On 8/10/2026 at 9:32 AM, Malcador said:

A non zero chance, but I doubt it really. Devil is in the details with this, some of these people think they get to leave with a huge chunk of our public pension fund, or can just walk off with native lands.

Most of these people are just American suck ups that are too cowardly to emigrate

I have the same assessment but it's still Dumber than **** that it's even a thing.

I get back from a work trip just in time to vote in it. 🙃

6 hours ago, rjshae said:

Well, in answer to the question of "which group is least likely to carefully monitor AI safety risks", I give you...

Here’s how tech leaders will self-police AI safety under Trump’s deal

Because, yeah, they're gazillionaires so greed is not an issue. Uh huh.

Once you have a gazillion dollars, you just stop wanting more.

2 hours ago, alanschu said:

Once you have a gazillion dollars, you just stop wanting more.

I don't think that's a true assumption. If greed drove you to that point, it doesn't just vanish. The wealth is relative to other gazillionaires, and the greed makes you want to have more than all of those.

18 hours ago, BruceVC said:

@Zoraptor how can you live in NZ, how are you able to survive?

Well, I'm fine. I don't really have to worry about financials, thanks to our preposterous housing bubble I could literally retire if I sold the house.

In all seriousness, my dad was on a 6 figure wage and he made more in housing appreciation, tax free, than he made from his salary. Completely broken system.

Hilarious as usual and its parody creates such a terrible impression of the NZ, its not only a racist country but its about to become a failed state

Haven't watched it yet, but if 'about to become' is the takeaway it's a more positive take than reality. 'Putting the N in cuts' is an all time classic and at the same time far too kind to the current government.

(The litany of reheated right wing stupidities that have failed spectacularly and consistently elsewhere that they ran through as if they'd suddenly work here because it was them doing it and they sounded like they should work would be hilarious, if it were satire. Instead, they happened, and mostly as a way to siphon money to donors and lobbyists. Their competence can probably best be summed up by cancelling an extraordinarily good deal we got for new ferries from South Korea- ordered during COVID when no one else was- because they needed new ferry buildings. We are now getting smaller, more expensive, Chinese ferries. The buildings still need replacing. And everyone knows that if it'd been a bridge between the North and South Islands for 3bn they'd have leapt at it since they could award the project to one of their major donors; indeed they want to spend more building a tunnel in Wellington that will- coincidentally, no doubt- cut five minutes off the time from the airport to Parliament. Their nastiness can best be summed up by their relentless targeting of disabled people and trying to force their relatives to look after them permanently, with no help.

Most of them are looney tunes 'Prosperity Gospel' evangelicals who believe God Just Hates The Poor. Good news; if God actually exists they ain't going to heaven)

1 hour ago, rjshae said:

I don't think that's a true assumption. If greed drove you to that point, it doesn't just vanish. The wealth is relative to other gazillionaires, and the greed makes you want to have more than all of those.

This was definitely sarcasm. Nice to see @alanschu posting.