Random thread of whatever

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What it says on the tin.

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Al-x wrote:

As for some of the history and race issues that happened in America that I posted, I can understand others who aren’t American not to get what I was saying. But for some to be like:” Well, if it didn’t happen to me, wasn’t my experience, or I never heard of it, it doesn’t exist. You must be lying or making it up for the forum.” That stance kind of makes me wonder…

To be honest Al, I may have missed it but didn’t really see that. The people we have on the board now are 95% at least very progressive and socially liberal.

When you post for example stories of racially biased policing (and that’s very much a problem outside the US too) I don’t comment much because it’s just going to be ‘agree’, it’s all fact.

You may have misunderstood me on the swimming thing too. I agree 100% that the reason why a lot of African-Americans can’t swim are socio-economic reasons. They have never been given easy access to the facilities needed that many white people do.

My only argument was at super elite level, down to the best 8 guys or women in the world in an Olympic final, where things are won by thousands of a second that genetics seem to play a part.

Hence Jamaica with a tiny population of 3m (less than 1% of the USA) and very little money dominates sprinting (Canada’s Bailey and Britain’s Christie champs in 1992 and 1996 were born there). In fact if we discount 1980 when many countries boycotted the Moscow Olympics every 100m men’s champion in my lifetime has been African American or Afro-Caribbean. I don’t expect that in the rest of my life that will change, or that the racial makeup of the swimming finalists will either because tiny differences decide elite winners. Caucasians have an extra level of fat that helps buoyancy  in the water and slows them down on land.

[Al-x]

Ok… but I also was talking about bisexuality and a bi woman’s actual testimony in the former relationship thread and some members doubted it and challenged my credibility.

————————-

The “Detector” returned to troll me again.

Why he doesn’t reveal himself… or even message me to settle things. I don’t know.

What is he still doing here?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Al-x.

The Relationship Thread hit over 1000 posts which breaks the ‘read latest’ function. Start a new one.

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Dave

garjones wrote:

The Relationship Thread hit over 1000 posts which breaks the ‘read latest’ function. Start a new one.

In due time…

We really should get women here though for a more fair thread and even a more fair forum. Imho

That’s unlikely to happen, nobody is joining this forum.

I’m very open to ideas on how that could happen.

Al-x wrote:

some members doubted it and challenged my credibility.

And we’re not allowed to do that?

Al-x wrote:

Ok…

So I write 5 paragraphs and get ‘ok’. Why are people not engaging with my points? I’m trying to open debate.

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garjones wrote:

I’m very open to ideas on how that could happen.

Asking random women in the street if they wouldd like to join the club?

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Rocket, Todd, DavidM

No one will convince me this isn’t a cult….absolutely no one pic.twitter.com/wOu3QaQooP

— thehardhatintellectual (@hardhatintellec) October 2, 2021

Ten seconds in you can see the exact moment Colbert lost the will to live.

Martin Smith wrote:

Al-x wrote:
some members doubted it and challenged my credibility.

And we’re not allowed to do that?

Martin… fellow

You have to read the whole thing in its proper context.

I was relating something I saw on TV and the other members did not want to believe it. They felt “It’s not my experience, I never heard of it, therefore it doesn’t exist”.

garjones wrote:

Al-x wrote:
Ok…

So I write 5 paragraphs and get ‘ok’. Why are people not engaging with my points? I’m trying to open debate.

garjones wrote:

My only argument was at super elite level, down to the best 8 guys or women in the world in an Olympic final, where things are won by thousands of a second that genetics seem to play a part.

Hence Jamaica with a tiny population of 3m (less than 1% of the USA) and very little money dominates sprinting (Canada’s Bailey and Britain’s Christie champs in 1992 and 1996 were born there). In fact if we discount 1980 when many countries boycotted the Moscow Olympics every 100m men’s champion in my lifetime has been African American or Afro-Caribbean. I don’t expect that in the rest of my life that will change, or that the racial makeup of the swimming finalists will either because tiny differences decide elite winners. Caucasians have an extra level of fat that helps buoyancy  in the water and slows them down on land.

That to me is debatable.

Admittedly I haven’t looked into it in detail. Extra layer of fat?
Also to be honest, I haven’t looked into why the Kenyans always win marathons.

Is there a factor? Who knows. The danger is the slippery slope that may happen.

All I can say for now is that most of the winter sports are dominated by those from the Scandinavian countries, yet no one is looking for a bobsledding gene or some “skiing factor” in their DNA. So what gives in that case?

It goes on and on.

garjones wrote:

Al-x wrote:

Ok…

So I write 5 paragraphs and get ‘ok’. Why are people not engaging with my points? I’m trying to open debate.

Huh.

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Al-x

You’ve answered your own question Al.

The search for gene whatever tends to come up to explain why non-white guys are not winning at sport.  It’s a reflexive “well, if they didn’t have that advantage….”, but if white guys have an advantage? That’s OK. That’s the bias.

In contrast Gar was being more even in pointing factors in both sides.

For myself? I don’t think whatever extra factors may be in effect suffice to undermine the achievement.  A Kenyan marathon winner will have had to do a ton of training consistently and fended off all comers to win the race on the day.

Al-x wrote:

That to me is debatable. Admittedly I haven’t looked into it in detail. Extra layer of fat?

