Bird vs $80K Drone

Wedge Tailed Eagles protecting their turf in Australia

http://ift.tt/2fBbpVe

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More Merry Martian Mischief

Just for fun.

Four Rover pics catch shadow of Martian Mechanic during Curiosity's annual brake job and wheel alignment

Hilarious however how it looks like the 'man's legs' are standing straight, then crouching, bent at knees. I wonder what it actually is, causing the shadow.

http://ift.tt/2yfJyFD

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Trump wants a tax break....

Trump's tax plan, despited claims of his minions, would be mostly a gift to the richest, including himself.
http://ift.tt/2yOlUwI
http://ift.tt/2yOCZXB
http://ift.tt/2yOevxn
http://ift.tt/2yPRsSO

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Epidemic of false rape accusations?

Many threads over the years here have focused on specific cases but I saw this article which rattles off a bunch in the U.K. and thought it might be worth a new thread:

http://ift.tt/2yNSNcS

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Sahara a man made desert?

A new paper supporting the Ruddiman Early Anthropocene hypothesis has come out as predicted.


Humans as Agents in the Termination of the African Humid Period

Quote:

Human-induced landscape pressures are as old as humanity itself. Although there is little doubt that post-Industrial anthropogenic activities have placed more global stress on the environment than for the millions of preceding years, human impacts are not concisely restricted to the post-Industrial world.

Only a matter of time before the radical climate change that exterminated the mega fauna of North America is linked to human impacts too. Australia too.

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Icy data

This must have happened before I was paying attention

Quote:

LaViolette found that during the course of the 49 kyrs BP event the concentration of terrestrial wind blown dust present in Camp Century ice had decreased 33 fold, implying that the rate of ice accumulation had correspondingly increased 33 fold, perhaps reaching levels as high as 5 meters per year. This event occurred near the beginning of a climatic cooling episode known as Dansgaard-Oeschger stadial number 13 and was likely the cause of this global climatic cooling. This shows that cosmic dust influx into the solar system may play a key role in climatic change.

http://ift.tt/2iYwFIb

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Cannibals...'cause they are interesting as ****

So, I assume most everyone has at least heard of the so called ''cannibal couple'' from Russia, but I figured these upstanding folks needed their own thread. Why? Because cannibals are awesome. Unless they are eating you, of course.

As the story goes, a 42 year old woman and her 35 year old man have killed and eaten at leats 30 people over the last 20-odd years. The woman even marketed herself as a chef and sold meat pies on the side, often providing fare to pilots in training at the Air Force training ground they lived near/on. Sort of awesomely gruesome. Or gruesomely awesome. Regardless, thoughts? Recipes?

http://ift.tt/2yzpIBa


http://ift.tt/2yzvRgF

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Terrorists to join interpol and receive information on terrorism

The fox is guarding the hen house:

"In a stinging diplomatic defeat for Israel, the world’s largest international police organization on Wednesday accepted the “State of Palestine” as a full member.

Israel fiercely objected to the Palestinians joining Interpol, arguing that Ramallah’s alleged support for terrorism could hinder rather than aid Interpol’s efforts. The US administration, too, objected to Ramallah’s membership bid and helped Israel lobby against it."

Source:
http://ift.tt/2fESxrW

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More on Musk's Mars Mission Machinations

"Elon Musk has unveiled plans for a new spacecraft that he says would allow his company SpaceX to colonise Mars, build a base on the moon, and allow commercial travel to anywhere on Earth in under an hour.

The spacecraft is currently still codenamed the BFR (Big Farkin' Rocket). Musk says the company hopes to have the first launch by 2022, and then have four flying to Mars by 2024."

linky

One thing that always springs to my mind with the idea of landing a BFR on Mars is where to land it, especially if it's scheduled to take off again later. My guess (and it's only that) is that you wouldn't plan to land on raw Martian rock, and would need a purpose-built landing/launch pad. After all, I don't see SpaceX landing their rockets on Earthly rock and dirt.

If that's a fair assessment then that pad would need to be built without a BFR to ferry in the equipment and it would have to be constructed through a series of 'conventional' missions.

Thoughts?

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AI Online-Searching Engine

I can't be the only one frustrated at having, countless times, not been able to search for the specific information I'm looking for in google, or yahoo, or any of those search devices. The problem is, sometimes the nature of the information you're asking for is so specific, that no search engine can do it justice, since they in the end, simply look to match things that have the words you typed in the search bar, but they're not able to extrapolate, beyond that, what is it exactly that you're looking for.

It seems to me that the only solution for this problem is to evolve the search engines' Intelligence, so that they are not simply mere machines that repeat, like parrots, what you say. In other words, an Artificial Intelligence Search Engine. One that actually understands what you're talking about, rather than just matching your words to whatever it finds online.

Is this a possibility? And if not, why not?

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History of the measurement of the speed of light

Question in 1838 what would science have considered the speed of light?

I find in the wikipedia:

In 1729, James Bradley discovered stellar aberration.[87] From this effect he determined that light must travel 10,210 times faster than the Earth in its orbit (the modern figure is 10,066 times faster) or, equivalently, that it would take light 8 minutes 12 seconds to travel from the Sun to the Earth.

http://ift.tt/2xHv6TI

The next mention is that: In 1849, Fizeau calculated a value for the speed of light to a better precision than the previous value determined by Ole Rømer in 1676. He used a beam of light reflected from a mirror 8 kilometers away. The beam passed through the gaps between teeth of a rapidly rotating wheel. The speed of the wheel was increased until the returning light passed through the next gap and could be seen.

Fizeau calculated the speed of light to be 313,300 kilometres per second (194,700 mi/s), which was within 5% of the correct value (299,792.458 kilometers per second). Fizeau published the first results obtained by his method for determining the speed of light in 1849. (See Fizeau–Foucault apparatus.)[4] Fizeau made the first suggestion in 1864 that the "speed of a light wave be used as a length standard".

http://ift.tt/1KojB4s

So were there any other attempts between 1729 and 1849 to determine the speed of light?

Thanks for your assistance!

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Will Trump Pardon A Turkey For Thanksgiving.....

.....or will he invite the NRA over and have a real turkey shoot!

Doing a quick Google search I couldn't find anything other than what I assume is parody.

I guess it's been an on and off tradition but an annual "sparing" since George H Bush. Given Trump's pentiant for going against the grain I have no idea what to expect.

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Decidedly Human

Today's tabloids bring us a story about a supposed robot that is so lifelike it has "divided the internet" with controversy. It was reported in a handful of rags including the Daily Mail, Yahoo7 News, and the Mirror.

Almost forty years ago I took a trip to Disneyland in California and visited the "Hall of Presidents." It was really cool to see what the Disney Imagineers could create with a handful of actuators. Even though the robots were sculpted, painted and programmed to be as lifelike as possible, they never crossed the threshold of ultimate realism. They weren't able to fool me into believing they were real human beings. At face value, they were never anything more than mechanical robots.

Today's automatons and robots aren't much better, they just have more actuators. But they always strike me as being immediately mechanical. I've never found myself doing a double take and wondering whether a robot was so good that it made me believe it was human.

After watching the videos linked in today's stories, I knew immediately that the "robot" presented was not a robot but was a real person. Are people really so gullible as to believe this is a robot or are the rags so bad at reporting and so uncaring about the truth that they will report anything to stir interest and attempt to increase readership? I guess that was a rhetorical question.

Look at the videos. Are you fooled?

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York "roman ghosts"

For some obscure reason something made me recall reading this as a kid, where a tradesman claimed to see roman ghosts marching through the cellar of the treasurers house in York,
Now obviously and disappointingly he didn't see ghosts, but does anyone have any sceptical background on this?

Thread moved from Forum Community.

Posted By:zooterkin

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Cancer and Immunity?

Hello,
Greetings!!

With many logical considerations, I am posting this topic since other topic don't leave me till I post new topic. Let me try. Be specific please.

