Seems likely. The most rigid materially known, (or at least theorized) is nuclear pasta.. Nuclear pasta only forms inside neutron stars, stellar objects that are the last stage of matter before matter gives up entirely and collapses into a black hole.

…Says the talking sex doll masquerading as a reporter.

It would work, but only in the impossible world where you have a perfectly rigid unbreakable stick. But such an object cannot exist in this universe.

Pick up a solid rigid object near you. Anything will do, a coffee cup, a comb, a water bottle, anything. Pick it up from the top and lift it vertically. Observe it.

It seems as though the whole object moves instantaneously, does it not? It seems that the bottom of the object starts moving at the exact same instant as the top. But it is actually not the case. Every material has a certain elasticity to it. Everything deforms slightly under the tiniest of forces. Even a solid titanium rod deforms a little bit from the weight of a feather placed upon it. And this lack of perfect rigidity means that there is a very, very slight delay from when you start lifting the top of the object to when the bottom of it starts moving.

For small objects that you can manipulate with your hands, this delay is imperceptible to your senses. But if you observed an object being lifted with very precise scientific equipment, you could actually measure this delay. Motion can only transfer through objects at a finite speed. Specifically, it can only move at the speed of sound through the material. Your perfectly rigid object would have an infinite speed of sound within it. So yes, it would instantly transfer that motion. But with any real material, the delay wouldn’t just be noticeable, but comically large.

Imagine this stick were made of steel. The speed of sound in steel is about 5120 m/s. The distance to the Moon is about 400,000 km. Converting and dividing shows that it would actually take about 22 hours for a pulse like that to travel through a steel pole that long. (Ignoring how the steel pole would be supported.)

So in fact, you are both right and wrong. You are correct for the object you describe. A perfectly rigid object would be usable as a tool of FTL communication. But such an object simply cannot exist in this universe.

It’s part of the common law tradition though. Could it not be brought back?

The president is also openly corrupt, by orders of magnitude more. That crypto scheme for one is just a blatantly obvious bribery mechanism. Sure, the justices serve for life. But if a president is willing to directly violate explicit court orders, he could easily decide not to leave office as well. He could issue an executive order saying, "in my opinion, the two-term limit doesn’t apply because <bullshit reasons.> And then when the court rules against him, just ignore their ruling. A lawless president is a president for life.

Ultimately, philosophically, I don’t see why a president that openly defies the law should enjoy the protections of the law. Want to be lawless? Then you can be an outlaw. Those who live by the sword should die by the sword.

They would have checks and balances. They could still be removed by impeachment. Members of the court would still have to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

Couldn’t the same be said for impeachment and conviction in the Senate? If Congress can simply remove a president they don’t like, how does this not end up making kingmakers like the Praetorian Guard of ancient Rome?

You will end up paying the share of taxes to your state government that you currently do to the federal government. If the federal government collapses, all 50 states are now de facto independent. Those states can now start forming a new country or new collection of countries as they will.

The outcome of a system is its purpose.

The goal is to create a slave class. We never got over our societal addiction to slavery. Slavery in the US never ended, both de facto slavery and legal slavery.

The goal of our immigration system is to create millions of workers who will accept low pay, long hours, and poor conditions with little options or recourse.

I mean, there could be a worse answer.

You know what, this would be easier if done in person. I have your address as ____. I’ll be by in ten minutes.

Granted, you have to tell/text me to find a time that works for both.

My nightmare: when I ask someone what times they are good for, and they give one specific time on one specific day.

How to really be Satan: send an important video note. Make it recorded outside with a lot of wind and background noise. Then, just to be fun, slow the video down to 80% playback speed, reencode it, and send that!

What if I send you a link to a video message I recorded and posted on YouTube? Also it has ads on it.

BUT, it is also pretty clear that direct speech is the most efficient way of communication when you don’t need a written record

That is simply not true. I’ve had many phones calls that would be far more efficiently done with a text or email.

And they’re perfect for this kind of thing! What better way to punish rude tip demands? Despite how rude it is, you don’t want to throw someone in jail over this. A fine? You risk the fine being so low it’s just a cost of business or so high you just ruined some service worker’s life. This is exactly where the pillory shines!

Demand a tip like this? To the stockades with you! Spend an afternoon chained up by the sidewalk, while people throw tomatoes at you. No real harm done. Just public embarrassment.

We need to bring back the public stockades.

I prefer milligallons myself.

Microacres^(3/2)

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