Samson's Wig

The real pressing question here is the name of the lovely lady in Longhornlove's avatar.

With kids who came along after 2008, I sure as hell hope you're right.

To be fair, the vast majority of people don't want to engage in group conversations on social media no matter who is involved. Twitter is only meaningful to those who have been hoodwinked into thinking it has any value. The majority of folks carry on their lives quite well without ever looking at it. And a lot of the butthurt over Elon buying Twitter is based solely on not wanting the circle jerk to come to an end. The good news for these folks is, it likely won't. I find it funny the douchebag Republicans fought net neutrality and now are the ones screaming about "free and fair" Internet. Personally, it seems evident on its face that the Internet is a public utility and sites such as Twitter should be regulated by the FCC or similar just as television and radio are regulated. Although the whiney Trump bastards are obnoxious and only want to spew their idiocy, I fail to see how that's discernibly different from progressive idiots hoping they get to continue spewing their own brand of idiocy now that Twitter has been taken over. I don't want to engage in conversations with nazis, commies, assholes, shitheels, etc. either, but those folks come from all walks of life and political belief. You can't have a social platform without one variation or another of these folks. Elon is ASD Level 1. If you have raised a child or know someone with this condition then his behavior and choices don't seem so odd at all.

Lots of value in playing sports, of course. But the way we've turned it into religion in this country is fucking stupid, and it's not good for the kids. That 2% or fewer who get college scholarships have been winnowed down almost entirely to the children of pro/collegiate athletes and/or kids with parents who ride their ass into the ground. The other 98% spend an entire childhood focused on a sport that will cease to have any meaning for them when they graduate high school. And then you're sending a kid with a very narrow band of experience out into the world. Not good, Bob. Unless your kid is truly in love with playing the game, club sports are throwing money down the toilet and creating an imbalance in your kids' life. I've been around a ton of club sports kids through family and my kids' friends, and I've only met a couple who weren't just doing it because mom and dad wanted them to. Fake-rich suburbanites spending their retirement money on select/club sports may be the ultimate example of the stupid American stereotype, especially when these parents are often the same ones up at the school board meetings demanding books be banned. As an aside, physical activity and competitive sports, at least in public schools, should be intramural and every student should be involved if physically capable. Spending millions of tax dollars for a football stadium that 60-80 kids utilize, or a basketball gym that maybe 100 kids utilize, is beyond fucking stupid. If parents want to waste their money on club leagues in some desperate hope that their kid will go pro or get a scholarship, more power to them. The rest of us shouldn't be subsidizing these irrational fantasies in public schools, though.

You obviously didn't really read my post, which is fine with this being the Internet and all, but that's not what I was advocating. Teenagers get away with a lot of terrible behavior now that they once did not. Finding a way to correct this was the point, not allowing beatings. Brushing off criminal behavior as "teenagers just being teenagers" is fucking idiotic, and ultimately the root of this problem. Coming up with a reasonable deterrent for this type of behavior may have prevented this tragedy. Risk of serious punishment (not beatings) might keep a good kid from making a stupid decision that ends with him being killed. As for the city employee, he should have the book thrown at him. We'll see if our DA has the guts to do it.

What a disaster for all involved. Teenage boys have always been a pain in the ass, but never moreso than when society shifted and they couldn't receive an ass whooping from any adult who caught them acting the fool. There just don't seem to be any consequences at all for boys who are old enough to cause serious trouble (and be a serious threat to others in some cases). They know they're untouchable and that their parents will protect them should they actually get caught. It's still a good thing we moved away from that era, as morons like the "adult" in this situation obviously can't handle their shit. The fact he's a city employee is almost too on point to merit comment. Somewhere between the old days and our current standard of completely permissive attitudes about teens is probably the sweet spot, but I certainly don't have any answers. In the meantime, do your best to keep your kids from hanging out with dipshits (even if dipshit teens often grow up to be great adults). Nothing good will ever come from running around vandalizing others' property, and this kid paid way too high a price for a cheap thrill. One set of parents without a son, and one son without a father for what I suspect will be a decent sentence (will be interesting to see if Garza's revolving door policy will be applied here).

Username checks out. Don't want to upset the criminals. They may be even meaner next time. Fuck that thief. Yes the truck owner isn't likely in line for a MacArthur Fellowship, but holy hell we've degenerated as a society to the point where property crime is just laughed at. It doesn't bode well for our future when generations of jackasses are learning that the easiest way to survive is to steal other people's shit. When there are absolutely no consequences for bad behavior, we're just paving the way for massive growth of completely useless citizens.

I'm not sure if it's still this way, but Harvard Law's mission involved guaranteed enrollment for students from states without a law school (are there any of those left?). There used to be a ton of Harvard Law grads in out of the way places who were gifted enrollment in this way. Most of them have died or retired at this point, but I recall working with/against older lawyers from the western states all the time who had Harvard law degrees and could barely string together a complete sentence.

