iNow

Thinking through how else we might approach this without explicit focus on race. Possibly we could enact a universal basic income program indexed to current wealth and income. Means tested. More for lower incomes, less for higher incomes. It addresses concerns of new racism, but since wealth among non-white Americans is orders of magnitude lower it has the potential to address the same core issues without the semantic baggage. It naturally seems more fair.

The part about me being a jerk, right?

My read... obviously is possible I'm mistaken... is that this was just someone spamming their own youtube video and pretending it was created by someone else. But at least I racked up 3 negs for being a bit firm in my pushback. I'm such a jerk. Lol.

Your point is noticed and acknowledged, though... Justice Thomas has long been strident in his opposition to affirmative action, but even his colleagues on the court suggest that he's too often arguing against strawmen and nonexistent bogeymen. He's attacking a fantasy and hyperbole more than real world problems. I was thankful to see Justice Jackson calling him out on it (from Salon): Again here, however, we're not talking about reparations in the US anymore.

This IMO oversimplifies what's actually happening to the point of making it inaccurate. Your computer knowledge absolutely surpasses my own, but I do have some familiarity with the ways AI tools are being applied in finance to identify and address fraud and it's about more than just IP matching. In some ways, you actually reinforced the point that faraday wallets are a bit gimmicky because you pointed out just how many several other (much easier) ways exist to pilfer the credit card data of consumers... easier, at least, than picking up RFID info while the card is still stored in ones wallet within ones pocket.

And results in a smoother finish IINM

Only in yodas mind. Use the force, you must.

Hence my request for source

And depending upon your habits and which bank you use, their AI algorithms will tend to identify transactions that don’t fit your usual patterns or come from a different region or IP address. They’ll automate processes which temporarily suspend payments, deactivate the card, and notify the customer from whom it was stolen. If any vendors got paid before this took place, the fraud departments at most banks will eat that cost so it’s not passed on to the consumer. I suspect you know much of that, so mostly posting for others who may not.

Perturbations is another word I like in describing this (though shimmering works too)

Unless using a random orbital sander and some good quality mesh sanding pads. In that case just don’t focus too long in one spot and be sure to vacuum dust from previous grits with the brush attachment on a shopvac

I know those freakish accidents well. Appreciate the extra insights into your experience. Sorry that happened ✌🏼

See thread title. It assumes the conclusion. That’s was what I challenged. Thx. I try. When you’ve seen this stuff enough times it tends to become more obvious, even if others feel I was being too hard on a science forum for having the audacity to request evidence confirming the core claim. Appreciate the extra evidence ✌🏼

Stop trying to derail the thread

Lol. Bad faith it is.

I’m am worried though… mate. I reject your premise. You’ve done nothing to support it. All you’ve shared is a YouTube video. That’s not supporting evidence. Said another way: You’ve not answered the question put to you, three times now. You’re evading. Here it is again, for convenience: What is the evidence validating this premise that paganism is supposedly growing? What is the data source? If you drill down into their sources, after you get to the Daily Mail, it then brings you finally a page for something called Quartz. That Quartz page cites a Pew study from 2014… I.e. the same one you already cited above.

YOU created an account here. YOU created this thread. YOU authored the thread Title which explicitly claims that paganism is on the rise YOU shared the video. The video makes claims which were questioned. The onus falls to YOU to support them when asked / challenged. Are you unwilling, unable, or just here in bad faith to spam a video? Oh, well now that you put it that way, I’m totally convinced. Gosh and golly. Why didn’t you just say so? Is this just because population as a whole is increasing thus total number of pagans is rising, or has the percentage of our overall population self-identifying as pagan gone up? If the total number on net is higher, but the per capita percentage has dropped, then saying it’s on the rise is a misdirection. I saw the article you googled and was hoping for something more recent than a decade ago. But that responsibility belongs to the OP, not me.

What evidence are you using to validate your premise that paganism is growing? What is your data source?

Not quite as much as these rare anecdotal stories being amplified in the press (and consequently in our minds) does. Sampling bias has us way overweighting the actual prominence of these events.

We are 100% aligned here. I support moving in this direction. Fully. I'm just trying to be realistic. It's an idealized outcome unlikely to be achieved, IMO. It's a state of perfection, and focus on this tends to prevent us from reaching a state of "better." I don't want to sacrifice the good in pursuit of the perfect. 100% correct, but not in the United States, which is where I've thus far been focusing my own comments in support of reparations. Glad we agree Or I paid off my student loan debt, why can't you!?

Belarus is looking more and more to me like the most likely split country who will return to the Soviet bloc Putin is trying to reconstitute. The Wagner team are also right now "training" the Belarusian team on battlefield logistics, and focusing especially on social media warfare tactics where they've shown themselves to be extraordinarily capable.

Which one(s)?

Yikes! Was it just that it wasn't bolted down properly, or maybe the pedestal shifted / fell while in use?

The more paranoid shopper will often just insert any cards of concern or items from wallets into a Faraday pouch which uses a mesh to help block EM signals. I've seen them in use with electronic key fobs for vehicles (so larcenous thieves cannot so easily create those fancy Lambo griefs), and technically any payment card with an RFID would enjoy similar reduction in risk. Whether or not it's worth it sort of depends on how frequent and common these sorts of crimes are where you spend your hours, but IMO most of the time this is overkill and intended just to bilk money from paranoid people.