Philip B Mason

cynic.

[Wholesome @wholesome_X_]

Life is more beautiful when you have friends who know how to be friends.

[jay @jaydotverse]

"you could've bought bitcoin in 2012"

me in 2012

[Sue Knows Best @sues86453]

You have to watch this. This man was issued a ticket by an AI Red light Camera and he wasn’t even in the state that issued him the ticket.

Now you would think this would be a simple matter to resolve; however, it’s anything but because the company that owns this equipment is a private company owned by a global corporation that isn’t even in the US!

So we now have foreign actors accessing American Citizens personal and private information. How in the hell is this allowed!

[MAZE @mazemoore]

A real TV commercial from way back.

"More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette." 😂

Trust the experts.

[Chicago Kid @chilandlord]

Property tax bills for Cook County are out..I want you to see the bill on a 4 unit building I own on North & Western.
@wttw @BlockClubCHI.

My tax bill has increased nearly 600% in 20 years..now I ask you.

*Have city service improved?
*Have schools improved?

What exactly has improved nearly 600% in Chicago to justify this kind of cost? Rents are expensive?

Is this any wonder why, when you consider this is naturally occurring affordable housing?

I am dead serious this is nuts!!!
👇👇👇

[Josh Barzon @JoshuaBarzon]

You could move to New York City.

Rent an 852-square-foot apartment for $5,503 a month.

Blow $500 on three “first dates” a week and somehow remain single for six years.

Finally meet someone you like, then discover they’re “not really looking for anything serious right now.”

Get a master’s degree so you can qualify for an internship.

Apply to 147 jobs, get 93 automated rejections, and finally find an “entry-level” position requiring five years of experience.

Eventually land a six-figure job and still need a roommate to make rent.

Pay federal income tax, New York State income tax, AND New York City income tax because apparently living there is a three-level subscription.

Learn that a “quiet neighborhood” means the sirens only come by every 20 minutes.

Pay $27 every day for a sandwich (no sides) because the place has exposed brick and a handwritten menu.

Take the subway to work every morning and develop the useful skill of pretending not to notice absolutely anything happening around you.

Spend 45 minutes traveling three miles.

Carry your groceries home six blocks because parking near your apartment is more of a philosophical concept than an actual possibility.

Have “owning a washer and dryer” become one of your primary measures of generational wealth.

Walk past a mountain of trash bags on your way to a restaurant with a Michelin star.

Tell your friends back home you don’t need a car while spending $46 on an Uber because the subway is delayed again.

Go to Central Park when you want to remember what trees look like.

Spend your twenties telling everyone you could NEVER live anywhere else.

Then one day you visit your cousin in Iowa.

He has a house with four bedrooms, a garage, a yard, two cars, four kids, and somehow pays less than you do for the apartment where your refrigerator touches your couch.

But hey.

The NYC bagels are incredible.

[Luqman Ali @luqman_talks]

🚨 24 YEAR OLD KID IN CHINA JUST BUILT A MONEY-PRINTING MACHINE WITH A BACKPACK

dude straps on a backpack loaded with cameras and scanning gear then walks into hotels apartments and shops. in just 20 minutes he creates jaw dropping 3d virtual tours using 3d gaussian splatting and luma ai.

you can now walk through the property on your phone like youre physically there before you even book.

property owners love it. guests see exactly what theyre getting so fewer cancellations and way better reviews.

his hustle is 400$ per scan plus 99$ a month for hosting the virtual tour.

one time work that turns into recurring cash. smart.

this isnt some sci-fi experiment its already making real money today. the kid basically turned real estate into a video game and hes cashing in.

[the Sports ON Tap @thesportsontap]

On New Year's Eve 2017, a Cincinnati Bengals quarterback accidentally became the most beloved man in Buffalo, New York.

Bills fans thanked him by donating $442,000 to his charity.

Most of it seventeen dollars at a time.

Here's why.

The Buffalo Bills had not made the playoffs since 1999. Seventeen straight seasons. It was the longest active drought in the NFL, and the longest of any team in ALL FOUR major North American sports leagues.

An entire generation of Bills fans had never seen a playoff game.

December 31, 2017. Buffalo has done its part and won its own game. Now they need Baltimore to lose, or they're out again.

The Ravens are winning. Cincinnati has nothing to play for. The Bengals were eliminated weeks ago.

Fourth and twelve. 53 seconds left.

Andy Dalton throws it to Tyler Boyd, who breaks three tackles and goes 49 yards to the end zone.

31-27 Bengals. Ravens eliminated. Bills in the playoffs for the first time in seventeen years.

The videos of Buffalo bars in that moment are still some of the best footage in sports.

Now here's what makes this a story instead of a highlight.

A Bills fan named Forrest, a father of four, wanted to say thank you somehow. So he googled Andy Dalton and found the Andy and Jordan Dalton Foundation, which he'd never heard of.

It provides support and equipment for families with seriously ill and physically challenged children in Cincinnati and in Fort Worth, Texas, where Dalton played college ball.

He donated. Then he tweeted a screenshot of the receipt.

His own words: "I had no idea it was going to take off. I was just looking for an outlet to express my gratitude."

Within thirty minutes of the game ending, donations started arriving.

And Bills Mafia turned it into something beautiful.

They gave in $17 increments, one dollar for each year of the drought. Others gave $14, Dalton's jersey number. Others gave $49, for the length of the touchdown pass. Some pledged to donate $14 every December 31 for the rest of their lives.

