Comments by "DynamicWorlds" (@dynamicworlds1) on "vlogbrothers" channel.

  1.  @Night-rage  Trump has been terrible on Syria. Helping Turkey invade, and the redeployng the troops preventing that to the Syrian oil fields which he openly admitted was just a move to take Syrian oil (a warcrime, btw) for example. Just because Hillary would also have been terrible on something doesn't mean Trump is good. As for "who"...if you notice, Hillary isn't running, and someone with an active history of opposition to her politics is currently polling in the #2 slot and rising.
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  2. Sheepman to believe taxes are theft, you have to fundamentally misunderstand currency. (Feel free to blame any economics teachers you've had for teaching you myth instead of fact) The truth is that money wasn't an invention to make barter run smoother. The idea that primitive societies ran on barter was a myth thought up to explain the origin of money before we knew better. No such pre-money society ever existed. They, instead, run on a nebulous gift and credit system (basically, gifts are given and people keep track of who ows who for what, and return the favor later). Money was invented by governments to pay public servants (originally soldiers, but far expanded since then), since the previous systems don't really work for them, for multiple reasons. The money represents the debt a society has to their public servants, and by requiring people to turn in a certain number yearly, you create demand for something only the public servants have and can give in exchange for services. In that way, money is your debt to society, taxes give the tokens representing that debt market value (which is created by demand, afterall), and paying your taxes are how you 0 out that debt and show that you have paid your debt to the people that work to make your civilization possible. With that understanding of what money actually is, ironically, it's not paying your taxes that is theft, because in not paying them, you are benefiting from the fruits of others' labor and refusing to pay them. It's also not compulsory, as you're welcome to leave, but if you don't find the options with lower taxes appealing (as I expect you don't) I ask that you please give a little more respect to those that work to make your way of life possible, and not slander the way they're paid.
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  3. Even more than that, the only way you can even think to compare an attempted coup to the short squeeze is if you believe the government to be owned/an extension of the neo-feudalist rule of the rich/corporations. They are showing us what they actually believe.
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  4. You know, real talk....the level of internalized self-hatred among millennials from years of ageist millenial-bashing for things that are largely both not our fault and which we are leading the fight against is really starting to worry me.
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  5.  @GeoffreyCavalier  I think we've a ways to go before we can make the government do things that make obvious sense (also, kinda skeptical we have more influence than the lobbying groups representing those who profit from the government wasting all that money on them)
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  6. Meanwhile, on top of the inherent flaws in our voting system (first past the post elections, gerrymandering, and the electoral college) we still have the interstate crosscheck program (which knocked significantly more minority voters off the rolls than votes Trump won by in key states), a democratic party which still hasn't faced how it rigged its own primary (through at minimum multiple methods of illegally suppressing/disenfranchising millenials, media collusion, and breaking internal rules...on top of all sorts of structural problems and colluding with the media to push Trump forward in the Republican primary), legalized bribery, and electronic voting machines which at minimum have been proven vulnerable and in most Presidential elections this century produced suspicious and inexcusable errors. What we need is an election system that deserves trust, and for as much as Trump's rhetoric is problematic, we don't have that and shouldn't pretend like we do.
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  7.  @Night-rage  the thing we need to do is push hard enough for Bernie that they would have to either let him win or abandon the illusion of democracy that keeps the population from rising up. Put them in a loose-loose situation for once. Donate, volunteer, and (if I may add a third) agitate.
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  8.  @kizutsuitatenshi3211  your current president is a fascist. Anti-intellectualism is core to fascism because it is largely a revolt against enlightenment values. I know that isn't a very useful answer, but it is one we all have to understand with the global rise of right-wing extremism.
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  9.  @pisoprano  I can see it now, Ravens striking because the coins they were paid with weren't polished as per their contract.
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  10. Nevermind that giving everyone access to college and healthcare have been proven to be more successful in plenty of other nations? Not everything breaks down into simple binaries of democratic nations with free markets on a good side and totalitarian communism on the evil side. The easiest way to end up viewing a group as a monolith is to not actually sit down and talk to any of them.
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  11. deadasfak  I'm not surprised that Hank watches Contrapoints, but I was surprised that mouthfeel was brought up.
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  12.  @cityguard4847  really? People purposefully make themselves sick so they can get meds? Do you even listen to yourself?!
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  13. Once saw a heavy SUV with 4/all wheel drive and a Texas licence plate hit a semi twice in the same accident because he thought that his vehicle meant he could drive at normal speed in heavy snow. He continued on passing a lot of traffic of people used to snow driving half his speed in every kind of vehicle. We later passed him in a ditch because he kept trying to just power through it while 2 wheel drive cars were still moving. Sorry, but ego doesn't add traction. Disrespect the weather and you will be lucky to be the only one to pay the price.
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  14. For whatever it's worth, living surrounded by the BS in the USA is also driving those of us who haven't bought in mad. Seriously, a solid quarter of the country just doesn't care about the truth or has contempt for the very idea of truth.
