Militia groups want to 'blow up the Capitol' when Biden addresses Congress

Not sure where to put this. Seems like we need a fresh militia threat thread. There is the threat of a March 4 Trump event and more worrisome this CNN: Capitol Police chief warns militia groups want to 'blow up the Capitol' when Biden addresses Congress.

Quote:

Acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman warned Thursday that militia groups involved in the January 6 insurrection want to "blow up the Capitol" and "kill as many members as possible" when President Joe Biden addresses Congress. Pressed by House lawmakers to provide a timeline for removing the razorwire fencing and other enhanced security measures installed after the US Capitol attack, Pittman said law enforcement remains concerned about threats by known militia groups "with a direct nexus to the State of the Union" address.

We have time:

Quote:

Biden's administration is considering an address to a joint session of Congress later this year, though a specific date hasn't been identified.

Homeland Security is monitoring internet chatter. :( But it's going to be the lone wolves that are the hardest to stop.

Quote:

"The most significant terrorism-related threat currently facing the nation comes from lone offenders and small groups of individuals inspired by domestic extremist ideological beliefs, including those based on false narratives spread over social media and other online platforms," the spokesperson added.

If this belongs somewhere else, thanks in advance for moving it.

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The Cuomo Scandle.

I won't include links becaust this sotry is all ovoer the place, pushing the CPAC confrenece off the lead news story place.
IMHO this should be investigated, and if guilty, Cuomo should be punished.
Sadly, too many Dems are making excuses for Cuomo, and playing the What About game by saying that Trump was worse.
That is true, but that does no excuse Cumomo if guilty. Between this and the Nursing Home
scandle I feel I have been sold a bill of goods on Cuomo as a great leader.
Same standards should apply across the board. TO have a double standard is the rankest hypocrisy.

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[Split Thread] Extraterrestrial origin for life on earth?

How do we know the seeds of life on earth didn't start from a massive asteroid hit? Thus, all flora and fauna on earth have evolved over millions and millions of years x millions millardia to be as they are or have become? Thus, on another planet we might not need water and oxygen, we might evolve to survive on Martian elements instead. IOW our bodies have adapted to earth so in theory we could adapt to other realms similarly.

Split from this thread, as it's discussing a different topic.

Posted By:zooterkin

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Covid baby boom?

Yesterday I received the good news that a Nephew and his Wife are expecting their first child in September.
Another Nephew experienced the birth of his first just this Month, and my youngest Son and his wife will be having their first in June.

It has got me to wondering if this extended lock-down is going to result in a baby-boom. If so, how big?

I have not seen it mentioned in the media yet, even though it has been long enough for it to become apparent if it is happening or not.

Thoughts?

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CPAC 2021

There appears to be an ongoing debate over whether the CPAC stage was deliberately designed to resemble an Odal_(rune)^WP or whether it's just a weird coincidence.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cp...e-nazi-symbol/

https://twitter.com/allisongill/stat...0452824756224/

I'm sure there's all sorts of other weird **** going down as well.

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Is this a case of mass hysteria?

https://youtu.be/1U9Oo6zF5Vs

I'm not a fan of the paranormal but ghost stories like this one intrigue me. Its one thing for one person to see a ghost but an entire crew of a submarine?

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Hallucinations while lost in the forest

There's a youtube video that has stories of people lost in forests and these people often have wild stories. The story that intrigues me is the one where a lost person saw people hiding behind trees and when they were approached for help they walked away.

Are these people seeing things that aren't there or do some people live in the forests who don't care whether an outsider lives or dies?

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Could humans actually colonize Mars?

If the gravity wasn't so weak it would be possible but human evolved to handle earths gravity might not be able to live on Mars. Studies of the Martian soil reveal very few nutrients so if you have a pot of Martian soil and put a plant in it the plant would starve to death watered or not. Humans would have to bring fertilizer.

Its possible humans could warm the planet up and use the water on Mars but it keeps coming back to the weak gravity.

The question is this. Could humans thrive there or is colonization of Mars a pipe dream?

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Explanations That Aren't.

I often find myself annoyed by some that, when questioned about some technical issue, will just throw an impressive sounding line at you, and think they have provided an explanation. I think that the reasoning ability of some folk is so shallow or wanting, that they are quite comfortable with the thought, they have wrapped something up, with some technical sounding crap.

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Health Impacts of Neutering Dogs

The most immediate reasons for neutering dogs have generally been population control and behavior modification. In the US, policies for adoption also lead to the mass use of prepubescent neutering. As an additional benefit, for female dogs early spaying greatly lessened the risk of mammary tumors, and in general spaying removed the risk of pyometra (infection of the uterus).

However, may negative health effects have also been noticed over the years. Joint disorders like hip dysplasia and CCL tears (like ACL tears in humans), cancers like mast cell tumors and hemangiosarcoma, and urinary incontinence in females have been associated with neutering. Joint disorders have been particularly associated with the age at which larger dogs were neutered.

This interesting study looked at the medical benefits and risks with different ages of neutering for different dog breeds and sexes, and it even has a nice chart of guidelines here.

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Poverty and conflict migration

Firstly, immigrants keep the gene pool healthy and most positively contribute economically and socially to their adoptive countries.

But, extreme poverty, conflicts and dangerous political environments create refugees.

There are people smugglers, there's modern slavery, there's an illegal economy including drug cultivation, and sometimes people die illegally trying to migrate to another country.

This happens all around the world.

Many "democratic" countries in fear of being "flooded", have very hostile policies towards such migrants. The UK is no exception. :(

But it's not really the migrants who are the problem; but extreme poverty, conflicts, and dangerous political environments that are the problem as well as organised crime inside our country.

So what can be done to address the root causes ?

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What is former President Trump doing now?

Is he starting his own political party? Would he want another job like Mayor or Governor?

I want him to go away and shut up, but that's unlikely.

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Far right politics and how to kill it off

There are people who are racist and vote for racist reasons, but if you marginalise the parties they support, by creating non racist alternatives and the only way they have of getting anything from their vote, is to support the non racist alternative, you can bring down support for racist parties to the hundreds, from almost a million.

Some say Brexit is racist.
It is not.

Nowhere on the ballot paper was kicking out "African people" or "Jews" or "Asians" an option, nowhere on the ballot paper was kicking out "white Europeans" an option either.

If racists vote for non racist things, that's good, it means they're not voting for racist parties.

Racist parties are utterly utterly marginalised.

If you do your upmost to marginalise non racist parties, the racist parties and all the problems that go with them, come back.

So lets not bring back those racist parties, lets keep them marginalised.

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Dyscalculia

I had never heard of this, and maybe others haven’t so here is a wiki link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia

Quote:

Dyscalculia (/ˌdɪskælˈkjuːliə/)[1][2][3][4] is a disability resulting in difficulty learning or comprehending arithmetic, such as difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, performing mathematical calculations and learning facts in mathematics. It is sometimes informally known as "math dyslexia", though this can be misleading as dyslexia is a different condition from dyscalculia.[

The reason I raise this is that I was having a discussion over the phone with my boss today, an intelligent, capable manager. I was talking with her about a time period, September 2009 to November 2012. I said automatically “three years two months”. She said “no, two years four months”.

Silence ensued as I re-looked at the dates. “Er, no” I said. But she insisted and then got onto an internet calculator I’m now sure she has close at hand, and after about 5 minutes she agreed.

