LEGO Sets Honoring Woo-Woos?!

The LEGO Group has put out many haunted house sets before, all in the name of fun and stuff (this Creator set is probably the best one: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/haunted-house-10273 )... But, this is ridiculous! As we enter the second quarter of 2021, LEGO is going to be releasing the first wave of their Legends of the Spirit Realm collection, designed for collectors 18 and up. Sets, so far, seem to include:

The Amityville Horror House - This includes a front facade of the house. It is not a full house model, but it does seem to have some decor on the inside part, including a couple of ghosts. But, it ALSO includes minifig depictions of Ed and Lorraine Warren, if you can manage to believe it! Ugh.

The Transcendental Meditation chamber, with what looks like a minifig depiction of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, complete with a fancy name plaque for him, and a rig to make figures look like they're flying in a weird, bouncy sorta way. This was an insanely stupid idea to come up with!

The Legends of Ramtha, with a minifig depiction of J.Z. Knight. But, I find this to be particularly funny: It actually comes with a couple of different parts for different versions of Ramtha, the "ancient warrior", in order to cover all of the various inconsistencies in how he was described by Knight, over the years. You get to build your own canon Ramtha, apparently, because his author can't even get him straight! Is that not a joke?!

The ONLY set that actually looks like it might be kinda fun, if and when it becomes available, is the Winchester Mystery House! This is a full house model, meaning it has outer walls on all sides, and is not merely a facade. When you open it up, there seems to be a lot of interesting ways you can reconfigure the "maze" interior of each floor! This would actually be so cool, unlike those other crazier, more shameful ideas.

There are NO Uri Gellar nor Sylvia Browne sets, yet. But, who knows what we can imagine would be in the second wave?!

More details can be gleamed from their official preview video, if you are interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2942BB1JXFk

I, for one, think would be rather unwise, risky, and reckless for LEGO to ever promote stuff like this, among other synonyms for those words.

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You have to love....

Our Missouri legislators.

Today, we learned that one has introduced a bill to create the “Missouri Minutemen”.

This “not a militia” would be composed of armed citizens who could be called up in case of a “civilization threatening emergency”:
https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/po...a-7541cf52744a

Oh, and the list of members would be confidential, not available to the public.

The members would supply their own guns and ammo, but when called up these would become the property of the state, and thus not subject to confiscation by those pesky feds.

I mean, wow. Just... Wow.

In the event of a civilization threatening emergency, what we’ll really need is a bunch of yahoos with guns.
How about a “militia” of doctors, health-care workers, engineers, farmers, and sanitation experts?

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I Know you can get Down from a Duck but . . .

. . . who knew that you'll soon be able to get down from a dragon?

Headline from TechCrunch.com a couple of hours ago:

SpaceX is outfitting its Dragon spacecraft with an observation down for space tourists

Oh dear. I see its now been amended to dome.

Never mind.

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First Transgender Church Minister

And there it is. An important milestone. More power to them.

The Sydney Uniting Church appoints history-making transgender minister

Quote:

When Reverend Josephine 'Jo' Inkpin was inducted into the Uniting Church as a minister earlier this month, there were "tears of joy". In a first for Australia, Reverend Inkpin became the first openly trans person to be inducted into a mainstream church. For much of her career, she served as a priest within the Anglican Church. After coming out, she moved to serve in the Uniting Church, where she felt it was the best place to flourish. Reverend Inkpin was the first church leader to come out as transgender in Australia, and on March 14 she again made history: "No-one has actually been appointed and given a licence," she explained. That licence sees Reverend Inkpin lead the congregation at Sydney's Pitt Street Uniting Church. "[There's] a lot of joy — of coming home really — to a space [where] I hope love and joy can flourish." The Uniting Church describes itself as a progressive one; a safe space for LGBTQI+ people. Reverend Inkpin says being accepted by parishioners has been a blessing. "I know how much for myself, just to know there is someone like me, what a difference it makes. To see ourselves represented in public space is really huge."

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Matt Gaetz reported to be leaving the House

Looks like the House's best Ace Ventura look alike might be leaving to take a job at Newsmax. Which would be great because he's a complete and total dumbass, and he'll fit in perfectly at Newsmax. I also think the GOP might start to believe they aren't going to win the House back. I've heard a lot that it sucks being in the minority in either branch of Congress. Source

Quote:

Gaetz, who was first elected to the House in 2016, the same year Trump won the presidency, has told allies that he is thinking about ending his congressional career in its third term. He's started early conversations with Newsmax about joining the conservative network, according to Axios.

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The ;l;;gmlxzssaw Conspiracy

This recently appeared in US Strategic Command Twitter feed.






As if they would really respond to an FOIA request that quickly. What are they hiding?!? What did the message mean?!?

:D ;)

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Beavers being reintroduced to Wales

Beavers are being reintroduced to Wales. It's hoped that they will help to manage waterways and reduce flooding.

Quote:

The first officially-licenced beavers have been released in Wales. The pair - an adult male and its offspring - arrived from Scotland on Friday to their new home on the Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve in Powys.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-56565050

The usual suspects are opposed to it:

Quote:

Some fishermen and farmers had opposed the plans amid concerns over the potential impact on the landscape.

I hope that this proves to be as successful as the reintroduction of the Red Kite - we even see a few around here - but not as destructive as the unplanned release of wild boar.

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Hot Mics and "Causal Domain Shear*"

The basic idea is that there are regions where events are tightly coupled by cause and effect relationships, and regions where events are loosely coupled, or not coupled by cause and effect at all.

One example is in cosmology. Due to the expansion of space, there are regions of our universe that are receding from each other faster than light can cross the distance. Not even a photon from one region can cause an effect in the other region.

I think there are examples in sociology, too.

Whenever we get a story about a sportscaster being bigoted on a hot mic, or a schoolteacher being racist in the classroom, I wonder, "how did they not know to just keep their mouth shut?"

I think the answer is, they're used to occupying a relatively hermetic causal domain in society. They're usually surrounded by people who produce a particular cause-and-effect phenomenon in response to their jokes, asides, opinions, etc. They end up taking this causal domain for granted, and forget that there are other domains with other cause and effect relationships that might be different from what they're used to.

One example that gets bandied about (by me, if no one else) is the hypothesis that Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" line played well to friends in more intimate and private settings such as fundraisers and at campaign HQ. Neither her nor her team realized until too late that it would play a lot worse in to a more general audience.

Causal domain shear.

Same thing with that sportscaster on the hot mic. I think the best explanation for such a lapse of discipline is that he was used to one causal domain for his bigotry, and forgot about the risk of his mic coupling him to another causal domain. Same thing with the Catholic schoolteacher or whoever who, with the kneeling and whatnot.

I think we also see this in social media - a sort of "space contraction" phenomenon. Historically, stupid stuff you said as a teenager would recede in time from the present day. Eventually it would loose all causal coupling with your current relationships and reputation. Instead, we see the opposite happening. It's trivially easy to reach back in time to someone's tweets from five or ten years ago, and make a cause-and-effect link to from there to the person's current domain.

In summary: I think social causal domains are a thing, and I think we're often not aware of the domains we're in or the degree to which they're actually coupled. If we spend a lot of time in one domain, getting a particular kind of feedback, it can cause social disconnects - shear - when we move into another domain where there's a different effect from the same cause.

---
*I got the term from Neal Stephenson's novel Anathem. I don't know if it or the concept have prior art anywhere.