Donations came in from Australia. Israel. England.

Within days, more than 17,000 donors had given $442,000.

Dalton posted a video, visibly stunned: "We cannot thank everybody enough. This has been just so amazing to see just how supportive people are. The impact it's going to make is gonna be huge."

Then Bills fans noticed something.

Dalton threw the ball. Tyler Boyd is the one who broke three tackles.

So they went and found Boyd's fundraiser too.

Boyd had set up a page for the Western Pennsylvania Youth Athletic Association, the youth league he grew up playing in outside Pittsburgh. His goal was $20,000.

Bills fans blew past it. Boyd's total ended up over $100,000.

His message to a fanbase he had just spent his whole career not thinking about: "Thank You to the Bills entire fan base. What great people you are."

The Bills organization also sent the Bengals a thank you letter. And wings.

Now the ending.

Eight months later, in August 2018, the Bengals came to Buffalo for a preseason game.

Andy and Jordan Dalton came early. And they donated to the pediatric department at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo.

They gave it back to the city that gave it to them.

The Dalton Foundation's Pass It On Fund, which buys medical equipment for families who can't afford it, gave out $465,000 in grants to 208 families the following year. That happened because of one fourth down play and a fanbase that decided to say thank you with money instead of words.

And it changed Bills Mafia permanently. In the years since, that fanbase has donated millions to charities connected to opposing players, over and over, until it stopped being a story and became an expectation.

A man who plays for another team, in a game his team had no stake in, threw one pass.

Seventeen thousand strangers sent his sick kids' charity almost half a million dollars.

For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap

[BaseballHistoryNut @nut_history]

The catch we all dreamed of making. Prime Mike Trout was something else man.

[Jen @IlliniJen]

Former Chicago Public Schools COO, Crystal Cooper, was charged with fraudulently grabbing $28K in COVID loans meant for struggling businesses.

Six-figure salary. Lied about side hustle income. Money forgiven and spent on herself.

Only the best come from CPS.

📸 @Suntimes

[Dr. Maalouf ‏ @realMaalouf]

Iranian woman in Sweden:

“Pedophilia is legal in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Little girls are married off to adult men.

We’re trying to raise awareness, but Western feminists are completely ignoring us.”

[Marquee Sports Network @WatchMarquee]

.@Dempster46 saw into the future 🔮

[DocumentingLibs @HistorianUSA1]

This Black police officer just said what most are too afraid to say out loud.

From inside his patrol car, he opens up about one of the saddest truths in law enforcement:

Being despised by the very community he risks his life to protect.

He talks about the hate, the looks of disgust from parents while their kids smile at him… and how the media has done a “great job” turning officers into the enemy.
He calls it “treasonous” to speak this truth — especially coming from him. But he says it anyway.

This isn’t about politics.

This is about the real cost of the narrative folks have been sold.

Officers like this are holding the line while getting spit on — literally and figuratively.

[Matt Robinson @mattrobinson]

Illinois Tollway drivers are facing the largest passenger toll hike in state history starting Jan. 1, 2027.

The Illinois Tollway Board—all appointed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker—is pushing a $26.5B plan that will raise average I-PASS tolls by 45¢ and non-I-PASS tolls by 90¢. Worse yet? Starting in 2029, toll rates will automatically hike every two years based on inflation without any future board votes.

Commuters could see their bills jump $225/year. The first of 13 public feedback meetings starts today, July 13. Voice your opposition online before Aug. 3 at https://t.co/bgv5gFUm3X.

[DocumentingLibs @HistorianUSA1]

This is peak clown world healthcare. 🏥🤡

Social worker Aaron gets a hospital bill charging a NEW MOM $1,900 just to hold her own baby. He reenacted the call with the hospital:

“Skin to skin contact post-delivery.”
He’s on the phone like: “You charged her for what now? Nursing was already in the room — anesthesia, surgical team, circulating nurse… and you need a separate nurse to watch mom hold her baby?!”

The absolute audacity. Hospitals nickel-and-diming new mothers for basic human bonding.

Congrats, medical industrial complex and ObamaCare— you’ve turned childbirth into a luxury spa service with surprise billing and $99 aspirins.

How many new parents are getting absolutely fleeced like this?

[Benonwine @benonwine]

Vegan Influencer kicks off because she ordered a Chicken salad so they gave her a chicken salad.

Apparently the Restaurant should have known who she was and just given her a salad.

WTF 🤬 come on!!! anyone else fed up of these so called influencers, I’m on the restaurants side.

[Chicago History ™️ @Chicago_History]

Wild Work I Tell Ya, Wild Work.

#ChicagoHistory ☑️

[Bobbi @kittenaround_51]

These guys found an abandoned dock along a Chicago river and decided to set up a cam to see what wildlife was in the area. They got some great footage.

[Andy Ngo @MrAndyNgo]

More MN fraud: A St. Paul, Minn. scammer convicted of defrauding an 85-year-old victim with dementia out of $1.6 million has been sentenced to only four years in prison.

Prosecutors couldn't find or recover any of the money stolen by Joseph Robinson. Judge Jerry Blackwell allowed the man to be out of custody until he starts his sentence at a later date.

Outside the courthouse, Robinson's thuggish handler intimidated KARE11 reporter @LouNewsMan.