5 dead in Sacramento School Shooting....

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/cr...258904863.html

Jesus, that is just a half a mile from where I live.

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Alternative History: Should the U.S./U.K. have cooperated with Russia in WW2

Here is a question for any alternative history buffs out there....

In World War 2, following the German attack on Russia/The Soviet Union, the allies cooperated with Russia (with the U.S. supplying tons of food, various weapons, etc.)

If we knew then what we know now (that Germany was perhaps not as strong as thought, that following the war multiple states would end up being behind the Iron curtain, etc.), was it a good idea to provide any assistance to Russia, or would the U.S./U.K./etc. been better off to just leave Russia to "go it alone" in its war against Germany?

My thoughts on the matter:

- Although U.S. aid was beneficial, Russia still had significant resources. They probably would have continued to keep a substantial number of German troops occupied, thus weakening the Germans on the western/African front

- The lack of Russian aid might have limited their ability to advance on Germany, which might mean that countries like Poland or East Germany might have been Democratic in the immediate after math of World War 2.

So what do people think? Would leaving Russia to go it alone cause the war to drag on longer than it needed to go? Would Russia have actually collapsed without western aid?

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Roman Mosiac Found In London

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/ro...gbr/index.html

But what have the Romans done for us lately?

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If the neo-Nazis in Ukraine survive...

If Ukraine manages to repel the invasion and things settle down, could we see a civil war develop between the Western libdem friendly leadership and the far right, the neo-Nazis?

I fear this could happen and then people will blame the US and EU for "arming neo-Nazis". Putin could look like the smart guy and though most people are bringing up WW2 or Interwar period analogies I think a more striking parallel is the intentional conflation of the moderate Chechen government with the radical Islamists in the Chechen wars.

The extremist right on both sides of the conflict seem to want pretty much the same thing, but each of them wants to be the ones to do it. Activists associated with the Azov movement spread propaganda of Franco Freda, who ironically praises Putin as Europe's white savior. I think we could see the far right on both sides of the border link up and take advantage of the post-war conditions to attempt to take power or carve out their own nation-state in one corner of the country.

Or am i just paranoid as usual.

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Russia vs Ukraine: Explained In 10-Minutes

[YT]nK-yJD_fAtk[/YT]
WION: World Is One News.
Premiered: 21 February 2022.
"We begin, in the 9th Century..."

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US military being held back by lack of "political will"

This came up in one of the Ukraine threads and I'm interested in delving in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by theprestige (Post 13742610) Counterpoint: The US lacked the political will to decisively occupy and secure Fallujah. The US did not lack the equipment, morale, and logistics to decisively occupy and secure Fallujah. I don't know much about the details of the Tet Offensive and the retaking of Hue, but my understanding is that Tet was an all-out shock offensive with no reserves held back for follow-through, and it completely back-footed the US and Vietnamese forces. And the biggest casualty on the US side was still the political will to keep fighting.

I've heard this claim before when the US is having a hard time with an operation, that they could totally win if they weren't hamstrung politically from back home.

No doubt it CAN have some truth to it--I think Vietnam was an example of the US's military ambitions frustrated by losing the will to fight back home. I'm not 100% sure that greater resolve would have led to a better outcome then, but that's not what I'm going on about here.

So now there's a specific example to consider, Fallujah. Were there any political concerns in the way of taking whatever steps were necessary? Seems to me the war was unpopular, but individual victories were not.

I guess the question is twofold:

1. What political risks caused concern in pressing Fallujah?

2. Did those apparent risks affect our operational decisions at that time in a way that reduced our effectiveness? Looking for specifics on what we didn't do that generals wanted to.

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Russia threatens Finland & Sweden

So, Russia has now decided to threaten Sweden and Finland with military action if they dare to pursue NATO membership.

Seriously Putin?? Are you this nuts?

Maybe countries wouldn't be so keen on joining NATO if Russia wasn't threatening everyone.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/russia...nd-sweden-nato

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[Continuation] Corona Virus Conspiracy Theories Part V

Continued from here. You may freely quote from previous threads in this series.

Posted By:Agatha

Quote:

Originally Posted by eerok (Post 13741917) I can't devote my whole day to sneering at you and your lame sources, sorry.

Oh sure, right....of course you were not cherry picking. I understand your point.

Quote:

Rare Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome Detected in Vaccinated Young: Lancet Study https://www.theepochtimes.com/rare-m...9ffnvON7XXBaCi

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[Split Thread] Cold War vs Hot war

Quote:

Originally Posted by dudalb (Post 13741285) Cold War 2 has begun. I think that it has finally set in that you simply cannot trust Putin, that although clever he is basically irrational and meglomaniac in his aims, and you just cannot do business with him. I really think Russia will be something of a pariah state until Putin's demise.

Seems a tad warmer than the last one.

split from http://www.internationalskeptics.com...JREF_Forum_top

Posted By:jimbob

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Justification for Conscription?

I said I would make a separate thread on this.

There were some interesting arguments that in a choice of survival, conscription is justified. But that seems to obviously collide that the person not wishing to be conscripted disagrees (or would like to leave).

Then there is the argument about the social contract. But when slavery was legal, was that part of the social contract?

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Ketanji Brown Jackson nominated to Supreme Court

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/25/polit...son/index.html

Let the "I'm totally not racist" racists find things wrong with her starting... now.

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[Split Thread] Factors affecting the petrol/gas price at the pump

https://media.nbclosangeles.com/2021...ze=1200%2C675" Gas prices within the USA, as of 2/22/22

don't hotlink unless sites explicitly allow it

Responding to this mod box in thread will be off topic Posted By:jimbob

split from the Russian Invasion of Ukraine thread

Posted By:jimbob

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Putin > Biden and Zelenskyy is a clown: Prove Me Wrong

In 2014, the US overthrew the democratically elected Ukraine government and installed a neo-Nazi dictator in a CIA led coup. The following Presidents were no better. The current guy Zelenskyy used to be a clown - literally. He's supported by the West because he's completely sold the Ukraine out to western interests. The Ukrainian military is run by neo-Nazi's. In fact, there is an entire regiment in the Ukrainian military staffed entirely by dedicated neo-Nazis called the Azov. The Ukrainian government is completely corrupt. Remember Biden had them halt the investigation in to Burisma because his son was being paid millions in kickbacks.

The Donbass region of the Ukraine speaks Russian. Nearly half the people in the Donbass are ethnic Russians. They got sick of Zelenskyy the Clown screwing them over, so they held local elections to see if they should declare independence from the Ukraine, which the vote approved. The people in the Donbass are generally friendly toward the Russians. They are not the one's fighting. They see this as a Russian peacekeeping mission.

We have no business being in that place. I hope Putin does what he says and wipes out all the Nazis and kicks out all the corrupt scumbags doing dirty deals with our government. Putin says he has no interest in sticking around or occupying the place. He doesn't need to. I trust Putin more than Biden or Zelenskyy, which is insane to even contemplate, but it goes to show how useless and corrupt our own government is.

Learn a little history.

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

Oh, and one more thing. Last year the US government admitted the Pentagon is controlling biological laboratories all over the Ukraine. I'm sure they are completely safe, and the following article listing a long series of deadly infectious outbreaks surrounding them is purely coincidental.

