samedi 31 décembre 2016

Man banned from Starbucks blames ageism

Here's a link to the story; but for a brief recap, this Seattle man (who's evidently a regular customer at this Starbucks location) decided that a 16-year-old employee who said he was "funny" while handing him his coffee was in fact flirting with him; so before leaving he passed her a written note, exact contents unknown, which he says was a request for a date. When he returns to the coffee shop the following day, a police officer tells him he is banned from the location. Obviously he is not arrested or charged with anything.

He says the police officer told him the management found something in his note inappropriate and harassing. However, he asserts that the actual truth is that the managers had a problem with his being 37-years-old and asking a 16-year-old for a date. It does not seem to occur to him that "the management" was not likely to know his age; nor that they would never have seen the note or its contents if the teen hadn't given the note to them in the first place, a fact which suggests that it was most likely the employee herself who was disturbed by the note and asked her managers if they could do something about it.

He also freely volunteers to the press, for no particularly apparent reason, this odd addendum to his story,

Quote:

"I'm tired of hearing the word "creep" as any black person or gay person is tired of hearing certain words. I have a whole webpage dedicated to age gap love,” said the man.
I shall leave it to the reader to discern for themselves the chances that a person who runs "a whole webpage dedicated to age gap love" just happens to stumble into a potential romance with a besotted teen barista only to have cruel, ageist Starbucks managers tragically intervene and tear their budding relationship asunder.


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Revellers killed in Istanbul New Years terrror attack

At least 35 people have lost their lives in an attack on a nightclub in Turkey, Istanbul's governor has said.
Among the dead at the Istanbul club is one police officer, Vasip Sahin stated, adding that it was a terror attack.
At least another 40 were injured in the attack which took place in the Reina nightclub, in the Ortakoy area, at about 01:30 local time (22:30 GMT).
http://ift.tt/2iBEsIy

Başınız sağolsın, Türkiye 🇹🇷


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[Split Thread] NC Reps. attempting to steal governorship/Evolution of Language

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobTheCoward (Post 11641513)
Unwritten rules are not a thing.

May I make a plea for written English and discourage this illiterate "is [not] a thing" crap? We have words rather more precise and appropriate for a reason. For instance, our local self-described coward couls have said, "Unwritten rules are an oxymoron," or, "Unwritten rules have no practical effect," or, "Unwritten rules are a mere matter of opinion and this inherent subjectivity renders them useless at best and likely nonsensical."

See, we have all these tens of thousands of English words so that we may express ourselves well. Let's see whether they work.

Thanks, and my apologies for the digression. No offense meant to Bob. He's just the latest to use the popular phrase and send me over the edge.


Mod InfoThis derail about language usage has now been given its own thread.
Posted By:Loss Leader


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Every 9/11 Conspiracy Theory Ever List

So, I've been thinking of making my own internet documentary debunking 9/11 Conspiracy theories. I would also like that when I upload this film not to have truthers in the comment section to come crying that I didn't explain this or that. So to prevent us from going in circles I' like to address EVERY claim made by 9/11 truthers. I know most of them but to be sure, If anyone here is so kind to post(or PM me) a complete list of every single 9/11 Conspiracy claim from 9/11/01 to present.


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Greek Ambassador murdered by wife's Lover

Quote:

Police in Brazil say the Greek ambassador to the country was killed by a local police officer who was having an affair with the envoy's wife.
Kyriakos Amiridis had been missing since Monday. His body was found in a burnt-out car on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.
Police say the ambassador's Brazilian wife, Francoise Amiridis, plotted the murder with her lover.
Sergio Gomes Moreira Filho confessed to strangling him to death, police said.

Reads like the plot of a movie.


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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In about 15 minutes.

Hope everyone has an awesome holiday!

Off to get slightly drunk

Forgive any mindless posts in the next 5 hours or so.


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vendredi 30 décembre 2016

The ballad of the 911 shill

I thought people here might have something to say about this

The ballad of the 911 shill

I help to keep the masses in the dark.
The way I do it is mostly with snark.
To keep the masses as sheep they must not know
how they are moved to and fro.
We are the ones who can proudly say
we perform this mission to minimize the fray.


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How do you define racism?

For the purpose of this discussion I am talking about the USA specifically.

It seems there is an ongoing debate about how we define and view racism. I personally adhere to the standard dictionary definition of racism which simply requires the belief in racial superiority or inferiority. I thought this was a straightforward topic that wouldn't need debate but it appears there is an ongoing discussion on how this word should be used and what it applies to exactly.

For example, there are sociology circles that stand firm that racism is only applicable in relation to an overall power structure. So within the confines of the US, only white people are capable of being racist as they control the overarching power structure that minority groups live in.

It would seem institutional racism is a clearer term to use for something like this, but I've been told that phrase is redudant since all racism is institutional. The idea that racism requires power doesn't seem new, but it seems that the term power is now required to be in totality within that society. So while a white business owner only hiring white employees would be both racist and practicing racial discrimination, a black business owner only hiring black employees would simply be using racial discrimination. Funnily enough, a black owner hiring only white employees would be racist and practicing racial discrimination.

I know that language evolves but I don't like the idea of the meanings of words changing unnecessarily. To me that seems to completely change the usage and purpose of the words, and confuses what exactly someone is trying to convey when describing the actions of others. Whether it is necessary or not is ofcourse a personal view though.

So how do you view the usage and definition of the word racism? Is power a requirement, and if so to what degree?


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Skeptical on water filtration technology

Check this out
http://ift.tt/2il0hfH

What do you guys make of the claims of this water bottle. Looks great, 99.9% of contaminants, but no link to independent study of tests.

Looks like this company uses the same filtration technology, called "IONIC ADSORPTION MICRO FILTRATION TECHNOLOGY"

http://ift.tt/2hzujh3
http://ift.tt/2ilhHca

Plus, if the tech is so revolutionary and effective you would think other filtration companies would be clamoring to make a variation of it.


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jeudi 29 décembre 2016

"Obama was a Muslim during his youth"

I'm breaking this out to a new thread in order for logger to support his claim without derailing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by logger (Post 11645847)
He [Obama] was a Muslim during his youth

No more whack-a-mole. Please present specific evidence that addresses this claim.

I hope people will hold off a while on posting counter evidence, and wait for logger to post his evidence first. TIA.


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I Swear by Almighty God ........

In this thread I want to talk about oaths and whether they work.

It being a criminal offense to lie under oath in court I imagine this may be a deterrent. On the other hand swearing with one hand on the Bible and lying would be a sin, big time, and punishable by God I assume. I wonder how many consider this a serious threat and stick to the truth unerringly as a consequence.


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Article: Why ******** is no laughing matter

Skeptically themed op/ed.

Link: [Why ******** is no laughing matter]

Related book; different author: [On ********] by Harry G. Frankfurt.

Blutoskitorial: Any author who uses Deepak Chopra as an example of premium ******** is OK by me.



ETA: drat. The links don't work when the auto-censor triggers asterisk substitution. Yer on yer own.


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Repel Sharks With Magnets?

I heard about these devices recently when they were mentioned in this article about a shark attack victim
Quote:

"I got this for Christmas,” Zack said, showing us the green plastic band that looks like a watch with no face, “It is a shark band and it was supposed to keep sharks away and the first time I wore it, and I go surfing a lot, but the first time I wore it- I get bit."
This appears to be the device: http://ift.tt/2d6zHGe

They claim:
Quote:

Sharkbanz use special patented magnetic technology to deter sharks from attacking people. Most shark attacks occur in murky, shallow waters off the coast where there are a high number of swimmers and sharks sharing the same space. In this environment, sharks rely heavily on their electro-receptors instead of their eyes to “see” what’s around them. They possess the most sensitive electro-magnetic sense of all known animals, and use it to judge distance, shape, and even the heart rate of other animals near them. Most of the time, sharks get it right and leave people alone. Occasionally, they don't. Sometimes when relying on their electro-receptors, a curious shark may bite a person in order to figure out what he or she is. These unprovoked “hit and run” attacks are the most common type, and Sharkbanz are an excellent defense against them. As the shark approaches a person wearing Sharkbanz, magnetic waves coming from the band disrupt its electro-receptors and it quickly turns away. The experience for the shark is, “like a person suddenly shining a very bright light in your eyes in a dark room, and it's not pleasant”, according to Dr. Stroud.
(Magnets - is there anything they can't do?)

