I have been using the Strata backend with Next-Flash. It has been putting together a Vampire Survivors golden egg manager for me, and I do the QA testing. I am looking forward to Qwen4-Flash, it should open up more possibilities and take off some rough edges. Maybe I can finally do a recompilation of Stars!, and other obscure games?

The emotional insecurity of conservatives is embarrassing to look at.

I am expecting the AI to get the Rosemary Kennedy treatment.

People who do personal work or have income from a product, has their income passed through the hands of the government. They, like the highest ranked profession, have a $100,000 income cap each year. The government extracts the taxes and takes any amount of money that is over the $100k limit, be the source from works, personal sales, or stock dividends.

As to seasonal workers, one idea is that government enforces a contract. The worker actually has two jobs - during the seasonal work, they do the job for one of two employers. Off season, they work for some other job sector, such as a warehouse. Employers for each respective season pay for the worker jointly. A seasonal employer is obligated to partner with an off-season employer before they can offer jobs.

Failure of joint job offers, means that the government will prevent the two employers from hiring anyone. In turn, the government can drop the hammer if the employers are hiring people and making money off the books.

In the event that a seasonal worker is prevented from doing their second job, the government pays for an income that is equal to the worker’s first seasonal job if it was full time. This gives the government more incentive to keep employers on the level.

The implication here, is that government controls hiring practices. Abuse like ghost jobs exist, because employers dictate the terms of the proverbial battlefield. Employers in our current society create tests, scheduling requirements, enforce non-DEI policies, do nepotism, and so forth.

I think that government should be the clearinghouse for job offers and hiring standards, containing the resumes of employee and determining whether the employer is offering jobs in good faith. Positions for jobs are publicly posted, and workers can send a universal resume to the government that can be used for any position. If there are missing details, the worker can have their resume expanded and clarified, replacing their old resume.

Personally, I think the key is to create an income bottleneck: Each type of job falls into a rank, each rank giving a fixed income each year. Rank of a job type is determined by the effort, risk, and knowledge required. So a migrant working the fields, gets higher pay than a waiter, because that involves effort and possible damage from being out in bad conditions. There are only 7 or so job ranks. By limiting incomes, we also fight inflation, because sellers have to work within predictable income bands.

Rank 0 is UBI of $10,000 for citizens, which is replaced by job income if a citizen gets a standard job - but schooling grades adds to their pool. Jobs give more money than UBI. Students are payed $2,000 to $10,000, depending on their grades. Waiters and other basic roles get $20,000. $40,000 for managers, cops, and the like. $60,000 for produce pickers, delivery drivers, and soldiers in safe conditions. $80,000 for regular teachers, doctors, and researchers, fire fighters, lumberjacks, ambulance drivers, and so forth. $100k for surgeons, university-grade researchers, and astronauts.

Workers vote for their leaders within their unit and for leaders above their unit. They determine who gets to lead, and sets their pay rank every 3 months. This makes it harder for leaders to get entrenched and abuse workers.

I have more thoughts on this sort of thing, but the key thing is to seriously limit the power and authority of individuals: Limit total incomes each year to a hard cap, absolute limits on wealth and assets, guarantee universal services that allows people to quit and avoid bad jobs without risking their wellbeing. Free universal healthcare, basic food, generic goods, and basic shelter with internet, all of these freely given without means testing. Migrants also get universal services. The government gets the bulk of taxes from companies, and assigns a rotation of book-keepers from the state and federal government to ensure that companies aren’t lying.

The free stuff provided by the government also grease the wheels of genuine capitalism - paid goods and services have to be better than the universal items, else they won’t sell. That helps against inflation, since the government is basically setting the base price of things.

I think minimum wage isn’t sufficient. Inflation will keep striking, employers will continue wage theft and abuse, billionaires will keep engineering laws that benefit them at the expense of all others.

Replacing the entire economic system outright is the true minimum. At best, minimum wage alone is just a tiny bandaid covering a spurting stump. To save society, abandoning capitalist tradition is key.

Personally, I want him to live long enough to prosecute his end of a 2nd American Civil War. The corruption and chaos he would cause the Dogey Confederacy, would save the lives of many good people.

The opportunity to do a Reconstruction 2.0 and clearing the board of fascism, also holds great appeal.

Honestly, the exile of competent personal from the official American military might end up as a blessing. If those people end up as part of the Blue State National Guards and militia, we might have a reenactment of Ukraine vs Russia.

The Dogey military will likely end up being a paper doge.

Personally, I think we will need to completely replace the economic system. Our norms are based on technical debt inherited from millennia of practice, with every great social hierarchy designed to make the ordinary person most useful to the wealthiest. Starting over, with a clean sheet design - new currency, new laws, new organizations, and new expectations, is the way forward.

For example, what if workers could vote on who their boss is, and be able to set the pay of said bosses every three months? What if there was a hard 40 hour cap on workhours per week, with fixed pay per hour? What if tipping was outlawed nationwide, and delivery drivers had their fuel costs covered by employers? What if there was an absolute cap on income, wealth, and assets, to prevent the existence of moguls?

We should just throw out our existing structures, because they are piles of bullshit.

Trans rights, black rights, migrant rights, all are human rights - which goes hand-in-glove with genuine democracy and economic equality. Democrats who are opposed to such things, are just Republicans wearing a sheep skin.

Honestly, I can see that. America has been top dog for so long, it doesn’t value what it has.

Considering the Dutch have ASML, this seems an unwise move for the US. But then, the Dogey Confederates are working towards the destruction of the USA. 😒

Pain.

The Hamburger Helper brand sucks. Buy the store brand version. I personally enjoy the “Lasgana Skillet Meal”. Has more flavor than HH, and a bit cheaper too.

Fried chicken from the supermarket deli is affordable. $16 for 12 pieces of dark meat. Enough to give me at least two meals, probably three.

Responsible adulting, requires fried chicken.

At this point, I consider Republicans to be traitors. The crimson lining of a civil war, is being able to send them to where they belong.

… 😒

There was a time that I thought peace between our camps was good, that we were fellow Americans. I don’t anymore. They kept pushing their malice. At some point, punching the bully is the only reasonable response.

I wonder if Hideo Kojima ever asked Valve if they wanted to publish a game with him?

On the moon, I am guessing some sort of railgun facility. Designate a specific spot on Earth, and you can launch mineral packets to crash there for terrestrial harvesting. Mind, I can see horrific consequences if something goes wrong.

In an old game called Stars!, I used to prepare worlds via mineral deposits to serve as industrial centers. The process also conveniently cleared out the previous inhabitants.

Honestly, Cuba might make lemonade out of a lemon. The odds of America flubbing their invasion in the face of insurmountable resistance and leaving behind goodies during retreat isn’t impossible.

Even a decade ago, this assertion would have been laughed at in disbelief. It still does, but now with self-denigration.

It was the player. Always was.

…but seriously, what if we had a Fallout game set before the fall?