The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[smooch]

That's concerning if true. I'm not a good judge of that because I'm too old now and anyone under 30 looks like a kid to me.

Could it be that schoolchildren today aren't drinking enough milk and protein? I shudder to think there are moms who stock Soy Milk in the fridge for their 12 year old boy to drink. A growing boy needs real milk and lots of animal protein and good, hearty food. If he's active and involved with friends, he'll burn those calories in an hour and grow taller than his father. That's how it worked for hundreds of years.

Later, when he's 30, he can go on fad diets and be Vegan and buy t-shirts that tell everyone about it.

But when a child is growing into their teens, they need every drop of quality real food they can get.

I'm not sure, I personally didn't drink milk growing up I don't like just milk on it's own but I was lucky to have a mom who cooked home cooked meals practically every day. Sure my diet wasn't the greatest and still could be a lot better but I at least had 2 hearty meals a day and especially in middle through high school I got exercise multiple days a week going to the skatepark. I did also play plenty of video games but maybe activity rate in general has been steadily decreasing. I don't look super old, people say I look like I'm about 18 which is fine with me. And like I said previously I'm not large and built in any way, I've tried taking supplements and working out and it's just very hard for me to put on weight, I am very skinny but healthy, my endocrinologist always runs labs to check up on my health due to being a Type 1 Diabetic and my levels are all perfect. I just have a hard time putting on weight, even if I live a more sedentary lifestyle now I can eat like a pig and still lose a pound by doing nothing.

 

[socalifornian]

Heeey fellow ten pounder. I try to eat on the healthier side tho in case it stops working haha

 

[smooch]

Heeey fellow ten pounder. I try to eat on the healthier side tho in case it stops working haha

That's what I've been working on, plus for the immediate health benefits but I doubt this will last forever, but one can hope. I definitely snack a ton, so I've tried having healthier snacks more often like different kinds of nuts and dried fruit. But I have always had a Goldfish addiction, I always have a box or two in my room. At least I can make up the excuse that it's there for my blood sugar in case I go low

 

[mlayton144]

Humanity evolves, the American experiment grows and improves. We don't go from Frederick Douglass straight to Barack Obama. Nor do we go from the Mattachine Society straight (pardon the pun) to Richard Grenell. Each generation stands on the shoulders of the generation before it. History and humanity ebbs and flows.

It would just be nice if the current young generation of Official Good People realized they were standing on other people's shoulders right now.

whose shoulders ? Sounds like you don’t feel like previous generations are getting due credit for the great society we all inherited (and it is greatest on earth by a landslide). Progress is messy though - always has been.

 

[TP2000]

whose shoulders ? Sounds like you don’t feel like previous generations are getting due credit for the great society we all inherited (and it is greatest on earth by a landslide). Progress is messy though - always has been.

The shoulders of the previous generation.

This topic was brought up at a recent dinner party by a Black man about 70 years old, who commiserated that his young relatives and their young friends have somehow been led to believe that Black Americans were absent from mass media until the 2000's decade. And even more interesting, they see that as a direct response to Barack Obama being elected President in 2008, and they (as current Obama supporters) were directly responsible for what they see as the sudden ability for Black artists to appear in mass media in large numbers.

They apparently had no conscious knowledge of all the Black representation in American media of the mid to late 20th century; Nat King Cole, The Supremes, many integrated rock bands in the 60's and 70's, Julia sitcom, The Flip Wilson Show, Good Times, The Jefferson's, The Pointer Sisters, Gimme A Break, 227, The Cosby Show, In Living Color, and on and on.

I'm sure it's an exaggeration and a broad stereotype, but the man who brought it up had clearly had his own shocking experiences with that concept among his own young family members. There was something there.

40 years ago we didn't think of having The Pointer Sisters and Debbie Allen peform for Disneyland's 30th was any sort of "Inclusion" or "Equity" thing. We just thought they had great talent and a good beat you could dance to.

 

[mlayton144]

The shoulders of the previous generation.

