Samson's Wig

Yikes. It's scary as fuck how many of the large kill counts belong to nurses, doctors, or those who otherwise work in healthcare. Based on that list, if you can stay out of hospitals and Detroit you have a really good chance of never running into a serial killer.

While it's true that the shark jumping episode had wide viewership, and the show continued to draw in enough viewers to avoid cancellation until 1984, Happy Days is the impetus for the creation of the "jumping the shark" phrase for more than just the obvious reason. If you ever saw the first season, it was an earnest show about coming of age in the 50's, shot on single camera and taking itself fairly seriously. It was tonally very similar to The Andy Griffith Show or even Leave it to Beaver. That season got pretty good ratings, but in season two the show plummeted. So Garry Marshall sold his soul and turned it into a gimmicky nonsense show shot in multicam. The shark jumping episode was in season three when they were still desperate for a stunt to get some press and draw in more viewers. The phrase "jumping the shark" still very much means the moment when a show gets desperate and tries some kind of stunt (whether literally, through casting, or otherwise) in order to get a bump in viewers for a once popular show. It absolutely does not describe the moment a series peaks, and it never did. The guy who coined the phrase, Jon Hein, intended it to mean exactly what most people think it means. Hein first used the phrase in 1985, not long after Happy Days ended, and was pointing to the moment as exactly what it was, a pathetic ploy to appeal to the lowest common denominator (the entire episode is about the gang going to California - travel episodes are one of the oldest gimmicks in the book) and increase ratings. After season one, you could argue that entire show was jumping the shark every week, even before they literally did so. They employed gimmicks, bad jokes, and writing so dumb a four year old could follow along for a reason. It worked. The show didn't remotely peak in season 3, not in ratings and certainly not in quality. Shows like Seinfeld never jumped the shark because they never had to, or never chose to, pull such stunts to chase ratings. Seinfeld did take a season to find its voice and pacing, but once it locked in it never compromised. I don't know what to say about the Marvel stuff. Hard to jump the shark when that's your baseline.

Because it's all we deserve. We've continually received exactly what we've asked for out of local government for decades. The problem isn't the politicians, it's us.

Really odd to see a mouthy frat bro actually manage to come out on top of a fight. Those guys usually eat shit without their friends jumping in. Seeing the other guys kicking people in the face was less funny than the rest of the fight. Someone may have come out with permanent damage from that one, and the dude who did it should be rotting in prison for attempted murder. Kicking someone in the head who poses zero threat to you is not only extremely stupid, it might be one of the more pussy moves I can think of. I don't really understand who these people even are. I don't see them out and about during the daylight hours. Do they drive in from the country for the weekend, or am I just not hanging out where the cool kids are?

Yep. It's complete nonsense, and most corporations only pay lip service publicly to get assholes off their back. True socially conscious investors are rare, even if plenty claim to be. Most people will do exactly what they've always done and invest in what will make them the most money. I think the internet has skewed our perception of what's real so much that we often end up working hard to placate people who don't actually exist.

I think having corporate values/core mission/etc. is very important. Paying lip service to children with complete waste-of-time initiatives aimlessly striving to positively impact the world is complete nonsense, though, and evidence of little more than how much bloat most larger organizations carry. As you said, companies should understand what they are, and way too many seem to think their role in the world is to bend to every trend and suck off every activist that sends them an angry tweet. It's bizarre, reactionary, and serves no purpose. There is an immense amount of value in doing a job well, both for employees, the company, and the world. Striving to do this without causing harm to the earth or others is honorable and right. Thinking that a company that exists to design video games, or provide accounting services, or build machines, or provide short term rentals is somehow best suited to make positive changes in a philanthropic way is ridiculous. Donate money to those organizations that are actually designed do something about these issues and get back to work.

