This was shock and awe tactics at the time. Professional soldiers were trained to accept the casualties dealt out at the start of the battle and keep advancing until the enemy broke and then slaughter them as they attempted to flee. Everyone who makes fun of George Washington for how he conducted his troops conveniently forgets that his army consisted of untrained volunteers who consistently broke when confronted with the British war machine.

Because someone spent decades building a lot of weapons that are very good at taking out larger weapons.

Re reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

It’s not even that. Our currency’s value isn’t based on a constant value like precious metals or jewelry. It’s based on the perceived strength of the US economy. Something even as negligible as an increase in the minimum wage devalues the currency.

The best analogy I can make is that the corporate world is a ladder. Minimum wage is of course the first step on that ladder. The idea to get more financially secure is to climb the ladder until you feel that you make a comfortable living. Raising the minimum wage is like calling the first step Step 5, Step 7, Step 15, etc… It doesn’t change the fact that it’s still the first step on the ladder. What’s worse, every time they change the name of the step they knock the next step of the ladder out, making it more difficult for you to make it to the next step.

In a way you can effectively argue that the minimum wage is a tool of the rich to keep the majority of the people poor.

Let’s face it. Raising the minimum wage does nothing except create more minimum wage workers, eliminates jobs as those roles are merged with other roles and increases the cost of living exponentially so that it’s even more difficult to survive on minimum wage.

The hurricane probably helped too.

Police officers have the highest suicide rate after Doctors and Dentists. Not sure if it’s because of poor stress management or being constantly in contact with some of the shittiest people to live.

Fascism has little to do with ideology. It’s a refusal to allow any views other than your own to be voiced in your presence.

According to the USDA, again, the majority of food waste is at the household level.

But we are. According to the USDA, food waste makes up 22% of the food industries 26% CO2 emissions. And don’t forget the diseases food waste produces.

The only pants I really object to are jeans. They’re hot and sticky in the summer and cold and stiff in the winter. Slacks are the way to go.

Just wish they made cargo slacks.

Decided to do some research after your questions. Turns out the word was used/coined by the French as a derogatory word for money lenders was co opted by the British later as a derogatory word for anyone involved in manufacturing and other base enterprises. And then some economists in the 80s and 90s tried to redefine it and even wrote that dedinition into some Social Studies and Economy textbooks that I remember reading throughout my life in school.

It’s strange, but I distinctly remember three different school books giving that exact definition. Yet, when I looked up the etymology for the word it said that it started out as a disparaging French word for money lender and was picked up by the British to describe anyone who made money in enterprise.

Let the person who has never improperly disposed of their batteries throw the first stone.

The original definition of capitalism used to be an economy where 90% of businesses and property are privately owned. And while I admit that the meaning of words tend to change over time I think that the meaning of capitalism was deliberately changed so that the Soviet Union doesn’t sound as insane as it was to future generations. L

Let’s start on pushing for thermally neutral building materials and reducing food waste. If buildings weren’t concrete heat sinks it wouldn’t take so much energy to keep them cool and food waste is a large contributor to pollution and spreads disease.

Please remember that the corporations are polluting to provide services to the populace at large. You might as well accuse your pizza delivery driver for polluting after he gives you your order.

Just started the Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay and am re-listening to the Shadow of the Lion by Mercedes Lackey, Dave Freer and Eric Flint