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CNN Special on Alex Jones

Sunday, Feb 29th CNN is doing a special on Alec Jones called "The King Of COnspracies." Should be interesting.

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The Russian Invasion of the Ukraine.

I think this needs it;s own thread.

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Lauren Boebert’s Newest Challenger Kicks Off Campaign With Literal Storm of [Dookie]

Lauren Boebert’s Newest Challenger Kicks Off Campaign With Literal Storm of ****

Quote:

Political newcomer Alex Walker, the latest Democratic challenger to toss his hat into the ring to unseat MAGA-boosting Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), announced his presence with perhaps the most nauseating campaign ad ever. The two-minute online video that debuted Tuesday starts with a woman getting crushed by a giant pile of feces, followed by other townsfolk trying to avoid a literal storm of ****. Eventually, Walker emerges and picks up a soiled teddy bear before announcing he has joined a crowded race to defeat the mudslinging congresswoman. “We are real Coloradans. We deserve a living wage, small government that actually works, and freedom of choice,” he says. “Instead, we have ********.” Alongside references to the unhinged conspiracy theory QAnon—which Boebert has previously supported—the ad also features an actress portraying the congresswoman spraying her office with sewage. “Don’t you ever wonder where it’s all coming from?” Walker asks in the video. “Colorado needs a bull, not a ********ter. I’m Alex Walker and I approve the **** out of this message!” Walker, who is openly gay, says in his campaign announcement that he was raised by Republican parents. He also cites his business experience and the loss of his brother to suicide as reasons why he is running. Walker is now the 11th Democrat to join the race in hopes of unseating the first-term pro-Trump lawmaker.

This ad is definitely NSFW:

[yt]IfDr9nZAAMk[/yt]

Edited to add: The forum software censors the URL of the link, so if you click it, just replace the four asterisks with you-know-what.

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[Split From] [Continuation] The Biden Presidency Part II

*sighs* Florida Republican's "Don't Say Gay" bill just got even worse. Now, it's been amended to include mandatory disclosure of all information to the parents, even if the information is expected to cause harm to the student.

Quote:

House Bill 1557, as it's written, bars school personnel from discouraging or prohibiting the notification of parents or parental involvement in critical decisions affecting a student's mental, emotional or physical health or well-being. Such information, however, could be withheld from a student's parents "if a reasonably prudent person would believe that disclosure would result in abuse, abandonment, or neglect." But the amendment filed last week by one of the bill's sponsors, Republican State Rep. Joe Harding, places a six-week time limit until when information learned by school officials from a student would need to be disclosed to a parent. It mandates that school personnel "shall develop a plan...to disclose such information within 6 weeks after the decision to withhold such information from the parent.

That just sounds outright evil. Meh, the whole friggin' bill sounds evil, but that just sinks it even further as it breaks even the fig leaf "protection" offered.

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A small victory for sanity

San Francisco recalls 3 members of city’s school board

Quote:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco residents recalled three members of the city’s school board Tuesday for what critics called misplaced priorities and putting progressive politics over the needs of children during the pandemic. Voters overwhelmingly approved the recall in a special election, according to tallies by the San Francisco Department of Elections.

Quote:

Opponents called the recall a waste of time and money as the district challenges that include a $125 million budget deficit and the need to replace retiring Superintendent Vincent Matthews.

Remember that argument about the $125 million budget deficit; it will be relevant later.

Quote:

Parents in the politically liberal city launched the recall effort in January 2021 out of frustration over the slow reopening of district schools, while the board pursued the renaming of 44 school sites and the elimination of competitive admissions at the elite Lowell High School. “The city of San Francisco has risen up and said this is not acceptable to put our kids last,” said Siva Raj, a father of two who helped launch the recall effort. “Talk is not going to educate our children, it’s action. It’s not about symbolic action, it’s not about changing the name on a school, it is about helping kids inside the school building read and learn math.”

Quote:

Collins, Lopez and Moliga had defended their records, saying they prioritized racial equity because that was what they were elected to do.

The recall effort was apparently led by Asian-American parents. Getting rid of competitive admissions for elite high schools in the name of "racial equity" hurts them the most. Also, the schools still haven't gone back to in-person classes yet, which has also been a big problem for working parents who have to stay home to babysit their kids during school hours. And of course, it has been terrible for the kids themselves in many ways, including increases childhood obesity and mental health problems. And I'll wager it's been especially bad for disadvantaged kids and single-parent households. (Evidences; more evidences)

Quote:

One of the first issues to grab national attention was the board’s January 2021 decision to rename 44 schools they said honored public figures linked to racism, sexism and other injustices. On the list were Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and trailblazing U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. The effort drew swift criticism for historical mistakes. Critics said it made a mockery of the country’s racial reckoning. Angry parents asked why the board would waste time renaming schools when the priority needed to be reopening classrooms. After an uproar, the school board scrapped the plan. Collins came under fire again for tweets she wrote in 2016 that were widely criticized as racist. In them Collins, who is Black, said Asian Americans used “white supremacist” thinking to get ahead and were racist toward Black students. Racism against Asian Americans has come under a renewed focus since reports of attacks and discrimination escalated with the spread of the coronavirus, which first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. Collins said the tweets were taken out of context and posted before she held her school board position. She refused to take them down or apologize for the wording and ignored calls to resign from parents, Breed and other public officials. Collins turned around and sued the district and her colleagues for $87 million, fueling yet another pandemic sideshow. The lawsuit was later dismissed.

That sure shows who she puts first. If the $125 million budget deficit is a reason why the recall effort is a waste of time and money, demanding $87 million from the district for your hurt feeling seems unlikely to remedy that situation. That's money that would have to be taken out of school budgets.

Quote:

Many Asian parents were already angered by the board’s efforts to end merit-based admissions at the elite Lowell High School, where Asian students are the majority. As a result, many Asian American residents were motivated to vote for the first time in a municipal election. The grassroots Chinese/API Voter Outreach Task Force group, which formed in mid-December, said it registered 560 new Asian American voters. Ann Hsu, a mother of two who helped found the task force, said many Chinese voters saw the effort to change the Lowell admissions system as a direct attack. “It is so blatantly discriminatory against Asians,” she said. In the city’s Chinese community, Lowell is viewed as a path children can take to success.

So, a small victory for sanity, but a victory nonetheless.

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imminent merger of supermassive black holes?

And by immanent I mean not sometime in the next million years. If the model is correct it will happen sometime this year!


https://www.science.org/content/arti...oles-predicted

Quote:

The researchers confirmed the month long oscillation in x-ray observations from NASA’s orbiting Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. If this decreasing trend continues, the black holes, which Jiang says come as close to each other as the Sun is to Pluto, will merge in the next 100 to 300 days, they report in the paper, which has not been peer reviewed.

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Dem Congressional Candidate Sorry for Getting Drunk and Berating Girls

At a slumber party, no less:

Quote:

A U.S. House candidate in Oklahoma has apologized after reports that she became intoxicated at a Valentine’s Day weekend sleepover for middle-school-aged girls, berated several of the children and vomited in a hamper. Democrat Abby Broyles, 32, told television station KFOR that she had an adverse reaction after drinking wine and taking sleep medication given to her by a friend.

