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Russian autocrats agree. 1.5M Russian casualties in the last 5 years(!) with an unprecedented fatality ratio, but sure, you still need the guys to go in.

The human machine doesn't just survive without external intervention, it actually gets better at being a machine. Speed, endurance, power, coordination... all improve with usage.

until you get old and goes the opposite direction

A company nightwatchman making $20/hr would cost about $80k/yr, all in.

One prisoner costs the California taxpayer $125k/yr, all in.

Maybe the company should foot the bill for a security guard instead of asking the taxpayers to subsidize their business.


That company and all those who work there are taxpayers. The justice system should stop the theif and jail them.

I don't know what kind of hellscape you want to live in where you need private security to keep anything you own from being stolen, especially something as mundane as some wires.


This implies that vandals only attack one business, instead of being a public nuisance or menace to everyone.

>solar farm in an undeveloped area

Looks like the vandals will have to move along to somewhere else to score some copper.


Ah yes, breaking news: vandals have cars and commit more than one kind of crime.

Your takeaway is that every solar installation, regardless of size, now has an $80k/year minimum cost associated with its' mere existence because California can't get its' house in order?

Citation needed that this problem is unique to California.

https://wallethub.com/edu/drug-use-by-state/35150


The theft problem seems to be. Texas has marginally higher drug use than California but I’ve never heard of this problem here.

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/crime/copper-theft-disrupt...

It's a big problem in Texas too. Quick google search returned several hundred articles.



Google “Texas copper theft” and you’ll no longer be able to claim that. Lots of examples.

Texas also has open carry.

Ah that’s why Australia and Japan have no copper left, no open carry.

24/7 coverage 365 days a year at 20$/h = 175,200$/year.

>Junkies will find ways through the fencing at night

Your math implies polar winter. Solar would be a bad investment.


You can’t assume behavior is unchanged when you change the situation.

In remote areas if you only guard at night they will go in the day.


They’ll get electrocuted during the day.

You’re underestimating what motivated thieves can accomplish.

Crackhead and electrician are not mutually exclusive categories.


You've changed the situation. It's a night problem that needs a night solution.

Not sure if you realize it but you’re actually arguing that the government should employ potential criminals as it’s cheaper, for them. The problem with that is people will find ways to appear like a potential criminal and then we have a huge welfare state that cost much more than the prison system. Also, people with jobs sometimes still do crime, so it’s not a fully baked solution.

The company wouldn’t employ the guard unless it saved them money, reducing losses by more than $80k. For Many businesses that’s not going to make sense. Even larger businesses, have larger risk footprint, needing more security guards, needing more loss savings to justify.


Brilliant idea! We should just privatize everything! By doing so, we’ll make companies foot the bill for every public service they rely on!

Come to think of it, who needs communally regulated safety services like jails, prisons, and law enforcement? In addition to having a private guard, every company should have their own in-house holding pen and justice system :)


I know you are being facetious but the community Jurerê Internacional in Florianópolis has done exactly that to great success: https://youtu.be/dA_UYNGvDxc

I was shooting heroin and reading “The Fountainhead” in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief.

“Bad news, detective. We got a situation.”

“What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?”

“Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars’ worth of bitcoins.”

The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. “What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?”

“Not yet. But mark my words: we’re going to figure out who did this and we’re going to take them down … provided someone pays us a fair market rate to do so.”

“Easy, chief,” I said. “Any rate the market offers is, by definition, fair.”

He laughed. “That’s why you’re the best I got, Lisowski. Now you get out there and find those bitcoins.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m on it.”

I put a quarter in the siren. Ten minutes later, I was on the scene. It was a normal office building, strangled on all sides by public sidewalks. I hopped over them and went inside.

“Home Depot™ Presents the Police!®” I said, flashing my badge and my gun and a small picture of Ron Paul. “Nobody move unless you want to!” They didn’t.

“Now, which one of you punks is going to pay me to investigate this crime?” No one spoke up.

“Come on,” I said. “Don’t you all understand that the protection of private property is the foundation of all personal liberty?”

It didn’t seem like they did.

“Seriously, guys. Without a strong economic motivator, I’m just going to stand here and not solve this case. Cash is fine, but I prefer being paid in gold bullion or autographed Penn Jillette posters.”

Grandmaster Flash on “Birth of a Culture” | The New Yorker Radio Hour

Nothing. These people were stonewalling me. It almost seemed like they didn’t care that a fortune in computer money invented to buy drugs was missing.

I figured I could wait them out. I lit several cigarettes indoors. A pregnant lady coughed, and I told her that secondhand smoke is a myth. Just then, a man in glasses made a break for it.

“Subway™ Eat Fresh and Freeze, Scumbag!®” I yelled.

Too late. He was already out the front door. I went after him.

“Stop right there!” I yelled as I ran. He was faster than me because I always try to avoid stepping on public sidewalks. Our country needs a private-sidewalk voucher system, but, thanks to the incestuous interplay between our corrupt federal government and the public-sidewalk lobby, it will never happen.

I was losing him. “Listen, I’ll pay you to stop!” I yelled. “What would you consider an appropriate price point for stopping? I’ll offer you a thirteenth of an ounce of gold and a gently worn ‘Bob Barr ‘08’ extra-large long-sleeved men’s T-shirt!”

He turned. In his hand was a revolver that the Constitution said he had every right to own. He fired at me and missed. I pulled my own gun, put a quarter in it, and fired back. The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.

