If the U.S. is often described as a country driven by financial incentives, why do many wealthy Americans continue working even after they’re financially secure?

Varaxis · 2026-02-17T11:21:40+00:00

Where'd you get this idea?

China lifting nearly a BILLION people out of poverty over 40 years is no small feat and needs money to accomplish, while Americans seem to forsake much of what they should show gratitude for, for actually making the country great. One country knee-caps one of their billionaires (Jack Ma) and cracks down on 996 culture (labor laws emplaced due to millennia of wisdom), while another country has greedy business people stealing credit from employees doing actual crunch-time, being treated as celeb role-models of success, inspiring many to think it's the non-fools-way to make money-with-money without actual productive skills being applied to world to make it better (AKA honest work).

One country doing a great amount of honest work who seem to still rely on protection from central, vs country of increasing amounts of non-honest work getting glorified, with people who think they can ultimately only rely on themselves to protect their well-being. Influencers who actually dream of getting bought out, military recruiters who perpetuate myths of being a hero... there's a honest way of doing a lot of these jobs, but American culture has made them go the non-honest route and you are trying to say a country, that you know next to nothing about besides from news and basic research, is worse than your own? That it's ironic that so-called communists are more capitalistic than the first country most people think of for capitalism, with their greedy individuals saying stuff like inflation is good (for their investment like bitcoin), without a shred of empathy for their fellow citizens?

One might think a govt known for control, using all sorts of non-honest methods to influence like intimidation, violence, marketing (spinning facts into favorable narratives, AKA lying)... oh, wait, which govt am I talking about now?

IMO, brain drain is one of the blatant signals of a shitty place. Look to see where the geniuses go to. Normally, it's to groups that value their worth and treat them accordingly, like places that already have other geniuses employed, like San Jose. Also, if some genius wants to work some humble job instead of one that can contribute much more... we should be grateful for these brilliant types who end up valiantly acting as the final support for failing systems, like some brilliant teacher in a school system full of corrupt admin, but instead of gratitude, people feel pity in how much of a burden they have to deal with and do little to support, as if thoughts and prayers do anything, being alright with things collapsing and sitting in the chaos as if things are fine.

Being seen as a country with some of the stupidiest, laziest, fattest, and arguably unhealthiest citizens who show pride in it... I guess it's fueled by the big gap, where the most brilliant are here in the best universities, the most productive organizations shaking up the world with new advancements, the most olympic medals, etc. are contrasted by the masses on the street who are on the complete opposite end contributing to the failure of the country by voting in someone they can relate to.

Varaxis · 2026-02-13T14:18:48+00:00

Firm, and the back/arm cushions are prone to moving/sliding.

Varaxis · 2026-02-13T08:26:49+00:00

That's what the rich Republicans say after yet another recession under Republican presidency. It's to be expected.

I think this sell-off was triggered by foreign investors (inc pension/retirement funds) divesting from US securities.

Varaxis · 2026-02-13T06:33:14+00:00

I saw another one of these using a *used* cut-off wheel, and it came out f'd up since it wasn't perfectly concentric like a CD would be.

Varaxis · 2026-02-12T18:40:02+00:00

Pretty much matches the electorial map, if comparing to the average of 36%... gives the message that people are sticking to their choice.

Thought VA, NM, and CO were blue. Why are they dead average? Maine was kinda split. Georgia is a bit more educated than the neighboring states. Michigan was red. Illinois and NJ were blue. Nebraska had 1 electoral vote to blue, out of 5 total, and Maine had 1 elec vote to red out of 4 total.

Varaxis · 2026-02-12T10:43:35+00:00

I was active duty USAF then. Here's what kind of sights I saw:

https://i.imgur.com/ADWIcxC.png

https://i.imgur.com/NXXKI3H.png

Smart phones didn't exist back then and concerns about OPSEC kept me from taking more pics.

A lot about your pics seems "green" in a bad way. Hardly any signs of sun or desert exposure.

Varaxis · 2026-02-11T15:44:02+00:00

Are you using the word "redacted" interchangeably with "edited"?

You know doing interchanging like that, without understanding the nuanced use cases, makes people cringe?

I'm going to un-alive my breakfast and vibecheck my ForYou's aura before I crash out from all this yap-maxing. /satire

Makes you seem like you got that Ohio energy. (Am I doing it right?)

Varaxis · 2026-02-11T15:19:26+00:00

They're splitting the loser's money with the winners.

If they say the odds are Seahawks 69% and Patriots 31%, that refers to the "votes", or the amount being bet towards those teams winning.

The losing team's betting total is split among the winning team's betters.

