OT - Current Affairs/COVID/Vaccines, etc

[cberry78]

I'll jump on this bandwagon....anyone know what the emigration rules are for from US to NZ?

[bwgood77]

I'll jump on this bandwagon....anyone know what the emigration rules are for from US to NZ?

Maybe TASTIC. He lives in New Zealand. I am not sure where he is originally from. Maybe there but I am pretty sure he's lived in other places.

[m1chal]

Once that Malasyan Airlines flight plenty of epidemiologists dissapeared when going to a world meeting in Asia, many knew something was going to happen related to this.
No against voices should be around.

KIlling JFK.
KIlling Lady Di.
Killing MJ.
Killing Kobe.
KIlling MLK.
Killing everybody who can desturb your plans.

But the real sick thing is not the vaccines, which are scary and one has to be nuts to take it.
The realevil thing is human traficking and pedophile practices among those leading the world.

Are you serious and truly believe that? Wow, dude...

[grumpysaddle]

I'll jump on this bandwagon....anyone know what the emigration rules are for from US to NZ?

https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/choose-new-zealand/compare-new-zealand/usa

There's a lot of information from New Zealand govt itself, but I've still heard that it was difficult to get a visa before Covid and it's probably pretty much on total hold until the crisis part of Covid is in the rear-view. I plan on looking into technical training courses to learn a new skill that would be more valuable in getting a visa if I do end up going through with it. Wish I started younger at this point though.

[bwgood77]

This person writes a good summary of why you should get the vaccine.

https://tinyurl.com/nuk9mw4p

[Frank Lee]

Meanwhile
I’m one strike from banning on the big CE board. Two solid foul ball ropes and now it’s 0 -2…. WTF. Humorless Over sensitive umpiring. Truly … who are these guys? This site is a fn joke anymore. People taking themselves far too serious. I’m imagining now RGM is a money maker with all the ads they cram on us… and the have a couple paid overlords minding the masses. I get it, their site, their rules blah blah blah. Good to be judge and jury.



What’s the Fn lure of being a moderator? Cap feathering? Just doing your part for the community? Bored as Shitttt? Trying to fill the lack of authority in the real world?

Don’t you get tired of it Bwg ? Is it really necessary?

[bwgood77]

Meanwhile
I’m one strike from banning on the big CE board. Two solid foul ball ropes and now it’s 0 -2…. WTF. Humorless Over sensitive umpiring. Truly … who are these guys? This site is a fn joke anymore. People taking themselves far too serious. I’m imagining now RGM is a money maker with all the ads they cram on us… and the have a couple paid overlords minding the masses. I get it, their site, their rules blah blah blah. Good to be judge and jury.

What’s the Fn lure of being a moderator? Cap feathering? Just doing your part for the community? Bored as Shitttt? Trying to fill the lack of authority in the real world?

Don’t you get tired of it Bwg ? Is it really necessary?

Yes, you get tired of some of it...especially on that board, which I rarely moderate. I have definitely not agreed with some strikes and let them know as much, but there are more active ones.

The original main lure for me was to try and make the GB more lenient and I challenged tsherkin a lot who was banning everyone and eventually he was caught doing some stuff that was unbelievable. As a matter of fact, what really set me off resulted in him banning who I thought was a very funny yet sarcastic Suns user who wasn't a mod fan, though I loved his posts (alvin adams). I tried to get him back but he never responded. I had some feeling based on what I'd monitored that tsherkin did not like him and would figure a way to try and ban him so I screen shot his posts and then saw that he got banned due to a post that was edited by tsherkin to look bad, presented fabricated evidence to Howard and then banned. I took the screen shots, alterations and proof of edit to Howard immediately and got it reversed, but too little too late to keep him around.

Anyway, apparently this was happening often on the Raptors forum and the other mods caught it as he was apparently driving away quality posters and they all went against him too. He left the forums soon after.

There were also a few other mods abusing their privilege which I helped oust.

Many may complain about the GB but it used to be FAR FAR worse. Two strikes and done and tsherkin was banning people for minor stuff like gifs, language filter, post padding (which makes little sense as a rule that people simply make posts to increase their post count to change their title from ballboy on up or whatever).

