Random thread of whatever

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What it says on the tin.

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Al-x wrote:

Most offices care about mostly how fast and efficient you are at getting office duties done. Things like typing speed (55wpm is the going rate), your knowledge of Word and Excel, how you can handle the phones, are a plus.

However those are things you either already have naturally or can pick up easily. You don’t really need to do a business or management degree to be able to do office duties or write an excel sheet.

 

So why not do philosophy or history or whatever you like and get something you can cherish for life?

Do I use my philosophy degree at work? Far more than you might expect – often it’s rendering systems more understandable, of what each piece does and why.

I might well be able to do that without the degree but it likely helps.

The bigger point to me in this area is the skills you use to successfully study are not the slills you successfully secure a job with.  The two sets are very different and ability in the one does not always transfer over to the other.

Al-x wrote:

Parents ask their kids about majors and when they say English lit, {Philosophy, History, or Art, some parents say “What are you going to do with that? Get into a major more hands-on and office related like accounting, computers, etc.

As an IT professional who has recruited over 100 staff in my day there is no more useless degree than computing. By the time they observe the trend, write a curriculum and text books for it and teach it, it’s perpetually out of date.

Al – I do not deny there is a shortage in STEM graduates but you don’t seem to have retained any of the points I made last time we discussed this. It is nowhere near as simple as STEM degree = success and Liberal Arts = Starbucks which seems to be the lazy talking point. Some of that is true, there are history of art graduates working as baristas but it also seems a bit of a talking point from 20 years ago.

Accounting for example is a career on the decline, accountancy and actuarial tasks are being rapidly automated and done by computer. A lot of legal paperwork has been automated so that almost half of law graduates have had to take other jobs. 15 years ago I worked on a project where will writing was automated, you fill your assets and where you want them to go into a spreadsheet and the computer creates a ‘last will and testament’ instantly, job done no lawyer needed.

With the onset of automation a lot of what we consider as reliable roles are rapidly being erased. The ones least at risk of automation? Like I said with the design example from the Shark Tank guy, he’s seen the shifting sands that creative roles are the hardest to emulate.

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DavidM, Todd, Ben, lorcan_nagle

Thinking back to my time at Uni, the arts / sciences differnce was that the latter had far more, formally set time.  I suspect that’s where the perception starts that the one is easier than the other.

The biggest jump from school to Uni is at the latter there was an expectation of independent thought and research.  But even way back when schools weren’t really doing that.  I only started to learn how to do that in my final year.

Maybe by their nature the sciences are more set, while art is more free form, but that doesn’t mean easier.

Something else that is going on is the fact that those going for a post-graduate degree face even higher debt loads and fewer job prospects. Many phD holders are fighting for a few positions and people aren’t leaving positions they already have.

And that assumes they can even finish their phD. Many universities are cutting post-graduate programs which is forcing students to scramble to find another university with a similar program that will take their credits. Even then, they may have to take additional classes to make up for the ones that don’t transfer, thus increasing their debt even more.

What I saw of academia at Masters level dissuaded me from going further.  Nor did I want to do another 3 year span.  Plus I’d spent £6,500 on the MA fees alone and that loan needed to be repaid.

garjones wrote:

Al – I do not deny there is a shortage in STEM graduates but you don’t seem to have retained any of the points I made last time we discussed this. It is nowhere near as simple as STEM degree = success and Liberal Arts = Starbucks which seems to be the lazy talking point. Some of that is true, there are history of art graduates working as baristas but it also seems a bit of a talking point from 20 years ago.

Accounting for example is a career on the decline, accountancy and actuarial tasks are being rapidly automated and done by computer. A lot of legal paperwork has been automated so that almost half of law graduates have had to take other jobs. 15 years ago I worked on a project where will writing was automated, you fill your assets and where you want them to go into a spreadsheet and the computer creates a ‘last will and testament’ instantly, job done no lawyer needed.

With the onset of automation a lot of what we consider as reliable roles are rapidly being erased. The ones least at risk of automation? Like I said with the design example from the Shark Tank guy, he’s seen the shifting sands that creative roles are the hardest to emulate.

True… I have been out of school over 20 years.

I can’t say in the States firsthand whether accounting is in decline, but I will agree that a LOT is being automated these days. Even resume evaluation with those code word scanners but I digress.

I watch the Maher show too. It was one of his main points in criticizing the populace that a lot are graduating with degrees in the relatively “easier” majors as opposed to the much tougher STEM classes. Maher has in the past made both subtle and overt implications of the laziness of students these days in not going to STEM that much because of the work and study involved.

As for parents, they are of the older generation and they do tell their kids their own skepticism about the kid’s choice of a major. It is always to get something more hands on, more of “where the money is…” There is an air of pragmatism a “bottom line” parents have since they usually are footing the tuition.

