Stupid shit in Medellin

[Paulie97]

It's true, I do not donate to charity. What you have left out though, is through my employment which is a very difficult career, I contribute to my community on a daily basis and there are not many people who could perform my occupation effectively..

I would take issue with this, as there certainly are a whole lot of people that could perform your occupation effectively given the opportunity and the proper training. Because I mean seriously, given your political analysis, calling yourself a "conservative" when you are a cyberspace blog wingnut, we are talking about an IQ in at most the 100 range, and that's generous. You could scarf up many who are asking dollars in front of Dollar General or your "Will Work for Food" culture and they'd fit the bill. Certainly there is nothing "difficult" about your "career," that you've already admitted doesn't require higher education, nor does your confession to never donate to charity speak much to your character. As to you trying to win "petty arguments," well you dig in your heels here with the best of them typing out War and Peace, so pot calling the kettle black on that count. LOL.

[Osteoknot]

So I guess I'm an idiot. Am I lucky to be alive?

You should stick to the white airport cabs, because it's the status quo and more predictable. As I posted before I have gotten in every colored car there is from the airport but they all had some kind of paperwork or license on a clipboard, probably meaningless. I negotiate price before I get in. I have good intuition that has never let me down, but I wouldn't get into any vehicle if I felt a bad vibe.

I was going to try reserving an airport taxi thru this link posted here recently https://acoataxiaeropuerto.com.co/ that everyone agrees sounds great idea yet no one has posted yet that they actually tried it.

But when I booked my flight on CheapOAir, they included a free taxi ride which has never happened before. I had to fill in some blanks which strangely kept defaulting to the municipal Medellin airport in town, but after a few tries I have a printed invoice that lists a dude will meet me at the airport holding a card with my name on it (Church Lady, "Isn't that special?) and a free ride to the front door of my hotel. According to the paperwork, my ride will be provided by "My Transfer Group". I will report back later on that.

Nice you got your phone back. Guess that ride ended up being worth much, much more than you overpaid. Appropriate and nice of you to give the driver "some" pesos for hand-delivering your cell phone the next day at your hotel. Stay safe and Keep On Keepin' On.

[JjBee62]

Because American society is pushing a narrative that people are whatever they feel they are. You do know it is mostly women that are pushing for men who think they are women to be seen as women right? So they are doing this to themselves and to their own detriment. Sometimes you have to let a mf learn the hard way. In these cases dudes that are not women taking the benefits and awards that actual women fought to get, is teaching them a hard lesson.

You can't fault someone for taking advantage of a loophole. When I went to court for custody of my daughter, her mom was getting angry at me for using laws or procedures that I knew about to my advantage. To her it was unfair or whatever, but I was only using the rules that existed for everyone to play by.

You can not get upset for these guys for playing by the rules that are in place. If the speed limit is posted as 65 I am not going to be mad at folks for going 65 and tell they they should really only go 55. The speed limit is set at 65, take full advantage of being able to go 65. In my state they have just made it a law that people can only participate in sports acording to their sex at birth by the way.

I did forget one thing. There was the high school wrestler in Texas, wrestling against girls, who went undefeated and won the state championship. Definitely an unfair advantage. However, because she was born female and was transitioning to male, state rules required him to compete against the girls. He, she, whatever wanted to wrestle on the boys team, but that "whatever you're born with, is what you are" thinking meant that a boy, in almost every way, was required to wrestle against girls who didn't stand a chance.

Same thing happened when I was in high school. One of the girls in my class muscled up quicker than any of the boys. She played basketball, volleyball, track and softball and was much better than any of the other girls. If they had done hormone testing back then she probably would have had male testosterone levels. Wasn't really fair to all the other girls.

[JjBee62]

Because American society is pushing a narrative that people are whatever they feel they are. You do know it is mostly women that are pushing for men who think they are women to be seen as women right? So they are doing this to themselves and to their own detriment. Sometimes you have to let a mf learn the hard way. In these cases dudes that are not women taking the benefits and awards that actual women fought to get, is teaching them a hard lesson.

