Looking at single games (and really even single seasons) is never an intelligent way of judging the health of a program because very good to great programs will always have WTF games where they lose or look terrible in a win; and programs that are truly on the ropes pull off really great games all the time. This is doubly true in the SEC where nearly every roster is loaded with future NFL players and even sub-.500 teams are capable of playing like the blue chips they are. Kirby Smart delivered a L to a USCe team that went 4-8 under Muschamp in his fourth year (later lost to LSU in the SECCG). That game said very little about the health of either USCe or UGA as programs. At the time UGA fans were beginning to worry that Kirby was the next Richt, though (basically mirror images through four seasons) and games like that were a big reason why. The games at UK and MSU likewise say very little about the overall health and trajectory of either UT, MSU, or UK. You recognized this in your own post, and then came up with a reason why this sort of thing was really important for the team you donāt like but is not important for the team you cheer for. Itās kind of like when your first instinct on a test is correct but you talk yourself into a wrong answer. A&M avoided true upsets this year and was in a position to win every game they played in. Going from 8 to 11 wins is important and while some luck is involved it is not completely sufficient. That is a a change in trajectory while at the same time ugly familiar habits still popped up, especially down the stretch. Thatā along with things like recruiting success, and assistant decisionsāof where a program is heading as well as the types of things that can really derail or stall it. Next year looks to be a much harder schedule but that is not guaranteed, new assistants will be calling plays, and the OL is going to need retooling. A 10 win regular season will be an indicator that the Elko plan is in a good place although fans will be furious.
They share a family tree which (somewhat surprisingly) branches off from the sober and staid folks at your local Wesleyan Methodist Church. Holinesses started within Wesleyan churches as a āsecond work of graceāā sanctification and Christian perfection which follows conversion. Holiness Pentecostals added the ābaptism of the Holy Spiritā which is evidenced by the charismatic stuff: tongue speaking, etc. Within that group, a second group decided Wesleyās holiness was bunk (āfinished workā) and that the only acts of grace are conversion and Holy Spirit baptism. Then a third group among the finished work group tossed out trinitarianism and became Oneness Pentecostals. Snake Handlers are Holiness Christians and often Holiness Pentecostals but are marginal even within that group. I view these groups with fascination and some bit of sympathy. A lot of radical egalitarianism, a complete lack of concern with the mainstream of society, and a near total rejection of its aesthetics. And uninterested in temporal power and influence structures, just concerned with another world entirely. Definitely intense groups but not quite cults in the compound and discipline type way. Actual, real radical, counter-culture that does not get profiles in national magazines or the movie treatment.
Rigjt but theyāre incredibly influential and deserve at least a genealogy type treatment. The actual Met policy aimed at Masons is that anyone has to declare membership in a āhierarchical organization where members pledge to support each other.ā Which would seem to include Catholics, the Church of England, Lions, and Rotary too. For the real vintage, finely-crafted Eastern European boomer schizo take, look up Rotary conspiracies which Iāve come across in the wild. I never a knew a Mason who was secretive about membership. The rites and internal stuff was not for the public, but none of them hide membership (that I know of?). I guess with the bizarre anti-masonry of Scotland Yard you might. If 2/3 of your workforce is concerned about Masons that is a cry for help and not validation.
It should not be lost on anyone that among the first real, genuine, black people and white people equal and egalitarian movements in America was Pentecostalism and the Azusa Street revival, in a way that none of the progressives of the time or later times could recreate or desired to. People who are on fire with the Holy Spirit do not always behave as expected, remains true of enthusiastic religion today. Holiness Pentecostaliam is actual counter-culture. They are not larping.
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind and Fundamentalism and American Culture are sober, critical, but not jeremiad culture war examinations of Evangelicalism and fundamentalism in America, including how to tell them apart. Highly recommend. These are serious histories and not tracts. I honestly donāt know of any serious studies of Prosperity Gospel stuff. It was pretty new when I was doing my religion reading. For a peek behind the veil, The Late Great Planet Earth is deeply influential and insane and a direct line to the conspiratorial, politically chapter apocalyptic version of fundamentalism we have today, and Rick Warrenās The Purpose Driven Life for a more meaningful look at what mainstream Evangelicals actually consume and aspire to. I am not Evangelical, BTW. And Anastasis is basically right that almost any unusual church with no clear denomination you see is basically just Baptists in a different costume. Sometimes you get lucky and itās something fun, like a holiness inspired bunch. Down the road the real growth industry is in the Spanish speaking Evangelical and holiness groups. Everyone is in for some interesting times.
