The Random Thread Of Randomosity

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Todd wrote:

I’ll be honest, I’m at the point in my life where the whole gift giving thing is a stressful burden. I don’t want anything as I can buy whatever I want and buying for others is such a pain in the ass.

Christel and I don’t exchange gifts anymore, even for our birthdays. We will take each other out to a nice dinner, but then we will do that throughout the year.

Yeah I think that’s quite normal as you get older, especially when you’re lucky enough to be fairly comfortable and have all the ‘stuff’ you really need.

As our kids get older we’re currently at a point where we’re between them still wanting certain toys and gadgets, and moving towards experiences (my eldest has a couple of theatre trips coming up as gifts for example).

And with my wider family (siblings especially) we stopped buying Christmas presents among the adults some years ago and just buy for the kids. Again we’re all lucky enough to pretty much have all the physical possessions we really need and it just felt like buying stuff for the sake of it.

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Todd

Todd wrote:

I don’t want anything as I can buy whatever I want

Same here. I already got my new smartphone and got things from all the early Black Friday deals.
I am content for now with comics to get into, movies, shows to binge etc.

Funny thing: If a 12 year old (say a nephew or a friend’s son) visited your place and saw your comics, video game set up, cable TV, PC/laptop broadband, streaming services… they just might be awestruck and say “How can you ever get bored?”… But (bless them), they are young. 😂

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New Year starts Monday and my usual resolution I haven’t failed in: No peas, and no grapefruit. 🤣

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Todd

Al-x wrote:

Funny thing: If a 12 year old (say a nephew or a friend’s son) visited your place and saw your comics, video game set up, cable TV, PC/laptop broadband, streaming services… they just might be awestruck and say “How can you ever get bored?”… But (bless them), they are young. 😂

Oh, I have to say I still feel that way. I don’t think I’d ever get bored if I had any actual free time. Which I don’t I’ve got a pretty demanding job and an older kid and a very small one. But I am so fucking looking forward to retirement because then I’m going to live like I did in my early twenties, reading and watching movies and playing computer games all day.

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Al-x, Sean Robinson, Todd, Dave

I went on a walk and saw a big piece of exploded fireworks that said “DARK EVIL” on it. Nice omen for the New Year!

[Al-x]

Christian wrote:

Oh, I have to say I still feel that way. I don’t think I’d ever get bored if I had any actual free time. Which I don’t I’ve got a pretty demanding job and an older kid and a very small one. But I am so fucking looking forward to retirement because then I’m going to live like I did in my early twenties, reading and watching movies and playing computer games all day.

Exactly. The major time commitments to work, taking care of your home situation. A 12 year old looks at the weekends as 2 days off from school to play games or play with friends outside. For adults (me at least), it is more about tending to what you weren’t able to get to M-F. You still enjoy weekends to date on evenings, restaurants with friends, movies etc., but adult free time is not kid free time. As for my fun “reading and watching movies and playing computer games”, I am sofa king behind and it’s not a burning issue for me to catch up.🤣

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Someone in Michigan won the 842M lottery (425M as lump sum). The secondary million dollar prize was in Texas and Florida. Tells me to win you have to go to New Jersey or so, not play at the store up the block. 🤣

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Have a happening New Year!

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Starting New Years Day some properties have now become public domain, most notably Mickey Mouse, a few other characters, and their likeness. 10 years will be Superman.

• This reply was modified 11 months, 2 weeks ago by Al-x.
• This reply was modified 11 months, 1 week ago by Al-x.

The end of 2022 had Andrew Tate being tracked down and arrested from that Romanian pizza box in his tweet to Greta.
2023 didn’t have such an ending.
This year will be an election year though. Watch out

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Todd

This made me look up how Andrew Tate is doing. Depressingly, quite well. The trial is still ongoing, but his house arrest has been relaxed.

