PHOENIX — Every year, the NFL’s chief decision-makers come together for the annual league meetings. For this go round, the Arizona Biltmore resort in Phoenix is the host site. The Raiders sent a contingent including owner Mark Davis, president Sandra Douglass, general manager Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels, among others.
Ziegler sat down with The Athletic for an interview Sunday at a table inside the lobby of his place of residence for the next couple days. Coming off of the start of NFL free agency earlier this month, there was plenty to discuss. He discussed a number of topics, including the Raiders’ approach to team building, free agency, the draft, signing Jimmy Garoppolo, trading Darren Waller, franchise tagging Josh Jacobs and more. His responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What was the comprehensive plan going into free agency?

We still had quite a few holes, I would say, on the roster when we went into free agency. I think there’s a part of us going into free agency where we’re addressing needs. The inverse of that is there’s some teams that go into free agency where their rosters may be a lot more established. Whoever it is, whether it’s the Chiefs or some of those different teams where they may be going into free agency and they’re saying like, “Hey, we’re targeting these three players,” do you know what I mean? … There’s that kind of realm of free agency. Obviously, we hope to build to get that. The plan in free agency, I would say we’re still addressing, generally speaking, just a lot of needs that we have on the roster. And I think when you’re doing that, there’s a couple things. No. 1, we have to continue to improve the depth and competition of the team. There’s still a lot of that when we’re going into free agency. I think the plan was to add as many guys as we could in free agency that we felt fit the mold of being smart, tough, dependable and just an element of being explosive, good football players. … But also, we want to build a football team that has an edge and has a chip on their shoulder. And I think there’s a certain type of guy that has that, you know what I mean? I think Maxx Crosby has that. I think Davante Adams has that. People forget, when Davante was drafted and brought in the league out of Fresno (State), he didn’t take off right away. From a vision standpoint, that’s what we want to build here and continue to build here. Those were some of the highlights of what we were looking to do in free agency.
And I mentioned this before when we’ve spoken, too: You have to allocate your resources in free agency. You don’t have unlimited cap space. You don’t have unlimited funds and things like that. And so, you have to be strategic in the way that you do that. I don’t see us in a position that maybe another team is like you look at the mosaic of your roster and it’s like, “Hey, we only need one corner and one left tackle or one defensive tackle and everything else is already set.” That’s just not where we’re at from a roster construct. And so, doing that probably would leave too many other holes that we still have to address, you know what I mean? So, I think we were strategic in doing it. We were judicious in what we were allocating. And I think the other thing that we did — maybe a little differently than last year — also was we added a handful more guys on two-year deals. Last year, we did a lot more one-year deals. We like the idea of making a commitment to those players and those players making a commitment to us. I think if you have just a slew of guys on one-year deals, that can cause some issues because they’re there for a year. So, that was kind of another part of it, too.

You agreed to terms with Jimmy Garoppolo pretty quickly once free agency began. What made him an attractive option at quarterback?

Simply put: Proven leader, proven winner. I think he’s won 70 percent of his starts. And you can caveat that with the whys and all that stuff but, at the end of the day, he was a part of winning a lot of football games. He’s a proven leader, he’s a proven winner and the next part of that is obviously he’s been steeped in the offensive system that we run. And so, there’s an advantage in that, too. Simply put, that’s what it was.
Garoppolo was supposed to sign on March 16, but ultimately didn’t sign until March 17. Was there any worry that the deal wasn’t going to get done during that time things were delayed?
No. It was just things contractually like language and stuff like that that we had to work through. There was zero worry at any point. We knew it was going to get done, it was just making sure that everything, there’s a lot of protection and clauses and language and things like that, so it just took a little bit longer once we all sat down and started to go through the contract. Because you talk about the framework, obviously, before, but when we actually were kind of going the nuts and the bolts of it, there was just a couple things that took a little bit longer to work through that we anticipated. We didn’t want to have you guys wait, too. We weren’t sure exactly when we were going to be able to get on the same page on all of it, so we just pushed it to the next day, but it was never any concern on our behalf that it wasn’t going to get done.

You wouldn’t have moved on from Derek Carr unless you felt you needed more from the quarterback position. How confident are you that Garoppolo can provide that?

We’re confident. We’ve been around Jimmy since he came in the NFL, so we were with him through a few of those developmental, nurturing years where you really get to learn who people are as football players, as people, from a talent standpoint. And he was successful with us in the time that he got to get on the field. Obviously, there wasn’t an extensive time because Tom (Brady) was there. And then you see him go to San Francisco and, again, there’s a high level of success that he has there, too, when he’s out on the field in a completely different system. He showed the ability to adapt to that system, adapt to a new culture, adapt to a new set of teammates and you saw a lot of the same things that we saw in New England, which was players gravitating towards him. The locker room embraces him. We saw him do that in a completely new setting. He won a few of the football games he went out for us when he started those few games when Tom wasn’t with us at that time. He won those games, and he goes to San Francisco and wins a bunch more games. So, again, I go back to the leadership and the proven winning aspect. I think those are the things that made Jimmy attractive to us. Knowing the history of it and seeing what we thought we saw in his younger years and then to see it manifest and prove itself out in San Francisco made us feel that we’re going to get someone that’s going to provide a lot of leadership and help us win football games.

You placed the franchise tag on Josh Jacobs. What went into that decision and is there any chance you could still work out a long-term extension?

What went into the decision was wanting to have him here. You got to make the decision of do you want the player on your roster or not? Obviously, with the year that he had and the person that he is in terms of his football traits and things of that nature, he fits the fabric of what we’re looking for. He’s a smart football player. He’s tough. He’s dependable. He’s explosive. From a football perspective, that made it an easy decision. Obviously, there’s an investment that goes into placing a franchise tag on a player. It’s $10 million. I’d say that’s a significant price tag for any player. So, we just felt ultimately that his football traits and him as a person and as a player warranted us doing that and making that decision and not letting him hit free agency, if you will. And then going forward, yeah, there will be an element of fluidity to it. I’d say we’ve been working through this free agency thing and so you have that time period where you can have some more of those conversations and things of that nature. So, we’ll have some more of those conversations. I wouldn’t say we’ve had a ton of them while we’ve been working through the free agency piece, but we’ll have some more of those conversations and we’ll see where it goes.

What went into the decision to trade Darren Waller to the Giants for the No. 100 overall pick in this year’s draft?

When you look at the trade in the singular aspect, we traded Darren for a third-round pick, right? Kind of taking a step away, what we ended up doing there is we ended up taking a portion of the money that Darren was making and acquiring Jakobi Meyers plus a third-round pick. So, that’s what ended up precipitating the trade. There was an opportunity to do it and, obviously, we thought it was the best opportunity for the football team. That’s how I really looked at is we ended up moving Darren for Jakobi and a third-round pick. Obviously, I thought that was worth the cost of doing business. Darren’s a phenomenal football player. He’s super talented. He’s super explosive. And Jakobi’s a really good football player, too. Ultimately, we felt like the value of acquiring Jakobi and the third-round pick was good value for us in terms of moving Darren.

From the outside looking in, there seems to be a lot of overlap between Davante Adams, Hunter Renfrow and Meyers because they’ve all been used frequently as receivers who line up in the slot in their careers. How do you see that working out?

I don’t look at it as overlap as much as I look at it as versatility to be able to move people around and put them in different spots. … I’ve had similar circumstances in the past where say like Julian (Edelman) and Danny (Amendola) had some overlap in their skill set, but we also used it kind of to our advantage. Those guys will give us flexibility to move people around. Jakobi has a lot of his production inside the numbers and I think that’s tailored to what we do offensively. I think it also highlights some of the things that Jimmy does well offensively, and where he throws the football well. Now, I think he can throw it to all levels, but he’s had a lot of production, too, between the numbers. So, I think Jakobi fits some of the things that Jimmy does well and it gives us some versatility. He’s just been a highly productive player. Again, maybe it doesn’t jump off the page in terms of an elite athletic skill set, but he’s really productive on third down, really productive over the middle of the field and when you watch his tape you see him get open and win in the slot and you see him get open and win on the perimeter. I don’t really have any issues with where he’s going to play because I think you could put him anywhere and he’s going to get open.

You mentioned at the Senior Bowl that the offensive line is a position group you need to address, but in free agency you’ve re-signed players like Brandon Parker, Jermaine Eluemunor, Hroniss Grasu and Netane Muti but haven’t made any outside additions. Why have you just focused on retaining rather than adding?

I think there’s a lot of value in the offensive line in continuity. There’s a tremendous amount of value in there because it is kind of a synchronized group. Ultimately, we have three guys that are coming back that were starters for us last year in Kolton (Miller), Dylan (Parham) and then Andre (James) and then we brought Jermaine back and Brandon back and we have Thayer (Munford) back. I think there’s a lot of value in that. And I just think there’s other opportunities to continue to improve that position whether it’s continuing to do it in free agency and, obviously, we’re going to have the draft coming up to continue that. So, we value the continuity. I think those guys are all good football players and I think we’re always going to focus on improving that group whenever we can. And, again, in free agency it made the most sense to improve the group that way based on the cost of doing business at that position or other positions.

On the defensive side of the ball, you made a collection of smaller moves rather than making big splashes. Were you just focused on adding to your overall depth?

