Big Blue Huddle

I thought well of Jones for his career up until about 2 months ago when I finally gave up.   The last time I did this was when I finally called it early in the 2007 season when I said the team was just a hodge podge of ill fitting parts...4 DEs?...who has 4 DEs??  The season turned about two weeks later.

 

For now I'm keeping my opinion of Jones to myself.  I am a jinx.  Sometimes for the worse but mostly for the better. Keep the crow warm...just in case. 

QuoteYou raised the issue of the rights of the minority shouldn't trump the rights of the majority.  So I showed you that the majority of the nation wants stricter gun laws.

This is just bad logic. 

The first sentence is applied to the second sentence.

The first sentence is about rights.

The second sentence is about what some supposed majority of people want or desire or would like to see (Don't get me started on polls).  Not rights.

Just because the majority of the country wants something doesn't make it a right. 

Also, it seems that some significant number of people don't understand what a right is.  For example, there are many who believe there is a right to health care.  If someone else has to give it to you, then you're not entitled to it.   Its not a right.

Quote from: TONKA56 on November 30, 2022, 10:28:38 AM"Well-regulated in the 18th century tended to be something like well-organized, well-armed, well-disciplined," says Rakove. "It didn't mean 'regulation' in the sense that we use it now, in that it's not about the regulatory state. There's been nuance there. It means the militia was
 in an effective shape to fight."
In other words, it didn't mean the state was controlling the militia in a certain way, but rather that the militia was prepared to do its duty.

https://constitutioncenter.org/images/uploads/news/CNN_Aug_11.pdf

well maintained

I can own a gun while someone else lives.  These are not mutually exclusive and the framing of that argument is invalid.  My right to own a gun does not infringe on the right to life.  And nowhere is it stated that one right trumps another.  If one is understanding the intent behind the Constitution it should be rather apparent that all the rights complement each other.

Not a surprise at all Bob. It is amazing though.

In almost all industrialized and westernized nations from Europe to the US to the industrialized Asian nations such as China, S Korea and Japan the population is moving towards an aging one.  Even in India, the birth rate is beginning to decline.  In the East Asian countries in particular, they will have undergone a rapid population growth rate inversion over the course of the last few decades that was much more gradual in the western nations.  It mirrors the fact those countries have converted from almost entirely agricultural to industrialized overnight.

Since the boomer generation, each generation is having less and less children.  The current population growth paradigm is in large part due to people living longer at a faster rate; certainly not because the rate of child bearing is growing. 

There are going to be some economic ramifications to this when you consider consumption vs investment habits of the various age brackets.

Conventional wisdom has solidified around a very loud minority that have made the claim our population is growing at astronomical and unsustainable rates.   But for those who look deeply, you should be seeing an eventual population collapse and in some countries, that eventuality is coming faster than anyone knows.  They say that when it comes to population changes, they happen at two speeds; glacial and lightning fast. 

Great topic:

Quote(1) I am a big believer in the 4-7-8 breathing technique. For those who are unfamiliar with it, it is pretty simple. Once you are in a comfortable sleeping position, you breathe in through your nose for four seconds. Then you hold your breath for seven seconds. And then you slowly breathe out through your mouth for eight seconds. You repeat this over and over, and I have found that I am typically asleep after anywhere from four to 10 repetitions. Sometimes it takes longer, but that is usually the zone. There are plenty of youtubes and articles about this technique online. The idea behind it is the deep breathing has an automatically physiological calming effect, and when I do it, I feel my heart rate instantly declining noticeably. Also, because you have to keep close count of the seconds in your mind, your mind is forced to move away from any thoughts or stressors that may have been there before. So you have both a physical and mental response to this technique. I do it almost every night, and I find that it really helps.

Humans naturally breathe thru their noses and exhale thru their mouths.  This is basic to meditation as well.  And I've found it more relaxing to let my stomach expand more so than my chest.

Quote(3) A third thing that I prioritize is my level of fullness before bed. A good rule of thumb is to not eat anything for at least two hours prior to going to sleep. Ideally longer than that. But from what I have gathered, if you go to bed with a full stomach, since your body is working to process the food, that is going to adversely impact the quality of your sleep. I try to go to bed with a fully digested stomach as often as possible and, if anything, slightly on the hungry side.