I looked over their "research" page. Seems to be a some wishful thinking involved. That is, from reading a handful of abstracts I get the impression that there is a good chance some sharks can perceive magnetic fields, but, only at fairly short distances (inches). And, its not clear that this perception leads to avoidance; especially if they're already in feeding mode.

Anyone have any insight into sharks and magnets?


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7,000 Dead

About 7,000 people will die in the USA today..

A lot of families will be grief stricken, and affected negatively in so many ways..

Most of them are not celebrities though, and will not make the news...


Oh well...


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[Split From] does anyone here want to support the NIST reports in a one-on-one debate with me

Quote:

Originally Posted by abaddon (Post 11647510)
Post 886

Sloppy. Very sloppy.

I didn’t quite understand what you meant by “Graduate telecoms and radio”. You must be a video game geek, as they tend to try to be as abbreviated as possible and are often less explicit than necessary to get the point across.

You certainly aren't humble, which is quite surprising as this issue is completely outside of your field.

I hope you don't mind but I need to put you on ignore, so I won't be answering you.

Your nasty disposition and attempts to make problems out of nothing is not something I feel a need to tolerate.


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Teach Chemistry to kids?

Building blocks would be cool, even just carbon, hydrogen, oxygen.

My 7 year old homeschool grandniece was asking about 'chemicals', and it seemed a good moment to explain how bonds hold molecules together. Sure wish I could remember my high school chemistry from 45 years ago.

I just ebayed a 300 page texty book, "Chemistry made simple", $4.

I often see colored balls as building blocks, linked into molecules. But no luck on ebay. Any better nomenclature to search for?

The kid will be a genius, Mommy and Daddy both lawyers. But pretty Christian. I'd like to wedge some science into the kid's lives. Four kids, this is the oldest.


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Jurassic Quest - legit?

You've probably seen ads for Jurassic Quest -- the family fun animatronic/dino-puppet show delighting children of all ages in convention centers and fairgrounds across the US.

Does anyone have any firsthand experience with this thing? They seem to be all about the fun of seeing giant, moving dinosaurs in the flesh/foam and don't make any claims about educational value on their website. I wonder if there is a pro-creationism agenda at work with them, however. You can ride 5 different types of dinosaurs, but are there signs that say things like "Now you can ride a dinosaur just like Adam did!"? Corporate HQ is an address in Texas, so that doesn't give me any more confidence.

So, does anyone have any experience with this thing?


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Predicting the Future in film

Enjoyed this article

Quote:

8 films that predicted the future with disturbing accuracy


http://ift.tt/2hyWkqu

Disturbing the Super Mario/Twin Towers portion.. :eye-poppi :boggled:

Still waiting for damn flying car tho ;)


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Israel and New Zealand are now at war?

So, according to Bibi...

Quote:

Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told New Zealand’s foreign minister that support for a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlement-building in the occupied territories would be viewed as a “declaration of war”.

According to reports in Israeli media, the Israeli PM called Murray McCully, the foreign minister of New Zealand, before Friday’s resolution, which was co-sponsored by Wellington. Netanyahu told him: “This is a scandalous decision. I’m asking that you not support it and not promote it.

“If you continue to promote this resolution, from our point of view it will be a declaration of war. It will rupture the relations and there will be consequences. We’ll recall our ambassador [from New Zealand] to Jerusalem.”
Source

So what happens next?

Is this kind of undiplomatic language merely an attempt at bullying or is he seriously saying that the two countries are now at war?

Is this the new Trumpian form of politics of bluster or what?


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mercredi 28 décembre 2016

Debbie Reynolds dies

Stroke apparently

Probably stress I guess

Sons confirmed

http://ift.tt/2ig0nFr


http://ift.tt/2ifT0h7


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Russia promotes neo-Nazis

Quote:

The saga then took an even stranger turn: Hungarian intelligence officials told a parliamentary security committee in Budapest that Mr. Gyorkos had for years been under scrutiny for his role in a network of fringe extremists linked to and encouraged by Russia. So close was the relationship, the committee heard, that Russian military intelligence officers, masquerading as diplomats, staged regular mock combat exercises using plastic guns with neo-Nazi activists near Mr. Gyorkos’s home.

<snip>

But Andras Racz, a Russia expert at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, said it fit into a scatter-gun strategy of placing small bets, directly or through proxies, on ready-made fringe groups in an effort to destabilize or simply disorient the European Union.

Most of these bets fail, but reaching out to those on the margins costs little and sometimes hits pay dirt. That happened with Jobbik, a once-marginal far-right Hungarian group that is now the country’s leading opposition party — and a big fan of President Vladimir V. Putin, as is Hungary’s prime minister, Victor Orban.
http://ift.tt/2iemXyf

A complex game of deception apparently designed to poke at the foundations of European unity and to foment chaos in Eastern European nations that can later be exploited.


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lymphedema disappeared.. miraculous healing?

yesterday my friends asked my opinion for an alleged "miraculous healing" from catholic world (I'm italian :) ). A woman, after suffering from lymphedema for two decades (and after having the left leg amputated for this condition), miracolously healed after a prayer at a tomb of a saint.
I search this story on internet (the story of Maureen Digan) and I discovered that the healing was not necessarily instantaneous, because the woman didn't say anithing of healing immediately (it is suspected), but my friend (she's a medic gastroenterologist) told me that lymphedema is an incurable and chronic disease. In addition she say that as in all catholic miracles, there was an alleged medical check by a commission.
what is your opinion?

(the story is easily findable on internet, for example a link with a summary of the story is this
http://ift.tt/2ieitHQ

or this
http://ift.tt/2ihAuYl _sister_faustina.html)


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Link between ice cream and homosexuality

According to Richard Hammond of the show "The Grand Tour".

http://ift.tt/2ihqrT9

Apparently he thinks that the only adult males who eat ice cream are gays. My wife and I were quite surprised by this. I'm not sure how to tell the kids that given the amount of ice cream I consume, that I must be a flaming fag and I'm way behind on years of sucking dick.

Of the "Only gay men do X" memes, this has to be one of the most stupid.


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The Gourmande, Trencherman, Glutton Challenge

Haven't had a food thread in a bit. There's a restaurant here offering a Breakfast Challenge. The meal is a rip-off compared to normal "Full English" prices which can run from 99 to 150 baht and will consist of the staples: Two Eggs, Three Sausages, Two Slices Bacon, Fried Bread or Toast, Blood Pudding, Grilled Tomatoes, Beans, Pan Fried Potatoes. 99 baht is less than $3 US.

The Retox(name of the pub) Breakfast Challenge is 1500 baht and consists of

10 Eggs
12 Sausages
12 Slices Bacon
5 Slices Toast
5 Slices Fried Bread
6 Black Pudding
One "tin" of Beans
Order of pan fried potatoes

I think that last item gives them the freedom to double and triple up on the potatoes in case they get any of the heavyweight muay thai candidates in or the body builders on 'roid rage.

If you finish - you get 5000 baht.

I think I could've done this back in the day. I don't have my pigging-out ability as I've gotten older.


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Could these be fossils?

I was at the beach the other day and found some interesting patterns in the rocks. Is someone able to tell me if these are likely fossils of some description?









Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk


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[FYI] The information processing metaphor has expired

Quote:

We are organisms, not computers. Get over it. Let’s get on with the business of trying to understand ourselves, but without being encumbered by unnecessary intellectual baggage. The IP metaphor has had a half-century run, producing few, if any, insights along the way. The time has come to hit the DELETE key.
http://ift.tt/2idkMLk


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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mardi 27 décembre 2016

Another today death - from Science- Vera Rubin

Vera Rubin, Discoverer of Dark Matter, Died today. From Phil Plaitt/ Bad Astronomy article.


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RIP Richard Adams author of Watership Down

The tear-jerking children's classic about a group of rabbits in search of a new home after the destruction of their warren was first published in 1972.

The tale, first told by Adams on a long car journey with his daughters, turned into a best-seller.
Adams, a civil servant from Newbury in Berkshire, also wrote Shardik, The Plague Dogs and The Girl in a Swing.

Watership Down, which he wrote when he was 52, won the Carnegie Medal for children's fiction in the year of publication.
Tens of millions of copies have since been sold around the world.

http://ift.tt/2iA4hfk


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lundi 26 décembre 2016

Tell me about CB radios....

