Trend Lines

This has been one of my least favorite trends in the last couple years of the internet (Upworthy does this crap all the time).

Could you spot these 5 plot holes?  I'm actually not sure what the big deal about plot holes is supposed to be.  It reminds me of the geeks who get mad when a movie adaptation of their favorite comic book isn't "accurate."

There's a joke about Obama repairing our relationships with foreign allies somwhere in here.

After a few years of getting battered by the taxi lobby, Uber is starting to fight back.

This partially explains why you couldn't find a $1500 apartment.

But if you did want one, this is what the new stock looks like.

Responses:

1. That makes sense.  One interesting thing about Cosmos was that it often highlighted the devout beliefs of the various scientific luminaries featured.

2. It's actually something I struggle with too.  So much of life feels like a great big confidence game.

3. The thing that puts the idea over the top is if there is a robust secondary market.  I'm not saying you should be able to buy with a view towards selling at a higher price (though I don't have a problem with it), but I would be hesitant to make a reservation at a restaurant that required ticketing if I weren't fairly certain I could get substantially all of my money back if something came up and I couldn't go.

4. One of the comments on the Spielberg thing was "That's Steven Spielberg, director of Jurassic Park!"  And the response was "I dont care who he is he should not have shot that animal."  Let's not forget about the NPR April Fool's Day gag. At a certain level, people just aren't going to get it, and we as a society have to be okay with that.

5. I'd try it.

6. The general theme seems to be providing information, which is good.  Btw, I know a fair number of people who use Airbnb.  A surprising amount, actually.

R2R:

3. Fear of cops is one thing.  I read an article today that I didn't find repulsive in practice (theory is obviously a bugaboo), but mostly because I tend to think of cops as both doing a difficult job and incapable of understanding legal arguments - not because they are dumb, but rather because they represent the executive part of government (I tend to think that "tell it to the judge" is less an insincere direction and more a legal reality).  I also have little sympathy for people who approach law enforcement with general hostility who are then surprised when the hostility is returned to them.  If a cop tells me to get on the ground, put my hands up, do the hokey pokey, whatever, I'm doing it and settling up with the judge after the fact.  We should police the police, but the place for that is in administrative or judicial fora, not in the streets.  People who argue otherwise partially (if not fully) reject such fora as illegitimate, and that's a road I refuse to go down.

4. It seems to be gaining steam, even though few people think the indictment has merit.  It just seems dumb.

B