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BurdensomeCount

Misinformation superspreader

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joined 2022 September 05 16:37:04 UTC

The neighborhood of Hampstead is just at present exercised with a series of events which seem to run on lines parallel to those of what was known to the writers of headlines and "The Kensington Horror," or "The Stabbing Woman," or "The Woman in Black." During the past two or three days several cases have occurred of young children straying from home or neglecting to return from their playing on the Heath. In all these cases the children were too young to give any properly intelligible account of themselves, but the consensus of their excuses is that they had been with a "bloofer lady." It has always been late in the evening when they have been missed, and on two occasions the children have not been found until early in the following morning. It is generally supposed in the neighborhood that, as the first child missed gave as his reason for being away that a "bloofer lady" had asked him to come for a walk, the others had picked up the phrase and used it as occasion served. This is the more natural as the favorite game of the little ones at present is luring each other away by wiles. A correspondent writes us that to see some of the tiny tots pretending to be the"bloofer lady" is supremely funny. Some of our caricaturists might, he says, take a lesson in the irony of grotesque by comparing the reality and the picture. It is only in accordance with general principles of human nature that the "bloofer lady" should be the popular role at these al fresco performances.


				
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BurdensomeCount


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Misinformation superspreader

				
				
				

				

					6 followers  

					follows 0 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 16:37:04 UTC
				


				
					

					
The neighborhood of Hampstead is just at present exercised with a series of events which seem to run on lines parallel to those of what was known to the writers of headlines and "The Kensington Horror," or "The Stabbing Woman," or "The Woman in Black." During the past two or three days several cases have occurred of young children straying from home or neglecting to return from their playing on the Heath. In all these cases the children were too young to give any properly intelligible account of themselves, but the consensus of their excuses is that they had been with a "bloofer lady." It has always been late in the evening when they have been missed, and on two occasions the children have not been found until early in the following morning. It is generally supposed in the neighborhood that, as the first child missed gave as his reason for being away that a "bloofer lady" had asked him to come for a walk, the others had picked up the phrase and used it as occasion served. This is the more natural as the favorite game of the little ones at present is luring each other away by wiles. A correspondent writes us that to see some of the tiny tots pretending to be the"bloofer lady" is supremely funny. Some of our caricaturists might, he says, take a lesson in the irony of grotesque by comparing the reality and the picture. It is only in accordance with general principles of human nature that the "bloofer lady" should be the popular role at these al fresco performances.



				

				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's why the recoverable costs are based on what's "reasonable" (decided by a judge at an early stage of the proceedings) rather than everything. What usually happens for serious cases is that you have a CCMC (Costs and Case Management Conference) before a High Court Master (like a judge but specializes in costs law) where both sides argue for how much each stage of the litigation is likely to cost them and what would be a reasonable spend and you get a chance to challenge what the other side says is reasonable. After that is done the total amount recoverable from the losing side is limited by this number for each of the stages (unless one party acts absolutely egregiously during the case in which case indemnity costs are available). Not to mention that for small claims under £100k in value we now have Fixed Recoverable Costs following the Jackson reforms meaning you can right now go online and find the table which would in 15 minutes allow you to calculate what your costs budget would be for e.g. if someone decided to sue you over £75k.


There's plenty of case law around these CMCs for what's been accepted in other similar cases so while you can run up the lawyer tab all you want the actual amount recovered if you win will still be sensible (usually this corresponds to around 70-80% of the costs incurred in a typical case, 100% recovery is actually quite rare, and of course if you start spending your money on frivolous legal things not covered by the budget there's no recovery for you even if you win, no Costs Master is going to allocate any spending for "gummy bears" and if he did it would be an easy appeal on the grounds of perversity). However this 70-80% recovery is still enough to discourage claim values which are out of all proportion to the total amount of harm the claimant has suffered because 70-80% of a nine figure sum is still massive.


How, pray tell, does Trump intend to demonstrate that the leak of his tax returns has caused him $10 billion worth of damage when his net worth is nowhere near that amount? He might have had a better loss of a chance claim had he lost the election but given that he won it that means in the UK I'd be very surprised if he was able to win more than a few hundred thousand pounds for this claim, even if everything is as he says it is. In the UK making such unfounded statements is itself seen as unreasonable behavior and no barrister would even be willing to make the argument that he suffered an eleven figure loss because it would go against their professional duties to the court.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Fair enough, but that's why you have things like After The Event (ATE) insurance. If you have a perfectly winnable claim it shouldn't be that hard to get ATE insurance covering you if you lose in return for them taking like 10% of your winnings if you win. Plus even if you lose the judge retains discretion to not award costs or award reduced costs if it's not just and equitable to force you to pay (as often happens for many immigration cases when the claimant loses their claim for Judicial Review because they didn't like their visa getting denied etc. but the judge didn't agree with them).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sry, my bad, I got it the wrong way around. Rest of my comment only makes sense if you take it to mean the right way around. Busy day...


