itty53

itty53, 1 day ago

@w7voa

After trying to drive up on a curb around an accident, after a cop tried telling him to stop and grabbed on to his car, after he didn't roll down the windows and kept driving with said cop hanging on his car for almost a full minute.

And this prick has the audacity to look to another celeb and ask for help while he's getting hand cuffed? I don't often take the side of police but I'm making a rare exception today. Mans truly believed the law didn't apply to him and went about like that were gospel.

itty53, 3 days ago

@RickiTarr

We've talked about this: a singing voice. Doesn't have to be spectacular, just be able to keep a pitch. It's the one thing every girl I've dated longer than a month has in common, they weren't afraid to sing.

Now if you can add some weight and soul behind that voice and make it powerful, I'm putty. Like if Kelly Clarkson walked in right now and started singing, my marriage would be in danger.

itty53, 3 days ago

@davidho

If it were racism you would expect new tariffs on South Korean cars too, right? None to see.

You can start jumping through logical hoops to paint it as racist but there's plenty of evidence to support exactly what Biden said, it's protecting markets. A very specific market no less, contrasting to Trump's blanket tariffs against Chinese anything.

China shipped 3x the number of EVs to Europe last year than South Korea shipped any kind of car to the US. China shipped over 4 million EVs to Europe, SK shipped just over a million cars total. They're flooding the markets in Europe so much that ports are becoming parking lots. Those cars aren't going to get bought, and China is going to leave Europe to deal with them as trash.

itty53, 5 days ago

@RickiTarr

Some prog metal for the list ...

Animals as Leaders - Physical Education

https://youtu.be/0jpOBd949O4

itty53, 6 days ago

@Alice

Plot twist: the guy on live journal was @KevBot.

itty53, 6 days ago

@MyWoolyMastadon @RickiTarr

The problem is one of goals. What we think of as the goals of educators at large are just falsehoods. To be clear many educators are just as taken by these falsehoods themselves.

To the layperson who believed all the propaganda they were taught, schools are for education of the free thinking human. That's what "liberal" relates to in "liberal arts" - "what free humans know". It's what we call the basic degree.

Education hasn't been about that for well over a hundred years though. Modern education systems began in the late 19th century - you might note how that aligns with the industrial age of tycoons and industrial robber barons. That's not a coincidence. In the creation of the public school system of Bavaria - the model which America and the rest of the Western world now uses - the goals were shifted quite dramatically.

Now, to the education department and the State which runs it, education is primarily and explicitly about continuity of the work force. It's not about teaching free people how to think. It's about training the next generation of laborers for the labor class. One needs look no further than the proliferation of STEM classes since the late 90s to realize this. There's nothing freeing about learning to program. Nothing at all. In fact as a professional programmer for going on two decades I can say very confidently: the best of us didn't go to school for it. We taught ourselves.

I can't say this hard enough, STEM classes aren't about science they're just vocations. STEM schools are vocational schools.

Now I'm not dogging on students here. Individuals can still utilize education for the purposes of freedom, but institutions are built and stacked against that. You go into a STEM major and you'll come out with your degrees and certifications and you'll still be a new programmer, wet behind the ears, can't finish a project to save your life, AND we're gonna have to teach you how to think for yourself - because all those STEM classes didn't.

As capitalism takes a stronger grasp on our state institutions, the two goals become more and more mutually exclusive. In a capitalist world you aren't free, you are beholden to the insurance industry, the real estate industry, the agriculture industry, the banking industry, the automotive industry, and many more. And whenever you see someone still living free despite all that, the capitalist world at large shifts to shame them, falling back to their ancient tool of control.

itty53, 6 days ago

@tantramar @courtcan @Alice

Like it does in an Italian last name you're afraid to mispronounce, the G is silent.

itty53, 7 days ago

@fmhilton @RickiTarr

I don't know why but this made me think of an old skit on the Drew Carey show. They're arguing with some regulator, played by David Cross, about nudity laws.

