Knicks Morning News (2019.04.23)

Please ban Ntilakilla for repeatedly posting inflammatory comments and generally being a troll.

I don’t agree. If we had a blog where everyone agreed, it would be boring. I don’t agree with Ntilakilla on a lot of stuff, but unless he is being personally insulting, I am ok with his comments. Other people voice support for Sanders, who I don’t like, should we ban them too?

It’s not that I want a lot of politics on this blog, but when Knicks news is slow, other topics tend to pop up. If politics is here occasionally and opinions differ, that is OK with me. It’s better than a site where people just preach to the choir.

From previous thread (my comment is “awaiting moderation” for some reason) I think the account of the Luke Walton incident is obviously disturbing but it describes events that would be very difficult to prove unless there are text messages or the like somewhere.

I love the non basketball topics. Esp. given that 90% of the posts is Knicks and bball related.

It’s going to be a long summer. Off topic stuff is fine. We don’t want the board to get as boring as GOT do we? But yeah, it’s rare that a political digression ends well. Possible but rare.

Yeah, 100%. They are hacking it up. That was some soap opera level stuff. Not terrible but could be so much more….

Ugh, it’s terrible. And every character suddenly became stupid once Benioff and Weiss didn’t have the books to follow. It’s the Game of Dumb Ideas now.

Part of me hopes that George RR Martin is mad at these guys for lapping him and is feeding them bad ideas to make them look stupid, and when he writes the last chapter none of that stuff will be in it.

EDIT: Having said all that, the next episode will probably be epic.

It’s better than yesterday’s musical circle-jerk that had me gagging.

Ugh, it’s terrible. And every character suddenly became stupid once Benioff and Weiss didn’t have the books to follow. It’s the Game of Dumb Ideas now.

Part of me hopes that George RR Martin is mad at these guys for lapping him and is feeding them bad ideas to make them look stupid, and when he writes the last chapter none of that stuff will be in it.

EDIT: Having said all that, the next episode will probably be epic.

I think the problem is that the politics and intrigue stuff in GoT was the interesting one, but magic was always a conventional story. In the first seasons they had a nice mixture of both, but now they can’t. Magic is the one driving the story, and if they open new intrigue plots, they would not be able to close them. So you just got the magic stuff, which is going to be epic and have incredible visual effects, but is not going to be that interesting.

However, I still hope they surprise me.

I kinda love Henry George. Every time he posts is like when they would cut from the Muppets to Statler and Waldorf in the balcony.

I hate the post-books GoT as well, but there are a couple of factors outside of Benioff and Weiss’s control. For one, the political gamesmanship of mute night king are not going to be as interesting as the conventional westerosi stuff from the earlier seasons. Secondly, Dany has never been a particularly compelling character. Most importantly, Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, and whoever plays Bran are the worst actors in the cast (though i’m kind of loving Bran’s weirdo weirwood-paste-tripping affect this year)

i used to worry that grrm would kick off before finishing the books…now, I’m not so sure I’ll even be around by the time a dream of spring finally comes out…

my expectation for the series changed dramatically once they ran out of source material…this season it’s simply a game of guessing who’ll be left at the end of episode 6….

KBPR, would you mind giving us a bit more color on your backstory with the production? The list of Knickerbloggeristas with more interesting lives than me just seems to keep growing

It’s not super interesting but my ex-girlfriend (now wife) worked as a VFX producer on GoT. They were such a demanding client, and VFX is an industry very easily taken advantage of, that she was working 20+ hours a day, 7 days a week. So yeah, the season 2 premiere i attended was not worth the devastation to our relationship, even though I’m pretty sure Amanda Peat (wife of GoT’s co-creator) was trying to eye fuck me.

Fair points, glidepath. My issue has more to do with how stupid all the characters have become. I think even Ned Stark would have spoken up about that plan to go north of the wall to bring back a wight to show Cersei.

That and how everyone got shielded with so much plot armor that all the stakes went away.

even though I’m pretty sure Amanda Peat (wife of GoT’s co-creator) was trying to eye fuck me.

oh my god, that happens all the time to me (not with amanda specifically, I’m not really sure who she is)…I mean like just in general…

it’s really challenging at times being such a compelling object of lust for others…

they may clumsily try to keep their eyes private, but, i know, i just know – they’re watching me…

my money is on that horn of joramun playing a big part still in WoW…

the dragon cold-fire was pretty cool though, I’m seriously hoping grrm ain’t taking many tips, regarding plot, from the show…

I do love the whole bran daytripping all over the place (and time)…bran the everybody…

has anyone read that damphair preview pov featuring euron…one of my favorite sneak peak chapters from winds of winter…

considering the direction GoT went with the euron character, I’m guessing that cool ass armor he wears ain’t making an appearance anytime soon…

for me, the dorne and euron adaptations were probably some of the most painful moments the show has had…

I’m still very into GOT because I think there’s enough good actors in the show to make it worth watching still, but the storyline unfortunately inevitably forced a focus on the absolute worst ones, while going away from fantastic characters and actors like Cersei for example. At least Jaime arrived in Winterfell to save us a bit from the absolute garbage that is watching Kit Harrington and Emilia Clarke interact for 10 minutes, which made the second episode a lot more watchable.

but the storyline unfortunately inevitably forced a focus on the absolute worst ones, while going away from fantastic characters and actors like Cersei for example. At least Jaime arrived in Winterfell to save us a bit from the absolute garbage that is watching Kit Harrington and Emilia Clarke interact for 10 minutes

+1000
Very well said

We recently reupped for HBO so that she can watch the final season and I can watch the Deadwood movie.

High Maintenance is an amazing show.

#32

Doesnt that happen in the books too?

It ends on a cliffhanger and George doesn’t have either the inclination or the ability to finish what he started

Cut myself off. …timing issues plot wise with some things inconveniently coming to a head while others are ramping up. Also I think he’s gotten bored with it.

Would you settle for him returning Zombie style in the 4th to last episode and ruining the day? If so, you may want to tune in next week!

Because, you know, if you’re fighting an enemy whose power is raising the dead, “the crypts are the safest place.”

things a nercomancer might say:
“Walk like you have life in you”.
“Omg it’s not gonna kill you….for long…”
“I built my career from the ground up!”
“throw me a freakin’ bone here.”
“Hear the one about the leper that was no good at playing poker? – He kept throwing his hands in.”
“Die on your own time.”
“Mess with a lich die like a bitch.”
“The bodies keep piling up and my work is never done.”
“What’s the difference between a Necromancer and a Necrophilliac? – One raises the dead, another is raised by the dead.”
“People are dying to work for me.”
“Say, you didn’t happen to hide all the women and children in the crypt, did you?”

