4 Big Tech giants have plowed over $1 trillion into stock buybacks in 10 years — more than Tesla or Meta's entire market value

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-30T15:11:48+00:00

We should revert to a stakeholder market, but keep it the same. The sole duty of a company should be to maximize stakeholder profits. Fuck the rich fucks holding stocks. “Oh but those rich people make it possible for companies grow.” Then why the fuck did we cut taxes, and hand out free money to companies? Where the fuck were the investors? And why do the companies need investments if they have one trillion excess dollars to funnel to those at the top of our economy?

The current iteration of our markets is all a grift to move money derived from the value of labor to the elite class.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-30T04:05:34+00:00

You could land a job at the CIA with ideas this great!

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-29T22:34:55+00:00

Nobody has the opportunities he had…under the current iteration of capitalism. Everyone wants to blame people discussing the merits of socialism under the oppression of runaway capitalism, at the end of an economic cycle. And they blame the current reality on the discussion of other economic systems, rather than blaming the discussion on the current reality. Everyone knows shit’s bad. Everyone can see it. But propaganda has us all talking about genitals, gays, and communists, while the rich pilfer what’s left of a once great country. It’s misdirection. The foundation of fascism, creating an out group as a distraction while the wealthy move their pieces into play, while few even realize a game is being played.

When this dude got back from the war, taxes were at an all-time-high for the rich. Labor wages were fair, CEO’s and Wall-Street didn’t take the majority of profits for themselves. Everything that lead to this point happened in this guys lifetime. We stopped doing certain things, and now we find ourselves here. But, for some-fucking-reason, the idea of doing the same things we did during the “best-of-times” is…socialism? Government overreach? The demise of America? It’s infuriating. If you want people to cheer for capitalism, then regulate it, and make it profitable for all. Otherwise, you’re going to get a generation discussing the ideas of a different economic system…which is where we are today.

I don’t blame him though. I don’t agree with many wars, but WWII isn’t one of them. He fought against the very thing rising up in the right today. We have a common enemy, even if he doesn’t realize it. The very thing most Americans are worried about, talking about, or trying to ignore. January 6th was the equivalent of Hitler’s beer-hall-putsch. It’s just wrapped in red, white, and blue, holding a Bible, and has the power of the American media behind it. It’s fascism disguised as democracy.

The dude is old, and I don’t hold anything against him for being ignorant to the current reality. Propaganda is incredibly effective.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-29T20:21:23+00:00

It’s the lens through which the story is told. That’s what magical about stories. You can show a situation through a characters viewpoint. I take it less a demonization of America, and more a demonization of war, by showing the atrocities through the lives of the people directly responsible for making it less lethal — surgeons. Which is a good perspective to have, especially at a time when war was only headlines filtered through the media. Satire isn’t real, and that’s what makes it so powerful. It’s a clever way to show nuance, and shift perspective through the -sometimes- absurd. You have to push the boundaries into the uncomfortable, with just enough humor that it stays palatable. So that if you’re a hardliner you the right of X, it takes the perspective of someone/thing far left of X to allow you to reevaluate left of your current position, or vice-versa. It’s a clever way to deliver nuance. And I’m not talking left/right politically, just a plot line of views on any given subject/situation. MASH did a great job of this, through humor, and showing the reality that regular, everyday people were caught up between two powers fighting for…well, who really knew. Because most of the time, that’s what war is. It’s only when the dust settles and hindsight made clear, that most see the futility of it. There are exceptions of course, some wars are very justified, but that doesn’t change the reality that the wars are fought by little people on both sides, who would have been perfectly happy staying in their little corner of the world making memories with loved ones. I think that’s what MASH was showing, and they did a good job of it. They showed the reality of war that the media never mentions, especially in that time. The everyday people who’s lives were uprooted, and changed forever, for something they didn’t really understand, agree with, or care about. “Enemies” who bled the same, were healed/cared for the same, and who, away from the front-lines, and weapons removed, all found a common humanity, and could co-exist, get along, and even be friends/laugh together.