I avoid both being full or hungry as hunger tends to keep me up.

Quote(4) An obvious one is exercise. There is no question that I sleep better on days where I have exercised versus days where I didn't.

I can go about two days anymore without exercise else I get restless and have too much energy at night.

Quote(6) I have always been more of a back sleeper, but over the past year or so I have tried to sleep more on my side. You tend to snore much less often on your side, and for those who suffer from not just routine snoring but also sleep apnea, side-sleeping is always recommended if you want to avoid the CPAP machine. Although I will say that people I know who have this condition and went for the CPAP machine all say they wish they had done it sooner.

I used to sleep on my stomach and then side and now back.  No idea why. 

Quote(7) It is always recommended to not be in your bed at all other than for sleeping or for intimate activity. Lying around in bed all morning, or getting into bed 2-3 hours before your intended bedtime, while tempting, is considered not ideal for promoting the best sleep health. I know that insomnia sufferers are usually advised to actually get out of bed and go into a different room and sit up doing quite activity like reading until the sleepiness comes over them again, rather than just lying in bed wide awake. I am pretty good about all of the above, but I could be better.

I have to coax my wife all the time into getting out of bed on weekends and staying out until bed time.

Quote(8) The one thing I don't do enough of that I really should try to make more of an effort on, because I know it is important, is completely getting rid of all screen use (phone, TV, and laptop) at least an hour before bed. This is one of the basic tenets of proper "sleep hygiene." I don't usually do this myself, but I know I should.

I've read its also good to stay away from screens for the first hour or so of the morning.  Maybe not sleep related but its best not to go directly to the screen in the morning.  Those of us who are work from home types these days may be experiencing more exposure to electronic at both ends of the day. 

Quote(9) I think sleeping is something worth investing in, not just with respect to the above practices, but also financially. Several years ago my wife and I needed a new mattress, and we decided to "pay up" for the new one. We ended up spending several thousand dollars. I don't remember the exact number, but it was at least triple what we had paid the last time. We did plenty of research and spent hours in the showroom before making up our minds. I have to say, I feel like this was one of the best investments we ever made. Having a quality mattress and good quality pillows and bedding is a massive, massive difference maker. A cheap, sagging, or uncomfortable mattress with old, flimsy pillows really has an adverse impact on your quality of life relative to what a really high quality sleeping setup brings to the table. There are a lot of things in life one can belt-tighten on to save money, but in my opinion getting a restful night's sleep every night should not be one of them. It never will for me again.

Absolutely.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on March 29, 2022, 05:05:35 PM
Fair enough, all good, I respect your view.

BTW....I do condemn what Smith did.  Chris Rock did not deserve that.  And anyone suggesting Rock deserved it (apparently Twitter is ablaze with comments about how Smith did the right thing) might want to consider how it might be if Smith's open hand caught Rock's jaw in a certain way as to make Rock drop to the floor in a heap on national TV; maybe even fall head first.    Smith is very lucky no charges were pressed.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on March 29, 2022, 04:20:33 PM
The only thing I said "clearly" about was my statement that Smith is a volatile person prone to violent outbursts. I would say that is pretty clear, so I'll stand by that one.

True that we "just never know" about people, but bear in mind I am of the pretty simple view that Smith flipped out when he saw his wife's reaction to a joke about her bald head. I am not the one trying to tie it into all of these tangential marital details neither of us know much about. It is perplexing that after going on all these tangents you would accuse others of being in "draft geek mode" trying to read into this in an overly complex way. I think my take on it has been pretty straightforward.

I'm just making the observation that people's personal lives are complex and that this outburst does not appear to have started and ended with Rock's bald joke.  You can pass judgement of Smith as a person if you want but I think we can condemn what we saw without necessarily having to add in the condemnation of the man.