Sounds like you’re challenging Gar’s credibility and think it might not exist just because it’s not in your experience and you haven’t heard of it.

Todd… Very funny. 😂

Ben… What did you say? Please clarify.

Dave wants to turn the tables on me… challenging Gareth’s credibility?!? Really.

————————

To be honest, I have to say it would be Ok to provide some link/reference about this extra layer that helps with buoyance in water so we can all look at it.

Aside from the differences with hair texture and skin color.. I heard that some who have real pale skin don’t do that well tanning in the sun.

The danger of the “slippery slope” is related to the history of eugenics and how the Nazis used it in treatment of the Jews. The measuring of the head/skull and so on…. Then there is the life of Sara Baartman in the 19th century who was paraded in London and Paris for her abnormally large backside and used to promote the thought of black people as freakish.

That’s why I have to say there is a danger in going too far with it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Baartman
https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/human-testing-the-eugenics-movement-and-irbs-724/

Al-x wrote:

Dave wants to turn the tables on me… challenging Gareth’s credibility?!? Really. ———————— To be honest, I have to say it would be Ok to provide some link/reference about this extra layer that helps with buoyance in water so we can all look at it.

What I’m saying is that you’re doing the exact same thing that you’re complaining about, which is challenging someone else’s position in an argument and saying it doesn’t match up with your knowledge or experience.

No-one else seems to be bristling when that happens to them – without it, there wouldn’t be much of a debate on anything, just everyone agreeing on everything.

In terms of the specific area you’re asking about, a quick Google brings up studies like this:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28561485/

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Todd

[lorcan_nagle]

Anonymous wrote:

Ten seconds in you can see the exact moment Colbert lost the will to live.

Did he read one of your posts about vaccines out on the show or something?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by lorcan_nagle.

Al,

I read your question as “why isn’t white success queried in the way black success is?”.

The answer is pretty much there, white success isn’t questioned because it’s deemed the default.  That’s where the bias and construct aspects come in.

But let’s say that someone proved that at the elite level if sport, a person from country A will have an edge over person from country B due to specifuc environmental factors, person from country A still had to put the work in training to get to that level.  They still had to race better than everyone else on the day.

Sport tries to ensure the playing field is as level as it can be, but it’ll never be perfectly so.  On a race day, it can be anyone’s to win no matter what.  Which is why I don’t think the “you only won due to x” line flies.

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Al-x

Al-x wrote:

All I can say for now is that most of the winter sports are dominated by those from the Scandinavian countries, yet no one is looking for a bobsledding gene or some “skiing factor” in their DNA. So what gives in that case?

It’s a different measure.

There are sports that require a mix of mental and physical skills, say like bobsleigh or gymnastics or tennis. Then there are those that are very direct challenges of speed, strength or endurance. Those are where tiny physical advantages create these gaps. The Kenyan thing in long distance running is like the Caribbean one in sprinting, not really racial if we think about it but incredibly localised. Those Kenyan and Ethiopian runners all live in the Rift Valley where they have developed to live at very high altitude and have to cover long distances as part of daily life. A few years back to test the genetic theory a documentary maker took a man in his mid 20s from the Rift Valley who had never run competitively and got him to medal at European athletics meets within a year.

You have to understand my argument isn’t binary. I’m not saying there are no social elements to sports participation or excellence. For example in your winter Olympics example Britain is generally very poor and only rarely grabs medals despite being better than any other European country in the summer version. That’s because it doesn’t snow enough to have usable ski resorts so yes the Scandinavians, Swiss etc feature much more.

I think racial makeup in golf, tennis and motor racing are completely opportunity based. They are historically exclusionary sports that when given the opportunity we have seen Tiger Woods, the Williams sisters and Lewis Hamilton excel.

Now I agree that this is rarely spoken about because of the slippery slope of eugenics arguments, we tend to recoil from any suggestion that isn’t nurture even though we know medically that there are several things that are based on nature. Bear in mind what I’m discussing here doesn’t really fit that mould for 2 reasons. Firstly they don’t point to the superiority of a particular group, just advantages spread between them and secondly it’s something that can only be seen at the very top end of sport in a handful of individuals where things are measured in milliseconds.

So as the Carrier motto says: it can be two things.

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Al-x

Ok guys… You all spoke well.

I understand more of where you are all from.

—————————–

As for the “detector”… If it you Anders, I am glad you are feeling better enough to be here again. It would be better still if you post for real instead of trolling me.

Very sorry that you imploded like that.

Please, send me a private message for us to have a private online sit-down and settle our differences Man to Man.

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garjones, Dave

Thanks Al. It’s a tough thing to explain sometimes without sounding like you may be on the wrong side of the argument. When in college I studied some sociology and nurture v nature came up a lot and because of the likes of Nazi ‘aryan race’ type ideology the teaching seemed loaded to nurture being everything.

I think that’s generally true, maybe 95%, but not 100%.

I have a mole on the back of my neck and the other day it grew much bigger. Most caucasian people know that’s a symptom of skin cancer that needs to be checked out. As it turned out it had swollen up because of an insect bite but what struck me speaking to my wife and the GP is they didn’t even consider the cancer angle as skin cancer here is almost non-existent as an issue. It’s my pasty pigmentation that puts me at a level of risk they don’t think about.

