• @[email protected]
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      372 days ago

      If it’s a Robin Hood story, then presumably it’s full of gold coins rather than dollar bills. Bag’s about the size of his head, call it four litres. Gold has a density about 20 kg / litre and is worth about $100 / gram, so ignoring the fact that you’d struggle to lift that bag, especially in one hand, it would be worth about $8M.

      Still works out to about 0% of their wealth. Time to start taxing the rich.

      • @SkunkWorkz
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        62 days ago

        Gold was rarer back then than it is today. It would have been worth a lot more inflation corrected.

    • @[email protected]
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      82 days ago

      The bag is just a metaphor, the problem is that it was given all to a single person instead of multiple. Since the point is to stop the accumulation of wealth.

    • @[email protected]
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      31 day ago

      Make it $100 to be more practical, 5 billion per container. Still over 80 containers for Musk, half of it since 2022 only.

    • @SkunkWorkz
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      2 days ago

      Ah yes currency back then is the same as today. He definitely had USD bills in the sack.

      If this ruler was a low ranking noble like a baron it could definitely be all his gold. Gold was worth a lot more back then because they had less of it in circulation. It was rare especially before they discovered the New World

      • AwesomeLowlander
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        22 days ago

        No noble holds all their wealth in liquid currency. Most of their wealth comes from their land holdings, etc.

        • @SkunkWorkz
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          2 days ago

          Petty nobles back then were vassals and often heavily in debt to their liege. Even with their land holdings some basically had a negative net worth. So most of their income of the land went straight to their liege. The coins they had on hand were their only wealth they could spend.

    • @LovableSidekick
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      92 days ago

      In some cases the problem is understanding how cartoons work.

    • @chonglibloodsport
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      112 days ago

      Robin Hood wasn’t really an altruist. He was an ally of King Richard who was absent (fighting in the crusades) during Robin’s adventures. Prince John, Robin Hood’s nemesis, was constantly scheming to usurp Richard’s throne. Thus Robin Hood and his band of outlaws should better be thought of as partisans fighting a guerrilla war against a usurper.

      • @njm1314
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        2 days ago

        Didn’t the myth of Robin Hood actually start like a hundred years later and was retractively pushed back to King Richard’s day?

        Also should point out that greedy Prince John was actually collecting taxes to pay for Richard’s absurd Ransom because the idiot got himself captured.

        • @chonglibloodsport
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          2 days ago

          Robin Hood might not have even existed as a singular person. Rather, the name could’ve been a common alias shared by many different outlaws.

  • @MsPenguinette
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    342 days ago

    How long would he have to be in possession of the money before he got stuck in a recursive loop of having to steal from himself?

  • Rhaedas
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    182 days ago

    Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore Riding through the land Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore Without a merry band He steals from the poor and gives to the rich Stupid bitch.

    Dennis Moore: “What did you sing?”

    Singers: “We sang… he steals from the poor and gives to the rich.”

    Dennis Moore: “Wait a tic … blimey, this redistribution of wealth is trickier than I thought.”

    • HubertManne
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      12 days ago

      Im getting old. It was funny way back when but now im just like. You know he distributed the money among the poor. Well I mean that is how the story goes being he is about as real as king arthur.

    • @marcos
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      -12 days ago

      Whatever joke is too mundane for XKCD, you can be sure that Monty Python has already made.

  • @UnderpantsWeevil
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    42 days ago

    The idea of a Reverse Lottery is one in which a handful of very expensive tickets are “sold” and the “winner” is selected to distribute their entry fee to the public at large.

  • @Donkter
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    12 days ago

    I mean a sack full of gold coins is a ludicrous thing to be carrying around for all but maybe the king in that time. Like that was probably that nobles entire net worth except for his land and clothes. A sack full of gold coins. That’s a fuckload of gold.

  • @Evotech
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    2 days ago

    This is such a lame and reused idea

    • JaggedRobotPubes
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      19 hours ago

      You’re right, it does feel good to downvote something.