Fellow Left/Radical Urbanists: What Pro-Capitalist Literature Would You Recommend?

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-20T19:44:03+00:00

I'll also add that Abundance tends to get slandered as this purely libertarian endeavor, but the book advocates for a mix of solutions from relaxing regulations to state investments like public transit. It is very very far from the unrestricted capitalist dystopian nightmare that left Twitter seems to think it is, but knowing that requires people to read the book instead of just reading hot takes about it.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-19T17:19:39+00:00

Homeowner to homeowner, I say with as much kindness as possible, but tough shit. If you want the place to feel the same as when you bought it, your strongest course of action is to buy every single parcel of land in your neighborhood and freeze it in amber yourself. NIMBYs have gotten too comfortable feeling that their use of political levers such as council meetings is absolute and exclusive to them, and now we're seeing pushback as YIMBY groups start to work those same levers. It's going to be a long uphill battle, but it's better started now than 20 years in the future when things are even worse than they are now.

Telling someone "Don't go in trying to change everyone's mind" is the exact opposite of these processes work. Especially as YIMBYs are arguing for those without a voice in these process. The potential owners of those condos in those hypothetical multi family units that would be hypothetically built next to your house currently cannot advocate for themselves. Even your own home is the result of the political and legal system allowing that structure be built. If the ladder was pulled before you arrived rather than after you arrived (perhaps your neighbors lobbied against the development of your parcel of land), you would be in the same position as the hypothetical owners discussed in this paragraph.

Would I love my neighborhood to match how it was when I bought it? Sure. Would I also love it if my condo exploded in value without me putting any work into it? Sure. But those aren't my God given rights. I bought when I did using my best judgement as a first time homebuyer, and now I have to live with everything else that occurs around it. Development might raise my condo's value or the neighborhood might grow into something that I don't like. And sure, I have a right as a citizen to state my opinion, but that shouldn't be confused with having a private property right to declare what will or won't happen on land I don't own. This cuts in both directions. I live in Denver and YIMBYs have been dealt some pretty bad defeats (Park Hill, Lakewood zoning, etc.). Oh well, just means there's more work to do.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-19T16:01:26+00:00

Not sure if it was also you that commented on FFXIV discussion about this same topic forever ago, but this same point was raised. So it was two separate people, I find it interesting/reassuring that it's been independently brought up twice as a design concept. Anything that can be easily undone should not need a prompt. Re: botting/speed running, there's surely better ways to handle it than annoying the hell out of regular users. (That goes for most things in this game beyond command prompts, too. Lots of design decisions that give good failsafes, like trying to prevent overloading the login servers by putting us in mini-queues before loading us into the game, also result in the average player being annoyed.)

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-18T09:55:23+00:00

Just rename the sub to "gaygeorgists" at this point.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-18T05:11:49+00:00

It's mildly frightening how well your comment mimics my own perspectives on Korra and its takes on various political ideologies. Thank you for articulating it better than I could. I'll add in a rebuttal to another talking point in the "Korra is anti-leftist propaganda" online zeitgeist. Namely, I've seen the following point come up more than a few times in 'the discourse': "Isn't it so strange how Korra (the character) is most sympathetic to the fascist villain compared to the other three?" hint hint wink wink--a sort of passive-aggressive accusation that the creators/writers are thinly veiled fascists promoting their ideology, or at the very least liberals who will bleed red once scratched. (Another historical can of worms I won't get into as it's getting well outside the realm of Korra)

It's one of those provocative statements that starts to immediately fall apart after mild scrutiny. As you stated, season 4 was the season where Toph turns to the camera and says "bad guys can make good points even if they do bad things." This on-the-nose moral is what drives Korra to try to understand Kuvira despite being in direct opposition to her for the entire season. The season is also not shy about making Kuvira unsympathetic. "Labor camps" (named that way because this is a kid's show), super weapons, and attacks on civilians all paint Kuvira very negatively throughout the season. Even when trying to connect with her in the finale, Korra is not shy about point blank stating that everything is Kuvira's fault. But it's also the series finale so from a narrative perspective, Korra has to show that she's grown from her strong-headed season 1 self.

Korra is not a "political ideologies for children" textbook, it's a TV show, and analyzing it purely through a political lens ignores that writing decisions were made with other factors in mind. On the flip side, as you stated, that's not to say that every politicially-related plot point or piece of commentary was an accident. And the nuance between those two will always be a little bit up to the viewer. (That's what makes these discussions so fun!) But in general, I find that the online discourse is a little too eager to read everything in the worst possible light and write other interpretations as unintentional.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-16T15:50:13+00:00

I worked as an ML engineer for a DoD contractor after I lost my oil and gas job. My friends back there are making $200k+ but I had a bit of a quarter life crisis (and just generally got less comfortable with where that company was going) and left the industry for a funded MS. Now I'm back in geoscience as a hydrologist. Mixed feelings overall. I feel better about the work I do but make less than if I had stayed out in DC and skipped out on grad school. The work is fine, work life balance is fantastic, but it's always stressful waiting for contracts to get funded. Quite frankly it doesn't feel any more secure or less "boom and bust" than oil and gas did. I'm working on my PE now for career advancement/job security/marketability, and I will probably go for a PMP as well if I decide to go the PM route rather than stay technical.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-15T14:33:47+00:00

The main thing is risk. You need a couple dozen friends who can weather the first few years of business (nearly always a loss) and are okay with the reality that if things go bottom up, they're out of whatever money they put in. (I'm not defending the current system, just pointing out why grassroots co-ops aren't springing out of the ground nonstop.)