It put me in mind of a drama a saw a few years back about a black man in the UK who suffered because his sickle-cell anaemia went undiagnosed because it mainly only effects people of African origin. It was essentially the same scenario.

So while there’s a grave danger in the slippery slope of genetic arguments there’s also a danger in completely dismissing them.

[Al-x]

I understand what you are saying.

It is just that in the States, when blacks take gold in the Summer Olympics there is always this narrative about the question “Why do black athletes excel in running sports like track and field, relays, and sports like basketball?” It becomes apparent that racists want to control the narrative and make black athletes to be “freaks of nature”, the African jungle storylines, it’s in their blood, and so on.

If you go by that then why aren’t the Swedes and Norwegians freaks of nature then for taking gold all the time in the Winter Olympics?
—————————————–

Eugenics has a lot to answer for:

By the 1930s, eugenics had been scientifically discredited in the United States due to the aforementioned difficulties in defining inherited characteristics, as well as poor sampling and statistical methods. In Germany, however, the eugenics movement was just gaining momentum.
https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/human-testing-the-eugenics-movement-and-irbs-724/

Interestingly, the Holocaust museum in Washington DC had a snippet of information saying that some of the laws enacted by the Nazis against the Jews were derivative of the Jim Crow laws from the South US.
——————————————


@garjones … you may want to look at some postings in the picture thread. Just saying…

—————-
And last but not least, my decision is… <drumroll> <Cymbal clash> iPhone 13 Pro Max…

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Al-x.

Al-x wrote:

It is just that in the States, when blacks take gold in the Summer Olympics there is always this narrative about the question “Why do black athletes excel in running sports like track and field, relays, and sports like basketball?” It becomes apparent that racists want to control the narrative and make black athletes to be “freaks of nature”, the African jungle storylines, it’s in their blood, and so on.

This is where I think football/soccer sets a great template. It would be naive to say it hasn’t had many issues with prejudice over the years but as a multi-skilled event that’s very cheap and accessible across the world (Liberian George Weah won world player of the year and he grew up so poor he didn’t even have a ball but played with rags tied together into a sphere)  you can go through the best players in my lifetime:

Pele

Diego Maradona

George Best

Lionel Messi

Cristiano Ronaldo

Johan Cruyff

They come from very diverse backgrounds. There’s a lot of meritocracy that if you play well you’ll do well.

 

Al-x wrote:

It is just that in the States, when blacks take gold in the Summer Olympics there is always this narrative about the question “Why do black athletes excel in running sports like track and field, relays, and sports like basketball?” It becomes apparent that racists want to control the narrative and make black athletes to be “freaks of nature”, the African jungle storylines, it’s in their blood, and so on.

Maybe I haven’t been paying close attention, I don’t recall hearing sports commentators casually or purposely bringing up race during live coverage of a sporting event or during the reporting of sporting events in local or national news broadcasts. I think that such comments would stick in my mind, but I could be wrong.

Similarly, while I haven’t exhaustingly researched this topic, but the studies that I have looked at regarding the subject of race/ethnicity in relation to athletic ability do not conclude that black athletes are “freaks of nature”. More commonly, these studies tend to cite physiological and/or socioeconomic factors as primary in determining who does better in certain sports and athletic activities.

It may be true that “racists want to control the narrative”, but it’s not obvious that they are succeeding at doing so.

It is sometimes overt but it is subtle.

https://www.sbnation.com/2020/4/20/21227661/caster-semenya-world-athletics-regulation-body-racism

https://www.si.com/olympics/2020/06/10/black-track-and-field-athletes-racism-experiences-america

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-olympics-history-of-racism-sexism-black-women-2021-7

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/06/us/black-women-athletes-treatment-olympics-spt/index.html

There is a huge Google listing that I won’t even get into because it is that depressing.

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njerry

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garjones

Anonymous wrote:

I think you can always start a new thread if you think it doesn’t fit in the random thread.

garjones wrote:

The last thing we need is alternative random threads.

Al-x wrote:

I mentioned common social media issues currently going on, and the replies were basically “Huh?”

Al-x wrote:

That stance kind of makes me wonder…

Al, I am pretty sure no one else here is a large black man from NYC(it is humorous to me that you consider another poster from NYC area to be the voice of reason) so the likelihood of us having different stances is quite high.

I realize that race issues are a lot more important to you but without similar experiences we can not really deal with what you are going through. By no means am I saying that you shouldn’t post here. everything is welcome here. but most of us are here to discuss Movies, TV, and comics so when you introduce something else you may get a less than enthusiastic response.

I do not expect you to agree with me but I post my thoughts anyways because I have a need to get my thoughts out of my head and hopefully help others.

I’m not sure I fully agree. Yes we are always primarily pop culture in nature but the politics and news threads have always been as active as any others and sometimes moreso.

Al is posting very relevant things but I think the main point is most of them are in the ‘I agree’ zone. We don’t have Archonis and Yakko Dan here any more. As we know from social media the way to blow up a debate is posting controversy.

While I quibbled some small details (i.e. the effect of nature on a few very specific high performance athletic events or how far cultural appropriation can be applied) I can’t add much more to the rest.

A lot is knowing your audience, something I josh JR about too. I don’t comment about Tik-Tok because I really don’t care, I have enough social media going on and as a middle aged man that one really isn’t aimed at me. The same as when an obituary is posted about someone who used to be in “As The World Turns” in 1976 isn’t going to register with a global board who either never saw the show or likely wouldn’t have watched it anyway.