Yeah, that’s exactly it. And I would just say again, it’s not just the defense. There’s various things that we outlined that we needed to address in free agency. Every move plays off another move, you know? So, ultimately on the defensive side of the ball, yeah it was more about finding some young players that fit the traits that we value and that we think we needed to add to the team, and we did that in a couple areas. We brought in recently a couple other guys at the cornerback spot in David Long and Duke Shelley that we feel are young players with some upside to compete in those roles. And, ultimately, whether it’s the offensive side or the defensive side of the ball, what we need to continue to do here is — and I’ve mentioned it many times — we need to continue to add our own homegrown talent.
We’re always going to be focused on developing our team through the draft, but I would say that we need to — not that it’s more of a focus, but just where are roster is at when you look at it — fill out a lot of holes and needs in free agency, which ultimately, we want to grow out of that. And I think the only way that you grow out of that is you draft your way out of that, and you end up having your young, core group of players and the fabric of players that are filling a lot of those needs. Whether they’re starter needs or whether they’re key backup needs and things of that nature where you’re going into free agency maybe with a much more narrow focus and a much more targeted group of players that you’re focused on adding and saying, “Hey, boom, they’re going to fill this one role or this one spot.” So, going back going into free agency, yeah, those guys ended up fitting needs. At the same time, we looked at other areas of the team, but there’s a tradeoff for going to sign someone for $15 million and what that limits your ability to do in other spots on the roster.

Free agency is never really over, but you guys know what the foundation of the roster is now as you begin to look toward the draft next month. What is the goal that you want to accomplish in this draft?

I would say it’s hard to really give you a direct goal like we want to do, “This or that.” I don’t think that’s something that I really want to advertise, anyway, but I still think we’ll go in with the approach of just draft the best available player. I think that’s what we believe in. That’s going to be the continued focus going forward. And I don’t know where that’s going to be. I don’t know what position that’s going to be. It could be a defensive tackle. It could be a tight end. It could be a guard. Whatever it is, we’re going to still continue to focus on, where we’re at, is that the best available player that fits the fabric of what we’re looking for?
And I don’t know how that’s going to materialize. To say, “Ultimately, no matter what, we’re going to improve the secondary,” coming out of the draft, obviously we would like to do that, but I think also when you have that mindset that’s where you start to reach and that’s when you start to overshoot things and that’s where you can start to convince yourself that a player is better than another player at a position because you really need that player. I think that can lead to bad decisions. We have a decent amount of draft picks and we have an opportunity to infuse our roster with some youth and we have an opportunity to infuse our roster with the style of football player in terms of the skill set but also the makeup and the DNA of the football player that I think is really important to building a consistent winner. It’s just like a successful business: Have a bunch of people that are steeped in the cause, that believe in the cause, that have similar DNAs, that are motivated by the same things, that have the same style of work ethic, that have similar levels of football intelligence.
When you do that, that’s how you build a group of people that all pull in the same direction. What I’ve learned and I think what we’ve seen over time is that people that win the offseason — when you look at the history of the league — why hasn’t that produced more wins? Why is that? Why haven’t the teams that win the offseason produced a high level of wins? And you can go all the way back to the dream team in Philadelphia. Well, I think a lot of that is because you bring all these people in from different teams that have different ideologies, different beliefs, different experience, different biases. That’s great on paper, but that’s not necessarily great for building a team. And so, I think acquiring talent and building a team, there’s a link there, but I think you have to be focused on building a team. That’s really the goal of the draft is continuing to build the fabric of our team and the DNA of what we want the Las Vegas Raiders to be.

You’re taking a long-term view with your team-building process. Where does the self-awareness to be honest about where you are come from and how do you plan for that to play out?

I was always taught when I first started in scouting back in Denver that the most important aspect of scouting is knowing your team and honest reflection of where your team is at and honest evaluations of where your team is at. And so, I value that a lot. You can get in the habit of making your team better or worse than it is, you know what I mean? You can go either way in terms of your strengths and your weaknesses. So, I think the self-awareness piece of it has developed over just what ingrained and taught as I came up. The most important part is honest reflection about your own roster and where it’s at. That’s not just something that I do on my own; that’s something that we do with the whole scouting department and the coaching staff. We come together as a group to understand where we’re at. For me, one thing that’s probably helped is both in Denver in my time with the Broncos and my time in New England, I got to see the construction of a lot of really good, successful rosters. … I’ve seen a lot of successful rosters built. Championship-level rosters. Rosters that — even the Denver roster — that wasn’t just a flash in the pan; they ended up actually going on to win a Super Bowl there. And so, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to see what that looks like and see what that means. So, I have a frame of reference to understand where this roster ultimately needs to go to have the type of depth that we want, to have the type of starting-level talent that we want and ultimately to build a consistent winner.
Those past experiences give me the self-awareness to understand where we need to go. I think at the same time, we have a lot of good football players on this football team on both the offensive and the defensive side of the ball and I’m excited about what we have coming back. I think there’s going to be a group of players that make a jump in Year 2 being in the same system with the same coaches with the same level of continuity and so I’m excited about the jump that some of our young players are going to make here going from Year 1 to Year 2. And that’s part of our evaluation process, too, is you may feel from the outside looking in that there’s a deficiency here at this position or this position and we may be looking at it as the opportunity for one of our young players who feel based on their traits and based on what they did in Year 1 is going to make that jump in Year 2. So, I’m excited about a lot of the young guys that we have coming back, I’m excited about the top-tier talent that we do have at some different spots on the football team and then I’m excited also about some of the free agency acquisitions that we made that I think are really going to improve the mental toughness of our team, improve the football intelligence of our team, improve the talent and the execution in critical moments on our team. So, there’s a lot of things that I’m excited about our roster right now and then I’m excited about the opportunity that we have as an organization to infuse the youth that I was talking about in the team.
While there’s this level of self-awareness of where we need to go and understanding you’re not going to fix every single hole in one year, I’m also really excited about what I think this team can do here in the upcoming football season as we come together as a group and the areas that No. 1, we’ve improved the team, No. 2, the top-tier talent that we have and No. 3, the anticipated jump that we’re going to hopefully see from some of our players that are going to be in Year 2 on the job. I’m excited about that opportunity for a lot of our players because we didn’t overhaul the coaching staff. I think we’re going to see a lot of growth there. I don’t want anybody to get confused on the fact that we have the self-awareness to know that we’re not going to fix every single hole or get every single position group to exactly what the long-term vision is with where we’re at now as a team and the excitement that I have going into 2023 based on those three things that I just told at the same time.

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Onslaught hit stands in 1996, when I was 11 years old, and forming my taste in all things. I remember buying Wolverine comics at the time and loving them. Wolvie was trying to find his humanity (a classic tale for Logan), he was banging Elektra (a ninja!), and slicing and dicing. I loved the "noseless, bandanna-wearing, feral, post-issue-100 Wolverine!"
I lost those comics and never went back to that era. Over the last few years, I've heard that era referred to as like a stand in for awful 90's comics. I wanted to see what I thought, so I picked up Wolverine vol 9 (epic collection). In addition to an annual and some short graphic novels, this TPB had the end of the Larry Hama run, issues 101-109. Wolverine becomes feral in 101, and has one 6 issue arc where he pretty dramatically gets his humanity back and gets together with Electra. I have to say, I didn't like it. The noseless design was weird, bringing Elekra in as the person to train Wolverine to become a man was weird, and working in Onslaught was messy. So, the critics are right, noseless Wolvie sucks.
​
But that's only six issues! Looking more broadly at Hama's run (which ended in issue 109), I feel confident in saying he ended strong! Issue 90 is one of the best single Wolverine issues ever (the fight with Sabretooth at the X-mansion), Hama takes him back to Madripoor for a few issues of old-tyme patch callbacks, and he ends with a three issue arc from 107-109 that feels like some of the best stuff from his early issues (my personal favorite is the arc where Wolvie stops a Yakuza drug trade around issue 31-33. I think Hama's last few years are almost as good as his first years. The strange, feral Wolverine is so tied into Onslaught that I wonder how much was Hama and how much was a big X-book editorial decision.
TL;DR: Noseless Wolverine is bad; Larry Hama is great; Issues 90 - 109 are mostly great