I have never come across this before with an adult. I’ve been in important meetings with highly qualified PhDs who couldn’t multiply 2000x10000 in their heads, but never anything like this.

Has anyone else seen this disorder? I’m interested in your experience with it.

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Bobby Menard has "something" coming!

Bobby was interviewed by Beth Marten today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-0D...ature=emb_logo

At about 46:18 minutes Menard says he has something coming in 6 to 8 week that "will rock everybody's world".

How can we bare the wait?

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Anyone know how HTML 5 video works?

I think that's what it's called.

I have an Android tablet, and after 3 years on contract (only 2 required), I cancelled the contract, only intending to use it to watch videos over home wifi.


Unfortunately, when my contract ran out, app-based videos all started failing, though stuff through a browser worked (Big Brother Live Feed, LiveLeak). But stuff on apps didn't. Netflix, YouTube, AMC app, some others.

They run for a few seconds to a minute, then start jumping back (Netflix) or just stop playing the video at all (YouTube).

As far as I can tell, it's either trying to call home to Verizon and the account is cancelled, to verify you are a legitimate viewer somehow. Or maybe it's spyware from them buried in a contract or someone else.

Anyway, who understands this and knows what to do?

I've tried uninstalling HTML 5, but Google Android won't let me. And these apps will not let you work through a browser even if set to desktop mode.

Several times I've gone into the boot mode and re-loaded the entire factory OS, but problem not solved. Presumably this is the Verizon load.

I've found pointers to generic reference OS loads for my tablet (a Samsung) but they aren's on a Samsung site, so I'm scared to try it.

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So I need a new TV

My old one is 10 years old and makes a fritzing sound then reboots. On the positive side, I'd like to write a thank you note like Jimmy Fallon:

"Thank you, Samsung, for returning me to the nostalgia of the 1970s, when you hadda whonk the TV to get it to work."


Anyway, do modern TVs require Internet, so they can spy on me? Or do they all have good old HDMI inputs, which my cable box emits?

And I have Netflix. If it has built-in Netflix handling, I assume that needs Internet as well. But does the TV spy on my Netflix and report back to the TV maker?

If so I will just stick with the computer, so only Netflix, Google, and Microsoft know what I'm watching. Or Verizon on my phone.

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[Continuation] Sweden's liberal pandemic strategy questioned as Stockholm death toll mounts (Part 2)

Continuation thread, original thread: http://www.internationalskeptics.com...d.php?t=343214

Posted By:Darat

Talmannens besked: Alla i Riksdagen ska ha munskydd (Omni.se, Feb. 24, 2021)
The Speaker of the House declares: Everybody in the Swedish parliament should wear a face mask
But in Sweden, it is still only a recommendation, of course.

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Tiger Woods

There doesn't seem to be a thread about Tiger Woods' wreck. I don't know anything about it. But I note that after a massive accident that apparently included striking a tree and flipping over downhill several times, the driver survived and wasn't even knocked unconscious. The roof of the car didn't collapse, and the passenger compartment was largely intact. A few years ago an accident like this would have pancaked the car and killed the driver. Strong federal regulations are what made this possible.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/23/us/ti...spt/index.html

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The Black Boxes on Airlines

Whenever there is a airliner crash, the big job is finding the black boxes, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorders.

Now that airplanes are equipped with wifi, have they started streaming the data as well? In that respect, the black boxes are just back-ups for those times when the wifi is unoperable (which certainly happens).

If they did that, then they wouldn't have to be as concerned about finding the black boxes after a crash.

It could be the case that the data rates are too slow for it to be effective, I don't know. I know that millisecond timing differences in sounds in the CVR have been used to locate the source of sounds like explosions and electrical shorts, and I don't know if that could be achieved if it were streaming.

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[Ed] RIP Lawrence Ferlinghetti

A long long life indeed, productive as both publisher and poet.

Jumping keyboard! The title was supposed to be RIP Lawrence Ferlinghetti!

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Congress taking on 1st Am by proxy

Instead of directly infringing on free speech and freedom of the press, congress has taken the creative approach of putting pressure on the services that allow those platforms to be communicated.

We've already seen congress putting pressure on social media platforms, resulting in companies like Facebook and Twitter intervening to curb speech that congress considered problematic. We've seen topics treated as "banned topics" for private individuals to discuss on those platforms (the Biden story in the NY Post that was forcible suppressed and removed from social media prior to the election).

We're seeing beliefs and ideologies cast as extremist and seeing them weeded out of hosting services - Parler being a prime example.

Now we've got congress directly challenging cable and television companies for airing Fox News and other right-wing news outlets. The letters used to broach this topic seem to strongly suggest an attempt by congress to infringe on the freedom of the press by using pressure on intermediaries.

Read the letters from Eshoo and McNerny yourselves... and discuss.
https://eshoo.house.gov/sites/eshoo....rs-2.22.21.pdf

What are your thoughts on this with respect to freedom of the press and freedom of speech?

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Dodgy dealings at the Norton motorcycle company

To the casual observer of the pro EU site "The London Economic", this article would indicate that the collapse of Norton was down to Brexit:
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/ne...ration-176502/

But on closer investigation, it wasn't at all.

The company was run by fraudsters.
There's a big pensions scandal.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-53152943

https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2...enced-to-jail/

Proper Robert Maxwell type stuff went on and people are being sent down.

The Companies House website has more information about the goings on at Norton in the form of annual returns.

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A Tale of Two Countries

Once Upon a Decade 1968-1978: A Tale of Two Countries

In I968 Richard Nixon was elected President and sworn in on Quaker family Bible turned to a page containing "beating swords into plowshares."

1972 Nixon visited Moscow and negotiated an Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia, and was the first sitting President to visit China, establishing relations there.

Nixon then took the US off what remained of the gold/silver standard with silver coins being changed to silver-colored copper coins, and agreed that "We are all Keynesians now," opening the door to unlimited spending, "quantitative easing," and a $28 trillion debt.

During the same period the Nixon administration declared a "war on drugs" and initiated the No-Knock Laws, co-sponsored in the Senate by Democrat Ted Kennedy, which gradually led to the militarization of US police.

In 1973 Nixon ended conscription and withdrew US troops from Vietnam. (At least he did something positive.)

1976 Jimmy Carter was elected President, and on his second day in office pardoned Vietnam War draft-dodgers.

1978 The Carter administration expanded the US bureaucracy with the creation of the Departments of Energy and Education.

Meanwhile in 1978 the Chinese Communist Party picked free market advocate Deng Xiaoping to lead them out of their economic nightmare.
It worked, and for the last four decades central command economists like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich have been chanting a mantra that the Chinese economy is overheated and about to crash, while the Chinese government loans the US money.

Currently the Chinese government is trying to encourage the development of it's service industries which the US dominates.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsu/.../#f3cf1ad1e367

It seems that Krugman, Reich, and other US mainstream economists are going to have to wait a little longer to achieve their first accurate prediction:

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Where's the Thylacine thread?

Twitter is abuzz today with a Thylacine fanboi group claiming they've got game cam footage of mama, papa, and joey Thylacine. They should have confirmation (??) by the end of the week.

Yawn.

