2mo ago

The world is a big place

244 comments

Micro cosmology is a problem a majority of Americans live with. If they can't see it from their front porch it don't exist. That played a major factor in the current shitshow preloading in d.c.
- Preloading
  Lol
  
  Here's another one for you: 'played a major factor in'. Not strictly correct grammatically. A better phrase would've been, "played a major role in".
- "reloading"
  
  Give me fuel give me fire give me that which I desire?
- This is painfully accurate.

Two weeks, huh? The US is around 3,000 miles from coast to coast, so that puts him over 200 miles skateboarding every single day... I'm not sure, but the person who didn't know mountains exist might be dumb.
- Just go faster. I don't get it.
  
  Paint the skateboard red if you have to.
  
  "I'm crouching as hard as I can!”
- 200miles/8hours of skating straight means an average speed of 25 miles an hour.
  Ambitious, considering the average speed of a skateboarder is closer to 10 miles an hour, but it could be possible if he was extremely fit, had unbreakable bones, and the US was a flat plane for 3000 miles like this guy thought.
- If he’s illiterate we don’t need to call him dumb
  Also allegedly the Rockies, not all mountains… we hope
  
  I doubt he is being labelled "dumb" due to being illiterate.
  Doing no research prior to setting out is a great reason to call him dumb.

Apparently, Chad Caruso set the Guinness world record as the first person to skateboard across America in 2023, from Venice Beach to Virginia Beach. It took him 57 days to cover 3,162 miles, adventure adventure of 55 miles a day.
- adventure adventure!
  
  The best kind of adventure
  
  I don't think he knows about second adventure.
  
  Always need more adventure
- Rob Thomson skated across the US starting in 2006. Also from Switzerland to China.
  http://14degrees.org/
  I have a photo from that trip handing up poster size in my house. A random waterfall panorama.
- That's actually not nearly as long as I would've expected. Pretty impressive.
- Bit over 2 weeks but doable
- how did he skate up and over the Rockies?
  
  He kick flipped real hard

Fun fact: mountains are big.
- Not-so-fun fact: He'll have to be rescued with taxpayer money
  
  He has a skateboard though
  
  Boring fact: The highest pass he'll have to cross on his journey looks like this:
  
  If he'll have to be rescued, then because someone ran him over.
  
  Another fact: Society failed to educate him properly using taxpayer money.
  Perhaps society deserves to face the consequences of its actions.
  
  For what its worth: He made it to NY today. No rescue required. The community helped him out along the way.
  https://nypost.com/2024/12/14/us-news/social-media-stars-roll-in-times-square-after-skateboarding-across-us/
- What about small mountains tho
  
  You keep your mouth shut
  
  Aren't those hills tho
- Source?

One change of clothes for a 2-week trip... now that's a man's man!
- I mean it's not extremely far off compared to Ultralight hiking, you can still be hygienic (like often washing clothes), of course though you're not winning parfume contests along the way... It's a tradeoff to make compared to having a lot of uncomfortable weight to carry around.
  
  Extra socks and underwear would probably be a good call, but wear one, wash the other and let it dry either overnight or throughout the day.
- Does he carry a Texas sized bottle of French cologne?
  I don't want to be his room mate.
  
  Cologne is in Germany, not France you silly goose!
  
  French cologne, my ass! He wears WAAAAAAY to much Axe Body Spray like a patriotic American bro who doesn't understand geography should.
  
  I mean, also because he's apparently not aware of the largest mountain range in North America.
  
  Axe Body Spray. Guaranteed.

“If Forrest Gump can do it, so can I”
- Gump didn't even have a skateboard
  
  From the sound of it, the skateboarding guy must have never watched Forrest Gump. He would have known it would take more than 2 weeks, just by seeing Gump's beard grow.
- The late great Forrest Gump?

Almost certain they were playing it up and this is satire, sorry to spoil everyone’s fun. https://www.instagram.com/jaayfilms They started again on September 30 this year and are now in Missouri. If these content creators are good at one thing it’s creating a compelling narrative and this guy did it by getting himself called illiterate.
- Oh shit, he’s in the home state of illiteracy now
- I'll admit there is a part of me thats relieved.
  
  Same, I was full. Ahh. That's better.
- Nothing ever happens

I met a guy like that in the 90's except he was on a lot of LSD and was making his way around the world. IDK if that was true but my buddy picked him up one night and we had a party with him and he cut his dreads off and burned them so a witch wouldn't get them. Good times!
- Who cut whose dreads off?
  
  The traveling dude cut his dreads with my buddies help
- The dreads were magic, and you helped him free him self, and now he works a white collar job

How does he use IG?
Assuming its not a parody.
- You'd be surprised how functional the illiterate can be.
  
  When I first moved to Japan, I had to use lots of websites that used untranslatable images (not text, like png or whatever and google lens was not a thing). I got help a few times and memorized what clicking on an area did more than even what the image was (which would change sometimes). This is how I got by with ATMs and various websites for quite a while. It works until something changes. Today, screen readers, google lens, and other things exist to help as well.
  