STUDIES ON HUMOR IN THE ZHUANGZI
In one of the now classic studies on humor in ancient China, David R. Knechtges (1970–1971, 80) summarizes what may have been at the time a widespread scholarly view about a relative lack of humor in ancient Chinese texts: “It has been observed more than once that humor does not occupy a prominent place in traditional Chinese literature.” Toward the end of his essay, Knechtges concludes that, while indeed some humorous texts or passages can be identified in ancient China, “most of early Chinese humor is essentially didactic and moralistic” (95). In comparison with this rather unexciting estimation, Knechtges’s view on the Zhuangzi is quite remarkable: he writes that this “entire work is made up of a series of incongruities strung together in the aimless manner of sustained humor” (97). It seems that Knechtges felt slightly uncomfortable with conceding such a dissonance between the strikingly humoristic features of the Zhuangzi and the “essentially didactic and moralistic” humor anywhere else in ancient China, so he thought it better to surmise cautiously that Zhuangzi was probably just a madman with a “fondness for the bizarre and unconventional,” whose humor was “unintentional” and a mere “by-product” of a strange imagination (97).
Knechtges was by no means the first to ascribe exceptionality to the Zhuangzi as a humoristic work in ancient China. In 1932, Lin Yutang published an influential essay called “On Humor” (Lun youmo 論幽默) in which he commended the spiritual merits of humor in the world in general and China in particular. He identified various humorous traditions in ancient China and labeled Daoism (mostly referring to Laozi and Zhuangzi) as the “humorous faction” in the history of Chinese thought, as opposed to the “orthodox faction” of Confucianism (Sample 2011, 174; see also Liu Jianmei 2016, 106–11). Among the Daoists, he singled out Zhuangzi as “the father of Chinese humor” (Sample 2011, 173). He thereby seems to have set the tone for similar judgments, such as a more recent one by Xiao Dong Yue (2010, 403), who states that Zhuangzi “is recognized as the very first humorist in China.” As a rule, most contemporary interpreters of the Zhuangzi grant that it is an often witty text that uses humor among many other literary tools. Eske Møllgard (2007, 6), for instance, affirms that the Zhuangzi “employs prose poems, fables, satire, song, fictitious dialogue, spiritual exercise, didactic verse, aphorisms, and a number of literary genres we have still not identified and understood.”
While statements of this kind abound in the literature—both academic and popular—devoted to the Zhuangzi, in-depth studies on its use of humor as either a literary or a philosophical device are more difficult to find. Nonetheless, one attempt to assess the philosophical function of humor in the Zhuangzi was made by Erik Schwitzgebel (1996). According to Schwitzgebel, humor in the Zhuangzi has the therapeutic function of making its readers capable of taking truth claims or assertions of facts less seriously and thus allows them to adopt a more flexible attitude toward pronouncements in language. He says that Zhuangzi simply “would like to see us take what people have to say less seriously” so that we are “willing to play around with it in a disrespectful way for humorous or other ends” (70–71). We sympathize with this view, particularly since it echoes our point that its similarity to play is a philosophically relevant aspect of humor, but also because it resonates with our claim that humor dissolves moral seriousness and empties out meaning. Perhaps the most comprehensive attempt to analyze humor in the Zhuangzi from a literary studies perspective has been presented by Youru Wang (2003). In Linguistic Strategies in Daoist Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism: The Other Way of Speaking, Wang adopts a deconstructionist perspective and deals specifically with “denegation” (i.e., negating and self-negating language such as the “negation of all polarities and double negation” [153]), paradox, and irony in the Zhuangzi, all of which he ties to the Zhuangzi’s self-ascribed use of the much-discussed “goblet words” (zhi yan卮言; for interesting discussions of this elusive term, see Wang Bo 2004; Fried 2007; Morrow 2016).3 According to Youru Wang (2003, 153), “the Zhuangzian denegation disagrees with the Derridean interpretation of denegation.… This Derridean interpretation still falls into a negation privileged over affirmation. Zhuangzi does not privilege negativity over positivity.” Instead, Wang believes that denegation as found in the Zhuangzi expresses a playful toying with the relation between language and the ineffable, while uses of paradox illustrate “the dynamic convergence of various opposites.” He thus links humorous rhetorical techniques to philosophical interpretations of the indirect “strategies of communication” (see Kupperman 1989) and “antirationalism” (see Carr and Ivanhoe 2000) found in the Zhuangzi. Wang (2003, 158) concludes, “When the use of denegation or paradox brings about self-negation or self-contradiction in an unanticipated manner, especially when it occurs in a form of self-mockery or self-ridicule, it involves irony.” In short, for Wang, irony emerges as the major humoristic device in the Zhuangzi and, philosophically speaking, it “calls into serious question any logocentric or metaphysical closure in a frivolous or humorous way” (159). Lee Yearley (2005) has also presented some ideas on “Zhuangzi’s kinds of language” and, like Youru Wang, combines a literary analysis with philosophically relevant conclusions. Unlike Wang, though, he does not use a deconstructionist conceptual framework. His intention is to interpret Zhuangzi as a religious ethicist who uses “literary devices like satire or parody” (516; another interpretation of Zhuangzi as a religious ethicist is presented in Lee 2014) to convey a spiritual message and to call for moral self-reflection. According to Yearley (2005, 516), these humorous devices in the Zhuangzi are intended to provoke “hermeneutical crises that have spiritual implications” for readers so that they will eventually be forced to “evaluate their own spiritual maturity.”
From a different philosophical perspective, James D. Sellmann (1998, 165) ascribes a transformative “mystical” meaning to humorous language in the Zhuangzi. He affirms that “storytelling, irony, jokes, even a simple pun—all of the elements that make up comedy, laughter, and forgetting … are the literary devices employed in the Zhuangzi.” Influenced by Kuang-ming Wu’s (1990) approach to the Zhuangzi and partially reminiscent of Robert E. Allinson’s (1989) reading of the text as a guide for “spiritual transformation,” Sellmann further argues that through such devices the Zhuangzi shows “how one must awaken to ‘transformation’ and ‘humor’ by beginning to live the life that affirms one’s own personal mutation” (172).
With fewer philosophical (but more historical and philological) ambitions than Wang, Yearley, or Sellmann, Shirley Chan (2011) has made an attempt at “identifying Daoist humor.” While her specific focus is on the Liezi列子, much of what she says is also applicable to the Zhuangzi, since several of the textual examples she discusses appear in both texts. Chan, too, pays attention to specific literary devices and points to “metaphor, exaggeration, hyperbole and reductio ad absurdum” (87). Interestingly, she connects both the Liezi and the Zhuangzi with the ancient Chinese category of “huaji-ists,” or “humorists,” who, as Knechtges (1970–1971, 82) remarks, “were considered important enough for Sima Qian to compile a monograph on them in his Records of the Historian [Shiji史記].” They were “jesters at the courts of the Warring States kings and Han emperors” (83) and spoke “wittily and relevantly to persuade their lords to accept their advice” (Shirley Chan 2011, 75). Knechtges (1970–1971, 83) states that huaji滑稽 “in the early period meant something like a ‘smooth talker.’ ” The term’s connotations were not necessarily positive, and so it makes sense that Chan reads the expression huaji猾稽 as huaji滑稽, or “humorists,” in an interesting statement made in the Shiji’s biography of Xunzi 荀子. In Chan’s reading, this statement has Xunzi dismissing Zhuangzi as someone “who attacked Confucian social conventions by being a humorist” (huaji luan su滑稽亂俗 [Chan 2011, 232n11; see Shiji 74.11]).
The anti-Confucian trajectory of many of the humoristic passages in the Zhuangzi is discussed in further detail in a more recent essay by Katrin Froese (2014). Froese notes that Confucius is not only sympathetically depicted as a spokesperson for Daoism at times but also ambiguously “at the receiving end of so much biting satire” in the Zhuangzi (310). Although Froese does not explicitly refer to Henri Bergson—whose interesting but unfortunately now-ignored theory of humor assumes that laughter results from perceiving something human as nonhuman, as mechanistic or lifeless (Bergson 1924)—she identifies the function of anti-Confucian humor in the Zhuangzi very much in Bergsonian terms. According to her, the Zhuangzi mocks the at times “mechanist” Confucian attitude to ritual. She writes, “For the Daoist, ritual, when held up against the spontaneous and yet harmonious movement of nature, will always be comic because it is mechanistic, artificial, and forced” (Froese 2014, 210). In the context of a collaborative comparative study on Kierkegaard and Zhuangzi (Carr and Ivanhoe 2000), P. J. Ivanhoe has discussed humor in the Zhuangzi by testing the text against the humor theory of D. H. Monro (1963), which preceded the present standard accounts by Morreall and others. Ivanhoe “ticks all the boxes” and attests that the Zhuangzi contains forms of humor that are compatible with any theory tracing humor back to “feelings of superiority, incongruity, ambivalence, or relief from inhibition or restraint” (Carr and Ivanhoe 2000, 136). Besides proving the Zhuangzi’s humorous versatility and its capacity to live up to contemporary humor theories, Ivanhoe is particularly keen on defending Zhuangzi against any accusations of using humor in a morally suspicious way. For this purpose he suggests a strict distinction between the good-humored, authentic Zhuangzi who speaks in the Inner Chapters and the inauthentic falsifiers of him present in the Outer Chapters. He believes that “it is not too strong a claim to say that sections of the text that criticize Kongzi [Confucius] himself in a severe and malicious way are immediately suspect as the work of late pretenders to Zhuangzi’s mantle.” He specifically points to “the ‘Robber Zhi’ chapter,” which he takes to “have been confidently identified as of rather late origin” (11). In the same vein, he categorically states that “one does not find the mocking humor of the assassin in the authentic parts of the text” (138).
Ivanhoe establishes a stark moral contrast between the mild, ethically instructive, and restricted humor of the genuine Zhuangzi on the one hand and, on the other, the “malicious” “humor of the assassin” of the “pretenders to Zhuangzi’s mantle.” Apparently he assumes that there is a kind of “devil in disguise” hidden in some parts of the book and thinks that the conscientious reader should beware of it. Perhaps Ivanhoe’s drastic good/evil and authentic/inauthentic distinction is due to an influence of the long history of the moralistic “traditional rejection of humor” documented by Morreall (2009). Ivanhoe’s distinction between good and evil humor in the Zhuangzi echoes the “moral fear” that has haunted philosophical and religious condemnations of humor for centuries in both East and West. It is therefore not surprising that it resurfaces in some of the literature on humor, including literature on the humor of the Zhuangzi. Accordingly, Ivanhoe is not the only one to judge Zhuangzi’s humor morally; other authors, too, make an effort to identify an ethically clean humor in the Zhuangzi that is free from immoral or harmful traits. Lee Yearley (2005, 516), for example, writes, “Zhuangzi’s humor rarely, however, just distances in a way that allows us to feel superior.” Youru Wang (2003, 158) finds (inoffensive) irony in the Zhuangzi but not (offensive) sarcasm, saying that irony “differs from sarcasm, because sarcasm laughs at the hearer.” Lin Yutang points out that Daoists “could have become cynical and disgusted with the world, but by arriving at cynicism and disgust, they would have lost an essential element of true humor” (Sample 2011, 175).
Unlike some of the authors quoted in the preceding, but in line with newer humor theories, we reject the traditional superiority perspective on humor that tends to find unchecked laughter morally suspicious. In our opinion, the ascription of such ethically negative attributes to humor results from a moralistic prejudice against humor. We intend to argue instead from an amoral perspective beyond good and evil that looks at humor as being, among many other things, a way to escape moral fear and not as a dangerous rhetorical device that, if not properly reined in and cleansed, will serve to assert one’s superiority over others. We have therefore made our preceding sketch of several characteristics of a Daoist theory of humor in response to a not uncommon impression among readers of the Zhuangzi addressed by Brook Ziporyn (2009, viii): “Profound comedians have always been hard to come by; funny philosophers perhaps even more so. To enter into this work attributed to Zhuangzi is to find oneself roused and enraptured by its intellectual and spiritual depth, but also by its provocative humor.” What we intend to do is make sense of the provocative humor of the Zhuangzi within a philosophical framework. This framework looks at Daoist humor, on the one hand, as a subversive reaction to the impossible existential demands of an ethical regime of sincerity and, on the other hand, as a way of experiencing the playful pleasure, effortless skillfulness, and childlike sanity of a genuine pretender.
From: TOWARD A DAOIST THEORY OF HUMOR
Book: HANS-GEORG MOELLER & PAUL J. D’AMBROSIO GENUINE PRETENDING ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ZHUANGZI COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS New York

