MeerkatBong

An interesting read from NYT which highlights how the world prioritizes soccer and the WC over other current issues, and how businesses prioritize their revenue (surprise surprise) as they follow the money via the fans and viewers. The quoted is NYT; bold emphasis my own: "Countries — the next World Cup will be in the United States, Canada and Mexico — trip over themselves for the chance to host the nearly monthlong tournament. Many governments in Asia, South America and Africa, future growth markets for big business, care little about the social issues that dominate Western news media coverage. It’s all a sharp contrast to the way cities have often had to abandon plans to bid to host the Olympics in the face of fierce public opposition. And FIFA, mindful that soccer is a winning program for governments, has promised large funding for its national associations — a sure way to keep countries loyal. ... Still, the biggest brands, including Visa, Sony and McDonald’s, were quick to sign up and showed little sign of jumping ship amid the controversy. When Bloomberg contacted 76 FIFA sponsors and teams this month, not one said it was reconsidering its participation. Adidas expects up to a 400-million euro sales boost from the tournament. ... The market has spoken: There has been no detectable business boycott and, as FIFA points out, sponsorships are sold out, with longtime partners like Coca-Cola and Adidas appearing alongside newcomers like Crypto.com. Back home, many of these companies are quick to advertise their environmental, social and governance, or E.S.G., credentials, and market their commitment to causes such as L.G.B.T.Q. rights. Yet even in an era where a corporate misstep in Qatar can be amplified on social media, the tournament is showing that companies are willing to risk a backlash that they bet will be forgiven (or forgotten) as long as the world is tuning in. The potential payoff is enormous. Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, and FIFA expects five billion people to watch the tournament (think the Super Bowl viewership times roughly 50). FIFA expects the event to generate about $4.7 billion. The organization has seemingly shaken off the scandal, and is awash in money and with all of the power that goes with it."

I was rifling through an old bag and found a 2019 Walter Moore Ape piece. I put it up on my cork board today. Godspeed.

Would like to hear your final review once you've finished in light of your last post about White Noise-- I just received my hardback copy in the mail today but have at least 3 in the queue before I can get to it. I'm currently reading:

REALLY! wow. Just goes to show how subjective things like art and literature can be. White Noise is a Top 10 all timer for me. I stumbled across the interview from 1997 today actually, topically. I didn't much enjoy Zero K which was the last book of DeLillo I read and I've never read Underworld which has sat on my bookshelf unopened for at least 10 years...

For those starting new gigs, this is supposed to be good:

Having seen half the movie one time a decade ago, I was ambivalent about going on the Avatar ride in Animal Kingdom, but it was awesome. That's all I got.

You guys all with great answers are not being led witnesses and vocalizing what DefinitelyNotHollywood was trying to get you to say that he's in the bag for PUTIN and RUSSIA and CHYNA! He's clearly doing this to divide America and hurt us as a billionaire interoperative working from the inside out! Plus he's a foreigner; he can't be President! Distrust the motives of the foreign billionaire!

I hate this show. It’s irrational and I’m going to therapy about it.

Sounds like Facebook then is much more insidious and dangerous. Twitter seems to be transparent with their lunacy for all to see and subsequently flee and flock to Mastadon. I mean that’s what you and everyone else complaining already did, right? I’ve read Mastadon has really taken off the last month or so.

Grow up.

I was wondering about this. 10 years ago when this movie was a smash hit I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now, but I wonder if our culture will show up for this movie. I can't imagine millions of people are just dying to see this movie, as if it's peak Marvel or Star Wars or something like that. But, like I said, I didn't get the love for the first one either so what do I know?

Um...yea. I would say so. Didn't know that.

I was reading that Iger is announcing layoffs in the name of creativity and storytelling. “It will be interesting to see if Iger double’s down on Disney IP for Disney+ and abandon more general purpose exclusive streaming, i.e. admit that the 21st Century Fox acquisition was a mistake”.

I wonder if that has something to do with the strategy and why chapek was fired and Iger is back?

What the crap is this crap bit? Fake apprentice “you’re fired” fight for your job crap.

To this point: Disney’s animated movies keep bombing. Strange World registered one of the worst opening weekends for Disney in the modern era, and it’s on track to lose $100 million overall, according to Variety. Coming after Lightyear’s flop, the box-office bomb will draw the attention of newly installed CEO Bob Iger, who needs to figure out how to revive Disney’s once-vaunted animation lineup. (Fun fact: Strange World had the worst three-day opening for a Disney animated film since The Emperor’s New Groove in 2000

What might be an interesting, unintended effect of this brouhaha (still TBD) is what this mummer's farce will mean for putting more visibility on Apple's 30% cut. A lot has been made in the last 12 months of if it should be legal and it has regulator's attention. I think it all started with the Fortnite guys firing the first shot years ago, but Elmo could put some gas on that fire. Apple might not want that smoke or they might not care at all and brush Elon away like a gadfly. This is why Elmo's Twitter is more entertaining than a soap opera, every week there is some new dramatic story arc.

I think this sounds logical. A lot of what people don't understand is the labor demand new IT (AI/ML included) tools create just to manage them. It's not a net FTE savings as much as it is taking lower skill, lower value positions and replacing them with tooling and then having your labor manage those tools and programs. In a lot of instances, the total cost of ownership is actually more just on unforeseen and unbudgeted maintenance from a smaller, more specialized pool of talent.

You should quit and go to Mastadon or . Vote with your feet!

Also this isn't the forum for it, but a certain Asian-American from the newly established Forward party had a few ideas about how to address the unskilled population and displaced workers in the automation revolution... Maybe his ideas will be adopted in the future since he's so unlikable to most people, it seems.

Ah okay, so I guess any attempt to try and model out business impact (using conservative SG&A benchmarks and assumptions, but admittedly assumptions) by non-biased business reporters is bad pool. But internet posters like briskettexan saying "revenue good, advertisers and layoffs bad, twitter go bye-bye" is considered smart conjecture and objective analysis. cool, cool. You can just say "I think his assumptions are bad and the model is wrong/bad-- not buying this" rather than call the guys integrity in question, right? Especially since you had zero clue the source.

Standard Weiman Granite/Stone cleaner. Quartz > Granite, though.

My work tried to get me to do this and offered a lot of money to move to Golden Valley/Minneapolis and we seriously considered it. Made a couple of trips, scouted real estate, downtown, etc. Ultimately, I couldn't do it because of the weather and my wife and I just didn't want to live in such cold conditions. Also if you like a really progressive city, MSP is definitely a place to consider. I now work for another company, in some part because of this, but like you, I have no regrets. To the OP I'd say it's worth the investment to go and stay and shop and generally move around a city you are thinking of relocating to and get your own feel for it rather than just doing it. Scout it out.

Jeans over Western boots every time. I do tuck my jeans into my high duck and bean boots, though, as a fashion decision. I'm not of the persuasion, but if you happen to be, you can tuck your jeans into Timberlands and I hear that is considered fashion forward in certain communities and the Tri-state in general.

Thanks to everyone on this thread; got a cybermonday deal on a tank printer because I'm with OP. Inkjets are driving me insane.