No, losses are losses and wins are wins. Almost doesnāt count for anything either wayā whether itās an almost win or not. Georgia had that insane come from 17 points down behind 8 OT win against Georgia Tech. Many such cases. There were multiple almost catches and almost plays in the Miami game. If Rueben Owenās hangs on to a clear catch itās in OT. But he didnāt and itās a loss, period. Very good teams have some wins that they āshouldnātā have had. Only a very few great teams clearly beat everyone up.
Itās not realistic to talk about any program taking a step forward or backward until portal dust settles at this point. No one will know if youāre this yearās Indiana or this yearās ASU. A few things that IMO are indisputable: We havenāt won 10 plus games in over a decade and son getting to 11 is an important milestone. The SEC schedule shook out very favorably for us, although most pundits thought it was going to be very challenging when the season kicked off. It is very hard in college football to simply win all your games against teams that you have more talent than; and thatās been especially true for A&M. We did not suffer a genuine upset much less more than one, which has not been true for years. Under Elko, A&M has demonstrated intelligent and impactful use of the portal which is key for any team looking to win big. The players on the roster next year will match up decently against any team in the SEC. Elko got outcoached by Sark again and also we had a second year in a row where Reed devolved over home stretch of a season. The Klein replacement is going to be a key test. For a guy who preaches culture and disciplined football, he put a team on the field that drew tons of truly stupid penalties, idiot special teams, and undisciplined play on both sides of the ball. Bottom line: A set of ingredients are there for A&M to regularly contend for the CFP under the current and planned future formats. If Elko can simply continue avoiding the usual 1-2 bad upsets past Aggie teams were always good for, he is already down the road of getting there. It remains to be seen if he can elevate those ingredients beyond that, or even recreate this seasonās real successes. All of us have had experience really nailing a dish and never doing it again. IMO he is on far better footing than Jimbo or Sumlin.
It was sort of a given thing for white Protestant men to do who were aspiring or actual pillar of the community types. And it is true as well that an earlier generation of enlightenment/democratic types discussed these ideas at Masonic lodges. The analysis of Masonry as a secret society of powerful puppet masters, though, is very much on the āwet roads cause rainā level. Also very en vogue as a Tsarist bete noir, which is equally true for many ideas later adopted by schizos.
Give it a shot @Hagbard Celine . I think it can be done in good faith. I wasnāt trying to spark a political discussion, but I donāt see how you can talk about the movie without acknowledging that itās Trump-inflected if not inspired. In a prior era the too-close-to-reality version of America would look different; Lockjaw likely would have been CIA and his target Muslims. Which ties into the Reddit thread which got a lot of shit but has some element of truth: the French 75 is very clearly a 60s inspired activist revolutionary group of the type that simply doesnāt exist at all now. Todayās America hasnāt yet produced a Weather Underground or SLA type group.
It cant be emphasized enough that these currents were all extremely modern and an attempt to work a framework of rationalism and historicism into a religious foundation. They were wrong, but thatās what it was. Many humbling similar lessons out there on various dead ends of Progress and Reason for those willing to see.
Of all the things that didnāt happen, this guy smashing his face with a hammer didnāt happen the most. Go Google Jake Paul hospital photos to satisfy yourself that he did not achieve chiseled features via blunt force facial trauma. Heās just a full of shit online personality.
The English have a state church and also a developed tendency to encourage their zealots to decamp for other parts of the Anglosphere. As a result they missed some real theological oddities and sped up secularization. However, it has long been clear that the secularism and rationalism trains are not only on different tracks, but often heading different directions. As evidenced by Mason conspiracy posting and public policy in the Year of our Lord 2025. This is in strong contention for most embarrassing statementā public institutions category in 2025, even with DJT in office.
Starmer is in the middle of a PR crisis because he bragged about bringing āhomeā an Egyptian extremist who inherited his citizenship from a prior government vĆÅ” his mother (who was born there while his grandma is a student) without ever setting foot in the UK. He was jailed in Egypt and became a minor cause. No sooner had he landed than a series of tweets emerged from his 30s where he called gay people ādirty homosexuals,ā expressed a desire to work with bin Laden to kill Americans, and to engage in mass exterminations of white people. (Of course also the requisite calls to kill Zionists anywhere; which made the aforementioned OK). Several MPs who were on board have turned against him. If it is deflection, resurrecting a 40 year old Masonic conspiracy is the most brain dead way to go about it). So it will likely work.
Since everyone is a mentally ill conspiracy theorist now, I shouldnāt be surprised but somehow I still am. The London Met has decided it needs to ferret out Freemasons in the ranks, apparently in an effort to appease other mentally ill people. Itās been a while since we had a good Masonry panic, maybe Nature is Healing?