Ryan Stiles is all in a huff and says "look! you're born naked and you die naked, end of story!"

David Cross's character replies, "you don't die naked"

Stiles says "well if you plan it right you do!"

itty53, 7 days ago

@Alice

Thats actually a very relatable and hilarious way to say, "where can I find a corded power drill, and no I don't need the fancy impact driver."

itty53, 7 days ago

@RufusJCooter @GrimmReality

"Now Pramela, I know it's scary in that there witness box, but, t'aint no need to fear ME.... B-GOCK!"

"Aahhhh!!"

"I'm sorry, I thought you was corn. Now .."

• Matcluck, the Chicken Lawyer.

It's not the smartest joke, there's nothing clever about it, but that line for me is the very height of the absurdist comedy Futurama does best.

itty53, 7 days ago

@GrimmReality @RufusJCooter

He only gets named in a deleted scene in one of the movies, Into the Wild Green Yonder. Which I'm fine with because "the hyperchicken" is honestly a funnier name.

itty53, 7 days ago

@GrimmReality @RufusJCooter

Had the DVD collection once upon a time, back when the only media I had to watch was DVDs. I think you nailed it with the Devils Hands episode, that's up there with the best ones they've ever written for sure.

itty53, 8 days ago

@renwillis

Oh I have a small tweak to this.

This isn't "unfortunate" for Target and Target is not the victim here.

> “Unfortunately for Target, it has been dragged into the culture wars and is in a position where it can’t win whatever it does,” he said.

It's not Target this is unfortunate for. It's the LGBTQA+ community. Target wasn't "dragged into the culture wars," they want to sell to both sides. Imagine Ford claiming they were "dragged into the culture wars" during WWII. Same energy.

itty53, 8 days ago

@RickiTarr

I live in Fresno, Central California, which is also as red as can be. It's like little Texas out here.

Pros: four hour drive to the beach or a snow capped mountain, and anything in between. Less than an hour flight to Vegas. Good weather all year round. The freshest food in the world. State laws are sane and lots of safety nets for people.

Cons: Republicans everywhere in the Central Valley, this is big Republican area. I live in Nunes' old district. Cops are notorious for overstepping. Even the former police chief is now a popular mayor and he's been accused of murdering a whistleblower cop in his past. Like "dude reported to the psychologist he was going to confront the chief and wound up dead across the street from the chief's house the next morning". This city has big skeletons. It's also a common testing ground of every new police technology you can think of. Spy Central.

itty53, 8 days ago

@vincent @RickiTarr @HumToTable

California's politics are often painted as extremely blue and progressive, but it really isn't. There's more conservatives per square foot. Reagan was California's governor, Schwarzenegger was a Republican too. Don't let his demeanor fool you either, the guy was installed by Enron to get them off the hook and they managed to fuck themselves over before they could call him in for support. He got off scot free from his obligation to them, but he was all about that money.

The thing is though, California represents the millionaire end of the conservative spectrum. Farmers and ranchers aren't the salt of the earth fat guy in overalls. Here they're centi-millionaires who own thousands of acres of premium land, with sprawling compounds next to those owned by the tech bros. And don't forget oil. California isn't loud about it but we produce a shit ton of the stuff. Same money, same politics behind it.

California's politics are best described as liberal capital. Sure there's a couple dumb racists who put up Trump flags on their sorry run-down properties they've lived on for decades. A few pockets of sundown towns up in the mountains, all with an awful reputation and no reason to travel there.

But back when Nunes was running for reelection, you saw thousands of signs for him. You see thousands of signs for Republicans. Democrats claw out victories here and there in the big metro areas but the state certainly doesn't hand it to them on a platter like the rest of America and all the media would have you believe.

itty53, 9 days ago

@RickiTarr

It is most definitely coconut curry.

