...and we're back... Happened again. Renewed cert.
approxinfinity
17303 posts
If anyone has any suggestions for improvements, as always I'm all ears. My assumption is that it's the off season, things are always slow, and when you throw in a global pandemic and racial unrest like we've never seen. Well, times are weird. But let me know please if anyone has suggestions. That includes you @HighEliteMajor , please reach out to me via email at approxinfinity@gmail.com
@HighEliteMajor Alright. Well. I'll ban you for [EDIT] 2 days (this seems like an arbitrary number. I have no official policy here. I don't even know if a ban is appropriate. I just want people to not resort to cussing each other out). Take a breather and see if things change. Come check back in after that if you want to be more civil. I appreciate the thoughts but the hate is just not productive. I really don't know what else to do, and honestly, it seems like stepping away from this discussion might be best for you. Please don't go hang out in a bubble of like minded people though. Debate is good, even if it didn't work out here at this moment.
I think the site is as much going to hell as the rest of world. Take care and hope you feel better soon.
We'll need you come basketball season, regardless of all else. Even if it feels like it may never happen. It will. We'll get there again.
@HighEliteMajor you got a lot of anger in you man. It doesn't help when you feel you aren't being honestly heard. But if our goal in discussing things is to destroy one another, rather than inform one another and make each other think, we are only going to get more entrenched.
@FarmerJayhawk thanks for the link. Good stuff.
@BShark I work at an agency that helps people find work. We are very aware of these issues and are exploring options to mitigate the problems. There are many other factors besides names. Employers value individuality and what sets you apart, so it's a balancing act.
@mayjay So I don't think of it as a disservice because I think it's ok to just say you're sick of it. I think that falls under pursuit of happiness. Some conversation is productive. Other conversation isnt. Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo talking about whats going on is idiotic. They're both insufferable.
I think this board is a great example of the debate about what unites us. Is it discussing our differences (i.e. race and socioeconomics) or discussing our similarities (KU bball fandom)? I am opposed to the idea of dwelling on negatives because I think it creates a culture of negativity. So i think we need balance. And that doesn't mean dropping bombs of negativity from an opposing view. Genuine positivity. That's why @FarmerJayhawk 's take is imo the most refreshing on a regular basis. He tries to find the good.
Also, I'm sure there are times I've been overly pessimistic myself.. This is how I'm feeling now: we need balance and optimism to get us through this.
And hey, tearing down the monuments is something exciting. I hope we replace them thoughtfully. Police reform is something more exciting. I think while defunding the police seems nuts, the positive spin is that it will show us things we never would have seen. And more deliberate reform hopefully will follow, leading us somewhere good in the end.
That's how I get through the Trump administration, coronavirus quarantine, now this. Hope that by seeing our worst we can better achieve our best.
@mayjay ok thanks for meeting me more in the middle. I just think what we are fighting now in an awareness of unconscious bias and not racism for 97% (? arbitrarily large number. Vast majority is what I mean) of Americans.
@mayjay PS I said more above... Kept editing my post.
Answer me this.. what affect would my reading "Black Like Me" have on the police officer arresting your neighbor's daughter? What affect would it have on anything? What does it say about your unconscious bias of how you think I conduct my life that you think I need to read "Black Like Me" and then "shut up"?
@mayjay So you're only tired of talking about it with people who disagree with you?
You're angry about it. But I think your anger is misplaced when it's aimed at any white person who disagrees with you.
I believe that we all have unconscious biases. But I reserve the racist label for people who actively hate on other races, not just say things that seem insensitive or illogical.
I've stated numerous times that it's not my job to police people on here. I do what I can and I have called out HEM before.
The context of this being tired of talking about race is in regards to crappy ESPN articles about race. ESPN, a place we go for sports. Similarly, crappy books I had to read growing up in public school simply because they were about race. I didn't mind the good ones, mind you. I minded the crappy ones. Your neighbor's story is a great illustration of the real problems and police reform is top of the list.
I'm trying to be a realist and a centrist. If you don't like how I go about it that's fine. But as a moderator I'm trying to remain moderate.
The blinders we wear. Some people think football players kneeling = disrespecting the troops. Others think being tired of something means a lack of compassion.