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Japan's population decline continues apace

Number of births in Japan falls to record low in 2020

Quote:

The combined number of babies born in Japan and to Japanese nationals living abroad stood at 872,683 in 2020, down 25,917 from a year earlier and marking the lowest level on record, according to health ministry data released Monday. The number of deaths dropped 9,373 to 1,384,544, the first decline in 11 years, the ministry said in a preliminary report that also included data for foreign nationals living in Japan. A total of 537,583 marriages were registered, down 78,069, or 12.7 percent, the largest margin of decline since 1950.

The part I didn't expect is that deaths actually declined in 2020 for the first time in 11 years. A small decline, and the decline in births was larger, but one might have imagined that deaths would increase in a pandemic year.

So digging a little deeper, the tracker I use says that there have been 7,472 deaths due to coronavirus in Japan so far, but actually over 50% of those have been in 2021, not 2020. On January 1st, the figure stood at 3,513. Compared to the total deaths (1,384,544) that would mean that Covid accounted for only 0.25% of them in 2020. It simply wasn't a large enough number to make a significant difference one way or the other. If there was a significant effect of the pandemic in Japan in 2020, its effect was probably felt more in fewer births rather than in increased deaths.

If you subtract the number of births from the number of deaths, Japan's population declined last year by 511,861. Over half a million. I also expect that more people will die in 2021, simply because two consecutive years of falling death rates seems unlikely.

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Herd Immunity by April, Could be

This is the most recent info from Dr. Makary at Johns Hopkins...I don't know how it could be true as I'm accused of posting false info, but how false Dr. Makary is, you all may want to read. Heard from other sources today that we could be there now, but who knows about all the numbers we're told.

https://www.newsweek.com/john-hopkin...munity-1570615

This info may not be heard on mainstream news as the left want to keep every one in continual fear and constant push for vaccines.


Just today from Dr. Victory's program:

More was discussed today, and the gang who follow Lord Fauci do not want the population to know this as that gang is pushing for continued masking, closures and vaccines.. So mainstream MDs are told NOT to discuss how close we are to Herd Immunity.

Do more research folks, it's well over a year of this insanity.

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"People with extremist views less able to do complex mental tasks"

Apparently.

Link to Guardian piece - https://www.theguardian.com/science/...earch-suggests

Link to yer actual paper - https://royalsocietypublishing.org/d...rstb.2020.0424

Haven't read the full thing yet, but it's looking like we have some small sample sizes going on here...

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Origins of Covid

This thread is to discuss the origins of the disease, as there's quite a bit of discussion on it in the main thread and still quite a bit of discussion to go.

The main claim at this stage is that it came from the Wuhan laboratory.

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Teenage Killers in Finland

There have been shock waves throughout Finland over a murder of a 16-year-old schoolboy by his fellow classmates, three other 16-year-old boys. He was beaten to death 4 December 2020 on public grounds near a hospital in Koskela, Helsinki. The shock comes from the fact that the victim has been bullied by two of the same boys since primary school and by the other who more recently joined his high school class.

Interviews with his classmates and teachers revealed that they had all been aware of the bullying for a long time...yet nobody in this welfare state paradise, with a famed 'best education system in the world' plaudit, together with a much cited generous 'baby box' to all new mothers full of baby clothes, blankets and newborn accessories...stepped in once to stop it!

The victim is described as really well behaved, kind and submissive. So much so, that he had even once removed his glasses so that another boy could hit him in the head, whilst he was laying on a bench.

All four 16-year-olds are described as 'Finns' - presumably to make clear it is not a 'hate' crime.

The victim attended the 'birthday party' of one of the boys in a kind of park area. He was given extremely strong alcohol to drink and the other boys took it in turns to beat him and brutally degrade him by ripping his clothes. Two girls who passed by witnessed the boys and said they thought they they were 'very drunk or on drugs'. The boys deny murder, with which they are charged, claiming that it was just grievous bodily harm as they didn't intend to kill him. However, throughout the hours long beating, they recorded themselves on Snapchat and circulated the pictures. In one picture, next morning, after returning to the boy where he had been left, one of the teens is heard to say, I think he's dead. They even discuss what they should do with the body and whether to destroy it. A third boy claims he only went back once or twice to level a blow on the victim but was not present at the fatal end.

The trial is currently being held behind closed doors. Because of their age, the maximum sentence is between two to eight years, depending on whether they are found guilty of murder or a lesser charge. To American readers this will sound incredibly light, as compared to the USA. However, the victim's parents are demanding €12,000 each in damages, which is how most European courts operate: perps have to pay their victim compensation.

You can read about the case, here, on Wikipedia:

Quote:

Prior to the homicide, suspects had robbed the victim in August 2020. In connection with the robbery, the victim was subjected to violence and deprived of property and money. The case was reported to the police in September. [4] The victim had also been beaten on several occasions by the suspects since the summer. [2] [5] The victim and the perpetrators had celebrated one perpetrator's birthday in the vicinity of Koskela Hospital on Friday, December 4th. At some point in the evening, the three sons of the party had begun to beat the partially defenseless fourth son of the party. [6] Violence had taken place in various parts of the hospital area. [7] According to the police, the violence lasted up to 3-4 hours and was humiliating for the victim: the perpetrators had forced the victim to drink alcohol , as well as brutal violence on various parts of the victim's body and urination . [8] The suspects described their actions on their phones. [9] [10]Two of the perpetrators had visited the body the next day. The body was to be destroyed, but eventually the idea was abandoned. [11] The victim's body had time to be at the scene of the killing over the weekend until Monday, December 7, when it was discovered by a builder who came to work. The body was partially naked when found. [12] In February 2021, three 16-year-old boys were charged with murder , robbery , incitement to robbery and nine assaults

[Google Translated]

Experts are blaming the use of social media - sharing extreme video images - and there is a lot of fuss in the newspaper about the 78% increase in teenage violence over the last year.

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Best way to shower

Long story short.

Cut on lower leg infected, bandaged up the wazoo.

On full on antibiotics

Need shower.

Have bathtub with detatchable shower head thingey.

Is it better to do it standing up hanging over the bath or sit in the bath and trying not to get water on it.

I don't want it to get wet and even uglier.

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Allopathic Medicine!!!

Apparently it's awful. And yet...
I have a new grand-nephew, born last night or early this morning to my nephew and his partner. I expect that, as usual, she did most of the work!
Born by emergency C-section, two months premature. Three pounds.
Breathing on his own and beginning to eat. Has a good prognosis of a long and normal life.
Because of "allopathic" medicine. Which in sensible circles, is simply "medicine". Because it works.

Some on this forum would have denied him the benefits of modern medicine. **** you all!

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Brave New World (Huxley) 63 yrs ago

And here we are today!!! I was 19 yrs old 63 yrs ago and paid no attention to this.

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...rid=1088756625

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Crickets, Chorus of the Gods

Not sure which forum to put this in.

This is two recordings of crickets, overlaid. One is at real-time speed, the other has been slowed down.

Jim Wilson | God's Chorus of Crickets | crickets audio recording slowed way down

Apparently the recording has been around for some decades (Snopes writeup: God ‘s Chorus of Crickets).

Quote:

Though it may sound like a synthesizer or a chorus singing; it’s the crickets themselves slowed way down, creating the effect of a choir of human voices. The sound created is a simple diatonic 7-note scale chord progression and melody with a multi-layered structure.

Creepy but beautiful sounds.