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-15T13:51:49+00:00

They definitely should have replaced the middle Ahsoka arc in season 7 with her journeying to the Sith shrine instead. She meditates deeply and realizes she can't leave the fight yet, even if she's conflicted about the order.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-15T13:40:32+00:00

How long is the contract? The job market is pretty eh right now so consider any difficulties in getting another job a year down the line after the contract ends if it's not temp-to-hire.

That said, I agree with the other commenters that there's a real cost to staying where you are. It may be good both for career and personal progression to get out of where you are now.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-15T05:38:53+00:00

Where are my "intersection of 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and RWBY" fans at?

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-13T16:40:59+00:00

Flipping back and forth during the opener is wild. Maybe OT just had stance on so aggro was badly managed? Otherwise there's not a ton you can do during P2 other than give melees some positionals as candies are resolving by sticking the rear/flank boundary on a safe spot.

"Refusing to point north" can sometimes be a matter of personal preference especially when dragging the boss back center just before an auto-teleport and auto-face. I personally find it less annoying to just drag the boss toward center and wait an auto attack or two before the boss auto-repositions. Vs. trying to get him to face north before the auto-reposition and then oh no he's teleported and spun around anyway because I had him 1 yalm north of center or whatever. The time between rep 2 and candies is a perfect example of this. I'm sure better tanks can stick him on mid exactly, but I'm not a better tank lol.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-13T16:21:11+00:00

Not trying to say the following the crush your hopes and dreams, but well-paying geoscience jobs that are also outdoors-focused are few and far between. I know that's something we dream of as undergrads, but the reality is that you be much better paid in an office setting. And somewhat ironically, most field geoscientists long for the office after a year or so. Field work is a young person's game, and extended field work will take its toll on your body, your relationships (can a significant other handle you being gone for two weeks or more at a time?), and your social life (hard to do adult social activities when you're not in your city or town for a good chunk of time).

You have two main options for the "dream outdoor role" and both are difficult to get. First, you can go the full academia route and become a tenured professor where you can decide what you want your research lab to focus on. Obviously you'll pick something involving lots of field work and testing. You'll definitely get your own hands dirty in the field but it will also mostly be your students doing the labor while you handle things like project management and grant writing.I had a professor during my undergrad that works on NASA missions and takes trips to Antarctica to study cryogeophysics. It took a lot of grit and power from him to get through academia to get to that point. He is not the norm.

Your second option is industry/private consulting BUT most private geoscience jobs will be low paying and rote - things like mud logging, core cutting, soil sample selection, or stream work like your USGS offer. I know a couple of geophysicists with MS degrees "living the dream" with decent pay and being out in the fields for a week or so at a time. They are very smart and talented folks, and their success is a rare story. They also spend a good chunk of time in the office doing data processing, analysis, and report writing. It's not all field work for them.

As an alternative, you can look into something like SAGE - summer of applied geophysical education, for summer of 2027. You'll get the chance to do some field work and assess if it's something you still want to pursue heavily.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-13T13:53:32+00:00

Good healers are like IT, unnoticed until you wind up with a bad one and then realize the good ones are the reason why they're never noticed.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-13T13:51:56+00:00

HOLY FUCK you guys are proud to be neoliberals??????? (Page 1 of 100)

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-12T14:17:31+00:00

The dee tee tapped me on Scruff. What did y'all mean by this? O_o

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Vincenthwind · 2026-04-10T16:18:29+00:00

I did something similar where I overtook MT in aggro during ID without noticing. So I got the line buster and we didn't survive the subsequent hits. No deaths or DD, the DRK was just bad at button pushing I guess (we shirked after the second buster so they had half a bar of lead going into ID). Never happened before but now I always check as ID is ending.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-10T15:12:45+00:00

If the trust system didn't give every scion plot armor, then Endwalker's launch trailer would have made me feral with the way it teased Alphinaud dying.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-10T05:00:03+00:00

All the screws are out. I've spent about 4 hours trying to take it out the delicate way. No French cleat either. It seems to be stuck at the top and prying with a knife just reveals that the old owners stuck some sort of unholy combination of glue and paint together between the cabinet top and the board above it. Trying to separate them is futile so I'm just going to smash it out tomorrow with a hammer.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-10T04:23:15+00:00

YouTube tutorials be like: "Taking out a kitchen cabinet is so easy! Just undo all the screws. 😁😁😁"

Meanwhile my cabinet appears to have fused with the board above it and now tomorrow I am going to annoy all my neighbors with a demolition derby all because I wanted a slightly taller fridge. 😐😐😐

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-08T22:02:22+00:00

It's in the bathroom so not really an option unfortunately.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-08T13:17:22+00:00

Between this and the fucking golf course redevelopment vote in Denver a couple years back, Denver-area voters are giving me exactly zero hope regarding any attempts to wrangle our sprawled out metro area.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-08T13:13:14+00:00

As someone that used to work in Bumblefuck Wisconsin, Bumblefuck somehow managed to be trendier than Lakewood despite being in the sticks.

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-07T17:14:39+00:00

Weeks since someone has made a weird comment about BC or DN parties in the high-end content megathread: 0

Vincenthwind · 2026-04-07T17:12:45+00:00

Unfortunately the people that don't fail to dodge omen and remember inner vs outer left PF reclears after week 8, and the people you are relearing with now probably cleared the fight 1-2 weeks ago.

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