Does it require intelligence to be a skeptic?

I think it does. You need to know things about the topic in order to have skepticism about it. Smart people make the best skeptics.

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Poor Justic Alito's widdle feefees are hurt!

Sam Alito Says Criticism of Supreme Court Is 'Unfair': 'Practically Nobody Is Defending Us'

Oh dear! Poor Justic Alito's widdle feefees are hurt! "Nobody loves us! Everybody hates us!"

Quote:

Justice Samuel Alito would like everyone to know that in the wake of the Supreme Court revoking 50 years of abortion rights and then being plagued by corruption scandal after corruption scandal, our criticism of him and his institution is very much hurting his feelings. Alito told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday that attacks on the “legitimacy” of the high court are “new during [his] lifetime.” “We are being hammered daily, and I think quite unfairly in a lot of instances. And nobody, practically nobody, is defending us,” he said. “The idea has always been that judges are not supposed to respond to criticisms, but if the courts are being unfairly attacked, the organized bar will come to their defense.” But “if anything,” the justice continued, “they’ve participated to some degree in these attacks.”

Well, when you use the Constitution to publicly wipe your ass, what did you expect?

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Strange Networking problem

At my daughter's business, they have a network of about 6 computers and other devices. They each have fixed IP adresses on the network using a hosts file (this is necessary because some of the proprietary devices on the network come with fixed/hardwired IP addresses)

Everything worked fine until recently when the motherboard of one of the computers failed. We replaced the computer and swapped the system HDD from the failed computer to the replacement. This worked fine until we tried to put it on the network.

As usual, I changed the network adapter IPV4 settings to reflect this computer's intended IP address

IP Address: 192.168.1.98
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1

Note. We also use Cloudflare DNS so I set this accordingly

Preferred DNS Server: 1.1.1.1
Alternate DNS Server: 1.0.0.1

However, when I do all this, the computer connects to the network fine, but will not connect to the internet. When I run the Windows 10 troubleshooter, it reports that "DHCP is not enabled for Ethernet 2". I allow the troubleshooter to apply the fix, and now the internet works, but the computer drops off the network. To summarize

When IPV4 for is set to a fixed IP address: The network is OK but no Internet.
When IPV4 is set to obtain IP address automatically: The internet is OK, but no network.

I feel this is either a configuration problem or a driver issue. The two computers involved are both HP Compaq Elite 8200 models, but the motherboards do look slightly different, so it is possible there are some minor hardware differences. I did try updating the network adapter drivers but it said it 'already has the latest drivers for this device' (I think Windows updated all the drivers when I first booted up the computer after installing the system HDD.

Anyone have any ideas why this might be happening?

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Another worthwhile Star Talk: the Physics of Nascar

Not every Star Talk is worth the time to watch, more so recently. But sometimes one is worth watching. The title is Will Nascar Go Electric but that's only 1/3 of the 1 hour video. Electric Nascar is covered in the third segment at ~minute 37. It's at that point a bit of capitalism comes into view.

Here's the description of the topics covered in the video:

Quote:

What difference does the driver make? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly break down the science of NASCAR in Neil’s interview with NASCAR Hall of Famer & NBC Sports Analyst, Dale Earnhardt Jr., with the help of physicist, Diandra Leslie-Pelecky. Is this the fastest cars can go? Learn about the rules of NASCAR racing and the Next Gen car. Is standardization actually beneficial to the sport? We discuss innovation in race cars and what can be done with nanoparticles to make racing faster. Why don’t they fill tires with air? We explore the thermodynamics of tires and the gasses used inside of them. Is there a sweet spot for tire pressure? Find out about the aerodynamics of racing an oval track and how drafting can impact a race. Is NASCAR going to go electric? Discover the reasons why or why not. What elements would still need to be improved upon? We also discuss safety, concussion in racing, and how the HANS device could make basal skull injuries a thing of the past.

If it doesn't start at the beginning of the video, stop it and scroll back to the beginning.


[yt]x4kVX7vNXDM[/yt]

It was very informative and very enjoyable even for the non-physics lay person.

