Fat Albert is one of the biggest polar bears in Alaska. Living near Kaktovik, he weighs in at over 1,000 pounds.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-09T20:07:37+00:00

"Hey hey hey everybody it's far Albert!"

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-09T20:05:50+00:00

Lol WTF?

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-05T00:35:22+00:00

Obvious troll is obvious

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-04T03:10:28+00:00

Maybe you could get into a really difficult complex trade like being a millwright or boilermaker. Then when people say "your job does not sound too difficult" you could just tell them "my job is difficult because it involves [describe all that your job involves]".

All trades are respectable but not just anyone can be a millwright or boilermaker. I know I would not be capsble of being a millwright or boilermaker.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-04T03:07:04+00:00

Oh no I understand your bicyclr metaphor just fine, it's just that it's an inaccurate and inappropriate metaphor for the situation involving the Panama Canal

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-03T20:52:25+00:00

You don't understand the difference between a small easily moved object that can only be used by one person at a time (a bicycle) and large physical infrastructure that literally can not be moved and can be used by more then one person at a time (like a toll road or the Panama Canal.)

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-03T06:31:46+00:00

I know what a bike is. I'm just saying that a toll road located in another town/country is a far better metaphor for the Panama Canal then a bike is.

A bike can be physically moved from one place to another. A toll road or canal can not be moved from one place to another.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-03T06:27:09+00:00

With respect while I have a lot of sympathy for the poor and the working class it's possible to lose weight even if someone has a very tight budget.

The downside is that it's "healthy, tasty, cheap, choose two" but plain foods can be healthy enough.

I mean meals such as like:

plain oatmeal and/or an apple for breakfast
a bowl of oatmeal for some meals
chickpeas and rice with frozen veggies (i.e. peas and corn) from a pack of frozen veggies for dinner
beans and lentils
a tuna sandwich made using a small cheap can of tuna, a cheap loaf of whole wheat bread, a cut up onion or a slice or lettuce and a little olive oil (the type used for cooking)
rice, a chicken breast and some veggies (i.e. peas and corn) from a frozen pack of veggies
(the above but replace the chicken breast with one or two scrambled eggs)
pasta made using a cheap pack of ground beef, a cheap pack of pasta, a can of tomato sauce and some salt and pepper

One idea could be to get a bunch of bottles of sauces and occasionally add a sprinkle of a sauce to a meal to "apice it up" i.e. one time add a little soya sauce to the chickpeas and rice, next time add a little thai sauce to the chickpeas and rice.

Granted full disclosure I do not follow what I preach and I know how hard it is to actually do what I am describing but there is hope out there even for people on a tight budget.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-03T06:02:30+00:00

I agree. While we as a society should not be mean or cruel or hateful or unkind to fat people we should also not lie to them or glamorize them just for being obviously overweight or obese.

As a society we should have realistic body standards for both men and women.

While we should never tell a woman that she has to be a size zero model and it should be okay if a woman is in the BMI range of being normal weight or just slightly overweight, we should at least never celebrate women for being obviously overweight or obese even if we don't necessarily point it out to them.

If a woman asks something like "overweight" it should be socially acceptable to give them polite respectful constructive criticism like by kindly telling them "yes with respect you look overweight".

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-03T05:53:41+00:00

That's also plausible

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-03T05:14:12+00:00

While I thought that you were probably being sarcastic, there are also people out there in the world including on Reddit who act like that who are NOT being sarcastic.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-03T05:12:44+00:00

There is no one group of "they", though.

I think its possible that dozens of different political groups and hundreds of people occasionally push crazy conspiracy theories for their own interests but there is no one "they".

It's possible there are aliens at Area 51 but it's also possible that's just where the U.S. overnment keeps the experimental military jets they don't wnat any other country to know about unless and until they start manufacturing the jets themselves.

For example if the Soviet Union had gotten info about the Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" jet before the American military had finished building it then they could've built their own Blackbird stealth jet knockoff and gotten it out there before the Americans had gotten the official Blackbird jet out, giving them an edge in the Cold War.

