Total posts: 97
Why tf am I actually accepting competitive challenges against real opponents if I could just cheat and/or troll and get 93% wr...
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Novice is almost certainly creating alt accounts to farm wins. And the mod team doesn't even try to investigate into this?
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Tws
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@RationalMadman
I like Biden's soft-spoken persona, his blunt opinions and his occasional goofiness.
The last thing the world needs is a charismatic snake oil salesman than can get by with charm alone.
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Biden best president in modern history
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@oromagi
Gun N' RosesFoo FightersBon JoviMaroon 5YesAC/DCDave MatthewsNickelbackMotley Crue
The Gen-X starter pack lol
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I'd argue his mentality is his weakest component. Over the years, his ego has caused him to be lazier musically. He often leaves his projects unfinished and unpolished because he thinks he's such a genius and his albums have a brilliant vision, regardless of the execution.
On Yeezus, he wrote and record most of the album's lyrics in just 2 hours, the weekend before it released. And it shows...
On both Ye and JIK, he scrapped the previous project he was working on, re-recorded and rushed the album out the door before there was any time to properly mix and master them. His vocals on several tracks sounded like he recorded it at his home studio and mixed it himself.
For the past few album cycles, he would announce his album is coming out next week, when it's not even mastered yet, resulting in delays and his studio engineers being rushed.
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@Vader
MBDTF is highly considered the #1 album of the decade by Rolling Stone and Billboard
I remember Kanye said MBDTF was one of his least progressive albums. And I agree. His other albums challenged conventions and influenced other artists to expand into different genres as well.
MBDTF is basically the album everyone expected and wanted. I can see why lists rate it as his best album. It's a safe pop album that was designed to be agreeable to as many people as possible. It had polished production, radio hits and a few songs with good lyrics. It followed conventions, but just executed them very well.
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Maybe not most talented. He's not the most technically proficient at rapping, singing or writing.
But in terms of influence, yes he was one of the most influential. College Dropout, 808's and Heartbreaks, and Graduation were all albums that significantly changed the landscape of music. It wouldn't even be much of a stretch to call 808's the most influential album of the past 20 years.
His antics and subpar releases the past several years have dampened his legacy a little bit though.
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Tbh, I might even rate Madman over Barney. Barney only has like 7 actual debates. The other 30 are trolls, forfeits, grammar arguments or terrible opponents.
I'd rather lose to good opponents than rarely face them.
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@TWS1405
Yes, exactly my point, so why not live in an actually good state.
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@Shila
No. Case not closed.
- Just because a practice is legal doesn't mean it's ethical.
- Just because something is a law doesn't mean its a good law.
- You still haven't proven why a direct-to-consumer model would be worse for consumers than a dealership.
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@TWS1405
Aka Best to die in. Not best to live in.
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@Greyparrot
It's disparate.
It's in the middle because the lows of north and mid Florida cancel out with the highs of South Florida.
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@Greyparrot
States with higher median income.
States where you can get more house for your money.
Florida has Boston-like cost of living, but Kansas-like income
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@Shila
The fact there are so many dealerships and consumers rely on them should be proof they serve consumers well.
No, it's because there is no alternative. There are laws that prevent companies from selling directly to consumer.
Because car dealerships lobbied. They felt that it was unfair that manufacturers could offer a better price to the consumer than third-party dealerships. Being able to get the same product for a lower price helps the consumer. This law does not help the consumer.
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@Greyparrot
Lmao, you're really trying to deflect. Florida is a bad state to live in, it's overcrowded and DeSantis is not doing anything to make it better financially.
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This actually helps DeSantis. Publicity is publicity.
Literally anything to distract voters from Florida's faltering economy and cost of living will help him.
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@RationalMadman
What makes us different?
There are a lot of aspects to building a great website, and providing all the necessary features is but one of them. That is why we made it our mission to go far beyond that and create something truly exceptional.
