420 microplastics?

And George Soros being some kind of secret mastermind is also a right wing fever dream.

The funny thing is that so is the idea of Melon Husk being some kind of mastermind.

Good to know, thanks.

Sure. The vehicle will under report speed and driven mileage with larger wheels and tires, and over report both with smaller wheels than tires. I’m not if it’s possible to adjust the speedometer and odometer, or if people even bother.

I think this is the best answer here. I see this happen constantly in online discussions.

This is exactly on the nose. It reminds of articles I’ve read about the oldest continuously operating businesses in the world. Here’s an example: https://www.theceomagazine.com/business/management-leadership/japan-oldest-businesses/

Note that one thing in common between many of these businesses, some of which have been around for nearly 1,500 years(!), is that they are family owned and operated. In other words, they prioritized stability over rapid growth. I feel that there’s a huge lesson in this.

Discredited may be an overstatement on my part, but it is a flawed measure of someone’s complete abilities and strengths.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient#Validity_as_a_measure_of_intelligence

While IQ tests are generally considered to measure some forms of intelligence, they may fail to serve as an accurate measure of broader definitions of human intelligence inclusive of, for example, creativity and social intelligence. For this reason, psychologist Wayne Weiten argues that their construct validity must be carefully qualified, and not be overstated. According to Weiten, “IQ tests are valid measures of the kind of intelligence necessary to do well in academic work. But if the purpose is to assess intelligence in a broader sense, the validity of IQ tests is questionable.” [emphasis mine]

There are other criticisms in that section of the Wikipedia article too.

I think the first thing to recognize is that there is absolutely no single measure of intelligence. IQ scores are (a) seriously flawed and discredited (and narrowly focused measure of human abilities). Human intellectual powers have many dimensions. Someone may be weak in speech and articulation but on the other hand be an absolute genius mechanically, artistically, or in some other aspect of human intellectual pursuit.

Oh, I agree if you’re talking about addressing homelessness. That makes sense. If you’re advocating free social housing for every single person in the country, I’m not sure how that could be done or if it’s ever been done anywhere ever? I would be curious to hear about possible solutions though.

Good to hear about any moves in the right direction anywhere.

Do you know if house prices are still a problem there?

Most definitely. Southern California in general has some of the highest housing prices in the US. I think the AirBnB regulations are only part of the equation. They need to drastically reduce the barriers to construction of higher density housing, for instance.

LA actually has “vanlords”, people who rent out old, beat up vans parked on the street to homeless people, for hundreds of dollars a month. Some real dystopian shit if I’ve ever seen any.

I think I had heard of the idea before, so I didn’t come up with it. I just did a quick search and one of the first results says LA does this. There are probably other cities too…

https://www.steadily.com/blog/airbnb-short-term-rental-laws-regulations-los-angeles

No doubt!

I don’t know, and based on a quick search, it doesn’t appear that it’s been done. California is currently working on a law to limit corporate ownership to 1,000 homes, lol.

In addition to only renting out single rooms, I also thought of the scenario where someone goes to visit a relative and rents their whole apartment while they’re away, perhaps when there is some major event in their town that causes all hotels to be sold out. Both of those scenarios would be addressed by the rule I proposed to only allow renting out the primary residence on AirBnB.

There seem to be several theories/concepts that posit this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Crunch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bounce

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclic_model

Crack down on AirBnB Forbid ownership for non-residents.

Ah, yes, I forgot to mention AirBnB! Those are both good calls.

The AirBnb issue is a little complicated because I’ve seen some good arguments that it can help people afford to keep their homes. But I think that could easily be addressed by a single, simple rule: you are only allowed to rent your primary residence as determined by tax records.

I think it would take a massive, earth-shaking event for any other major party to be formed in the US. I understand that ballot access in most states is an extremely high barrier that blocks anyone except the major parties. Of course, the two major parties made sure to make it that way.

What specific policies should I be demanding of our politicians to make housing affordable again?

1. Ban corporate ownership and excessive individual ownership (ex: > 10) of homes.
2. Remove most barriers to building lots of new and higher density housing (ex: four-story multi-unit buildings) except legitimate safety and ecological concerns.

I guess the NYPD has reached Reddit doxxing levels now.

Maybe they have always been at Reddit doxxing levels?