Is Philosophy or psychology useless? No… and if more people were trained in critical thinking these days, we wouldn’t have such ignorance as seen in those Daily Show interviews and TikTok videos.

As far as where the money is, the next hot field in the States… in the past it was medicine and law, then investment banking, computer science, coding… I don’t know what the next field everyone will run to. Time will tell.

Which degree do you need to do to become a famous tiktoker?

Anonymous wrote:

Which degree do you need to do to become a famous tiktoker?

Marketing

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DavidM

Todd wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:
Which degree do you need to do to become a famous tiktoker?

Marketing

… and knowing how to steal other people’s ideas and dance choreography.😂

I mentioned TikTok because there were some videos by ignorant people who wanted equal time. Some woman was once ranting about how today should be more like the 50’s, then it was brought to her attention by a rebuttal video that women had very little say back then and couldn’t even get a credit card without their husband’s permission.

It is this video back and forth that has a lot of viewers bring popcorn as they view it all. Not to mention all the cute 20something women dancing and twerking but that is another section. 😂

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Todd

Al-x wrote:

I watch the Maher show too. It was one of his main points in criticizing the populace that a lot are graduating with degrees in the relatively “easier” majors as opposed to the much tougher STEM classes. Maher has in the past made both subtle and overt implications of the laziness of students these days in not going to STEM that much because of the work and study involved.

Sure but to be honest I watch Maher (actually I listen to the podcast version) for the comments from his guests rather than him. The Shark Tank guy is at least involved in business and knows something of the trends.

Maher has increasingly become an angry old man and his monologues are all about how terrible kids are, which is probably exactly what he heard from his parents when he was a pot smoking teen in the late 60s and not doing a STEM degree, which made him a multi-millionaire. He moans about cancel culture silencing comics while announcing all his gigs that week.

We embrace nostalgia because it’s always safe, we survived it and got through, we can find the cold war paranoia about nuclear war amusing because it didn’t happen but at the time people were genuinely scared. The factual truth is that Maher’s generation saw the highest increase in crime in America which declined with mine, so why should I listen to him that kids are being raised wrongly now? His generation were being raised wrongly, he did nothing he advocates and we can see the results of what happened, sky high crime in the 60s and 70s. Nothing is perfect but he trades on that fear of the future. When challenged on the fact that everything they say about phones was said about TV and later was said about video games he comes back with ‘this is different’ which is probably the argument they made then.

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Todd wrote:

College can teach you some fundamental theories and concepts but you will learn more actually working in an office and performing real tasks.

They used to call that “apprenticeship”. Well, that was more for skilled manual work than office work, but the principle still applies: you learn more doing the job under an experienced mentor than you ever will sitting in a lecture theatre. The current obsession we have in the UK with making everybody go to university and get a degree is not at all useful.

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garjones wrote:

Maher has increasingly become an angry old man and his monologues are all about how terrible kids are, which is probably exactly what he heard from his parents when he was a pot smoking teen in the late 60s and not doing a STEM degree, which made him a multi-millionaire. He moans about cancel culture silencing comics while announcing all his gigs that week.

Yes… Also, he had Anne Coulter, Megyn Kelly, Kellyanne Conway, and Sharon Osbourne on interviews in the past and gave them all these very soft questions. No grilling, nothing…

My marketing rant coming soon…

The interesting aspect of my personal career I’ve found is the higher up you go the less your technical skills matter. Everything is just soft skills and logic. The one aspect I have seen in common of every big boss I have encountered is they remember names really well. They don’t answer technical questions, they defer them to support staff.

I spent 6 years owning all of the Asian web support content of the second largest computer manufacturer in the world, my university study was in ‘liberal arts’. I got paid roughly 10 times more a month than the coders.

Most of the tech entrepreneurs of the last 30 years have no academic credentials. I found it ironic that the HR department demanded certain qualifications when the CEO dropped out of college.

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Todd, DavidM, Ben

Ok… Here goes…The marketing rant:

It’s been called in part “The Kardashian Effect”. That family has really taught everyone else how to use social media to promote themselves and their brand to stay in the public eye. They all went under the knife to change their looks, but unlike Pamela Anderson from 25 years ago, the Kardashians made themselves to be racially and ethnically ambiguous to appear more exotic and try to be all fetishes to everyone ie. the big backside and legs like JLo and black celeb women, lip fillers, botox and so on.
(If you want proof, you can Google the images of Kim K next to JLo or Kim K next to LaLa Anthony, as well as the K women before and after the surgeries)

They still classify as white, but they can and have cosplayed in many modeling shoots as a light skinned black woman, a Latina, and so on. They don’t want to be a plain white blonde or brunette, but they want to come across as more exotic looking. When they get criticized for it, their excuse is “We are Armenian and we tan easily”

Some women celebs have followed suit. Notice:

So what is wrong?