On 4 August, their house arrest was replaced with judicial control until 2 October, allowing the four accused to leave their house, but not Ilfov County.[170] On 28 September, the travel restriction was relaxed after an appeal, allowing him to travel within Romania.[171] The decision was overturned on appeal, but restrictions were again relaxed by a Romanian judge on 28 November.[172] On 11 December, a Romanian court rejected the request to return assets seized during the investigation.[173]

They’re also aggressively going after their accusers, and I think they might be successful with this:

In February 2023, the legal team for the Tate brothers confirmed that a cease and desist letter was sent to at least one of the accusers in December 2022, threatening to sue her and her parents for $300 million over defamatory statements.[174][175]

Two of the accusers reportedly went into hiding after being targeted by an online harassment campaign, described as an attempt to “scare them into silence” by a “troll army”. Senior legal counsel at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, who is advising the women, alleges Tate’s following targeted her clients with thousands of online threats, including doxing the accusers, their relatives, as well as the use of private investigators.[11]

In July, the Tate brothers then filed a defamation lawsuit against one of the accusers, their parents and two other individuals, in Florida’s Palm Beach County, seeking $5 million in damages. The Tates claim the five conspired to falsely accuse them of human trafficking and rape, costing them their freedom as well as income from social media and business ventures.[12][176]

He’s been tweeting a lot, of course.

So, doesn’t look like he’s going away quite yet. Unfortunately.

Al-x wrote:

This year will be an election year though. Watch out

Oh believe me, we all are.

Jesus, we’re all going to be so fucked if Trump gets another term. I mean, obviously mostly you US guys, but also, like, the whole world.

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Todd, Ben, lorcan_nagle

Christian wrote:

Jesus, we’re all going to be so fucked if Trump gets another term. I mean, obviously mostly you US guys, but also, like, the whole world.

Yes. I posted a link either on News or the Politics of a small panel that said that could very well be the end of US democracy as we know it. But I’d rather not dwell right now on voter suppression, a possible dictatorship and a police state.

——————–

New Year and so far so good. I saw online about celebs like Oprah slimming down using an undisclosed weight loss drugs. Others have gone on record using Ozempic (really for diabetics). To each their own.

Personally, not that it is all will power, but either I stand up to myself or I don’t. That’s just me…

I used to watch Voltron after school back in ’85 (God.. sofa king old) I found out that the show was an American adaptation of 2 Japanese anime shows combined. There were 2 Voltrons: the lion one came from the Japanese Go Lion cartoon and the other Voltron was this robot samurai from a cartoon of 15 cars combining. There was a 3rd Voltron planned but they stopped.
The cars one had too many (15) to keep track of, and the lions were easier with 5.
I want to find the original 15 cars cartoon… Nostalgia

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Todd

Al-x wrote:

I want to find the original 15 cars cartoon…

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Al-x

Al-x wrote:

I want to find the original 15 cars cartoon…

It’s called Armored Fleet Dairugger XV. No idea where you could watch it though.

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Al-x

This is the buhid script of the Philippines. Could be the coolest looking script, although I also like the Mongolian script.

 

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njerry, Todd

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Al-x, lorcan_nagle

Having the Macross walk is just wrong

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Todd

Classic FM is doing its Hall of Fame vote again. I’ve voted for Vince DiCola’s Unicron medley from Transformers The Movie as a write-in. I wonder how many votes you’d need to crack the top 300? Let’s all vote for it and find out!!!

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Todd

Martin Smith wrote:

Classic FM is doing its Hall of Fame vote again. I’ve voted for Vince DiCola’s Unicron medley from Transformers The Movie as a write-in. I wonder how many votes you’d need to crack the top 300? Let’s all vote for it and find out!!!

Please provide a link!

Whoops, thought I had.

https://halloffame.classicfm.com/2024/

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Todd

Help me out here, I’m feeling really dense. I swear I recognise the weird helmet on these bootLego soldier minifigs, but I can’t place it. Or is it just that it reminds me of the Creature From The Black Lagoon?

 

It may be someone painted on an Atlantean Guard (Aquaman tie-in figures).
Best I got.

Yep, that’s what it is! I knew I’d seen it but I’d have never thought of Aquaman.

Cheers Sean!

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Sean Robinson

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/charlotte-cowles-the-cut-scam-b2498361.html

I saw her doing a TV interview about this.
A finance columnist and yet… getting so much cash that quick.
How she got taken in.

