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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - returns Feb 12th 2017

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aussiedude08 said:
Its hard not to think Archer whenever i see him. He has done quite a few bits for Lastweek tonight.
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My brother finally got into Archer, but he couldn't watch it because he just kept thinking Coach McGuirk and thought that was enough of the voice for him. Fortunately my persistence got him to watch the earlier seasons.
 
IAmtheFMan said:
Of course. Good Morning America isn't going to change its sexy titles to something that's more accurate. Hell I've had some of my studies reported in the lay press where the purpose and findings were completely misrepresented and I've come to terms with the fact that it will happen. But even here on GAF, we get a "study finds... blah blah blah" topic extremely often, and I would hope that people that watch that segment will at least go in with some degree of whether the "report" is actually accurately summarizing the results.
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I just saw the GAF thread on mobile phone usage and brain cancer and immediately thought about John Oliver's segment.
 
I personally think this new video deserves its own thread precisely because of this:

IAmtheFMan said:
But even here on GAF, we get a "study finds... blah blah blah" topic extremely often, and I would hope that people that watch that segment will at least go in with some degree of whether the "report" is actually accurately summarizing the results.
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But I don't know if this thread replaced new threads for new videos.
 
Why did doctor Wu defend real science when he's only in for the moneeeys?

Go back to making genetic frog monsters, you quack!

I enjoyed that he was in there though. :) Also reference is Jurassic Park + World. And yes, I am aware that he played a lot more of 'actual science man' in Law & Order: SVU, but that the joke, dammit.
 
Cheesemeister said:
Video: Scientific Studies
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Al Roaker
thinking.gif
 
IAmtheFMan said:
Of course. Good Morning America isn't going to change its sexy titles to something that's more accurate. Hell I've had some of my studies reported in the lay press where the purpose and findings were completely misrepresented and I've come to terms with the fact that it will happen. But even here on GAF, we get a "study finds... blah blah blah" topic extremely often, and I would hope that people that watch that segment will at least go in with some degree of whether the "report" is actually accurately summarizing the results.
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Yep. I always try to go to the source first and see if the report is credible. One time a Washington Post columnist played statistician and did his own interpretation of a global racism study which seemed unbelievable, so I dived into the source data and found that the actual raw data was reported incorrectly. I contacted the columnist who didn't believe me at first (because he had absolutely zero training in statistics from the way he replied) but luckily a whole bunch of people on reddit reported the same error so he had to make a correction the next day.
 
linsivvi said:
Yep. I always try to go to the source first and see if the report is credible. One time a Washington Post columnist played statistician and did his own interpretation of a global racism study which seemed unbelievable, so I dived into the source data and found that the actual raw data was reported incorrectly. I contacted the columnist who didn't believe me at first (because he had absolutely zero training in statistics from the way he replied) but luckily a whole bunch of people on reddit reported the same error so he had to make a correction the next day.
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That's really cool that you do and did that.

Excellent and very important extended piece by John Oliver, I thought.
 
The piece on scientific studies immediately reminded me of the questionable, one-off study on school bullying that quickly became popular last year, even here on GAF. Few questioned it because it strongly pandered to a popular belief. (The cynical idea that bullies are normal and happy with their superiority over the deservedly weak, while parents lie to their children when they tell them bullies are insecure.)

You don't even need warped media headlines to get people on board with using isolated, provisional studies to rationalize whatever. Studies sound science-esque enough that they immediately invite people to think yeah, this must be a fact and not an opinion or guessworkl.
 
WanderingWind said:
Studies show that 100 percent of H. Jon Benjamin's voice is awesome, even if he's not a scientist.
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I also did a double-take when I recognised Dan's irredemably assholish lobbyist boss from Veep (Peter Grosz) actually being... charming and civil. Although the creepiness was still there.
 
The 911 episode was so poorly researched and the understanding of the tech stack involved with sending GPS/location data is so lacking that I'm wondering if it was intentional.

John's had a few really sour episodes now where he skews the facts, what's the point of watching a 20 minute segment that plays fast and loose with reality?
 
Arkeband said:
The 911 episode was so poorly researched and the understanding of the tech stack involved with sending GPS/location data is so lacking that I'm wondering if it was intentional.

John's had a few really sour episodes now where he skews the facts, what's the point of watching a 20 minute segment that plays fast and loose with reality?
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So what's up? Tell us how it really is?
 