 

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Rocket

garjones wrote:

I think the main point is most of them are in the ‘I agree’ zone

I did not mean to say I disagreed with Al. just that I don’t have knowledge or experience to effectively discuss what he is talking about. I apologize for making we and us statements. I come here for movie, tv, and comics news and opinions but I also do post in the other threads.

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garjones

Rocket wrote:

Al, I am pretty sure no one else here is a large black man from NYC(it is humorous to me that you consider another poster from NYC area to be the voice of reason) so the likelihood of us having different stances is quite high.

I realize that race issues are a lot more important to you but without similar experiences we can not really deal with what you are going through. By no means am I saying that you shouldn’t post here. everything is welcome here. but most of us are here to discuss Movies, TV, and comics so when you introduce something else you may get a less than enthusiastic response.

I do not expect you to agree with me but I post my thoughts anyways because I have a need to get my thoughts out of my head and hopefully help others.

Well… I am a large black man but I am trying to get smaller if I am determined to cut soda. 😂

I was saying that historically, this thread has been some random anecdotes and trivia snippets, not real serious subject matter. So I had my reservations about starting it here, but Dave said to go for it, so I did.

It may have been a little controversial, but I did make others more aware of what is going in TikTok, social media, overall pop culture, and even subtle forms of racism by people like the Kardashians, Gwen Stefani, Camila Cabello, etc.

I don’t really want to talk about it 24/7, but I do point it out when it comes up in the culture. Is everything about race? Probably… I don’t know what percentage, but when you look at the history of European colonialism, capitalism, white supremacy ideology like the white man’s burden, the slave trade, segregation, social injustice, etc. that has led to severely poor and underdeveloped countries, a diaspora and scattering of people, extremes of rich and poor, and so on. The world clearly did not get like this overnight.

I consider @njerry a voice of reason, because he is, and I met him, Gareth, and Gareth’s wife years ago in downtown Manhattan. It was surreal experience … and happening. 😁

You are Ok to me, Rocket… but I identify this raccoon avatar with Jim Ohara. I don’t quite know who you are or look like. 😂

So now the random thread is more defined and expanded. Ok then…

———————————-

iPhone 13 Pro Max – I made my decision and will get it until Iphone 15 comes out in two years. I know that the Iphone is really a few tweaks here and there designed to hook you in. I know that I won’t use the phone for all this photography, but still, it looks too good!

This whole situation reminds me of college textbooks. You have to buy the textbook for the class, and by the next semester the publishers just tweaked the content by changing a few sentences and pictures to make the next edition and you are pretty much forced to shell out money for the new edition. Although some professors (really teaching adjuncts for undergrads) will be cool and tell you to just stick with the old edition.

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People making jokes about the Facebook services going down make me sick. Anyone who was using an Oculus headset at the time is currently trapped in VR, and if they die there then they die in real life.

— Gavin Young (@GavinDYoung) October 4, 2021

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New Order – Blue Monday pic.twitter.com/GI9XvijR0K

— cat vibing synth post punk indie shoegaze (@catdancingg) July 5, 2021

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Sean Robinson, Bruce, Todd

Al-x wrote:

I know that I won’t use the phone for all this photography, but still, it looks too good!

I did the same thing with my phone, the Samsung Note 20 Ultra. It was hundreds more than the note 20 but it has a better screen.

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Al-x

Interesting article snippet on Adele:

https://pagesix.com/2021/10/07/adele-disappointed-by-womens-comments-about-weight-loss/

She is disappointed by the comments she gets. Maybe it is because they resent her for doing it and now she looks like one of the “hot girl” types they resented all along. I guess Adele betrayed them. 😂

Al-x wrote:

Interesting article snippet on Adele:

https://pagesix.com/2021/10/07/adele-disappointed-by-womens-comments-about-weight-loss/

She is disappointed by the comments she gets. Maybe it is because they resent her for doing it and now she looks like one of the “hot girl” types they resented all along. I guess Adele betrayed them. 😂

Yes, I think that’s exactly the kind of comment she’s talking about.

When I mentioned college textbooks, I also mentioned teaching adjuncts. Imagine reading about this big university that has a lot of big name faculty professors. It makes you think that if you go there as an undergrad, you will learn under the tutelage of a Nobel laureate. Then when you get there, you find out that the big shot professors don’t teach the introductory classes in the BA program, but the grad students and adjuncts do. So you got shafted…

Also, most US universities that have the BA program have a liberal arts core curriculum and the degree is about 60% introductory liberal arts subjects (i.e., sociology, psychology, English lit and writing, history, humanities, math, the sciences, etc.), about 30% in a concentrated major, and the other 10% in an accompanying minor. This liberal arts approach is supposed to expose the student to apply themselves to a variety of subjects so in the end, you are able to figure things out better on your own and make informed decisions as a critical thinker. The situation however, is that most BA’s are not in the real tough STEM classes leaving the US a shortage of home grown STEM professionals and BA’s these days are a dime a dozen: It doesn’t make you stand out at all in the job interview unless you went to very elite school. Most BA’s will just help you get an entry level desk job.

‘Nuff said. 😁

‘

Dave wrote:

Yes, I think that’s exactly the kind of comment she’s talking about.