Winning side paying the costs of the losing side would be a recipe for disaster as it would allow people to harass others via lawfare for free, as opposed to having to pay their own legal costs as they have to do right now in the US at least.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


in his personal capacity, filed a lawsuit for $10 billion in damages related to the leak of his tax returns




This here is more American retardation on display for the rest of the world to see. Here in the UK we have the English rules on costs, meaning that the losing side in a dispute has to pay the reasonable legal costs of the winning side, where reasonable strongly depends on the size of the dispute. If you're going to file a $10bn claim a proportionate costs budget itself ends up in the nine figures range, meaning you need to put your money where your mouth is on the dispute being one where you're willing to take it to trial and win a substantial proportion of the amount claimed.


If you're just using lawfare to harass others based on flimsy claims worth nowhere near the claimed amount then you get hit with an early Part 36 offer forcing you to either publicly admit that your claim doesn't have anywhere near the amount of value you're saying and then withdraw the claim, or alternatively if you're stubborn I hope you like that public nine figure costs bill for the other side coming your way and costing you orders of magnitude more than the money you won at trial.


A proper costs regime keeps people honest, which is something sorely lacking in the American legal world right now.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This is where my obsessive buying silver rounds and sitting on them pays off in spades, were I the sort of person who sells things once I've bought them...


Alas my collection is going to keep sitting in my closet for me to sporadically enjoy looking at. I'm actually pretty pissed off by the price jumps because it means everyday silver objects I'd have liked to buy for daily use are now so expensive that even I am passing them over (a standard silver spoon is now over £100...). Plus I have a list of gold jewelry pieces I wanted to commission but put off over the last few years that are now looking like they aren't gonna happen. Honestly this sucks and I hope the precious metal retail investors driving these prices up to stupid levels lose their shirts.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The US needs to realize that if it wants to act like the global hegemon it needs to pay the cost for doing so. That includes sending largesse and payments to smaller allies at a higher level than what you do to your own people per capita to ensure they stick with you rather than go over to the other side (see Scotland in the UK, or Greenland in Denmark). You can't both want subordination from your "allies" while also getting them to pay and spend more.


At this point for the rest of the world the question we ask the US is simple: Are you willing to pay us more than China etc. is for our loyalty and support? How much more are you willing to spend to avoid getting globally humiliated as your allies desert you en masse? The door is that way if we don't like your answer.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Juries are capital S Stupid in the 21st century. Place like Singapore abolished them long ago without any problems.


Is it really reasonable for 12 randos with an average IQ of 100 to be deciding on whether a certain pharmaceutical company invention made by a team of Chemistry PhDs is infringing on this patent developed by that other team of Chemistry PhDs? There is a correct answer here, and it is No.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Hm...


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Point taken


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Note the letter he wrote today to Norway, linking Greenland to not getting the peace prize




This has to be one of the more stupid things he's done, as any fule kno, the Nobel Prize is Swedish, not Norwegian...


EDIT: Looks like I'm the fule here... I didn't know the Nobel Peace Prize was Norwegian, as all the real ones are done by Sweden... This is good knowledge to have though and yet more reason why the so called Peace Prize should just be discontinued.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Absolutely based. Don't forget to include Payroll Taxes which are basically a tax on you as well. And then if you include VAT etc. it's well above 50% here in the UK.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That just gives Trump the pretense he needs to invade militarily.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
LMAO. Europe needs to get a good kicking to jolt it out of being the USA's little bitch, a position it has dutifully played for the last 75 years. This should be the breaking point but we all know that it'll just lead to more "but muh international law" from spineless leaders as they slowly go along with it. The only good thing going to come out of all this is going to be seeing Europe be on the receiving end of what these countries did and continue to do to the third world.


We all know the next thing that's going to happen is that the US will threaten to pull out of the Ukraine deal unless Europe hands over Greenland, which will be responded to by the Europeans with more moderately worded letters (it shows how cucked the Europe of 2026 is that they don't have the constitution to even send strongly worded letters over direct attacks to their territorial sovereignty).


The only real solution here is to abolish the welfare state, a largesse the continent can no longer afford, and redirect the money into long term capital investments. It'll also massively cut down on illegal immigration once the immigrants very quickly realize they won't be getting much or even anything if they come to Europe.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Trump really needs to intervene militarily here now. Destroy the Revolutionary Guards headquarters and take out their top brass. This minimizes deaths of Iranian people. Falsely telling the Iranian people that he'd help so they risk their lives and die only for Trump to later back out and allow the regime to continue would be an abject moral failure.