Aselith said:
So what's up? Tell us how it really is?
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  • The FCC's timeline to get location data up to snuff is based on VoLTE, which is less than two years old, and less than a year old being adopted by US carriers, which is disingenuous when the episode frames this a solution long overdue.
  • Dominos and Uber use your phone's GPS, which mobile phone frameworks heavily control to protect your privacy. You do not want the government having access to your location at all times. This should be a no-brainer.
  • If the government were to make a curated "emergency" app, who would be making this? Maybe we can get the fucking geniuses behind healthcare.gov to make it, that'd be super reliable. /s
  • The 80% or 4/5 figures John uses to forecast how many calls will successfully transmit usable location data by 2021 is misleading because with VoLTE it will transmit 100% of the time for those people with the phones or in geographic locations where it's possible to transmit data, but the people who are in bad geographic locations or have older technology, THOSE are the 20%. The last segment with Rob Riggle has a joke where they'll find you 100% of the time... 80% of the time, basically making it sound like it's a roll of the dice, when that's total bullshit.

Everything John said about 911 being understaffed, underpaid, etc, is all on point. But everything he talks about concerning the tech stack involved with getting this data from cellphones to 911 re-frames the reality of where we're at with this tech. What's the point? To make it sound like it's more of a clusterfuck than it really is? I guess that's what most of the episodes aim for now, but it's unwarranted here.
 
Arkeband said:
  • The FCC's timeline to get location data up to snuff is based on VoLTE, which is less than two years old, and less than a year old being adopted by US carriers, which is disingenuous when the episode frames this a solution long overdue.
  • Dominos and Uber use your phone's GPS, which mobile phone frameworks heavily control to protect your privacy. You do not want the government having access to your location at all times. This should be a no-brainer.
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  • Who said "at all times"? The government would have access to your location only when you... call 911?
 
Arkeband said:
  • The FCC's timeline to get location data up to snuff is based on VoLTE, which is less than two years old, and less than a year old being adopted by US carriers, which is disingenuous when the episode frames this a solution long overdue.
  • Dominos and Uber use your phone's GPS, which mobile phone frameworks heavily control to protect your privacy. You do not want the government having access to your location at all times. This should be a no-brainer.
  • If the government were to make a curated "emergency" app, who would be making this? Maybe we can get the fucking geniuses behind healthcare.gov to make it, that'd be super reliable. /s
  • The 80% or 4/5 figures John uses to forecast how many calls will successfully transmit usable location data by 2021 is misleading because with VoLTE it will transmit 100% of the time for those people with the phones or in geographic locations where it's possible to transmit data, but the people who are in bad geographic locations or have older technology, THOSE are the 20%. The last segment with Rob Riggle has a joke where they'll find you 100% of the time... 80% of the time, basically making it sound like it's a roll of the dice, when that's total bullshit.

Everything John said about 911 being understaffed, underpaid, etc, is all on point. But everything he talks about concerning the tech stack involved with getting this data from cellphones to 911 re-frames the reality of where we're at with this tech. What's the point? To make it sound like it's more of a clusterfuck than it really is? I guess that's what most of the episodes aim for now, but it's unwarranted here.
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Fair enough, but how will anyone know if they're in an area allowing a good fix or a bad one - that sort of uncertainty should not be a thing when you're talking emergency response.
 
Arkeband said:
  • The FCC's timeline to get location data up to snuff is based on VoLTE, which is less than two years old, and less than a year old being adopted by US carriers, which is disingenuous when the episode frames this a solution long overdue.
  • Dominos and Uber use your phone's GPS, which mobile phone frameworks heavily control to protect your privacy. You do not want the government having access to your location at all times. This should be a no-brainer.
  • If the government were to make a curated "emergency" app, who would be making this? Maybe we can get the fucking geniuses behind healthcare.gov to make it, that'd be super reliable. /s
  • The 80% or 4/5 figures John uses to forecast how many calls will successfully transmit usable location data by 2021 is misleading because with VoLTE it will transmit 100% of the time for those people with the phones or in geographic locations where it's possible to transmit data, but the people who are in bad geographic locations or have older technology, THOSE are the 20%. The last segment with Rob Riggle has a joke where they'll find you 100% of the time... 80% of the time, basically making it sound like it's a roll of the dice, when that's total bullshit.

