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[#] Wed Nov 09 2022 15:02:42 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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That's interesting, because I like Stella but I can't stand Bud.

[#] Thu Nov 10 2022 08:36:23 EST from ParanoidDelusions

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A lot of it may be in your head. Drinking Bud says something about who you are, just like smoking Marlboro - and it is kind of hard coded into our society. I'd like to have a C8 Corvette - but my wife has this mental image of what kind of person drives a Vette. She isn't entirely *wrong* in that assumption either. Bud is another American brand that does strongly telegraph who you are and what your values are.  

I'm always amazed at locals in London watching young working class dudes with their mates, wife and kid, all slamming back buds that cost £8 when they could get a Bud for £4. 

I mean - there is a difference. Stella feels a little lighter and more sparkling, with a crisper flavor. It can also be a bit skunkier than Bud - so it has more body and character for its *type* of beer. But, it is basically a mass produced commercial lager.  I had to just go confirm that I was right about this, and Budweiser too. I'm not a beer snob - but I was right. It is similar to comparing Pepsi to Coke, vs. craft sodas or homebrews. 

I'll drink either if I'm in the mood, but avoid both of them because I don't like giving money to companies who are politically active against my best interests. Compared to the range of beers you might drink, Bud and Stella are virtually interchangeable - like Spirte and Sierra Mist as sodas.

 









[#] Wed Nov 16 2022 11:21:06 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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Sprite uses corn syrup, Sierra Mist uses sugar; maybe not the best comparison :)

[#] Wed Nov 16 2022 21:48:01 EST from LoanShark

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Well, Bud is made with rice, Stella I think is not, being a more standard pilsner. Big difference; makes Bud lighter/crisper/refreshing but less flavorful.



Pilsers *can* be made with rice, I think, but Bud is somewhat uniquely... ricey

[#] Fri Nov 18 2022 17:53:12 EST from ParanoidDelusions

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They're both commercial consumer grade lemon lime carbonated drinks. 
They're both commercial consumer grade beers that are basically lemon lime carbonated drinks. 

The defense rests. 

 



[#] Fri Nov 18 2022 18:32:03 EST from Nurb432

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I like to refer to the stuff as commodity drinks.



[#] Sat Nov 19 2022 15:04:31 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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The defense rests. 

Would you like a $18 craft beverage while resting? :)

[#] Tue Nov 22 2022 00:13:54 EST from ParanoidDelusions

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LOL! 



[#] Fri Nov 25 2022 15:36:21 EST from LoanShark

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That'll be $18 for a 6oz pour.

[#] Thu Jan 19 2023 12:41:51 EST from darknetuser

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The editor of the Fantasy & Science-Fiction Magazine has recently been replaced. I didn't like the old one very much so I took it as good news at first. THe new one, however, does not look better after close inspection.

I think literary magazines are a lost cause. The industry has become a massive orgy of circlejerkers. Smith gives your magazine a literary award, then your magazine buys some stories from Smith so he can claim he has published more than a dozen stories in an prize winning magazine. When everybody is doing it for long enough you have an endogamic elite of literates paying favors to each other while letting no new materia go in ever.

[#] Sun Feb 05 2023 15:01:38 EST from darknetuser

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Some more thoughts on the subject. It should probably go in Rants, but this room needs the activity.

I was reading a blog from some guy who ran some interviews with magazine editors. In this context, that would be editors from magazines that publish short speculative fiction tales. Apparently, most magazines don't pay their editorial teams because they just don't turn a profit.

That's right. People works unpaid because there are no readers enough to sustain the business model, or when the publication has readers (see electronic magazines) they don't pay a cent.

The upside of the article and the interviews was that the idea that only authors buy the magazines is a myth - a given magazine has more subscribers than potential authors in waiting. I used to think that to be the case since if you check social media, websites etc. dedicated to literature, you only find authors in there trying to promote their work...


A common theme in the interviews was that short stories had devalued too badly. Since so much is published for free on the Internet, and Internet users want everythign for cheap or free, there is no way to charge prices that allow publications to stay afloat withotu artificial cost reduction.

This pisses me off no end because speculative fiction is one of the few things I do right, and it is obviously a lost cause from an economic point of view. It looks like I am trapped writing profitable stuff instead. Some of the profitable stuff I write is quite fine, but geeze, I wish I could make science-fiction or fantasy work. I have been thinking of this a lot as of late and I see no way of getting the ball rolloing because nobody cares for this stuff anymore unless it is attatched to a successful IP already.

[#] Sun Feb 05 2023 16:14:01 EST from Nurb432

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I donno about not being a market.   Sure, in general people are lazy and cheap, but i think good books still have a place in life and still sell.

Sort of like music, most of it is cheap crap, but the good stuff is still there, and there are people that still want it.   Just finding the match is the trick i guess.



[#] Sun Feb 05 2023 17:11:28 EST from darknetuser

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2023-02-05 16:14 from Nurb432
I donno about not being a market.   Sure, in general people are
lazy and cheap, but i think good books still have a place in life and

still sell.

Books are a different beast, entirely.