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  15.  @ianlinera1376  the election had US psy-ops finger prints all over it from the largely/completely BS charged brought against the previous President with US aid at a very specifically timed point to dirrect support to the current president from some of the same people buying off our politicians. For more of the general pattern of how it works and what has been done in the past, please look up "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" (there are audiobooks on YouTube if that is your preferred format) Btw, this means that, not only does this mean it isn't wholly their fault, but it means the CIA will likely be protecting "our" investment, making solutions rather difficult, as they are very experienced in propping up fascists serving business interests (especially in Central and South America)
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  16. Also, you may be safer waking in the snow if you can't tell if an area is clear or covered in black ice. A sidewalk or parking lot that has refrozen is way more dangerous than one that wasn't shoveled in the first place. If lighting conditions are bad, walk on the white.
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  17.  @danatronics9039  a moderate who is shifting the overton window far enough left that left-wing ideas are actually able to be talked about for a change. That's a big deal and you're a fool to turn up your nose at it. No one left of Bernie is likely to win until after we have Bernie or someone equivalent as President.
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  18. The change in the dominant form of government has a lot to do with it as those that bare most of the costs of war now have a say in government. Also, even without the threat of nukes, if we learned anything from WW2 it's that industrial war isn't profitable as you have to destroy too much of value of a nation (in its infrastructure and industry) to win the war. The cost-benefit relationship has changed, so behavior has changed.
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  19. I have odd oppinions about airplane seats including: If they want thinner seats, they should make them like those mesh office chairs. This would also save weight and therefore fuel. If people are so divided about reclining seats, have one side of the plane have seats that can't recline and let people decide which side they want to sit on. We should have more and better trains.
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  20. If you're slow to wake up and know you're going to hit snooze anyway, put a nice soft alarm on your phone as the first to begin the process, then set a 2nd, harsher alarm after that (and bonus if it, or the one following it is across the room). If you find yourself sleeping through your alarm, set the radio channel to a station with lots of talking, and (if you can, clock radios are great for this, even if you need to go to a thrift store to get a cheap one) tune it so it's a bit staticy so it's intelligible as speech, but really annoying and you want to get up and make it stop. Combine this with a reminder to switch your clock radio from radio alarms to beeping every month so you can never get too used to either. As someone that's struggled with assorted sleep problems (including a non-24-hour internal clock) I find these steps used in conjunction with others to work very well. Bonus if you can set up your final allarm across the room and simply forbid yourself to lay back in bed once you've gotten up to turn the obnoxious thing off.
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  21. dothedeed I bus too, and try to think of the time to get there as my slowest walking speed + a little extra. Then, if I'm running late or the bus is early, I make myself run as fast as I can. It's not perfect, but the more instant and viseral the punishment for bad actions is, the better the bad behavior is conditioned out, so it works ok when combined with other methods.
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  22. The algorithm....it knows too much
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  23. How old do you feel today? Appologies, misery loves company.
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  24. Much like Andrew, I have to say "yes and no". There are still journalists doing very good work in print, but TV news is pretty much a lost cause at this point (to put it very very politely). This started not with the internet ad Hank implies, but with mergers amplifying systemic problems as well as numerous issues with the format. (which he touched on a couple of). The main thing IMO is to alway recheck the reliability of any information sources you're using. This goes for organizations, specific experts, and even your own thought processes. Not naming names to keep this neutral, but there are news sources I used to use 10 years ago but have dropped when their reliability became insufficient for me to continue using. (and I'm currently on the edge of doing the same for another that my perspective has changed on) Use hindsight, data, and alternate views to evaluate, and when reliability (or relevance) is too lacking, look through the views that got it right for a replacement.
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  25.  @akmonra  here's the thing: unless there is a labor shortage, there are always more people looking for work than jobs avalible. What do you think the implications of that are?
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  26. The solution is to build more resilient electric grids so your power isn't constantly getting knocked out.
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  27. Tania Salgado yes, but on top of being tiny, it's not always consistent. I wouldn't be surprised to see price/yard, next to price/roll, next to price/#sheets. I mean the meat sections where I shop can't decide if they want to use $/lb or $/oz on different brands of the same type of meat on the same shelf and that's not even the worst I've seen. Step 2: confuse the consumer indeed (which, btw, is not how capitalism is supposed to work according to what they taught me in school, but it is definitely my daily experience).
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  28. Also, if you're slow to wake up and know you're going to hit snooze anyway, put a nice soft alarm on your phone as the first, then set a 2nd, harsher alarm after that (and bonus if it, or the one following it is across the room). If you find yourself sleeping through your alarm, set the radio channel to a station with lots of talking, and (if you can, clock radios are great for this, even if you have to grab one from a thrift store) tune it so it's a bit staticy so it's intelligible as speech, but really annoying and you want to get up and make it stop. Combine this with a reminder to switch your clock radio from radio alarms to beeping every month so you can never get too used to either.
