As long as the traditional Leg of Lamb is still being served, you can drop the Turkey. Mark Twain said that. Usually we have freshly harvested Venison... but we haven't harvested any yet, so pressure's on. Save us some Steakums just in case.
We have some of those friends who you raised your babies with before they had to move away for work coming 'home' for Thanksgiving; one of the babies now has babies... so we'll have toddlers at the table for the first time in a while.
Tomorrow is opening day for Rifle season and, well, this side of the rapture the venison ain't gonna present itself.
Yes, HQ can't fit everyone in the office anymore so people rotate by department on assigned days. That's the thing, right? Cities need a superabundance of normie squares to offset the crazy and provide a big enough herd to act as a buffer. A lubricant of humanity keep the wheels of the city spinning.
1. Largely made by people who didn't read the article or comments
2. Morphed into vague second points that are more wrong than a specific sort of stupid.
I was in SOMA for a week in Sept. My observation compared to previous years was that the ratio seemed higher owing to fewer folks walking about; but the biggest difference to me was qualitative where very, maybe even extremely, able bodied men outnumbered the crazy, bedraggled, and crazy bedraggled female homeless.
I'd guess the numbers were about the same(?), but the experience was worse for the reasons cited above. Not that it stopped me walking daily over a mile back and forth... but SF has lost a lot of its chill vibe. It feels like its on the edge of making it; but maybe not.
Thanks, yeah... looks like that was maybe the pilot project that kicked off the idea. The two-well video was published May 2022... the 'completed project' video Nov 2023. Somewhere between the two the team did 98 other wells.
There's likely an interesting story behind each well... maybe journalists will explore that. That's what I mean when the questions should be... what did he do and how did he do it? Are there good lessons learned? Bad lessons?
Given Mr. Beast's profile, I have to imagine his non-profit is scrutinized with great interest.
I pulled the 990 from 2021 (easiest I could find) and they disbursed $1.59M with a Total Compensation structure of $410,962. Only the Executive director on the board took a salary ($88k). Other compensation is presumably schlubs doing stuff. He, his mom, and cousin are on the board at $0.
$588k for Operations ($142k legal / $132k Building) the rest small regular costs.
$1.56M disbursed
$410k Compensation
$588k Operations
$418k rolled-over for 2022
~60% disbursal ratio.
Not great, but also not bad given how small the charity is -- there are baseline costs that would remain fixed for much larger sums. So donate to get the ratios down!
"Maybe Mr. Beast paid 500,000 per well to a local political bigwig, and he paid 50,000 to a drilling outfit and the rest to cronies and family members."
I did click around a bit to see if Mr. Beast(TM) commented on this. They said the cost of drilling ranged between $5k and $20k per well, depending on the depth. That's a bit less than what it costs to drill a well in VA... you'd budget $15k - $30k and hope for $10k. It's literally a pay-go contract... you pay them to start drilling and when to stop, if they don't hit water. There's no guaranty of water, and the bill simply reflects the depth of the hole (plus minimums and set-up, etc).
Of course, no word on any necessary bribes, so we can't see the 'all-in' cost. But we also can't rule out that some chucklefuck from North Carolina with a lot of money and who didn't know better just paid drillers to drill and didn't pay any bribes at all.
I was also amused to stumble across a literal Drilling Industry Podcast (you know, there's a podcast for everything) and I watched to see if they were horrified, bemused, or indifferent. I'm surprised to report that they were enthusiastic!
Of course, The Driller only sees market upside to drilling fresh water wells... so, take their enthusiasm with a grain of salt.
Agreed (but). Or to quote Abraham Lincoln, "Policy is hard, dude."
Status quo always has an advantage in large complex systems... I'm not a silver bullet guy, so my point wouldn't be, "This one neat trick will fix all our problems..." Some things I don't even think are really problems of outcomes, but problems of incentives and problems of unjust appropriation of gains.
But, to your point, we have had some shocks to the Status Quo. Covid introduced shocks to our supply chains that exposed things we didn't really appreciate; tangentially, the chip shortage exposed risks to the status quo presented by Taiwan/China; and the inexplicable malaise of MattY's Green Line Bidenomics is, I think, the sort of shock to the status quo that is (perhaps) explained by the term coined: Fissure Economics.