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Russian apartment bombings of 1999

Was reading about this one today. Awfully suspicious. All the time spent on trying to prove that 9/11 was an inside job/false flag attack by the US government - meanwhile, the Russian apartment buildings of 1999 stink to high heaven.

I suppose Putin’s Russia is considered “anti-imperialist” compared to the US...:rolleyes:

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Gigantic Firefox bookmarks export

I'm improving my backup regime, so thought I'd do an occasional bookmark export, to HTML, which will be included in my backups.

I have only about 40, but the export file contains several hundred of them, minimum. These include ancient bookmarks, long deleted, such as the mass of them I had in my 9/11 CT debate days here.

Why? I can only guess that FF archives old ones somewhere and they're being included, but there's no option in the export utility to choose. I'd also swear that a lot of these were deleted on an old PC but have survived the migration.

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United Airlines 93 Blog - I finally got around to it....

Well, it only took 10 years but I finally got around to putting together all the UAL93 stuff I could find into one place, same as how I did with the AAL77 blog.

Mainly for two reasons...
1. its coming up 20 years and there will no doubt be a small resurgence of online idiots digging up conspiracy theories...
2. Gravy's wtc7lies site no longer exists and that is where I used to direct people for UAL93 stuff.....

So, here it is, in its 'mostly complete' form:

https://ual93.blogspot.com/2021/03/a...-below-is.html

Feel free to share around :cool:

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Preachers and their $5,000 Sneakers

Ahem.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/relig...tagram-wealth/

Quote:

“I began asking, how much is too much?” Kirby said. “Is it okay to get rich off of preaching about Jesus? Is it okay to be making twice as much as the median income of your congregation?”

So some are going to Hell?

Mark 10:21 ESV

Quote:

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

1 John 3:17-18 ESV

Quote:

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Snicker.

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Should American Blacks Receive Reparations

Today's Washington Post included an op-ed (unfortunately, probably behind a paywall for most) asserting that the US should pay reparations to Blacks who can trace their ancestry back to slaves (I believe around 10% of Blacks living in the US are immigrants).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...t-reparations/

The authors of the article have published a book on the subject,
From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century.

The gist of the article is that Blacks deserve $14 trillion in reparations and that it should be in direct payments. They criticized the Evanston, Ill. plan to pay reparations by subsidizing Black home ownership.

Since the end of the US presidential election and resulting insurrection has died down, this seems to be a good topic for getting some animosity flowing.

My take:
I concede that it is appropriate to give Blacks some sort of benefit for the losses suffered due to the legal impediments historically imposed on them. I do see some opportunities to discuss the proposal, however (obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be posting).

The op-ed does not explain how the figure of $14 trillion was reached. This amount works out to somewhere between $350,000 and $400,000 per person (I think something on the order of 10% of the Blacks in the US are immigrants, so not all Blacks would qualify), which the authors believe should be paid directly to individuals. $350,000 is around the household net worth of the 80th percentile and nearly twice the median white household net worth. Is this really a realistic assessment of how much Black people have lost?

Another possible topic for discussion is whether all of the reparations should be paid to people who happen to be alive at a particular time. Should payments be spread out over time so that future generations can get a share?

There is also the issue of whether all the money should go to individuals or if some or all should be used for community projects, such as improved schools, more early childhood education, seed money for Black-owned businesses, and better infrastructure in Black neighborhoods.

For the economics-minded, there could be a debate over the inflationary impact of the government spending an additional $14 trillion dollars in the next few year.

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Stuck Container Ship Conspiracy Theories

Q claimed Evergreen Container ships -- and one is stuck in the Suez Canal--- should be watched .
Hindering traffic? Are they trafficking ?

So how on earth did Q pull that one out of the hat in 2018?
And what were the odds of its Maritime Call Sign being H3RC ?
And is it really true that the Gibraltar Strait is blocked by subs ?



For those missing Episode One -- look for the shipping line link to Maxwell's husband .The one she claims does not exist .
Far better than Game Of Drones . Thrones .

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Covid CT money making scheme “ $623 Mastering Vaccine Info Boot Camp”

$623 Mastering Vaccine Info Boot Camp


Interesting piece on how the CTers monetise their stupidity.

“… Organizers of the course attended by CBC journalists said that 400 people had signed up, which at $623 per student, adds up to almost $250,000 in course fees.

The course was the eighth of its kind since 2017, with the preceding ones focused on anti-vaccination information while the recent session was COVID-19-specific.

..”

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Making daylight savings permanent

The yearly argumanet over it has come up here again. (clocks go back next weekend)

Should we just make it a permanent thing?

Not sure how people in other countries feel/deal with it,

TBH not even sure which non-main countries even have it and which, if any don't

Personally in the make it permanent camp, as apart from a few dairy farmers who moaned when it came in, but seem to have adjusted to it, it seems to be a good idea,

Disclaimer: I did have and OE in Europe which turned into 10 years, where when it wasn't daylight savings and going to work in the dark and then it turning dark about 3 or for was depressing as hell for months. So may be slightly biased.

Just realised the term "daylight savings" may mean jack to other people.

It is the twice a year thing going into the colder/warmer months by one hour.


https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/...-to-never-end/

Quote:

A new petition wants to make longer days permanent. On April 4th, New Zealanders put back the clocks an hour as daylight saving ends. But a group called Take Back the Clocks is petitioning for year-round daylight saving. Founder Louis Houlbrooke told Heather du Plessis-Allan the twice yearly change causes stress for all New Zealanders. "Especially for the parents of young kids, the farmers, the dairy cows, anyone working across time zones. "It's really not necessary. In a week and a half, we're going to get an extra hour to sleep in, but for what? We'll be walking home in the dark."

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Progress on the Anomalous Nernst Effect

It looks like this has promise for thermoelectric generation. Whether it is scalable remains to be seen. However, there may be some niche applications, sooner.

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-unconv...oelectric.html

Demonstration of unconventional transverse thermoelectric generation

Quote:

A NIMS research team devised a new thermoelectric generation mechanism with a hybrid structure composed of thermoelectric and magnetic materials. The team then actually fabricated this structure and observed the record-high thermopower appearing in the direction perpendicular to a temperature gradient (i.e., transverse thermoelectric generation). These results may offer insights into new mechanisms and structural designs applicable to the development of versatile energy harvesting technologies and highly sensitive heat flux sensors.

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The rich win again.

The rich are really good at hanging on to it.

Quote:

The richest Americans are hiding more than 20 percent of their earnings from the Internal Revenue Service, according to a comprehensive new estimate of tax evasion, with the top 1 percent of earners accounting for more than a third of all unpaid federal taxes. That’s costing the federal government roughly $175 billion a year in revenue, according to the findings by a team of economists from academia and the IRS.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...y-tax-evasion/

Quote:

In a remarkable 2019 analysis, the IRS estimated that Americans report on their taxes less than half of all income that is not subject to some form of third-party verification like a W-2. Billions of dollars in business profits, rent and royalties are hidden from the government each year. By contrast, more than 95% of wage income is reported. Unreported income is the single largest reason that unpaid federal income taxes may amount to more than $600 billion this year and more than $7.5 trillion over the next decade. It is a truly staggering sum — more than half the projected federal deficit over the same period.

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/...4-tril/543717/

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Scottish National Parties - the big split.

