Random Thought Thread

Nathan the Machinist said:
Which city has the most murders in US?
CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — Chicago had the highest number of homicides in the United States in 2022, according to a new report. Chicago had 697 total homicides in 2022, higher than Philadelphia (516), New York City (438), Houston (435), and Los Angeles (382).Feb 23, 2023


^ That's what got me banned
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I think I can clear this up.

You were speaking facts, which offend irrational intellectually deficient people that expect everything expressed to be based on unfounded ideas (aka fictional fantasies), subjective biased feelings, or knee-jerk illogical emotional reactions.

I hate that nonsense sooooo much. I work for a company just like this. Just gotta make it 6 more months and then I'm out.
 
ferider said:
That's Zuckerberg for you. I thought you hated FB ?
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I do hate Facebook. Not because of what it should be but because of what it turned into. It has been a huge source of deliberate misinformation absorbed by tons of mushy headed people like my mom and has a large percentage of America honestly believing tons of ridiculous things that are not true. It is having a profound negative effect on our democracy.

I don't have Facebook and never have. Apparently there is a CPK Facebook page but I don't go there.

I didn't create this Instagram account either. It was created for me, but now I have been sucked into the algorithm. I can't help myself
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I do hate Facebook. Not because of what it should be but because of what it turned into. It has been a huge source of deliberate misinformation absorbed by tons of mushy headed people like my mom and has a large percentage of America honestly believing tons of ridiculous things that are not true. It is having a profound negative effect on our democracy.

I don't have Facebook and never have. Apparently there is a CPK Facebook page but I don't go there.

I didn't create this Instagram account either. It was created for me, but now I have been sucked into the algorithm. I can't help myself
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pretty sure you can blame me for your IG account. Soory!

seems like a lot of people feel like they're under attack these days, that's because social media is so easily weaponized. Back around 2016, I was sucked into the facebox algorithm and it literally gave me brain damage. Like I need any more of that. So, I wiped my entire account, every post I could, and then started fresh. I decided that I would no longer let facebox use me, and that instead I would use it. That means very little personal interaction, focusing solely on using it to help market my venture. Turns out it doesn't work that great for that either, I still get almost 100% of my business right here in #Bladeforums.

with these platforms, the user is also the product. It's hard to wrap the mind around that, but once you do, you'll realize how people are held in thrall by your own avatar. It's fucked, but it appeals to the most base reptilian part of the brain, triggering the fight, flight or freeze response which I think is no good for society in general. Keeping people in that state perpetually is degrading and distracting.
 
Here in the Bay Area, FB has full medical histories of much of the population. How did they get them ? Several hospitals received Zuckerberg grants. In return, FB received "anonymized" medical records, without name or social, etc., that the hospitals removed.

Then, as a patient, you go to one of these hospitals - and while waiting for your appointment - browse FB or just use google maps. FB then correlates location data that it receives independently with "anonymous" medical records.

I stopped using FB years ago entirely. Also deleted google maps from my phone. My only remaining social media use is BF.
 
Lorien said:
pretty sure you can blame me for your IG account. Soory!

seems like a lot of people feel like they're under attack these days, that's because social media is so easily weaponized. Back around 2016, I was sucked into the facebox algorithm and it literally gave me brain damage. Like I need any more of that. So, I wiped my entire account, every post I could, and then started fresh. I decided that I would no longer let facebox use me, and that instead I would use it. That means very little personal interaction, focusing solely on using it to help market my venture. Turns out it doesn't work that great for that either, I still get almost 100% of my business right here in #Bladeforums.

with these platforms, the user is also the product. It's hard to wrap the mind around that, but once you do, you'll realize how people are held in thrall by your own avatar. It's fucked, but it appeals to the most base reptilian part of the brain, triggering the fight, flight or freeze response which I think is no good for society in general. Keeping people in that state perpetually is degrading and distracting.
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We are the product, both on and off social media, I think.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Which city has the most murders in US?
CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — Chicago had the highest number of homicides in the United States in 2022, according to a new report. Chicago had 697 total homicides in 2022, higher than Philadelphia (516), New York City (438), Houston (435), and Los Angeles (382).Feb 23, 2023


^ That's what got me banned
Click to expand...
I recall back in 2021, on another forum, when someone posted the info that with ~3 months to go, Chicago had a chance of breaking the 1,000 mark for the year. They wound up breaking 800, but not getting to 1,000.

In contrast, I used to make frequent trips to Chicago back in '94 (3rd highest year on record for Chicago, with 930 murders 😬).

Can't recall which long weekend holiday, 4 of us cheap, clueless college students decided to make a trip to Chicago for 2 nights. Being cheap, we were looking for the cheapest available rooms. Most of the hotels had been booked solid (including the cheap, but decent hotel right downtown that we'd often stayed at).

We ended up stopping in a hotel lobby and using the phonebook to call hotels looking for available, cheap rooms.

Finally found a Ramada with decent rates. "Ramada's a decent hotel chain, right?" Got the address and headed over. As we're driving south on Lake Shore Drive, and driving, and driving, we're thinking, "Huh... this is quite a ways South of downtown... maybe that's why the rooms are cheap".