First of all, no one deliberately would make themselves black or Hispanic and suffer all the things that they go through. There is money though, in doing this in certain instances. Bascically, it is a mimicking and cherry picking the minority aesthetics for a self promotional gimmick, which is very insulting to the actual people. Consider: If you were a black or Latin woman and have been teased at all your life about your lips, back side (Sir Mix a Lot video), braids, etc. and now someone white sweeps in to use it on themselves and they get all this credit (it great all of a sudden now) … Can you see some of the frustration, especially “only when someone white does it…” Something like the media reaction of Bo Derek in “10”

Writer and speaker Feminista Jones has described it as when people with power and privilege take customs and traditions that oppressed people have long been marginalized for and repurpose them as a hot new thing.
“People have no respect for Black culture — they think it’s up for grabs and will take and participate in it and exploit it because it has been commodified,” Thompson said. “We see this on every social app, but more increasingly on TikTok.”

For more info:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/08/entertainment/blackfishing-explainer-trnd/index.html

https://www.theweek.co.uk/98291/what-is-blackfishing

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/apr/14/blackfishing-black-is-cool-unless-youre-actually-black

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Todd

Todd wrote:

Bruce wrote:

The thought of leaving school, doing just one or two years of uni, then entering the working world just sounds downright depressing.

What’s more depressing is the current reality of getting a 4-year degree and having a debt that will take decades to pay off because said degree isn’t getting them a decent paying job to pay off said debt.

Even more depressing is that for some careers a 4-year degree is not sufficient; you need to do another 2 or 3 or 4 years on top of your Bachelor degree in order to get a Masters degree or to become a lawyer or doctor. And those additional years are just as costly as the basic four-year program.

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Todd

DavidM wrote:

Todd wrote:

College can teach you some fundamental theories and concepts but you will learn more actually working in an office and performing real tasks.

They used to call that “apprenticeship”. Well, that was more for skilled manual work than office work, but the principle still applies: you learn more doing the job under an experienced mentor than you ever will sitting in a lecture theatre. The current obsession we have in the UK with making everybody go to university and get a degree is not at all useful.

I think trades like plumber, electrician, mechanic, etc. get a bum rap. The general perception is they “blue collar” and what uneducated peasants do.

And it is such bullshit.

To get to a master-level trade license, it can take a decade or more. People in trades can make damn good money and are always in demand. Those jobs never go away.

College is not for everybody and the myth that everyone must go needs to die. The person who struggled greatly at college may truly blossom in a trade school. Other people may thrive without higher education. There is no one-size-fits-all path. Hell, I have an Associates in Accounting that I got in the late 1980s that I have barely used. I work in a Finance department and I would say that 99.9% of what I do now I learned on the job over the years.

NOTE: I do want to say some occupations absolutely need higher education, like doctors, nurses, engineers, and the like.

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Al-x wrote:

Ok… Here goes…The marketing rant:

It’s been called in part “The Kardashian Effect”. That family has really taught everyone else how to use social media to promote themselves and their brand to stay in the public eye. They all went under the knife to change their looks, but unlike Pamela Anderson from 25 years ago, the Kardashians made themselves to be racially and ethnically ambiguous to appear more exotic and try to be all fetishes to everyone ie. the big backside and legs like JLo and black celeb women, lip fillers, botox and so on.
(If you want proof, you can Google the images of Kim K next to JLo or Kim K next to LaLa Anthony, as well as the K women before and after the surgeries)

They still classify as white, but they can and have cosplayed in many modeling shoots as a light skinned black woman, a Latina, and so on. They don’t want to be a plain white blonde or brunette, but they want to come across as more exotic looking. When they get criticized for it, their excuse is “We are Armenian and we tan easily”

Some women celebs have followed suit. Notice:

So what is wrong?

First of all, no one deliberately would make themselves black or Hispanic and suffer all the things that they go through. There is money though, in doing this in certain instances. Bascically, it is a mimicking and cherry picking the minority aesthetics for a self promotional gimmick, which is very insulting to the actual people. Consider: If you were a black or Latin woman and have been teased at all your life about your lips, back side (Sir Mix a Lot video), braids, etc. and now someone white sweeps in to use it on themselves and they get all this credit (it great all of a sudden now) … Can you see some of the frustration, especially “only when someone white does it…” Something like the media reaction of Bo Derek in “10”

Writer and speaker Feminista Jones has described it as when people with power and privilege take customs and traditions that oppressed people have long been marginalized for and repurpose them as a hot new thing.
“People have no respect for Black culture — they think it’s up for grabs and will take and participate in it and exploit it because it has been commodified,” Thompson said. “We see this on every social app, but more increasingly on TikTok.”