Followings are indicative sign & symptoms of Cancer:

Quote:

How does cancer cause signs and symptoms? Cancer is a group of diseases that can cause almost any sign or symptom. The signs and symptoms will depend on where the cancer is, how big it is, and how much it affects the organs or tissues. If a cancer has spread (metastasized), signs or symptoms may appear in different parts of the body. As a cancer grows, it can begin to push on nearby organs, blood vessels, and nerves. This pressure causes some of the signs and symptoms of cancer. If the cancer is in a critical area, such as certain parts of the brain, even the smallest tumor can cause symptoms. But sometimes cancer starts in places where it won’t cause any signs or symptoms until it has grown quite large. Cancers of the pancreas, for example, usually don’t cause symptoms until they grow large enough to press on nearby nerves or organs (this causes back or belly pain). Others may grow around the bile duct and block the flow of bile. This causes the eyes and skin to look yellow (jaundice). By the time a pancreatic cancer causes signs or symptoms like these, it’s usually in an advanced stage. This means it has grown and spread beyond the place it started – the pancreas. A cancer may also cause symptoms like fever, extreme tiredness (fatigue), or weight loss. This may be because cancer cells use up much of the body’s energy supply, or they may release substances that change the way the body makes energy from food. Cancer can also cause the immune system to react in ways that produce these signs and symptoms. Sometimes, cancer cells release substances into the bloodstream that cause symptoms that are not usually linked to cancer. For example, some cancers of the pancreas can release substances that cause blood clots in veins of the legs. Some lung cancers make hormone-like substances that raise blood calcium levels. This affects nerves and muscles, making the person feel weak and dizzy... What are some general signs and symptoms of cancer? You should know some of the general signs and symptoms of cancer. But remember, having any of these does not mean that you have cancer – many other things cause these signs and symptoms, too. If you have any of these symptoms and they last for a long time or get worse, please see a doctor to find out what’s going on. Unexplained weight loss Most people with cancer will lose weight at some point. When you lose weight for no known reason, it’s called an unexplained weight loss. An unexplained weight loss of 10 pounds or more may be the first sign of cancer. This happens most often with cancers of the pancreas, stomach, esophagus (swallowing tube), or lung. Fever Fever is very common with cancer, but it more often happens after cancer has spread from where it started. Almost all people with cancer will have fever at some time, especially if the cancer or its treatment affects the immune system. (This can make it harder for the body to fight infection.) Less often, fever may be an early sign of cancer, such as blood cancers like leukemia or lymphoma. Fatigue Fatigue is extreme tiredness that doesn’t get better with rest. It may be an important symptom as cancer grows. But it may happen early in some cancers, like leukemia. Some colon or stomach cancers can cause blood loss that’s not obvious. This is another way cancer can cause fatigue. Pain Pain may be an early symptom with some cancers like bone cancers or testicular cancer. A headache that does not go away or get better with treatment may be a symptom of a brain tumor. Back pain can be a symptom of cancer of the colon, rectum, or ovary. Most often, pain due to cancer means it has already spread (metastasized) from where it started. Skin changes Along with skin cancers, some other cancers can cause skin changes that can be seen. These signs and symptoms include: Darker looking skin (hyperpigmentation) Yellowish skin and eyes (jaundice) Reddened skin (erythema) Itching (pruritis) Excessive hair growth http://ift.tt/2yIE8Qg

However, I am not looking for symptoms mentioned in italic words but looking bolded letters
and other ones.

My question is:

Since cancer cells are "self" cells, immune system may be able to recognize these as abnormal cells to body only in advanced stage, Whether appearance of symptoms relevant to immune response suggest that now cancer if fully matured and immune response has started working against cancer cells not before?

2. How much such immune response can deal with cancer cells? In view of "Spontaneous Remission" at "end or near death stage" as discussed in another topic suggest body defence mechanism is capable to much more than all treatment?

Best wishes.

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FaceBook gone nuts?

This has been happening for several days and has also been affecting some FB friends, though not MrsB. It goes something like this:

9 a.m. I check FB and see a few news items from friends posted overnight. At the bottom of the page I see "Do you want to see more posts? The more friends you add the more posts you'll see" or words to that affect.

I refresh FB and I lose even those few posts I had seen.

Noon: I check FB and my news feed scrolls back forever, as it used to.

3 a.m. as per 9 a.m. Maybe at some point later on I see my whole news feed, maybe not.

I get this with Firefox and MS Edge. A friend gets it with Amazon Silk, MrsB is fine with Chrome.

Google tells me this has been happening to people off and on for some years, but with no obvious fix available. Is FB just messing with people to force people to increase their friends network?

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Paul Horner Dead

The man who was responsible for a lot of "Fake news" during the 2016 campaign has been found dead of a suspected drug overdose:

Quote:

Horner, who published fraudulent articles on Facebook and websites he set up, claimed he was the reason Donald Trump was elected in November. Fake news was a major concern during and after the US presidential campaign. A surge of made-up stories has been accused by some of influencing the outcome of the vote.

http://ift.tt/2wXnVV9

Will this now become a "Deep State" conspiracy theory ?

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North Korea at the Olympics?

The performance of single pair of figure skaters could alter politics in the Korean peninsula.

As of today, NK has not qualified a single athlete for the 2018 games. Their best hope is the figure skating pair of Ryom/Kim who are now in Germany competing for 4 remaining slots. Results on Friday.

North Korea had envisioned it could host some of the Pyeongchang 2018 events. Jong-un seems to have built up some tourist facilities, including a ski resort, but no deal. They were closer to a deal back when Seoul had the 1988 Olympics. Those talks failed and North Korea boycotted. They also tried to ruin it's success with terrorist activities.
For all around security, it's better that they attend this time.

They could be offered wildcard slots from Olympic officials if it comes to that.
Would Kim Jong Un take a consolation prize to have his athletes on the world stage? Will NK boycott even if the skating pair wins a spot?

2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang run from Feb 8-25

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Consciousness/Self Awareness

On another thread the subject of artificial intelligence (AI) surfaced, and I made a comment about the dangers of such an entity, putting it's own self preservation as a goal above any others. I assumed, (perhaps incorrectly), that a highly developed AI would develop a state of self awareness. I was taken to task on the issue and it was suggested that an AI would only need to be programmed to not want self preservation.

As it was a derail of the subject matter of the thread I decided to start this new one specifically about the nature of self awareness and consciousness.

Interestingly when you google self awareness, you get kinds of hits from those who would sell you all kinds of ideas on how to improve yours and so on, but little in the way of explanation of the subject itself. Googling consciousness is more productive however and I found this:

http://ift.tt/2fS0Yx0

Quote:

It might seem as if we stand little chance of making an artificial consciousness when the natural variety remains such an enigma. But in fact the quest for machine consciousness may be key to solving the mystery of human consciousness, as even scientists outside AI research are starting to acknowledge. “The best way of understanding something is to try and replicate it,” says psychologist Kevin O’Regan of Descartes University in Paris, France. “So if you want to understand what consciousness is, well make a machine that’s conscious.”

So as is said here natural consciousness is an enigma, (I read a few snippets from others who expressed the same sentiment), and maybe we need to try and make an artificial one to understand it.

As I mentioned on the other thread this may be risky.

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With "friends" like these....

BBC News: Boeing UK contracts 'jeopardised' over Bombardier row

"Boeing's trade dispute with Bombardier "could jeopardise" its defence contracts with the UK government, the UK's defence secretary has warned.

Sir Michael Fallon made the comments after the US opted to impose a tax on the C-Series jet made by Bombardier.

The proposed 220% import tariff could threaten Bombardier jobs in Belfast.

Rival Boeing had complained that Bombardier had received unfair state subsidies from the UK and Canada.

It claimed these subsidies helped the firm win a major order.

In 2016, Boeing won a contract to supply 50 Apache helicopters to the Army.

Bombardier said it would fight the "absurd" ruling. The firm is one of Northern Ireland's biggest employers.

Sir Michael said during a visit to Belfast that "Boeing stands to gain from British defence spending" but that "this kind of behaviour could jeopardise our future relationship" with the firm."

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Women drivers in Saudi Arabia

http://ift.tt/2hxIMZz

http://ift.tt/2hykp1t

Quote:

In a reversal of a longstanding rule, Saudi Arabia has announced that it will now allow women to drive.

About time.

Quote:

The decree said that women would be allowed to drive "in accordance with the Islamic laws".

Whatever that means.

Quote:

While there have been restrictions imposed on women drivers, some female activists have defied the ban leading to their arrests.

If you ask me the prince would not have noticed women wanted to drive unless they took this risk.

Ranb

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Anyone here know how to use iMovie?