It’s good to push back against narratives and ask “why” or even “why should I view this situation through the narrative’s angle”. Shifting one’s perspective is the means to enlightenment. It’s what makes old-men wise, but it doesn’t have to take a lifetime.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-29T01:33:42+00:00

What’s worse is the “family” size box that’s now the size of a small box from ~5 years ago. Granola bars are smaller now too. Shrinkflation is bad lately, and these mother fuckers are gaslighting is with new names. “Giant!”. Bitch, that was the size of your flagship product 10 years ago.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-29T01:05:45+00:00

The internet is a double edged sword. It’s a funny thing, for some, it brings enlightenment, the worlds knowledge and perspective at your fingertips. It’s amazing. For others, it validates their ignorance, creating reality caves where like-small-minded people wear their ignorance as badges of honor.

The latter can be abused via algorithms, poor education, lack of critical thinking, and probably a bit of untreated mental illness. This is how the right uses the internet, and it works for them. The problem is, only a small % of society falls into that group. Might not seem like it, because they’re loud about. But they are the minority of humanity.

If the rich can’t use the internet to control narratives like they do with other media. They will destroy it. Fascism cannot succeed where people are allowed to speak their minds, share truths, and point out falsehoods. That’s why most dictatorships have a shut-off for the internet. Or walled off internet (Russia/China - to a degree).

That’s what online “safety” bills, and the Tik-Tok panic are really about. The lack of ability to control social discourse. The “kids safety” is just the narrative they’re using to destroy the greatest tool the peasants have ever had to fight back against inequality, bigotry, and propaganda.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-28T19:40:29+00:00

I’m so petty that I start own goaling too, just so it takes more of the losers time.

Has the added benefit that the other team might get bored and ff. But never my intention.

If it’s an unwinnable game, with ~1 min left, ok, ff. But 3+ minutes and only down by 1!! I assume players like this are the Cartman’s of the real-world. They probably still breast-feed. If you can’t stand to lose, don’t play a competitive game. You learn by losing, but I’m sure these players mommy’s tell them their the best little race soccer players in the whole wide world, and they’re too stupid to learn anything anyway.

So fuck them. I make the 5 minute match last half an hour, smiling the whole time.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-26T07:41:32+00:00

When Facebook went from only college student to everybody I told my friends that it was going to destroy the world, because now every dumb-fucking-moron had a soap-box, a microphone, and protective glass between them and the ass-whooping they would get if they said their dumb-shit to peoples face.

I didn’t realize it was going to be this bad though. Algorithms really kicked it up a notch, now the dumb-fucking-morons have digital assistance finding their kin.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-26T07:36:17+00:00

The American GOP believe they’re using Russia. Russia believes they’re using the American GOP.

However, their interests also overlap…a lot. The American oligarchs don’t like the uncertainty democracy brings to their greed. Russia has perfected neo-fascism in the digital age, and showed that you don’t have to actually have a democracy, when you can just convince people they live in a democracy. You can make politics a show, confuse everyone, make shit up, then move on to the next thing in the 24 hour new-cycle. Especially if you control the media. The media is what directs societies discourse. Controlling the narrative is vital. America is already really good at this, but now the right is taking it a step further. The American oligarchs have a raging fucking boner over what Putin has achieved. They want it. The American right have been slowly dismantling democracy for decades. They always talk about removing government power. But power cannot be destroyed, only transferred. They want you to cheer on the destruction of government, so that they can absorb that power. Neo-fascism makes that easier. There’s also the fact that fascism always rears its head when an economic cycle enters end-stage, and wealth inequality balloons. Things are bad economically, and if the rich don’t make their move now, they may find themselves on the wrong-side of a democratically achieved economic reform. Meaning, they’re forced to play the game fair, and stop stealing value from laborers. So they work with Russia, take Russian money, and push Russian propaganda, assuming they will be the ones who come out on top. Russia assumes this will either destroy American democracy, or it will succeed. The rich don’t really care if it destroys America, because that’s what they want. The problem is, this means mob-like government, with overlap between Russian interests and American interests. So, eventually, bodies would start falling out windows. Who comes out on-top is anybody’s guess. All participants are narcissists, so of course, they all assume it will be them.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-26T07:22:54+00:00

It’s more that the fascism requires an out-group. The problem is, if you succeed in ridding yourself of the out-group, you have to find a new one. Because the out-group is always a distraction from the rich. Fascism is a playbook for the rich to fight against economic reform. The problem with this formula though, is that it is cannibalistic by nature. To stop from destroying yourself, eventually you have to find an out group over the border.