She looks like sheās being hunted or is in captivity in this photo. Itās like a still from Planet of the Apes. Not of the hot fur bikini wearing retrograde woman that the actor falls for, one of the extras cast for their Denisovian features.
Counter-point: all of the best music was made when I was young, had a lot of time to listen to it, had a lot of intense emotional and formative experiences associated with the music, a hormone dump like being on drugs every day, and basically no real responsibilities or actual concerns. But now that Iām old and my life is the opposite of those things all the new music sucks.
They wouldnāt be if people other than the owner werenāt feeding them. If youāve been doing that then just wander over and leave the gate open one night, or get a trustworthy kid to do it. Leave some really fragrant treats outside if they are especially reluctant to come out. Take the dogs when they āescapeā, next day wander over and knock on the door. Leave a note that you are watching the dogs and will take them to a shelter, leave a number. Go to a trustworthy a shelter, tell them the story: dogs got out, seemed they had been abandoned, house seemed empty. You want to adopt them after the waiting period, fill out the form then and there. Go get the dogs for adoption after they are not picked up and you and the neighbor lady can then either take them or figure out a good rehome situation. EP LEO are not going to be interested in cracking the case of the dogs that you tried to return after they got out and followed proper waiting times after their owners just left them for SPCA to come feed, assuming these assholes ever come back and want them.
This has every indicator of a fake bullshit moral panic scam. Itās not that there arenāt incels or dudes obsessed with their appearance and making it better. But this shit as outlined by this podcaster is not an epidemic and I frankly donāt believe he really smashed himself with a hammer or injected his girlfriend with meth. (I didnāt and will not watch the videos). Now if youāll excuse me I have a medical appointment to make, I am getting ribs removed so I can perform autofellatio.
I agree, I think There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights are better. Part of that is PTA not being fully in or fully out of this being Trumpās America and so it occupies a weird space between explicitly political or more thematic about ābig pictureā America. 10 years down the line I think the first two will hold up better and be more relevant by choosing the latter clearly and by being anchored in a specific time/place but telling a more timeless story and character study. I think also in those two PTA lets his characters be complicated and always recognizably human, even the revolting characters, whereas Lockjaw is just the worst person in the world and we donāt know why really. Chase Infiniti killed it and will be a megawatt star. I think here also- she was a bit too mature, forgiving, ready with a quip, badass, and composed despite being raised by a pretty messed up single dad and thrust into a terrifying ordeal. Martial arts will only take you so far. I think also that sheās so clearly older than a teenagerā and audiences do not react well to real depictions of terror and danger for kids so PTA for sure had a justification for that casting.
My philosophy on chopping the trinity is the opposite: as small of a dice as I can do casually. I wonāt obsess over it, but I want the chunkiness to be from the protein and okra (if using). I find that if youāre slurping down a bowl of gumbo, you donāt dislike onions and peppers though you may think you do; itās not a salad or sandwich or fajita where you are getting them in big pieces you chew. It just kind of goes down. Not a criticism of @ROFL BOX . I am a bit of a fascist on cooking: Iāll accommodate allergies and religious restrictions, and if you warn me in advance Iāll do my best with vegan or vegetarian options. Beyond that, I cook what I like as good as I can and if itās not your taste then Iām sorry you are so limited.
āLook, the dumbest and most racist person ever elected to Congress shares my thoughts on Israelā should prompt more introspection. (Side note, the Gaza plan which is just vaporware and terrible grift does not involve money to Israel).
I am trying to think of a massive, record breaking property like Avatar that has less cultural impact. I cannot recall the names of any characters without thinking hard. No memorable dialogue. No musical earbugs. No real attempts to capitalize off of Avatar mania. No gifs or catchphrases or touchstone characters. I assume there are toys but itās not like kids beg for the stuff. You go, you oooh and ahh over the special effects, you leave. Itās not like Cameron canāt do this: Titanic, Alien, Terminatorā huge lasting cultural impact. But Avatar remains basically a massive SFX showpiece that doesnāt resonate beyond that. The only real impact I can think of is the SNL Papyrus sketch which is ironically about Avatar being bland and generic.
Mid-range is likely the worst place to shop for fridges and appliances. Appliance guys I talk to say the same thing: Whirlpool or Frigidaire, no ice-maker or dispenser, top freezer. Simplest and will run for as long as the compressor will. Iām happy with the Frigidaire we have. Interior plastics even on high-end models now are mostly shit.