Greetings everyone!
I encourage everyone to share this post.
Overview
Rather than there being deep irreconcilable contradictions existing between the Bible and scientific truth, modern science demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of the God of the Bible. Religious scholars simply misunderstood one reference in one verse. When their misunderstanding is corrected and a proper understanding of the key verse is given, the Biblical account and the scientific account align. The Bible gave the correct times for scientific events far before the advent of modern science and the evidence stands for all time that the God of the Bible factually exists.
So I will cover the correct time from Scripture; That 1 Day in Genesis is equal to about 365,000,000 human years. And Since God distinguishes between Day and Night as separate, the a Night in Genesis is equal to about 365,000,000 human years as well.
The Model
The model consists of 14 units of time: one unit for each of the 7 Days, and one unit for each of the 7 Nights. Each unit is 365,000,000 about human years long. The total time of the model is 5.11 billion years. The model begins 5.11 billion years ago. I treat the model as ending at Adam and Eve’s exit from the Garden Eden 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. The model starts with a Night, so Night One goes first, then Day One, then Night Two, then Day Two, etc. Note that 'Day' or daytime encompasses the daylight hours in the understanding from Jesus (John 11:9), and Night makes up the remaining period.

" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world." (John's Gospel 11:9, RSV)

Validly extracting 1 Day of the Lord's Time from Scripture being equal to 365,000,000 human years Someone might ask, "Hey, where do you get the 365,000,000 human years for One Day in Genesis?"
From a verse from Saint Peter's Second Letter, which is the verse 2Peter 3:8.
Here is the verse.
“But do not forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2Peter 3:8, New Heart English Bible)
The Incorrect Understanding of 2Peter 3:8
The mistake that has been made for many years comes from thinking that 1 Day of the Lord's Time is equal to a thousand years of human time, and the end of the sentence's 'one day' is referring to the previously mentioned 'one day is with the Lord'.
The Correct Understanding of 2Peter 3:8
In contrast to the above misunderstanding, the end of the sentence's 'one day' is NOT referring to 'one day is with the Lord'. Instead, the 'one day' at the end of the sentence is referring to the first mention of 'as a thousand years', that is one day of THOSE thousand years.
Thus, there are three timescales involved in the verse. I call this third timescale 'Heaven' time. So involved within the verse there is 1 Day of the Lord's Time, 1000 years in Heaven time, 1000 human years, and 1 Day in Heaven time.
Picture with notes for 2Peter 3:8 to aid the reader.
Since there are (about) 365 days in a year, we can draw the relaxation from Heaven Time as well. Since means we have three equations, 1 Day of the Lord's Time resolves to 365,000,000 human years.
Equation 1 from first part of 2Peter 3:8, Equation 2 from second part of 2Peter 3:8, Equation 3 from there being about 365 days in a year
Here is the calculation showing that 1 Day of the Lord's Time is equal to 365,000,000 human years visually.
1 Day of the Lord's Time into human years
The Strong Evidence: The Scriptures giving the correct times for scientific reference events before modern scientific instrumentation existed!
As can be seen, the alignment is strong between the Biblical timeline as calculated based on 2Peter 3:8 and its account, and the scientific determination of time for the referred to events.
​
https://preview.redd.it/hts5kvoo11qa1.jpg?width=613&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f7f7d638fcb4eaf702eafc59bcd30a86fa00250
https://preview.redd.it/70y63woo11qa1.jpg?width=615&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f5fa4b03b87039b4758addea5f3be1949f1ab1ef
https://preview.redd.it/gc3yvyoo11qa1.jpg?width=611&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=53dc4a5aaa86c8735748cb2204d64189facc51d0
https://preview.redd.it/y5fssyoo11qa1.jpg?width=610&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=576a3a0da0362f55e8c416980704da3a054dca75
​
How did the Genesis Writer and Saint Peter know? By divine insight, which means that God exists! So the Bible gave the right times, and God exists when the science is weighed.
Please share this post with friends and the community.
I wrote a book called Science Confirms the Existence of God, some sections of which appear in this post. Regards,
Kevin
email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
Some Sources for Table 1.
Cleeves, I. L., Begin, E. A., Alexander, C. M., Du, F., Graninger, D., Oberg, K. I., & Harries, T. J. (2014, September 25). The Ancient Heritage of Water Ice in the Solar System. Retrieved from arxiv.org: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1409.7398.pdf
Bouvier, A., & Wadhwa, M. (2010, August). The age of the Solar System redefined by the oldest Pb-Pb age of a meteoritic inclusion. Nature Geoscience, 1-5. doi:10.1038/ngeo941
Thomassot, E., O'Neil, J., Francis, D., Cartigny, P., & Wing, B. A. (2015, January 20). Atmospheric record in the Hadean Eon from multiple sulfur isotope measurements in Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt (Nunavik, Quebec). (M. H. Thiemens, Ed.) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(3), 707-712. doi:10.1073/pnas.1419681112
Cohen, K., Finney, S., Gibbard, P., & Fan, J. -X. (2013; updated (requested citation of work)). ChronostratChart2017-02.jpg (4794×3368). The ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart(36), 199-204. International Commission on Stratigraphy. Retrieved September 26, 2020, from https://stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2017-02.pdf
Ollier, C. D. (1996). Planet Earth. In I. Douglas, R. Huggett, & M. Robinson (Eds.), Companion Encyclopedia of Geography: The Environment and Humankind (pp. 15-43). London: Routledge. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=8u-JAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Nutman, A. P., Mojzsis, S. J., & Friend, C. R. (1997). Recognition of ≥3850 Ma water-lain sediments in West Greenland and their significance for the early Archaean Earth. Geochimica et Cosmochimica, 61(12), 2475-2484. doi:10.1016/S0016-7037(97)00097-5
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (2021). Hydrosphere - origin and evolution. Retrieved January 28, 2021, from britannica.com: https://www.britannica.com/science/hydrosphere/Origin-and-evolution-of-the-hydrosphere
Eriksson, P. G., Mazumder, R., Catuneanu, O., Bumby, A. J., & Ilondo, B. O. (2006). Precambrian continental freeboard and geological evolution: A time perspective. Earth-Science Reviews, 79, 165-204. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2006.07.001
Kumar, S., Stecher, G., Suleski, M., & Hedges, S. B. (2017). TimeTree: a resource for timelines, timetrees, and divergence times. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 34, 1812-1819. doi:10.1093/molbev/msx116
Williams, G. E., Schmidt, P. W., & Young, G. M. (2016). Strongly seasonal Proterozoic glacial climate in low palaeolatitudes: Radically different climate system on the pre-Ediacaran Earth. Geoscience Frontiers(7), 555-571. doi:10.1016/j.gsf.2016.01.005
Betts, H. C., Puttick, M. N., Clark, J. W., Williams, T. A., Donoghue, P. C., & Pisani, D. (2018, October). Integrated genomic and fossil evidence illuminates life’s early evolution and eukaryote origins. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2(10), 1556-1562. doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0644-x
Knoll, A., Javaux, E., Hewitt, D., & Cohen, P. (2006, May 5). Eukaryotic organisms in Proterozoic oceans. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Soceity B, 361, 1023-1038. doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.1843
Nichols, S., & Wörheide, G. (2005, April 1). Sponges: New Views of Old Animals. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 45(2), 333-334. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/45.2.333
Genitsaris, S., Moustaka-Gouni, M., & Kormas, K. A. (2011, January 19). Airborne microeukaryote colonists in experimental water containers: diversity, succession, life histories and established food webs. Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 62, 139-152. doi:10.3354/ame01463
Seilacher, A., Bose, P. K., & Pflu¨ger, F. (1998, October 2). Triploblastic Animals More Than 1 Billion Years Ago: Trace Fossil Evidence from India. Science, 282(80), 80,82. doi:10.1126/science.282.5386.80
Su, D., Yang, L., Shi, X., Ma, X., Zhou, X., Hedges, S. B., & Zhong, B. (2021). Large-Scale Phylogenomic Analyses Reveal the Monophyly of Bryophytes and Neoproterozoic Origin of Land Plants. (F. U. Battistuzzi, Ed.) Molecular Biology and Evolution. doi:10.1093/molbev/msab106
NASA. (2019, January 24). How Old Are Galaxies? NASA Space Place -- NASA Science for Kids. Retrieved from NASA Science - SpacePlace: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/galaxies-age/en/