So I'm trying to edit this new webseries of mine using iMovie version 10.1.6. The problem is, I cannot for the life of me understand its basic visual layout system.

The way I understand it, the layout is 3 areas: On the top left, is the area where you upload all the "raw video material". On the top right, you visualize whichever clip you hit "Play". Then, the bottom area is where you edit, which I call, the "editing area". It's where you drag pieces of raw material, to edit them.

The first problem is I don't even know how to save the project. iMovie has no "save project" button. I did some quick research online cause I need this to be saved on my External Hard Drive, and according to a website, there is a way to do it. I followed the instructions, and I started doing a small test, editing short material, and tried to save it on my External Hard Drive. But then when I opened the project again from my External Hard Drive, it only showed the "raw" video material I uploaded there. However, below , on the "editing area", there was nothing.

To make things worse, I pressed some button and now, there is no "editing area". There's only 2 things in the entire visual spectrum: The raw video clips, and the window where you visualize the raw clip you selected.

There's nothing else, and barely any buttons to press to see how I recover the "editing area".

I need some serious help from someone who has edited a lot with iMovie, to explain to me how the layout in this thing works.

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Article on gun buy-backs.

http://ift.tt/2xACKPG

Quote:

I Am An American Arms Dealer. And I have never bought a legally registered firearm. Let me take you through a day in my life. On June 11, 2016, I am driven to work by an armed escort. There are all different kinds of people who buy and sell weapons and ammunition. I happen to be a 47-year-old white woman from an affluent Connecticut suburb. But there are two things we all have in common. First, we will never limit our dealing to one type of weapon. In my case, I have bought everything from ....light machine guns to heavy machine guns, hand-held under-barrel and mounted grenade launchers, and recoilless rifles. However, my arms dealing is very targeted. I only buy illicit and unwanted guns in poor urban neighborhoods that have been devastated by the highest number of gun deaths per capita. I have never bought a legally registered firearm. We don’t ask any questions or record the identity of the sellers. However, my arms dealing is very targeted. I only buy illicit and unwanted guns in poor urban neighborhoods that have been devastated by the highest number of gun deaths per capita. I have never bought a legally registered firearm. We don’t ask any questions or record the identity of the sellers. We have only two requirements before we buy, the weapon must be functional (I DON’T pay for toy guns) and, unloaded. In Newark, we bought a pistol that had a rap sheet nine murders long ― it was a gang gun, used by many. It had been kept under the wood board of the front stairs leading to a family home in the North Ward.

The way I'm reading this is that she took in and destroyed a gun that should have been used to prosecute the murderers. Or did the police give it back each time they were done processing it at a crime scene?

I've no way to determine if much of what she says in the article is true. I assume if she is buying machine guns which are registered or contraband, she is merely footing the bill for an FFL/SOT or there is a police officer with her to take it in so she will not be prosecuted for illegal NFA firearm possession ($10K fine/10 years).

Ranb

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Email tracking?

I really did try to google this, but am still confused.

If you email someone and never hear back, you don't know if you are being ignored or if they simply haven't checked their email in awhile. Preferably, I would rather the person not know that I am questioning their having read it or not.

Is there a way to do this with gmail?

Thanks.

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Lock them up?

At Least 6 White House Advisers Used Private Email Accounts

Quote:

The disclosures came a day after news surfaced that Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser, used a private email account to send or receive about 100 work-related emails during the administration’s first seven months. But Mr. Kushner was not alone. Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief White House strategist, and Reince Priebus, the former chief of staff, also occasionally used private email addresses. Other advisers, including Gary D. Cohn and Stephen Miller, sent or received at least a few emails on personal accounts, officials said. Ivanka Trump, the president’s elder daughter, who is married to Mr. Kushner, used a private account when she acted as an unpaid adviser in the first months of the administration, Newsweek reported Monday. Administration officials acknowledged that she also occasionally did so when she formally became a White House adviser. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with reporters.

Man, the non-hypocritical Clinton critics from 2016 are gonna be pissed about this!

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Does It Bother You???

I've been an Atheist and a skeptic for most of my adult life. From time to time, I get this kinda surreal 'Twilight Zone' creepy feeling knowing that we are surrounded by so many people who just refuse or who are unable to acknowledge reality.

Does anyone else here ever feel like that?

It bothers me somewhat when I get that feeling although I know that there isn't anything that I can do about it. Knowing that there is nothing I can do to change that is just how I deal with it although I find that it's still unsettling...

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Dick in a Box

The Weiner is in the hole, sentenced today to 21 months for inappropriate texts sent to a 15 year old girl. This, of course, followed multiple sexting scandals that saw him lose his marriage and job. At sentencing he apparently broke down in tears. Sorry, but he lost me with the whole texting a minor thing. Adults should do whatever they damn well please if both árties consent, but to play they victim after trying to sleep with a kid? Puh-leeze...

http://ift.tt/2xBsqsc

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The Puerto Rico Thread

Hurricane Maria has left Puerto Rico in a complete mess.

According to an article I read, Puerto Rico has four power plants. Two of them are functional, but the transmission lines that take the power out of the plant are down. Two others suffered water damage and are non functional.

They have at least one hydropower dam.....that's the one you have probably seen news stories about. It hasn't collapsed yet, but they are still uncertain.

As best I can tell from the news, it has been five days, and literally no one is receiving electric power from the grid. It's all from generators, and fuel is scarce. 3.5 million people cannot live on an island of that size without electricity. This is a catastrophe of at least Katrina proportions, and probably worse.

As of today, there is no word yet on whether or not they stood during any playing of the national anthem.

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A crime, or just a bad person?

If someone is having a medical emergency, a heart attack, stroke, choking, and they are able to call a friend to help, and the person refuses to come to their assistance, are they committing a crime? Or, does it simply highlight what an insensitive jerk the (former friend) was?

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Does gender privilege exist in the US?

This is a split-out from the thread ‘Straight Black Men Are The White People Of Black People’

Please select the statements that you believe are accurate.

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Does racial privilege exist in the US?

This is a split-out from the thread ‘Straight Black Men Are The White People Of Black People’

Please select the statements that you believe are accurate.

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North Korea accuses USA of declaring war

.....and gives itself the right to shoot down any US aeroplanes it feels are a threat, whether in Korean airspace or not.

BBC

Quote:

North Korea's foreign minister has accused US President Donald Trump of declaring war on his country and said Pyongyang had the right to shoot down US bombers. Ri Yong-ho said this could apply even if the warplanes were not in North Korea's airspace.

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Welfare, America's Biggest Business? Economists???

I've been pondering for a while why both parties fail to control illegal immigration, and import refugees from countries suffering unrest. How is merely more people better for America, and Americans?

And it is not that we have good jobs for them, once they acclimate to our society. We are so efficient, we don't need the labor force we have already.

It occurred to me that even dirt poor dirt farmers on welfare are contributing to economic growth. Even if they have no jobs, and not otherwise productive, they spend welfare dollars. Welfare in it's various forms is a growth sector of the economy.

But what will be the long terms effects on our society? Can an economy survive long term with a major part being the money handed out ? Have the bankrupt PIGG countries of Europe proved there is a limit, or can it go on indefinitely? How long before we become Morlocks and Eloi? And which segment of society will become which?

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The Athletes not Standing for the National Anthem thread

It's sprinkled throughout other threads, but I have't seen anything dedicated to it. It could be politics, but I think it's more social issues and current events. If there is another thread somewhere I missed, delete this one.

Things to say: If the NFLPA had any strength at all, they would have called for a full boycott of the national anthem by the players, out of protest of the attack by the President (calling them sons of bitches). Colin Kaepernick was a player, and deserved support by the union. They could have all gone the Steelers route and just stayed in the locker room to avoid the issue, but they should be showing support. Of course, the NFLPA is a complete farce, so their actual lack of meaningful response is not surprising.

Speaking of the Steelers, the big thing today is about how one of the Steelers players did go out on the field. The irony is that he is being called courageous for standing alone. Proud American hero standing up for what he believes and not following the crowd. Isn't he a great person?

Oh the irony....

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millions of americans with out power for months

http://ift.tt/2wfMsFy

Think this will get anywhere near the coverage minor damage in a state gets?

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The ISF Fact Checker thread

I wanted to start this thread some time ago. But then I decided not to. Then I thought, why not? Then I thought, why bother? Still not sure if this will produce anything fruitful, but here it is anyway:

THE ISF FACT-CHECKER THREAD

Because you guys can smell a lie from a long distance. Or can you?

