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RoyGBivensAction

Zensunni Scientologist

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joined 2025 June 08 18:10:35 UTC

Married to a tomboy, so I have that going for me, which is nice.


				
User ID: 3756


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
RoyGBivensAction


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Zensunni Scientologist

				
				
				

				

					0 followers  

					follows 0 users  

					joined 2025 June 08 18:10:35 UTC
				


				
					

					
Married to a tomboy, so I have that going for me, which is nice.



				

				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
User ID: 3756


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Weekly Finance Thread (without clever alliteration)
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Altogether, this IPO looks almost custom-designed to leave excitable retail investors holding the bag.




I'm not concerned as much with excitable retail investors as I am boring folks like myself with lots of ETFs tied to indices.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


There's probably a 30% chance that a state or federal prosecutor will try to indict him over the next 10 years. If he's out of the country he'll be out of mind for them.




More than a criminal prosecution, I bet he's concerned the IRS under a Dem admin takes a look at his Roth IRA shenanigans.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I'm sure there is some humans in this world that use Kik for something other than distributing, soliciting, and illegal pornography.




You're leaving out the users that use it to solicit sex with minors (said minors who are law enforcement 99% of the time).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Weekly Finance Thread (without clever alliteration)
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The conspiracy parts of the internet (i.e. the most entertaining parts) are freaking out about the SpaceX IPO and changes to various market indices that will be Bad News. This seems to the background.  The S&P500 is not one of the indices, though, according to that link. Anything to it, or usual internet financial panic?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Like, you'll see media or historical documents from the past, and people will talk about the sheer amount of wealth, but then the calculated purchasing power isn’t as much as it feels like everyone is acting.




Based on talking to my grandparents (very long-lived, so I heard many stories), the inflation numbers downplay the skew. There's no way a working class guy making the inflation-adjusted equivalent of what my grandfather made in 1950/60/70 could ever purchase the quality of life that he was able to afford for his family with a stay at home wife and passel of kids.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'd be fine with Nixon on the $250. The Tricky Dick 2-fiddy.




montage of some of the more obscure Presidents -- Tyler, Taylor, Polk




Fun fact about Tyler: his last living grandson died in 2025.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Considering the eye-watering loss in value since 1969 (when the prior large bills were officially discontinued), I think The Powers That Be are fine with Americans only having bills with weak purchasing power. If you believe the official numbers, a $100 bill in 1969 had the purchasing power of $900 now. It doesn't seem like that loss ever prompted the Treasury to consider re-printing $500 and $1000 bills to try to match the former purchasing power.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Did it actually kill the project?




Sadly, not yet, and I don't know that the new council will have the authority needed to kill it. These projects seem like vampires where once they're over the threshold, it's all over.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Treasury Secretary Bessent confirms limited steps toward a $250 bill featuring Donald Trump




Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that his department has prepared the design for a $250 bill featuring President Donald Trump, anticipating the passage of stalled legislation in Congress to put the president on a new denomination of legal tender.






“The president doesn’t do it; the House and the Senate have to do it,” Bessent said at the White House, referring to legislation, introduced by Representative Joe Wilson, R-S.C., that would direct the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing to put Trump’s face on the new bill to mark the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.






Wilson’s legislation, which so far has languished in Congress, is intended to create an exception to existing law that bars any living person from appearing on U.S. currency; the bill would allow current and former presidents to be featured.




Large denomination currency & Trump were joked about in a Friday Fun Thread at some point, but we all know jokes-->reality is a short pipeline these days. Do I expect Congress to actually pass the bill necessary to carve out an exception? No. This seems more like Bessent (who looks like a cheap clone of Donald Rumsfeld in some of the photos) doing what his boss told him to do while knowing the project is probably DOA.


Even if the stars aligned and they did pass the exception, the bills would be not be that useful. Considering how many businesses there are now that refuse to take $50 or $100 bills, a $250 would be even more limited. Aside from collectors and usual unsavory types that caused the original high denomination bills to go out of circulation, I don't imagine the average American would have much use for these.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


How much credence do you put on the idea that Harambe represented an actual sea change in American culture?




