What I mean by it not being a Google thing is that it doesn’t just appear there on its own, like it might if it were a Doubleclick ad or something.

This is something that companies like Reddit see and think “Yes, I want that obnoxious thing on my site”.

Stack 3 of them up and…

Worth noting, this isn’t really a Google thing. It’s something other websites do to allow you to login with various other credentials: Facebook, Google, Amazon – Twitter used to be common. It’s just that Google is obnoxious because when say Reddit allows you to login with your Google account, the login widget Google uses is an obnoxious pop-up.

Yeah, moving somewhere else isn’t an option, but pow pow bang bang shooty shooty sure is!

Exactly how a gun nut would think.

And the key to getting to a reasonable society is for everybody to wear guns.

You love it? You don’t look at this and think “This can’t possibly be how a reasonable society works”?

That may be, but he’s better at hiding it than Hillary. She seemed to always be making it clear that it was her turn. That message came across much more strongly than anything else.

It’s more like it’s in a coma right now. It’s not responding to stimulus, but there are signs of life. Theoretically if democrats win decisively, the Republican party could be forced to move to the center to become electable again.

But, if the Republicans win, it could be the end of democracy in the US. The Republicans know the odds of their winning another free and fair election are near zero, so their best bet to stay in power is to make sure they don’t have to face any more free and fair elections.

Despite all the chaos, despite the Republicans attempting to kill the democratic process, the Biden administration has actually managed quite a few meaningful and positive things. He’s not a very inspiring option as “leader of the free world”, but as someone who sits at the head of the table and delegates things out, his record is pretty good. But, it’s pretty damning that the system has Americans choosing between a criminal fascist, and an old man who probably won’t last 4 years.

They don’t really care too much about their base. It’s really their donors and themselves that they care about. The donors and the important people in the democratic party are very rich, so a Trump dictatorship would merely be an inconvenience and embarrassment to them. If it really got bad they’d move to another country and try to gain support as the legitimate government in exile.

I’m actually surprised we haven’t heard Trump talking about nuking Gaza yet.

In a first-past-the-post system, an independent only ends up stealing votes from the mainstream candidate that’s closest to their position. He’d undermine the Democratic candidate, making a Republican win more likely. He’s smart enough not to want to do that.

Yeah, but the “for comedic effect” is key here. Unless you’re going for comedy or confusion, you shouldn’t refer to someone by a name they don’t use.

Who goes by Jamie, and always has?

The interesting thing is that these days the maps people most use are digital ones. They can be updated instantly for everyone who uses them. But, even in that world you have problems.

In many countries it’s a legal requirement that the maps reflect the country’s definition of its borders. That means that in some cases Google Maps has 3 versions of a map, the one shown to users in country X (say India), the one shown to users in country Y (say China) and the one shown to users in the rest of the world, where the border is marked as disputed.

Changing the electoral system means passing laws.

The people who pass laws are elected representatives.

The current electoral system works well for the current elected representatives (kinda by definition, because it’s what got them elected).

So, the laws won’t get changed because the people who have the power to pass the new law aren’t going to pass a law that disadvantages them.

Case in point, the Liberal Party of Canada promised that if elected they’d reform the electoral system and get rid of first past the post. But, of course, FPTP is a massive advantage for the two main parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives. So, when they won the election, they quickly backed out of that promise. The only parties still promising to get rid of FPTP are the smaller parties who would have a big advantage if FPTP went away – but, of course, these small parties can’t win elections because of FPTP, so their promises to get rid of it are empty because they will never be in a position to make that change.

Even just the map of the world is outdated pretty much by the time it’s taught.

In 2023 Micronesia made a fairly minor change from the former name, “Federated States of Micronesia”. But, in 2022 Turkey now wants you to use its metal name: Türkiye.

Then there’s the new country of South Sudan, Bougainville on its way to splitting from Papua New Guinea. And Kosovo shows another problem – whether its an independent country or not depends on who you ask. That includes regions like South Ossetia, Transnistria, Catalonia and Taiwan.

Then there are things that students are taught that we’ve known are wrong for over a century, but the fully correct version is too complex for anything below a university course. Like, Newton’s laws are appropriate for high school, but they’re known to be incorrect and are simplifications of Einstein’s refinements. But, they’re close enough for most purposes, and understanding Einstein’s stuff is pretty hard. Same with models of the atom.

And, history is another subject where the deeper you dig, the more the generalizations you’re taught are shown to be wrong. The names and dates might be the same, but the reason X happened is often a whole lot more complex than the simple reasons given in high school.

However many the AI decides to give me.

You mean Jamie?

The modern debate format is pretty much useless. It’s too bad that the TV networks need the debate more than the candidates need it. Otherwise, the TV networks could impose restrictions like real-time fact checking, moderators who could (and would) mute candidates, tough questions that candidates didn’t like, following up and asking a question again if a candidate dodged a question, and so-on.