It used to be just the SNP, Scottish National Party. But now, after the big split between former SNP leader Alex Salmond and present leader Nicola Sturgeon over alleged misconduct, a new national party, the Alba Party is being started by Alex Salmond;

https://news.stv.tv/politics/alex-sa...-new-party?top

"Former First Minister Alex Salmond has announced he will be standing as leader of new independence party in the Holyrood elections in May.
Salmond said the Alba Party will be a list party under his leadership.
He said: “Over the next six weeks we will promote new ideas about taking Scotland forward, giving primacy to economic recovery from the pandemic and the achievement of independence for our country.
“We expect to field a minimum of four candidates in each regional list and we’re hoping to elect Alba MSPs from every area of Scotland.”

It will be interesting to see how many SNP MSPs become Alba MSPs.

Clan warfare in Scotland has not been this interesting since 1692.

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Navy destroyers swarmed by “drones”.

Putting this in “General” because it’s vaguely UFO related...

https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...vy-destroyers/

A couple of Arleigh-class destroyers were visited by a number of drones while maneuvering off the coast of California. Several of these devices, described as “tic-tac” shaped, like the much earlier UFO incident, buzzed the two ships, hovered nearby, and then flew off.

According to the article, no commercial drone has the capability of flying so far from any RC source, and the only other vessel in the vicinity was a cruise ship. The cruise ship does operate drones for photography purposes, but none of them were in operation and none had the capability to fly any distance from the ship.

The drones made no effort to disguise their presence... Sometimes hovering at “eye level” with the destroyer’s bridge.

Testing by our own DARPA lads, perhaps? Submarine-launched from a foreign power?

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The hierarchy-of-scientific-evidence fallacy

It probably goes by another name, but I saw an article about this recently, but I didn't jot down the link, and now I can't find it.
The context is Sweden's pandemic strategy and how the authorities refused to acknowledge the efficacy of face masks, arguing that no study lived up to their high standards - with reference to the hierarchy of scientific evidence.

Do any of you know the article I'm looking for? Or something similar?

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Microsoft Changing Icons

Just sharing this article so people see it before it happens. I came across this while doing my normal tech searches. It appears Windows 10 is changing a large portion of its icons, and much more. I'm assuming they're doing it because people are used to the icon images they have now and Windows just enjoys ******* with their client base.

Source

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Verge Microsoft is also planning a “sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows,” codenamed “Sun Valley.” The company is expected to detail its visual plans and more about the future of Windows in the coming months as part of a dedicated news event.

The article has some pics of the images. I sent it out to my guys at work because they hate change and I wanted to get in front of it.

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Weird and Pointless Conspiracy Theories

Sometimes you encounter conspiracy theories that leave you wondering why anyone would bother.

During the most recent season of "Holiday Baking Championship" on Food Network, my mother disagreed with several decisions by the judges, including who ultimately won. She is now convinced that the competitions are rigged, with the producers deciding ahead of time who will win and instructing the judges to ignore any mistakes that person makes during the competition.
Her opinion is obviously the correct one. Three professional bakers who see and taste the items firsthand have a different opinion than a 75 year old woman who occasionally makes cakes and cookies and is only watching on TV, therefore all of the competitions are rigged.

There have been competitions where the producers clearly favored one of the competitors and gave them more attention. For example, Lenny McNab* the "gourmet chuckwagon cook" on Season Ten of "Next Food Network Star". In that case, the winner would have their own show and attract viewers and advertisers, so the network would have a vested interest in the winner, but that's not the case here. There's no reason to rig the results. It's just a matter of "I don't like the results, so it's fake."


What "trivial conspiracies" have people encountered?




*He ultimately didn't get a show, after racist and sexist blog posts were discovered, including attacks against a well established and very profitable Food Network chef. Oops.

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Annual Deaths Worldwide From Seasonal Flu

Here is some info on the number of deaths from Seasonal Flu worldwide,
291,000 to 646,000.

https://www.medicinenet.com/script/m...iclekey=208914

People don't think of this as all we've been talking about for the last 13 months are deaths worldwide from Covid which is about 3 Million right now.

And we can probably throw a lot of other health issues people have prior to getting the flu.

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Pronouns in Signature

Well, I know I'm putting myself out there for criticism here, but I first came to this site pondering balancing skepticism and faith, so that shouldn't be anything new :) I hope those of you I have interacted with here before will appreciate my efforts to be open and genuine and to listen to and consider other perspectives as I try to articulate (and thereby better understand) my own.

I received notice of a new work policy recently that requests employees include their preferred pronouns (e.g. he/him) in the email signature line. My initial gut response was "I don't want to do that" and I've spent some time pondering why that was my reaction. I think the main reasons I responded that way are:

1. I don't think it's necessary. Names (especially in a culturally diverse workplace) are often ambiguous with respect to gender and this has never caused a great problem. By all means, if someone would like to specify to avoid confusion or because it's particularly important to them, no problem, but asking everyone to do this feels like a solution for a non-problem.

2. There are many pieces of personal information that could be included in an email signature but are not typically (e.g. hearing or visual impairment, dyslexia, on the autistic spectrum, visible or non-visible disability etc.). That this has been singled out as a priority seems odd and arbitrary.

3. This feels like an effort to shift a cultural norm that I am comfortable with. I like the idea that cultural norms exist in general, (though I am equally comfortable with the fact that none of us fits them all). I think diversity is fascinating and valuable, but I don't like pretending that norms don't exist, or that they are unhelpful.

Lots of other thoughts here, but maybe that's enough to get the conversation rolling. As always, I appreciate the input of those who take the time to respond.

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RC school headmaster resigns after requiring black student to kneel during apology

Probably one of the more vivid displays lately of casual or systemic racism. The incident happened last month at a Catholic school in Long Island.

Quote:

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Paul said she noticed her son seemed sad after school one day late last month. When she asked him what happened, he told her he'd been sent to the headmaster's office for working on an assignment in his Literature class during designated reading time. Paul said her son's teacher took the assignment, tore it up, and brought her son to the headmaster's office. Once there, Paul said, the headmaster told her son to kneel before the teacher in apology. "I was filled with all different types of emotion," Paul said. When the headmaster called a few days later to discuss dates for her son's first communion, Paul said she brought it up. "I asked him what happened," she said. "He began to tell me a story about an African family that attended the school many years ago." The headmaster, according to Paul, told her about a former student whose father had once told him to bow when apologizing, calling it "the Nigerian way." "I was just at a loss for words," Paul, who along with her son is Black and of Haitian descent, told CNN. "I didn't understand the relevance." "I was really sad and disappointed," she said, adding that she went to the school to speak with the headmaster a few days later. "I was hoping to get through to him," she said. In his office, the headmaster told the story again, Paul said. "This time, it was 'the African way.'" She said she tried to convey to the headmaster that he'd "humiliated and degraded my son," but said she didn't feel heard. "He has become extremely quiet," she said Tuesday. "His interactions with everyone -- family, friends -- has changed. He's sad. He has questions. He's just trying to cope with this."

While old white people very often have no compunction about dividing themselves and each other up by nationality-treated-as-ethnicity, to many of them, black people are just black people. That certainly seems to have been the case with this person; because once "many years ago" he saw a single African man tell his son that bowing while apologizing was "the Nigerian way", and in his mind this eventually was conflated with kneeling and became the just generally "African" way, which made it a completely appropriate thing to demand of any black child.

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Recommend free incremental backup s/w

That's about it, really. My backup regime is a bit hit+miss so I'd like to get better organised. Any recommendations gratefully received. I'd like to avoid a '90 day trial version' scene, if possible.

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Suez Canal blocked by stuck ship.

A 200,000 tonne container ship ran aground and became lodged sideways across the waterway at about 07:40 local time (05:40 GMT) on Tuesday.