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Aviation history

In my opinion, the most interesting and important company in aviation history has been Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin, they've done everything from single engined sport aircraft to transports to the Mach 3 capable A12 family of aircraft that include the SR71 and the YF12 prototype fighter.


Clarence Kelly Johnson of Lockheed was a lead designer on many projects including the Hudson bomber and the P38 lighting. He also chose the location of the Area 51 black project development site where the U2 was first test flown.

In the 1960's the company was involved in a bribery scandal, and their famous Starfighter became infamous in West Germany, for crashing.

There are many figures and companies in the history of aviation, Sir George Cayley, Otto Lillienthal, Orvile and Wilbur Wright, Eustace and Oswald Short, Thomas Sopwith, Harry Hawker, Fred Slingsby, Frederick Handley Page, Sir Alliott Verdon-Roe, George Edwards, Roy Chadwick, Gustav Lachmann, Robert Kronfeld, Rudolf Kaiser, and many others, but I thought I'd start with Lockheed as they have done virtually everything.

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Herd Immunity by April, Could be

Or we may be in it now, but here is the latest from Dr. Makary at Johns Hopkins...

https://www.newsweek.com/john-hopkin...munity-1570615

Probably won't hear it on TV and the Left want to keep all in continual fear and constant vaccine push.

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AD Question

Folks, I have a question. I'm having bad luck googling it because of the difficulty in explaining it in just a few words.

We have 2 trusted domains with 2 DCs in each and connected by a point-to-point VPN. We have an Exchange Server in my domain, and have linked mail users use my Exchange Server, but need to authenticate to their local domain in theirs.

Sometimes, when the point-to-point VPN is down, they are unable to log into their email because the exchange server in my domain can't authenticate them on their domain--it of course can't find their domain controllers. That includes OWA from their homes, which is a big hassle during longer outages.

one solution I was thinking about was adding a domain controller for their domain in my domain, so that when they have internet access at least but the point-to-point is down, my exchange server can authenticate them from their DC on my domain.

1. Does my situation make any sense?
2. Is it possible? (I know how to add DCs to an existing domain, just never like this)
3. If possible, is it stupid?

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Uber drivers are employees

There’s been an interesting case going through the UK courts regarding whether Uber drivers are in fact employees of Uber or contractors.

Supreme Court has now ruled they are employees: https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...t-rules-rights

I’m glad to see this and hopefully it will be applied to many more of these “gig economy” contracts.

The court recognised that the Uber drivers’ contracts were created to sidestep employment legislation.

I’m hoping this will be applicable in the wider delivery business as that is another one that cut costs by claiming their drivers are self-employed when they are in everything but benefits employees.

It will hopefully also help protect businesses from so called “disrupters” that in the end are doing nothing more than undercutting “traditional” businesses by running at a loss for years and years and avoiding the costs associated with having employees.

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Can spyware technology see thru walls?

Can some one be in thier car a short distance away and use such cameras and such to be able to view me or view my movments?

In the movie ET they showed the govt people spying on everyones house to see what they were saying,is this stuff real??? (Probably so huh?)

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How bleach kills germs

Thought this kinda cool to post as I was reading about it.. We all know bleach kills germs and disinfects but how does it happen molecularly??

Molecular Biologists at University of Michigan studying this found that a component of bleach known as 'Hypoclorous Acid' unravels the bactera's protein chains which then clump into a useless mess and hence no bacteria. I wonder if this is how MMS works,it uses the same basic bleach agent to kill bad stuff in your system.....

http://web.archive.org/web/200201060...rms-2008-11-13

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Hunger

Can we look to history to foretell the future?

We are looking at a pandemic - Covid19 - sweeping the world. Then there is extreme weather, with very cold winters in normally temperate climates.

History tells us that there was a Little Ice Age which lasted for five hundred years culminating in 1695 - 1697, when northern Europe suffered some of its worst crop failures - with the crop growing season shortened by two months, thanks to he late and very wet spring. One-half to one-third of the population of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, et al were wiped out as a result, with the aggravating factor of the plague.

According to wikipedia, Scotland suffered famine similarly

Quote:

The Great Famine of 1695–1697 was concurrent with the "seven ill years", a period of national famine in Scotland in the 1690s.

Likewise, it is thought the 'so-called Little Ice Age was exacerbated by erupting volcanoes in Iceland, thus obscuring sunlight in these northern realms.

This leads me to the question: can a famine of this scale happen again in developed countries?

With the cold winters, parched summers, the SARS-CoV - 2 seeming to prefer cooler air, not to mention the pathogens associated with melting ice in frosty soil, earthquakes, volcanoes, and dust from the Sahara blocking the sunlight for several days on end, is it possible there can again be crop failure and wide spread famine as a result?

If history tells is this is quite possible, what can we do to mitigate the risk?

What is the history of famine in YOUR area?

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Watch Perseverance land on Mars

Live now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w23gC0WhXdI

Nasa official in a little bit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm0b_ijaYMQ

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The Gateway Experience

News article on my feed this morning:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...henomenon.html

Evidently a report declassified by the CIA in 1983 is stirring up a lot of interest on TikTok and other social media sources.

This sounds like the kind of thing that both the CIA and the Soviet intelligence services were fooling around with with back then... Psychic espionage and such. Our bright boys even got in bed with Uri Geller, despite the warnings from skeptics.

This business has to do with all manner of things that sound amazingly woo-ish, such as using sound to “correlate” the left and right brain hemispheres to produce various various effects.

Warning... The story is very ad-heavy.

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Texas Governor and FOX News Blames Liberals for Power Outages

The Governor of Texas is blaming Green Energy and Liberals for the power outages in Texas, claiming that Wind turbines have frozen up and that the Green New Deal would be a disaster.

Yet the reality is that the issue is that Gas and Coal stations have failed as the oil and gas services have been frozen up and that the green based energy systems are producing above their normal capacity, the few Wind Turbines that have failed, doing so because the GOP-controlled Government would not have them winterized properly.

Once again the GOP and FOX are lying about reality and blaming liberals for their own failures. But yeah, the moral party.

[yt]OrK60bUqc-4[/yt]

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Mass shooting in Philadelphia

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...vered-n1258187

So far 8 wounded one arrested, two guns recovered.

Hopefully the wounded will survive.

But doesn't this again demonstrate that there's a serious problem in America with the attitude to guns and the availability of guns to psychopaths ?

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How many people did nuclear energy kill?

Video here looks into how many people have died from nuclear energy and compared that with how many people have died from renewables and fossil fuels.

[yt]Jzfpyo-q-RM[/yt]

Fossil fuels kills most people of any of them and nuclear is way, way down.

Here's a question, given that renewable energy is now considered to be way cheaper to produce per kw of energy, how soon will it be before all energy can be replaced by renewables?

Nuclear power is pretty expensive, especially, or at least in terms of start-up.

Naive question, why isn't everyone doing renewables?

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A Puzzle Has Helped Unlock the Secrets of Magnetism

The more that man understands magnetism the better our worlds transportation network is bound to become. Not only transportation but our electrical field enhances too.

http://web.archive.org/web/201901241...etism-20190124

http://futurism.com/science-magnetism

http://www.dkfindout.com/us/science/.../using-magnets

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The Future of Technology

In your opinion,what do ya think will be the future of technology - 10,20,50, or 100 years from now?