So the article points out that the CHIPS act is a change to the status quo; the [cough] Deficit Reduction Act is a change to the status quo... and recognizing that the way we've decoupled profits from production -- financialized all gains and turned all gains into financial instruments is a social phenomenon that bright people could use to motivate smart changes to the status quo.
The real point of the article isn't to build some sort of controlled economy (they go to some lengths to demonstrate even China attempts to let market forces have at least a voice in which companies get picked as winners and become seats for their nephews); the real point is to debunk the idea that neo-liberalism was somehow libertarian driven laissez faire rather than policy preferences that had/have outcomes that we can and should measure.
It means that you don't try to control the uncontrollable, rather you recognize that the existing rules of the game produce outcomes that we may or may not want and the goal is to alter some existing rules, apply some new ones, and leave most rules in place, and monitor how the game proceeds and iterate accordingly. But first, it's helpful to name the game and explode the myth that it's 'natural' and not the outcome of policy preferences (good and bad).
This, IMO, is the game it names... and best to look at it full on.
"More importantly, neoliberalism incentivized specific modes of wealth generation that brought about a “fissured economy,” and the resulting changes in corporate and investor behavior are arguably the most profound and enduring effects of the neoliberal revolution. These changes underlie both the loss of strategic supply chains and the explosion of inequality, and it is only by addressing these issues that post-neoliberal industrial strategy can be successful in achieving its policy goals. Moreover, to avoid the conventional partisan polarization that sets, say, student-loan borrowers against displaced Rust Belt manufacturing workers, it is necessary to grasp the phenomena that contributed to both outcomes."
But yes, I completely agree that making changes, any changes can break things and outcomes could be better in some areas and worse in others. BUT -- I'd rather acknowledge that the game we're currently playing isn't openly acknowledged.
Agreed; seemed more of a message to potential carjackers that there's at least a small possibility that there might be a tracking device hidden somewhere - so factor that into risk calculations?
Or strip the cars underground or somewhere with bad cell service. Make sure you (the thieves) aren't also using Tile.
But worst of all, Tile is fundamentally a Bluetooth technology that relies on other Tile/Bluetooth pings/network.
At first I thought it was some sort of industrial grade 'tracking device' that the police use.
Then I saw they were giving away Tile/Air Tags.
Better than nothing, I suppose... but my experience with Tile is that it will work for about a month, sorta work for about 9 months, then won't work after a year when the battery dies.
Finally, something liberals and conservatives can all get behind... hating on the Neo-Liberals.
I think the article is on to something real... they call it The Fissured Economy, and it has some good explanatory power behind why people are dissatisfied with the Green Line. The Green Line is Neo-Liberal metrics and we're transitioning to a Post-Neo-Liberal future.
If you read it from the Left, you want Biden to 'Lean In' to the PNL aspect of his New Industrial Policies.
If you read it from the Right, you realize there are good reasons to build New Industrial Policies which remove the distortionary regulations (and Tax policies) that separated production from Intellectual Property and effectively cut workers out of the gains.
"The fissured economy generated early returns, but its costs and contradictions have grown increasingly burdensome. Unlike the virtuous cycle of Fordism—in which high investment drives high wages which drive strong demand—the sequestration of corporate profits away from the most labor- and capital-intensive pieces of corporate value chains breeds financialization, stagnation, and heightened inequality. Despite ideological pretentions of fiscal rectitude, the neoliberal model relies upon debt to sustain consumption—whether private household borrowing, as in the run-up to the financial crisis, or large government budget and trade deficits, which have prevailed for most of the neoliberal period—exacerbating household precarity and systemic financial instability."
Sure, assuming that particular story is true... but one of the things my friends running charitable orgs tell me is that follow-up on grants is both one of the most important things that a reputable org does, and one of the hardest. In the opinion of one person deep in this, international giving is orders of magnitude more difficult to track, and in his opinion, not a good use of funds. Too many layers, too little accountability. So, I'm inclined to believe it is plausibly true.
That's what makes the Mr. Beast story 'fun'. He just went and built wells... he didn't have his foundation solicit proposals and listen to people tell him how his money would be used... he used his money and did a thing.
