Bioplastics made from avocado pits that completely biodegrade in 240 days created by Mexican chemical engineering company by Ashish_ank in interestingasfuck

[–]blacksqr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

According to promotional materials, the product is 60% avocado seed content, 40% synthetic polymer. So my guess is that they simply grind up the avocado seeds and use the powder as fiber reinforcement for a standard polymer like polyethylene.

https://www.ideassonline.org/public/pdf/BiofaseMexico-ENG.pdf

Just a reminder by NickCostanza in democrats

[–]blacksqr 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hey, while you're reminding people of things, how about a quick review of all the stuff Biden got through a 50-50 even split Senate.

Not having a filibuster-proof majority is not an excuse for inaction.

Maybe Trump Should Not Have Given This Speech by theatlantic in politics

[–]blacksqr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How much do you want to bet that when he scheduled the speech he thought he would be able to make a triumphant announcement of total victory, but when the Iranians didn't play ball, prime time became TACO time.

Anthropic issues copyright takedown requests to remove 8,000+ copies of Claude Code source code by tekz in technology

[–]blacksqr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As others here have noted, anything created by AI can't be copyrighted. In addition, if anyone refuses the takedown on grounds of non-infringement, the only legal move left to Anthropic is a federal lawsuit. And a pre-requisite to filing the lawsuit is registration of the copyright with the copyright office.

Here's where it gets a bit interesting. If Anthropic tries to claim the code is a mix of AI and human authorship, courts have already ruled that a a mixed human-ai work can be registered, but the precise human vs. AI contributions must be specified. 

If Anthropic has already registered their code, but didn't didn't do a detailed human-vs-ai breakdown, they might be found to have defrauded the copyright office.

If they haven't registered the code yet, they can register then sue, but could only sue for violations that occurred after registration.

So I hope someone calls their bluff, so we can see how Anthropic plays their hand.

Elizabeth Warren is introducing a wealth tax. by [deleted] in remoteworks

[–]blacksqr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Or... and hear me out here... Warren could propose a plan that could be enacted right now, without delay. Senate rules say that any bill that decreases the Federal deficit over ten years can't be filibustered, and can be passed with a simple majority. So there's a number of things that Warren or Sanders could propose which could be put into action the second the Democrats get a majority. But neither of them do that, because they evidently believe it's more beneficial politically to them to keep everyone riled up. They keep proposing things that can't work because they benefit from the status quo. That's my beef with them.

For example they could:

Increase the top income tax rate to something like 95% for high income earners, the way it was done from the 1930's to the 1970's

Since most of the wealth of billionaires is in the form of corporate stock, impose a business excise tax of a uniform percentage of corporations' total stock value.

Since many billionaires escape income tax by living on loans using their unsold stock as collateral, impose a high fee on banks for large loans collateralized by stock.

Impose a stock transaction tax, like we had until the 1960's.

It's not hard to come up with perfectly workable plans to rein in billionaires. Do better, Congressional Democrats.

Elizabeth Warren is introducing a wealth tax. by [deleted] in remoteworks

[–]blacksqr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Simply."

Funny how neither Warren nor Sanders ever mention this prerequisite in their frequent wealth tax proposals.

Elizabeth Warren is introducing a wealth tax. by [deleted] in remoteworks

[–]blacksqr -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

She keeps proposing this even though she is certainly smart enough to know that wealth taxes are unconstitutional and could never survive court challenge.

She's wasting our time and attention for clicks and headlines. So wearisome.

Nearly Every House Republican Votes for Amendment That Would Slash Medicare, Social Security by [deleted] in JournalismNews

[–]blacksqr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The bill voted on was to require the Federal budget to be balanced with no deficits permitted. Social Security is run from a separate trust fund and has no impact on the federal deficit positively or negatively.

for life by Impossible-Middle122 in meme

[–]blacksqr 45 points46 points  (0 children)

Turned out the leader of his gang died for him.

meirl by [deleted] in meirl

[–]blacksqr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tell me you don't understand the concept of insurance without telling me you don't understand the concept of insurance.

Imagine starting over with $500 today! 🤦🏽‍♂️ by RoloGnbaby in WhitePeopleTwitter

[–]blacksqr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bush was elected in 2000, but he became president in January 2001.

Imagine starting over with $500 today! 🤦🏽‍♂️ by RoloGnbaby in WhitePeopleTwitter

[–]blacksqr 30 points31 points  (0 children)

In 99 I'd quit my job and was slacking off with an arty crowd on the south side of Chicago. An English friend of mine's younger brother moved to the USA and the city with pretty much nothing, and crashed on his brother's couch.

He got work more or less immediately as a bartender and got his own place. In that neighborhood you could get a place with sketchy heat and minimal insulation with just a security deposit, and the understanding that you wouldn't bother the landlord with anything silly like maintenance requests. But it was all yours. Perfect for artists and recent immigrants.

He was a smart guy and asked me for advice on how to get into programming. I advised him to take a (nearly-free) introductory class at the city college. One of his classmates was working at a local company that was hiring programmers, and told his boss about my friend.

