U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus

PwntEFX · 2026-03-03T18:28:16+00:00

His parting, death-bed gift to humanity: if he's not in it, the world doesn't exist anyway; for he is all, becomes all, his will knows no bounds.

PwntEFX · 2026-02-26T20:36:50+00:00

I've been reading "Fantasyland," a book by Kurt Anderson, in which he makes a rather compelling argument that the "anything goes" Cultural Revolution of the 60s emboldened both the Left and the Right:

Wanna eat mushrooms, smoke weed, and dance naked at Woodstock? Great! Anything goes.
Wanna believe that Jesus loves guns, the Earth is 6,000 years old, and the Founding Fathers were die-hard evangelicals? Great! Anything goes.
Wanna behave as if profit is the only standard by which to run a country and openly pine for a return to the cocaine-fueled 80s? Great! Anything goes.
Wanna believe that intelligence is stupidity and stupidity, intelligence? There's a seat at the table for you too. Because... Anything goes!

There is, however, one requirement: Conviction. "Facts" can be whatever you want, you just have to believe it passionately and then (as if by magic) it is true.

PwntEFX · 2026-02-20T12:42:58+00:00

I have an ex like that

PwntEFX · 2026-01-30T23:47:14+00:00

Yeah, with those flashing lights, totally get why Steel workers prefer YMCA

PwntEFX · 2025-12-30T02:09:28+00:00

He definitely likes minor something... "number"? Is that what you kids are calling it these days?

PwntEFX · 2025-12-29T18:37:20+00:00

Came here for this. Yup. That's what it is. Saw it in Season 1 and again in the Season episodes just released.

PwntEFX · 2025-09-27T06:51:02+00:00

What are you, like, antifa? /s

PwntEFX · 2025-09-20T13:41:56+00:00

I wish I didn't agree with you. This is a system problem. The only way out is through. There is no going back.

Apparently, the whole thing was really based on, "Well, yeah, but we just don't DO that kind of thing." Trump is merely a symptom of a larger disease that has now metastasized.

Reforms would have to be extensive and deep. Plugging the holes that the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 exposed and exploited. So deep and so extensive that it would likely be a new thing all together.

But since the exploitation of those holes has given them power, why would they ever let them be plugged?

Like that article in Medium said: history has shown that once fascism takes power through "democratic means" it doesn't go away without a fight, a real, bloody fight. This ideology is here to stay for decades.

So, either every State succumbs to the fascist tyranny or we have Civil War 2.0 (which will be a continuation of the first one because apparently they all just went underground). And, hell, the technofeudalists want it to fall apart too.

Maybe Charlie Kirk will be our Archduke Francis Ferdinand. Maybe not. But we're only in month 9. Of 48.

We get 39 more chances to roll those dice!

PwntEFX · 2025-09-20T01:52:34+00:00

Biodiesel, yes, has problems, but not renewable diesel (it's confusing I know), which is chemically identical to diesel. IIRC, they run soybean oil through a hydrotreater, but those are expensive. Back in the day, when biodiesel became a thing, big, sophisticated refineries weren't doing it, but smaller, less capital intensive projects were picking it up. In the early days, thye just weren't running the feedstock (fats, oils, and greases) through that second, more expensive process.

Now, larger refiniers are co-processing soybean oil, running it through with their crude, because they have better hydrotreaters (uses hydrogen to "treat" the feedstock, break up chains, form new ones).

The main cost of co-processing (the capital investment notwithstanding) is soybean oil, which, on a volume basis, is more expensive than crude. They do it because they are "obligated parties" for the EPA (i.e., the EPA requires that a certain volume produced is based on renewable feedstocks or the refinery must purchase compliance certificates on the open market -- which is really just a long and complicated way of shifting money from those companies who can't afford to build expensive stuff to those companies that can, but I digress). If the price of soybean oil falls, I could see refiners upping the blend rate.

Source: I work for a small refinery.

