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samedi 31 août 2019
Trial of Accused 9/11 Masterminds Set for 2021
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Richard Gage got married!
Look what I found:
The Richard Gage oo Gail Griffen wedding on Sunday, June 23, 2019.
Belated congratulations!
This page has a bit of biographical information on the AE911Truth leader:
So Gage has lived in the Idaho backwoods since 2015. I had previously documented that he hangs out with preppers. Is that the reason he moved there? Taking to the rugged outdoors, away from urban America, to hide from the coming apocalypse?
The Richard Gage oo Gail Griffen wedding on Sunday, June 23, 2019.
Belated congratulations!
This page has a bit of biographical information on the AE911Truth leader:
Quote:
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Richard had moved here [Sandpoint, Idaho] 4 years ago - not knowing a soul in Idaho... Gail ... lived in the picturesque Round Lake neighborhood in Sagle... Gail was intrigued by Richard's sweet gentle innocence and was drawn to his depth of character and loving heart. ... We now live together in our beautiful custom Lindal Cedar home overlooking an awe-inspiring valley here in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to our careers, we dance, enjoy RV-camping and exploring local mountains on our ATV. We joined many locals in practicing emergency preparedness also! |
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Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory
History, including military history, being a bit of a hobby of mine, I thought I'd put forward some of the moments I find fascinating in a "what were they thinking?" kind of way.
And I'd like to start with the battle of Agincourt.
Now probably even people who don't know much about history know about how the English put like 1500 arrows a second into the air, and mowed down the French, but that is only a small part of the picture. It even more a merit of the terrain preventing the English from being flanked, as well as creating a slight funnel shape for the advancing French that plays silly buggers with tightly packed rows of advancing infantry.
What I find more fascinating, though, is that location and terrain was the choice of the French. It's rare that you can force the enemy to have no choice but to attack in the exact place of your choosing, but marshal Jean II Le Maingre (a.k.a., Boucicaut) managed just that. The English had been harrassed and forced along a way that led to exactly where the French wanted them, and were prepared for them.
Except the place that the French wanted them, was a place that would massively favour the English :p
And that's what I don't get. I'll even admit that other topographical features may have been less obvious at the time as a potential problem. BUT when you have an army whose main advantage is in its large numbers of heavy cavalry... how does one come to the idea of forcing the enemy into a position that has secure flanks and prevents said cavalry from flanking them?
And I'd like to start with the battle of Agincourt.
Now probably even people who don't know much about history know about how the English put like 1500 arrows a second into the air, and mowed down the French, but that is only a small part of the picture. It even more a merit of the terrain preventing the English from being flanked, as well as creating a slight funnel shape for the advancing French that plays silly buggers with tightly packed rows of advancing infantry.
What I find more fascinating, though, is that location and terrain was the choice of the French. It's rare that you can force the enemy to have no choice but to attack in the exact place of your choosing, but marshal Jean II Le Maingre (a.k.a., Boucicaut) managed just that. The English had been harrassed and forced along a way that led to exactly where the French wanted them, and were prepared for them.
Except the place that the French wanted them, was a place that would massively favour the English :p
And that's what I don't get. I'll even admit that other topographical features may have been less obvious at the time as a potential problem. BUT when you have an army whose main advantage is in its large numbers of heavy cavalry... how does one come to the idea of forcing the enemy into a position that has secure flanks and prevents said cavalry from flanking them?
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The State of the World: Take the Test
Some of you may have heard of Hans Rosling. He was a Swedish academic and global health expert.
He devised a test for asking people how bad they thought the state of the world was.
Take the test and post your results here in the poll.
Go on!
Take the test here.
Then, once you have done that, have a look at these fascinating bubble graphs about the state of the world.
You can choose a country, and you can also look at how the world has changed through the years.
He devised a test for asking people how bad they thought the state of the world was.
Take the test and post your results here in the poll.
Go on!
Take the test here.
Then, once you have done that, have a look at these fascinating bubble graphs about the state of the world.
You can choose a country, and you can also look at how the world has changed through the years.
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vendredi 30 août 2019
Implication of "respecting an establishment of religion"
Let's look at the first amendment
I have been getting more into textualism and have been thinking about the Brandenburg cross case.
Suppose Congress gave a billion dollars to the department of the interior to build monuments and to use their discretion. The department elects to build a bunch of churches.
I can't figure out why this would violate the first amendment. The prohibition is against Congress making a law respecting an establishment. But the law in this case would not be in respect to religion. It is no way in regards to religion. The law is respecting general budgeting. The amendment appears silent on government groups that are not Congress using laws with no regards to establishment, to accomplish the establishment of religion.
In your interpretation of the first amendment, if you think it does ban that activity, how do you reach that conclusion?
Quote:
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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. |
Suppose Congress gave a billion dollars to the department of the interior to build monuments and to use their discretion. The department elects to build a bunch of churches.
I can't figure out why this would violate the first amendment. The prohibition is against Congress making a law respecting an establishment. But the law in this case would not be in respect to religion. It is no way in regards to religion. The law is respecting general budgeting. The amendment appears silent on government groups that are not Congress using laws with no regards to establishment, to accomplish the establishment of religion.
In your interpretation of the first amendment, if you think it does ban that activity, how do you reach that conclusion?
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Male & Female Brains Are The Same
I've had two anthropology teachers in Kansas tell the class that there is no difference between male and female brains, that the genders are the same. Is this belief starting to become a thing now?
The first teacher I approached about it, who was always in a hurry, kind of broke down and said there is research supporting both sides, and that we really don't know...
The second teacher I haven't spoken with, but he told the class it was proven a long time ago. His source was Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935) by Margaret Mead, wherein in the Tchambuli tribe the women were dominate.
Last time I heard this argument, it was from right-wing Christians trying to disprove homosexuality and what not. Now I am hearing it from the left?
The first teacher I approached about it, who was always in a hurry, kind of broke down and said there is research supporting both sides, and that we really don't know...
The second teacher I haven't spoken with, but he told the class it was proven a long time ago. His source was Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935) by Margaret Mead, wherein in the Tchambuli tribe the women were dominate.
Last time I heard this argument, it was from right-wing Christians trying to disprove homosexuality and what not. Now I am hearing it from the left?
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If Obama did it
Every time President Trump says or does something stupid or is even rumored to have done something outrageous behind closed doors, my mind always goes to what if Obama had done this? What would the reaction from Republicans and the general public be if the half-black Kenyan alleged Muslim president said a tenth of the stuff Trump has said?
Name some of Trump's most outrageous offenses and the reaction if it was Obama.
Name some of Trump's most outrageous offenses and the reaction if it was Obama.
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CNN uses an innocent person's name for headlines
So CNN has an article on their front page about a murder and the suspect.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/30/us/cl...rnd/index.html
The above quote is the details of the incident.
But the article was headlined on CNN's front page as Simone Biles' brother charged in 3 killings
What kind of bull **** is this? Do they really hate Simone Biles enough to drag her into this? Probably not. But they are willing to drag her name into it to get reader attention to their website for the ad revenue.
I'd be very surprised if Ms. Biles had anything to say to CNN other than **** off!
Well no ****.
Ranb
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/30/us/cl...rnd/index.html
Quote:
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On the night of the shooting, a group of uninvited guests walked into a home and a fight began, authorities said. The fight led to the shooting and multiple people were hit. Two people -- Delvaunte Johnson, 19, and Toshaun Banks, 21 -- died at the scene. A third person, Devaughn Gibson, 23, later died at a hospital. Tevin Biles-Thomas is charged with murder, voluntary manslaughter, felonious assault and perjury in a December 31, 2018, fatal shooting in Cleveland. The charges were announced in a joint statement from Cleveland Police and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office. |
But the article was headlined on CNN's front page as Simone Biles' brother charged in 3 killings
What kind of bull **** is this? Do they really hate Simone Biles enough to drag her into this? Probably not. But they are willing to drag her name into it to get reader attention to their website for the ad revenue.
Quote:
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CNN has reached out to Simone Biles for comment. |
Quote:
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Last night she tweeted, "Eating my feelings don't talk to me." She also liked a few tweets Friday morning, including one that said, "This is exactly why I hate the media in America. Has nothing to do with @Simone_Biles don't drag her name through the mud because of something her brother did. She's an American Icon & Hero for little girls everywhere." |
Ranb
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Mueller Investigation pt 7
Quote:
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Originally Posted by PhantomWolf (Post 12803283)
He didn't wash his hands of it, he gave a comprehensive report on the affair.
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But as a former Prosecutor and Director of the FBI, he should aim beyond the bare minimum of telling his superior about a problem that he himself identified as of National Security, i.e. election interference.
 Continued from here. You can quote or reply to any (on topic) posts from that thread here. |
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Posted By:kmortis
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iOS vulnerabilities
Guardian newspaper report link
Google blog with much detail link
Google blog with much detail link
Quote:
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Impact The implant has access to almost all of the personal information available on the device, which it is able to upload, unencrypted, to the attacker's server. The implant binary does not persist on the device; if the phone is rebooted then the implant will not run until the device is re-exploited when the user visits a compromised site again. Given the breadth of information stolen, the attackers may nevertheless be able to maintain persistent access to various accounts and services by using the stolen authentication tokens from the keychain, even after they lose access to the device. |
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jeudi 29 août 2019
Fox News anchor recites El Paso shooters manifesto's talking points
Hey look, A Faux News anchor is now unironically repeating the El Paso shooter's manifesto as a legitimate call to alarm.
Quote:
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Pirro promoted the so-called “great replacement theory” during a Thursday radio appearance with Fox Nation host Todd Starnes, who recently compared Hispanic immigrants to “Nazi” invaders two weeks after a white supremacist mass shooter targeted people of color in an El Paso, Texas Walmart. “Their plan and their plot to remake America is to bring in the illegals, change the way the voting occurs in this country, give them licenses, they get to vote maybe once, maybe twice, maybe three times,” Pirro wildly claimed after accusing Democrats of using this plan in an attempt to “get rid of” Trump and “the people like you and me who put him into office.” “You’ve got motor voter registration on the day of the election, we’ve got voter rolls that haven’t been purged of dead people in years, where the Democrats have resisted that,” she added. “Think about that, it is a plot to remake America. To replace American citizens with illegals.” |
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GOP ad says The Jews Are Coming To Take Us Over...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...-anti-semitic/
What's that about how Anti Semitic the Democrats are?
What's that about how Anti Semitic the Democrats are?