What is the future of cell phones,computers,cars,TVs,kitchen appliances,houses themselves,society or anything else that you can think of?

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Facebook blocks news in Australia

Apologies if this should go in Technology, but it is a social platform and is more about greed than anything else.

I have always been amazed people get their news off the thing in the first place.

https://www.thespinoff.co.nz/busines...cked-all-news/

Quote:

Media explosion in Australia: Facebook just blocked all news Duncan Greive analyses a shocking development in the global pushback against big tech. At 7.38am today a short email arrived from Facebook News Partnerships. It contained a total of five sentences, the most important reading: “I am writing to confirm that due to new laws in Australia, from today we will reluctantly restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content on Facebook.” Despite its matter-of-fact tone and brevity, it could hardly be more consequential – this is the end (for now, maybe forever) of Facebook as a news distribution channel in Australia. Facebook says news represents less than 4% of content on its platform – but for publishers it can be the source of as much as half their traffic. And for Facebook, the risk is that even if it is only 4% of content, if users consider it critical, do they become less reliant on the platform? This decision impacts New Zealand operators, too: more than 500,000 New Zealanders live across the Tasman, with many avidly consuming news from news organisations here. It’s as if our second-largest city has dropped off the map overnight. It means, for example, that if you live in Australia and follow The Spinoff on Facebook, links to Spinoff content will no longer appear in your feed. (Please consider instead downloading our app and signing up to our newsletters.) If you try to post our content (or any news organisation’s content) from Australia, you’ll see this: .......

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Double Dreams

Anyone ever have a double dream while you are ASLEEP and then wake up IN THE DREAM and discover what you dreamed IN THE DREAM was real??

This site I used to be on went down a couple years ago as the admin passed away and his wife doesnt know if she wants to deal with running a site or not..... I dreamed IN THE DREAM that the site was BACK ONLINE!! -- Then i WOKE UP IN THE DREAM and while online I went to the site to see AND IT WAS BACK UP!!! -- They had changed the skin and it didnt look as nice... I remember I emailed one of the mods of the site and told him I have a CSS file if he wants I can give him that he can run IN HIS BROWSER and the site will look as it did.. (The default VB3 skin) Then around 7am that morning I woke up....(Or did I??) -- When I finally got online I tried the site but nothing.....


HOW DO WE KNOW WE ARE AWAKE NOW???????? -- I THINK EVERYTHING IS AN ILLUSION...... NOTHING IS REAL...... OUR MINDS MAKE IT REAL! (Which is why its important not to let it be filled with garbage from big pharma,etc)

And I had another one a couple nights after....... I was in a movie theater watching a movie and I met Archie Bunker in there,I forgot what movie was playing But I had fallen asleep during the movie and when I woke up a different movie was playing (One with a young Steven Segal in it)


I DO BELIEVE LIFE IS NOTHING BUT A BIG DREAM........

The most we can acheive is AWARENESS AND ALERTNESS .. This is all a dream so nothing is really REAL...


Carlos Castanadas book The Art of Dreaming goes into detail regarding dreaming gates....Double dreams are highly associated with crossing these gates.


Knowing this so called "reality" is only a dream is good as you can become much more fluid.

Remember like in a 'dream' you create your own reality..

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Apple TV is a festering pile of crap

A moderately technically literate friend got one, not by choice, but as part of an Eir TV "upgrade".

It's ******* awful crap.
The "remote" is Applish, i.e. small, arty and useless. It uses a touchpad rather than buttons. It also comes uncharged (yes integral rechargeable battery) and uses *Lightning*for power.
******* useless proprietary Apple crap.
Also 32GB storage, naturally (being Apple) with no storage expansion; it uses "the cloud" for recordings. Until there's a connectivity problem...

It insists on setting up an Apple ID before it'll let him actually watch the television service he's paid for.
Oh and the supposed RTE Player and PrimeVideo apps? Not installed. To install them you need an Apple ID and an iTunes account. With credit card, even for the "free" app. I asked Eir if they accepted liability for monetary loss due to data theft and the drone, and her supervisor, went quiet.
Interestingly they were unaware of the provisions of Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications (Regulation) Act of 1993....

Also the TV channels weren't present, but that was Eir's incompetence.

I laid into the support, customer care and contracts staff and gave them an ultimatum. Grovelling ensued.

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Lovers of the New High Tech Vaccines

Dr. Tenpenny on what one could expect 3-6 months down the road. Video took some doing to get it going, but I did.

https://www.sgtreport.com/2021/02/dr...in-3-6-months/

Ah, more damaging news on the Tech Vaccines:

https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-02-...-vaccine.html#

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UK environmental policy inc electric cars

We've got a policy of banning the sale of conventional fossil fuel powered cars by 2030. There are charging points being put in at car parks, but not many so far.

And there's the issue of generating capacity.
Have we got enough ?

Are we doomed to fail in this respect ?

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Drug policy

As a Brit, I see the drug laws of my own country failing.
One of my childhood friends became a heroin addict in his teens and it took him until his late 20's to kick the habit.

I look to countries like the Netherlands where there is a different approach to drugs, and wonder if they're showing the way forwards.

What are your thoughts on drug policy in general and drug policy in the Netherlands ?

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Pharmacist Ben Fuchs on Coast to Coast

As he is every 3 weeks, Ben was on CtoC for 2 hrs and discussing good topics for health. Last night the 4 below were discussed.

The dangers that could follow from the rushed NEW tech vaccines for this covid mess.

The misinformation on so so much of this horrid cold or bad flu. And all the damage done by I'd say by most the LEFT politics. And yes it's very political.

Deep breathing work and how vital it is for the lungs and heart health. Breathe deeply people.

And one I do for 30 minutes or so when I wake, stretching the body. And especially as people age, so so important. I have a lot of damaged body from OA and hip replacement mess and without stretching out, I may not be walking.

Here is just one link on Ben.

https://www.pinterest.com/jmcbride67...hs-pharmacist/


Ben is a major proponent of not harming the body and putting into it what it can handle naturally.

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Rush Limbaugh checks out at 70...

Love him or hate him, he was a driving force in talk radio for decades.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/rush-l...servative-icon

Quote:

Originally Posted by foxnews Rush Limbaugh, the monumentally influential media icon who transformed talk radio and politics in his decades behind the microphone, helping shape the modern-day Republican Party, died Wednesday at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer, his family announced.

Mods, feel free to relocate this thread if this isn't the place for it, but given his influence on conservative/republican thought, I though it the best place for it.

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LANE COUNTY BIGFOOT

Lane County Bigfoot is a newer group of what looks like two people, operating in Lane County Oregon.

They travel around the area looking for Bigfoot related items such as:

PILES OF STICKS!!


GRASS SCATTERED ON DIRT ROAD!!



Here is a link to their Youtube videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGc...ZM-K88A/videos

Also, you might want to go on to Bigfoot Forums and congratulate them for receiving the $2000 Researcher of the Year award.

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Multiculturalism, does it work ?

I totally believe in multi-racialism, it diversifies the gene pool, which is healthy.

BUT does "multiculturalism" work? Or does it green light tribalism, sectarianism and division ?

The policy of "multiculturalism" has critics, Salman Rushdie, Maajid Nawaz and others, but what do you think ?

