DonkeyCigars

Who's reality? Yours or mine? Do we share a reality? Should we? I guess what I'm getting at is that if we believe perception is reality, then we will necessarily be at odds with those who don't perceive-- believe, think, or have the same faiths in the same things-- as we do. I think that is what we are seeing with the progress made in equality. For years the shared reality was seen solely through the prism of white males. They/We set the strategy and vision and cascaded it down to the rest of society. The rest of society (a myriad of different personas, races, ethnicities, self-identifications, etc.) has pushed back and said, "hey, we have a different reality than you people and we should be able to live it out as true to ourselves as we can" or whatever. Now multiply that individualism or factionalism times 40 million and you have America today. What was once a patriarchal white male mirror is now millions upon millions individual shards of glass. To tie this back to the OP and original discussion, what was once a single source of truth (Journalism) is now seen as a sham because everyone has a) a unique perspective b) desires/goals/agendas c) the ability with the advent of technology to broadcast and consume media that is custom or tailored for their consumption. I'll say it louder for those in the back: with accessible 5G technology on the horizon, the lightning speed that is the advancement of technology is only going to exacerabte the American problem. America will further entrench as a land where a group of dozens of factions merely and begrudgingly share a geography, without any shared ethic, beliefs, goals, agendas. The manifest of true democratization of media and technology (succulent Chinese dinner reference for those paying attention at home) has come at the expense of an abstraction that, while imperfect for a lot of people, held together the idea of the United States of America. I think technology will eventually prove that the United States of America was always doomed to fail once BIPOC gained agency on the level of their suppressors, the white European male. But isn't that okay? Nothing was built to last forever. If we take an emotional step backwards and try and be objective, what's wrong with America being a great tool and needed for what it was but having outlived her utility?

Fair deal. As you said, everyone is on a different journey and value, believe and have faith in different things. Again, I think this fundamental truth is why there is conflict.

The human condition rendering both the idea of true randomness and cold, machine-like objectivity duly noted, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the vote of no confidence that Americans have given big Journalism (and as a consequence, essentially discredited the idea of a monolithic "public intellectual" for a more federated, choose your own famous/celebrity/pop-culture business/science/political influencer based on your faction). I'm not saying the above is a good or bad thing, even, I'm just positing why I think "An alarming portion of the population sees no difference between a rambling Facebook post from a stranger and a front page article in the New York Times". There is no respect from the laymen for your profession and craft anymore because journalists are seen as just people with opinions pushing an agenda for a media communications business with shareholders to feed, no different or better than anyone else. Truly democratic, I guess.

I just read The Oatmeal article and thought it was nice, thanks for sharing. I think it did a good job of highlighting what I've tried to explain on here as the disconnect, which is the core beliefs/worldview that anchors our thinking, to a lot of people, is completely different and separated by a wide enough gulf that there isn't a lot of efficiency in discussions. I think this divide is growing and we see it playing out in America. I also see the biggest political issue, it seems, is for those who would put their faith and core beliefs into the things of this world. Those who anchor around this human experience and the current iteration of existence-- living, breathing on earth for 80 years if you are lucky-- without having much transcendental or infinite core beliefs, seem to be the most affected with antithetical beliefs to their own. Or maybe I'm just trying to think and justify why I registered each of those facts in that cartoon that were supposed to be increasingly inflammatory in the same uninterested way. New and differing information does not bother me and I could not care less what other people think or believe or feel, because of a supreme awareness and confidence in my beliefs and in my north star.

As someone who studied the formal, capital J Journalism as a craft and discipline in college and learned the basics around the methodologies and rules that once kept journalists integrity intact as a trusted, unbiased medium whose mission was to inform and educate the population, I feel like journalism contributed to their own downfall when they bit the poison fruit of entertainment/infotainment in the name of dollars and profit. I have no sympathy for the CNN's of the world because, while they aren't as extreme or as awful as pure infotainment like Fox News, they are all every bit as coin operated and they lit on fire their position as a trusted beacon of truth when they began to wrest ad dollars and corporate sponsorship and airport money every chance they could.

I was today years old when I found out that the young lady in that gif is known as trigglypuff. Whomever came up with that should be a VP in product marketing because it just feels like there is no more perfect a name for her in that gif.