Anyway, around here I tried to use it to bring back old posters...getting lists and PMing them...some came back. Maybe build more traffic, more opinions, etc.

The CA board can be a headache. Just saw your Texas blue balls joke. Now that was funny..wonder if the mod even understood it. Anyway, that's one I am unsure why it is a strike.

[lilfishi22]

Meanwhile
I’m one strike from banning on the big CE board. Two solid foul ball ropes and now it’s 0 -2…. WTF. Humorless Over sensitive umpiring. Truly … who are these guys? This site is a fn joke anymore. People taking themselves far too serious. I’m imagining now RGM is a money maker with all the ads they cram on us… and the have a couple paid overlords minding the masses. I get it, their site, their rules blah blah blah. Good to be judge and jury.



What’s the Fn lure of being a moderator? Cap feathering? Just doing your part for the community? Bored as Shitttt? Trying to fill the lack of authority in the real world?

Don’t you get tired of it Bwg ? Is it really necessary?

Being a mod is a pretty thankless. In my view, if you do a great job then you wouldn't be seen at all. If you become overbearing then you're super visible and you're doing a less good job but sometimes it's necessary.

I took the role not because there's any financial incentives but because it gives me the opportunity to promote discussion on a forum I love contributing to while having the power to drive away toxic contributors. Yeah negative/toxic is subjective but I think good mods are as hands off in moderating the conversation as possible and only moderating when it's required. Not saying there aren't bad mods who love the power trip but there's bad apples in every tree. For the most part, without mods, this would be a total free for all with no one keeping away trolls who make this place toxic and probably could've destroyed entire forums let alone threads by turning away newcomers.

[Frank Lee]

Yes…. Thankless indeed. You guys are like traffic cops. Needed but dreaded when required to act

So


Thanks

[suns12345]

I used to think it was a funny but largely extreme caricature of Americans and I always watched it with the mindset that oh it's just a parody of very very small groups of people who think this way.

It's actually a thing now

It's absolutely terrifying. I don't want to leave my family and friends really, but I'm really weighing the choice to seek an exit to another country my beliefs more closely match. It's just a really difficult process, even in non-global pandemic times.

Know any of your neighbors in New Zealand looking to get married to an American?? I can even pretend I'm Canadian!

I always looked at Kiwi's as kind of the Canadians of Oceania whereas Aussies were the Americans. So maybe it's just my bias and prejudice but I've always loved NZ and see them as Aussies without the ego and Aussie "exceptionalism" - similar to US/Canada.

If you can find a Kiwi partner to marry you, you've won the lottery

I'm even freaked out by the way people are behaving in Aus right now, bloody glad not to be in the states - some measure of reality permeates through here at least.

Hope you're all staying safe as you can.

the way people can believe in a far less likely outcome, with less evidence, is mind boggling. I miss when it used to be about the earth being flat or something harmless like that.

[lilfishi22]

It's absolutely terrifying. I don't want to leave my family and friends really, but I'm really weighing the choice to seek an exit to another country my beliefs more closely match. It's just a really difficult process, even in non-global pandemic times.

Know any of your neighbors in New Zealand looking to get married to an American?? I can even pretend I'm Canadian!

I always looked at Kiwi's as kind of the Canadians of Oceania whereas Aussies were the Americans. So maybe it's just my bias and prejudice but I've always loved NZ and see them as Aussies without the ego and Aussie "exceptionalism" - similar to US/Canada.

If you can find a Kiwi partner to marry you, you've won the lottery

I'm even freaked out by the way people are behaving in Aus right now, bloody glad not to be in the states - some measure of reality permeates through here at least.

Hope you're all staying safe as you can.

the way people can believe in a far less likely outcome, with less evidence, is mind boggling. I miss when it used to be about the earth being flat or something harmless like that.

