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zk
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]
Do you think that your right wing friends would still consider you their friend, if, instead of reasoning with them, you behaved in a symmetrical way.[/quote]
If I behaved in a symmetrical way? Meaning bringing up One left-wing talking point after another ad nauseam? No independent thoughts, skepticism, logic, or reason whatsoever? Completely brainwashed by left-wing propaganda?
Do I think they’d still consider me a friend if I behaved that way? I’m certain they would. Because they do think I’m behaving that way. They think I’ve been brainwashed by the “lamestream media.” They think I’m the one ignoring the facts. And we’re still friends.
Except for one of them, who was putting words in my mouth. That, if you’ve followed me here, you might know is something I consider a cardinal sin. We weren’t good friends to start with (not since 1979, anyway), and he really is a total nutjob. I won’t be friends with him anymore. Not because he’s a brainwashed nutjob, but because he doesn’t respect me enough not to lie about what I’ve said. That’s a line you can’t cross.
Participant[quote=scaredyclassic]She was getting married but wanted to call it off and move out to be with me.
Which was crazy. I barely knew her. Other than that she was very attractive. She said something I’d said had really stuck with her and she thought we should be together.
[/quote]
The scaredy magic exists in real life, too!
Participant[quote=scaredyclassic]
This is reason to be grateful. The swamp of human stupidity is necessary in many professions for you to be better off than others.
This may not be true.[/quote]
When I was 16 I got a flat tire. We were in a parking lot and I was changing the tire, with my buddy next to me. We were in California, a long way from home, dressed in nothing but shorts, flip-flops, and brake dust. There was some sort of brake issue, too, and this passerby in a suit stopped to give us some technical advice. The three of us were chatting during this repair, and my buddy was frustrated about some idiot who had done something idiotic that had inconvenienced my friend. The idiot was in some – I don’t remember, exactly – position of power or high-paying position or something. The guy in the suit, who was just the right amount of upbeat and really seemed like he had his shit together, says to my buddy, “more room for guys like you and me.”
I don’t remember the exact context, but what the guy was saying was pretty much what you’re saying. My buddy’s face lit up as though he’d had a revelation. I don’t think that slice of “wisdom,” if you want to call it that, ever left my friend.
That guy was saying, “every guy of average intelligence and competence is another guy you can be in front of,” and maybe you’re saying (as an example) “(some) lawyers need dumb criminals.” I don’t know. Maybe both are true. Maybe neither. I think as a general rule, they’re both true.
I would not have said this three and a half years ago, but at this point I’m not convinced I wouldn’t give up the financial advantages that my abilities have gained me not to be surrounded by idiots and with my faith in humanity in ruins.
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]There you go ZK. A professor has written about the subject.
[/quote]
He’s not the first guy to write about it. There are a lot of books on the subject.But everything is so polarized that anybody who doesn’t see it won’t buy the books – and wouldn’t be convinced no matter how convincing the evidence – and anybody who does see it already knows.
Made the mistake of debating friends who are trump fans on facebook. They’re so far gone it’s like talking to cult members. It’s just impossible to them that trump isn’t the greatest president ever and Obama isn’t the worst president ever. Yes, they keep bringing Obama up. One right-wing talking point after another ad nauseam. No independent thoughts, skepticism, logic, or reason whatsoever. Completely brainwashed by right-wing propaganda.
Participant[quote=Coronita]
Most people who get waitlisted get in to schools most of the time,[/quote]
I’m curious where you’re getting that information.
This website has stats that disagree. I don’t know if those are accurate, and I’m looking for accurate stats on the matter.
ParticipantMan, that’s a tough one.
$5,000 is a lot of money. But how many months rent is that? 2? 3? 1 1/2?
I don’t know what the odds are that you’d have trouble finding tenants who can pay or that you’d get one who would seem ok but then lose their job or otherwise not be able to pay. But if one of those things does happen, it wouldn’t take long for that to cost you 5K. And a whole lot more.
I guess I would try to find a way to figure out how likely one of those things is. Not sure how you’d go about that. Maybe ask other landlords in the same neighborhood or general area if you can find them.
Participant[deleted long post]
fuck it. never mind.
Trying to stick to my resolution not to debate with conspiracy theorists.
ParticipantGold bugs always think it’s time. You should ask non-gold-bug people if it’s time.
