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.

@alanschu

Welcome back, good to see your posts again

15 hours 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.

I know it's been a while so I'll just be clear that that was slathered with sarcasm ;P

eu are forcing age verification on video game like uk did with social media

black flag will not be optional soon

bolsonaro win at brazil again

guess people really didn't want to learn from their mistake

2 hours ago, uuuhhii said:

bolsonaro win at brazil again

guess people really didn't want to learn from their mistake

His eldest son Flávio Bolsonaro won the first round, not Jair. Although they seem cut from the same cloth.

4 hours ago, rjshae said:

His eldest son Flávio Bolsonaro won the first round, not Jair. Although they seem cut from the same cloth.

I have been following this election

Its more an indictment on Lula, the main issues are corruption and cost of living. Voting is mandatory in Brazil but still 20% didn't vote and 6% were null or blank votes

Just this 6% could change the final outcome in the next round if they decide to vote properly but basically Lula lost 3.5 million votes and Bolsonaro gained 5 million from 2022

"The Numbers, Compared With 2022

The TSE counts 125.1 million ballots cast out of 158.7 million registered voters, so turnout is 78.92%. In the first round of 2022, 123.7 million of 156.5 million voted (79.05%), and abstention was 20.95%, the highest since 1998, when it was 21.49%. The 2026 rate is above 2022 but still below 1998.

Blank ballots are 1.84% of those cast (2.30 million) and null ballots 2.93% (3.67 million), together 4.77%. In 2022 the shares were 1.59% blank and 2.82% null, together 4.41%. Neither blank nor null votes count toward the 50% a candidate needs to win outright.

Among valid votes, the PL candidate Flávio Bolsonaro has 56.07 million (47.06%) and Lula 53.76 million (45.12%). In 2022 Lula won 57.26 million (48.43%) in the first round and Jair Bolsonaro 51.07 million (43.20%). Lula is therefore about 3.5 million votes lower than four years ago, while the Bolsonaro camp’s candidate is about 5.0 million higher. Valid votes in total rose by only 0.9 million."

The Rio Times

Brazil Abstention 21.08%, First-Round High Since 1998

Abstention hit 21.08% in Brazil's first round, 33.4 million voters, over 14 times the Lula and Flávio gap. What it means for the 25 October runoff.

White House aide: Trump did not call for attacks on US cities but explained how he’s preventing them

Uh huh. His quote:

“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” he said of the war and its economic fallout. “They can take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay.”

My simpler explanation is that his cray-cray is leaking again. The pots are all cracked. The cheese done slipped off his cracker. He's half a bubble off a plumb.