Private Mars Rocket II

Various shenanigans to manipulate the stock price of Gamestop have made it into the news of late. (I assume my readers are at least vaguely familiar with those shenanigans.) I have opinions!

1) The hedge fund that started these shenanigans is merely trying to exploit the stock market to make a quick buck. They have no interest in the underlying business of Gamestop. The hedge funds who are stepping in to bankroll their counterparts are also in it for themselves. In short, I will shed no tears for any of the hedge funds.

2) Although the small investors who've jumped in have wrapped themselves in the banner of Robin Hood, I've seen more than a few self-proclaimed Gamergate dudes leading, or at least trying to lead, this parade. I'm reluctant to associate myself with Gamergate. (The smell is unpleasant and hard to get off.)

3) The fact that the hedge funds are running to every live TV camera they can find asking for the government to do something is yet more evidence, were any needed, that people who support free markets only do so if they are making money in the market. Once they start losing money, well then "we the people" are expected to bail them out.

4) I have a bad feeling that a lot of small investors are going to find themselves stuck with massively overpriced stock at the end of this mess. They may have cut their noses off to spite their faces.

Allegedly Dick Cheney said of the Iran - Iraq War that "It's a shame somebody has to win this war." I suspect that there will be no winners in this war.

As you may have heard, Sony pictures has decided to pull their new movie "The Interview" because of anonymous emailed threats. I'm first going to agree whole-heartedly with Chris Kluwe:

Internet death threat against woman - "Oh that's just boys being boys, deal with it."

Internet death threat against movie - "SRS BIZNESS"

I'm also going to say that, although I would probably not go see the movie (stupid people behaving stupidly is not my idea of entertainment), pulling the movie over death threats is the height of gutlessness. But as somebody else said:

This is the logical conclusion of the War on Drugs and the War on Terror- a pants wetting population that soils it britches at the slightest hint of danger that even baseless threats will keep us from doing what we do best, which is sit on our fat asses eating candy and popcorn while watching tv.

And one more thought: Somewhere in America right now, in a Regal Cinema or a Carmike, someone has a mop in their hand and is making the floors a little less sticky. That person would have come to work regardless of whether or not a dipshit comedy about North Korea was released. That person is the hero.

On Blackstone, public accommodation and conservatives

I'm doing a lot of driving between branches for the day job, hence my lack of posting. In any event, yesterday's entry seems to have pushed a few buttons. My points in sharing the Blackstone quote were two:

1) The idea that "public accommodations" means all of the public is very old.
2) Conservatives who argue that businesses have a private right of association are arguing for a new right, not "conserving" an old one.

On Asteroids as Islands

I found myself looking at Tristan da Cunha, the most remote island in the world, and St. Helena, the second-most remote island. I could see human-colonized asteroids (and moons, and even planets) as sometimes falling into similar situations.

Gamergate, an Epic Rant

Former NFL player and current gamer Chris Kluwe has an epic rant on why Gamergaters piss him off. There is much adult language therein, but also much truth. The tl;dr version? We [gamers] won. Over 100 million Americans play games, so of course there are going to be games you don't like. Get over it.

Apropos to yesterday's entry on Gamergate, showing up anonymously and saying, "Yeah, what is the world coming to when a girl can't just exchange sex for favorable gaming reviews with five guys and not be outed by her boyfriend for cheating on him?" is not a particularly persuasive message.

To expand in order to make a full post, this fails because:

1) the allegations are coming from an ex-boyfriend. People recently out of a relationship have been known to lie, exaggerate or otherwise say untruthful things about the other party(ies) to the relationship.

2) The poster, by being completely anonymous, has the inherent credibility of the guy who writes "for a good time, call..." on the bathroom wall.

3) So what? These are video games, and even if the allegation is true, nothing about the whole kerfuffle merits even half the vitriol spilled on it. Absolutely none of the death threats are merited.

To my anonymous reader: Please, sir, get a life.