It's a big one , 400m loa and 59mbeam the ship has blocked the path of other vessels which are now trapped in lines in both directions.

Apparently the ship 'broached' in high winds and the bows ran aground swinging the stern around.

A swarm of tugs has been trying to pull it free but it's wedged solid.
Looks like they will have to 'dig it out' and it could take several days.

Great Bitter Lake is already full of waiting ships are the Port Said and South Suez Anchorage.
I have been following it on the Marine Traffic and Vessel Finder apps.

Evergreen Marine said the ship was "suspected of being hit by a sudden strong wind, causing the hull to deviate... and accidentally hit the bottom and run aground".

Looking at the ship, it's stacked to the limit with containers and the freeboard is massive, I can see how a beam wind would have pushed it round.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said it was working to refloat the giant ship, using rescue and tug units,

BBC is reporting they said they had reopened an 'older section of the canal' to ease the bottleneck of marine traffic caused by the incident.

But I don't see how that will work. In the section where the ship is stuck, south of the Great Bitter Lake, there is only one canal, the 'older' section referred to is north of the lake and apart from holding ships I don't see how it helps anything.

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Wal-Mart vs the Govt Morons

A friend came thru as always with Wisdom:

Things I didn't know..........she asks that it keep circulating.


Wal-Mart vs. The Morons

1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart Every hour of every day.

2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!

3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.

4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target +Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined.

5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people, is the world's largest private employer, and most speak English.

6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the world.

7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only fifteen years.

8. During this same period, 31 big supermarket chains sought bankruptcy.

9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.

10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had five years ago.

11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at Wal-Mart stores. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 Billion.)

12. 90% of all Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart.

You may think that I am complaining, but I am really laying the ground work for suggesting that MAYBE we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart to fix the economy.

This should be read and understood by all Americans… Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE!!

To President Biden and all 535 voting members of the Legislature

It is now official that the majority of you are corrupt morons:

a.. The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775. You have had 246 years to get it right and it is broke.

b.. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 86 years to get it right and it is broke.

c.. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.

d.. War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 57 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.

e.. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 56 years to get it right and they are broke.

f.. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 51 years to get it right and it is broke.

g.. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and with Biden in we are headed to import more oil than ever before. You had 44 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.

You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars.

AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

Folks, keep this circulating. It is very well stated. Maybe it will end up in the e-mails of some of our "duly elected' (they never read anything) and their staff will clue them in on how Americans feel.

AND

I know what's wrong. We have lost our minds to "Political Correctness" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone please tell me what the HELL's wrong with all the people that run this country!!!!!!

We're "broke" & can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless etc.,???????????

In the last months we have provided aid to Haiti , Chile , and Turkey ... And now Pakistan ... previous home of bin Laden. Literally, BILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!

Our retired seniors living on a 'fixed income' receive no aid nor do they get any breaks…

AMERICA: a country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed hungry, elderly going without 'needed' meds, and mentally ill without treatment - etc, etc.

Imagine if the *GOVERNMENT* gave 'US' the same support they give to other countries. Sad isn't it?

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Man "detains" National Guardsmen transporting COVID vaccine

A deranged man chased a small caravan of National Guardsmen transporting vaccines to the town of Matador, Texas, after happening upon them at a travel center in Lubbock. The man repeatedly tried to physically run the soldiers' vans off the road, before finally blocking them and ordering them all out of their vehicles at gunpoint.

The guardsmen were uniformed, but were unarmed.

Quote:

LUBBOCK COUNTY, Texas (KCBD) - An Arizona man has been arrested after he cut off and held at gunpoint a caravan of National Guardsmen transporting COVID-19 vaccines to Matador, Texas around 7 a.m. this morning, according to Idalou Police. Larry Harris, of Willcox, Arizona, is accused of following three National Guardsmen vans from Love’s Travel Station on East Regis Street in Lubbock to about two miles east of Idalou. Police say Harris attempted multiple times to run the vans off of the roadway. He then turned his vehicle into oncoming traffic on Hwy. 62/82 and stopped the vans. He then pointed a gun at an unarmed National Guardsman, identified himself as a detective, and demanded to search the vehicles and ordered the rest of the unarmed guardsmen out of their vehicles at gunpoint. Harris told police he thought the people in the vans had kidnapped a woman and child. All 11 of the guardsmen were in uniform. When police arrived on the scene, Harris was in possession of a loaded Colt 1911 pistol .45 Caliber. He had an additional loaded magazine on his person and another loaded magazine in his truck, police say.

Local police arrived and took the man into custody without incident; he faces numerous charges related to the incident.

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Droughts and Flooding Rains

In case you'd missed it, much of Eastern Australia is under water right now. This is a rainfall map that I took this morning.



Yes, it's very serious. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated, and more are likely. The Warragamba Dam is pouring sydarbs worth of water into the valley.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-...iver/100022362

I'm safe. Canberra is pretty high up and while we have had some local flash flooding (and the Queanbeyan and Murrumbidgee River are on flood watch), it's nothing like western Sydney right now.

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Statehood (DC, Puerto Rico, more?)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.was...outputType=amp

Debates going on whether to make DC a state. There’s also ongoing debate regarding Puerto Rico statehood. For DC, it seems to make sense with idea of no taxation without representation. With Puerto Rico, I understand this has been an ongoing discussion for awhile. I understand GOP would hate either possibility as it would increase Democratic senate numbers.
As you can tell, I’m no expert on either situation, but thought a discussion could be I interesting

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Getting past paywalls

Many people probably know this, but I didn't until recently. Sites like The NYT and the Washington Post, which have a paywall, but are often linked here, use Javascript. I got a nifty little plugin for Mozilla (I think you can get it in Chrome too) to disable Javascript. It puts a little icon on the browser's menu bar, and if you hit that, it turns off Javascript for the site you're on. The subscription stuff disappears. When you leave the site, it pops back on.

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illegal to give food or water to waiting voters in Georgia

The Republicans in Georgia have passed bill HB 531 making it illegal to give anyone food or water as they wait in line to vote.

Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger objected to the law because, he said, his office had already ruled that pizza at the polls is a crime. Before the Georgia US Senate run-offs, Raffensperger threatened groups, stating that:

“offering food, drinks, or other items of value to voters waiting in line or those who have already voted is forbidden under Georgia law (OCGA § 21-2-570).”

Anyone handing pizza to a voter, according to Raffensperger, “shall be guilty of a felony.”

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Can decapitated heads live a short while?

This has been a controversy. I'm not suggesting anyone go to this website called the YNC but if you do look up ISIS. Some of the decapitated victims heads look like they know briefly whats going on.

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Putin challenges Biden to Online Live Debate

So, after Biden's script writers called Putin a "killer", he was asked about that and said the following today (original video), text auto-translated from a trustworthy translation into German:

Quote:

Originally Posted by VV Putin: I have said this before, when we analyze someone, we have the feeling that we are looking at them through a magnifying glass, or at least through a pane of glass. In reality, we are looking at ourselves in the mirror. After all, we have to move forward with our intergovernmental relations, so here is what I was just thinking about so that we don't continue to make back-and-forth statements: Last time, the initiative for our phone call came from President Biden (Translator's note: At that time, it was about the extension of the NEW START treaty). I would like to suggest to President Biden that we continue our discussion, but on one condition: That we do it live, online. Without delays, in a direct, open discussion. I think that would be interesting for the Russian people and for the American people, yes, and also for many other countries, after all, on the shoulders of the largest nuclear powers lies a special responsibility for the security of the planet. We can talk about our bilateral relations, about strategic stability, about the resolution of regional conflicts, there are many of them, I will not list them here. And also about other problems that humanity is facing today, I mean the fight against the pandemic, as we know, the situation in the U.S. is not easy, they are still far from a solution, we are moving forward much safer. We can tell something about this, share our experience. But I repeat, on the condition that it will be a direct, fair conversation, and live. Question from the journalist: When? Any time? Putin: I don't want to put it on the back burner, on the weekend I want to go to Taiga, have some rest, but we can do it tomorrow or let's say on Monday. Here you go, we are ready to do it at any time convenient to the American side. I will give the appropriate instruction to the State Department right now. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

:popcorn6

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My laptop speakers stopped working ...