“All right, all right!” the man yelled, throwing down his weapon. “I give up, cop! I confess: I took the bitcoins.”

“Why’d you do it?” I asked, as I slapped a pair of Oikos™ Greek Yogurt Presents Handcuffs® on the guy.

“Because I was afraid.”

“Afraid?”

“Afraid of an economic future free from the pernicious meddling of central bankers,” he said. “I’m a central banker.”

I wanted to coldcock the guy. Years ago, a central banker killed my partner. Instead, I shook my head.

“Let this be a message to all your central-banker friends out on the street,” I said. “No matter how many bitcoins you steal, you’ll never take away the dream of an open society based on the principles of personal and economic freedom.”

He nodded, because he knew I was right. Then he swiped his credit card to pay me for arresting him.

-Tom O’Donnell


Amazing. I remember this from the /r/Buttcoin days.

Great breakfast read, thank you!

You sir are a literary genius.

Soon we'll have rc (because AI-controlled will probably not permitted for legal reasons) roboguards.

I do not consider being a reasonably well adjusted member of society, and enforcing that, to be the responsibility of businesses and do not agree that we are all subsidizing a business’ ability to have nice things without people destroying them.

> I do not consider being a reasonably well adjusted member of society, and enforcing that, to be the responsibility of businesses

The correct read of “Corporations are people, my friend.” is that people are indeed responsible for individual corporate humanism - being moral in how they operate even inside a company - or expect social repercussions at minimum in return.

Having said that: I’m not 100% sure who should pay (and at what portions) for what’s being debated.


An acquaintance of mine in California put in a residential solar system.

Someone came (during the day) and stole it using a sawzall.

Do you expect homeowners to hire security guards?


> Maybe the company should foot the bill for a security guard instead of asking the taxpayers to subsidize their business.

Why would a company spend their own money when they can have someone else spend their money instead?


Does the water know to stay inside the drum when you open the door?

Since gravity continues to act in a downward direction, yes, the water stays pooled at the bottom of the drum and does not teleport upwards and outwards.

The drum stops rotating while cycled is paused

It's a strategy to prevent other arbitrators from recognizing what a death is worth. Now everybody can google the case and adjust payouts accordingly.

$15M is less than 4 Patriot PAC-3 MSEs. Which do you prefer your taxes to be spent on?

It’s not “burn 15M on missiles or spend it inefficiently on infra buildout”. It could also be “spend half as much on efficient infra buildout”

What if I told you that manipulating the oil futures market was a foolproof way to make themselves filthy rich? Would you still think that opposition was irrational?

That's placing a lot of faith in the maturity and tactical awareness of a teenager. I don't know about the games in Romania, but here in the US, the youth soccer referees are mostly older youths.

In the US, only the youngest games have teenage refs (U10 and younger). And even then, it is only common in the lower competitive tiers. Competitive travel/select league games generally have adult refs (national and regional leagues).

The money is pretty decent for two hours of work (and you can work games back to back to back).


Your comment implies the youth refs are the exception, but the VAST majority of play are at these lower competitive levels, and it is FAR more common to have youth or inexperienced refs than otherwise.

I’m saying that when you get to have games involving kids older than 10, that having teenage refs is more uncommon.

In my area, there are a number of leagues. Only one has a large number of teenagers in the ref pool and they only are center refs for the youngest players. For the more competitive leagues, you almost never have a ref crew made up of only teenagers. Here, young refs are generally protected by having older refs as part of the crew. There is a whole system behind referee scheduling that most people don’t know about.

(Also, this about soccer in the US, I have no idea how other sports schedule their officials)


When you say “teenage” refs I assume you are meaning kids 16or younger. A lot of adult-sized college-age teenagers ref games and you probably don’t realize it.

You’re right about the scheduling aspect. If you’re in a healthy area and the leagues are playing according to US Soccer rules (using the IFAB bible plus approved grassroots modifications), the scheduling system is good and makes sure to keep refs assigned to appropriate matches (pro-tip: they keep track of the worst teams for abuse and only schedule the most grizzled refs. If none are available, then “sorry no refs are available for your match”).

Also, I don’t know if it’s US-only thing or a worldwide FIFA thing, but for the past few years refs with less than 2 or 3 years of experience are supposed to be wearing a special armband that coaches are supposed to recognize - if the ref gets abuse from fans they tell the coaches and the coaches have to go deal with it. If it’s not dealt with, the match is abandoned.


They didn't make Arnold a saint for nothing.

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


The grudge was for trying to assassinate his father. IIRC, one of the soldiers attending Saddam's hanging at Camp Justice got a call on his cell phone moments before the execution and gave the phone to Saddam. Who do you think was on the line?


Would you mind sharing some sources re: Saddam answering a call moments before being hanged? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence…


There's at least one cell phone video from the execution.[0] This video was offensive to the US administration for many reasons, so any immediate reporting of it and other unsavory behavior at the hanging was quickly squashed in the US media. But again, IIRC from 20 years ago, the videographer wasn't the only one using a cell phone at the event.

[0]https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/world/middleeast/01sunnis...


The article you linked doesn’t mention that Saddam answered a call right before his execution… which is what you implied earlier


Does the execution video show anybody holding a phone up to Saddam?


You moved the burden of proof from you to me. This looks like a disinformation tactic.


Probably didn't happen. Here's some material detailing that day; https://www.dawn.com/news/amp/589198


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