On the one hand, no-one can really know how they’d react in a similar situation and that they wouldn’t be taken in. But on the other hand, surely she of all people knows the FTC don’t deal with bank fraud? That the CI flippin A wouldn’t be getting involved in that kind of purported case either? That anyone telling you you’re being linked to/investigated for a crime but not advising you to talk to a lawyer does not have your best interests at heart?

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Todd

Twitter is some crazy shit. I just saw a tweet by some account unknown to me that they have acquired the account “tweets of cats”, which tweets funny cat memes. You have some rich tweeters who just go around buying up popular accounts to get attention and followers, and monetize what just started as some guy showing the world some funny cat pictures.

 

And it is just infested with very candid nazis. Scary shit.

Yeah, one thing that has certainly happened in recent years is that nazis have become very candid indeed.

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Uncle Retrospective

I know what you both mean, but it feels like such a polite and mannered way to describe overt racism and xenophobia.

“That Mr. Hitler… he was so terribly candid.”

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Christian, Todd

Honestly the whole societal discourse just sucks ass. It’s rare that you find people online who talk sense.

Outside of this place, of course, right?

….right???

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Todd, Al-x

Christian wrote:

Outside of this place, of course, right?

….right???

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Ben, Christian, Todd, Al-x

yeah this place is friendly and reasonable for the most part. Although I guess for some I’m the crazy one who spoils the mood, so I try to avoid political arguments now.

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Christian

[Al-x]

@njerry… fellow… you broke my streak in Quotes 🤣

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I saw a renovated apartment near me. I remember it from before. They did a lot of gutting and sheetrock.
Wonder what they are asking.
Answer: 4K/month on the 5th Fl. in a walk-up!

• This reply was modified 9 months ago by Al-x.

Daylight savings time!

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I still get phone calls for the guy who had my cell phone number before me.

[Al-x]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-passes-bill-ban-tiktok-chinese-owners-sell/story?id=108077695

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The National Guard is patrolling the subways now

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Learning about using Boolean to get Google to be more specific.

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I used to post these real life simulation pics of Homer Simpson. I shudder at any new pics using AI

• This reply was modified 9 months ago by Al-x.
• This reply was modified 9 months ago by Al-x.

Maybe I should buy some lottery tickets out in those gas stations stores in New Jersey or upstate.  Doesn’t happen in Manhattan.

The wider implications of this ridiculously hard-line policy are, to borrow a phrase, thought provoking. If someone in a mascot costume happens to, say, die suddenly of a heart attack do they have to be taken to the ship’s morgue (every cruise ship has a morgue) in the costume, so as to not ruin the illusion for any guests near by?

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Todd

Hmmm. Was that issued on Monday April 1st?

If Grant Morrison had written Doom Patrol in 1966:

Earthquake yesterday, an eclipse Monday at 3:25… Sign of the Times 🤣

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What are these names I see?

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Mets!

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Todd

Is it just me, or has there been a deluge of Russian bots lately?

Sean Robinson wrote:

Is it just me, or has there been a deluge of Russian bots lately?

Yes, there has. It feel like there is a filter or setting that needs to be updated/changed or something on the back end.

We may need to reach out to Gar again to see if there is something that can be done on the admin side.

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Sean Robinson

Tovarisch, why do you not welcome our new comrades g01ngl1v3-0818118181 and ch4tb4ck0891505050 as brothers in our mutual struggle against the west?

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Todd, Christian, Sean Robinson

Dave wrote:

Tovarisch, why do you not welcome our new comrades g01ngl1v3-0818118181 and ch4tb4ck0891505050 as brothers in our mutual struggle against the west?

I’m a gun-owning Texan. I’ll legally prohibited from doing that.

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Dave

Todd wrote:

I’m a gun-owning Texan

I think this is what’s known as a tautology.

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Todd

Dave wrote:

Todd wrote:

I’m a gun-owning Texan

I think this is what’s known as a tautology.

The State of Texas legally requires me to say it that way.