I digress back to hoops: So who are the Knicks taking at #5 after the inevitable fall?
Hunter looked better than Culver in the final few games that I saw, but small sample size. That might be too high for Clarke. None of the other prospects seem very exciting, but I could be wrong.

Portland’s guards are shredding OKC. It’s been fun to watch Lillard and McCollum. Surprisingly Kanter seems to be fitting in and adding positive contributions. Looking forward to Rockets v Trail Blazers .

FWIW I agree with the “don’t ban Ntilakilla” crowd. Differing views should be allowed unless the personal insults get out of hand ( which does seem to happen from time to time here anyway)

I’m making my way for the second time through the sopranos with my gf (her first time through) and we just got to season 6B when Thrones started up. Needless to say the decline in the dialogue quality of Thrones becomes all the more apparent when it’s juxtaposed side by side with Tony Soprano.

That said I think they can still salvage the show. Last season was awful, but they have to hit some generic fantasy beats in the leadup to the ending of it all, and I’m sure it’s not particularly easy to write compelling television when there are so many genre strictures on how fantasy climaxes work. There are a couple possible endings that could make the groaners worth the price of admission though. We’ll see if B&W have the stones to actually follow through on the show’s themes, I guess. I’m not optimistic, but at this point we’ve got four more episodes to find out.

The true beauty of the GOT books was that you got to peek into a fantasy world. The only constant was the world. No individual person, no kingdom, no story arch was above annihilation. Every fight scene, every battle, every political conversation, it all held tension because anybody could go at any second.

and, then came a feast for crows…i know there was some editorial challenges with a feast for crows and a dance with dragons, but, the way they structured those two books was highly disappointing…

initially when i read through those two books i was mostly just skimming through for plot points though, i didn’t really slow enough to enjoy them as much as i should have…i enjoyed both a great deal more when i listened to them on audio books…

if you were going to read any of the preview chapters i’d highly recommend this one…absolutely beautifully named: the forsaken
https://thehawke.github.io/twow-excerpts/chapters/forsaken.html

if, you’re a fan of some of the extraordinary weapons and armor detailed in the books…it’s pretty cool stuff…

@40

Nothing is certain. It just takes a lot of luck and a very long time to get the 2-3 stars you need out of the draft and then start building around them. It works. I just see no point in excluding free agency and trading as a way of getting one or putting yourself in a position to get one right from the start.

The Nets have mostly done smart things in terms of using their cap space and finding good value in the draft, but they also have guys like DeMarre Carroll, Ed Davis, Jared Dudley, and Joe Harris (all veterans) making major contributions that put the team on the map for star free agents. If they were insisting that everyone be under 25 they wouldn’t be in the playoffs now and they definitely wouldn’t be in the game for major free agents. In their case, they didn’t really have much of a choice because they were barren of picks (like the Knicks were for a couple of years recently). But if they did have all their picks I’m pretty sure they still would have used every option available to get better and put themselves in a position to try to trade for, draft, or attract stars. The team would just look different and be better.

Can we all just tell Strat he’s right so he stops making the same argument every single day for years on end?

this is sort of interesting: https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/253482/Suns-Could-Have-Interest-In-Trading-Up-For-Ja-Morant-If-They-Fall-Out-Of-Top-2

Basically the Suns love Morant and would trade up for him.
If the Knicks get #2 and the Suns get something below #2, that would be a nice way to get an extra lottery pick next year in a much stronger draft – basically redoing the Atlanta/Dallas trade.
(that is if we don’t love Morant also).

I like Morant but if we’re going to sign Kyrie AND we have a bunch PG-types on the roster already, it seems a good use of resources to trade Morant and get two lottery picks in return.

the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss.

The wait for this isn’t so bad. The books are more of a journey than a destination kind of thing. It doesn’t feel as incomplete, if that makes sense.

I agree the show focused a bit too much on all the negative characters.

One of the great things about the books was that Martin would make you hate somebody like Jamie, then spend the next book making him human, then flip back to his enemies and make you question the original ‘heroes’. His skill at characterization really is amazing, and he used it to great effect to be a real bastard to the readers.

He spun his wheels through two largely ineffective books and then basically quit writing because he couldn’t figure out how to move Dany from one side of the world to the other which is approximately the least interesting question in the entire hyper detailed world he built.

This is the bane of modern fiction. In telling almost any long-form story, there’s going to be a lot of what I call “dumb monkey plotting.” You have to move your character/characters from Point A to Point B both emotionally and physically and there’s no hip, clever, edgy, or sexy way of doing it. You just have to trudge through and do it because it’s the steps you take along the journey, even the boring ones, that lend power to the ending.

So much writing today, especially in movies, is from people who only want/know how to write the “good bits,” which is why so many films lose steam so badly in the back half.

Mike

I haven’t read the GoT books, so cannot compare/contrast. I was fine with Ned being offed in the first season, okay (though frustrated a bit) with his eldest son’s demise (forgive me for forgetting character names)

this was robb stark (the young wolf, and, king of the north)…i liked his character a lot also…what was really cool in the books (which they accentuated greatly) was the impact/influence of those 6 direwolves that were discovered in the early moments of the book/show…

it seems each child may have had the ability to bond (they called it warging) with their wolf, and, actually see and act through animals…some demonstrated the ability more so than others…

one of the things which made robb so successful in battle was his ability to use his wolf, grey wind, to both fight and scout…

at this point in the show there are only two wolves left (jon’s ghost, and arya’s nymeria)…in the books bran and rickon still have their wolves though…

maggy the frog laid it all out for cersei when she was still young:

Cersei asks if she’ll marry the prince to whom she was promised. “You’ll never wed the prince,” Maggy says. “You’ll wed the king.”

Will she be queen? “Oh, yes,” Maggy says. “You’ll be queen, for a time. Then comes another, younger, more beautiful, to cast you down and take all you hold dear.”

Will she and the king have children? “No, the king will have 16 children, and you will have three,” Maggy says. “Gold will be their crowns and gold their shrouds.”

“And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.” Valonqar means “little brother” in High Valyrian.

i’m pretty sure cersei was the first of the twins born…

my money is on jaime…

This is the bane of modern fiction. In telling almost any long-form story, there’s going to be a lot of what I call “dumb monkey plotting.” You have to move your character/characters from Point A to Point B both emotionally and physically and there’s no hip, clever, edgy, or sexy way of doing it. You just have to trudge through and do it because it’s the steps you take along the journey, even the boring ones, that lend power to the ending.

So much writing today, especially in movies, is from people who only want/know how to write the “good bits,” which is why so many films lose steam so badly in the back half.

