@mik said in Rubio v. Ivanka? Ouch!:

Rubio has zero chance of getting the White House.

So, the same as Mr. Trump 5 years ago.

Everybody knows that. The idea has always been that when the limit is reached the ‘mining’ won’t be compensated from seigniorage (new coins added to the money supply) but from essentially a transaction tax.

That’s what I meant by ‘charge for it’.

@taiwan_girl said in Investing:

For 1 MM baht (about USD$30,000), you get one year of a Executive Club room at the hotel and 200,000 baht (USD$6.5 K) in hotel credit.

Did not find it for "Grand Hilton", but found it for Hyatt Regency in Bangkok. Very nice, includes everyday breakfast and all-day snacks, laundry and dry-cleaning, parking for a car, standard housekeeping, not need to pay for utilities or Internet access separately, etc. It's like you're pampered for one whole year for a fixed price. Now if they can also throw in daily access to a nicely maintained grand piano ....

At the risk of sounding like Jolly, I would highly recommend to pretty much everybody, if you can afford it, of buying a generator, and having a transfer switch installed in your house, meaning you can use it to power the heating system as well as the lights and fridge etc. in the event of this happening.

Very glad you're OK, Rainman.

@lufins-dad said in 25,000:

@taiwan_girl said in 25,000:

@jolly said in 25,000:

@taiwan_girl said in 25,000:

@jolly said in 25,000:

And something else to consider...

https://quillette.com/2021/02/15/do-lockdowns-work-only-if-you-lock-the-borders-down-too/

Absolutely 100% agree. I have mentioned countries in Asia that have been "successful" with COVID and one of the common things that they did (in addition to things like contact trace, masks, etc) is making the "bubble" around the whole country.

But, something like that is not able to sustain long term, especially when using it for immigration. I think long term, better (and cheaper) to make the people not want to leave their home country.

Building a border wall = band aid. Doesn't cure and only temporary

Making people want to stay in their country = vaccine LOL

Do you have any idea how much blood and treasure the American people have spent "trying to make other people's lives better"?

I'm not saying our foreign policy has always been altruistic. We are a great nation with our own interests. But we have stuck our necks out on more than one occasion.

Sometimes, it works. Most if the time, it doesn't. People have to fix themselves, if they wish to see real and lasting change. To just say, "let's make people not want to leave their own country" is mostly unworkable and reeks of naivety.

I agree that the US has done more for other countries than any other country in the world. No doubt about that.

And I do believe that the efforts the US has made, do often work more than they dont.

But you are right, the people there in other countries have to have responsibility for the change also. It cannot be, and never should be, the US coming and saying, "Do this. Doesn't matter what YOU want. We know what we want you to do." That is a receipt for failure.

OVerall, people are pretty good. And in my experience in different countries, people who illegal immigrate do not do it as their first choice. IF there were a choice:

A. opportunity to improve their life in their home country
B. illegal immigrate to a strange country, different language, etc.

The high majority of people will choose A

Often these countries are in the condition they are in because of poor leadership. Either corruption or incompetence and often both. The US giving money to these nations just winds up feeding the corrupt or being used incompetently. I’m reminded of the German “super rabbits” given to North Korea as part of a breeding program. The North Korean officers had a banquet to celebrate and ate all the rabbits.

Giving money to many of these countries is oftentimes just making things worse.

Agree with the first part for sure. You (general you) however cannot just walk away.

Moving to a more isolation policy will result in:

giving power to others in the world (for example China) basically saying that our country will not be a superpower anymore in 100 years.

@george-k said in Any guesses?:

@taiwan_girl said in Any guesses?:

What is stopping a country leader from picking up the phone and calling President Biden?
Seems kind of weird to have this be a problem.

Nothing.

But this is different from other presidents. And that's the point of the original post - a break from tradition.

I'd pay good money to read the letter that was left in the desk in the oval office, by the way. Not a lot of money, but it would be good.

President Trump and Premier Xi spoke after President Trump won election in 2016 but was not even yet inaugurated.

President Biden did not speak with Premier Xi the first time until ~20 days after inauguration.

What does that mean? Is President Biden tougher on China than President Trump? 🙂

A sad story. Money can bring a lot of happiness, but many times, also results in many sad family stories.

@89th said in How low can you go:

That is low, but also not pleasant to listen to. Notes lower than the lowest G on the piano are...just weird.

I am kind of with you, I did not like it that much. It was just "okay" for me.

Very good!

@george-k said in NASA Invites Public to Share Thrill of Mars Perseverance Rover Landing:

Screen Shot 2021-02-18 at 5.44.02 PM.png

🤘

I assume bourbon is an acceptable substitute.

If not, I don't care.

I wasn't even aware that there were "Business" and "Education" versions of the Microsoft App Store.

Note, the "Windows 10" version of the store does not require a zero price.

So I looked and there were a couple of my Apps in the "Business" and "Education" stores. I have had these Apps in the "Windows 10" store for years. And they remain in the "Windows 10" store with non-zero prices.

As far as I know my income from the "Business" and "Education" stores is zero, so I'm not going to miss them.

I am planning on being completely out of the App Store business by the end of the year, so I'm not worried about it.

For iOS Apps with Apple, they do ask if I would be willing to allow them to use the Education Discount for my Apps. I believe I have always been willing to let them give the Education discount, I can't remember if I have actually given that discount to anyone.

@george-k said in 23 Dead:

@doctor-phibes said in 23 Dead:

To be fair, Ted Cruz has also got no shortage of egg on his face

To be fair, Ted was criticizing exactly the policies that got Texas in trouble. That doesn't absolve him of some deserved shame, but his point stands, even if it is in his home state.

It's not just wind-power that has taken a beating. Coal, nuclear and natural gas contributions have actually been reduced by more than the wind power.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-56085733

Tried to set up a Parler account. Can't get by Next.

Chicago has figured out how to walk on chewing gum all at the same time.

That is great.

Link to video

makes sense.