For more info:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/08/entertainment/blackfishing-explainer-trnd/index.html

https://www.theweek.co.uk/98291/what-is-blackfishing

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/apr/14/blackfishing-black-is-cool-unless-youre-actually-black

Ha that is insane, looking at the photos I didn’t even realize the blacked up version was the same person, I thought they were different people.

 

Jesus fucking Christ, the US has really weird race obsessions. Well we have Zwarte Piet.

 

garjones wrote:

When challenged on the fact that everything they say about phones was said about TV and later was said about video games he comes back with ‘this is different’ which is probably the argument they made then.

Before that they said it about radio, and before that about newspapers. I’m not even kidding, Randall Munroe dug up a bunch of quotes and used them in an XKCD strip a couple of years ago.

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Todd, garjones, Ben

Anonymous wrote:

Jesus fucking Christ, the US has really weird race obsessions.

It is really ignorance about the culture really. I mean they want to be black a little bit just for the “trendy vibe”, so they dance to hip hop music on social media, spray tan and dress up what they think is urban, all to promote themselves as “edgy”.

As the last headline said it’s cool unless you’re actually black. Do you think these impersonators really want to be pulled over while driving, have their neck kneeled on for 10 minutes. followed around a store while shopping/browsing, turned down for a loan, rejected on a job interview, or have their pay start at about 20-30% less than others?

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DavidM

When I look at American culture, I think maybe we should build a wall in the Atlantic. Seriously, I like the Americans we have and have had on this forum, I miss Jim and Ronnie and Will, but USAians have some weird ideas. But admittedly when I look around here in Europe right now we also fucking suck.

[Al-x]

Anonymous wrote:

When I look at American culture, I think maybe we should build a wall in the Atlantic. Seriously, I like the Americans we have and have had on this forum, I miss Jim and Ronnie and Will, but USAians have some weird ideas. But admittedly when I look around here in Europe right now we also fucking suck.

I don’t blame you. I also miss a lot of the old names… Russell, Stephanie, Sabrina, Mike, Will, Carlos, Miqque and Henry Blanco (both RIP). I can go on.

Build that wall!
Build that wall!

Nice hearing from you as well.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Al-x.

Youtube removed the dislikes number.

[Al-x]

Let me get on lighter material:

When I was a kid, almost every time I bought some food like a bagel or slice of pizza for myself, someone would always ask me for a huge piece of it or want to take a big bite. After a while, it got very annoying, like a form of taxation.
They never bought anything and offered me a piece. Somehow, they were always broke. Always wanting to get something for nothing.

I got so fed up, I started setting boundaries and said no and they got upset. Funny how when you start to set boundaries and say no, you become “difficult” to them. It is really because they can’t get over on you anymore.

—————————-

What is your listing of upcoming shows and movies?

So far for me:

Hawkeye
Matrix
Cobra Kai
Boba Fett
Eternals (Jan 12th on Disney+)

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Al-x.

Al-x wrote:

I got so fed up, I started setting boundaries and said no and they got upset. Funny how when you start to set boundaries and say no, you become “difficult” to them. It is really because they can’t get over on you anymore.

My dad told me that the reason he stopped smoking back in the ’50s is that, every time he pulled out his pack of cigarettes, his boss would bum one off him. One time he told my dad his favorite cigarette was “OPs”. When my dad asked him what they were, his boss told him: “Other People’s”. That’s when my dad stopped smoking.

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Al-x

Isn’t eating bagels and pizza cultural appropriation?

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DavidM

garjones wrote:

Isn’t eating bagels and pizza cultural appropriation?

Ha Ha…

NO! Because the Jews and Italians are given credit for them. 😁

Anyway…

——————————-

I posted this once:

Years ago, all the talk was over Bill Gates and how obscenely rich he was from Microsoft. Now that he gave the reins over to others and got more into charity he kind of faded away. Now all the attention is on Jeff Bezos with his space travel joyrides, his 37B divorce payment, his net worth, and his girlfriend by his side who made eyes at Leonardo the other week.

I have to say that it is all mixed feelings about capitalism and the culture. The Occupy movement was complaining about the 1%. Then on the other hand there is all this social media coverage of the rich and famous, the fascination of all that.

In the past, man got rich being “robber barons” before the US govt got those antitrust laws stopping monopolies and cornering markets, But there have been workarounds. Then before that there was getting rich from slavery, sweatshops, racketeering, the black markets, but that is another topic.

