deathbird
@deathbird@mander.xyz
- Comment on Wikimedia Foundation's plans to introduce AI-generated summaries to Wikipedia 12 hours ago:
This is not the medicine for curing what ails Wikipedia, but when all anyone is selling is a hammer…
- Comment on Google is Using AI to Censor Independent Websites 1 week ago:
JFC if there a uBlock list I can add to block most AI crap or do I have to get a new addon for that?
- Comment on A Medicaid researcher attacked by Elon Musk's DOGE just killed herself 2 weeks ago:
Thank you, yes.
- Comment on Microsoft pulls MS365 Business Premium from nonprofits 2 weeks ago:
Now now, it’s not like they get the whole inheritance. It’s more like they get cushy overpaid non-work jobs to manage or consult for the non-profit.
- Comment on ‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’ 2 weeks ago:
Problem I see with price based rather than square footage is that it’s going to vary by location and generation. A human being, or a family even, needs a certain amount of space, and beyond that there is some threshold across which one could say this family or person is undoubtedly taking up more than they actually need.
For example, how much housing does a family of 5 people reasonably expect if living a middle class lifestyle in America? I think that’s something that changes generationally and regionally based on income and housing costs, but today I think such a family might expect ideally a house with five bedrooms, two or three baths, a kitchen, dining room, living room, laundry room, maybe also a den or other secondary communal room. I’m not saying all houses should be this big, or shouldn’t be bigger, but that a house about this big could be a fair measuring stick for determining how much square footage a house could reasonably be without the owner-occupant paying property taxes.
Or it could be based on the number of kitchens. If a house is cut up into apartments as an investment strategy, it has to have more than one kitchen generally speaking.
For price based limits I just don’t see how you avoid artificial inflation of assessments by governments or planned neglect by owners to keep houses on one side or the other of the threshold. It would also have very different impacts on different markets. And inflation and changes in the market would require whatever threshold you set to be revised fairly regularly or else fade into irrelevance.
- Comment on Saudi Arabia has big AI ambitions. They could come at the cost of human rights 2 weeks ago:
Saudi Arabia trying to diversify away from oil, but is also evil. News at 11:00.
- Comment on Google's AI now listens to your English language phone conversations 2 weeks ago:
They need to be given motivation, through legal obligation.
- Comment on Google's AI now listens to your English language phone conversations 2 weeks ago:
This is scam protection not spam protection. The beta was just introduced and you have to opt-in.
- Comment on Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026 2 weeks ago:
Why? And that’s two questions.
- Comment on ‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’ 2 weeks ago:
Yeah 10 acres seems a bit excessive to me but I like the basic principle.
- Comment on ‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’ 2 weeks ago:
It’s not a bad compromise, it’s just a matter of finding a good value for X. And that’s hard to do as housing prices continue to balloon and housing costs take up a greater percentage of people’s incomes. Houses that would have cost one year’s income in the 60s can easily cost 8 to 10 times that today.
I don’t know, maybe you should have to pay property taxes if the land occupies more than a certain square footage. That could discourage suburban style development and promote greater population density, which could both act as a net positive.
- Comment on ‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’ 2 weeks ago:
You know what stops people from selling houses? Skyrocketing housing prices. Cuts out buyers, and makes loans against equity more appealing than actually cashing out.
You know what tax people can actually afford, that isn’t based on the opinions of appraisers regarding the fickle whims of a speculative market? Income tax.
- Comment on ‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’ 2 weeks ago:
I still think citizens should pay the bill for their services, but tax should be on the basis of income, and wealthier people should pay more to cover for those who can’t. And why not income, the money you actually bring in, and not a portion the money your home would theoretically sell for if you sold it? The point at which to take tax is the point of transfer, whether it’s labor for a wage or a change of ownership (sales and inheritance).
I absolutely don’t believe that people would be less likely to sell their property because they might have to pay a percentage of the profits from the sale. And if they were less likely to sell it, who cares? Take the money from the excess houses when they die. I think I also mentioned that I’m not principally against taxes on non-resident property (which is essentially abandoned or a business asset if not owner occupied). I’m also not against rent controls.
Like God forbid one recognize that certain approaches to taxation are problematic, it must mean you’re a conservative who’s against government services.
