oblong

52 minutes ago, antrat said:

I just can't believe that even a lot of his voters wanted this madness. Every ****ing day something awful happening. Dementia Don ranting on Truth Social at three in the morning.

They don’t want it for themselves. But the #1 requirement to be a trump voter is lack of empathy. So who cares if others are hurt. They’ll be fine.  They won’t lose their farms or businesses over tariffs. The Chinese will pay for it. 

I could see cases where he gets the DoD to seize ballots and once that happens…. All bets are off. We will have elections like Russia does.  There will be a declared winner but the accuracy will be in doubt. 

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

I’m with you on zero credit card debt. I’ve practically never carried any, training myself to avoid it by carrying Amex charge cards instead of interest-charging credit cards, and going without instead of going into debt. It’s been good training for managing my spending during retirement.

I have only one credit card, a high-quality Chase bank card, and again, I pay it off every month like a charge card and pay zero interest. I use the card for (1) convenience; (2) points (cash value of 1% of spend); (3) benefits like automatic warranty extensions; (4) protections in situations like travel and car rentals mishaps; and (5) running interference against dodgy vendors trying to screw me out of refunds, and I did so just this week against the streamer Britbox, which offers zero human contact on their side.

I don’t know how much longer Chase and the majors are going to provide these advantages, since the more powerful and concentrated industries become the less customer service they feel compelled to offer, but I’m going to take advantage of them while I can.

I would advise anyone to read the benefits guide that comes out with their credit cards at least annually and get familiar with what they are and when to leverage them.

I have a lot of friends and peers who retired recently so it’s a common topic. I have a few more years but I recognize time flies.  I’ve started making changes. One friend told me “you don’t realize how much you piss away when you are working”. He meant it as “it’s easier than you think”.  The hardest part will be keeping my wife still. Today’s a good example.  It’s cold. Nothing going on. It’s ok to just be home all day. But she has this restless need to “be productive” which I counter with “yeah but that usually means spending money”.    I once suggested we watch a show but she couldn’t wrap her head around doing something like that in the afternoon.  Like we are being lazy.  We worked all week.  It’s ok.  

The rollout of the SLS for Artemis II to launch pad 39B

You could with a 10% penalty. 

He has a limited shelf life.  They all do.  Why give up one of his great years?

If we are being honest, how good do you think he'll be in 2029 and 2030?

1 hour ago, romad1 said:

Speaking of Virginia, the Gadsden license plate has to go.   Just noticed in the parking lot that one of my buddies from grad school has one.   I'm much less likely to call him now.  I like that it tells you who is a knucklehead but I also don't like them flying their freak flag so conspicuously.   

They've really thwarted the meaning, right?

Sam Seaborn had one in his office on The West Wing.

5 hours ago, StrangeBird said:

If I recall correctly, some sort of statement regarding improper use of AI was incorporated into our university’s academic honesty policy. But other than that, it’s up to each instructor to decide how much to allow AI in the classroom, or whether to allow it at all. My school’s president has encouraged us to try to find ways to use AI in the classroom.

Many of my colleagues, including at other schools, are very anti-AI and completely ban it. I see its value and usefulness, so I’ve tried to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI for student work. It’s an ongoing process.

Last semester, I tried an assignment requiring students to engage in a philosophical dialogue with ChatGPT, using a specially designed prompt. Overall, the dialogues weren’t as interesting as I’d hoped, but maybe it’s something I will try again in the future.

I'm not an educator but it seems to me like the right path is to figure out your approach.  It's not going anywhere.  

2 hours ago, guy incognito said:

You really don’t want to know what I hope happens to certain people.

 

I bet every person who issued a threat has a cross or Bible version in their  social media bios. 

A kick.

Yes, because these ICE folks are doing nazi stuff. 

This isn't that complicated.  Smart people get it.

Not sure if this has been brought up here but McCosky had a thing in the News saying that the Tigers were prepared to negotiate  on a deal, that the $19M was their first offer but Boras "shut that down" and was only interested in going to arbitration.  He says that's why they filed $19M but I think the reasons outlined earlier in this thread are more true.  Of course I'm not sure where his sources come from.