The draft geek mode comment was directed at the full on film breakdown I'm seeing in this thread.  It is comical and directed at the thread overall and not you directly but you can take it personally if inclined; just dont slap me.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on March 29, 2022, 01:53:01 PM
If they have an open marriage, then presumably that is something they mutually agreed to, and both of them were seeing other people. So given that, I am not sure why Will Smith would feel any more jilted, cuckolded, or humiliated than his wife would. Or why either of them would if they both agreed to it. I am not sure I see any connection between the open marriage and what happened at the Oscars myself, although admittedly I am not privy to the intimate details of their personal life.

Smith is clearly a hot-tempered, volatile person with violent instincts who thinks it's ok to smack someone. It's not the first time he has been caught on camera slapping someone. He also showed no remorse or regret the rest of the night after the incident and only put the apology out there once his PR team and agent got to him and persuaded him to. I disagree that this is publicity that he wants. He looks really bad right now, plus he didn't need any additional publicity as he was awarded best actor by the Academy. That is more publicity than almost any actor gets. Nobody wants to look like the biggest douche bag in America, which is what he looks like right now.

You think so?  If only real life was like the printed word.  Cut and dry.  Suuuuure they both wanted it.  The rest of what you wrote is just based on what you declared as given.

Have you ever met people in an open marriage before?  I have.  My sample size is only two couples (though I would guess this is far more than most people have encountered in their lives) and in both cases I got the sense that one of them wanted it more than the other and that the latter merely agreed to it more than wanted it themselves.

You can say "clearly" this and that but you just never know.

And if you dont know how one incident can lead up to a completely unrelated incident....then that renders anyone on this message board who has ever apologized for bad forum behavior with the explanation that "things have been stressful in my life lately" as an excuse maker.   I don't think that's fair?  Do you?  Besides, what need is there for a logical connection when we're talking about irrational behavior?  One can have a string of unconnected bad incidents that trigger some strange misdirected retaliation. 

On a side note, reading through this thread, I can tell you guys are in full on draft geek mode as the analysis of this incident is rife with deep dive pin point hawk eyed looks into tells and body language.  Some of you guys were born with calculators in your diapers.

Quote from: MightyGiants on March 29, 2022, 12:18:46 PM
Daniel Jeremiah had an interesting take on this.  He figures Smith got caught by his wife laughing at Rock's joke so he had to sort of make things right

That's not an "interesting take" so much as an obvious thing any married man would recognize in an instant.

Of course it was real.  It was also a sickening display of high school virtue signaling herd mentality how much consoling Smith received from his cohort.

I like Chris Rock and I dont think he deserves one bit of blame or a smack across the face.

As for Smith, I feel sorry for him.  I had not known what was going on in their so-called 'open marriage'.  This seems to have nothing to do with Rock or Alopecia and everything to do with Smith and his wife.  His disjointed acceptance speech wreaks of a humiliated, broken, cucked and frustrated man.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is very underrated to me. 

The characters that inhabit Tarantino

Quote from: LennG on January 20, 2022, 07:02:32 PM
We have Prime, Netflix and regular Hulu. Any good?

Out of those options it look like you

Lenn,

We streamed it on HBO Max but you can stream it on Hulu if you have a premium subscription as well as Amazon for rent.

The film stars Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Ben Affleck.  Directed by Ridley Scott.

I think I first heard it mentioned by Dan Carlin of the Hardcore History podcast as a very underrated and under appreciated film.

The Last Duel.

Two French Knights (or were they squires?) in the 1300s have a bitter disagreement over a plot of land promised to one as a dowry but wrestled by the other as substitution for rent owed to a lord.  The wife of one then accuses the other of rape while the accused claims the wife wanted it.  It gets settled in a bloody duel to the death.

The bulk of the film is a telling from the three sides of the story surrounding all the insults and slights and about the alleged rape.  Brutal duel at the end.

True story about Knight Jean de Carrouges and his friend turned enemy Jacques Le Gris.

My wife thought it was gonna bore her to death but she wasn't feeling well tonight and we kind of just put it on not expecting much and we both ended up liking it a lot.  The film got NO attention at the box office and its a shame.  These are the kind of movies Hollywood abandoned.  A period film with practical affects (not CG) and a gripping and nuanced story.