In other news

In other news

In the current news climate we see that some figures and events tend to dominate the front-pages heavily. Still, there are important, interesting or just plain weird things happening out there and a group of people can find these better than one.

I thought I would test with a thread for linking general news articles about "other news" and discussion. Perhaps it goes into the abyss that is page 2 and beyond, but it is worth a try.

Some guidelines:
- Try to find the "clean link", so that links to the news site directly and not a social media site. Avoid "amp-links" (google).
- Write some cliff notes on what it is about, especially if it is a video.
- It's not an excuse to make outlandish claims via proxy or link extremist content.
- If it's an editorial or opinion piece, it is polite to mark it as such.
- Note the language if it is not in English.
- There is no demand that such things be posted here, if you think a piece merits its own thread, then make one.

12 October 2020 at 08:13 AM
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1487 Replies

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Good news, Germany is actually legalizing cannabis for non therapeutic use as well, with a significant parliamentary majority (wider than that which supports the government).


How does Italy view such things? Any chance of recreational use of weed being legal there?


by corpus vile P

How does Italy view such things? Any chance of recreational use of weed being legal there?

Not yet, Meloni couldn't care less personally but a portion of the center right coalition spent 20++ years against cannabis so we have to wait.

It's part of the rightwing cultural identity here to align drug use with being a communist basically (and they are roughly right for Italy), so it will take longer than elsewhere.

Still a small price to pay to not have actual Marxists in government


The Hungarian parliament voted for Sweden entrance in NATO at last, very good outcome even if it took too much for it to happen.


House Ethics Committee has subpoenaed one of Gaetz’s ex-girlfriends to testify Thursday.


by steamraise P

House Ethics Committee has subpoenaed one of Gaetz’s ex-girlfriends to testify Thursday.

Yeah this guy has to go with his crazy ideas of

Having a budget
Responsible spending
Term Limits
No trading for officials and their families

The mans a wack job


by lozen P

Yeah this guy has to go with his crazy ideas of

Having a budget
Responsible spending
Term Limits
No trading for officials and their families

The mans a wack job

Wow !
Coming from a guy who think ethic is primordial in Canada for our Prime Minister resulting disregarding anything good he did that you support …

Double standard much …


by Montrealcorp P

Wow !
Coming from a guy who think ethic is primordial in Canada for our Prime Minister resulting disregarding anything good he did that you support …

Double standard much …

Im not sure what your trying to say ? Matt is worse than Justin ?


A budget for blow and price fixing for sex workers?


by lozen P

Im not sure what your trying to say ? Matt is worse than Justin ?

Ethically Matt is bad yet you can find positive view from him ….
No way u do for JT .

So really care about ethic vs persons you dislike even tho they are equally or even worst then JT


by Montrealcorp P

Ethically Matt is bad yet you can find positive view from him ….
No way u do for JT .

So really care about ethic vs persons you dislike even tho they are equally or even worst then JT

I have no idea how you can think Matt Gaetz is worse than Justin Trudeau?
I have no clue why you are comparing the two either

But please enlighten me


Just go look his wiki page


Wendy’s to start their “surge pricing” next year which is basically the ability to change prices every second, depending on time of day, holidays, events, locations, UBI and SS payments and of course their own supply to finer tune revenue.

Its already done for businesses like uber, and to a smaller extent, hotels and ticket prices, but I don’t see how this doesn’t quicky become the norm for gas stations, retail stores, and almost everywhere as every item can have it’s own unique price that really does shift in demand quite a bit just over the course of a day as well as a whole host of other factors.


by formula72 P

Wendy’s to start their “surge pricing” next year which is basically the ability to change prices every second, depending on time of day, holidays, events, locations, UBI and SS payments and of course their own supply to finer tune revenue.

Its already done for businesses like uber, and to a smaller extent, hotels and ticket prices, but I don’t see how this doesn’t quicky become the norm for gas stations, retail stores, and almost everywhere

This seemed like such a bad idea I had to go read up on it. It's nuts. The ceo says it will help spread demand across slower time periods. Does he not realize that most people eat breakfast on their way to work, lunch during work lunch hour and dinner after work with little flexibility. He's right though that this policy may eliminate long lines but not for the reason he thinks.


by formula72 P

Wendy’s to start their “surge pricing” next year which is basically the ability to change prices every second, depending on time of day, holidays, events, locations, UBI and SS payments and of course their own supply to finer tune revenue.

Its already done for businesses like uber, and to a smaller extent, hotels and ticket prices, but I don’t see how this doesn’t quicky become the norm for gas stations, retail stores, and almost everywhere

Sounds like the free market is getting even more efficient.


Yes, but in a more efficient free market there is less reason for customer loyalty, especially of a fungible product.


As I said this somewhere else.

It would be coming from all angles and happening everywhere - epsecially when most buyers would be scanning and buying with their phones in the future.