This topic was brought up at a recent dinner party by a Black man about 70 years old, who commiserated that his young relatives and their young friends have somehow been led to believe that Black Americans were absent from mass media until the 2000's decade. And even more interesting, they see that as a direct response to Barack Obama being elected President in 2008, and they (as current Obama supporters) were directly responsible for what they see as the sudden ability for Black artists to appear in mass media in large numbers.

They had no conscious knowledge of all the Black representation in American media of the mid to late 20th century; Nat King Cole, The Supremes, many integrated rock bands in the 60's and 70's, Julia sitcom, The Flip Wilson Show, Good Times, The Jefferson's, Gimme A Break, 227, The Cosby Show, In Living Color, and on and on and on.

thats an interesting take , but not sure I get the point. What took so long ? Nat king cole from the 30-40s? I’m fairly certain he would play gigs but be forced to stay in a different hotel because blacks weren’t allowed to patronize many hotels and restaurants at the time. If I’m not mistaken Sidney Poitier was the first to be allowed to take a lead role in a mass distributed Hollywood productions in the 60s ish ? Bill Cosby in the 80s the first non foolish looking black family leading a normal professional suburban life. These media creations certainly helped normalize a better society in the future

now Let’s compare to real life vs 30 years ago? do you see more black professionals in the workplace? I do
Do you see more black anchors on news programs - I do
Do you see more blacks participating in politics , in police forces , weathermen , and doctors ? Yes

Maybe dwarves actually have a case here ?

 

[TP2000]

thats an interesting take , but not sure I get the point. What took so long ? Nat king cole from the 30-40s? I’m fairly certain he would play gigs but be forced to stay in a different hotel because blacks weren’t allowed to patronize many hotels and restaurants at the time. If I’m not mistaken Sidney Poitier was the first to be allowed to take a lead role in a mass distributed Hollywood productions in the 60s ish ? Bill Cosby in the 80s the first non foolish looking black family leading a normal professional suburban life. These media creations certainly helped normalize a better society in the future

White men have been portrayed mostly as foolish punchlines in sitcoms since the 1970's, since Maude. It's incredibly rare to see any white man be portrayed as smart and competent in a sitcom in the last 40 years. They generally fall into the Al Bundy mold for the last 40 or 50 years. It's the wives and kids who get all the laughs at dad's expense and run circles around the white father intellectually. (A few exceptions obviously, but the general rule for TV now)

That Bill Cosby was allowed to be portrayed as successful, smart, wise and competent in 1985 is a testament more to the fact that Bill Cosby created and produced the show himself.

now Let’s compare to real life vs 30 years ago? do you see more black professionals in the workplace? I do
Do you see more black anchors on news programs - I do
Do you see more blacks participating in politics , in police forces , weathermen , and doctors ? Yes

Yes to all of that, exactly! And those successful folks today are standing on the shoulders of all the generations that came before them, chipping away and working hard and improving their lives bit by bit, decade by decade.

Again, we didn't go immediately from Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama. It took 150 years. We didn't go immediately from the Mattachine Society to Richard Grennel. It took 70 years. But I'm sure Mr. Grennel looks back fondly on the work the Mattachine Society did many decades ago on his behalf, before he was even born.

I certainly do.

 

[mlayton144]

so how do these social changes happen ? Do they just fall from the sky by the grace of god? Do you believe in ANY kind of social engineering via the media , politics , etc ?

 

[TP2000]

so how do these social changes happen ? Do they just fall from the sky by the grace of god? Do you believe in ANY kind of social engineering via the media , politics , etc ?

I thought I explained that? People work at these changes in big and small ways. They form societies, they write editorials, they garner political support, they elect political leaders from their own communities to advance an agenda, they use their God given talents to showcase themselves, etc., etc. And they work darn hard at it.

It takes decades and centuries. Because humanity sometimes moves slowly and progress slogs along, and then sometimes a wave of progress swells through a combination of hard work and good luck (I think of the Motown superstars as such a thing and the advancements those artists helped achieve, the right talent and ingenuity coming along at the right time).

Each generation works at it. Some generations do more than others, or get a stroke of good luck that others didn't. But each generation builds on the advancements of those before it.

If that ever stops, humanity regresses. But the current generation should know their history and know the struggles before they were born.

