Gordon Calhoun

I’m having trouble thinking of an example where a tyrant dictator was assassinated and displaced by a democratic leader and not just another dictator. I don’t think Hitler is a great example. Maybe Hussein? I’m apologetically ignorant on the current state of Iraq’s political system.

Democratic norms seem to be more successfully implemented when a ruler is facing bankruptcy and has no easy source of funds (e.g. natural resource extraction, sponsorship from foreign sources), and therefore has no other option but to expand freedoms and public goods to empower citizens to be more educated to work more profitably (and be reliable tax payers). A fairly recent example is the shift Jerry John Rawlings performed in Ghana in the 90s, which is explained succinctly in The Dictator’s Handbook (Bueno de Mesquita and Smith).

A general strike could be an effective means to force the hand of a ruler dependent on national productivity to keep his coalition’s insiders/influentials happy enough to retain their support.

Is this a service rendered to the owners or the vehicles?

That’s reasonable.

I have a feeling, even if the World Trade Center had been completely depopulated on the morning of September 11th and the hijacked aircraft only had jihadists aboard, the event would have probably still been declared an act of terrorism.

The determination of what constitutes terrorism isn’t for us normies to make. The people in power get to have that particular privilege, regardless of what we feel.

Strategic dissent is what matters. I doubt things would have been improved if targeted groups in Germany had violently rioted and smashed Mercedes, Benzs, and Volkswagens (or whatever the main rides were at the time). I mean, the Reichstag Fire was the perfect excuse to accelerate the tyranny (and it was probably an inside job!). Just the same, smashing cars probably won’t endear the generally-docile public to the cause. I would say most people (i.e. the support force necessary for widespread change) don’t want to be associated with violence. It might win some over, but it’ll polarize others, exacerbating the situation and possibly creating Rittenhouse militias to evolve into gestapos.

Sure, once the ruling evil exists in earnest and the rule of law is declared fully dead, clandestine resistance saboteurs may be necessary, but they’ll aim for strategic targets with a high gain of hurt laid upon the tyrannical regime. They won’t expose themselves to frivolous targets like individual electric cars. If anything, they’ll target infrastructure and try to make it look like government incompetence to incite people against those in power.

This gray time is confusing and scary, by design. Extreme action just probably won’t elicit the desired effect right now. Figuring out a way to inceptually make The People attribute their various pains and grievances to the actions and personalities in power should be the goal.

Thank you for sharing. You’re a citizen and scholar. I’ll save your message and add those to my queue.

I think I even read it can gradually spontaneously self-charge if left alone long enough with the terminals insulated from each other. I don’t know if that’s actually true (it would seem to be a sort of Maxwell’s Daemon at that point), but yeah, best to not take chances.

Hahaha, funny you mention that. I was this close to trying to open an old CRT set many years ago when that little voice in my head said, hey, maybe look up what happens when you do that. I decided I didn’t need to go through with it.

That being said, DLP sets are my absolute favorite to dig into. So many awesome optical components, mirrors, and cooling fans inside. I didn’t find anything that seemed too dangerous, either.

I didn’t realize they were the #1 killer. Most of them via electrocution of the HV capacitor, I would imagine?

15ish years ago I got lucky and didn’t kill myself on the first one I ever cracked open. I managed to become marginally more intelligent and after poking around in it decided it’d be smart to research the art of microwave dismantling, which led to a minor anxiety attack and cold sweats when I realized how stupid I had been.

He’s a treasure. The inside of a microwave is insane in its casual dangers. Like that HV capacitor, or, more insidiously, the beryllium insulator that can cause berrylliosis if broken and inhaled.

I wish the stock price would just collapse already along with organic consumer demand for the cars themselves evaporating into nothing so it could whither and die a natural death.

As much as I hate Musk, I’m not a fan of seeing property damaged. Not because I love the property, but because it’s too easy to leverage it as terrorism by a regime that has a hard-on for labeling anything it doesn’t like as such. Consumer collapse and bankruptcy would be beautiful to behold.

Sounds like an awesome YT video for backyard scientist or action labs or alpha phoenix or definitely styro pyro

Hmmm. Well, I do love taking apart old microwaves…

I’m curious if anyone knows if cars, especially electric cars, are vulnerable to EMPs?

Gosh, the amount of strength life has required from you these past few years is incredible to imagine. I’m glad to hear your treatment is going well and I hope the surgery and recovery are smooth for you. It’s great you’re finally going to get it!

What’s been one of your favorite books so far this year?

Nice! Those sound like really solid plans. Anything with mountains instantly ignites my happy chemicals.

Kicking addiction once and for all. No, I mean it, this will be the year I get my brain back.

Well… my bad-hearted woman loved a smooth-talking gambler, so I… ran him over with my train. Lord! Lord! Yes I… ran him over with my train.

By Bender

Check out The Distracted Mind by Gazzaley and Rosen. As part of their research, they wrote a video game to specifically improve cognitive functions.