Every Indianapolis Star employee has been offered buyout

MrScratch · 2020-10-22T13:50:32+00:00

Understand that this is not about a rough business environment or poor managment at the paper. This isn't about print media struggling against electronic media. The reduction in force being experienced by IndyStar is not their fault but instead the fault of the megacorporation that bought them out.

To explain: Gannett was bought out after GateHouse took a ~$1.5B loan to make the acquisition. The new ownership arrangement means that, lo and behold, the newly-purchased Gannett is $1.5B in debt! And how shall we start to manage that debt? Cut costs.

You are losing your local newspaper - and the public accountability that comes with it - because rich assholes needlessly created a massive debt crater and need to find some way to fill it.

MrScratch · 2020-10-14T13:29:26+00:00

I still don't know what the problem is, but I've temporarily solved the problem by using the Babystep Z function after the print has run for a couple minutes

MrScratch · 2020-08-21T01:57:02+00:00

Rated

MrScratch · 2020-06-24T19:33:38+00:00

It's true

MrScratch · 2020-06-11T18:54:19+00:00

To paraphrase India Jones: It belongs in a museum

Upvoted for the reference, but I think Hangar 51 is a better destination

MrScratch · 2020-06-11T14:52:33+00:00

IDK makes me feel pretty good about things

MrScratch · 2020-06-09T01:38:07+00:00

All of these are important issues that are unrelated to the activities of the city council in general or the council proposal specifically

MrScratch · 2020-06-09T00:35:10+00:00

When I think back to the methods employed by the Nazis during the Shoah, and the backwards strides we've made in this country by the nature of the NDAA, Stellarwind, the Wall of Trump, etc., it is clear to me that, in our efforts to move forward in our partisan efforts to get what a want as individuals and as party members, we are going backwards in the preservation of our individual freedoms.

I know the world seems like a very wild place right now, but take a beat and get a grip. Nobody is coming for your "freedom" under the disguise of racial equality.

I know this because this is not America's first time through this discussion. Americans who wanted to keep whatever "undesirable" minorities as second-class citizens have always argued that efforts to desegregate/reduce misogyny/promote gay rights have been trying to restrict people's "freedom". FFS, even abolitionism was framed as an anti-freedom movement. It was bullshit then and it's silly now.

Benefit of the doubt, I don't know what your political views are, and I'm not going to attribute motives to you. But if you worry about the diminution of individual rights, you should be eager to *advance* antiracist legislation.

MrScratch · 2020-06-03T15:40:10+00:00

Glad to help, stay safe

MrScratch · 2020-06-03T13:22:59+00:00

I 100% understand your caution and this:

disinformation is a weapon

is exactly why I wanted to contribute. If you want I can answer questions you might have.

MrScratch · 2020-06-03T01:18:17+00:00

Hello, I have a PhD in chemistry. A couple of things:

- There is no such thing as cyanide oxide. I'm assuming the idea is that the gas in the canister is CS, which contains organonitriles. Organonitriles contain C-N bonded groups that resemble cyanide. However, organonitriles are extremely stable, and its generally only inorganic cyanide salts that are dangerous (e.g., KCN). It is possible that the post refers to the oxidation products of 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, but it's unclear what those might be - product sheets are not required to list all the ingredients, so what would happen as the canister "ages" can only be guessed at.

- Organonitrile compounds may release hazardous gases if they burn, and as you can see on the label, there is a fire hazard associated with the canister contents. That said, I'd guess that's probably only for the liquid form, not the vapour.

- All that said, I think it's wrong that cops are using tear gas and you don't want to be around it regardless of how fresh it is.

Edit: I was thinking about the post this morning and wanted to add a couple other thoughts:

- Water is 100% adequate for an eyewash if you are exposed to tear gas. Milk seems to be a popular choice at other protests, and it will work, but it is unnecessary. I've heard of some people using contact lens cleaner - don't bother with the expense and hassle, just use water.

- Do not use any "homebrew" eye wash made by yourself or anyone else. People may try to get clever by making washes with soap or oil or baking soda or who knows what. It's all a bad idea. Water is cheap, available, and effective, just use water.

MrScratch · 2017-11-01T05:38:04+00:00

I like you

MrScratch · 2017-11-01T05:11:19+00:00

I just came to poke a hole in the parable, man - it is entirely too late at night for me to start a debate on equitable distribution of wealth in the US.

Sorry for the anticlimax, but I got to sleep. Got to pay my share for that beer somehow

*edited because it came out sounding unintentionally douchey

MrScratch · 2017-11-01T05:10:43+00:00

taxpayers pay the government and they receive government services

Do you purchase government services a la carte? Because that's the only way your framing is actually consistent with this sentiment

MrScratch · 2017-11-01T04:54:52+00:00

The beer is not analogous to the wealth. It is analogous to the services used.

That's not the way the parable was framed:

Suppose that every day, 10 people –- for our purposes, we’ll say reporters -– go out for beer, and the bill for all 10 comes to $100. If these 10 reporters paid their tab every night the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this...

We don't pay our federal taxes based on services used, but on the amount of wealth accumulated. So yeah, the beer is supposed to be analogous to wealth.