If Trump can properly fix Venezuela, Iran and Cuba by replacing their regimes with sane governments he'll genuinely deserve the Nobel peace prize.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 29, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Fair, but many many people (like myself) would say the same about Miami. And Dubai is better connected anyways if one is forced to choose between the two.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 29, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Nah, fatFIREing in the US is a bad idea given the ultra high cost of living. And Miami especially has no pedigree, one might as well go to Dubai instead. Much better to go to the South of France or Italy or somewhere with real history and taste. "Retiring to Miami" doesn't have the same ring to it as "Retired to Florence", never mind the latter is probably cheaper to fatFIRE to.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 29, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah, this looks like a massive flop if literally the only thing that happens is Socialist No. 2 gets put in charge after Socialist No. 1 gets removed from power. The people of the country are going to suffer just as much (maybe a little less due to oil investments) as they were doing before.


Root and branch reform giving the government to the legitimate winners of the 2024 election was the thing to do, not this half assed shit where it's now looking more like Trump took out Maduro because Maduro insulted him personally one times too many rather than there being a proper well thought out plan for regime change.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 29, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Probably was an inside job given there are no reported US losses. Either that or the Venezuelan military is even more incompetent than normally believed. The level of air cover required to get helicopters down and abduct Maduro means that Venezuelans air defenses should most definitely have managed to inflict some losses in return if they were trying.


One of the few things where I agree with the Trump admin's actions, hopefully this leads to a new regime in Venezuela.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 29, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
People were most definitely beating up artists for portraiture of powerful individuals that displayed them in ways the powerful individuals didn't want to be seen. Same thing here, except that it's a minor girl.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 22, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Currently there's an incentive for people to act in dodgy ways to make money because unless the fact that they acted illegally can be proven to a criminal standard (high bar) the worst that can happen to them is that the proceeds of their acting in a dodgy way can be taken away from them, which is a probability less than 1 event. Hence there's some non-zero probability they'll get to keep  the proceeds of their dodgy behaviour so the expected value not accounting for the time it takes to set up and run the dodgy scheme is positive as the worst that can happen to you unless you're extremely stupid and write down "I'm going to do this illegal thing to make a lot of money" and mail it to the police is that you're put back on Square 1 where you started as if you'd never done the illegal thing in the first place. The incentives are lined up towards making people want to do dodgy things.


With a proper civil asset forfeiture scheme you can have rules like "if we prove to a certain standard that you did something bad then we're not just going to take the money you made through your illegal actions, we'll also come after a portion of the rest of the wealth you own" which can make the expected value of dodgy behaviour negative because now you're not just risking wasting your time and effort when you do something illegal but rather you're risking actual bankruptcy which helps to keep people's incentives to not do illegal but profitable things aligned.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 22, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The whole "private property cannot be seized" has to be one of the greatest missteps by the founders of the USA. There are lots of times where taking private property makes total sense (like income tax for example), even the US's current civil asset forfeiture regime leaves a lot to be desired.


				

				

						

							

								
    
									
									
									
									
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 22, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Americans really need to brought down a peg in their delusions of self grandeur to the same level as the rest of humanity. Yes they'll wail and whine and throw tantrums about being seen as the same as rest of us but we have a duty to not humour them, after all, as they say: when you're used to privilege, equality feels like oppression.


The top level post below yours is uncritically discussing the following proposition: "is our culture good because it is American, or is it American because it is good". From the perspective of someone in Europe the complete non-consideration of the possibility that "American culture" may, in fact, not be good is galling. It's as if the possibility doesn't even register in these people's minds.


It's always satisfying to see the mighty brought low and while I have no particular love for China when the inevitable inevitably happens I'll bring out my deckchair and grab a bag of popcorn so I can watch and make snide quips from the sidelines.


				

				

						

							

								
    
									
									
									
									
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 22, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Fair enough, with that I agree, it did feel slightly "off".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 22, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I disagree, I don't think it was boring at all, surprisingly this was the first I've heard of China's new Free Trade experiment.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 8, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yep, I'm talking about that. I would say that's not a completely false description, the whole reason this kerfuffle started in the first place was that the claimant got arrested for saying mean things online about some people who had said mean things about her online and she took the force to court over the wrongful arrest and then the force started prevaricating and delaying but now the truth has come out about how this was indeed a wrongful arrest where unnecessary physical force was used.


				

				

						

							

								
    
									
									
									
									
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