Moderation
To meet the highest standards of content quality, a team of community-approved moderators works day and night to make sure that intellectual discussions stay intellectual
Source: front page of this website
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Barney never faced serious opposition on DDO or here. He has a fantastic w/l records because he never gets into debates with top-tier debaters.
This. Debates are opt-in and there isn't much of a tournament scene. In chess and other pvp games, high elo players are forced to face each other. But here, all the high elo people can just noobsnipe and never face each other.
I'd also argue that top-tier debaters don't exist on this website because it isn't competitive. There are probably a million in the world with experience in debating teams or moot courts in university that could handily beat most users on this site. But those have better things to do with their time. They're either focusing on their career or farming their GPA/other accolades.
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New cars should be direct-to-consumer. And used cars, just use a private seller.
The two main flaws of dealerships:
- Significantly higher markup compared to private sellers. Expect to pay 30% more, which doesn't sound like a lot. But essentially, if you spend $15k on a car at a dealership, you get a car you could've gotten for $5k at a dealership.
- Dishonesty and ethical concerns. Pedophiles, murderers and rapists are the only thing preventing car salesmen from being on the lowest-rung of the moral totem pole.
Also, the benefits of car dealerships aren't actually benefits:
- "They provide customer service". They waste hours of your time: chatting with you, making you wait in the waiting room while they talk to their manager, negotiating prices that they set artificially high, knowing they'll waste your time. You're paying money to waste 3-5 hours of your time. They don't help you get a product; they're just a barrier in the way of getting a product
- "They can provide knowledge and help you compare cars". You can find this information online, and get more detailed information (stats, features, reviews, etc). And there's less potential conflict of interest when learning from an independent party compared to learning from people who are trying to sell you their product.
- "They inspect their cars, unlike private sellers". But there's a chance their inspection wasn't thorough enough. You always assume that risk. Either way, you get an independent mechanic to look at the car. Them inspecting it doesn't change your decision whatsoever.
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@Shila
the BMI overestimates fatness and health risks for Black people. Meanwhile, according to the World Health Organization, the BMI underestimates health risks for Asian communities,
This is true. But it doesn't necessarily negate the fact that most people are fat. This may apply in borderline cases, but even if you subtract 2 BMI from someone who is obese, they're still obese or overweight.
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@Athias
I actually don't see this as a "downside" especially considering the risks of sexual harassment suits; hence, some companies having policies against fraternization. And as one who does remote work (since long before the pandemic) my social circle consists of close friends and members of my family. My father in fact who works as a Physician has only ever introduced work colleagues to our family on a need-to-know basis. It's my personal opinion that one's primary goal in the workplace shouldn't be to "make friends." Sometimes it can't be helped but the goal should be engaging and fostering a professional environment.
I don't mean on a professional level. I mean on a human level. People's quality of life in general.
Should our focus be "remote work" or "price-bidding"?
I'm not making any value judgment on that. I just know that the Americans/Europeans that are cheering for remote work because it makes their financial life better will later see it differently once it makes their financial life worse.
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Seeking opinions from the experienced and skilled members here.
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1) It will make people more isolated. Work is where many people meet mutual friends, and in even some cases, their dating partners. We've already seen what this looks like during the 2020 lockdowns where social media has replaced real human interaction. But even now, I notice there are far less people in Meetup groups in 2022 than in 2019, despite covid being mitigated; people have just adapted to the new lifestyle. In short-term, people will find remote work more liberating, but in the long run, will it increase depression and social anxiety? Will this cause people to be more sedentary?
You could argue that people can just work at home, but then still go to the gym and go out to a social event at night, and with no commute time, they'd have more free time to do that. But realistically, will this actually pan out that way? Or will people just choose the path of least resistance?
^ This point is relatively subjective. And some people may prefer to be homebodies. But the 2nd point is more concrete.
2) Foreign competition. If work is all remote, why would IT, cybersecurity and data analysts pay an American or European $30 an hour, when they could pay someone in India $10-15 an hour? Granted, competition would help developing countries but would hurt developed countries.