Well, from some of her pictures and news she is having a lot of fun these days being 100 pounds lighter, a hot upcoming magazine photoshoot spread, swimsuit pics, being seeing seen with a boyfriend, new music after 5 years. It is as if she is embracing life and some feel left behind.

Good for her if she’s lost some weight. I wish I could do the same. The idea that she’s somehow ‘betraying’ people by doing that seems like nonsense to me.

Well…

Some will resent you for losing weight and “surpassing” them.

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Dave

Al-x wrote:

The situation however, is that most BA’s are not in the real tough STEM classes leaving the US a shortage of home grown STEM professionals and BA’s these days are a dime a dozen: It doesn’t make you stand out at all in the job interview unless you went to very elite school. Most BA’s will just help you get an entry level desk job.

That’s a commonly held view but I think it’s more complex than that.

There’s often a disconnect with courses being studied and the jobs market but I know of a few examples where taking the accepted serious degree is no better. My brother studied mathematical physics in university and got offered to do a post grad actuary course. Actuaries were extremely highly paid insurance risk assessors. Last year in Japan a major bank transferred the entire role to AI, which will expand and make the role defunct. Automation has meant that a massive 50% of qualified lawyers in the US are employed in other jobs but it seems they always escape the criticism arts graduates do.

When I was advised on a uni course I was told not to do media based courses, in an industrial area engineering was the thing to do. In the meantime where I grew up has seen industry close rapidly and the growth business is TV and film production. (Sex Education, Doctor Who, His Dark Material, Sherlock are all made within an hour commute of my home town), that’s where the job demand is.

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Todd, Ben, lorcan_nagle

Al-x wrote:

Well…

Some will resent you for losing weight and “surpassing” them.

Yes, but those people are assholes, and why would we care about their asshole resentment? Life is too short to waste time caring about assholes and their asshole resentment.

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Todd, Dave, Martin Smith

[Al-x]

Ok…let me say this:

There are those who are fat and like you because you are fat along with them. When you lose the weight and do all stuff that the slim people do (the beach, being more outgoing, more socializing, getting more attention), they resent it and they feel that you “betrayed” them and “surpassed” them. They feel that you abandoned them.

On another note: There are those slim people who like you as a friend, but when you lose the weight they see you now as competition, as a rival for other’s attention and they don’t like the new you for that.

I have to say that all this is apparently happening to Adele, and should she worry? Of course not! Let her keep doing her thing and live her life of more attention, dating, and socializing.

——————————

With regards my BA comments… perhaps I should have said this is about the NY job market. I can’t speak for the US, but I find in NYC, the interviewers and temp agencies will look at your resume and BA’s are very common. Unless you went to an Ivy League school which is big in the Northeast, that will give you some clout and the interviewers will perk up when they see that.

The STEM majors have very loaded semesters with math and engineering classes, a lot of research, advanced calculus and so on. It scares off a lot of students in college and they turn to the other majors. That was what I saying. The majors being that complicated does separate the dedicated and undedicated, but it does create a shortage of home grown STEM professionals which leads to some US technical US companies recruiting outside the US.

————————

Oh…

@bruce

You got something to say?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Al-x.

55 seconds in:

Al-x wrote:

There are those who are fat and like you because you are fat along with them. When you lose the weight and do all stuff that the slim people do (the beach, being more outgoing, more socializing, getting more attention), they resent it and they feel that you “betrayed” them and “surpassed” them. They feel that you abandoned them. On another note: There are those slim people who like you as a friend, but when you lose the weight they see you now as competition, as a rival for other’s attention and they don’t like the new you for that.

I think you might need to expand your social circle beyond whatever sociopaths you’re currently spending time with, Al.

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[Al-x]

@martinsmith

You never heard about that?

Surprising…

I want to make this clear:
This is from what Adele is saying on women’s reactions.

As for arguing with me:

This all started in the relationship thread when I bought up what a bisexual woman said on a show. Members argued with me and they did not knowing anything but still insisted on arguing.

In this thread, I mention common things and topics like what’s going on TikTok, pop culture, dating, the job market and office things and some of you are still saying “Huh? What are you talking about?” That either means that I don’t know or some of you are so very far removed from just about everything.

I really don’t know what to say to that… Get a life?
Stop reading so many comics? What?

I mean, There are members here who are overseas to me and they are arguing with me only knowing half of a topic and don’t even live in the US.

What is going on?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Al-x.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Al-x.

I’m just saying in NY, global hub in theatre, publishing and film production is STEM that useful?

Nobody is going to employ someone in New York to be a computer programmer, a guy in India will do it as well at a tenth of the price.

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Ben

Al-x wrote:

I mean, There are members here who are overseas to me and they are arguing with me only knowing half of a topic and don’t even live in the US.

I don’t want to be controversial Al but body fat isn’t specific to a geographical location and Adele is from London.

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njerry, Ben, Bruce

Al-x wrote:

There are those who are fat and like you because you are fat along with them.

And there was me thinking people liked Adele because she’s a good singer.

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njerry, garjones, Bruce, Ben

Al-x wrote:

@bruce

You got something to say?

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Dave

I heard once losing weight can effect the singing voice though. Still she is right to lose weight of course, it’s always better to be a healthy weight.

Al-x wrote:

You never heard about that?

