LEGO Is Investing Millions To Ditch Their Oil-Based Plastics In Search

[seebart]

Fuck this, let's get back to lego, please:

I'm with Scott, this is becoming an epic offtopicthority derail.

[Muirium]

Love OTDT! Go hang out in the Great Finds thread instead, fellas!

Holland is a corrupted cesspool where the government caste earns much better than the tax payers, spies on them, wages wars, and has one of the highest tax burdens in the world. Just received my energy bill, it's only 120% tax.

Perhaps if I was Dutch, I'd think more like you then. Fortunately, I'm from the thoroughly left wing, heavily socialised, Royal possession called Scotland! We have London Tories on the brain here, and see America through that filter.

[webwit]

I like Switzerland. My brother has a small shop there. Tax exempt up to 100,000 EUR. And one of the few real democracies out there.

[scottc]

I love off-topic DT, but some of the responses here are just desperate!

[seebart]

Love OTDT! Go hang out in the Great Finds thread instead, fellas!

Nah I think we might need to build a wall against OTDT.

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[webwit]

The LEGO story is boring because it is inconsequential, due to the China Axiom.

The China Axiom says that every energy unit you save, for instance to improve the environment, will then be obtained by an rising economy for a better price due to the lower demand.

In other words, humanity -will- take all the oil from the ground to burn it or make plastics from it. Resistance is futile. The only question that remains is when all will be burned or processed. Our generation, the next, or the next. That also doesn't matter. One could argue, better later than sooner, or better sooner than later.

[Redmaus]

people are poor for a reason.

Wow. I'm honestly speechless. I hope for your own sake that you're never unlucky enough in your clearly rather privileged life for it to happen to you, then.

So people are poor and that's it? No possible fault in themselves?

Quit acting like poor people are angels and get realistic.

I understand where you are coming from, but the current welfare system keeps people poor and lazy, not encouraging improvement.

[seebart]

China Axiom is for the weak minded then since it should be possible (in theory) to overcome this with alternatives. But theory is longanimous.

[Halvar]

Yeah, it's called an axiom because it's totally unprovable and undisprovable. You can only approach it from its consequences, which are desirable for everyone who's looking for an excuse not to think much about what could be changed. Which is why it exists.

[webwit]

Then you should argue "better sooner than later" so instead of pushing the problem to the next generations we take the hit. So burn the hell out of that oil, get it over with, as that's the only way to force the weak humans to alternatives, and the planet can cure.

Unless of course you'd like to persist in the notion that the axiom is not valid and we'll not take all of the oil out of the ground, we keep it there while only using wind and solar energy.

In the meantime, China is buying half of Africa for its oil. Without invasions, mind you. Poor China, missing out on peak oil.

[seebart]

I know what an axiom is Halvar, I was specifically talking about this China Axiom.

[Halvar]

@webwit: Well obviously the sooner we begin to make alternatives viable and the more time we have for that, the more painless the end of the oil age will be. If we burned all of the rest of the oil in 2016, we'd probably have an atomic war on christmas and a Mad Max world next year. But that's just the extreme case. So yes, better later than sooner thank you very much.

@seebart: Sorry, I was answering to webwit's older post.

[Khers]

I love off-topic DT, but some of the responses here are just desperate!

This. I like OTDT as much as the next guy, but sometime it's just time to quit digressing and go back to Lego.

[Muirium]

Pfft. Lego is a fairytale. Like Sylvanian Families, but missing Islamic State.


http://mimsysylvania.tumblr.com

[Redmaus]

Did someone say Axiom?

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[Muirium]

Looking forward to Andy writing off this grand slam as "just women and the rich." As far as I know, South Carolina isn't exactly a millionaire's paradise or well known for its fiery sex warriors…

Game over, Bernie. Thanks for the warmup.

[seebart]

She's got a lot of african american voters in SC, looks like the old man is down and out. But that last republican debate was unbelievable, the way Marco Rubio was going at the trumpet was epic.