If anything, asking rich people to practice the virtue of Magnanimity would be a whole new thing... more Oprah, less Foundational structured giving.
Mr. Beast isn't shaming NGO's... he's shaming rich people. As I've said in the past, the real problem with Billionaires isn't that they have too much, its that they spend too little.
Do you think we, the world bank, NGO's and other philanthropic organizations send money without strings attached? Or are good strings invisible strings?
Might even be an interesting follow-up question whether, say, Uganda, is having funds withheld for dysfunctional culture reasons. I notice Mr. Beast built wells in Uganda... is that problematic?
P.S. I'm surprised no-one has faulted him yet for giving an entire village bicycles -- but apparently no bicycle helmets? Surely there's an international tribunal we can get him with?
There's probably a story here about 'how' he was able to drill 100 wells in 3 or 4 different countries.
-Did he bribe local officials?
-Ignore local officials?
-Simply fill out the paperwork?
-Are there no regulations at all, and all he had to do was drill?
-Was he only able to bribe officials for 25 inconsequential (to the aquifers) wells per country?
-Who owns the water in the aquifers?
-Diamon Mines?
-Moneyed interests?
-Agriculture?
-No one?
-Did he chose 4 countries so that none of the wells would have a noticeable impact on the aquifer?
-Was he oblivious to the power dynamics that prevent drilling companies from drilling in certain areas?
-Or did he simply pay a price that requires capital the communities can never come up with and there are no power/ownership issues to even consider?
-Will he someday disappear having meddled with 'the way things are done' in a far away land?
-Are NGO's more interested in maintaining clout with power structures that enable them to do their work--but also control how/where for whom they do their work?
-Are there good lessons learned? Bad ones?
Seriously, some of you are so blind with bizarre American partisan-brained pseudo-ethics that you can't even see well enough to ask good questions.
The NGO's should do what they think is beneficial, if that overlaps... then good. If they don't want to address maintenance of the wells... that's fine too - I'm sure they have lots of things they might or might not do. They don't own or regulate anything.
My point is that Mr. Beast simply changes the reality on the ground... there were no wells that needed to be maintained, now there are... that's a net good and there's no downside.
Seriously, it's not hard to maintain a well, especially a community well. It's hard to drill a well, but not hard to pull the pump and replace it. This is a non-issue here.
It would be better if the NGO's had to help with maintenance on wells that exist than talk about the problem of maintaining wells that don't exist.
But, honestly, the well maintenance issue is pretty small... you have to maintain the tank and about every 5-7 years the well pump needs to be replaced... that's it. This really isn't hard. The well itself will last 100-years+ -- ours has, anyway.
Hopefully he's learning the virtue of Magnanimity, which you can only become by being magnanimous. It's not the only virtue... so being magnanimous doesn't make him 'good' ... but it is good for us to recognize Magnanimity.
I'd even go so far as to say that many of the philanthropic projects aren't really magnanimous in that they are more about control than the people they hope to help much less virtue.
Yeah, just hunt on the property... we have a few permanent stands and I just wander back periodically. It certainly simplifies the whole process.
I don't know much about hunting on public lands, but I think it's mostly a matter of getting a license, stamps, and braving the woods to find a spot. Speaking of Purcellville, if you stay east of the Blueridge the season is a lot longer; west of the mountains our rifle season is just a couple weeks around Thanksgiving -- but either sex, which is nice.
If you wanted to de-cloak, dm me on Twitter and we could set you up on the property on a weekday (weekends are usually spoken for). Still need a license and stamps... but wandering the woods part is taken care of.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Getting Ready for Thanksgiving”
That should be fun.
For the record, we always described our family of eight more as locusts than whirlwind when we descended upon relatives.
"
As long as the traditional Leg of Lamb is still being served, you can drop the Turkey. Mark Twain said that. Usually we have freshly harvested Venison... but we haven't harvested any yet, so pressure's on. Save us some Steakums just in case.
We have some of those friends who you raised your babies with before they had to move away for work coming 'home' for Thanksgiving; one of the babies now has babies... so we'll have toddlers at the table for the first time in a while.
Tomorrow is opening day for Rifle season and, well, this side of the rapture the venison ain't gonna present itself.