Abstract
This post explores the various dimensions of freedom that extend beyond economic freedom and examines how an excessive focus on economic freedom, as advocated by some political and economic philosophies, can lead to the curtailment of other universal freedoms. Drawing on a wide range of scholarly sources from libertarian, liberal, and anarchist perspectives, the post makes an argument for achieving maximum liberty for all by considering the intricate balance between different forms of freedom.
Introduction
Economic freedom is an essential component of individual liberty and societal prosperity. However, focusing solely on economic freedom undermines other vital aspects of freedom that contribute to a just and free society. This post discusses political, social, cultural, and personal freedoms and examines how excess economic freedom, as found in extreme free market capitalism, anarcho-capitalism, economic conservatism and right wing libertarianism, can lead to the curtailment of these universal freedoms.
Through this post I aim to provide a balanced argument for achieving maximum liberty for all.
Political Freedom
Political freedom encompasses the ability of individuals to participate in the political process, express their opinions, and exercise their right to vote, as well as the existence of a transparent and accountable government. Excessive economic freedom can lead to a disproportionate influence of wealthy individuals and corporations, undermining political freedom and equal representation (Stiglitz, 2012). As Hayek (1944) notes, "economic control is not merely control of a sector of human life which can be separated from the rest; it is the control of the means for all our ends."
Social Freedom
Social freedom involves the ability of individuals to participate in and shape the social fabric of their communities, free from discrimination, marginalization, or exclusion based on factors such as race, gender, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status. In a society with excessive economic freedom, social inequalities may be exacerbated, leading to a stratification of society and further marginalization of disadvantaged groups (Piketty, 2014). As Nozick (1974) acknowledges, "liberty upsets patterns."
Cultural Freedom
Cultural freedom refers to the ability of individuals and communities to express and preserve their cultural identities, traditions, and practices without coercion or discrimination. In a society driven solely by market forces, cultural expression may become commodified, and minority cultures could be overshadowed by dominant cultural groups with more economic power (Appadurai, 1996). As Kropotkin (1902) argues, "diversity of thought, of initiative, and even of execution, is life itself."
Personal Freedom
Personal freedom is the right of individuals to make choices about their own lives, including decisions about their relationships, family, and personal beliefs, without interference from the state or society. Excessive economic freedom may undermine personal freedoms by privatizing essential services such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure, making them inaccessible or unaffordable for many individuals (Rawls, 1971). As Mill (1859) states, "Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign."
Conclusion
Achieving maximum liberty for all requires a nuanced approach that considers the interplay between economic, political, social, cultural, and personal dimensions of freedom. This post has demonstrated that an excessive focus on economic freedom, as advocated by some political and economic philosophies, can lead to the curtailment of other universal freedoms. By balancing these various forms of freedom and ensuring a just and equitable society, we can work towards a world in which all individuals have the opportunity to live a fulfilling and dignified life with maximum liberty.
References
Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Hayek, F. A. (1944). The Road to Serfdom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kropotkin, P. (1902). Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. London: William Heinemann.
Mill, J. S. (1859). On Liberty. London: John W. Parker and Son.
Nozick, R. (1974). Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York: Basic Books.
Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Rawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Stiglitz, J. E. (2012). The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Discussion Questions:

1. How can societies strike a balance between economic freedom and other forms of freedom, such as political, social, cultural, and personal freedoms, in order to ensure a just and equitable society for all individuals?
   
2. To what extent should governments intervene in markets and regulate economic activities to protect other freedoms, such as social and cultural freedoms, without infringing upon individual liberties and free-market principles?
   
3. How can we address the potential negative consequences of excessive economic freedom, such as income inequality and social stratification, while maintaining the benefits of free markets, such as innovation and economic growth?
   
4. In the context of globalization and an increasingly interconnected world, how can we safeguard cultural freedom and diversity, while also promoting economic freedom and international trade?
   
5. How can political philosophies, such as libertarianism, liberalism, and anarchism, contribute to the development of policies and frameworks that balance economic freedom with other essential freedoms to ensure maximum liberty for all individuals?
   

Thank you for reading. See you in the comments (hopefully).

This is a fantasy related question so I’m sorry if you all don’t like those.
Cody Latimer has been my TE in my XFL fantasy league and is #1 at the position. Just today (an hour before kickoff) one of my friends is now saying he should not be in my TE slot and he is a WR. To his credit, the XFL website did recently change his listing to WR. There are also a number of websites that you’ll see him referred to as a WR and he was a WR when he was in the NFL. In my defense, the XFL app still lists him as a TE, an equal (if not more) websites refer to him as a TE, you can find articles titled “Former Giants WR Cody Latimer shifts to TE for XFL” etc., the XFL website DID previously list him as a TE (no idea why they changed it), broadcast teams have referred to him as a TE, and in the last week Cody Latimer himself retweeted a post saying he was the #1 TE in the XFL (I feel like this is the most compelling thing supporting my position).
This now has people discussing if I shouldn’t be allowed to have him as my TE any more despite my points that I’ve brought up.
Does anyone have any opinions or further insight on what should be done here? Thanks all.