We occasionally hear reports of people who get stranded in isolated areas without cell service (link to one below). In those circumstances, would a portable CB radio be likely to connect with anybody? What's a typical range outdoors? Do the police still monitor channel 9? Also, for many purposes the handheld FRS/GMRS walkie-talkies have become much more common. Do authorities monitor those? Would anybody be likely to hear a call for help on one?
http://ift.tt/2i1W9Dr


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How to Live Well--My Philosophy of Life

Please click here for a brief summary and link to the full 14-page document.

Constructive feedback is welcome.


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The Problem With Whiteness

"Debate Rages As University Stands By ‘Problem Of Whiteness’ Course"
http://ift.tt/2hsqJXM

I'm actually impressed that my sorry white ass has caused so many problems.


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What will happen to Obamacare under Trump...political angle

Note: There may be an existing thread on this, but I didn't see it. If it is too similar to something active, feel free to close it. However, it should be in USA Politics, not social issues, because I'm going to be bringing up politics.


Of all the things conservatives hate that have happened in the last eight years, surely the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, must be at or near the top of the list. Repeal Obamacare resounds all over the right wing radio. With a Republican congress and Trump ad president, and a slew of campaign promises from candidates from Trump on down, surely the ACA is history, right?

I predict it won't happen. I predict that four years from now, there will not be massive changes. At the very least, it will still be required to have health insurance, and the government will still provide subsidies. The core principle of Obamacare will still be in place.

What I predict will happen is that the Republican congress will not be able to agree on what to do. One faction will want a very straightforward "cancel it" law. No replacement at all. Another faction will put forward a "repeal and replace" proposal that is based on HSAs. Perhaps another faction will have some other proposal. Either way, no House Democrats will join them in any of these resolutions, and nothing will pass, and Obamacare will remain the law of the land.

This is calculated. The Republicans know that simply repealing it would result in an awful lot of bad press, because they know that the ACA has really resulted in a lot more people getting insurance, After I type this, I'm going to google "medical bankruptcies" and see how they have been affected by Obamacare, too. The Republicans don't really want to repeal it at all. They just want to say that they wanted to repeal it. This approach, with multiple competing bills, is a tried and true method for achieving this goal. Every Republican can stand up and piously declare that he fought for the repeal of Obamacare, and yet no one will have to take the blame for repealing it.

At least, that's my prediction. Look for this thread to be bumped in six months. Stay tuned.


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China to test "Em drive"?

http://ift.tt/2i1KWCN

I've read about this "Em drive" before and always came away thinking it was a lot like those motors that supposedly run on water. You can get people real excited about it, but you can't make it work.

But hey, I'm not a physicist. Maybe someone with a more appropriate background can weigh in?


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Recess appointment of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court?

The Republicans made believe that we cannot have the President nominate anyone for the Supreme Court during his last year in office.

There is no precedent for this. Several Supreme Court Justices have been nominated and approved by the Senate during a President's last year in office, several times.

And yet, the GOP Senate decided that no Obama nominee, not even one who supports some of their ideas, would get a Senate vote let alone hearings.

So basically they stole a Supreme Court Justice from the Democrats.

That is why Obama should make a recess appointment to the Supreme Court after the next session of Congress begins and before trump is inaugurated.

If the GOP is going to play games, let the Democrats play along.

Its legal and its right. Garland would serve until President trump decides to replace him, if he chooses so in 2018.


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"A Ghost Hunter Turned Skeptic: One Paranormal Investigator's Story"

"A Ghost Hunter Turned Skeptic: One Paranormal Investigator's Story"

Presentation by Carolyn Dougherty

Sponsored by CNY Skeptics

Time: Wednesday, January 18, 2017, 7:00 PM

Where: Dewitt Public Library, 3649 Erie Blvd. East, DeWitt, NY 13214, USA

Event is Free and Open to the Public

Light refreshments will be served

Please contact 1-315-636-6533 or email info@cnyskeptics.org for more information

Presentation Summary:

From an early age Carolyn Dougherty was interested in the paranormal. As an adult she has spent much of her life exploring ghost stories and claims of haunting. In her presentation for CNY Skeptics she will talk about her journey from believing to applying critical thinking to investigations.

Presenter Bio:

Carolyn Dougherty was a writer and assistant editor for MyPara Paranormal Magazine, a writer for The Bent Spoon Magazine, and is the author of the book Creepy Corners: Searching for Truth in Paranormal Claims. She is the writer of Carolyn's Creepy Corner (http://ift.tt/2hofAFD), a blog promoting critical thinking in paranormal research. Dougherty earned a BA in music and English from The University of the Pacific and taught language arts for many years.

Central New York Skeptics (CNY Skeptics) is a community organization dedicated to the promotion of science and reason, the investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims, and the improvement of standards for science education and critical-thinking skills.

Attached Images
File Type: jpg 17-1743-VZW3D00Z.jpg (145.6 KB)


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Fake News Is Not the Real Media Threat We’re Facing

This article in The Nation is well worth reading. It discusses the relentless three-decade-long right-wing campaign to delegitimize and demonize both liberalism and the media. (Of course, the war on the media has been justified by its supposed liberal bias.) Not by coincidence, that war has been paralleled by a relentless press for one-party rule -- gerrymandering, vote suppression, and now outright power-grabbing. And lo and behold, we are about to crown a nationalistic demagogue who brazenly lies to exploit fear, bigotry and hate, knowing full well that his supporters will not believe what the media says about it or him. Now he can stand in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue and burn the Constitution and he won't lose any support. And he's supported by a Congressional GOP that has suddenly traded in their "conservative values" for nihilism. Happy New Year.

http://ift.tt/2iwJ85B

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNation
Anyone masochistic enough to tune into Rush Limbaugh regularly will soon recognize a strange pattern in his rants. Limbaugh has an extremely long list of enemies, all of whom he paints as mortal threats to the American republic. But there is one absolutely constant enemy, whom he mentions in every single broadcast, without fail. It is not Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama. It is not the “Democrat party.” It is not even the federal government. It is the mainstream news media, whom he accuses of extreme liberal bias and hatred of America. In every single show, contempt oozing out of his voice, he flagellates mainstream media such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, or the major broadcast networks. He collectively labels them “drive-bys,” comparing them to drive-by shooters. And his strategy has been followed by virtually the whole of the conservative media machine, from fellow radio hosts like Mark Levin and Michael Savage, to television personalities like Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly, to pundits like Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham. If some hapless liberal caller to a conservative radio show, or some hapless liberal guest on a Fox News program, dares to support an argument by invoking a story from The New York Times, he or she is likely to be met with contemptuous laughter. In this milieu, the Times has no more credibility than The National Enquirer at a scientific conference on extraterrestrial life. A conservative radio talk-show host, Charlie Sykes, who opposed Trump in the election, puts it this way: “We have spent 20 years demonizing the liberal mainstream media…. At a certain point you wake up and you realize you have destroyed the credibility of any credible outlet out there.”



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Excutions at it's lowest since '91

Are the libruls and leftists to blame?

Quote:

Death sentences, executions, and public support for the death penalty continued their historic declines in 2016, according to DPIC's annual report, "The Death Penalty in 2016: Year End Report," released on December 21. The 30 death sentences imposed this year are the fewest in the modern era of capital punishment in the U.S.—since the Supreme Court declared all existing death penalty statutes unconstitutional in 1972—and declined 39% from 2015's already 40-year low. Just 20 people were executed in 2016, the fewest executions since 1991.
http://ift.tt/2h9OXUJ


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Conservatives Stealing an Animal Rights issue

Two fairly important and certainly much-read and reported opinion articles. The latter pretty much jumps on the former's bandwagon.

Quote:

Today's Food: Our Progeny Will Call Us Barbarians
Charles Krauthammer: Someday, this industrial slaughter will be condemned
Washington post article, google as need be

Quote:

Unthinkable Today, Obvious Tomorrow: The Moral Case for the Abolition of Cruelty to Animals by Matthew Scully December 19, 2016 4:00 AM On that issue, our evolving standards approach the ancient ones of Judeo-Christian morality.
National review article, google as need be

They make mildly good cases but do so without strict accordance to good logic and rhetoric-free arguments. One example:
Quote:

The vast plant floors — scene of 2,000 kills every hour, if you can picture that pace — must be constantly washed clean of waste, because in terror so many of the pigs lose control of their bowels.
Yea, well, you might be right. Or they just ordinarily **** when and where they please. And more often, often. On the other hand, a pig just knows.