Submit a web page. The oracles tell if it's "fake news" or not.

How about this, to start with: Russia publishes photos which prove US complicity with Daesh

http://ift.tt/2yBHepi

Does this information published by Russians make it or fake it?

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Things you didn't know about history

So, was randomly bouncing around the linkiverse of the Internets, and ended up on the Wikipedia Article of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

And did a double take on this rather unusual picture of the man, as a child:



The caption described the picture as "A young, unbreeched Roosevelt in 1884, 2 years old"

Which led me to look up the Wikipedia article on "breeching"

Apparently it was a practice from the mid-16th century until the late 19th or early 20th century that little boys, as well as girls, wore dresses.

When they got old enough (the age varied between two and eight), they'd undergo a "breeching", which was the occasion when a boy first put on breeches, or trousers.

The reason apparently had practical roots, first, because trousers at those times could be a bit complicated, and since little kids grew so fast, dealing with skirts meant less need to replace clothes, with skirts being more yielding, in that aspect, than fitted trousers.

I had no idea of this practice. Makes me wonder what else I don't know about how things were done in the past.

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india plays the trump card

It seems America is still an inspiration to the world, even under Trump:

India has responded angrily to a speech by Pakistan's prime minister to the UN general assembly, with an envoy calling the country "Terroristan".

http://ift.tt/2wMVzlj

(They need a fancy name for Pakistan's leader, which limits it to 3 of a possible 5 Trump's)

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Instinct & Prejudice

Sam Harris interviewed one Gavin de Becker recently who spoke at some length about our inbuilt self defence mechanism ... instinct.

Quote:

Gavin de Becker is a three-time presidential appointee whose pioneering work has changed the way the U.S. government evaluates threats to its highest officials. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on the prediction and management of violence.

Gavin suggested that instinct is something we all have but perhaps is under-utillised for various reasons. One of these reasons he suggested was to avoid being thought of as prejudiced. He gave as an example the following:

A woman is waiting alone for a lift and when it arrives the door opens to reveal a lone man of middle Eastern appearance. Her instinct tells her to turn away but her moral sense is saying get on board so as not to be seen as prejudiced. Gavin suggested she should listen to her instincts.

The story rang a bell with me as I recalled time I was in Cairo some years ago with my wife. We were walking down some back streets looking for a shop to buy a hair drier, that my wife was determined to have. There were a number of men just standing around, (no women), looking at my wife and some trying to talk to her. My instincts screamed at me to get out of there but my wife seemed not to sense any danger.

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ketamine for depression and pain

http://ift.tt/2jUvaMp

I have read and heard a great deal about the use of ketamine for both depression and chronic pain. Most all of what I have managed to learn is positive. So I was wondering if anyone has an experience or opinion about its use for those conditions?

My doctor gave me a free injection several months ago. It was an interesting and pleasant experience, but I couldn't afford to pay for more sessions so I don't know how it would have worked out if I had continued.

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Mystery Rocks of Saskatchewan

Who placed the Mystery Rocks of Saskatchewan?

Doesnt look like nature's work. Burial mound, maybe.

http://ift.tt/2fkGUD0

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Virtual tour of a Vulcan bomber

For fans of military aviation history - best with a large screen

http://ift.tt/2yzGvoD

NB Mods feel free to move.

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Original version of BBC's 2008 program The Conspiracy Files: The Third Tower?

The original version of BBC's 2008 hour-long program part of their series "The Conspiracy Files", called "The Truth Behind The Third Tower" (or just The third Tower for short) aired on July 6, 2008. That version had the following exchange in which NIST denies freefall:

Narrator: "The scientists timed the fall of the top 17 floors before they disappeared from view. It took 5.4 seconds. A free-fall collapse will have taken 3.9 seconds."

Shyam: "Clearly, the time that this building took to collapse was longer by almost 40-50% than the free-fall time of an object. Well, 40% is a lot longer. It's not 5%, it's 40%. It's huge."

This video by Adam Taylor also shows that part:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJAu_OtQsK4&t=0m47s

In the later version, this part was edited out. That version seems to be the only streaming copy.


Does anybody know where to get a decent quality copy of this version?

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Yet another "can you ID this scifi book?"

Here's what I remember.

The main character has had recurring dreams all his life about an alien planet and some sound that he associated with that planet

Somewhere in the world a radio telescope detects a strange sound coming from space (perhaps from an alien incoming ship?) and the main character remembers that sound as being the same as the sound in his dreams

He builds a spaceship in his back yard to go investigate

Somewhere along the line there is a matter transporter but I can't remember how it worked or how it was involved in the story

All my searches keep returning the 1985 movie "Explorers" and/or a book called "The Euphio Question" by Kurt Vonnegut. Although there are some similar plot elements its not either of th

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Is there a workable defintion of free will?

I've seen a number of arguments against free will but they seem to all include a definition that is self-contradictory. I don't really have a background in philosophy so perhaps there is a definition that does work that I haven't heard of yet.

Even Harris' arguments seem to have an obvious flaw, or at least it seems obvious to me. If I were having a conversation with Harris about his book and his views on free will, I guess I would ask what the Michelson-Morley experiment would be. They tested a hypothesis about ether wind and failed to detect it. This failed experiment showed that ether wind didn't exist. A similar experiment would be the attempt to detect proton decay. Harris didn't describe such a test in his book.

So, what would the equivalent be for free will? What is it that a person who has free will could do, but someone without free will could not do? If this can be stated then presumably the experiment could be performed and the issue could be settled. On the other hand, if such an experiment cannot be described then perhaps the definition is the problem.

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Trump and NFL boycott

http://ift.tt/2hqDQWx
President Donald Trump has ratcheted up the national controversy over black National Football League players who refuse to stand while the U.S. National Anthem is played before games.

"During a Friday night political rally in Alabama, Trump called on fans to boycott teams that allow players to engage in that particular form of protest."

Well this is going to be a ********

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How to deal with Holocaust deniers.

How do you deal with a Holocaust denier? This thread is not about discussing the Holocaust itself, just how deniers debate and how to counter them.

I agree with Michael Shermer and his chapter from "Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time." and it is to ask, where did they go?

IME, which is a lot of debate going back over many years on various forums, the basic denier argument is "if not "A", therefore "B", where "A" is mass murder and "B" is mass survival. All they need to do is find reasons not to believe the evidence for mass murder and from that they can conclude it did not happen.

That argument has been summarised as "no holes, no Holocaust", meaning no holes in the roof of Krema II at Birkenau, so no gassing could have happened, or "no mass graves = no Holocaust" referring to the lack of mass graves full of corpses at the AR camps Sobibor, Chelmno, TII and Blezec.

Any attempt to introduce witnesses to the debate is rejected. The tactic is to concentrate on the witnesses who gave some ridiculous and clearly exaggerated testimony, if not lies. Other more reliable witnesses are picked over and anything they say which suggests mass pyres or digging graves with a dragline is rejected because the denier claims such is impossible to do. It is erroneously claimed all bodies from the gas chambers using CO, would have been bright cherry red due to the reaction with the blood, since no witness mentioned the colour, none were there.

Documents are rejected as forged, due to the typing, the use of language, official stamps missing or supposedly wrong. Or, despite rejecting that euphemisms were used, they claim euphemisms, such as liquidate actually means relocate.

Photos are mis-captioned, do not show gassings, show legitimate reprisal shootings or are countered with photos showing cheering Lithuanians welcoming the German soldiers liberating them from the Soviets.

The archaeological and forensic work at the camps is rejected as not properly done (should have been like the Nazis did at Katyn) or since no large, straight edged original graves have been clearly identified, there were no mass graves. The cremains have not been properly and independently tested to show they are human or Jewish. There has been no attempt to physically quantify the amount of cremains are at the camps. The archaeologists are all Jews or paid by them and they cannot be trusted.

Those debates go round and round and grind to a halt.

Where there has been success in showing deniers they are wrong is by pressing home the question, so what did happen to them? If millions did not die at the AR camps, where did they go?

