MeerkatBong

This thread is a good one. I think it's good and healthy to reflect and process where we are as a society (like this post above) and gathering for the holidays with people we don't see often and who often have different lifestyles and viewpoints and value systems makes us think. Heck for a lot of us the only thing we have in common with some family members is that we share the same parents or grandparents or there is a marriage-in-law relationship and we wouldn't associate with each other otherwise.

wow

I should have read my emails this morning first before posting: — “Today, the population of Earth will reach the 8 billion milestone, according to UN projections. It’s the result of an epic growth spurt in the last century: There were just 2 billion humans in 1925, and 4 billion as recently as 1974—so we once again doubled our numbers in less than 50 years. Corporate will love to hear that! What drove the growth? People are living better, for longer. Child and maternal mortality rates are down, scientists have developed cures for deadly diseases, and extreme poverty rates have plunged. But growth is hitting a wall, and it will reshape society The world population is expected to peak in the 2080s at 10.4 billion people, hang there for a few decades, then fall at the dawn of the 22nd century. The reason: Fertility rates are declining, and many countries are not producing enough babies to maintain growth. The populations of 61 countries are projected to drop by at least 1% by 2050, with Eastern Europe suffering the biggest losses. Shrinking populations alarm economists. Fewer kids means fewer workers contributing to the economy, at the same time the growing ranks of older people will require financial support. Everything from our cities to our healthcare systems will need to be reimagined. Other countries have the opposite issue. While dozens of nations are grappling with population loss, other countries are experiencing population booms. Eight countries, including Nigeria, Tanzania, and Pakistan, will account for more than half of the projected population increase by 2050. Such blistering population growth can strain resources and make it harder to reduce poverty and provide education, the UN says. Still, with peak human population on the horizon, we should expect demographic decline to become a more prominent policy issue. Per the UN, in 2050 the number of people 65 or over will be more than double the number of kids under five”

I read earlier that we are about to cross 8 billion people on earth. Is this just a function of 20% of countries growing at an amazing clip (I’m looking at you India)?

I’m morbidly (no pun intended) curious to start at the beginning of this thread and see how it’s evolved over time…and will continue to evolve. Because while it’s okay to not find fat or bigger people attractive, at some point it’s not going to be politically correct (or at the very least, polite) to admit it out loud. Being plus sized is a really strange identity and gray area still on how to socially accept and accommodate.

Yes, an observation shared by many is that she has aged horribly.

This was epic:

Dave Chapelle is amazing.

Lindsay Lohan's first movie since 2013 I believe it was, Falling for Christmas. Schlocky, Christmas movie. Netflix does it's best Hallmark movie impression (unpopular opinion alert, I love Hallmark movies this time of the year), complete formulaic garbage to cuddle up with in the cold weather next to a fire and fall asleep halfway into. But really, it was like that 80's movie with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell (Overboard?) meets a Lindsay Lohan movie.

You mean the team that nobody has beaten? So if he loses to the Eagles then he's a fraud, just the same as....checks notes, Mike Tomlin, Lovie Smith, Kevin O'Connell and Mike McCarthy?

I know it was just one game, but I'm anticipating that Jeff Saturday is going to win more than he loses and make a bunch of very vocal people look dumb. I'm assuming most people aren't going to allow that beating the hapless Raiders means you can laugh in the face of people who called him a disgrace or the situation shameful, but when do we get to point and laugh at this creatures?

Idk, I’m a hater. Also thought you’d like the mean girls reference.

@henrygandorf stop trying to make this thread happen. It’s not going to happen.

I read a good story about “boundary phrases” that everyone should use. Things like “im not your target audience for that joke or this topic” or “wow I’m embarrassed you would say that outloud” or “what is the response you are looking for when you say that?” Etc.

Sorry for partying, Judgy McJudgerson.

Our gatherings (25-30 people) for holiday parties are almost universally politic-talk free. Everyone knows it's not polite and is counterproductive and there are wide ranges of political opinion. I don't know, maybe we are rare in that way. We also don't serve or drink booze, so maybe that helps (tons of little kids), as people are less apt to get mouthy or controversial when drinking tea.

The premise and this thread aged poorly lol.

Is we getting $10k in student loan relief or ain't isn't we? https://www.npr.org/2022/11/10/1135940851/student-debt-relief-biden-blocked-texas-district-court

This is an ideal situation as you describe above at this point. As a conservative I love a gridlock where change, if any, is incremental, and the stock market is stable and happy.

I mean, Twitter is full on hilarious now. Love to see it.

This episode is a disaster for crypto "FTX’s meltdown could single-handedly wipe out whatever legitimacy the crypto industry had left. Don’t take it from us—here’s what crypto execs themselves said about it. Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said the FTX calamity was not “a win” and had “severely shaken” confidence in crypto. “That’s a not a good thing for anybody,” Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong said. Why? It has to do with regulation. SBF frequently visited Washington, DC, to work with lawmakers on regulating the Wild West of crypto. But with crypto’s most trustworthy diplomat left holding the bag after an epic collapse, regulators who feel duped could try to buckle the industry. The most humiliation in this entire episode is, of course, reserved for SBF himself. When he was at the top of the crypto world, the 30-year-old billionaire discussed his grand ambition of giving away his fortune to help humanity. Now, there’s little fortune left. On Tuesday, SBF’s net worth plunged from $15.6 billion to less than $1 billion. That 94% evisceration is the worst one-day wipeout for a billionaire ever tracked by Bloomberg." WOW! Kinda hilarious and appropriate that a crypto billionaire rises and falls as fast as that. SBF will probably end up doing jail time if half of the Alameda and other financial tomfoolery is true.

Just saw S&P had best day since 2020. Markets love a mixed congress.

You and I agree (I think if I'm remembering correctly) on the way to really throw a monkey wrench into the works and disrupt and change the trajectory of "Politics as usual" in Texas. 2 words: Matthew. McConaughey.

For sure you are right. But again. That 40% is the lost cause. The 40% in urban, ethnic/diverse areas for the other team is lost cause for R's. The real fight is the 20% in the middle that can be a RINO or Blue/Yellow Dod Democrat and not an indoctrinated dyed in the wool card carrying member of one team or the other. Or whatever the real #'s and %'s are-- I just used round numbers.

The bold highlights the point I think you missed; in order to win Texas you have to win over some of those blind, straight ticket R voters. You don't win those voters over by having the message he had on guns. Everything else you said is true though and he was as good a candidate as any, but LonghornMatt nailed it. You need a blue dog democrat who looks and feels more like rural Texas (the poster who mentioned knowing how to comport himself around a shotgun, wearing some boots, tough talkin'/hard drinkin' as a shout out to Ann Richards who was awesome) to have a prayer in Texas and Beto ain't that. At least until Gen Z is here in full force and even then, who knows.