“By Eliza Shapiro and Vivian Wang”

Snerk.

I think you can’t discount the location premium.

Working on an auto assembly line means putting in your 8 hours, punching out and driving home to your family. Working in oil and gas very often means going to places where families can’t or won’t live and off duty recreation options consist of either Netflix or the one or two local bars, which are devoid of women.

Much like long-haul trucking discussed last week, working the oilfields is not really so much a job as it is a lifestyle commitment.

He’s cherry picking a bit. Yes, Woodhead ran a 4.33, but he was small and a former Division 2 player. And everyone knew Gronk’s measurables, it’s why he was a high draft pick.

But Hogan and Edelman ran pretty pedestrian 4.5s, Amendola 4.58, Welker a 4.65, and Burkhead a terrible 4.73. And of course none of those guys is tall, either, the other important measurable for a receiver. So yeah, Belichick does succeed in part because he uses physically unimpressive white guys.

“Sikh’s anti-ELD activism? ELD means Electronic Logging Device, why are Sikh’s against it?”

I’d assume the same reason many drivers are against them: it automatically tracks the movement of the truck and records your work status. The old paper logs allowed you to umm… be creative … about how much rest time you take, when you take it, etc. They’re either a needed safety feature or an example of government overregulating, strangling commerce, and holding down the working man. Or both.

Company trucks started going to ELDs a decade ago. They became federally-mandated for all trucks last year. Owner-operators were the bitter holdouts, and Sikhs are disproportionately represented there.

“Secondly “truck drivers” is too broad a term. What kind of truck drivers, Steve? Over the road? Dump truck? Crane truck? Concrete mixer? Tanker truck? Bulker truck? Flat bed? Low Boy? Oversized and out of gauge hauler? Intermodal? Vacuum truck? Plow truck? Straight truck? LTL? Conveyor truck? Pump truck? Car hauler? Heavy equipment hauler? Moving truck? Hand truck? Tonka truck?”

This, very much. I have no doubt that the software needed to drive a standard dry van from terminal to terminal, Chicago to Oklahoma, already exists. But securing an oversized load, hauling it through bad weather on mountain passes, then delivering it downtown in a big city to a guy that insists the bill of lading is wrong…

Cruising down the highway at 65 mph is that part of the job everyone sees and can soon be automated. But it’s also by far the easiest part of the job.

Over the road trucker here. Two things:

1) Trucking is a fairly unique job. Simplistic comparisons to other jobs make it look much easier or harder than it really is, but really aren’t meaningful.

I make ~$70-80 a year, and if you break it down that’s “only” ~$25 an hour. On the other hand I’m getting paid to drive in (mostly) pretty scenery while listening to audiobooks, which is a pretty sweet gig IMO. I have no co-workers … but also no close supervision. My vacation time is mostly unpaid … but I can take as much as I want. Took a month last year, still made $76k. It can suck spending time away from home … except I have no wife, no kids, and basically live in the truck, so no rent or mortgage. It’s got a unique set of plusses and minuses, and you can’t really compare it meaningfully with a typical 9-5 job. It’s either for you or not.

2) When bar code scanners came out in the 1980s they said checkout clerks would be obsolete. But 40 years later, most of those jobs still exist. Robots will eventually replace truckers, but the idea of it happening in 10 or 15 years is crazy.

In my mind, the real distinction is that the rebels of the 60s it was a limit to how seriously you could take their bullshit without looking lame and unfuckable.

“But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao / you ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow.”

Pubs lose seats in house, but keep control.

Pubs gain a few seats in Senate.

Media reports this as a good outcome for Dems.

ISTM the most likely way this happens is that

1) The Democrats continue to be increasingly dominated by their progressive wing, leading to
2) The GOP continuing to hold outsize power in Washington, owing to their built-in advantage in the senate and the electoral college, leading to
3) Progressives suddenly discovering the value of states rights, leading to
4) More of what we're already seeing from California, ending in succession.

The crucial question for succession is "who goes first." There aren't perfectly-clear regional blocs along the lines of the CSA, and it's simply not plausible for, say Oklahoma or Connecticut to secede all on their own. California fits the bill of having a strong state identity, their own coastline, and being big enough (and rich enough) both to make a viable nation on it's own, and to make militarily subduing said populace something nobody wants to see on TV.

