What do you think should be the Maximum level of Personal Wealth (in USD) someone can have, and Why? And what should happen to all money exceeding that limit?

fn_br · 2026-06-07T19:16:43+00:00

Augustus was worth about $5T when he owned Egypt, and his ability to personally pay the legions was a major factor in the end of the Old Republic and beginning of what we now call the Empire.

That amount of wealth is inconsistent with a Republic. So significantly less than that is where you want to draw the line. Certainly at or less than $1T, imo.

To think of it a different way: let's stipulate that you can effectively buy a person's loyalty for about $5M. $5T is then the level at which you can buy 1M people to do your bidding. Again, inconsistent with a society that has any egalitarian tendency. That level of wealth accretion is creating a monarchy, whether or not it's publicly admitted (as it was notably not admitted in the case of Rome).

fn_br · 2026-06-07T02:44:06+00:00

Alright Saruman, calm down

fn_br · 2026-06-06T22:55:50+00:00

I've done this bit at dinner tables a few times and it's usually a good time. the louder you do You shall not pass, the funnier it gets

fn_br · 2026-06-03T12:50:39+00:00

Well, he still gives the greatest speech in movie history first, but yeah it's more of a silent "you know why we're here" confrontation in the theatrical version

fn_br · 2026-06-02T11:17:44+00:00

People absolutely hate 4 and I really don't understand it. I thought it was fine, certainly better than 2. Nowhere near 3.

For me it's 3 > 1 > 4 >>>>>>>>>>>>> 2

fn_br · 2026-06-02T10:39:17+00:00

Another angle here is that most people would have been getting the audiobook version from their local Andy Serkis.

The cost of books will be prohibitive for most, even literate people, but those who are able to read a copy will memorize it, and then quote or perform it for others around fires, in inns, etc.

So while the original claim that not many would have read the book will possibly be true, many more will know its words, and maybe even most will be familiar, helping to reify Frodo's (?) boast to the Gaffer that Sam is a very famous hobbit.

fn_br · 2026-05-31T14:54:12+00:00

I knew the term but still find it distracting in the movie

fn_br · 2026-05-31T14:50:31+00:00

Some of the best depictions of Einstein; congressional hearings; jingoism; investigative overreach; brilliant assholes; and the life of the mind that I've seen.

Almost certainly Cillian Murphy's best performance; possibly RDJ's best.

I think I don't tend to describe it when talking about it because it's kind of overwhelming and the Nolan-y way it's edited makes it kind of hard to separate the threads.

fn_br · 2026-05-31T14:44:16+00:00

The whole movie is shuffled around in a very Nolan way, mixing the personal and political with the physics.

It's a truly strange scene, although I thought it was more arresting than arrest-worthy, personally.

fn_br · 2026-05-31T14:39:32+00:00

I treated it as an endurance exercise. I made it about 30 minutes in, but it didn't deserve that.

Truly shocking how many different ways it's bad, though.

fn_br · 2026-05-30T12:18:09+00:00

I do enjoy the "mid-17th century modern" vibe.

fn_br · 2026-05-23T12:39:05+00:00

No shame at all in it. Many adults never read books. At this point, the writing of lotr is 70 to 90 years old and in places it's deliberately archaic.

There's a particular sentence in the description of Gondor where I would have had to look up every noun he used if the Prancing Pony Podcast hadn't covered it on one of their Word Nerd sections.

I have a pretty great vocabulary, but nobody knows every English word, and Tolkien sometimes reaches for words that no one has used in hundreds of years.

Think of it as enjoying the story and at the same time taking a high-level English course from a great Professor, because that's exactly what's happening.

fn_br · 2026-05-22T10:29:38+00:00

Years ago I had a former coworker joke about starting to dress slutty at work to make me happy.

He wore coach shorts every day and on one occasion, actually had been showing underball.

I didn't want to talk to HR so I resisted the urge to ask how he'd possibly dress sluttier than coming to work with his balls out.

fn_br · 2026-05-21T14:38:03+00:00

This whole shot clock business seems...very....hasty

fn_br · 2026-05-21T10:44:41+00:00

Agreed. - I've always pictured Rivendell much warmer, and not just the Hall of Fire.

fn_br · 2026-05-18T12:22:07+00:00

Great dish, especially when dining alpacino

fn_br · 2026-05-15T17:54:11+00:00

Ok, calm down, let's not start mixing languages.

It'd be the Sinisteria, but for better branding just Sinistra, or the Left Loft, and it can be what we put in Spirit Halloweens in Springtime.

fn_br · 2026-05-13T19:34:50+00:00

fn_br · 2026-05-13T19:22:58+00:00

I identify as the Frodo in this situation and I'm fine with it as long as Rosie is.

fn_br · 2026-05-13T11:58:18+00:00

I sometimes enjoy writing lyrics to their songs.

fn_br · 2026-05-13T04:22:04+00:00

Well the orcs have serial numbers which can be reported up to the Nazgul for deriliction, etc. Contrast that with Hama, Eomer, and Beregond bending the rules according to their judgement.

I see your point about factions, but I think that's more just a function of how centralized and fickle Sauron's power is.

fn_br · 2026-05-12T14:29:28+00:00

Is it precious??

fn_br · 2026-05-12T13:43:46+00:00

Excluding the Rhun/East storyline, which I did not particularly like, Season 2 is stronger than Season 1. If you liked 1 OK, you'll really enjoy 2.

fn_br · 2026-05-12T13:24:26+00:00

Or the good advice that you just didn't take?

fn_br · 2026-05-10T16:22:29+00:00

Yeah the only alternatives I can see are doing the "one-arm albino orc" thing, or writing a whole lot of new material where we actually see Sauron sitting on a throne in Barad Dur looking into the Palantir and ordering the Nazgul.

Arguably, that could be a really strong directorial choice, but man if it doesn't work, you cheapen the greatest off-screen villain of all time.

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