Western countries do stuff like this, too. Engineering is amazing the world 'round.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct

The Millau Viaduct is a multispan cable-stayed bridge completed in 2004 across the gorge valley of the Tarn... in Southern France... As of October 2023, it is the tallest bridge in the world, having a structural height of 343 metres (1,125 ft).

Salt in the wound: The default judgements locking in wage garnishment to pay illegal parts of the debt (on top of the immorality legal ones) because the kind of people who get these loans have many responsibilities and often can't make an arbitrary court date, and it's not clear to them the stakes are "show up or lose all recourse" (no appeals are possible).

The people who care about executions being humane are generally opposed to the death penalty. People who support the death penalty generally want suffering to be inherent to the process. Only limit is whatever the Supreme Court deems "unusual". Cruelty is allowed by the Constitution as long as it is "usual" cruelty.

In states that have death penalty (and federal when we have a president who supports death penalty), it's the pro-death penalty groups - the ones that want it to cause suffering - that get to pick the process.

There is some awareness effect, too. If I like burgers and see a listing for a new burger place in my neighborhood, learning about a potential new place I'd like to include in my going-out rotation feels like a win. If I need a home repair and see a neighbor with a yard sign for a local contractor, that's helpful in compiling a list of potential companies to check out.

A lot of US benefits have "benefit cliffs" where making $1 more substantially reduces or even completely disqualifies a person from programs like SNAP (food stamps) or childcare subsidies or Medicaid. https://www.ncsl.org/human-services/introduction-to-benefits-cliffs-and-public-assistance-programs

It's not surprising people whose families are directly affected by, or who know people affected by, benefit cliffs think the lawmakers set up taxes the same way.

He was shot in the head prior to the explosion going off. Seems unlikely that sequence of events was accidental.

That she was four when she became Elon's stepsister is the worst part for me. If she had been an adult, even a young adult, when she and Errol met after he married her mother, it would have been sketchy (breaking the divide by two plus fourteen rule) but not in pedo territory. To have multiple children (Elon's half-siblings and also his step-nieces) with someone you raised as your own child since they were four... it's beyond.

I think it's likely really surprising to learn/experience that feces of a breastfed baby (and to a lesser extent formula fed babies) don't smell like shit. It's natural to want to share a surprising learning. Might also be good to be forewarned the milky smell ends once normal food is introduced.

This is more like you measure the fragment speeds with both a laser and with radar, and get different readings off the same fragment.

Not a hypothetical: Hostess folded, as did Yellow trucking. Unions can't save a business from bad business decisions or destructive market forces.

But businesses fold all the time, union or no union. When business is good, unions make sure the employees get a fair piece of that.

They did. I guess the community outcry was so loud even Microsoft had to heed it and reverse course.

A spoof of Seinfeld runs 24/7 from only AI input after the initial prompt. It is bad, but exists. Depending on your quality standards, we are there. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing,_Forever