Everything posted by TwiceHorn
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UT Being Ruined?
So, "auto admit" doesn't work for say Cockrell. Is there an auto-admit there? Or is it completely holistic?
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Can we talk about Zuckerberg?
Just a point of clarification, these cases seem particularly aimed at the algorithm and tools they provide adolescents, girls in particular, on Instagram (and TikTok and Snapchat, who have both settled). So not so much directed at misinformation or lies. Things that draw them in, hook them, and then damage their body images and related aspects of their psyche. So the proof pattern is basically this: your ultimate goal is to sign people up and keep them on and engaged; you knew that certain groups were vulnerable to pressures unique to your platform; you knowingly kept things (filters and whatnot) on the platform that catered to and preyed upon these vulnerabilities; and, you really don't give a shit as long as they keep signing up. They had a rather extensive colloquy about signing up kids under 13, which is illegal. Zuckerberg defended that on several grounds, like "they lied," but my sense is that Lanier suckered him into admitting that he knew there were very young people on Insta. Doesn't matter whether it was illegal or they did enough to stop it, they knew they had a shit ton of adolescents on the platform and that the platform had features that preyed on them.
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Trump’s America
- 2026 Midterms ...
So, is Andy kind of a right wing dickhead or just being an opportunistic judicial candidate?- What Went Wrong With Young Men
I think once girls and women were recipients of a more equal playing field in primary education, their natural inclinations toward schoolwork and academia have caused them to excel.- Do I get to start the James Talarico thread?
Yeah, it proves they're not racist. Not sure how that works anymore, given that they're now open and avowed racists. Seems like it just proves Tim is Uncle Tim the butter biscuit.- Trump’s America
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present. So, it would require a substantial number of Republicans to grow a spine and do the right thing. I have very mixed feelings about impeaching in the House when there's no chance of conviction in the Senate. That seems more possible now than any time in the last 10 years or so, but still a longshot.- Trump’s America
- Surly kids who can't get into UT
The main thing driving that is the billing rates at Biglaw. The partners at Biglaw are all billing in excess of $1000/hour, and young associates at $300-400. So, 2000 hours a year x $300 = $600k and 40% of that (a normal "split" in a law firm between a billing employee's revenue and salary) is, voila, $240k. That 2000 hours breaks to 40 hours/week for 50 weeks, but you best believe the hours on the job to bill that are a lot higher. And a lot of those firms have minima of more like 2400. A lot of clients in a lot of areas of law have gotten smart and realized they can get very competent representation outside Biglaw for less than half the cost, usually a third. But there are some areas of law that are still controlled by big corporate general counsel and their boards who feel it justifiable and even necessary to seriously overpay for their legal services. It's an ego thing. And most general counsel are angling for a cush post-retirement in one of those Biglaw firms they doled out tens of millions of work to, so there's little pushback. And some of the very best lawyers are in boutique firms that can also command those kinds of rates, but also do a lot of "alternative billing" that's basically a contingent fee or percentage of the recovery, where, if you win, you're looking at effective hourly rates of $2500-3000/hour or more. An example is Susman Godfrey. They also require top academics from a top school, although I suspect UT still commands a favorable consideration as both Susman and Godfrey were graduates.- Trump’s America
uNiTaRY ExECuTiVe you dolt! "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America" trumps (heh, get it?) all of the language that follows and all contradictory language in the Constitution! They love the Constitution! Because it's like the Bible! You can read it selectively and ignore the inconvenient parts.- Whatcha reading?
Pro tip from your favorite IP attorney. Notorious copyright infringement site anna's archive often has electronic copies of books that are out of print or otherwise hard to find legitimately. It may be a PDF instead of an epub or whatever, but ol ugly is better'n ol nothin.- Whatcha reading?
Halberstam is good stuff, didn't remember him doing business books. Lewis is maybe dumbed down a bit for those of us who don't automatically know what a "repo book" is, but he doesn't assume much, and Sorkin assumes lots. Which is kind of interesting because Lewis was an actual banker at Salomon, while Sorkin just writes about them.- Best Pocket Knife?
Wasn't it you that used a SAK Classic to field dress some large ungulate?- Shit's Borked
I mostly use desktop browser, ChromeOS, but I get a lot of corrections that I didn't want, also. Not sure if it's browser spellcheck or site or a war between them, but it is annoying.- Trump’s America
Yeah, of course. Pro Nazi/nationalist shit that's banned in most of Europe. But, as I said anyone who wants that shit can get it pretty easily by VPN and nationals that repost it are still going to have it taken down by application of national law. So, I think this is a performative sort of replacement for VOA type stuff. But it is a nasty violation of the sovereignty of the countries at which it is aimed. Not something you do to an ally.- Can we talk about Zuckerberg?
Although I didn't see any reports of "fireworks" or incipient verbal diarrhea from Zuck's testimony, I think Lanier quietly made the point that user engagement and "sign up" is the paramount thing to FB/Meta, and despite their protestations to the contrary, they give zero fucks how they get that. Plenty out there establishes that that is Zuckerberg's main truth. He thinks this shit is somehow good for society despite any and all evidence to the contrary.- The Leopards Eating Faces and Unlubed Dildo of Consequences Thread
Although there are cases of people manipulating the system to stay in the rear with the gear, most have little or no control over their MOS and assignment. And even clerks can find themselves in the shit.- JD Vance Fucked 5 couches as a hillbilly, then went on to kill the pope
In addition to being unfunny, he's taking a cheapshot at a fellow American in an international forum where the fellow American did not speak. Most of the rest of the world does not play poo flinging politics like that on an international stage. Even when the stage is bullshit.- Sell. Me. A TV.
Yeah this set is older but as it has updated, it's not too bad. Good enough that I only have the old Chromecast on it for actual casting and have the Google tv version on the Sony that has a nonfunctional OS.- The Leopards Eating Faces and Unlubed Dildo of Consequences Thread
This is quite true. But most of the soldiers and sailors have no say in that. They do volunteer to put themselves in harms way for the rest of us. Whether the administration that puts them their acts in our actual interest or not. And the volunteering part has varying degrees of understanding and informed consent. Still and all they do their duty more often than not and that is worthy of respect- Can we talk about Zuckerberg?
"Our" (Texas ' not UT) Mark Lanier is the plaintiff's attorney. He's about as good as they come in the courtroom and on the law. I have read a few accounts of his examination by Lanier and didn't see any fireworks in particular.- Trump’s America
It's not really anything that is unavailable to citizens of those states by vpn. It is completely disrespectful of those states" sovereignty. That might be one thing if they were enemies like Russia or China. It's another thing with UK, DE and FR.- Whatcha reading?
I am reading Too Big To Fail, maybe again. I know this story, from The Big Short, the movie TBTF (which I recall being something of a snoozer itself), or some other source. I don't think I actually read the book previously, but can't be sure. It's very long, and I think I would remember having read it just by virtue of its length. I'm finding it tremendously boring. Exhaustively researched I guess, with biographical deets on every greedhead character in that saga. Maybe it's my distaste for people who annually make 10s of millions of dollars in 2008 bucks for doing risky things of dubious value to anyone except the parties involved and a shit ton of externalities for the rest of us. I'm kind of considering the Sorkin book on the 1929 crash, but this isn't making me want to tackle it. He's no Michael Lewis or Bryan Burrough. Sidenote: I am historically a fan of "business history" books or whatever you call them, and have read and enjoyed a ton of them. Barbarians, Liars Poker, Milken/Drexel, and so on. So it's not the genre. - 2026 Midterms ...
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