  Yeah, just look at Trump. Functional illiteracy is a real thing in the US.
- Using a screen reader
- You'd be surprised how little IG users can read.

Cant seem to find this dude on ig, there are just too many that tried to cross the usa with a board.
Does someone have a link to this specific persons ig? That would be great, thanks.
- Reverse image search brings up this image:
  
  Which goes here: https://www.instagram.com/jaayfilms
  
  What are you using to take that screenshot? It looks like a phone but the aspect ratio is like a square
  
  Found a youtube channel
  
  Day 52 in Missouri, dudes committed
  
  Thanks for the detective work! I know TTS software is a thing now, but he even has a gmail account... How (un)likely is it that it's just a publicity stunt (money grab)?
- I'm not great at this, but from the original x post, I think his handle is @jaayfilms
  The news report video says he dropped out of HS. I couldn't find where he got that he's illiterate, thought this would take two weeks and didn't know about the mountains... But I honestly didn't dig much after haha. If someone else finds it, please let me know. I just want to read that comment thread haha

Does he have learning disabilities? How does someone with so much motivation not learn to read
- Most likely functionally illiterate and not 100% "I can't read," but I've overestimated instagrammers before
  
  Most people are illiterate. Literacy is a skill with levels and most people don't actually ever reach the level required to be a fully functional person.
  
  This meme is a great example. Most people don't actually reach Ogre's level of literacy. Yeah, it's played for laughs in the fact that Ogre is smarter than the average human, but Ogre is also completely correct about the level of literacy we should expect of people, in a perfect world.
- It is easy to have motivation to skateboard across america when you don't have enough education to understand what doing that means.
  
  "According to the known laws of physics, bumble bees should not be able to fly"
- Idunno anything about this guy, but for some folks they just weren't taught early enough. You can learn to read at any age, but no amount of motivation can match an early education
- Illiterate refers to both being able to read basic words all the way up to reading comprehenson. Equally possible he simply cannot understand what he reads and is anti-intellectual as that seems to be on the rise in the US.
  
  As a victim of the US public School system, every class had one out more kids that simply couldn't read aloud in class for one reason it another. The teachers learned to not call on them in the future to keep things moving.
  Some of them got moved to special education classes over the years, but I'm my experience they were just free periods to keep them from slowing the other kids down.
  Its sad, I knew a guy that was smart as a whip, but we went to a restaurant he wasn't used to and he sheepishly asked me what was on the menu.
- See the great historical documentary 'Forrest Gump'.
- Spelling (in non phonetic languages) has nothing to do with intelligence levels - it is all to do with memory and exposure. Perhaps he never went to school, or the level of education was pathetic… or he is incredibly dyslexic. Sorry if this answer sounds harsh but I’m pissed-off at what you wrote. I know of at least one illiterate person who stands head and shoulders above the “college kids” around them. They were such an integral part of our team that were bought them speech-to-text / text-to-speech software to keep their job.
  
  That's why I didn't say he was stupid. I asked if he had a learning disability which is not a taboo thing and it doesn't mean you're stupid. If anything I complimented him on his motivation and determination. You were just out to find something to get mad and offended over so you interjected that into my comment, even though I didn't say that. I see that happening a lot lately with Americans. They all wanna be offended so they can moralize
  
  or he is incredibly dyslexic
  Dyslexia is a learning disability

I feel like a longboard would be better for this.
- No need to board shame him. He's just rocking with what he's got. It's not the size of the board, it's the motion on the pavement.
- If the longboard is the length of the US and he mounts it, does that count? Does he have to walk the length on the longboard? I have so many (very stupid) questions!

That voter is gonna learn some stuff.
I was not surprised by the presence of a giant cross necklace.
- He can't read, so that makes sense.

Well, if you're following him, did you bring more clothes? Maybe you can lend him some.

we live in a society.
- Not sure he does.

How many skateboard wheels are needed for a 3000 mile trip?
- Not many sites seem to deal in distance when talking about replacing skateboard wheels, but I was able to find this:
  https://skateboardscan.com/skateboard-wheels-last/
  So according to that he'd need 10-30 sets of skateboard wheels to cross the country.
  Of course if you're just riding on the side of highways in a straight line forever you could probably get a little more out of them since you're not doing any precision work or tricks.
  
  Chad Caruso did it last year using just one set of wheels. New record too (57 days).
  https://www.jenkemmag.com/home/2023/05/22/how-chad-caruso-skated-across-america/
  
  Not so sure. A road surface tends to be rougher pavement than sidewalks or skate parks. I'd imagine the side of a highway chewing those parkboard wheels away at record rates.
  I'm honestly kinda shocked anyone attempting this wouldn't use a longboard with some chonkier wheels.
  
