BSR

How many layoffs has ESPN had? The headline of "ESPN layoffs" is announced so often it's starting to feel like Groundhog Day.

I don't always have it on hand because Trader Joe's is kinda far from me, but I like their paté as a snack. It's surprisingly inexpensive given how pricey paté is everywhere else.

I had alligator once in Florida, just had to try it. Just as I was about to take my first bite, my travel buddy said it's supposed to taste like chicken. I told him, "no, it tastes like a reptile that lives in a swamp." First and last time I'll ever have 'gator.

I liked that it decided home field advantage, but apparently the players hated it. That said, even when the ASG used to matter, I couldn't bring myself to watch it.

I don't know how to say it in French, but in Spanish, a rey muerto rey puesto. I can't get myself to watch the match, usually can't stomach Novak's Slam losses. But I do know that Alcaraz played great and fully deserved to win, so congratulations to him!

Thanks for the heads up, the trailer is cute.

I am highly suspicious of most 1-star reviews of gay-themed films & TV series, not just the very short ones. Since I always read some Imdb reviews before watching something on Netflix, I notice that way too many reviews sound just a little too similar. They never take issue with the gay storyline, characters, or even the sex & nudity. They always discuss the acting, script, production values, etc., but as if they're all written off the same template. Hmm, there is far too much similarity for it to be just coincidence. Anyway, thanks for your review. I checked out the trailer on YT. Oh yeah, the 2 leads are real easy on the eyes.

In this video, James Cameron details how he came to the conclusion on Monday morning that the sub was gone. When he sends out emails to all his contacts in the deep-dive community, note that he doesn't mention any contradictory responses. In other words, everyone knew the sub was gone. That's why I am so convinced. Go ahead & buy into government propaganda (always a good source, uh huh) if you so choose. I choose to believe the deep-dive community.

This is classic government coveryourass-speak bullshit. Note the lack of a subject in the first sentence (no accountability, a government trademark) and the platitude ("Monday morning quarterbacks") in the second. No response as to who exactly doubted that the sub was gone, nor any alternative scenarios to explain the simultaneous loud bang+loss of comms+loss of tracking. Why not? Because no one doubted and because everyone knew that the loud bang/no comms/no tracking could mean only one thing: the sub was gone.

With a sub at 3500 feet deep, a collapse of the sub means instant death because no human can withstand the water pressure at that depth whereas people survive building collapses all the time. Poor analogy. For example, as catastrophic as the Surfside FL condo collapse was (98 dead), 3 people did survive.

The US government should have told the families on Monday morning that the simultaneous loud bang + loss of comms + loss of tracking meant that the sub was gone. Anything other than that would be misleading. Maybe they did tell the families behind closed doors that the sub was gone, no chance of survivors. But the very public narrative was that there was still a chance of rescue.

It will be the 21st century version of Marie Antoinette's notorious line. But instead of cake, "let them eat synthetic meat!"

You caught me on Sarajevo. My ignorance, I didn't know Bosnia was a Muslim-majority country (barely, 50.7% according to Wiki). Some brave souls did stage a Pride March in Istambul in defiance of a government ban. 40 marchers were detained. If the government bans Pride and arrests participants, I don't think that counts. They used to have Pride in Lebanon, but as in Turkey the government banned it. No source, just working off my knowledge of Muslim-majority countries that hold Pride. Can you think of any others? Worth noting that Pride in Muslim-majority countries has relatively few participants and is held only in the biggest city. In Christian countries, on the other hand, even small towns hold Pride celebrations. I saw a feature on the cutest Pride march ever in a small town in England. The town had only 1 gay resident, and the march consisted of this 1 gay guy and all his friends. The rest of the town stood on the sidewalks and cheered as this "march" went by. That definitely doesn't happen in Muslim countries. Whether 2 or 3, my point was you can't lump Christian countries (~150, almost all of which allow Pride) in with Muslim countries (3 out of 50, and it's always precarious).