Exhaustion isn't malaise. We all know what we are dealing with. And that's where I think you guys have @HighEliteMajor pegged wrong. Someone writing page after page after page about something isn't someone who doesn't care. It's someone who is tired of bullshit and wants solutions. We can disagree about those solutions (we do!) but hanging him out to dry as a racist because he is sick of our broken self-image as a nation is an oversimplification of where he is coming from.
All of our lives we've been talking about race. Do you want to talk about us white folks and those brown folks and those Asian folks and how ne'er the twain shall meet for the rest of our lives? Do you want our children to have to be divided by race? Or do you want to get past it?
I'm sick of talking about it. You are too. Let's fix it.
@mayjay I'm allowed to be tired of talking about race, and when someone says they're tired of something, forcing what they're tired of down their throat is in my opinion pretty insensitive, tone deaf and counter productive. I think this line of whitewashed reasoning is akin to the simplistic, artificial, white-flight archetype it purports to combat. I.e. you're tired of it too, and you're throwing out a half baked solution, you may just not see it.
@HighEliteMajor I'm tired of talking about race too. The events of the past few weeks have made it clear to me that we need to solve the issues so we can stop talking about it.
If this country were a person they would be a self-loathing hand-ringer.
If our separation from slavery was a messy divorce, where was the alimony?
Also, why haven't the pictures of slave owners been taken off the wall?
And why is racism still following us around in an unmarked car, in violation of the restraining order?
The logical conclusion is that some part of us as a country isn't willing to let it go.
We need to work together to find a new identity.
@HighEliteMajor none of this happens now without the backdrop of COVID. The Gundy story wouldn't be on the frontpage because there would be sports going on, but also because the Black Lives Matter resurgence is reigniting in a tinderbox moment.
My point is ESPN doesn't have a whole lot more relevant sports material right now, unless you want them all in on Bundesliga (I'm game). It would be great if going after Zion didn't conflict with their own interests.
If you're saying ESPN is garbage, I'm with you. They have been garbage for years. Fat and lazy. I'm just curious what you think should be on the front page.
Regarding the negro league hall of fame, sure.. take the statues down and throw them in a museum. I'm all for that. They don't need to be prominently displayed in downtown Richmond.
I think re: your point @HighEliteMajor , a museum is a more appropriate venue for contemplating the good and bad of history. Monuments are for heroes.
I dont think we should have statues up that are reminders to 10.3% of the population that their ancestors were brought here as slaves, and that they and their descendents have been treated as subhuman by many.
Replace it with something less offensive. The reasoning to keep them up at this point is weak. This isn't a slippery slope. Let's get past the past.
@HighEliteMajor Well one this is for certain: We are going to have a whole radically new pile of data to analyze shortly.
@mayjay said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
Also:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/did-paw-patrol-get-canceled/ ↗
Surprise, Eric Trump & Dana Loesch are another source of the false rumor.
That's what I hate most about liberals. Everything about them is a lie.
Edit: This was meant to be a play on words, but I realize it sounds too much like an illogical fallacy someone might actually use. Oh well. Imagine, some day returning to a place where we can agree on what is absurd.
@kjayhawks wow, that's dumb.
@HighEliteMajor said:
We should invite dissenting opinions, uncomfortable symbols, and all that is freedom.
Absolutely. The problem I'm having with free speech these days is the amplifying and bias that comes from social media consciously and unconsciously via machine learning algorithms.
For example, Facebook changing their platform to foster a sense of community inadvertently leading toward the large scale growth of Q Anon supporters.
Throwing in big media and a president promoting conspiracy theories and it's a mess.
There's nothing wrong with freedom of speech (and a lot right!), but public figures and corporations fostering disinformation for personal benefit, society be damned, is a problem.
It's not so different than your concerns about thug culture being glorified.
Freedom of speech needs to be protected. But it also can be a threat to itself.
Intelligent Presidents Matter
@Kcmatt7 Koch brothers money all over Wichita State. Guess big money starting to see Trump as too toxic.
...and loss of 3 scholarships for next three years? Ouch.
police open fire on a car in Denver.
Yeah my bro-in-law shared with me, just told me it was opposite order. You are correct.
I was hoping for a silver lining :(
@BShark Oh? I may be misinformed.
Cops kneeling at same place w protesters where that 75 year old was knocked down to try to acknowledge it wasn't right.