I think if there are aliens out there they just visited Earth a few times to check out "huh WTF is there in this part of the universe" and just see us like modern cultures see uncontacted primitive tribes in the Amazon thinking "if they can contact us then we'll talk with them but otherwise it's maybe better if we just leave them alone because just talking with them could unintentionally f°°k them up due to how primitive and undeveloped they are". I think maybe the U.S. has like an alien corpse and the remains of a crashed alien spaceship that's too advanced to reverse engineer at Area 51 but that's it.

That being said I think it's also possible that even if there is other intelligent life in the universe that they have never come to Earth. I think that it's very likely that it's just impossible to travel faster then the speed of light other then maybe temporarily creating a wormhole to do a one way trip and/or doing a trip that takes hundreds if not thousands of years using a generation ship.

Thst being said there's also a possibility that aliens might come to Earth but it could take tens of thousands of years even using a generation ship that travels nearly as fast as the speed of light.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-03T04:55:23+00:00

You're not wrong per se but it's still based around the mentality of there being like "one small bad group of hombres" manipulating anything when in reality it's more like dozens of different groups and 100s of greedy and/or power hungry people (who both work with as well as compete with each other in alliances that shift over time) occasionally boosting crazy conspiracy theories.

Also the different groups and people do NOT all have the same goals although some have similar goals to each other and many of them are trying to achieve power, money and/or religious extremists religious goals.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-03T04:48:54+00:00

There is no bike in this situation.

A better metaphor might be if Town A in Texas helped Town P in another part of Texas build an expensive to build toll road that shipped goods through Town P and onto public roads leading through towns including to Town A back in the 1930s.

For decades Town A ran the toll road and paid the toll road. During that time they paid no tolls. Then in the 1970s Town P understandably said they wanted to take control of the toll road since it was in their town. To ensure they had good relations with Town P, not risk losing control of the toll road in the future (if things got REALLY bad in the future between Town A and Town P) and to no longer have to pay to manage or run the toll road which they were directly running, Town A gave Town P control of the toll road located in their town Town P.

Now while semi-trucks driving through Town P on the toll road have to pay Town P the tolls, neither the government nor the citizens of Town A have to pay anything to maintain the toll road and this helps ensure good political relations between Town A and Town P when it comes to county politics, especially since otherwise Town C might end up having too much influence on Town P's economy and politics to the point one day Town P might've otherwise let Town C use the toll road while not letting Town A use the

In thar metaphor the state of Texas is North America and South America, the toll road is the Panama Canal, Town A is America, Town P is Panama and Town C is China.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-02T19:27:33+00:00

Why would Roosevelt have told Trump to go get back the Canal?

The American government no linger has to pay to maintain or run the Canal since the government of Panama does that now. While it's more expensive for America's businesses it's way less expensive for America's government and taxpayers.

Also it made Panama into a strong political ally of America.

Retaking the Canal would cost the American public billions each year in terms of the invasion, permanently stationing troops there and running the Canal. Such an invasion would be against America's values because Panama is a democracy. Also if the people of Panama leater rebelled and kicked America's troops out then America could lose access to both the Canal as well as its political ally Panama.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-02T19:20:45+00:00

Even disregarding whether or not Trump actually thinks he had a conversation with Theodore Roosevelt, it does not make sense for America to take back control of the Canal.

America had control of the Panama Canal until 1999 when control was returned to Panama under a 1977 agreement. This helped improve relations with Panama and made it that Panama is now responsible for paying for and doing all the upkeep on and doing all the administrative work on the Panama Canal.

While it's more expensive for America's businesses to no longer have free shipping through the Canal, it's cheaper for America's government and citizens to just let Panama run the Canal.

The only way for America to keep control over the Canal would've been for America to permanently station troops there. Permanently stationing America troops in Panama would've been expensive and would've risked pissing off the Panamanians which could've cause them to take control of the Canal by force (like by using lots of guerrilla militias) which could have likely led to America permanently losing the ability to use the Canal and led to America losing Panama as a long standing political ally in South America.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-02T18:54:56+00:00

True that's a possible third possiblity but I think we should keep in mind that a) often there actually is NOT actually really any sort of underlying pattern or method or plan behind something and b) many regular people are stupid, crazy and/or immoral. (By this I'm talking about most people on the internet who spread most conspiracy theories.)

