On 2/6/23 1:17 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
> On 2023-02-06, 26C.Z968 <
26C....@noaada.net> wrote:
>
>> On 2/5/23 11:34 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>
>>> The other day I went to the bank to activate a credit card,
>>> since I couldn't get it to work on their web site. The clerk
>>> asked me which browser I was using, pointing out that they only
>>> support Edge and Chrome. When I told him I used Firefox, he
>>> replied, "Never heard of it." But I got him to walk through the
>>> activation procedure on his own terminal (which worked fine, of
>>> course, since he was using Edge). At least I had the satisfaction
>>> of wasting the bank's time rather than them wasting mine.
>>
>> "Never heard" of Firefox ??? Bull. It's been around
>> for longer than Chrome and a LOT longer than Edge.
>> It's just a dodge for an inferior web page.
>
> You know that. I know that. But the bank turns a blind eye -
> although I'm sure that up in head office someone is rubbing
> his hands with glee. I'm going to make it a policy from now
> on to go to the bank and waste their time if their web site
> acts up.
Careful ... at some point they'll "cancel" you.
>>> Oh no - M$ makes enough stupid design decisions on their own;
>>> who knows what crap an AI will come up with.
>>
>> Doesn't matter - they'll COMPEL people to use it. They
>> have the clout ... and nobody, despite all the MS BS,
>> rebels. They made everybody buy newer PCs for Win-11,
>> a HUGE expense, and BET they repeat that for Win-12.
>> MS has clearly bought-in to the main PC makers and
>> PROFIT$ when new hardware is required. Nobody blinks
>> an eye.
>
> On the other hand, there'll be plenty of cheap hardware
> available that I can run Linux on.
M$ will continue its war against -IX systems.
For awhile -IX will find ways to prevail, but I
suspect that can't be forever. It's economics,
clout, number of politicians bought .......
Linus isn't greasing lots of pols. Bill learned,
he didn't. Sorry, but righteousness/reason do
NOT prevail. MONEY prevails.
>>> And still our governments are obsessed with increasing our
>>> population as quickly as possible. What are these people going
>>> to do, aside from going psychotic and shooting each other?
>>
>> (Western) govts HAVE A PROBLEM. Look up the fecundity
>> rates. Even the USA is now below the pop replacement
>> rate. I think Japan is worst off. "Success" means you
>> don't have to have nine kids to support/defend you.
>
> Horrors! We might finally develop the resources to take care of
> the people we already have. (I know, it's a dream, but we all
> need our fantasies.)
No, we will NOT find ways to "develop resources to take care
of the people we already have" ... it's impossible. Wise up
They will gear to the "new wage-slave" class.
>> BUT - 'welfare' states DEPEND on ripping-off future gens
>> to support the bread and circuses for the CURRENT gens.
>> To fail at that is political DISASTER (broader disaster,
>> who cares so long as the pols are pop eh). Did you wonder
>> why the US (and EU) are ignoring massive illegal immigration ?
>> THAT is why. They need a whole new class of wage slaves to
>> pay TAXES to float all the "free money" stuff.
>
> Here in Canada we've gone the other way, and are trying to push
> immigration rates up as fast as we can.
For the exact reasons I've stated.
> For the past 20 years
> or so, we've been bringing in between 200,000 and 250,000 people
> a year. For the last couple of years it's been over 400,000.
> (Multiply by 10 to scale it to U.S. levels.) Most of these people
> go straight to Vancouver or Toronto, both of which are becoming
> crowded, noisy, and among the most expensive places in the world
> to live. In other words, paradise for the politicians.
Yep, paradise for pols ... but HELL for everyone else.
However they WILL find angles to make it SEEM different.
>> As for "going psycho" ... yea, it's a problem. The social/cultural
>> disintegration was "in-progress" (usually with Chinese backing
>> somewhere in there) but COVID lockdowns amplified the problem
>> quite abruptly. Way too many people CAN'T COPE anymore and
>> either go psycho or go Mad Max. Dunno if there's any real
>> fix beyond hard-ass fascists - and that has a lot of issues
>> as well.
>
> Yes, but corporate fascism seems to be gaining hold.
"Corporate fanaticism" has been around for 150 years
at least. The 1890's made it most obvious. Since then
they've obscured it. Plenty of whitewash.
The Wokies are, they think, anti-corporate/anti-capitalist.
They don't see how they are being USED both by capitalist
interests AND our enemies. Maybe they'll "get it" when
they're really old, maybe, but meanwhile fanaticism
blinds them. Loads of rhetoric, no wisdom, no insight,
can't/won't even add up the columns of numbers.
My immediate worry though is the "going psycho"/"Mad Max"
angle. It seems people in western civ's just CAN'T COPE
anymore. There will be many forms of "suicide" involved
in this. The latest is the "Great Resignation" ... people
just QUITTING - and, for the moment, finding ways for
the State to support them. But that can't last long ....
And AFTER ... oh wow .............
MEANWHILE, "AI" will increasingly genocide "people
jobs". Let's see how those economics work out ... :-)