Doritos wasn't about to try to sell curry flavor to Americans as "curry" flavor. Hence "mystery flavor". Their marketing teams aren't racist, they're just not stupid, and they know a lot of Americans are.

itty53, 9 days ago

@Snowshadow @TonyStark

I'll admit there's a difference, Elon Musk is to other billionaires as billionaires are to us, but I'm also not going to accept that any reference to "the billionaires" is inherently antisemitic. That's ridiculous and anyone trying to say "oh you can't refer to the billionaires because that's antisemitic" is either a useful idiot or in on the heist.

Fact is no one ever earned a billion dollars. They only get a billion dollars by manipulating government funding, exploiting labor, and exploiting the environment. So trusting any billionaire when they tell you they're trying to achieve good is a fools errand. They're not. They didn't get where they are by being good people.

There are no good billionaires. There's only awful and less awful.

The venn diagram of people who want to attain and maintain that level of wealth and people who care about what's best for humanity and the planet is two separate circles which never intersect.

itty53, 9 days ago

@Snowshadow @TonyStark

Oh I read it. I also looked at the phrases they highlighted for reference. "The billionaires" being one.

There's something INCREDIBLY ironic in assuming all references to "the billionaires" is code for Jewish and thereafter calling those who say billionaire antisemitic. That's Orwellian levels of irony.

itty53, 13 days ago

@GrimmReality

Not a drinker anymore but you've reminded me to eat tacos today and for that, I thank you.

itty53, 13 days ago

@goinfawr @GreenFire @lednaBM

The irony here is this very post wasn't made in response to anyone, it was just an atheist shouting to the void, "see, Hemingway agrees with me".

The very existence of forums and groups dedicated to atheism runs counter to that argument.

But alright 🙂

itty53, 13 days ago

@Gustodon

I made the comment elsewhere, religions have a spectrum of gods. Not all were as "godlike" as you're thinking. Plenty of humans alive and dead believe they've encountered gods of all sorts. You can argue they're all liars or crazy but you'd be doing yourself a huge disservice.

itty53, 13 days ago

@goinfawr @GreenFire @lednaBM

I have never, not one time here on fedi, gotten a post across my feed that told me I was stupid or even misguided for not being of a particular religion. It hasn't happened even one time and I looked up hashtags, I follow some Christians apparently. Some Muslims too. Probably other believers I'm sure, and atheists as well.

I have gotten hundreds of posts on my feed saying basically that, just, because I'm not an atheist. They direct their vitriol to anyone who isn't an atheist simply in the words they choose. Look at this very thread for a clear example, go all the way back to the top.

To be fair, most of them came from this one user, they're a particularly immature person. But certainly not all of em.

Just compare hashtags. #Christian vs #atheism vs whatever else you choose. There's ten times as much atheist chatter than there is Christian chatter.

itty53, 13 days ago

@goinfawr @GreenFire @lednaBM

Over the years yes, I have had numerous people attempt to persuade me to become an atheist when they learned I wasn't already, in person, even some who've come into my home - although they likely didn't come over specifically to do that. They probably came by to drink or get high, we get to chatting and there you have it.

But sure, they probably knocked when they got there. Wasn't some huge offense or argument though. Similarly it's never been a huge offense or argument when a Jehovah's witness knocked. Know why? Because neither started making base attacks at me and others like me for disagreeing.

Hasn't happened recently, though, that's probably because I'm not having so many people over anymore like I was in my twenties. When I do we certainly don't waste time discussing all the things we don't like or don't agree with.

itty53, 13 days ago

@goinfawr @GreenFire @lednaBM

Not change the subject into something else entirely?

Unless you can mathematically prove that no being a human might look to as a god can possibly exist? You can't, though you can certainly try. You'd not be the first to make the attempt, but I'm sure millions if not billions of lives would be altered.

If, you know, this was as simple as 2+2=4. Which it's not. And you know that. What a waste of time.

itty53, 13 days ago

@goinfawr @GreenFire @lednaBM

All that demonstrates to me is the tendency for people to call those they disagree with "stupid" or somehow otherwise lacking is a really old one.

So, coming back from that sharp deviation from the question: Are you saying you can or can't reason gods can't exist through math?