I post this because this issue is ripe for republican pickin's. Dems have hemmed and hawed a bit at low political levels but it has never reached a national platform.

Does it have conservative legs? Yea, it does.

Now, both articles resemble what you've read in the past about such slaughterhouse atrocities -- there's nothing new under that sun -- but the source is the real news here.


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dimanche 25 décembre 2016

No, Donald Trump did not start his political career with birtherism

The media has been falsely claiming that Trump started the birther issue because he's racist, if this were true why did he only begin talking about it over 2 years after Obama's election during an interview when he was only asking a question then later began expressing doubts when several more reporters asked him the same question provoking him to research the issue further.

No I am not a birther.

The person who deserves the credit for starting this controversy is Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign.
Here is a summary of the facts, from breitbart.com

Quote:

1.More than a full year before anyone would hear of Orly Taitz, the Birther strategy was first laid out in the Penn memo.

2.The “othering” foundation was built subliminally by the Clinton campaign itself.

3.Democrats and Clinton campaign surrogates did the dirtiest of the dirty work: openly spread the Birther lies.

4.Staffers in Hillary’s actual campaign used email to spread the lies among other Democrats (this was a Democrat primary after all — so that is the only well you needed to poison a month before a primary).

5.The campaign released the turban photo.

6.Hillary herself used 60 Minutes to further stoke these lies.
[yt]02BvnRaDz48[/yt]


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George Michael dies

http://ift.tt/2i64kfF

Couldn't stand his music

Good voice though


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Merry Christmas from Trump and the GOP

This is DJT's actual tweeted Christmas card, which is disturbing enough, but I've added a quote from Reince Priebus' official GOP Christmas message:



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samedi 24 décembre 2016

The Elephant Whisperer by Laurence Anthony

Yesterday I came to the end of an excellent talking book by Laurence Anthony, 'The Elephant Whisperer'. The advantage of it being a talking book was that all the Zulu words were spoken easily. It was a superb account of the author's time as owner of the Thula-Thula conservation game reserve. I googled him and it was he who was the person who saved the Baghdad zoo. Sad to know that he died of a heart attack at the age of 62 in 2012.

I would be most interested in others' opinions of this book.


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Russian plane 'disappears from radar' near Sochi

This could get ugly

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The Oprah/Michelle interview looks damned good...

It's on but I'll set it to DVR (it's on through Mon. I think) because it looks recordable just from the few minutes I've seen.

I don't care for Oprah, and see little of Michelle... but already they're throwing up clips of unique, meaningful White House events and moments that are due to her being First Lady.

I think I'll enjoy it when I get time to watch it.
She's really is just that honestly genuine.
And damned if they didn't draw an impressive guest list.


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North Carolina Democracy rates same as Cuba

Pretty interesting read on how the state has been torn apart by partisan bickering, gerrymandering, etc.

Quote:

Andrew Reynolds is a political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has helped design a system called the Electoral Integrity Project, which evaluates the fairness of election systems globally. In a column this week in The News & Observer, the Raleigh newspaper, Professor Reynolds said the system’s “electoral integrity score” for North Carolina ranked the state alongside Cuba, Indonesia and Sierra Leone.
Source

Article quotes a former Republican pulling out the tu quoque:

Quote:

“We Republicans learned from the Democrats,” said Jim Martin, a former Republican governor, predicting that his party would eventually be on the receiving end of a backlash similar to the one that befell Democrats. “They’ll have accumulated the same sort of baggage, and it’ll swing back the other way.”
That place is a mess.


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Trump is right about China

China puts huge tariffs on many American goods.

Cars, electronics, other things.

They also manipulate the value of their currency so as to make foreign, especially American goods, more expensive and their goods less expensive.

So how is it that Trump talking about tariffs on Chinese goods, equals a trade war?

How did China achieve such an amazing public relations coup?

Yo no comprende.


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Defund the UN over Israel settlements resolution?

Fox News and some Republicans are talking about serious retaliation against the UN for yesterday's Security Council resolution.

The resolution condemned Israel's annexation of West Bank land, the building of settlements for 500,000 Israeli settlers, the theft of private land from Palestinian land owners.

The resolution also condemned incitement against both sides, condemned violence against all civilians and condemned all acts of terrorism.

Nevertheless, some are calling for the USA to cease all foreign aid to any nation that voted for this resolution and even cutting off all annual dues paid to the UN by the USA.

Is this how we should respond to UNSC Resolution 2334?


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Trump works hard to employ foreigners

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Even as his campaign was in full force, donald trump was working hard to hire foreigners to work in his American vineyards.

He's required to make an honest attempt to hire American workers first, before importing foreigners.

But as Mr. trump is great at barely following the law, he only posted ads for these jobs in small local, low distribution papers, for a day or two.

Then he complained to the Department of Labor that no Americans wanted the jobs, so he's forced to hire foreigners.


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Casey's HUMAN FLYING DRONE

.


Okay - i really wasn't going to go there. I was going to let it pass.
Really.
I really was.
Biggest reason being - I am not a fan. So it therefore would be problematic or wrong for me to criticize and question the claims. Some people will understand this - some won't.
But that was the main reason I wasn't going to go there.



But then he made a new video low key accusing all doubters of being ignorant or of not thinking straight.

:mad:

SO that was it - I was left with no option - I went there.

I had to.



(explanation in the video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuvzSmCqdQU


The parts of his videos where he is flying - they are possibly fake.

You heard it hear first.



Unlike the other possible 'hoaxes' this one will resolve itself fairly quickly.
Being that its on everyones radar and that he is center stage - i give it less than a month til this one is busted or 100% proven real beyond doubt


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Happy Holidays, Truthers, Twoofers, Shills, Debunkers and lurkers.

How many Holidays will we calibrate before, the Cters realize all this was always a scam?

A one,
B ten,
C one hundred,
D don't worry about it, in a million years a star will pass close to the solar system and kill us all but extraterrestrial truthers will claim it was an inside Job.

Which do you think will be closer to reality?


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vendredi 23 décembre 2016

No one wants to play the Inauguration

The featured headliners for Inauguration Day are the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Rockettes (dancing troupe) because nearly everyone else turned the event down. And the dancers themselves are up in arms because they have been basically roped into it by their contracts.

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Obama urging ACA administrators to archive data off gov't servers

http://ift.tt/2ipVw3r

This after similar ad-hoc efforts to preserve climate data started recently.

I'm thinking the President is remembering what happened in Canada back in 2013 when the government there summarily started destroying similar environmental as well as cultural data.

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A sitting US President having to tell loyal US government workers they may not be able to trust their own government in a few weeks...God help us.


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Guy steals money from a jar with a handicap kid on it

I was at a convenience store today and, since the clerk seemed friendly, I asked him if anybody had ever tried to run away with the donation jar on the counter. I remarked that it seemed unlikely because the jar had a picture of a handicapped kid on it. To which, the guy grabbed the bucket, shook it til the dollar came out of it, and stuffed it in his pocket. Shocked at first, I thought about it and didn't know whether to cry or cheer for him sticking it to the man! Ethically, where do you stand on this?


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Best Chrismas Present Ever!

I didn't buy any Christmas presents this year and I don't expect to receive any. But I'm not sad because 62,979,879 people have already given me the best present ever! Donald Trump: serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, birther and global warming denier - confirmed as President-Elect of the United States.

On behalf of myself, the MSM and everyone else who hates America, I thank you for your sacrifice. I know how hard it must be to vote against your own self-interest just to make a stranger happy, and I admire your taste in giving us Donald Trump - the Gift that keeps on Giving.

As for those leftist snowflakes who didn't vote for him, remember the 5th stage of grief - acceptance. That's right dems, time to bend over and accept whatever Trump and Putin have coming for you...


Merry Christmas Everyone!!!


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Heads Up - After 'Ancient Aliens' comes 'Ancient Tomorrow'

Courtesy of Jason Colavito:

Quote:

​Ancient Tomorrow follows eco-activist J. J. Yosh, a chemical engineer by trade, as he joins forces with model and actress Teejay Casado, who claims to be an archaeologist who believes in Atlantis, prehistoric super-civilizations, ancient super-technology, and other nonsense. Casado, described as the “lead archaeologist” for the team, took down her website just before the film was released.