On “Open Mic for the week of 11/13/2023”
Looks like he's got that early aughts spikey wet hair thing going.
"
Yes, HQ can't fit everyone in the office anymore so people rotate by department on assigned days. That's the thing, right? Cities need a superabundance of normie squares to offset the crazy and provide a big enough herd to act as a buffer. A lubricant of humanity keep the wheels of the city spinning.
"
Saul, comments like this are a bunch of things:
1. Largely made by people who didn't read the article or comments
2. Morphed into vague second points that are more wrong than a specific sort of stupid.
"
I was in SOMA for a week in Sept. My observation compared to previous years was that the ratio seemed higher owing to fewer folks walking about; but the biggest difference to me was qualitative where very, maybe even extremely, able bodied men outnumbered the crazy, bedraggled, and crazy bedraggled female homeless.
I'd guess the numbers were about the same(?), but the experience was worse for the reasons cited above. Not that it stopped me walking daily over a mile back and forth... but SF has lost a lot of its chill vibe. It feels like its on the edge of making it; but maybe not.
On “Well, Well, Well. MrBeast is in the News again.”
If you want.
But for me? First? First I'd just say good for this guy for building 100 wells.
Second I'd ask what lessons were learned and how do we make this repeatable.
Third, I'd ask your questions.
"
Thanks, yeah... looks like that was maybe the pilot project that kicked off the idea. The two-well video was published May 2022... the 'completed project' video Nov 2023. Somewhere between the two the team did 98 other wells.
There's likely an interesting story behind each well... maybe journalists will explore that. That's what I mean when the questions should be... what did he do and how did he do it? Are there good lessons learned? Bad lessons?
"
As I said above, good questions... I'd journalist the heck out of that if I were a journalist.
I'm curious myself!
I probably wouldn't write about white jesus, structural racism, and 'how dare he ignore the NGO hierarchy' though.
"
Given Mr. Beast's profile, I have to imagine his non-profit is scrutinized with great interest.
I pulled the 990 from 2021 (easiest I could find) and they disbursed $1.59M with a Total Compensation structure of $410,962. Only the Executive director on the board took a salary ($88k). Other compensation is presumably schlubs doing stuff. He, his mom, and cousin are on the board at $0.
$588k for Operations ($142k legal / $132k Building) the rest small regular costs.
$1.56M disbursed
$410k Compensation
$588k Operations
$418k rolled-over for 2022
~60% disbursal ratio.
Not great, but also not bad given how small the charity is -- there are baseline costs that would remain fixed for much larger sums. So donate to get the ratios down!
"
"Maybe Mr. Beast paid 500,000 per well to a local political bigwig, and he paid 50,000 to a drilling outfit and the rest to cronies and family members."
I did click around a bit to see if Mr. Beast(TM) commented on this. They said the cost of drilling ranged between $5k and $20k per well, depending on the depth. That's a bit less than what it costs to drill a well in VA... you'd budget $15k - $30k and hope for $10k. It's literally a pay-go contract... you pay them to start drilling and when to stop, if they don't hit water. There's no guaranty of water, and the bill simply reflects the depth of the hole (plus minimums and set-up, etc).
Of course, no word on any necessary bribes, so we can't see the 'all-in' cost. But we also can't rule out that some chucklefuck from North Carolina with a lot of money and who didn't know better just paid drillers to drill and didn't pay any bribes at all.
I was also amused to stumble across a literal Drilling Industry Podcast (you know, there's a podcast for everything) and I watched to see if they were horrified, bemused, or indifferent. I'm surprised to report that they were enthusiastic!
Of course, The Driller only sees market upside to drilling fresh water wells... so, take their enthusiasm with a grain of salt.
On “Open Mic for the week of 11/13/2023”
Agreed (but). Or to quote Abraham Lincoln, "Policy is hard, dude."
Status quo always has an advantage in large complex systems... I'm not a silver bullet guy, so my point wouldn't be, "This one neat trick will fix all our problems..." Some things I don't even think are really problems of outcomes, but problems of incentives and problems of unjust appropriation of gains.
