51 Comments

some great TotW candidates today. the STFU tweet would have been my fave, if i were not retired.

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There are words I would never use but I do like and “Rizz “ is one. “He’s not that cute but he’s got rizz” conveys something that to me using charisma just wouldn’t.

Also ‘It’s a bop” but yeah no, I’d never say it. ( I also like “yeah, no” for conveying that the thing/request/thought was considered but then rejected. )

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Big Rizz used to play for the Cubs. Things were better in those days.

"Word of the year" is a silly advertising stunt that, for some reason, people pay attention to. Ignoring the fact that modern dictionaries are descriptive not prescriptive and have no business whatever giving an imprimatur to fads and dopey slang.

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Regrets? Yes -- not having the 3 minutes of my life back after watching that whiny and pointless Boxes video.

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A great edition today and tweets too. Between that, istening to a 600 page book and "Songs" when do you and Mary sleep? Ya'll break some legs tonight! Looking forward to Sunday!

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Well. Wasn't expecting Rush - not the usual! - but, boy, it woke me up and made me regret not making more of the 1960's.

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Good morning! A lot of great content today as usual. I'm wondering how you feel about the info regarding Substack and hate speech? Does the info in the linked article give you any second thoughts about continuing your relationship with their platform? I'm very interested in reading your take.

My wife and I and a couple of friends look forward to SOCG on Sunday afternoon!

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What am I missing with the video "Regrets: Boxes"?

I liked it, the actor was very good, but I struggle with the point.

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Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023

The Texas Republican party voted 32-29 against banning any associations with anti-Semites. Many said language was vague and it was a slippery slope. Slippery in that who defines anti-Semite? Are college students calling for intifada anti-Semites? Should universities ban their association with these protesters? Are people celebrating a Jewish statesman’s death anti-Semite? Is someone who criticizes Soros’ political agenda anti-Semite? Slippery…

Tune of the week was good, but had to go to Reddit to find out what the lighter thing was all about…

Also, totally agree on the field goals. I always think: “That would have been good from 70!”

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Putting people in tents is one of the stupidest and worst ideas in the history of Chicago. In a city where we have days winter days when it's too cold to go outside for more than a few minutes, how do we think those tents are going to hold up? I've lived in well-insulated brick buildings that couldn't keep up with the cold. This is going to be a disaster on top of a disaster.

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Schools are economic ventures. No matter how high-minded you feel their missions may be, it takes money to run them. It, therefore, seems unconscionable that Frederick Douglass Academy High School has but 33 students. How can anyone associated with this decision, that employs 21 adult staff members (as per the school's web page), not be questioned about this when Chicago funds and Chicago school funds are so tight? Can someone explain this to me?

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Here you go: “A CPS spokesperson said the district would abide by the moratorium on closing public schools, a state mandate that expires in January 2025.”

Spending $50,000 more per student than the average.

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Lunacy, utter lunacy!

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founding

Totally agree on the need to use technology to track first downs in the NFL. Why can't the ball have a GPS chip and know exactly how far it is to the line to gain? The distance should be displayed on the scoreboard the instant the ref places the ball on the field after the previous play ends.

The benefits are significant: Faster information to the coaching staff so they can make the decision on the next play, removing multiple people from the sidelines where they are occasionally hit by players, and not having to bring in the "chain gang" which would speed up the game. The system being used now dates back to the days when George Halas was coaching the Bears. It needs to be updated.

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Also a guy on the chain gang in the Saints game last week suffered a gruesome leg injury when a player ran into him. I'm surprised that doesn't happen more often.

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I thought I might mention that this type of technology has been used in track and field for many years to measure long and triple jumps. So it's not exactly new.

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One of the messy things about democracy is that we often elect people not qualified for the job. I'm not suggesting we do it differently. It still beats other forms of government. It just means voters need to do a better job of educating themselves before voting. Brandon Johnson ran as a hero of the working class and union members. He was elected on that basis. Now he's discovering there's a lot more to the job. Does he have competent advisors and is he listening to them? Remember that unless deemed corrupt, he's around for the next several years. No one gets tossed in politics for incompetence.

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I'm fine with Deion as Sportsperson of the Year. College football had a surge in popularity this year and Coach Prime was *the* story for the first month or two.

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People misundertand what Sportsperson of the Year" means. It doesn't need to be a positive person. It just means the person with the greatest influence or garnered the most attention. Adolph Hitler once earned Time Magazine's person of the year. I doubt it was for his positive assets or sparkling personality.

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Yeah. I think of it as, who first comes to mind when we think of sports in 2023? Deion is right there.

Shohei Ohtani, Nikola Jokic, and Novak Djokovic were dominant but didn't really capture the zeitgeist with casual sports fans. No NFL player has been singularly outstanding in 2023. It wasn't an Olympic year, so nothing there. USA didn't win the women's World Cup.

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Police chases….I wonder is people realize that CPD has severely restricted foot chases as well? The department has put a series of restrictions in place where the officer is required to go through a mental checklist before deciding to chase the offender. A mental checklist in a moment where a momentary delay can mean the offender gets away. And as mentioned above, the criminals know that they have the upper hand whether it’s a foot chase or a vehicle pursuit. I’m not saying chase every car for every infraction, but sometimes like in robberies and other violent crimes, sometimes the chase is warranted.

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Today is December 7th, the 82nd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. As an American and Navy Vet this is a day of remembrance for me. Flags at most Federal installations will be at half mast.

Certainly a day that changed America forever.

A date that affected the WW 2 generation much like the date Kennedy was killed or 9/11 affected later generations.

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