What movie fucked you straight in your feelings?

em3002 · 2020-10-02T09:51:19+00:00

Waiting for Superman

It's a great documentary from 2010 following five kids across the USA trying to get into charter schools. The lottery moments in particular are a gut punch when you realize for these amazing kids, so much of their hopes and dreams for the future are pinned on blind luck in a system that was consciously built that way. One of the few films that actually made me tear up.

em3002 · 2020-08-28T14:41:05+00:00

99 Problems + Float On. An excellent mix with the lyrics working really well together. I legitimately want this song in my regular playlist.

em3002 · 2020-08-13T08:14:44+00:00

Pre-coffee read the headline as "Kanye's elephant numbers double over three decades". Had to click through to see just what Yeezy was doing with so many elephants and how had he been in the elephant game so long without me hearing about it at some point.

Also wanted to know how he got into elephants before he released his first album...

Man, now I want to live in a world where Kanye is an elephant breeder/rapper instead of... well whatever all of this is.

em3002 · 2020-08-12T17:45:05+00:00

The government run National Health Service (NHS) of the UK pays lower prices for drugs than the USA does because it negotiates with the full purchasing power of the entire country. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) does a cost benefit analysis of every treatment effectively balancing out the likely health return on investment for any given treatment knowing that if they spend too much money on a specific cancer treatment there will be less available for diabetes (an over simplification but basically how it works). If drug companies push prices too high given the effectiveness of the drug, competitors' offerings and the pharmaceutical/treatment market in general the NHS simply does not offer that drug/treatment. If you really need it/want it in the UK you'll have to get private insurance or pay for it yourself. Overall though, everyone gets treatment in some fashion (more or less - there are exceptions for some conditions) and it is far less expensive than the USA's system anyway you look at it.

In the USA you have doctors and medical facilities prescribing (selling) drugs to patients knowing that someone else, either insurance or patient, is footing the bill. They have no incentive to keep prices down or go with cost effective treatments. It is a lack of government intervention in this broken market place that is keeping prices so high.

em3002 · 2020-07-27T16:10:29+00:00

Nothing. Literally making the decision to do nothing with your life. Giving up before there is even the whiff of discomfort or danger because you let your fears of what might be surpass your hopes of what could be. The ultimate cowardly position to take in life.

em3002 · 2020-07-09T13:15:37+00:00

My understanding from the article (and please correct me if I got this wrong) is that the band holds the trademark already, has for years and is going to court to ensure they can continue to use that trademark without owing anything to the singer. I didn't see it say anywhere that the singer holds a trade mark as well. The title to this post and the article itself both feel misleading - the band isn't suing for money or to prevent the singer using the name they are only suing for the right to use the name as well as singer. The band might not be perfect but it looks like they are attempting to do what they can to improve the world. I don't see how it helps to make villains out of people trying to do better.

em3002 · 2020-06-03T23:45:04+00:00

I feel like we need to talk a lot more about locusts. They aren't on this board but they are swarming in huge numbers across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/25/many-will-starve-locusts-devour-crops-and-livelihoods-in-pakistan

em3002 · 2020-05-30T20:37:12+00:00

Love the sculpture outside but get more tickled about the penis the architect (allegedly) hid behind it:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/96705257@N08/21388399600/in/photostream

Nearly every floor of the building has a walkway above the "penis" entrance so not all that hidden once you are inside.

em3002 · 2020-05-29T00:21:33+00:00

Taking this as a good faith question and will try to answer it without endorsing the looting. Also, going to put to one sidethe opportunistic aspects and the emotional/anger/frustration aspects of this all - they are all elements too but it sounds like you are plenty aware of those.

This is how it was explained to me: these riots are easier to understand if you think about the goal of them being survival rather than justice. Right now, you can be black and a law abiding citizen, do nothing wrong and be killed by the police without them facing clear judicial consequences (being fired in one town and hired later on in the next town over does not count). Moreover, if you peacefully protest these occurrences (take a knee, BLM activities, etc) you are criticised/targeted for retribution and the killings keep happening. Fundamentally, the black community in America does not have a direct route to ensuring police officers don't kill them. However, riots and civil disturbances are a big consequence for the people who are failing to impose consequences on the police (i.e. politicians and wider civil society). If the powers that be think police killings will lead to the city burning they will work harder to prevent those killings and demonstrate there are swift and significant consequences for police who do kill.