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Educators forced 7-year-old boy to eat his own vomit

Educators forced 7-year-old boy to eat his own vomit

Quote:

Five educators face charges after at least two of them forced a 7-year-old boy to eat his vomit, according to cops in Brownsburg, Indiana. The allegation stems from an incident in February when Sara Seymour, 27, a life skills teacher at Brown Elementary School, allegedly told the victim that if he vomited, he would have to eat it up, officials said. Life skills teacher Julie Taylor, 48, allegedly gave a tray for the child to vomit on. He vomited, and life skills instructional aid Debra Kanipe, 63, gave him a spoon, officers wrote. The 7-year-old was allegedly forced to consume some of what he retched up. “Both Seymour and Kanipe stood at each side of the child while he consumed a portion of the vomit,” officers said. The child was also forced to clean the rest with paper towels.

Incredible! None of those involved should ever be permitted to work with children again!

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The thread for Non Drag Queens charged with child sexual assault

With mug shot goodness!

Plea deal likely for former Plover youth pastor accused of child sexual assault

Quote:

PLOVER, Wis. (WSAW) -- The former Plover youth pastor charged with child sexual assault is scheduled to reach a plea agreement in his case this summer. Jordan Huffman, 52, is charged with eight counts including first-degree sexual assault of a child, child enticement and contributing to the delinquency of a child. Huffman was arrested last August in Florida. He was extradited to Wisconsin and remained in custody until September. He’s free on a $100,000 cash bond. According to online court records, Huffman will be monitored by GPS or electronic monitoring.

Amazing how many child-molesting youth pastors are not drag queens!

Attached Images

Jordan Huffman mugshot.jpg (46.7 KB)

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Responsibility of governments to aid their citizens in a warzone

Currently there are attempts by various countries to extricate their nationals from the ongoing conflict in Sudan, but it's not a unique situation, see also the flight from Afghanistan not too long ago for one.

How much responsibility ought a government to have for the safety of its citizens who freely choose to live, work or visit a foreign land which succumbs to conflict?

Specifically, an area which is already unstable. Forget about situations which occur with little or no warning such as natural disasters.

I'm sympathetic to people in that situation, but I'm sure there are those who are of the attitude: they've made their bed, they need to lie on it.

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Gun Violence Is Actually Worse In Red States

Interesting piece from Politico on the deep historical and cultural divides between US regions. Not sure exactly where the headline is coming from, since the article talks more about regions than about actual states, but it's an interesting read. Also, it is really that surprising?

Gun Violence Is Actually Worse in Red States. It’s Not Even Close.

Quote:

America’s regions are poles apart when it comes to gun deaths and the cultural and ideological forces that drive them.

tl;dr: different regions of the United States were colonised by people with very different ethnographic, economic, religious and ideological opinions. The Puritans of New England, for example, valued collectivism whereas the Scots-Irish settlers of the Appalachians fiercely defended their independence. These differences are reflected in the modern patterns of gun violence across the country.

Thoughts? Opinions?

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Secret Russian UFO programme 'contacted aliens' – and they beamed back pictures!

Secret Russian UFO programme 'contacted aliens' – and they beamed back pictures

It's in The Star, and it's from a Russian source, and it involves remote viewing... SO IT MUST BE TRUE!!!

Quote:

Scientists in former Soviet Russia claimed to have tapped into "cosmic intelligence" from aliens using psychic abilities. American journalist and alien enthusiast George Knapp said he witnessed "remote viewing" during a visit to Russia in the 1990s to investigate their alien research programme. Appearing on the Weaponized podcast with investigative filmmaker Jeremy Corbell, Mr Knapp said he first went to Russia in pursuit of information about extraterrestrial life forms. But what he came across scientists were scientists who had "reverse-engineered" alien technology. "They have this gigantic UFO study that goes on for 10 years and then another one replaces it, and they’re trying to figure out, 'How do we duplicate [alien] technology?'," George explained.

Sorry, no actual pictures of aliens. Also no other credible evidence or anything that makes sense.

:crazy: :dl:

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Histamine intolerance?

My wife appears to have a pretty bad case of histamine intolerance. Causes hives and full body sensation of itchiness. The biggest culprits appear to be alcohol and tomato based products.