  You don't know if he's maybe Nollie Kickflipping the whole way.
- Chad Caruso did it last year using a single setup for the whole trip, so 4..
  https://www.jenkemmag.com/home/2023/05/22/how-chad-caruso-skated-across-america/
  
  I love that this has happened before and recent enough that it can be compared to this dude's trip. Great find.

That guys vote counts the same as yours. Just saying.
- If he's from California then my vote counts a little more because my state has less population. The smaller the state's population the more their vote counts.
  
  Democracy!
  
  Wyoming has the lowest population.
  Makes sense why candidates spend all their time trying to get these powerful voters on their side. Those 3 electoral votes really makes it the most powerful swing state.
  Someone in Wyoming has more electoral votes to their votes, yes. And I believe that is the point you're making.
  If everyone in Wyoming voted for Candidate A. Candidate A has basically the same chance of winning or losing.
  If everyone in California voted for Candidate A. Candidate A has a lot better chance of winning.
  It's more powerful to be able to vote in something that actually matters than to vote in something that doesn't.
  You could just not count any votes in Wyoming and still call the overall winner 99.999% of the time. It would have to come down to 3 electoral votes tie breaker for their votes to even matter. Whereas every vote in California always matters.
  Like in this last election. If Harris won every "swing state". But Trump could have won California and he'd win the election.
  Electoral college has It's pros and cons but "The smaller the state's population the more their vote counts." Isn't true.
  It's the middle size, "swing states", that the voters have the most powerful.
  You aren't a drop in the bucket like California, but your state has enough electoral votes to actually swing things.
- This might not be true. Depending on where you live, your vote could be worth about 0.8th of what this guys vote is worth
  
  Casper and Cheyenne Wyoming have the 75k most powerful voters in the country.
  They control the same number of US Senators as the world's 5th largest economy.
  The fact that 75k can filibuster 40m is the peak of absurdity.
- The idea behind wisdom of the crowd is that the people who don't know the answer cancel each other out. It's the reason why the audience joker on who wants to be a millionaire is so powerful.
  
  Wisdom of the crowds works when people are making somewhat educated guesses. It falls apart though if everybody groups themselves into camps that either think A or B and no other option because their camp leader has told them that they think A or B
- Devil's advocate. We should only let a select few who we deem as intelligent to vote for us?
- Such a shame. We ought to implement some type of criteria based on reading and comprehension skills that allows you to vote.
  A literacy test, if you will.

Lol, what a country

Which day is he realizing the Rockies exist?

How is he planning on getting back?
Also, won't his wheels wear out?
- If someone thought it would take two weeks there would be no concern about wheels wearing out. They also wouldn't have the planning skills for a way home, becsuse how far could that be?
  I'm assuming it is a parody account.
  
  I'm assuming he's gunna wind up dead in Colorado like that lady who drank all the colloidal silver

"It's one country, Michael, how wide could it be? Two weeks of skateboarding?"

Literally illiterate?
- The percentage of the population that's illiterate is way higher than it has any business being.
  Like "can't read at an elementary school level".
  
  Wow, those figures are shocking. US of A, 1st economy in the world, 1st military power in the world and our space, 36th in literacy rate. I am sad for fellow Americans :(
  
  The percentage of the population that’s illiterate is way higher than it has any business being.
  Like “can’t read at an elementary school level”.
  “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics” - Mark Twain
  Not in your link, but I found the same statistics as your link in another with a critical piece of information:
  "According to researchers, 4 out of 5 Americans 18 and over possess medium to high proficiency in English reading and writing." source
  These statistics, both your link and mine, may only be measuring literacy in English.
  So looking to get a clue how many may have literacy in another language:
  "Today, 13.8 percent of the nation's residents are foreign-born" source
  So at least a percentage of those being counted as USA illiterate may indeed be literate in another language that isn't English.
  
  Man, without a Department o'Education those numbers will get worse.
- He didn't know America had mountains.
  
  Then he's immounterate
  
  That is willful ignorance, not illiteracy. People talk about the rocky mountains, they are mentioned in songs...
  
  According to a third party on X
- Figuratively infigurate

Can confirm I live in ZA WARUDO!

Orogeny gonna get ya
- And here I was thinking this whole time it was the rhythm that would.

I know it says LA in the image, but are we sure he wasn't actually from Night Vale?
- Mountains? More like NOTHINGS

cmon whats his name
- You won't believe it;
  Albert Einstein.

Is this not the hatchet wielding hitchhiker guy?
- Kai? He is in jail for murder I think.

If he ever decides to try to find a way around the Rockies this will become even more interesting

For what its worth: He made it to NY last Saturday.
https://nypost.com/2024/12/14/us-news/social-media-stars-roll-in-times-square-after-skateboarding-across-us/
- Wow, seriously? What a trek.

Following an ignoramus, who can't read and doesn't know mountains exist (?) .. Yeah, what a content, definitely worth the invention of Internet

244 comments