Mike

While I agree with you I do think there’s something to be said for how much harder this gets with the entire internet looking over your shoulder and ascribing significance and meaning to absolutely everything. Apparently at some point GRRM was planning for there to be a jump forward of a few years after book 3, which makes some sense given how young a lot of the main players are at that point, and how much Dany’s story in particular proved tricky to immediately untangle. It also would have let him go back to gradually revealing secrets/hidden truths of the recent past as he did so effectively in the first few books. Apparently the reasons he didn’t end up doing it was that he was worried people would feel unsatisfied with him just dropping events at that point – things like the Dornish reactions to Oberyn’s death, which sounds insane (it’s maybe, I don’t know, the 1000th most important plot point in the story and there really isn’t a single other Dornish character than even hardcore fans care about), but I’m sure there really is a section of online/con fandom who would have been outraged about the “plotholes” created.

I don’t agree. If we had a blog where everyone agreed, it would be boring. I don’t agree with Ntilakilla on a lot of stuff, but unless he is being personally insulting, I am ok with his comments. Other people voice support for Sanders, who I don’t like, should we ban them too?

I appreciate the defense.

We are all good people with different life experiences, priorities, and ideas about how to fix things.

I think this is exactly why dialogue shouldn’t be stifled here. Diversity of opinion is a good thing.

And don’t forget, when he started politicizing this blog a few months ago, I spoke up immediately and y’all shot me down because at that particular time you agreed with what he was saying. You can’t support someone’s right to talk politics when you agree with him, and then try to ban him when you don’t.

BINGO!

I love the non basketball topics. Esp. given that 90% of the posts is Knicks and bball related.

And now that the Knicks basketball season is over and we’re waiting for FA and the draft.

Also, Ntilakilla isn’t a troll so much as he’s that kid from college who comes home for Thanksgiving break and annoys everyone at the table because he just learned about the prison industrial complex. You can’t stand him when he’s on his soap box, but he’s still part of the family.

LOL. Funny analogy!

I have heard that theory about the crypt. It does get a lot of attention in the last episode so maybe there is something to it but I kind of doubt it. The last redoubt is a fairly standard feature going back to Helm’s Deep for fantasy fiction. I also think if the Night King could resurrect anyone who ever died he’d probably have exercised that option.

Off topic, but is anybody else enjoying the Lakers becoming the new Knicks? Magic Johnson’s resignation (after doing a terrible job in the first place), the Luke Walton allegations, LeBron’s missing the playoffs for the first time since he was a rookie, Kobe Bryant’s looming presence, and the idea that they’re going to lure free agents because they’re the Lakers and they have a 35 year old LeBron James? The only thing they’re missing is a franchise crippling trade for Bradley Beal and a max contract for Kemba Walker.

When it comes to GOT predictions i have a track record worse than the Knocks FO.

People were talking about their small children and you started talking about mass extinction. That’s kind of rude to be honest. I’m guessing you’re probably fairly young, that is a rather immature thing to do. I take the topic as seriously as you do but there’s a time and place, and that wasn’t it.

I’ve come to the conclusion Benioff and Weiss are overrated hacks. They were very effective adapting the story to a cable series format but are basically useless without George R.R. Martin’s writing to work off now that the show has surpassed the books. It might be that there is some grand plan they haven’t revealed but the problem seems to be tying up all of the loose ends in a satisfactory way that does justice to the many different character arcs and subplots driving the Song of Ice and Fire story. I don’t doubt that there is some major payoff that they are working towards, but the problem is that the show runners are sacrificing the character driven story telling which made the series so compelling at the beginning in favor of plot driven story telling which needs to move characters to certain situations in order to rush the narrative from point A to point Z. Perfect example can be seen in how both Littlefinger, Tyrion Lannister, and Varys — three of the cleverest and most compellingly cynical characters in all of television — were made into sentimental fools for sake of rushing the show along at the point in their character arcs which surpassed the third SOAIF book storyline.

You dropped into the world at a random point in time, and so you leave it at a random point in time.

i like that…it’s actually a pretty fair assessment of life itself…

by any chance – anyone reading Fire and Blood?

i’m still on the jaehaerys the conciliator section…last interesting thing i had read was about jaehaerys’ niece (princess aerea) taking off with balerion…and, then coming back – kah-razee stuff…

My issue with GoT’s writing is not even how uninteresting some of the major characters are, because that’s almost bound to happen in such a huge and diverse world, the characters that actually move the story forward tend to be the blandest / most stereotypical ones.

My issue is that they seem to be writing the dialogues backwards, and that’s just terrible writing. Every single Daenerys dialogue, specially the ones with Sansa being the most egregious ones, are written with the punch lines / smart quips as the main focus, and then the rest of the dialogue and scene are merely a lead up to the tense moment. The same happens in a lot of Jon’s dialogue and to a lesser extent with Tyrion and even Cersei too, the difference is that Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey are good enough actors that their overall performance trumps the bad dialogue decisions.

It annoys me to death simply because it was never like this in the first 4 or 5 seasons, when the dialogue was sharp without having to resort to this endless game of a character trying to one up the other with “memorable” lines.

The magic fantasy mumbo jumbo was expected and somewhat necessary to the progress of the show in my opinion, after spending 5 great seasons with everything ahead of the curtain and the huge magical shit as the threat looming over, they have to also develop and show us what’s behind. That I can understand, but I really don’t need Daenerys being smug in 10 straight dialogues with every single person, specially since Clarke clearly can’t handle the character, and the character is boring and uninteresting in the first place.

It’s a shame because we should be inspired by Daenerys, but she just ends up being a stupid entitled young girl who can’t relate with anyone and fails at every opportunity trying to look badass.

It’s a shame because we should be inspired by Daenerys, but she just ends up being a stupid entitled young girl who can’t relate with anyone and fails at every opportunity trying to look badass.

I thought this was the point. The whole premise behind the books is as a FU to traditional epic fantasy tropes (knights who say ‘fuck’). Daenerys is the magic animal princess a la Pern and similar and is meant to fail at both dragons and at ruling. It’s why so much of her story has a strong deux ex machina feel – randomly acquiring the unsullied and the mercenary captain – because that’s a central part of that trope, shit just falls out of the sky into the lap of the magic animal princess.

I’m guessing you’re probably fairly young, that is a rather immature thing to do. I take the topic as seriously as you do but there’s a time and place, and that wasn’t it.

The question of parental challenges was raised and I brought up the issue of mass extinction and climate change. Here’s my issue. By extension of your logic, I could say you must be old for not thinking one is very relevant to the other. Would that be fair to you or would it just be a way of patronizingly dismissing your perspective? I think you know the answer.

Also, since I was just accused by someone of making bad faith arguments without “metrics” or “experience” to back them up, let me note that, according to the most recent research, future life expectancy is expected to be negatively impacted by man-made climate change. I don’t see how parents aren’t chilled by the prospect that their children could live shorter lives than they do as they age. As for experience, BTW. I have family in PR, a state which is being devastated by intensified tropical storms rising Atlantic Ocean temperatures wrought, raising their children in that environment. And I worried about it all through Hurricane Maria.