Does anyone have any experience with this or any remarkable solutions? She currently drinks stinging nettle tea every night and it seems to help a good bit. We are also working on pasta sauces that have no tomato, so she can eat pizza and pasta.

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"Proud Boys" on trial

Closing arguments are being made on Tuesday.

"Prosecutor: Proud Boys viewed themselves as 'Trump's army'"

https://apnews.com/article/4dc5d0d36...24412dbb51780b

"After more than three months of testimony, jurors began hearing attorneys’ closing arguments in the seditious conspiracy case accusing Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants of plotting to forcibly stop the transfer of power from Trump to President Joe Biden."

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Ain't Technology Wonderful - 1930s Version

1930s How Photographs Were Transmitted by Wire

[yt]cLUD_NGE370[/yt]

Quite an involved process compared with today. :boggled:

Nice explanation however. :cool:

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Help me with my homework please

I'm tutoring a student in economics and I've honestly no idea how to do this problem:

Picture frames are produced in a perfectly competitive market. Each identical firm has a short
run total cost curve of TC = 10 + 14Q − 2Q^2 + 0.15Q^3 where Q is the quantity of picture
frames produced (in thousands per month).
a. What is the price below which a firm in the market will not produce an output in the short
run?
b. Derive the supply curve for a firm

I know I need to take the dervative from the TC but I don't know how to do that. Please does anyone know how to solve this? I have a Masters in accounting but I never went beyond algebra II lol Thank you!

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How can you have unlimited growth in a world with finite resources?

I think this topic deserves its own thread, even though it is relevant to a number of other threads on this forum, like mass killings (supply of guns), killdozers (demand for monster trucks) and downtown (demand for affordable housing).

Every year the President of my country makes a State of the Nation speech. And every year, he says the same thing. "Provided we can grow the economy at 2 or 3 percent per annum, we can maintain our standard of living".

I live in a Third World country in Africa. There has been a relentless growth in population in the last few decades. This in turn has fuelled a demand for goods and services. More schools and hospitals, more washing machines, more hot showers and flush toilets. More fast food and T.V. dinners. More shopping malls. More of everything.

Even in First World countries with shrinking populations, there is increasing demand for goods and services. The marketing paradigm is different. If you want to sell a refrigerator in my country, you have to show your customer the difference between refrigerating food, and food spoiling. In First World countries, you have to persuade your customer that their perfecty good 10 year old refrigerator is no longer good enough, because it is not made with ozone-friendly insulating foam, and does not use the latest energy-saving compressor technology.

You have to persuade your customer that he needs 27 guns, or an enormous truck that only gets fully utilized on a few occasions. That 2 year old cell phone in your pocket does everything you need. But all your friends are running around with new cell phones, and you feel the pressure to buy a new one.

This is a topic that the world leaders tip-toe around. They all address the supply side of the equation, instead of the demand side. Increasing supply (by stimulating economic growth) is safe. Reducing demand (by shrinking the economy) is political suicide.

One way of reducing demand in Third World countries is by reducing the population. In African culture, having many children is a sign of status and success. Any attempt at population control would lead to political suicide.

Democracy won't save our world. I feel the only hope is for a benevolent dictatorship. But how do you ensure the benevolent dictator remains benevolent? Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

When I was a schoolboy, I thought that science and technology would ensure the future viability of the world. So I became a scientist. Now I think that science and technology are largely to blame for the mess we are in. But that is probably the topic of another thread.

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Washington State AWB

Washington state legislature passed an assault weapons ban on April 20th. It is expected to be signed by the governor soon. The bill passed the legislature by a margin of under 60%.

It is similar to the Federal AWB94 that sunset in 2004. But instead of two undesirable features on the list to make it banned, only one listed feature makes it an assault weapon.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?B...1240&Year=2023

Bill text. https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/bienn...20230422184933

Bill summary. https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/bienn...20230422184933

It has the usual list of semi-auto firearms banned by name as well as assault weapon designations for semi-auto rifles, handguns and shotguns equipped with detachable magazines that have one of the following features.

A. Grip protruding below the stock.
B. Thumb hole stock.
C. Folding/telescoping stock.
D. Forward pistol grip.
E. Flash hider, silencer.
F. Muzzle brake.
G. Threaded barrel for silencer etc. Silencers are still legal to use. :)
H. Grenade or flare launcher.
I. Barrel shroud.