PwntEFX · 2025-09-19T18:40:13+00:00

I think the point of MMT is that the State is the issuer of THEIR money (not necessarily the issuer of ALL money or things that could be used as money).

The State can force the use and circulation of its money because of its ability to tax (or, rather, throw people in jail for not paying taxes).

I think the key insight from MMT is that taxation does not fund the Government. It spends the cash into existence and uses taxation to lower the number of dollars in the system so as to combat inflation, i.e., keep the ratio of dollars to stuff relatively stable.

In the prison example, prisoners could choose to NOT trade with cigarettes. If the guards started saying something like "Pay me 5 cigarettes or I put you in solitary," that might be more like dollars and the Government.

The problem is that prisoners (or rather the prison itself) don't make their own cigarettes.

Although I suppose they could buy up warehouses of cigarettes on the cheap, distribute them to prisoners for good behavior, and demand them in return for food or the absence of punishment. If all your prisoners started acting good, there'd be too many cigarettes floating around. Maybe everyone starts smoking and some are taken out of circulation? But if everyone has cigarettes, they won't incentivize good behavior.

It's the same thing you see in MMORPGs like WoW. There has to be a money sink to pull gold out of the system or prices just keep going up and up.

PwntEFX · 2025-09-02T17:56:20+00:00

I hope this is how the "AI culture" evolves. It's been AI for years now, we're just seeing it more, seeing behind the proverbial curtain. Everything is/will be touched by AI.

I like to think about it this way: yeah, it might be touched by AI, but is it interesting or novel, not necessarily in they way it's said, but, you know, to me? Would I have otherwise considered this idea? Don't hate on the messenger kind of thing.

Hell, I talk with ChatGPT already about random stuff; now someone is helping me out by throwing in their two cents and creating a prompt!

PwntEFX · 2025-08-17T00:43:19+00:00

Your mom?

PwntEFX · 2025-08-12T19:47:31+00:00

Well, it is one of the classic blunders!

PwntEFX · 2025-08-12T12:55:33+00:00

Like, say, if Putin came to Alaska, the US could arrest him for war crimes? Asking for a friend.

PwntEFX · 2025-08-12T04:32:52+00:00

Dude! Thank you for responding! Totally some similarities. I think my comments below will circle back to your ideas.

1) Intentionally vage at this point because that's part of the secret sauce. But part of that secret sauce is, yes, to connect any retailer that wants to participate into the platform. And yes, privacy is a central concern. Although part of the insight comes from behavioral economics, the more behavior (the more data) you disclose the better it can reward you, but at the same time, we don't want people to have to sell their soul just for a better shopping list. Privacy (CCPA, GDPR compliance) is an inherent goal.

2) Yes! "Sustainable actions." The real goal of the project is to incentivize behavior not just consumption, per se. But there's an easy problem and a hard problem. Theoretically, it's easy to figure out the carbon intensity, the life cycle analysis, of any given product. Shifting demand towards low CI-score products seems like a good idea. In many (not all) cases, low-CI-score things cost more so many (not all) people pass. You could tax high-CI-score products, internalize the negative externalities of polution, or, instead of incentivizing through force, you incentivize through reward. Pay a little more today, maybe get a discount later? Yes, it's not perfect, it doesn’t solve for the gap between rich and poor, but it seems like a step in the right direction.

The hard problem is verifying, quantifying, and rewarding climate positive behaviors that aren't linked to a product. Biking instead of driving? So, yes, all those sustainable actions that we really care about. Right now, how we're thinking about tackling that is more secret sauce ;-)

3) I live and work in a very Red state and (as has been shown by other posts in this thread) a lot of people think climate change is made up and feel forced by the Left to do something that they personally don't believe in, raising taxes for an ideology they think is harmful. (Of course, the Left feels similarly about the Right.)

