Slightly off topic.

"Now, the keyword fast here is saying that the variable fart cannot be changed - it is immutable"

So would this be the same 'fast' as you'd find in 'steadfast' or as in stuck?

Yes, exactly - same Germanic root. "Fast" in Scandinavian languages means firm/fixed/stuck, which is also the original meaning in English (as in "hold fast", "steadfast", "fasten"). The "quick" meaning in English is actually the newer one, derived from the idea of being "stuck" on a course.

Yes. And as in fastness (which would be «fastheit» in Nynorsk): https://www.etymonline.com/word/fastness

I had the unhappy experience of driving a car with collision warnings. I got 3 in one day. It would be nice after the fact to know what it thought was happening.

Surely the poster child of the 90s for 'not IBM' was Google. And that worked because it removed things.

So yes, I agree somewhat, but I think it's more a corruption of that original ethos by said suits. But I suppose that's true of everything on the internet.

TBF the USians elected an April fools president...

But no, we have the same April fools as everyone else. But if it were a special April fools, I could fool you by telling you it isn't....

That isn't how I read the article?

But then a company whose only asset is it has a listing should be able to go up by 580% doing not very much.

The announcement was that it secured $50M in financing, sold the shoes business for $39M leaving $20M or so in cash.

An empty public company with $70M in financing to enter a hyped market was valued at $115M. The stated intent is to spend their money on a CapEx item with a fairly high demand and resale value (GPUs) in a sector that has a pretty simple playbook.

The 580% bump is a fun headline, but "startup secures $50M in funding at a 5.8x valuation bump" isn't unheard of.

Have I invested? No. Is this a ridiculously funny narrative and story? Absolutely. Is it the most ridiculous valuation I've seen? No.

Except when the CEO of publicly owned Tesla gets paid based on performance.

Ah the irony. Wouldn't let me go back without clicking the cookie thing.

So to explain what an apple pie is, first you must explain the universe? Every time?

Well. Where to start.

As someone who has been let down by the judiciary and many other state institutions, I do have the very strong feeling that perhaps direct action is needed, and that perhaps I wouldn't be in the position I was, if the powers that be took that risk into account. But then don't I, in some ways become a terrorist* in doing those things, threatening those things, or making those things a reality? and there's the question of what message gets through, which isn't necessarily the one I want to convey.

*In a very broad way. I'm not thinking anything in particular, just the rationality of introducing a cost to them for their failures. Any form of protest I suppose is coercive.

Everyone's biased. If you don't think you're biased you just haven't identified the bias yet.

For example 'the center' You are already talking about a subset of (probably English speaking) programmers let alone the population at large. So that's a bias there. And you've chosen the centre, other people may not agree with where you've put the centre. I for example am accused of being right wing and left wing. Presumably the accusers didn't think I was in the centre.

Having said all this, I do agree with your points, I don't think you'll have much luck actually improving the level of conversation though.