...they march around the world to try to prove that all ancient pyramids were built on “vortexes” to serve as power plants intended to provide “free” and “clean” energy to prehistoric cities.
http://ift.tt/2ibF1sf

Basically having promoted the heck out of Victorian era racist material, the networks are moving on to 'New Age Archaeology', in which the 'Ancients' solved all of the worlds problems with (for want of a better term) 'magic' until someone (Martians, White People, etc etc etc) came along and messed things up.

They (the networks) clearly have not learned their lesson from 2016.


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Political spectrums, what happened?

Political spectrums used to involve socialists on the left and capitalists on the right.
Viewing things now, being willing to share a bus with coloured people, allowing people to visit a mosque or allowing homosexuals to move into your street appears to be a sign of communism, which isn't exactly what das capital bored its readers to sleep about.

After the recent terrorist attack in Germany, twitter, for example, was rammed with people bemoaning the politically right wing Merkel for being too left wing, allowing refugees we had just bombed in.
Farage and whoever runs UKIP today calls all remoaners lefties.

Is this a ruse from the alt-right to get politics away from politics?

Farage and Trump both rally behind the notion they ain't politicians, blaming capitalists and globalists for all, with only 'decent people' believing their mantra of 'non-pc speak' while, politically Trump now is building a cabinet full of capitalists and globalists and, Farage was a conservative member for years.

Currently, Corbyn is getting reamed for resembling a haunted tennis ball by the media, with stories of labour voters leaving for UKIP.
What policies are they leaving for?
UKIP is made up of failed conservatives bar the one who decked the guy defecting too, the conservatives, they don't exactly exude socialist values, so what is the selling point.

Is the politics as it was now dead?
Just 'decent people' intolerant of others versus the rest?


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Trump - I'm not going to start any regional wars - I'll blow the whole world up.

More nukes says Trump. We need more nukes.


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U.S. Allows U.N. to Condemn Israel

"Several Democratic and Republican lawmakers had urged the Obama administration to veto the resolution, which they say is unfair to Israel and will undermine the long-stalled peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians even more."
http://ift.tt/2i0Omnd

There's not going to be any peace. There's one country in that entire region that's not a misogynistic ****hole. I don't know what Obama is thinking.


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Plastic Rice

There's a news story about manufactured plastic rice being marketed in Nigeria and sold as real rice. This is after there being older stories about plastic rice being made in China and sold as counterfeit rice. I'm skeptical.

Suspected plastic rice has been seized in Nigeria and is being tested. Authorities there say it will take some time for scientific results. It seems to me that anyone could apply a flame to this stuff and quickly know if it is plastic as it would melt or catch fire and smell like burning plastic.

The idea seems to be that plastic rice would be cheaper and easily manufactured. I'm wondering if it would actually be more expensive than real rice.


BBC story here. They have several articles on plastic rice if you search.

http://ift.tt/2hy3VBL


Snopes story here. They say the claim is unproven.

http://ift.tt/2hh1iXh


Is this an urban legend?


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BBC Ghost Stories For Christmas

It's that tine of year, so I recently dug out a boxed set and sat down to watch a couple of the (mostly) MR James inspired chillers that used to be a staple of Christmas Eve on the Beeb.

I got to introduce a friend to some, and we ended up watching A Warning To The Curious, and A View From A Hill.

Warning is from the original run, a seventies work that is showing its age in terms of "that is the actor from that thing", and despite taking a good fee liberties gets the feel of the story right.

A budding archaeologist is on the trail of a buried crown, but suspects the last guardian of the secret is still watching from beyond the grave. The ghost itself, despite being a man filmed out of focus, is nice and effective, an eerie presence most effective when off screen, his presence betrayed by consumptive wheezes or the actions of a character.

View from a hill is more recent, part of one of the many attempted revivals. The 2006 film streamlines much of the short story, then draws out one aspect. It has so e effective chills,and the location filming is wonderful. But the final chill is a little too underplayed in the last frame.

If I have time I may have to revisit the Signalman (a dickins adaption), or Whistle And I Shall Come (which means choosing between a sixties version, or the recent John Hurt one).


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Should Twitter cancel Trump?

Trump has never stopped Tweeting, but instead of Tweeting to advance his campaign and demean his opponents, he is now Tweeting about complex foreign policy issues, just today announcing his plans to overturn 50 years of bipartisan precedent to expand the U.S. nuclear arsenal and his demand that the U.S. veto a UN resolution about Israeli settlements. Twitter is a private business that's free to accept or reject any message and any member. Should Twitter shut down the accounts belonging to Trump and his minions? I could imagine Jack Dorsey saying something like "We're proud of what Twitter has accomplished to expand person-to-person communication, but we believe that this is not an appropriate medium for our highest, most powerful officials to treat public policy matters that touch all our lives." What would be the general response?


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jeudi 22 décembre 2016

The Claremont Killer

One of Australia's most famous cold cases, The Claremont Serial Killings, has just had a major breakthrough. Bradley Robert Edwards has been charged with two murders as well as several other offences, and may still be charged with a third murder, the presumed 3rd victim disappeared in 1996 and has never been found.

This case has been being investigated for over 20 years and is the largest and most expensive murder investigation in Australian history.
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Merry Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas 2016 to everyone here:



And a happy New Yeark 2017.


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Adobe Flash plug-in issue

I keep getting dysfunctional videos that inform me "Firefox has prevented the outdated plugin 'Adobe Flash' from running." I'm told it's "vulnerable." A click will give me an option: "Allow now" or "Allow and remember." It comes up with other browsers as well.

There are links to install the update, but I just go in a circle; I install the installer, but clicking through to install the update does not work. I just end up with multiple copies of the installer. I try to uninstall and start over, and the same thing happens.

How is it "vulnerable"? Security? Other than that it's mainly an annoyance; I can "Allow Now" and get the CNN videos, though that IMO is a very clumsy website (user malfunction definitely possible).

If anyone can give me some insight on the pitfalls I face I'd appreciate it. Sometimes I think some websites are being difficult just to keep the user on the site longer.

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

The "vulnerable" part worries me ... does that mean?

ETA: Same thing with Silverlight on Netflix.


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Hit Piece on Snopes.com

Ouch.

Link: [EXCLUSIVE: Facebook 'fact checker' who will arbitrate on 'fake news' is accused of defrauding website to pay for prostitutes - and its staff includes an escort-porn star and 'Vice Vixen domme']

Blutoskitorial:

Ugh. I worked with DM back in the early days before snopes exploded with 9/11 traffic. I was aware he divorced, and they were not getting along, business partnership problems, &c. I don't think any of this is false BUT also don't think it impacts the credibility of the site. But obviously I expect this daily fail hit piece to be the start of an onslaught which will have massive impact on the willingness for news organizations to use them as 3rd party fact checking and validation.

Bad day for skepticism.


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BREAKING: Trump to indict Neo-Cons for 9-11

Anonymous sources within the Trump transition team have informed unnamed news outlets that President-elect Donald Trump is discussing a massive indictment of former Bush Administration officials for co-conspiracy in the mass murder of almost 3,000 persons in New York City, Shanksville PA and Washington, D.C. on 9-11.

Sources tell the press the indictment is already in the works, to be presented to the District Attorney of the Southern District of New York soon after Trump's inauguration.

The following Bush Administration individuals are mentioned as being possible listed co-conspirators.

-George W. Bush
-Richard "Dick" Cheney
-Richael Perle
-Paul Wolfowitz
-Donald Rumsfeld
-Eliot Abrams

Also, the following non-officials have also been mentioned as possible co-conspirators for indictment:

-Larry Silverstein
-Ehud Barak
-Dov Hikind
-Rudolf Guiliani
-Michael Bloomberg
-Christine Todd Whitman

More info as the story develops.


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Good men should expect discrimination from women

I am no fan of the Huff post. I think it's a ******** "news" source, and I avoid it with the same veracity that I avoid Fox "news". I know this is an opinion piece, and was written awhile ago, but it struck a nerve with me.

During my last semester we studied, in sociology, all of the issues women and minorities have had to deal with. I won't lie, the majority of my sociology was about how mean the white, middle aged male is to everyone else.

This doesn't even make sense. It's an article about how women don't (and argues that they really shouldn't) treat good men, like they are good men on the premise that there are men who aren't good.

Everyone gets hurt, everyone gets burned, but isn't this just a broad form of victim blaming. "I'm treating a man, who has done nothing wrong, like he's an ******* for the pure reason that he's a male, and he should frankly expect and deal with it." It's the dumbest. ****. I. Have. Read.