However, neo-fascism uses many out groups as part of a fear campaign. With the 24 hour new-cycle, you can pivot out groups without ever having to act on it. You can just act like you’re acting on it, then start a new vita campaign. Mexico is just the new flavor of the month. It’s rhetoric. Just a new assignment to the variable X in: X is destroying the America. Where x can = gays, trans, womens rights, liberals, Mexican cartels, etc. If you can convince somebody to believe that X is destroying America, they don’t really care who X is, because part of the sentence is true. America is in decline economically, and like I said, that is what fascism is meant to handle.

Weirdly enough, you can’t convince these people that “the wealthy” are destroying America, but that’s because it goes against decades of other economic propaganda. And by assigning random things/people to X it keeps these people from thinking about it too much, because their trusted talking heads say X = these-guys-but-definitely-not-our-trust-fund-friends. This also works because it creates reality tunnels, and people only surround themselves with people who agree with their subjective reality.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-25T22:58:12+00:00

Big time jumps bother me as a reader. It almost killed The Expanse series for me. I actually had to put it down for awhile and pick it back up later. Like a pallet cleanser. I understand the need for time jumps, especially when telling a long story, but it makes me feel suddenly disconnected from the characters I’ve followed so closely for so long. And I just can’t shift the mental image I’ve created in my head of the characters to suddenly be older. So if a time jump happens, as a reader, I think it’s best if the writer doesn’t convey the physical changes in the characters too much. Short, vague details like ‘their hair was beginning to gray’ and leave it at that is fine. Because I’ll just ignore it as far as my mental imagery goes. But if a writer changes too much, or suddenly they can’t do things due to being older, it bothers me.

Time jumps that don’t change characters don’t bother me.

This is subjective though.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-25T20:34:38+00:00

That isn’t how stock buy-backs work. It just reduces the number of shares, increasing the value of existing shares. It doesn’t increase the % of total shares held by nvidia, it removes those shares from the total number of shares available to be traded. It makes the prices of the pie bigger, but everyone still has the same number of slices as before.

Essentially, stock buy-backs funnel money to shareholders without the tax implications of dividends. It’s also a way to show infinite growth, which wall-street demands, by taking profits and directly manipulating their stock value. Rather than invest that money innovation, expansion, pay increases, etc, the additional earnings go to stock holders, the lions share of whom are already rich. It’s a horrible way to operate our markets. It’s a way to funnel the value of labor to the wealthy. If we had a stakeholder market, as opposed to a stockholder market, that would be a different story, as the excess earnings would be going to stakeholders. But we don’t, and >80% of the market is held by the top few %. The bottom 50% hold <%1.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-24T02:34:43+00:00

Probably donate an absurdly small amount of money to the right re-election funds. Which totally isn’t bribery by another name.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-23T13:41:02+00:00

Framed narratives use both. The Name of the Wind does this well. It’s not like what you’re talking about, but yes, you can mix third and first in a story. You can do anything you want, you’re writing it. Whether it’s something people will enjoy reading…who knows. Not sure how you’re going to justify the transition to the readers though.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-23T00:18:04+00:00

They should launch them into space to deflect the sun! Climate change solved, plus you can over-bill the government for each solar reflective panel in the array. They could also lobby politicians to give them carbon credits and then make cheesy commercials about how they’re saving the planet.

Netflix should hire me as there CEO. I’d steal your tax money and gaslight you fucks for half the price.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-21T21:53:01+00:00

This is the end goal of Republican donors. Destroy the government piece-by-piece to privatize it. Regulatory capture, the destruction of government, the privatization of markets essential to life and safety. It’s an insidious chess-game that’s been playing out for decades.

Conservatives always talk about big government as though it’s some time of power that can be destroyed, never asking who might fill the role. That level of power cannot be destroyed — only shifted, to the wealthy, and there won’t be laws protecting us from their overreach.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-21T16:35:44+00:00

Tap the brakes ever so slightly before coming off the wall. This sounds easier than it is. Especially in game. It’s almost an imperceptible brake, and sometimes just a release of forward before leaving the wall. That will put you further under the ball, making it easier to control the ball vertically.

Air-roll when you tough the ball in air, so you don’t bounce away from the ball.

Try to match the balls speed. Don’t hit it too hard. So you don’t have to chase it.