There's a lot to like about the US but there's also a lot I don't like from an outsider standpoint. If you have money, have a good job, preferably not one of the "bad" minorities and live in one of the more inclusive parts of the US I think the US is one of the best countries to live in. If you don't and you're living pay check to pay check, on welfare, with health issues, it's probably one of the least desirable developed countries for me.

Unfortunately, a lot of the status quo is because of politics. It's more divided than I have ever known the US to be and seemingly less rational than ever... No country is perfect, every country have their own issues but being the leading world power, we hold the US to a slightly higher standard

[King4Day]

Man I misread an ESPN headline thinking it said Joe Burrow (Bengals) died.

HEADLINE:

"Giraffe named after QB Burrow dies after illness "

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32177473/giraffe-named-cincinnati-bengals-qb-joe-burrow-dies-falling-ill

I read it as a Giraffe was named after Burrow after the QB died.
My own fault but my god did my heart sink for a minute.

[Frank Lee]

Aw F***
Norm MacDonald passed away …

[lilfishi22]

One of the greats for sure

[cberry78]

RIP Turd Ferguson.

[Frank Lee]

Watch on YouTube

My favorite uncomfortably funny Norm night. The dude was pure balls. His roast of BobSagett was also a gem. I’ll mope a while about this loss. As I did with Kaufman. Don’t know who will grab that ‘punk you’ comedic throne. Our funny bones got short changed.

[bwgood77]

This is funny, and it's interesting to hear the sports stuff he talks about given how long ago it was..

Watch on YouTube

[oddity]

Might be controversial but I don't like dumping hate on people who don't want to get vaccinated. I got vaxxed, and I think people should, but at the end of the day, there are a million personal reasons why someone would feel anxious or uncomfortable getting it. If we don't try to understand each other it will only turn into a culture war that extremizes people to one side or the other. This morning I saw a youtube video by one of the biggest names on the platform entitled "Can we Laugh When Antivaxxers Die of Covid?" and it just blew my mind how much we have dehumanized these people. How can you expect any anti-vaxxers to listen to you when you're dancing on their loved ones' graves??

[suns12345]

Might be controversial but I don't like dumping hate on people who don't want to get vaccinated. I got vaxxed, and I think people should, but at the end of the day, there are a million personal reasons why someone would feel anxious or uncomfortable getting it. If we don't try to understand each other it will only turn into a culture war that extremizes people to one side or the other. This morning I saw a youtube video by one of the biggest names on the platform entitled "Can we Laugh When Antivaxxers Die of Covid?" and it just blew my mind how much we have dehumanized these people. How can you expect any anti-vaxxers to listen to you when you're dancing on their loved ones' graves??

I agree its important to be rational and respectful when having these conversations - like any issue, being hyperbolic and rude only serves to divide further.

What I can't understand is how people are more fearful of the vax than covid. that made my choice for me. I was far less concerned about getting a jab than I was of being unvaccinated and catching the virus.

I do also wish these vaccinated pro athletes would be more outspoken in saying they have been vaccinated and that it is very safe (compared to plenty of other types of medicines people happily take). I think it would go a long way in encouraging hesitant people to take the jab.

[lilfishi22]

Might be controversial but I don't like dumping hate on people who don't want to get vaccinated. I got vaxxed, and I think people should, but at the end of the day, there are a million personal reasons why someone would feel anxious or uncomfortable getting it. If we don't try to understand each other it will only turn into a culture war that extremizes people to one side or the other. This morning I saw a youtube video by one of the biggest names on the platform entitled "Can we Laugh When Antivaxxers Die of Covid?" and it just blew my mind how much we have dehumanized these people. How can you expect any anti-vaxxers to listen to you when you're dancing on their loved ones' graves??

Antagonising vaccine hesitancy probably isn't the right approach. Putting them on blast or ridicule them will just make them bunker down even harder. I know because that's the approach I have taken. There is more value in trying to open a dialogue with them, try and quell their concerns or anxiety with facts, reason and rationality. That's for the fence sitters who aren't exactly anti-vax but hesitant because they know the right thing is to get the jab but for a number of reasons, just hesitant. I don't really think there's any hope for hard-line anti-vaxxers. I have stopped trying on that front.