Link

Do women honestly think that way? Is this the way we're going to deal with each other? How is this any different than the idea that women should make less money, or those that dress a certain way are "asking for it"?


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Two grade schoolers get in a fight? SEND 'EM TO PRISON!

I had no idea this was going on right in my own state (and I usually keep up with such things. Schoolyard/schoolbus fights are about to become felonies.

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Do we dare to call ourselves Skeptics?

After looking at an article titled “What is Scepticism” by Brian Dunning, I asked myself “do we all dare to call ourselves Skeptics?”

Abstracts from his article…
Skepticism is the process of applying reason and critical thinking to determine validity.
Skepticism is, or should be, an extraordinarily powerful and positive influence on the world.
Skepticism is about redirecting attention, influence, and funding away from worthless superstitions and popular misinformation toward projects and ideas that are evidenced to be beneficial to humanity and to the world.
Skepticism is an essential and meaningful component of the search for truth.

Most importantly he states: “The scientific method is central to skepticism” and a skeptic “maintains a doubting attitude toward values, plans, statements”

In light of the above I have a serious concern about the way people in the Forum respond to seemingly well thought through information contained in posts. Responses such as these are worth nothing… nothing and do not in my opinion contribute anything to a search for truth… or whatever.
“Really?”
“OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!”
“Uhguuu!”

As light of the above I suggest that people responding to posts should:
Make an effort to understand the point of view expressed in the post.
Apply critical thinking in evaluating the content of the post.
Define your own point of view and present it in a logical way.

I feel we should be very skeptic about our own inputs to the Forum.


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Kindle fire issue

I have a Kindle fire hdx 10.1. I've had it about a year. Quite suddenly a few weeks ago, I started getting an error when I open apps. About 80% of the time if I open an app that allows in app purchasing, I'll get an error saying I don't have amazon app store installed on my device. Then I'll be redirected to the app store. I'll need to go back and forth between the app store and the game a few times before it will stop popping up.

I contacted amazon and they recommended the following:
1. Reboot (duh)
2. Clear the cache.of the appstore
3. Deregister and reregister my kindle

I did all these things more than once, and the error continues.

I did an internet search and the advice there was to uninstall and reinstall the appstore. However you can't do that on a Kindle. It is part of the OS.

Anybody have any recommendations? This is super irritating.


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mercredi 21 décembre 2016

Another "Mandela Effect": Shazaam, a '90s children's comedy movie that never existed.

So remember the recent... thing about the Berenstein/Berenstain Bears name and the discussion about mass social level false memories or even memories of alternate dimensions?

We've got another one. A wacky 90s children's movie that starred stand up comedian Sinbad as a genie named Shazaam that over 300 Redditors claim to remember seeing but that never seemed to actually exist.

Quote:

Carl, whose name has been changed because he wishes to remain anonymous, recalls watching a movie called Shazaam with his sister in the early Nineties, and has fond memories of discussing it with her over the last 20 years. In their recollections, the movie starred the American stand-up comedian Sinbad – real name David Adkins – as an incompetent genie who granted wishes to two young children.

Meredith Upton, a 25-year-old videographer from Nashville, Tennessee, also remembers the same film.

Don goes even further. Although he is not certain that the movie was called Shazaam, he has detailed scene-by-scene recollections of the film, which include the children wishing for a new wife for their father, the little girl wishing for her broken doll to be fixed, and the movie finale taking place at a pool party.

Meredith, Don, and Carl are three of hundreds of Redditors who have used the popular social news site to discuss their memories of Shazaam. Together they have scoured the internet to find evidence that the movie existed but each has repeatedly come up empty-handed.
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Swamp not to be drained

Not directly from the mouth of the swamp drainer, but hey.

http://ift.tt/2h3wDJy

Is there anything he did not go back from his election trail ? I mean, beside his name.... Wait, he is still called Donald Trump, right ?


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Does Donald Trump deserve our respect?

Trump, the President-elect, may deserve our respect.

Or not.

He is a race-baiting baffoon, with very low self-esteem and an extreme persecution complex.

He doesn't respect women or many minorities.

So does he deserve our respect?


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Chinese GDP ppp during 2015 10% higher than USA's

According to the World Bank.


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AIA Convention resolution - the 3rd try. Rebuttals, please!

They're baaaaack!

AE911Truth has been mailing this following glossy pamphlet to, they allege, 25,000 AIA members - a proposed resolution get the WTC7 collapse "reinvestigated":
http://ift.tt/2hWiYbT

It lists in somewhat tiring length all the same old lies. I wonder if we could get together and write a rebuttal, to be submitted to AIA's leadership.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AE911Truth
WHEREAS, thousands of members of the architecture and engineering professions, including the ______ sponsors of this resolution, now believe there is sufficient evidence contradicting the findings of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to warrant a new investigation into the total collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 (WTC 7), a 47-story high-rise that collapsed into its own footprint at 5:20 PM on September 11, 2001;

WHEREAS, the cause of the total collapse of WTC 7 has become the subject of intense public debate, to which architects — through their knowledge, skill, and experience — are uniquely qualified to contribute; and

WHEREAS, prior to and since September 11, 2001, no steel-framed high-rise
has ever suffered a total collapse, except buildings demolished through the
procedure known as controlled demolition; and

WHEREAS, the total collapse of WTC 7 exemplified many of the signature
features of controlled demolition, including:
  • Sudden onset: The roofline of WTC 7 went from being stationary to being in free fall in approximately one-half second.
  • Rapidity: The roofline of WTC 7 fell to the ground in less than
  • seven seconds.
  • Free fall: For 2.25 seconds of its descent, WTC 7 fell at the rate of gravity over a distance of eight stories, meaning that the lower structure of the building provided no resistance whatsoever.
  • Symmetry: WTC 7 fell directly downward through what had been the path of greatest resistance, with the debris deposited mostly inside the building’s footprint.
  • Explosions and window breakage: Vertical sequences of explosions and window breakage could be seen running up the north face of WTC 7 as it began to collapse.
  • Dismemberment: The steel frame of WTC 7 was almost entirely dismembered.
  • Pulverization: Most of WTC 7’s concrete was pulverized to a consistency of sand and gravel.
  • Totality: The entire structure of WTC 7 collapsed to the ground, leaving no sections of the building standing; and

WHEREAS, first responders and bystanders reported explosions and other phenomena suggestive of controlled demolition immediately prior to and during the total collapse of WTC 7, as exemplified in the following statement by a New York University medical student who was interviewed on 1010 WINS radio moments after the collapse:
[W]e heard this sound that sounded like a clap of thunder. Turned around.... (I)t looked like there was a shockwave ripping through the building and the windows all busted out.... And then about a second later the bottom floor caved out and the building followed after that”; and
WHEREAS, a CNN video camera captured the sound of an explosion coming from WTC 7 and the following statements prior to the onset of the collapse:
Unidentified voice: “You hear that?

Voice of emergency responder #1: “Keep your eye on that building. It’ll be coming down soon.

Voice of emergency responder #2: “Building is about to blow up, move it back.... We are walking back, there’s a building about to blow up. Flame and debris coming down”; and
WHEREAS, numerous experts in controlled demolition and structural engineering have attested that the total collapse of WTC 7 could have been caused only by controlled demolition, as exemplified in the following statement made by Dutch demolition expert Danny Jowenko after viewing video of the collapse:
This is controlled demolition.... It’s been imploded. It’s a hired job, done by a team of experts.... It’s without a doubt a professional job”; and
WHEREAS, in spite of the fact that the fires in WTC 7 were unextraordinary and the building had only modest structural damage, the New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) began warning members of the New York Fire Department (FDNY) sometime before 11:30 AM that WTC 7 “was in serious danger of collapse,” and the FDNY proceeded to establish a safety zone around WTC 7 in the early afternoon; and

WHEREAS, officials at the scene were so certain of WTC 7’s impending total collapse that it became widely covered in the media, as exemplified by MSNBC’s Ashleigh Banfield, who reported, “I’ve heard several reports from several different officers now that that is the building that is gonna go down next. In fact, one officer told me they’re just waiting for that to come down at this point” — and by the BBC, who erroneously began reporting the total collapse 23 minutes before it actually occurred; and