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Mars: For anyone interested in the Perseverance touch down

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/...der-touch-down

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90-year-old man takes out $10K ads to tell AT&T CEO about slow service

Quote:

A 90-year-old California man frustrated with his slow AT&T internet service took out two newspaper ads totaling $10,000 to tell the company's CEO that he needs to do a better job of providing his north Hollywood neighborhood with faster speed. [more]

 
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...ell-t-n1257725

I give him credit for trying so hard to get the word out..... Couldnt he have called them??

It IS insane though how slow things are here in the states AND HOW HIGH PRICED THEY ARE!!

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From the Milky Way to the Earth

FLASH>http://web.archive.org/web/201402090...powersof10.swf<FLASH

Take a 2 min journey from the Milky Way to the Earth...

Its a fascinating trip :)

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12 Things You didnt realise You Could Do With Your iPad

http://www.businessinsider.com/12-th...ur-ipad-2013-5

I dont have one but figured you guys would be interested :)

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20 Things You Didnt Know About Nothing

http://web.archive.org/web/200201060...-about-nothing

I liked #20 In other words,nothing could be the key to the theory of everything.

Interesting huh??

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20 Things You Didnt Know About Skin

http://web.archive.org/web/200201060...20-things-skin

#10 Blowing in the wind globally dead skin accounts for about a billion tons of dust in the atmosphere as we shed some 50,000 cells a minute.


Ah man!!

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The big TX power outage

No it wasn't the windmills. MSNBC Chris Hayes debunks the right wing lie that 'green energy' was to blame. It's a very informative piece.

[yt]-96D-H3M0a8[/yt]


Turns out the frozen pumps needed to use natural gas, frozen coal piles and frozen oil pumps plus the isolation of the TX power grid from the rest of the country were to blame.

That didn't stop the right wing media blaming liberals and their green energy. The irony this is a climate instability event is lost on these fools as well.

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My Brief Encounters into the Skeptics World

was at Cal Tech in SO. CA. Michael Shermer was my first encounter and also heard Chris Hitchens at another event.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shermer

It was a good taste and I changed a lot of my thinking but kept a lot too.

And I've landed here some 20 yrs later...yikes.

But radical I am not.

Actually it was Julia Sweeney's one woman play "Letting Go of God" that got me off the fence when I was in early 60's.

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The pros and cons of Scottish separatism

Pros:
Greater democracy, freedom of choice, self determination.
Cons:
Responsibility, new departments, new currency required, border issues, immigration issues.

Scots around the UK are presently British citizens.
Outside of Scotland, they would become "foreigners".
Non Scots in Scotland would also become "foreigners".
Legislation would be needed to protect their rights.

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GOP donor wants money back after voter fraud lawsuit fails.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/15/polit...ion/index.html

Quote:

A Republican donor who gave $2.5 million for a voter fraud investigation by a conservative nonprofit has come to regret his decision and doubt the conspiracy theories that fueled the effort,.... True the Vote's election lawsuits were ultimately abandoned, the newspaper reported, prompting Eshelman to demand that his money be returned. After the organization offered to return just $1 million, Eshelman launched two lawsuits.

So he has money to burn, and now he wants it back? I wonder how many other suckers are going to sue to get their money back after donating it to a scam like this?

Ranb

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Texas power outages vs. renewable energy

Here's the context:

Texans try to conserve heat and water as plunging temperatures knock out utilities and cell service

Quote:

More than 4.3 million households and businesses were without power in Texas on Tuesday morning as a result of a winter storm and freezing temperatures that swept into the state Monday. The entire state was below freezing early Tuesday, and utilities have been knocked out or frozen over by the bitter cold -- leaving many without primary means of heating their homes.

But then there are also this:

https://twitter.com/energybants/stat...14353195438083

Quote:

In Texas there is about $60 billion worth of wind, $9b of solar, $7b for the transmission to enable them, all sitting pretty much useless during this catastrophe. Essentially all new investment is due to be the exact same stuff. $76 billion of cheap energy is costing lives.

I am seeing (on social media) lots of accusations that the current power issues in Texas have been greatly exacerbated by reliance on renewable energy.

Yet, the weather in Texas is only extreme by Texas standards for winter. What they are experiencing would be considered positively balmy by the standards of winter in Wyoming, or Michigan, or really fully 50% of the lower 48 states.

And - power is not the only issue in Texas, cell towers are going out as well - is that tied to the power outages? (i.e. running out of backup power supplies).

I am hearing that the issue may be more that Texas had isolated its power grid from the rest of of the U.S. as a means of avoiding some federal regulation. They point out that Oklahoma is getting much of the same weather, and is not experiencing anywhere close to the level of outages that Texas is getting (more people in Austin without power than there are people in all of Oklahoma).

As for the weather knocking out alternative energy sources. How? As I said, Wyoming gets some pretty extreme weather and its wind farms still seem to work just fine. Colorado gets snow but still has a lot of rooftop solar, it is economical despite the occasional cover of snow.

They claim that the weather is even impacting coal and gas plants. Is that through interruption of supplies?

I am mostly interested in the renewable energy aspect of things here. There can often be a lot of deliberate misinformation and accidental false information via wishful thinking associated with the topic. As I said, I am seeing a lot of chatter on this subject - twitter, FB, Quora, all that.

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Irish independence from the UK

Was that based on racism ? Sectarianism ? Or just the desire to be more democratic and self govern?

After 100 years has it been a success ?

I say it has, mostly.

Empires don't work.

Good luck to Ireland for another 100 years.

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Weapons laws and ethics

Earlier on I was discussing weapons laws.
In my country, most firearms save for obsolete ones require a licence to own.
Even obsolete ones require a licence if they're being fired.

Air weapons in most of the UK are legal to own without a licence, although mail order of fully assembled guns is restricted.
Since the 2006 VCR act (Violent Crimes Reduction act) you can buy an air gun mail order but it has to be sent to a "registered firearms dealer" and upon purchase it has to be registered. Buying barrels is restricted unless they're barrel blanks (i.e. they have rifling but they have no machined port for introducing air to propel a pellet)

Bow weapons have only 1 restriction, the buyer must be over 18.

A bow weapon capable of piercing bulletproof kevlar body armour, may be owned, without a licence and without registration, so long as the buyer is over 18.

The buyer can have a criminal record as long as your arm, and still buy an armour piercing crossbow.

So far as I can tell, even a crossbow made with a leaf spring from a lorry is perfectly legal to own so long as no crimes are committed with it.

But if the owner, has a criminal record as long as your arm, can they be trusted with it ?

I think there is a lot of room for discussion of weapons, weapons laws and ethics and the possibilities for the reform of weapons laws.

There have been killings committed with crossbows in my country.

Should there be licences for them or maximum power limits to restrict bows to those which cannot pierce kevlar ?

Your thoughts ?

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Lawsuits against Trump

I know we have umpteen threads about Trump already, but I think there should be one more, specifically to discuss civil lawsuits (not criminal charges) against Donald Trump. I don't think this topic fits into any of the present threads about him. If the moderators feel differently, feel free to merge it somewhere.

This morning, Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson filed a civil action naming Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani:

Quote:

(CNN) - Former President Donald Trump and attorney Rudy Giuliani are being accused of conspiring with the far-right groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to incite the January 6 insurrection in a civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court by the Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee that cites a post-Civil War law designed to combat violence and intimidation by the Ku Klux Klan. The lawsuit, filed by Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson in his personal capacity, is the first civil action filed against the former President related to the attack at the US Capitol and comes days after the Senate acquitted Trump in his impeachment trial. If it proceeds, it would mean the former President and others would be subject to discovery and depositions, potentially exposing details and evidence that weren't released during the Senate impeachment trial.