!
↗
Trying to get my head wrapped around this. Serious police oversight and reform is good. Is there an honest assessment of the makeup of the protesters somewhere? I've heard differing stories of who is doing the looting and who is inciting action vs peaceful protest.
@benshawks08 There's a difference between accepting guilt for something you didn't do and being sympathetic. I'm sympathetic and always have been, but that's because it's who I am. Other people aren't as sympathetic. And that's who they are. You can't force adults to be sympathetic. And it's dangerous to try to. I'm not exhausted for being sympathetic, I pride myself on that. I'm exhausted for being blamed.
Articles entitled "Hey white people" can f right off.
That article mentioned that a disproportionate number of COVID victims were black. Finances will always be at the heart of black-white racial tension in this country. Health insurance, higher education, property, and a chance to pursue the same American dream.
People are quick to dismiss the notion of throwing money at the problem. To me, dismissing pursuing the financial side is a willingness to wallow in self loathing and resentment as a nation rather than attempting to find a way we can move on. As you said, white people need to give up power. Money is power and influence. More and more people of color are taking office. I would say that we are heading on the right track there.
@benshawks08 I'm tired of being identified as a white person. That doesn't mean I don't acknowledge that I am afforded certain privileges for being white. I'm just saying it's f'ing exhausting, demeaning and unfair for everyone to be forced inside a box that is their race and have others look at them as their race being their primary characteristic. The very same thing that people resent on one side is the thing they are asking the other side to willingly embrace for themselves. It's nonsensical.
At the heart of a position of privilege is finances. It's something that can be resolved via agreement, whereas emotions and prejudices cannot. I would also argue that emotions and prejudices are reactive whereas addressing finances is proactive. So let's get a number on the table financially and square that part of it up. The rest hopefully follows, albeit with a long tail.
Doing anything mindfully because you are a particular race may highlight a problem, and it may exacerbate it. But it doesn't fix it.
I think a lot of people are tired of having to talk about race. And a lot of people feel they have to talk about it and/or should because of systemic inequality.
We tried to not see color, and that may have worked a little. We have tried equal opportunity and that might have worked a little. I don't think it's too late to grant some land and a modern day mule (maybe a Toyota Yaris) to every descendant of a slave. Either that or go with some sort of socialist agenda that grants free shit to all. I don't know.
The scars of slavery need to be acknowledged and a concensus that we need to move past it aggressively needs to be acknowledged by all. The festering needs to stop. Bring the NAACP to the table and negotiate reparations. Let's get this shit straight officially, so we can move on from it as one nation.
Once we address the backdrop of social inequality rooted in slavery, we can tackle separately the actions of racist assholes like this police officer and remove the powder keg behind it.
This doesn't fix everything, but it gets us further down the road. Acknowledge, come to consensus, move on as a desired thing by all to achieve resolution, try not to go back. Rinse, repeat.
The CDC shit the bed on messaging. They should have presented this as a narrowing cone of uncertainty, not presented things as truth when they didn't have enough evidence. This waffling on messaging has undermined their ability to affect positive change as people already struggle to deal with the new reality and look for excuses to abandon social distancing practices.
@Hawk69 you're going way off the rails with that one.
@tundrahok said in Global Pandemic of Boredom:
@approxinfinity Our garden smells like coyote urine. That's what my wife sprays to keep the deer away. Your odors sound much nicer!
lol! Hopefully that cooks off... ;)
@BeddieKU23 finished season 4 of GOT again last night. Excellent season. Believe we'll be moving onto Season 5 tonight.
@kjayhawks https://www.webmd.com/lung/coronavirus-strains#1 ↗
She wasn't tested for COVID-19 in January. She was tested for a common strain of coronavirus, I'm assuming.
@benshawks08 That's f'ing insane.
I think I said that wrong.
Reboot!
Well I, for one, hope we can trust in the credibility of the leader of the free world in one hand, and crap in the other, and see which one fills up first.
@mayjay well I for one, as always, wish in one hand and hope we can trust in the credibilty of the leader of the free world in the other, and see which one fills up first.
@Texas-Hawk-10 said in So I just don't know , things are just a mess:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the goal of the the quarantine to slow the spread of Covid to a rate that wouldn't overwhelm medical facilities, not completely stop the spread of Covid? If infection rates are at a level where medical facilities can handle the number of new cases, then I really don't see a big issue with reopening stuff with basic precautions such as masks and limited capacities to continue to manage the spread of Covid since the goal of the quarantine was slow infection rates and not stop them.
The understanding of this disease is still evolving. Post infectious disorders are still coming to light, like the recent incidents of Kawasaki disease in young children, in addition to reports of renal and heart complications, and ME/CFS. We also don't know the length that antibodies stay in the system.
I don't know that the plan is simply to slow the rate of infection to avoid overwhelming the health system. Erring on the side of caution, I think preventing the spread until a vaccination is available should still be our goal.
Not overwhelming our health care system should be the last of our stated goals, not the only goal.
@jayballer73 fwiw you don't sound confused at all. Agree with you. Maybe that makes us both confused?
We really need a cohesive master plan. How exactly is social distancing going to work in public schools? Throwing dates out there is great but it would be nice to see the full picture, at least see dialog about how it might happen, ideas.
Generations of beaurocracy seem to have chased all the imagination out of the public sector and it's what we desperately need now.
@RockkChalkk I read a couple things about medical hardship being a thing for Ivy League but they seem to be documentation on the university sites (e.g. Brown and Penn).. :man_shrugging:
ex.
NCAA Medical Hardship Waiver
A student-athlete may be granted an additional year of competition by the Ivy League for reasons of “hardship.”
Hardship is defined as an incapacity resulting from an injury or illness that has occurred under the following
conditions:
• The incapacitating injury or illness occurs in one of the four seasons of intercollegiate competition at
Penn.
• The injury or illness occurs prior to the completion of the first half of the playing season and results
in incapacity to compete for the remainder of that playing season.
• The student-athlete’s participation in intercollegiate competition has not exceeded the greater of
three contests/dates of competition or 30 percent of the contests/dates of competition scheduled
in the student-athlete's sport.
@wissox thanks for sharing this. It's not easy maintaining an exercise regimen when the unexpected happens. I appreciate your tenacity and hope you can maintain your physical goals for as long possible.
I moved this to its own thread @HighEliteMajor @Texas-Hawk-10 .
@Texas-Hawk-10 This is incorrect, I believe. I am calling this thought process out as propaganda based upon shortage.
I would argue that if we all had n95 masks and used them responsibly (which is still not an easy ask because some people are idiots and there are still global concerns), the disease would go away in virtually 3 weeks.
@HighEliteMajor said in Well Bowlsby pretty well set it straight:
@approxinfinity You're not saying that we should have 300,000,000 N95 masks, right? The use of those is recommended to rotate 5 every five days. So over 1.5 billion?
I am saying exactly that. I don't think 1.5billion is feasible but if everyone had one (just one per person), they could attend all critical public functions with a real mask, while still observing eased distancing.
The COVID-19 particle is between 140 and 60 nm in diameter. N95 masks are rated at .3 microns (or 300 nm) though this varies between 100 and 300 nm by manufacturers. So sure, the n95 is not guaranteed to block transmission. However, they are much much better than surgical masks and surgical masks are 3x as effective as homemade masks. Homemade masks are only better than wearing nothing. I need to make a spreadsheet of this data with links to sources and my remaining questions. But yes, everyone should have an n95 mask.
The gov contract was for 39 million masks to be made by Owens and Minor, 3M and Honeywell. So 13 million each. For I believe $133 mill. What was the limiting factor here? Money or capacity? Surely with trillions of dollars in a bailout we could have spent more than $133 mill on the one piece of critical PPE to preventing transmission?
@drgnslayr said in Well Bowlsby pretty well set it straight:
The way to really get life back, besides a working vaccine, is to have affordable, accurate, immediate testing for the active virus. This would let crowds come together again and people would feel safe that the people they are scrunched up with in a stadium are virus-free. Test at the gate. Give everyone a squirt of hand sanitizer so their hands are clean, too.
Test at the mall, test everywhere. This will also give us immediate containment. I can't believe the world doesn't come together and make this priority #1!
Imo priority #1 is n95 masks for all. The lack of focus on this by the government makes me angry.
@Marco well... I'd like to know everyone is using PPE, ideally n95, before resuming sports. I wonder what a sports n95 mask looks like. make that!