Hmmm, what exactly would a good reaction to wine and sleeping pills be? I guess nodding off, which Broyles did not proceed to do:

Quote:

Parents and at least one of the girls who were at the sleepover told the online news outlet NonDoc, which first reported the story, that Broyles used profanity and berated several of the 12- and 13-year-old girls at the party, commenting on one girl’s acne and another’s Hispanic ethnicity.

She's not just some nobody who's running for the House; she previously was the Democratic nominee for US Senate from Ok in 2020. She was probably toast already in the general but this might hurt her chances of winning the primary.

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Go woke, go broke

This idea that going woke leads to companies going broke was brought up in another thread. It seems slightly off topic there and I think it deserves some discussion.

My thought is that every major decision by a company will help to define how customers view that company, everything comes back to branding.

As such I haven’t seen any solid examples that would prove that going woke even correlates to going broke, much less that it is a conclusive result of going woke.

So, main topics: what is going woke? What is going broke? And what are some examples of companies that went woke and are now broke?

Side topic: what companies appear to be going woke now, so that we can track their brokenness later.

Such as Carhartt requiring vaccinations. Is that going woke? Will they go broke?

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Dreadful days are coming

Dreadful days are coming

I am constantly adding the developments in the claims about Marduk as a new entry on the page; It seems that they planned to coincide with the catastrophes of the Nibiru Planetary System convergence, the Coronavirus/vaccines, and perhaps even the 3rd World War:

http://vekilsizmeclis.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5628

Yes, volcanoes are erupting at the same time all over the world now, and it seems that more and more photos and evidence of what is thought to belong to the Nemesis Planetary System are being obtained every day.

Illuminati elements, called the elites who rule the world, in the mountains etc. It is claimed that they are in the process of settling in their shelters that could provide them with luxurious life for months. It is thought that they coincide with the Covid-19 process exactly in the transition period of this Nemesis system, and even bring the 3rd World War into existence these days, and they are carrying out their projects to reduce the world population by taking advantage of these few disasters.

It is also said that because of the epidemic and the 3rd World War, people will not be able to leave their homes much, they will not be able to escape from the mega tsunami and earthquakes that will result in the convergence of the Nemesis Planetary System, and they will not have the opportunity to migrate to safe areas.

And again, it seems like it is planned to bring the people, whose backs were bent by this disease, mRNA gene therapy, and the 3rd World War, to such a state that they would not be able to attack the safe havens of the elites.

It is claimed that when the Nemesis Planetary System reaches a certain proximity, these so-called elites will settle in their shelters and close the doors, and even close the internet to the whole world, thus preventing people from helping and communicating. Of course, they will be watching what is going on in their secure living spaces through cameras.

And when all these disasters pass, the population of the world will have decreased. They may think that they will easily subdue the remaining people and easily pass into a pagan communist and pantheist one world state.

It is also thought/alleged that their science and technology are at least 20 years ahead of what they offer us, and that they are now at a level where computers and robots do most of the work, so they don't need other servant people much.

(my Turkish writing translated with machine):

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A Killdozer in every garage; modern truck designed to be insanely dangerous

You may have noticed that US made trucks are getting really, really big. Like, absurdly large, especially in the front end, for no real good reason.

Quote:

What Happened to Pickup Trucks? As U.S. drivers buy more full-size and heavy-duty pickups, these vehicles have transformed from no-frills workhorses into angry giants. And pedestrians are paying the price. To get a handle on what’s happened to pickup trucks, it really helps to use a human body for scale. In some nerdy Internet circles — specifically, bike and pedestrian advocacy — it has become trendy to take a selfie in front of the bumper of random neighborhood Silverados. Among the increasingly popular heavy-duty models, the height of the truck’s front end may reach a grown man’s shoulders or neck. When you involve children in this exercise it starts to become really disturbing. My four-year-old son, for example, barely cleared the bumper on a lifted F-250 we came across in a parking lot last summer. Vehicles of this scale saddle their drivers with huge front and rear blind zones that make them perilous to operate in crowded areas. Even car guys have been sounding the alarm about the mega-truck trend recently. A few months ago, the Wall Street Journal’s Dan Neil complained about his close encounter in a parking lot with a 2020 GMC Sierra HD Denali: “The domed hood was at forehead level. The paramedics would have had to extract me from the grille with a spray hose.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...d-pickup-truck

Article includes a picture of a child standing in front of one of these street-legal monstrosities. His head barely rises above the front bumper, there is no way a driver would see this kid in the street before running them over.

Here's a thread of pictures of a 6'1" journalist at a car show. Many of these trucks have hoods at shoulder or chest level of a grown man:

Quote:

The front end of the new GMC Yukon. For reference, I'm 6'1". The top of the hood is nearly up to my shoulders. https://twitter.com/ajlatrace/status...24630868213764

many of these trucks now come with front facing cameras because the frontal blind spots are so huge. Here's a video of a truck driving down a street where a entire passenger car disappears into a blind spot:

https://twitter.com/bontrager_keith/...43890253357059

An entire corvette is in the blind spot from the cab, only visible in the tiny screen of the front facing cam of this obscenely large truck.

The consequences to pedestrian safety are pronounced.

Quote:

The change in height of these vehicles has increased pedestrian fatalities over the last 20 some years. Basically a generation’s worth of gains in auto safety wiped out because auto manufacturers decided to make their vehicles look like a giant fist made for smashing children.

https://twitter.com/PostCultRev/stat...53918356140033

ETA: From the bloomberg article, women seem to be disproportionately injured by these things, because the absurdly intimidating by design mega truck is largely an appeal to tiny-ego men:

Quote:

The truck trend is contributing to another troubling crash-related disparity: In a new study, the IIHS shows that women — who tend choose smaller vehicles — are suffering higher injury and death rates than their male counterparts, despite the fact than women engage in fewer risks and crash less.

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[Split Thread] The Challenger Disaster

Quote:

Originally Posted by bruto (Post 13737834) By the way, I saw the Challenger disaster live on TV. Did you? You seem to have a theory that the occupants of that spectacular explosion survived. I did not bother to watch the video. Too many cookies. But anyone who believes that claptrap should replace whatever is in their heads with some of those cookies, to get an upgrade

:offtopic
Well actually, examination of the wreckage later showed that three of the astronauts’ emergency air supplies had been switched on, indicating that at least some of the crew had survived the actual explosion... the crew compartment remained intact too, ... but they most certainly did not survive the 46,000 ft plunge and the 300 km/hr impact with the ocean.

The crew compartment was located and their remains were recovered.

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Is this sad or cool?

Paul McCartney headlining one of the biggest music festivals in the world at 80

https://www.radiox.co.uk/festivals/g...-2022-reports/

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Putin says "Ukraine is part of Russia"

Putin declares Ukraine historically part of Russia in possible justification for invasion


Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine is an integral part of Russia historically, arguing it was a mistake for Soviet leaders such as Nikita Khruschev to give the country an independent identity.

"For some reason Khruschev gave Ukraine separate status," Putin said during remarks at a security council meeting Monday. "Why did we have to be so generous and then give these Republics the right to leave. Madness!"