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The 'Gay Gene' Is a Total Myth, Massive Study Concludes
Quote:
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Sorry bout it but you weren't "Born This Way" No individual gene alone makes a person gay, lesbian or bisexual; instead, thousands of genes likely influence sexual orientation, a massive new study of the genomes of nearly half a million people suggests. Across human societies and in both sexes, between 2% and 10% of people report engaging in sex with a member of the same sex, either exclusively or in addition to sex with a member of the opposite sex, the researchers said. The biological factors that contribute to sexual orientation are largely unknown, but many scientists suspect that genetics plays a role, given that same-sex sexual behavior appears to run in families and is seen more often in identical twins than in fraternal twins. But a precise genetic basis for sexual orientation has been elusive, largely because scientists previously had relatively small groups of volunteers to investigate. "Because it is a controversial topic, funding has historically been limited and recruitment of participants was difficult," study co-author Fah Sathirapongsasuti, a senior scientist and computational biologist at the genetic testing company 23andMe, told Live Science. Same-sex orientation remains criminalized in more than 70 countries, some with the death penalty, often stifling those willing to disclose such personal information. The new study, however, included a much larger number of participants, making the results more statistically reliable than those of the previous, smaller studies. In the largest genetic study of sexual orientation to date, scientists studied a group of about 470,000 volunteers in the United Kingdom and the United States who reported on whether they had ever engaged in same-sex sexual behavior. They relied on genetic data from the UK Biobank (a long-term health and genetics study running in the United Kingdom) and 23andMe, as well as responses to surveys asking questions about sexual identity, attraction, fantasies and behavior. "To give you a sense of the scale of the data, this is approximately 100-times-fold bigger than previous studies on this topic," study lead author Andrea Ganna, a researcher at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in Finland, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, told Live Science. The researchers could not find any one gene linked with same-sex sexual behavior. Five genetic variants did appear significantly linked to sexual orientation, and thousands more also seemed involved to a lesser extent. In the end, the scientists could not find any genetic patterns that could be used, in any way, to identify a person's sexual orientation. Instead, the predisposition to same-sex sexual behavior appeared influenced by a complex mix of genetic and environmental influences. That's also the case for many other human traits, such as height. "It's effectively impossible to predict an individual's sexual behavior from their genome," study co-author Ben Neale, a statistical geneticist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, told Live Science. However, the finding that there's no single gay gene does not mean that sexual orientation is not genetic or biological, and is therefore a lifestyle choice. "This is wrong," study co-author Brendan Zietsch, a geneticist at the University of Queensland in Australia, told Live Science. "We find that there are many, many genes that predispose one to same-sex sexual behavior. Each of them individually has a very small effect, but together they have a substantial effect. "Another possible misinterpretation is to think that if same-sex preference is genetically influenced, it must therefore be totally genetically determined," Zietsch added. "That is not true. Genetically identical individuals — twins — often have different sexual orientations. We know there are non-genetic influences as well, but we don't understand these well, and our study does not say anything about them." However, some of the genetic variants identified in the massive study "could hint at some biological pathways that may be involved in same-sex sexual behavior," Ganna said. "So one variant, for instance, was located in a stretch of DNA that houses several genes related to the sense of smell. So, we know that smell has a strong tie to sexual attraction, but its links to sexual behaviors are not clear." In addition, genes seemed to have greater influence on same-sex sexual behavior in men than in women, Ganna said. The researchers suggested that genes may play a different role in same-sex behavior in males versus females because of biological factors, such as levels of testosterone and estrogen. Other factors, such as gendered social norms regarding the number of sexual partners females should have, could make women less comfortable accurately reporting their sexual behavior. That, in turn, could skew the results. Despite the study's large sample size, the findings are still limited because the researchers analyzed only populations with European ancestry from Western, high-income countries. The data also came primarily from older individuals, who mostly lived under stricter social norms and legislative regulations than today's. It's possible that younger people, who often grew up under a more permissive society, might feel more free to engage in more same-sex sexual behavior than older individuals with similar genetic makeups. So the findings might not be as applicable across the age spectrum, the authors noted. The scientists detailed their findings in the Aug. 30 issue of the journal Science. They also created a website to communicate the results of their study. |
Not at all surprised. The end result of homosexuality produces a repeatable outcome.
Disease.
On a grand scale. And yet we have people arguing for the growth of that and the promulgation of it.
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Historical Jeeps
Having owned only one Jeep product in my life I don't fancy myself a die hard fan boy, but I appreciate that the Jeep has been a bit of historical vehicle.
Jeep themselves have set up a bit of a shrine to their history.
As a non-fan boy, though I like to think of the jeep concept of being much broader than those vehicles made under the Jeep brand name. There are the obvious licensed vehicles, like those made by Mahindra and many others. But I also think of Ford Broncos, Toyota FJs and LR Defenders as more of a Jeep than some current vehicles with Jeep badging.
With that broad definition, what are some of your favorite historical Jeeps?
Maybe a CJ loaded up with accessories, or a Jeepster, or maybe Ford do Brazil product, like the Troller.
Jeep themselves have set up a bit of a shrine to their history.
As a non-fan boy, though I like to think of the jeep concept of being much broader than those vehicles made under the Jeep brand name. There are the obvious licensed vehicles, like those made by Mahindra and many others. But I also think of Ford Broncos, Toyota FJs and LR Defenders as more of a Jeep than some current vehicles with Jeep badging.
With that broad definition, what are some of your favorite historical Jeeps?
Maybe a CJ loaded up with accessories, or a Jeepster, or maybe Ford do Brazil product, like the Troller.
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Sex pigs halt traffic after laser attack on Pokémon teens
So did that grab your attention?
Good, here's the story.
Sex pigs halt traffic after laser attack on Pokémon teens
To be fair, no-where I know of is exactly "known" for this problem.
Oh dear, teenagers out after dark.
Not that difficult.
To summarise; the kids were (allegedly) attacked with a green laser pointer[1] by two people wearing pig masks and t-shirts labelled ‘King’ and ‘Queen’. No injuries ensued.
The couple were next spotted by incredulous motorists[2] as they copulated beside the village's waterwheel[3]. This distraction caused serious traffic disruption.
Police have become involved.
[1] So much cooler than the old-fashioned red ones.
[2] It's unstated as to the exact cause of the incredulity, pig masks or location, or any specific acts performed. Though given by experience with Swees it'd have to be pretty strange.
[3] A neighbour of mine is interested in waterwheels, I must mention this to her.
Good, here's the story.
Sex pigs halt traffic after laser attack on Pokémon teens
Quote:
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Tiny Insjön in central Sweden isn't known for pig mask-wearing couples shooting lasers at Pokémon hunters before having sex by a waterwheel. But that could be about to change. |
Quote:
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It was Friday night in the village of 2,000 souls when two teenage siblings wandered out with their smartphones to play Pokémon Go. |
Quote:
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But instead of finding Pikachu or Squirtle they soon came face to face in the park with a couple who must have seemed scarcely more real. |
To summarise; the kids were (allegedly) attacked with a green laser pointer[1] by two people wearing pig masks and t-shirts labelled ‘King’ and ‘Queen’. No injuries ensued.
The couple were next spotted by incredulous motorists[2] as they copulated beside the village's waterwheel[3]. This distraction caused serious traffic disruption.
Police have become involved.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by The Police
Pointing at someone with green laser can cause injury if it hits the eyes.
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[1] So much cooler than the old-fashioned red ones.
[2] It's unstated as to the exact cause of the incredulity, pig masks or location, or any specific acts performed. Though given by experience with Swees it'd have to be pretty strange.
[3] A neighbour of mine is interested in waterwheels, I must mention this to her.
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The Mystery of the Franklin Expedition: Death in the Ice
The mystery continues to unfold...
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us...-of-hms-terror
So, all of the doors of the ship were found to be open, in what would have been Arctic conditions and a frozen sea.
The only shut door is that of Captain Crozier. The team of researchers who have located the vessel hope to find some clues as to why the ship 'unexpectedly' sank and all the crew presumed died.
There may be a clue within the diaries and notes Croziers probably kept and as preserved in time in ice.
We won't know until the researchers return next year to resume their investigation.
In the meantime, what do you think happened?
I think, having been stuck in ice, some of the crew set off to find land or shelter in the frozen wastes. Maybe snow delirium caused them to open all of the doors - whilst Crozier locked his, out of fear of his angry staff [maybe he had extra rations of food] - or possibly later would-be looters came across the vessel and decided to have a look around.
There is an indigenous Inuit population nearby in Greenland.
Quote:
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Franklin Expedition: New footage of wreck of HMS Terror Researchers in Canada have been exploring the wreck of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition. The voyage departed from England in 1845 to chart the Northwest Passage. 28 Aug 2019 |
So, all of the doors of the ship were found to be open, in what would have been Arctic conditions and a frozen sea.
The only shut door is that of Captain Crozier. The team of researchers who have located the vessel hope to find some clues as to why the ship 'unexpectedly' sank and all the crew presumed died.
There may be a clue within the diaries and notes Croziers probably kept and as preserved in time in ice.
We won't know until the researchers return next year to resume their investigation.
In the meantime, what do you think happened?
I think, having been stuck in ice, some of the crew set off to find land or shelter in the frozen wastes. Maybe snow delirium caused them to open all of the doors - whilst Crozier locked his, out of fear of his angry staff [maybe he had extra rations of food] - or possibly later would-be looters came across the vessel and decided to have a look around.
There is an indigenous Inuit population nearby in Greenland.
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Darwin Awards Thread
Do we have a Darwin Awards thread, or rather, a thread in which we can post stupid ways in which people have got themselves killed? If we have, I could not find it, and my apologies - and could a mod kindly move this post to it
If we haven't then here is my first contribution
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/new...ectid=12262933
It almost makes me believe in karma... almost!
If we haven't then here is my first contribution
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/new...ectid=12262933
"An Isis fighter was killed by his own drone bomb when the hapless jihadi forgot to charge the device's batteries - sending it straight back to him when its power ran low."
We learned this idiot had wired up his drone with explosives but was killed when its batteries ran low and it flew home."
"With a weak signal for some reason it detonated over his head."
It almost makes me believe in karma... almost!
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mercredi 28 août 2019
Bin’s role in 9/11 (according to the Commission Report)
1996: Bin meets with fellow Afghan war veteran Khalid Sheikh Mohammed(KSM) in Tora Bora. KSM asks Bin if his organization can provide money and operatives for his “planes operation” idea. Bin refuses.
