This is not the first time orcas have shown an awareness of us in boats: through the second half of the 1800s orcas in Australia actually helped whalers hunt baleen whales: herding the prey, and even grabbing ropes in their mouths to help haul, in exchange for the most valuable (to them) parts of the carcasses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whales_of_Eden,_New_Sou... Old Tom, one of the most helpful orcas, die…
If someone is out there secretly training and paying Orcas to sink yachts... that would be pretty neat.
Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading
191–199 of 199 posts
Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
> In this case I think it's interesting how people project their personal social views onto the blank slate. The idea that the trend must have started by a female whale that was somehow harmed and is now seeking Justice if it's cleanly into the framework with what some people view the world. You are injecting a political spin where there is none. Orcas live in a matriarchical hierarchy. People assume that the orcas h…
And I think they are doing what I'm describing. There's basically no scientific reason to favor Revenge story over entertainment except that it resonates with people and gets more clicks
Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
If someone is out there secretly training and paying Orcas to sink yachts... that would be pretty neat.
You do know it isn't mega yachts right? It's sail boats. And what they are attacking is usually the rudder leaving sailors adrift at sea.
Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yacht is a loaded term. A 30ft sailboat is a yacht. Given the crazy housing prices, a lot of people are buying sailboats and living in them because it is way cheaper than renting. Yacht does not mean wealthy. I am firmly middle class. My family is planning to move onto a sailboat next year.
Between boat upkeep, day to day expenses and mooring fees it's actually cheaper than renting? That's interesting. I would have assumed it would be death by a thousand cuts and not worth the unreliable services and tiny living space.
The cheapest thing is living on anchor.
If you outfit the boat with solar, some lithium, and a water maker, your real expenses are boat maintenance which is cheap when doing it yourself.
I know digital nomads who’s total expenses for a year are 30k for a family of four. That includes all boat costs and living expenses.
Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have seen ball lightning here in Alaska. One time, at night. Distance maybe 120 feet away. I watching a glowing orb perhaps 3 feet in diameter drift from the front of my parents garage towards their house before disappearing. An absolutely crystal clear view. I was on the phone with my wife at the time and describing the event to her, it was absolutely chilling to see ! I have never seen anything like it before or…
I think I saw this once in Florida as a child. I had climbed a tree (at night) and looked down and there was a red glowing ball of light that drifted and bobbed along horizontally maybe 6 or 8 feet off the ground, and then disappeared. It was maybe a foot across or a little less. A friend was with me, we both watched in amazement. I never knew what it was and halfway thought maybe I imagined it (except my friend saw…
1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_psychic_abilities
Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
If someone is out there secretly training and paying Orcas to sink yachts... that would be pretty neat.
The yachts they can disable are the smaller, wind powered ones. Probably not the kind of boat you had in mind. A sinking yacht it a serious threat to life but, hey, it's pretty neat, right?
The reality is that anyone earning over 70k a year is earning more than thier fair share of society's production.
We only produce a fixed amount of GDP, which when divided by population makes for a fairly small number even excluding children.
Yachts are hella expensive, with even the cheapest used sail boats costing more than a new car and an "ok" used one being 200k+
That not middle class shit, that's rich people shit. People earning 65 k a year and raising 2 kids can Never afford that, unless they are neglectful, go bankrupt to do it etc.
People need to stop using Elon level wealth as the metric for rich.... That's not rich, that's Obscene. Rich is anyone earning over 100k a year. That's Extreme privilege having nearly 2 shares of GDP while how many have to have less than a fair share to get you there? Yea....
Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
The yachts they can disable are the smaller, wind powered ones. Probably not the kind of boat you had in mind. A sinking yacht it a serious threat to life but, hey, it's pretty neat, right?
Anyone who has one of those has a disproportionate amount of wealth obtained almost certainly at the expense of others. The reality is that anyone earning over 70k a year is earning more than thier fair share of society's production. We only produce a fixed amount of GDP, which when divided by population makes for a fairly small number even excluding children. Yachts are hella expensive, with even the cheapest used s…
Not because it's too high or too low but because it's just so arbitrary. 70k in Glasgow is a very comfortable income, 70k in Tacoma Washington is just about enough to get by. In San Francisco there are indigents living (primarily) on the street whose income and benefits technically sum higher than 70k. And if any not-yet-indigent tried to move to San Francisco on that income they would soon join them.
I've always felt a scaling factor proportional to the extremes of individual difference makes the most sense here. Ideally the highest earning income possible in an economy should be somewhat proportional to the scale of capability in any given individual within it. I could acknowledge that people exist who might be five, possibly even 10 times as productive as I am when all of their merits are considered.
But there's no way in hell someone is 100 times, or 1,000 times or 10,000 times more productive or valuable and contributor to the world as me (or anyone), at least on the scale of individual capability. Without , that is, the benefit of some amplification apparatus that they happen to have at their disposal.
But it's pretty hopeless to get upset about these things. As a species we've hit some sort of ceiling long ago on efficiently allocating resources and rewards to ability. For example we'd much rather pay 30 bucks a week to give ourselves permission to dream about becoming millionaires, and as a reward watch yet another schlub (who like all that have come before him will do nothing of any consequence with the windfall) collect a two billion dollar paycheck - of our money - instead.
Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anyone who has one of those has a disproportionate amount of wealth obtained almost certainly at the expense of others. The reality is that anyone earning over 70k a year is earning more than thier fair share of society's production. We only produce a fixed amount of GDP, which when divided by population makes for a fairly small number even excluding children. Yachts are hella expensive, with even the cheapest used s…
I'm kind of with you on the yacht thing especially with the pricier ones (not sure you've looked hard enough for bargains, tired-looking but seaworthy 22-26 footers can be had for less than 10 grand, or so ive been told by someone who lives on one) but you lost me at the 70k number. Not because it's too high or too low but because it's just so arbitrary. 70k in Glasgow is a very comfortable income, 70k in Tacoma Wash…
It's only because the average incomes are higher that costs are higher. Drop those wages to a normalized value and suddenly the market corrects as it reaches price equilibrium through bilateral supply and demand.
Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anyone who has one of those has a disproportionate amount of wealth obtained almost certainly at the expense of others. The reality is that anyone earning over 70k a year is earning more than thier fair share of society's production. We only produce a fixed amount of GDP, which when divided by population makes for a fairly small number even excluding children. Yachts are hella expensive, with even the cheapest used s…
I'm kind of with you on the yacht thing especially with the pricier ones (not sure you've looked hard enough for bargains, tired-looking but seaworthy 22-26 footers can be had for less than 10 grand, or so ive been told by someone who lives on one) but you lost me at the 70k number. Not because it's too high or too low but because it's just so arbitrary. 70k in Glasgow is a very comfortable income, 70k in Tacoma Wash…
Figured I'd add this because you, as with so many, are confused as to what constitutes middle class.
You have to earn over $100000 to be middle class as clearly shown in the illustration, and you're still in that group at $1mm a year.
Under $100k down to $10k is classed as poor, with those below $10k classed as miserable and making up the Vast majority of humanity.
This isn't my definition, this is the agreed upon standards.