Still, in my country most novels published are from foreign authors and local publishers won't bother much with local authors out of certain niches. The fun part is I have never signed a publishing contract here but I have achieved some deals with American publishers. Go figure.

Here is the thing. If you want to read short stories, what do you do? You are likely to walk up to your newstand and browse for a magazine, of use a Internet Search Engine for a magazine. That's right, the primary sources are exactly the ones that have to skip paying their staff becausethey don't make a dime. Hardly a good thing.

[#] Sun Feb 05 2023 17:43:41 EST from Nurb432

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Not sure we have any of those around here anymore. Local gas station or grocery has a couple of shelves, but dedicated news stands died in the 90s.   For news papers, even those little metal boxes on street corners are gone. We have 2 in my building, neither has been touched since 2019..

Down to 2 bookstores, and one is for used books.  Well i guess 3 if you go further into the other town north, there is a comic store, but only 2 "locally".

Sun Feb 05 2023 05:11:28 PM EST from darknetuser
You are likely to walk up to your newstand and browse for a magazine,

 



[#] Wed Feb 08 2023 11:58:20 EST from zelgomer

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I wish I had something valuable to add to this discussion because it touches on a deeper subject that I think is a modern day problem which affects everything. But I don't read a lot of fiction, nor magazines. And newstands don't exist anymore in the US, at least not where I live. Hell, brick and mortar stores hardly even exist anymore. Even the big franchises, most of their interiors are barely maintained and there's nothing good on the shelves. Amazon has destroyed face-to-face commerce. It's very frustrating for those of us who, when we want something, we want to go to the store, handle it and look it over in person to see whether it's what we really want, and then walk home with it that day. I hate ordering things, waiting a week for it to arrive, and then finding something about it that I don't like but could never tell from pictures.

The deeper thing that I alluded to is the saturation of every marketplace and devaluing of all products. I have always considered myself a free market capitalist, but this is the one thing that I have never had a satisfactory answer to: when automation devalues everything, then how do people continue to make a living except by reducing population? The usual answer is that automation brings about new jobs (creating or maintaining automation), but I've seen first hand what happens when you take people who aren't skilled at automation and put them in a role working with automation. Now even the automation or software trade is saturated with lesser skilled workers and the thing as a whole has become devalued.

Anyway, I don't know where I was going with that. What were we talking about, again?

[#] Wed Feb 08 2023 13:44:36 EST from Nurb432

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At some point that wont even work.

Either have 'free' everything, as in zero cost and the infrastructure now takes care of its self,  think classic ( socialist ) star trek.. infrastructure was mostly magic by that point so everyone just went out and did what they wanted to better themselves. which of course is not reality. Or we dissolve into chaos as it all burns to the ground due to lack of up keep and those that cant resist taking control of others, which is more likely. 

Wed Feb 08 2023 11:58:20 AM EST from zelgomer
: when automation devalues everything, then how do people continue to make a living except by reducing population? 

 



[#] Sun Feb 12 2023 17:32:04 EST from darknetuser

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The deeper thing that I alluded to is the saturation of every
marketplace and devaluing of all products. I have always considered

myself a free market capitalist, but this is the one thing that I have

never had a satisfactory answer to: when automation devalues
everything, then how do people continue to make a living except by
reducing population? The usual answer is that automation brings about

new jobs (creating or maintaining automation), but I've seen first hand

what happens when you take people who aren't skilled at automation and

put them in a role working with automation. Now even the automation or

software trade is saturated with lesser skilled workers and the thing

as a whole has become devalued.

Actually I am all in for an organic reduction of the population, because people sucks.

But it also sucks when the things you like are rendered worthless.

[#] Wed Feb 15 2023 17:36:04 EST from darknetuser

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2023-02-08 13:44 from Nurb432
At some point that wont even work.

Either have 'free' everything, as in zero cost and the infrastructure

now takes care of its self,  think classic ( socialist ) star trek..

infrastructure was mostly magic by that point so everyone just went
out and did what they wanted to better themselves. which of course is

not reality. Or we dissolve into chaos as it all burns to the ground

due to lack of up keep and those that cant resist taking control of
others, which is more likely. 
Wed Feb 08 2023 11:58:20 AM EST from zelgomer

: when automation devalues everything, then how do people continue

to make a living except by reducing population? 


To be honest, I don't buy into post- scarcity scenarios.

There is already a resource in the west which is running very very low: emotional support. By this, I mean I know lots of people who are finding themselves with jobs etc. but without the ability to spend time with people that matters to them. Often, they lack anybody that matters to them.

[#] Wed Feb 15 2023 17:52:22 EST from Nurb432

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That isn't always a bad thing.

Wed Feb 15 2023 05:36:04 PM EST from darknetuser
 Often, they lack anybody that matters to them.

 



[#] Wed Feb 15 2023 18:10:52 EST from darknetuser

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2023-02-15 17:52 from Nurb432
That isn't always a bad thing.
Wed Feb 15 2023 05:36:04 PM EST from darknetuser


 Often, they lack anybody that matters to them.


Yes and no.

You many not need an emotional connection with people, but you sure do need friends to push your projects forward. If you don't have people you can make plans with you are in for a very hard life.

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