You can't fault someone for taking advantage of a loophole. When I went to court for custody of my daughter, her mom was getting angry at me for using laws or procedures that I knew about to my advantage. To her it was unfair or whatever, but I was only using the rules that existed for everyone to play by.

You can not get upset for these guys for playing by the rules that are in place. If the speed limit is posted as 65 I am not going to be mad at folks for going 65 and tell they they should really only go 55. The speed limit is set at 65, take full advantage of being able to go 65. In my state they have just made it a law that people can only participate in sports acording to their sex at birth by the way.

I'm trying to figure out where are all these trans athletes who are completely dominating their sport. There's one swimmer, who during 1 year, while still undergoing hormone therapy, was dominant. Now that the hormone therapy is complete and her testosterone levels are the same as any woman she's not even close to being the top female swimmer.

It all started 50 years ago with Renee Richard's, who, when finally allowed to compete in the US Open, as a woman, got knocked out in the first round. There is a transition period, when they still have male hormone levels, when there is an unfair advantage. However, the competition rules require them to continue hormone therapy until their testosterone level is the in the normal female range. Once that happens the advantage goes away.

Which brings up another issue. In most sports the unfair advantage comes from higher testosterone levels. There are women who, although they were born with all of the standard issue female parts, have male testosterone levels. I know of one right here in Medellin, she plays soccer and has thighs like Earl Campbell.

Sexual alignment isn't an either-or thing. Normally, during pregnancy, the embryo is not male or female until about a third of the way through. In rare cases some are born female and actually grow a penis during puberty. There are many different things which go into gender.

I'll tell you what. Show me one trans athlete who manages to dominate her sport the way Michael Phelps dominated his and I'll accept the "unfair advantage" or "taking advantage of the rules" argument.

[Above Average]

So I guess I'm an idiot because when I get off the plane at the airport and all those taxis guys start mobbing me I actually give in to them sometimes. On two occasions I've done this and both times they brought me back to an unmarked car and I'm too chickenshit to back out at that point.

The first time I got into a car with two guys and was freaking out the whole time thinking I was about to lose all my luggage and everything but instead they just convinced me to buy some overpriced weed.

The second time I did this ended up paying 50 k pesos for a 5 minute ride. It was a rip off but I was exhausted and just wanted to get into my hotel bed. The next morning I couldn't find my phone and I started freaking out until somebody knocked on my door and it the driver from last night who brought back my phone! I have him some more pesos and thanked him profusely.

I feel like if I don't smarten up I'm going to get mugged or abducted but so far the people of Colombia have not let me down.

How dangerous do you guys think it is to get into an unmarked car with a guy who isn't doing Uber or Didi? Am I lucky to be alive or am I just being paranoid?

[RamDavidson84]

My apologies to Ram. I should have been more thorough and searched for the original comment. As Dik Luvr did. He did say "cash contributions".

LOL, no you should not have because things do not need to get that serious that we are going back months to look up posts to win petty arguments, it's all good brother.

[RamDavidson84]

I'm amazed at your devotion to me. I'm not going to go dig it up, but that sounds like what I would have written. Now do you believe, when pulling someone's string on this thread, that I went back, recalled everything over the previous year, dug up my tax returns, correctly remembered a whole bunch of things which there are no receipts for, or that I did what everyone else does, grab a number, throw it out and move on?

Remember, 87% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

The point wasn't that I give freely where I feel it's deserved. The point was that Ram was bashing someone because he assumed they contribute nothing, then he was trying to bash me because I do contribute, when the truth, which he stated, is that he gives nothing, so was never in a position to attack someone else for doing the same.

Have fun with it. If you want some of my personal items to add to the shrine you appear to have erected in my honor, just ask.

