Truths I can’t quite believe

[Balderdasha]

The most I've ever spent on any item of clothing or shoes is £120 on a pair of smart knee-high boots. I think I once spent £100 on a coat and I spent £100 on a prom dress when I was a teenager. These days I rarely spend more than £20 on any item for myself. I just don't have that kind of cash to waste.

[WOM]

Yeah, almost the only thing I'll spend 'good money' on is shoes. I don't wear ties or jackets or that, but I buy jeans by the truckload and view them as semi-disposable. I work with people who'd spend $500+ on jeans, and I can barely keep my emotions in check when I hear that. But a good pair of shoes is key.

[EIM]

Why would anyone pay $100 for a t-shirt or $500+ for shoes? Even if you can afford it, why pay so much when you can get the same thing, essentially, for so much less

The thing is, you can't get essentially the same for less. You can get something that looks a bit like it, but will fade, fall apart, stretch, shrink, wear, tear and fray. I buy my jeans from Uniqlo. They're £40 for selvedge denim, which is very reasonable, and they look similar to more expensive denim, but I'm under no illusion as to the quality. I wear them to work, and wearing a pair of £40 jeans to work is a lot more acceptable to me than wearing a pair of £100+ jeans, given the hammering they'll take.

There's still a lot of paying for the name or the label that goes on, especially by me (soz), but it's more complicated than just wanting the most expensive version. There's a long history of low income groups wanting to dress sharply, stand out, or whatever, from the Victorian Scuttlers through Teds, Mods, Casuals etc. It's partly "look what I can afford" but mostly a visible secret handshake, a signal that you understand something, that you're part of something. That's arguably more pathetic, but there you go.

These days I basically dress like a mountaineer, farmer, geography teacher or Italian yacht ponce, depending on the time of year. Jeans, t-shirt, jumper, whatever, they can be cheaper, but a good jacket and a good pair of shoes, they're expensive. The cheaper ones just aren't good enough.

[Simon G]

*waves hand*

Once you grasp that it is a mixture of carnival barkers, pantomine, audience participation and stunt work then you get the appeal.

I concur - took my boy to two local events in the last 4 months and we've had an absolutely fantastic time.

There's no pretence that it is real life anymore and this helps a lot. It's no different to watching a serial on Netflix.

[Snake Plissken]

Beyond the politics...

I still find it hard to believe:

that people watch "entertainment" wrestling.

*waves hand*

Once you grasp that it is a mixture of carnival barkers, pantomine, audience participation and stunt work then you get the appeal.

I'm with PT on the YouTuber/Instagram/Influencer thing. But then I watched a livestream of planes attempting to land at Heathrow for three hours yesterday so... *shrugs*.

[Hot Pepsi]

I could explain religion, but I don’t think anyone here would care to hear about it.

[Sporting]

And Trebeis loves the game!

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

That anyone can get excited about golf.

I'll just leave this here.

https://youtu.be/vDCGGMv50EQ

[3 Colours Red]

People buy the stuff Gwyneth Paltrow is selling

Can't go wrong with snake oil - it's the finest grift there is.

[Jah Womble]

That folk still choose to eat meat, knowing what we do.

That folk still choose to smoke cigarettes, knowing what we do. (And I struggle with doing so still being legal.)

That folk who've somehow managed to make some kind of success of their lives - or indeed anyone with even the most basic intellectual capacity - can somehow accommodate 'Flat Earth' (alongside a number of other unscientific conspiracies).

That anyone can get excited about golf.

Put me down as a subscriber to the 'religion' and 'US/UK politics' comments upthread.

(I'm not sure I see how the Kardashians represent any kind of 'truth'. I guess HP means in the sense that their success/popularity is somehow 'real'.)

[Sits]

People buy and believe the Murdoch media. I mean, I know that ship’s sailed, but I still can’t believe it.

[Patrick Thistle]

"Youtuber" is a career option for young people these days

People buy the stuff Gwyneth Paltrow is selling

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The Kardashians. Everything about them.

This. The latest shite one of them's come out with is that she genuinely believes her son is the reincarnation of her dead father. Can you imagine on how many levels that is seriously fucked up?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Well that applies to all combat sports, most especially boxing. To which the answer is some people just enjoy the adreneline rush of combat.

Ah, that MMA. I thought Hot Pepsi was talking about some kind of hallucinogenic drug.

[3 Colours Red]

That’s based on a misunderstanding of what people - at least a lot lot people - want out of a president.

At least with Reagan you could understand the appeal to some extent - the charismatic movie star as opposed to the Mr. Whippy hair, Cheetos tan, lewd, crude and very very rude, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, transphobic, misogynist... creature from the deep.

EDIT: add illiterate (see his Twitter), innumerate(see his business accounts), draft dodging, borderline incestuous...

[ooh aah]

MMA. Why would anyone do that to their own head?

Well that applies to all combat sports, most especially boxing. To which the answer is some people just enjoy the adreneline rush of combat.

[Hot Pepsi]

Indeed, “pressure differential” - while true - is not a very satisfying answer for how wings work.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...ay-in-the-air/

[Hot Pepsi]

Anything is lighter than air depending on how much air you’re comparing it to.

Denser than air, is what I meant.

[San Bernardhinault]

Airships and hydrogen balloons and hot air balloons are all lighter than air. The way they function is entirely intuitive, so it's less likely that they fall out of the sky as soon as someone thinks too hard about it.

[Hot Pepsi]

Beyond the politics...

I still find it hard to believe:

that people watch "entertainment" wrestling.

that people pay what they do to see high end sporting events and then turn up so indescribably wasted that they won't remember a thing

that heavier than air aircraft actually stay up, and the flexing of the wings is actually good and part of the design and not precursors the entire structure of the non-intuitive physics collapsing and the plane falling out of the sky

Aren’t all aircraft heavier than air? Air is very light.

[Amor de Cosmos]

that people pay what they do to see high end sporting events and then turn up so indescribably wasted that they won't remember a thing

Also true of concerts, in my (ahem) experience.

[San Bernardhinault]

Beyond the politics...

I still find it hard to believe:

that people watch "entertainment" wrestling.

that people pay what they do to see high end sporting events and then turn up so indescribably wasted that they won't remember a thing

that heavier than air aircraft actually stay up, and the flexing of the wings is actually good and part of the design and not precursors the entire structure of the non-intuitive physics collapsing and the plane falling out of the sky

[Hot Pepsi]

Still think the original is better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmWLJmbytkk

I often think back fondly to how we were amazed that someone as obviously stupid as Reagan could be elected president.....

That’s based on a misunderstanding of what people - at least a lot lot people - want out of a president.

[Hot Pepsi]

I have the same feeling about lithography. I understand it's based on oil and water not mixing, but with that degree of precision? Getoutahere! Don't believe it. Not possible. But I know it is because I worked with it for so long. Still confounds me.

I’ve wondered about that too.

[jdsx]

I Believe

Still think the original is better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmWLJmbytkk

I often think back fondly to how we were amazed that someone as obviously stupid as Reagan could be elected president.....