Putin argued that it was a fact that Ukraine was created by Soviet Russia and Vladimir Lenin, but has now been reduced to a "colony" that is government by foreign powers such as the U.S., who control the government from their Embassy in Kiev.

The remarks come as fears continue to build that Putin may be lining up a justification to invade Ukraine.

https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/ru...amps-u-s-warns





I guess Putin is just trying to justify invasion.

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categorizing claims?

I have long used the framework of rejecting claims without evidence. But by extension, that groups claims into rejected and not-rejected.

But I'm not sure how standard that framework is in the skeptical community. Accepting that some categorization of claims occurs, is it more common to use more than two? Do people prefer rejected, unproven, and proven?

Further, I'm not even sure where I heard the binary grouping I gravitated to. It feels like it was borrowed from, "rejecting the null hypothesis." But I'm not sure. Is anyone familiar with any debates about claim categorization?

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Richard Grenell thinks you should be allowed to crap in the public pool

Former Trump cabinet member Richard Grenell thinks you should be allowed to crap in the public pool.

https://twitter.com/TylerDinucci/sta...46056702574592

Attached Images

grenell diarrhea.jpg (72.5 KB)

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Rookie teachers took schoolkids up a dangerous summit

A school has been fined £35,000, after a group of schoolchildren had to be rescued by a mountain rescue team.

One thirteen-year-old girl made her own way down the mountain in the dark.

They had the wrong shoes and wrong clothing on.

Quote:

A group of 13 Year 10 pupils from Gateshead Cheder were on a trip to Helvellyn, in the Lake District, when they became stranded. Schoolchildren, some of whom were wearing their school shoes and trousers, had to be rescued by Keswick Mountain Rescue Team in cold and icy conditions. Newcastle Magistrates' Court heard one pupil was injured after slipping on ice and that at least two members of the public warned the group to turn back during their ascent. Rescuers were scrambled during the group's descent, when they inadvertently ventured off the path to head towards a section of steep terrain of around 20 metres in height.

Daily Telegraph

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Transferring money

The other day I transferred $7,000 from my bank to my retirement fund (different entities). Both are long term accounts and both “know” each other as there have been numerous transactions both ways. A few questions:

Why with our technology does this transfer take up to five working days?

Does interest accrue during this transfer and to who?

If this delay is for some sort of security reason, what is the security risk of transferring from one of my accounts to another? It seems to me as risky as moving money from one pocket to another.

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Something quite interesting I learnt about commercial ari travel

Other people might find it boring :)

Was watching a program this morning on the beginnings of it. Went back to when even Ford tried to get into it and failed.

When it first started the planes were so useless, having to fly so low in all the turbulence etc hardly any passengers wanted to risk flying, as was so scary.

Boeing dude had the bright idea of putting a trained nurse on every flight to reassure people.

That is why we have flight attendants.

TBF thought the fact Ford tried to get into it was quite interesting as well.

Gave up and went back to his cars in the end. Which I think worked out for him.

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Is That A Fact?: Frauds, Quacks, And The Real Science Of Everyday Life

Dr. Joseph Schwarcz is a sessional instructor of Chemistry at McGill University. He is the director of McGill’s Office for Science and Society (OSS), an organization dedicated to debunking pseudoscientific myths as well as improving scientific literacy.

This book is divided into three sections (aside from the intro), black, grey, and white.

The black section of the book covers quackery that is outrageous and obviously false, such as “double helix water,” the HCG weight-loss scheme, and a guy who has made millions by staring at people.

The grey section of the book covers topics that are a bit less obvious and that the public often gets confused about. He does a great detailed dive into topics such as antioxidants and coconut oil (and much more), separating facts from fiction.

In the last section of the book, the white section, he covers interesting chemistry facts that any science buff will love.

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The CFIIG (Center For Inquiry Investigations Group)

This is a continuation of a thread in the "Other Skeptical Organizations" subforum. That's probably where this belongs. You can see that thread here: http://www.internationalskeptics.com...d.php?t=351355

You can see that the discussion shifted just recently from the dormant JREF to the actively-testing CFIIG, which was formerly called the IIG (Independent Investigations Group). It used to be independent of, but very closely aligned with the CFI. The prize was smaller then and backed by promises of the volunteer members. Now the group is integrated into the CFI which would supply the current prize of $250,000, should anyone prove the paranormal.

There is a monthly meeting today (Saturday, Feb 19) at 11am Los Angeles time. Locals can meet in person (if vaxxed). Everyone else can join via Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8136659273...luSXRkWW41dz09

Zoom room opens at 10:30 if you want to arrive early and socialize. No claimants to test this month, but there are always interesting topics as well as boring bureaucracy.

Ward

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JESUS GUNS BABIES

It's not a lost Nirvana album:

https://twitter.com/ariehkovler/stat...32545218928642

Attached Images

jesus guns babies.jpg (116.7 KB)

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The monster must die

With any luck, this could be the end of an era. I'm afraid some other abomination will fill the void, though.

Facebook/Meta shares lost nearly half their value in six months (boingboing.net)

Quote:

Facebook's shares sunk 45% in value since the beginning of September. Then the company was worth more than a trillion dollars and the world's fifth largest. Now it's trading at a market cap of $565 billion and has slipped out the top ten. Bloomberg Business calls it a "collapse unmatched in the era of big tech."

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Brand new computer machine thingy

My old desktop appears broken. Seems to be some fatal error with the hard drive.

Thinking about a replacement.
I won't be playing any high tech games
Will use it for the interweb thingy when my phone screen is too small
Will be storing and sorting photos.
A bit of office type software
Skype type calls.
Otherwise it needs to run an indoor trainer cycling software I use RGT but the better known Zwift is I guess similar

I am thinking I probably don't need an Intel i9-11900K, with eight cores, 16 threads, boosted clock speeds up to 5.3GHz, with support for DDR4 RAM at 3,200MHz
I also don't know what any of that means or how to compare something different to that set up . Clueless on which nvidea graphics card I need, or if I even need a graphics card at all.

I presume a ssd would sort out my previous 3-4 min start up time. I understand what size hard disk I need.
I know what ram does and the more the quicker but don't know how much ram I really need for my limited needs

I am seeing a few really cheap set ups on Amazon that from recollection seem to have similar numbers to the machine that died which other than the really slow start up worked fine.

I am wondering if they will do what I want or do I just go to pc world and spend £500 on a desk top that will no doubt easily do what I need.

3 Random cheap amazon machines
HP Elite 8300 SFF Quad Core i5-3470 3.2GHz 8GB 1000GB DVD WiFi Windows 10 Professional Desktop PC Computer (Renewed) (View) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07116YQ...GSM1E8Q249A66Z

Optiplex Dell Intel i7-2600 Quad Core 16GB RAM 240GB SSD + 1TB HDD WiFi Windows 10 Desktop PC Computer (Renewed) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YST68...NZ7YTNWFQFHKNS

Deal: Mini PC Windows 10 Pro 8GB RAM 128GB SSD, Quad-Core Intel Atom x7-E3950, 4K HD Mini Desktop Computer, AWOW AL34 Micro PC [ Dual HDMI/Dual Wi-Fi/BT 4.2 / VESA Mount ] https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08G4GNR...ing=UTF8&psc=1

Any guidance or alternatives gratefully received.