Also bans semi-auto rifles <30 inches in length and conversion kits to to convert firearms into assault weapons and semi-auto rifles with a fixed mag of >10 rounds. There are similar feature lists that make shotguns and pistol assault weapons also.

The bill also bans short barreled rifles (made legal again in 2012) even though they require registration and a bkgd check by the ATF. Since SBR's are <26" in general, they run afoul of the <30" rule now.

There are the usual exceptions for FFL's, police, military and those who currently possess assault weapons.

Unlike AWB94, it is not an extensive crime bill, just an AWB, so I don't expect to see any reductions in violent crime associated with it.

I'm fairly certain that some manufacturers will make post ban version of various rifles available. The M-1A can be modified to have an unthreaded muzzle and no barrel shroud for example. I don't think anyone will extensively modify the AR-15 platform to make it legal in WA.

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The New New Atheists

I have been hearing a lot about the "new new atheist". They are the good atheists as opposed to the bad militant disrespectful atheists like most of us here.

The new new atheist agrees that our modern civilization and morality is entirely due to Judeo-Christian roots and that our modern world would not survive the death of religion.

The new new religion agrees that modern science would have been impossible without Christianity.

The new new atheist agrees that Christian apologists make a number of excellent points for which atheists have no answer.

In particular the new new atheist believes that intelligent design delivers a.powerful blow to Darwinism.

The new new atheist agrees that there is a "God shaped hole" in the naturalist worldview.

The new new atheists favourite start to a sentence is "I'm an atheist but..."

Well you get it. The new new atheist is the Washington Generals of atheism.

I have encountered new new atheists on social media and have found there is really nothing to do but mute or block them.

I'm wondering if anyone else has encountered the new new atheist and how you deal with them.

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[Split Thread] Diversity in movies, quality and profitability

Quote:

Originally Posted by acbytesla (Post 14055593) I'd say that is true about movies in general. For the most part I hate the MCU and the comic book movies. There is no nuance to any of the characters. Yet the most profitable movies these days are these movies.

That was true until pretty recently, but not anymore. None of the top 3 box office earners of 2022 were superhero movies. They had a large presence in the top 10, but superhero movies are also very expensive to make and market, so they need to earn huge to make a profit. And Disney's movie problems extend beyond the MCU. Strange World was a flop, the Star Wars franchise might as well be dead, and Indiana Jones 5 is going to be a complete train wreck. The only huge success they've had recently was Avatar 2.

Quote:

I agree. But there is no reason they can't do both.

In principle, that's true. In practice, they can't seem to pull it off. Diversity seems to have been done at the expense of quality.

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Rats of Tobruk

With Anzac Day only a few days away, it’s worth celebrating one of the last WW2 heroes.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/don-t-make-me-a-[quote][/QUOTE]martyr-says-last-surviving-australian-rat-of-tobruk-20230420-p5d207.html

Quote:

The saga of the Rats is extraordinary, perhaps the greatest in Australia’s military history. In April 1941, the situation was more than merely grim for the Allies. The forces of Adolf Hitler had already rolled through continental Europe, knocking over every army that opposed it. Using the tactic of blitzkrieg – lightning offensive movement by land and air, using artillery, infantry, tanks and planes to break through enemy weak points and sow havoc – they seemed unstoppable. When Italy joined the war on the side of the Germans in June 1940, Mussolini’s forces in North Africa threatened the Suez Canal and Australian forces were dispatched to secure the key Italian-held port of Tobruk in Libya to deny the Axis forces an obvious supply point in any mass eastern sweep to Egypt.

It will be a very sad day when we farewell the last WW2 veteran.

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The Perseverance Rover has Lost its Pet Rock

And in other news!

The Perseverance Rover has Lost its Pet Rock

Fifty flights for Ingenuity. They planned for 5.