Not much. Weird to see the White House remark on it, even if it's only on Xitter. I don't really remember much bleed over into reality.


I think Kony 2012 is the first event I remember as internet mass hysteria where people acted like a freakout on the internet would somehow change real-life conditions on another continent.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
No bison ever called me a chud.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The local leadership hides the project as much as possible and steamrolls any opposition that shows up to meetings.




A local jurisdiction had the mayor and majority of the city council run out of office in recall elections after doing that kind of thing to push a big project. It wasn't even a data center issue, which I think would've gotten the whole council booted. This was despite it being a very pro-Trump/Red/pro-extractive industry kind of area. This doesn't disprove your larger point, but it was interesting to see a rare example of your scenario not happening.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It does make me consider the role of races in my personal enjoyment of the hobby. I rented a cabin on the river and brought my family, and in an alternate universe I would be waking up in the morning with a coffee, enjoying the beautiful views at the top of each mountain, having actually delicious food/drink packed on the bike (for those evaluating electrolyte drinks, Neversecond was what the organizers provided, and holy fuck it tasted awful), and face no pressure to break any bones on gnarly descents (at least one racer had to be pulled off a mountain via ambulance). Instead I paid $80 for a water bottle and a timer to come in the bottom half of the pack.




I have had similar thoughts about traveling to do running trail races. Why don't I just travel and hang out in a pretty place with my wife, do some day hikes, enjoy the views, and generally try to recharge? Or I can spend extra money and stress out about logistics that don't matter because there's no chance I'm finishing in the top third for my age group and do a run that I enjoy less than a random trail run near my house since there's a bunch of additional people around.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Systemically destroying their social power will almost always get my support.




I didn't realize bison had that much social power.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Renters protections are excessive.




Washington state assigns publicly-funded counsel to low-income people who are being evicted. I can't imagine trying to be a landlord there.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for May 27, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I am listening, and perhaps I am learning.




When an asexual kink-friendly MMA-trained lesbian is speaking, you'd best sit your brown ass down and listen (because she's choking you out and you have no choice).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


but it'd be interesting if an HBD proponent somewhere did believe melanin expression caused low IQ.




There's a now-retracted paper out there arguing for a link between melanin and aggressiveness in various animal species. Given all the garbage studies that never get retracted, that means it was either utterly terrible or directly over the target.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for May 27, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Not even for erotic reasons, I was just that bored and out of good ideas.




"I'm bored. What do you want to do?"


"I dunno, I'm bored, too. What do you want to do?"


"... try choking each other?"


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Pitt was immensely famous already from several films, including Se7en five years prior.




Perhaps more importantly, Fight Club from the year prior. Snatch was his next movie and partially promoted as "mega movie star appears in small quirky film."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


As I write this, how much of this 1980s nostalgia is a top-down consensus campaign by writers who just don't want to deal with how cell phones negate 90% of the easy ways to create danger and tension in a narrative?




I've noticed just how many modern crime/noir novels are set pre-2000 for what I assume is this reason.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Did Google find a new way to hinder users of alternative (ad free) apps for viewing YT videos?




I don't know about those apps specifically, but my assumption is yes. I'm no longer able to watch videos in Firefox browser in private mode--the video won't play unless I sign in. Watching videos in Brave browser still works, but they take longer than they previously did to load and play, especially if it's part of a playlist.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Am I the only person who actually worked/learned something useful in college?




The vast majority of attorneys I know followed the 2rafa path in undergrad and even in law school. This includes some who are now state trial court and state appellate court judges.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I'm not a boomer, and I don't have a pension.




You're over 40 and have savings and a house. Under the new rules, that's a boomer. I'm a decade-ish younger than you and a boomer as well.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


However I don't think this is an argument that most of his political allies would normally be sympathetic to.




Because it's all friend/enemy, or who/whom, or whichever phrasing you prefer.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
A Pitcairner and a Tristanian? Is someone assembling a team? Just need someone from Desolation Island and the ultra-remote Inuit villages.