Strange story.

ASUS VivoBook, Win10. Speakers and headphones working fine for several months since I bought it.

I installed Skype on it, gave Skype a test and it told me the speakers were muted. The F1/2/3 keys (sound control on this machine) suggested otherwise, as did the sound icon on the taskbar. A quick blast of YouTube produced no sound. My over-head headphones produced sound, but very faint. My earbud headphones were fine.

I tried Control panel/sound and when I tested the speakers it said they were muted. Weird.

A little later I tried the over-head headphones again and they were good, but the laptop speakers still produced nothing.

Uninstalled Skype, no change. Reinstalled it, no change.

A Bluetooth speaker works OK, but has a small time lag and creates a little random background feedback, even when positioned yards away.

Any clues gratefully received, as I am clueless :)

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"Demon"...

I mean...where to start...


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...hters-bed.html

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

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Xfinity says I'm not connected but I am on other pages

I can even sign into the Xfinity page but when I go to retrieve my mail it says it's not safe and won't open. It says I'm not connected to the Net. But I am connected.

Obviously I can open the forum just fine. I can get my Yahoo and my Gmail email messages just fine.

My bill is current. I have Xfinity as my server. :"server unreachable"

And I can open the emails already on the page. I can't check the spam folder though, I get the server unreachable message.

Any ideas?


Guess I'll try to send myself and email and see what happens. Oh and I have tried to reopen the page. I can but can't get to the email from there.

So far, message sent, not showing up as received.

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Barrymore pool murder: Man arrested

So this is a pretty infamous case in the UK. Fireman Stuart Lubbock was found dead in the swimming pool of well known entertainer Michael Barrymore. Initially it was apparently an accident, but later reviews demonstrated Lubbock's blood was full of a cocktail of drugs and he had been assaulted. The endless questions over what happened ended Barrymore's career, but there's no answers and no evidence to tie anyone to the crime. Stuart Lubbock's father continued a crusade to have the case resolved but after 20 years there was still nothing and the father announced a few months ago he had terminal cancer and honestly I don't think anyone expected there to be any answers. Then out of the blue this is on the BBC this morning:

Stuart Lubbock: Murder arrest over death in Michael Barrymore pool

This is just astonishing and means this case might just be put to rest after all.

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mass shootings in Atlanta targeting Asian businesses

I suppose this is the inevitable end result of the explosion of anti Asian racism in America these days.


https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/16/us/me...ngs/index.html


I don't like to judge books by their cover but looking at the picture of the shooter and I'm totally judging this book by the cover.


Uggh

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UK to get feisty with its nukes?

Reading this and finding it hard to believe :

"Britain is prepared to launch nuclear weapons if the country was faced with an exceptionally destructive attack using cyber or other “emerging technologies”, according to the integrated defence review.

The stark statement marks a change from existing UK policy, which had been that Trident missiles could only be launched against another nuclear power, or potentially in response to extreme chemical or biological threats."


The Guardian

If it's pure bluster then it's pretty heavy bluster.

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Does the presence of ice in an alcoholic drink increase the risk of a stroke?

I have tried to find something on this online but came up empty, so I ask here if there is any basis to a very old belief I have known a few hard drinkers to share.

Drinking alcohol is already considered to put the drinker at risk of stroke, but is it true that the risk is elevated if there are ice cubes or crushed ice in the glass?

I know of no research in to this, nor have I an idea of how this would be tested.

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Why People Are Getting Evicted For Calling 911

Quote:

One way cities are quietly circumventing due process and fair housing laws to evict renters. The reason has to do with "crime-free" laws, in which a property can be labeled a "public nuisance" if they summon the police too many times. This means landlords are motivated to prevent renters from making 911 calls, which in turn stops many people from getting the help they need.

VOX: https://www.vox.com/22307509/crime-f...or-calling-911

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Violence against women by men

The latest story to gain headlines in the UK is a woman being abducted and murdered as she was walking home in the evening. Now this murder has gained a lot of publicity and thankfully this type of murder is very rare, women are not killed routinely walking home, at night or any other time in a day.

This has of course pushed the issue of violence against women to the forefront again and there are all sorts of suggestions being thrown about as to what we can do but to me there is still no direct, plain calling out that the issue is men.

We can try all these policies, well lit streets, panic buttons and so on and they are all good ideas (and of course will help keep everyone safe) but what do we do about the huge level of violence against women by men?

In all my acquaintances I (apparently) don’t know a single man who thinks violence against women is OK in any way shape or form, but I’m older and not really plugged into if you like mainstream society so where are these men that think it is OK, how do we expose them and then treat and rehabilitate them?

There has to be something wrong with these men, no one can claim that they did not know violence against women is wrong (self defence excluded), so why isn’t that message getting through? Where does the idea that women can be assaulted come from?

One of the implications I often hear is that this is a problem of the “lower” classes, yet looking at the statistics that is a load of crap, a middle class professional male is as likely to assault a woman as one from the working class.

(There are some sub-cultures that do still promote the idea that violence is an appropriate way to deal with women but that remains within that culture and cannot explain the statistics in the wider culture and society.)

And can we please keep this thread to being about male violence against women, yes men are also more likely to be assaulted by a male, yes males are very likely to experience violence against them, but please start a new thread if you want to discuss male on male violence.

Any ideas?

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Population growth/steadiness/decline

Starting from quotes that were written in another thread...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delvo (Post 13426213) I'm against immigration in general just for the sake of controlling population growth

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob001 (Post 13426254) Unless you want to sentence old people to starve to death, the nation requires an influx of young workers to support retirees.

Two points there:

1. No, it doesn't. It might have in the past, but total overall productivity per worker is up by about 4-5 times in just the last few decades, which was after an upward trend of centuries already, and it's even more drastic in agriculture than other sectors; the percentage of the population that are farmers has gone from practically everybody to practically nobody while still making more food and feeding more people. A given work force can now support many times the unproductive population that it could have supported before. And even the fastest upward shift in population age is only gradual (and temporary; when the population levels out, so does the age distribution).

2. Even if it did, maintaining population growth for that purpose would be a losing proposition anyway. The growth will stop at some point, because we can't pile the Earth's surface up with more human bodies than it has food, oxygen, & water to sustain, nevermind adding more layers to the pile until some of them start falling to the moon instead of the Earth and then still continuing the "growth" to start to fill up the rest of space after that. So the questions are not whether to stop the growth (because avoiding that is impossible) but when (how long before hitting an absolute limit) and how much damage to let it do to the planet and our own quality of life first before we finally face the fact that it has to stop. One country keeping potential immigrants out and hitting zero or negative internal growth won't fix the global problem, but it will keep that country in better condition than other countries that keep looking more & more like Soylent Green.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob001 (Post 13426254) Population growth equals economic growth.