I get that you, as someone in a position of privilege, want to bracket the issue from every discussion here. Others can’t. And I refuse to remit from mentioning it when the subject of parenting comes up because it makes privileged people like you uncomfortable about the world we live in. The alternative perspective needs to be heard, if no other reason that people like you do bracket it from yours lives by putting up walls between yourselves and the rest of the world. If am a bad faith troll who should be banned for genuinely feeling this way, then so be it. But I will speak my piece rather than be cowed into silence.

Also LOL at the idea that playing in a mid-tier indie rock band affords you to living in a “position of privilege.” Yeah, I’m sitting here typing this on a diamond-encrusted cell phone in the opulent mansion I bought myself with my Haunted Graffiti money.

and would continue to recommend them even having accepted several years ago now that they are unlikely to ever be completed.

call me crazy, but, i think he’s writing both winds of winter and a dream of spring together…i know they won’t be published together, but, i think he’s “finishing” the whole story at once…

to date there’s been 11 chapters/100 pages or so of pre-release work from winds of winter (most i believe if not all i believe are chapters held out from the two previous books)…a dance with dragons was 1,000 pages long…

so, basically, he started with 10% of winds of winter already completed, and, who knows how many other completed chapters he already had…

My mom, dad, brother, two nieces and nephew all live in Fort Lauderdale and they’re at risk every hurricane season. So, I dunno, fuck off maybe? Can it with the virtue signaling already, I am embarrassed for you.

You mean well but you’re really not as smart as you think you are.

@93

It’s not the same thing, JK47. Florida is actually where most Puerto Ricans are migrating to in order to avoid what that Maria and a piss poor federal emergency response did and is still doing to their island. The fact you think experiencing a hurricane in one remotely compares to the other only confirms my suspicion about your privilege to be honest.

But I propose we both stop now because you’re getting offended and I don’t want to turn it into a personal pissing match here when the point is supposed to be about respecting each other’s differences. All I am saying here is to consider where I am coming from when I make these uncomfortable points you don’t like. So, when you dismissively say things like Bernie supporters are worse than Trump supporters after the Christchurch shooting when I posted about the Mueller Report or that I must be “immature” for raising a point climate in a conversation about parenting children today, it’s offensive to me because it shows a complete lack of touch with concerns that people like me have to the point that I am baffled for having to defend myself from accusations of trolling for saying these things.

I find Ntilakilla typically grating but I will say as someone right around the age where most of my friends/peers are starting to have kids, climate change is always the very first thing that gets brought up in our discussions. My wife and I are considering taking the plunge and it’s certainly the very heart of our greatest fears and concerns. Interjecting it into what’s otherwise a lighthearted discussion isn’t exactly tactful but this is an internet messageboard – tactful conversation isn’t exactly one of the hallmarks and as it’s clearly a related and important issue it seems reasonable to raise to me.

@96

Fair enough. Though I think disengagement is the worst thing you can do with someone you disagree with.

However, Ntilakilla does not discuss politics, he makes pithy comments like Bernie is a genius, everyone else is a confederacy of dunces.

Yes, isolate and cherrypick one snark comment on a message board full of snarkier comments as indicative of one person’s entire posting history. That’s a real good faith representation and not bad faith strawmanning at all. According to this logic, I can isolate and cherrypick your multiple comments calling for my outright banning from here and say ” EarlyBird does not discuss politics, he makes accusatorys comments like Ban Ntilakilla.” See how unfair that is?

BUT I am afraid that we’ll get into some very spoilery details here that will piss even more people off and I am already disliked here enough. LOL.

i don’t know raz…i think you kind of just like fucking with folks, just poking on them for a reaction – and, it’s that reaction which you seek more than anything…personally i don’t get it – but, i understand it’s a thing for some…i don’t really think you’re looking for an honest debate…you seem to like to win and be right…hard to get in to an honest debate with a competitive individual – especially when they are already convinced they’re right…

i don’t really think any of us are just one thing though…

i missed out on some of the more antagonistic folks from a few years ago (did get to catch some of project knicks final act, that dude had zero polish though = low rent/project troll)…

i never really could understand why reub enjoyed fucking with people so much…i thought he was an interesting and okay person – i liked hearing about the cruise ship shit…but, for some reason he had a strong desire to stay in conflict with others…i don’t really know why some people pursue those type of interactions, or, what the real “payoff” is…

just different strokes i guess…i hope you’re able to hang around for a while raz…

The question of parental challenges was raised and I brought up the issue of mass extinction and climate change. Here’s my issue. By extension of your logic, I could say you must be old for not thinking one is very relevant to the other. Would that be fair to you or would it just be a way of patronizingly dismissing your perspective? I think you know the answer.

Also, since I was just accused by someone of making bad faith arguments without “metrics” or “experience” to back them up, let me note that, according to the most recent research, future life expectancy is expected to be negatively impacted by man-made climate change. I don’t see how parents aren’t chilled by the prospect that their children could live shorter lives than they do as they age. As for experience, BTW. I have family in PR, a state which is being devastated by intensified tropical storms rising Atlantic Ocean temperatures wrought, raising their children in that environment. And I worried about it all through Hurricane Maria.

I get that you, as someone in a position of privilege, want to bracket the issue from every discussion here. Others can’t. And I refuse to remit from mentioning it when the subject of parenting comes up because it makes privileged people like you uncomfortable about the world we live in. The alternative perspective needs to be heard, if no other reason that people like you do bracket it from yours lives by putting up walls between yourselves and the rest of the world. If am a bad faith troll who should be banned for genuinely feeling this way, then so be it. But I will speak my piece rather than be cowed into silence.

This would be the point in thanksgiving where I roll my eyes and sneak out to the back to get high with uncle geo.

i appreciate your response raz…personally i just think you have a lot of insight and knowledge to offer…there’s a lot of folks dropping by, other than the folks whom regularly kick in…i just don’t think you really need to poke so hard in order to get some type of feedback…your thoughts, words, beliefs, values should be able to stand on their own, and you should have confidence in that…

i get the whole debate thing, and, how that’s important for a lot of folks here to exercise their mind and spirit…and, to a certain extent – we’re all using one another for something…i just don’t know how honest it is if you use others to get some kind of bump that comes along with riling folks up, simply for the sake of – getting a bump from riling folks up…

it’s just not a very challenging thing to do…it’s pretty easy actually…

i don’t know, i guess it’s kind of like going over to someone’s house (in this case mike and brian’s pad :), and, fucking with their friends…eventually they’ll just get sick of that shit…

@ 108

Good luck! You’re gonna need it. Better men than us have succumbed to the siren call of Someone Being Wrong On The Internet™.

i don’t know jk – there are a bunch of new yorkers (and those sympathetic to our plight) here…i don’t think it’ll ever be all hugs and kisses…nor should it probably…i know i wouldn’t want that…

it’s just this stuff is like shooting fish in a barrel for some folks…

heck, i like “discussing” things in a very loud voice at times 🙂
http://i.imgur.com/lDV3TAZ.jpg

Amazing that the Nets are losing by 27 despite having a guy as tough as Jared Dudley

You guys think Masai Ujiri will entertain the idea of trading Pascal Siakim for Anthony Davis this summer? We know the Lakers have no shot at a deal and keeping AD from Boston not only robs them of a chance to improve, but it makes Kyrie’s departure more likely AND makes it harder for Kawhi Leonard to leave.