Spring 1999: KSM meets with Bin again in Khandahar and asks him the same question. This time Bin agrees. They decide on targets.
1999-2000: Bin selects the operatives from his camps. They then go meet with KSM who becomes their supervisor. Bin also gives about $500,000 to KSM for the operation.
September 6,2001: Operative Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh tells Bin the date of the attacks. He flees to the mountains.
So, in sum: selecting the targets, selecting the operatives, financing the attack.
There, I saved you from reading 400 pages of the 9/11 Commission Report!
Spring 1999: KSM meets with Bin again in Khandahar and asks him the same question. This time Bin agrees. They decide on targets.
1999-2000: Bin selects the operatives from his camps. They then go meet with KSM who becomes their supervisor. Bin also gives about $500,000 to KSM for the operation.
September 6,2001: Operative Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh tells Bin the date of the attacks. He flees to the mountains.
So, in sum: selecting the targets, selecting the operatives, financing the attack.
There, I saved you from reading 400 pages of the 9/11 Commission Report!
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Hurricane Dorian skirts past Puerto Rico, hits the Virgin Islands
Dorian strengthens into hurricane as Puerto Rico avoids direct hit — live updates
Quote:
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Dorian strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday afternoon as it made its way through the Caribbean. Puerto Rico, which was put under a state of emergency Tuesday night, would be spared from a direct hit, CBS News weather producer David Parkinson reported. Dorian made landfall in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Parkinson reported. Rainfall amounts of 4 to 6 inches were expected, with 10 inches in some places. The hurricane was expected to strengthen on a path for Florida's Atlantic coast. The storm could make landfall in the U.S. as a Category 3 storm. |
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Neutrino Power
They thought us mad for thinking we could get power from neutrinos.Neutrino Energy: The site's a little sparse on the details.
They said a neutrinos can pass through a trillion mile block of lead without hitting anything.
Little did they know we had a trillion and one mile block of lead.
Quote:
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Banks Will No Longer Finance Fossil Fuels ... Preliminary experiments have been conducted that have produced energy from neutrinos in laboratory settings. It has now been clearly demonstrated that harvesting energy from neutrinos is possible, and the only step remaining is to make this technology available in a mass-produced consumer format. |
What does that mean?
Do they have a working prototype?
Or do they just have a patent?
I know, rarely, that neutrinos smack into matter and release energy,
but that's not the same thing as producing energy for useful work.
P. S. Oh wow. A copyright date of 2022.
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Ilhan Omar fires back after Alabama Republicans call for her expulsion from Congress
Ilhan Omar fires back after Alabama Republicans call for her expulsion from Congress
Rep Omar had to waste her precious time responding to these morons:*
*Sincere apologies to any morons on this forum.
Quote:
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Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is firing back in a public feud with the Alabama Republican Party. Omar called out the state GOP for its support of a Senate candidate that was embroiled in numerous sexual assault allegations, after the state party urged that she be expelled from Congress. According to AL.com, Alabama Republicans moved to support a resolution calling for the removal of the freshman congresswoman, citing her past controversial statements on the September 11th terrorist attacks, which her supporters said were taken out of context; comments she made on campaign finance that many considered to be anti-Semitic, for which she apologized; and her staunch support of the Palestinian people in the face of the Israeli government. In their resolution, the party calls for its state's congressional delegation to begin the process of seeking Omar's expulsion from the House. |
Quote:
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Sorry, @ALGOPHQ, but this is a representative democracy. I was elected with 78% of the vote by the people of Minnesota's 5th District, not the Alabama Republican Party. If you want to clean up politics, maybe don’t nominate an accused child molester as your Senate candidate? |
*Sincere apologies to any morons on this forum.
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mardi 27 août 2019
Lawrence O'Donnell: Source says Russian oligarchs co-signed Trump's Loans
Lawrence O'Donnell: Source says Russian oligarchs co-signed Trump's Deutsche Bank loans
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...che-bank-loans
This is a journalist's statement relying on a single source, but Twitter is aghast.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...che-bank-loans
This is a journalist's statement relying on a single source, but Twitter is aghast.
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Are we losing our minds regarding opioids?
Yes, the opioid crisis is bad. I've lost family members to overdoses. That said I think we are now terribly overreacting. Twice in the last few months I've had family members get surgery, back and heart, and get sent home with nothing but Tylenol. The hospital has a new policy to not allow any of its doctors with privileges to write any narcotic pain medication prescriptions. The only pain opioid pain meds one can get is by IV when you are actually in the hospital but since insurance companies are always pushing for people to be kicked out of the hospital as soon as possible it leaves us in this strange new place where people are being treated in ways unthinkable long before Oxycontin was even a thing.
Which is really what bothers me. We aren't just rolling back the really problematic meds we are rolling back everything even the ones that were used largely without incident for decades before Purdue sent out armies of leggy drug reps in short skirts to push Oxy on everyone.
There must be better ways to attack this problem. I already know of at least one person who is avoiding getting surgery for an ongoing problem precisely because they are terrified of being booted out of the hospital in unbearable pain with no way to treat it.
What in the hell are we doing?
Which is really what bothers me. We aren't just rolling back the really problematic meds we are rolling back everything even the ones that were used largely without incident for decades before Purdue sent out armies of leggy drug reps in short skirts to push Oxy on everyone.
There must be better ways to attack this problem. I already know of at least one person who is avoiding getting surgery for an ongoing problem precisely because they are terrified of being booted out of the hospital in unbearable pain with no way to treat it.
What in the hell are we doing?
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David Hume Racism
I can suspect that blacks are naturally inferior to whites. There were virtually no civilized nations of such a complexion, not even any outstanding individual, whether in deeds or theoretical inquiry. No ingenious artisans among them, no arts, no science
David Hume, Of National Characters (1748) in David Hume, Essays: Moral, Political and Literary, editado por T.H. Green e T. Grose, Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1875, Vol. 1, p. 252.
David Hume, Of National Characters (1748) in David Hume, Essays: Moral, Political and Literary, editado por T.H. Green e T. Grose, Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1875, Vol. 1, p. 252.
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5 starting questions about prorogation
This most recent article about labour sent me into a spiral of questions appropriate for its own thread.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...y-legal-advice
I get that the queen gets to decree prorogue and the prime minister can ask for one. But why does parliament allow the PM to request at will?
How is there a discussion about if this violates parliamentary sovereignty when the PM is a member of parliament? Isn't the fact the PM has the power to request prorogation an aspect of parliamentary sovereignty?
How can the minority request an injunction from court? The fact that the minority would get a judge to override the majority coalition and their leading MP seems anti sovereignty.
Is the PM's accountability to the majority party inadequate to address this?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...y-legal-advice
I get that the queen gets to decree prorogue and the prime minister can ask for one. But why does parliament allow the PM to request at will?
How is there a discussion about if this violates parliamentary sovereignty when the PM is a member of parliament? Isn't the fact the PM has the power to request prorogation an aspect of parliamentary sovereignty?
How can the minority request an injunction from court? The fact that the minority would get a judge to override the majority coalition and their leading MP seems anti sovereignty.
Is the PM's accountability to the majority party inadequate to address this?
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Harvard Student Deported for Friends Facebook posts
A freshman planning to attend Harvard (who is named as a minor in the article) was reportedly treated poorly by immigration officials. According to the article:
The part that pisses me off the most as someone who believes in personal liberties:
I don't like this practice, but the kid did it still. He's a minor traveling without his parents, as far as I can tell, and didn't have anyone to help him during this entire thing. Then for them to invade his electronics, and kick him out for something people on his timeline post is absolute ********. This has happened before, and was resolved in favor of the students:
I despise how this is all being handled. To give a kid that's 17, got a scholarship to attend Harvard (have there been Harvard foreign terrorists before?), and worked his butt off to get here such a hard time when all he wants is an education is terrible.
Quote:
|
The 17-year-old, a resident of Tyre, Lebanon, was deported about eight hours after arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston and said in a written statement obtained by the Crimson that immigration officials questioned him for hours and searched his phone and computer. |
Quote:
|
The teen, whom The Hill is not naming because he is a minor, said he was questioned on his religious practices and instructed to unlock his devices, according to the Crimson. |
Quote:
|
Two Harvard graduate students were similarly blocked in 2017 under the Trump administration’s initial travel ban, although they were eventually allowed into the U.S. |
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Funny conclusion by Charles Manson.
On a crime site, I read that Manson studied Scientology for several months. Paid for courses and was fully involved. Then, after awhile, Manson quit. His reason?
"Scientologists are too weird for me."
"Scientologists are too weird for me."
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Are atheists inevitably pessimists?
Having no underlying spiritual beliefs to mitigate suffering, are atheists inevitably seeing the world through a glass darkly?
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." 1 Corinthians 13:12
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." 1 Corinthians 13:12
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Nuking Hurricanes.
Seems a certain Donald Trump suggested, or at least talked about disrupting hurricanes by using nuclear bombs.
Apart from the basic madness of the idea, does it technically have any merit at all? A hurricane feeds from rising hot air (and moisture). How would adding more heat to the equation do anything to stop it? If anything I would think it would only boost it further.
Hans
Apart from the basic madness of the idea, does it technically have any merit at all? A hurricane feeds from rising hot air (and moisture). How would adding more heat to the equation do anything to stop it? If anything I would think it would only boost it further.
Hans
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lundi 26 août 2019
Wifi doesn't work after Windows update
Windows was getting insistent that I update and restart. I didn't want to, but eventually, I gave in. Go ahead and update. It was a long one, so I waited overnight. This moring, signed in. So far so good.
Five minutes later, I lost my connection. This pattern would repeat for a long time. I did all the usual stuff. Shut down everything (cable modem, router, computer.) Restart everything. Repeat in different orders. I could sign in, but within five minutes I had either lost my network connection or, sometimes, just the internet. i.e. I would get the "connected, no internet access" message, and be unable to reach web pages. Other times, it was unable to connect to the router's network.
If I disconnect and reconnect from the wifi network, I would get another 2-5 minutes access before it dropped out again.
Other symptoms:
I can see lots of other networks, representing my printers, and my neighbors' access points. The box for "connect automatically" was checked on all of them. I unchecked them, but it would come back.
