Unbounded increases in complexity lead to diminishing returns on energy investment and increased system fragility which both contribute to an increased likelihood of collapse as solutions to old problems generate new problems faster than new solutions can be created since energy that should be dedicated to new solutions is needed to maintain the layers of complexity generated by the layers of previous solutions.
I can't help but agree having read the books umpteenth times... even in retrospect I find it more likely that Tolkien added Rosy into the narrative simply to make it clear that Sam was a heterosexual and that Frodo was merely an asexual eccentric like Bilbo.
I don't think there is any problem or harm in reading them as bi or gay, but I'd love to read a better case for Tolkien having written them with that intention. Am I forgetting any character(s) from The Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales that were more obviously coded as gay or any other statements by Tolkien that would point to this as even a remote possibility?
I suspect Tolkien’s primary motivation in Sam marrying Rosie was a literary device to evoke a return to normality and the settled constancy of the shire, rather than explicit signalling that Sam was heterosexual. I can see what you mean though, and actually your point about Bilbo and Frodo sort of gets to the same place (their disordered lives vs the order of marriage) but I think it’s maybe a case of applying a modern interpretation to something that doesn’t need it.
Heterosexual succession (or, rather, the succession driven by the family unit) was (and still is!) a driver of “ordered society” and given both Bilbo and Frodo subverted this because of Tookish events (Bilbo driven by, and Frodo basically suffering the fall out from) Sam marrying Rosie is effectively the natural end point of things. He is able to marry her because of what came before, and their marrying is a signal that those times are over.
I’m going to have to re-read Tolkien now. I haven’t since I was 15, and this thread made me realise I ought to pay it another visit!
I remember reading The Guardian back in the oughts when they were winning awards for their UX and they were my go-to answer to the front-end interview question of "Which websites do you admire?"
Ha, they even have their "Website of the year" award linked on their top banner
When it comes to his Antichrist schtick I say "takes one to know one".
Also, Thiel seems like the sort of guy with the money and connections to pop the AI bubble whenever he believes it'd be advantageous, whether that is the product of a rational mind seems to be beside the point.
This is funny because I remember having to pay a euro to take a leak at public train stations, and telling people that if they tried to implement this at Port Authority or Penn Station that people would lose their minds at the indignity.
> Having seized the vessel, the navy said it could not be towed back to shore due to poor weather and its fragile construction, and it later sank in the open sea.
We don't know if the Trump admin is killing American citizens in these. They don't know who they are killing either. Maybe the first step to pointing a weapon is knowing who you are pointing it at.
Not even the "war" on drugs or "war" on terror? Semantic games aside, the precedent for the president engaging in military action without congress declaring war was broken decades before Trump.
I love me a good Tu Quoque defense. Keep em coming! I can't remember if we supported him cuz he wasn't the war candidate or we supported him cuz he was or if it even matters and we just make up bullshit excuses for what suits us at the time with whatever is convenient for the given argument...
Everyone talks about stopping drugs entering the border but no one talks about dismantling the extremely efficient logistic network that makes those drugs available in every corner of each major city.
I guess it’s easier to blow up random boats in the pacific than prosecuting corrupt officials but is it effective?
I would say it's as American as it gets, and in this case justified as well. Do you not know America's history..? Even recent one? Obama ordered drone strikes in foreign countries as well.
"In addition to the participation of the Portuguese Navy and Judicial Police, the operation was supported by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force – South (JIATF-S), and the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA), working together within the scope of MAOC-N."
from the linked press release, I'm assuming DEA tipped off the Euro agencies that the sub was headed their way
It's equally, if not more, probable that the intelligence about shipment departures came from non-US MAOC-N members and the "the operation" of tracking the craft was where the US liasons provided assistance.
> Disney reinstating Kimmel doesn't necessarily mean his show will immediately appear on all ABC-affiliated networks. Conservative broadcaster Sinclair said last week that "regardless of ABC's plans for the future of the program, Sinclair intends not to return Jimmy Kimmel Live! to our air until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform."
> Station owner Nexstar helped pressure Disney into suspending Kimmel's show last week when it announced its ABC-affiliated stations would not air the show "for the foreseeable future."
This is Disney doing damage control for their streaming platforms and other properties while Kimmel is still censored from a large % of audience he used to reach.
I hope he comes back with a show that burns Trump and Carr to the ground and dares them to try something like that again.