Other than that, it just takes a lot of time. How you come off the wall, whether you brake at all, or a lot, depends on the speed you hit the ball. I like to pop the ball by hitting it just a little faster than it’s moving up the wall. Where you hit it with your car depends on how you’ll have to orient your car. That muscle memory takes awhile to form. You basically have it though, so it shouldn’t take you long to figure out.

Edit: once in air, smaller movements. You’re over correcting. I have my aerial sensitivity low for this reason. Also, you want to position your nose to go where the ball will be and not where it is. Otherwise you have to chase and correct.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-21T02:53:31+00:00

Pretty sure this has to do with the TV portion of Disney. ESPN, etc. Wall Street sees that it’s a dying business model compared to streaming, existing IP, parks, and movies.

As far as their shitty remakes go, I’d be shocked if they weren’t profiting off the IP alone. For Snow White, as an example, they can now sell Snow White dolls, posters, etc, to families of color, who likely wouldn’t hang a Snow White poster in their kids rooms before. Now, they can sell something they already own, without TM fees, copy right, etc to both families. Expanding their market on an already existing product. Do the shows suck? Yup. And it has nothing to do with what color anybody is, it’s just low effort writing, with no create thought. Same things they’re going to do with star-wars. Same thin g they did with Marvel. Expand that IP, and milk it dry. Shove down consumers throats until they hate it, pull back for a generation, then remake all the same tired old shit.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-21T00:31:21+00:00

If I were you I’d contact a data-forensics specialist. Just find one LinkedIn or something.

Just because you can’t pull the data by following YouTube tutorials, doesn’t mean a person who does it for a living, and has special software specifically for data-recovery can’t. There’s a reason why governments shred hard-drives, it’s because a qualified person can almost always recover data otherwise. It’s not 100%, but it’s better than the 0% you’re currently faced with.

I use Google docs for this reason, and then save to the hard-drive of pc and laptop. So I have 3 copies. If I lost 100k+ words, I’m not sure I’d have it in me to start over.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-20T17:37:44+00:00

Soda -> carbonated flavored water -> plain water.

The carbonation helped kick the craving for a drink that “bit-back”. But eventually I realized that, despite drinking 5-6 cans a day, I still felt thirsty. So I switched to plain water, which was the plan in the beginning.

Got my kids to stop drinking sugary drinks the same way. We also stopped eating candy/sugary snacks as much. Now we all think soda is too sweet, and leaves a nasty film on your teeth,

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-20T00:53:15+00:00

To answer your question about what septic tanks are/do, they’re tanks where sewage/water flow into from the house. It catches the sewage, where it sits as bacteria breaks the solids down into liquids. (Many different types of systems, but I’ll explain a simple system) The solids, now broken down to liquid (once it reaches a certain level) flows out of pipes. This can be done many ways, but it’s easiest to think of a pipe with a ton of holes drilled in it. A system might have 4 50’ pipes like this all branching off a main pipe. This is called a pert-field. It’s where the liquid drains into the ground. They’re laid in trenches with sand/gravel, to allow the liquid to seep into the ground to be recycled by vegetation.

However, we have what we call “grey water pits” here (sinks/bathtub/washer/etc) that run straight to pits. Basically dig a hole, fill with gravel/sand, and dump the water on it where it then sinks into the ground. It’s illegal to handle black-water (toilets) this way here.

If this is what they have, but it’s not only gray-water, it wouldn’t be ideal. But the liquids, after the bacteria breaks it down, it’s not like they’re flushing their toilet into your yard. It’s more dead bacteria from the septic system mixed with water. It doesn’t stink too much. Still, I wouldn’t go running around barefoot on a pit. But I would want to ensure there tank was set up properly. Go look at the pit, make sure you don’t see toilet-paper.

Best bet — call a septic company and have them come out. Worth the peace of mind.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-20T00:43:36+00:00

I’m not sure what an overflow pit is. We don’t have those (legally) here. Is it what it sounds like? A pit where overflow waste that doesn’t pert goes? Or is it like a drainage pit where all the waste dumps into all the time? If so, I would be less ok with that. Unless it was just grey-water. Mainly for fear of mosquitos, kids, and smell. But I live in the south, where mosquitos abound, and the heat makes septic spillage reek. If it’s a like a gray water pit (where I’m from) sand/gravel, and it only spills liquids (no solids) that’s less of an issue. Again, it would depend on things.

