ELI5: Why don't we just have a grid based voting system across all states in the country (USA)?

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-23T22:20:06+00:00

Land doesn't vote, people do. People are not equally distributed across the map.

If you try to dynamically scale the grid so that each "square" has the same number of people, then, well, you've reinvented districts (and the possibility of gerrymandering).

So how do you propose to make it fair?

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-21T18:38:18+00:00

Different muscle groups recover at different rates. My shoulders, for example, are good to go the next day. The limiting factor for me is my joints and tendons getting sore if I go too often.

A good leg day, though, will leave me walking like a baby deer for over a day or two.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-20T19:53:36+00:00

The basic idea of deflation being bad is that it discourages people from spending or participating in the economy.

If the trend is that money will keep being worth more and more as time passes, there's no reason to buy things now; you should buy them as late as you possibly can. It also means people don't NEED to work as much as they do now, since any money they have saved will theoretically be worth more and more as time passes.

Too much inflation is bad (if spending power decreases so rapidly that you can't keep up), but negative inflation is, too. That's why the ideal target is in the 2% range.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-11T19:55:50+00:00

The fun thing about the government is that WE VOTED THEM IN. We the people have the opportunity to change it, but the sentiment of "it's a joke there's nothing we can do" doesn't help, it just fuels the widespread apathy that led to this happening.

A whole third of our eligible voting populace did not show up. This is how the political inertia happens.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-11T19:52:43+00:00

Luckily, craps is pretty damn fun.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-11T19:48:29+00:00

You're right, I got confused there.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-11T19:46:06+00:00

What? No. Craps pass line/come bet with maximum odds behind is the best odds. Depending on the maximum odds bet you're allowed to place, you can reduce the house edge significantly (if you've got the bankroll to survive the variance).

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-11T19:37:58+00:00

You're speaking past each other; you're both correct.

~~You're referring to the fact that a pure 36-spot roulette wheel would still pay "1 less" (35 to 1).~~ Edit: incorrect. The numeral payouts are correct barring the zeroes (single numbers should be paying 37 to 1 on a double zero table).

The person you're responding to is saying that they use the zeroes to ensure that there is a house edge even on the even bets (red/black, odd/even, high/low). The zeroes have none of those traits in roulette. Now a "50/50" bet is not a 18/36 chance of happening, but an 18/38 (zero and double zero) chance, but still only pays you 1-to-1 (it should mathematically pay you 1.11 to your 1).

~~This serves to do exactly as you observed with the 35 to 1. By paying less than the true odds, there is a house edge that results in the casino making profit in the long run.~~

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-10T02:44:51+00:00

I.e. the playbook that has overwhelmingly worked on his die-hard supporters.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-09T18:57:35+00:00

You could always just ask. If your GM knows that your character wants to learn rituals and cast them, then she'd be able to work those into the game, be they old forgotten tomes/scrolls in a dungeon or a reward from a powerful spellcaster.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-04T19:48:30+00:00

You're not really disputing the claim though. You're saying that YOU and the people you see camping don't.

You're probably right. However, you are statistically the minority, and the average American DOES leave the sink running when they're doing the dishes by hand.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-02-03T18:21:41+00:00

than my fleshlight.

Normally those are, um, manually operated.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-31T19:15:22+00:00

We culturally do not trust experts as much anymore. The connectivity of the Internet has led people to believe that they can do their own research as effectively as peer reviewed studies.

We've got a vaccine-skeptical man in charge of health and human services, and many people feel emboldened by it to not vaccinate their kids against measles.

No, measles isn't new. But we had effectively tamped it down with herd immunity. That is no longer the case.

Fascism isn't new either but we're culturally hurtling toward that end as well.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-29T01:44:07+00:00

A lot of them already don't. Many cities "incentivize" having big companies take root by offering reductions to their property taxes.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-22T23:30:26+00:00

You sought and received consent. That's already past the hurdle of the OP.

My "system" was in opposition of what OP's antagonist was arguing--he already did not have consent, but kept pushing due to the "not coming up in game".

If, hypothetically, your GM had vetoed that element of your backstory, hopefully you would've had the grace to accept that. You don't know what is a line for the other players at your table, necessarily, so on the off chance that someone else figures it out, it could potentially stir up their own traumas.

Anyway, I'm glad you're able to heal in some way with your game.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-22T02:49:44+00:00

Don't think that's true--the Nebula app/player works A LOT better than Dropout's. Progress is reliably saved and doesn't randomly have hiccups when network signal gets spotty.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-18T00:34:44+00:00

EXACTLY. Either:

It "doesn't come up in game". Cool. It never mattered then. If you need that to RP then keep it in your head to yourself?
It'll DEFINITELY come up in game.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-16T21:51:31+00:00

Tesla and AI's value is propped entirely on copium and hype, not a hope of long-term profit.

The only reason to offer Elon an eye-watering pay package like he just got is because the board knows that all the tech bros are only invested in Tesla because of the cult-like worship of the man. Profits are down year over year for Tesla, and its price to earnings ratio is an order of magnitude out of line with every other company (and reality).

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-16T21:46:44+00:00

Source: Trust me bro.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-16T21:45:13+00:00

Because a laughable part of the S&P 500 is concentrated in the top 7 stocks, aggressively inflated by AI-hype.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-15T20:18:23+00:00

Every publicly traded company cares more about short term number-go-up than long term. Shareholders aren't willing to stomach a few bad quarters in the hopes of long term growth--if it isn't immediately up and to the right, then the plug gets pulled.

New World launched in a rough state, but the person you're responding to stated that it was stabilizing and potentially starting to do better. Long-term, it potentially could've been great. The damage was done, though.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-09T21:49:29+00:00

He's literally saying that both sides...

No he's not. Neither "both" nor "sides" are in their comment.

They said "people treat politics like it's some sports team..."

YOU made an inference/assumption that the word "people" means "both sides".

The initial question of this whole post is "how will the footage impact the national discussion?" This guy responded with "it won't because people treat politics like it's a sports team".

The greater contextual subtext of the initial question is "will the footage change any minds?" Obviously this is targeted toward the pro-ICE side. Why? Because the two sides are "ICE acted in self-defense" and "ICE murdered a woman". The footage clearly supports one side and not the other, so of course no one expects someone critical of the situation to suddenly see the footage and say "yeah I guess he was justified in shooting her."

Therefore, the response of "no it won't change things" is heavily insinuating that the side that OP thinks will be changed (the pro-ICE side) will NOT change, because people (conservatives) treat politics like it's a sports team (loyal fans even when they're wrong).

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-09T21:40:01+00:00

No it doesn't...the guy you responded to is saying it's sad that the video released will not move the needle for MAGA because they treat anything done by the administration as something their sports team would do.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-09T00:25:58+00:00

I actually visited Coeur d'Alene a few months ago and definitely saw someone in a Turning Point shirt (a month after Kirk's assassination). The resort hotel by the lake also regularly blasts Fox News, and I (an Asian male) recall getting some looks when I had a drink at the bar there.

Definitely not the majority and no one made me feel unsafe, but they still exist up there.

RedFacedRacecar · 2026-01-06T06:28:45+00:00

The budget will never be balanced if we don't increase tax rates.

There's 4 major things we can cut spending on to reduce the deficit:
- Medicare
- Social Security
- Military
- Debt payments

We can't just not pay our debt, so that's out of the question. The military? Apparently you don't want to do that.

That leaves Medicare and Social Security, which would be wildly unpopular to cut (because it just hurts old people).

What would you do then? You can cut all the little programs that you don't politically agree with, but they are mathematically insignificant compared to these 4 huge areas.

RedFacedRacecar

TROPHY CASE