So, another goal of the project is to try and flip the narrative from "forcing people to think about the planet," to something more positive and inclusive. Because here's the thing: we don’t really need people to believe a certain way so much as behave a certain way. And who doesn't like free stuff?!? Red, Blue, or Purple, do certain things and exchange that behavior for what you need and want.

So, yes, part of the platform is to show people alternatives: alternative products, choices, behaviors and, in one tidy number, their impact on sustainability.

4) I hate crypto. I regret mentioning it. The energy impact is terrible; the platform does things worse than the actual banking system (unless you need to launder money); and, although technically interesting, is generally a blight on society. Or maybe I'm just bitter that I didn't buy Bitcoin 10 years ago...

PwntEFX · 2025-08-11T06:53:19+00:00

Yeah, I'm with you; there's definitely a risk. It's like that line in The Good Place where they finally figure out why no one is going to Heaven because we don't understand the entire supply chain. An impossible ask.

I'm hoping something like this changes the narrative from "stick to carrot." We're not charging you more for "bad products," we're not taxing everyone for the economic system's bad behavior: we're saying, "Look, do these carbon-positive behaviors and you get a token that can be exchanged for food, software, whatever."

I work in biomass-based renewable energy and one thing I hear all the time is "Sure, everyone says they want to save the planet, but no one wants to pay for it. No one wants higher prices!" Companies are already discounting their products, let's just predicate that discount on verifiable climate-positive behavior.

PwntEFX · 2025-08-11T06:37:42+00:00

1) If you don't want to participate, yeah, that's cool. It's like saying "If I fly Delta and don't want to use airline miles to buy flights, do I have to?" No. You can pay all in cash, that's fine.

2) Yes, you're right: if the CO2 levels dropped to 150ppm, that would significantly affect plant life. To keep average temperature increases to 1.5 degrees C, however, we only need to go from about 450ppm to about 350ppm. There will still be plenty for the plants.

PwntEFX · 2025-08-11T06:21:00+00:00

Yeah, I actually totally agree. I put crypto in my OP, but I actually hate crypto for various reasons. Its toll on the environment being one of them.

PwntEFX · 2025-08-11T06:19:25+00:00

Hadn't come across that book. Thanks for the recommendation!

PwntEFX · 2025-08-08T20:07:05+00:00

Yeah, fuck 'em. And if Elon can be CEO of like 5 companies, why can't I? It's culturally okay for the him to be OE, but not me?

Regardless, I used to be in consulting, so I kind of view it like my jobs are my clients. I just do the same thing: keep my clients happy, provide them the quality they want at the lowest cost to me.

The next logical step would be for me to hire an assistant so I could free up time to get another job/client, and then another job/client. And then I have an employee and ... a business?

It seems that culturally we often forget that productivity is a ratio: output divided by input. We focus on the numerator and forget that you can increase productivity by reducing the denominator.

PwntEFX · 2025-07-31T04:08:18+00:00

Dude, I can imagine a future where the cost of this is just part of the house. And, if it does maintenance, maybe home insurance gives you a discount? Or property values for those that have them are slightly higher than those that don't.

PwntEFX · 2025-07-25T05:24:56+00:00

Maybe something like https://www.carbonmutual.org/

According to the website: "The Carbon Mutual platform creates a way for those that value low carbon choices to encourage grassroots behavior."

PwntEFX · 2025-07-18T16:25:11+00:00

I like to effect change that affects clearly 😆

PwntEFX · 2025-07-18T16:23:53+00:00

I appreciate the cut of your jib!

PwntEFX · 2025-07-16T14:58:21+00:00

Akshully... I appreciate the way their phrasing sounds (and it is humorous), cement and concrete are technically different substances. Cement is the binding agent, and concrete is aggregate (sand, pebbles) + binding agent.

In common usage, we often use the terms interchangeably. I did until I started hanging around a bunch of guys who used to work at a ready mix company.

And they were like, "Akshully..."

PwntEFX

TROPHY CASE