Neon, Magnesium, Sodium, and Aluminum. Deeper still is a shell fusing Neon into Oxygen and Magnesium. Still deeper the Oxygen fuses into Silicon, Argon, Sulfur, and Calcium. And finally a shell that fuses Silicon into an isotope of Nickel that decays into Iron.

All this material is blown to smithereens when the barrage of outrushing neutrinos produced by the core's transmutation into neutrons collides with those shells. The over-pressures cerated in that collision stimulate even more fusion. The environment of the explosion is rich with free high energy neutrons, and alpha-particles (Helium nuclei). These particles are absorbed by the elements within the explosion, transmuting them further into the vast majority of the elements on the periodic table up to element 36.

All these nuclei are scattered amidst the rapidly expanding cloud of debris and eventually mix with the interstellar medium, polluting the existing clouds of neutral hydrogen and, if close enough, stimulating them to collapse into planetary systems.

The Oxygen and Nitrogen in our atmosphere. The Carbon and Calcium in our bodies and bones. The Sodium in our seas, and the Iron and Aluminum in our buildings, originated from this process. Those elements all came from stars that blew their guts up all over the sky, and seeded future stars with the elements of life and civilization.

Do you know Niccolo Machiavelli?

You've probably heard about his book "The Prince."

But you likely didn't read it.

Because you were discusted by the idea of him writing a manual for tyrants, am I not correct?

That's at least why I didn't read it.

Today I learned that there is "strong evidence" indicating that Niccolo wrote it to get his old job back.

Well, that makes exactly zero sense to me.

When the Medicis reclaimed their power in 1512 he had been a long-time civil servant of the City of Florence.

The Medicis suspected him of conspiracy, imprisoned and tortured him, before they sent him into exile.

In Il Principe he wrote a value-free description of how a wise prince rules his people.

It was based on first-hand observations of the rulers of Florence and other states as well as on indepth inspection of historical accounts.

IMO the book puts at full display the way rulers treat us underlings, for everyone to see.

Niccolo initially dedicated the book to Giuliano de' Medici, Lorenzo's uncle.

After Giuliano's death in 1516, he rededicated it to Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici.

He supposedly wrote "The Prince" as a "token of devotion" to the Medici family.

Niccolo made efforts to have the Medici family see and read "The Prince," but there's no clear evidence that they did so during his lifetime.

If he did this to receive employment at the House of Medicis he must have been a complete moron.

But his writings don't indicate that he was.

Far from it.

If the Medicis did read Il Principe they probably hated him even more than they had done before.

Because publishing it could have been a disaster for them.

The book first became available five years after Niccolo passed away.

I gave AI two tasks today, to tell me about his teaching of using 1) deception and 2) religion as political instruments.

Below you can read the answers.

After you have read them you may ask yourself if Machiavelli's recipes makes sense when you try to wrap your head around today's politics in your beloved representative democracies.

Enjoy!

1) Give me a brief summary about what Machiavelli says about why and how a ruler should deceive his people.

AI says:

Machiavelli argues that a ruler should be willing to deceive his people when necessary to maintain power and achieve his goals.

He believes it is better for a prince to be feared than loved, as fear is more reliable.

Machiavelli advises rulers to cultivate an appearance of virtue and morality, while being prepared to act against those virtues when required.

He states that "people are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that anyone who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived".

According to Machiavelli, rulers should use deception strategically to:

• Maintain their authority and power

• Manipulate public perception

• Outmaneuver rivals and enemies

• Achieve political objectives

However, he cautions that a ruler must be careful not to be hated, as this could lead to rebellion.

The key is to use deception judiciously while maintaining an outward appearance of virtue and strength

2) Give me a brief summary about what Machiavelli says about why and how a ruler should use religion in his politics.

AI says:

Machiavelli viewed religion primarily as a practical tool for rulers to maintain power and control over their subjects.

Here's a brief summary of his key points:

• Religion as a unifying force: Machiavelli believed religion could be used to unite people and garner support for the ruler.

• Maintaining stability: Religious traditions provide a sense of predictability and control, helping to keep society stable.

• Controlling the populace: By respecting and protecting religious practices, rulers can instill fear of disobedience and promise rewards in the afterlife for compliance.

• Appearance of piety: Machiavelli advised rulers to appear religious and virtuous outwardly, even if they weren't genuinely devout.

• Legitimizing authority: Religion could be used to make a ruler's actions seem divinely sanctioned, even if they were harsh or unjust.

• Spectacle and ritual: Religious ceremonies and displays could be used to reinforce the ruler's power and intimidate potential dissenters.

• Instilling virtues: Machiavelli saw religion as a means to cultivate desirable qualities in citizens.

In essence, Machiavelli advocated for a pragmatic approach to religion in politics, viewing it as a powerful tool for maintaining authority rather than a moral imperative.

If you want to join my quest for answers, feel free to hit the like, share and follow buttons.

Just gotta wait until I get into college

Just gotta wait until I graduate

Just gotta wait until I get a job

Just gotta make it to the end of the day

Just gotta make it to the end of the week

Just gotta make it to the end of the year

Just gotta wait until my vacation

Just gotta wait until I get a promotion

Just gotta wait until I retire

…

The Tulip Bubble happened from 1636-1637.

So how the actual fuck are tulips still around?

Just went online to cancel my SiriusXM subscription. Couldn’t do it, had to call in. Had to turn down two offers to lower my annual fee before I got it cancelled. Currently was paying 280 or so a year, they first offered 110 for a year, then dropped it to 65. My first response when anyone does this is: “If you could provide the service for 110 when you’ve been charging me 280, you’ve been ripping me off so why the hell would I stick around now?” This is the problem with subscription services, the will inch up the prices yearly until they eventually price themselves out if you’re paying attention.

Same thing happened with my pest control service a few years back. I eventually cancelled it and now I do my own. Essentially you can buy all the equipment and supplies for less than one year of service. Then you don’t have to deal with letting a stranger in your house each quarter.

Just cancel subscriptions and stack sats.

Follow me for more financial advice.😂😂😂

San Diego’s public transport wing MTS have been cutting back hard on bus service. Pictured is an example of the new 20 minute wait times for one bus that goes through the heart of the metropolitan area.

Twenty f**king minutes?!!!

MTS desperately wants to onboard new ridership, but have undermined their effort with service cutbacks.

No one with a car is going to wait that long. People of lesser means will suffer extra. They have no choice.

#sandiego #sdmts #mts #publictransit #toddgloria