I go on TiKTok sometimes to catch what the young people are saying these days, the back and forth debates. They rant about capitalism and the social power structures just the same.

And the band plays on…

I think there could be some kind of limit to how rich one person should be allowed to be, like maybe 1 billion. However it would probably be better to make it so someone like Elon Musk or Bezos can’t get rich from having the major part of shares in their company, like making companies like theirs collectively owned instead of what they are now.

 

It is really incredible that someone like Musk is worth 3o0 billion. That’s more than the GDP of the Czech Republic. I think that kind of richness really does destabilize society.

Al-x wrote:

I go on TiKTok sometimes to catch what the young people are saying these days, the back and forth debates. They rant about capitalism and the social power structures just the same.

 

Oh, and also:

 

[Al-x]

Ahem…

The first one was funny with Buscemi, the second one not so much… As if *** is appointed to determine this and that in a public forum. So far, I have been targeted and @jacowboy

That is very telling.

Always makes a scene in the forum. No discretion, no manners, nothing.

WTF?

<Sigh>

Anyway, I will just sidestep all this for now, and not make a scene here and derail this like the other two forum threads…

————————————————————

It’s been said that capitalism and its imposed work structure affects our lives in so many ways. The whole thing about k-12, college, working the M-F/9 to 5 grind, week in and week out until the mid 60’s, live after all that off of the retirement plan.

What replaces all of it though?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Al-x.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Al-x.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Al-x.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Al-x.

Capybaras look like such gentle creatures

 

COCONUT DOGGY!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/cgrIMJnJm6

— Glib (@glibduke) December 3, 2021

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Al-x wrote:

It’s been said that capitalism and its imposed work structure affects our lives in so many ways. The whole thing about k-12, college, working the M-F/9 to 5 grind, week in and week out until the mid 60’s, live after all that off of the retirement plan.

What replaces all of it though?

In short, leisure time replaces it. At present we overproduce massively – like we make enough food for 12 billion people on a planet of almost 8 billion – and that food is so poorly distributed that nearly 10% of that number live in states of starvation or food insecurity. This is all done to drive economic growth – the numbers have to be better than the last quarter and next quarter’s numbers have to be better than this one’s. That’s not sustainable, we live in a closed system and there’s only so much recycling and conservation we can do while also increasing the GNP. It’s part of why you see fashion houses destroy clothes and supermarkets ruin food rather than give stuff away – too many donations hurt the bottom line in a way that depreciating stock doesn’t.

Ultimately we’re going to have to see a reduction in production just to stop our cities from drowning, and that means people out of work, as does increased automation. If we remain in capitalism, an expanded dole or a Universal Basic Income system is inevitable because otherwise we’ll see riots as people starve in the streets… even more than they do now. And we’ll eventually end up in something like Earth in The Expanse where most people don’t have jobs and live in government housing and there’s been a barely-averted climate apocalypse.

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Interesting…

Now:

Is this the time of the year again where we all debate whether “Die Hard” can be included as a Christmas movie?

😂

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DavidM, lorcan_nagle, JRCarter

And attempt to win Whamaggedon.

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Rocket

Al-x wrote:

Interesting…

Now:

Is this the time of the year again where we all debate whether “Die Hard” can be included as a Christmas movie?

😂

I personally consider Gremlins a Christmas movie.

[Al-x]

lorcan_nagle wrote:

In short, leisure time replaces it. At present we overproduce massively – like we make enough food for 12 billion people on a planet of almost 8 billion – and that food is so poorly distributed that nearly 10% of that number live in states of starvation or food insecurity. This is all done to drive economic growth – the numbers have to be better than the last quarter and next quarter’s numbers have to be better than this one’s. That’s not sustainable, we live in a closed system and there’s only so much recycling and conservation we can do while also increasing the GNP. It’s part of why you see fashion houses destroy clothes and supermarkets ruin food rather than give stuff away – too many donations hurt the bottom line in a way that depreciating stock doesn’t.

Ultimately we’re going to have to see a reduction in production just to stop our cities from drowning, and that means people out of work, as does increased automation. If we remain in capitalism, an expanded dole or a Universal Basic Income system is inevitable because otherwise we’ll see riots as people starve in the streets… even more than they do now. And we’ll eventually end up in something like Earth in The Expanse where most people don’t have jobs and live in government housing and there’s been a barely-averted climate apocalypse.

Interesting Lorcan…

I also found this online:

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Al-x.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Al-x.

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lorcan_nagle, Todd

Yeah, we actually live in a de facto post-scarcity society right now

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Todd

Ben wrote:

And attempt to win Whamaggedon.

I’m already out, Seng Heng electronics had it in the background as we were buying my son a tablet.