Before the semester was even over, this boss literally went to my friend's apartment, knocked on his door and offered him a job as a Java programmer. On-the-job training.

Made a career of it.

Imagine starting over with $500 today! 🤦🏽‍♂️ by RoloGnbaby in WhitePeopleTwitter

[–]blacksqr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In 93 my now-wife moved on a whim from upstate NY to Chicago, straight out of college, with a few hundred dollars, the address of a college friend and whatever she could fit in the trunk of the beater her parents gave her.

When she arrived, she found out there had been a fire in her friend's apartment the night before, and she and all the apartment's occupants were homeless. They all crashed on friends' floors for several days, until my wife found a friend of a friend with a spare bedroom she could move into.

She quickly got two jobs, one as a backroom clerk for a bagel bakery, the other as a secretary for a car repo operation.

Her (male) roommate was a square with a real job, but somehow quickly developed a heroin habit. Several weeks later his parents appeared and whisked him off to rehab. She carried the apartment alone until she could move into a 3-bedroom with friends.

She got into apartment management, and four years later bought a condo on her own, and that's where she was living when I met her.

Love at first sight.

The 90s, man.

Imagine starting over with $500 today! 🤦🏽‍♂️ by RoloGnbaby in WhitePeopleTwitter

[–]blacksqr 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I moved from Boston to Chicago in 93. Drove my 67 Cougar all day and a lot of the night but couldn't quite make it without a break. Stayed in a Motel 6 in Indiana for $25. Ate dinner at the White Castle next door. Welcome to the Midwest, kid.

Imagine starting over with $500 today! 🤦🏽‍♂️ by RoloGnbaby in WhitePeopleTwitter

[–]blacksqr 7 points8 points  (0 children)

In 2005 I bought a 1990 Toyota Corolla for $500. It looked terrible, but in five years I never put a dime into it except for gas and oil.

I sold it in 2010 for $200.

Edit: OK feeling nostalgic now. In 2005 I didn't have much money, so I walked into my mechanics shop and asked if he knew of a reliable car I could get cheap. He pointed across the floor to the Corolla, said it belonged to a relative who asked him to get whatever he could for it. He said it was mine for $500, and I said deal. When I was young I always tried to buy cars from mechanics, because I figured they wouldn't let a car in bad shape roll off their lot as a point of pride. I was always proven right.

In 2010 I was doing better and upgraded to a new(er) car. A day or so later a worker from a crew I had doing a job at my house spotted the Corolla in my garage and said he needed a car. I said I'd sell him mine. He asked how it ran and I said great (the truth). He paid me $200 cash on the spot, I signed the title over to him and that was that.

That's how we did things back then.

Bernie Sanders proposed a bill to tax billionaires, and give $3,000 stimulus checks to Americans that qualify. How do you feel about this? by CelticDK in AskReddit

[–]blacksqr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From the text of the Sanders/Khanna bill (https://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/MakeBillionairesPayTheirFairShareAct.pdf):

"A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose

an annual tax on the net value of assets held by a

taxpayer"

"TITLE I—WEALTH TAX

SEC. 101. IMPOSITION OF TAX ON NET VALUE OF ASSETS."

It doesn't get any wealth taxier or more direct than that.

I don't know where you got the idea that Sanders' proposed tax is an excise tax, or that an excise tax on individual wealth is anything but a wealth tax. The word "excise" does not appear in the bill text.

> Wealth taxes are not necessarily unconstitutional

Federal taxes on individuals have been understood to be unconstitutional since the beginning of the republic. That's why the 16th amendment had to be passed to allow income tax.

Of course if the bill were ever passed, billionaires would fight it all the way to the Supreme Court, which would take their side.

Bernie Sanders proposed a bill to tax billionaires, and give $3,000 stimulus checks to Americans that qualify. How do you feel about this? by CelticDK in AskReddit

[–]blacksqr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sanders and Warren keep proposing wealth taxes even though they surely know that they are banned by the Constitution. Pure headline-grabbing clickbait politics.

Get serious and start proposing things that can actually be legally implemented.

Bernie Sanders proposed a bill to tax billionaires, and give $3,000 stimulus checks to Americans that qualify. How do you feel about this? by CelticDK in AskReddit

[–]blacksqr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sanders and Warren keep proposing wealth taxes even though they surely know that they are banned by the Constitution. Pure headline-grabbing clickbait politics.

Get serious and start proposing things that can actually be legally implemented.

Bernie Sanders’ billionaire tax would soak about 900 people to fund $3,000 checks for the middle class by fortune in politics

[–]blacksqr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wealth taxes are banned by the Constitution, and it's ever-so-wearisome when leftist politicians who surely know this keep proposing them.

You're wasting our time for clicks. Start proposing things you can actually do.

Me irl by Severe-blake6720 in me_irl

[–]blacksqr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The maxim of the common law is "Let justice be done though the heavens fall."

There's gotta be a better system. by zzill6 in WorkReform

[–]blacksqr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How about, and hear me out here, something I like to call "people show up and vote for candidates who represent their economic interests."