Wow, and you accuse other people of buying into conspiracy theories, LOL. 1) I have not reported anyone or any post in this thread. 2) It's just basic Internet courtesy to use the @ when mentioning another forum member so that they are aware you cited them. Sorry for so rudely interrupting your paranoia.

Who here actually thinks that misleading the family & friends of the 5 men was the right thing to do? If you know that my husband/brother/son is gone, just tell me, even if you don't have proof yet. But don't make me cling to bullsh*t false hope for a few days because I'll be so much more devastated when I hear the truth. Plus I will explode with rage once I figure out that you fed me a lie. How is it a good idea to feed desperate, distressed people false hope? What am I missing here?

Feel free to report my post.

One shade of gray I mentioned previously: the US government acknowledges the universal consensus in the deep-dive community is that the loud bang + simultaneous loss of comms and tracking mean that in all likelihood the sub is gone, but that search efforts will continue until the 96 hours lapses. At least that way the government isn't feeding false hope to the friends & family of the 5 men. @mike carey said, "There was still doubt about whether that was conclusive." OK then, who exactly doubted? Name names and list their credentials. And if this expert or experts doubted, what alternative scenario did they suggest could have caused the loud bang coupled with simultaneous loss of comms & tracking?

"Not trying to attack anyone" ... except you just did, LOL. You backpedaled only after I called you out for it. Let me ask the question I asked earlier but no one has answered: can you find one expert, outside the *coughlyingsackofshitcough* US government, who believed that in light of the loud bang + simultaneous loss of comms and tracking, there was a chance that the sub was still viable and its passengers were alive?

Feel free to report my post if you feel so strongly about it. Again, the entire diving community, including the US Navy, knew that the sub was gone. So why did the US government maintain the grotesque charade that there was still hope of rescuing the 5 men on board?

Making a big show about rescuing survivors when they knew the sub was gone. The entire diving community knew it, the Navy knew it. Yes, that qualifies as a lie.

I'm so sorry about all the psychological torture you've suffered. Please seek professional counseling.

As bizarre and nonsensical as your post is, I will try to respond. In my post responding to @mike carey, I thought I made it clear that I was citing James Cameron (I do mention him in the first paragraph). I admit to knowing next to nothing about deep-sea submersibles. Then you explode into hysterics about Jan 6, which I never mentioned. Oh my, you get so triggered when your precious darlings are under threat. I mention the fact that the 19yo's father was a billionaire to suggest a possible reason the poor kid was pressured to go on the dive despite being terrified. Billionaires wield enormous power, not just in business & politics but also in, or perhaps especially in their families. Your assumption that it was a comment born of envy is simply bizarre. Please calm down.

What folks' expertise are you questioning? James Cameron visited the site of the Titanic wreck 33 times. He descended into the Mariana Trench, the deepest submersible dive in history. If Cameron isn't an expert, he is at least very knowledgeable and has strong connections to many in the small world of deep-sea diving. A flurry of phone calls and emails were exchanged on Monday morning, and everyone came to the same conclusion: the sub was gone. Can you present one expert, outside of the Biden administration, who contradicts their conclusion?

Fair enough, but I would feel less deceived if government officials had presented the whole picture, i.e., that the pretty much unanimous consensus in the diving community is that the sub is gone but that rescue efforts would continue until the 96 hours lapses. Also, I disagree about 4 days being too short to distract from Hunter Biden's indictment. We live in a soundbite world in which attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. The Titan rescue effectively buried all Hunter Biden news during the worst of the scandal. Way too convenient.

It wasn't just the loud bang but that combined with the simultaneous loss of communications and tracking. The loss of tracking is particularly significant because the transponder that tracks the submersible has its own separate housing and power supply. James Cameron reported that within the diving community everyone knew on Monday morning that the loud bang + the loss of comms + the loss of tracking could mean only one thing: the sub was gone. Why the US government pushed a false narrative for 4 whole days is another issue. Maybe they honestly believed they could still rescue the 5 people aboard, even if the chances of survival were less than 1%. Or maybe they were just tickled pink no one was talking about Hunter Biden.