Killing the PC's

This blog is apparently about D&D, science/engineering, gaming & esports, and knitting. AKA my life

[makesyourworld]

If you missed it, I'm currently in Tanzania serving in the peace corps. Check out/follow the wordpress that myself and molly are writing for more frequent updates!

[makesyourworld]

Thanks for sending me some knitting supplies, @jak.bauer . Made in #Tanzania ... . . . P.S. Thanks for braiding the drawstring @giraffeattack14 ! #peacecorps #peacecorpstz #knitting #dnd

[makesyourworld]

If you missed it, I'm currently in Tanzania serving in the peace corps. Check out/follow the wordpress that myself and molly are writing for more frequent updates!

[makesyourworld]

THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!! #TZ #HaveYouHeardTheWord

[makesyourworld]

Sitting in a big chair covered in #Kangas in #TZ playing snake on molly's 35k shiling phone. (thats a little over $17, fyi)

[makesyourworld]

"Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights" - Albert Einstein, 1949 This article is full of gold. He was a genius, afterall.

[ottomantwerks]

2017

[maxknightley]

I like the implication that using bones to make broth is a Wacky New Trend rather than a concept that has existed for centuries if not millennia

[makesyourworld]

The article actually is talking about how hipsters are treating it like some fancy new health trend, and driving up the price of bones, so that the poor people who have been making it forever can't afford it anymore. Its like... food gentrification

[makesyourworld]

Exhibit A of a 'nerd' being radicalized into some right wing crazy person post gamergate: Notch

[jackscarab]

(x)

[robotlyra]

This is important content cuz it touches on one of the more overlooked aspects of the recent altright encroachment: a lot of it is about doing it “for the lulz”. Making traditionally marginalized groups angry or reactive is a form of entertainment for some, and the fact that happens to work towards reclaiming white male supremacy for them is more of a secondary bonus. That’s what makes it so difficult to logically or “correctly” combat it; the most forward face isn’t an ideology or philosophy, so to speak, but rather a form of indulgence. It’s not a grand mission, it’s a game they play.

[makesyourworld]

Got invited to serve in the peace core. Tanzania, leaving on July 7th.

[illusionwaltz]

How well do you see color?

I’m cry I scored 60, I feel blind

[batter666-deactivated20180822]

so everyone is aware, a lower score on this means a better score.

[thegaybeany]

I got a 30!!!!!!!! Yes!

[blinkingkills]

7, but i’m an art student so

[the1975you]

i got 0 omg

[9lastdilemmas]

ZER0000000! yep yep! Good number. And I have static vision. So, :) 

[phoenixlooper]

I got 0. Which I love bc references. But now my eyes hurt and I have a headache.

[makesyourworld]

Also if you got a bad score, trying adjusting the contrast on your monitor then try again... it makes a difference :P

[makesyourworld]

Considering the peace corps - with an engineering degree you can teach sciene/math in quite a few places

[generationofawarenessblog]

In a world where you can be anything, be kind.

[makesyourworld]

New Board Game.

[zosimaz]

Ok here we go. I have not said much political in the last couple weeks because I feel like everything I’ve had to say has been said already. However in the last few days I’ve been hearing some things (and not hearing things) that have really started to scare me. This whole election has been a disaster for the left, and I mean the real left not the democraps. Not only did Bernie and Hillary undermine and delegitimize many left struggles (like opposition to drone warfare), but they have also forced us to become defenders of some of the most garbage policy imaginable. You may remember TPP? It’s a terrible “trade” deal which is mostly just investor rights and allows for more tax fraud and general multinational corporate bull shit, go look it up yourself. Anyway since trump opposes it democrats and leftist have begun to support it. And it gets worse. You can’t turn on the radio without hearing about how great nafta is. Democrats are threatening to oppose minimum wage hikes if tump supports them. It’s gotten to the point where we now need trump supporters, ACTUAL NAZIS!! To remind us that Russia is not the enemy. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone.

Tldr: If we are going to survive this we must must must stick to our guns, we can’t let trump silence us nor can we let false friends lead us down their little neoliberal highway in an attempt to oppose him.

[makesyourworld]

By the way, the current “Electoral College” method of selecting a president is totally antithetical to the way the founding fathers wanted it.  They wanted the people of each state (by district) to vote for an elector, who were supposed to be independent of any party/political ties, who would then come together and “deliberate” and select the “best candidate” for president based on their personal opinions.  Madison and Hamilton were pissed when states started just letting people vote for the president. Electors just started being chosen by the parties, and they’d go along (statewide) with whatever their state’s popular vote is.

To be totally honest, if it worked as originally intended, it would be way better for GOP voters. There are 247 Red congressional districts (each of which would presumably elect a conservative elector) and only 188 Blue congressional districts. However, that brings up an entire different debate about how many congressional districts each state has, how disgusting gerrymandering has become, etc.

My point here being that the electoral college isn’t even working anywhere close to how it was intended. Stop pretending that it’s some magic thing the founding fathers made up - It’s literally been bastardized from its republican (as in, a republic, not the party) roots by party interests (on both sides). Let’s get the fuck rid of it - if for no other reason to get rid of this every four years

Sources below:

Electoral College changes late 1800′s: http://www.fairvote.org/how-the-electoral-college-became-winner-take-all

Red/Blue districts: http://cookpolitical.com/house/pvi

Madison’s views on selecting electors: http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-02-02-0023 http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0289

[my-name-is-long]

this is why the electoral college fucking sucks.

[kaayytiee]

Without the electoral college, the determining factor of the elections would be California, Chicago and New York just because they have more people concentrated in one area. Our system is the best of the best and the people spoke. I’m hurt as well as most of America but the best thing we can do is keep an open mind, accept, and move on.

[my-name-is-long]

So what? Why does it matter if the majority of votes come from one area? If most of the people in the country want one person to be president, then that person should be president. Why should it matter where they’re from?

And that’s not even the reason the college was made in the first place. It was made for 2 reasons. 1. The founding fathers didn’t trust the citizens. They thought the citizens were too uneducated to make a good choice. And 2. It’s easier to count the votes of a small group of people all in one place rather than millions across the country when there’s no cars or internet.

In today’s age, neither of those reasons are valid anymore. There is no good reason for the electoral college to exist. If the majority of people want someone as president, that person should be president.

[morpha613]

Here is why the electoral college sucks:

Without the electoral college, every single vote would count exactly the same.  No vote anywhere in the country would be worth more than any other vote.  Now you may ask, but Raymond, isn’t it like this already?

NO.  IT FUCKING IS NOT.

Take Wyoming for example.  Wyoming has a population of 584,000 people.  They also have 3 electoral college votes. This means that each 194,667 votes is worth one electoral college vote in Wyoming.  Now let’s look at California.  California has a population of 38.8 million people and 55 electoral college votes.  This means that it takes 705,455 votes for each electoral college vote.  

A VOTE IN WYOMING IS WORTH 3.5X MORE THAN A VOTE IN CALIFORNIA.

It literally takes 3.5 times more votes to get 1 electoral vote in California than it does in Wyoming.  How tf is that fair?

Don’t come in here and tell me how it’s the best system and without it the only determining factor would be certain cities.  How does that even make sense?  Without it, a vote in New York City is worth the exact same amount as a vote in any other city, or town, regardless of population.  I personally would like my vote to count for exactly the same as anyone else.  My vote shouldn’t count as less because I live in a more densely populated city.

[rootqueen-deactivated20240223]

What a good explanation! ^

[makesyourworld]

None of the other large democracies in the world have electoral colleges. I wonder why?