The Nazis should have had ghettos and camps full of people supposedly resettled in the Russian east. Instead, reports were being sent back to Berlin that ghettos were being emptied and the Soviets liberated largely empty camps. At the end of the war, millions of people should have returned home to jobs and property. I like to concentrate on the Dutch Jews and ask, where are the c101,000 the Dutch government say went missing, were killed, failed to return after the war? The Dutch had very good initial registration records to show how many Jews were in the Netherlands. There are records of who was sent from Westerbork to the various camps, in particular, the c34,000 sent to Sobibor in 1943. Tens of thousands of well educated, well off, skilled Jews, speaking Dutch, appearing in other camps, ghettos or countries would be very distinctive.

Denier Thomas Kues had a go at tracing them. He wrote a three part study of supposed gassed Jews in eastern Europe. All he could find were rumours and second had stories about Dutch Jews (or their furniture) appearing in different countries in the occupied Soviet territories. He has disappeared since then.

Denier Eric Hunt claimed the camps were transit camps. He made a video, using Shoah interviews of survivors talking about selections at TII for some to go on and work at camps such as Majdanek. He has now admitted that was wrong and he cannot evidence mass survival.

Any discussion about what happened on denier forums is instantly trolled with excuses not to have to evidence mass transits and accusations of reversing the burden of proof. They hate it, which is why we should concentrate on that topic.

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Xfinity email can highlight but not copy text

For awhile now I've highlighted and copied (the word copy appears) my emailed schedule via my Samsung mobile once per week to keep a record. Today I went to do the same. I can highlight, but this time the word copy does not appear. Does anyone know what the problem is and how to fix it? Thanks.

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The behaviour of US police officers.

That someone is posting on a thread, asking for advice on how not to get shot by the police during a routine traffic stop, is evidence that the behaviour of the police in the USA is not what should be expected of a police officer.

I hate referring to those people in uniform as cops or police because that is not how they work.

To me a police officer is someone who has signed up to take risks to themselves so as to preserve the lives of others. Their duty is to detect and arrest suspect criminals so that they should be taken to court and justice served. They are there to calm situations down and preserve the peace. They are there to make good people feel safe and bad people worry they will be caught and convicted. In the UK those duties are enshrined in the law and form the basis of how they are trained.

It has been made abundantly clear by many that in the USA, the police have no duty to protect the public (I believe that may even be backed by law). They are not expected to take risks. It is fine for them to shoot to kill and not arrest. The will inflame situations, make them much worse and think there is no place for patient talking down of violent incidents. They make good people feel scared. They make bad people react with extreme violence back at them because they do not realise the tough guy act causes others to act tough back. The makes many US police no different from vigilante thugs dishing out summary justice.

Why do so many on this forum keep on defending the behaviour of their police and how they are policed?

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What are other functions of the tympani tensor muscle?

Ok, so a little background. Since 2012, I've been suffering from a chronic imbalance of the left ear, which has symptoms similar to ear congestion (yet, it is not by any means, actual ear congestion) This "congestion" would suddenly appear at any point, and last for up to five months. Regardless my careful reviews of my diet, there seems to be no food that is connected to this. I've lost count of the numerous ear specialists, audiologists and doctors I've been to. None of them have been able to tell what exactly is it that I have. The closest I've come to what could be a diagnosis, was an otologist who said I may suffer from either Cochlear Hydrops, or Dehiscent Superior Semicircular Canal. Long story short, either "disease" basically presents the symptons I have: An uncomfortable feeling of "fullness" in the ear, but aside from that, there are no other dangers or complications.


That said, as of recently, I think I've discovered something that may help to prevent any resurgence of the condition: Tensing the Tympani Tensor Muscle.

Some of you may be familiar with this. Basically, you tense your eardrums so that they produce a low, rumbling sound, similar to a distant thunderstorm.

Well, it turns out that sometimes, when I do some of the Tympani Tensor muscle movements, I hear a sort of low crackling within my left ear. After researching a bit on the Tympani Tensor Muscle, I found out that one of the things it does is make these tiny bones in the middle ear, vibrate. Now, it is well known that the main role of this muscle is to dampen loud sounds. But I'm starting to wonder if there are other regulatory roles of this muscle, such as, balancing the middle ear.

Anyone knows of where I can find more accurate information online about this muscle?

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60s and 70s news reports, vaccines

On their homepage it appears that Aaron and Melissa Dykes have been digging in various areas. Here is one item they produced

60s and 70s govt/news reports, vaccines.

Quote:

Back in 1971, they just admitted vaccines were ineffective and even that some had cancer viruses in them… right on the nightly news.

Footage here

http://ift.tt/2hpo51R

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Odds on what just happened on The Price is Right?

For anyone unaware of the rules:

You have 2 tries to get 100 total. If you get 100 on the first spin you stop. The wheel has slots in increments of 5 from 5 to 100. (So 20 slots.) (I don't think it matters but here is the sequence: 5¢, $1.00, 15¢, 80¢, 35¢, 60¢, 20¢, 40¢, 75¢, 55¢, 95¢, 50¢, 85¢, 30¢, 65¢, 10¢, 45¢, 70¢, 25¢, 90¢.)


Here is what happened today on the second spin the wheel segment:

First person got 100 in 2 spins. ($10,000)

Second person got 100 in 1 spin. ($10,000)

Third person got 100 in 1 spin. ($10,000)

(They now all get 1 more spin for more money.)

First person gets 100 in 1 spin. ($25,000 bonus for a total of $35,000)

Second person got 100 in 1 spin. ($25,000 bonus for a total of $35,000)

$80,000 given away in a matter of minutes.

(And just in case you are wondering, the Third person damn near got 100 in their extra spin away. They were 1 slot width away.)

What are the odds of 5 people in a row getting 100 if the first 3 get 2 spins to total 100 and the last 2 only get 1 spin?

(Even though 2 of the first 3 didn't need their second spin we have to follow the actual rules of the game to find the exact odds of this happening again.)

I'm not sure about that one exactly.

Bonus question. What are the odds that 4 people in a row land on 100 in 1 spin?

(I suppose this one is 1/20 times 1/20 times 1/20 times 1/20.) Which is .0000062 or 1/160000. That is, this would statistically happen once every 80,000 episodes. (Because this game occurs twice per episode you divide the 160,000 by two.)

There have been over 8,000 episodes of this game show. So that isn't really that crazy. :D



http://ift.tt/2wMmxog

(This next article has some details incorrect.)

http://ift.tt/2xu3QJU

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Bkgd checks for voters?

http://ift.tt/2xWLG4Z

John Lott's opinion piece on vetting voters in the USA.

Quote:

Last week, in testimony to the President’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, I suggested using the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to screen for ineligible voters. Democrats have long lauded this system, calling it simple, accurate, and in complete harmony with the second amendment right to own guns. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer(D-N.Y.) bragged that the checks are done “without in any way abridging rights.” Former Vice President Joe Biden claimed that expanding the system to cover all private transfers of guns would not be “in any way imposing on or impinging on the rights that the Second Amendment guarantees.”

So should a person agree to a bkgd check prior to exercising a civil right? I have to do so now in my home state of WA prior to even holding a gun in my hand in most circumstances.

Mother Jones view on the proposal.
http://ift.tt/2xY0mkk

Quote:

Lott himself has said that background checks for gun purchases “only makes life easier for criminals” and that the background check databases are “rife with errors,” raising questions about why he’d want to use such a system for voting. His recent writings suggest that his idea might be more about embarrassing Democrats than serious policy. “Applying the NICS background checks to voting would undoubtedly elicit a long list of other concerns from Democrats about how the system interferes with people’s right to vote,”

Ranb

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Handmaid's tale and ISIS

(Not in history and arts as also touching current events)

Have read and seen a bit about the series Handmaid's tale.

Apparently some people are of the opinion, that it shows a remotely realistic dystopia.

That leaves me my head scratching; regarding classic dystopias 1984 and Brave New World, they both seem far more realistic; after all for example Stalinism or what is going on in North Korea has/das to some extent decent parallels to 1984 (for example manipulation of history by erasing people from photos etc.; and of course a brutal thought-control police, though a bit shy in efficiency compared to the 1984 version).

Handmaid's tale is just so off.


Exacpt for one thing:
ISIS.

The society they try to build has some parallels, e.g. women as property, hanging gays, etc. all based upon quoting some scripture.

Therefore if someone would argue that except for basing the tyranny on Christianity Handmaid's tale is in the sense realistic, that it portrays a unfortunately quite real ISIS clone tyranny, ok, fits somewhat.

