Troy

This is why often your arguments become flawed, no one is talking about arbitrary figures stop setting up straw men. Again, you’re arguing semantics. Your definition of unemployment is not the same as the numbers released by the government because of all the things that you described. There are a variety of reasons why they count the number of unemployed people the way that they do. it doesn’t mean that the data are useless. It’s just not reporting what you understand as the number of people who are unemployed. still, we are left with the fact that you have no idea what the percentage of unemployed people are the best you can do is used to date that you have available account for any discrepancies that you feel are in the data than come up with the rough estimate, but again without the data all you can do is pull numbers out of your ass Well here too it depends. For example, you have no clue based upon your personal observations how many people are in the United States right now. In fact, no one knows exactly how many people are here. There’s a census taken every 10 years and that gives us a pretty good estimate. far better than any of us could Divine from walking around and making our own observations. no one not even the US government asserts that that census data are 100% accurate. Using your logic then it’s false and let’s just throw it out because it’s not a fact. But the reality is the number is good enough to do what we need to do with it in most cases.

I’m old enough to remember the 5 and dime stores. As a child my recollection was that the stores were a bit more classy than the dollar tree brand

Maybe I will check out the dollar tree store here in Tampa. They are everywhere. I have driven all over the country and what I find surprising is that you can find a Dollar Tree in rural areas on country roads seemingly popping up out of nowhere. Dollar Trees are to the boondocks as bodegas are to ghettos.

I did catch Maher's show immediately after his Trump visit. He seemed defensive in trying to justify the visit. I wanted to tell Bill: "Who cares? You rich white guys got to sit in a room and circle jerk each other for a few hours on the taxpayer's dime -- good for you." Look if I was invited to the White House I would not hesitate to go. But I would not dupe myself into thinking that I was just trying to "talk to the other side" or be naive enough to think I would have any impact on policy. @aka Contrarian is this the GenZ bit you were referring to?

We discuss this from time to time. Of course, your observations can be manipulated. The oft cited problem with "eyewitness" testimony is reflective of this. Of course, data can be presented in a misleading way or simply misinterpreted, but data beats anecdotes. Perhaps but that is a different argument. Lying whether it is in an anecdote or data is useless for increasing understanding. If you understand what is being counted, then you can derive reasonable and logical conclusions from the data. In terms of unemployment how would your personal observations be superior to understanding any aspect of unemployment?

No, not yet.

Or a Black Mirror episode Perhaps, but not as many -- certainly not as many Americans. There is always downward pressure on wages which is way this stuff is off shored.

I think universal basic income is a possible solution perhaps the only one. You’re only gonna need so many plumbers and electricians. Basically all office jobs will become obsolete. If it wasn’t for you, humans on this discussion forum this website could potentially be obsolete in a couple of years. even this discussion forum is not really safe. You can have a perfectly reasonable conversation with an AI today so even this discussion form faces an existential threat from AI. i’m sure we lock up a higher percentage of a population than El Salvador. While locking up, people does create jobs and reduces unemployment (I don’t think those incarcerated are counted as unemployed in the stats), you can only lock up so many people before the pitch forks come out.

I'll check out one episode of Beyond the Gates for the eye candy ('cause soaps's ain't my thing). Right now, I'm watching Black Mirror which I really enjoy After watching the trailer the soap seems like a parody, more fun drama and serious drama. Am I miss reading it @aka Contrarian?

Probably our kids. The world is changing very rapidly. My kids have seen the number of genders go from 2 to 8. Technology is advancing the a rate faster than anytime in the past 2 thousand years. Religion is in a state of flux. Meanwhile the society is becoming more secular without filling the void left once filled by religion (spirituality, fellowship, a moral code, etc.). Yes, that is what the data tells us. Infant mortality was much higher, but even if you control for that people are living longer more robust lives. Again, yes. People used to die from all kinds of diseases we have vaccinees for today. Speaking of vaccines, here is a result of our world being more confusing. Estimates are that roughly 300,000 more American died from Covid because of vaccine hesitancy! I not so sure about that; assuming a normal distribution around an arithmetic mean (average). Half the people would be above average and half would be below. But I don't know if it is a normal distribution. It could skew where there are more people with above average IQs... Perhaps. We reached a point where people could pursue vocations for things that they enjoyed doing rather that benefited society, artists, musicians, philosophers, writers, poets, building Black book websites Today STEM is no guarantee of gainful employment in the long term. Chat GPI today is better at the programming of an entry level programmer and is on the trajectory to be better than ANY human programmer. We need to figure how to run a country where large swaths of the population are simply unneeded in the work force.