Damian Lillard is absolutely roasting the Thunder and the rest of his team is giving him nothing on either side of the ball.

@116 I think it would be pretty tough to walk away from teaming up with Anthony Davis and Masai Ujiri in an NBA where the Warriors will likely lose Kevin Durant. I wonder if NOLA would even value Siakim over Tatum.

Bucks in 7 for me. Brad Stevens and Mike Budenholzer are on the same tier of coaching to me, but Giannis is definitively the best player in the series. Kyrie will steal an early game but in the end Giannis and the Bucks will be too much for Boston’s young and overrated wings to stop.

Bucks in 5 over Boston.

Raptors in 7 over Philly

Bucks in 6 over Raptors

What a ridiculous game-winning shot. Like, seriously RIDICULOUS.

Lillard became a legend in a great playoff duel .

LOL Westbrook is now going to have to shake off the onus of playoff underachievement…again.

They can’t blame Melo this year. It’s really unbelievable that Lillard is as good as he is and is so unheralded in comparison to every other star point guard in the NBA.

OKC’s starters:

Paul George, 14-20 from the field.
Jerami Grant, 7-8 from the field.
Steven Adams, 5-8 from the field.
Terrance Ferguson, 1-1 from the field.
Russell Westbrook, 11-31 from the field.

They lost by 3 points.

Westbrook is going to have to take the brunt of the blame here. George played like garbage in a couple of games, but he has the injury and had good games like tonight. Westbrook’s terrible shooting is simply getting to a point where his overall fantastic production is not really compensating for it anymore. He either changes his game or he’ll be in a lot more first round exits until he retires.

Westbrook is 30 and is the prototypical player that doesn’t age well. Those age 31-34 contract years at $38M, $41M, $43M and $46M don’t look so hot right now. He has like a 4/170 deal remaining.

I would really be looking to trade him to some dumb team that is thirsty for a “star.” Let’s hope that dumb team is not us.

The mere fact that he took 30+ shots on a night where George and Grant seemingly couldn’t miss is the worst part. He’s just wired this way, and at this point in his career he’s not changing. I expected the Thunder to lose but I didn’t expect it to be this bad, and it’s only going to get worse as he continues to decline physically and the team continues to be capped out and paying the tax.

KD knew, what PG knows now. What will/can he do?
And Lillards J is a thing of beauty.

Wow, Bob, Wow.

Bucks in 5

Bucks are going to beat the piss out of the Celtics. I’d be surprised to see it go 6.

Paul George just got bounced in the first round in 5 by a bad shot, I guess. Maybe he should have taken more bad shots, himself.

i think it’s a hard question. if you look more closely none of those lillard shots from 30-40 feet this year were even 35 feet plus. in fact his average attempt in those 30-40 feet shots was around 31 feet. i think this is actually the first shot lillard has ever hit between 35-40 feet in his career. so not only is sample size from 30-40 a question, the marginal cost of distance within that range is, too.

what’s more the game was tied. so even a 39pct three doesn’t get the full benefit of the normal 1.5x multiple, since if it’s at the buzzer it has the same value as a two or a free throw. admittedly if some time is left that changes, but even then the value is less than the normal 1.5x multiple. i tend to agree that is was a bad shot. awesomely bad, of course.

Who was/is more overrated? Westbrook or Melo?

Owen, was that a Twin Peaks reference

It was. Killer shot.

Owen, was that a Twin Peaks reference?

I don’t understand how Bob was created by the atomic bomb testing.

It may not be possible to win a championship with Westbrook on your team. He’s as dumb as a pile of rocks. I don’t care how much athletic ability you’ve been blessed with and how many triple doubles you pile up. He can’t shoot and he never could. He’s not as bad as Simmons, but Simmons plays within his skillset. So he adds a lot of value through the things he does so well. Westbrook often takes more shots than anyone on the team. Even when he scores a lot it’s often still at an average or below average efficiency. It’s like watching Melo on cocaine. For all he adds with play making and rebounding (even though some of that is just role), he throws away almost as much with his shot selection.

I think Bucks take it in six – there’s no way Boy Wonder coaches them out of this one.

Also, to circle back to ASOIAF/GOT, do any of you subscribe to the Eldritch Apocalypse theory for TWOW? The Aeron POV chapter seemed to confirm that a lot of it has a good chance of actually happening. It’s definitely one of the more well-thought out theories for whats going to happen if Martin can actually finish the series.

Also, 100% agreed that the show’s writing has gone down the crapper. I’ve been rewatching the series and it’s almost painful to compare seasons 1-4 to the soap opera dreck that started with the Dorne arc. We’ve had some good moments (like the Sept of Baelor, Hardhome and the loot train battle), but the show has gotten way lazier with the logistics/intrigue side of things. I’m also kind of tired of every battle being decided by a random deus ex machina army doing its best Rohan impression instead of competent planning and execution.

Anyone else think Danaerys is going full Mad Queen this season? It kind of seems inevitable that Sansa and her will butt heads over the North’s independence and he’ll have to pick a side.

ExxonMobil doesn’t care whether you have another kid. The actual “best thing you can do” for the planet is anything that will reduce the political power of the fossil fuel industry, while “the worst thing you can do” is try to convince people otherwise. As Bill McKibben told me in an interview last year, “the most important lifestyle change you can make is to become a climate change activist.” This could include direct action to stop pipelines, organizing people to advocate for renewable energy, working for the election of more pro-Green New Deal politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, joining a socialist organization, or doing everything you can to get reactionaries like Donald Trump out of office.

Strat chiming in with his reliably terrible take.

You can set your watch to it.

@153

I don’t understand how Bob was created by the atomic bomb testing.

The unleashing of the most powerful killing device in the history of man ushered in a new era of fear and paranoia, symbolized by Bob, the shadowy lumberjacks, etc.

I think the whole thing is a representation of the Cold War fears that Lynch grew up with in the 1950’s.

Everyone else’s mileage may vary, of course. 🙂 BTW, that’s my favorite individual episode of any TV show, ever.