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Dave

They are shoehorning AI everywhere: On the Iphone, Windows have copilot, Google…

Anyone like it that way?

Al-x wrote:

They are shoehorning AI everywhere: On the Iphone, Windows have copilot, Google…

Anyone like it that way?

A feel like lot of it is just slapping the AI label on iterations of familiar technologies. Are those crappy automated live chatbots that we’ve been dealing with on websites for a decade really “AI” or does it just make them sound better?

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Todd

It’s pretty much marketing. The only way any of the things operate in the way of what we would consider intelligent, is by the most narrow definitions, of scripted branching logic that can’t go beyond its confines.

It’s Silicon Valley execs attempting to claim you can do everything with AI, humans not required. It’s total crap. The tools we have now are impressive, but they don’t remove the need for human imvolvement.

A recent IGN article detailed a game company that tried to do an exclusively AI- produced game. It was a failure because the AI could not replicate human talent and creativity.

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Todd, lorcan_nagle

Imagine how many millions of dollars companies will save when CEOs are replaced with AI!

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lorcan_nagle

Well now I keep reading AI as Al, as in Al-x.

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Al-x, Todd, Ben

I agree that AI-X has been doing a fantastic job over the last two decades.

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Al-x, Dave

Christian wrote:

I agree that AI-X has been doing a fantastic job over the last two decades.

Yeah but they’re shoehorning Al-x everywhere now.

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Al-x, Christian

The AI gets to me too when I see it here. \

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For the 10th time, I was stopped in the street for someone to take out their phone and take a photo of my shirt

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This vendor told me that this Manhattan congestion pricing will just add to the costs of shipping and delivery of supplies and the vendors will just pass it to the consumers in higher prices. We’ll see.

I know that there is congestion pricing in London, Sweden and elsewhere. But what works overseas might not work in Manhattan.
I used to ask why doesn’t the US try to implement even on a small scale some of those nice social programs we hear about in Europe. Funny, none of those programs are tried out but this congestion pricing is already passed.

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Todd

It was 10 years ago today that Gareth was in town and I went to the Lower East Side where a meetup was arranged.

I met Gareth, his wife and @njerry bought me a soda. It is one thing to read their forum postings online, but it is surreal to meet face to face.

Time flies.

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Ben, Dave, Todd

Al-x wrote:

It was 10 years ago today that Gareth was in town and I went to the Lower East Side where a meetup was arranged.

I met Gareth, his wife and @njerry bought me a soda. It is one thing to read their forum postings online, but it is surreal to meet face to face.

Time flies.

That was a good evening, Alfred. Sadly, the place where we met (DEMPSEY’S) is gone now.

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Ben, Todd, Al-x

NO STOPPING pic.twitter.com/Qqj46DEUbY

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) April 15, 2024

I’m watching Peter Santenello’s videos on youtube where he travels through the US and meets up with people who show him the area and their way of life. And it is just absolutely amazing. The US is such a great place.

 

[Al-x]

Gukesh!

He won FIDE and he is 17! He could very well be World Champion at 19!

Caruana had his chance in his game and after the draw, he knew it!

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NYU and Columbia these days.

 

• This reply was modified 7 months, 3 weeks ago by Al-x.

Happy International Workers Day, comrades!

 

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Christian, Sean Robinson, Todd

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Happy International Workers Day, comrades!

Or, if you’re an American who still believes we are fighting The Cold War, HAPPY LOYALTY DAY!!

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Christian, Todd, lorcan_nagle

njerry wrote:

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Happy International Workers Day, comrades!

Or, if you’re an American who still believes we are fighting The Cold War, HAPPY LOYALTY DAY!!

The US literally has Labour day on a different day to try and reduce international solidarity.  It’s kinda funny.

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Todd

Frickin’ PETA, man:

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lorcan_nagle, Todd

pic.twitter.com/hwrKPQeUyK

— Tweets of Cats (@PostsOfCats) May 1, 2024

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Todd

I could go for some T-Rex Nuggets right now….

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Dave, lorcan_nagle, JRCarter, Todd

JRCarter wrote:

Frickin’ PETA, man:

Who said I wouldn’t eat a T-Rex?

