What do you think are scams?

[mgk920]

Most non-STEM university degrees are scams.  We should have vocational schools set up specifically for such professional fields as doctors and lawyers, too.

Mike

[Takumi]

- The 16th 2nd 18th Amendment

FTFY

[vdeane]

Most non-STEM university degrees are scams.  We should have vocational schools set up specifically for such professional fields as doctors and lawyers, too.

Mike

Nothing wrong with humanities and business degrees (well, aside from the rise of the managerial class for the latter), at least if you have a career plan and a viable fallback option.  The problem comes when someone doesn't know what they want to do with their lives and picks a humanities major because they're interested in the subject and don't have a plan beyond "get a college degree".  Those fields are over-saturated, but their existence is valuable for society, so they shouldn't go away.

Over-saturation isn't just a humanities problem, either.  Computer science has had that problem too.

[kalvado]

I have a friend with a PhD in... Not sure formal spelling , but it is about human genetics, in particular certain  class of bone problems. Fine print: she is severely affected by the same disorder, and she and her family  are a  part of her study.
I wonder if we see the same situation here...

[Billy F 1988]

Supermarkets that have these contests requiring you to buy things you don't normally purchase on a regular basis, stick a game piece on a useless map, and hope you win SOME kind of prize only to find out you don't because of stupid ass loopholes and stacks of contest rules septillions of miles long just flat out bugs me. Albertson's does this A LOT! Their Monopoly games that they advertise every year is flat out bogus. So, I tried it out one time, but I never completed the puzzle. I just kept thinking "this is a waste of time".

[hotdogPi]

Supermarkets that have these contests requiring you to buy things you don't normally purchase on a regular basis, stick a game piece on a useless map, and hope you win SOME kind of prize only to find out you don't because of stupid ass loopholes and stacks of contest rules septillions of miles long just flat out bugs me. Albertson's does this A LOT! Their Monopoly games that they advertise every year is flat out bogus. So, I tried it out one time, but I never completed the puzzle. I just kept thinking "this is a waste of time".

There was one that Rite Aid did years ago. Toward the end, they gave out bags with hundreds of pieces so that all could be used. I got a single instant win of $2 out of all of those.

[MikieTimT]

I will admit there is some nuance with these.

*  Insurance.  All private insurance regulation in the US is based on the principle of underwriting profit (any other profit insurance companies make by investing premiums is not considered when progressing rate cases).

^^^^^^^ This. A product that's a legislated requirement whereas the product itself is often withheld for reasons buried in mountains of legalese that no one will ever read because we don't have the time, nor a legal degree to translate.

[bing101]

Coffeezilla goes after some of the Scam Artists who act like cult leaders.

In this case Coffeezilla goes after Logan Paul over his Crypto Scam.

[kkt]

Cryptocurrency and NFTs in their entirety.

Amen. Technological beanie babies.

I've always thought of 'cryptocurrency' as being the modern day investment equivalent of tulip bulbs a few centuries ago.

Mike

At least tulip bulbs were real.

[JayhawkCO]

Supermarkets that have these contests requiring you to buy things you don't normally purchase on a regular basis, stick a game piece on a useless map, and hope you win SOME kind of prize only to find out you don't because of stupid ass loopholes and stacks of contest rules septillions of miles long just flat out bugs me. Albertson's does this A LOT! Their Monopoly games that they advertise every year is flat out bogus. So, I tried it out one time, but I never completed the puzzle. I just kept thinking "this is a waste of time".

You realize the Monopoly games at McDonald's and such are basically just "there are 3 Marvin Gardens in the world. If you get one of those, you win." vs. actually a game to play where "collecting" does anything, right?

[hotdogPi]

Supermarkets that have these contests requiring you to buy things you don't normally purchase on a regular basis, stick a game piece on a useless map, and hope you win SOME kind of prize only to find out you don't because of stupid ass loopholes and stacks of contest rules septillions of miles long just flat out bugs me. Albertson's does this A LOT! Their Monopoly games that they advertise every year is flat out bogus. So, I tried it out one time, but I never completed the puzzle. I just kept thinking "this is a waste of time".

You realize the Monopoly games at McDonald's and such are basically just "there are 3 Marvin Gardens in the world. If you get one of those, you win." vs. actually a game to play where "collecting" does anything, right?

McDonald's actually gives you free menu items as very common instant wins unlike a lot of the other businesses that do it.