On that note I saw that Samsung released a new 12.4″ screen tablet for a decent price (roughly $400) – Galaxy Tab S7 FE. Which is a little frustrating, I was looking for one earlier this year but everything over 10″ was super high priced and over $1000 (like iPad Pro or Surface models). I ended up buying a 10.4″ Tab but wish I had waited now.

I mostly use my tablet for reading digital comics so the intention was to basically make them all ‘oversized’ editions with a larger screen.

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Ben

I also got Whammageddeoned yesterday – in the the gift shop for a distillery Laura and I visited

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Ben

garjones wrote:

Seng Heng electronics had it in the background as we were buying my son a tablet.

lorcan_nagle wrote:

I also got Whammageddeoned yesterday – in the the gift shop for a distillery Laura and I visited

so avoid any shops and do your shopping online to win Whammageddon? In the states, we don’t have that problem. Our “goto” Christmas song is Mariah. hmm, Massariah?

Christmas songs:

Forget the Mariah Carey song… or the John Lennon song.
I want to hear “Grandma got run over by a reindeer” just one more time! 😂

Al-x wrote:

Christmas songs:

Forget the Mariah Carey song… or the John Lennon song.
I want to hear “Grandma got run over by a reindeer” just one more time! 😂

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Al-x

Rocket wrote:

In the states, we don’t have that problem. Our “goto” Christmas song is Mariah. hmm, Massariah?

I got hit with Mariah on Friday because Christel wanted to watch some of her Apple TV+ Chrismas specials. Christel LOVES Mariah Carey so it was inevitable I hear that one.

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Rocket

The only christmas songs I willfully subject myself to are the cthulhu themed ones.

Oh, and The Night Santa Went Crazy, but it’s Weird Al. Gimme a break.

 

Anonymous wrote:

The only christmas songs I willfully subject myself to are the cthulhu themed ones.

Oh, and The Night Santa Went Crazy, but it’s Weird Al. Gimme a break.

 

I prefer Weird Al’s “Christmas at Ground Zero”.

[Al-x]

That was cool Todd

I remember the vid with the real singers a long time ago.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Al-x.

Anonymous wrote:

The only christmas songs I willfully subject myself to are the cthulhu themed ones.

Oh, and The Night Santa Went Crazy, but it’s Weird Al. Gimme a break.

 

I’ll go for The Industrial Christmas Carol by Martin Atkins if I want a challenging Christmas listen, or sometimes Red Water (Christmas Mourning) by Type O Negative for hammy Christmas depression.

Todd wrote:

I prefer Weird Al’s “Christmas at Ground Zero”.

I’m not sure I’ve heard that one. I’ll give it a listen. When it’s christmas.

Rocket wrote:

so avoid any shops and do your shopping online to win Whammageddon? In the states, we don’t have that problem. Our “goto” Christmas song is Mariah. hmm, Massariah?

The Mariah song is pretty popular everywhere. I don’t know about the US but most shops I know run a Christmas playlist (or a compilation album back in the day) playing in the background. So it’s a bit Russian roulette which track may come on.

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Ben, Rocket

I actually have a bit of a soft spot for a lot of the more well-known UK Christmas pop songs.

Slade, Wizzard, Band Aid, Last Christmas, Fairytale of New York – they all evoke very happy childhood memories for me and my cynicism somehow just evaporates whenever I hear their opening bars and I feel like a kid again. Funny how music can do that to you.

In terms of less well known alternative Christmas songs, this has always been a favourite:

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Ben

I am all about this at Christmas.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Complete_James_Brown_Christmas

We are having my inlaws around for Christmas and my mother inlaw is disappointed there won’t be any Micheal Buble. I have a 50s rock n roll Christmas playlist saved from last year that will be on rotation instead.

Also, this is a pile of garbage but it’s Lemmy so it always gets a look in too.

I got whamageddoned today by a twitter video but the sound was muted so not sure if it counts.

Anonymous wrote:

I got whamageddoned today by a twitter video but the sound was muted so not sure if it counts.

The moment you hear it you lose. Not before, not after. Was it muted? I assume you didn’t hear it then.

Ok I’m still in then.

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I’m generally pretty onboard with the traditional Christmas songs (in moderation), except for Fairytale of New York, which I genuinely hate with a passion.

Still in Whamageddon.

Martin Smith wrote:

I’m generally pretty onboard with the traditional Christmas songs (in moderation), except for Fairytale of New York, which I genuinely hate with a passion.

Fairytale of New York isn’t really a “traditional Christmas song”. Instead, it is THE MOST AWESOME CHRISTMAS SONG EVER RECORDED IN THE HISTORY OF HUMANKIND!!!

Thanks for listening.