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SpaceX’s Starship Rocket Explodes After Launch

This morning's SpaceX launch ended just minutes after liftoff when the rocket exploded. From the New York Times:

Quote:

SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded above the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, minutes after lifting off from a launchpad in South Texas. The spacecraft failed to reach orbit, but it was not a fatal failure. Before the launch, Elon Musk, the company’s founder, had tamped down expectations, saying it might take several tries before Starship succeeds at this test flight, which was to reach speeds fast enough to enter orbit before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. New York Times link

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Criminal Charges Against Trump / Trump Indicted Part II

Thread continued from here. As is usual, the split point is arbitrary and you may quote from the previous thread.

Posted By:Agatha

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norman Alexander (Post 14053949) This is a survey of Republicans. Both Trump and DeSantis are vying for about 30-odd% of Republicans each, with a big Don't Know factor. Registered Republicans make up only about 20% of the US population. So really, these two massive donuts have maybe 5-6% of the US behind them. Each. They are truly tiny little non-entities casting giant shadows.

It is. The more they go crazy for the crazy base, of course, the more impetus that Independents and Democrats have to very firmly oppose them.

With that said, the pertinent warning is that whoever wins the Republican nomination will nigh inevitably have the force of the Republican riggers and propaganda machine behind them and are pretty much guaranteed to have a very real shot at winning the general election, no matter how insane or brazenly evil.

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Why Go To The Moon?

Cody lets the cat out of the bag.


[YT]8c_4ilhM0wc[/YT]

Looks like it's an orange tabby.


P. S. Don't telll NASA.
P. P. S. They'll want one.

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[Split Thread] Atheism and lack of belief in the afterlife

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Ramjets (Post 14052696) After death there is nothing for us - neither misery nor happiness - just nothing. Which is also a reward - no pain, no misery, no worry, no regrets - for eternity.

You can't be an atheist if you believe that because it is not a "lack of belief".

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The No Lable Party

Quote:

No Labels 2024 Insurance Project FAQ Question: What does No Labels stand for? Answer: We are a growing national movement of commonsense Americans pushing our leaders together to solve our country’s biggest problems.

Could you possibly be more bland?


Five Facts About The Debt Ceiling

Take a position. You know, for or against. Change it somehow.

Quote:

No Labels’ December 2022 poll shows 69% of registered voters don’t want Joe Biden to run for president in 2024. 62% don’t want Donald Trump to run. More recent polls show an even greater share of Americans who don’t want a 2020 rematch. Behind closed doors and the safety of anonymous quotes, most of Washington knows 2024 is a disaster waiting to happen. Democratic leaders are privately wringing their hands about Biden and a few Republican leaders still hope to stop Trump. But publicly, leading Democrats have coalesced behind a Biden run, while Trump continues to lead.

Maybe discuss what you don't like about either candidate.
Propose another person and discuss their accomplishments.


Politics in the twenty first century has this incredible empty feeling.

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World's Greatest Con

The latest season of Brian Brushwood's podcast has begun and boy is it a good one.

https://shows.acast.com/worlds-greatest-con/episodes

The first season was interesting - it was a thorough examination of Project Mincemeat, a deception during WW2 in which the allies stashed false intelligence on a corpse for the Nazis to find. Season 2 was not interesting to me - it was about people who had conned TV game shows. While it was a decent examination of how and particularly why people try to run cons, I have what could be described as an anti-interest in TV game shows, so I skipped most of it.

But the third season, in my opinion, should be required listening for anybody who considers themself to be a skeptic. And that is not an exaggeration.

The third season is a detailed look into Project Alpha - a hoax perpetrated by Steve Shaw and Michael Edwards, aided and abetted by James Randi. We should all be at least passingly familiar with it. In the latest series, Shaw (now using the stage name Banachek) and Edwards tell their stories in their own words. It is thorough, and detailed, and does not pull punches. Brushwood is a fantastic storyteller and I predict that this will become the definitive history of Project Alpha.

Three episodes have so far dropped. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. Highly recommended.

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Wrong door shootings.

Scottish businessman Andrew De Vries, Japanese student Yoshihiro Hattori and now teenager Ralph Yarl

https://www.itv.com/news/2023-04-18/...-door-shooting

At least Yarl has survived being shot.

