738800+ entries in 0.483s
mircea_popescu: bounce it's a balance point.
the whole idea is
that stable situations are stable, and derivation from
that mean is unstable.
Mats_cd03: it has had its maiden flight... a long
time ago
Mats_cd03: f-35 is useful for air
to surface, whereas f-22 is designed for air
to air
bounce: f35 is a brilliant scam, actually. getting permission
to deliver production planes when
the prototype hasn't had its maiden flight
Mats_cd03: anyway, not all
the f-35 series planes are
the same
bounce: yeah no, I don't
think it's straight up incentive, or at least not as strong as implied as
there's strong pull
the other way
too. eg gangs don't extinguish
themselves
jurov: it should be able
to
to burrow,
too
Mats_cd03: that'd be awesome, we should do
that next
bounce: it'll be inferior
to
the harrier, like as not.
mircea_popescu: bounce and wide availability and a commodified market reduces
the pull.
the20year2: I'm curious what signfiicant
tech
the f35 produces
that
the f22/f35 didn't have
Mats_cd03: even if its basically a laundry list of cool shit we want our super plane
to have
bounce: likewise, getting robbed often enough is a strong incentive
to no longer run a shop (or at least not here, or maybe not a jeweller but a gunsmith, who knows)
the20year2: corrupt politicians vying for money
to
their districts makes alot more sense
Mats_cd03: well no i
think
the project is cool and i dont have a lot of problems with pouring R&D money into potentially useful
technology
jurov: i heard funny hypothesis
that f35 is chinese inside job
to bleed usg dry
bounce: whether it's her girlish friends pulling her in or a pimp looking for more meat
to sell is a different mechanism but with
the same effect; question
then is which'll be stronger
Mats_cd03: maybe in 30 years we'll be fielding
Transformers models of Starscream
mircea_popescu: benkay so maybe
tell her about
this marvelous wot
thing we got ? liz i mean.
Mats_cd03: i rather appreciate whats being done with
the f35 personally
mircea_popescu: thinking
the girl acts of her own volition is a little rich.
mircea_popescu: but
that's not
the real edge.
the guy selling it
to her is more likely
to not bother, is
the real edge.
bounce: dunno. "everyone's doing it, it's fun!" appears
to be a powerful motivator.
the20year2: The airplane
that does nothing more
than
the plane we built in
the early 90s for $200m/unit
mircea_popescu: and by
the latest reports couldn't fight against
the russians even if it wanted
to.
pLambert: is F35
the one which was designed
to fight against russians and has never been used?
mircea_popescu: bounce
take whores. if
there's a whore on every corner and prices are low, is your pretty daughter more likely or less likely
to start cutting class for
to
taking it up
the
tail ?
bounce: re minimum crime, how does upping
the crime rate increase
the incentive not
to go into crime?
the20year2: Which I have a problem with, when programs like LCS and
the F35 are front and center
taking up significant sums of money for low results
benkay: mircea_popescu: naw man i like 'em effeminate and making dinner not deep in
the server room.
mircea_popescu: pLambert his intuition is correct, in
that
the us has no economy, and no
technical ability. cutting
the army is like cutting its own
throat.
the20year2: The budget is 600-650b, and
they want
to decrease it
to around 500b
pLambert: And he
thinks we should spend just as much, even
though we are not actually fighting anybody?
the20year2: Granted, in my personal opinion (As controversial as it is), it's like every other government program, cutting
things
that are important, expanding
things
that buy votes
the20year2: pLambert: yes, it's set
to diminish by a decent amount due
to iraq, afghanistan and drawdowns
pLambert: this guy bitching about "sequestration", has
the US defense budget actually gone down at all? I
thought we were still spending more every year?