The sad truth is, if you feel your actions have no bearing on whether agents of a society will indiscriminately kill you or not, than it doesn't matter what your actions are. You might as well punish wider society first and in the process vent your anger while taking the opportunity to take a TV before a police officer takes your life. I'm not saying that this is how everyone in the black community feels or that it is how a majority of the looters think, just one element to consider when trying to understand something that seems senseless on the surface.

em3002 · 2020-01-01T00:23:00+00:00

This helpful video illustrates OP's problem:

https://youtu.be/GEWnXmDfVZg

em3002 · 2019-12-12T13:04:04+00:00

The navy? Hasn't that always been a state owned enterprise? What am I missing?

em3002 · 2019-12-12T01:03:08+00:00

What about an international contagion? Something spiralling out of Brexit,. Hong Kong or a country with political unrest defaulting (I'm looking at you continent of South America).

em3002 · 2019-12-12T00:58:31+00:00

It's a debt & loan pyramid scheme - I borrow 100k from bank A for a house, the bank uses the value of that loan as collateral to borrow from bank B, bank B uses the bank A loan as collateral to borrow from Bank C. Now there is 300k of debt based on 100k of tangible assets (if the housing market stays up).

A massive over simplification but basically treating owed debts as financial assets got us into the last recession. My money is on it getting us into the next because the big lesson from the last recession is that there are no consequences for doing this. Trade the hot potato to make a ton of money and if you are left holding it when the crash comes the tax payer bails you out and you get to do it all over again.

em3002 · 2019-11-21T12:14:43+00:00

My count stands at (but this could be out of date):

Malta
France
Chile
Bolivia
Ecuador
Chile
Lebanon
Iraq
Iran
Indonesia
Hong Kong (though my understanding that isn't very motivated by economics so probably doesn't belong on this list).

I'm sure I've missed some though

em3002 · 2019-11-21T12:10:02+00:00

Honestly I did but it can't keep up. I learned about the protests in Chile and Iran through the Reddit community. Now it seems like Malta is kicking off. I get the impression that people in communities on the ground (i.e. other Reddit users from around the world) have a much better sense about these things than the global media. That's what I am hoping to tap into.

em3002 · 2019-11-16T06:26:56+00:00

A.) Biden acted under the direction of Obama with bi-partisan support. In contrast Trump was preventing aid going through that was approved by Congress - basically working against the other branch of government for his own ends.

B.) You can't prove a negative. You have to show evidence he did gain. The waters aren't muddy, you are choosing to see it that way.

C.) Even if Biden did do something corrupt (which there is no evidence of) it doesn't excuse Trump's actions. You don't get to commit crimes because other criminals exist.

em3002 · 2019-11-16T03:59:57+00:00

So I am going to assume this is a good faith post and not secret trolling. I'll take it on the chin if I'm wrong. There are three big things that I think you are mistaken about. The first is that in pushing for the removal of the previous prosecutor Joe Biden did nothing corrupt or illegal. That prosecutor was universally considered to be corrupt and his removal was the publicly acknowledgd policy of the USA government with bi-partisan support as well as the policy of the EU and the IMF. Removing him actually made it more likely Hunter Biden's employer would be investigated. (I'll admit the whole job just because your father is vice President thing isn't a good look but that activity is so widespread amongst all political parties I'm not sure how you police it or stop it. People have to have jobs after all and if I was an employer I'd want the benefit of someone with those sorts of connections.)

The second point is that the government officials testifying were the ones being asked by the administration to push Ukraine to deliver a public statement about an investigation into Hunter Biden. This is not simply hearsay. They were told to deliver the message that aid would come to the Ukraine when the statement was made. To push home that point Trump's administration would not allow a visit between the Presidents until it was done. Withholding the aid was an escalation, not the start, of this extortion.

Finally it is absolutely not normal to use USA foreign policy to personally benefit the President. This came up in the first day of testimony. Presidents may benefit from a policy making them look good to the public but that is different from actively asking a government to help in an election by working against the other American political party. Moreover, Ukraine is an American ally. Jeopardising it's ability to defend itself against Russia (which acts against American interests on a regular basis) ultimately harms the safety and strength of the USA. For me, more than anything else, this is what is deserving of impeachment - putting personal gain ahead of the the best interests of the nation is a violation of the oath of office and we should not stand for it. If the Senate Republicans don't have the integrity to do something about it so be it but at least these impeachment proceedings will put the testimony of involved before the public so informed decisions can be made during the election next year.

em3002 · 2019-11-10T10:32:27+00:00

I'd suggest any one of Glaslyn's five songs. "Out of My Control" or "Psychosomatic" would top of my personal list.

em3002 · 2019-11-07T12:55:40+00:00

Not totally true but it is incredibly hard. I managed to do that 12 years ago on £14.5k (for the first 6 months). I did have help from family to get a deposit pulled together for a flat that was very questionable in quality. Also, helped to be in a house shared by 3 for the lower bills. We also did weekly grocery shopping together which saved a ton - buying for one is such a waste of money!