The wireless icon seems to have changed. When I go to the system tray, I no longer see the little representation of the antenna with the waves emenating. Instead, I see a picture of a globe. Well, really, just a circle with some lines, but I think the lines are supposed to be latitude and longitude lines. I've seen that icon, and I think it's supposed to represent a network, or perhaps the world wide web. One way or another, when I clicked it, I got the list of wifi networks detected.
I've enabled and disabled the adapter, and enabled and disabled wifi, and restarted, and done all of the "let's try this one" tricks, short of actually uninstalling wifi drivers. (It's not like I have a disk sitting around to reinstall the OS or any part of it.) So, any ideas? Including any reports of similar problems following a recent Windows update?
Five minutes later, I lost my connection. This pattern would repeat for a long time. I did all the usual stuff. Shut down everything (cable modem, router, computer.) Restart everything. Repeat in different orders. I could sign in, but within five minutes I had either lost my network connection or, sometimes, just the internet. i.e. I would get the "connected, no internet access" message, and be unable to reach web pages. Other times, it was unable to connect to the router's network.
If I disconnect and reconnect from the wifi network, I would get another 2-5 minutes access before it dropped out again.
Other symptoms:
I can see lots of other networks, representing my printers, and my neighbors' access points. The box for "connect automatically" was checked on all of them. I unchecked them, but it would come back.
The wireless icon seems to have changed. When I go to the system tray, I no longer see the little representation of the antenna with the waves emenating. Instead, I see a picture of a globe. Well, really, just a circle with some lines, but I think the lines are supposed to be latitude and longitude lines. I've seen that icon, and I think it's supposed to represent a network, or perhaps the world wide web. One way or another, when I clicked it, I got the list of wifi networks detected.
I've enabled and disabled the adapter, and enabled and disabled wifi, and restarted, and done all of the "let's try this one" tricks, short of actually uninstalling wifi drivers. (It's not like I have a disk sitting around to reinstall the OS or any part of it.) So, any ideas? Including any reports of similar problems following a recent Windows update?
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Holy Pumice Batman
Cool stuff
The earth seems to be saving itself
Lets hope it arrives before doomsday in 11 years
https://7news.com.au/news/environmen...lcano-c-419258
The earth seems to be saving itself
Lets hope it arrives before doomsday in 11 years
https://7news.com.au/news/environmen...lcano-c-419258
Quote:
|
Enormous pumice island drifts towards Australia after underwater volcano An enormous pumice "raft" is drifting towards Australia, bringing along with it new marine life that could help with the recovery of the Great Barrier Reef. The massive floating sheet of volcanic rock was first spotted by sailors on August 9, days after an underwater volcano is believed to have erupted near the Pacific island of Tonga, according to NASA Earth Observatory. Watch the video above The Australians sailing to Fiji on their catamaran say they encountered volcanic rocks "made up of pumice stones from marble to basketball size such that water was not visible." The raft is more than 150sqkm in surface area - almost three times the size of Sydney Harbour or about 8000 football fields...... |
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Tell me about Oberammergau...
The Oberammergau Passion Play opens its once-every-decade season next year. Who's been there? Is this primarily a religious event, or can the non-religious appreciate it as a theatrical and cultural experience?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberammergau_Passion_Play
https://www.passionsspiele-oberammergau.de/en/home
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberammergau_Passion_Play
https://www.passionsspiele-oberammergau.de/en/home
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Suicide Prevention Hotline
Some good news coming out of the FCC (for ONCE).
A plan to give the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline its own 3 digit number, likely to be 988.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...t-number.shtml
This is EXCELLENT.
A plan to give the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline its own 3 digit number, likely to be 988.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...t-number.shtml
This is EXCELLENT.
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Exarchia - It has begun
For a couple of months the new Greek government had been planning to take Exarcheia, an anarchist neighbourhood in Athens, amassing police forces and has begun the occupation today.
From Union Communiste Libertaire Bruxelles in French (I don't know of any good English language sources yet, so I just used google translate):
From Union Communiste Libertaire Bruxelles in French (I don't know of any good English language sources yet, so I just used google translate):
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by UCL
Alert! What we've been giving you for a month and a half just started this morning, shortly before Dawn:
EXARCHEIA UNDER POLICE OCCUPATION The Famous Rebel and solidarity district of Athens is completely surrounded by huge police forces: many crs buses (Mat), jeeps of the anti-Terrorism Police (Opke), outfielders (Dias), members of the secret police ( Asfalitès), as well as a helicopter and several drones. Unique place in Europe for its high concentration of squats and other self-managed spaces, but also for its resistance against repression and solidarity with the precarious and migrants, exarcheia has been in the collimator of the right government since its election on July 7th .... The New Prime Minister mitsotakis had made it a personal matter, especially since he had been mocked in early August for not having achieved his goal of "cleaning exarcheia in a month" as he had announced in great pumps. This morning, 4 squats have been evacuated: Spirou Trikoupi 17, transito, Rosa de fon and gare. The offensive is for now the northwest part of the neighborhood, with the remarkable exception of the squat nottara 26, known to be best kept and very important symbolic for the neighborhood as the first historic squat of the "refugee crisis" in the center City of Athens. We are currently counting about a hundred arrest, as well as brutal attacks against people trying to film. Only mass media in the service of power has the permission to cover the event. In Total, there are 23 squats in exarcheia plus 26 others around the neighborhood, which is a total of 49 focused on a small area. 49 squats to which you need to add other types of self-managed places, some of them for rent (free social space,, free store skoros, etc ) as well as dozens of special housing including groups of activist groups. ES, often close to the terraces to allow access above the streets. Of the squats that are located precisely inside exarcheia, 12 are accommodation squats for refugees. ES and migrant. ES and the other 11 are squats of political groups anarchists and Bohemian (even though most refugee squats. Es are also of course very political, starting with the nottara 26 and spirou trikoupi 17 with direct meetings and a lot of links with the rest of the social movement). In the squats of spirou trikoupi 17 and transito (which the jacks of power are now murer), more than a dozen children have been ripped away from a peaceful and happy existence to be suddenly sent to camps. These sinister camps are unsanitary and overcrowded, the migrant. They're not fed up. ES and suffer from temperature variations, suffer humiliation and sometimes torture, and mitsotakis also requires that they all be well closed and, in the future, completely cut off from the rest of the territory. The face of Europe keeps getting hard like what is also happening on the other continents. This ever more authoritarian evolution of capitalism leads to questions about what the current era announces: the offensive against the pockets of utopia combined with the confinement of the emissaries reminds of the dark hours of history. The whole world becomes a fascists and Greece is, once again, one of the laboratories. But nothing is over. September is coming soon. The seasonal jobs are ending. The social movement is gathering and organizing again. Places like the nottara 26 and the k * VOX ARE UNDER HIGH Surveillance. Responses are getting ready, as well as several major mobilizing events. Autumn will be hot in Athens. Resistance! Yannis Youlountas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBpQ262_n7U PS: we count on your press releases, actions towards places representing the Greek state abroad, photos, videos and everything you feel like. Think about sending them to us. Solidarity is our weapon. Our struggles have no borders. |
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dimanche 25 août 2019
California’s proposed new ethnic studies curriculum
If the article linked to below is correct we are looking at a 'Portland African-American Baseline Studies' V2.0
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...ies-curriculum
Quote:
|
”But a current draft of the model curriculum, drawn up by a committee of teachers and academics and headed to the State Board of Education, is an impenetrable melange of academic jargon and politically correct pronouncements. It’s hard to wade through all the references to hxrstory and womxn and misogynoir and cisheteropatriarchy. |
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...ies-curriculum
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NY Times: Don't Feel Guilty about Spewing Carbon on Your Vacay
I debated putting this into another thread but here's the NY Times Travel Section telling their readers that they shouldn't feel guilty about their latest trip abroad:
Yes, never mind that we have 11 years to doomsday. Did you know that travel decreases racism? However, he does advise people to cut back perhaps on mileage:
Seriously? Go to Vietnam instead? Wow, way to reduce the old CO2! Now of course he endorses lots of ways (like carbon indulgences, I mean carbon offsets) to get over feeling less ashamed. So go ahead and book your flight:
It does come off just a tad elitist, doesn't it?
Now, you know how it is, if the Times still has a travel section, I'd bet you it's because it pays for itself in advertising revenue. So they have a pretty obvious conflict of interest here. And no surprise, they have come down on the revenue side.
Quote:
|
So, O.K. How bad should we really feel? Well, first of all, no self-flagellation required for that week in Italy. It is true that your round-trip flight is probably the biggest single contributor to your carbon footprint this year (unless you moved from a studio apartment to a mansion or quit your job for the Nature Conservancy to become a coal lobbyist). But shame is the wrong emotion.... |
Quote:
|
Start by cutting back on your overall travel mileage. Do you really need to take that many trips a year? There are platitudes aplenty about travel — it inspires, it educates, it reduces bigotry. But not all trips meet those standards: Consider an educational exchange program in Vietnam compared to a week at a resort in the Maldives. |
Quote:
|
Most of this will make travel more expensive — and that may mean traveling even less. Think of it as a progressive tax paid by those lucky enough to travel for damaging the world those who can’t travel must live in. It is a small price to pay. And maybe it will make you feel a little less shame. |
Now, you know how it is, if the Times still has a travel section, I'd bet you it's because it pays for itself in advertising revenue. So they have a pretty obvious conflict of interest here. And no surprise, they have come down on the revenue side.
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Water Piglets. Chubby, Misunderstood & Not Immortal
A very nice tardigrade video from the YT channel Journey to the Microcosmos. Very good videography.
https://youtu.be/kux1j1ccsgg
https://youtu.be/kux1j1ccsgg
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Hoffman and the Interface Theory of Perception
Donald Hoffman, a cognitive science researcher, has been advancing a theory he calls the Interface Theory of Perception. It challenges the widely held claim (one that I've made myself in philosophical arguments in this forum) that evolution promotes the development of sense organs and brains that result in generally veridical perception of reality. (At least, veridical perception at the scale of the organism itself, not necessarily at smaller or larger scales of no direct use or concern, such as the earth's movements through space or the atomic makeup of materials.) Basically, the standard claim is if you don't accurately perceive the lion, or you don't accurately perceive the possibility of a lion you don't see because a boulder limits your view, you get eaten and don't pass on your misperceiving genes.
What appears to set Hoffman apart from eons of philosophical speculation from Plato's Cave to Bishop Berkeley to Hume, is that he's done some investigations of the question "does evolution lead to veridical perception?" using simulated evolution of simulated perception in simulated worlds. He claims that the results have been clear and consistent: that "perception of reality goes extinct." Organisms whose perceptions are accurate succumb to competition from organisms whose perceptions are tuned directly to fitness.