Surprising…

I want to make this clear: This is from what Adele is saying on women’s reactions.

Except everything you said – which can basically be boiled down to “fat people feel threatened by skinny people; skinny people only like to have fat people around to feel better about themselves” – isn’t reflected at all in what Adele said. Her comments were about being disappointed that her weight loss was made into a big talking point and extrapolated out into some debate topic about fat-shaming and body positivity when it’s all just a by-product of her working out to relieve her anxiety. You have done pretty much what she was complaining about by projecting some sociopathic nonsense about transactional relationships onto it.

As for arguing with me: This all started in the relationship thread when I bought up what a bisexual woman said on a show. Members argued with me and they did not knowing anything but still insisted on arguing. In this thread, I mention common things and topics like what’s going on TikTok, pop culture, dating, the job market and office things and some of you are still saying “Huh? What are you talking about?” That either means that I don’t know or some of you are so very far removed from just about everything.

you keep bringing up that thing from the relationship topic up (and I still don’t know the specifics because you don’t link to it and I’m not going diving through the whole thread looking for it) but have you considered getting over it already? Someone disagreed with you on the internet: big whoop.

You’re not an unimpeachable fountain of infallible knowledge and wisdom, Al. As you’ve just demonstrated, you’re prone to projecting your own opinions and prejudices onto things yet get huffy that people aren’t taking them as objective fact. Get over yourself.

I really don’t know what to say to that…

Get a life? Stop reading so many comics? What?

Might want to be careful with those stones you’re throwing in your glass house there, Al. You’re the one posting stories from celebrity gossip rags like Page Six.

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Todd, Sean Robinson, Dave

garjones wrote:

Nobody is going to employ someone in New York to be a computer programmer, a guy in India will do it as well at a tenth of the price.

That is also true… But then there is this:

Why the U.S. has a STEM shortage and how we fix it (Part 1)

[Al-x]

@bruce is trolling me with YouTube videos… Interesting.

——————————–

I will clarify my points better.

————————–
I have to admit… You have a few points there @martinsmith

I really am taking things way too personally and seriously here.
Disagreeing on social media is the name of the game after all…

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Al-x.

Al-x wrote:

garjones wrote:

Nobody is going to employ someone in New York to be a computer programmer, a guy in India will do it as well at a tenth of the price.

That is also true… But then there is this:

Why the U.S. has a STEM shortage and how we fix it (Part 1)

Sure and I’m not denying there are actual shortages. I was just saying it is more complex than too many people doing arts degrees and then serving coffee in Starbucks. Some land amazing jobs and some doing STEM don’t.

Demands vary in different locations, you have locations that are centred around artistic industries.

There are often other factors at play, like the claim in that article about accountants. The US tax system artificially creates that demand with its complexity. In most countries unless you run a decent sized business nobody uses accountants. I file my taxes with a portal that calculates it all for me and shows deductions and takes about 10 minutes to complete. If you are employed by a company you don’t file, it is automated by them. So if you reduced that demand you’d have a lot of mathematically inclined people available.

Which is another factor. Not everyone can do it. My mother is an author and historian that is frequently referenced, she’s appeared twice on BBC programmes in the last few years as an expert in her field. She couldn’t pass high school mathematics. If you go to college to study a field you have no aptitude for because of market demand you are more than likely going to fail your course, which is probably a worse outcome than getting a degree in a field without as much demand.

 

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Todd, Ben, Al-x

Al-x wrote:

@bruce is trolling me with YouTube videos… Interesting.

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Dave

[Al-x]

@bruce…fellow…. Whatever.

———————-

Sometimes when I am on the run and I am a block away I doubt myself whether if I locked the door or not. In those cases, I end up going all the way back to check. From now on, I have to slow things down and take a mental note of turning the key and locking the door and then I go forth

———————————–

I went to the store and they were out of the Pro Max 13. Sucks… Until next time.

————————————–

Before social media, there was ham radio, and CB radio. Any old timers here remember those days?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Al-x.

Al-x wrote:

Sometimes when I am on the run

This makes it sound like the police are chasing you.

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DavidM

Al-x wrote:

@bruce…fellow…. Whatever

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Dave

Al-x wrote:

Before social media, there was ham radio, and CB radio. Any old timers here remember those days?

CB radio. It was never a big thing in the UK, but for a couple of years when I was in high school it became popular for some reason. One of my sister’s boyfriends was really into and had a radio in his bedroom and would talk to random passing truckers. I guess they didn’t realise they were talking to kid, or didn’t care because there were so few other people to talk to. It seemed weird to me.

But I guess it’s no more weird than talking to random people on social media.

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Al-x

This is quite a beautifully written and moving piece by Patrick Stewart about a teacher who played a key role in his formative experiences as a young actor.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/13/a-moment-that-changed-me-patrick-stewart-on-the-teacher-who-spotted-his-talent-and-saved-him

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Al-x, Ben

[Al-x]

@bruce … you do know who Arnold is talking to in that movie.😂

I will put a curse on all of Aberdeen…

Bruce speaks in Youtube, I speak in al-xisms…

A fair exchange.

———-

Shatner is back from space now. Saw the whole thing on CNN…
I am happy for him that he had this experience.
———————-

Now there is a report of an Apple chip shortage that might delay production…
Woe is me.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Al-x.