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1599 book ban
In 1599, the Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift and the Bishop of London Richard Bancroft, whose offices had the function of licensing books for publication in England, issued a decree banning verse satire. The decree, now known as the Bishops' Ban of 1599, ordered the burning of certain volumes of satire by John Marston, Thomas Middleton, Joseph Hall, and others; it also required histories and plays to be specially approved by a member of the Queen's Privy Council, and it prohibited the future printing of satire in verse.[138]
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The motives for the ban are obscure, particularly since some of the books banned had been licensed by the same authorities less than a year earlier. Various scholars have argued that the target was obscenity, libel, or sedition. It seems likely that lingering anxiety about the Martin Marprelate controversy, in which the bishops themselves had employed satirists, played a role; both Thomas Nashe and Gabriel Harvey, two of the key figures in that controversy, suffered a complete ban on all their works. In the event, though, the ban was little enforced, even by the licensing authority itself.
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21st-century polemics
In 2005, the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy caused global protests by offended Muslims and violent attacks with many fatalities in the Near East. It was not the first case of Muslim protests against criticism in the form of satire, but the Western world was surprised by the hostility of the reaction: Any country's flag in which a newspaper chose to publish the parodies was being burnt in a Near East country, then embassies were attacked, killing 139 people in mainly four countries; politicians throughout Europe agreed that satire was an aspect of the freedom of speech, and therefore to be a protected means of dialogue. Iran threatened to start an International Holocaust Cartoon Competition, which was immediately responded to by Jews with an Israeli Anti-Semitic Cartoons Contest.
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In 2006 British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen released Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, a "mockumentary" that satirized everyone, from high society to frat boys. The film was criticized by many. Although Baron Cohen is Jewish, some complained that it was antisemitic, and the government of Kazakhstan boycotted the film. The film itself had been a reaction to a longer quarrel between the government and the comedian.
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In 2008, popular South African cartoonist and satirist Jonathan Shapiro (who is published under the pen name Zapiro) came under fire for depicting then-president of the ANC Jacob Zuma in the act of undressing in preparation for the implied rape of 'Lady Justice' which is held down by Zuma loyalists.[139] The cartoon was drawn in response to Zuma's efforts to duck corruption charges, and the controversy was heightened by the fact that Zuma was himself acquitted of rape in May 2006. In February 2009, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, viewed by some opposition parties as the mouthpiece of the governing ANC,[140] shelved a satirical TV show created by Shapiro,[141] and in May 2009 the broadcaster pulled a documentary about political satire (featuring Shapiro among others) for the second time, hours before scheduled broadcast.[142] Apartheid South Africa also had a long history of censorship.
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On December 29, 2009, Samsung sued Mike Breen, and the Korea Times for $1 million, claiming criminal defamation over a satirical column published on Christmas Day, 2009.[143][144]
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On April 29, 2015, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) requested Kent Police investigate the BBC, claiming that comments made about Party leader Nigel Farage by a panelist on the comedy show Have I Got News For You might hinder his chances of success in the general election (which would take place a week later), and claimed the BBC breached the Representation of the People Act.[145] Kent Police rebuffed the request to open an investigation, and the BBC released a statement, "Britain has a proud tradition of satire, and everyone knows that the contributors on Have I Got News for You regularly make jokes at the expense of politicians of all parties."[145]
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Satirical prophecy
Satire is occasionally prophetic: the jokes precede actual events.[146][147] Among the eminent examples are:
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The 1784 presaging of modern daylight saving time, later actually proposed in 1907. While an American envoy to France, Benjamin Franklin anonymously published a letter in 1784 suggesting that Parisians economise on candles by arising earlier to use morning sunlight.[148]
In the 1920s, an English cartoonist imagined a laughable thing for the time: a hotel for cars. He drew a multi-story car park.[147]
The second episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, which debuted in 1969, featured a sketch entitled "The Mouse Problem" (meant to satirize contemporary media exposés on homosexuality), which depicted a cultural phenomenon similar to some aspects of the modern furry fandom (which did not become widespread until the 1980s, over a decade after the sketch was first aired).
The comedy film Americathon, released in 1979 and set in the United States of 1998, predicted a number of trends and events that would eventually unfold in the near future, including an American debt crisis, Chinese capitalism, the fall of the Soviet Union, terrorism aimed at the civilian population, a presidential sex scandal, and the popularity of reality shows.
In January 2001, a satirical news article in The Onion, entitled "Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity Is Finally Over"[149] had newly elected President George Bush vowing to "develop new and expensive weapons technologies" and to "engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years". Furthermore, he would "bring back economic stagnation by implementing substantial tax cuts, which would lead to a recession". This prophesied the Iraq War, the Bush tax cuts, and the Great Recession.
In 1975, the first episode of Saturday Night Live included an ad for a triple blade razor called the Triple-Trac; in 2001, Gillette introduced the Mach3. In 2004, The Onion satirized Schick and Gillette's marketing of ever-increasingly multi-blade razors with a mock article proclaiming Gillette will now introduce a five-blade razor.[150] In 2006, Gillette released the Gillette Fusion, a five-blade razor.
After the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, The Onion ran an article with the headline "U.S. Soothes Upset Netanyahu With Shipment Of Ballistic Missiles". Sure enough, reports broke the next day of the Obama administration offering military upgrades to Israel in the wake of the deal.[151]
In July 2016, The Simpsons released the most recent in a string of satirical references to a potential Donald Trump presidency (although the first was made back in a 2000 episode.) Other media sources, including the popular film Back to the Future Part II have also made similar satirical references.[152]
Satire celebration
In June 2019, Punocracy, Nigeria's foremost satire platform organised a nationwide writing competition for youth in the country with the objective to make satire a widely accepted and understood tool of socio-political commentary.[153] Some of the entries addressed issues like gender violence, political corruption, religious hypocrisy, internet fraud, educational decay and so on.[154] The group also declared November 9 as World Satire Day with the idea of "trying to fight against the ills in the society not by ammunition but by humour, sarcasm etcetera".[155]
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See also
Cringe comedy
Culture jamming
Freedom of the press
List of satirists and satires
Mockumentary
News satire
Onomasti komodein
Parody religion
Stupidedia
Satiric misspellings
Satires (disambiguation)
Notes
The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, the censors of the press, issued Orders to the Stationers' Company on June 1 and 4, 1599, prohibiting the further printing of satires—the so-called 'Bishop's Ban'.[85][page needed]
References
Citations
Elliott 2004.
Frye, Northrup (1957). Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP. p. 222. ISBN 0-691-06004-5.
Claridge, Claudia (2010) Hyperbole in English: A Corpus-based Study of Exaggeration p.257
Kharpertian, Theodore D (1990), "Thomas Pynchon and Postmodern American Satire", in Kharpertian (ed.), A hand to turn the time: the Menippean satires of Thomas Pynchon, pp. 25–7, ISBN 9780838633618
Branham 1997, p. xxiv.
Ullman, BL (1913), "Satura and Satire", Classical Philology, 8 (2): 172–194, doi:10.1086/359771, JSTOR 262450, The Renaissance confusion of the two origins encouraged a satire more aggressive than that of its Roman forebearers
Antonia Szabari (2009) Less Rightly Said: Scandals and Readers in Sixteenth-Century France p.2
"Forecast". Galaxy Science Fiction. June 1968. p. 113.
Corum 2002, p. 175.
"Ig", Improbable
Rosenberg, Harold (1960), "Community, Values, Comedy", Commentary, The American Jewish Committee, 30: 155, the oldest form of social study is comedy... If the comedian, from Aristophanes to Joyce, does not solve sociology's problem of "the participant observer", he does demonstrate his objectivity by capturing behavior in its most intimate aspects yet in its widest typicality. Comic irony sets whole cultures side by side in a multiple exposure (e.g., Don Quixote, Ulysses), causing valuation to spring out of the recital of facts alone, in contrast to the hidden editorializing of tongue-in-cheek ideologists.
Deloria, Vine (1969), "Indian humor", Custer Died For Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, p. 146, Irony and satire provide much keener insights into a group's collective psyche and values than do years of [conventional] research as quoted in Ryan, Allan J (1999), The trickster shift: humour and irony in contemporary native art, p. 9, ISBN 9780774807043
Nash, Roderick Frazier (1970), "21. The New Humor", The Call of the Wild: 1900–1916, p. 203, Humor is one of the best indicators of popular thought. To ask what strikes a period as funny is to probe its deepest values and tastes.
Babcock, Barbara A. (1984), "Arrange Me Into Disorder: Fragments and Reflections on Ritual Clowning", in MacAloon (ed.), Rite, Drama, Festival, Spectacle. Also collected as Babcock, Barbara A Grimes (1996), Ronald, L (ed.), Readings in ritual studies, p. 5, Harold Rosenberg has asserted that sociology needs to bring comedy into the foreground, including "an awareness of the comedy of sociology with its disguises", and, like Burke and Duncan, he has argued that comedy provides "the radical effect of self- knowledge which the anthropological bias excludes.
Coppola, Jo (1958), "An Angry Young Magazine ...", The Realist (1), Good comedy is social criticism—although you might find that hard to believe if all you ever saw were some of the so-called clowns of videoland.... Comedy is dying today because criticism is on its deathbed... because telecasters, frightened by the threats and pressure of sponsors, blacklists and viewers, helped introduce conformity to this age... In such a climate, comedy cannot flourish. For comedy is, after all, a look at ourselves, not as we pretend to be when we look in the mirror of our imagination, but as we really are. Look at the comedy of any age and you will know volumes about that period and its people which neither historian nor anthropologist can tell you.
Coppola, Jo (December 12, 1958). Comedy on Television. Commonweal. p. 288.
Willi, Andreas (2003), The Languages of Aristophanes: Aspects of Linguistic Variation in Classical Attic Greek, Oxford University Press, pp. 1–2, ISBN 9780199262649
Ehrenberg, Victor (1962), The people of Aristophanes: a sociology of old Attic comedy, p. 39
Bevere, Antonio and Cerri, Augusto (2006) Il Diritto di informazione e i diritti della persona pp.265–6 quotation:
nella storia della nostra cultura, la satira ha realizzato il bisogno popolare di irridere e dissacrare il gotha politico ed economico, le cui reazioni punitive non sono certo state condizionate da critiche estetiche, ma dalla tolleranza o intolleranza caratterizzanti in quel momento storico la società e i suoi governanti. (...) la reale esistenza della satira in una società deriva, (...) dal margine di tolleranza espresso dai poteri punitivi dello Stato.
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Amy Wiese Forbes (2010) The Satiric Decade: Satire and the Rise of Republicanism in France, 1830–1840 p.xv, quotation:
a critical public discourse (...) Satire rose the daunting question of what role public opinion would play in government. (...) satirists criticized government activities, exposed ambiguities, and forced administrators to clarify or establish policies. Not surprisingly, heated public controversy surrounded satiric commentary, resulting in an outright ban on political satire in 1835 (...) Government officials cracked down on their humorous public criticism that challenged state authority through both its form and content. Satire had been a political resource in France for a long time, but the anxious political context of the July Monarchy had unlocked its political power. Satire also taught lessons in democracy. It fit into the July Monarchy's tense political context as a voice in favor of public political debate. Satiric expression took place in the public sphere and spoke from a position of public opinion-that is, from a position of the nation’s expressing a political voice and making claims on its government representatives and leadership. Beyond mere entertainment, satire's humor appealed to and exercised public opinion, drawing audiences into new practices of representative government.
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Knight, Charles A. (2004) Literature of Satire p.254
Test (1991) p.9 quotation:
A surprising variety of societies have allowed certain persons the freedom to mock other individuals and social institutions in rituals. From the earliest times the same freedom has been claimed by and granted to social groups at certain times of the year, as can be seen in such festivals as the Saturnalia, the Feast of Fools, Carnival, and similar folk festivals in India, nineteenth-century Newfoundland, and the ancient Mediterranean world.
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Test (1991) pp.8–9
Cazeneuve (1957) p.244-5 quotation:
Ils constituent donc pour la tribu un moyen de donner une satisfaction symbolique aux tendances anti-sociales. Les Zunis, précisément parce qu'ils sont un peuple apollinien [où la règle prédomine], avaient besoin de cette soupape de sûreté. Les Koyemshis représentent ce que M. Caillois nomme le « Sacré de transgression ».
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Durand (1984) p.106 quotation:
Déjà Cazeneuve (2) [Les dieux dansent à Cibola] avait mis auparavant en relief, dans la Société « apollinienne » des Zuñi, l'institution et le symbolisme saturnal des clowns Koyemshis, véritable soupape de sûreté « dionysienne ».
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Yatsko, V, Russian folk funny stories
Corum (2002) p.163
David Worcester (1968) The Art of Satire p.16
Müller, Rolf Arnold (1973). Komik und Satire (in German). Zürich: Juris-Verlag. p. 92. ISBN 978-3-260-03570-8.
"What Is Horatian Satire?". wiseGEEK.
"Satire Terms". nku.edu.
Sharma, Raja (2011). "Comedy" in New Light-Literary Studies.
Patricia, Green. "The Golden Age of Satire: Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift" (PDF).
"What Is Juvenalian Satire?". wiseGEEK.
"Satire Examples and Definition". Literary Devices.
"Satire in Literature: Definition, Types & Examples". Education Portal.
Fo (1990) p.9 quotation:
Nella storia del teatro si ritrova sempre questo conflitto in cui si scontrano impegno e disimpegno ... grottesco, satirico e lazzo con sfottò. E spesso vince lo sfotto. tanto amato dal potere. Quando si dice che il potere ama la satira
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Eastman, Max (1936), "IV. Degrees of Biting", Enjoyment of Laughter, pp. 236–43
Fo, Dario; Lorch, Jennifer (1997), Dario Fo, p. 128, ISBN 9780719038488, In other writings Fo makes an important distinction between sfottò and satire.
Fo (1990) pp.2–3
... Una caricatura che, è ovvio, risulta del tutto bonaria, del tutto epidermica, che indica, come dicevo prima, soltanto la parte più esteriore del loro carattere, i tic la cui messa in risalto non lede assolutamente l'operato, l'ideologia, la morale e la dimensione culturale di questi personaggi. ... ricordando che i politici provano un enorme piacere nel sentirsi presi in giro; è quasi un premio che si elargisce loro, nel momento stesso in cui li si sceglie per essere sottoposti alla caricatura, a quella caricatura. ... Di fatto questa è una forma di comicità che non si può chiamare satira, ma solo sfottò. ... Pensa quanti pretesti satirici si offrirebbero se solo quei comici del "Biberon" volessero prendere in esame il modo in cui questi personaggi gestiscono il potere e lo mantengono, o si decidessero a gettare l'occhio sulle vere magagne di questa gente, le loro violenze più o meno mascherate, le loro arroganze e soprattutto le loro ipocrisie. ...un teatro cabaret capostipite: il Bagaglino, un teatro romano che, già vent'anni fa, si metteva in una bella chiave politica dichiaratamente di estrema destra, destra spudoratamente reazionaria, scopertamente fascista. Nelle pieghe del gruppo del Bagaglino e del suo lavoro c'era sempre la caricatura feroce dell'operaio, del sindacalista, del comunista, dell'uomo di sinistra, e una caricatura bonacciona invece, e ammiccante, accattivante, degli uomini e della cultura al potere
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Fo (1990) quotation:
L'ironia fatta sui tic, sulla caricatura dei connotati più o meno grotteschi dei politici presi di mira, dei loro eventuali difetti fisici, della loro particolare pronuncia, dei loro vezzi, del loro modo di vestire, del loro modo di camminare, delle frasi tipiche che vanno ripetendo. ...[lo sfottò è] una chiave buffonesca molto antica, che viene di lontano, quella di giocherellare con gli attributi esteriori e non toccare mai il problema di fondo di una critica seria che è l'analisi messa in grottesco del comportamento, la valutazione ironica della posizione, dell'ideologia del personaggio.
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[page needed]
Arroyo, José Luís Blas; Casanova, Mónica Velando (2006), Discurso y sociedad: contribuciones al estudio de la lengua en..., 1, pp. 303–4, ISBN 9788480215381
Morson, Gary Saul (1988), Boundaries of Genre, p. 114, ISBN 9780810108110, second, that parodies can be, as Bakhtin observes, "shallow" as well as "deep" (Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics, 160), which is to say, directed at superficial as well as fundamental faults of the original. [...] the distinction between shallow and deep [...] [is] helpful in understanding the complex ways in which parodies are used. For instance, shallow parody is sometimes used to pay an author an indirect compliment. The opposite of damning with faint praise, this parody with faint criticism may be designed to show that no more fundamental criticism could be made.
Luttazzi, Daniele (2005), Matrix, IT, archived from the original on December 25, 2005, Dario Fo disse a Satyricon: —La satira vera si vede dalla reazione che suscita.
Luttazzi, Daniele (October 2003), Fracassi, Federica; Guerriero, Jacopo (eds.), "State a casa a fare i compiti" (interview), Nazione Indiana (in Italian), Lo sfottò è reazionario. Non cambia le carte in tavola, anzi, rende simpatica la persona presa di mira. La Russa, oggi, è quel personaggio simpatico, con la voce cavernosa, il doppiatore dei Simpson di cui Fiorello fa l’imitazione. Nessuno ricorda più il La Russa picchiatore fascista. Nessuno ricorda gli atti fascisti e reazionari di questo governo in televisione.
Kremer, S Lillian (2003), Holocaust Literature: Agosín to Lentin, p. 100, ISBN 9780415929837
Lipman, Stephen ‘Steve’ (1991), Laughter in hell: the use of humour during the Holocaust, Northvale, NJ: J Aronson, p. 40
Clark (1991) pp.116–8 quotation:
...religion, politics, and sexuality are the primary stuff of literary satire. Among these sacret targets, matters costive and defecatory play an important part. ... from the earliest times, satirists have utilized scatological and bathroom humor. Aristophanes, always livid and nearly scandalous in his religious, political, and sexual references...
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Clark, John R; Motto, Anna Lydia (1973), Satire–that blasted art, p. 20
Clark, John R; Motto, Anna Lydia (1980), "Menippeans & Their Satire: Concerning Monstrous Leamed Old Dogs and Hippocentaurs", Scholia Satyrica, 6 (3/4): 45, [Chapple's book Soviet satire of the twenties]... classifying the very topics his satirists satirized: housing, food, and fuel supplies, poverty, inflation, "hooliganism", public services, religion, stereotypes of nationals (the Englishman, German, &c), &c. Yet the truth of the matter is that no satirist worth his salt (Petronius, Chaucer, Rabelais, Swift, Leskov, Grass) ever avoids man's habits and living standards, or scants those delicate desiderata: religion, politics, and sex.
Ferdie Addis (2012) Qual è il tuo "tallone da killer"? p.20
Hodgart (2009) ch 2 The topics of satire: politics p.33
The most pressing of the problems that face us when we close the book or leave the theatre are ultimately political ones; and so politics is the pre-eminent topic of satire. ...to some degree public affairs vex every man, if he pays taxes, does military service or even objects to the way his neighbour is behaving. There is no escape from politics where more than a dozen people are living together.
There is an essential connection between satire and politics in the widest sense: satire is not only the commonest form of political literature, but, insofar as it tries to influence public behaviours, it is the most political part of all literature.
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BRAINY QUOTES
SATIRE
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.
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Voltaire
Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.
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Molly Ivins
Comedy has to be done en clair. You can't blunt the edge of wit or the point of satire with obscurity. Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear.
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James Thurber
The satirist who writes nothing but satire should write but little - or it will seem that his satire springs rather from his own caustic nature than from the sins of the world in which he lives.
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Anthony Trollope
Praise undeserved, is satire in disguise.
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Alexander Pope
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Satire is tragedy plus time. You give it enough time, the public, the reviewers will allow you to satirize it. Which is rather ridiculous, when you think about it.
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Lenny Bruce
Satire doesn't effect change.
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P. J. O'Rourke
I only aim at the powerful. When satire is aimed at the powerless, it is not only cruel - it's vulgar.
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Molly Ivins
Rush Limbaugh's pathetic abuse of logic, his absurd pomposity, his relentless self-promotion, his ridiculous ego - now those, friends, are appropriate targets for satire.
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Molly Ivins
Satire is a weapon, and it can be quite cruel.
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Molly Ivins
You can't debate satire. Either you get it or you don't.
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Michael Moore
It's a great time to be doing political satire when the world is on a knife edge.
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John Oliver
When satire is aimed at the powerless, it is not only cruel - it's vulgar.
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Molly Ivins
Status is always ripe for satire, status is always good for comedy.
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Stephen Colbert
I started off at the Second City in Chicago... It's an improvisational theater that ostensibly does social and political satire, but when I was there, we generally didn't. We did character work, and we did just the silliest things we could think of. We weren't all that concerned with, you know, changing the world through mime.
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Stephen Colbert
I'm a satirist, so I've got boxing gloves on if the person is worthy of satire. But I'm not an assassin. If that ever happens, it's only because something happened during the interview that got me going, and then I had to translate my feelings to the mouth of the character.
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Stephen Colbert
I have never knowingly, I swear to God, written satire. The word connotes exaggeration of the foibles of mankind. To me, mankind just has foibles. You don't have to push it!
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Tom Wolfe
We never dealt with satire or suggestive material. Although some of our films were broad parodies or burlesques of popular dramatic themes, there was no conscious attempt at being either sarcastic or offensive.
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Stan Laurel
If you're going to give people 20 minutes of news satire, you've also got to give them Tiffani-Amber Thiessen or you're going to have rioting in the streets.
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Jon Stewart
The satirist who writes nothing but satire should write but little - or it will seem that his satire springs rather from his own caustic nature than from the sins of the world in which he lives.
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Anthony Trollope
When I started performing, there was no Internet; I didn't really have anything to copy. I kind of had to just make up what I thought burlesque was, based on photographs of Sally Rand or whatever.
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Dita Von Teese
The difference between burlesque and the newspapers is that the former never pretended to be performing a public service by exposure.
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I. F. Stone
You know what my earliest memories are? Going from one burlesque town to another. My father was in burlesque.
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Alan Alda
Every one of my products - my lingerie, my perfume, and everything that I do beauty-related with regard to building my burlesque shows - is just me.
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Dita Von Teese
The silent film has a lot of meanings. The first part of the film is comic. It represents the burlesque feel of those silent films. But I think that the second part of the film is full of tenderness and emotion.
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Pedro Almodovar
Me personally, I want to entertain people above all. When you look back at burlesque in history and the real golden age of burlesque, those entertainers were there to entertain, and there wasn't usually some big political message behind what they were doing.
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Dita Von Teese
Bip is the romantic and burlesque hero for our time. Bip is a modern-day Don Quixote.
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Marcel Marceau
In the early '90s, it was grunge; everybody was fully clothed. Alanis Morissette was one of the biggest artists in the world, never wore makeup, wearing Doc Marten boots, and then the Spice Girls turn up, and suddenly it all looks a bit burlesque; suddenly they're the biggest band in the world.
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Caitlin Moran
I don't think there is such a thing as being too raunchy when it comes to the art form of burlesque.
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Christina Aguilera
Objectivity is almost a choice you make. As a burlesque performer, I didn't choose to be objectified.
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Esme Bianco
Burlesque girls were alchemists. They were steel-tough performers who were willing to use kitchens as dressing rooms, haul their costume bags through the snow, and go into debt over fake diamonds, all for the five minutes onstage when they were goddesses.
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Molly Crabapple
I was performing in this burlesque group, and we would go to dance rehearsals every day. You'd use every part of your body. Even though some of it is slow, it takes a lot of muscle to be able to dip down and come back up.
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Carmen Electra
Burlesque dancing didn't solve all my post-divorce problems, but what it did do was force me to court myself for a little while.
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Emily V. Gordon
Some of the pictures I must say every now and then I just think are going to be funny. When it gets that much, you might as well just pull out all the stops and make it more of a burlesque.
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Martin Mull
The human comedy is always tragic, but since its ingredients are always the same - dupe, fox, straight, like burlesque skits - the repetition through the ages is comedy.
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Dawn Powell
I've always had a love affair with New York City, and I've threatened to get an apartment there one day. But it just made sense for me to set 'Burlesque' on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. It's a place I know intimately well and love, and I think there's a great story to be told with L.A.
​
Steve Antin