Get to the hotel which was right off the exit, check in and go, "Alright! Let's eat!". Head west away from the lake (looked like a shorter route on the map) and within 2 blocks of the hotel, we see a row of mostly empty shops with a lot of bullet holes in the signs 😐. "Uh... I think I know why the rooms here are so cheap".

One of the 2 nights there, we heard gunshots somewhere close outside the hotel.

After the weekend, one of my classmates asked, "So, what did you do over the long weekend?". When I told her, she said, "Y'all are crazy. I'm black and I wouldn't go anywhere near the area y'all were in. Did y'all get funny looks where you were?". "Yep. Sure did" 😅

*** back then though, most of that stuff was confined to certain neighborhoods (generally further west from the Lake Shore, and/or further South of downtown). The downtown area, and specifically, Michigan Avenue, was generally safe. Over the past decade, though, it seems assaults and crap happening downtown has become more common.

A buddy who'd worked and lived in Chicago sent me a video of what used to be a peaceful yuppie neighborhood he'd lived in for a few years (a bit North of downtown). 2 groups of youths literally brawling in the middle of an intersection, taken from the balcony of his apartment. He ended up finding another job and moving (out of state).
 
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Found my old blackberry in the storage room at work. The battery was just starting to bloat..
 

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Nathan the Machinist said:
And don't get me started on TikTok


Imagine the youth of today without the worst of the social media like TikTok. Imagine how great we could be. But instead....
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Ugh. I know adults who are obsessed with TikTok, and regularly waste hours on it, either learning absolutely nothing of value, or worse, crap of negative value.

With youngsters in general, being more impressionable, the effect is even worse.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Thanks for noticing!
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I've actually done a fair amount of tig welding over the years- it's not easy! My buddy creates bike frames down in Arizona, I went to visit him around 2001 and tig'd a frame while I was there. I loved using his Bridgeport to mitre the tubing, such a massive powerful machine with that old school charm. Always thought I might get into fabricating frames but...I didn't
 
Lorien said:
I've actually done a fair amount of tig welding over the years- it's not easy! My buddy creates bike frames down in Arizona, I went to visit him around 2001 and tig'd a frame while I was there. I loved using his Bridgeport to mitre the tubing, such a massive powerful machine with that old school charm. Always thought I might get into fabricating frames but...I didn't
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It's a lot of effort just to paint it. But, you know. Pretty welds rust too...
 
Friend's daughter makes money on TikTok...got to the point she needed to hire a manager. Every day stuff is getting delivered to their house for her to use in her videos. Crazy, but might as well get it while she can.
 
jlauffer said:
Friend's daughter makes money on TikTok...got to the point she needed to hire a manager. Every day stuff is getting delivered to their house for her to use in her videos. Crazy, but might as well get it while she can.
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I didn't expect it to be much different than Instagram, but the same videos I post on IG have gotten WAY more response on TikTok🤯 Free money...may as well take it🤷🏻‍♂️😂
 
jlauffer said:
Friend's daughter makes money on TikTok...got to the point she needed to hire a manager. Every day stuff is getting delivered to their house for her to use in her videos. Crazy, but might as well get it while she can.
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Yeah, there are folks who've successfully monetized social media like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

Unfortunately, the majority of 'influencers' aren't exactly anyone I'd want influencing impressionable young minds.

*** IIRC, a little kid's toy review videos was one of the highest earning YT channels at one point (never looked into it, but read that past a certain number of subscribers, YT pays the content producer, and that's before things like ads, for which there are various tiers).

Just looked; Ryan Kaji. Multimillionaire many times over before age 10. Same search returned some 20-something guy going by Mr Beast, making $54 million in 2021 😯
 
Lorien said:
pretty sure you can blame me for your IG account. Soory!

seems like a lot of people feel like they're under attack these days, that's because social media is so easily weaponized. Back around 2016, I was sucked into the facebox algorithm and it literally gave me brain damage. Like I need any more of that. So, I wiped my entire account, every post I could, and then started fresh. I decided that I would no longer let facebox use me, and that instead I would use it. That means very little personal interaction, focusing solely on using it to help market my venture. Turns out it doesn't work that great for that either, I still get almost 100% of my business right here in #Bladeforums.

with these platforms, the user is also the product. It's hard to wrap the mind around that, but once you do, you'll realize how people are held in thrall by your own avatar. It's fucked, but it appeals to the most base reptilian part of the brain, triggering the fight, flight or freeze response which I think is no good for society in general. Keeping people in that state perpetually is degrading and distracting.
Click to expand...
I deleted my account a while ago and only just restarted it. I am not friends with anyone, I have one picture on there and nothing else in my profile, and I am only following two running groups and about eight knife groups where the maker or dealer has a Facebook presence but not a Bladeforums one.

Been a lot happier not knowing which of my friends is crazy, seeing dumb TikTok videos advertised to me, etc. All it feeds me now are knives and wholesome running posts.
 
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