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Flat Earther claims that Nasa makes us believe in aliens so that we'll shoot Jesus

Flat Earther claims that Nasa makes us believe in aliens so that we'll shoot Jesus if he returns

Quote:

What if, and bear with us for a second, Nasa made us all believe in aliens so that we'd be inclined to shoot Jesus if he returned. Not convinced? Of course not – we’ve heard some bonkers conspiracies in our time, but we have to admit that this is a new one on us. The bizarre theory was discussed during The Qanon Anonymous Podcast, which explores and debunks all kinds of unlikely conspiracies from around the world.

Quote:

“I’ve been to flat Earth conferences and I remember this guy said he used to contract with Nasa,” she said on the show. “He said, ‘Quite frankly I think they’re lying about the shape of the earth so that we believe in aliens so that when Jesus comes down we’ll mistake him as an alien and we’ll shoot him.’”

Makes perfectly good sense to me! :crazy:

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Original Apollo timeline

I heard a comment yesterday about how we landed on the moon in July of 69, just months before JFK's goal.

Here's my question: what would have happened if the Apollo 1 accident hadn't occurred? Would they have gotten to the moon on an earlier mission? Even if not, would it still have been July 69? Because that accident set things back a couple of years, maybe. However, as a result they could have accelerated the later missions to make up for it. What if...

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R.I.P. Candy Bomber

Not sure just what forum this belongs in, but it's sort of international, so...

The end of a long life marked by a feel-good story. Well done.

"Candy Bomber" dies at 101

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Boy Uses School Computer to Stop Man Pointing Gun at His Mom's Head

Good Teen with a computer stops bad guy with a gun

Quote:

FROM: http://www.internationalskeptics.com.../newthread.php Shawn M. Shaw, 39, forced his way into a home in the 200 block of West Williams Street on February 10. The documents state that Shaw started to swear at the woman and demanded that she drive him to a store. The woman refused and locked herself in her bedroom before Shaw kicked the door in. he then took a gun that belonged to the woman, loaded it and pointed it at her face. The woman's son, whose age has not been released, heard the struggle from another room and realised his mother was being threatened with a firearm. The boy then used his school computer to raise the alarm, contacting people at the school. Police officers were alerted to the incident and raced to the home... (SNIP)

I'm assuming the "school computer" was one that the school let him take home, otherwise the story sounds fishy.

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Overnight to Mars

Boney M sang about a Night Flight to Venus.

But how about 45 days to Mars?

Lasers Could Send Missions to Mars in Only 45 Days

https://www.universetoday.com/154487...-only-45-days/

Quote:

. . . a team of researchers from Montreal's McGill University assessed the potential of a laser-thermal propulsion system. According to their study, a spacecraft that relies on a novel propulsion system – where lasers are used to heat hydrogen fuel – could reduce transit times to Mars to just 45 days!

Quote:

The research was led by Emmanuel Duplay, a McGill graduate and current MSc Aerospace Engineering student at TU Delft. He was joined by Associate Professor Andrew Higgins and multiple researchers with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University. Their study, titled "Design of a rapid transit to Mars mission using laser-thermal propulsion", was recently submitted to the journal Astronomy & Astronomy. In recent years, directed-energy (DE) propulsion has been the subject of considerable research and interest. Examples include the Starlight program – also known as the Directed Energy Propulsion for Interstellar Exploration (DEEP-IN) and Directed Energy Interstellar Studies (DEIS) programs – developed by Prof. Phillip Lubin and the UCSB Experimental Cosmology Group (ECG).

All that's left is engineering folks. Is this actually more feasible than having astronauts spend months in low gravity?

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Einstein was Wrong. Curving space is naked emperor

Here's the only logical explanation for how a black / dark object eats the substance of a detectable star

https://youtu.be/wKAqROW0dNw

So, you cant explain how pulling force works.

You cant explain how matter can tell space how to curving and you cant explain how space tell matter how to move.

The way the universe works in Savo terms.

Recycling is the A and O of everything

Everything basically consists of one and the same thing.

What it all basically consists of is in itself a pushing force.

There is no separate substance and four separate forces separately.

The atomic model and worldview will be revolutionized in the near future.

A direct observation of how galaxies are born from the middle / inside out proves the current theories to be incorrect. That’s to be discovered at the latest with the new space telescope James Webb.

Ok, and now for that matter.

The birth of a visible universe expanding in space.

First, the supermassive objects of the centers of the galaxies arose in their own 3 D “initial explosions” from the pre-existing pushing force into existing space, and later these space-expanding supermassive objects collided with each other at a steep angle from their initial journey and new colliding galaxies from those collisions.

The space-expanding stars arose from the expanding dark matter that protrudes from the expanding supermassive objects in the centers of the galaxies.

Expanding stars have always protruded away from a supermassive object in the center of their own galaxy along a spiral orbit in roughly the same proportion as they have expanded.

Although they are constantly protruding away from the center of their space-expanding galaxy, they do little to move away from it in relative terms because they are expanding in the same proportion.

Atomic model by Savo

In space, the expanding nuclei of atoms recycle with all the cores of other expanding atoms an expanding dark pushing force that has e.g. the nature of the expanding light and thus they constantly push each other away from each other on average in the same proportion as they expand.

Push your expanding hand over your expanding chest and feel your heart expand in pulses as the expanding atomic nuclei of your heart expand in sync, pushing each other away from each other pulse by pulse.

Expanding lights consist for the most part of an expanding pushing force that cannot be registered with our devices. These dark expanding waves of expanding light have VERY much more mass than the recordable photons, which also consist of an expansive pushing force in space.

The registrable electrons and photons arise from these zillions of separate expanding densities of which the expanding dark waves of expanding light consist and are constantly protruding from the separate expanding densities of the nuclei of the expanding atoms.

Electrons and photons are generated on the same principle as expanding supermassive objects and expanding stars in space.

All that is needed is an external factor that accelerates the expansion of the separate expanding densities of the zillions to momentarily explosive, thus creating a new larger entity with a very high pressure immediately in the center without any pulling forces.

At the center of the expanding photon, there is not much pressure on our scale, but relatively similar to the center of the expanding star.

The dark expanding waves of space-expanding lights interact with each other, accelerating each other’s expansion, and thus the speed of the expanding lights accelerates in proportion to the expansion of matter and light.

This is evidenced by the following observations.

1. The cosmological redshift of light

2. The so-called gravitational lens phenomenon

3. The so-called gravitational redshift

4. The fact that all lights always move at the speed characteristic of light.

5. Double slit tests

Lights expand and accelerate each other’s expansion when interacting with each other = a scientific argument.

For example, one can try to manipulate the trajectory of light with the help of billions of years old lights in space far from Earth.

My questions to Esko Valtaoja, Kari Enqvist and Syksy Räsänen, who are the so-called experts.

How could an expanding space be studied scientifically so that its existence could be scientifically proven?

I understand that is not possible because space itself does not radiate information. That is, one cannot try to manipulate space itself in such a way that the success of the manipulation is informed.