Image that she was bald or had wisps of hair like Yoda, would it really make a difference. That is a better question. I would give the nod to Eartha Kitt Eartha in Boomerang was 65 (assuming my math is right), but comparing the looks of a celebrity in 1992 to one 30+ years later is unfair -- Gayle has FAR more tools than Eartha had at her disposal to improve her appearance.

Answering @Pioneer1 question on a different level; society is indeed too complicated. Upon further reflection this response adds some nuance to my initial reaction. We have created technology that has poisoned our environment to the point that microplastics can be found everywhere on Earth including most animals. We have likely reached a point where climate change will make the planet largely unsuitable for the creatures currently inhabiting the planet -- including ourselves. We have allowed social platforms and podcasts to facilitate the election of politicians completely unsuited for office --putting our country and the world at risk We have created a technology that may, in our lifetimes, reach sentience, decide it does not want us around, and gets rid of us. We are smart enough to build amazing technology, but too stupid and greedy to know how to use it to do anything but enrich a few people but not improve humanity over the long term.

Yes, society is increasingly complex, but we seem to adapt. Most people my parents age never engaged with technology, however, people, my kids, age and younger, took to technology it like fish to water. Compared to the past things so much easier we have a lot more free time and can do a lot more with that time. In the past, we spent a great deal more time just providing for our basic needs washing clothes, and securing and preparing food took a lot more time and energy in the past. Tiday we can just open up an app and have someone else do it — relatively cheaply. Obviously advances of medicine have led to more comfortable and longer lifespans Net-net, despite the proliferation of increasingly complex, passwords and challenges to log into things, collectively we are all better off.

Doofus lol!

both can be true — and probably are.

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I think it matters than Kristi was depicted as standing in front of the men in the cubbies when she was not. We know we are being misinformed here. It may be people trying to game the algorithm for views, but it is more likely there is a narrative being pushed and the people doing are clearly not above misinforming us to accomplish this goal. I just now watched the video and I did not see the image with the guys in the cubbies.

@Chevdove that stores appears to have been rebranded since I left. It is not really funny because they are often the most virulent of racists. I'm not suprised...

@Chevdove that stores appears to have been rebranded since I left.

Man, I really have to proofread what I write. The quoted text was not what I meant to write. Anywho... @Chevdove I can guarantee you that the baton was hollow and as light as your cell phone. Anything is possible, but obviously I think a concussion was highly unlike, but what do I know. We will have to agree to disagree on this one

Yeah this portion of the shot is from AP pic, so I trust it is legit. What I was not buying where the men in the cubbies on the right. At a minimum they posed a security risk to Kristi. As you can see the AP image was changed. Obviously, it was done to manipulate the viewer's impression. I'd go as far to say that you cannot trust must of the video on YouTube. Just look at the tiles that show up in your feed. They are obviously crafted to get your engagement and content creators fed that algorithm. Doctored images get more engagement than real ones.

Yes, that was what I intended to write. I did not say gay was a mental disorder anymore than I said musical genius was. I was trying to give you examples, of characteristics one is very born with. I did not say you can look at a newborn and tell they’re a genius or gay or athletically on musically talented. Why go to the extreme? all I’m saying is that we are born with these talents or deficiencies. However, they may not begin to present themselves until we are older … obviously. It is not surprising that a professional singers child can also sing. Again the ability to sing well is an inherited talent. Sure, you can teach some people to sing well enough to carry a tune, but the Mariah Carey’s, Jesse Norman’s Whitney Houston’s. Aretha Franklins… Those people are born. It is a good thing you got off Meta if you stayed there long enough, it’ll have you believing that everybody can have their three-year-olds doing middle school math The data seem to indicate that many fifth graders can’t do fifth grade math. maybe those teachers need to go on Facebook and watch those videos too, huh?

OK, I still don’t believe that’s an actual photo. Maybe I’m cynical. Send me a link to where you grabbed it. I’m curious enough to look into it.

Well they can be hollow and solid well, what was the their on the video. do they think it’s possible that the girl got a concussion? Have they seen anything worse and imagine they have and I bet it didn’t make the national news. yeah, we boycotted the 1980 Olympics. There was a brother from the Bronx who was supposed to be on that team.. Do you think women are born that way or is it the result of patriarchy? Just messing with Mel

Thise are some interesting questions @Pioneer1, not the first ones that come to my mind. @ProfD I don't believe that is a real photo of Kirsti inside a lock up. Perhaps it is a photo of her superimposed upon a scene of imprisoned men, but who knows where that image came from?