It's true, I do not donate to charity. What you have left out though, is through my employment which is a very difficult career, I contribute to my community on a daily basis and there are not many people who could perform my occupation effectively. I also stated, in my youth when I had more time and energy I often contributed in various ways to my community without any financial compensation. Now with all the bills and responsibilities that I have, I cannot afford to donate my time or money as much as I used to. Since we are on the subject, Let us clear the air, do you donate cash to fire victims? If you do, I commend you and I should have not labeled that a negative trait which you possess. If you donate 25% of you income to charity, that's a good thing that you do and I shouldn't have jumped on your case about it.

[RamDavidson84]

I actually am, or was, an expert on nuclear fission. There are a few big problems with it, which will never go away. First, when done right it's safer than fossil fuel power production, but done right means reducing profit margins. Then there's always the waste issue, which most people haven't a clue about. Radioactive waste with extremely long half-life isn't a problem. It's the stuff with the short half-life that's the problem.

Then there's the public relations issue, which when combined with regulations makes nuclear fission not a good investment for the bankers.

You're probably right about fusion technology. I worked with the High Energy Physics group at Sandia National Labs (just computer programming and tech support) and progress is slow.

I was told by my friend who works at the plant as an engineer that all the nuclear waste produced by Nuclear power plants since they have been running can fit inside a ware house the size of a football field or maybe football stadium. He also said less than 1% of that waste is the waste which is really harmful to humans and it will remain harmful for thousands of years. The other 99% actually isn't that harmful as long as its not in your drinking water or something along those lines. He did mention public relations was a nightmare because communities do not want to be located near Nuclear power plants, and he claimed they are 100% safe, of course we all know of three mile island and Chernoberyl so that's not 100% true. He also claimed among the renewable resources it was the most profitable.

Just curious, when you say you are an expert, what exactly qualifies you to claim you are an expert in Nuclear Fission, that seems like a very complex area to be an expert which would require very extensive academic and career credentials to qualify as an expert in?

[JjBee62]

You should look at post #3071 by JjBee62. "Last year my cash donations came up to almost 25% of my income (and none of that went to a church or other non-profit group)." Looks like you are the one who jumped to a conclusion.

I'm amazed at your devotion to me. I'm not going to go dig it up, but that sounds like what I would have written. Now do you believe, when pulling someone's string on this thread, that I went back, recalled everything over the previous year, dug up my tax returns, correctly remembered a whole bunch of things which there are no receipts for, or that I did what everyone else does, grab a number, throw it out and move on?

Remember, 87% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

The point wasn't that I give freely where I feel it's deserved. The point was that Ram was bashing someone because he assumed they contribute nothing, then he was trying to bash me because I do contribute, when the truth, which he stated, is that he gives nothing, so was never in a position to attack someone else for doing the same.

Have fun with it. If you want some of my personal items to add to the shrine you appear to have erected in my honor, just ask.

[Villainy]

You should look at post #3071 by JjBee62. "Last year my cash donations came up to almost 25% of my income (and none of that went to a church or other non-profit group)." Looks like you are the one who jumped to a conclusion.

My apologies to Ram. I should have been more thorough and searched for the original comment. As Dik Luvr did. He did say "cash contributions".

[RamDavidson84]

Like I said, I am absolutely not an expert in this stuff. I actually do have a friend who is an engineer at the Nuclear Power Plant near Scranton PA. He's a very intelligent guy, spent his youth in the navy working on a nuclear submarine. He said we are close to fission technology, when you split the atoms instead of fusing them, it's a cleaner process which creates far more energy and these are the technologies we should should be investing in. He and I agree with you, We still need to use fossil fuels when necessary, but the writing is on the wall, we need to start preparing for when the scarcity of fossil fuels drives the price up so high it is no longer even remotely affordable. He was furious with Biden when they closed the construction of the oil pipeline from Canada, he said it takes 12 years to plan the construction, receive the zoning permits, allocate the funds, etc, and they had done everything every step of the way and were ready for construction and Biden due to pressure from environmental groups just called it off and wasted all the time and resources which went into planning such a massive project and would have lead to a higher degree of energy independence for the USA. I am not blind to the fact that we are still living in a society which runs off fossil fuels, I am just saying developing the technology of Electric Automobiles and the Nuclear Power plants to provide the energy seems to be the most logical thing to do at the moment. We still need to drill up all that black gold though baby! Can't let those precious dollars go to waste haha.

