I'm So Tired Of Hearing About How The Different US States Are Really "50 Countries In A Trenchcoat" Because

I'm so tired of hearing about how the different US states are really "50 countries in a trenchcoat" because I'm sorry... Have you been to the states?

You're really going to sit there and tell me that Washington, California and Oregon are as distinct from each other as the UK, France and Germany?

Really?

With a straight face and everything?

The states are more like, I dunno, different denominations of protestantism, or different Shonen Jump battle series, or different versions of Star Trek.

Like, if someone earnestly talked about how The Original Series and Voyager are actually really different that person would be correct, but if another person said, "Come on man what are you talking about it's all fucking Star Trek" that person would also be correct.

hey fellow Australians! are you aware that only 6% of the findings of the disability royal commission have been accepted by the government? are you aware that what has been accepted are the mildest + most watered down recommendations possible?

after the long and emotionally exhausting process that was the disability royal commission. after the weeks we've just had of fear-mongering about misuses of NDIS funds. after the amount of sheer ableism that disabled Australians have had to sit through. we're not even getting the bare minimum from the government

I don't even know what else to say. this shit fucking sucks. they couldn't even accept the recommendation to end forced sterilisation. bare. fucking. minimum. good job australia

damn people really are writing a lot of poetry that sucks

The reason Technoblade would have smoked Dream at Manhunt is not because he was categorically the superior pvp player, though he was.

It's because he'd have pulled an mcc build mart. He'd have done the WORK.

Techno would have watched every single available Manhunt stream, put together the data on Dream's movements and preferred escape methods, noted the version they were playing, and then- he'd have let the other five do the work.

Just like that bit with Quackity, he'd have followed at a sedate pace. Maybe wandered off once or twice to mine and gather resources, all the while informing his chat that he had no idea if this stupid plan would work but it's what he's got.

And in the last two minutes, Technoblade would have swooped in, absolutely obliterated Dream, and killed the other five for good measure because the man had a brand.

Techno's real power was not in his click speed or typing proficiency. It was in an ability to- with or without preparation- see a possibility no one else did and charge towards it. Whether this was taking advantage of the game's mechanics or just close listening, his threat was always in his intelligence and a mad will to just give it a shot.

Have you seen the news?

National day of mourning 😞

I doubt it was predicted or designed, but when the practice emerged of delegating industrial policy to local governments, China invented a structural form of antitrust. The central state declares what industries are to be favored, and then many localities toss contenders into the ring. The unsurprising result is competition. At the national level, with astonishing speed, industries with world-class competences emerge, even when — especially when — no "national champion" comes to dominate. Great industries are what a nation wants, not great firms. Firms are just the players. They perform extraordinary feats, and we cheer them, but they come and go. The industry is the league. It is what endures and delivers decade after decade. A decade ago China did not produce electric vehicles. Now it is the world leader. It is the same story with batteries, solar panels, steel. In the US, we tend to provide government support to established national champions, Boeing perhaps, or Intel. How is that working for us? Large consolidated firms become specialists in exploiting market power and political influence rather than any technical facet of production. What if we financed state governments to field local heroes and compete in the big leagues? It boggles the American imagination to think that medium-sized, US-state-level enterprises could compete in high-tech, capital-intensive industries. But isn't China's experience an existence proof? Shouldn't the share-buyback-heavy, technical-achievement-light experience of firms like Boeing and Intel chasten our conventional wisdom?

Must do socialism so we have intense competition between the Colorado smartphone and the Massachusetts smartphone