My favorite car was my '73 Dodge Charger (I wanted a '67, but good luck with that). The little 318 was a joy to work on (I wanted a 440 PI, but good luck with that). I made so many mods to that engine and I loved opening up the Edelbrock so everyone in Sacramento could hear me pulling on to 99. God help the ricers who'd nose my white beast -- spankings were handed out with impunity. I kissed my wife for the first time in that car -- and the second, and the third time as well.

I've since tried to buy another, but they're pretty rare and either in collector's condition, or up on blocks in someone's yard.

Good days, man, good days!

For context (because I know I was curious): this video is from November 2017, 3 months after the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville in which a neo-nazi dickhead ran over a peaceful protestor. Trump had stated that in the conflict between the peaceful anti-racism group and the white supremacist / neo-nazi group there had been "fine people on both sides". I get the impression some of the people at PBS weren't thrilled about that, and wanted to give the public a gentle reminder that it can, in fact, happen here.

Fascism is alive and has been thriving the last few years in the US. With any luck we'll soon defeat it, like we did 75 years ago.

Silly, just a ban on selling one style of rifle, not a type. Are they still actually working on that, or are you talking about past attempts? I thought that has gone nowhere since Jan 2019 when it was introduced and shelved. New bill number please.

Supressors/silencers, not a firearm but an accessory, like bump stocks. That's not anti gun.

D I Y, good luck. Who's actually trying any such thing? They would have to ban each design, because they can't ban the method. I've not heard of any actual legislation, just moaning. Bill number please.
Ghost guns, pre manufactured kits but requiring assembly, should be treated like any gun imo. That means serial numbers and background checks, that's not anti gun legislation.

Private sales loophole, exactly what I mentioned, and in no way anti gun. They aren't trying to ban private sales, just require background checks.
I think you're making that up, where did you get the idea most illegal guns are bought by girlfriends?
I bought a new gun from a dealer at a show in Florida with no check myself once, so nope. You're just wrong.

I feel like you are almost certainly just parroting right wing claims without actually seeing if they're true. Give me current bill numbers in the house or Senate please.

Banning modifications is not anti gun, it's anti modification.

You can buy guns online, just not safely or legally. You can buy prostitutes and fentenal online. You can buy kits that require you to make one drill hole to make a functioning unlicensed unregistered unidentifiable gun online legally.

Crazy people can certainly buy guns, in private sales with no background checks. That's why the loopholes should be eradicated, or do you support giving terrorists a method to secretly buy guns legally? That's the outcome of fighting closing loopholes.

The right is well aware of this, and are also aware that the black masks "antifa" used can be purchased anywhere, and lucked out when BLM often used them in their rallies too (thanks to Covid) so they were already subconsciously connected. It wasn't difficult for them to buy some black masks and clothing themselves, then commit crimes in the name of antifa at BLM events, so they did, most arrested for shootings and all arrested for bombings were right wing terrorists only dressed as antifa.
They even had manifestos outlining their plan to trigger civil war by instigating riots and committing murders and bombings and blaming their actions on antifa when caught.
That needs to be in the spotlight imo, so people understand the violent mob isn't just leftists, it's also Trumpists in antifa clothing and they're perpetrating (and attempting) the worst violence.

I agree about silencing offensive speech. The right way to handle offensive stupidity is debate it publicly, imo. Does the left at these universities not have access to intelligent knowledgeable people willing to contradict blatant racists or Nazis on stage? Do the universities not have a debate coach willing to moderate? Why not?
Just call Cornel West, he'll do it.

Subscribe to what you want, my birth lottery included trees and butterflies, I was raised in a forest in a glass house in a forest. (We had an atrium inside with a forest of trees growing through the roof, and the house was in the middle of a forest)

If I were born black, that person would be me, but I would be different. Besides, I was born a poor black child, sir. ;-)

If my starting line is 50 meters ahead of yours in a 100 yard dash through nothing but luck, that's pretty lucky for me.

I feel pretty successful having made little effort to get there, that's luck.

I don't feel shame because I'm not a normal American that thinks anything they want is something they deserve and need. Best lesson my dad ever taught me was know the difference between want and need and you'll be far happier in life. It's true.

I don't have too much, I have enough, but I still share with those who i feel don't. I've housed multiple friends for free, and even let one live in my yard for 7 years, which in retrospect was at least 5 years too many. My wife and I live comfortably on <$30000 a year. Most Americans can't live on that for one person. Newts do just fine, we take a vacation every year, pay our bills, and eat well.
Maybe that's why I'm so different. I was allowed to roam the wild woods and bayou alone at just over 3, to the point where the neighbors told my parents they were going to call the cops. This was in the middle of Houston, literally a wilderness of (or at least in) modern civilization. ;-)

I did go to school for 24 years (preschool -the ten year plan at Jr college) but never tried hard or practiced, to the point where my trig teacher insisted I was cheating because I didn't pay attention or do homework so she separated me for a big test, the class average dropped a full grade but not me, my neighbors were cheating off me. She left me alone after that. That might be preparations, but it wasn't hard work. It was boring busy work.

I did that, read encyclopedias and dictionaries. That was punishment at my school through 7th grade....but my grandmother read her set through twice for fun. My mother was called "the encyclopedia" in school, with good reason.

I definitely let opportunities pass often. Sometimes because I don't need them and others might, sometimes I'm just lazy and happy so see no need to expend effort, usually because I see opportunities as traps, the bait being some modest short term gain, the cage being large long term obligations. I'm always prepared for opportunities that are for me without preparation. I'm not Trumpian, I understand I have limitations, and don't tend to obligate myself beyond them.