Economic growth is only desirable/required because of population growth. Without a growing population, a non-growing (or, in reality, merely slower-growing anyway) economy is fine. It doesn't mean individual people get less, and can even mean they get more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob001 (Post 13426254) The countries that limit immigration, especially including Japan and Russia, are facing economic stagnation, if not decline, as their populations age.

A nation's or planet's overall economy that shrinks while its population does so as well is not necessarily losing anything. In fact, with such high productivity per worker as we have now, it can have direct benefits. For one thing, Japan's housing costs have been famously nightmarish (think 100-year mortgages) and this finally puts some downward pressure back on that. Also, our surplus productivity has already led to a previously absurd & unimaginable phenomenon called "unemployment", so any additional demand on productivity can start by going against that. And dividing the wealth of a country (or planet) among fewer people means more wealth per person overall, whereas dividing it among more means less per person. And our environmental damage is primarily based on population, so the sooner we cut back on population & growth, the lower the damage is.

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DHEA Depletion and Sluggish Libido, Adavanced Aging???

I hope I've posted this conspiracy issue in the proper area.

All you smart people I'm sure you know all about DHEA and how it's depleting in our bodies as we age, starts declining at 20-30. A doc woke me up to it over 20 yrs at about 60, and I've been taking it ever since.

You can find tons of info on this valuable body hormone we are born with and being to lose it and age age age.

I'm doing you all a favor as your allopathic docs do not.

Life Extension is a major proponent and you can find a ton of info from them and other health groups as well.


And YES I do believe the couple great supplements I take Grape Seed Extract and DHEA keep me vital and pretty wrinkle free. And if I was into a male at this late date, it would be good, but I have no interest anymore. :D:)

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Conversation with an educated Klamath Native American concerning Sasquatch

He said the horror tales about Bigfoot were entirely made up stories to keep young Native Americans from settling near Mount Saint Helens. No truth to the stories at all. White men brought their wild men in the woods over from Europe and merely embellished the story.

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Office error 142

Has anyone noticed this reappearing? Error 0xc0000142 and Office 2k16 apps not loading. It's happened to three people that I know well enough to answer their IT problems?
I though it had disappeared a couple of years ago with the Big Fix.

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Checks & Balances Project wants Lindsay Graham removed from Judiciary Committee....

....on the grounds that he is under a serious criminal investigation.

https://www.salon.com/2021/03/09/wat...ia-phone-call/

I'm really surprised that we are not hearing a lot more about this. This watchdog group sent a letter to Moscow Mitch saying that Graham ought to be relieved of his position on the Senate Judiciary Committee because he is under a very serious criminal investigation in the state of Georgia, with regard to Donald Trump's attempted election interference.

According to Georgia SoS Brad Raffensperger, Graham phoned him up and told him to start throwing out absentee ballots instead of counting them. Graham is now under investigation for that phone call - and if they recorded Trump's call, I'm prepared to wager they recoded this one too.

Last week the Fulton County DA brought in an expert RICO prosecutor, John Floyd, to serve as a Special Assistant DA. This guy wrote the book on RICO prosecutions - and I mean literally wrote the book... "RICO State by State: A Guide to Litigation Under the State Racketeering Statutes". Judges have this book as a ready reference!

Now, if they are considering potential racketeering charges against Donald Trump, that means they will also be looking at co-conspirators, and given his phone call, it is highly likely that Lindsey Graham could be one of them - if you can charge one conspirator with a crime, you can charge all of them with the same crime.

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9/11 Oddities

Post strange things that dont make sense about 9/11 in this thread,ill start....

Why did this reporter with CNN first report "NO EVIDENCE OF A PLANE HAVING CRASHED NEAR THE PENTAGON"?? (On 9-11-2001)

http://www.thepowerhour.com/audio_fi...re_%209_11.wav

Well in 2006 he puts out a report totally the opposite statements saying he saw the wreckage,took photos,etc.....

http://www.thepowerhour.com/audio_fi...ire_5_16_1.wav

I think someone got to this guy and threatend him to say all this in the 2nd clip!!


What do others think?

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What percentage of U.S. Republicans are truly ******* evil scum?

Let's get straight to the poll.

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donaldtrumpi

I was watching Gardeners World on the Beeb this morning and one plant they mentioned was a member of the bidens genus, though it appears to be unconnected with the current President. It set me thinking and Googling.

There seem to have been several species named after the previous president including a moth and (not official yet) a 'nearly-blind, serpentine amphibian'. Those two appear to be protest naming (is that a thing?).

There seem to be other species named after presidents (and others). I wonder what Biden will get named after him...

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Test your browser!

http://ip-check.info?lang=en

I did pretty good....I got a couple bad entries like cookies.. I feel I have them secured good now (I have 3rd party cookies blocked) I got one medium entry.... (It said I was using an uncommon language that might make me more recognisable)

I didnt understand it all but I think I did pretty good :)

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UK Government restricts right to protest.

On Tuesday, the Home Office published the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill. It seems like a wonderfully scary piece of legislation, parts of which are aimed at resticting the right to protest in the UK. The legislation is pretty specific - The police can now intervene if a protest is going to have an 'impact'. So you can now protest in the UK as long as it has no impact. Which is sort of the point.

There's some other stuff here. I realise the nature of my sources, but I can't find much reporting on it.




"On Tuesday, the Home Office published the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill. It covers a wide range of areas, from sentencing to digital information. But it has a specific section on the policing of protests. And the function of this section is simple: It aims to silence them."

https://www.politics.co.uk/comment/2...i-protest-law/



"The bill also allows for police to impose conditions such as start and finish times and maximum noise levels on static protests – powers officers already have in relation to marches."

"Kevin Blowe, campaigns coordinator of the police monitoring group Netpol, criticised the report as 'alarming and illiberal” and “essentially a series of recommendations on how you can massively expand surveillance on protest movements at a time when the government has decided that it’s going to crack down on those protests'"

https://www.politics.co.uk/comment/2...i-protest-law/

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Will Alex Jones take the Republican nomination?

Okay, you are maybe hearing it first.

I saw Alex Jones on a You Tube channel chatting ranting with a comedian, Andrew Shulz, and his buddies.

I can't deny that he is entertaining to watch, and he is bat-**** crazy.

I still assume that Trump will run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, but if not they need to find someone who is as brazen as he is and who is as indifferent to truth as he is, to be mindlessly nationalistic and also to be charismatic. Who can they find to follow Trump? Ted Cruz? LOL! Of course not. He's incapable of doubling down the way Trump did. Trump would have said, "Yeah I went to Mexico! I got on my private jet and got out of Dodge? Why? Cos I'm smart!" and all the Texan Republicans freezing in their garages would be cheering Trump on for being so ballsy.

No, they can't have a person who has any sense of shame whatsoever. They need a person who leaks alpha. They won't care about how much he badmouths establishment Republicans. They loved Trump after all. What they want is this...

Also, I sort of hope it happens in a weirdly nihilistic way, because I would love to see how certain posters here who have been big debunkers of 9/11 Truthers somehow rationalize their support, or at least their very vocal refusal to offer any non-support of the Republican candidate.

Attached Images

	alex jones on andrew shulz.jpg (48.8 KB)
	alex jones on andrew shulz 3.jpg (116.3 KB)

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Sports announcer blames hot-mic racist outburst on.... his diabetes

Well now, here's an(other) *interesting* little story about a sports commentator saying verrrrry bad stuff, while not realising his mic was still live and broadcasting (warning: story contains offensive and racist language):

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...ll-racial-slur


Perhaps (wearily) predictably, the man responsible, Matt Rowan, has attempted to formulate an excuse by a) presenting himself as a kindly, godly person (now where have we come across this sort of excusatory gambit before...), and b) in an impressively improbable doubling down, blamed his use of extreme and racist language on his diabetes:

Quote:

Rowan, who described himself as a family man and former youth pastor, said there was “no excuse” for his comments before disclosing that he suffers from type 1 diabetes and attributing his use of racist language to hyperglycemia. “I do not believe I would have made such horrible statements absent my sugar spiking,” the statement read.