Being subject to discovery and depositions may bring out evidence that the House managers couldn't get, such as emails and phone records, and may compel testimony by others around Trump. I look forward to seeing just what this lawsuit digs up.

I'll get the popcorn maker going.

:popcorn1

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Help Write The Screenplay for a Floating Island Disaster Movie

Here's the background needed:

Link to the Science and Technology thread about a luxury floating island supposedly to be constructed soon.

Link the the marketing site for the luxury floating island, Blue Estate.

Of course, this disaster movie isn't about Blue Estate. It's about a different and entirely fictional luxury floating island that happens to have all the same features. Including a liquid hydrogen energy storage system (just the thing you want to live on top of when you're 250 miles off the coast), meters-thick outer walls that couldn't possibly be damaged by collision with even the largest ship, modular construction that makes it totally unsinkable, a no-weapons policy, and a range of accommodations—from windowless interior twenty square meter apartments borrowed from your favorite futuristic SF dystopia, to enormous architecturally unique estates at the top levels costing billions of dollars, also borrowed from your favorite futuristic SF dystopia.

Here's the mandatory-for-all-modern-disaster-movies opening scene:

EXTERIOR. VIEWING DECK OF THE FAST FERRY SHIP "SEA SWALLOW." ––DAYTIME.

The AZURE HEAVEN floating island looms up from the horizon, seen side-on as the ferry approaches. Among many other eager passengers, JACK, BILLY, and LOUISE stand at the rail, watching.

JACK
Look, kids! Our new home!

BILLY
But I want to live with Mom!

LOUISE
Waah! I miss Mom too!

JACK
You know your Mom and I don't get along any more. And anyhow, she's much too busy in her new job leading the Elite Long-Range Airborn Marine Rescue Operations Detachment to take care of you now.

LOUISE
Waah!

DRONE SHOT rises up from the SEA SWALLOW to fly above the AZURE HEAVEN island, showing off its marvelous architecture and serene beauty. (See video in the link above for visuals of a similar but completely unrelated floating island.) Stirring music plays.

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Why is the World's Land Mass mostly in the North?

Why is the larger part of the world's land mass mostly in the north?


Credit for map: You are free to use the above map for educational and similar purposes (fair use); please refer to the Nations Online Project.

Quote:

The Americas The two continents of the Americas, North America, with the world's largest island Greenland, and South America. The Isthmus of Panama connects North and South America. Africa The continent of Africa, which includes Madagascar, the fourth-largest island on the planet. Eurasia The continent of Eurasia, which is home to the geopolitical entities of Europe and Asia. The most conventional borders between Europe and Asia are along the Ural Mountains, the Caucasus Mountains, and at the Bosporus (Strait of Istanbul). Asia is further subdivided into the Middle East (Western Asia), Central Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Maritime Southeast Asia. Asia includes the subcontinents of Arabia (Arabian Peninsula) and India. Australia/Oceania Oceania isn't a real continent, a contiguous area of land surrounded by ocean. Oceania is a geographic region that includes the scattered islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean, plus Australasia, a vague term used to describe the combined area of Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea (island). Australia is considered to be an island country and a continent situated in the southern hemisphere. Antarctica Antarctica, as a continent is, in many ways, an exception. Earth's southernmost continent is currently uninhabited, beside a handful of hard-boiled scientists, which share the place with emperor penguins, New Zealand sea lions, and elephant seals. The climate is very hostile to almost any kind of life. It is the coldest, windiest, highest (on average), and driest continent. Mount Vinson is the highest mountain in Antarctica, at 4,892 meters (16,050 feet). On the surface of the continent, no crops will grow on its frozen four kilometer-thick ice sheet. Arctic The northernmost point of the Earth, the North Pole, where the Earth's axis meets the surface, is not located on a landmass, but on the Arctic polar ice cap, the surface of the frozen waters of the Arctic Ocean. Therefore, the Arctic is not considered to be a continent. Parts of the northern regions of Europe, Asia (Russia), and North America (Canada and Greenland) are located within the Arctic Circle.

I am guessing it is to do with how the earth spins on its axis?

Quote:

Distribution of landmasses of the Paleo-Earth. Our planet shows different features as it rotates along its axis, sometimes dominated by land and others by ocean. Land areas are distributed predominantly in the Northern Hemisphere (68%) relative to the Southern Hemisphere (32%) as divided by the equator.

PHL

Attached Images

continents_map.jpg (124.2 KB)

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The "Fireball" scam

(I'm not sure where this exactly belongs, it's not really Trials although it could be the community, but I'll put it here)

A podcast that I listen to a lot is called Crime Junkies, and it is basically stories of true crime. Generally, missing persons but sometimes there are other things. I listen to it at night as I go to sleep.

An interesting story they had a few months ago was about a woman who had just moved to Denver. She met some guy on-line, and they arranged to meet at the bar at an Old Chicago (that's a very Denver thing). She got there, and he texted to let her know he was running late, and she should order a couple of Fireball shots and he'd be there soon. She did that, but he kept stalling with more excuses why he was late. Finally, she tried to call him to see what was going on, and got an error message that the number was out of service. Huh? Clearly she was getting stood up.

Meanwhile, another guy sitting at the bar was making small talk. In finding out that she had been stood up, he offered to join her for dinner instead to keep her company. She hesitated, but at some point went to the bathroom.

When she was in the bathroom, a waitress came in and gave her a warning. She said that, for whatever you think, the guy you are talking to is responsible for you being here. They've (she and bartender) seen it before with this guy that he comes in and sits at the bar, and meets up with some woman who always has the same story. They were supposed to meet someone here, got stood up, and the person told them to order 2 Fireball shots while they were waiting. Very often, the woman ends up leaving with the guy.

Having been warned, she was able to keep her mind about her to avoid this guy, and ultimately he left without her, despite trying hard to pressure her into leaving with him.

The moral of the story was that it was a pretty creepy situation, and who knows what she avoided. Most likely, it wasn't going to turn out well.

But today they had an update on the story. After that podcast came out, they got contacted by a lot of women who claimed to have a very similar experience. Again, they met some guy on-line, arranged to meet, he let them know he was going to be late and to buy a couple of shots while she was waiting, and then never showed up. Meanwhile, some other guy slid in and tried to take advantage of the situation. They also talked to the bartender and waitress from Denver and they confirmed the original story. These other cases were not in Denver, but were from all over the country.

Their question was, what's going on? Is this an organization that using this scam for human trafficking? Or is just the same people who happen to be moving around the country? Why is it happening all over?

One option that they didn't bring up that I thought about is that maybe this is something that is talked about in the Incel area of the internet? I wouldn't know where to start looking that crap, even if I wanted, but I just wonder if there isn't a detailed plan out there that all these guys are sharing with each other and following?

There are areas of the internet that I certainly don't know about and don't think about.

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Colin Norris's case to be heard by UK Court of Appeal

I see no-one has started a thread on this case.
Norris (wiki) was convicted on four counts of murder and one of attempted murder in 2008. He is alleged to have used insulin overdoses to murder the four elderly patients at hospitals in Leeds back in 2002.