[kalvado]

Supermarkets that have these contests requiring you to buy things you don't normally purchase on a regular basis, stick a game piece on a useless map, and hope you win SOME kind of prize only to find out you don't because of stupid ass loopholes and stacks of contest rules septillions of miles long just flat out bugs me. Albertson's does this A LOT! Their Monopoly games that they advertise every year is flat out bogus. So, I tried it out one time, but I never completed the puzzle. I just kept thinking "this is a waste of time".

You realize the Monopoly games at McDonald's and such are basically just "there are 3 Marvin Gardens in the world. If you get one of those, you win." vs. actually a game to play where "collecting" does anything, right?

McDonald's actually gives you free menu items as very common instant wins unlike a lot of the other businesses that do it.

Any business running any promotion is saying "you can get more for less than at our competitor"  while it is actually "come more, buy more, so we can make more money"
Sometimes these are not contradictory, as business can lower their prices if they get more sales - but  casino always wins at the end of the day.

[CtrlAltDel]

- Voting at locations and times other than your local polling places on election day

I can't agree with this one.

[abefroman329]

Chiropractors

Heh.  Some are.  But, I've found that this is a common belief held in Appalachia.  My mother eventually came around.

What are the alternatives?

- Surgery that may not be affordable nor covered.

- Addiction to medications; increasing dosage or switching to stronger meds with harsher side effects.

- Dealing with unmanageable pain.

- I dunno...acupuncture?

I don't get all the chiro-hate, it's not as if the alternatives are anything other than suboptimal solutions.

Well, there were chiropractors when I lived in CA that told my friends that they could cure diabetes, so chiroquackery does exist out there.

My dad was once on a jury for a civil case involving an automobile accident, and in the process of cross-examining the chiropractor who was serving as the plaintiff's expert witness, it came to light that the students at his alma mater performed something called the "Money Chant." 

That doesn't help matters, either.

[abefroman329]

Voting at locations and times other than your local polling places on election day

Disagree.  If I vote early in person or by mail, I sidestep poll workers hired for the day, functioning on little sleep, and often poorly trained.

Oh, you definitely did.  I serve as an election judge here, and my Election Day starts at 5 am and ends around 9 pm.

[kalvado]

- Voting at locations and times other than your local polling places on election day

I can't agree with this one.

Sorry for going into politics, but...
Elections should be a secure procedure. Security concepts are evolving, as parties involved are becoming more aggressive and understanding of problems evolves.  There is also a complication with identity verification and anonymizing results. Keeping as much of the process as possible exposed to public and monitors; and verifyable is the way problem is approached so far. Thats not the only option, but most traditional one.

With that....

A lot of recent policies are aimed at reducing elections security - possibly as unintended effect (if you believe in "unintended" part, I have some highway bridges for sale real cheap).  Mail-in voting aka ballot harvesting, no government ID verification, early voting without monitors present, ballot photos are great examples of security backdoors which  may not be used YET.
YET is the keyword. 


On the same page - a lot of security aspects in our lives is evolving. We may dislike 2FA it is used more and more frequently. Chip-enabled credit cards are a mainstream.  We still have door locks mostly preventing honest people from accidentally walking in - but now they are often supplemented with cameras... 

[CtrlAltDel]

- Voting at locations and times other than your local polling places on election day

I can't agree with this one.

Sorry for going into politics, but...
Elections should be a secure procedure. Security concepts are evolving, as parties involved are becoming more aggressive and understanding of problems evolves.  There is also a complication with identity verification and anonymizing results. Keeping as much of the process as possible exposed to public and monitors; and verifyable is the way problem is approached so far. Thats not the only option, but most traditional one.

With that....

A lot of recent policies are aimed at reducing elections security - possibly as unintended effect (if you believe in "unintended" part, I have some highway bridges for sale real cheap).  Mail-in voting aka ballot harvesting, no government ID verification, early voting without monitors present, ballot photos are great examples of security backdoors which  may not be used YET.
YET is the keyword. 


On the same page - a lot of security aspects in our lives is evolving. We may dislike 2FA it is used more and more frequently. Chip-enabled credit cards are a mainstream.  We still have door locks mostly preventing honest people from accidentally walking in - but now they are often supplemented with cameras...

Without getting too far into politics, I can't agree with a lot of this either.

[kalvado]

- Voting at locations and times other than your local polling places on election day

I can't agree with this one.

Sorry for going into politics, but...
Elections should be a secure procedure. Security concepts are evolving, as parties involved are becoming more aggressive and understanding of problems evolves.  There is also a complication with identity verification and anonymizing results. Keeping as much of the process as possible exposed to public and monitors; and verifyable is the way problem is approached so far. Thats not the only option, but most traditional one.