Price changes for bottled water on hot days, chips and salsa on gameday and cinco de mayo or higher gas prices on labor day weekend amongst literally a million others isnt going to sway people away. We basically have that now with old fashioned inflation and “supply chain issues”

Theres a reason why we already had $8 gallon gas LA vrs 3.50 in Missouri. Its just a way to perfect it all without having to pay some dude to change a sign on every item


IMO it will lower demand because u would want to know how much u will pay and won’t take a chance unless u have to


It's an interesting idea, but anytime business figures out how to charge different prices to different customers it eats away at the consumer surplus value which is one of the best things about capitalism for regular consumers.


I really wonder if there would be many cases of lowering current prices at slow times. I suspect that what will end up happening is that the current all day prices become the floor of low prices, and everything else is adjusted upwards from there. I could be wrong though. But this sort of has the feel of when grocery stores first started implementing rfid price scanning instead of the cashiers manually typing in the price off a physical price tag. Multiple studies found that when there was a difference between the price listd on the sticker on the shelf and the scanned price, the scanned price was higher around 80-90% of the time, whereas a random error should reflect 50-50.

I also remember when banks paid you 25 cents every time you used an atm because they wanted to get you hooked on them so they could save money by needing fewer tellers. So when Wendys cites labor savings as trickling down to the consumer, im skeptical.


by browser2920 P

I really wonder if there would be many cases of lowering current prices at slow times. I suspect that what will end up happening is that the current all day prices become the floor of low prices, and everything else is adjusted upwards from there. I could be wrong though. But this sort of has the feel of when grocery stores first started implementing rfid price scanning instead of the cashiers manually typing in the price off a physical pr

This isn't at all surprising and doesn't take a conspiracy - prices go up much more often than down, and it's quicker to change prices in a computer system than to put new stickers on each box.

I don't know if prices at Wendy's or other fast food restaurants have already raised their prices a lot in the last few years. If they haven't, I certainly would expect the same thing as you. If they've already raised them a lot recently, maybe not. It will be interesting to see how it goes over with their regular customers though.

I never heard of banks actually paying people to use the ATM, but I do remember waiting in a drive-through bank line in the 1970s for my mother to get cash once a week or so.
It's still ridiculous for banks to charge ATM fees, as it's cheaper than hiring more tellers, as you say. But I think most banks now don't charge if you use their own ATMs at the branches. I've never had to pay charges to use those anyway, and I have had accounts and several banks and credit unions over the years.


by chillrob P

This isn't at all surprising and doesn't take a conspiracy - prices go up much more often than down, and it's quicker to change prices in a computer system than to put new stickers on each box.

I don't know if prices at Wendy's or other fast food restaurants have already raised their prices a lot in the last few years. If they haven't, I certainly would expect the same thing as you. If they've already raised them a lot recently, maybe not.

That makes sense about prices going up. But just to clarify I wasnt refering to the price tag that used to go on each individual item like in the old days. Im talking about how on a shelf, say there are 10 bars of soap in one spot. And on the front of that shelf is a single sticker that says each bar is $1. The individual bars have no price, just the bar code. Then when the cashier scans it, it comes up as $1.10. Unless the shopper is watching each item as it is scanned, and remembers every price, the store is ripping off the shopper.


On the ATM topic, I don't know if many people in the US are using this, and i just never realized it, but here in Thailand the big thing is using your banks online app with QR codes to pay for lots of things. Almost all stores, like in the malls, and most restaurants have this system. They ring up your purchase, then the display screen on the box where you would normally swipe your credit card displays one of those square things. Or in a restaurant, when they bring you your bill, that square thing is in the bottom corner.

You open your bank app, hit payment and your phone camera captures the info from the square and fills in all the info about amount and store. You hit approve and thats it. No need for cash or even a credit or debit card. I was a little reluctant at first but now love it.


by browser2920 P

That makes sense about prices going up. But just to clarify I wasnt refering to the price tag that used to go on each individual item like in the old days. Im talking about how on a shelf, say there are 10 bars of soap in one spot. And on the front of that shelf is a single sticker that says each bar is $1. The individual bars have no price, just the bar code. Then when the cashier scans it, it comes up as $1.10. Unless the shopper is watch

Actually that kind of thing still happens often. Usually it's when there was a sale the previous week and the sale label on the shelf should have been removed but hasn't been.

Must supermarkets will honor the lower price, but of course the customer has to notice that there is a problem.


by browser2920 P

On the ATM topic, I don't know if many people in the US are using this, and i just never realized it, but here in Thailand the big thing is using your banks online app with QR codes to pay for lots of things. Almost all stores, like in the malls, and most restaurants have this system. They ring up your purchase, then the display screen on the box where you would normally swipe your credit card displays one of those square things. Or in a re

I have to disagree. Super annoying when someone uses their phone at 7 to buy a red bull or something and slows the whole line down. Doesn't the US now just have it where you tap your card or something so it's even quicker than cash? Guess we'll never have NFC with the phone. Probably not secure, who knows.


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