Who said I waited. I've been lucky enough that I didn't have to wait for, nor do I expect luck. Through luck, forethought, and decent planning things have worked out well with minimal effort or sacrifice. I don't rely on luck to dig me out of holes, I tend to watch my step and not fall in them often. You might call that preparation, I call it paying attention. It's working so far.

I dont subscribe to weird oriental religions which presume being born is a lottery that possibly includes trees and butterflies.

Every person is born to a set of parents into a particular time and place and socio-economic position. That is what defines who you are. You cant say "if I was born black" because that would not be you.

That is not luck, that is your starting line. You race from there, that is where YOU start rolling the dice and having good or bad luck.

You may consider yourself lucky to be who you are and where you are, indeed you may feel some first world shame for being so fortunate, but that is surely superfluous, if you have too much you can offer to help other people.

Humans (unlike newts) need preparation, after you are born you need to practice for many years before you can be let out into the wilderness of modern civilization with any hope of surviving, let alone passing tests.

You remind me of my son, he spent his childhood reading encyclopedias and now he is surprised that he knows everything and other people dont. It came easy to him.

I did not have to work hard most of the time, am doing fine, got most of what I have because I was lucky, but I sure had a lot of opportunities run away from me because I wasnt prepared for them. Also got burned by a lot of things I should have been prepared for.

Waiting for luck is good only if you run out of options to do something.

Luck, shmuck. I have an issue with the snatoms; how do you make a double or triple bond? It was simple with the old fashioned ball and spring things.

i really like this video. the last few words are mammoth...'do what you can to increase the luck of others'.*

that's a meaningful endeavor. with huge pay-offs.

doing what can be done to level the playing fields would ensure the continuation of our country, in success and strength. does us little good to do little good for those who had little good available to them.

isn't just good feelings, it's good sense.

So that's another way luck out preformed hard work for me.

I'm just proving that it's not an absolute. Some people find pure luck with zero effort. On average, you do best with both, but there are exceptions.

For a certain few, yes, waiting for luck can be the best method, not for most.

That's certainly the intelligent method, but no, you don't HAVE to prepare yourself, sometimes success just falls in your lap.
For example; It took zero preparation to be prepared to inherit money, not one whit, pretty damn lucky if you ask me.
Second example; most people require preparation to be successful at tests. I took the GED 1 1/2 years after quitting school to work, I didn't prepare one minute, I scored 98 percentile on every test in the pack. That's not from hard work, it's from being lucky enough to have a functional brain and decent memory...I didn't work hard in school, I always claimed to learn by osmosis, I was in AP classes when I left to go work.
Third and most obvious example; Through pure luck, I was born white. I find that to be incredibly lucky considering the roadblocks being any other race puts up, especially in America, especially in the deep south where I was raised, even more so in recent years but it's always been true. I certainly didn't work hard to achieve whiteness, I've worked hard to not take advantage of it at other's expense, probably unsuccessfully.

Some people don't even NEED preparation to succeed during disasters, you often just need to be flexible and quick to adapt, that a might be from preparing, or might be natural traits you're born with.

Oh and there is no intrinsic value in hard work.

Only useful work matters. Trouble is what is useful is hard to tell and sometimes it is a matter of luck.

Not all of them, only the ones that are able to take advantage of the situation, to adapt. Many live and die miserable anyway.

I was thinking more in the line of what does one do to be successful? If luck is so important is the most effective path to just wait for luck? Obviously not.

You have to prepare yourself to be able to take advantage of opportunities in life and/or adapt to disasters.

Well, let me just say I hope the offer for your startup pans out for you at some point. Sounds exciting.

But, as it seems you might be stuck here, maybe you can still add your voice to help clean this "shithole" up. After all, Trump is only helping the cancer grow and in this country there are tons of good people that can stop this corruption in it's tracks and I think you are one of them. I don't know what your status is or if you can vote here but, for the most part I think you would enjoy being a part of bringing this creeping cancer of corruption down even if you're only one voice in the choir. One day you will be able to say you helped clean up America. Don't let defeat be an option.

Again, good luck with your startup.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, kir_mokum. That is exactly what I was referencing.

More to the point - while I agree that the video didn't go there, the discussion in the comments did. The impact of religious ideas on every aspect of society is very real. Luck may seem like an obvious concept, but someone discounted it in favor of their belief that god has a plan for all things in the thread. Obi-wan was a cool guy, but his universe had some very different rules from ours.

IMO, As someone who is successful at life with little to no effort, I'll say luck plays a HUGE part in my success, way more than working hard if that's even a factor.

I own my nice home and 3/4 acre yard outright, and 4 cars, a racecar, a pond I can swim in, solar power, orchard, etc.
Most of the money that bought these things came from the luck of being born into a fairly wealthy family and outliving a few. I broke my back at 31 and essentially retired.
I feel like I'm more successful than most Americans financially and elsewise, with zero debt, multiple assets, a long and stable marriage, etc....and I feel I've put less effort into achieving these things than most people. The only logical explanation I can come up with is luck, including the luck of my birth with decent genes and money for nothing.

Are you saying @Jesusismypilot is a no one, a nobody?

Jesusismypilot says...
...
I'll agree with the importance of the concept of luck but I don't believe in it. God has a plan for all of us, nothing happens by chance. God also calls us to work hard.