I don’t mean to dismiss or trivialize the disruptions that could occur if the climate keeps warming, but at 60 years of age I’m on my 3rd or 4th thing that was supposed to kill me and destroy all of humanity if we didn’t do something fast.

I am sure the blindfolded man falling off 100 story building thinks the breeze is wonderful right before he hits splat against the ground too.

Anyone else think Danaerys is going full Mad Queen this season? It kind of seems inevitable that Sansa and her will butt heads over the North’s independence and he’ll have to pick a side.

I think they decided to make Cersei the Mad Queen on the show for better or worse. I think Daeny’s own interests are with Jon and that there probably won’t be much of King’s Landing left anyways if/when the fighting’s done.

I’m also kind of tired of every battle being decided by a random deus ex machina army doing its best Rohan impression instead of competent planning and execution

Another good example for how George’s meticulous command of military history and strategy you saw in Blackwater Bay elevated the show and how Benioff and Weiss are truly clueless about all of that.

Also, to circle back to ASOIAF/GOT, do any of you subscribe to the Eldritch Apocalypse theory for TWOW? The Aeron POV chapter seemed to confirm that a lot of it has a good chance of actually happening. It’s definitely one of the more well-thought out theories for whats going to happen if Martin can actually finish the series.

Yes, yes, and yes. The Foresaken chapter basically went a good deal of Lovecraft on us, tying a lot of what’s being foreshadowed in the WOIAF book with the plot in the SOIAF books. To me, the biggest failures in the show can be tied into Benioff and Weiss’ decision to diminish Euron’s role in their narrative. You can see that when George reset the story in Feast for Crows that he was introducing Euron to develop him into a major deity-level “fuck with the natural order of things” type player. The most interesting aspect is how it expands a lot of what’s been happening to an otherworldly level beyond mere politicking. New Gods are being made from the ashes a primordial clash that is Ragnorok in epic scale.

It’s weird how somebody is all Mr. Empirical Data and has made these complicated horse racing algorithms and secret on/off NBA numbers and has figured out all three ways in which you can acquire a player yet has such disdain for actual scientists who do peer-reviewed work. It’s almost as if there’s confirmation bias at play here, and that this person simply can’t reconcile the reality of climate change with the tenets of his musty Ayn Randian belief system. Almost.

The unleashing of the most powerful killing device in the history of man ushered in a new era of fear and paranoia, symbolized by Bob, the shadowy lumberjacks, etc. I think the whole thing is a representation of the Cold War fears that Lynch grew up with in the 1950’s.

Great breakdown, thanks. So BOB (which is BOMB missing an M) wasn’t really an actual entity but a type of “zeitgeist” created by the Nuclear Age? Bob is just a symbolic manifestation of all that Cold War fear and hostility which poisoned the people at Twin Peaks? So Lynch basically came up with the idea for American Gods before Neil Geiman by working off the concept that human beings fetishize ideas so large and omnipresent these ideas assume an independent reality unto themselves that influence human events. So, for example, in American Gods there are different deities who representing the modern era like mass media (Media), globalization (Mr. World), and digital technology (Technical Boy) who have a sentience of their own. BOB is the Twin Peaks “Atom Bomb” version of that concept, I guess? But if this was so, then how was it possible to kill BOB? Surely he was a type of entity larger than any mortal thing, no?

“Melo could have been a part of a championship team but Westbrook could not have” is a rather unfortunate take

What a day at KB, we have climate change talk, including some kind of soft denial but not really denial that I don’t care enough to read and Melo apologism… I think I’ll start writing about Tyson Chandler and gravity effects so we have the full course meal.

Can we go back to Musicblogger?

I believe the earth is warming and it’s man made, but I think the implications, though potentially disruptive, are likely to be way less severe than the worst case scenarios people are throwing around.

Based on the very large sample size of the 60 years of his own life.

I’m sure he has some super secret metric of his own that proves climate change is as overrated as building through the draft.

Plus, why be on the safe side? Go with your gut. Nuclear weapons haven’t killed us, so climate change is nothing to worry about. That makes all sorts of addled brain sense.

Climate change is real and fueled by humans. Unfortunately, it’s probably too late to do much about it in the next half century or so.

It’s sort of like accepting that smoking is harmful after 40 years of a 3-pack Chesterfield non-filtered habit. Even worse, because the main fossil fuel consumers are not necessarily the most adversely affected, or are so rooted in the here and now that they couldn’t care less about the future.

We should definitely modify consumption habits, as individuals and as a community, but we should also have no illusions that we are going to save ourselves from the worst effects. As to what those worst effects will be, hard to say because technology will probably mitigate some of the more dramatic stuff, e.g. building seawalls, better tropical storm and drought management, genetic modification of crops, etc. But no matter what we do in the next 10-20 years, the ice caps are fucked.

Ultimately, the solution to this problem (and many others) is cheap, non-polluting, renewable energy. We need to make fossil fuels totally obsolete. It would probably take something like cold fusion to make a dent. The other thing that would help is to modify our diets so that animal-based farming is curtailed.

I’m backing Strat on this one…not because I agree with him, but because his words are getting twisted.

In my short lifetime I was supposed to get nuked to death, starve to death, freeze to death in a new ice age, get wiped out by superbugs, and now the warming climate is going to get me. All those things were and continue to be undeniable risks. But my conclusion is that human beings tend to over blow low probability risks because of the catastrophic potential.

This is an objectively terrible argument, and I’ll tell you why: there is pretty significant consensus among climate scientists that we’re at HIGH risk, not LOW risk. Whatever, Strat’s gut knows better than those guys with the peer-reviewed studies doe.

Having defended you, though, Strat, I have to ask after reading this:

In my short lifetime I was supposed to get nuked to death, starve to death, freeze to death in a new ice age, get wiped out by superbugs, and now the warming climate is going to get me. All those things were and continue to be undeniable risks. But my conclusion is that human beings tend to over blow low probability risks because of the catastrophic potential.

There are always risks. If you want to have children please do it!!!!

PS: An asteroid is coming

I think you might be conflating your personal experiences with some movies you watched! Either that or I missed the existential superbug threat in American history class.

I think you might be conflating your personal experiences with some movies you watched! Either that or I missed the existential superbug threat in American history class.

lol That superbug is more recent. And to be honest, it’s the one that scares me the most because of global travel.

Gah, I try so hard to stay out of this stuff, but since I do play a bit in this arena, I have to point out the sheer absurdity of Z’s post:

Unfortunately, it’s probably too late to do much about it in the next half century or so.
…but we should also have no illusions that we are going to save ourselves from the worst effects.

Can you grasp the concept that if we don’t do something about it in the next half century, the ‘worst effects’ will be enormously worse?

