MerryJaneDoe

The same reason that DeBeers doesn’t flood the market with diamonds.

OPEC has always been about manufactured scarcity. It’s not a bad scheme, if you have a heavily concentrated, limited resource. The difference, of course, is that oil is actually useful. So might as well pump it while you can, store it where it’s easy to get and ration it out.

What is more, Saudi Arabia has 68 years of reserves at 2024’s production rate. The world will probably have stopped using hydrocarbons long before those run out. So any crude it does not pump today could be money lost forever.

1. Holy. FUCKING. SHIT! That is a lot of oil!

2. But the math doesn’t check out. The world uses about 37 billion barrels annually. Saudi Arabia has ~260 billion barrels in reserve. That’s more 7 years of global oil reserves. It would cover about 40 years of US oil use. And it would cover the modest Saudi annual useage for over 200 years. So no matter which way you slice it, the math is funky here.

3. Something else I just discovered. Saudi Arabia does not have the world’s largest oil reserves. That honor goes to…drumroll…yep, you guessed it. Venezuela.

Never thought of it that way!

Can “Iran fries” be a thing?

Or maybe since fries is already taken, we can rename “chili” to “Irani stew”?

it’s impossible to criticize Luigi on this platform without getting heavily downvoted

He sucks. I much prefer Princess Peach and I’ll fight all of you.

It’s a legitimate CONFUSING anti-abuse tactic.

How is a normal person, who’s never used reddit in the past, supposed to even know how to get karma? Or how the lack of karma is impacting their UX?

The only way is to game the system, get into a sub that allows shitposts and exists for the sole reason of boosting karma. Which immediately teaches the new person to game the system. Counter-intuitive and counter-productive.

I think it’s definitely an effective way to keep new users from spamming.

It chases away new users (or, at the very least, keeps them from active participation). Because of this system, a new Reddit user is more likely to be a doom-scroller with zero participation. And that’s what Reddit wants. Reddit doesn’t need another shitposter. Reddit doesn’t lack for quality content, since it aggregates the bulk of its content from other sites via powerusers. So fuck it if new people participate, as long as they see the advertising sponsors, Reddit is happy.

In fairness, that one does get a giggle from me. Every time. Even this one. Especially this one.

Giggity. (Please forgive me.)

The Pentagon has invited more than 3,500 employees to attend a Good Friday service at its in-house chapel. Except it’s only for Protestants, not Catholics.

About 25,000 employees work at the Pentagon on any given day. So, it’s pretty obvious that not everyone was invited. The article gives no information on how employees were chosen, which is concerning. It could be officers only?

“Just a friendly reminder: There will be a Protestant Service (No Catholic Mass) for Good Friday today at the Pentagon Chapel,” reads a Friday email sent by Air Force leadership, a copy of which was shared by an employee.

This states that the service will not include Catholic Mass. This seems pretty standard for a non-denominational observance of Good Friday. (Though, knowing Kegseth, it will probably be an evangelical service.)

The Pentagon Memorial Chapel is a 24-hour interfaith chapel that employees can use for prayer and reflection, and that is used for religious services.

The Pentagon Memorial Chapel only seats 80 people. SO WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE OTHER 3,420 PEOPLE GONNA SIT?!

All in all, some pretty shitty reporting on the part of Huff Post. Lots of unanswered questions here.

If they want to dive into the turkey first, they are welcome to it.

The sides are where it’s at anyway.

No. I said that retaining an immigration lawyer AND having the proper paperwork would mitigate the risk of ICE.

And it will. Here’s my analysis of the situation.

tl;dr: ICE is busy with other things, and will be for some time.

ICE pushes (and exceeds) the boundaries of both good taste and the legal framework of the Constitution. But it’s not random. There’s a method to the madness.

Now, check the headlines from the last week.

No, really! Please? Take a moment. Search for ICE in a fresh incognito browser, one that doesn’t track your personal preferences. Grab a newsfeed from Google or DuckDuckGo. Look at stories from the past week. Two weeks. Don’t see much, do ya? No high-profile demonstrations, no murder in the street, there’s even news of a detention center getting cancelled.

ICE is undergoing a shift. It’s intentional. The TSA wasn’t being funded during the shutdown, so ICE is now ‘helping’ out at the airports. They are on their best behavior. Squeaky clean, just trying to keep things running. Yay! It’s not an accident that ICE, of all organizations, was called in to help. (National Guard could offer the same level of expertise, which is absolutely zero.)

Another notable development is that Trump has, several times now, floated the idea of having ICE at the polls, to ensure election integrity. Again and again, Trump babbles about the dangers of mail-in voting and stuffed ballot boxes. And the misinformation parrots are all over that bandwagon, sowing seeds of doubt in the already gullible MAGAts.

So, here’s the play: Keep the world distracted by blowing up the oil supply. Shift ICE to high-visibility roles. Deploy them to the polling booths in the fall. Steal as much of the midterm elections as you can. Get a rubber-stamp majority in the House, Senate and Supreme Court. At that point, you can do whatever you want. Pass an amendment to the Constitution revoking the 22nd amendment? Sure, at the very least.

But whatever the case, ICE’s focus is no longer on terrorizing students in blue cities. They’ll be present and visible now, but they won’t be conducting raids en masse. They will now be low-key policing American citizens while pretending to be helpful, multi-purpose federal agents. Nazis disguised as Boy Scouts.

Right now, Illian Omar is leading the fight by holding up funding for DHS. Ilhan Omar said her caucus will ‘oppose all funding’ for immigration enforcement unless militarized policing ends. She understands what’s going on. She’ll lose, probably, just because sometimes politics is heart-breaking like that…

Perhaps you should consider that OP is not yet decided on the U.S.A. He’s doing a comparison of different countries. My replies are designed with him in mind, not you. Which is to say that your contribution to the discussion is certianly appreciated, just not by me. Hugs!