What interests me more about this story is the unwillingness to negotiate a deal.  

Fighting nazis is noble.

Good for them.

Anybody who still works for ICE is a nazi who deserves whatever happens to them.

29 minutes ago, romad1 said:

Which of the 1989 endings does Trump want for himself 

• Tiananmen Square (military crackdown which succeeds - likely because strong internal borders and no opposition to the PRC army)
• Romania (failed crackdown which resulted in execution of the dictator and wife)
• Poland, Hungary, East Germany (more or less peaceful color revolutions which resulted in the former leaders leaving the scene with some degree of truth and reconciliation for former regime elements)
• Yugoslavia (a decade of ethnic warfare/ethnic cleansing because regime fractured)

I know which one I want.  And make sure you film it this time.

46 minutes ago, romad1 said:

Was just doing a webinar on AI and project management.  Two bullets stood out: 

• Hallucinations are a real problem
• Sycophancy is a real problem. 

Telling you only what you want to hear is not usually a good strategy for successful outcomes. 

I think about this kind of thing a lot with regard to media/entertainment in general.  For the last 20 years or so as we've moved into an On Demand reality.  We watch and listen and consume that which we've specifically asked for.  Movies, music, TV shows..... I think that's messed with our brains.  Sometimes its good to be bored and pushed things because that's your only choice.

This was crazy.  Can’t blame the forecasters. Everyone got it wrong. It reminds me of the rain we got on  Oct 7, my birthday.  The Tiger playoff game.  Alll day long it was supposed to stop anytime.  It didn’t. 
 

I had a Tiger event downtown and driving home it looks like nothing was touched yet. Even 94 was 30 mph.  

6 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

The same as the Tigers surge in '24 wouldn't have been possible without the Twins collapse?

yes.  They went 9-18 in September, in addition to losing 4 of 5 to close out August.  That's what makes these kinds of things so remarkable.

I've always defended the 2009 Tigers a bit for their "collapse".  MN went insane that year to end the year while The Tigers merely lost 4 of 5.  They were 16-12 in September.  THat's not a collapse.  Its a mediocre baseball team.

It's all about the psychological mindset of fans.  When a team does well in the beginning fans are conditioned to think "Well, this is the team.  They're good.  We have a good team.  Yay!"  Then when that team doesn't play so well they're "chokers".  If they start off not playing well they're not a good team.  Then they finish strong and they are "Gamers" and have "character" and are "clutch" and "scrappy".

Reminds me of the Bill Burr bit about swearing and referring to race/nationality.  Black people had the genius idea to put the curse word after the description. 

A white person says "I'm just sitting there eating and this ******** Asian walks in..." 

"Hey hey... take it easy... what's the matter with you??"

A black person says "I'm just sitting there eating and this Asian ******* walks in...."  

"You don't even hear it...  So many careers could have been saved if we'd just put the curse word after".

So for mediocre teams that barely make the playoffs... win later, not before. 

3 hours ago, chasfh said:

We are maybe weeks away from seeing agents punching and stomping people they pull out of cars into unconsciousness or death, and also, ripping cameras and phones from nearby people, smashing them, and beating those people to a bloody pulp, too.

The biggest danger is that we simply get used to seeing it and then just tune it out. Then it’ll just be Katie bar the door.

Don't worry.  We've got our "well regulated militia" standing by to fight tyranny.  Right?

That's what they promised.

14 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I'll remember 2024 more than 2025.  2024 was the most unexpected and remarkable comeback I have ever seen and I hope it does not get forgotten.  The 2025 collapse was really bad, but it's not as memorable because they still made the playoffs at the end.  

Especially since they beat the team that overtook them at the end

16 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

The Tigers divisional collapse of 2025 will be discussed for generations. Any time a team loses a division lead, it will be compared to the 2025 Detroit Tigers.

 

Do you realize that post is as much about Cleveland as it is Detroit?

They surged more than the Tigers collapsed.

1 minute ago, chasfh said:

So, blame Harris 100% for the collapse and give zero credit for the comeback? Got it. Hey, people agree with you.

he's just a college boy more concerned about his haircut and quarter zips than baseball.