ricksplat's comments

Stand back a second. Many third world countries have this in spades, but just never had your opportunities.

There is a possibility, that maybe you failed to consider, that maybe you are just "lucky". The gaping chasm of inequality that faces you is insurmountable, so you justify your privilege by telling yourself you're better.

I know that's a hard pill to swallow, because it calls into question a belief that you are in control of your life which is a scary thought. Especially for 'murca.

Which is partly my point. Are these the worst things you have to worry about?

You're complaining that you no longer have the right "to cultivate, maintain, and respect" your culture.

But you do. Your culture is imprinted right across the face of the world.

This is your privilege, that you fail to appreciate.

You are like C.S. Lewis' dwarves in the stable https://vox-nova.com/2009/09/20/c-s-lewis-and-the-mind-only-...

Or more classicaly, Plato's cave.

No matter what you have, you will never be happy. All your blessings are curses to you.

and woebetide anybody that dares point that out to you.

Look at most of the big cities. All are flanked by swathes of agricultural land. San Francisco, New York, Chicago, London, Paris ...

Yes you can trade - but it's no substitute for having your own food source right there.

EDIT HN not allowing me to respond below but yes Tokyo is an outlier - and food as you point out is very expensive.

Clearly it isn't.

As a white male you are the wealthiest, healthiest, most celebrated segment in modern society.

If you feel otherwise it's likely something going on in your own head.

EDIT my point is that you're complaining you can't celebrate your white privilege, when in fact every day is a celebration of that. Not that because you are white you necessarily are any of those things - just that it is easier to be.

EDIT2

> All it leads to is an endless loop of arguments

Or, if you step back and don't get so "offended" it's also known as a "discussion".

There's a huge amount of people who really, really don't know how good they have it. Talk about how they need more. Then get offended when you point out there are people worse off.

Inequality is a serious issue, and yes we do need to have a discussion around "privilege", who is or isn't "privileged", and comparison of levels of "privilege".

- Hollywood

- Pro Wrestling

- Super Bowl

- "World" series

- The Internet

- Silicon Valley

- Petro Dollars

- Big Cars

- Rock n' Roll

- Hip Hop

- The Iraq War

- The War on Terror

I could go on, and on.

A peculiar quirk of American culture indeed is, that not just do you get to cultivate your own culture. Everybody else has to participate as well.

This basically applies to any Wi-Fi hotspot where you first are redirected to a web page to sign in (called a "Captive Portal") rather than keying in a password or key before connection.

When you connect in this way there is nothing you can do to stop an attacker sitting elsewhere in the room hoovering up all your traffic and looking at it. Application layer security such as HTTPS and VPNs notwithstanding of course.

Based on a OMA WISPr standard. Version 1 doesn't support encryption but a second version with encryption was mooted but blocked by some patent activities.

The only way to have a secure Wi-Fi connection is to either have a pre-shared key (which is the other most common approach) or to use one of the WPA2 EAP protocols.

Basically, we need to be careful about accepting the results of meta-analyses as scientific fact. They are useful for illustrative purposes but really, at the end of the day if you're going to settle an argument you're going to need rigorous methodology, data-collection and reporting, as well as the all important reproducibility, falsifiability and verifiablity.

> high-quality components and a great form factor

Yep you could have made do with a cheaper mac.

Form factor was always a secondary factor. First and foremost was high specs in CPU, memory, storage, connectors and screen. i.e. for a Pro-fessional user (photographer, graphics designer, film).

I think you're getting confused with the non-Pro macbooks and 'air' line.

I'm wondering what you've been using your mac for if performance isn't a concern... I'd be concerned that you might have been paying over the odds ...

But that's all he is. Just words and bluster. Hillary like her or loath her has substance.

What I mean is, there was a whole sales pitch during the campaign about what it might mean (e.g. more money for the NHS) which we all found out subsequently to be tosh.

Now we have: "Free trade but not free travel" or something to that effect. Never was such detail ever discussed prior to the referendum.

It makes for fascinating reading. It covers the data science angle of how the "Leave" campaign operated.

Basically yeah, they just figured out iteratively what a possible "Leave" constituency might want to hear and just fed it to them. Details shmetails.

By far the most illuminating piece I've read on the phenomenon and I think it goes some way towards explaining what's going on in the US right now ...