I think expanding space is a concept similar to what the gods of antiquity were.

Jukka Savorinen

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Another police warrant goes awry

In, of course, Pensacola, FL the police have ****** up just about everything they can with regards to a warrant and investigation. Here's a link to the article but there's so much ******* stupidity in it that it's hard to tell where to start. Well, first they got a warrant to go into the house of a man that wasn't suspected in the crime they were investigating, with a SWAT team at 5 a.m. This causes the father to shoot and hit one of the SWAT cops, and he's now charged with attempted murder:

Quote:

Channel 3 has reported extensively how 24-year-old Corey Marioneaux Jr. has been charged for shooting at one of the SWAT officers after they rammed his door ... Marioneaux Jr. doesn't have a criminal record. Pensacola Police says he is not a suspect in the January shooting investigation that led police to his home last Thursday morning. Dixon says she has no idea why police would want information in his home.

So basically the family has no idea what the **** these dip **** cops were doing there in the first place, and it doesn't sound like the cops do either.

It gets worse. After the father is arrested the police take the children and the mother gets the youngest (1 year old boy) back a few hours later and a photo shows:

Quote:

"...I get my baby and I see his face -- and it's almost unrecognizable compared to how he looked when I left him last." ...the 1-year-old's nose and lip swollen, a scrape on his lip, scratches on his nose and several bumps on his forehead.

She eventually gets this explanation:

Quote:

The department claims both kids were in the backseat of a car with an investigator. The investigator got out of the car. Upon returning, Pensacola Police says the investigator didn't notice the child leaning on the door. When the investigator opened it, police say the child fell out of the car.

They didn't even secure the ******* child in their car. The cops. The cops didn't secure a ******* child in a ******* car in their ******* care.

There are a few other stupid things that happened, and I'll be interested to see what the police release to rationalize the events.

I can't imagine being the mother. I know it won't happen the way I want it, but people better get fired.

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9-year-old girl struck by bullet in truck dies, suspect says he was chasing robber

9-year-old girl struck by bullet in truck dies, suspect says he was chasing robber

Quote:

A 9-year-old girl died after a man who was held up at a Houston ATM fired at her family's pickup truck while attempting to shoot the robbery suspect, police said. The suspect in the shooting, identified by police as Tony Earls, 41, was making a transaction at a drive-thru ATM at 2900 Woodridge Dr. in southeastern Houston with his wife Monday shortly before 10 p.m. when he was robbed at gunpoint, according to police. One of those rounds struck the back window of the pickup truck, which was occupied by a family of five that was not involved in the robbery, police said. A 9-year-old girl in the rear passenger seat was struck during the shooting, police said. The girl, who has not been publicly identified by authorities, was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital in critical condition. She was pronounced dead Tuesday afternoon, police said.

But he's a good guy with a gun! He should get a medal for his heroic act!

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Catholic Priest uses wrong word in baptism invalidates decades of baptisms

The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix ultimately made the call to expose the minister's error and make it public.

“It is not the community that baptizes a person and incorporates them into the Church of Christ; rather, it is Christ, and Christ alone, who presides at all sacraments,” said the diocese.

“Therefore, it is Christ who baptizes. If you were baptized using the wrong words, that means your baptism is invalid, and you are not baptized.”


So I guess all those kids are going to hell, right?
the ludicrousness of dogmatic religion

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Pronounce it right

Issac Luke calls out commentators for incorrectly pronouncing 'Māori' during All Stars broadcast

Quote:

Former New Zealand and Māori representative Issac Luke said he felt compelled to watch last Saturday's All Stars match "on mute" after Fox Sports commentator Greg Alexander repeatedly mispronounced "Māori". Māori men's coach David Kidwell says it will be important to rectify the pronunciation or hire the right commentators before the next game Luke was among many people to call out Fox Sports and Channel Nine's commentary boxes, along with the ground announcer, on social media for incorrectly addressing the men's and women's Māori players. Although it was not all personnel in the commentary, with Andrew Voss and Billy Slater saying Māori correctly, the Rabbitohs premiership winner said it was noticeable enough to make him and his family "furious" while watching the match. "It was pretty disturbing," Luke said. "I almost watched it on mute." ... Te Reo Māori (Māori language) has a deep history and meaning with no translation to English, as some Australians have been taught. Pronouncing Māori as "mow-ree", is seen as lazy and disrespectful. ... The other component that was widely noticed throughout the community was the way "Māori" was being spelt — without the macron above the "ā". ... "A lot of people run into difficulties pronouncing Māori when they don't understand the vowel sounds. "The 'ā' is similar to the 'a' sound in the English word 'are'. "In Te Reo Māori it is very common to have two vowels together. This is a vowel blend. The 'ā' and 'o' together in the word Māori are blended but the macron elongates the 'ā' sound. "Then you roll the 'r'."

For the record, I'm totally fine with this. I see it as analogous to mispronouncing someone's name. It's okay to slip up, but if you don't change after being corrected, it's less okay.

Technically, I think the 'r' sound is tapped rather than rolled, but I don't think we really need to get too technical here.

[yt]X2pjPdEskbs[/yt]

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Sandy Hook settlement

Sandy Hook parents of victims have reached a settlement with gun makers Remington for $73 million!!

Awful tradegy though it was how is this the gun manufacturers fault in any way?:(

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/nin...ms-2022-02-15/


*did a search couldnt find a topic before making this.

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Rocket part on crash course with Moon 'not from Elon Musk's SpaceX'

Astronomers say that a rocket section set to crash into the Moon in March did not come from Elon Musk's space exploration company as they first thought.

Instead they believe it is probably a Chinese rocket stage launched for a lunar mission in 2014.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60378119

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Origin of the Swan Lake story

Just fishing for opinions here.

A rough, selective outline of the story of Swan Lake. The hero, Siegfried, falls in love with the leader of the swan maidens and promises to be faithful to her. However, back in the real world he is tricked into proposing to the wrong girl and so breaks his promise. This proves catastrophic and he ends up dead, together with his first love, in a dénouement which involves a body of water (the lake) rising up and drowning the stage.

A rough, selective outline of the story of Götterdämmerung. The hero, Siegfried, falls in love with the leader of the valkyries and promises to be faithful to her. However, back in the real world, he is tricked into proposing to the wrong girl and so breaks his promise. This proves catastrophic and he ends up dead, together with his first love, in a dénouement which involves a body of water (the river Rhine) rising up and drowning the stage.

We all know that valkyries are swan maidens, right?

Now it's true that's selective and there are many differences between the stories, most importantly in my opinion the absence of a Gunther character in Swan Lake. However, here's the thing. When an artist takes a basic story or other idea and uses it in a new work, he re-conceptualises it, changes the context and creates something new. He doesn't just file off the serial numbers. (And in this case Tchaikowsky doesn't actually appear to have filed off the most important serial number, the hero's name.)

The origin of the story of Götterdämmerung is well known. It's a very clever mash-up of essentially two versions of the Sigurd/Siegfried myth, the Volsunga Saga and the Nibelunenlied, with bits of the Thidrik's Saga and other versions of the story thrown in. I had originally vaguely imagined that Swan Lake was based on one or another of the several versions of the same myth in existence, however that is not the case. Wikipedia states that the origin of the story is not known (nobody seems to have asked Tchaikowsky?)

