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So can we all agree that we live in a world where it's impossible to know everything? If that's the case, why do people feel like they need to do their own research as opposed to trusting an expert in the field? What makes you think that you're more likely to discover in a weeks or months or years worth of independent research that you would be more qualified to make a decision than someone who went to school for a decade studying this one specific thing? Further why does everyone think that someone is out to get them? Why do we presume that someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes and hurt you? Where does the distrust come from? Where is the evidence that it has been happening? Why are people so happy to believe they are a victim waiting to happen, unless they arm themselves against the storm?

December 2035 Knight Bus

just to give you all a followup. ebay ruled very quick.... eBay opened a case because of an issue with an item purchased from you. We reviewed the case and have decided to issue the buyer a refund of US $36.99 without any impact to you. This case is now closed. You are not required to reimburse the buyer or eBay, and this case will not be counted in your seller performance evaluation. Here's the case outcome eBay Customer Support has refunded the buyer. We're issuing the buyer a refund for this case. You don't need to do anything else. This case won't be included when we evaluate seller performance. Note: It may take up to 24 hours for this information to be updated in your Seller Dashboard. Case summary Outcome You were not found at fault. More info You provided tracking information that shows that the item was delivered to the buyer's address. However, the buyer didn't receive it. As a courtesy, we're issuing the buyer a refund for this case.

The Jung Kim minifigure isn't as handsome as it should be. Also they should have put an Appa X-wing pilot in the latest Luke's X-wing set. Sorry, Kim's Convenience fan here.

The Coin has landed.

After you take the red pill everything that the media spews out is nothing but propaganda. I don’t take any of it at face value.

Not that I do not believe in experts, I distrust the mainstream media. The media are supposed to do the research and summarize all of the information. But due to political bias and or sheer incompetence, the mainstream media have not been doing their jobs this past 5-7 years. They left out important information and or straight up fabricated "proofs" to satisfy their own narratives. This is why I have to go to the sources myself and do my own research. Here is an example of their incompetence: Nicholas Sandmann. CNN, NY Times, etc just could not wait to report and or mock bunch of white high school kids who seemingly had an altercation vs an old Native American in front of the Lincoln Memorial back in January 2019. They based their reporting on 1-2 short video clips. Anyone who watched the full clip of the event that was released a few hours later could clearly see that the kids did not start the shit with the old man. In fact, the old man was the one who approached and tried to start things up with the kids. CNN could have sent a reporter from their DC bureau there to do actual investigative reporting before defaming the kids. That would have taken, what, 1-2 hours to do?

brickfanatics now posting potter retiring sets uo to 2024 lol July 2021 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall December 2021 40419 Hogwarts Students Accessory Set 75947 Hagrid’s Hut: Buckbeak’s Rescue 75953 Hogwarts Whomping Willow 75966 Hogwarts Room of Requirement 75967 Forbidden Forest: Umbridge’s Encounter 76384 Hogwarts Moment: Herbology Class 76385 Hogwarts Moment: Charms Class December 2022 71043 Hogwarts Castle 75948 Hogwarts Clock Tower 75955 Hogwarts Express 75979 Hedwig 75980 Attack on the Burrow 76382 Hogwarts Moment: Transfiguration Class 76383 Hogwarts Moment: Potions Class December 2023 31201 Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests 75968 4 Privet Drive 75969 Hogwarts Astronomy Tower December 2024 75978 Diagon Alley

Compare it to last years numbers and the difference is insane. One side will say that the flu cases were all marked as Covid this year, the other side will say it's proof that masks help. Amazingly, countries like South Korea and Japan practice mask wearing every year in order to stop germs. Their numbers are low each year, and because it wasn't a huge change for them, they did well against COVID even with their much denser population.

I think more people are finally doing what we should have been doing all along: 1) coughing and sneezing into our arm sleeve (including while wearing a mask) to keep from infecting someone else and 2) washing hands with soap and water to keep us from touching our eyes, nose, and ears with potential viruses. I can count on one hand the number of handshakes I have seen in the past year. Anyone seen how few flu cases there have been this winter. lol, duh.

All I know is, I've had the healthiest Winter/Fall/Spring that I can remember in a long long time. I am tempted to wear a mask in common areas for a long time. Although, if I go to a concert, I may let caution fly.

I can confirm that Hogwarts Express is 31/12/22. Dates look genuine.