ETA: Yes, I have immediately realised that I inadvertently opened this thread in the wrong subforum - I've asked the mods to move it!

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Dual sim phone?

I'm in the UK with a UK sim for the Vodafone network. No problem. It's a dual-sim android phone.

I need to keep my old Greek sim available to receive occasional OTPs from our Greek bank. It's currently in an ancient crappy phone.

If I bung it in the dual-sim Samsung phone will it automatically switch to the Greek sim to notify and allow access to an incoming text (or call, conceivably). This much is not totally clear from googling the subject. If it does that, will it switch back to the default UK sim when the text is read, or is that a manual procedure?

Sorry if these are dumb questions, but the good phone is nano-sim while the old phone is micro-sim and needs an adaptor for the Greek sim, which is a tricky fit, and I'm reluctant to experiment. Oh, and the Greek sim is locked to the old network and needs a pin at startup.

Cheers for any help

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[Split Thread] Food safety - eggs and beef and others

It is a bit sill my how much people insist on listening to the CDC but will happily eat a medium steak (a major no-no to the CDC).

Derail split from this thread.

Posted By:zooterkin

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Weird Ad Getting Through Adblock?

So I'm trying to read Reddit at work, like ya do, and I'm getting the same ad on every thread I open. It's some bizzaro, porny anime ad for what is obviously a hentai webcomic. More power to everyone who enjoys such things, but I really can't have it flashing around on my screen when I'm at work. They're going to think I'm looking at porn and make fun of me.

The ad looks to be from a company called Lezhin. It depicts a busty woman screaming at a guy that ever since she touched his cheek, her "body feels weird." It includes some animation, so that's making it even more flashy and noticeable. Has anyone else seen this? Why is it getting through Adblock Plus (which is also enabled in Incognito)?

I really can't understand why this particular ad is showing on the subs I read, either. We're talking about r/movies, r/QanonCasualties, r/TheoryofReddit, and a few threads about the dangers of unregulated homeschooling. I'm not logged in, because I don't even have a Reddit account anymore.

Any ideas on how I can get rid of this stupid thing? It's kind of a slow afternoon here, and I need my scrolling fix. Thanks for reading!

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MyPillow guy to start own Social media site due to “all the election-machine fraud.”

The social media site is described as a cross between Twitter and YouTube, currently has no backers, only 10 people working on it, will rely upon his own servers rather than using Amazon and *will launch within three weeks*.

https://thehill.com/policy/technolog...etween-youtube

This, if it ever gets off the ground, is going to be an glorious and short lived dumpster fire. I can't wait.

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Three Top Russian Cybercrime Forums Hacked

Tit for Tat?

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/03/...forums-hacked/

Quote:

Over the past few weeks, three of the longest running and most venerated Russian-language online forums serving thousands of experienced cybercriminals have been hacked. In two of the intrusions, the attackers made off with the forums’ user databases, including email and Internet addresses and hashed passwords. Members of all three forums are worried the incidents could serve as a virtual Rosetta Stone for connecting the real-life identities of the same users across multiple crime forums.

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Sarah Everard Case: Policeman arrested and charged

A serving police officer in the diplomatic branch has been arrested and charged with the suspected kidnap and murder of a missing woman, Sarah Everard Ms Everard, 33, was last seen a week ago in Clapham, south London, on her way home from a friend's house. Remains hae now been found in woodlands, yet to be formally identified.

Quote:

3 March: Sarah Everard vanishes after leaving a friend's house on Leathwaite Road, Clapham, about 21:00 GMT 5 March: Met Police are "increasingly concerned" for Ms Everard and make an appeal on Twitter 6 March: Ms Everard's family say her disappearance is "totally out of character" as officers search Clapham Common's ponds 7 March: Footage taken from a doorbell camera shows Ms Everard walking alone along the A205 Poynder Road towards Tulse Hill at 21:30. Police say it is unclear whether or not she reached her house in Brixton 8 March: More than 120 calls are made from the public on the case and more than 750 homes are visited as part of the investigation 9 March: A serving officer is arrested in Kent along with a woman who is held on suspicion of assisting an offender 10 March: Met Police Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave describes the arrest as "shocking and deeply disturbing". Extensive searches are carried out in parts of Kent. Later in the evening Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said human remains have been found in a woodland in Kent

BBC

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Perpetual motion machines don't exist but..............

I believe the efforts to attain perpetual motion has been a boon to science. Perpetual motion fails because it violates the laws of motion and friction. Here are a few interesting attempts at perpetual motion.

https://youtu.be/6NG6Y5aKN0w

I wonder if a counter balanced wheel in the vacuum of space could be a perpetual machine?

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Attention whore Milo Yiannopoulos is back in the news (what else is new?)

Milo says he's "ex-gay" and "sodomy free" and he's found religion too.

Milo Yiannopoulos says he is ‘ex-gay,’ wants to rehabilitate ‘conversion therapy’

Quote:

Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos has come out as “ex-gay” – announcing that he “would like to help rehabilitate what the media calls ‘conversion therapy’” over the next decade, according to a report. The 36-year-old British political commentator, whose speeches and writings often ridicule political correctness, social justice and feminism, declared himself no longer gay and “sodomy free,” he told LifeSite in an interview. Yiannopoulos told the outlet that he is now leading a daily consecration online to St. Joseph.

Quote:

As far as his personal life, Yiannopoulos said of his husband: “The guy I live with has been demoted to housemate, which hasn’t been easy for either of us. It helps that I can still just about afford to keep him in Givenchy and a new Porsche every year. Could be worse for him, I guess.”

:rolleyes:

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NFTs

I get a couple of “art news” sites in my news feed, and the latest fad in the art world is the “NFT” or Non Fungible Token.

This is (as I understand it) rendering an original work of some sort into digital form, and destroying the original... The digital file is then “authenticated” through some sort of block-chain service and sold, usually at auction.
For a lot of money.

One that made the news is the “first tweet” by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture...rency-1138401/

One of Banksy’s works has been so treated as well. Interestingly, it was the one that showed an art auction with a framed captions... “I can’t believe you morons buy this.”

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Is Menard a Russian Agent?

There's a conspiracy theory making the rounds which says Robert Menard is serving as an agent, or possibly just a "useful idiot", for Russian intelligence services.

The theory centers on Menard's insistence that Canadian law may be ignored by any individual who uses his methods. . .methods which have never worked. The theorists say these beliefs, if acted upon, would help to erode Canadian society . . just what the Kremlin wants!

It is pointed out that recently Menard has focused his propaganda efforts on young Canadians who are unaware of his decades of his failures. The CTers say that's just the sort of thing the FSB would advise Menard to do!

They point out what seems to be Menard's recently improved finances and his frequent references to "rich friends". Menard no longer starts go-fund-me pages for his efforts and even claims to have a fantastic new and expensive project in the works.

Who's putting up the cash for this new project? Theorists ask who Menard's new rich friends are? Russian agents funded with mounds of cash?

Who pays for Menard's bills?

Who put Menard in touch with Beth Martens?

Interesting questions, eh?

