Nerd Pride Radio

Phoebe asked that this thread not be for actual discussion. Take it outside.

I was reminded of this from a Fox news article about how Democrats are attacking the tax plan for it's potential to explode the debt: Your political party does not care about the national debt. I can say that without knowing who you vote for. They will always complain about it when out of power and forget about it when in power.

Libertarians MIGHT care, but it doesn't matter because they aren't really a political party and will not achieve power.

I don't know if this counts as an unpopular opinion or not, but for most of my adult life, I have held a firm belief that the world economy will collapse within my lifetime. I'm not talking about what happened in 2008, I'm talking about collapse of the level of the world that Neal Stephenson created in Snow Crash. The type of collapse that destabilizes governments globally. (I held this belief BEFORE I read Snow Crash, BTW... Not that it might not have been prompted somewhat by science fiction, in the sense that much of my thinking is flavored by what I read and, let's face it, prior to finishing college, I didn't read a whole lot that wasn't required reading that WASN'T either hard SF or at least science fantasy. I didn't even read LoTR until I was out of graduate school and the movies were about to come out. I was pretty hard core SF, despite the fact that I played D&D and various other RPGs.)

Strangely enough, despite this firmly held belief, my wife and I still chose to bring children into this world and, for the most part, I tend to be the "optimistic" partner in our relationship... Yeah... My wife tends to be a bit of a pessimist... it serves her well, especially with expectations about her husband...

Seinfeld is/was overrated

Protesting the NFL protests by boycotting watching the games means nothing unless you are willing to boycott their advertisers as well.

Mexico would be a far better country if they never revolted against the french and remained part of France in 2017. The culture, the architecture, the economy, it would all be vastly improved.

I never liked mafia movies, or really, any movie that glorifies organized crime.

The political instinct to capitalize on unfolding tragedy and "strike while the iron is hot" is a ghoulish and ultimately backfiring tactic in this day and age. The Las Vegas shooting had nothing to do with silencers/suppressors, so tweeting about that is blatantly political and confuses the issue.

Similarly, I might have more support for Black Lives Matter if they didn't start off jumping to warp ten at "unarmed black person shot" before facts were in. Hands up don't shoot was found to be at best inaccurate and quite likely a deliberate lie. Tamir Rice, on the other hand was a solidly bad shoot.

Regardless, Michael Brown's case uncovered pretty bad police corruption and essentially land piracy in Ferguson.

Will... not.... engage....

I'm not outraged at "thoughts and prayers". For some that is all they can offer. For some victims that's all that's wanted. For those with power it's the bare minimum, but it's also a good minimum. "Thoughts" is empathy and empathy is a good thing, especially from those in power. Sure prayers are not double-blind scientific, but a vast majority of Americans believe in a higher power and most appreciate knowing someone is seeking his/her/its guidance/assistance via meditative actions on the behalf of a victim.

I think the intent is for this thread to be a bit bumper sticker, but maybe spur new thread generation if a topic suggests itself.

Yes, that's the intention, among other things. People also might be willing to throw two cents into the ring if they know that's all they have to say on the matter, no further defense required. The rest of us benefit from having a better understanding of the range of opinions out there, among people whose words we normally enjoy reading. I've tried experiments like these elsewhere and they're quite edifying. It doesn't work as well if a lot of argument and discussion occurs in the thread itself, but it's not like that's a rigidly enforceable rule - maybe that simply indicates where a new thread would be desired for discussion. I don't like it when people take pot shots at each other or at personal things they know about one another, because those aren't unpopular opinions, like I say. Maybe my opinion about that is an unpopular opinion, but saying things like, most musicians are worthless, or that some feature of a person's natural identity makes them less worthy, is to me something much different than a mere unpopular opinion and trolling of that nature should be treated accordingly.

People in relationships are on their best behavior when they know they can be easily replaced.

No organization anywhere should be given the status of 'non-profit'.

"Illegal' pharmaceuticals are, generally speaking, no worse or no more palliative than the 'legal' ones.

Goodfellas is just okay.

I love horse meat and think it should be a standard option along with chicken, pork, and beef.