Everything John said about 911 being understaffed, underpaid, etc, is all on point. But everything he talks about concerning the tech stack involved with getting this data from cellphones to 911 re-frames the reality of where we're at with this tech. What's the point? To make it sound like it's more of a clusterfuck than it really is? I guess that's what most of the episodes aim for now, but it's unwarranted here.
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I think his larger point is that there shouldn't be a situation where they can't find you.
 
Arkeband said:

  • [*]Dominos and Uber use your phone's GPS, which mobile phone frameworks heavily control to protect your privacy. You do not want the government having access to your location at all times. This should be a no-brainer.
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  • But it shouldn't be protected during an emergency 911 call right? They have these phones programmed to get service if you need 911 no matter what but they can't figure out a way to transmit location data during an emergency call?

    If you try to use anything else that uses location data, it will ask you if you want to transmit your information. A 911 call should be an immediate opt in.
 
To be honest, you'd think they'd be able to stop butt dials easier. Like you can only dial 911 if you key in those individual numbers rather than it being in your phonebook/speed dial.
The 911 (orginally 999)number was created so people wouldn't dial it by mistake on those old ass phones where you had to pull the rotary dial back for each number, with The 9 being so far back you'd have to be really unlucky to hit it.
By removing 911 from address books would probably cut that shit right down.
 
IdreamofHIME said:
To be honest, you'd think they'd be able to stop butt dials easier. Like you can only dial 911 if you key in those individual numbers rather than it being in your phonebook/speed dial.
The 911 (orginally 999)number was created so people wouldn't dial it by mistake on those old ass phones where you had to pull the rotary dial back for each number, with The 9 being so far back you'd have to be really unlucky to hit it.
By removing 911 from address books would probably cut that shit right down.
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There are area codes with 91_ or 9_1. Those get misdialed all the time.
 
Cheesemeister said:
Video: Primaries and Caucuses
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I just had the primary process explained to me.

How the fuck doesn't America go completely insane!?

Last big vote for the Riksdag here in Sweden consisted of me going to a voting hall, pick a card with the party I wanted to vote for, tick the little option of the person I wanted to be prime minister and drop it in a box, that was the entire bloody process.
 
Keasar said:
I just had the primary process explained to me.

How the fuck doesn't America go completely insane!?

Last big vote for the Riksdag here in Sweden consisted of me going to a voting hall, pick a card with the party I wanted to vote for, tick the little option of the person I wanted to be prime minister and drop it in a box, that was the entire bloody process.
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The general election is somewhat standardized, so there is that.
Every state in the GE has a primary, but of course each state can modify the "rules" so to speak of their state primary. Such as enforcing bullshit voter id requirements, not having early voting or requiring an excuse for absentee ballots.

For Primaries, it's similar but the State parties are somewhat in control instead. Although primaries are ran by the state governments and caucuses are ran by the state parties.
The primary reason caucuses still exist are a combination of folksy antique charm (which is bullshit) and the state not wanting to pay for primaries.
 
Keasar said:
I just had the primary process explained to me.

How the fuck doesn't America go completely insane!?

Last big vote for the Riksdag here in Sweden consisted of me going to a voting hall, pick a card with the party I wanted to vote for, tick the little option of the person I wanted to be prime minister and drop it in a box, that was the entire bloody process.
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We don't go insane because most people only understand what goes on in their state.

Granted, if you're even allowed to vote because of poll taxes and literacy tests... i mean Voter ID laws.
 
Keasar said:
I just had the primary process explained to me.

How the fuck doesn't America go completely insane!?

Last big vote for the Riksdag here in Sweden consisted of me going to a voting hall, pick a card with the party I wanted to vote for, tick the little option of the person I wanted to be prime minister and drop it in a box, that was the entire bloody process.
Click to expand...

My personal experience voting in general elections is similar to how you vote for your Parliament and PM. I enter a booth and each candidate has a button next to their name to vote for them. For me, the entire processes of voting, from going to the voting location to casting my vote and going home takes less than 10 minutes. (more of this later)

Right now we're in the primary phase of the election. We aren't voting on who will hold office, we're voting on who will represent the political parties when we enter the voting booth during the general election. The primary phase has a lot more bullshit because there isn't anything about it in our constitution. We just let state parties organize them so each state can have very different rules. For most of our history, the parties would just decide who the candidate would be without citizens voting for them.

Our general elections still have a lot more bullshit than yours do, probably. Our constitution gives each state a lot of power in how they run elections, which has allowed state governments to suppress and disenfranchise voters by things like gerrymandering, poll taxes, closing polling places, you get the idea. That's also why many people are skeptical when state governments try making things like Voter ID law. Many people see it as another tactic in the long list of voter suppression.
 