Love this clip. I've probably watched it 50 times today already 😝

Everyone has an agenda/bias -- the politicians, the media, social media, and various other groups. Even scientists who are purely in search of the "truth" cannot be so entirely because they rely on funding for their research. The government and other entities aren't funding research for purely altruistic purposes. They are looking for certain conclusions. The worst thing that is happening is the bullying to those not going with certain agenda, the silencing, the censorship and the social media algorithms. How can anyone trust people who want to silence opposition? And worse yet, there are so many people not even aware of an opposition. The 30% who think the sky is not blue should be allowed a voice. True. The problem arises when these bias's and uncertainties are not allowed to be expressed. Instead we are told "this is the way" and "there is absolutely no other choice". I disagree. We can argue whether or not we have actually arrived at the truth, and what we should do about it, but the truth is the truth -- period.

How do you think I was able to crunch the numbers for the bottle deposit trifecta? 9999 bottle and cans in the trunk, 9999 bottles and cans. At 10 cents a bottle and 10 cents a can, we're pulling in $500 a man. 9998 bottle and cans in the trunk, 9998 bottles and cans. We fill up with gas, we count up our cash!

Hello Brick Pickers, We are happy to announce our pre-order of the long-awaited Looney Tunes collectible minifigures series! As a member of this community, we are extending this special discount to you. Box of 36 = $139 Complete Set of 12 = $53 Shipping is FREE within the US. ($25 for box and $10 for sets internationally.) Pre-order ships late Mid May. Please PM with your PayPal email address, and we will invoice you promptly. Happy building, Linda

It's a couple of issues - particularly in Canada - neither of which has anything to do with an adult's ability to make their own decisions about their own life/body. 1. Controlled Speech: “addressing [Maxine] by his birth name; referring to [Maxine] as a girl or with female pronouns whether to him directly or to third parties; shall be considered to be family violence under s. 38 of the Family Law Act.” 2. Non-Adult Medical Decision-Making: To summarize, there's a risk that a significant amount of young-women may mistakenly choose permanent, life-altering, irreversible damage and have the ability to do so without the consent of a parent, or proper advisement from a medical professional. Context/details below: The Concern: It seems to be, partially, a social phenomenon: There's an epidemic amongst teenage girls. Traditional gender dysphoria usually begins in early childhood (4-5). It used to be mostly young boys. It's shifted to 70% adolescent girls, a rise of 4400% from the previous decade (based on data in the UK). 65% of adolescent girls who have discovered transgender identify (without a prior history of it) have done so after a prolonged social media exposure. Trans identification is clustered in friend groups at 70x the expected rate. These statistics seem to indicate there's more to it than an environment of acceptance. We've yet to see a wave of adults come forward looking to transition affirming the current ratios among teens. The Risk: "When you stopped puberty with puberty blockers and go straight to cross-sex hormones, you absolutely guarantee that you will be infertile. When the gender clinicians pushed the parent to start her pre-teen child on hormone blockers, they were proposing that she put the child on a path towards infertility. What's more, even if her daughter did not start puberty blockers and instead waited puberty out and then started cross sex hormones, testosterone, this started all sort of risks of its own: endometrial and ovarian cancer, hysterectomy." This, of course, doesn't account for breast-removal, permanent facial hair (even if testosterone is halted), or other side effects. "a leaked 2019 report from the Tavistock & Portman Trust Gender Clinic in the UK, [...] showed that rates in self harm and suicidality did not decrease even after puberty suppression for adolescent natal girls. The report was so damning that a governor of the clinic, Dr. Marcus Evans, resigned. He told the press that he feared the clinic was fast tracking youths to transition to no good effect and, in some cases, to their harm." The Decision-Maker: Medical professionals can be discredited for doing anything other than immediately affirming the belief of the adolescent: "But the Affirmative Care Standard, which chooses between these diagnoses before a patient has even been examined, has been adopted by nearly every medical accrediting organization: [...] health professionals can assist gender dysphoric individuals with affirming their gender identity, exploring different options for expressing that identity, and making decisions about medical treatment options for alleviating dysphoria. Notice whose medical judgment is in the driver's seat. Hint: It isn't the doctors." Currently, adolescents are able to change their identities at High School without knowledge of the parent. (I don't recall if any of this applies to Middle Schools, too.) Soon, they'll be able to go get testosterone treatments, without parental consent or knowledge, during school hours. Eventually, they may even be able to do so at on-campus clinics. "Hay" Comparison: "We know that homosexuality can't be eliminated through socialization. [...] We don't have any similar weight of history arguing that we can't treat gender dysphoria." "Before gender therapy was in vogue, gender therapists practiced watchful waiting, therapeutic process whose goal was to help a child grow more comfortable in his or her biological sex. [W]atchful waiting was remarkably successful. Several studies indicate that nearly 70% of kids who experienced childhood gender dysphoria and who are not affirmed or socially transitioned, eventually outgrow it." The Sources: Dr. Littman published a study on gender dysphoria, but it was removed because "the conclusions of the study could be used to discredit efforts to support transgender youth" (social pressure not to publish science that goes against the hegemony). It was later republished after careful scrutiny; the results were confirmed. Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier was written using Dr. Littman's research as a starting point, conducting over 200 interviews. In one interview, a school representative told her "The role of schools has changed. Technically we are an educational institution, right? Reading, writing, and arithmetic--technically that's what we are. But schools have expanded to be the hub of a lot more social services. … Looking at schools as a hub for social justice, …" "Not that we're replacing family. But things that used to be the exclusive domain of family or society, we're asking schools to look at those a little more intentionally." Even the first trans person I watched react to Shrier's research acknowledged that a prolonged medical evaluation was necessary prior to medical intervention. Full disclosure: I've listened to the book. I haven't read Dr. Littman's studies or the other studies cited by Shrier. I haven't reviewed or even searched for credible studies with evidence for why Affirmative Care, etcetera is medically advisable (yet). This is one of many issues that I'm still looking into myself. But those are the counter-arguments.