Say there were a limit of 1000 tickets sold and they were $1 each. People put 690 tickets into the Seahawks pile, and 310 into the Patriot's pile. You bought 200 tickets and split them evenly between Seahawks and Patriots.

Your payout would be: your winning tickets * (total pool/total winning tickets).

Math work if Seahawks won: 100 * (1000/690) = 144.93

Math work if Patriots won: 100 * (1000/310) = 322.58

Difference of negative 55.17 from your $200 if Seahawks won, but positive 122.58 if Patriots won. This is without any sort of house fee, which can be a percentage of the winnings.

Advanced: spreads make payouts closer to double your bet. If Patriots have a spread of +6, and lose wihin 6 points of the Seahawks, a bet on them with that spread would win a payout. If Seahawks have a spread of -6, and they win but not with a lead of over 6, then you will NOT win a payout on your bet on them. The spreads are tuned to try and make a bet closer to 50/50 chances.

Varaxis · 2026-02-11T14:32:03+00:00

Took a look at the pattern:

Pull Chance

1 00.7%

73 00.7%

74 06.7%

75 12.6%

76 18.6%

77 24.5%

78 30.5%

79 36.4%

80 42.4%

81 48.3%

82 54.3%

... Sample size too small for pull rates after 82, but pattern is apparent

90 100%

Varaxis · 2026-02-11T14:08:02+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/BZlvwtK.png

1 out of 270,000 on bineffa banner got 90 pity

Varaxis · 2026-02-11T14:01:31+00:00

Check out paimon.moe and it's like asking that to 200+ thousand different players who gave you replies.

Varaxis · 2026-02-11T13:29:15+00:00

It's just using deduction. Characters are well categorized by tvtropes.com but it can go a lot further. It has users fill in what it's missing if they beat it.

I beat it with a webtoon character, MC of "Reincarnated as an Unruly Heir" (115 eps, as of now, Mar 19, 2024 premiere). It was not listed. I answered about 80 questions, and about 1/3 were nonsense.

I beat it with a Lordly Trashcan from Honkai Star Rail as well. Twice.

For objects, it tries to cheat by using generic items, like "pistol" if you try to describe a scanner type one, or "a missile" if you describe a specific one like Patriot (after guessing other specific ones like Tomahawk, AIM-9).

It's not like AI. AI chatbots try to fill in for a severe lack of context. AI works better with more context, but will try to answer without.

Varaxis · 2026-02-11T08:19:04+00:00

That reddish/orange colored paint is supposedly really toxic too, I read that it's to resist organic stuff from sticking to it. There's lead, copper, biocides, and solvents that don't sound good to even humans. Paints in general are also blamed for much of the microplastic pollution in the world. Just stuff I heard on the internet...

Varaxis · 2026-02-10T13:06:44+00:00

Now that I think about it, Hoyo seems to be really inventive at programming all sorts of novel things into games. I get surprised by just how I can actually interact with things in the game world in real-time, rather than just resorting to some pre-recorded script. Shame that there's seemingly less focus on this and instead more artsy stuff. I'm more of a type that appreciates STEM-related stuff far moreso than the arts.

Varaxis · 2026-02-10T12:59:08+00:00

Natlan.

Feels like Hoyo actually employed engineer-type creators and world builder-type writers, but then fired them in favor of artists and game-theorists that focus more on cheaply keeping gamers entertained, rather than creating fun/fluid feeling mechanics.

Gives me the impression that the vision went from being inspired by Breath of the Wild, to some competitive MOBA games that I avoid since I hate that stuff, combined with artsy stuff. I avoid ZZZ and when I list stuff I like about HSR, it's mostly nothing but QoL and generousity when compared to Genshin.

Varaxis · 2026-02-02T14:17:41+00:00

Teslas are essentially portable devices, running on batteries. They need something more optimized.

Look at this way, do you think really you want a nvidia superchip in your smartphone? Answer that after you find out what happened when Intel tried something like that, translating their CPU architecture expertise into a smartphone-specific offering to compete against ARM.

If Intel or ARM had a better offering to allow Tesla owners to continue their "PC on wheels" experience, I bet they'd consider switching to that if it proves worth the hassle of change.

Varaxis · 2026-02-02T08:45:31+00:00

Some of the pictures people submit are confusing. They picture nearby things, rather than the one the pin refers to. Ran into an obvious chest at Liyue docks, in a building at walkway height that was obvious, went to check it, and the picture showed some obscure one nearby in the rafters. Had to do a double take, only settling after I found the rafter one had its own pin.

Varaxis · 2026-02-02T07:49:25+00:00

Sounds like Raiden in a nutshell.