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The 'Amazon Video' renewal scam is back.

My aunt got the robocall yesterday (noonish in Dublin) telling her that her Prime Video subscription would automatically renew unless she pressed 1 and spoke to an agent. It's gone up too, €79 now.

This hasn't been around for a few months and I don't know how widespread it is but if you know anyone who might fall for it please warn them.

And remember, waiting to talk to someone and then blasting an air-horn down the phone (after pretending to speak very quietly) might be illegal in your jurisdiction. Therefore I am not suggesting anyone do this.

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We need to make a very public example of these insurrectionist Republicans

Examples: Josh Hawley needs to be drug right off the Senate floor in handcuffs and perp-walked right out the front door of the Capitol. Speaker Pelosi needs to invoke the 14th Amendment and kick out all 130-odd GOPpers who still voted to not certify the election results. And these terrorists who are out on bail and going on vacations need to be rounded up and put in GITMO.

Biden and the Democrats are still treating Jan 6 as a mere riot or a political disagreement, when they should be treating it as Treason and Sedition.

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A framework for policy decision making

Discuss:
When making public policy decisions, the proper order to consider competing interests is:

1. Global - what is best for humanity in general without regard to political boundaries.
2. National - what is best for the nation. (I ignore state because, in the US, states are really just administrative auxiliaries of the national government, or should be.)
3. Local - what is best for the community you live in.
4. Familial - what is best for your immediate family, if you have one.
5. Individual - what is best for you.

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[Split Thread] Duchess of Sussex conspiracy theories

Reading into Meghan's lies that she had no idea who Harry was, nor anything about the British Royal Family, together with the scandalous mud-racking, falsely claiming Archie was denied the title of 'Prince' , is very revealing actually. She admits the plan to leave the UK was within six months of the wedding. However, they had already registered their profit making organisations (Archewell behind a Delaware LLC wall) round about the time of Eugenie's wedding (September that year). In other words before there was any chance for anyone to direct racists comments towards the forthcoming child.

It is clear it was always Meghan's plan to cash in on her wedding. Many of he people invited to her wedding were/are employed by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions, owned by CNS. These included Clooney, who the pair also did not know at the time. Scobie and Durrell who cashed in on a biography are also connected to Harpo. Meghan was very close to Markus Anderson who ran Soho House and appeared to be virtually living with him, they bought a dog together and he always seemed to be in the background. He set up the meeting with Harry and Meghan. In other words, for Meghan and Oprah & co, this was a great chance for a multi-million dollar opportunity. Now, there is no law against commercial enterprise, which I believe Meghan's marriage to Harry was. Problem is, it is very much against the Royal Family ethos. Meghan coldly mud-raking and stirring up scurrilous gossip on the Royal Family to earn millions for Oprah and raise her own commercial profile is so obviously her strategy from the start. I blame Harry for allowing himself to go along with it. He is a disgrace and a great disappointment to his grandparents, one of whom is seriously ill in hospital.

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The Derek Chauvin/George Floyd Murder Trial

I don't know if this belongs here or in the Trials and Errors category, so feel free to move.

This trial deserves a stand alone thread. Jury selection has just begun and there have been some interesting updates, such as the following:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...trial-n1259313

I just thought that there should be one single, consolidated thread for what should be a contentious trial.

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Farming and climate change

Farming resulted in deforestation. Trees soak up carbon dioxide and moisture.

Ending farming isn't an option, that would be insane, but, we can try to reform it.
What reforms are feasible ?

I would offer incentives to plant hedges, trees and meadows and make it harder to build on greenbelt sites.

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[Split Thread] Switzerland makes wearing a face covering illegal.

Edited by Darat:

Not on topic for this thread removed.

Switzerland makes wearing a face covering illegal.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56314173

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Meghan and Oprah

Anybody watch the Oprah interview with Meghan Markle? I was struck by a couple things: She was only allowed to leave her house twice in four months; the "firm" took her passport and other personal belongings; and when she felt suicidal and asked for help, the Royal HR said they couldn't do anything for her because she was not a paid employee. It sounds like a near-hostage situation.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/08/97463...-oprah-intervi

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This black fifteen year old girl was beaten bare buttocks in front of her entire cong

She told me this story a few months after it happened and I encouraged her to make a police report.

Comments?

Incidentally I don't think she did.

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4 Cancer Models and Grape Seed Extract

Skin, Breast, Prostate and Colorectal

All these and now probably more are worked on in cancer research clinics with grape seed extract...Mayo, City of Hope, Sloan Kettering, Univ of Maryland and how many more I don't know

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728696/


Personally I've done 2 mams in my life and NO colonoscopies...

Hope you all have some fun with this topic on cancers.

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Incredible Engineering Marvel: Sixth Mirror Cast for Giant Magellan Telescope

The 8.4-meter mirror joins five of the world’s largest mirrors previously cast for the Giant Magellan Telescope, one of the world’s largest and most anticipated extremely large telescopes.

https://scitechdaily.com/incredible-...lan-telescope/

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What is existence?

I am most keen to get folks here for us all to come to concurrence on what is existence.

See if you anyone can understand this concept of existence from me:

"Existence is the object of man's conscious experience."

But before you start objecting to my concept of existence, please first present what is your concept of existence, and please do not bring in dictionaries, just from your stock knowledge and from thinking about existence - so that you are not grounding yourselves on authorities, but from your very own thinking.

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Super Mirage of Float Ship

Optical illusion: Check Out This Floating Ship!

Fake.

Or why do I see the bottom of the ship, but not any water? :confused:

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Good Eye Health and No Cataracts

Well since this is supposed to be conspiracy stuff by this group, I'll test this one out.

I have good eye health and no cataracts at going on 83.

What gives me this good stuff is:

Grape Seed Extract
Vit C
Lutein and/or with Bilberry
Simalasan homeopathic for dry eyes
Cineraria Maritma homeopathic drops to prevent cataracts

And wearing sunglasses in Sun and Bright days. And those in Snow country
this goes the same.

I have no eye disease so don't go there and say I could. And the beauty of it all, no eye doc appts in probably the last 10 yrs, but believe me I did my share every other year of eye doc visits.

Oh and BTW: I was told about 20 yrs ago I had the start of cataracts and I got busy.

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From existence to the existence of God

From the study of existence we can and do come to the existence of God.

From my study of existence I have come to the certainty that there has always been existence.

Why has there always been existence?

You see, the contradictory statement to the statement above, namely, there has always been existence is the statement, there has never been existence.

Of these two in effect contradictory statements, namely:

1a There has always been existence.
1b There has never been existence.

Only one of the two is true, and it cannot be 1b, so the only true statement is 1a: There has always been existence.

Now, there are all kinds of existence which are transient, i.e. they have a beginning and an ending, for example, man has a beginning at birth and an ending at death.

From the existence of transient beings, it follows that there is at least one permanent self-existent being.

I call this permanent self-existent being, God, in concept the permanent self-existent cause of man and the universe and everything transient, i.e. with a beginning and an ending.

There, that is my argument for the existence of God.

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Article with counter-evidence to Evolution

Interesting link here that argues that animals don't evolve, only devolve. He says that he goes from a perspective of a scientist and that his religion, Catholicism, doesn't have a problem with Evolution. It's three scientists in the article, although I got bored and stopped reading when second one went through the history of eugenics. So to the article the history of life is devolution. I would prefer for evolution to be true, and know this place, if it wants to, will be able to counter-argue effectively against the article.

http://cerbi.ldi5.com/IMG/_article_P...cle_181.pdf#e5

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