(I don't have a good understanding of what some of those phrases e.g. "tuned to fitness" really mean in the context of the actual experiments he ran. I might have to buy his book to find that out. It's possible that "tuned to fitness" is a cheat, an abstraction that can be built into a simulation of a world but could not be accomplished by a system actually functioning within that world. As a crude example: clearly a perceptual system that would automatically know the most beneficial choice to make in any situation with no sensory input at all—call it an oracle—would out-compete one that had to imperfectly sense and perceive the present state of reality and figure out the best choice from that. But such an oracle is probably not possible, and near-veridical perception could be the next best thing, superior to a system that had to figure out the best choice from an inaccurate perception. So if Hoffman's tests allow for some possibly much subtler form of oracle, it would undermine his findings.)
Hoffman's favorite analogy, after which he appears to have named his "ITP" hypothesis, is to compare the world we perceive to a GUI on a computer. The characteristics of the icons on the GUI desktop—their shape, color, position, etc.—do not represent any actual characteristics of the files in the computer; they merely present the underlying reality of the computer files in a useful way. Space, time, and objects are components of our own naturally-evolved fitness-maximizing interface with reality, while reality's actual nature could be completely different and presently unknown. Reality could be discoverable by further research once the counterproductive falsified hypothesis of veridical perception is discarded. He further suggests that the nature of consciousness cannot be understood in terms of perceived objects (e.g. neurons which are just more icons in the interface) or fundamental particles (which are just the pixels of the interface) but might require scientific revelation of the underlying reality instead.
I think he's wrong*, but I'm really curious about how his simulations actually worked. Even if he's wrong, the question of why those experiements produced the results he says they did could be very interesting and revealing about cognitive evolution. Also, maybe he's not wrong, which would also be really interesting.
Here's his TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/donald_hof...ge=en#t-655679
His 2019 book is provocatively titled "The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes." (The publisher has chosen to highlight an endorsement from Deepak Chopra in the publisher's copy on Amazon. :p)
Is anyone familiar with this, or has anyone run across it before? Any thoughts?
*The question "how does perceiving neurons and the functioning of neurons, when using microscopes and sensitive electronics and advanced imagining technologies, increase fitness?" looms large. Our evolving surviving ancestors did not perceive neurons, they perceived squishy meat with no obvious purpose. So why do we perceive them now? How did they get added to our present perceptual "interface" unless they correspond to characteristics of reality?
ETA: Oh, and I've posted this in R&P instead of SMMT because it might be of more interest to regular posters here. To me what's notable here is the science, but until we can get more details of those investigations the discussion will probably tend to drift toward the philosophical.
What appears to set Hoffman apart from eons of philosophical speculation from Plato's Cave to Bishop Berkeley to Hume, is that he's done some investigations of the question "does evolution lead to veridical perception?" using simulated evolution of simulated perception in simulated worlds. He claims that the results have been clear and consistent: that "perception of reality goes extinct." Organisms whose perceptions are accurate succumb to competition from organisms whose perceptions are tuned directly to fitness.
(I don't have a good understanding of what some of those phrases e.g. "tuned to fitness" really mean in the context of the actual experiments he ran. I might have to buy his book to find that out. It's possible that "tuned to fitness" is a cheat, an abstraction that can be built into a simulation of a world but could not be accomplished by a system actually functioning within that world. As a crude example: clearly a perceptual system that would automatically know the most beneficial choice to make in any situation with no sensory input at all—call it an oracle—would out-compete one that had to imperfectly sense and perceive the present state of reality and figure out the best choice from that. But such an oracle is probably not possible, and near-veridical perception could be the next best thing, superior to a system that had to figure out the best choice from an inaccurate perception. So if Hoffman's tests allow for some possibly much subtler form of oracle, it would undermine his findings.)
Hoffman's favorite analogy, after which he appears to have named his "ITP" hypothesis, is to compare the world we perceive to a GUI on a computer. The characteristics of the icons on the GUI desktop—their shape, color, position, etc.—do not represent any actual characteristics of the files in the computer; they merely present the underlying reality of the computer files in a useful way. Space, time, and objects are components of our own naturally-evolved fitness-maximizing interface with reality, while reality's actual nature could be completely different and presently unknown. Reality could be discoverable by further research once the counterproductive falsified hypothesis of veridical perception is discarded. He further suggests that the nature of consciousness cannot be understood in terms of perceived objects (e.g. neurons which are just more icons in the interface) or fundamental particles (which are just the pixels of the interface) but might require scientific revelation of the underlying reality instead.
I think he's wrong*, but I'm really curious about how his simulations actually worked. Even if he's wrong, the question of why those experiements produced the results he says they did could be very interesting and revealing about cognitive evolution. Also, maybe he's not wrong, which would also be really interesting.
Here's his TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/donald_hof...ge=en#t-655679
His 2019 book is provocatively titled "The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes." (The publisher has chosen to highlight an endorsement from Deepak Chopra in the publisher's copy on Amazon. :p)
Is anyone familiar with this, or has anyone run across it before? Any thoughts?
*The question "how does perceiving neurons and the functioning of neurons, when using microscopes and sensitive electronics and advanced imagining technologies, increase fitness?" looms large. Our evolving surviving ancestors did not perceive neurons, they perceived squishy meat with no obvious purpose. So why do we perceive them now? How did they get added to our present perceptual "interface" unless they correspond to characteristics of reality?
ETA: Oh, and I've posted this in R&P instead of SMMT because it might be of more interest to regular posters here. To me what's notable here is the science, but until we can get more details of those investigations the discussion will probably tend to drift toward the philosophical.
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NK cell donation ?
Natural Killer cell donation for the sake of a cancer patient relative. Anybody here know the procedure? Looks like they start with a plasma extraction, but do they put the remains of the plasma back in?
And would diabetes, kidneys, BP(meds) preclude a donor?
And would diabetes, kidneys, BP(meds) preclude a donor?
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samedi 24 août 2019
Modern Medicine And Morality - The Road Leads?
I think we would all agree with the sentiment that modern medicine is wonderful. People are pulled back from the brink of death today with the help of medical procedures and medicines.* Infertile couples are helped to have children. Physically disabled walk again, and so on.
Is there a down side to this?
I think there is but it isn't spoken about. Modern medicine facilitates life, fertility, and mobility where nature has denied it. Modern medicine facilitates it and modern morality demands it. This leads us somewhere I find disturbing to consider. Doubling disturbing because I can't see a solution.
Can others see the down side I contemplate?
* I am one of these.
Is there a down side to this?
I think there is but it isn't spoken about. Modern medicine facilitates life, fertility, and mobility where nature has denied it. Modern medicine facilitates it and modern morality demands it. This leads us somewhere I find disturbing to consider. Doubling disturbing because I can't see a solution.
Can others see the down side I contemplate?
* I am one of these.
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(Alleged) First crime committed in space
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/u...e-mcclain.html
Star Cops here we come!
Quote:
|
Summer Worden, a former Air Force intelligence officer living in Kansas, has been in the midst of a bitter separation and parenting dispute for much of the past year. So she was surprised when she noticed that her estranged spouse still seemed to know things about her spending. Had she bought a car? How could she afford that? Ms. Worden put her intelligence background to work, asking her bank about the locations of computers that had recently accessed her bank account using her login credentials. The bank got back to her with an answer: One was a computer network registered to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Ms. Worden’s spouse, Anne McClain, was a decorated NASA astronaut on a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. She was about to be part of NASA’s first all-female spacewalk. But the couple’s domestic troubles on Earth, it seemed, had extended into outer space. Ms. McClain acknowledged that she had accessed the bank account from space, insisting through a lawyer that she was merely shepherding the couple’s still-intertwined finances. Ms. Worden felt differently. She filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and her family lodged one with NASA’s Office of Inspector General, accusing Ms. McClain of identity theft and improper access to Ms. Worden’s private financial records. |
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vendredi 23 août 2019
The wrong Amazon is burning.
With apologies to some dude/gal on Twitter who thought of that joke first.
Awful as it appears to be, I'm pretty sure the hashtag #PrayForAmazonia is going to be a massive success, just like the #Kony2012 campaign.
On a more serious note, can we hurry up with the Mars terra-forming already?
On a properly serious note, another fire has been brought up [1], the one at the National Museum in Rio from 2018, which amongst other things, affected the collection of maps detailing boundaries of indigenous tribes. The potential for illegal logging and ranching perhaps greater than ever.
[1] - https://twitter.com/indyfromspace/st...32456178864130
Awful as it appears to be, I'm pretty sure the hashtag #PrayForAmazonia is going to be a massive success, just like the #Kony2012 campaign.
On a more serious note, can we hurry up with the Mars terra-forming already?
On a properly serious note, another fire has been brought up [1], the one at the National Museum in Rio from 2018, which amongst other things, affected the collection of maps detailing boundaries of indigenous tribes. The potential for illegal logging and ranching perhaps greater than ever.
[1] - https://twitter.com/indyfromspace/st...32456178864130
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And here I thought it was the right that was nuts...
I seem to recall a thread when this report first came out, likely by Travis, but I can't find it... So, I guess a new one's in order.
https://nypost.com/2016/06/09/scienc...25nTHLyRDvhqwA
Quote:
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Originally Posted by NYP
Science says liberals, not conservatives, are psychotic
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Racist politician hopeful uses God to justify racism
Marysville should stick to only having white couples because God said so, duh:
Note Kathy Hayman has mixed relationships throughout her family.
Quote:
|
“Keep Marysville a white community as much as possible,” said Cramer, one of five candidates vying for three open council seats in November. .... “As long as, how can I put this? What Kathy Hayman doesn’t know is that her family is in the wrong,” she said. “(A) husband and wife need to be the same race. Same thing with kids. That’s how it’s been from the beginning of, how can I say, when God created the heaven and the earth. He created Adam and Eve at the same time. But as far as me being against blacks, no I’m not.” |
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Bullying in school were are the teachers
I got into a fight about twice a month in high school and on the school bus. The guys I was fighting were trying to pick on me. I had black eyes and its amazing I still have most of my teeth. Some of the punks I fought were way bigger than I was and apparently me not just standing there and taking the abuse angered them. However, I had rather go down fighting that just hope it will go away.