WHEREAS, in spite of the fact that the total collapse of WTC 7 had been predicted with absolute certainty and accuracy starting six hours in advance, investigators for the Building Performance Study, conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), were reportedly “stunned” by the collapse and concluded in May 2002:
The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the building to collapse remain unknown at this time. Although the total diesel fuel on the premises contained massive potential energy, the best hypothesis has only a low probability of occurrence”; and
WHEREAS, NIST stated at the beginning of its investigation in August 2002 that fires “played a significant role” in the total collapse of WTC 7 — thus violating Sections 4.3.7 and 4.3.8 of NFPA 921: Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations, which advise:
Until data have been collected, no specific hypothesis can be reasonably formed or tested. All investigations of fire and explosion incidents should be approached by the investigator without presumption....” and,

“[i]Expectation bias is a well-established phenomenon that occurs in scientific analysis when investigator(s) reach a premature conclusion without having examined or considered all of the relevant data.... The introduction of expectation bias into the investigation results in the use of only that data that supports this previously formed conclusion and often results in the misinterpretation and/or the discarding of data that does not support the original opinion[I/]”; and
WHEREAS, three and one-half years after NIST began its investigation, NIST’s lead investigator, Dr. Shyam Sunder, stated that NIST had some “preliminary hypotheses,” but conceded, “[T]ruthfully, I don’t really know. We’ve had trouble getting a handle on building No. 7”; and

WHEREAS, NIST finally concluded in 2008 — three years after the originally scheduled release of its WTC 7 report — that the total collapse of WTC 7 was caused by normal office fires that burned “at temperatures hundreds of degrees below those typically considered in design practice for establishing structural fire resistance ratings,” and ruled out earlier hypotheses that diesel fuel fires and structural damage contributed to the collapse; and

WHEREAS, NIST declined to examine previously melted steel from WTC 7 that had a “Swiss cheese appearance,” and which had been documented in Appendix C of the FEMA/ASCE Building Performance Study as follows:
Evidence of a severe high temperature corrosion attack on the steel, including oxidation and sulfidation with subsequent intergranular melting, was readily visible in the near-surface microstructure. A liquid eutectic mixture containing primarily iron, oxygen, and sulfur formed during this hot corrosion attack on the steel.... The severe corrosion and subsequent erosion of Samples 1 and 2 are a very unusual event. No clear explanation for the
source of the sulfur has been identified
”; and
WHEREAS, NIST’s computer model — which terminates less than two seconds into the seven-second collapse — fails to replicate the observed structural behavior, showing large deformations to WTC 7’s exterior not observed in the videos, while not showing the observed period of free fall; and

WHEREAS, NIST omitted critical structural features of WTC 7 from its computer model, which, in the opinion of independent engineers, if corrected, would show that the initiating failure reported by NIST had zero probability of occurring; and

WHEREAS, NIST has refused to release key portions of its modeling data to engineers studying the collapse of WTC 7, claiming that to do so “might jeopardize public safety” — thus making it impossible for any building professional in the world to independently verify NIST’s findings;

Wow. What a big pile of ********! Clearly designed to bamboozle.

I'll copy that entire text to a spoilered section and put numbers before the "WHEREAS"ed items, so that you can quote the items and/or refer to them by a number:
(1) WHEREAS, thousands of members of the architecture and engineering professions, including the ______ sponsors of this resolution, now believe there is sufficient evidence contradicting the findings of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to warrant a new investigation into the total collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 (WTC 7), a 47-story high-rise that collapsed into its own footprint at 5:20 PM on September 11, 2001;

(2) WHEREAS, the cause of the total collapse of WTC 7 has become the subject of intense public debate, to which architects — through their knowledge, skill, and experience — are uniquely qualified to contribute; and

(3) WHEREAS, prior to and since September 11, 2001, no steel-framed high-rise
has ever suffered a total collapse, except buildings demolished through the
procedure known as controlled demolition; and

(4) WHEREAS, the total collapse of WTC 7 exemplified many of the signature
features of controlled demolition, including:
  1. Sudden onset: The roofline of WTC 7 went from being stationary to being in free fall in approximately one-half second.
  2. Rapidity: The roofline of WTC 7 fell to the ground in less than
  3. seven seconds.
  4. Free fall: For 2.25 seconds of its descent, WTC 7 fell at the rate of gravity over a distance of eight stories, meaning that the lower structure of the building provided no resistance whatsoever.
  5. Symmetry: WTC 7 fell directly downward through what had been the path of greatest resistance, with the debris deposited mostly inside the building’s footprint.
  6. Explosions and window breakage: Vertical sequences of explosions and window breakage could be seen running up the north face of WTC 7 as it began to collapse.
  7. Dismemberment: The steel frame of WTC 7 was almost entirely dismembered.
  8. Pulverization: Most of WTC 7’s concrete was pulverized to a consistency of sand and gravel.
  9. Totality: The entire structure of WTC 7 collapsed to the ground, leaving no sections of the building standing; and

(5) WHEREAS, first responders and bystanders reported explosions and other phenomena suggestive of controlled demolition immediately prior to and during the total collapse of WTC 7, as exemplified in the following statement by a New York University medical student who was interviewed on 1010 WINS radio moments after the collapse:
[W]e heard this sound that sounded like a clap of thunder. Turned around.... (I)t looked like there was a shockwave ripping through the building and the windows all busted out.... And then about a second later the bottom floor caved out and the building followed after that”; and
(6) WHEREAS, a CNN video camera captured the sound of an explosion coming from WTC 7 and the following statements prior to the onset of the collapse:
Unidentified voice: “You hear that?

Voice of emergency responder #1: “Keep your eye on that building. It’ll be coming down soon.

Voice of emergency responder #2: “Building is about to blow up, move it back.... We are walking back, there’s a building about to blow up. Flame and debris coming down”; and
(7) WHEREAS, numerous experts in controlled demolition and structural engineering have attested that the total collapse of WTC 7 could have been caused only by controlled demolition, as exemplified in the following statement made by Dutch demolition expert Danny Jowenko after viewing video of the collapse:
This is controlled demolition.... It’s been imploded. It’s a hired job, done by a team of experts.... It’s without a doubt a professional job”; and
(8) WHEREAS, in spite of the fact that the fires in WTC 7 were unextraordinary and the building had only modest structural damage, the New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) began warning members of the New York Fire Department (FDNY) sometime before 11:30 AM that WTC 7 “was in serious danger of collapse,” and the FDNY proceeded to establish a safety zone around WTC 7 in the early afternoon; and

(9) WHEREAS, officials at the scene were so certain of WTC 7’s impending total collapse that it became widely covered in the media, as exemplified by MSNBC’s Ashleigh Banfield, who reported, “I’ve heard several reports from several different officers now that that is the building that is gonna go down next. In fact, one officer told me they’re just waiting for that to come down at this point” — and by the BBC, who erroneously began reporting the total collapse 23 minutes before it actually occurred; and

(10) WHEREAS, in spite of the fact that the total collapse of WTC 7 had been predicted with absolute certainty and accuracy starting six hours in advance, investigators for the Building Performance Study, conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), were reportedly “stunned” by the collapse and concluded in May 2002:
The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the building to collapse remain unknown at this time. Although the total diesel fuel on the premises contained massive potential energy, the best hypothesis has only a low probability of occurrence”; and
WHEREAS, NIST stated at the beginning of its investigation in August 2002 that fires “played a significant role” in the total collapse of WTC 7 — thus violating Sections 4.3.7 and 4.3.8 of NFPA 921: Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations, which advise:
Until data have been collected, no specific hypothesis can be reasonably formed or tested. All investigations of fire and explosion incidents should be approached by the investigator without presumption....” and,

“[i]Expectation bias is a well-established phenomenon that occurs in scientific analysis when investigator(s) reach a premature conclusion without having examined or considered all of the relevant data.... The introduction of expectation bias into the investigation results in the use of only that data that supports this previously formed conclusion and often results in the misinterpretation and/or the discarding of data that does not support the original opinion[I/]”; and
(11) WHEREAS, three and one-half years after NIST began its investigation, NIST’s lead investigator, Dr. Shyam Sunder, stated that NIST had some “preliminary hypotheses,” but conceded, “[T]ruthfully, I don’t really know. We’ve had trouble getting a handle on building No. 7”; and

(12) WHEREAS, NIST finally concluded in 2008 — three years after the originally scheduled release of its WTC 7 report — that the total collapse of WTC 7 was caused by normal office fires that burned “at temperatures hundreds of degrees below those typically considered in design practice for establishing structural fire resistance ratings,” and ruled out earlier hypotheses that diesel fuel fires and structural damage contributed to the collapse; and