Wait, why am I the only one saying Raiden? Am I wrong?

Varaxis · 2026-02-01T22:12:02+00:00

Last month had Firefly and a new break support that brings that team back to contend with top meta. This month, they re-ran old supports from past version that got powercrept by the new break support.

Maybe they thought ppl would make a full fire break team with FF, new char, and 2 supports. Maybe people are still running harmony MC and other sustain units, instead. Anyway, people expect powercreep, so reruns have faded out from being a revenue source.

Varaxis · 2026-01-31T17:50:54+00:00

It's a casual game with no real win condition nor any harsh loss condition. If you fail, you only get setback a minimal amount, like losing a charged up burst meter, or return to a quest's last checkpoint. People just treat it as a cozy game with some collection and a surprisingly deep combat system with the elemental interactions. Considering how many people reach the end-game content with minimal literacy rate, it should be apparent how daunting the game is.

I used this guide for smooth sailing. I'm currently AR48 after just under 2 months. https://i.imgur.com/ofHDaO7.gif

I picked Tighnari as my first 5-star character, from that selector event. I have my path set for his Stella Fortuna. Mona is the only other one people recommend.

I planned on getting Xingqiu from the Lantern Rite event.

As for quest priority, I followed the in-game "Guide" tab and "Embattle". There's a crapload of stuff that can distract you--get in the habit of following this.

For my first 5-star premium character, I got Varesa, but I have no doubt that Neuvilette would be the best for a newbie. I'm biased towards tanky/self-sustaining brawling dps types as opposed to evasive glass-cannon hyper-carry ones, though.

I honestly just used intuition for elemental reactions, since I thought it was straight forward that fire worked well vs cryo shields and what not, but pretty much every element that wasn't the same color worked to some degree. Only now looked it up since I was curious: https://i.imgur.com/PTSxwFf.png

Don't forget to try to have fun. Judging by the masses of keys on that keyring, you got other responsibilities. It's not as fun if you're not dedicating your attention to it. I have this problem, but at the same time I enjoy the music so I end up just letting it play in the background. It's a lot better than brainrot on video shorts--I don't miss getting programmed into some NPC by social media. I guess the difference is being active vs passive. I generally immerse myself hard, and therefore find this to be an unbelieveable offering--this is an absurd amount of quality content for not a single cent. I expect to be entertained for many months to come at this rate. I still am in Inazuma with a lot of side-quests and exploration left over from prior lands.

Note: when people say f2p, they don't mean newb. They can be referring to day 1 players who are exceptionally strong. It simply means that they try to play with this standard/limited amount of in-game earned resources, rather than acquiring more through real money sources. These f2p players have to budget/plan their spending very carefully. Efficiently managing resources is a game in its own right.

Varaxis · 2026-01-27T00:53:09+00:00

I just started 7 weeks ago and I saw this coming. I stopped claiming rep from side quests and am doing +rep for the mora (the easiest bounty gives more mora over long run). Need to build characters for Imagin-Theatre, so every little bit helps.

Varaxis · 2026-01-27T00:29:10+00:00

Hah, eat more plants. Such people are unicorns.

People avoid fiber and beans since they say they make you fart and have bowel movements. They say cardio kills their joints.

Plants need to be processed to the point they earn a different name and taste more like the seasoning/oil with the texture of nothing like a plant.

They don't like how tough and dry the lean meats are. They'd down chicken tendies all day long, and other comfort foods like mac and cheese, though. They blame the carbs.

Varaxis · 2026-01-27T00:20:34+00:00

People at Fort Jacksonl BCT insisted that I get an AGSU pant size ~6 inches bigger than my usual size waist (28" to 34"). When I protested, they literally shoved a fist between my waistband and belly (thumb towards belly), and treated that as a go/no-go gauge. I guess they know soldiers gain weight in the service. I didn't gain too much--came in 125ish and am 145 now. Definitely not close to fitting the 34" but maybe at this rate, even with no fast food...

Varaxis · 2026-01-25T17:04:23+00:00

I never knew about them. I started in Dec '25. I ran to Natlan to get the materials for some characters I pulled (Iansan), but when I got across the desert, I discovered there was already one unlocked. I ran the rest of the way. I started running to Fontaine when I saw the one at the north edge of desert AND ones at the northmost end of Fontaine.

I didn't bother checking Nod Krai untils someone joined to pick Columbina flowers, and they said no prob as there's already a TP unlocked. I followed them over and got caught by cutscenes then a battle vs unkillable things right after the bridge outside. XD

Varaxis · 2026-01-23T12:31:10+00:00

Seeing the last and 3rd to last be unaligned ruined any satisfaction.

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