A girl I knew was shoved out of the dressing room wearing nothing but a bra and panties and another girl was only wearing a towel when the same thing happened to her. One poor boy was shoved out of the dressing room with nothing on at all. Let's just say except for what his hands could cover he was completely exposed.
Ok nobody was ever punished for doing this. The teachers were whereabouts unknown. Well, I do know where they were. Smoking cigarettes and yakking away in the teacher's lounge.
A lot could be done to stop bullying but sitting out of sight isn't one of them.
A girl I knew was shoved out of the dressing room wearing nothing but a bra and panties and another girl was only wearing a towel when the same thing happened to her. One poor boy was shoved out of the dressing room with nothing on at all. Let's just say except for what his hands could cover he was completely exposed.
Ok nobody was ever punished for doing this. The teachers were whereabouts unknown. Well, I do know where they were. Smoking cigarettes and yakking away in the teacher's lounge.
A lot could be done to stop bullying but sitting out of sight isn't one of them.
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How do psychic mediums know stuff about you
Hello All,
I have been speaking with a medium who said she has a message to give me from my mum. I don't know how she knew my mum has passed away.
I am a skeptic but how can they know things about you when they haven't met you?
She also said that she is an evidential medium and can give me evidence by giving me a message that only me and my mum would know.... pretty freaked out.
I have been speaking with a medium who said she has a message to give me from my mum. I don't know how she knew my mum has passed away.
I am a skeptic but how can they know things about you when they haven't met you?
She also said that she is an evidential medium and can give me evidence by giving me a message that only me and my mum would know.... pretty freaked out.
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mercredi 21 août 2019
In the future there will be no religion!
will science kill religion?
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General election bribes
Was thinking about what else Johnson could come up with as his bribes for when the next GE is called.
Given the news today I reckon it's going to be cancellation of HS2 and the third runway at Heathrow.
Anyone else want to bet on what else ?
Given the news today I reckon it's going to be cancellation of HS2 and the third runway at Heathrow.
Anyone else want to bet on what else ?
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Medical costs
So I'm a UKer, and this thread isn't to boast on the NHS or anything, but I'm kind of curious because I'm a fairly heavy user of medical services and I wanted to get an idea of the costs of the services I do get, if I lived somewhere like the US. Obviously it's going to be difficult to give exact numbers, but just a rough idea is fine.
So most recently, I got a rash. Thought it would go away, it didn't. Turned out to be bigger than expected, too, and came with a persistent headache, so I rang the docs. Got a same day appointment (admittedly this is lucky, usually have to wait a week or two) with a nurse practitioner.
Spent about 30 mins with her. Turned out I had shingles. Yay. She consulted a doctor and put me on two meds, Flucloxacillin and Aciclovir... both of which probably won't do much because I waited too long to go in, but she gave them to me anyway to be on the safe side and hopefully prevent any further spread.
Total cost to me, £0.
So, one nurse visit, one GP consult, couple of boxes of pills. If I'd been American, or other places without an NHS equivalent, and assume no health insurance, what kind of cost would you be looking at for that? Hundreds? Thousands? More?
So most recently, I got a rash. Thought it would go away, it didn't. Turned out to be bigger than expected, too, and came with a persistent headache, so I rang the docs. Got a same day appointment (admittedly this is lucky, usually have to wait a week or two) with a nurse practitioner.
Spent about 30 mins with her. Turned out I had shingles. Yay. She consulted a doctor and put me on two meds, Flucloxacillin and Aciclovir... both of which probably won't do much because I waited too long to go in, but she gave them to me anyway to be on the safe side and hopefully prevent any further spread.
Total cost to me, £0.
So, one nurse visit, one GP consult, couple of boxes of pills. If I'd been American, or other places without an NHS equivalent, and assume no health insurance, what kind of cost would you be looking at for that? Hundreds? Thousands? More?
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The frequency of earthlike planets
Interesting new study published recently with relevancy to the Drake equation.
How many Earth-like planets are around sun-like stars?
So this study is billed as the best estimate to date of the number of "earth-like" planets in orbit around "sun-like" stars.
If you are wondering how those terms are defined for purposes of the research, a sun-like star is an FGK star (link) and an earth-like planet is a planet "from three-quarters to one-and-a-half times the size of earth, with orbital periods ranging from 237 to 500 days". So basically a planet roughly the size of the earth, roughly in a similar orbit to the earth, around a star roughly the size of our own sun.
So their middle estimate is one in four, with one in two at the high end of the range and one in 33 at the low end. So that seems pretty common.
Obviously, to be sure, those parameters do not mean that all or even most of those hypothetical planets would be hospitable to life as we know it. Many are probably closer to Venus or to Mars. But if as a wild guess, 1 in 10 is more like earth than Mars or Venus? What would that imply about the frequency of planets where life is possible?
Never mind intelligent life. If anything, I think it would be cool if the first planet we discover with extraterrestrial life doesn't have an intelligent species like us. That way it wouldn't be a threat and if we could somehow get people there (I know, not easy) we could be the dominant species and just think of all the scientific things we could learn.
How many Earth-like planets are around sun-like stars?
Quote:
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Date: August 14, 2019 Source: Penn State Summary: A new study provides the most accurate estimate of the frequency that planets that are similar to Earth in size and in distance from their host star occur around stars similar to our Sun. |
If you are wondering how those terms are defined for purposes of the research, a sun-like star is an FGK star (link) and an earth-like planet is a planet "from three-quarters to one-and-a-half times the size of earth, with orbital periods ranging from 237 to 500 days". So basically a planet roughly the size of the earth, roughly in a similar orbit to the earth, around a star roughly the size of our own sun.
So their middle estimate is one in four, with one in two at the high end of the range and one in 33 at the low end. So that seems pretty common.
Obviously, to be sure, those parameters do not mean that all or even most of those hypothetical planets would be hospitable to life as we know it. Many are probably closer to Venus or to Mars. But if as a wild guess, 1 in 10 is more like earth than Mars or Venus? What would that imply about the frequency of planets where life is possible?
Never mind intelligent life. If anything, I think it would be cool if the first planet we discover with extraterrestrial life doesn't have an intelligent species like us. That way it wouldn't be a threat and if we could somehow get people there (I know, not easy) we could be the dominant species and just think of all the scientific things we could learn.
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Republicans - what are your favorite environmental policies?
As a Republican, what are your top 3 - 5 favorite policies for dealing with environmental issues? These would be solutions to global warming, species extinction, habitat loss, clean air and water, sustainability, the usual. Including anything currently implemented, still on the drawing board, or entirely novel. I'm also interested in where you put the environment on your list of priorities -- top five, bottom ten? However you want to characterize it.
Why do I ask? Because I feel like I've lost the thread when it comes to Republican environmentalism. I don't know what your side stands for or what you want to see happen. This is your chance to relieve me of my ignorance and extol the virtues of your own favorite initiatives.
What I don't want
-Democrats giving their favorite solutions
-Republicans explaining everything the Democrats are doing wrong
-Solutions on a small scale, like removing plastic straws from restaurants
-Bare naked links. Give at least a brief summary of what's being solved and how
-Nuclear power. I already know that tends to be favored by the right, and I feel like I understand the arguments
I don't expect anyone to be an expert on any given policy, but I do reserve the right to ask questions and press for clarifications.
Why do I ask? Because I feel like I've lost the thread when it comes to Republican environmentalism. I don't know what your side stands for or what you want to see happen. This is your chance to relieve me of my ignorance and extol the virtues of your own favorite initiatives.
What I don't want
-Democrats giving their favorite solutions
-Republicans explaining everything the Democrats are doing wrong
-Solutions on a small scale, like removing plastic straws from restaurants
-Bare naked links. Give at least a brief summary of what's being solved and how
-Nuclear power. I already know that tends to be favored by the right, and I feel like I understand the arguments
I don't expect anyone to be an expert on any given policy, but I do reserve the right to ask questions and press for clarifications.
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Facebook rolling out your control of data shared with apps and websites
That scary feeling when Facebook shows you an ad from something you looked at elsewhere?
"To help shed more light on these practices that are common yet not always well understood, today we’re introducing a new way to view and control your off-Facebook activity. Off-Facebook Activity lets you see a summary of the apps and websites that send us information about your activity, and clear this information from your account if you want to. "
https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/08...book-activity/
By Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer, Policy, and David Baser, Director of Product Management
"We are starting by gradually making Off-Facebook Activity available to people in Ireland, South Korea and Spain. We will continue to roll it out everywhere over the coming months to help ensure it’s working reliably for everyone."
I'm relieved, and really hope this includes Google and Siri, but data sharing should be opt-in, not opt-out!
"To help shed more light on these practices that are common yet not always well understood, today we’re introducing a new way to view and control your off-Facebook activity. Off-Facebook Activity lets you see a summary of the apps and websites that send us information about your activity, and clear this information from your account if you want to. "
https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/08...book-activity/
By Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer, Policy, and David Baser, Director of Product Management
"We are starting by gradually making Off-Facebook Activity available to people in Ireland, South Korea and Spain. We will continue to roll it out everywhere over the coming months to help ensure it’s working reliably for everyone."
I'm relieved, and really hope this includes Google and Siri, but data sharing should be opt-in, not opt-out!
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mardi 20 août 2019
The Time Warp Poll - When Was America "Great"
In another thread, we are pontificating on the general use of political slogans, "Make America Great Again", in particular.
Notwithstanding said discussions, it occurred to me that we haven't (and in the case of the GOP and Trump, intentionally haven't) even got a reference point. Just when was there this "America, The Great" that we want to get back to.
The poll is based on the calendar. I've tried to clump the decades together, somewhat, e.g. 1950 to 1970 covers a lot of territory, but is generally considered the post-war "boom" years.
Please support your choice with a narrative. Why do you think the particular era you chose is representative of When America Was Great and Why We Should Get Back to That Era.
Note for Trumpistas: A) You're evil and we all know it. B) You are going to be out there supporting KAGA, so you're required to answer "Since Trump's Inauguration". But I've included the antebellum 19th century just to give you pause.
The choices, in reverse chronological order:
Since January 2017.
2000-2016
1975-1999
1950-1975
1940s (WWII and immediate aftermath)
1930s
1920s
1910s
1880-1909
1865-1880
1861-1865 (Civil War Years)
1820-1860 (antebellum America)
1770-1819
Think of it as Westworld with multiple options. If you could go back to a time in America when it was actually GREAT, where would you pop up on the time line?