[Redmaus]

Yeah looks like they patched the repeat error in Rubio since the 9th debate.

I still don't know why Clinton is allowed to run. He She should be facing charges right now.

[Muirium]

He's not allowed to run because of term limits, just like Obama. I'd rather either of those guys than Hillary, whose political savvy isn't near as good, but that's bad constitutional amendments for you.

Meanwhile, here's a gambler thinking through the scenario you imagine. Could Joe Biden get a second chance to run? Only if the Feds kick off the chaos!

http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index. ... llary-now/

[vivalarevolución]

She's got a lot of african american voters in SC, looks like the old man is down and out. But that last republican debate was unbelievable, the way Marco Rubio was going at the trumpet was epic.

Yea, it's cute to see the potential leaders of the free world bicker and insult like teenagers. I'm absolutely thrilled. Instead of embracing a more multicultural country and looking for solutions, we just rant and fight.

Now Rubio's main selling point is being the best hope to stop Trump. Check out his website: https://marcorubio.com/stop-donald-trum ... rcos-team/

At this point, I hope Bloomberg runs. While not perfect, he is pragmatic towards many issues and actually seems concerned with solving problems rather than serving his ego. All the candidates for the Repubs are insufferable, and then on the other end is the socialist with slightly insane economic policies and Hillary, just another lifetime politician hell bent on getting to the top.

I haven't paid much attention to politics at a national level in years, but they reveal how the voters are a feeling at the time. And with the way that people are supporting Sanders and Trump, it reveals how many of us have misdirected anger. About what exactly, we don't know, but perhaps we should look at what we can do ourselves rather than incite anger towards another person. It's harder that way, but ultimately makes for a better world.

[sinusoid]

Wow, I was really expecting 8 pages of discussion about plastics ;_; That would be so totally awesome...

Migrate to Poland?

You're not following the news closely. Poles could not sustain the Islamic pressure from the west, and Russia expanding on the east, and migrated to UK and Ireland, to fill in all the places left from UK expats to Spain. Ukrainians have moved in to Poland to make place for the expanding Russia, and things settled for a while, though the situation is still dynamic...

Deskthority: the authority on input devices (and European foreign policy (and fitness))

I sense Lisp

@Redmaus,
You should check out Russia. AFAIR they have a 6% flat tax rate.
The poor people are poor because human brains are neural networks trained by past experiences. If you were brought up into poverty, it's very likely you would remain poor, unless the situation in your country is actively preventing it by letting you advance, exp, and earn more.
Protip: businesses, especially corporations, have a single goal: maximize income. Every cent they pay you, is a cent off their income. Hence, they like poverty, because poor people demand less money. State is the only entity powerful enough to shave money off corporations, and by all means, it should do that, if only for the reason of getting it back on the market.

Imvho, this Nick Hanauer dude has some merit in what he speaks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKCvf8E7V1g

[Redmaus]

You are right. It is likely. But people on welfare are destined to stay poor. The incentive to work is removed because of it.

Not all poor people are poor because they were born into it. And many people who were born poor rise up and become very successful. Its all about choices in America. The real crutch is the way they were raised. If the parents don't care, success is rare.

I saw the video and I kind of agree with the guy, but personally I don't know if they rich pay those rates anyway. I have heard of bribery and rich people that store their fortunes elsewhere, so I am not sure if his claims are accurate.

[sinusoid]

@Redmaus,
re:welfare - exactly. There are people who made welfare money into a style of living. Welfare, as in giving people free money, is, essentially, breeding Dodo birds.
However, people need food. They also need effective education, healthcare, and shelter. Things that keep them alive, productive, and in charge of their lives. Things that make the difference of what it means to 'hit the bottom', but don't involve spending money.

re:taxation, the state has its own ways to get to them. State likes money. There was a huge leak of German citizens hiding their money off in Switzerland some time ago. Merkel wasn't happy. Cheaty Germans had to return the stolen cake, and add more topping.