I suspect you might possibly have meant to say that ‘it’s too late to entirely reverse climate change in the next half century,’ and that ‘we are not going to save ourselves from significant negative effects.’ I suspect that because it is the only possible way I can rewrite your garble into something that makes any sense. But what was written was, in fact, garble, and not that.

It takes a truly BIG BRAIN to follow the logic behind “some people said I should be worried about a small percent chance of X occurring, and X never occurred, therefore I will disregard a completely different set of people saying I should be worried about the extremely high percent chance of Y occurring”. The logic is so bright it’s blinding my brain.

Exactly this. Strat was fine when he said that he’d still have kids despite the threat of catastrophic climate change. But then he said, “Nah, all of this shit is way overblown” as the basis for the “have kids” argument. That’s nonsense.

Also, don’t expect anyone to respect your individual life experience. They only want to demand you respect theirs.

What fucking nihilistic bullshit. How the fuck a person can make this kind of straw-man with a straight face is fucking beyond me. But this kind of self-victimization is the hallmark of a Hobby Lobby conservative in 2019. “Help, help! I’m being repressed!” No, asshole — you’re just confusing gut-level opinions with empirical argument.

This could have been taken word-for-word from the Oregon City Followers of Christ couple that let their baby die in a prayer circle because they refused to let society demand that they provide medical care to their ailing newborn.

“Don’t let them disrespect your beliefs, you two! Christ can heal your baby — I’ve got the life experience to prove it!”

tl;dr Feelings aren’t fucking facts, GTFOH

I was going to say almost verbatim what JK47 just said. The average scientist has been far, far more “alarmist” than the average politician when it comes to the effects of climate change.

But hey, as long as some insurance salesman Strat likes says we’re fine…

We actually COULD do something about climate change and at least mitigate some of the worst effects, but it’s a lot easier to just do the shrug emoticon and hope for the best. The superbugs never got us, so everything should be chill I guess.

This is an objectively terrible argument, and I’ll tell you why: there is pretty significant consensus among climate scientists that we’re at HIGH risk, not LOW risk. Whatever, Strat’s gut knows better than those guys with the peer-reviewed studies doe.

I don’t think you are thinking about risk properly.

There is a risk of something occurring and there are the risks if it does occur. They are 2 separate things.

Lets say the risk of global warming continuing for a couple of decades is between 95%-100%.

The risk of the worst case scenario is much lower than 95%-100%.

There is a whole range of possible outcomes that are dependent on how accurate our models are at predicting the rate of change and the implications, what we do about, when we do it, what we learn along the way that can stall or reverse it, how other factors that influence weather impact things, our ability to adapt, migrate and change, etc.. It goes on and on.

You don’t go from global warming to “world wide disaster don’t have children” in one step.

I just figured out the meaning of Knickerblogger.

We watch the Knicks as a comedy because it’s fun to point out all their ridiculous moves.

And so we argue with Strat, Reub, Ntilakilla for all the same reasons. You know they are throwing out crap. It’s inevitable. So it’s fun to find the crap and point at it.

But this kind of self-victimization is the hallmark of a Hobby Lobby conservative in 2019. “Help, help! I’m being repressed!” No, asshole — you’re just confusing gut-level opinions with empirical argument.

Ok, I see you’ve edited your comment.

So, to be clear, you inserted a hobby lobby conservative who is not present in this conversation so you could call him an asshole.

You did this in the same paragraph in which you accused me of using a straw man argument.

I know you hate taking an L, but come on, man. That’s worse than Russell Westbrook shooting the thunder out the game last night.

Scientists (bless their hearts) have an obligation to tell us the facts and warn us about risks, but they aren’t going to sit around explaining long tail risk and stand deviations to the public to get us to change policy. They are going to say “global warning – very bad” and hope we are scared enough to invest in clean energy.

There it is, everybody! The grand, unifying statement that ties a little bow on the whole thread:

“Don’t listen to those alarmist scientists, they’re not giving you the real facts.”

The insurance dude says it’s chill. Superbugs. This is maybe the Strat-est thing that ever Stratted.

Also, Strat dismissing “politicians and media” for some “bias”, but then he is all on board with some random insurance guy. Like, do you have any idea how he is compensated? Like, does he care about being right ten years from now, or is he good with short term bets that pay off. You have no idea. He just fits your narrative.

He has no opinion on global warming that I am aware of. He’s basically just a data and stats guy that would be right at home on this board if he was a Knicks fan. He has no vested interest other than setting the right price so he makes money for the company and for himself as a shareholder. You can know what he thinks based on how much insurance he’s willing to write and at what price. If he sees a change in the data, he will change the price and write less insurance.

well now it’s getting a bit harder to defend you strat

There it is, everybody! The grand, unifying statement that ties a little bow on the whole thread:

“Don’t listen to those alarmist scientists, they’re not giving you the real facts.”

The insurance dude says it’s chill. Superbugs. This is maybe the Strat-est thing that ever Stratted.

lmao

You guys are so ridiculous it’s hard to imagine why I waste my time with this nonsense.

There is a difference between giving us facts, which they do, and explaining long tail risks and probabilities to a public that will not understand it. Maybe I haven’t been aggressive enough looking for it, but I haven’t seen any report in the media that gives probabilities on the many possible outcomes ranging from mildly disruptive all the way to catastrophic.

That data may exist, but it’s not part of the public discourse influencing policy.

People (the general public) only understand “global warming = catastrophe”. That’s why we have very smart people here afraid to have children.

Not too many people anywhere understand the difference between the risk of something happening and the totally different risks associate with it happening. It’s conceptually difficult.

And again, you’re willfully misinterpreting what he said.

Stratomatic was fine until he clarified his argument from “I would have kids despite the threat of climate change [for reasons derived from my personal experiences]” to “I would have kids despite the threat of climate change because it’s not all that bad because the guy from Berkshire Hathaway said so [for reasons derived from my personal experiences].” And that’s exactly what he said.

WRONG!! WRONG!! WRONG!!

2. I said there is a difference between the risk of something occurring (the probability of global warming is extremely high) and the risk of the worst case scenarios occurring (which is dependent on a whole host of things we cannot predict because it involves our own future actions and things we don’t fully understand). So don’t be afraid to have children because of the worst case scenarios. That’s WAY LESS CERTAIN.

2. I said the media fear mongers. Then I pointed out the real world insurance data on storms and their severity because it’s different than the narrative we get from the media every time there’s a bad storm. That’s say nothing about global warming. It says don’t form your opinion based on what you read in the media. They are full of shit. Form your opinion based on actual data. That view is consistent with my long term experience with other doom and gloom scenarios. The media seems to love doom and gloom and so do some people.

Oh, so no interest that could affect judgment or impartiality. Guess I’m wrong!