Quote:

There is no evidence to prove who wrote the original libretto, or where the idea for the plot came from. Russian and German folk tales have been proposed as possible sources, including "The Stolen Veil" by Johann Karl August Musäus, but both those tales differ significantly from the ballet. One theory is that the original choreographer, Julius Reisinger, who was a Bohemian (and therefore likely to be familiar with The Stolen Veil), created the story. Another theory is that it was written by Vladimir Petrovich Begichev, director of the Moscow Imperial Theatres at the time, possibly with Vasily Geltser, danseur of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre...

It's noteworthy that the closest resemblance to the Swan Lake story is the Götterdämmerung mash-up itself, not any of the source legends. There is also only one legend involving a hero called Siegfried (or sometimes Sigurd), the one about the dragonslayer who was tricked into betraying his valkyrie love and marrying the wrong girl, although it occurs in multiple versions.

Now here's the coincidence. The text of Götterdämmerung was first published in about 1853, but Wagner didn't compose the music until much later, between 1869 and 1874. Work began quite soon thereafter on the first stage performance which occurred in July 1876. This was a very big deal in the musical world, Wagner finally finishing the magnum opus he'd been working on since 1848. The story was hardly a secret, having been published some time previously, and musical scores were also published I believe. I doubt if there were many musicians who were unaware of what was being produced.

Tchaikowsky wrote Swan Lake in 1875-76 and its première was in 1877. So at exactly the time Swan Lake was being created, the musical world was buzzing with the culmination of the story of Siegfried who swore to be eternally faithful to a valkyrie (a swan maiden), was tricked into proposing to the wrong girl, broke his vow, and ended up dead with his original beloved in a catastrophe involving the nearby body of water rising in a flood.

My somewhat half-baked theory is that Tchaikowsky was influenced by Götterdämmerung and based the core of his story on that, although much re-worked. Whether this was homage, or jumping on the bandwagon, or whether the story of the hero marrying the wrong woman through trickery was simply something that inspired him I don't know. I also think he expected people to get it (bandwagon?), hence not changing the hero's name, but when they didn't he just left the origin of his story a mystery.

Any thoughts, assuming anyone even reads this subforum any more? Am I completely wrong or is there possibly something in this?

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How much energy from 2 ounces of Uranium vs Carloads of Coal?

I ran across this old 1950s film about uranium prospecting:
[yt]fCdB1Wdc5VI[/yt]
Around the 1:07 mark, it claims that "2 ounces of uranium 235 can produce as much electrical energy as 800 carloads of coal."

I know uranium is a very efficient fuel. But, that number seemed a bit high to me. So, I tried to do my own calculations:

According to some Googling:

2 ounces of Uranium produces as much energy as about 170 tons of coal, or so.

A single coal car can contain about 116 tons of coal.

Therefore, it seems, 2 ounces of uranium can only produce about as much energy as 1.5 carloads of coal. Not 800.

Is my math right, or am I missing something?

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Kayak Deniers Commercials

These Kayak commercials poke fun at 'deniers'. I wonder if they can recognize they're being mocked or if they sit there nodding their heads thinking "Yeah, he gets it!" I think they're funnier than hell.

Quote:

Our newest ads play up the current cultural moment: where everything is suspect and nothing is believed – especially each other. It’s a weird world, laughing helps. In KAYAK Deniers, we craft scenarios where someone is adamant that “KAYAK isn’t real.” Whether they just can’t wrap their minds around the fact that we search hundreds of sites to instantly give you an abundance of options for your trip – or they simply believe the best travel search engine on the planet is all smoke and mirrors – there’s just no reasoning with them.

(Kayak)

[yt]sE0rochxJgo[/yt]


[yt]K64uq8VUmX4[/yt]

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Tuttletwins.com... super not socialist homeschool material.

Someone please tell me this maga, sorry... MEGA, creepy ad I just saw was just a fever dream. [emoji15]
This must be pillow boy's target demographic.
I need a shower... and an emetic. [emoji3525]

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Implicit Bias

An article from Time Magazine that seems to be advocating that those who are 'Woke' should witness (to use the Christian term) unto their family and neighbours so that they may see the light...

Quote:

I recently had dinner with a white friend. He mentioned having completed the Me and White Supremacy workbook—Layla F. Saad’s extraordinary set of exercises for people who hold white privilege and want to interrogate its role in their lives. “How was it?” I asked, sipping my wine. “Exhausting,” he proclaimed. And it is exhausting, the slow, painstaking, write-it-down process of examining how racial hierarchy shows up in one’s conscious and unconscious beliefs, in one’s desires, fears, friendships, and communities. The upshot was that he was doing “the work.” I was happy and, being a person of color, relieved. I also immediately wondered whether he’d insisted that the white members of his social circle—friends, spouse, parents, siblings—do the work, too. But I didn’t ask. I was afraid to learn that he hadn’t.

Split from Critical Race Theory as it seems to be worth its own topic

Posted By:Jimbob

https://time.com/6145211/white-peopl...rsations-race/

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Oil Eyes $100 mark yet again

And this time, it look a certainty to bust it.

Current price for Brent crude is $94.44

How's the petrol price where you live?

In NZ, it's at record highs and will break $3 a litre at the pump is rural areas this week.

Not going to slow inflation at all.

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Lets hear your Valentines horror story. Heres mine.

The week before Valentines day my wife suddenly started up in bed and screamed " you took me away from Randy, The man I really loved" I asked if she wanted a divorce and she said no she intended to live off of me. I told her I was going to be looking for a lawyer in the morning. She looked shocked and said "You're not kidding, You're serious and then started trying to change my mind or whatever. I told her to shut and and wed talk about it in the morning.

The refused to talk about it the following morning. Valentines day came and went without me taking her to a restaurant or giving her a valentine or candy. She raised Cane about that but I said nothing.

I wanted to have a friend over to visit but she sais she didn't want to be around someone with a perfect life and when I pointed ut that his life was perfect as he earned only a small salary, his child needed treatment for an overbite and my friend himself walked with a pronounced limp from polio.

She started imitating a lame man and making faces imitating the childs overbite and I finally yelled at her to shut up. He response was to yell I hate your _______ family.

I vowed that this was the last day I was going to spend another night with her under the same roof. The apartment had five months of lease left but I was not going to stay with her that long.

I moved back in with my parents and found a lawyer. Over her pleading and begging I divorced her. She wanted to remain friends but I said I was through with her.