Dave Chappelle is a smart man and so he likely knows he owes a great deal to Flip Wilson. But I'm afraid not all of the younger generation are that smart, or they have been taught that they are the champions who achieved all this success all by themselves.

 

[mlayton144]

Ok so your point is that the more recent generations are ignorant of history ? There is a big difference in knowing history and choosing who and what to glorify - Like these lost-cause confederates with statues all over the south. History, how we interpret it , and who we choose to celebrate should certainly be fair game for each generation to assess

 

[Disney Irish]

I thought I explained that? People work at these changes in big and small ways. They form societies, they write editorials, they garner political support, they elect political leaders from their own communities to advance an agenda, they use their God given talents to showcase themselves, etc., etc. And they work darn hard at it.

It takes decades and centuries. Because humanity sometimes moves slowly and progress slogs along, and then sometimes a wave of progress swells through a combination of hard work and good luck (I think of the Motown superstars as such a thing and the advancements those artists helped achieve, the right talent and ingenuity coming along at the right time).

Each generation works at it. Some generations do more than others, or get a stroke of good luck that others didn't. But each generation builds on the advancements of those before it.

If that ever stops, humanity regresses. But the current generation should know their history and know the struggles before they were born.

Dave Chappelle is a smart man and so he likely knows he owes a great deal to Flip Wilson. But I'm afraid not all of the younger generation are that smart, or they have been taught that they are the champions who achieved all this success all by themselves.

I get what you're trying to say, and in some respects I agree with it. And maybe this is something that should have its own thread. However quite frankly its not on the newer generations to honor or somehow even recognize the previous generations contributions. The previous generations job is to make things better for newer generations, not to do it for the recognition but to leave the world a better place. It is then up to the newer generation to continue that change for the better, whether they realize they are standing on the shoulders of previous generations or not.

Plus, and lets be real honest here, history is written by the "winners". Most history taught is a sanitized version of the real events. So its no wonder that most of the younger generation doesn't learn about a lot of the great works that the previous generation did, the shoulders that hold them up so to speak.

 

[TP2000]

Ok so your point is that the more recent generations are ignorant of history ? There is a big difference in knowing history and choosing who and what to glorify - Like these lost-cause confederates with statues all over the south. History, how we interpret it , and who we choose to celebrate should certainly be fair game for each generation to assess

Nope, still not getting it. I'm not even sure what Confederate statues in the South have to do with this, but...

Many kids today (often college educated) think they invented equality. Before they came along to be so wise and informed and Officially Good People with carefully curated Twitter feeds, all of us losers were just wandering in the wilderness of the 1975 hellscape that was America back then.

That's not the case at all. The kids today did very little of the hard work of the Civil Rights movement, the feminist movement, or the gay rights movement. They basically just get to reap the rewards and feign victimhood for the 'Gram, without ever once risking arrest for participating in a Sit-In at a Woolworth's lunch counter, or ever once having the big boss openly tell you that he only promotes "family men" who are married (a thinly veiled code word said out loud to me in the 1980's that he wasn't promoting gays).

 

[mlayton144]

I hear you and guess we will just have to disagree , One recent example are the protests with George Floyd police situation - problem not solved but certainly all of those protests are changing some hearts and minds

 

[No Name]

Well, at its core it is a growing medical problem. So the scientific and medical community apparently cares. Which is why they've reported on it.



No, that was about the younger generation's taste in music, or fashion, or hairstyles. Sometimes politics, but usually just hairdos and hemlines.



I'm not sure what race or sexuality has to do with overall declines in testosterone rates and the clearly obvious trend to chubbier, flabbier, softer and more delicate young men of all races now. But...

The human race has never been more comfortable, more affluent, more medically cared for, more coddled and pampered than it is today. Capitalism did most of that, although Communist China would never admit it. But you couldn't tell that things are so good historically from some of the rantings of the young folks. They think the world is ending in 8 years. And I really do think they think that. It saddens me to think they believe all the Tweets.

Humanity evolves, the American experiment grows and improves. We don't go from Frederick Douglass straight to Barack Obama. Nor do we go from the Mattachine Society straight (pardon the pun) to Richard Grenell. Each generation stands on the shoulders of the generation before it. History and humanity ebbs and flows.