(13) WHEREAS, NIST declined to examine previously melted steel from WTC 7 that had a “Swiss cheese appearance,” and which had been documented in Appendix C of the FEMA/ASCE Building Performance Study as follows:
Evidence of a severe high temperature corrosion attack on the steel, including oxidation and sulfidation with subsequent intergranular melting, was readily visible in the near-surface microstructure. A liquid eutectic mixture containing primarily iron, oxygen, and sulfur formed during this hot corrosion attack on the steel.... The severe corrosion and subsequent erosion of Samples 1 and 2 are a very unusual event. No clear explanation for the
source of the sulfur has been identified
”; and
(14) WHEREAS, NIST’s computer model — which terminates less than two seconds into the seven-second collapse — fails to replicate the observed structural behavior, showing large deformations to WTC 7’s exterior not observed in the videos, while not showing the observed period of free fall; and

(15) WHEREAS, NIST omitted critical structural features of WTC 7 from its computer model, which, in the opinion of independent engineers, if corrected, would show that the initiating failure reported by NIST had zero probability of occurring; and

(16) WHEREAS, NIST has refused to release key portions of its modeling data to engineers studying the collapse of WTC 7, claiming that to do so “might jeopardize public safety” — thus making it impossible for any building professional in the world to independently verify NIST’s findings;


Perhaps if each of you picks one item and tries to write a short, sweet rebuttal?

I haven't thought all items through yet. Perhaps a couple are correct within reasonable bounds and sufficiently relevant - we should not be afraid to acknowledge that then.


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Do blessings wear out?

I'm asking this little question:

Do blessings wear out?

The reason for this is I have observed many religious dudes here repeating things once and again, which I associate with obsessive-compulsive personalities (or neurosis). I mean there's one saying Angry Skydaddy sent the Flood, there's other saying Lady Gnome is a saint, and so on. Repetition seems to be germane to the religious mentality, so, when they say "Blessings" or ask for blessings ... even when the pope blesses people and objects, is it permanent or it has an expiration date like a yoghurt?


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Trump's letter to Scotland. It is full of lies.

A bit of background; Donald Trump's mother was born in Scotland and he owns a couple of golf courses here (major ones, but Scotland has hundreds of golf courses).

Just published is a letter from Trump to then Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond sent in 2012;

http://ift.tt/2hI2zHF



I will now list Trump's lies in the letter as he tries to bully Scotland into not building a windfarm off shore from one of his golf courses;

1 - subsidising the tax on windfarms cannot ever destroy an economy.
2 - there is windfarm manufacturing in Scotland.
3 - The Netherlands has not abandoned off shore windfarms.
4 - building a windfarm off shore from one of your golf courses is not the most damaging event in Scottish history.
5 - there was/is no plan to surround Scotland with windfarms.
6 - tourists will not desert Scotland for Ireland because of windfarms. Ireland has windfarms.

My response to Trump is in Scottish, I can translated if required;

Awa' an bile yer heid ya big fanny, yer bum's oot the windae wi yer lies. Haud yer wheesht.

Lying clearly comes as second nature to Trump. I would suggest that he should be lied to as a matter of course. Tell him "any auld *****" (translation available) and see how he reacts when he is blatantly lied to.


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mardi 20 décembre 2016

Come on White Guys!

Can't you do any better?

"'MTV News' Deletes Video Telling "White Guys" What They Could Do Better In 2017 After Backlash"
http://ift.tt/2hphQKp

There are many reasons Trump is president. Videos like this is one of them.


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How much of the media do you trust re: Syria?

Seems like the main outlets like BBC,CNN,are wrong mainly on Syria.

Reporter who speaks Arabic goes to Syria 6 times and talks with the average Syrian and goes to Aleppo 4 times. What she uncovers is outright media bias against the Russians and Assad as it is proven time and again that the US led coalition has been targeting civilians time and again, preventing them from leaving Syria and also claiming hospitals bombed by the Russians were actually still in operation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1VNQGsiP8M


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Incredibly Incorrect Lunar Eclipse Article Published Today

Today BGR published and AT&T Yahoo further distributed an article called How to watch tonight's incredibly rare lunar eclipse.

There will be no lunar eclipse tonight. They only occur during Full Moons, and currently it is a waning Half Moon. The next lunar eclipse will be a penumbral event on 2017 FEB 10. Also the author should learn the difference between astronomical and astrological. I was thinking this must have been an old article or something on the Onion. It's not April Fools Day. The article is dated today. This seems a goof similar to the Mars appearing as big as a Full Moon silliness. Who nowadays hires reporters who are unable to properly fact check? Why can't an editor catch such nonsense?

Link: http://ift.tt/2i7UkWr


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When is pointing out that two people behave similarly a tu quoque?

There is a bit of a derail occurring in this thread starting at this post. Stripping away all the ponderous prose--some of which is unfortunately mine, I think the argument can be summarized in the following dialogue:

Person A: Trump voters didn't vote for Clinton do to her being untrustworthy because she did X.

Person B: Trump also did X, so why did Trump voters vote for Trump?

Person B: Tu quoque!!!

Is the bare fact of mentioning that Trump engaged in the same behavior that caused Clinton to be untrustworthy to Trump voters a tu quoque?


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Turkey arrests Trump associate to "gain influence" on Trump

President Erdogan has had a business assoicate of Trump's arrested to influence Trump's dealings with Turkey.

http://ift.tt/2hFo5wF

Please, CIA et al, hurry up and finish the investigation into Russian interferance in the election and remove this threat to our nation!


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Remember when using a non profit to sell access was a scandal? Now it AOK.

http://ift.tt/2i6riWZ

Ah it is so nice to get the corruption out in the open, where everyone can see and an admire how blatant the corruption is.


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CIA maps and photos declassified

For it's 75the anniversary the Central Intelligence Agency's Cartography Center has released scores of interesting maps; ranging from the road net in French Indochina and what Japanese regions were self-sufficient in food (in 1945), Antarctic claims and explorations as of February 1956, China's railway construction 1953-7, the details of the disputed boundary between Guatemala and British Honduras in 1961, climactic divisions of Burma and many more.
Plus gadgets ranging from hidden cameras to the Oxcart reconnaissance aircraft and the Trieste II DSRV.

A fascinating collection.


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Suspected terrorist attack in Berlin

I was surprised there's no thread on this yet.

http://ift.tt/2gWbOjg

The parallel with the Nice attack are obvious.

12 dead, suspect in custody. Police believe it to be a terrorist attack and while ifaik no organisation has yet to claim responsibility the suspect is believed to be a Pakistani refugee, this is sure to provide a boost to Europe's far right.

I seems inadequate, but my thoughts are with those caught up in the events, particually the injured some of whom are still in critical condition.


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Post your 2016 Predictions here

Since there does not appear to be a thread on the topic so far, this is it. We have had similar threads every year for at least the last 7 years.

Okay, let's all summon up our psychic powers (the professionals say we ALL have them, and they wouldn't lie, would they?) and let's offer up some predictions for 2017.

Some obvious ones for me. More later once I have warmed up the balls.
1. Several well known people die.
2. Scandal in the UK.
3. Trump embarresses the USA.
4. News about this forum.


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Ageism and sexism alive and well. What would you do?

I've made no secret that I work with mainly young people entering apprenticeships and traineeships, and have done so for over 20 years. I'm 65, but almost nobody has an issue with my age and gender, as long as I do my job well. And I do. I look after a number of funky employers who take on young people.

I have had a couple of recent experiences where employers have said they will only deal with staff of certain ages and gender. The first one was a cosmetic business with, literally, hundreds of outlets. They want to only deal with a female to have their staff signed-up into traineeships (a fairly straightforward process). I was pissed as the owner of the business is a male of my age, but didn't raise it as an issue.

However today a Mexican restaurant chain wants staff signed-up in early January, where I'm the only one available. They have decreed that they only want to deal with consultants under 35, as all their staff are young and they value their "image".

I'm tempted to just turn up and see what happens, and raise bloody hell if I'm rejected. But probably won't as it could hurt our business.

I will probably swallow my pride and ring them to fess up to my decrepitude and see if they deign to work with me. But this really sticks in my craw.

So what would you do? I don't accept that the customer is always right.


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