#Capture Mode

[todays-xkcd]

Unlike an Iron Age collapse, a Bronze Age collapse releases energy, since copper and tin are past the iron peak on the curve of binding energy.

Decay Modes [Expained]

Transcript Under the Cut

Radioactive Decay Modes

[A chart of labelled drawings of various radioactive decay modes, some real and some ficticious.]

[An unstable nucleus emits an alpha particle.] Alpha Decay

[A neutron-rich neucleus emits a W- boson. Underneath is a drawing of a neutron turnt into electron.] Beta Decay

[An unstable nucleus emits a gamma ray.] Gamma Decay

[A proton-rich atom absorbs an electron from an electron shell and emits an electron neutrino. Underneath is a drawing of a proton converted into a neutron.] Electron Capture

[A proton-rich nucleus emits a W+ boson. Underneath is a drawing of a neutron turnt into a positron.] Positron Emission

[A neutron-rich/proton-deficient unstable nucleus emits a neutron.] Neutron Emission

[All the subatomic particles burst from the atom simultaneously.] Baryon Panic

[The atom is imploded by a skull, cracking the surrounding area and sending neutrons and protons flying off.] Omega Decay

[Electrons around the atom fall to the ground.] Electron Wilt

[Protons and nuetrons combine to make a single huge baryon.] One Big Nucleon

[The nucleus rots with mushrooms growing out from it.] Fungal Decay

[The atom floats on water, with boats on either side full of tiny people shooting arrows at it.] Collapse Due to Invasion by the Sea Peoples

[correct-hermitcraft-quotes]

Bdubs: If you're in an area for a long time, zombies are more likely to pick up items? But, uh, if it's uhhh 'n area that's not- what- very spawn, n- y- hasn't been-

Bdubs: Good English. If it's an area that's been around for a very very- not vin ver-

Bdubs, now facing the camera: If not been area, be around miuch? Then it. Can spawn. If y-

*a long pause*

Bdubs: So I think we'll just leave the mob- the zombie collection for another day!

[ambivartence]

hanbin

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Monopoly is capitalism's gerrymander

For the rest of May, my bestselling solarpunk utopian novel THE LOST CAUSE (2023) is available as a $2.99, DRM-free ebook!

You don't have to accept the arguments of capitalism's defenders to take those arguments seriously. When Adam Smith railed against rentiers and elevated the profit motive to a means of converting the intrinsic selfishness of the wealthy into an engine of production, he had a point:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/28/cloudalists/#cloud-capital

Smith – like Marx and Engels in Chapter One of The Communist Manifesto – saw competition as a catalyst that could convert selfishness to the public good: a rich person who craves more riches still will treat their customers, suppliers and workers well, not out of the goodness of their heart, but out of fear of their defection to a rival:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/19/make-them-afraid/#fear-is-their-mind-killer

This starting point is imperfect, but it's not wrong. The pre-enshittified internet was run by the same people who later came to enshittify it. They didn't have a change of heart that caused them to wreck the thing they'd worked so hard to build: rather, as they became isolated from the consequences of their enshittificatory impulses, it was easier to yield to them.

Once Google captured its market, its regulators and its workforce, it no longer had to worry about being a good search-engine – it could sacrifice quality for profits, without consequence:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

It could focus on shifting value from its suppliers, its customers and its users to its shareholders:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/15/they-trust-me-dumb-fucks/#ai-search

The thing is, all of this is well understood and predicted by traditional capitalist orthodoxy. It was only after a gnostic cult of conspiratorialists hijacked the practice of antitrust law that capitalists started to view monopolies as compatible with capitalism:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/20/we-should-not-endure-a-king/

The argument goes like this: companies that attain monopolies might be cheating, but because markets are actually pretty excellent arbiters of quality, it's far more likely that if we discover that everyone is buying the same product from the same store, that this is the best store, selling the best products. How perverse would it be to shut down the very best stores and halt the sale of the very best products merely to satisfy some doctrinal reflex against big business!

To understand the problem with this argument, we should consider another doctrinal reflex: conservatives' insistence that governments just can't do anything well or efficiently. There's a low-information version of this that goes, "Governments are where stupid people who can't get private sector jobs go. They're lazy and entitled." (There's a racial dimension to this, since the federal government has historically led the private sector in hiring and promoting Black workers and workers of color more broadly.)

But beyond that racially tinged caricature, there's a more rigorous version of the argument: government officials are unlikely to face consequences for failure. Appointees and government employees – especially in the unionized federal workforce – are insulated from such consequences by overlapping layers of labor protection and deflection of blame.