There won't be large pitched battles; there will be terrorism, assassinations and the like, and heritage America will say "let 'em go." And after the first one goes, the rest of the divisions will follow. The real violence, IMO, will be intra-state — when Seattle wants to join in the California Republic and Spokane says hell no, or when Jacksonville and Pensacola want to identify with the Dixie Coalition, but Miami wants to be a Latino ethnostate, and they go to war over who gets Orlando. etc.

The problem is that “truth” varies from one individual to another depending on their perceptions and the sum total of their experiences.

My truth may be quite different from yours, yours, and yours.

I don’t see any solution to this, other than discussions such as this.

I have faith that he can change.

Not going to happen. Get control of your Daddy issues.

She doesn’t know why people don’t trust Hillary. Huh. Fascinating that someone could be so out of touch with the world.

“Obama is the best president we’ve ever had.”

This man needs help.

The biggest seller at AIPAC —

“After hearing Trump’s speech before AIPAC last night, it is obvious to me that he has been co-opted by the Establishment if he wasn’t already a part of it.”

It appears as if the Donald is fast becoming a ‘politician’.

(Definition – one who says whatever he must in order to get elected. )

It is time for the ‘developed’ world to abandon the ‘false god’ of continuous GROWTH, which is becoming a euphemism for greed.

At what point would we decide that we have ‘enough’, after we’ve exceeded the earth’s carrying capacity?

“I will explain this exactly. The Jews are a tribe of psychopaths. No all maybe not even the majority but a large number.”

Michael Bradley, who is himself Jewish, explains this ‘psychopathy’ in his books The Iceman Inheritance, and Esau’s Empire: Chosen People from the Caucasus.

From his website —

“So who do you think *was* navigating the airliner?”

A document called “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century” published by The American Enterprise’s “Project for a New American Century” (PNAC), called for “some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor” being necessary to foster the frame of mind needed for the American public to support a war in the Middle East that would politically and culturally reshape the region.

Rabbi Dov Zakheim, a respected and established voice in the intelligence community, went from his position at Systems Planning Corporation to become the Comptroller of the Pentagon in May 2001.

System Planning Corporation, according to their official website, specializes in many areas of defense technology production and manufacture, including a system developed by their Radar Physics Group called the Flight Termination System, or FTS. This is a system used to destroy target drones (craft that would be fired on by test aircraft or weaponry) in the event of malfunction or “misses”. This highly sophisticated war-game technology allows the control of several ‘drones’ from a remote location, on varying frequencies, and has a range of several hundred miles. This “remote control” technology can be used on many different types of aircraft, including large passenger jets.

According to the SPC website, a recent customer at that time was Eglin AFB, located in Florida. Eglin is very near another Air Force base in Florida – MacDill AFB, where Dov Zakheim contracted to send at least 32 Boeing 767 aircraft, as part of the Boeing /Pentagon tanker lease agreement.

As the events of September 11, 2001 occurred, and were being investigated, little was mentioned about these strange connections, and the possible motives and proximity of Dov Zakheim and his group. Since there was little physical evidence remaining after the events, investigators were left only with photographic and anecdotal evidence.

“It’s very important, as other commenters here noted, not to cling to tightly to specific counter-narratives. There is something fishy about 9/11, but there is no reason to doubt that the planes were actually hijacked, because nothing else can explain the disappearance of all the passengers. There is also no reason to doubt the involvement of Mohammed Atta and the others. But who was ultimately behind the conspiracy is certainly open.”

A document called “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century” published by The American Enterprise’s “Project for a New American Century” (PNAC), called for “some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor” being necessary to foster the frame of mind needed for the American public to support a war in the Middle East that would politically and culturally reshape the region.

System Planning Corporation (SPC) International executive, Rabbi Dov Zakheim, a respected and established voice in the intelligence community, went from his position at Systems Planning Corporation to become the Comptroller of the Pentagon in May 2001. (Perhaps not so coincidentally, it was an SPC subsidiary, TRIDATA CORPORATION, that oversaw the investigation after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 1993.)

System Planning Corporation, according to their official website, specializes in many areas of defense technology production and manufacture, including a system developed by their Radar Physics Group called the Flight Termination System, or FTS. This is a system used to destroy target drones (craft that would be fired on by test aircraft or weaponry) in the event of malfunction or “misses”. This highly sophisticated war-game technology allows the control of several ‘drones’ from a remote location, on varying frequencies, and has a range of several hundred miles. This “remote control” technology can be used on many different types of aircraft, including large passenger jets.

