pachrist

It’s an interesting stat. Is this individuals or households? Is it “head of household” or is it also counting minors?

Regardless, there’s enormous disparity.

The median wealth in India, according to Wikipedia, is $3755. There’s probably hundreds of millions of people there who fall into the less than $380 category.

Again, Wikipedia, but Africa has just over 700M inhabitants with a median $1242 wealth. That’s $879B. For everyone on the continent. 8 people have 1.5X more wealth than an entire continent full of people.

But maybe it’s not 3.6B people. Maybe it’s 3B or only 2B people. It’s still not OK.

But what about Istanbul and Konstantiniyye?

My wife keeps threatening to get me a “My other Subaru is a Subaru” for my old Outback. I threaten to get her one for her Tribeca, but a Tribeca isn’t a Subaru.

It’s traditionally explained with two lemonade stands on a long beach. If their product is generally indistinguishable and both want to maximize their number of customers, they will eventually settle on halfway mark of the beach. One gets all the foot traffic from the left, the other from the right, splitting it 50/50.

The same applies to businesses on a map, not just a one dimensional beach. Most consumers don’t really care if it’s a Home Depot or Lowes, or a BP or Exxon. If one of them discovers a gap in the market and places something there, someone else can come along and grab half the market. It’s something Walmart has done in a lot of small towns. They’ll come in and split market 50/50 with a small, local shop knowing that there’s not enough money to turn a profit with splitting the market in half. But they know they the can run a loss for a year or two, the competition will close, and then they’ll have 100% of the market.

It’s a really topical thing in politics. There are more centrist voters than at either extreme end, so politicians tend to fall more in the middle. Politicians like Trump change the landscape though. While an extreme candidate, the Republican party had already been shifting more right for a while, so he only marginally pulled the voter base right, but pulled most Republican politicians right, or pushed them out. Democrats moved to match. It essentially means that far right Republicans have a short stroll to the nearest lemonade stand, but far left Democrats have to trudge a couple miles in the hot summer sun, and they’re deciding it’s not worth it.

I’ve had some luck explaining it by asking folks why multiple gas stations are at the same intersection, or asking why Lowes and Home Depot are always right next to each other.

I live in Tennessee. The number of lives that Dolly Parton has changed for the better is immeasurable. The two things you’re supposed to do as a Christian are to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

She loves her neighbors more than she loves herself. Anyone talking trash about Dolly is the worst kind of person.

One of my favorite pieces of the Bible is the Parable of the Talents where Jesus tells a story about three men who are given different sums of money. The first two are given more. They do stuff with it and are rewarded. The guy who gets the least buries it in a field and is punished.

It’s often used an an example of stewardship, and regularly used as an excuse to not give drug addicts and homeless people money. They might use the money for drugs. That’s a sin and a “bad investment.” It ignores the fact that nobody looses money in the parable. The point of the story is that any good thing you do in good faith with the gifts you’re given is commendable.

I don’t understand telling 50% of your church that the most important thing they can do is be a PreK Sunday school teacher or nursery volunteer. That’s burying talents in a field.

Wow. We’d be lucky if that were true today. With slavery, it’s 3/5, but with things gerrymandered correctly, it’s essentially 0/5.

Recently, I noticed that a lot of the YouTube recommendations I was seeing were folks based out of Utah. My wife calls it Mormon YouTube. Outdoors Boys, Matt’s Offroad Recovery, Brandon Sanderson, and a few more Mormon adjacent channels started popping up everywhere. I started wondering what I had watched that started brining all these other things up.

It’s Mark Rober.

Eh, c’est la vie.

The US is the really annoying parent in a grocery store counting to 3 over and over to try to get their child under control.

Nah, the choice is between a being that will likely leave you alone and one that likely won’t. Most people who aren’t seeking contact want to be left alone. Interestingly enough, most bears want to be left alone too. As people, we need to allow others the distance and boundaries they want. The best way to befriend someone is to make them feel comfortable around you. Space and respect are important.

If a woman prefers the bear, maybe consider treating her like one. Treat her with respect, don’t make sudden movements, give her space, don’t mess with her cubs, and don’t pressure her into going to a local bar with a really neat vibe.

I mean, if the choice is instant, painless death or decade after decade of your parents asking why you don’t own a house, I guess death is fine?

It’s one of the things I hated about the movies. Sam has a little Dutch angle moment, weighing whether to give back the ring with lots of facial expression acting.

It’s been a while since I read the books, but I don’t recall him really thinking to much about it. He just gives it back to Frodo, and as a reader, you’re left wondering whether the ring just didn’t have enough time to grab hold, or maybe Sam is just truly pure of heart.

Then you remember that Smeagol killed someone over the ring immediately. Sam is just that good of a guy. Better than Frodo, better than Bilbo, better than Galadriel, and even better than Gandalf.

Ooh, be careful with those views. Someone who doesn’t understand what antisemitism is might call you an antisemite.

It’s such a stupid thing to say too. I got into an argument with a relative about it recently. By the Bible’s own rules, a Christian who tells someone hungry to pray a little harder instead of just feeding them isn’t a Christian, and they’re damned. This whole “God helps those who help themselves” bootstrap/prosperity Christianity is the worst type of religion.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

James 2 14-19

Actions speak louder than words. Right now the words are many and inconsequential, and the actions are damning.

The Ford F-150 is a work truck. Doesn’t stop millions of people from using them as a commuter vehicle, even if they’re not great at it.

Hell, I used my impact driver as a hammer the other day, and I used a screwdriver as a pry bar.

Just because it’s not the primary role for a object doesn’t mean it can’t perform the role. The sale of arms to Israel is irresponsible at best and complicit at worst.

Not with the Camaro on a payment plan.

I get that ads pay for a free internet. But that doesn’t mean that 60% of my screen needs to be malware to read a local news article.

Until advertisers act in good faith, I block as much as possible.