https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/what-would-happen-if-all-the-salt-in-the-oceans-suddenly-disappeared

I hate these takes, because they always open with “What would happen if a large volume of matter vanish?!” And yes, removing anything on the scale of “All the salt in all the oceans instantaneously” would be catastrophic entirely on the grounds that any instant movement of enormous mass is going to destabilize natural systems.

But the question that people are looking to answer is “What would the world look like if the Atlantic was a bigger version of Lake Michigan?” Not “what would hitting the oceans with a Star Trek teleporter do?”

https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/50834/what-if-the-oceans-salt-level-decreased-by-50

Kinda grazes at the edges of this, but doesn’t really seek to distinguish what a fully-desalinated ocean system would look like relative to a salty one. It just describes a transitional period in which freshwater life migrates out to the ocean. But it doesn’t discuss what a deep-sea fresh water world would look like.

Also, the “eventually the sea would re-salinate” gets us to a more fundamental question “Why is the sea salty to begin with?” And that gives us insight into where salts come from and why they are fundamental to the ocean ecosystem.

“Skills Issue”

Demonstrably so, given the success of Russian industry.

In fairness, the Russians had one big advantage the Americans didn’t…

Russian scientists.

But my point is more that they had no compunction over taking German scientists when presented with the opportunity.

I mean, if we’re going to be serious, the USSR had its own version of Operation Paperclip. Operation Osoaviakhim

In 1945 and 1946 the use of German expertise was invaluable in reducing the time needed to master the intricacies of the V-2 rocket, establishing production of the R-1 rocket and enable a base for further developments.

…

On arrival the 302 Germans were split into several groups. A large group of 99 specialists from the Zentralwerke was installed in Podlipki in the north east section of Moscow as part of Korolev’s NII-88, 76 design engineers were transferred to Gorodomlya Island, and 23 specialists to Khimki as part of Glushko’s OKB-456 for the development of rocket engines.

But once the Germans had been pumped for info, they fell by the wayside. The difference between Russians and Americans was that the Russians didn’t put German scientists in administrative positions. They just squeezed them for their findings and retired them. The scientists didn’t end up running the fucking departments.

Staring at a bunch of empty tissue boxes

Doesn’t look like anything to me.

Christ then be mad at advertisers then

Right. Yes. This is what I’m mad at.

they don’t feel like they’re suffering

I’ve heard people who get tattoos often enough begin to enjoy the feel of the needle on their skin. So who are you to say tattooing bar codes on everyone’s necks is a bad thing? Don’t yuck my yum!

So who cares then?

Presumably the people drowning in this suffocating deluge of mass marketing.

let other people enjoy things

What if they aren’t enjoying it?

What if they’re just getting caught up in the oppressive frenzy of hype culture, getting bombarded with ad-induced anxiety, or simply trying to fit in with whatever they’re told is “normal”? What if the emperor has no clothes but we’re all told its rude to point?

Am I allowed to make fun of Morbius? Or is that under the Let People Enjoy Things rubric?

If they get enjoyment out of these products, does that really negatively affect you?

If its getting injected into every webpage, spamming up my email, blaring across the radio, on billboards along every mile of road, and natively included in every other media venue I visit?

Yeah.

Isn’t the whole gripe with Pumpkin Spiced whatever the same with Christmas decorations popping up in mid-October? Like, its not fucking special if you’re putting nutmeg in my coffee in June.

Same with the D&D / Marvel / Roblox / Whatever fandom of choice. It was fine twenty years ago when it was the New Thing. Now we’re pushing 100+ hours of Disneyfied extended universe content on Marvel alone. Half my “recommended” podcast feed is six C-list celebrities making the soy face in front of a pair of crossed battle axes. And my street is lined with shitty faux-bakery corporate cafeterias trying to sell a piece of rye bread covered in guacamole for $15/slice.

Who actually enjoys this shit anymore? It feels like I’m being sealed into Disneyland, like a Pharaoh buried alive in his pyramid. It stopped being fun ages ago. Now I’m torn between boredom and horror.

Float Gender

I reject uniform distribution theory and only recognize the graph that looks like a pair of torpedo titties.

This is true except for the part where anyone smiles naively, as though the dog whistle isn’t delivered in the most transparent manner imaginable

Its an optional illusion. Nothing exists and we are but the stuff of dreams.

I had a game in Middle School that involved describing how I was supposed to arrange a ladder to climb up the side of a wall. We went back and forth for over an hour, because my DM kept insisting I couldn’t turn the ladder sideways.

Now, if my players want to deliver a particularly clever bit of prose or describe a novel engineering technique, I just give them a +2 on the roll and that’s that.

Fu Linghui, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said the release of data would be suspended while authorities look to “optimise” collection methods.

“In recent years, the number of university students has continued to expand,” Fu said. “The main responsibility of current students is studying. Society has different views on whether students looking for jobs before graduation should be included in labour force surveys and statistics.”

This issue, as well as the definition of the age range currently set at 16-24, “needs further research,” Fu said.

Isn’t this basically consistent with the… I want to say U6 unemployment metric within the US? Basically, if you’re in school then you aren’t an active member of the labor force and don’t count as “unemployed” for the purpose of government statistics?

I remember back during the '07/'08 US downturn, lots of young people re-entered academia in pursuit of MBAs / Law Degrees / etc, because the job market sucked and pay in professional fields was worth the time/cost of a higher caliber of degree. When they fell out of the labor market as a result, the US unemployment rate adjusted in response.

Wonder if we’re going to get a Blowback on the Congolese Wars.

Come to think of it, I wonder of a War Nerd or Lions Led by Donkeys already exists for it.