We all know, or think we know, that the Lions need interior help on the defensive line. It is the prime reason so many people have Jalen Carter as the pick for the Lions at #6 if Will Anderson is off the board. But what if you could get an already proven stud at DT who is only 4 years older than Carter and who comes with none of the potential character issues that Jalen Carter does?
There has been a ton of trade rumors about Ed Oliver being traded over the past week and the Lions have been speculated as a potential landing spot. The Lions currently have $26 million in cap space after restructuring the contract of Big V and if any team were to trade for Oliver they would most certainly need to sign him to a long term deal otherwise it would end up being a player rental. I don't see Brad Holmes being interested in renting a player since it would cost the team valuable draft capital. However if Oliver were willing to sign a new deal that doesn't break the bank would we be interested?
Here is some information about Ed Oliver and his contract.
He is not a huge sack guy but he is great at penetration and extremely strong against the run.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/O/OlivEd00.htm#all_leaderboard
His current contract makes him a free agent after the 2023 season. He is only making $10 million this season.
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/ed-oliver-29044/
Here are the top 10 highest paid DT's currently in the NFL.
https://www.profootballnetwork.com/who-are-the-highest-paid-defensive-tackles-in-the-nfl-in-2023/
Now obviously Oliver does not stack up as a top 10 DT as of yet. I don't see him realistically getting top 10 money but if he got a raise say to $13 million per season with a good signing bonus and maybe 2 years guaranteed? Would the Lions jump on this?
What do you think it would take to get him from Buffalo? Since he is in his last year of his deal the trade leverage for the Bills would be low so maybe a 2nd and a lower pick or a 3rd?
The Bills have never really played an attacking style of defense and mostly rely on their linebackers and DE's for that with their DT's playing the run first. But Oliver has that ability to be a wrecking ball in the middle. He is a player I have always watched during Bills games and he definitely is a player I think would fit in on the Lions and be a force. If we could pair Ed Oliver with Hutch, Paschal (healthy), Houston, Alim McNeil, Comiskey and Buggs as our rotation on the front 4 I think that would be absolutely amazing!
So would you go after him? I would!