Elected officials can in theory be fired in the next election, but if they keep their cheating or incompetence below a certain threshold, most of us won't punish them at the polls. Elected officials can further improve their odds of re-election by cheating some of us and sharing the loot with others, through handouts and programs. Elections themselves have a strong incumbency bias, meaning that once a cheater gets elected, they will likely get re-elected, even if their cheating becomes well-known:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gold-bars-featured-bob-menendez-bribery-case-linked-2013-robbery-recor-rcna128006

What's more, electoral redistricting opens the doors to gerrymandering – designing districts to create safe seats where one party always wins. That way, the real election consists of the official choosing the voters, not the voters choosing the official:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REDMAP

Inter-party elections – primaries and other nomination processes – have fundamental weaknesses that mean they're no substitute for well-run, democratic elections:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/30/weak-institutions/

Contrast this with the theory of competitive markets. For capitalism's "moral philosophers," the physics by which greedy desires led to altruistic outcomes was to be found in the swift retribution of markets. A capitalist, exposed to the possibility of worker and customers defecting to their rival, knows that their greed is best served by playing fair.

But just as importantly, capitalists who don't internalize this lesson are put out of business and superceded by better capitalists. The market's invisible hand can pat you on the head – but it can also choke you to death.

This is where monopoly comes in. Even if you accept the consumer welfare theory that says that monopolies are most often the result of excellence, we should still break up monopolies. Even if someone secures an advantage by being great, that greatness will soon regress to the mean. But if the monopolist can extinguish the possibility of competition, they can maintain their power even after they cease deserving it.

In other words, the monopolist is like a politician who wins power – whether through greatness or by deceit – and then gerrymanders their district so that they can do anything and gain re-election. Even the noblest politician, shorn of accountability, will be hard pressed to avoid yielding to temptation.

Capitalism's theory proceeds from the idea that we are driven by our self-interest, and that competition turns self-interest into communal sentiment. Take away the competition, and all that's left is the self-interest.

I think this is broadly true, even though it's not the main reason I oppose monopolies (I oppose monopolies because they corrupt our democracy and pauperize workers). But even if capitalism's ability to turn greed into public benefit isn't the principle that's uppermost in my mind, it's what capitalists claim to believe – and treasure.

I think that most of the right's defense of monopolies stems from cynical, bad-faith rationalizations – but there are people who've absorbed these rationalizations and find them superficially plausible. It's worth developing these critiques, for their sake.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/18/market-discipline/#too-big-to-care

[abbysthighs]

More lesbian hand content >

[bonefall]

Bones someone did a "Worst Parents" poll over on Twitter and it's going about as well as you'd expect.

"God people will do anything to hate on mentally ill male characters" and it's the guy who hits and yells at his son.

"Crowfeather's only crime was being a bit mean" hitting and humiliating your son= bit mean.

Yes these are things I've actually read

I'm not saying Curlfeather (who was pitted against him in the poll) is better or worse than Crowfeather, but I've seen a lot of people downplaying his abuse towards Breezepaw and acting like people are crazy for thinking Curlfeather was better

It's really wild to see it in action, isn't it? When a dad manipulates (Po3 book 2) and smacks his son (Po3 book 3) for absolutely no benefit besides his own ego, it's "mental illness" and ergo not a big deal. As if they think mental illness is a get-out-of-jail free card for child abuse.

The "Crowfeather Mental Illness" Crowd couldn't HANDLE the kind of mentally ill characters that I stan. They are weak and will not survive the winter.

When they say "stop being mean to boys with a disorder" they mean "stop holding an abusive father accountable for teaching his son slurs so he could get back at the ex-girlfriend who dumped him." When I say "stop being mean to boys with a disorder" I mean that I want to give Breezepelt a gun so he can enforce it himself. We are not the same.

[theladyeowyn]

female character meme: a female character in a male-driven series   ↳ Ilsa Faust (Mission: Impossible)

I’ve saved your life twice. I won’t be able to do it again.

[virtualfotodivision]

Senua | 05.25.2024 | Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2

Captured on Xbox Series X.

[lil-grem-draws]

Elland had the best of times in that pocket dimension! Look at his sweet face!

[skinnypig2]

jemison.

this game is so beautiful. it's like a dream. and the fact that it's focused on exploration, focused on discovering such beautiful landscapes - its tone - is perfect. i cant get enough of it.

[thydonutart]

it occured to me I haven’t drawn Heimdall with his bifrost arm; here’s my attempt to do so 💪🏻

[tanglepelt]

Dp x dc idea 165

Super Danny decided that amity was too small. He was a hero. He was needed elsewhere.

Super Danny ends up in metropolis. Kryptonite is ectoranium. In this ectoranium works the same as kyrptonite. Potential mistaken identity.

Then sam and tucker eventually come to hunt super Danny down. Fun Danny in tow. They need to merge the two back into one. They just have to catch super Danny first.

[abbysthighs]

This shot is amazing! Does the quality of your device or screen affect the end quality of PlayStation screen shots? The focus is impressive.

[eternalremorse]

[smolsleepyfox]

Severinsbrücke, Cologne, Germany

[kaphzzz]

YEEEEEESSSSSSSS GUUUYYS 😭😭😭😭😭😭