2 users thanked author for this post.

lorcan_nagle, JRCarter

As for PETA:

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Sean Robinson, JRCarter

Got a whiff of this story, although I never saw this show:

 

‘Baby Reindeer’: Richard Osman Claims “Everyone” In Industry Knows Who TV Writer Abuser Is

 

I mean…wtf. If everybody knows who this rapist is, why isn’t he in jail? What is happening? Why doesn’t the article say who the rapist is? I think you have some kind of responsibility to make that public so that people know to keep their distance from an alleged abuser.

Arjan Dirkse wrote:

I mean…wtf. If everybody knows who this rapist is, why isn’t he in jail? What is happening? Why doesn’t the article say who the rapist is? I think you have some kind of responsibility to make that public so that people know to keep their distance from an alleged abuser.

Because libel is a thing that exists.

But you have to be able to call someone out when they rape you.

 

I mean something is wrong when the alleged perpetrator has more protections than the victim, and predators can just go on with their deeds. I have been following some cases of alleged rape in the Netherlands, cases where the justice system has started prosecution but also cases where there is no prosecution because the evidence is insufficient, but in both the former and the latter the victims have openly mentioned those names, and they weren’t prosecuted for libel…I did see in one case the alleged perpetrator accused the victim of libel, but there has been no prosecution…

 

I can see the problem, but fuck, this really goes very strongly against my idea of justice.

Also, the British entertainment history has a long, long history of protecting sexual predators.  Lots of people in the BBC knew about Jimmy Saville and threatened to blacklist people who threatened to speak out about him.

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Todd

I checked and in one of the cases I saw that the name of the alleged perpetrator was withheld, and like I said in another case the victim was accused of libel (but not prosecuted for it). So of course I should have assumed libel is an issue in the Netherlands too.

 

 

 

 

I haven’t seen Baby Reindeer yet, but I’ve heard extremely good things.

When it comes to accusing celebrities, or people with power in general, individuals often don’t stand a chance. You need a critical mass of accusers, as it was with MeToo, Till Lindemann and so on. And even then… well, cf. Till Lindemann.

Yeah but at least the name of Till Lindemann is out there now, even if he isn’t convicted most people will understand he’s a guy to keep your distance from.

 

 

You’d hope so, but Ramstein’s gigs are as big as ever, maybe more so. It hasn’t impacted their success at all.

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Todd

Christian wrote:

I haven’t seen Baby Reindeer yet, but I’ve heard extremely good things.

I have mixed feelings about it. It’s a very compelling story and is well-made, with good performances and writing. But I have moral issues with it being made altogether, and there are aspects of it that I find quite exploitative. Yes, it’s telling his story, but it’s also telling the story of others too, and I’m not sure it’s always as careful as it should be in bringing those stories to life.

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Christian

Christian wrote:

You’d hope so, but Ramstein’s gigs are as big as ever, maybe more so. It hasn’t impacted their success at all.

That sucks, but the name is out there. Imagine not being able to speak abou your ordeal because you will be sued. That is a special kind of hell.

 

I don’t know the solution, I tried to google some stuff about the law here regarding libel here but it is just vague shit. For this type of discussion it would be cool if Tim Masters was still here.

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Christian

(God, I miss Tim.)

And it’s not like there’s an easy solution here. People should be protected against the possibility of false accusations, as well, after all. And since this mostly concerns cases in which two people are alone together, it’s always he said she said, unless there are multiple instances in which something happened.

Yes false accusations occur and they’re absolutely fucking horrific. I read about one man who was accused by his two young daughters of childhood sexual abuse, then after he’d been in jail for eleven years they retracted the accusation and said they were manipulated by the police investigators during the interview.

 

There’s the case of Jennifer Freyd, an academic who came up with the term DARVO, Deny the abuse, Attack the victim, Reverse Victim and Offender. It’s really almost impossible to know the truth in her case. She acccused her parents of sexually abusing her, then her parents who denied it started the False memory syndrome foundation, an organization that defends accused parents. Elizabeth Loftus is connected to the foundation and she has been a witness for the defense in the trials of Ghislaine Maxwell and Harvey Weinstein.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Freyd

Interesting cases.