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Christian, DavidM, garjones, Dave

Christmas Songs:

IIRC Santa is Father Christmas in Britian… There was a Kinks song about beating him up for his money. 😂

And… This 80’s group called the Waitresses had a cute Xmas song that gets played this time of year.

Personal favorite Christmas songs:

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JRCarter

Favorites continued:

https://youtu.be/t039p6xqutU

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I forgot, there’s one other Christmas song I enjoy!

This one is legit good too, almost perfect as far as christmas songs go.

I used to ask on MW this time of year being as I recall Millar’s birthday and IIRC @ njerry has a birthday this month:

Do you get two presents for both occasions or just one consolidated gift?

Also:

Is it proper etiquette to give cash as a present?

Personally… Depends on how much.😂

Might as well get in on this myself:

I finally listened to Ana Gasteyer’s 2019 Christmas album Sugar & Booze today and that’s a lot of fun. A mix of both new songs and new takes on old standards.

I generally dislike Christmas music, it always has this weird unreal atmosphere. I do like oneChristmas song by a Dutch comedian where a family cooks the pet rabbit for Christmas dinner and then the kid kills his father in revenge…(yeah it’s not a typical happy Christmas song)

One of my favorites among the more recent additions to the genre:

And because AlX mentioned this one up above:

And of course this chestnut:

As I’m on my desktop and we’re all sharing videos.

A few years ago, I was channel surfing Xmastime and there was a morning show segment. This professor of old religious studies and traditions was being interviewed. He said that Xmas was originally some Roman winter festival held in outside forests a few days after the Winter solstice. It was rebranded a Christian holiday when the Romans took up Christianity.

It was interesting. He said that in the festival, if you bumped into some stranger of the opposite gender and happened to be under a mistletoe, the tradition was to kiss. That obviously got carried over and passed down to this day.

Interesting how many traditions and sayings are still with us.

You know, mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it.

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Todd, Al-x

Just got Whamageddoned. Dammit!!

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Rocket, lorcan_nagle, Todd

[Rocket]

Al-x wrote:

This 80’s group called the Waitresses had a cute Xmas song that gets played this time of year.

My favorites are by John Lennon and Greg Lake

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Rocket.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Rocket.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Rocket.

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Al-x

My Christmas officially begins when Mostly Autumn play their set of Christmas encores at their home-town gig in York. Last year their gig (and consequently Christmas) was cancelled by the government. This year, it’s schedued for Sunday 12th. I can hardly bear to watch the news between now and then

 

This is brutally brilliant:

That British ensemble song started by Bob Geldoff:

Do They Know it’s Christmas:

Everyone was so young.

Was better than “We are the World” imho…

@bruce

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Bruce, DavidM

Thanks @todd. Numberphile is a great channel and I was actually teaching exponents and mentioned e this week.

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Todd

Bruce wrote:

mentioned e this week.

Are you getting the kiddies ready for their Christmas Rave this year?

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Bruce, Todd

Rocket wrote:

Bruce wrote:

mentioned e this week.

Are you getting the kiddies ready for their Christmas Rave this year?

Remember, Bruce, government requirements say that it’s not a party unless they have alcohol.

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Bruce

Wow…

Throwing all that out by accident and going to the landfill to try to get it back:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/uk/bitcoin-trash-landfill-gbr-scli-intl/index.html

Al-x wrote:

Wow…

Throwing all that out by accident and going to the landfill to try to get it back:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/uk/bitcoin-trash-landfill-gbr-scli-intl/index.html

It has been in a landfill for 8 years. Even if they are lucky to find it, the odds don’t look good that any data on it is recoverable.

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Al-x

DavidM wrote:

Rocket wrote:

Bruce wrote:

mentioned e this week.

Are you getting the kiddies ready for their Christmas Rave this year?

Remember, Bruce, government requirements say that it’s not a party unless they have alcohol.

In Scotland you must wear a facemask in indoor public places unless you are dining, drinking, or dancing. Get smoke machine and some beats on and we’ll be able to go mask free all day.

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DavidM, Todd, Rocket

Bruce wrote:

Thanks @todd. Numberphile is a great channel and I was actually teaching exponents and mentioned e this week.

Some more math fun, courtesy of Cracked: Infinite Infinities and Lucky Sevens: 13 Mathemagical Number Facts

I don’t get that bitcoin stuff. If it is saved on your hard drive, then don’t you lose everything when your drive crashes? Or when you lose your computer in a housefire or burglary?

Anonymous wrote:

I don’t get that bitcoin stuff. If it is saved on your hard drive, then don’t you lose everything when your drive crashes? Or when you lose your computer in a housefire or burglary?

You are correct.