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Skeptical Inquirer Presents - Videogame Science and UFOs

Skeptical Inquirer Presents - Videogame Science and UFOs
Featuring: Mick West
April 27, 2023 - 7:00 pm EDT

Quote:

What’s a videogame programmer doing analyzing UFO videos? And why should people trust what a programmer has to say when people with PhDs in physics disagree with him? In many ways, videogame programmers make ideal UFO investigators: the simple math used to make 3D objects move in a virtual setting and the code used to display them can be reversed, used to break down UFO videos and figure out where the object is, how far away it is, and what it’s doing. Join us on Thursday, April 27 at 7:00 p.m. ET for the next Skeptical Inquirer Presents livestream event with Mick West. West is a retired videogame programmer who’s become known for analyzing UFO videos. He’ll explain how he reverse-engineers UFO videos and demonstrate how he uses other videogame programming techniques to visualize this interactively. The skills and techniques used to find the root cause of bugs and glitches in videogames are the same used to figure out what a UFO is. And no one knows videogame science—and UFOs—like Mick West. Free registration is required to take part in this live Zoom event, so sign up right now.

Link: https://skepticalinquirer.org/video/...fos-mick-west/

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Why We Shouldn't Procrastinate Repentance

Why Is It Important Not To Procrastinate Repentance?

It is important that we don't procrastinate repentance because this life is the time given to us to prepare for eternity. We are eternal beings--we will all live forever, either in misery or in happiness, according to whether our works have been good or evil. If we do not improve our time during this "mortal probation," then comes the night "wherein no labor may be performed."

And the same spirit that possesses us, whether the devil or God, will have power to possess us in the afterlife. If our works have been evil, our reward will be spiritual death and endless misery. If our works have been good, our reward will be eternal life and endless happiness.

We need to repent now to be eligible for God's mercy. Mercy is for the penitent. If we don't repent, we are exposed to the whole law of justice and it is as if there has been no redemption made.

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County officials in Oklahoma caught on recording discussing killing local reporters

https://twitter.com/Erin_Christy/sta...24535610376194

Quote:

There is a “no words” story coming out of McCurtain Co today involving county leaders discussing killing local journalists, flagrant racism & mocking a woman’s death from an arson. This is a community paper w/no online presence.

Link to partial transcript in which they discuss hiring hitmen

Quote:

Jennings: But the thing of it is, you know. Manning: We actually told the truth. Jennings: I’ve known, I’ve known two or three hit men, they're very quiet guys… Manning: Yeah? Jennings: And would cut no ******* mercy. Manning: Yeah. Jennings: In Louisiana. Cause this is all Mafia around here. Kevin: Oh yeah Manning: Yeah, but here’s the reality. If a hair on his wife’s head, Chris Willingham’s head, or any of those people that really were behind that, if any hair on their head got touched by anybody, who would be the bad guy? Sheriff: Who would be blamed for it? Manning: Yeah!

And a link to the audio of that portion of the transcript.

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FTC Warns Companies of Penalties

FTC Warns Almost 700 Marketing Companies That They Could Face Civil Penalties if They Can’t Back Up Their Product Claims

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news...ant-back-their

Quote:

The Federal Trade Commission is putting hundreds of advertisers on notice that they should avoid deceiving consumers with advertisements that make product claims that cannot be backed up or substantiated. In notices sent to the companies, the FTC warned that it will not hesitate to use its authority to target violators with large civil penalties. Under FTC law, companies must back up claims about what their product can do with reliable evidence. If a company makes a claim about the health or safety benefits of a product, that claim must be based on scientific evidence. If a company claims that its product can cure, mitigate, or treat a serious disease such as cancer or heart disease, it must back up that claim through the accepted standards of scientific testing.

This isn't really anything new it is? The fed occasionally go after companies that market dubious items that are worthless. But the fine just seems to be part of doing business. Until it becomes a criminal matter rather than a civil one, it seems it will just be part of the price of doing business for some.

Quote:

Notices of penalty offenses allow the agency to seek civil penalties -- up to $50,120 per violation -- against a company that engages in conduct that it knows has been found unlawful in a previous FTC administrative order, other than a consent order.

Sounds like peanuts to me. Unless each sale is a violation.