I’m not a gold bug. I don’t know if it’s time. On the one hand, trillions of dollars of new government spending. On the other, deep recession.
Glad I could help.
ParticipantWhile it might be true that stocks are undervalued during crises such as this (in that their long-term value is relatively unaffected), that doesn’t change the fact that the stock market does generally go down during such times.
So, basing the below theory on actual market moves rather than market value:
The stock market has recovered a bit recently. In my pathetically-uninformed opinion, that’s because traders see the beginnings of a reopening of the economy and think that’s a trend that will continue somewhat uninterrupted. I don’t think they’re taking into account the virtually-inevitable second wave that will occur, if not this summer (due to warmer weather), then this fall.
It could also be that they’re counting on better testing and contract tracing. Obviously we should’ve had that the first time around. But we didn’t, and here we are. To count on this administration to have the testing and contact tracing necessary to withstand another wave without either massive economic interruption or unacceptable deaths is like throwing away money, if you ask me.
Or, they could be counting on the U.S. just giving up on people dying and sacrificing them for the economy. I could see that happening, unfortunately.
Or they think that herd immunity is closer than most scientists do, and that herd immunity will prevent a second wave.
Of course, they could be smart, long-term investors who understand that the effect of such a crisis on market value is relatively small. (had to throw a little humor in here.)
But I see the most likely scenario as another wave of coronavirus followed by more shutdowns followed by further drops in the stock market.
Just my 2 cents, but probably not worth even that.
ParticipantWhen comparing Covid-19 death rate with influenza death rate, virtually everybody (including me) has been using a 0.1% death rate for the flu.
0.1% is actually the case fatality rate for the flu, not the infection fatality rate for the flu.
“Case fatality rate” means deaths per confirmed case. “Infection fatality rate” means deaths per actual infection. Because we don’t test everybody for these infections, the infection fatality rate can only be estimated. Also, the case fatality rate will necessarily be higher than the infection fatality rate.
Technically, the case fatality rate for Covid-19 is some very-high number (because we test so few people) that means nothing right now. But the estimated infection fatality rate of Covid-19 seems to be around 0.5% to 0.8%. The infection fatality rate of influenza is estimated between 0.025% and 0.05%.
That makes infection with the novel coronavirus somewhere between 10 and 32 times deadlier than infection with an influenza virus.
And don’t forget, it’s also wildly more contagious than influenza.
Participant[quote=Coronita]
I was trying to see if I could get a lift put inside [/quote]
A lift! That is a splendid idea. I’ll have to see if it’d fit. A lot of those old wagons are pretty low. Much lower than today’s SUV’s. On top of a 2018 Challenger. It might work.
Participant[quote=Coronita]
I’ve been searching the used cars… lots of good deals and probably will get better unfortunately, nothing I am looking for. [/quote]
I’ve been half-looking for a classic station wagon for a while. Something for golf and the beach. Like a ’67 Nova wagon or a ’65 Chevelle wagon or any cool ’50s or ’60s wagon. It seems like there would be a lot of people who will need to unload their toy. But after that, it might take a little while for them to get desperate enough for the price to drop. I haven’t seen any overall price drops yet.
My problem is where to keep it. I don’t want to leave it outside. Condensation and whatnot. I have two garage spaces and two newer cars I can’t leave outside. I could cover it, I guess, but I’m not sure how much that would help. If anybody has any ideas on that, I’d love to hear them.
Participantmoved to another thread
Participant[quote=zk]
Now that I think about it, the likely scenario, politically, has nothing to do with the reality of how trump deals with the situation. Or what happens with the virus. No matter what happens, right-wing propaganda will portray trump as the hero, and liberals as the villains. Tens of millions of ignorant, pathetic chumps will, as usual, fall for it[/quote]Now their excuse is, “trump and the senate were distracted by impeachment, and that’s why they couldn’t handle the coronavirus crisis properly. See? It’s liberals’ fault, just like everything else bad that has ever happened in America.”
If you haven’t heard this talking point from your neighborhood right-wing dupe yet, you will soon.
So easy to predict. So transparent. So pathetic that these idiots fall for it anyway.
These idiots will vote for trump again for the same reason they voted for him last time. The right-wing propaganda machine has grabbed them by their emotional collars and turned them all into their bitches.
If you still can’t see that right-wing media are destroying our country, you’re not paying attention.
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