You can store it at online banks but those can get “robbed” or the owner of the company dies without revealing the digital “key” to anyone so they remain locked up on server forever. (Both are true stories.) The owners of the bitcoins in those cases are shit out of luck. They have no recourse. They can sue the companies, but that will take years in the courts and they probably won’t get back anywhere close to what they lost, even if they do win.

Todd wrote:

You can store it at online banks but those can get “robbed” or the owner of the company dies without revealing the digital “key” to anyone so they remain locked up on server forever. (Both are true stories.) The owners of the bitcoins in those cases are shit out of luck. They have no recourse. They can sue the companies, but that will take years in the courts and they probably won’t get back anywhere close to what they lost, even if they do win.

But that’s okay because it’s not real money, right?

Right?!

njerry wrote:

Todd wrote:

You can store it at online banks but those can get “robbed” or the owner of the company dies without revealing the digital “key” to anyone so they remain locked up on server forever. (Both are true stories.) The owners of the bitcoins in those cases are shit out of luck. They have no recourse. They can sue the companies, but that will take years in the courts and they probably won’t get back anywhere close to what they lost, even if they do win.

But that’s okay because it’s not real money, right?

Right?!

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njerry

[Al-x]

Saturday Night Live did this TikTok parody of the usual feed you get when you scroll the site.
I got the gist of TikTok some time ago and moved on.

Funny how you go online, then you click a link, then another and another and before you know it you spent an hour or two.
All that clickbait. It is all designed to grab your attention and just pull you in. Must… resist…. or not even get started.

Like channel surfing with the remote.

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

Fuck you youtube algorithm

Nah, if the algorithm keeps feeding me stuff like this I’m happy.

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Dave

The world chess championship came and went.

Exciting eh?

I checked out a few games.

The challenger played a few games well but it was his first time on the grand stage with millions of eyes watching and over analyzing his every move, especially other grand masters like the former champion Kasparov. It is a lot of pressure, stress, fatigue.

When I play, my concentration lapses after half hour. These guys concentrate for hours.

The guy Carlson retained the title.

Exciting, eh? 😂

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njerry

I think some kind of spirit of creativity has disappeared from the game. Carlsen is no Paul Morphy. These players today seem a bit too much like robots who just memorize a lot of moves and positions.

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Al-x

Out of Whamageddon this year. Eliminated via he PA system at the child’s rugby training this morning.

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garjones, Rocket, Todd, njerry

DavidM wrote:

My Christmas officially begins when Mostly Autumn play their set of Christmas encores at their home-town gig in York. Last year their gig (and consequently Christmas) was cancelled by the government. This year, it’s schedued for Sunday 12th. I can hardly bear to watch the news between now and then

 

Did this go ahead as planned?

It did! The venue was small enough that it evaded the restrictions in place last week so it went ahead and it felt like my first normal gig since this whole mess started. Maybe I should have been more concerned about safety, but honestly I needed to feel normal again for the first time in two years. (And I was entirely safe, I have a lateral flow test that proves it.)

Here’s the review I wrote the next morning. It’s not exactly an objective review, but I was more than a little sleep deprived after the late-night trip back from York:

http://dmeadows.co.uk/music/ma-2021.html

 

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njerry, Dave, Todd, Bruce

DavidM wrote:

Here’s the review I wrote the next morning. It’s not exactly an objective review, but I was more than a little sleep deprived after the late-night trip back from York: http://dmeadows.co.uk/music/ma-2021.html%5B/quote%5D

That’s a lovely review David. I feel like music is something that really has the power to lift us at times like these – it sounds like it was exactly what you needed.

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njerry, DavidM

I was hoping to go see Health and Perturbator last month, but they postponed their European tour till next November. So my next gig is probably going to be Gary Numan in May… My last gig before the lockdowns was also Gary Numan

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garjones, Todd, DavidM, Dave

By the time you get to see him again he’ll be Gary Oldman.

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garjones, DavidM, Bruce, lorcan_nagle

Dave wrote:

By the time you get to see him again he’ll be Gary Oldman.

Ironically, he’s older than Gary Oldman

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garjones, Todd, DavidM, Dave

[Martin Smith]

I’m watching some mediocre Christmas film on Netflix. Caroline Quentin is playing Liz Hurley’s mother. Quentin is four years older than Hurley. Kelsey Grammer plays her father but is only ten years older than Hurley.

Hurley’s character is also the sister of Talulah Riley’s, who is twenty years younger than Hurley.

Liz Hurley does look incredible for her age, but playing ten years younger (and a character who semi-successfully passes as ten years younger than that) is pushing it a bit.

Edit: John Cleese is also in this and I genuinely don’t know if he’s meant to be Grammer’s brother or father.

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