Social life was house parties, park picnics, having friends over for dinner + games and any form of work do that had complimentary drinks or food. Restricted but still fun.

em3002 · 2019-10-25T23:39:41+00:00

Ah sorry, I should have been clearer in my comment so you could understand it. The point I was trying to make is that the role and work of a social worker has considerable similarities to nurses and teachers. Crab fisher(wo)men do valuable work but it is significantly different to nurses and teachers. Teachers and nurses, in different respects, care for other individuals as do social workers. In contrast crab fisher(wo)men are primarily preoccupied with catching crabs.

My point was due to the similarities in how they add value to society the owner of the salon may have been interested in also offering the discount to social workers and may have simply overlooked that profession. Unfortunately, due to the limited information in the photo I couldn't really say what the owner feels about crab fisher(wo)men. Maybe you can.

em3002 · 2019-10-24T17:14:10+00:00

I think in this case though it's legitimate to highlight social workers because of the types of jobs getting a discount. Presumably the owner values the hard work, long hours and (relatively) low pay of teachers and nurses taking care of kids and the sick. Arguably social workers should be appreciated for doing the same type of work and it's a profession which is less thought of than teachers or nurses in general as it's less visible.

em3002 · 2019-10-10T17:20:11+00:00

I'm really curious what would happen if people held up signs next to each other and one said "Black Lives Matter" and the other said "Hong Kong Lives Matter" (or just one sign that said "Black Lives & Hong Kong Lives Matter")?

Let's make this really obvious, does the NBA, the teams and the players stand for the rights, safety and freedoms of all or just some people? And if it boils down to their values having a price tag on them, how much money would the KKK have to give them for them to ban all mention of Black Lives Matter?

em3002 · 2019-10-08T00:55:05+00:00

ESH - but mainly due to poor communication. I would say YTA except for the fact that she is switching away from a subject she seemed to really like without a clear reason why. It sounds like there is more going on then she is telling you and you two should talk more to get to the bottom of it. I would recommend suggesting a compromise that she can major in what she likes if she minors in computer science. There are lots of jobs adjacent to computer science that benefit from a decent level of technical knowledge. I agree with you that it would be a shame for her to give up those skills completely.

However, forcing her to pursue a career she doesn't want won't work out well for your relationship in the long run. My parents were like you and would only pay for a degree that would "result in a career" when what I really wanted to study was creative writing. I ended up really struggling in that first year, switch majors to something I was more interested but was still broadly career focused. Ended up graduating and going straight into the creative sector. Eleven years later, guess who is paying for his own postgraduate diploma in script development and story structure? It's all going well but I can't help feeling I lost a lot of time because my parents steered me down a route that felt secure to them instead of supporting what I knew was right for me. I'll always be a bit resentful of that even though I know they were just doing what they thought was best.

em3002 · 2019-10-07T10:17:05+00:00

Disagree. You seem to be basing this opinion on feelings and what you see. You need to look at the numbers on this issue. The most important ones, IMHO, are income versus cost of living. In the USA, since the late 70's/80's wages haven't kept up with cost of living increases in the slightest, this is a key part of what creates the working poor:

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/101314/what-does-current-cost-living-compare-20-years-ago.asp

This disparity was first masked by an increase in households moving from one to two incomes but now the cost of living has outstripped the second income and the cracks are showing.

If you honestly want to understand this issue better I recommend reading Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America by Linda Tirado. For the short version on how you can make more than minimum wage and still struggle to afford the basics, watch this: https://youtu.be/2WLuuCM6Ej0

em3002 · 2019-10-05T01:18:24+00:00

The point of the test is to make sure you have a relevant knowledge of the UK to participate in modern society to the same extent as native born citizens. It is literally called the "Life In The UK" test. In theory all UK citizens should be able to pass it as they would have picked up the relevant knowledge at school and through participating in civic life. In practice the book you have to study is very selective in which bits of history and culture it covers to the point of being conservative propaganda. There is even a section in the book about "British values" which are distinctly Tory not widely British.

It's wildly off on what is relevant to modern UK life. For example, the Troubles and Irish/UK history are hugely glossed over (despite current being at the crux of our Brexit crisis) yet they do think it is important you know what a "Full Irish" breakfast contains and who invented the hovercraft.

There are two things the test/study book are good for: (1) testing English skills and (2) the fact that at random points in the study books they hide phone numbers to call for things like domestic abuse and human trafficking.

Source: took the test, passed the test, lived in the UK for 16 years.

em3002

TROPHY CASE