<shrugs>

I’m sorry, but ICE’s activities are the status quo in many countries. This person is looking at countries like Japan and China. How strict do you think immigration enforcement might be in China? Do you figure that Japan tolerates a lot of inconsistency when filling out an immigration visa?

It doesn’t matter how things should be, only that this is how they are. Today. RIght now. Yes, the U.S. has a hard-liner in office. Yes, ICE will discriminate - the color of your skin and your country of origin matter. But that’s not so abnormal on a global scale.

Yeah!

<grabs popcorn>

OR…and hear me out on this…

Trump escalates the war on the premise that the US should provide safe passage to those ships. He dumps a fleet or two of ships into the Gulf, along with a trillion dollars or so for a ground war and insurance for the tankers. The US and Israel promise to keep the Gulf secure in perpetuity.

we’ll be living in a very different world. The boot of the west will come off the neck of humanity, and the rest of the world will finally have a chance to breathe.

We’re already seeing this trend and have for years - but Rome doesn’t collapse in a day.

The entire point of the petrodollar is to perpetuate the US hegemony. The entire world, including our allies, know this. The average American knows this. It’s just that Americans aren’t in agreement as to whether the current arrangement with OPEC is a net good or a net bad.

I agree, of course, that my assessment is simplified. There’s always a host of variables.

Until OPEC agrees to Iran’s demands to change to Yuan, they’ll still settle in USD. So at this point, it’s just background noise.

Yes, there are ripple effects. Yes, people will go hungry (hungrier?). Freight costs increase. Less travel. Everything that depends on that sweet, sweet crude will increase in cost.

Again, this doesn’t affect Trump and his cronies. They have money. They don’t care about the average American and they never did. They don’t care about any other citizen of the world unless that citizen is hideously wealthy AND willing to eat at the same table.

It’s outrageous, of course. But this situation didn’t just magically create itself. It’s been the norm since OPEC was formed. Our global economy depends on oil, which means every person’s well-being depends on it. The solution is energy independence, but it’s really difficult to get people excited about solar panels. They would much rather see bombs and bullets on TV.

You can actively work on countering the negative effects, so I’d start with just a list of positives. If all the negatives were gone, which country would you choose?

Let’s suppose it’s the USA. You’re uncomfortable there, because of violence and ICE scares, but everything else is fine. You can look at local crime rates, especially gun violence. Find an area/school where these statistics are near-zero. You can mitigate the ICE risk by retaining an immigration lawyer and making sure that all your paperwork is in order.

Make the same type of list with Japan and China. What would you need to do to mitigate the xenophobia/ethnic differences? (Are you already fluent in both languages?)

You also mention finances, which should probably be near the top of the list. Figure out a realistic cost for your entire time at school, then work with your family to understand what’s doable and what stretches them past the breaking point.

Condensing some information for discussion here (and thanks for providing the archive link!):

It’s not clear what further tools President Donald Trump has to keep global oil prices from surging in the near term – other than fully reopening the strait.

The situation is even more extreme in liquefied natural gas. The Strait of Hormuz typically accounts for about a fifth of global supply…The US is the world’s biggest LNG exporter, and its domestic gas market is relatively insulated from the war due to its massive production.

So…why would Trump want to reopen the Straight? Keeping oil in short supply keeps the petrodollar dominant. And it increases the value of domestic oil/natural gas.

In short, Trump has no reason to ease gas prices. The effects on the upper class are minimal, and he’s shown that he absolutely does not care about the economic impact of his policies upon the working class.

A very informative article, but (as always seems to be the case with major news outlets) a bit short on analysis and clarity.

Saapas, I can see that you were trying to relate your own experiences to the discussion and even add to the discussion by asking a question. I’m sorry that nobody seems to understand what you’re trying to do. Many here are autists and many more are self-involved. I, in fact, am both and very pleased with myself for feeling empathy and compassion in this moment.

Back to your very valid question: Sleep scientists have long tracked sleeping cycles. Not all sleep is equal. Sleeping for a certain amount of time resets certain chemical imbalances in the brain. Many people can take a twenty-minute nap at midday, for example, and feel clear-headed afterwards. However, if they take an hour nap, they may feel lethargic. But then maybe that same person could take a two-hour nap instead, and feel great.

Your mileage may vary, but my point is that sleep cycles are a real thing. If your body is used to going to sleep at a certain time, that’s the time it expects sleep. It’s based on your body’s own internal clock. Daylight Savings Time messes with that clock. Your body doesn’t care that your phone jumped ahead an hour.

Not everyone will have a difficult time adjusting, but it’s not uncommon to feel restless for a couple of weeks until the body catches up to the new sleep pattern.

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=circadian+rhythm+daylight+savings

It’s a statement. It needs no response.

1. Maybe.
2. No. Because biology is not a black/white science. There are shades of gray. If you define male as “XY” , then what is a person born “XXY”? What if that person is born with both a penis and vagina?
3. It’s not a logical statement to begin with, it’s a statement of taxonomy, a classification. It’s like saying “How do you argue with someone who thinks red and pink are the same color?” You don’t. They see what they see.
4. “woman” is a gender (a sociological term, not a biological classification).

And, of course, I have MUCH more to say on the subject. But, ya know, gotta start the conversation somewhere…

Good questions, keep 'em coming!

Lifted from The Usual Suspects.

The actual quote is by French poet Charles Baudelaire: “The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist”

“Hello human billionaire friend. I too would like to harvest unlimited data directly from the government agencies.”