Rewatching Dexter. Being a serial killer seems like such a lot of hard work. I think if I had the compulsion to murder a bunch of people I'd just obsessively post a bunch of shit on social media instead...............................................................
Wouldn't it be amazing if just *once* the news was about all of our lives not getting materially worse whilst also reading about a handful of individuals breaking all previous personal wealth records. Interestingly the richest person who ever lived was Mansa Musa, the 14th-century ruler of the Mali Empire, whose wealth surpassed that of today's billionaires. Primarily from gold resources.
He threw his gold wealth around so much when on a pilgrimage, he totally wrecked a number of economies. Due to the subsequent depreciation of gold, it's estimated his pilgrimage led to over a billion dollars of economic losses across the Middle East.....
"The king reportedly left Mali with a caravan of 60,000 men.
He took his entire royal court and officials, soldiers, griots (entertainers), merchants, camel drivers and 12,000 slaves, as well as a long train of goats and sheep for food.
To a person, all the way down to the slaves, they were clad in gold brocade and finest Persian silk. A hundred camels were in tow, each camel carrying hundreds of pounds of pure gold."
Mali is now one of the poorest nations on the planet, heavily reliant on foreign aid, with food insecurity and high numbers below the poverty line including nearly 20% living in 'extreme poverty'.
Men that steal the natural resources of the planet on an obscene scale for personal wealth are not your friends. And they are not doing it for your benefit.
Tomato ketchup - the biggest lie ever sold? Oh you're having some savoury food are you? How about a really sugary sauce to go on that. What are you on about? You don't put ice cream on mashed potato.
Also - it turns out the history of Heinz is really interesting. Love that McDonald's decided to end it's 40-year partnership with them because they elected the former Burger King Chief as CEO. We won't have it! He's been with another burger!
Always frustrating when people talk about immigrants being a drain on the UK. Jim Ratcliffe recently bought a cycle team, a yacht team, a ski lodge, a Swiss football team, Manchester United, the Mercedes F1 team and sponsors New Zealand rugby - largely funded by tax avoidance. He owns not one but two superyachts aswell as two hotels. He is a Brexiteer and Eurosceptic who for tax purposes says he lives in Monaco and owns an estate on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where he relocated his business in 2010 to avoid tax. His vast thirty billion wealth comes from petrochemicals, oil and plastic. Jim wants fracking and doesn't care about the consequences.
Assuming the cost of one migrant is c.£12000 per year (and assuming that person gives nothing back to the economy, which we know to be wrong), just in money that Jim avoids paying the country he contributed to being cut off from our neighbours whose hospitality he enjoys so much, that would easily fund half a million immigrants per year. And they're not pumping oil and plastic into the environment.
Good news! If they follow @altbot this will automatically give a rich visual description on their behalf for people who have sight issues. There is also #Alt4Me and #Alt4You hashtags that can be added to posts allowing others to help out. 😊
This will be contentious because Ai is generally very unwelcome throughout Fedi. However - I am not 100% against it as a disability aid. Although obviously I'm not keen on the fact it's trained on stolen data. Whilst I advocate any advances to support those who need it, I don't think I'd be thrilled if it was my body of work that was being used without my permission and monetised for others - who are also broadly companies I fundamentally disagree with. I like the concept, not the execution. 😊
Hi, I'm Ben. I'm a heady mix of a serious responsible grown up man and a stupid man-baby idiot with delusions of grandeur. I'm a big nerd, really into music, cooking, books, films and scifi. I hate/love running and generally love being outdoors. He/Him 📷 @TheBreadmonkey Want to buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/thebreadmonkey Psst ...wanna see some toots?... https://justmytoots.com/@TheBreadmonkey@beige.party