I see.

As far as I know we skip all the primary elections etc. since our government is party based. Everything is rolled into one election when it comes to the Riksdag where on the very same ballot you can vote for both the party and one of the candidates the party has put forth as Prime Minister. Also County Council and Municipal elections are held on the same day and same locations so you can vote for everything on the same day. Only the European Union elections are on a separate date.

Campaigning in Sweden is also usually just a few months before election. I can't imagine how it is being in the actual centre of constant political bombardment for 4 years as in the US.
 
Loved the call out of Bernie supporters since there are virtually only 2 types of people that comment on all YouTube videos dealing with politics on every major news channel, Bernie people and Trump people.
 
Cheesemeister said:
Video: Primaries and Caucuses
Click to expand...

This seemed fair and a reasonable response without the toxic vitirol from both camps. There where no real jabs at either camp or an endorsement. There was sympathy garnered for both sides of the story. There is no corruption or voter fraud, but clearly it's easy to see why some people would be lead to think that in the heat of this cluterfuck of a system, as Oliver himself points out.


The North Dakota thing was the most upsetting thing I've heard in a long time. I didn't know that, that happened. Incredible.
 
As a Canadian, I'm not sure why the US government let's all these states do whatever they want with rules regarding their caucuses and primaries. The biggest crime from all of this is just how plain inconsistent it is between state lines. No wonder people feel disenfranchised.
 
Keasar said:
I see.

As far as I know we skip all the primary elections etc. since our government is party based. Everything is rolled into one election when it comes to the Riksdag where on the very same ballot you can vote for both the party and one of the candidates the party has put forth as Prime Minister. Also County Council and Municipal elections are held on the same day and same locations so you can vote for everything on the same day. Only the European Union elections are on a separate date.
.
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Parties in parliamentary systems will also elect/appoint their representatives, it's just a lot more public and a lot more open in the US. Non party members do not get a say in who becomes their representatives, where as in the US they can as independents depending on the state. This is the open/closed primaries
 
chaobreaker said:
As a Canadian, I'm not sure why the US government let's all these states do whatever they want with rules regarding their caucuses and primaries. The biggest crime from all of this is just how plain inconsistent it is between state lines. No wonder people feel disenfranchised.
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Something something big government
something something states rights
something something founders rolling in graves
 
Whooter said:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFwpvHMiRqM/


/Dead
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I am grateful to all, but this is NOT my cat. It became known that even the American TV channel “HBO” joined to search. The anchorman comedian - John Oliver asks millions of viewers to look for a cat. I knew long ago that in the USA unevenly breathe to my younger friends. One day horses aren't allowed to jump, the other - a cat is a real star of a show. Oliver laments a fact that we put on t-shirts with a photo of the President of Russia - Vladimir Putin. Yes, millions of people rejoice t-shirts with the image of the national leader. For this purpose, there is a good motivation. Vladimir Vladimirovich is a wise, courageous, resolute Head, who managed to withstand unfriendly campaign, which is conducted by the USA and its assistants. Thanks to Putin, we have crushed terrorists among whom there were also citizens of the USA, and European citizens. The country directed by Obama under the guise of peacekeeping operations spark new wars and bloody internal conflicts, in which die millions of people. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria... That's why there is nothing surprising that Oliver also got a wish to appear publicly in a T-shirt with an image of Putin, but not Obama.
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SHzniTH.gif
 
chaobreaker said:
As a Canadian, I'm not sure why the US government let's all these states do whatever they want with rules regarding their caucuses and primaries. The biggest crime from all of this is just how plain inconsistent it is between state lines. No wonder people feel disenfranchised.
Click to expand...

Samantha Bee did a good topic about this as well.

Frankly I don't mind the superdelegates since it is nice to have an ABORT button if John Edwards or Trump hijacks your party. Yes, our primary process needs a huge overhaul if we intend to vote for our presidential frontrunners.

*fixed the link*
 
chaobreaker said:
As a Canadian, I'm not sure why the US government let's all these states do whatever they want with rules regarding their caucuses and primaries. The biggest crime from all of this is just how plain inconsistent it is between state lines. No wonder people feel disenfranchised.
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In Canada the parties change up how they elect their leaders all the time, but they make it clear when the cutoff date is to register as a member to be able to vote at least, Americans would hate it :p
 
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