politically manic - my likes/retweets are endorsements - my opinions are someone else’s - live action role play enthusiast
San Francisco, CA
Joined January 2014
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My political beliefs in this information economy: 😵💫😵💫
Another dynamical system #GIF inspired by @stevenstrogatz's class—meet the Duffing oscillator!
The oscillator's trajectory follows arrows representing its instant motion. Because the arrows themselves oscillate with time, it becomes chaotic, which wouldn't occur w/o oscillation.
Chich Picolo retweeted
The level of casual bullshit, lying, bad-faith pronouncements, artifice, bullshit, idiocy, confident ineptitude, failing to understand when they are over their skis, lying, and did I mention bullshit among powerful tech people w/strong opinions... this is not a healthy community
Chich Picolo retweeted
The US is becoming a dead zombie economy, propped up by government transfers that now make up 17.6% of all personal income (double the 1970 level). Medicare and Medicaid alone account for nearly half of those dollars.
Over half of counties (72 million people) get >25% of income from transfers. In Owsley County, KY it’s 63%. Those funds get turned into healthcare jobs that keep local economies on life support. How long does this last?
I was surprised at how much Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security are now propping up local economies and personal incomes
If you look through the data, Medicare/Medicaid have become the biggest sources of income for particularly non-metropolitan areas. Some stats in the data:
- Government transfers are now 17.6% of all personal income in the US, up from about 8% in 1970. Medicare and Medicaid are 46% of all government transfer dollars!
- 53% of counties get more than 25%+ of their income from government transfers (this covers about 72M people).
- Kentucky seems to be the home of the Colonel and government transfer programs. Twelve of the top fifteen counties receiving government transfers are there. Owsley County gets 63% of personal income from transfers, and Medicaid alone is 32% of all income in the county.
Those government transfers via Medicaid/Medicare get transmuted alchemically into jobs. Phoebe Putney Health System has 6000+ workers and is the largest employer in southwest Georgia. Dougherty County, where it's based, gets 34% of its personal income from government transfers.
In New York we have a program that pays friends and family as caregivers. In 2023 it grew by 57,000 jobs and became 38% of all job growth in the state (they’ve made changes to the program now that have flattened it).
We have become a country of healthcare jobs with a propping of government dollars. Is that fine?
I think this grand bargain worked for a while. We were still seeing economic productivity, government spending hadn’t yet gotten too crazy, etc. But a few things are happening now that suggest the bargain is falling apart.
Chich Picolo retweeted
"There's no evidence of any Al chip diversion. These are massive systems. The Grace Blackwell system is nearly two tons, and so you're not going to be putting that in your pocket or your backpack anytime soon."
-Jensen Huang (who has never heard of forklifts)
Anyone check on @gnoble79 and his priapism? Word is he rugged the space last night it was so out of control.
Does anybody recognize a good idea when they see one?
Visit to the solar array at @TerraformIndies test site and the rabbits have taken up residence. The grass is growing. Solar arrays improve the desert.
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Chich Picolo retweeted
can we write this off as 15 years of transfer payments to various contractors, stop the process, and use the right of ways for something else? There isn't really a scenario where this ever gets finished or used
This quoted post is unavailable.
This is the start of @CAGOP comeback!
If we want to win, we should start with a campaign to decriminalize recreational nitrous oxide.
Chich Picolo retweeted
We’re meeting to have a discussion about modular synthesis!
We are also reading Patch and Tweak together, but you don’t have to be reading it to participate. We will spend at least some time discussing VCVrack.
teapawt.net/i/spaces/1YREPrdWgryXb…
Chich Picolo retweeted
A huge thanks to @thrialectics for putting together the Spaces for discussing feedback loops for @technosophists!
One of the topics that came up was fitting feedback to a wide spectrum of systems, so here’s how I approach teaching the machine to navigate probabilistic components alongside what is purely deterministic.
Chich Picolo retweeted
Which would you rather fight a swarm of?
53%Kindergartners
47%AI Agents
139 votes • Final resultsI like Trump a lot… who doesn’t?
He’s a very tough guy. Very funny.
He’s our President.
And he is going to drain the swamp in Washington D.C.
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Chich Picolo retweeted
Sometimes I spend hours studying the work my more technical friends post just so I can understand it enough to talk to them about it.
It just occurred to me this labor may benefit others!
Chich Picolo retweeted
I forgot to specify which day! This is on Sunday:
teapawt.net/i/spaces/1WXElVnJKBZbl…
Chich Picolo retweeted
If the Dems want to score points fast with the new Congress in January, they should investigate Trump & co. for the suspicious trading activity in the oil futures market and the subsequent meddling for the CFTC to stand down.
We know the blue wave happened because the GOP leadership refused to keep Trump in check. It would behoove the new Congress to show the country if Trump is as corrupt as many believe.
Tesla has the money of every retail retard in America and we are still subsidizing it with public funds…