The list of those warned so far. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc...Recipients.pdf

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Schumer to Introduce Senate Resolution Rejecting Defunding of FBI and DOJ

Majority Leader Schumer Dear Colleague Letter On The Upcoming Introduction Of A Senate Resolution Rejecting MAGA-Extremist Calls To "Defund" The FBI And DOJ

The full text of the letter:

Quote:

Dear Colleague: When we return to session the week of April 17th, I will offer a Senate resolution rejecting the former President’s call to “defund” the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Donald Trump’s call for defunding federal law enforcement agencies is a baseless, self-serving broadside against the men and women who keep our nation safe. The good work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice sends criminals to prison for bank robbery, sex trafficking, child pornography, hate crimes, terrorism, fraud, and so much more. The former President and his allies in Congress must not subjugate justice and public safety because of their own personal grievances. Senators from across the political spectrum and of both political parties should denounce such attempts by the former President and his allies to degrade public trust in our federal law enforcement agencies. The Senate must recommit that the United States is a nation of laws. As free people, we rely on the necessary and professional work of our federal law enforcement agencies to promote the safety and general welfare of our country. S. Res. [XXX] is simple. It shall state the Senate— (1) recognizes and appreciates the dedication and devotion demonstrated by the men and women of Federal law enforcement agencies who keep the communities of the United States and the United States safe; (2) condemns calls to “defund” the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation; and (3) rejects partisan attempts by former President Donald J. Trump and his allies to degrade public trust in Federal law enforcement agencies for attempted political or legal benefit. Sincerely, Charles E. Schumer U.S. Senator

I'm sure plenty of worthless, traitorous scumbags will vote against it.

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The GOAT.

Only in America.

Quote:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...ion-california In July, “two sheriff’s deputies left their jurisdiction in Shasta county, drove over 500 miles at taxpayer expense, and crossed approximately six separate county lines, all to confiscate a young girl’s beloved pet goat”, the lawsuit states. “As a result, the young girl who raised Cedar lost him, and Cedar lost his life.” According to the lawsuit, Long and her daughter purchased the baby goat while the child was enrolled in 4-H, a youth agriculture program popular in rural California. The intention of the program was that the goat would be raised by the family and eventually sold. But the girl, who is not even 10 years old, grew attached to Cedar. In June, when it was time to sell Cedar at a local fair livestock auction, she was “sobbing in his pen beside him”, the lawsuit states. “[The girl] and Cedar bonded, just as [she] would have bonded with a puppy. She loved him as a family pet,” according to the lawsuit.

It's convoluted so I won't try explain it. You will have to read it all.


The important point is that the intent was that they bought a goat with the intention of raising it and selling it for a profit to be slaughtered as part of a program.

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Scary Update

Whenever I do a software update I have a little fear in my gut that it might not work and I'll be left with a bricked system. And then there's this:

NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Gets a Major Software Upgrade

Quote:

As with any major software update, there’s a sense of relief to see it working as designed, Denison said. “The idea of hitting the install button was a little scary,” he added. “Despite all our testing, we never know exactly what will happen until the software is up there.”

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Hormone blockers for children without parental consent?

There appears to be laws on the books in California, Oregon and Washington specifically allowing children to get puberty blocker medicine without their parents consent. Other states are passing laws specifically to ban giving these and other gender-affirming meds to minors without their parent's consent. Some states want to ban all such meds for minors even with parental consent.

What say you?

Personally I think kids should not be able to make such a decision without medical counseling and their parent's consent or at least notification. If a doctor approves and parents made aware? Sure go ahead.

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The reality of ESP

I have now read two books by Russell Targ. One is called 'Mind Reach' by Russell Targ and Harold E. Puthoff and the other is called. ' The reality of ESP' by Russell Targ.

Russell Targ is a physicist who worked on the development of lasers before turning to the study of remote viewing and telepathy.

His book, 'Mind reach' contains details of scientifically controlled tests of remote viewing and telepathy.
In ' Mind reach' he discusses Uri Geller. When you read this name you will doubtlessly think it is garbage. I myself though this when I saw Uri Geller's name in it. But the account of Uri Gellers test scores convinced me he is genuine. He scored results of a million to one against the results of his telepathy tests being by chance alone.
Critics of this book have said there was a friend of Uri Gellers at the tests facility and he probably told Uri the answers. But Targ says when the tests were being conducted Uris friend was not present.

