Musk is pushing for drastic federal budget cuts targeting programs for vulnerable populations

Billionaire cuts services for the poor. Bears continue to shit in the woods. What next? The sun rises in the morning?

Can’t scare me out of my vicious business practices with a threat of assassination if I hate myself so much I want to die 😎

I think a major issue is that if the corporation cannot find work for all of its employees, how will it pay them? And since, presumably, there will be admin staff required who also need to be paid, the amount this corporation will charge the employers of the workers will have to be more than is paid to the workers. If this amount is significant, employers can poach employees from the “union corp” by offering more money, while still saving themselves money.

The only part I disagree with is stone/pounds for people’s weight. Although we use stone, I’ve never heard someone use pounds… Maybe if you’re in Weight Watchers or something, but otherwise it’d be rounded to the nearest half a stone (e.g. 9 and a half stone)

Sounds utterly weird, but I’m intrigued

Oh man, yes. Dream Scenario. It went so very awry when it became clear what it’s actually about.

A “public company” is one that has shares that are publicly traded. Common terminology, but yes it is confusing compared to private vs state ownership.

Edit: you’re right though, using “privatisation” is doubly confusing… That’s not so common. Perhaps that’s what you meant!

Alternatively if you can really make the pasta gather an internal sphere of liquid, just cook it in sauce and it could actually be amazing.

But hark! Another track appears beside the river. Surely this will be the easier route? Surely this will not lead to yet another bridge, larger and more difficult to cross than the last? Yes, indeed, I shall take this alternative track, that I might find myself easier bridges to cross.

It depends how much boiling water you need per day. Unless you use a LOT it’s more efficient (cost/energy wise) to use a kettle. Plus there’s a significant upfront cost to install a boiling water tap. However, if you drink a shitload of tea, or use a lot of boiling water in cooking, it’s generally better to have the on tap option.

Seriously cool piece of kit! I have no use for it whatsoever, but can’t help but wish I did.

Spotify knows you’re not REALLY listening to it

Jeans

(portmanteau of jeans and beans)

I had a “whoa” once, or perhaps something slightly more extreme. The condition wasn’t, particularly - I had a lump on my finger as a kid. The first doctor said it would go away on its own, which it didn’t at all, 2 years later it was much worse and started to hurt, so back we went. The next doctor suggested basically that we just cut it open and see what it was lmao, so that we did. He sliced it with a scalpel there and then, while, me, the doctor, and my dad peered at it.

As soon as the scalpel went in there was a small explosion of goo from in there and both my dad and the doctor recoiled in horror (“whoa!” lol). He proceeded to poke around in the goo hole somewhat with a needle (looking back this seems like an odd way to do things) and fished out a ~inch long hawthorn that had just been in there, chilling for the past 2 years.

What exactly does Copilot even do that would enable you to be in more than one meeting at a time?

Personally I prefer to call myself “fattened”, like a pig I suppose, as this clarifies that it is something that has happened to me, not simply something that I am. It’s not my fault, it’s the mince pies’ fault!

Neither really convey that it did hit Earth('s atmosphere) and just burned up harmlessly. The title reads like it missed, in which case it doesn’t make much sense to me to mention Siberia at all.

Does it exist in humans, though? I’m fairly certain that it remains pseudoscientific in humans as well as wolves.

Oh, wait, I read point two. I stand corrected.

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I understand suspension of disbelief, so you don’t need invite me to try it like you’re talking a kid about broccoli.

Haha, ok, I wasn’t trying to be patronising - my suggestion was that you try suspending you disbelief in situations where you otherwise might not. Clearly you know what it is, I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. Jumping ahead a bit to another relevant part of your comment…

Suspension of disbelief only has meaning for an audience that already has knowledge of the material

Where I am suggesting you might suspend your disbelief is exactly that - a situation where you have knowledge that the world you’re seeing is inaccurate. Anyway, I don’t mean to come across as condescending, sorry about that.

Casting directors do not cast “blind” except background crowds, and even then the overall look and feel is as important as paint scheme and set decoration.

Blind casting doesn’t mean you have to have no artistic vision. It just means you aren’t concerned with, for example, the gender or race of the actor. I saw a production of the Little Prince a while ago where the titular prince was played by a woman. Now, given the storyline (which was presented more or less true to the book) I think it’s clear that there was no philosophical motivation behind the casting… She was just small. I’m sure it was a conscious decision to cast someone small, but do you really think they specifically wanted a woman? I doubt it.

I’m talking about serious stories where everything seems to be meticulously recreated except the painful elements of society are being whitewashed for the sake of pleasing modern-day sensibilities

This specific situation I can understand. The reason I was inclined to argue with your original point, and why I jumped to Bridgerton as an example, is that I have usually seen these arguments presented in relation to things just like Bridgerton, where they really have no place… So, do you have an example?

I’d also ask, given your example, what your perspective is on modern Cowboy films still presenting the old west as predominantly white?