As we're having polite discourse, I have a question and am looking for an honest, serious answer. Why does anyone care what someone's sex is or if they're changing gender or identify with a different gender from birth or whatever. There are court cases around NA, including one locally for me, and while it's complicated and I feel for both sides, can't people just support how a person feels and identifies, even if a minor, instead of having to legislate it (see Arkansas). It seems similar to the old thoughts that you'll grow out of being (censored I guess, three letters: rhymes with hay) or you can unlearn it. Disclaimer: I have both left and right leaning views so that everyone can attack me! What did I do today? I walked to the playground with my son. He wanted to go to the sand pit and spent all of 45 seconds in it before he quit and went to the playground portion. Whatever.

That’s my point. Kids are still the primary germ carriers. Before kids I’d get sick maybe once a year with a cold. After kids I would usually catch whatever they brought home from daycare or school.

I'm never good with analogies, but if we're saying, "It's better than nothing," I'll agree with that. I think the bigger range in disagreement is the level of protection is actually provides, but still 1% is better than nothing. It's hard not get foil hats out on how all this has been handled. Originally thought that we would lock down for a few weeks to flatten the curve, I was like "good luck with that." People really felt it would just disappear. We still have flu shots every year, so why would this be any different? Over a year later, we're still mostly locked down, and still having surges in places with tighter restrictions. When this started and we knew nothing, people among myself thought, let the at-risk people stay home and the rest of us can be more cautious. Instead, we affected 100% of people, lost jobs, business, and are sending out trillions we'll owe. It's just insane how this has been handled. I imagined with this kind of reaction, 1 in 5 of us would no longer be here. It's not even close.

Lol, no one said that. Many medical doctors are actually idiots who memorized a lot of terms in order to get a high paying job with lots of cultural esteem. Maybe get a second opinion. Wait, we're straight up a year into mask mandates and you're still questioning their efficacy? The surgical and cloth masks we wear in stores are to keep as much of our germy bits to ourselves as we can. In the hospital, where people have serious infections and are probably coughing up a storm and on oxygen, it's much harder to contain the germs, thus space suits for the workers. After working the election last fall, I made sure to exchange info with the other workers to contact trace when we almost certainly got Covid. But despite working in too close of quarters and having hundreds of people in and out all day, none of us got sick. Everyone coming in to vote wore a mask, only a handful didn't cover their nose. I worked with those same women on Tuesday they reported losing several relatives to Covid in the months since, I've been much more fortunate, only my sister in law ended up in the ER but recovered shortly after.

I never questioned Dr. Ruth’s expertise or experience.

What will come first: pot bellied Boba Fett MF or Pot Bellied X-wing pilot MF?

Or take the purple pill and become a slave to the dance Everybody do the Bender

Great more super hero movie sets. A car & two cycles. Chopper in the next set? We have all these 18+ sets now, how about some for the new Mortal Kombat movie?

Went for a walk in the woods.

