Jump to content

Vegas64

Full Members
  • Posts

    2199
  • Joined

Everything posted by Vegas64

  1. After typing the above I think I get the conflict which comes from the word I used "value". I think the reason the league is rejecting Clark (like the body rejects a transplanted organ needed to live) is because the implication that they are not valuable. A lot of ink has been spilled about how crappy WNBA was before Clark-- all the same business metrics on revenue and salaries and attendance and popularity in the gutter) and the implication and unsaid message I think they are hearing is: "you women are not valuable", "you, as an individual basketballer, are not valuable", and "you, without Caitlin Clark, are not valuable". And not to get too political or controversial, but it seems like it's an easy leap to go from that to, "black, queer women are not valuable", and "without a straight white hope, a queer black league is not valuable" And when people feel devalued it's a core identity crisis and emotional and psychological issue that can be existential. So that helps explain to me why it feels irrational -- because when most people feel that deeply wounded, most aren't going to respond with logic and math. I could be way off but just a thought that unlocked for me as I wrote the last post and that word "value" jumped out at me.
  2. I think the big difference is that Tiger had to blow the field by 12 shots in order to have the amazing impact on the sport (e.g. growing the brand, growing the adverstising money, fan money, brands, merch, and ultimately purses). Caitlin Clark has done all that already without being 10x orders of magnitude better at basketball than the next woman. She's already brought the increased visibility, attention and money to the league and her peers. A hobbled Clark on a mediocre team having a struggling season (if that's even true) is still orders of magnitude more valuable and popular than a peer not-named Clark who is having a better season.
  3. Yep, I think we have a dynamic and situation, which is kinda interesting (or strange/weird, depending on your view) where we have fans and people who are MORE protective and upset and disturbed by the "hazing" or whatever you'd characterize as a catch-all word for all the garbage she's having to deal with being put on her by her inferiors in the league, than even she (the actual person being put through the crap firsthand) is. I think that actually points to her awesome character and mental fortitude and strength-- and it's likely the privilege of having a great support system, starting from her family and community probably when she was an amateur, which has been supplemented now with the best business and strategist minds money can buy from Nike, professional agents, media teams, etc.
  4. RE: prayer I went to a memorial held for a teenager who drowned over July 4th. The family and loved ones and friends seemed to appreciate and feel comfort and love through all the prayer prompts and worship and outpouring of prayer. Aside from the technical and spiritual debates that go levels deeper, on the surface providing that relief to them alone seems like a strong enough use case for prayer.
  5. I thought Temu Pedro Pascal's inconsistent leg injury was a chef's kiss, though.
  6. Exactamundo. And Tiger Woods to PGA was a lot of the same. I think CC gets it and she knows she is a trendsetter and pioneer and just has to get through the hard first seasons. I think history will look back at her as not only the GOAT but the mythical icon of the WNBA a la MJ to the NBA.
  7. And that makes 1000% sense. I knew it didn't seem like a real possibility knowing what we know and that we all have eyeballs.
  8. I mean, I didn't know Trump was a strapping young man. He's kind of a unit there *pause* *no homo* and you would have no idea if only you saw his photos now.
  9. You have a short memory— curry was polarizing early on and had a ton of haters.
  10. Caught Dazed and Confused on cable last night. I know there are probably dozens of pages dedicated to the movie, at one point in time, and I myself watched it daily on VHS for one whole summer and my friends and I could smoke a joint of mexican dirt weed and say every line, but I hadn't seen it in at least 25 years. Still a pretty good little watch. Looking tough!
  11. Nailed it. 10/10, no notes.
  12. Fair. And I've seen more mental illness, homelessness and general sketch in downtown Houston (Fannin, Texas, Capitol) than SF this summer so far....
  13. nvidia hit $4t today based on the forecast of Derka & Slorch on this thread.
  14. There are 2 or 3 posters who will swear on a grave that I am that lunatic in the face of all reason and evidence. idk
  15. Funny because the bolded, from what I remember, is also the supposed to be the big emotional and spiritual climb in "The Conclave" with Ralph's character says that I think word for word.
  16. Weird, because I am in SF for one week a month, every month, usually on Market but sometimes on Mission near Union Square and Moscone and it definitely still feels gross and sketch (to me).
  17. You know how in Ottawa and Quebec you can buy a bag of milk? A bag of blood orange urine.