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  29.  @hamishgaffaney5323  you are correct. The status quo has rotted and the "solution" that was "chosen" in 2016 was to try and go back to an idealized version of the past that never actually existed. The markets, climate, and political systems are all teetering on the edge of collapse (with our infrastructure not far behind). We need to elect someone who can actually make strong, intelligent changes do deal with those things and mobilize behind them.
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  30. +Imbalanxd Of course you can figure out the trustworthiness of different information sources (including news media) yourself. As I mentioned compare their reporting to other sources, look at raw facts, and check their past work with the advantage of hindsight. Apply a little reasoning to that and it's not that difficult (and as a side-note, it's not a binary, or even a single axis thing). For example, how reliable is the economic advice of sources that didn't see the 2008 crash coming and haven't changed how they approach economics since? How reliable is the foreign-policy reporting of those that were arguing for the Iraq war without questioning the lines the government was feeding them? To the point of specialization, plenty of news sources that are reliable, do terrible when it comes to tech-related stories. It's not like this reporting happens in a vacuum without a track record, so yes, you can evaluate the credibility of information you receive. That's one of the most important skills of the information age we live in.
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  31. +Imbalanxd I specifically mentioned that is wasn't a binary (perfect track record vs completely untrustworthy) issue and that it takes evaluating sources more than once from multiple angles to notice when their reliability changes. I even mentioned that is isn't a single-axis thing so that sources might be more trustworthy on some subjects than others. You're attacking a strawman.
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  32. +
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  33.  @gabrielfraser2109  job shortages of some level are the default state of modern, developed economies, yes, and the exceptions are rare and brief. As automation increases, labor shortages will be relegated to history books.
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  34. If your hands get significantly cold, even cool/lukewarm water will feel uncomfortably (even painfully) hot when you first touch it until your hands warm up. If you put them straight into hot water it will be incredibly painful.
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  35.  @Kokanauka  you're gonna have to go watch Contrapoints to understand that joke (hopefully you're old enough).
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  36. I believe a major general crisis outranks both. ...I'll leave now.
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  37.  Trid  well get over your dislike because untill we move toward electing lots of people like Bernie, the threat of fascism will continue looming inches over our heads and the death toll from the policies from the politics he was running against will continue to mount.
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  38. +
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  39. I've another interesting perspective in that since our society runs on punctuality it is both practical and polite to try my best to abide by it, but I'm also aware that psychology shows that our society putting importance on it makes us less moral and that the watch may have been the worst invention in human history in terms of harm caused. It's a bit of a conundrum that I don't have a good answer to yet. http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/darley_samarit.html
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  40. Facebook was designed intentionally for unhealthy social activity from the beginnings and years ago surpassed the amount of negatively manipulative psychology in its design as the average casino. Even if you don't care about pirvacy, it's still a pretty terrible "place".
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  41.  @umbrascitor2079  navels seem to line up with about where the small intestines are for a species (likely simplifying the cardiovascular system), so the navel should be on the horse parts
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  42. It's both and there is data on the systemic discrimination for things like job openings. In the broader sense, though, keeping poor black people below poor white people and trying to keep the poor whites afraid of the poor blacks and kicking down at black people trying to reach for equality (which the white people have been trained to see as a threat) is one of the ways they keep the working class fighting each other instead of unifying for our collective interests. Same with basically every other form of bigotry. It's fairly basic divide and conquer stuff. "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." -President Lyndon B. Johnson And thus the cycle of poverty and economic inequality is preserved for all.
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  43. You know to whom the way it feels doesn't matter? The dead. The trolly "problem" is just people being squeemish.
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  44. If you think that's rough, look into base 12....
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  45. Oh god, if we had just landed on base 12 instead of base 10....SO much better! We f*ed that one up so hard!
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  46.  @lonestarr1490  nope, you can count to 12 on one hand using the thumb to touch digits/joints on the other fingers.
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  47. Likewise, if you're slow to wake up and know you're going to hit snooze anyway, put a nice soft alarm as the first, then set a 2nd, harsher alarm after that (and bonus if it, or the one following it is across the room). If you find yourself sleeping through your alarm, set the radio channel to a station with lots of talking, and (if you can) tune it so it's a bit staticy so it's intelligible as speech, but really annoying and you want to get up and make it stop. Combine this with a reminder to switch your clock radio from radio alarms to beeping every month so you can never get too used to either.
    1
  48. I have watched a lot of videos and read stuff on top of that, but I still cannot understand why we measure the arrow of time with ever increasing disorder (entropy) instead of ever decreasing order. It seems like doing it the other way around would just make everything so much simpler. It feels like trying to define temperature by coldness, not heat and I can't tell if I just don't have enough education understand the reason or if it's some arbitrary thing we happened to land on like Pi instead of Tau.
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  49. Unemployment low Pay low Underemployment high Market stability critically low
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  50.  @vlogbrothers  which is why they've taking to faking the number they're calling from
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