Tom Burke

Yes, a penguin taught me French.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

"Thundercats..." he started, then closed his eyes, inhaling the smoky redolence of his drink before finishing with a half smile: "ho"

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@Ike_Saul Interestingly, around 30% of Americans have had trouble paying medical debt. I’d need to dig into the numbers more deeply to make any real claims, but it does imply that people who do not have major medical expenses think the system is okay.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

I am sure there are inefficiencies in government, but the examples people give are so often welfare fraud (fairly low) and things like 1 million being spent on science that turns out to be pretty important. I’ve heard this meme my whole life, but how true is it really?

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@Ike_Saul It’s a good stress test! But I think so, yes. Which is disheartening. But to have that belief, they are either intentionally trolling, or are too deep in misinformation to find common ground. Engaging is only useful on a personal level.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@Ike_Saul I’m less and less convinced of this. Not that it exists, but that it’s a significant problem. What good does it do for me to engage with my neighbor who claims children are using litter boxes? Half the time they don’t believe it anyway, and are just happy to waste your time.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@_nomadic_soul I agree with both statements. Which is why maternity and paternity leave are so important.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@Alien_AV @RoguesPhilo @pli_cachete Having also made large purchases in countries with limited infrastructure, the money you have in the bank in another country is not necessarily worth very much. Like the parent post, you are insisting that cigarettes don’t cost five dollars. You are correct, but it is irrelevant.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@RoguesPhilo @pli_cachete Owner was right. You were coming from a place where an external system supported your ownership of money not in your possession. But you were operating outside that system. In essence, Owner said “imagine it doesn’t work like that here” and you said “but I do have the money.”

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@SubSatorin @eigenrobot If you believe this is inconsistent, you do not understand either position. There is no tension here. The two positions are not even the tiniest bit at odds.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@GavinAFS @SeanMX_7 @michaelmccartn4 @lackofsmiles @hashjenni This is a funny analogy precisely because it is so good. All food carries the risk of foodborne illness. No preparation method is 100% effective at eliminating this risk. And yet we still eat.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@samhaselby Except it’s not their policies for the most part, is it? It’s Regan’s policies. It’s Bush’s. Politicians that, for the most part, the MAGA crowd supported.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@BobPishue @mateosfo That’s because they’re the arguments. That’s how it works. If I was keeping a duck in the house, and he was pooping on the floor, and you kept telling me that I should not keep a duck in the house, because of the poop, “you already said that” is not a reasonable response.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@KCOracle @mattyglesias If it is so obvious, give me one example of a metric that you think would be reduced, and why.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@KCOracle @mattyglesias If there is a pool of qualified candidates who you cannot rank completely accurately, and you have a small bias to hire people like yourself, you will overlook more qualified candidates some of the time. DEI can reduce this.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@KCOracle @mattyglesias I am not convinced this thought experiment bears any resemblance to reality. Particularly, there is no mechanism to perfectly rank applicants. It seems just as likely to me that DEI increases candidate quality by offsetting hiring biases.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@Spencer_Gray @SCHIZO_FREQ And here we have a perfect example of why the very word “meritocracy” was coined to criticize the concept, not promote it.

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@Meyers85014 @socialiststeve6 If the money has been paid back already (including inflation) then what are you paying for again?

[Tom Burke @impossibly]

@CincinnatiNews_ @Boenau Drivers want taxpayers to fund roads for them, businesses to build parking for them, and laws to give them special treatment.