I confused fusion with fission in this post, sorry about that, like I said, def not the expert.

[JjBee62]

I have followed nuclear fusion for around 40 years, and it would be hard to convince me we are closer to a workable nuclear fusion option than 40 years ago.

But current nuclear technology is much improved, and I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it, it just costs a lot in terms of resources, energy, and money to build these plants.

I think the handling of carbon should focus on leaning how to live with the effects that we cannot avoid, ie the last 250 years of fossil fuel use, and on sequestration and moving away where economically possible.

When I hear the masses wanting to stop the petrochemical industry tomorrow so there won't be a forest fire next year I come to the conclusion that some education is in order. But of course politics is such that the sky is falling stories get the attention. And fact checking stuff like that gets one labelled as a climate change denier. So the bullshit aspects can't be challenged by anyone.

What science and real scientists actually say (and real scientists in the field that they are speaking about) I think gets lost in the noise.

I actually am, or was, an expert on nuclear fission. There are a few big problems with it, which will never go away. First, when done right it's safer than fossil fuel power production, but done right means reducing profit margins. Then there's always the waste issue, which most people haven't a clue about. Radioactive waste with extremely long half-life isn't a problem. It's the stuff with the short half-life that's the problem.

Then there's the public relations issue, which when combined with regulations makes nuclear fission not a good investment for the bankers.

You're probably right about fusion technology. I worked with the High Energy Physics group at Sandia National Labs (just computer programming and tech support) and progress is slow.

[RamDavidson84]

And Musk didn't invent shit. He bought a company that made electric cars. The only thing he might have done is generate enough interest for all of the other car companies, which have had electric cars for at least 50 years, to dust off their designs and start producing them.

That's pretty typical for Ram. One day he's complaining that alternative energy is bringing about the collapse of civilization, the next he's claiming electric cars saved the world.

Guys, look I can be a dick and there really is no need to constantly be at each other's throat because we have very different views. I'll admit I was poking the bear with the JJb69 donating his money stuff and Osteo being a very complex individual when it comes to his sexuality and choice of drug use. No one is perfect, and I am the furthest thing from it.

To be fair though, I never claimed or believed that alternative energy had any negative impact on society. I would just state we need to do it as efficiently as possible while also not destroying the oil industry and hurting the American economy and workforce in the process. I was not a fan of Biden stopping the construction of the oil pipeline and wasting millions of dollars in planning and thousands of Americans losing their jobs they had lined up building the pipeline.

Elon Musk is the richest man on the Planet out of 7 billion people, he is a special unique individual with a track record of success which is rivaled by just a hand full of people in history. This is undeniable truth. I believe it shows bias to diminish his accomplishments because you are not in favor of his take over of Twitter because he has openly advocated for increasing Twitter's role in defending Free Speech. There is currently a slander campaign occurring against him where people are going all the way back to his days as a child in grade school to see if they can dig up any dirt on him to assassinate his character, just like they did to Brett Kavanaugh. I don't agree with this type of behavior, however I respectfully allow anyone to disagree and argue their point against it. Let's just keep the lies, slander, and insults out of it.

Stick to the policy.

[RamDavidson84]

I have followed nuclear fusion for around 40 years, and it would be hard to convince me we are closer to a workable nuclear fusion option than 40 years ago.

But current nuclear technology is much improved, and I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it, it just costs a lot in terms of resources, energy, and money to build these plants.

I think the handling of carbon should focus on leaning how to live with the effects that we cannot avoid, ie the last 250 years of fossil fuel use, and on sequestration and moving away where economically possible.

When I hear the masses wanting to stop the petrochemical industry tomorrow so there won't be a forest fire next year I come to the conclusion that some education is in order. But of course politics is such that the sky is falling stories get the attention. And fact checking stuff like that gets one labelled as a climate change denier. So the bullshit aspects can't be challenged by anyone.

What science and real scientists actually say (and real scientists in the field that they are speaking about) I think gets lost in the noise.

Like I said, I am absolutely not an expert in this stuff. I actually do have a friend who is an engineer at the Nuclear Power Plant near Scranton PA. He's a very intelligent guy, spent his youth in the navy working on a nuclear submarine. He said we are close to fission technology, when you split the atoms instead of fusing them, it's a cleaner process which creates far more energy and these are the technologies we should should be investing in. He and I agree with you, We still need to use fossil fuels when necessary, but the writing is on the wall, we need to start preparing for when the scarcity of fossil fuels drives the price up so high it is no longer even remotely affordable. He was furious with Biden when they closed the construction of the oil pipeline from Canada, he said it takes 12 years to plan the construction, receive the zoning permits, allocate the funds, etc, and they had done everything every step of the way and were ready for construction and Biden due to pressure from environmental groups just called it off and wasted all the time and resources which went into planning such a massive project and would have lead to a higher degree of energy independence for the USA. I am not blind to the fact that we are still living in a society which runs off fossil fuels, I am just saying developing the technology of Electric Automobiles and the Nuclear Power plants to provide the energy seems to be the most logical thing to do at the moment. We still need to drill up all that black gold though baby! Can't let those precious dollars go to waste haha.

[RamDavidson84]

Because American society is pushing a narrative that people are whatever they feel they are. You do know it is mostly women that are pushing for men who think they are women to be seen as women right? So they are doing this to themselves and to their own detriment. Sometimes you have to let a mf learn the hard way. In these cases dudes that are not women taking the benefits and awards that actual women fought to get, is teaching them a hard lesson.

You can't fault someone for taking advantage of a loophole. When I went to court for custody of my daughter, her mom was getting angry at me for using laws or procedures that I knew about to my advantage. To her it was unfair or whatever, but I was only using the rules that existed for everyone to play by..

Haha I see what you are saying and there is a part of me that kind of agrees with you, but I participated and coached in a sport for a very long time and its something which hits home for me because I saw a lot guys not achieve their goals and make it to the levels they thought they were going to go. It really fucked with them and changed them a little bit by not hitting those goals as a competitive athlete. I just could never condone letting cheating men take those opportunities away female athletes and have them lose out on the dreams they have drained their whole lives for. It really pisses me off, on the other hand yes their is a large female contingent who are proponents of the policies which allow men to compete against women in the first place and there would be a degree of satisfaction I would feel to watch these she / men crush every record, win every event, and clearly prove the point that there is a fucking reason in the first place that we have men's and women's divisions. I am not that vindictive, so for me personally I'll just oppose letting men compete in women's sports. Your take on it would be funny to watch though LOL.

And on a tangent side note: Women make up 50% of our nation's work force, their tax dollars count just as much as a man's and so it's important to give them as much opportunity as possible to allow them to make the most of themselves. Our nation is also no longer based on agriculture or manufacturing as much as it is the service industry and tech industries / information processing which women maybe even have an advantage in due to their maternal instincts which allow them to achieve a higher social intelligence on average. They can more easily deal with people in a compliant effective manner in team settings and taking their ego out of the equation. I have noticed a lot of men have more difficulty with this as their ego gets in the way when they serve non-leadership roles and this leads to a less effective worker. The nation's who we are economically competing with have all realized the more money women earn and the harder they work, the stronger their nation's economy becomes and this is one of the reasons why they have embraced policies which promote women having the exact same opportunities in occupations traditionally held by men. America, to stay competitive with other leading nations, also needs to have a strong, educated, effective female work force. That doesn't mean force women into construction where they will won't be best utilized, or force them in combat roles on the battlefield when a male soldier would be more effective. It just means we have to face reality and come together to create more economic opportunities which plays to female strengths. Just my opinion and feel free to criticize as its not something based on a lot of research, just on my opinion on things I have seen in everyday life.