Notwithstanding said discussions, it occurred to me that we haven't (and in the case of the GOP and Trump, intentionally haven't) even got a reference point. Just when was there this "America, The Great" that we want to get back to.
The poll is based on the calendar. I've tried to clump the decades together, somewhat, e.g. 1950 to 1970 covers a lot of territory, but is generally considered the post-war "boom" years.
Please support your choice with a narrative. Why do you think the particular era you chose is representative of When America Was Great and Why We Should Get Back to That Era.
Note for Trumpistas: A) You're evil and we all know it. B) You are going to be out there supporting KAGA, so you're required to answer "Since Trump's Inauguration". But I've included the antebellum 19th century just to give you pause.
The choices, in reverse chronological order:
Since January 2017.
2000-2016
1975-1999
1950-1975
1940s (WWII and immediate aftermath)
1930s
1920s
1910s
1880-1909
1865-1880
1861-1865 (Civil War Years)
1820-1860 (antebellum America)
1770-1819
Think of it as Westworld with multiple options. If you could go back to a time in America when it was actually GREAT, where would you pop up on the time line?
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Questioning Pseudo-Skepticism
Pseudo-skepticism is worse than religious fanaticism!
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This Forum is too Liberal
Liberalism is the voice of the Orwell driven PC Thought Police.
Hyperbolic Broad Brush Statement made!
Hyperbolic Broad Brush Statement made!
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lundi 19 août 2019
Study suggests link between fluoride and IQ — but don't panic just yet
Study of fluoride during pregnancy and children's IQ raises questions but draws criticism
Here's the study, for those who are more qualified than I am to read scientific studies. But without good reason I'm not changing my opinion of water fluoridation.
Quote:
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A new study links fluoride consumption during pregnancy to lower IQ in children, but experts are saying it's not time to rush out and filter your H2O just yet. Researchers in Canada found women who drank fluoridated tap water while pregnant had children with slightly lower IQ scores than women who lived in non-fluoridated cities. The message from public health experts, however, is "don't panic". While the authors of the study claim the research "raises possible concern", other researchers say the findings don't move the needle much — if at all — on the question of fluoride safety. "The overwhelming body of evidence is still supporting water fluoridation," said Matt Hopcraft, associate professor of dental public health at the University of Melbourne. "Here's a single study that points a little in the other direction. I think we just need to be cautious." |
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The myth of frozen vegetable nutrition
Do a search on "frozen vegetable nutrition" or "fresh vs frozen" or similar and you'll find (or at least I found, going to numerous sites, including WebMD) that "frozen is about the same" in terms of nutrition, and they give sound reasoning as to why.
Then why is it that pretty much ALL the frozen vegetables any store around here sells have little to no nutrition whatsoever? And this includes so-called "organic" ones? Some weird regional thing? Anyone else see this?
Then why is it that pretty much ALL the frozen vegetables any store around here sells have little to no nutrition whatsoever? And this includes so-called "organic" ones? Some weird regional thing? Anyone else see this?
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What we mean when we talk about racism
Sometimes it seems to me that people are envisioning different things when discussing racism. Is a person a racist? Or does it speak to a certain configuration of society, which makes any systematic "othering" racist, whether it literally has to do with skin color or not? An article in The New Yorker talked about two recent books. One is "How to be An Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi. He has a towering reputation as a scholar. I question some of his conclusions, though.
The fight to redefine racism
According to Kendi, Barack Obama was being racist when, as a candidate in 2008, he spoke of the "erosion of black families."
He sees racist thinking in his parents, and, as a high school student, in himself:
He came to believe this thinking implies that there's something wrong with black people. And I see his point. But does that mean his parents were wrong to stress self-reliance? Isn't it a positive for individuals to aspire to self-improvement?
He was at a historically black college, so I'm thinking he's saying that he wouldn't date a light-skinned black woman. Which kinda strikes me as ... racist. His dates had to be black enough, no matter what other qualities they might have.
Moving on from him, we have Robin DiAngelo, "a white workplace-diversity trainer." She wrote "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism."
That seems ... like a reach.
The author of the piece, Kelefa Sanneh, gently mocks DiAngelo's nobilization of "people of color," and he puts the phrase in quotes, saying it conveniently boils the world down into 2 categories, white and nonwhite. He also has criticism of Kendi, but it's quite respectful. Both of these authors have put a lot of thought into how they define racism and I was wondering if forum members have their own definitions and perhaps their own remedies, if any are needed.
The fight to redefine racism
According to Kendi, Barack Obama was being racist when, as a candidate in 2008, he spoke of the "erosion of black families."
Quote:
|
Although Obama noted that this erosion was partly due to “a lack of economic opportunity,” he also made an appeal to black self-reliance, saying that members of the African-American community needed to face “our own complicity in our condition.” Kendi saw statements like these as reflections of a persistent but delusional idea that something is wrong with black people. The only thing wrong, he maintained, was racism, and the country’s failure to confront and defeat it. |
Quote:
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Kendi’s parents taught him black pride, and he took these lessons seriously. As Kendi tells it, his parents’ belief in black pride led them to embrace black self-reliance, a doctrine that urged black people to overcome the legacy of racism by working hard and doing well. |
Quote:
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By the time he got to college, Kendi was outspokenly pro-black: he “pledged to date only Dark women,” as a personal protest against standards of beauty that favor lighter skin. |
Moving on from him, we have Robin DiAngelo, "a white workplace-diversity trainer." She wrote "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism."
Quote:
|
In the sanctuaries she creates, one of the rules is that white people, especially white women, should not cry. It attracts too much attention, and it may upset nonwhite participants, by evoking the “long historical backdrop of black men being tortured and murdered because of a white woman’s distress.” If DiAngelo herself can’t resist, she performs a ritual of abnegation. “I try to cry quietly so that I don’t take up more space,” she writes, “and if people rush to comfort me, I do not accept the comfort.” |
The author of the piece, Kelefa Sanneh, gently mocks DiAngelo's nobilization of "people of color," and he puts the phrase in quotes, saying it conveniently boils the world down into 2 categories, white and nonwhite. He also has criticism of Kendi, but it's quite respectful. Both of these authors have put a lot of thought into how they define racism and I was wondering if forum members have their own definitions and perhaps their own remedies, if any are needed.
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Iceland commemorates first glacier lost to climate change
Iceland on Sunday honoured the passing of Okjokull, its first glacier lost to climate change, as scientists warn that some 400 others on the subarctic island risk the same fate. As the world recently marked the warmest July ever on record, a bronze plaque was mounted on a bare rock in a ceremony on the former glacier in western Iceland, attended by local researchers and their peers at Rice University in the United States who initiated the project.
https://m.phys.org/news/2019-08-icel...t-climate.html
https://m.phys.org/news/2019-08-icel...t-climate.html
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dimanche 18 août 2019
Another mass-shooter interdicted
I started posting stories like this in the mass shootings thread, because I believe cases of attempted or intended mass shootings should get as much coverage as "successful" ones. But I anticipate someone might complain about that in an attempt to shut down discourse, so I've put this newest story here and given this thread a generic enough title that perhaps future cases of people who have been stopped after attempting, planning, or credibly threatening mass firearm-enabled violence can have a central thread.
This case comes to us from Ohio, where a man was arrested and his house raided after he posted a threat to shoot up a local Jewish community center
This case comes to us from Ohio, where a man was arrested and his house raided after he posted a threat to shoot up a local Jewish community center
Quote:
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The cause for alarm is the arrest of a self-identified 20-year-old white nationalist from New Middletown. The Youngstown Jewish Area Federation thanked the police department and the FBI for their help after an alleged threat was posted to Instagram. A video allegedly posted by the 20-year-old New Middletown resident on July 11 on Instagram, shows him firing multiple rounds, which is legal. The caption under the post led to his arrest. It said, "Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as white nationalist Seamus O'Reardon." New Middletown's police chief tells us I-R-A Seamus was the online pseudonym for James Patrick Reardon. New Middletown Police Chief Vince D'egidio said, "He was implying that he was going to be identified as the shooter of the Jewish Center. That kicked off a very intensive investigation, a very rapidly evolving investigation." The Youngstown Police Department was notified along with the security team at JCC, and the FBI was called to assist the department. With the cooperation of the agencies and courts, police served a search warrant at Reardon's mothers home on Eastwood Drive in New Middletown. They confiscated two AR-15's, a rifle with a bayonet, a 40 caliber anti-tank gun, and knives. There were several magazines and 223 ammunition, a gas mask, and a bulletproof vest were also taken from the home. In addition to the weapons and ammunition that were seized, Reardon's electronic devices were also taken. They will be searched and analyzed to find out if he had been radicalized or if they reveal any plans he had posted, along with sites he has searched for information. Police also found a flask with a Confederate flag and jacket with an IRA, Irish Republican Army, patches on it. D'Egidio added, "There were several videos that he posted on Instagram where he used a lot of derogatory remarks towards the Jewish community, and the African-American community, things of that nature." A 2017 YouTube video and interview from the Charlottesville white supremacist rally in Virginia, shows Reardon answering a question and explaining that his parents don't agree with his views, that his mom is a union teacher, and his dad a blue-collar worker. He says that he is a white nationalist, and he wants a homeland for white people. |
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Everything Debunked: 200+ Paranormal Mysteries Solved
sorry cant post links yet, wish i could easily embed these:
youtu.be /cdt7SNbdaWo
youtu.be /cdt7SNbdaWo
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Atlantis, anyone got good documentaries?
Hi! I’m wondering if anyone can recommend any documentaries or videos with the subject of a serious/interesting/non ridiculous discussion of places that might have inspired Plato’s Atlantis. Most of the stuff that comes up in casual search is just ever so slightly crystal gazey.
It’d be neat to see both that and the history of how pop culture has interacted with the story. Reading the wiki is fun and all but I’d really enjoy hearing an enthusiast go on about it.
It’d be neat to see both that and the history of how pop culture has interacted with the story. Reading the wiki is fun and all but I’d really enjoy hearing an enthusiast go on about it.
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Has the identity of "William Shake-speare" been suppressed for over four centuries?
And with it his purpose in writing plays for the public stage, and the publishing of his poetry?