But that leads me to three questions:

1. What happens in the mind of people who actually consider such dystopia based on Christianity to be somewhat realistic?

I cannot fathom how they can miss:
a) there is no christian ISIS and has not been for at least 200 years.
b) there are no christian thinker remotely going in such a direction
c) the actual ISIS is not christian

2. Why not a series about ISIS takeover of a society?

That then unfortunately would be a "plausible" dystopia aka one actually to some extent currently or at least just a few years ago happening.

Of course, one could not base it in the US; but for example Egypt (ISIS is trying hard there); or Lybia; or many other countries (Saudia-Arabia maybe not, cause some viewers might have difficulties to notice the differences between today Saudi-Arabia and one after an ISIS-takeover).

3. Could it be, that the more murderous islamist get, the more some people start to fear radical christians, because not having the same fear about radical christians as about murderous islamist would be islamophobic?

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Suppressed black powder rifle; no tax stamp

Since 1934 an unlicensed person like me has had to purchase a $200 tax stamp in order to make/buy/register a machine gun, silencer or other NFA firearm. This is one reason why silencers are so expensive in the USA; people want a durable and high quality muffler for their gun. There is a bill in Congress that would remove silencers from the NFA registry, but it has no traction; Trump certainly isn't interested in the bill at all even if one of his kids is supporting it.

http://ift.tt/2xWPKBW

Silencerco has taken a Traditions muzzle loading rifle and permanently attached a muffler to it. Federal law says that any device intended to suppress the report of a portable firearm is a silencer; in the USA federal law does not include muzzle loading rifles using loose black powder in their definition of a firearm. So the device welded to this rifle is legally not a silencer.

Here is a video; it is a bit more cumbersome than the usual muzzle loading rifle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIyi8ua4mGk

I think this is the rifle used by Silencerco as the base unit. http://ift.tt/2bwgP2F It is about $400, with their moderator attached they sell it for $1000.

State laws vary, but Silencerco claims you can buy one through the mail; http://ift.tt/2xV9ZQG

Quote:

Illinois New Jersey New York City and its incorporated territories, which includes the following counties: Bronx, Kings, Nassau, Queens, Richmond, and New York Washington D.C.

If it's legal in CA, I'm sure someone there will be quick to pass a law making is harder to own.

From the CNN link;

Quote:

But, the company also says it has already run into legal challenges from California, Massachusetts and New Jersey -- three states with stringent gun laws.

What a surprise. :)

This dipstick sure has his panties in a bunch.

Quote:

"Since its inception, the gun industry has been manufacturing loopholes to get guns and suppressors into as many hands as possible, regardless of how dangerous those hands might be," said Kris Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence. "Literally the only thing workarounds like this accomplish is they make it easier for people we all agree shouldn't have guns, much less sound suppressed ones, to get them."

Really? And I thought it was only law makers who could manufacture loopholes since they are the ones passing legislation in the first place. Sounds like Kris Brown is actually the one manufacturing an imaginary problem so he can get his name in the news.

Quote:

But the lack of federal oversight and the absence of a federal background check means the Maxim 50 could be purchased by a felon, according to the ATF. However, they couldn't necessarily own the ammo for it and certain state and local laws might prohibit possession of the muzzleloader or silencer by convicted criminals depending on how those localities define a "gun" or "firearm."

This statement is lame. The "ammo" for any black powder firearm is loose black powder poured down the barrel and a lead slug or shot wad pressed over the top of the powder.

Ranb

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Another identify the Sci fi book request

Okay, this is an odd one, because I've been trying to find a book I read as a kid... and I actually know exactly what this book is called. But it doesn't help!

The book was a sci-fi novel called "His Master's Voice". The problem is that is was most emphatically NOT the one written by Stanisław Lem. And by god, google will not accept the idea of searching for a sci fi novel of that name that isn't Lem's one. No matter what I put in the search box, even specifically excluding returns with "Stanislaw" or "Lem" in it, I get nothing but his book.

But the one I have in mind was a very pulpy, juvenile-type sci fi action story. It starts with a bunch of humans living a primitive, Native American style life. But then a bunch of aliens show up to "harvest" the humans. And you find that the aliens do this every few generations, taking the natives and turning them into soldiers in a vast alien war. In fact, this is what the planet is - it's not Earth of the past, but a planet somewhere in space, one of many that have essentially been set up as free-range human farms.

We follow the hero through various war adventures, until finally he gets involved in a rebellion and an attempt to escape the war.

Can anybody help me find out who wrote this book? I'd love to indulge my nostalgia and re-buy it.

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The Deep State and its real motives

Oh that whacky Deep State. It can be anything you hate whenever it wants. It can't defend itself because it either doesn't really exist or is out playing a friendly against the CFR with Rothschild serving as a referee. So why not also say that it is actually just about sex with children?

And, hey, while were at it why not prop up Putin as the hero that wants to bring it all down?

via RightWingWatch

Quote:

On yesterday’s episode of “The Alex Jones Show,” Cernovich accused liberal Hollywood actors of spreading conspiracy theories involving Russian president Vladimir Putin because Putin is opposed to pedophilia. Cernovich speculated, “What I think is actually going on here is Putin is actually very anti-pedophile and has done a lot of things to fight the –“ Jones interrupted, “Oh no, that’s what it is. There’s a global anti-pedophile network. Now if you’re not for the pedophiles, you’re against them and that’s what it is. And anybody for the deep state is now a pedophile.”

Did you follow that through the Möbius strip of logic? All the Russia stuff is just a "conspiracy theory" and the real reason the Deep State hates Putin is because he is "very anti-pedophile" because reasons.

Now someone might think it is probably not a good idea for these two men to be so willing to throw around the pedophile accusation after they sorta accused a humble pizza joint of actually being the seventh seal to a Willy Wonka land of underage rape. An accusation that might have led to some unpleasantness. But people that would think they should probably not go down that road don't get just how awesome they think they are.

Quote:

“They’re fighting hard to shut us up because, why?” Cernovich asked. “What is the common theme, Alex?” “We’re not pedophiles. We’re not psychopaths. We’re not in the psychopath club,” Jones replied. “Yeah, if we quit talking about pedophiles and the pedophile rings then they would leave us alone,” Cernovich said. “That’s what this is really about.”

Yeah people. They are just fighting the good fight against imagined enemies. Who cares if there are real world consequences?

And that Deep State? Clearly it just wants to protect its crimes against these valiant heroes as they maybe will get a pizza joint that actually does do things wrong next time. Maybe. Next time.

And you might be wondering? Why isn't this in the Conspiracy section? Well, because what is the difference these days? The Deep State isn't something that only commenters on the net talk about. It is front line politics.

[YT]f9RBYw1Oih0[/YT]

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‘Straight Black Men Are The White People Of Black People’

‘Straight Black Men Are The White People Of Black People’

Quote:

[Snip]..when black women share that we pose the same existential and literal danger to them that whiteness does to us; and when black women ask us to give them the benefit of the doubt about street harassment and sexual assault and other forms of harassment and violence we might not personally witness; and when black women tell us that allowing our cousins and brothers and co-workers and ****** to use misogynistic language propagates that culture of danger; and when black women admit how scary it can be to get followed and approached by a man while waiting for a bus or walking home from work; and when black women articulate how hurtful it is for our reactions to domestic abuse and their rapes and murders to be “what women need to do differently to prevent this from happening to them” instead of “what we (men) need to do differently to prevent us from doing this to them”, their words are met with resistance and outright pushback. After demanding from white people that we’re listened to and believed and that our livelihoods are considered, our ears shut off and hearts shut down when black women ask the same of us.

I noticed this article recently and saw a bit of backlash against it's premise. While it's title is a bit over the top, I found the premise and the backlash/defense against it's positions interesting.

It very much mirrors the perceived cop outs by 'white people' in regards to privilege, although with some minor differences. To me, generally, white privilege denial stems from an individuals circumstances and experiences, while the rebuttals I've read use race wide data to refute any power structure allowing black men to exert their male privilege over black women.

By and large though, what I've pulled most from it is individuals inability to really view the plight of others through their eyes. The idea of privilege seems to always bring about 'what-aboutism's' as an immediate defense mechanism against any possible lowering of one's own success and accomplishments. It's interesting to view.