DavidM wrote:

CB radio. It was never a big thing in the UK, but for a couple of years when I was in high school it became popular for some reason.

It was a very brief craze, I remember at some point in the early 80s there was a lot on TV about CB and the slang used and then it quickly disappeared. I think only truck drivers used it seriously for any length of time.

A few years later around 89-90 a friend of mine got one second hand and put it in his car. He got excited that if you went down to the beach you could get people from north Devon across the channel, which would be a 3 hour drive to get to but as the crow flies was relatively close. Again though the novelty quite quickly wore off with that.

@garjones, can you let me into the treehouse?

Hawk’s reaction to a wooden mallard.. pic.twitter.com/Kx88FMX8xe

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden_) October 17, 2021

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Rocket, njerry

[Martin Smith]

Stumbled upon this today: a theory about how all the deaths in Predator are commenting on that character’s masculine flaw.

Predator (1987): The alien tries each man’s masculinity. Each man who dies does so in a manner befitting his swagger. from FanTheories

sample

Blain

Blain’s not the weakest of the remaining crew, but he is certainly the showiest, with his enormous minigun. Blain has the most famous line outside of Arnie’s: when he’s shot in the arm, Ramirez rushes to his aid – “You’re bleeding, man!”. Blain’s having none of it: “I ain’t got time to bleed”.

Indeed he doesn’t. When the predator fires a plasma bolt through Blain’s torso, the resulting wound is bloodless:

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Martin Smith.

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Todd, Rocket, lorcan_nagle

Nigel is officially extinct as a baby name.

The Office of National Statistics has released full 2020 baby names data. There were 189 boys called Kylo, 142 called Kacper, 86 called Aadam, 64 called Cai. Not a single* Nigel.

*It is possible there were 2 Nigels. ONS only records a name if 3 or more children are called that name, for data protection purposes.

Other boys names on the way out: Trevor – just 8 boys called that, 8 called Stuart, 7 called Gordon.
Jonathan is outside the top 200 names, with just 192 boys called that.

More boys were called Kaiden (211), Jakub (203), Rocco (326), Marley (395), Beau (419), Jovan (58), King (46), Oakley-James (11), Jaxson-James (10) & Orfeas (9) than Nigel, Trevor or Gordon.

Two more boy’s names in grave peril: Keith & Piers. Five boys called Keith, just four called Piers. Less popular than Titas (6), Teddie-James (6), Nectarie (6), Lincoln-James (6), Hershy 6), Grayson-Lee (6), Bode (6), Bodi (6), and London (8).

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I was just at my cousin’s for dinner yesterday and his daughter just started a new school. She listed the names of her classmates and not a one was john or mary. the parents all had to be creative.

What is with the hyphenated names?

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In the Netherlands Noah is the most popular boys name. Literally nobody was named Noah when I grew up.

 

Al-x wrote:

Shatner is back from space now. Saw the whole thing on CNN… I am happy for him that he had this experience.

I think space tourism for the rich and famous is awful when they’re telling the commoners to save co2. Those rockets are a hundred times more polluting than airliners.

Anonymous wrote:

Al-x wrote:

Shatner is back from space now. Saw the whole thing on CNN… I am happy for him that he had this experience.

I think space tourism for the rich and famous is awful when they’re telling the commoners to save co2. Those rockets are a hundred times more polluting than airliners.

Eh, space tourism has the potential to lead to better space travel that can lead to new innovations and discoveries. It’s basically at the early adopter stage now. And it’s not like they’re launching thousands of rockets an hour, 24 hours a day. For now and the foreseeable future, their contribution to climate change is essentially nil.

As to making a difference with climate change, it’s a lot more complicated:

“I think spending money on these printing presses to make books that only nobles can read is awful when we’ve been at war for 100 years and there are peasants dying on a daily basis.”

— unknown Dutchman, 1436.

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Todd

It’s the same shit as DiCaprio flying a private plane to a goddamn climate conference, but worse in terms of co2 emissions. Us peasants are supposed to do as we’re told while the beautiful people have all the fun they want.

 

The jaw-droppingly high, out-of-this-world carbon footprint of space tourism | (ted.com)

Roddenberry’s vision was more or less that outer space exploration will save us all.
Of course, it makes me wonder what he would say now about these billionaire joy rides.

—————————————–

The Millarworld Administrator?

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Rocket, DavidM, JRCarter

Kids were terrified of clowns long before the It remake came out. If adults didn’t actually realise that before seeing the movie, they don’t deserve to be in charge of schools and libraries.

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Todd

61-YEAR-OLD FLORIDA MAN FACES BACKLASH FOR MARRYING HIS 18-YEAR-OLD GODDAUGHTER

Florida-Man strikes again!! Can’t let Texas get all the crazy points!

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JRCarter, Todd

Sometimes when I wear my mask, the strings pull at my ears so I find myself walking with my ears out looking like an Orc from LoTR

————————–

I went to my barber shop where I told someone there previously about the Brazilian steakhouses in the city. He went to the one I recommended and loved it. He thanked me for telling him. Then, I showed him the Google photos from the phone the other place and it was a little more upscale and it is best to come in business casual and he said next time he will bring the family.

Thing is you can’t go every day and eat like that or you will die. They give you so much meat. Every 5 minutes another waiter comes with a different skewer of meat. It is a lot. It’s best to not eat all day and have that as your one meal and then go easy the next day to let the body digest. You won’t get your money’s worth otherwise.