Oxfordians have now fleshed out the story of Edward de Vere, a flawed and even tortured genius (as many are), his life and the people and experiences he drew on to create his vivid stories and characters, to such an extent that almost nothing remains unexplainable about the otherwise inexplicable origin of the genius who practically re-invented English
It actually amounts to nothing less than a re-writing of the history of the Elizabethan period, which was arguably a turning point, one of the most important few decades in English history and a consequence of the later English-speaking world (the 'anglosphere'), as the Feudal order that had lasted for six hundred years, of power held by the land owners comprising the "wolfish Earls" (one of whom was "Shake-speare" himself) finally passed.
The inertia of dogma and conflicts of interest (or simply vested interests) are ensuring strident, vociferous resistance by defenders of what can now seen as an absurd fairy tale - that of the "the Divine William", the "Stratford man" supposedly possessed of such utterly unique genius that he didn't even need an education or access to books in order create literary masterpieces which he conjured fully-formed as if out of the ether. Essentially a partly unintentional revival of the contemporary, politically-expedient cover-up/hoax of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods, when the plays themselves were being rediscovered in the late 18th and 19th centuries after a long hiatus in relative obscurity.
Many, many notably savvy and intellectual people voiced their scepticism of the fairy tale long before de Vere as the real writer was even suggested, beginning almost as soon as the plays regained their fame in the 19th C., but that doesn't stop 'Stratfordians' calling 'Oxfordians' "conspiracy theorists" (among many other things). Not that there wasn't an actual conspiracy, orchestrated largely by the Cecils, to bury the name of de Vere and any connection of the plays and poetry to the court and Elizabeth herself.
de Vere Society
https://deveresociety.co.uk/public/
Politicworm (excellent site)
https://politicworm.com/
Oxfordians have now fleshed out the story of Edward de Vere, a flawed and even tortured genius (as many are), his life and the people and experiences he drew on to create his vivid stories and characters, to such an extent that almost nothing remains unexplainable about the otherwise inexplicable origin of the genius who practically re-invented English
It actually amounts to nothing less than a re-writing of the history of the Elizabethan period, which was arguably a turning point, one of the most important few decades in English history and a consequence of the later English-speaking world (the 'anglosphere'), as the Feudal order that had lasted for six hundred years, of power held by the land owners comprising the "wolfish Earls" (one of whom was "Shake-speare" himself) finally passed.
The inertia of dogma and conflicts of interest (or simply vested interests) are ensuring strident, vociferous resistance by defenders of what can now seen as an absurd fairy tale - that of the "the Divine William", the "Stratford man" supposedly possessed of such utterly unique genius that he didn't even need an education or access to books in order create literary masterpieces which he conjured fully-formed as if out of the ether. Essentially a partly unintentional revival of the contemporary, politically-expedient cover-up/hoax of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods, when the plays themselves were being rediscovered in the late 18th and 19th centuries after a long hiatus in relative obscurity.
Many, many notably savvy and intellectual people voiced their scepticism of the fairy tale long before de Vere as the real writer was even suggested, beginning almost as soon as the plays regained their fame in the 19th C., but that doesn't stop 'Stratfordians' calling 'Oxfordians' "conspiracy theorists" (among many other things). Not that there wasn't an actual conspiracy, orchestrated largely by the Cecils, to bury the name of de Vere and any connection of the plays and poetry to the court and Elizabeth herself.
de Vere Society
https://deveresociety.co.uk/public/
Politicworm (excellent site)
https://politicworm.com/
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Thoughts on "Make America Great Again"
I was listening to the radio in my car the other night. As is frequently the case, it was tuned to the right wing talk radio station. For some reason, I can't really listen to music for long stretches. NPR is only on for a few hours and this wasn't one of them. I always want to hear what they are thinking, although some of them drive me crazy.
One yapper's show was starting. I don't know whose, to be honest. It was late at night when I'm not usually listening. He starts his show with a montage of famous American historical quotes. They are things like "Give me liberty or give me death", "All men are created equal", "I have a dream", "Ask not what your country can do for you...", and because he's a right winger, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" and, reserved for last, "We are going to Make America Great Again"
The proximity of the "Make America Great Again" quote to the "Ask not..." quote struck me as interesting. I got to thinking. Donald Trump wants to make America great again, but he never asks anyone to do anything. He doesn't demand anything from Americans. He doesn't call for Americans to work harder. He doesn't call for Americans to strive for excellence. He doesn't ask Americans to make sacrifices. He sure as hell doesn't ask anyone to pay for the cost of whatever it is that will make America great again. He just declares that it will happen.
That's a real contrast to the Kennedy quote. Kennedy was telling people to ask themselves what they could to for their country. He was putting the onus on the citizens to make America great. In another famous quote, he said that we chose to go to the moon and do other things not because they were easy, but because they were hard. He implied that Americans would have to put forward a lot of effort to make it happen.
FDR called on people to show courage and not fear. Kennedy called on people to ask what they could do for their country. I can recall Jimmy Carter asking people to sacrifice to conserve energy. George H. W. Bush called for a volunteer spirit, asking for people to become one of the "thousand points of light".
What have the more recent presidents asked of us? Did Bill Clinton ask people to step up to the challenges? George W. Bush assured us that our military was going to crush the terrorists, but did he ask anything of ordinary Americans? Obama would do all sorts of things for us, but I can't recall him asking us to do anything, and Trump will Make America Great Again, but he doesn't say what we ought to do to make it happen. It sounds like it will be done for us.
Watching documentaries as the 50th anniversary of the moon landing neared, one segment struck me. Some people who had been teenagers during the post Sputnik era recalled how people seemed to take it personally that America needed to catch up and lead the way into space. They talked, without exaggeration, about how they felt it was their patriotic duty to study their math and advance science and technology in whatever way they could. Does that spirit exist today?
Conservatives decry the state of our educational system today, and they take aim at the cult of self esteem, which tells educators to praise students unfailingly for even the slightest accomplishment, or even no accomplishment, but for their effort alone. If the truth be told, they often praise that effort, even when a critical observer might question whether that effort was all that substantial. I cannot count how many times I have heard a speaker after an event for students declare that every one of them did a fantastic job. Really? Isn't anyone below average?
Ironically, a Republican, Donald Trump, seems to embody that spirit better than any recent politician. His self-aggrandizement is legendary, and he encourages others to similarly heap praise on themselves. We are great, apparently, by grace of God, not through our effort, and all we have to do to Make America Great Again is acknowledge our greatness. This is what the cult of self esteem has brought us. A substantial portion of the US electorate was willing to support a man who declared himself the best at everything, and all of the people's problems would go away without labor, effort, or sacrifice, as long as they basked in his glory.
Trump's approach doesn't seem to me like a recipe for greatness. I think to Make America Great Again, or at least to improve its level of greatness, we need something from our people, and especially from our young people who will carry our nation into the future. It won't happen by putting on a magic hat. I don't see anyone, especially Trump, demanding the type of effort that will turn rhetoric into reality..
One yapper's show was starting. I don't know whose, to be honest. It was late at night when I'm not usually listening. He starts his show with a montage of famous American historical quotes. They are things like "Give me liberty or give me death", "All men are created equal", "I have a dream", "Ask not what your country can do for you...", and because he's a right winger, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" and, reserved for last, "We are going to Make America Great Again"
The proximity of the "Make America Great Again" quote to the "Ask not..." quote struck me as interesting. I got to thinking. Donald Trump wants to make America great again, but he never asks anyone to do anything. He doesn't demand anything from Americans. He doesn't call for Americans to work harder. He doesn't call for Americans to strive for excellence. He doesn't ask Americans to make sacrifices. He sure as hell doesn't ask anyone to pay for the cost of whatever it is that will make America great again. He just declares that it will happen.
That's a real contrast to the Kennedy quote. Kennedy was telling people to ask themselves what they could to for their country. He was putting the onus on the citizens to make America great. In another famous quote, he said that we chose to go to the moon and do other things not because they were easy, but because they were hard. He implied that Americans would have to put forward a lot of effort to make it happen.
FDR called on people to show courage and not fear. Kennedy called on people to ask what they could do for their country. I can recall Jimmy Carter asking people to sacrifice to conserve energy. George H. W. Bush called for a volunteer spirit, asking for people to become one of the "thousand points of light".
What have the more recent presidents asked of us? Did Bill Clinton ask people to step up to the challenges? George W. Bush assured us that our military was going to crush the terrorists, but did he ask anything of ordinary Americans? Obama would do all sorts of things for us, but I can't recall him asking us to do anything, and Trump will Make America Great Again, but he doesn't say what we ought to do to make it happen. It sounds like it will be done for us.
Watching documentaries as the 50th anniversary of the moon landing neared, one segment struck me. Some people who had been teenagers during the post Sputnik era recalled how people seemed to take it personally that America needed to catch up and lead the way into space. They talked, without exaggeration, about how they felt it was their patriotic duty to study their math and advance science and technology in whatever way they could. Does that spirit exist today?
Conservatives decry the state of our educational system today, and they take aim at the cult of self esteem, which tells educators to praise students unfailingly for even the slightest accomplishment, or even no accomplishment, but for their effort alone. If the truth be told, they often praise that effort, even when a critical observer might question whether that effort was all that substantial. I cannot count how many times I have heard a speaker after an event for students declare that every one of them did a fantastic job. Really? Isn't anyone below average?
Ironically, a Republican, Donald Trump, seems to embody that spirit better than any recent politician. His self-aggrandizement is legendary, and he encourages others to similarly heap praise on themselves. We are great, apparently, by grace of God, not through our effort, and all we have to do to Make America Great Again is acknowledge our greatness. This is what the cult of self esteem has brought us. A substantial portion of the US electorate was willing to support a man who declared himself the best at everything, and all of the people's problems would go away without labor, effort, or sacrifice, as long as they basked in his glory.
Trump's approach doesn't seem to me like a recipe for greatness. I think to Make America Great Again, or at least to improve its level of greatness, we need something from our people, and especially from our young people who will carry our nation into the future. It won't happen by putting on a magic hat. I don't see anyone, especially Trump, demanding the type of effort that will turn rhetoric into reality..
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/2YZ0YUo
samedi 17 août 2019
How do people know how to hang themselves?
I feel like if I was super depressed trapped in a jail cell or even just my house I'd have no clue how to kill myself in this manner.
It doesn't appear to be the most intuitive thing yet people around the world regularly perform it alone and succeed. Do people just hear about other people doing it and try to replicate it?
It doesn't appear to be the most intuitive thing yet people around the world regularly perform it alone and succeed. Do people just hear about other people doing it and try to replicate it?
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/2Zcp4GK
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