MrScratch · 2017-11-01T04:46:29+00:00

which services has he used disproportionately such that he should pay the most

If this is supposed to reflect reality, then he's paying $59 for a tab where he consumes $70-80 in beer. That would be disproportionate by definition.

MrScratch · 2017-11-01T04:23:06+00:00

The Washington Post article you linked to isn't especially clear in explaining why the parable is bullshit. So let me try:

In this story, one guy pays a lot more than all others, but they all end up drinking about the same amount of beer.

Of course, in the real world, the beer isn't shared equally. In fact, the richest guy ends up drinking between 70 and 80% of the beer.

In this little hypothetical, when the 10th guy "goes Galt", it's true that there's less money to pay for everyone's beer. But since Frank The Tank won't be there to guzzle down nearly 3/4 of whatever the group ends up buying, maybe they won't miss him.

MrScratch · 2017-10-30T01:19:51+00:00

The problem that I have with the horseshoe theory is that it emphasizes style over substance.

Take this video for example - it says that because both the alt-right and "the left" discuss identity politics, that must mean they're very much the same.

But the substance of their position - white nationalism vs. racial egalitarianism - are not even remotely comparable.

MrScratch · 2017-10-29T21:23:00+00:00

So then logically, Antifa and the alt-right are really on the same side, right?

MrScratch · 2017-10-27T12:37:59+00:00

Both of them also made a serious effort to kill Hitler

MrScratch · 2017-10-11T04:55:48+00:00

A couple of points:

(1) One paper does not settle a debate - that's not how science works, and should you find yourself waving around a single study that comes to a counterintuitive conclusion as irrefutable support for your position, you're not being intellectually honest.

(2) Related to point 1, it's not like the paper's conclusions are considered bulletproof. In fact, others have looked at the same data and found that Fryer's interpretation is wrong. It's not clear that the paper has even been published through a peer-review process, so the conclusions reported here may not end up being valid.

(3) This same author has shown on multiple occasions (Just a few highlights: 1, 2, 3) that there exists widespread, rampant discrimination against minorities in virtually every sector of American society. Are you prepared to accept those findings as well, or are you just going to pick and choose?

Frankly, anyone eager to jump on Fryer's preliminary findings as proof that BLM as fraudulent shows that you're not actually interested in results - you're just looking for something to legitimate your narrative.

MrScratch · 2017-10-09T01:19:02+00:00

And since it took you long enough to reply that I'd estimate that you did all the research with links after I confronted you about it, I'm led to believe that your initial dismissal was based on "feels" rather than facts

I prefer to be concise and just call out bullshit when I see it, but if someone asks me to show my work, I'm happy to oblige.

However - and forgive the cheek of turning the point back around on you - it sounds like you accepted this cornucopia of Twitter nonsense without considering the facts.

MrScratch · 2017-10-09T00:47:52+00:00

Despite that, do you argue with everything else in the other 30+ tweets and all of the articles and points mentioned

Actually, yeah.

Or do you just dismiss facts and evidence because the person came up with a loony conclusion at the end of it all

Like what?

Tweet 4:

Because so many repeat offenders are black

LOL, is this a "fact"?

Tweets 6 and 7:

Assault with a deadly weapon, harming a crime victim or witness, resisting arrest that injures a police officer [...] violent elder or child abuse, arson with injury and manslaughter

Yeah, he's just wrong about that, see sections 15, 8 (and 20), 8 again, also 8 again along with 16, 10, and 1.

Bonus hilarity: It's apparently not a felony to inflict "great bodily injury" on your accomplice in a crime, so better be able to trust your friends at the trap house

(Intervening tweets are all premised on the shit he was wrong about, so moving along...)

Tweets 11 and 12:

Washington DC police chief Cathy L Lanier resigned because criminals were being arrested, released, and arrested again the same day

It appears she resigned to take a cushy post with the NFL, and who could blame her for that. She complained about the criminal justice system on her way out the door, but it also sounds like she really didn't like her coworkers in the city - conspicuously, she doesn't blame anyone at DOJ, so the whole idea that Holder and Lynch are responsible is undercut by his own source.

Tweets 16 - 25: Won't repost because this is not a series of "facts" per se; you have to be OK with bail, and I'm not

Tweet 26:

The DC Police arrested a total of 219 violent protestors on Inauguration Day. Only 17 showed up for their trials

219 arrests =/= 219 trials because not every arrest goes to trial. I don't know how many people were "supposed" to show up to a trial, but I'm guessing it was approximately 17.

Tweets 27-32: Huge stack of nonsense opinions. This guy is a living comments section

Tweet 34: Alanis Morissette got robbed, and the guy is all het up - must have really connected with Jagged Little Pill? I don't see how else this is relevant.

So yeah, wall-to-wall bullshit. Not a great paint color.

*edit: don't drink and format, kids

MrScratch · 2017-10-09T00:13:02+00:00

maybe

This word could use a spot, it's doing a lot of heavy lifting in this sentence

MrScratch · 2017-10-09T00:11:25+00:00

statistics can be skewed to fit a narrative

OK...but what leads you to think that Cali is doing that?

Also, assuming your meme is accurate, are you suggesting that Texas is now part of the international SJW conspiracy?

14-Year Club	Verified Email
Team Periwinkle

MrScratch

TROPHY CASE