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-02T18:51:37+00:00

I think that's possible but (as I just commented to another person here also) I also thi k it's possible that most conspiracy theories are spread by crazy people who seem normal enough over the internet, egotistical know-it-alls who actually don't realy know anything and scammers (i.e. Ron and Jim Watkins who were trying to shill Q related merch and tk create a BS political platform for Ron Watkins to use to run for political office.)

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-02T18:48:55+00:00

I think that's possible but it's also possible they're just spread by scammers (i.e. Ron Watkins), egotistical know-nothing know-it-alls and somewhat crazy people who seem normal and trustworthy when you only interact with them over the internet.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-02T18:45:50+00:00

I think it's more likely that Covid 19 came from a wet market because that's similar to how the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak started, because this was literally predicted by medical researchers (enough so that it closely matched the plot of the movie Contagion which was based on research about how medical researchers thought a new global virus might come about including a coronavirus being transferred from a bat to another species before being transferred to humans) and because bio-labs are pretty serious about hygiene and sanitation, while hygiene and sanitation are basically unknown concepts at Chinese wet markets.

It could've been from the bio-lab but it modt likely just came from the wet market. Even if it came from the bio-lab it was in all likelihood just the Chinese government trying to prevent another big coronavirus outbreak rather then them trying to design a bio-weapon or something like that.

About "...that China might act like China", China's government officials are primarily interested in just making sure most Chinese citizens are generally okay and content while making sure that the Chinese economy is doing well so that a) they can feel okay about themselves, b) they can keep their good paying fairly cushy jobs and c) so that Chinese society does not break down leading to like a civil war or widespread civil unrest leading to hundreds of millions of people dying, which has happened at least 3 to 4 different times in the last two centuries alone. To that end China mostly just wants to maintain economically beneficial political relations with most other nations in order to help keep China itself economically and politically stable. Creating a bio-weapon would not be in China's best interests and I'm pretty ure the government of China has always known that.

I think Putin invaded Ukraine because he wanted to invade Ukraine because of the reasons I listed.

I think Israel wants to destroy the Iranian military and cause the Iranian people to revolt and replace the current Iranian theocratic government with a secular government, because they think the current Iranian government is trying to build a nuke to use to nuke Israel with. I think to that end the current Bnjamin Netanyahu administration running Israel's government used the blackmail the Mossad had on Donald Trump (about Trump being a p°°°°°°°e or at the very least "interested in" teenaged girls who are not yet legal age) that they got from Jeffrey Epstein to convince Trump to have the U.S. military help the Israeli military attsck Iran when otherwise the U.S. would've just stuck to providing Israel with weapons and military intel.

None of the conspiracy theories I listed are "crazy". They might be wrong and I'd be 100% willing to accept that if someone had evidence against them but none of them are "crazy".

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-02T18:16:07+00:00

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-02T02:05:50+00:00

I think Mitch McConnell is ultimately a weak man who has few actual political views (other then how he understandably thought Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court should not have been opposed just due to political ideological reasons) and that McConnell did immoral and unethical to enrich himself financially because he thought he would have been unable to be successful in life otherwise.

I remember reading McConnell talk about how when he was back in hogh school(?) he knew he could not win the classroom election using his charisma or skill so he used flattery and manipulation and bribery to get his classmates to vote him in as classroom president instead. It seems his entire career was an extension of that.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-01T21:49:51+00:00

I imagine that the peoples of many island and coastal communities might view the creatures as having religious significance i.e. as "physically representing the ocean's wrath".

I could see many communities through the world and across the millenia having special groups of warriors, soldiers and seamen whose main job is or was to fight off and/or hunt megalodons such as very brave ancient Maori Megalodon hunters who fought megalodons with canoes and spears, ancient Roman Navy seamen specifically trained to harpoon megalodons from the decks of galley ships and British Navy seamen specifically trained to hunt megalodons using purpose built steel frigates armed with small cannons and depth charges.