Everything's become political; impartiality has been pushed to the margins in academia, journalism (Slanted by Sharyl Attkisson), and, yes, even science. Bias is not only accepted in these areas, but becoming increasingly encouraged. Arguments like the one below can be made and, in a vacuum, are reasonable: But it's not simply that people don't trust the vaccine; they don't trust the literature and, especially, the intermediaries. I mean, Fauci instructing the public not to wear masks without the truthful why (effectiveness vs. supply for health care workers) was an error on the sheer grounds that it shows scientists are capable issue misleading people on the basis of the ends justifying the means. Further, There has been pushback. I had a difficult time finding it, too, despite using very specific criteria to search for a video that I watched a couple of weeks ago. I nearly assumed it'd been removed, but I found it when I circumvented the search and went directly to the channel. Search results are being manipulated. For the record, the hosts of that video agreed with the underlying sentiment that the long-term effects of new technology carries risk (is the sky blue?) - while also expressing flaws in the suppositions. (When legitimate questions like this one are shouted down or censored [e.g. search algorithm manipulation], that has the effect of making people more likely to believe the jank Facebook conspiracies.) Even if somebody has the desire and the aptitude to perform their own research, they simply don't have the time when everything has to be questioned and investigated: the news sources, the scientists, their motivations, the search results, the data & methodology, etcetera. Broad "but science" claims have been deluded to the point where the "Listen to doctors, get the &*/$&# shot." isn't seen as an appeal to credibility or logic - it's received as bullying. More than ever, we have to treat each other like individuals, listen to concerns, address them as best we can, and give people the space and respect to change their own minds. Thanks Ed for allowing Brickpicker to be a place where that kind of discussion is allowed & encouraged. Oh and, on topic, today I spent too much time writing this.

Lets take the confirmed cases in the USA (30,900,000) divided by deaths (560,000). We arrive at a 1.81% Fatal rate for Covid 19 in the United States However, this leaves out a major detail. This basic calculation ignores true number of infected. A lot of good science believes 50-60% of the USA population has contracted Covid 19 over the past year and never tested positive. If we add an additional 100 Million infected who've not been counted we are looking at a 99.9% survival rate. Yes, what I wrote above is just a meme...I'm just a lunatic conspiracy theorist, so please ignore everything I've written. My fudged calculations are intended to deceive everyone. With that said. Brickvoyeur's charts are accurate. However, If we add in those who've been infected and not counted this number reaches the 99.0-99.9% survival rate. Please understand I'm not trying to brush Covid 19 aside. I'm very sad for all those who've family have been changed. My grandfather passed away from it. I just want to point out a alternate view as the phycological effects of this virus may be more dangerous than the virus itself.

You need to contact the post office personally to see what that means -- although I wouldn't put any more effort into this if I was you. It is theft if you keep a package that was addressed to someone else and refuse to give it up if asked. In which case, the buyer can file a police report. But that message is extremely vague, and I think if I contacted the postmaster at my PO and they told me "our attempt to recover your package was unsuccessful", I'd like some more details -- I don't think the buyer is putting much effort into this, and probably for a reason. Ironically, I have an open case on ebay right now where USPS shows delivered and the buyer claims he never got it and is expecting me to refund him. I told him to submit a case to ebay, but his chances of getting his money back was dependent on the generosity of ebay to take it out of their pocket since the tracking clearly showed it as delivered -- and since he sent me a message claiming he never got it, it'll be difficult for him to try a SNAD attempt later. I also told him to contact his USPS but he claimed he worked during USPS hours and that wasn't an option... Right... Well he filed a not received case with ebay, I sent the tracking info to ebay, and then I sent a request to USPS and got a message on their website that the package was part of an ongoing investigation. I followed up with the buyer that I contacted USPS and said either ebay automatically filed a case to track down the package or he was able to contact the post office -- what changed? Crickets since then. In any event, you owe the buyer nothing financially. It was delivered. Your obligations are done. Insurance is to protect you to the point of "delivery". If the buyer felt they needed insurance after delivery to protect them, they could have asked for it, but they didn't. It's the responsibility of the buyer to provide a safe location for the package (if theft is an issue).

Live feed of @Max Profit getting caught sleeping on the job...

reminds me of trading 'gurus' that runs courses, if you are so good at day trading you would have made way more money than running classes.... but there are plenty that fall for it.

These youtubers... selling "advice" It's clearly more profitable than churning out the hours and risks on flipping Lego sets... Selling speculative rumours... easier money... and so many subscribers fall for it... They all say the same stuff. Take a mortgage on your home, max out 3 credit cards (rolling different dates) and go buy legos on a discount. You'll be rich!! Double your money!! Every year!!! Look at Camel Camel Camel!!!! Check out Amazon prices for retired sets from 5 years ago! EZ!!! Please like and subscribe - become a parton - (+100$ thanks you) - free goodie! Be smart and do your own work - read, think... don't duplicate the nonsense of a Youtuber who's making money pushing BS content in your face. Ohh yeah... that's boring... right... GOGO on the Mandalorean with Child GOGO all in...

Surely you are joking. Covid hasn't gone anywhere, George. It's still an existential threat. Gov't is planning int'l arrivals and home quarantine, all it takes is one dickhead. There was a guy in Brisbane that went to heaps of places while infectious. Today's news. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-26/brisbane-covid-queensland-coronavirus-community-transmission/100016622?utm_source=abc_news_web&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_web