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DavidM

Anonymous wrote:

Florida-Man strikes again!! Can’t let Texas get all the crazy points!

Don’t worry. They’re all still in MURICA

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Rocket

Al-x wrote:

Thing is you can’t go every day and eat like that or you will die. They give you so much meat. Every 5 minutes another waiter comes with a different skewer of meat. It is a lot. It’s best to not eat all day and have that as your one meal and then go easy the next day to let the body digest. You won’t get your money’s worth otherwise.

I’m not sure why some places want to give you so much food. Where’s the profit for them in giving you more than you want/need?

I bought a pizza the other day, and they gave me free chips (fries, to you). I said, I don’t want chips, I want pizza. “But they are free”, No I can’t eat that much food. “But you get free chips with the pizza” … so I waked away with free chips that I didn’t want and literally couldn’t eat after  eating a whole pizza

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Todd, Ben

It was actually noticeable to me David after leaving the UK for a while and coming back to visit, portion creep is definitely there over the last 18 years. If I went to a chip shop on my last visit I started buying one portion to share with Audrey because I just couldn’t finish one on my own which was never an issue before I emigrated.

I know why from Fast Food Nation, they explain the economics of it all. Basically once you have covered the cost of the building and staff and energy and everything else a few more potatoes or soft drink syrup is next to nothing. So it works for them to sell to you the value of ‘more food’.

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Dave, Todd, DavidM, Ben

Chinese take out is famous here for giving portions that are way too big. Of course me being me I eat it anyway…

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DavidM

When Christel and I go out to eat, we usually have leftovers. That works out fine for us because we then get two meals for the price of one.

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DavidM

It does bug me that when ordering from Dominoes, it usually works out cheaper (thanks to ever present offers and deals) to get a medium or large pizza than a small one.

Dominoes offers area bit crazy. I was ordering the other day and it was slightly more expensive to order a single regular pizza on its own as ordering 2 of them and a garlic bread side.

DavidM wrote:

I’m not sure why some places want to give you so much food. Where’s the profit for them in giving you more than you want/need?

It’s the experience of the Brazilian Steakhouse… Fogo do Chao is in a few states and Plataforma is I believe in NY and Brazil.
An all you can eat offer is really very deceptive, They charge you over $45 for the meal, the drinks are separate, and of course, the average person can’t eat about $45+ worth of that food. (After one plate you are stuffed and can hardly finish the second) That is where they get you…

Still, it is very nice. Everyone I recommended it too thanked me afterwards.

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DavidM, Todd

[Al-x]

happening
sofa king
bovine excrement
anal sphincter
maternally incestuous
dating shape
fellow
too many ellipses (…)

and <drumroll>

The ladies do that about me but I digress. 😂

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Al-x.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Al-x.

We have all-you-can-eat Chinese bufets here which are pretty good. You choose what kinds of meat or veggies you want prepared and they wok it for you on the spot, it’s a cool sight. I haven’t seen all you can eat for any other type of cuisine. I mean imagine all you can eat pizzeria. Who TF is going to eat three pizzas.

I have to say that the crazier the world gets, the crazier Halloween gets too.

Be careful…

I’ve had the type of meal Al talks about. Brazilian/Argentinian meals where they rotate the meat and cut for you at the table.

Stuff in the world happens quite quickly nowadays so my first experience of it was in Auckland, New Zealand 16 years ago.

Indian restaurants in Wales used to have all you can eat buffets on Sunday afternoons, probably still do. You could go back and have as much curry and rice and naan until you burst. Again the key is the cost is not in the ingredients primarily.

In reviewing my incomplete list of al-xisms (you can thank @bruce for that term) and my past posting of Thought Provoking Threads…

It used to be in MW when we had these members like Dr. Mike, Will, Ohara, Russell, and others, all I had to do was just post about a topic and the members would take over. It was kind of like in basketball, at the jump ball moment, where the referee just tosses up the ball and the players jump to tip it over and play starts.

One of my last ones had to do with generations, where I pointed out in the 2016 elections that a lot of the generation that came of age were the ones that grew up in the 90’s with the Clintons in the White House and as a result, were turned off to voting for her that election. I mentioned other generation things and everyone took over.

I can’t do that anymore. I have to contribute AND put in my own .02 cents.

Changes.. Changes…

Al-x wrote:

I can’t do that anymore. I have to contribute AND put in my own .02 cents

Those are the same thing.

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DavidM, Al-x

If you google “amazon” the first 4 pages of results are only about the company. On the 5th page there was one result referring to the river. I didn’t find one result in the first 10 pages about the Greek warrior race. WTF Google?

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DavidM

Dave wrote:

Those are the same thing.

😂

You’re right

I got to change my writing style as well.

Anonymous wrote:

If you google “amazon” the first 4 pages of results are only about the company. On the 5th page there was one result referring to the river. I didn’t find one result in the first 10 pages about the Greek warrior race. WTF Google?

Whereas if I google “Amazon River”, the first find is the river. And if I google “Amazons”, the first find is about the warrior race.

Weird. It’s like at the library, how dare they file “Astrology” before “Astronomy”. It’s a conspiracy.

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Rocket, Todd, DavidM, Martin Smith, lorcan_nagle