- Comment on ‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’ 2 weeks ago:
Eventually no one will be able to afford a house not merely because they can’t buy it in the first place, but because even if they inherit it they can’t keep up with the tax bill because on paper it’s worth 8 times what their parents paid even inflation adjusted. I’m not even making those proportions up, that’s about the change in cost in my neighborhood I think.
- Comment on ‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’ 2 weeks ago:
Workers. Employers. Commuters. Capital gains. Sales.
There are so many things you can tax, so many points where money moves from one set of hands to another where you can shave a little off the top. It’s just a bit absurd to me that we will shake people down for money for just having a home that an assessor figures could sell for some particular amount of money.
- Comment on ‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’ 2 weeks ago:
Tax Other Stuff
- Comment on Google to Integrate Gemini AI into Android Auto for Smarter In-Car Experience 2 weeks ago:
Boo hiss fuck off
- Comment on ‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’ 2 weeks ago:
Okay I know it’s not such a popular opinion but I’m still on the notion that you shouldn’t pay taxes for holding on to the place that you live.
Yeah yeah local governments need income and all that and their house is assessed over 4 million dollars and many people can’t even afford a home at a 10th of that and they should have known and blah blah blah but come on, commodified housing is bad enough. Paying what amounts to a rent to the state just to hold on to the property, actual repairs and upkeep and other naturally occurring costs aside is insane.
Tax the sales of property. Tax the legal transfer of control of LLCs that “own” property. I’m not even saying never charge property tax on properties not occupied by the owner, but you should be able to have a house to live in without paying the state for the privilege of them not taking it.
- Comment on Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026 2 weeks ago:
Only sensible answer. It’s still enshitification, but it’s the open kind and there are still legitimate ad-free tiers. I don’t think Amazon Prime even has that.
- Comment on Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026 2 weeks ago:
Counter argument: advertisement is shit, except it is less than shit because shit can fertilize a field. It is neither improved nor depreciated by human involvement. Every moment of human effort expended in producing advertising could be better spent on anything else.
- Comment on Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026 2 weeks ago:
It just sounds like the ads have gotten more annoying is all. And worse for the environment. And more expensive for Netflix. But maybe higher value because they force you to interact with them?
- Comment on Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026 2 weeks ago:
Nice thing is it can’t come back. There are too many other sources of entertainment and information to make one feel like one is missing out by simply opting out.
- Comment on Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026 2 weeks ago:
How cool… advertising can be?
- Comment on Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026 2 weeks ago:
Ooh everyone look at Mr smarty pants over here being all literate.
- Comment on Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026 2 weeks ago:
Didn’t you know?
When a company or person does something shitty then all their other products/works are trash anyway and no one ever actually liked them.
- Comment on We Study Fascism at Yale. We’re Leaving the U.S. 2 weeks ago:
I read the summary on the archive page. I’m not impressed.
Let’s go with the premise that I believe that the American fascist movement is here. So what do I do with that? We can’t all just move to Toronto, and if we could it wouldn’t help anyone else. So…?
- Comment on We Study Fascism at Yale. We’re Leaving the U.S. 2 weeks ago:
If they were genuinely afraid, sure.
- Comment on Gig Companies Violate Workers’ Rights: Amazon Flex, DoorDash, Favor, Instacart, Lyft, Shipt, and Uber claim to offer workers flexibility but end up paying them less than state or local minimum wages. 3 weeks ago:
Oh no you see I am the Dasher/Uber driver/whatever who actually makes money. You see…
- Comment on Paul McCartney and Dua Lipa among artists urging British Prime Minister Starmer to rethink his AI copyright plans 3 weeks ago:
I mean honestly this AI era is the time for these absurd anti-piracy penalties to be enforced. Meta downloads libgen? $250,000 per book plus jail time to the person who’s responsible.
Oh but laws aren’t for the rich and powerful you see!
- Comment on Paul McCartney and Dua Lipa among artists urging British Prime Minister Starmer to rethink his AI copyright plans 3 weeks ago:
Normal people pirate: one hundred bazillion dollars fine for download The Hangover.
One hundred bazillion dollars company pirate: special law to say it okay because poor company no can exist without pirate 😞