My Tripling down my YOLO into BB isn't looking too hot right now, but I've got diamond hands and it's all house money anyways.

I agree with all of this, but especially the bold. Boban is an awesome human being but I struggle with the idea that the tallest man in the league (who actually plays, unlike Tacko Fall) can get outrebounded and drove on/scored on with consistency while being horrible on perimeter defense and giving KL free 2 points if he's one on one. Would rather have Zubac than Boban on the court (no offense to his popularity because I agree he's awesome person). Also, as exciting as this is, and I hope we beat the Clippers, I just can't imagine beating another team with weapons. Luka needs help and he needs his front office to support him and invest in the help as an investment into him and his career. If he can't get that, he's 1000% justified in leaving in the interest of both winning and his career, IMO.

He also was widely mocked, and rightly so, for stupid tweets and doubling down on stupid tweets about a girl about to stab someone. That rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

We love KP again!

Yea, he looks spent. Can't let him get any meaningful rest because the CLippers go on 20-2 runs when he sits. Mavs are leaving it all out on the court at least, they are overachieving no matter win, lose or draw as they just don't have the horses that the Clippers have.

ugh, boban sucks.

Made a ton off of AMC today; tripling down my YOLO into BB. This one will either crash me or will put me on the moon. Let's see.

I put profits into BB

AMC over $40 again; cashed out 350% profit on options and $AMC from the low teens. Galaxy Brain investor over here.

I never got the value of an AirBnB over just maxing out Marriot points and then taking free vacations with the fam. I don't know, good luck out there, I guess.

Ride-hail giants Uber and Lyft are weathering a driver shortage — and the launch of a new challenger — as demand for their services return. Business Insider spoke to Uber and Lyft drivers who say they're waiting for more people to get vaccinated before getting behind the wheel again, or they've been able to get by with stimulus checks or unemployment. Uber has even launched its own $250 million "driver stimulus" to incentivize their return. In April, The Verge reported both Lyft and Uber were experiencing a U.S. driver shortage of about 40%. In May, as demand for the ride hailing services increased, the continued shortage contributed to a sharp rise in prices for passengers and longer wait times for the arrival of drivers, both subjects of recent local news reports.

It's not just Austin-- it's everywhere. The cities I've been to in the last 6 weeks that have had shortages/waits/trouble with Uber from airports and downtown districts: Omaha, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth, Cincinnati. Population isn't the actual issue; the actual issue is a shortage in people who want or are incentivized to drive, for whatever reason. The driver population for ride shares fell off a cliff and hasn't rebounded.

I get where you are coming from here, and I think the issue is that Uber in 2015 is a lot different than Uber in 2021. Uber when it started was super convenient with the app/phone and moments later a car appeared like magic, while the cabs were hopelessly antiquated with a telephone dispatch system and wait times, etc. To this day I'm not sure the yellowcab app actually works. It didn't last I tried it in like 2018. Further, Uber's whole value proposition was "Flat rate, no tipping!". They didn't even use to accept or have the ability to take tips. But now that Uber needs to run a business and isn't just growing off of billions of VC money, you will see it regress to the taxi cab mean, which is what I think we've seen down to the now emphasis on a rider's tip history.

I just got a new Yukon XL and I'm seriously, honestly no joke, thinking about signing up to drive Uber XL black car if I'm going to get $200 fares and what not for 30 minutes worth of driving (though it cost $90 to fill up the tank). It's almost getting economically viable for people like me who would have never dreamed of driving uber 18 months ago, and we all know there are people in most cities who won't get into anything less than a black car and those people need to get to airports and skyscrapers.

There is no American party that is "fiscally conservative" anymore. Sorry for saying the quiet part out loud.

I have a family member (from the weird side) who had the same thing happen, graduated TWLS in 2012 then A&M bought it and he has claimed that the administration told them all they needed to change their resumes/linkedin profiles to reflect as such when she was pressed on this issue and what in the world was going on.

Wait, this whole thread was a troll job. You got me good.

John Walsh the AMW guy was a big time drug lord? okay.

Got a Purple mattress last year and we love it. We got two different types of purple pillows too which are great.