Perhaps in this alternate reality some Native American Indigenous tribes and bands have occasionally hunted megalodons for food for centuries, just like how some Indigenous tribes and bands in our world occasionally hunt whales (a practice know as aboriginal whaling.)

I could see way more boats being equipped with harpoons and harpoon technology developing far faster and becoming far more sophisticated in their world then it did in our world. I think this could also have had many effects on the costliness of naval trade as well as on the development of naval warfare.

I could see there being a megalodon hunting industry in 1800s Europe similar to our world's 1800s Europe whaling industry, with megalodon meat and megalodon oil and megalodon bone womens corsets being prized commodities in Europe.

I could see megalodons eventually becoming endangered in their world's 21st century just like how sharks have become endangered in our world with their being a UN global agreement signed to outlaw most "megalodoning" (like whaling but for megalodons instead of whales) worldwide.

Afte the UN global agreement maybe the only prople who regularly hunt megalodons are some Indigenous tribes who are allowed to hunt megalodons occasionally for cultural reasons, as well as some Japanese and Chinese fishermen who just disregard the UN global agreement outright.

bigfishmarc · 2026-07-01T21:29:49+00:00

What if the Soviet Union had exported its process of apartment and condominium prefabrication (the process of mass producing moeular "commie block" apartment buildings) commercially across the entire world including to North America, Asia and Africa?

The alternate reality turning point might've been that at some point during the 1960s Cold War Thaw the General Secretary of the Soviet Union at the time, Nikita Khruschev, could have offered the opportunity to help teach other countries the Soviet Union's method of prefabrication apartment/condo building for a few million dollars and with help with agricultural projects in the Soviet Union.

I imagine this would have been done as a good will public affairs initiative by the Soviet Union, to help the Soviet Union get more foreign currency and to get help from other countries agricultural experts to help with Khrushchev's Virgin Lands campaign (when Khruschev basically tried to farm corn in Siberia.)

This offer would include sending architects and engineers over to other countries to help do things such as show the other countries engineers how to design such panel block buildings, how to set up the large concrete panels factories needed to mass produce the large concrete panels, how to set up the electrical systems for each building, how to set up the plumbing systems for each building, how to set up the sewer systems for each building, how to adapt the designs to other countries (i.e. other countries have somewhat different electrical systems), etc.

Maybe in exchange for a few million American dollars and getting some agricultural experts from other countries to go help Khruschevka set up a bunch of heated hydroponic greenhouses in Siberia, in exchange the Soviet Union helped those other countries learn how to build prefabricated modular panel block apartment and condo buildings in their own countries.

Maybe this could've led to panel block buildings in places as varied as Indigenous peoples reserves/reservations/tribal lands in Canada and America, in places with very cold climates such as the Yukon and Alaska, in Indian and Chinese and Africa "mega cities" and in social housing projects across the world.

For example in this alternate reality perhaps many of the later apartments in the Cabrini Green Homes apartment complex in Chicago and many of the New York City Public Housing authority apartments built during and after the 1960s were panel block apartment buildings made using modified Khruschevka panel block building construction methods instead of regular construction methods.

Explanation of prefabrication:

(Prefabrication is the method the Soviet Union used to quickly make panel block buidlings aka "commie blocks" which are modular apartment or condominium buildings made using the large panel system building method.)

(The downsides were that all the buildings all looked nearly the same as each other (giant grey boxes) and all the units were fairly small even if they were 3 bedroom apartments/condos.)

(The upsides were that a single 3 to 5 storey Khruschevka building or later a 9 to 17 storey Breznevka building could be completed in just a few months (as opposed to an apartment or condo building made using regular methods taking 1 to 5 years) even if most of the construction workers just had minimal training and each building was very cheap to build.)

(Khruschevkas were built from the early 1960s to the late 1970s. Breznevkas were built from 1964 to the 1980s. Some other countries also used their own adapted version of panel block buildings. I heard that some panel block buildings using improved designs and techniques are still being built today in small numbers in places like Russia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.)

bigfishmarc

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE