Monday, September 25, 2023

Links - 25th September 2023 (1 [Including Sound of Freedom, Lizzo])

Meme - "yesterday i told my nephew i'm not allowed to eat popsicles (bc my sis doesn't want him eating junk he copies me) so he pulls me into the bathroom, slams the door, and whispers: "ssshhhh i got us both popsicles but we need to eat them in here so my mom doesn't find out""

Meme - "Notification of Social Intent
This notice is to inform you of my desire to become:
Friends Lovers Enemies
As such I would like our relationship to include:
Video Games Makeouts Sword Fights Movies Sex Ritualistic Sacrifice Pets Cuddling Elaborate Kidnappings Bees Furry Masks Demonic Summonings Cheese Plates Screaming Homoerotic Banter
If you reciprocate my feelings, please respond via:
Text Email Call Blood Curse
Yours Truly Yours Forever Your Reckoning is Coming"

Meme - "8 years old me when I had to finish my vegetables
For Africa"

Meme - "You two! Stop that at once! *Elephants doing a Titanic pose on Noah's Ark*"

Meme - "Me at 12 searching "13 ppl year olds" to watch ppl my age on ph not thinking it was bad and now i'm probably on a predators list"

Conviction for patients' deaths does not add up - "Lucia de Berk is a Dutch nurse who has spent six years of a life sentence in jail for murdering seven people in a killing spree that never happened... There were six deaths over three years on one ward where Lucia supposedly did her murdering. In the three preceding years, before she arrived, there were seven deaths. So the death rate on this ward went down at the precise moment that a serial killer moved in. Even more bizarre was the staggering foolishness by some statistical experts used in the court"

Walking into KFC until he see a black person : funny

OCWA receives award for having best tasting drinking water in New York State
Weird award

Why Japan has so many 'never travelers' - "A surprisingly large number of Japanese say that travel is no longer a priority for them. A survey done last year by global intelligence company Morning Consult showed that 35% of Japanese respondents said they were unwilling to travel again, the highest number of any country. Tetsu Nakamura, a professor at Tamagawa University and a tourism behavior and psychology specialist, says the results are not at all surprising. “In 2019, even before the pandemic, (Japanese) people who traveled abroad at least once a year made up about 10% of the population,” says Nakamura... Despite Japan having the world’s most powerful passport, fewer than 20% of Japanese people actually have passports in the first place, according to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs... Kotaro Toriumi, a Japanese aviation and travel analyst, says the thought of complicated travel procedures abroad due to the pandemic and the risk of infection hinders people from seeking overseas travel. Further, he claims that the pandemic has altered the “Japanese mindset.” “People who used to travel … are now afraid to go abroad because of the risk of infection, but are fine traveling domestically. I think they are realizing more and more that there are many attractive tourist spots within Japan and people can have fun without going abroad,” says Toriumi. The analyst notes that people who say they “never want to travel again” may simply be reluctant to travel soon until the pandemic is fully over. The cost of travel is also a consideration. The yen is at its weakest in decades, and many Japanese workers haven’t had a raise in 30 years. Less disposable income means young people may be more inclined to stay at home or explore nearby locations. . “Compared to the older generations, they are less likely to go abroad since they don’t have much money. Besides, many young people find online entertainment or smartphone games more enjoyable than traveling abroad,” explained Toriumi. “Many elderly people would like to travel abroad again after Covid settles down.”"
Is it true only 10% of Americans have passports? - "It is often said that only 10% of Americans have passports. But that has not been true for more than 20 years... There is a myth, found easily online, that only 10% of Americans have passports. While that was true in 1994, the figure now is more than 40% - and it grows every year... For Lisa Delpy Neirotti, a professor of tourism at George Washington University Business School, there are three reasons for the rise. Firstly, the 9/11 attacks meant the rules changed. Before 2007 - when new laws began kicking in - Americans could usually travel to and from Canada, Mexico, and other nearby countries, without a passport... Secondly, a growing economy, budget airlines, and falling oil prices, means travel is easier - and cheaper - than ever... The third reason, she says, is the rise of "experientialism". "Millennials would rather put their money into experiences than consumer goods," she says... Although the number of US passport-holders is growing, 42% may seem a low proportion. In Britain, for example, the percentage is far higher. In 2011 - when the last UK census took place - 76% of people in England and Wales held a UK passport. Only 17% had no passport at all."
So much for bashing Americans as the most insular people in the world where almost none of them have passports

What price would you put on a passport? - "what right can any of us really claim to citizenship? After all, most of us acquire it through our parents, by chance. Javier Hidalgo, a political theorist at the University of Richmond in Virginia, believes citizenship is always unearned and that there's often an inherent hypocrisy in a moral aversion to treating it as a commodity. "If you're a sceptic about immigration restrictions, like me, then you'll be sceptical about selling citizenship, because you might think we're obligated to give people access to the country for free. "But most countries and most people are quite happy to restrict immigration. If you think that's OK, then what's the problem with selling it? "You're already in favour of excluding a lot of people. Why not make some money off of admitting some of them who you would otherwise be entitled to exclude?""

Meme - "Me and the boys #TakingTheKnee *kneeling to reload rifles*"

Meme - Dobby: "That's a lot of cum, Harry Potter"
Harry Potter: "WHAT ARE You talking about GeT THE FUCK out of my house"
Dobby: "DoBBY KNoWS A PILE oF CUMSOCKS WHEN He SEES ONE, HE DOES"
Harry Potter: "TH- THOSE AREN'T MINE... THOSE ARE YOURS!" *uhhh*
Dobby: "HARRY PoTTER PoTTER HAS GIVEN DOBBY SOCKS... DOBBY IS FREE!! YAAHOOO!"
*CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH *>

Harvard professor who studies dishonesty is accused of tampering with data - "Francesca Gino, a prominent professor at Harvard Business School known for researching dishonesty and unethical behavior, has been accused of submitting work that contained falsified results. Gino has authored dozens of captivating studies in the field of behavioral science — consulting for some of the world's biggest companies like Goldman Sachs and Google, as well as dispensing advice on news outlets, like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and even NPR. But over the past two weeks, several people, including a colleague, came forward with claims that Gino tampered with data in at least four papers."

Lizzo lawsuit and allegations: The poster girl for body positivity, whose empowering image is now under threat - "Woo, girl, need to kick off your shoes/ Got to take a deep breath, time to focus on you.” “Thick thighs save lives.” “I am my inspiration.” Empowering and full of affirmation, lyrics like these helped turn Lizzo into the poster girl for self-confidence. Just a couple of months ago, she lit up Glastonbury’s Worthy Farm, performing a set that many said should have earned her a headliner slot. Building on two years of dominating the airwaves with her inspiring messages and impressive flute solos, Lizzo was at the top of her game. But new allegations of sexual harassment and fostering a hostile work environment have thrown that image into doubt. On Tuesday (1 August), three of Lizzo’s former dancers accused her and her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring of a series of shocking claims – including fat-shaming, disability discrimination, false imprisonment, assault, and more. The lawsuit was filed by Arianna Davis and Crystal Williams, who competed on Lizzo’s Amazon Prime reality series Watch Out for the Big Grrrls in 2021, and Noelle Rodriguez, who performed in the singer’s “Rumors” music video. It has long seemed as though Lizzo’s rising star was unstoppable. The pop superstar, born Melissa Viviane Jefferson, has become not just one of the most adored names in music, but a fully-fledged global superstar, with numerous appearances on screen, her own aforementioned TV series and global tour, entitled “The Special Tour”, which began last September. She’s also won the hearts of millions with her sincerity and fervent wish for fans to love themselves, no matter what they look like. It’s felt personal for her, Lizzo regularly addressing criticism of her weight and calling out bullies and trolls while advocating for Black women in the music industry. She’s also condemned racism and the marginalisation of minority groups such as the LGBT+ community. Her songs have similarly become sing-along anthems for those who felt seen – and heard – by her. But the recent lawsuit threatens to send Lizzo’s star hurtling back down to earth. The 44-page suit details claims that Lizzo allegedly “hounded” her employees to “touch” nude performers during a trip to Amsterdam strip club Bananenbar against their wishes. A separate incident alleges that the star made her dancers take part in an “excruciating” 12-hour audition after accusing them of drinking before performances – with her later firing Williams after she had challenged the singer’s assertion. Meanwhile, Davis also alleged that Lizzo told her she seemed “less committed” to her role in April, which she understood as a “thinly veiled” comment about her weight... This description is in sharp contrast with the personality that Lizzo shares with her fanbase, which often encourages kindness and consideration for others."
Damn fat-shaming, misogyny and anti-blackness! Liberals told us that anyone who criticised Lizzo was guilty of all that

Lizzo Accused of Treating Filmmaker With ‘Such Disrespect’ – Rolling Stone - "Sophia Nahli Allison, a filmmaker who said she worked with Lizzo several years ago, said she was “treated with such disrespect” by the pop star that she left the job after only about two weeks... Allison said she spent some time traveling with Lizzo “to be the director of her documentary.” She said she left “after about 2 weeks,” citing the musician’s allegedly disrespectful behavior: “I witnessed how arrogant, self-centered, and unkind she is,” Allison wrote. “I was not protected and was thrown into a shitty situation with little support. My spirit said to run as fast as you fucking can and I’m so grateful I trusted my gut.”... Allison went on to call Lizzo “a narcissistic bully” who has “built her brand off of lies.” “I was excited to support and protect a Black woman through the documentary process but quickly learned her image and ‘message’ was a curated facade""
One cope I saw was that only her production company was being sued, and she was innocent. But really, given how obnoxious she is it's no surprise she's a nasty person

Lizzo claims worsen: Oscar-nominee Sophia Nahli Allison labels singer 'a narcissistic bully who has built her brand off lies' as she doubles down on star's 'toxic' behavior - "'Lizzo creates an extremely toxic and hostile working environment and undermines the work, labor, and authority of other black and brown womxn in the process. (Notice how the documentary ended up being directed by a cis white man.)... She allegedly encouraged 'catching dildos launched from the performers' vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers' vaginas.'... Her dance captain, Shirlene Quigley, is also facing a slew of accusations. Quigley, according to the lawsuit, shared 'lewd sexual fantasies,' and publicly discussed the virginity of one of the plaintiffs while berating those who had had pre-marital sex. The complaints for all damages include: Hostile work environment, sexual harassment, religious harassment, racial harassment, disability discrimination, and failure to prevent or remedy the harassment. Lizzo is specifically accused of disability discrimination, creating a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, and failing to stop said issues. Her touring company Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. is also named as a defendant."

Meme - Lizzo: "I brought you some bananas."
Padme: "To eat?"
Lizzo: *smirks*
Padme: "To eat, right?"

Meme - Mari Moon: "im not a huge Lizzo music fan...but it's no secret that her being fat, existing and taking up space in such a positive way was very important to my journey in self acceptance and probably every other fat womans journey ever. these allegations are so disgusting, and i really hate this because everything she's being accused of is just truly so vile and it's so embarrassing that her whole personality was a lie. ugh"

Lizzo should only be first of vulgar rappers dropped from Super Bowl halftime consideration - "Devastating news: Lizzo, the dangerously obese female rapper who checks most of the genre’s requisite boxes — from vulgar, N-word lyrics to sexually explicit, dumpster-scooped rhyming — has reportedly been removed from consideration to be a halftime performer at Super Bowl LVIII this coming February. She has been deemed unacceptable to the NFL following claims that she sexually harassed and abused members of her on-stage female backup crew. She apparently no longer passes the socially acceptable smell test, unlike past Super Bowl halftime crotch-grabbers and profane N-word-spewers, as per Roger Goodell’s standards. Last Super Bowl, Goodell invited Rihanna to headline halftime. She fulfilled her tacit terms of entertaining America’s annual largest TV audience by toying with her crotch, then smelling her fingers. Previously, Snoop Dogg met with Goodell’s sense of what American audiences deserve at halftime of the NFL’s championship game, despite — or maybe because of — Snoop Dogg’s X-rated act, countless arrests and production of porn videos. Goodell is such a mixed-messages phony that he refused to recite even the titles to Snoop Dogg’s songs, thus indicating that Snoop Dogg is inappropriate for him, the NFL commissioner, but perfect for the rest of America. Nearly all of Goodell’s chosen Super Bowl performers have the same “artistry” in common: In spite of Goodell’s field-surrounding virtue-messaging to rid society of racism, the performers promote, perpetuate and proliferate the most negative, stuck-in-reverse stigmas of black America."

Ronnie Radke Accuses Lizzo Of Feeding The Culture That Canceled Her - "When a fan expressed surprise that Radke hadn’t yet faced cancellation himself, the singer explained: “You can’t cancel someone who has logical fans; I’d hate to have a fan base made up of woke ass cry babies, crying cause someone they never met said ‘men can’t have periods.'”... “Cancel culture only works on people like Lizzo because she was once a part of the mob, pandering to the woke mentality preaching equality when in reality she was doing exactly what she said she hated; that’s what most of they/them do lol, they’re all guilty, and eventually they’ll all be canceled, funny how that works out huh?”"

Thread by @steak_umm on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "ok it's time to talk about societal distrust in experts and institutions, the rise of misinformation, cultural polarization, and how to work toward some semblance of mutually agreed upon information before we splinter into irreconcilable realities... science the *term* has been politicized—not the *process* of it. as that process has evolved on issues, both public and private institutions have taken inspiration from it, but those decisions are still driven by economic and political interests which muddy how the term is used. distrust in institutions is complex. it's accelerated by people's access to infinite information, credible sources being paywalled, corruption, honest misteaks, or propaganda, but underneath it all is a cultural polarization dating back decades that won't be solved overnight. in the past year various experts and public figures have changed positions with new findings, made good faith errors, politicized the virus, spread misinformation, and had disagreements across institutions. every possible narrative on these occurrences has been amplified by media. the path to restore trust in institutions must be shared between experts and laypeople alike. it’s an uphill battle. people naturally distrust power. experts have knowledge laypeople don't. polarization, fear, and otherizing sell. there's a bottomless market for misinformation. experts need to earn trust back by acknowledging misteaks and being transparent about their processes, what's known, and what's still being learned. they need to address valid concerns. they need to meat people where they are and deliver tangible benefits to improve their lives. laypeople need to hold both their skepticism and trust of experts in an open hand. they need to acknowledge their limitations in accessing or interpreting fields or resources outside their expertise. they need to keep learning media literacy and grappling with empirical evidence. the shortcomings within experts and institutions don't make fringe sources equally credible or trustworthy. if a doctor gets something wrong, you try another doctor, not a plumber. if a study gets something wrong, you don’t rely on anecdotes for truth, you rely on better studies. the usefulness of skepticism in experts and institutions is strongest within competing experts and institutions, not outsiders. an outsider may have certain insights worth engaging, but they can't be weighed as equally credentialed as a relevant expert or institutional consensus. an institution may have structural biases that need to be acknowledged, but alternative sources in media are littered with their own biases and have little to no accountability, so no matter where you get information from you're still extending a degree of trust in something. one universal goal everyone should prioritize is getting people from across the ideological spectrum closer to the same reality of baseline facts and evidence. it won't be perfect, but that needs to be the trajectory, rather than the current divergent trend into split realities. ideological divides will never go away in society, but they need to be fought over by using mutually understood language and comparable information or else conversations can't get off the ground—people will just continue talking past one another and escalating tension. solutions to societal distrust, media literacy, and polarized realities have to come on both institutional and cultural levels. people need to be inspired. ideas need to be proposed. awareness is easy. everyone sees the problem. mass participation and solutions are the hard part. you can maintain healthy levels of skepticism while also extending trust where it's earned by empirical evidence and expertise. use critical thinking. work toward solutions with one another"

Neil deGrasse Tyson on X - "The good thing about Science is that it’s true, whether or not you believe in it."
Steak-umm on X - "the irony of neil’s tweet is that by framing science itself as “true” he’s influencing people to be more skeptical of it in a time of unprecedented misinformation. science is an ever refining process to find truth, not a dogma. no matter his intent, this message isn’t helpful"
Steak-umm on X - "nope. science itself isn't "true" it's a constantly refining process used to uncover truths based in material reality and that process is still full of misteaks. neil just posts ridiculous sound bites like this for clout and he has no respect for epistemology"

Why Does Neil deGrasse Tyson Hate Philosophy? - "In a controversial interview, Neil deGrasse Tyson dismissed philosophy as “distracting.” The host of the television series Cosmos even suggested that philosophy could inhibit scientific progress by encouraging “a little too much question asking.” He thus follows a growing secular trend that cordons Science off from all other forms of inquiry, denigrating whatever falls outside science’s purported boundaries – especially the more “speculative” pursuits such as philosophy. Fortunately for the progress of science, Albert Einstein didn’t take this attitude. According to him, studying the “history and philosophy of science” provides an “independence” from generational “prejudices” necessary for creative thought. Moreover, the “independence created by philosophical insight is,” Einstein thought, “the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth.” By enabling one to see the “forest” rather than the “trees,” a philosophical understanding of scientific history is indispensable for understanding -- and even practicing -- science... the division of labor is not that philosophy is speculative while physics is not; rather, each discipline looks for different kinds of answers. Modern physics can ask speculative questions such as, “When did the universe begin?” or more practical questions such as, “How can we infer the existence of a planet by observing gravitational effects?” In either case, the answers depend on empirical and experimental evidence. Modern philosophy, by contrast, asks questions such as, “What does it mean to accept the truth of a scientific theory?” Crucially, philosophical answers rely on different forms of evidence: not observations, but sound reasoning. A philosophy of science isn’t a theory alongside scientific theories, but a framework for evaluating such theories. DeGrasse Tyson is right that such questions are not usually germane to the working scientist. But that doesn’t render them superfluous or counterproductive. Scientific progress not only requires the day-to-day work of “practitioners,” but also those who see the proverbial forest. Revolutionary thinkers break out of accepted paradigms and question received wisdom; they engage in precisely the kind “question-asking” for which deGrasse Tyson would banish philosophy. Helmholtz, Mach, Planck, Duhem, PoincarĂ©, Bohr, and Heisenberg are a few noteworthy modern scientists “distracted” enough to engage in philosophical question-asking. Einstein himself read philosophy voraciously beginning from an early age (he read Kant when he was 13) and engaged in lively disputes with many leading philosophers of the era. Mach’s empiricism, PoincarĂ©’s conventionalism, and Duhem’s holism all influenced Einstein’s thinking. Such cross-pollination between philosophy and science did not stall the progress of physics, but instead led to one of the greatest scientific revolutions in history. According to deGrasse Tyson, while philosophy used to contribute “materially” to the physical sciences, this hasn’t been the case since the early 20th century. This is ironic. We still live in the wake of the revolution wrought by relativistic and quantum physics and, as Lee Smolin has argued, there have been surprisingly few fundamental advances in our most basic physics in decades"
Telling.

An unhappy marriage could be good for your health: Study - "Being in a relationship, whether or not it’s happy one, could help keep a person’s blood sugar relatively low."

Flight Simulator Gave Birth to 3D Video-Game Graphics - " Bayless recalls that after explaining to Gates that the software included every airport on the planet, Gates responded by saying, “‘You’re full of shit. That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.’” This was Gates’s highest form of praise, Bayless notes. “In the lore of Microsoft, if Bill says that to you, you’re made.”"

Meme - James Woods @ReaUamesWoods: "I had no intention to go see Sound of Freedom, but the hysteria of the corporate press has piqued my interest. When they get their panties in a twist over a simple heroic story about a man saving abused children, you know the movie is touching a nerve."
One cope I saw was that the leftist media only got upset because conservatives kicked up a fuss first

‘Sound of Freedom’ Beats Disney’s ‘Indiana Jones 5’ by Millions of Dollars on 2,000 Fewer Screens on July 4th - "The irony is that the Walt Disney Co. shelved Sound of Freedom when it acquired 21st Century Fox in 2019. (Fox was set to distribute the movie.) It has taken producer Eduardo Verastegui nearly three years to disentangle Sound of Freedom from Disney’s hands and raise the money to release it through Angel Studios."

Meme - Soyjak: "Noooo don't go see Sound of Freedom, it's a QANON conspiracy"
"It's literally based on a true story"

Fabian Marta, whose name appears in Sound of Freedom credits for helping crowdfund the anti-child trafficking blockbuster film, is charged with kidnapping a child - "Fabian Marta, 51, was one of thousands of donors who gave funds for the production of the film based on former Department of Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard's efforts against child trafficking... It's not clear how much money Marta donated to the film's production... The company said in a statement: 'Angel Studios adhered to the requirements of federal and state laws and regulations in allowing 6,678 people to invest an average of $501 each into the launch of Sound of Freedom. 'Just as anyone can invest in the stock market, everyone who meets the legal criteria can invest in Angel Studios projects. One of the perks of investing was the ability to be listed in the credits.'"
The left got very excited over this, pretending that he was a major figure behind the film.

Why Did It Take 5 Years To Release Sound Of Freedom? - "It took 5 years to release Sound Of Freedom because the movie was shelved by Disney. The movie was filmed in 2017... producer Eduardo Verastegui told no one wanted to distribute the film for years even though the film was finished in 2018. Amazon passed. Netflix passed. Every studio feared losing money. He told people who watched the movie cried and some even gave it a standing ovation, yet the experts didn't seem to get it."

Sound of Freedom studio slaps down claims of cinemas sabotaging screenings

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