Drew M.M.

@drewmm

Writer, Audio Guy, Businessboi, Rescue Dog Otaku.

673 Folgt328 Follower459 Posts

Bluesky

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Drew M.M.@drewmm· Mar 5

The criticisms here are on point: Graeber doesn't draw sharp enough distinctions between pointless jobs, harmful jobs, and jobs that would become unnecessary if we solved solvable upstream problems. However, the episode didn't get around to the book's self-described "smoking gun," outlined here:

Does this mean that members of the political class might actually collude in the maintenance of useless employment? If that seems a daring claim, even conspiracy talk, consider the following quote, from an interview with then US president Barack Obama about some of the reasons why he bucked the preferences of the electorate and insisted on maintaining a private, for-profit health insurance system in America:

“I don’t think in ideological terms. I never have,” Obama said, continuing on the health care theme. “Everybody who supports single-payer health care says, ‘Look at all this money we would be saving from insurance and paperwork.’ That represents one million, two million, three million jobs [filled by] people who are working at Blue Cross Blue Shield or Kaiser or other places. What are we doing with them? Where are we employing them?”

I would encourage the reader to reflect on this passage because it might be considered a smoking gun. What is the president saying here? He acknowledges that millions of jobs in medical insurance companies like Kaiser or Blue Cross are unnecessary. He even acknowledges that a socialized health system would be more efficient than the current market-based system, since it would reduce unnecessary paperwork and reduplication of effort by dozens of competing private firms. But he’s also saying it would be undesirable for that very reason. One motive, he insists, for maintaining the existing market-based system is precisely its inefficiency, since it is better to maintain those millions of basically useless office jobs than to cast about trying to find something else for the paper pushers to do.

So here is the most powerful man in the world at the time publicly reflecting on his signature legislative achievement—and he is insisting that a major factor in the form that legislature took is the preservation of bullshit jobs.

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Feb 17

You're right, BlueSky: I *should* probably use BlueSky a lot less. (You know it's bleak when giving them your credit card is the least invasive option by far).

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Dec 9

I'm eating eating good today, thanks to @hilltopworks.bsky.social, @hantani.bsky.social, and @rd.7thbe.at. (@dcellgames.com's UNBEATABLE isn't in the cart, but only because I Kickstarted it). A FEAST.

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Nov 25

The thing is that I'm not joking though, @droqen.bsky.social.

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Jul 8

Hard-hitting stuff.

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Jun 22

I don't ranked Cuomo, and so can you!

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Jun 3

Guys, "set your Alarmo" was right there.

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Apr 18

My mom recently unearthed key evidence that I have Always Been Like This.

A graying, wide-ruled page of school notebook paper, laid out on a gray bedspread. It's dated February 18, 1994. Under the date, a teacher has written "I will give you chance to do this over neatly" in red pen. A yellow sticky note has been applied just under that. Dated February 23, 1994, it reads, "I have decided not to do it over neatly" and it's signed, in slightly chaotic little-kid lettering, "Drew."

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Mar 29

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Feb 7

I'd say MS has some chutzpah to think Copilot is worth an upcharge--but of course, they *don't* think that, or else they wouldn't be sneaky about it like this.

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Nov 4

I grew up on these streets (which is not a universal endorsement of their creators, in the former case).

The Neverhood, floating on a black background. On the left an orange castle, a chain dangling from it. A long bridge connects that to the rest of the map, with a a cream tower striped in blue, and red and green scenery.

The donut-or-ring-shaped-map of Super Mario RPG, the giant sword-with-a-face Exor embedded in Bower's Keep at the top. Clockwise, then: The Mushroom Kingdom, the real of the pipes and frogs, Moleville, Booster Tower, Star Hill, the seaside, bean valley, and Barrel Volcano.

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Oct 14

This one part struck me as odd, though. The 30% number is a reference to the large and fairly uniform cut that Steam takes on PC games, that Apple and Google take on mobile games, and that Microsoft and Sony take on console games. (Nintendo is slightly more complicated, but no less a fiefdom).

White text on a black background: "We also cannot dismantle the monopoly of digital fiefdoms taking 30% platform fees on all game revenue of every single developer out there. Only by an organised resistance of a large number of developers moving to a collectively-owned gamer-friendly platform could this be done. We can welcome and prioritize the rise of such a platform, and actively encourage its creation, as one of the tools of our deliverance from exploitation, but as an individual studio we are powerless."

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Oct 11

This one from earlier in the night might be my favorite.

The same line of oak tree as in the image further up in the thread, under the same night sky--but this time only a few stars are visible through the striations of magenta northern lights.

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Oct 11

Skies are still pretty wild in Rhode Island.

A line of black silhouetted oak trees under a starry sky. On the right the sky is gray-blue. On the left, the northern lights are glowing magenta and pink and, in the lower-left of the image, a lime green.

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Sep 10

I know I haven't been posting a whole lot lately, here or elsewhere, but I'm going to miss Cohost. Here's Pixel with the household Eggbug plush.

A black and white catttle dog mix looking coyly off to the right. To the left of her head is a maroon-purple plug of Eggbug, the Cohost mascot. It looks velvety, and being fresh from the mail, it is not perfectly round. The Eggbug has an uwu face, stubby little black legs, and one visible, iridescent wing.

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Nov 24

He has also been on the cover of Time (a not-unrelated indicator).

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Oct 19

The guy in the background of #3 is a real scene-stealer. A profoundly muppetty presence if ever I've seen one.

A closeup on the background figure from an "AI"-generated courtroom image of Caroline Ellison. He has the broad mouth of a muppet, and vacant button-like eyes. His skin and hair are the same pale done. In front of him is something that could be a hand, or maybe a tree stump? Behind him is a man in a blue cap, his eyes and nose flatly abstracted if inked quickly.

Drew M.M.@drewmm· Jun 27