Anyhow, just my take. Found it interesting and a good push for introspection in regards to these things. How about you guys.

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can trauma actually change the brain?

If someone has a traumatic event, perhaps as a child, can it in any way change the chemistry of the brain?

As much as I enjoy reading this sub forum, I know I'm out of my league. I'm not sure if my question is clear. I'm just interested in knowing what happens to a person who has a traumatic experience, at any age, and how it may impact the brain, and if it is reversible if there is damage.

Thanks,
Julia

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Broadcast Power

Full disclosure: I know absolutely nothing about the subject of this post. Please be cognizant of the village idiot. Now then:

Many years/decades ago, I read a sci-fi story that involved broadcast power, the ability to send electrical(?) power from one point to another in much the same manner as radio or TV signals.

Now, I'm looking at my phone, a Samsung S8+. It is protected by a black plastic Otter case with a clear plastic back. I can recharge the battery via the normal power cord OR I can simply place it on a charging stand that, due to the phone's case, has no physical contact with the phone. The charging stand is plastic and has a raised rubberized(?) rim that the back of the phone actually rests against. There is thus a fraction of an inch of space between phone and stand.

Shouldn't the plastic case further insulate the phone? Is the power somehow jumping the physical gap, through the insulating plastic case? How could the rubberized(?) rim, plastic protective case, and plastic phone case conduct power to the battery? Is the battery connected to the phone case, somehow, either directly or indirectly? If not, how does it receive the power?

IOW, are we closing in on developing the ability to send raw electricity through the air, like lightning or what you see in high school science classes?

It seems to me if there were some way for the power to flow through physical contact, wouldn't that risk the phone if you were to set it down on the wrong object?

My disclaimer aside, I am vaguely aware of the relationship between electricity and magnetism and their respective fields, and have been trying on my own to work this out.

This signature is intended to irritate people.

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Oklahoma Police Kill Deaf Man for the Crime of Holding a Walking Stick

Oklahoma Cops Fatally Shoot Deaf Man as Neighbors Scream 'He Can't Hear You'

Quote:

Police officers fatally shot Magdiel Sanchez, 35, who is deaf, outside of his home in Oklahoma City, OK, on Tuesday night. When authorities arrived at Sanchez’s home investigating a hit-and-run, they found him on the porch carrying a metal walking stick. With little warning and as neighbors looked on shouting that he couldn’t hear them because he was deaf, one officer fired multiple shots at Sanchez. The Associated Press reported that police officers Sgt. Chris Barnes and Lt. Matthew Lindsey arrived at Sanchez’s home after a car parked in the driveway matched the description of a vehicle involved in a hit-and-run near the neighborhood. However, Sanchez was not in the car when the accident occurred, his father was driving and had fled the scene of a collision that did not involve another person. Officers apparently considered Sanchez’s walking stick, which the Oklahoma City Police Department first described as a stick and later a metal pipe, a weapon. Several neighbors yelled “he can’t hear you” as police officers demanded that Sanchez drop the so-called weapon. As Sanchez walked towards them, Barnes fired multiple shots at him and Lindsay fired his Taser. Both officers weren’t wearing body cameras.

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"Justice Pricing" - White males pay more

http://ift.tt/2xhUC3S

"Higgins, 27, said organizers of the premiere are sticking to their justice-pricing model to charge white males $15, while others pay $10 based on the purchasing power of individual groups and "price discrimination."


The only thing it's good for is getting attention

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So how DOES a black hole form?

Before I start, let me state that I'm not pushing any explanation of my own, because I don't even have one. Which is unsurprising, I guess, since I'm not a physicist. I genuinely get a brainfart just trying to think about how it swallows matter, and I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable can help me understand it.

Now I'm not asking about the whole thing about how many solar masses you need and all that, because that part I know already.

I'm also not asking about matter falling below the event horizon, and the Schwarzschild radius, 'cause that part is clear too.

But, here's the thing I don't get: how it gets an event horizon in the first place, and how does it get more mass.

And I'll start by stating how I understand it. Which is probably wrong, since I can't get anywhere with it. But maybe it will help someone spot and point out to me the point where I'm going into gaga land with it.

Schwarzschild calculated that limit for an eternal black hole. It has always existed and it always will. Well, that one is easy, 'cause you don't have to deal with it forming in the first place. And I know physics simplifies the model to what's relevant for the problem at hand, and I have no problem with it. (Not that it would matter to anyone else if a layman did have a problem with it, mind you.) Just it doesn't answer MY problem.

And my problem stems from the fact that we don't have anything that always existed, since the universe ain't that old. So it has to have formed at some point.

So let's say some chunk of matter swirls down the drain... err, accretion disk, and falls down into the black hole. From its point of view, of course, that happens in a finite time. From OUR frame of reference, though, time dilates increasingly the closer to the event horizon it gets, and it goes asymptotically towards the actual event horizon. So essentially it takes an infinite time for us to see it fall in. It only gets there at +infinity on the time axis.

And it doesn't help if I put it on a pinrose diagram, 'cause that line is still at infinity.

Essentially if I don't start with a pre-existing black hole, it sems to me like I can only get a FUTURE black hole, infinitely into the future. The matter never actually gets inside it, information never disappears into it, it just gets stuck at an apparent horizon, in infinitely slow motion.

So... how did it form in the first place? How can I end up with a present black hole, instead of a future one? Where am I thinking all wrong?

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How America Lost its Mind

America's Fantasy-Industrial Complex...and its effects.

http://ift.tt/2uE9R1T


"Each of us is on a spectrum somewhere between the poles of rational and irrational. We all have hunches we can’t prove and superstitions that make no sense. Some of my best friends are very religious, and others believe in dubious conspiracy theories. What’s problematic is going overboard—letting the subjective entirely override the objective; thinking and acting as if opinions and feelings are just as true as facts. The American experiment, the original embodiment of the great Enlightenment idea of intellectual freedom, whereby every individual is welcome to believe anything she wishes, has metastasized out of control. From the start, our ultra-individualism was attached to epic dreams, sometimes epic fantasies—every American one of God’s chosen people building a custom-made utopia, all of us free to reinvent ourselves by imagination and will. In America nowadays, those more exciting parts of the Enlightenment idea have swamped the sober, rational, empirical parts. Little by little for centuries, then more and more and faster and faster during the past half century, we Americans have given ourselves over to all kinds of magical thinking, anything-goes relativism, and belief in fanciful explanation—small and large fantasies that console or thrill or terrify us. And most of us haven’t realized how far-reaching our strange new normal has become."

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Psychology Today: LENS (low energy Neurofeedback system) —Placebo or otherwise?

Legit or not?

From http://ift.tt/2xdtMcn

Quote:

Zoltan Istvan The Transhumanist Philosopher I Tried Direct Neurofeedback and the Results Surprised Me Interview with Direct Neurofeedback Specialist Grant Rudolph Posted Sep 17, 2017 Transhumanism—the movement of using science and technology to improve the human being—covers many different fields of research. There are exoskeleton suits to help the disabled; there are stem cell treatments to cure disease; there are robots and AI to perform human chores. The field is wide open and booming as humanity uses more and more tech in its world. It’s not that often I get to participate directly in these radical technologies, but I did so recently when Grant Rudolph, Clinical Director at Echo Rock Neurotherapy in Mill Valley, California invited me to try his Direct Neurofeedback techniques. Via his computer and EEG wire hookups, Mr. Rudolph echoed my brainwave information back into my head at an imperceptible level. I did two sessions of Direct Neurofeedback. [...]

I see no absolute reason for this to be implausible but I still find myself reticent, based on the Psychology Today article, to accept that this works because, as I see it, this article offers no evidence of this beyond the author's anecdotal impression of having the technique applied to him. While there exists mechanistic reasons to think that direct electrical brain stimulation techniques like [wikiX=transcranial direct current stimulation]transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)[/wikiX] or like [WikiX=transcranial alternating current stimulation]transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)[/wikiX] may not actually have a direct effect on the brain, as long as it can affect skin receptors (even if below a perceptual threshold), one can still easily accept that a plausible mechanism of action exists. This is, of course, trivially true in the case of a placebo based mechanism of action but I would not consider this, in any real sense, as an example of this technique working (that is, it is exactly what I'd like to be able to rule out or in).