There is probably a ratio of at least 10:1 of victims who aren’t believed as opposed to innocents being accused. But that’s of course no great consolation if you are in the situation of being the innocent who is accused, and maybe even put in jail.

[Al-x]

I passed by The New School the other day. They are one of the last remaining campuses in the city protesting about Gaza with some in faculty joining in their own way.

But this trying to “figure out” how the kids know so much about how bad it is there and this cracking down on social media sites.
Things that make you go hmmmmm…

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All this news and videos about crazy flooding in Southern Brazil, Kenya, and other places. Damn…

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These clickbait links to the article and these disgusting pictures of worms, and weird human growth….

• This reply was modified 7 months ago by Al-x.

I used to listen to Tim Dillon’s podcast a lot, he seems to have gone from a brilliant comedian to someone who just shouts about the news a lot, Biden bad Ukraine bad everything bad USA down the toilet bla bla bla. It’s tragic. He’s become a bit like Alex Jones with his shouty theatrics.

 

And he had amazing talent. His podcast used to be so great. “Corporate steakhouse” was probably the best episode.

Huh. Never heard of him.

Hey, Arjan, I’ve been listening to WTF? a lot, Marc Maron’s podcast. He’s a somewhat old-school comedian who mainly interviews people (mostly comedians, but also actors and other, well, famous people) and he also talks about his personal life and trying to make sense of the world and getting older. It’s good interviews, and nice, honest reflections by somebody suffering from his own life and health troubles, but it’s very positive overall. What I’m saying is, I think you might enjoy this.

Christian wrote:

Huh. Never heard of him.

He started doing his own thing on youtube first and then had his big break because he was invited on Rogan…since people here hate Rogan, it makes sense that you haven’t heard of him…(and I can see why Rogan is bad, honestly)

 

Dillon seems to have found his niche, money making wise, with this crowd, I think people call it alt-light. He distances himself a bit from it ironically by also making fun of them, but he’s definitely connected with them, like that is his grift now. But he used to be a genius I think. And he seems to have become a total hack now, last time I listened it was just dumb yelling about politics. He had a feel for the rot of modern life, the surrealism of our culture, I think if he tried he could have been a writer, a bit like Kerouac. His best podcasts are from just before covid started, that era, 2018-2020. Brownie boat, life in the big city, corporate steakhouse, you’re a disgrace, long island wedding, bomb disney world…those are the great ones.

 

Yeah I have heard of Maron, I’ll give it a listen.

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Christian

The weather in Europe is chaos right now, it’s much hotter in Stockholm than in Madrid

A recent map showing there are quite a few areas in Europe still of virgin forest:

 

 

https://phys.org/news/2018-05-old-growth-forests-europe.html

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Christian

I haven’t been downtown to see it yet, but there is this ring viewer (looks almost like Stargate) where you can see and wave to people in Dublin.

Problem was (and why we can’t have nice things) that some got a little fresh in the viewer and they shut it down for a while. Now they put it back up with certain safety measures.

https://abc7ny.com/post/portal-nyc-art-installation-that-connects-new-york-city-to-dublin-ireland-shutting-down-address-inappropriate-behavior/14814066/

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Todd

I walked past our side yesterday and they’ve got some people on-site to prevent bad behaviour too – there were people mooning the NYC side and holding up photos of the world trade centre attacks.

I maintain it looks more like the Guardian of Forever than a Stargate though.

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Al-x, Todd

lorcan_nagle wrote:

I walked past our side yesterday and they’ve got some people on-site to prevent bad behaviour too – there were people mooning the NYC side and holding up photos of the world trade centre attacks.

I maintain it looks more like the Guardian of Forever than a Stargate though.

Considering some of the behavior, Rick and Morty may also work.

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lorcan_nagle, Al-x

It reminds me most of the Austin Powers time machine.

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Todd, Al-x, lorcan_nagle

Been watching old documentaries by vice news about Afghanistan and Liberia etc. I wonder how many people had their political views changed by this stuff.