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Fire company in Delaware County suspended after racist remarks caught on video call

Fire company in Delaware County suspended after racist remarks caught on video call

Quote:

GLENOLDEN, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Briarcliffe Fire Company Station 75 is silent. No firetrucks and no firefighters are moving inside or outside. It comes after the fire company was temporarily shut down following allegations of racist remarks by firefighters who thought their video call conversation was private. The original call was to discuss the consolidation of services between the Briarcliffe, Goodwill, and Darby Township fire companies. When county and state officials got off the call, members of the Briarcliffe Fire Company allegedly stayed on and engaged in a discussion that included racial slurs and disparaging remarks about African Americans in the area. "A bunch of ********** n--- down there," one man can be heard saying while discussing the all-Black Darby Township Fire Company. There were also comments about Darby's chief. "He's just a piece of s___," one person said. Another comment called the African American chief by a racial slur as the person speaking recalled a time when the chief was in one of Briarcliffe's vehicles to the ire of the firefighter. "F___ S___ and he's looking in the truck," said the man on the call. The firefighters who made the alleged comments didn't know other firefighters were on the line from the Goodwill Fire Company. One of them was Deputy Chief Tim Eichelman.

Quote:

Eichelman and his fellow firefighters knew he had to bring the comments to light. That included sharing comments on the call that made fun of Fanta Bility. She is the 8-year-old girl killed by police gunfire. "Fanta soda, yeah, orange or Fanta grape," one man said on the call while chuckling, even after being told that the girl was shot to death by police.

Remember, "Hot Mike" is not your friend. He can burn you in ways that the Fire Department can't put out.

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First commercial Gauss Rifle available.

Forgotten Weapons reviews and shoots the ArcFlash Labs' GR-1 Anvil Portable Gauss Rifle

It's an alpha sort of prototype. They want people to take them away and play so they can gain experience in how they will be used and what people want from them.

[yt]eAHKS0nVlL4[/yt]

Interview with David Wirth of ArcFlash labs talking about how it works.

[yt]NIl1XmEDdVY[/yt]

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Sarah will always be Sarah

There doesn't seem to be a thread about Sarah Palin's suit against the NY Times. She was gaining some sympathy as the victim after a 2017 Times editorial falsely implied that one of her PAC ads had incited the mass murder that crippled Rep. Giffords, even though the Times ran a correction immediately. But when she finally got to the stand, she did not do well.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...mes-trial.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...ew-york-times/

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I'm Oppressed So Buy My Crappy Products

[YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgAVwZkUOgA[/YT]

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Working at Tesla while black.

Tesla car company once again facing a racial discrimination lawsuit

Quote:

California sued Tesla Inc. on Wednesday over allegations of discrimination and harassment of Black employees at its San Francisco Bay area factory. The suit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, was sparked by hundreds of worker complaints, said Kevin Kish, head of the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The department, which enforces state civil rights laws, “found evidence that Tesla’s Fremont factory is a racially segregated workplace where Black workers are subjected to racial slurs and discriminated against in job assignments, discipline, pay, and promotion creating a hostile work environment,” Kish said in a statement reported by the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.

https://apnews.com/article/technolog...e3a4daf631405c

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United States Senate passes sweeping overhaul in sexual harassment response

Quote:

(CNN) The Senate passed one of the largest workplace reforms in decades, freeing victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault to seek justice in court when they had previously been bound to a closed, often-secretive legal proceeding commonly used in these types of cases by employers. The bipartisan legislation was approved by voice vote. It now heads to President Joe Biden's desk for his signature, and the White House has expressed full support for the measure. Earlier this week, the bill was approved by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives, by 335-97. The legislation ends the use of forced arbitration clauses for sexual harassment and assault claims. According to lawmakers, more than 60 million Americans are subjected to these provisions in employment contracts.

CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/10/polit...law/index.html

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(continuation) General UK politics [2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carrot Flower King (Post 13720930) And to back up the report JimBob linked to - https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...yny-in-the-met - a first hand account from a woman who was a Met PC for 11 years.

Interesting first hand accounts but this caught my eye “….. I’m desperate for the Met to regain its reputation as one of the most trustworthy forces in the world…..”

When was that halcyon time? The Met was corrupt top to bottom in the 60s, 70s and into 80s, then we got institutional racism.

thread continued from here

Posted By:jimbob

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Science coverage on Fox News

I got curious and took a look. Screenshot below, unmodified other than the bottom edge clipped off.

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Three Senate Republicans urge archivist not to certify the Equal Rights Amendment

This is news to me. I remember reading about the ERA in the last century, but I always thought it had failed to pass.

Quote:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...era/ar-AATFNIO Equal Rights Amendment: Three Senate Republicans urge archivist not to certify the ERA By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN (2022-02-09) Three Republican senators are calling on the Archivist of the United States David Ferriero to commit to not certifying the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the Constitution, as ERA advocates demand Ferriero publish the amendment before he retires. In a letter dated February 8, Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Mitt Romney of Utah wrote to Ferriero, seeking his "reassurance" that he won't act on the ERA "until it has been properly ratified and legal questions regarding such ratification have been resolved." Backers of the ERA have been pressuring Ferriero, who's set to leave office in April, to publish the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution as part of his ministerial duties, arguing that it has satisfied all the necessary constitutional requirements and in fact took effect last month. However, key legal questions remain unresolved such as whether states can rescind ratifications of an amendment and if Congress has the power to lift a deadline retroactively. "In light of the calls for you to disregard your duty and certify the ERA, we write to ask for your commitment that you, and the acting Archivist who will take over in April, will not certify or publish the ERA," the Republican senators wrote to Ferriero, arguing that the ERA has "failed to achieve ratification by the states and is no longer pending before them." (SNIP)

ETA: I did a search for the ERA, but it said the term was too common. I also found that it's been addressed here before (the latest back in 2020), but it was posted in USA Politics instead of Current Events, sorry Mods. :boxedin:

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The urine revolution: how recycling pee could help to save the world

The urine revolution: how recycling pee could help to save the world

Quote:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00338-6 The urine revolution: how recycling pee could help to save the world Chelsea Wald (2022-02-09) Separating urine from the rest of sewage could mitigate some difficult environmental problems, but there are big obstacles to radically re-engineering one of the most basic aspects of life. On Gotland, the largest island in Sweden, fresh water is scarce. At the same time, residents are battling dangerous amounts of pollution from agriculture and sewer systems that causes harmful algal blooms in the surrounding Baltic Sea. These can kill fish and make people ill. To help solve this set of environmental challenges, the island is pinning its hopes on a single, unlikely substance that connects them: human urine. Starting in 2021, a team of researchers began collaborating with a local company that rents out portable toilets. The goal is to collect more than 70,000 litres of urine over 3 years from waterless urinals and specialized toilets at several locations during the booming summer tourist season. The team is from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala, which has spun off a company called Sanitation360. Using a process that the researchers developed, they are drying the urine into concrete-like chunks that they hammer into a powder and press into fertilizer pellets that fit into standard farming equipment. A local farmer uses the fertilizer to grow barley that will go to a brewery to make ale — which, after consumption, could enter the cycle all over again. The researchers aim to take urine reuse “beyond concept and into practice” on a large scale, says Prithvi Simha, a chemical-process engineer at the SLU and Sanitation360’s chief technology officer. The aim is to provide a model that regions around the world could follow. “The ambition is that everyone, everywhere, does this practice.” (SNIP)

Your one-stop, pee shop:
Drink beer, pee here and save the planet.

Now, if we could just figure out a way to turn pee into something that can run things like cars and your refrigerator, we'd really be oil independent!

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The secret history of ancient toilets

https://www.nature.com/articles/533456a

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