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Aesthetics and health are 2 different things. Even though fitness is a priority for my life personally, I still like girls with some extra ass.
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im not trying to judge or condemn anyone. But we should be honest.
No man should be 200+ lbs, unless maybe theyre a 6’4” and/or bodybuilder.
Obesity causes diabetes and many other illnesses. It will raise the cost of health care, both privately and publicly. Not to mention quality of life.
No man should be 200+ lbs, unless maybe theyre a 6’4” and/or bodybuilder.
Obesity causes diabetes and many other illnesses. It will raise the cost of health care, both privately and publicly. Not to mention quality of life.
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i just accepted the "biden has dementia" debate challenged.
the description was really long and the character limit is 10k words. my opponent, despite having no debate history, seems pretty dedicated, im kinda scared. my win-loss rate might go down the shitter.
or even worse, i might have to spend 20 hours writing a novel explaining definitions of things. lol
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I can see why people are overweight though. Food can be addictive. And unresolved mental health issues can cause a portion of people to overeat or neglect other aspects of their health in general.
Also, from an evolutionary standpoint, back when food was scarce, eating more calories than needed was incentivized, because you didn't know when your next meal would happen. You'd need to gain fat, just in case you go hungry the next few days. But now craving lots of calories has become a downside.
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The main issue is that people just don't track calories. Or if they don't do it consistently enough. You need to count everything: including beverages, sauces, butter/oil, dressing, that spoonful of peanut butter you eat out of the fridge as a snack.
You used to just be able to eat food without counting it back in the 50's and 60's because portion sizes were smaller and there weren't as many calorically-dense food options. But now you have to be more vigilant than ever on what you eat.
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You wrote that Descartes meditations and the unreliability of our senses as an argument against atheists.
Based on that, it seems like your original post is essentially saying atheists need to prove that our senses and knowledge are reliable to rule out the existence of God. Maybe you didn't mean that, but it certainly reads like it.
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@Ehyeh
Your title and first sentence both said atheists are hypocrites. Literally every group, demographic or belief system has "some" people who are hypocrites. There are plenty of theists who are hypocrites. It's kind of strange to single out atheists.
Also, why does an atheist have to prove that God doesn't exist?
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Is there any evidence that bans on grenades, rocket launchers and c4 bombs save lives?
Why aren't these included in the right to bear arms?
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Also, why hold atheists to a higher standard than theists?
If theists can believe in god without 100% proof, then atheists can not believe in god without 100% proof.
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@Ehyeh
Your logic assumes
- That Descartes Meditations and Socrates/Phaedo is correct
- You must agree to those in order to be an atheist
Maybe those texts are correct. But you don't necessarily have have to agree with them to be an atheist. In that case, an atheist wouldn't be a hypocrite.
Also, there's probable certainty (aka not being 100% sure of something, but making an educated guess on what is more likely). For example, assuming the sun will rise tomorrow. There's a chance it won't, but we would estimate the odds of it rising are higher than the odds of it aren't.
In this case, an atheist just believes that the big bang theory is more probable than creationism.
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In the developed world, people's perceptions have changed. Most people are 30-40 lbs overweight. So if you put someone who is 30-40 lbs overweight that crowd, people wouldn't consider them overweight. They'd consider that average.
The goalpost has moved. A person with a 23-24 BMI, for example, would've been considered average a few decades ago, but now many people consider that "skinny". And someone who is 21 BMI, while still in a healthy weight range, would be called anorexic. People are generally not seen as overweight unless they're morbidly obese.
The % of Americans who consider themselves overweight is the same now as 20 years ago. Yet the % of Americans who are overweight or obese has gone up significantly. This means people consider their weight relative to the population rather than in absolute. Only 25% of Americans have a normal BMI. 3 in 4 Americans are overweight.
Some will argue that BMI overestimates how fat people are because it doesn't take muscle into account. This is true for a small portion of the population that actively bodybuild. But for most people, it may overestimate it. If you're a 180 lb athlete at age 25, but you become sedentary. When you're 35 or 45, you may still be the same 180 lbs, but with a higher bodyfat percentage.