This cracks me up with young folks entering the workplace. I get it, it feels right, but assuming you have any leverage whatsoever as a fresh grad and no experience is asinine. Companies have been putting up with this shit in order to hire folks, but the clock is ticking. Once a recession hits, this will disappear (outside of tech companies with no real product who have to leverage "making the world a better place" to sound like they do anything at all). As much as millennials struggled to find work and financial stability during lean years, GenZ has had it way too easy. It's going to be eye opening for them when everything shifts, and most of us know that shift is bearing down like a freight train. I'm always amused when a young person applies to work for us and asks what we're doing to make the world a better place. I always explain that we do our job and we do it really well. We take pride in our work and provide a needed service to our clients. We have a number of charitable giving programs, but if you want to save the planet or rescue orphans there are non profit organizations that would love the help. I've only had one of them turn down a job offer, because most don't actually believe their bullshit. Young people are just more empowered to speak their mind than they used to be, for better and worse. I'm amazed how many organizations, including publicly traded ones, waste valuable time and resources discussing how they can improve the world. Entire long-ass meetings led by someone with a business degree, but incapable of actually excelling in business, discussing philanthropy. What an amazing amount of hubris, naiveté, and/or downright stupidity that requires. Your consulting firm isn't going to improve living conditions in Uganda, or turn back the clock on climate change, so fuck off and get back to work.

Got both the flu shot and the Covid booster Monday evening. I had strong reactions to the three prior Moderna shots, but this one wasn't bad at all. A bit tired the next day and maybe a slight headache.

This sure seems to be the all-too-common situation of a bunch of know-nothings attacking an unlikable person online based on absolutely nothing but good old fashioned ladies-in-the-parlor style gossiping. If we're going to base any of this on character analysis, Magnus is a known asshole as well. I don't think that determining whether someone is cheating in a sport dominated by people with ASD Level 1 should be based on their personality quirks, but I'm no Camus.

Alyssa's still got it.

Chess fanatics are like fans of any other sport. They will blindly defend their favorite team or player.

So he has zero proof but just didn't like getting beat by this particular kid, and is blaming the tournament overseers for his loss. Sounds a lot like our whinier fans over on the football board.

lol

lol

Every school has a certain amount of fans that have their heads so far up their own asses that they actually believe the refs are out to get their team. Texas is no different. Big12 refs suck. They're not held accountable by the conference. It's been this way for a long time. Every team deals with it every week. Texas hasn't dealt with more shitty calls than any other team. If you polled every other Big12 school's fanbase and asked if they thought the refs were out to get their team they would all overwhelmingly say yes. And if you asked a follow up question as to who they think has benefitted the most from questionable calls in the history of the Big12, every last one of them will say Texas. Randy Christal and Jon Bible are complete boogie-men for the rest of the conference, and not without some merit (yes, they're both retired now). It's all ultimately nonsense and completely childish, but when fans of the bell cow program in the conference whine like little bitches it comes across as especially pathetic. If any school can put their thumb on the scale it's Texas. We're nobodies bitch, but some of you seem to take some kind of weird comfort in thinking we are because it's easier than facing the reality of a mediocre football program.

Anyone calling that loss incomprehensible is a low-information gaping vagina. This is a mediocre program. That's not going to change overnight. Acting like a mediocre team should have steamrolled another mediocre team on the road is buffoonery.

Childish overreaction from the usual suspects. How do so many of you fall for the hype every damn season. There should be a mental disorder named for this shit.

Well, you wouldn't, which is why I mentioned that most of us don't.

Is your incredulity based on an assumption that most prisoners are not morons?

Indicative of two mediocre programs having an annual slapfight. Things seem to be headed in a different (better) direction for both programs now, but the Horns are way out in front of what Tech is up to right now. Really no excuse for this to be a close game. Tech has no offense whatsoever, even if their defense turns out to be decent this season.

To be fair, they have been terrible since the pirate left town. That Wells guy just didn't get anyone excited about the program, understandably. They'll sell out plenty if they can get on track in the new Big12 and win some games, and they're even expanding their stadium again, which isn't happening much anywhere these days. We've also seen a dip in attendance over the last decade (for the same reason as Tech - mediocrity). Hopefully winning will change that in Austin as well.

This has to be the least cared about rivalry in all of sports, not just college football.

They don't, though. They lay down and get spanked even in the years they should win (the most recent example is - LAST SEASON, although they did lose their starting QB early in that game). I don't really get it, as psychological impacts should fade as the players move through the system and on with their lives, but Tech typically plays their worst game of the season agains the Horns. It's why their fans get so excited on the rare occasions they play well in this game, and I think in part why our fans dismiss Tech so readily every year. The typical Longhorn fan only watches Tech play once a season, and Tech almost always look like shit in that game relative to how they play the rest of the season. Some teams just have your number, not matter how many players and coaches have moved on.