According to the SPC website, a recent customer at that time was Eglin AFB, located in Florida. Eglin is very near another Air Force base in Florida – MacDill AFB, where Dov Zakheim contracted to send at least 32 Boeing 767 aircraft, as part of the Boeing /Pentagon tanker lease agreement.

As the events of September 11, 2001 occurred, and were being investigated, little was mentioned about these strange connections, and the possible motives and proximity of Dov Zakheim and his group. Since there was little physical evidence remaining after the events, investigators were left only with photographic and anecdotal evidence.

While pursuing an explanation for my observations that the Caucasian ‘race’ [of which I am a member, decended from Highland Scots] is disproportionally inclined toward aggression, invasion, and empire, I happened upon a book by Canadian-based writer Michael Bradley titled – The Iceman Inheritance.

I found it very interesting and as valid a reason as any other that I’d encountered.

Later, as I searched on-line for more by this author I discovered that he had experienced sudden rejection – Warner Books had dropped the book almost instantly, in breach of contract. Two speaking tours by the author were cancelled because the organizers could not guarantee his safety in view of threats of violence by —- the Jewish Defence League.

Bradley, who himself has Jewish origins, had never even thought about any “Jewish implications” of the book. Neither did the Jewish publisher of the original Canadian edition, Larry Goldstein.

Bradley – “and, obviously, Dr. Judith Posner had not thought about any “Jewish implications” either when she wrote an Introduction for The Iceman Inheritance – unless, of course, courageous Judy Posner simply had more affinity with all of humanity than with her own ethnic group. Jews were blandly mentioned on half a page in the 226-page book”.

For the explanation check out Bradley’s book promotion web site –
http://www.michaelbradley.info/books/iceman/iceman_promo.html

For info on another of his books – Esau’s Empire: Chosen People from the Caucasus – and some of his research and ideas –
http://www.michaelbradley.info/

The Ebola Ayatollah does have a certain ring to it, if not a touch rap too.

Dunn didn’t always resemble a beer league softball player. He was a high school QB, heavily recruited. In 2000, playing as a 20 year old in the Midwest league, Dunn hit .281 and had more stolen bases (24) than home runs (16).

Once he got to the majors he let his conditioning go and sold out to the home run.

Stop making eyes at her 6mth old.

I don’t have the link handy but recently heard you can graduate from yale with iq in the low 40s.

HI, you are right, I did use a narrow interpretation because the original post did say ‘believe in god’, not ‘believe in gods’, or ‘believe in dieties’ and so that’s what I responded to. Having said that, your point on varying definitions of ‘god’ is well-taken.
To have a fuller discussion of this we’d have to distinguish what we mean when we say ‘theistic’ vs. ‘atheistic’. For example, are Vajrayana Buddhists ‘theistic’ because they teach of ‘deities’? Given the formal definition of ‘theistic’ I saw in Merriam-Webster, I’d say no: “belief in the existence of a god or gods; specifically : belief in the existence of one God viewed as the creative source of the human race and the world who transcends yet is immanent in the world”. But, a different definition of ‘theistic’ may lead to a different answer.
In the end I think it comes down to semantics: in defining what you mean by terms like God, god, theism, atheist, and so on, it would make the discussion clearer. In any case, an interesting topic! 🙂

I think the point Brandon makes is important, especially given the wording of the question: “Do you believe in God or a Universal spirit”? That is not specific enough to draw the conclusion you do. Many Buddhists believe in gods and/or a ‘god realm’ as one of the 6 realms of Samsara, but do NOT believe in an all-powerful creator deity.
The phrase ‘Universal Spirit’ is also rather vague too, since it does not specifically imply a being that is “responsible” for creation or who designed the universe. It could be interpreted as a phrase indicating something like ‘communal karma’ or ‘storehouse consciousness’ or other concepts not truly akin to a creator deity.
I think if the question were worded differently, to specifically ask if you believe there is a single Creator deity who is responsible for all things existing, then the positive responses would be much lower.
In any case, thanks for highlighting the survey! Despite the occasional vagueness it is quite interesting.