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Advertising on larger platforms like social media can help.
But the sad truth is that message boards are dying out. Social media platforms and reddit have replaced them. I'm not sure there is anything we can do to return to 2000-2010 levels of activity.
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I'm not sure whether there's a language barrier, or this is just their persona. But their replies are often non-sequitirs.
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I tend to be skeptical. What if reports of Ukrainian victories are essentially propaganda (and I don't mean this term in a pejorative way) to try to boost morale.
For example, when Russia wins a battle, media in the east will focus on that. When Ukraine wins a battle, the media in the west will focus on that.
I hope Ukraine wins and this war ends quickly. But we also have to prepare for the possibility that this conflict is longer and more casualty-filled than we may expect.
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@Sidewalker
There seems to be a group of very vocal Atheists
There's always a vocal minority on any belief (in religion, politics, cultural, or anything). The silent majority of people keep their beliefs to themselves and just live their life. Going on the internet disproportional exposes you to people who are vocal about their views.
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Add earmarks. Vote against the bill. Take credit for the benefits to your state when it passes.
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I actually think it's funny that conservatives on here are defending Obama. Who would've ever thought this would happen lol.
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@Greyparrot
Rewarding debtors is a really funny way of wording it.
In European countries, they just fund college publically across the board, and they don't make tertiary education some weird creepy situation where rich old men are loan sharks that try to make profits off of naive young adults.
Like if you were to even ask the prime minister of Germany if they would forgive student loan debt for millions of its citizens, they'd laugh at you. They have no concept of what's that's like; that would be like speaking a foreign language to them.
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Obama may have been special for 2008 standards. He was the most liberal senator back in 2006. But today there are dozens of Obamas in the Democrat Party, and even many Democrats to the left of him.
Democrats wouldn't consider Obama's platform progressive enough if he were president today.
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@Greyparrot
@Shila
Both of your points are valid, and I have the same response for each.
Obama and Biden were president during different times. Back in 2008, Obama's platform was very progressive, but it's centrist by today's standards. Today, Biden's platform may be centrist, but it's definitely progressive by 2008 standards.
The standards have gotten higher for Biden than they were for Obama. An example would Biden forgiving 20k worth of student loans. Today that's considered moderate stance. But if Obama did that in 2009, he'd be called a raging communist. Hence maybe why Obama didn't do it.
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And that example is no longer relevant because college today isn't the same as college back then.
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Consumer confidence and GDP growth along with inflation rates and the average wealth of a person adjusted for the low or high cost of living.
None of which are caused by the president. And why do we only attribute these to the president? Why not Congress? Or the state governments? Why not the Federal Reserve? Or corporate CEO's?
People have this banana republic mentality where the face that is in charge rules everything. People need to get out of this basic mindset. The government and economy are affected by the decisions of many people.
The president is responsible for: Diplomacy. Appointments. Signing legislation. Foreign policy decisions. If you can prove that one of these specific areas are what's responsible for these statistics, maybe...
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@Shila
Also, Obama was lucky.
He studied in college 30-40 years ago when tuitions were much cheaper and law schools were not oversaturated like they are today.
Now, if you want the same degree Obama got, you easily pay 10x as much for it. And you have far more competition in the job market because law schools willingly admit more students than there are positions for law jobs.
So would you borrow $250,000 to get an law degree, if there was a potential risk you might not even get a job in that field. And even many of the people who do have to start with a job that only pays like 60k. Which is not enough to pay today's rent prices, today's car prices AND pay off student debt at the same time.
You're also not factoring in the interest. When you borrow 250k, you don't actually pay 250k. You might actually end up paying 350k with all of the interest, since interest always gets paid off first.
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This is a really terrible argument. You're cherrypicking. I could equally cherrypick someone on the other extreme, who borrowed $80000 for a liberal arts degree just to be a cashier at a book store.
What matters is, on average, how does it affect most of the people.
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