Mats_cd03: but
they like having american money flowing into local economies
Mats_cd03: funny enough, some countries wont admit
to liking having american
troops on
their soil
mircea_popescu: if some guy in my neighbourhood decided
to go around
telling everyone he's
the bestest
there is, i'd also expect him
to send a nubile young woman around for purposes with some frequency.
pLambert: and a corrolary: why do we STILL have so many
troops in Europe?
benkay: no options, no statement,
thestringpuller. who cares, anyways? it's a scam under investigation by
the SEC. doomed, I
tell you (to enjoy
the new scion
TC!)
mircea_popescu: thestringpuller since
the option
thing is ended ima report it end of month line normal assets.
pLambert: "In 1974, one could easily find company-sized organizations in U.S. Army Europe" wth does
the US have so many
troops in Europe?
benkay: blackwater will eventually own
texas, much like
the roman mercs ate
the empire.
the20year2: to secure europe from
the evil russian bear?
mircea_popescu: anyway, just some retired something or
the other harping about how expensive and hard it is.
the20year2: Very much correct, it was always assumed
to go nuclear within 24hrs of
the outbreak of conflict
mircea_popescu: that
the us army at no point past ww2 had a standing chance in europe.
mircea_popescu: "On alert,
this
tattered, morally compromised army was
to clear post in under an hour, move
to its defensive positions on
the West German border with
the Warsaw Pact, fight outnumbered five
to one and win. Such odds were daunting."
benkay: vegetables in
the mail for bitcoin
benkay: the rest of us grub in
the dirt for spuds.
benkay: what's so novel about
that?
mircea_popescu: but it's fucking ridiculous
that i have
to maintain a private supply network in fucking 2014
jurov: every
time i'm shopping in austria i must fight rage, everything is really fresher
mircea_popescu: (they recently had a case about how illegal all
this is)
mircea_popescu: the20year2
that data is corrupted, and milk is a fine example.
the20year2: Median supermarket margins in
the US are 15%
mircea_popescu: meanwhile, independent romanian farmers sell 5% milk for 0.5 lei, and 1.5% milk is on sale in
the supermarkets for... 6 lei.
the20year2: Certainly is if
the population is
to continue
to grow, if you continue on with less efficient methods of food delivery people starve
mircea_popescu: but
this recent "can't eat an apple with a spot" neurosis is not naturally occuring in human populations.
mircea_popescu: the20year2 moreover,
that's phase 2 material. obviously
the supermarket can
train
the clueless consumer in a number of ways
to build a moat around itself.
joecool: it still works for some merchants
that don't have access
to
their own in-house mailing list
mircea_popescu: had it succeeded
to make it so "all
the buyers are on groupon", it's model of "give us everything for free" would have worked on
the merchants.
mircea_popescu: many lines aren't amenable
to
the supermarket model, but groupon
tried
to bring
them into
the same economics.
the20year2: The reason
they exist is because
the consumers demanded year-round goods
mircea_popescu: this allows
them
to buy everything very cheap and sell it as expensive as
they want.
mircea_popescu: and it can similarly
tell any
town dweller
to stfu and starve.
mircea_popescu: specifically : supermarkets exist
to scam consumers, because
the supermarket is large, so it can
tell any small farmer
to stfu and get lost
mircea_popescu: more complicated
than
that.
the groupon business model was basically
to
try and create a scale advantage on both ends.
joecool: except
they don't do anything but hold
the money for awhile and gamble before paying
the merchants
benkay: that's essentially net 45.
think of
the float you could be making on our backs!
benkay: fifteen days after
the postmark date, we expect
to see remuneration.
benkay: this in fact is how we run our shop. we sit down, figure out what crazy ideas you have, how
to make
them into an actual
thing, and
then work on it at a predetermined rate for a period of
time.
mircea_popescu: well obviously.
the us can't quite afford
to abandon
the notion
benkay: this is very similar
to
the constant ongoing mining fiasco and how product
tends
to get delivered (in my extremely limited experience): "you ship a
thing. it shows up on my door. if it works, 30 days later i send you a check. otherwise, get out of my face."
mircea_popescu: "There is an empirical problem with
the debate over United States military strategy
towards China: aircraft carriers are “dead,” but
they can still be seen patrolling
the Western Pacific."
benkay: another
thing is, as i said
to my colleague recently re a contractor: "ain't nobody motivated by money in
the bank."
benkay: i want
to ship a shitload of features! it's going
to cost 500B.
benkay: it's
the estimation, constraints, fractal nature of coastline, overreaching ambitions, unmanaged expectations...
benkay: sure, it's never
the actual software.
ozbot: Report: RSA endowed crypto product with second NSA-influenced code | Ars
Technica
ozbot: Looks like Darkwallet was a scam [x-post
TheHub] : Bitcoin
nubbins`: new regulation requires all cars
to have under-the-nuts-view cameras by 2015
Mats_cd03: i'll
take a copy of
the zip if you'd upload it