It’s an emotionless transaction without a rooting interest.

If storms get worse he’ll raise his prices to compensate for the greater risk or refuse to write those lines of business anymore because they will be unprofitable. The fact that he’s not doing that means he knows he can write it at current prices and still make money.

Flipping a coin is 50%.

Give me 6/5 I’m in.
Give me 4/5 I’m out.

Give me 6/5 on heads and 4/5 on tails I’ll take heads.
Give me 6/5 on tails and 4/5 on heads I’ll take tails.

No emotion.

“Maybe I haven’t been aggressive enough looking for it”

You think? Just maybe? Cuz it’s really easy to find.

“but I haven’t seen any report in the media that gives probabilities ”

Unless, of course, you’re looking for the media to publish stories with high-level probability statistics leavened throughout. If you aggressively looked at the media, you might come to realize that’s not really a big part of what the media does. And maybe, I don’t know, you could read the source reports from those self-same scientists who you accuse of failure for not getting their statistical models accurately and fully described by the press.

Point taken.

I acknowledged that those numbers probably exist. I just don’t know many people that sit around reading peer reviewed scientific reports other than other scientists. I’m sure I wouldn’t understand most of them. What I do know is that people think the media gives them an accurate and balanced layman’s version. On that count the media fails. They make it abundantly clear every time there’s a severe storm.

Well now. That got a little crazy.

I have probably the darkest take on global warmin here. A family friend is a leading climate scientist, presidential science council (Obama) type. He says we are completely fooked. The carbon dioxide up in the air will be with us for 900 years and the level of investment necessary to address the situation is on the order of fighting WW2 for 100 years.

Not that uplifting. Those with the best intentions are engaging in a monumental act of self deception. Those without them are idiots. The rest of us should move to Canada.

Let me sum it up my opinion as clearly as possible in one post because I’m too busy to deal with the misunderstandings of what I am saying.

1. Global warming is real.

2. My experience in life is that the media overstates the risks of these doom and gloom scenarios actually occurring.

3. Related to #2. There is a huge difference between the probability that the earth will continue warming (high) and the probability that the worst case scenarios will occur (lower).

4. As evidence of media spin, the reporting on storms has not been accurate based on insurance data from the best super cat insurance underwriter on earth (you know the data and stats we all supposedly love).

5. Don’t let global warming stop you from having children.

6. Debt, money printing, and making long term promises you cannot and will not keep is a very bad way to run a government and world.

I have probably the darkest take on global warmin here. A family friend is a leading climate scientist, presidential science council (Obama) type. He says we are completely fooked. The carbon dioxide up in the air will be with us for 900 years and the level of investment necessary to address the situation is on the order of fighting WW2 for 100 years.

Your friend sounds smart and all but has he ever sold insurance? You have to look at that.

@217, that’s kind of what I’m saying. As a global community, and even as a local community, we simply don’t have the will to commit to any solutions that will make even a negligible impact, much less a meaningful one.

I’m open to learning more about what difference actually can be made by a more modest goal, e.g. reduce all carbon emissions from passenger vehicles by 90% by the year 2030. Between emissions from trucks, planes, cow farts, ships, conventional power production, etc., and continuing deforestation in various ecosystems, it doesn’t seem like anything short of catastrophe will make the global powers take much notice.

GAHHHHH. The IPCC reports have done this exact thing that you’re saying, with confidence, that they do not do.

It’s not that I’m not interested. I trust independent scientists, but I do not trust the IPCC reports or anything else related to the UN. The UN is a political body. It’s an institution I hold in disdain for other reasons.

Again, please don’t say I said things I didn’t say. That’s why I am forced to waste precious time here or feel compelled to leave. I know that scientists have the those models and SAID SO. I simply added that the public does not understand long tail and other kinds of risks. So all that’s getting communicated to the public is doom and gloom because that’s what the media does.

It’s not that I’m not interested. I trust independent scientists, but I do not trust the IPCC reports or anything else related to the UN. The UN is a political body. It’s an institution I hold in disdain.

lmao we are so fucked 🙁

This is literally the only Internet forum where I converse. I feel like some of you are other ones. I find that other forums – like Twitter, facebook, whatever the fuck Reddit is (it sounds horrible) – tend to be incredibly binary.

It seems to me that there is a natural inclination for people involved in many forums to ascribe the arguments of someone who aggravated them in forum A to a post in Forum B that slightly sounds like something they heard in forum A, but isn’t really the same thing.

That’s the best theory I can come up with as to why there tend to be reading comprehension issues with people who I know don’t struggle with reading comprehension. There’s just too many damn conversations in some of our minds and the shit overflows. And to be clear, I’m not referring to anyone specifically. Just to the abundance of instances where someone feels like their comments are misread.

it’s not that hard to figure out really, for the most part – we’re all just waiting for it to be our turn to talk…i only really read the first few words of each of your paragraphs, and, i was ready to type 🙂

I think arguing over the UN is a bridge too far. Or should I put up a thread so we can argue the merits of the Large Hadron Collider and decry the corruption of Big Physics?

Mitch, if you are reading this, we will shortly return to talking about how awesome you are.

Go Jazz

Btw, Kanter thanked the Knicks for waiving him in the post game press conference.

On behalf of all of us I would like to say you’re welcome Enes.

I still would like to know more about this superbug apocalypse.

Not sure about the superbug, but I remember the Y2k scare. Not much of a scare, really, more of a joke.

explaining long tail risks

Scientific predictions of climate change aren’t long tail risks at all. They are average or median predictions

What ptmilo said. If you’re conflating rates set for short term actuarial tables and long term projections for a planet that has no human scale expiration date you aren’t just making an error of scale, you’re making an egregious category error.

Just hopping in to say that I’ve talked to climate scientists online and in-person and they all say it’s worse than the public thinks. Their public facing estimates are for various reasons more conservative than what they think is most likely. They’re pretty depressed!

Up ten going into the fourth, they probably lose by 15. Shame. Extra game of rest would be nice for the Rockets. I really want a Harden v Giannis final. The leagues two unstoppable players, with radically different games.

He’s gonna give Ballmer a coronary.

Hot fucking damn.

NBA Twitter came haaaaaaaaaaaaaard for Donovan Mitchell after his poor game tonight.

“Donovan Mitchell just Isaiah Canaan wit a curl sponge”

“Donovan Mitchell is just Kelly Oubre with terminal diabetes”

“I almost called Donovan Mitchell Tyreke Evans with a green light but then I remembered Tyreke has a rookie of the year trophy”

How the fuck do you fire Igor Kokoskov? That’s some dysfunctional shit right there.

It’s interesting that Doc Rivers’ nickname for Gallinari is “Gal.” Like Mitch, he must not have been reading Knickerblogger!

Boy, Doc Rivers is such a great coach.