Now this is real patriotism if the First Amendment can quickly prevail, over lesser isms and their anti-American proponents.
Right now, ABC only live-streams on the open web (no Disney+ or anything needed) the shows from their national studios and local affiliates that are produced in-house, mainly from the news departments. Once the news is over each time, on the internet you only get more live news from the web anchor's control room desk, or something like reruns of investigative stories.
Maybe it would have been quite an ordeal to obtain web rights for the entertainment shows (that's a lot), or perhaps they have been holding out to collect extra revenue from those advertisers before showing them online. A year or two ago there were not yet ads on the web during the broadcast news breaks, only a spinner on a splash screen until the ad was over. It wasn't really too bad like that. Now there are ads but I don't know if they are the same as the broadcast ones.
Regardless, this might be a good time to flush it out like it could have been already if they set their mind to it.
Get Kimmel and his advertisers, guests, and musicians to agree to go live on the web and on the air simultaneously so anybody on the web can watch it like they used to do in real-time regardless of whether their local affiliate carries it on the air or not.
Doesn't Walt Disney have an entertainment lawyer or two that could handle this if the right geek was supervising the sprint? Attorneys pulling their weight, with geeks doing the engineering full stop and it could be ready in a week.
This would also be a good time to make special deals with other entertainment powerhouses to get artists like Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen to appear who can help build popularity beyond the ability of the haters. And not stop until it's been accomplished.
Maybe a worldwide audience would compensate for a loss in local broadcast consumers.
Never know until you try.
If at all possible they need to throw a grassroots monkey wrench into any media merger plans for the foreseeable future too.
Sinclair blocking Kimmel's show was the first thought on my mind when I saw this headline.
If Disney had any sense at all, they would have realized back when Sinclair was first forcing all their affiliates to air right-wing propaganda,* that their association with Sinclair is an existential threat.
Back then, they should have started dropping their affiliation with Sinclar one tower at a time, as they secure alternative broadcast arrangements in each area. Starting to do it now is better late than never, but I bet Disney execs are too clueless and spineless to stand up to Sinclair is any real way at all, in part because it will cost them a few $$$.
I clearly said: "as they secure alternative broadcast arrangements in each area"
TV broadcast tower agreements are not ossified. Every year some station switches from one to another. Comcast buying NBC led to quite a spate of that in several markets. It can be slightly disruptive on the fringes (like Comcast/NBC*) or it can go unnoticed or even improve reception.
4 years ago? That was when Biden was president - are you suggesting that Biden was an autocrat consolidating power? (If so, he was remarkably bad at it)
January 6th was in 2021, 4 years ago today Trump was 9 months out from having perpetrated the Big Lie about the 2020 having been stolen, attempted to alter the results through spurious legal means, and incited a mob to storm the capitol in order to prevent the official electoral vote count.
In my book, if people took liberal democracy serious, he should have been persona-non-grata in the eyes of every politician and political party.
Instead he was saved from impeachment by McConnel rehabilitated by McCarthy, and people increasing memory-holed the event, equivocated about George Floyd protests (not even remotely comparable), or were supporters of the "heroes of J6"... now we are where we are, well-cooked frogs in a pot that's about the boil over.
I agree - that was a clear demonstration of the rule of law just being ignored or at least not enforced. I also don't understand how he could appear on any ballots after his various rape charges and felonies - that should preclude people from any position of responsibility.
It is painfully obvious that this administration and their party do not care about the Constitution, or even the principles they were willing to die to defend just 2 years ago.
If Trump wants Wikipedia gone he'll just sue them or open an investigation that never needs to ever go before a judge. Then in return for dropping the suit/investigation all they need to do is make sure that a friend of MAGA sits on the board and can make sure that certain edits get approved and others don't.
People who are surprised by this or still assuming that he can't/won't do something because of the law or norms or "but then the Democrats will do X" need to wake the fuck up.
These people are going to do whatever the fuck they want under whatever justification they can cook up, and they don't fear any repercussions because they are not planning to turn over their new-found power to anyone else.
Unbounded increases in complexity lead to diminishing returns on energy investment and increased system fragility which both contribute to an increased likelihood of collapse as solutions to old problems generate new problems faster than new solutions can be created since energy that should be dedicated to new solutions is needed to maintain the layers of complexity generated by the layers of previous solutions.