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Todd

[Sean Robinson]

Clint Eastwood is 94 years young! (May 31st 1930)

Clint Eastwood Turns 94 — Here’s Everything the Oscar Winner Is Keeping Busy With: ‘He’s a Badass’ – People

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• This reply was modified 6 months, 1 week ago by Sean Robinson.

And he’s just wrapped his latest movie.

I’ll never quite forgive him the whole Obama chair thing, but man, that guy is formidable. My dad is almost ten years younger than him, and, well, let’s say he won’t be shooting any movies soon. It’s really amazing.

I don’t think I’ll ever stop working. Looking at people like Eastwood, McKellen, Stewart, I think it really is important to stay active in your profession, and to stay engaged.

Of course, none of that will be any fucking help in case of Altzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, but I’m aiming for an Eastwood kind of age, that’s for sure.

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Dave

NY Governor just said that the congestion pricing plan for midtown is delayed indefinitely
Not going to happen.

Curious… How is it all working out overseas?

Al-x wrote:

NY Governor just said that the congestion pricing plan for midtown is delayed indefinitely
Not going to happen.

Curious… How is it all working out overseas?

I’m not surprised it got “delayed indefinitely”. It probably would have negatively impacted the working class the most, as they are finding it harder to afford to live in NYC and have to live further away.

Here is an interesting video I saw. Let me know what you think:

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Al-x

That video is spot on. Back in the 70s, the upper class moved out and these days a lot of the middle class is going elsewhere because of being priced out.  I liked the end that wonders if the lower middle and even poor are being priced out and leaving, where will the city get the service sector workers and blue collar like in construction? Never mind where the tax revenue will come from. The rich? 🤣

Interesting sociology, economics, and urban studies.

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Todd

It’s not just a NYC problem. I recently saw a report about Bozeman, Montana, which was “discovered” by rich Northern Californians around the time of COVID. All these millionaires flocked to this relatively small city, buying up existing ranches and houses and instantly creating a demand for housing that triggered a serious upswing in rental rates for locals, as well as a growing homeless population. Now the small restaurants, bars and shops that attracted the rich are having difficulty maintaining staff because the employees can no longer afford to live in town.

Home prices in Bozeman near $1Million

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Al-x, lorcan_nagle, Todd

Al-x wrote:

That video is spot on. Back in the 70s, the upper class moved out and these days a lot of the middle class is going elsewhere because of being priced out.  I liked the end that wonders if the lower middle and even poor are being priced out and leaving, where will the city get the service sector workers and blue collar like in construction? Never mind where the tax revenue will come from. The rich? 🤣

Interesting sociology, economics, and urban studies.

I’m sure the service workers will move out of NYC and commute in, which means congestion pricing will impact them. It will drive prices up in areas adjacent to the city, forcing people to move even further out.

njerry wrote:

It’s not just a NYC problem. I recently saw a report about Bozeman, Montana, which was “discovered” by rich Northern Californians around the time of COVID. All these millionaires flocked to this relatively small city, buying up existing ranches and houses and instantly creating a demand for housing that triggered a serious upswing in rental rates for locals, as well as a growing homeless population. Now the small restaurants, bars and shops that attracted the rich are having difficulty maintaining staff because the employees can no longer afford to live in town.

Home prices in Bozeman near $1Million

Florida is getting infested with billionaires, which will bring problems there, too.

Love the reaction of this girl to the sumo wrestler:

 

What being next a sumo wrestler does to a girl pic.twitter.com/bsnPLbkcht

— Miguel Class (@MigClass) June 5, 2024

There’s a real unpleasant atmosphere outside. Lots of aggressive people. Angry faces, shouting, antisocial behavior. There’s something hanging in the air.

Is it the football championships?

I don’t know. Admittedly I’m a bit overly sensitive to these things sometimes, but I think people are on edge, more than usual. Maybe it’s the political situation, maybe also the weather has people angry…I don’t think I’m being delusional, I was almost hit by a speeding car twice in the last few weeks.

The apartment complex I live in is a weird ecosystem. The white single men who live here are all alcoholics, hoarders or psychiatric patients.