It would just be nice if the current young generation of Official Good People realized they were standing on other people's shoulders right now.

It won’t end in 8 years, but I’d be surprised if I make it to a TP2000 age, or certainly, if my grandkids make it to that age, and we don’t have significant issues with resources. We’re certainly not on track to make it that far.

 

[TP2000]

It won’t end in 8 years, but I’d be surprised if I make it to a TP2000 age, or certainly, if my grandkids make it to that age, and we don’t have significant issues with resources. We’re certainly not on track to make it that far.

Resources? Like gas and oil?

Thanks to the modern American miracle of Fracking, this country has more oil and natural gas than it knows what to do with. We have about 70 years of oil (from currently known resources) and 80 years of natural gas (from currently known resources), sitting below American soil.

Those estimations of known reserves almost always get revised up every year as more reserves are found.

Our friends the Canadians have similar pools of resources in oil and gas. And our other friends in Mexico are also oil-rich, although their nationalized oil company Pemex has been woefully behind in investments in exploration and Fracking technology. Pemex was nationalized in the 1930's, and they are one of the world's least efficient oil companies today. (It's really just a department of the Mexican government, and it's famously corrupt.)

As for other "resources"... like what? Water? Food? Precious metals? The United States has more than enough of those resources too. And a growing population, although our population rate is slowing and we need the federal goverment to prioritize families having more children. We need to get back up to about 2.0 children per woman of child-bearing age again. (See the demographic crisis already hitting Russia and China!)

Otherwise, it seems like another Soylent Green is People! type prediction. That was 50 years ago, when the smart set and all the "experts" just knew that by this future date of 2022 we'd have famines and no oil and dwindling resources, with all the social ills associated with it.

This movie from 1972 was wisely set in our current year of 2022. "Experts" helped advise the movie producers.

 

[TP2000]

Here's a chart from the US Energy Information Administration that shows how America's crude oil and natural gas reserves have increased dramatically after Fracking became viable in the late 2000's.

Every year, private oil and gas companies invest a lot of their profits in exploration and searching for new reserves. So just as quickly as we can use it, they've found more and more of it, which is why those graph lines shot up 15 years ago.

And now they can Frack it out of the ground, which was a technology they couldn't have dreamed of just a few decades ago.

 

[TP2000]

Speaking of gas, I thought of this the other day while at Chevron...

It's been six years now since Honda took over Autopia from Chevron, back in 2016. Those sponsorship agreements tend to run in 10 year increments. What happens to Autopia if they lose another sponsor in 2026?

It seems like a question that has been bounced around since Internet message boards were invented.

 

[Disney Irish]

Resources? Like gas and oil?

Thanks to the modern American miracle of Fracking, this country has more oil and natural gas than it knows what to do with. We have about 70 years of oil (from currently known resources) and 80 years of natural gas (from currently known resources), sitting below American soil.

Those estimations of known reserves almost always get revised up every year as more reserves are found.

Our friends the Canadians have similar pools of resources in oil and gas. And our other friends in Mexico are also oil-rich, although their nationalized oil company Pemex has been woefully behind in investments in exploration and Fracking technology. Pemex was nationalized in the 1930's, and they are one of the world's least efficient oil companies today. (It's really just a department of the Mexican government, and it's famously corrupt.)

As for other "resources"... like what? Water? Food? Precious metals? The United States has more than enough of those resources too. And a growing population, although our population rate is slowing and we need the federal goverment to prioritize families having more children. We need to get back up to about 2.0 children per woman of child-bearing age again. (See the demographic crisis already hitting Russia and China!)

Otherwise, it seems like another Soylent Green is People! type prediction. That was 50 years ago, when the smart set and all the "experts" just knew that by this future date of 2022 we'd have famines and no oil and dwindling resources, with all the social ills associated with it.

This movie from 1972 was wisely set in our current year of 2022. "Experts" helped advise the movie producers.

Actually believe it or not the US is not as self sufficient as you believe it is. And not everything boils down to talk about lack of oil.

