So at best this turned the population clock back 40 or 50 years. How is that a solution to anything? This is like pining about the good old days. Also, I suggest you read a little about generational trauma, because I’m pretty sure having half of everyone you know disappearing, and that applying to everyone, is going to have a little of that.

And there are articles from newspapers decades ago complaining about people reading and not socializing. Some people just don’t want to socialize as much as others. It doesn’t make them wrong, it makes them different.

Except for his solution is basically, “Let’s put the population back a whole 40 years or so, while massively disrupting society and the economy and being guaranteed to traumatize virtually everyone remaining. That will fix everything!” The only person who could think that was at all reasonable would have to have a grade school understanding of how the world works and no interpersonal connections, or what they mean to most people.

As the saying goes, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

I’m not sure that more loose cannons is the solution to the number we have now. I suppose if he was on a tight leash they could always threaten people to smarten up or they won’t hold him back.

I wouldn’t classify it was witty. Pithy, succinct, a truism, sure, but not particularly notable beyond who said it.

If I was looking for a witty saying by Voltaire, I would go with, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Note also that it’s value is not because it is witty, which I believe it is, but because of the content of the words. Unlike your words, which I can only hope was an attempt to be witty, yet also had no content.

Since no one has mentioned it, I think the draft is okay if it allows for conscientious objection. Realistically, most people aren’t against the draft because they’re against killing, they’re against dying (which is fair). The thing is, almost no one wants to die, and sometimes war is inevitable (or at least out of your hands). So if people are against killing, that shouldn’t be a problem. There are plenty of positions on the front lines, in forward positions, and in secure positions that need to be fulfilled where killing is neither necessary nor likely. So let them be cooks, clerks, maintenance, medics, etc.

Of course, conscripting should be fair and logistically beneficial for the country, like others mentioned. Sending teachers to war does more harm to the next generation than it helps the current one, for instance, and if you’re at the point where even the teachers are needed you’re looking at taking generations to recover even if your country survives.

More sound damped in quiet buildings. You can hear someone noisy in the room outside the tank, but normal sounds are blocked. So the building acts as sound damping, with more in the tank. At that point, all I could hear was my tinnitus.

I like Lewis, but he might be a little too angry to be in charge of missiles.

Voltaire said, “A witty saying proves nothing.” In your case, this only partly applies.

If 1% of your city are criminals, you let in 200 people, and one of them is a criminal, has the crime rate gone up?

Those damned immigrants.

Edit: Ah, shit, it’s you again…

Care you explain why he’s better? Is it his business acumen? His morality? His honesty? His willingness to do what’s best for the American public? His faith in the bureaucracy that allows any large organization to work? His support of the legal framework of the country? His physical fitness? His intelligence? His past record as president? Honestly, I’m curious why you think he’s the best option for this job.

Like the camel’s nose, once you let a little bit of dictatorship into your country, you soon find out there is no room left for democracy.

I heard it was due to greater blood flow to areas that routinely don’t experience that level of flow, kind of like how you really notice the breeze on your face after you shave off your beard. Now, I don’t have any proof this is it, but a month or so of regular brisk walks should be enough for your cardiovascular system to adapt to the new requirements, causing the sensation to vastly reduce if not disappear completely.

Heating/cooling works better with a heat sink, such as concrete. Water is also heavy, so laying it on top of the floor is far easier than suspending it from the ceiling. Also, in many places you will want to both heat and cool, and running heating and cooling in different locations costs up to twice as much. The easiest solution is to move the air, so fans do just fine.

My computer doesn’t support Win11, so I have that going for me. Transitioning to the Steam Deck for my gaming, which has been a slow but mostly positive process. Some of the games don’t play well outside of Windows, but none of the ones I really want to play, and I can always switch to my computer if I do.

I don’t think I’ll ever own a Win11 computer.

It’s true you will never get rid of all of it but, just like crime, basic enforcement is a deterrence. They know who’s buying, they know where they’re shipped, they have a fair idea if they’re returned. Just requiring reviews to be from purchasers after they’ve received the product, removing positive reviews for returns without replacement (or flagging them as returned), and a few other steps would make fake reviews either very expensive or very expensive for the results.

The fact is, Amazon makes most of their money on AWS, and I don’t think they care to put in the real effort to make their marketplace trustworthy again. Without that, it will continue its downward spiral.

I have better things to do, that’s why I’m here.

You’re loony!

This feel like the whole “chefs are insulted if you order well done steak” thing. I get the sentiment, and you probably can’t show the limits of your skill with a well done steak, but the customer isn’t going to enjoy it more if you give them what they don’t want.