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Is everything falling apart?

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Re: Is everything falling apart?

#701

Post by imtringued »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #529
dv_dt wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at life expectancy in the America, it has been flat to reversing. Understandably with added pressure from Covid, but at a rate higher even with Covid higher than all other well resourced major nations. This not because we are unable, but because those with the power are unwilling to engage fundamental issues. Covid is not the only issue for which this is the case - it was happening before covid. Multiple…

As obesity reaches 50% and higher, it’s not surprising that life expectancy would decrease. If people want to choose to live shorter and less healthy lives, is there anything we can really do?

What if that is the only choice they are being offered? When you go into a supermarket you are already being surrounded by awful food. The only good food there is the food you cook from scratch.

It's like the food industry is "conspiring" against you. Obviously they are not, they just deliver crap quality to make more money.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#702

Post by bombcar »

spaniard89277 wrote: post #587
Clubber wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You might not like it, but Boomers took their hoard and pulled the ladder up behind them. It is what it is. And what mechanism did they use to do this exactly? >I've met enough Boomers that there is nothing wrong with generalizing Boomers as a whole. Just like a huge percentage of my generation totally gave up and resort to 'UNFAIR MEH WON'T TRY NOW'. Am in that camp? No. I don't get upset when people generalize bec…

Housing in almost all the west is a huge rent extraction scheme made possible by politicians catering to boomers and run by boomer savings allocated in real state + NIMBYism from boomers that prevent the market to adjust.

Boomers created CALIFORNIA and drive everyone into the same cities.

All hail the powerful boomers.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#703

Post by _usr1 »

zmgsabst wrote: post #215
_usr1 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good god, enough with this "fascist and nazi seem to have lost all meaning" nonsense. Let's call it the "No true fascist fallacy". I could bring the corpse of Himmler here and some people would regurgitate the same "Bu-bu-but that's not actually fascist enough!". OP was basically quoting the definition of Ur-fascism by Umberto Eco. Is that historically accurate enough for you? Or should we check beforehand if whoever…

The reason people focus on definitions like “oh, it’s really about toxic masculinity!” is because admitting the truth would make them look bad: Fascism is a collectivist authoritarian system with regulated commerce rather than direct state control, often co-occurring with systemic racism. The reason people don’t want to be honest about the definition is that it’s the platform of modern Democrats, who are gaslighting…

I couldn't care less what oblique definition of fascism came out from some american think-tank in the 80s, narrow enough to not anger any of their thatcherian or reaganite friends.

I'm italian, my grandfather was drafted in the balilla first at 14 and the fascist army later. And his stories of the time were all about the violence, the machismo, the open contempt for the gay, the jewish, any other minorities. That's fascism, no matter if it doesn't match your clinical idea of what fascism should or shouldn't be.

And yes, they were as silly and ridiculous as the tiki torches guys or the Jan 6 coup guys. Until they were fully in power. Then everybody stopped laughing, or wondering if they were really dangerous or not.

And to be quite honest with you, worry not - I think we'll find very, very soon how close those are compared to US democrats to actual fascists(tm).

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#704

Post by bombcar »

basisword wrote: post #389
oicU00 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah no doubt; I collate trends into reports for rich investors. Lately they have been focused on youth trends, and some numbers are wacky. 40% point drop in 16 year olds getting a license since the 80s as urbanization puts people closer to stuff and ride share appeared. Youth participation in sports, especially full contact sports, had been going down since before covid which just accelerated it, leading to forec…

>> 40% point drop in 16 year olds getting a license since the 80s as urbanization puts people closer to stuff and ride share appeared. Is it urbanisation? I've noticed this trend in the suburbs in my country too and there seem to be a couple of reasons: 1. Driving tests have gotten progressively more difficult and more complex over the last 10-20 years. 2. The cost of learning to drive is insane and getting more expe…

Can you even get a license at 16 anymore in all states? I know when I was getting mine two decades ago it was already getting to the point where people were saying “I might as well wait until 18”.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#705

Post by robonerd »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #683
buscoquadnary wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the USSR isn't around anymore and they had quite a few nukes so....

Which is interesting to note since a majority of the other weapons the former Soviet Union had made their way into several revolutions happening in the Middle East and Africa via several well known international arms dealers. Not sure if it was just operationally unfeasible to move something like a ballistic nuclear weapon, but from what I can gather, it was one of the few things that wasn't sold off en masse after t…

The Soviet Union (and America) made hundreds if not thousands of tactical nuclear weapons. These were very small; you could put many of them into a single standard shipping container.

During the 90s there were persistent rumors that some of these had been "lost", but as far as I know these rumors were never substantiated. If in fact these weapons didn't get stolen/sold, we probably have numerous intelligence agencies to thank.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#707

Post by uejfiweun »

rotexo wrote: post #585
YATA1 wrote: post #555

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And some people laugh at the notion of staying anonymous online.

Bingo. Like many in my generation, I used to not worry about it at all. Now I am a bit obsessive—constantly checking my name, number, and address on people finder sites and sending takedown requests when they pop back up, and currently trying to transition all my online accounts to use e-mail addresses provided by Hide My E-mail on iCloud (which is quite the project). Seems like changing my e-mail on different accoun…

Can't you sue these people? This situation sounds pretty ridiculous.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#708

Post by hemreldop »

david927 wrote: post #139

I think there are two intersecting issues. The first is the dwindling of easy resources. The second half of the 20th century was so easy it was wasteful, and we don't want to give that up -- that abundance of resources, readily available and on the cheap. But the bigger issue right now is the end of the US/NATO empire. It matches with the end of other empires like Rome: the spending, the inflation, the corruption and…

No post body was provided.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#709

Post by ttytg »

4ggr0 wrote: post #689
ttytg wrote: post #687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's all very well in theory, but what classes would you use to replace sex in practice? For example, in a recent women's swimming competition, Lia Thomas, who is male, was permitted to compete on the basis of his gender identity claims. Do you consider gender identity to be a reasonable method of categorization? Because that is the specific problematic issue here, not whether different attributes than sex could be…

I know I am being petty, but - "For example, in a recent women's swimming competition, Lia Thomas, who is MALE, was permitted to compete on the basis of HIS gender identity claims" At least address her with the correct pronouns, that's the least you could do in such a discussion. I hope my comment is not interpreted as arrogant, my point is that even if we are discussing biological sex that is no reason to strip peop…

I understand the point you are making, but I feel that using a female pronoun while discussing Thomas being male would have been the more jarring linguistic choice, given the subject.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#710

Post by lg »

somenameforme wrote: post #505
dv_dt wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMHO, falling life expectancy is a macro measure of multiple failing institutions, not a singular cause. Obesity is driven by systemic commercialization and sugaring of our food supply, combined with inequality of too low a pay, too many hours, to little vacation. Even funding of highway and road infrastructure over other areas is a contributor here. Another large part of it is because we elect to keep both private h…

Let us imagine that starting tomorrow every single American is granted infinite endless and free access to anything available at any restaurant or grocery store or other food service. Do you think that in 10 years the obesity epidemic would be: better, same, worse? I have trouble imagining that it would be better. Look at people who come into access with large sums of money for reasons outside primarily mental achiev…

This is misleading for athletes and the article is clear that the BMI increase could be due to sports nutrition and new training methods.
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