• 4 Posts
  • 140 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: January 16th, 2024

help-circle







  • Native Rhode Islander here.

    Food trucks are a staple of life. They are a quintessential part of RI culture. We have events at Roger Williams Park like every week in the summer and there’s lines of food trucks that each have like a 30 minute queue.

    When I was in highschool (over 20 years ago now…), there were two big hangout spots: the coffee shop, and the hot weiner truck.

    You all haven’t lived till you’ve choked down 4 all-the-way, lovingly crafted on some old Mediterranean guys hairy forearm, and washed it down with 24oz of iced cold coffee milk (milk with coffee-flavored syrup) at 2am.





  • JasonDJ@lemmy.ziptoMemes@sopuli.xyzDiamond market
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    Really? I (and I say this as someone who hates diamonds and the diamond industry) always thought it looked gaudy. Maybe that’s because most the ones I see are comically large ones that would cost more than an SUV if they were diamond.

    Like, as much as I hate diamonds, I think a modest diamond ring looks better/more tasteful than a giant moissanite one. More reasonably sized ones probably look better.


  • I’m not saying we shouldn’t. I’m saying this to counter the Steve Jobs anecdote above me. He exploited a loophole to avoid some fines because of his exorbitant wealth. Obviously that’s a bad thing and he should’ve paid, and exploiting the loophole to park in handicap spaces, even at Apple (where he could just reserve a spot for himself), is just a sign of his narcissistic psychosis. But to point it at him as an example of why it wouldn’t work is missing the forest for the trees.

    I feel the same way about UBI. Who gives a shit if Musk gets a check for $2000 every month or whatever. He doesn’t, and that’s a drop in the bucket of the whole thing, especially considering he (should/would) be paying way, way, way more in funding such a program. He’s a distraction. I care way more about everybody else getting it.







  • The problem isn’t that they deny claims, the problem is that they exist in the first place. The industry has evolved from a nice-to-have to a downright necessity, because its existence has changed the entire concept of market economics.

    The existence of an industry of competitive, for-profit middle-men means that scrutiny must be applied to all charges to increase margins. This ends up spiraling the cost of care up to the point where it’s unobtainable without it, necessitating its existence.

    Tying it to employment also means that changing jobs can be a significant risk to the health and wellbeing of your entire family. Even worse, your employer cutting costs by changing providers could do the very same at any point.

    The combination of “money is speech” with this means that their profits must also be “invested” in protecting potential profits, by means of government lobbying.

    This is why for-profit health insurance industries are unsustainable. The only solution is a non-profit entity in the marketplace that has such a large risk pool that the level of scrutiny isn’t necessary because they have the negotiating power to drive costs down to acceptable levels. This is government single-payer or Medicare-for-All. There is nothing saying it can’t compete with private insurance, but private insurance should not be necessary for life.