Originally posted in lunchmoney

Background

This is a common sports betting method that goes over how you can make $500 per day, risk-free by capitalizing on mispricing in the sports betting market. Although legalization only happened recently, sports betting around the world has seen a significant amount of new sportsbooks starting up every year. This, along with the complexity of adjusting to the supply and demand of bettors means that sportsbooks often have very mispriced odds.
This creates a significant opportunity for people to bet on both possible outcomes of an event and guarantee themselves a profit! Before I show you more, check out my other guide here, which goes over how to make $5,000 - $10,000 risk-free by signing up for new user bonuses with various regulated sportsbooks!
*This guide assumes you know the basics of sports betting. If you do not, please follow this link to find a quick online guide

What is Arbitrage Betting

• Arbitrage betting (arbing) involves betting on both sides of a line at odds that will guarantee a profit no matter the outcome of the event
  • Because we are placing bets on both sides of an event, this method is risk-free and should be looked at as an investment rather than a gamble!
• Arbitrage betting is like counting cards, it allows you to gain an edge on the house and guarantee yourself a profit!

Example:

• Let's say the Bruins play the Rangers and Fanduel has the Bruin's moneyline at -150 while DraftKings has the Rangers moneyline at +200
• By placing a $180 bet on the Bruins moneyline (through Fanduel) and by simultaneously placing a $100 bet on the Rangers moneyline (through Draftkings), we can make a $20 profit, no matter what happens!
  • If the Bruins win, we get winnings of $120 and because we bet $100 on the Rangers (who lost), we get a $20 profit. We also get our initial $180 stake on the Bruins back since they won
    • Another way to look at is we go from having $280 ($180 on Fanduel and $100 on Draftkings) to having winnings of $120, and our initial stake of $180 totaling $300. Overall, a $20 profit!
  • If the Rangers Win, we get winnings of $200 and because we bet $180 on the Rangers (who lost), we get a $20 profit. We also get our initial $100 stake on the Rangers back since they won
    • Another way to look at is we go from having $280 ($180 on Fanduel and $100 on Draftkings) to having winnings of $200, and our initial stake of $100 totaling $300. Overall, a $20 profit!
  • This would be a 6.7% arb opportunity which is very good and if we bet a larger amount of both sides (say $450 on the Bruins and $250 on the Rangers), we would have a guaranteed profit of $50!

How to Find Arbitrage Opportunities

• Generally speaking, finding arb opportunities like the one above is extremely difficult and time-consuming when doing it manually
• Online software and tools have revolutionized the sports betting game. The differences in odds for any given line can be upwards of 50% which can result in drastically different outcomes for your bet. Using software to screen odds can save you a lot of time and money.
• My favourite tool for arbing is OddsJam, which screens millions of odds per second on hundreds of sportsbooks. Using the OddsJam platform has saved me thousands of dollars and is the reason I was able to make $500 per day when I arbed.
  • If you decide to start arbing, using OddsJam is a must and you can use my link and promo code “Firebet” at checkout for 25% lifetime discount (to ensure you get the discount, press on my link before signing up and enter the promo code at checkout)!
• Without software like OddsJam, you will basically never find arb opportunities. If you somehow manage to find one, it will probably be gone before you can blink because you found it 30 seconds slower than OddsJam (most arbs last 30 seconds to ~2 minutes).
• On OddsJam, you can consistently find 1.5% - 5.0% arb opportunities. Assuming you read and completed my Sports Betting Bonus Guide here and made up to $6,437.50 risk-free, and assuming you can double those winnings with your existing bank balances, you'll have a bankroll of $19,312! When I was arbing, I would usually hit a 2.5% daily return, so you can make about $500 per day, risk-free using this strategy! If you don't have that kind of bankroll, you can start out with as little as $1,000!

How to Avoid Account Limits

By arbing, you guarantee a profit for yourself, which guarantees a loss for the sportsbooks, something they are not very fond of. It is important that you read the T&Cs of each sportsbook because many will put certain clauses that target arbers and other undesirable customers.
If you are playing only on regulated sportsbooks in your country, you should never have any problem withdrawing your money unless you do something very wrong. Remember, arbing is legal so this alone will not warrant the sportsbooks to hold your funds.
Below are some tips to stay off the radar of your sportsbook for as long as possible:
1. Round Bets to a Reasonable Number:

• If you are betting $98.29 to cover a bet, this looks really odd, instead round up to $100
• If you are betting $935 to cover a bet, this also looks strange so round up to $950 or down to $925

2. Don’t Deposit/Withdraw Frequently:

• Most sportsbooks see bettors who try to keep their balance at a certain level ($2,000 for example) as arbers because it indicates they’re sending winnings to the sportsbooks they lost on

3. Stick to Main Markets if you are in it for the Long Haul:

• To fly under the radar, avoid betting on alternative markets (especially very alternative markets, for example if the oveunder for a hockey game is 5.5 goals, don’t bet on the 9.5 line)

4. Don’t Make Repeated Bets:

• If you find a 10% arb opportunity, don’t keep making $100 bets. If your first one cleared the sportsbooks trading team, take it as a win and move on

5. Bet Only on Major Leagues:

• In North America, I would only bet on NHL, NBA, MLB, NFL, and International Soccer (World Cup, Euro Cup, UEFA Champions League, and the Big European Leagues)

6. Deposit/Withdraw to One Bank Account:

• Many books will accuse you of accepting funding from other people if they see you depositing and withdrawing to multiple bank accounts
  • Make sure to only fund your account with your funds from one bank account to avoid confusion with the sportsbook

7. Never Cover Bets on the same Sportsbook

• If you initially made a bet on the Rangers to win on Fanduel at +100. Now lets say a bunch of players on the Bruins got injured or traded which moves the Bruins line to +200 on Fanduel.
  • Don't bet on the Bruins on Fanduel, even if they have the best odds. Take them on DraftKings, even if the line is only at +180.
• If sportsbooks see you covering bets, they could limit your account because they recognize you as an arber.

By doing all this, you will most likely fly under the radar for a significant amount of time and if you are consistently betting each day, you can make thousands of dollars. For reference, I made almost $20,000 from arbing and about $5,000 from sign-up bonuses and I wish I had this guide when I started!

Tips to Maximize Earnings

1. Keep an Optimal Amount of Funds in Sportsbooks with the Most Arb Opportunities

• Sportsbooks like Fanduel, DraftKings, Pointsbet, Pinnacle, BetMGM, Bet365, and Betano all have very competitive odds and consistently pop up when using the OddsJam software
  • If you have $5,000 you can spread it across all sportsbooks, don't put $250 into 20 different ones as most of these will provide no arb opportunities. Instead, put $500 into the top 10 books that consistently have the most arb opportunities

2. Take Advantage of Boosts

• Since you will be betting in such high volumes, sportsbooks will consistently give you bet credits and boosts to try and retain your business. Make sure to take advantage of these because they can be the most profitable bets you can make per day.

3. Place your First Bet on the Sportsbook that is Heavily Mispriced

• If Pointsbet has the KC Chiefs moneyline at +200 when most other books have it at +140, this is a significant mispricing by Pointsbet. If you see that most other books have the Eagles at -160, you should try to bet as much as you can on Pointsbet because this bet is most likely to get stopped by the trading team
  • Trading teams take manual action when specific lines start getting an abnormal amount of betting
• If you are able to get a $1,000 bet on KC at +200 (on Pointsbet), you know with certainty that you can cover this on most other books at -160 (on the Eagles)
  • Once you are sure you've bet on the sportsbook with the mispricing, then you should bet on the side that has no mispricing because you know your initial bet will go through

Summary

• If you haven't already read my Sports Betting Bonus Guide here
• If you haven't already, sign up for the OddsJam platform here and use my promo code “Firebet” at checkout for 25% lifetime discount (to ensure you get the discount, press on my link before signing up and enter the promo code at checkout)! This software will allow you to screen millions of odds per second to consistently find 1.5% - 5.0% arb opportunities, allowing you to make $500 per day
• Start arbing and track your progress using the built-in OddsJam tracker or use my custom excel sheet in my google drive here

Feel free to comment and ask questions below! Also, let me know if you want me to do any other betting guides!
*This document is for entertainment purposes only and is not financial / investment advice. Please read the T&Cs of each book to make sure you are complicit with their rules and your local regulators' laws. This guide is not intended for real money betting and it is only intended for adults. If you have a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER