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“When we all have pocket telephones”

openculture.com

111–120 of 208 posts

Re: “When we all have pocket telephones”

#111
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"so laughable I can't believe you can make it with a straight face" Which is why I didn't. I specifically pointed out that there are other taxes. My point was to get ekianjo to present data to support their claim. Do you have better data?

This reminds me of the guy who lost his keys. He was looking by the street light when his friend asked him if he lost his keys by the light. "No, I lost them over by my car, but it's too dark to see anything over there." Here is a graph from wikipedia that shows that taxes in the US are in total about as high as they have ever been (which was 2000). https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Federal%... You…

It's supposed to remind you of Cunningham's Law: "the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."

As nonameiguess already pointed out, your answer disputes ekianjo's claim, as the peak in your graph was 1999.

Re: “When we all have pocket telephones”

#112
post #45

That blog post seems weirdly anachronistic: that cartoon might have predicted 2005 astonishingly well, but in 2022, how often do we really use our phones for two-way real-time audio? How often do you actually hear a ringtone begging for immediate attention?

Quite a bit for 2 way audio. I think people don’t choose garish ringtones (e.g. crazy frog, nokia ringtone) so much now and they pick up a lot quicker these days. Someone leaving their phone at a desk and it ringing and ringing seemed more common back in the day. Might be modern phones don’t let that happen.

Re: “When we all have pocket telephones”

#113

Lately, stand-up comedians have been saying they're out of a job, because the absurdity of reality is escaping parody. Nothing stays funny for long, because soon enough it's true, and then banal. In a world where all things are absurd, ipso facto nothing is absurd. An interesting question becomes what remains? What are the solid relations that underpin our humanity? Having a boss that tells you what to do? No, long s…

There was an issue while I was giving a presentation for a cryptocurrency startup I was a part of and I started telling jokes. Afterward people asked me if I did stand up and I said well I do now.

Absurdity will find a way .

Re: “When we all have pocket telephones”

#114
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I could remember who said this, because it was a standup saying something ... in an interview. Not performing. "It's a sad state of affairs when the most accurate political commentary is done by comedians, while the country is being governed by clowns." Such an apt description of the UK. And while that was said two governments (ie. less than a year) ago, it's only slightly less accurate now.

When could that have not been truthfully said? Wasn't the court jester the only telling the truth a trope hundreds of years ago?

Or a child, in the case of The Emperor's New Clothes

Re: “When we all have pocket telephones”

#115
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stand up comedians are saying this while they're...performing standup?

No. They say it in interviews, on podcasts, etc. Most comedians refuse to play shows on college campuses now (once a highly lucrative venue for them) because of the audience

Gentle inquiry: Are you a comedian or work in comedy? Can you state a general region of comedy you're familiar with (USA Comedy? UK Comedy?) without doxing yourself?

[I'm not, and therefore have no opinion on this, but I wanted to know where you're getting your repository of knowledge of "most comedians" from and how to contextualize your knowledge in this matter. I'm asking in good faith.]

Re: “When we all have pocket telephones”

#116

Lately, stand-up comedians have been saying they're out of a job, because the absurdity of reality is escaping parody. Nothing stays funny for long, because soon enough it's true, and then banal. In a world where all things are absurd, ipso facto nothing is absurd. An interesting question becomes what remains? What are the solid relations that underpin our humanity? Having a boss that tells you what to do? No, long s…

>Lately, stand-up comedians have been saying they're out of a job, because the absurdity of reality is escaping parody

that's not a recent phenomenon. It's a cultural debate that's been going on for decades, probably the most prominent figure is David Foster Wallace, the 'New Sincerity' genre as a response to detached irony and that sort of thing.

Re: “When we all have pocket telephones”

#117
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When Google advertises to you in your dreams, daydreams and nightmares. If we let them wire something into our brains, it's a lot easier to connect it to the happiness centres: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3984894/ If you can gain networked control of such a device, you could easily gain complete control of their motivations and disires. Much more strongly than with any drug. Not only would you be a…

I'd be stunned if there aren't well-funded groups working on this as we speak.

It was deployed 80 years ago and called Panzerschokolade

Re: “When we all have pocket telephones”

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of the guy who lost his keys. He was looking by the street light when his friend asked him if he lost his keys by the light. "No, I lost them over by my car, but it's too dark to see anything over there." Here is a graph from wikipedia that shows that taxes in the US are in total about as high as they have ever been (which was 2000). https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Federal%... You…

It's supposed to remind you of Cunningham's Law: "the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer." As nonameiguess already pointed out, your answer disputes ekianjo's claim, as the peak in your graph was 1999.

As fun as tribal arguing is, I wasn't taking a side. Did you read my post at all? I was saying that the methodology for claiming taxes were lower was so stupid as to defy even any attempt to ascribe good faith.

Let me quote my post for your convenience: "I don't know if taxes are higher now vs some point in history"

Re: “When we all have pocket telephones”

#119
post #64

Lately, stand-up comedians have been saying they're out of a job, because the absurdity of reality is escaping parody. Nothing stays funny for long, because soon enough it's true, and then banal. In a world where all things are absurd, ipso facto nothing is absurd. An interesting question becomes what remains? What are the solid relations that underpin our humanity? Having a boss that tells you what to do? No, long s…

> Lately, stand-up comedians have been saying they're out of a job, because the absurdity of reality is escaping parody. Nothing stays funny for long, because soon enough it's true, and then banal. I've heard them say that as long as I've been alive. I'm sure 3000 years ago traveling bards were saying the same things. There is a lot of comedic value from the statement, so of course any good one will use it from time…

Frankly there's parts of life where this resonates more today than any time I've been alive.

I've followed US political news since I was a kid. 2016 and onwards shit started getting really weird. Political satire from 2015 was no longer relevant by 2017ish not due the passage of time, but due to the fact that the events that followed are more ridiculous.

I imagine this has happened before. For example, my mom's generation always says 1968 was a crazy year in politics and culture. I imagine early 60s political satire looked tame by the late 60s. But I don't think political satire from 2008 looked ridiculous in 2014, for example.

Re: “When we all have pocket telephones”

#120

> Now, increasingly, cellphones are * day-to-day life* . Far from the literal “pocket telephones” envisioned a century ago, they’ve worked their way into nearly every aspect of human existence, including those Haselden could never have considered. It is now essential to be considered part of the society, to the point that someone who does not want to or cannot carry a cell phone is sneered at. Anecdotally, I was in t…

Wow, that's a new one for me (only app payments accepted). In the US, at least.

Ticketmaster using monopoly power to force use of app to attend concerts. Can’t even print ticket any longer.
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