But, to your point, we have had some shocks to the Status Quo. Covid introduced shocks to our supply chains that exposed things we didn't really appreciate; tangentially, the chip shortage exposed risks to the status quo presented by Taiwan/China; and the inexplicable malaise of MattY's Green Line Bidenomics is, I think, the sort of shock to the status quo that is (perhaps) explained by the term coined: Fissure Economics.
So the article points out that the CHIPS act is a change to the status quo; the [cough] Deficit Reduction Act is a change to the status quo... and recognizing that the way we've decoupled profits from production -- financialized all gains and turned all gains into financial instruments is a social phenomenon that bright people could use to motivate smart changes to the status quo.
The real point of the article isn't to build some sort of controlled economy (they go to some lengths to demonstrate even China attempts to let market forces have at least a voice in which companies get picked as winners and become seats for their nephews); the real point is to debunk the idea that neo-liberalism was somehow libertarian driven laissez faire rather than policy preferences that had/have outcomes that we can and should measure.
It means that you don't try to control the uncontrollable, rather you recognize that the existing rules of the game produce outcomes that we may or may not want and the goal is to alter some existing rules, apply some new ones, and leave most rules in place, and monitor how the game proceeds and iterate accordingly. But first, it's helpful to name the game and explode the myth that it's 'natural' and not the outcome of policy preferences (good and bad).
This, IMO, is the game it names... and best to look at it full on.
"More importantly, neoliberalism incentivized specific modes of wealth generation that brought about a “fissured economy,” and the resulting changes in corporate and investor behavior are arguably the most profound and enduring effects of the neoliberal revolution. These changes underlie both the loss of strategic supply chains and the explosion of inequality, and it is only by addressing these issues that post-neoliberal industrial strategy can be successful in achieving its policy goals. Moreover, to avoid the conventional partisan polarization that sets, say, student-loan borrowers against displaced Rust Belt manufacturing workers, it is necessary to grasp the phenomena that contributed to both outcomes."
But yes, I completely agree that making changes, any changes can break things and outcomes could be better in some areas and worse in others. BUT -- I'd rather acknowledge that the game we're currently playing isn't openly acknowledged.
"
I think it's a lot more than that... like, Demand/Supply are secondary to IP/Production.
"
Agreed; seemed more of a message to potential carjackers that there's at least a small possibility that there might be a tracking device hidden somewhere - so factor that into risk calculations?
Or strip the cars underground or somewhere with bad cell service. Make sure you (the thieves) aren't also using Tile.
But worst of all, Tile is fundamentally a Bluetooth technology that relies on other Tile/Bluetooth pings/network.
"
I saw that about the tracking devices.
At first I thought it was some sort of industrial grade 'tracking device' that the police use.
Then I saw they were giving away Tile/Air Tags.
Better than nothing, I suppose... but my experience with Tile is that it will work for about a month, sorta work for about 9 months, then won't work after a year when the battery dies.
Maybe airtags are better.
"
Finally, something liberals and conservatives can all get behind... hating on the Neo-Liberals.
I think the article is on to something real... they call it The Fissured Economy, and it has some good explanatory power behind why people are dissatisfied with the Green Line. The Green Line is Neo-Liberal metrics and we're transitioning to a Post-Neo-Liberal future.
If you read it from the Left, you want Biden to 'Lean In' to the PNL aspect of his New Industrial Policies.
If you read it from the Right, you realize there are good reasons to build New Industrial Policies which remove the distortionary regulations (and Tax policies) that separated production from Intellectual Property and effectively cut workers out of the gains.
https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/what-should-be-the-goal-of-us-industrial
"The fissured economy generated early returns, but its costs and contradictions have grown increasingly burdensome. Unlike the virtuous cycle of Fordism—in which high investment drives high wages which drive strong demand—the sequestration of corporate profits away from the most labor- and capital-intensive pieces of corporate value chains breeds financialization, stagnation, and heightened inequality. Despite ideological pretentions of fiscal rectitude, the neoliberal model relies upon debt to sustain consumption—whether private household borrowing, as in the run-up to the financial crisis, or large government budget and trade deficits, which have prevailed for most of the neoliberal period—exacerbating household precarity and systemic financial instability."
On “Well, Well, Well. MrBeast is in the News again.”