With that....

A lot of recent policies are aimed at reducing elections security - possibly as unintended effect (if you believe in "unintended" part, I have some highway bridges for sale real cheap).  Mail-in voting aka ballot harvesting, no government ID verification, early voting without monitors present, ballot photos are great examples of security backdoors which  may not be used YET.
YET is the keyword. 


On the same page - a lot of security aspects in our lives is evolving. We may dislike 2FA it is used more and more frequently. Chip-enabled credit cards are a mainstream.  We still have door locks mostly preventing honest people from accidentally walking in - but now they are often supplemented with cameras...

Without getting too far into politics, I can't agree with a lot of this either.

Without going blue vs red, can you talk about how you would suggest voting policies implements in Alanland?

[JayhawkCO]

Every gluten free food I have tried tasted absolutely horrible or upset my stomach. Don't do that to your future kids over paranoid fears. I ate so much junk food an
as a kid, still do sometimes, and my physical health is fine.

Just coming back to this since I was off the forum for a couple of days. So basically, all fruits, all vegetables, all meats, all dairy products, etc. taste horrible and upset your stomach?

[MultiMillionMiler]

Not to get into it and either, but it's paranoia. No amount of voting "anomalies" could offset an 8,000,000 or 11,000,000 majority for example. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

[abefroman329]

There is also a complication with identity verification and anonymizing results.

It would be impossible to completely anonymize mail-in voting.  If you vote in person, and your ballot can't be counted, the issue can be fixed on the spot.  If you vote by mail, then you really have no choice but to allow your ballot to be tied to you.

And if you think there's a massive issue with "identity verification," then I suggest you read up on voting procedures in jurisdictions that don't require every voter to show ID.

Also, a friendly reminder that the below is a complete list of elections where voter fraud was widespread and significant enough that it altered the results of the election:

[kalvado]

Not to get into it and either, but it's paranoia. No amount of voting "anomalies" could offset an 8,000,000 or 11,000,000 majority for example. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Bush II vs Al Gore boiled down to a much smaller number of ballots. Presidential elections are decided in swing states, representative majorities  on different levels are decided in swing districts....

[abefroman329]

Not to get into it and either, but it's paranoia. No amount of voting "anomalies" could offset an 8,000,000 or 11,000,000 majority for example. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Bush II vs Al Gore boiled down to a much smaller number of ballots. Presidential elections are decided in swing states, representative majorities  on different levels are decided in swing districts....

I agree, the Electoral College is a scam.  Get rid of that and there won't be any elections decided by swing states/districts, or by small margins (Gore won the national popular vote by about one million votes, as I recall).

[Rothman]

- Voting at locations and times other than your local polling places on election day

I can't agree with this one.

Sorry for going into politics, but...
Elections should be a secure procedure. Security concepts are evolving, as parties involved are becoming more aggressive and understanding of problems evolves.  There is also a complication with identity verification and anonymizing results. Keeping as much of the process as possible exposed to public and monitors; and verifyable is the way problem is approached so far. Thats not the only option, but most traditional one.

With that....

A lot of recent policies are aimed at reducing elections security - possibly as unintended effect (if you believe in "unintended" part, I have some highway bridges for sale real cheap).  Mail-in voting aka ballot harvesting, no government ID verification, early voting without monitors present, ballot photos are great examples of security backdoors which  may not be used YET.
YET is the keyword. 


On the same page - a lot of security aspects in our lives is evolving. We may dislike 2FA it is used more and more frequently. Chip-enabled credit cards are a mainstream.  We still have door locks mostly preventing honest people from accidentally walking in - but now they are often supplemented with cameras...

Solving a voter fraud problem that doesn't exist.

[mgk920]

Not to get into it and either, but it's paranoia. No amount of voting "anomalies" could offset an 8,000,000 or 11,000,000 majority for example. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Bush II vs Al Gore boiled down to a much smaller number of ballots. Presidential elections are decided in swing states, representative majorities  on different levels are decided in swing districts....

I agree, the Electoral College is a scam.  Get rid of that and there won't be any elections decided by swing states/districts, or by small margins (Gore won the national popular vote by about one million votes, as I recall).

The biggest problem with that it one word - 'recount'. Also, the USA's midsection (aka 'flyover country') world really become FLYOVER COUNTRY - only the interests of the biggest urban markets would ever get any attention from the media and the people in charge  (those founding fathers™ were really smart people!).

Mike