  18. Rationally and objectively with reason (via observational science and math), there is a limit to what we can know and even conjecture. At the leading edge of all sufficiently advanced science is a faith. A faith in something. I myself ascribe to the oft-misattributed quote, "the first drink from the glass of science will make you an atheist. But at the bottom of the glass, God is waiting." Regardless, we know (or at least we think we know, Cogito ergo sum) that we are here and alive and experiencing what we would call life. Something or someone had to create this as you cannot, to the best of our knowledge, create something from nothing. Who knows maybe it's all a simulation. Maybe it's Aliens. Maybe it's an octopus. The only thing I can know for sure is that I ain't God!
  19. Seriously. There was no winner there.
  20. Good question. To be very clear, I think prayer can ask God to intercede. Matthew 7:9-11 says, 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! But I also think it goes to the heart of the ask. God isn't a genie.
  21. This is good advice for the Christian believer. If you aren't a Christian believer, as we are discussing today with friends on this page and the last, not sure this helps them in their way of thinking at all.
  22. The following is merely my opinion, so take it for what it is, but I think there is no objective basis to believe. I believe it is something, a spiritual experience that is bestowed upon you, that we actually had little-to-no part in creating or receiving. It's why I think Paul says, "8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast." It's a psychic experience. With respect to religion, it's difficult, because religions are man-made constructs and anything formed by and with and of man will be a frail imitation of God, and fraught with man's inner evil nature. Religion, as it was originally conceived in Exodus and through the wandering of the desert, was well-intentioned, but the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak. And then we have what I think you allude to, the evil of man who would use religion as a cudgel for social and hierarchal power-- the whole "opiate of the masses" aspect of religion in the hands of the drug dealers. To that end, is there any "right" religion? Probably not. There is, to my belief of things, a triunal God consisting of YAHWEH, Jesus the Christ and the Holy Spirit, and there is a living and breathing doctrine for how to be in right relationship with God, chock full of promises-- promises of hope and promises of consequences. But what does any of this mean for when God returns, when Jesus returns with his double-edge sword in a picture that is completely opposite of what most people would think, as the Western world has superficially condensed his nature to the hippiefication and one-sidedness of his time as Godman on earth (and failed to point to the scripture's description of when he returns to mete out justice), as it pertains to other religions? I actually think there is scripture that points to the possibility of those who are missing the mark on earth, being given a final chance to have eyes to see and ears to hear. I don't quite buy the pluralism argument put forth by the blindman and the elephant parable, but it's similiarly related, I think.
  23. An honest prayer I've heard is not "Please Lord take this from me" but rather, "Please Lord give me the strength to endure this". But then again, there are angles where prayer is shown as a miraculous intercession (hall pass out of hard times) as you suggest. Much like with predestination and free will (and actually, most everything in the scriptures), there is language that suggests multiple things exist at once which can seem to our human, temporal and small perspectives and way of thinking as "contradictory". I'm reminded of quantum mechanics in that way (a singular idea or precept is actually multiple things depending on when and how you "measure" it), which of course makes sense, as God is the author of quantum mechanics as the creator of all (if you believe in God).
  24. I was thinking a lot of this as well-- I don't know anyone who uses prayer for mindfulness or inner peace or meditation. I'm sure that exists, just is foreign to me. I think of prayer as the way we are in communication and relationship with our creator Lord God. Does he need us to pray to him? Of course not. But in a relational sense, he wants us to. Jesus teaches us how to pray in the NT-- and with it comes a request. The parable of the presistent widow was the first place my mind went. More than just "ask in my name you shall receive", prayer is both active and in motion, as well as quiet and in solitude. For even Jesus modeled what fervent prayer looked like in the Garden of Gethsemane. And the second place was Paul's "pray unceasingly", in that it isn't a rote mechanical behavior you just do before you eat. You remain abiding in Christ when you remain in prayer without ceasing. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" is another quote I think about when it comes to prayer. @Derka not sure if any of that helps if you aren't steeped in the word and abiding in Christ-- I think it would certainly be gibberish to me as well if I were not a believer, but there is an attempt at scratching just the surface of Christian prayer. As it relates to mourning, 1st Thessalonians 4:13-14 is a guide for Christian believers to help in mourning and with grief:
  25. New Haven, CT Pizza though.
×
×
  • Create New...