The case against him was dubious, and the verdict a majority one (the foreman has subsequently altered his view also) delivered after four days of deliberations.

For nearly ten years there have been serious doubts, specifically about the prosecution claim that such a cluster of hypoglycaemic deaths could not occur naturally and was in itself evidence of unnatural causes. This is now considered incorrect (and there were dissenting voices back in '08).
Further investigation into each death has shown logical, non-sinister causes for the deaths.
One further point was the involvement of DCS Chris Gregg in the investigation; he may have been prejudiced by his involvement in the Harold Shipman enquiry.

CCRC Referral.

Comments?

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Mask wearing if you have been vaccinated. The next question.

Thought I'd go over the issues around when and possibly if we can stop wearing masks.

It's been long stated that Covid-19 will only be suppressed by herd immunity. This is roughly the point where the percentage of people that have either recovered or are immunized reaches 60%, recently upgraded to 70-80%. 60% corresponds to a R0 of 2.5 but new variants may well have R0 of 3.5 to 4.

But there are other considerations.

We don't know whether vaccines or prior infection prevents enough disease to stop or reduce spreading from people that may get a touch but may be asymptomatic. Even if a much lower viral load being asymptomatic may increase some transmission since symptomatics are more likely to avoid others. The information needed has was not provided by the vaccine trials. It will gradually emerge but will be hard to get the data.

Likely it will require substantial reduction (100x or more) in new cases together with a full genomic characterization of most new cases which will be much more able to determine transmission links.

There are also the social issues. If half the public is vaccinated will they start feeling put upon wearing masks and if they don't wear one will it send the wrong message to others that have not yet been vaccinated? This may create more conflict among people already highly polarized. Might be interesting to see how Israel addresses this as they seem to be a few months ahead of most every other place in vaccinations.

One thing the government could do here in the USA instead of just sending out money to everyone is tie it to getting vaccinated. You get more if you have been vaccinated. The obvious problem is that currently vaccines are in short supply so this would need to wait until availability is sufficient.

So what are your thoughts?

Please post any new data/studies that address the issues as to when we can stop wearing masks and return to some degree of normality.

Here's a brief piece that touches on some of the issues, known and unknown.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/h...cine-mask.html

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Large earthquake in Japan

Just felt it. Apparently Northern Japan.

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Can you build your own island?

Rich guys are planning to build a giant island that will float in international waters, and homes for as many as 15,000 people will cost as much as a billion dollars.

Quote:

The Blue Estate Group has been inundated with requests after unveiling plans for the man-made Blue Estate Island, where property prices start at $19,800 and rise to over $1 billion. Located a 25-minute plane journey from Bahamas capital Nassau and just under 90 minutes from Miami, the island will measure 4,921 feet by 3,280 feet (1,500 meters by 1,000 meters), an area half the size of Monaco, and can accommodate up to 15,000 permanent residents.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/th...cid=uxbndlbing

Forget whether it's a good idea. Is this technologically possible?

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Can I end post-modern era?

I have made a new philosophy. What I did is 1): to prove the idea that our experiences and lives are transcendent, 2): then use that idea to replace God as the source of strength, dignity and virtue, while also use it as a factual basis for (modified) Nietzschean values. This seem to have led to a new value which can 1): help people focus on something transcendent (and thus gain strength, dignity and virtue) like Christianity does, 2): respect the freedom of individuals and life-affirming like Nietzschean philosophy does, 3): while also being reasonable, intuitive and attractive at the same time. The main contents of my value include: 1): the transcendence of life, 2): three of our critical, subconscious, powerful, mental reactions to the transcendence of our lives: transcendence awareness, the will to power, and the force of life, 3): why and how should we understand and accept these three reactions. It is supposed to help people affirm, enjoy and live out the transcendence of their lives.

Does that sound good or feasible? You can view the full article on a website called 'medium', just search 'Recommended responses to the transcendence of life' on medium.

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Epic Games vs Apple

The games company, Epic, which makes Fortnite, is suing Apple because of what the CEO, Tim Sweeney, consideres its anti-trust activities:

Quote:

Epic is suing Apple and Google in a legal challenge that could remake the future of the digital economy. "Epic's frustration with Apple especially, and Google to some extent, had been building up for at least three years. Ever since Fortnite grew to have a large audience, we felt stifled by several things," Sweeney told CNN Business during a December interview. Launched in 2017, Fortnite quickly became a phenomenon. When it first debuted, Epic charged $40 to download the game — a typical price. But the company quickly pivoted to a riskier business model, betting that offering Fortnite as a free-to-play game with in-app purchases of digital items like outfits would generate more overall revenue. The bet paid off. Though Epic has raked in billions off Fortnite's in-game purchases — about $1.3 billion in 2020 and $1.8 billion in 2019, according to Nielsen's gaming division SuperData — the company balked at paying a chunk of that revenue to app store owners like Apple and Google. If a player downloaded Fortnite from Apple's App Store, for example, Apple would receive a 30% cut of all in-app purchases. Sweeney believed that requirement violated antitrust laws because it forced developers to use Apple and Google's payment systems. So Epic spent months developing its battle plan to fight Apple, which it codenamed "Project Liberty," he said.

Link

Who is right, and who is wrong? What should happen? Should the walls come down from Apple's garden? Is Apple being a bad apple? Or is Epic making an epic mistake?

Vote now and vehemently fight to the death!

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[ED] Discussion: Trans Women Are not Women (Part 6)

Discussion continued from here. As is usual the split point is arbitrary and participants are free to quote from previous parts of this thread. But please use your best endeavours to stick to your MA when composing and submitting your posts.

Posted By:Agatha

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boudicca90 (Post 13392356) There are no actual concerns here, just "what if" scenarios and slippery slopes.

:mad: They are all things that are ALREADY happening.

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More Silencing Going On and On and On

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronav...misinformation

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Very Poor Behavior on the WW Net

I've been on discussion groups since 2005 and with the passing years it's gotten worse and worse as far as behavior on the net. More and more lashing out at people a person will never know, and the use of 4 letter words is hard to fathom, people have become out of control hiding behind these screens.

I've had some recent experiences and could not believe I was on a group that would have people behave as they do.

People being shot down for their opinions, this is out of control.

My daughter is on some groups that I'm not on and she said "mom it's tragic" the anger out there. She is forever shot down for her stand on issues.

Very sad and pathetic what has become of this society. Why so much anger?

Oh I hope I've posted in a correct area.

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Any Pittsburghers Here?

Now I wonder if this will last here or be moved or deleted as some of my posts are.

Pittsburgh's History and Great Accomplishments. Glad to say I was born and raised in this town for many yrs.

Or will the skeptics here say None of It is True. ummm


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-Mu...ature=youtu.be

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I Asked Bill Gates What's The Next Crisis?

This interview was so good I wanted to share it. It touches on so many things the JREF is about when it comes to the problems with false beliefs. It touches on the internet's initial promise to make information available to everyone and the current negative result of spreading misinformation. It covers the current pandemic and vaccine R&D. There was a lot there.

Gates is actually a smart guy that sees the bigger picture. The interviewer, Derek Muller, is also excellent, and the website is Veritasium. Looks like there's a lot more there.

[yt]Grv1RJkdyqI[/yt]

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