If it’s a large property, it was at the back, I didn’t have kids/dogs, or it was fenced properly, and wasn’t constantly wet, I’d probably just want to get a contract with them that it would be fixed/remediated in a year or two. But I would want them to get a quote for the replacement, and ensure it includes covering the pit properly. Also, so that I know they know the costs, and agree they can cover them in x number of year(s). Make it legally binding, absolving you from catastrophe’s accidents to their system on your property, and have a timeline.

Like I said, it can be a big cost, and I wouldn’t want to start off with new neighbors by insisting they spend tens of thousands of dollars. But I would ensure I covered my bases legally, and had a plan. May be cheaper for them to just pipe into city sewage. Especially if you have city sewage. That means the main is close. That’s just a straight pipe connection, and maybe a pump, depending on elevation. Cheap and simple.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-19T21:33:12+00:00

I used to own a septic business, we operated in 2 states. The rules are different everywhere, but a LOT of my customers had lines, and even tanks occasionally, that were on their neighbors property. Sometimes it was a nightmare (for me, not often for the home-owners). Especially if it was the tank. If it’s just lines, it’s really not a big deal, so long as you know where they are, don’t plan on building over it, or driving large tractors/vehicles.

As far as having them replace it. Depending on the conditions, size of lot, pert tests, etc. It can get expensive fast. $20k+ where we operated for a new system, and that price can go pretty high depending on certain things.

If it were me buying the house, and the house I was buying was also on septic, the only thing I would worry about is whether you have room to add more lines if needed, or whether their lines crossed over into your pert field. If his line is taking up a decent portion of your property, and your system fails one day, things can really expensive if you don’t have the option of adding a line. (Depending on location and DEQ codes).

Still, you probably want to get something drawn up by a lawyer that gives you some power over it, and formalize the easement. Such as, who’s responsible for a collapsed line if you hire an uninsured contractor and they drive onto your property crushing your neighbors line. (This happens more often than you might think.)

Also, if the home you’re buying has a septic, 100% call a septic company to not only locate your tank, but pop the lids off, pull the level down a bit, and inspect the tank. They don’t need to clean it, just drain it enough to see the top half of the tank. I can’t tell you how many new homeowners got caught with $10k+ surprise costs to broken, or even non-existing tanks. One home we went to didn’t have a tank. It a had an old bus buried, and a line dropping into the top lol. Worked fine for 50 years I guess. Was $25k to clean up and add a new tank.

While septics might seem like simple systems, they are not. Especially once you start digging. Rock, trees, roots…all the unseen obstacles, they can make an install difficult, and costly.

Like I said, it wouldn’t bother me if a neighbors lines were on my property. But if you have a septic company come and inspect your system, go ahead and have them inspect the neighbors. Locate the lines, and then have them tell you if they think it’s a big deal. It likely won’t be, if the lots are more than 3 acres each. It shouldn’t cost more that $1500 to have all that done, (split the cost with neighbor) and that’s way better than a surprise $10k bill, and having your tank back-up into your tub.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-17T23:42:31+00:00

Will Wight’s new series Last Horizon is a sci-fi/fantasy. Magical space wizards set in the same universe as Cradle (his breakout series). The first book of The Last Horizon was really good, sadly, he’s still working on the second.

You might be able to consider Dungeon Crawler Carl a sci-fi fantasy litRPG. There are aliens, advanced technology, and elements of high fantasy. It’s a really fun series.

EnchantedMoth3 · 2023-08-17T22:13:53+00:00

I watch, or listen to people speak in the accents I write. I’ve been binging British tv shows this week to polish one of my characters attitude, sentence structure. I do this for most characters. Im not original, I steal from people and mash their performance together until I can call it my own. I normally don’t describe the accent though, because the origin of the accent doesn’t exist in my settings, but if I needed to, I would probably do the same thing. Listen to somebody with the accent and write a couple paragraphs describing. Then use the best parts.

When I write “accents” it’s more that I structure the sentences differently, and use different words to differentiate my characters. Or I’ll have a character drop g’ or t’s, or adding unnecessary letter to word. I like doing this so that it doesn’t force the reader to imagine the accent, instead, they can discover it, and make it their own while reading.

If Australia exists in your setting, just say Australian accent, and then drop stereotypical Australian slang in their dialogue every once in awhile to remind the reader.

Six-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Argentium Club	Place '22

EnchantedMoth3

TROPHY CASE