Sure, assuming that particular story is true... but one of the things my friends running charitable orgs tell me is that follow-up on grants is both one of the most important things that a reputable org does, and one of the hardest. In the opinion of one person deep in this, international giving is orders of magnitude more difficult to track, and in his opinion, not a good use of funds. Too many layers, too little accountability. So, I'm inclined to believe it is plausibly true.
That's what makes the Mr. Beast story 'fun'. He just went and built wells... he didn't have his foundation solicit proposals and listen to people tell him how his money would be used... he used his money and did a thing.
"
I'm not sure why you'd see only two options?
If anything, asking rich people to practice the virtue of Magnanimity would be a whole new thing... more Oprah, less Foundational structured giving.
Mr. Beast isn't shaming NGO's... he's shaming rich people. As I've said in the past, the real problem with Billionaires isn't that they have too much, its that they spend too little.
"
Do you think we, the world bank, NGO's and other philanthropic organizations send money without strings attached? Or are good strings invisible strings?
Might even be an interesting follow-up question whether, say, Uganda, is having funds withheld for dysfunctional culture reasons. I notice Mr. Beast built wells in Uganda... is that problematic?
"
P.S. I'm surprised no-one has faulted him yet for giving an entire village bicycles -- but apparently no bicycle helmets? Surely there's an international tribunal we can get him with?
"
There's probably a story here about 'how' he was able to drill 100 wells in 3 or 4 different countries.
-Did he bribe local officials?
-Ignore local officials?
-Simply fill out the paperwork?
-Are there no regulations at all, and all he had to do was drill?
-Was he only able to bribe officials for 25 inconsequential (to the aquifers) wells per country?
-Who owns the water in the aquifers?
-Diamon Mines?
-Moneyed interests?
-Agriculture?
-No one?
-Did he chose 4 countries so that none of the wells would have a noticeable impact on the aquifer?
-Was he oblivious to the power dynamics that prevent drilling companies from drilling in certain areas?
-Or did he simply pay a price that requires capital the communities can never come up with and there are no power/ownership issues to even consider?
-Will he someday disappear having meddled with 'the way things are done' in a far away land?
-Are NGO's more interested in maintaining clout with power structures that enable them to do their work--but also control how/where for whom they do their work?
-Are there good lessons learned? Bad ones?
Seriously, some of you are so blind with bizarre American partisan-brained pseudo-ethics that you can't even see well enough to ask good questions.
"
No... not really.
The NGO's should do what they think is beneficial, if that overlaps... then good. If they don't want to address maintenance of the wells... that's fine too - I'm sure they have lots of things they might or might not do. They don't own or regulate anything.
My point is that Mr. Beast simply changes the reality on the ground... there were no wells that needed to be maintained, now there are... that's a net good and there's no downside.
Seriously, it's not hard to maintain a well, especially a community well. It's hard to drill a well, but not hard to pull the pump and replace it. This is a non-issue here.
"
It would be better if the NGO's had to help with maintenance on wells that exist than talk about the problem of maintaining wells that don't exist.
But, honestly, the well maintenance issue is pretty small... you have to maintain the tank and about every 5-7 years the well pump needs to be replaced... that's it. This really isn't hard. The well itself will last 100-years+ -- ours has, anyway.
"
Heh, Dudes posting their W's.
Hopefully he's learning the virtue of Magnanimity, which you can only become by being magnanimous. It's not the only virtue... so being magnanimous doesn't make him 'good' ... but it is good for us to recognize Magnanimity.
I'd even go so far as to say that many of the philanthropic projects aren't really magnanimous in that they are more about control than the people they hope to help much less virtue.
On “Weekend Plans Post: The Three Day Weekend”
Yeah, just hunt on the property... we have a few permanent stands and I just wander back periodically. It certainly simplifies the whole process.
I don't know much about hunting on public lands, but I think it's mostly a matter of getting a license, stamps, and braving the woods to find a spot. Speaking of Purcellville, if you stay east of the Blueridge the season is a lot longer; west of the mountains our rifle season is just a couple weeks around Thanksgiving -- but either sex, which is nice.
If you wanted to de-cloak, dm me on Twitter and we could set you up on the property on a weekday (weekends are usually spoken for). Still need a license and stamps... but wandering the woods part is taken care of.