I'd be interested in knowing what peer reviewed, properly double blinded placebo controlled studies show about this technique but I'm not sure I even know how to find them (though I did find one for what appears to be a related technique using what, if I understood it correctly, seems to be some sort of subperceptual visual feedback of some sort). For that matter, I would like to see a better, more detailed explanation of how this technique works (which might not even be possible if it happens to be proprietary).

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2020 Democratic Candidates Tracker

I don't see a dedicated thread on this yet, although obviously the topic has come up in other threads quite often.

For starters, I'm going to use Wikipedia's list and update where it seems appropriate.

There are four key criteria, the satisfaction of any of which qualifies a person for inclusion on the list: 1) Has held any federal or statewide elected office; 2) Has been on a presidential cabinet; 3) Has been the mayor of a large city; or 4) Is very famous/rich. Essentially, these criteria exist to weed out the crackpot candidates like Jeff Boss.

Declared Candidates:
John Delaney (US Congressman from Maryland)

Undeclared, But Has Expressed Interest:

Joe Biden
Jerry Brown
Julian Castro
Stephen Colbert
Mark Cuban
John Hickenlooper
Eric Holder
Dwayne (the Rock) Johnson
John Kerry
Martin O'Malley
Bernie Sanders

(I moved Kerry up from Wikipedia's Potentials based on this article.

Potentials:

Richard Blumenthal
Cory Booker
Steve Bullock
Lincoln Chafee
Jamie Dimon
John Bel Edwards
Tulsi Gabbard
Eric Garcetti
Kamala Harris
Jason Kander
Caroline Kennedy
Amy Klobuchar
Mitch Landrieu
Jeff Merkley
Deval Patrick
Tom Steyer

Currently Not Running:

Sherrod Brown
Chelsea Clinton
Hillary Clinton
George Clooney
Andrew Cuomo
Bill de Blasio
Al Franken
Kirsten Gillibrand
Al Gore
Bob Iger
Jay Inslee
Tim Kaine
Joe Kennedy III
Terry McAuliffe
Seth Moulton
Chris Murphy
Gavin Newsom
Michelle Obama
Tim Ryan
Sheryl Sandberg
Adam Schiff
Howard Schultz
Mark Warner
Elizabeth Warren
Maxine Waters
Oprah Winfrey
Mark Zuckerberg

A few of the "Currently Not Running" candidates will be moving up pretty soon. Warren, Kaine, Cuomo and Gillibrand are certainly considered potentially strong candidates (Warren would probably become the betting favorite).

I do think some of the "Currently Not Running" candidates really are out of it. It's possible to imagine Hillary or Chelsea throwing their hats in the ring, I suppose, but I'd put my money on it not happening.

Caroline Kennedy? Well, she's already got a great campaign song, complete with a cheer line for every policy proposal (So Good, So Good, So Good!) But aside from that I don't see it happening.

Some of the lesser-known candidates on that list (Sandberg, Iger, Steyer) are billionaires.

We can add more specific categories later; "Forming an Exploratory Committee" would be a pretty good one, although of course it's empty now and probably will be for another year or so.

Additions and or/movement suggestions?

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Do Bigots, Racists and Nazis Feel Empowered by Trump's Election?

This is a split-off topic from the woefully* titled "Massive Wave of Hate Crimes, etc..." thread. *Woefully, because it's allowed conservative smoke blowers to split hairs over the poor choice of wording.

The premise is that Trump's election has enabled not just the deplorables, but the reprehensibles. Actual nazis, hard line racists, bigots of various stripes. The charmers who were in Charlottesville would be a good starting point, as it seems to be giving the enablers and apologists ulcers trying to get it ignored.

Alt-Right is nothing more than a nice word for White Nationalist. As we saw after Charlottesville and Trump's intentionally weak response, the Supremacists, Klan and Nazis all took his comments with great excitement. This, alone, should settle the overall question, but I'm curious to hear the apologists' views.

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How Trump has Embolden Racists and Nazi's

How is this as a thread title as opposed to the one about hate crimes?

How about this to start

http://ift.tt/2xQPxQL

I would also cite all the statements from the charlottesville nazi protestors as more evidence.

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Spain suppressing Catalan Indyref

I'm a bit surprised at the harshness of Madrid's crackdown on the Catalan referendum due on 1st October. This heavy handed action by Madrid is likely to encourage a Yes vote, asssuming the referendum goes ahead in any form. Police rounding up separatists carrrying guns and bombs is quite in order; but arresting mayors and seizing ballot boxes is unusual behaviour in a democracy.

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Cultural Appropriation

I started this thread because we had a little family argument about a wedding. My cousin wants to have a Japanese-inspired wedding.. Nothing tacky, just decorations and food, really. Being a Japanophile myself, I thought her choices were beautiful . Well, her sister is extremely upset because she is afraid that people going to the wedding will be offended by "cultural appropriation."

So is this really that big a thing? Should she worry?

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US Navy to use Xbox controllers to control next generation periscope.

... and every article about has that "Kids these days" subtext to it.

But here's the thing... am I the only one who this makes actually a lot of sense?

A video game controller is just an interface device to control a computer pgoram and dual analog stick gamepads like the Xbox 360 one the Navy chose are ideal for controlling a viewing or aiming point along one axis while aiming along another axis, like a periscope on a moving submarine. There's a reason this control scheme has become the default for "move/aim" games.

So while I just can't wait for all the armchair veterans (which I realize I know am one of) to shake their sticks at the new generation of troops using this device... this is just taking a readily available, off the shelf device that is already proven, robust, and readily available that the sailors already know how to use to replace an expensive (the custom built control interface Lockheed Martin design cost 36,000 dollars), bulky, and hard to use propriety device.

Link: http://ift.tt/2f9s6XL

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Another Earthquake here in Mexico

Jeez, we just got another big one. 7.1 according to US gov't. This one hit Puebla area. Massive damage being shown on TV right now. Injuries, road collapses. Puebla is only about 1 1-2, 2 hrs south of Mexico City. My area is ok. Nothing like the one a few weeks ago, but Puebla area just got nailed. :(

live coverage. http://ift.tt/2xkfruJ

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Superpropulsion

Water Droplets Superpropulsion

http://ift.tt/2fe3qkC

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What crime is this, if it is one?

A friend was texted by her own sister, with whom she is having a rather bitter feud, that their mother had just died. My friend, who was in a shop at the time, collapsed on the spot. The news however, was a lie - their mother was well. (Relatively well, that is - she is elderly, frail and wheelchair-bound, and the news that she had died would certainly be plausible.)

The lie was not told as a prank - her sister has a history of harassing her, and I have little doubt it was told to distress my friend.

The police are aware but I doubt I will hear anything of substance after this.

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Skype misbehaving

Yeah, "What's new?" I hear you say ;)

We have a Win 10 desktop and a Win 10 laptop, both with Skype installed. Both were working OK until about a week ago, when the laptop Skype developed a persistent ring tone when making a call, even when the recipient's phone was answered, making it unusable.

Google told me that this was a known thing, with various suggestions to fix it. Uninstall/reinstall Skype didn't help, hunting down and deleting a file or two was no good, as they didn't exist.

I'm wondering whether the laptop has received a non-Skype update that's confusing Skype.

Any clues?

eta: Also, Skype hangs after this behaviour and has to be killed through task manager.

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Burns/Novick: The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, a film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

The first episode aired last night, I was only able to catch about half.

(I am not sure if the non-Americans in the forum know who Ken Burns is, or the nature of his documentaries. He makes long-form historical documentaries, most famously of the American Civil war. Lots of research, period music, period photos and film [no film from the Civil war, obviously, but his films on more recent topics might have film]. He is well respected in the U.S., but gets a bit of criticism for his formulaic use of "scan and pan" with historic photos. This current film is ten episodes for a total of 18 hours.)

My impression is so far is that Burns and Novick stick to facts and introspection. I like that Burns and Novick seem to interview nearly as Vietnamese (from both sides) as Americans.

I am seeing mixed reviews, some of which seem annoyed that he is presenting a balanced look at how the U.S. got stuck there, including a good rundown of the internal American struggle to oppose colonialism (including WWII era support for Vietnamese independence) while opposing communism (leading to military support for the French effort to maintain control). It has nuance.

Is anyone else watching it?


ETA: I also like that it is being released in Vietnamese as well as English.

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