Fresh water is one resource that could be a potential issue in the near future for a lot of countries. And while maybe not an issue here in the US directly, indirectly it'll put pressure on the US as various populations try to migrate to where fresh water reserves remain.

Rare earth minerals is another resource which is starting to dwindle, with approx. 80% found in China. The rest are scattered across the global, with zero mines currently running in the US. These rare earth minerals are used in everything in our daily lives with things like computers, cell phones, the internet, TV, radio, the power grid, cars, your washer/dryer, etc. Pick up something that has some electronic piece in it and it has rare earth minerals in it. And even if the US started up mining again (last mine shutdown in 2017) there is not enough of it in the US to handle global demand let alone demand in just the US, so no we don't have more than enough.

Point is that we all share this planet and the resources is offers, the US is not alone on this planet and cannot go it alone.

 

[Parteecia]

Actually believe it or not the US is not as self sufficient as you believe it is. And not everything boils down to talk about lack of oil.

Fresh water is one resource that could be a potential issue in the near future for a lot of countries. And while maybe not an issue here in the US directly, indirectly it'll put pressure on the US as various populations try to migrate to where fresh water reserves remain.

Rare earth minerals is another resource which is starting to dwindle, with approx. 80% found in China. The rest are scattered across the global, with zero mines currently running in the US. These rare earth minerals are used in everything in our daily lives with things like computers, cell phones, the internet, TV, radio, the power grid, cars, your washer/dryer, etc. Pick up something that has some electronic piece in it and it has rare earth minerals in it. And even if the US started up mining again (last mine shutdown in 2017) there is not enough of it in the US to handle global demand let alone demand in just the US, so no we don't have more than enough.

Point is that we all share this planet and the resources is offers, the US is not alone on this planet and cannot go it alone.

Especially if you throw climate change into the mix.

 

[No Name]

Resources? Like gas and oil?

Thanks to the modern American miracle of Fracking, this country has more oil and natural gas than it knows what to do with. We have about 70 years of oil (from currently known resources) and 80 years of natural gas (from currently known resources), sitting below American soil.

Those estimations of known reserves almost always get revised up every year as more reserves are found.

Our friends the Canadians have similar pools of resources in oil and gas. And our other friends in Mexico are also oil-rich, although their nationalized oil company Pemex has been woefully behind in investments in exploration and Fracking technology. Pemex was nationalized in the 1930's, and they are one of the world's least efficient oil companies today. (It's really just a department of the Mexican government, and it's famously corrupt.)

As for other "resources"... like what? Water? Food? Precious metals? The United States has more than enough of those resources too. And a growing population, although our population rate is slowing and we need the federal goverment to prioritize families having more children. We need to get back up to about 2.0 children per woman of child-bearing age again. (See the demographic crisis already hitting Russia and China!)

Otherwise, it seems like another Soylent Green is People! type prediction. That was 50 years ago, when the smart set and all the "experts" just knew that by this future date of 2022 we'd have famines and no oil and dwindling resources, with all the social ills associated with it.

This movie from 1972 was wisely set in our current year of 2022. "Experts" helped advise the movie producers.

First of all, fracking is a bad practice that uses a lot of water, causes earthquakes, and releases pollutants… causing cancer, birth defects, and helping produce the kind of chubby wubby men you didn’t find 60 years ago!

The issue isn’t the amount of oil we have but the cost behind getting it. It gets more expensive the deeper they have to go to extract it. To get coal, they can’t flatten every single Appalachian mountain. So the cost to obtain the resources will rise, and granted, the cost of literally building solar panels and wind turbines will fall, but at some point the former will outpace the latter and we’ll be fighting an uphill battle if we don’t pace ourselves. Gas/electricity prices will rise past what the average American can easily afford to pay, but due to Euclidean zoning laws and our current habits of driving everywhere, we don’t build walkable towns often anymore. It’s a gradually worsening situation… not like we need to stop using coal/oil tomorrow but we need to pick up the pace to make the transition. We can’t just sit on our keisters for many more decades.

I do agree that we need to get back to around 2 children per woman. The US is one of few first world countries without mandatory paid maternity leave…