I don't think that was a staged bit at all, but it was definitely a stage slap. Rock didn't react strongly because he wasn't hit very hard. Smith has been publicly emasculated by his wife and acted exactly like a guy whose been publicly emasculated by his wife.

The powerful insurance companies don't cover uninsured drivers. We suckers who pay for insurance pay for uninsured drivers. Someone referenced 25% not having coverage. In New Mexico that number is closer to 75%. It's fucking nuts.

I suppose none of us should ever believe anything. Unless Russians post it on Facebook, of course.

I'm right there with you on every point except that anyone has a "right" to play sports. Perhaps this is an issue of semantics, but that term gets thrown around much too loosely. At this point the more common use of the word has won the day, but the meaning of a legal right still means something within the context of a discussion like this one. It may be fair that everyone should be able to play sports, but there is no inherent right. And I'm also an aging person who enjoys playing tennis, basketball, and hockey. I also acknowledge that people like you and me are privileged to be able to do so. If we're going to talk about a right to play sports, poor folks have a much bigger beef than the trans community. But we're not talking about the right to play sports. We're talking about the right to win awards, break records, get famous, and get endorsement deals. That's the false premise. If this was just about being able to play tennis at the muckity-muck club with fellow well-to-do suburban dwellers there wouldn't be much to discuss.

I think the larger issue underlying all of this is the presumption that anyone has a right to compete in sports to begin with. I can't, no matter how far I stretch the intent of federal law, wrap my head around an inalienable right to play competitive sports. That's where we went off the rails. We place an insane amount of value on athletics to the point we treat organized competition as if it actually has a bearing on fundamental freedom and existence. This trans argument is just an extension of a false premise. I understand the other underlying issues such as funding and its interplay with Title IX, but I see those as extensions of the same false premise. It's all born of an overblown notion of the importance of competitive sports. The benefits of competitive sports are very real, but if we actually gave a shit about citizens partaking in these benefits, we would have intramural teams at each school that everyone participates in. The amount of tax dollars spent on stadiums, arenas, etc. is mind numbingly stupid, but also traces back to that same false premise. We don't think everyone should exercise and engage in cooperative/competitive character building activities. We believe that everyone has a right to become a superstar athlete. It's some kind of collective mental illness. Sports and athletic competition are great. I love(d) participating in them and I loved watching those much better than me compete professionally. Do I think competitive athletic endeavors and my right to participate in them is fundamental to my existence, citizenship, or happiness? Fuck no. And anyone who does is fucked in the head.

Food for thought. Health experts say making daylight saving time permanent is a terrible idea. Permanent standard time, on the other hand ... https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/16/metro/could-making-daylight-saving-time-permanent-affect-our-health-heres-what-research-shows/ Sleep experts say Senate has it wrong: Standard time, not daylight saving, should be permanent https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/03/16/daylight-saving-bill-health-effects/ The Senate Just Voted for You to Get Less Sleep, Expert Says https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/daylight-savings-times-senate-sleep-science-1322200/

We don't need an excuse.

Yeah, it's the snowflakes who like to sleep till noon on their mom's couch and get an extra hour of sunlight for skateboarding before bed time. I'm a night owl and hate morning people. I also love to fish and wouldn't mind the extra hour of sleeping in. I still think it's stupid to set clocks to make it dark outside till almost 10 in the morning in the winter. For those who live in Texas, nighttime is the fucking best time because it cools down by a cunt hair. Pushing that back is also really fucking stupid. Nothing good happens till the sun goes down anyway, why delay it?

I like keeping it the same all year, but they're doing it backwards. DST is fucking bullshit for anyone who has children or works a typical schedule for a living. It doesn't need to be light outside at 9:30 at night. And anyone who whines about how they like to mow their yard later in the evening can go fuck themselves for making a racket when everyone else is trying to relax.

Because too many Americans mistakenly believe they're being independent when they're really being a contrarian pussy who can't think for themselves.

I still live here, and loved it for a very long time. Almost everything I loved about it is gone now, though. The people who created the culture here have been priced out. It's not a bad city now, but it's not anything close to resembling what it was. Now it's just an overpriced big city with less than half the conveniences and perqs of a proper big city. The culture looks and feels like the culture everywhere else, because no one here is from here anymore. Again, Austin is still great for many reasons, but almost none of them are the same reasons that made it great in the past. The cost to purchase a family home in this town passed ludicrous levels a while ago. When the tech industry packs up and leaves (and it will at some point) things will get interesting around here.

/Narrator/. It's not.

My son's schools goes mask optional a week after back from spring break (to account for any diseases picked up by the muckity muck parents and kids while traveling over the break). I'm curious to see how many kids still where them. I have to peel the mask off my son when he gets home each afternoon. I think he just forgets it is there.

So does this mean more people from New York and New Jersey will be moving to Austin and buying a black Mercedes to speed around in?

My bad. I misread/misinterpreted what you wrote.