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Treehouse near Nelson
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2507
This explains it all. Well, not really, it's not ideal, not for me, not by a longshot, but anyplace that offers this as an option can't be all bad...
Link: http://ilovenelson.com/classifieds/modern-treehouse-for-sublet/
I still look for places to live, can do nothing 'til I'm free of the job, shrugged that Albatross from my neck, and it grows heavier by the day. Still, it's something to look forward to...
BREXIT
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Rants
- Hits: 2923
Wealth has pooled like blood around their feet, embarrassing, this, how to explain it away, how it's good for you too (you'll be next),
It's distributed wealth that drives the economy. Wealth pooled in banks and offshore Panama accounts does nothing. It's numbers on paper, it's an even bigger fiction than money, it's a reality beyond the dreams of most Britons and increasingly out of their reach.
Wealthy, Educated experts assuring you that this is going to be a good thing for you because it's been good for them (when over the past few years it's clearly not been good for you...), the Smug and odious faces of privilege and power nightly on your news telling you what's best, discussing things that you don't understand, agreements you didn't make, talking about their imaginary Europe while you are stuck working (if you're lucky) 40 hours a week for an average yearly wage of £27,600, try getting by in London on that, even double that, and the "experts" trying to tell you what's good for you, talking shit about investments and savings and banks and free trade, things that to the average person mean nothing...
The fact that many Britons were googling EU the next day is an indication of how sloppy this power has become, the ignorant are expected to continue supporting a system that clearly exists to make the rich richer, and while it may be better for them than the alternative it is clearly favoring those with money.
"There's a classic behavioral economics experiment called the ultimatum game in which one subject is asked to divide a pool of money, and the other subject can choose to take whatever the first one offers (no matter how little that is), or reject the offer and both of them get none. The "economically rational" approach is to take whatever you're given, even if it's just one penny, because one penny is more than you'd get if you rejected the offer. But in experiments, subjects confronted with "unfair" splits overwhelmingly choose to punish themselves in order to punish the person making the unfair offer.
Neoliberal politics have been a long-term, iterated form of the ultimatum game: the capital class arrogates more wealth to itself while it offers less and less to working people, with fewer prospects for advancement, but points to an opposition that would give workers even less, and expects that they'll go on winning as the lesser of two evils.
Brexit shows that in such a circumstance, table-flipping is a viable alternative to playing the game at all."
Thank Bernie Sanders for that, and he's no longer in the running. Because the US is long past any point of reason. Just. Because.
This referendum, it was the smug, arrogant, offer of corrupt politicians who somehow felt that everyone was sharing in their wealth, their view of Britain, certain that everyone would see it their way, was proof of how disconnected they'd become from their populace. They are clearly unfit to govern.
They are voting themselves out of the entire system that gave them this choice, that kept them ignorant, poor, while others grew fantastically wealthy, who can empathize with a "poor banker" - likely only another banker, these problems of newfound "poverty" - at a level above many citizens wildest dreams of wealth, they don't resonate with your average man, hard to sympathize with an industry that has grown fat off of exploiting you.
Brexit? It's not surprising. The EU exists to make corporate Europe and Bankers wealthy. The lot of the average European has gotten worse, not better. Inequality in pay, income education and opportunity is increasing. Britain, as the second biggest contributor to the EU, clearly pays more in than it gets out. People are fed up with making the rich richer and this shows it.
Black Lives Matter
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
- Hits: 2214
I frequently despair of the legal system, and America, and then I come across something that gives me hope.
Like this - A Law Professor's rebuttal of Student's complaint that he wore a "Black Lives Matter" T-Shirt to campus.
Well reasoned and written. The students, well, not so, this is why they're students, but if all this excellence adds up to America, then where's the problem?
Link: http://backspace.com/notes/2016/07/law-professors-response-to-black-lives-matter-shirt-complaint.php
That Feel Good Feeling
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2509
There's something about corporations that sell you an "Ethos" or "Values" that kinda gives you a feel good feeling. Like buying free range eggs, you'll pay a little more to know that the animal was treated properly. Or knowing that the company shares the same love for the environment that you do. Or finding out that their commitment ends with putting out recycling bins and then throwing everything out with the trash...
Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-tim-hortons-starbucks-coffee-cups-recycling-1.3278648
Now, given the presence of recycling containers I think a strong case could be made that as the "Feel Good" aspect of their marketing is fraudulent and constitutes false or misleading advertising.
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