What is worrying is that Uri Geller has recently warned Britain not to supply depleted uranium shells to the Ukraine, as he thinks Putin might launch a nuclear attack on Britain in retaliation.

I myself am certain of the existence of telepathy as I have been on the receiving end of it as I have stated in my thread 'Scorpions spiritualism'
I am also quite certain there is such a thing as ESP (extra sensory perception) and that there is a spirit world that we go to after death.
I have had many evidential messages from the spirit world through mediums.
One message was about a brother I had that died as a baby in the war, and my mother had never told me this. I was told by a medium in a spiritualist church that my mother had never been to.
I have also heard voices in my head that make sense. Including one incident where a voice told me they would help me to get money for a computer and one hour before a lottery draw in 1998 a voice said 'You won'. I did win enough to buy a computer.

I recommend people here read the books of Russell Targ, as they might change your views. Atheism is a state of mind you might change if you read the scientific evidence of telepathy and ESP they contain.

I said I would read books critical of Targ's books. But I was presented with a long list and I declined to read them, on account of the fact I am convinced Targ is telling the truth. His testing was foolproof under controlled conditions, and in any case as I have stated I am certain telepathy and ESP exist because of my own experience.

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Arrest made in Ukraine Doceument leak..

I won't post a link becuase it is the #1 news story all over the net.
Guess what? leaker was a 21 year old male MAGA.
I think he going to get a one way ticket to the Federal Maximum Security Prison at Florence, Colorads.

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Image-to-text conversion

I have a few books in the form of PDFs, but they were just scanned from paper like any other image/photograph. They're essentially photographs of what the pages looked like. The images happen to show visible text, but the text wasn't put in the digital files as characters, so you can't do normal computer-text things with it like copy & paste, changing font face/size/color, or using the "Find" function.

Are there any publicly available programs for extracting visible text from images and putting it in computer-text form? Or have the programs that can do it all been hidden or marked with a "Come get me FBI" beacon because they'd be the same kinds of programs a hacker would use against CAPCHA?

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18,000 Dairy Cattle dead in Texas dairy explosion.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-dai...ically-injured

Quote:

Approximately 18,000 cows were killed, and one person was critically injured, in an explosion at a dairy farm in the Texas Panhandle on Monday. The Castro County Sheriff’s Office confirmed with Fox News Digital that the cows were in a holding area before being brought in for milking when the blast occurred at the Southfork Dairy Farm in Dimmitt. Very few cows in the holding area survived, officials told local outlet KFDA. "Your count probably is close to that. There’s some that survived, there’s some that are probably injured to the point where they’ll have to be destroyed," Castro County Sherif Sal Rivera told KFDA.

How do you get 18,000 cows being killed at one milking time.


Second, pronouns. They are all cows.

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Daniel Perry pardon

This guy is set to be pardoned.
On the narrative in the link below, it seems Perry was looking for an opportunity to defend himself by shooting a protester.
Clearly a story with a way to run.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/con...IS353S3LDJHS4/

No protesters go near me or my car,” Perry wrote in one of the messages, adding that he “might go to Dallas to shoot looters.

“I might have to kill a few people on my way to work, they are rioting outside my apartment complex,” he said in another post. A commenter asked whether Perry could “legally” do that, to which he replied: “If they attack me or try to pull me out of my car then yes.”

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Home Owners Associations

I have just watched the latest John Oliver show about Home Owners Associations. I had to check whether the show was broadcast on April 1, but no.

I know John can be hyperbolic, but the documents he showed about people being evicted for ignoring HOA fines and so on seemed credible.

The show also claimed that 80% of new home owners are covered by HOAs.

I can’t link to the show, but is this defensible? Are US homeowners bullied by HOAs to this extent?

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The SGU's "Not a Conference" Conference Social Gathering

I didn't see any threads about this, yet, so I figured I would bring this to everyone's attention:

The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe podcast people are aiming to organize a real-world meetup (in "meatspace" as they call it, but I suppose you could spell it "meetspace", instead, if you are a vegetarian).

They calling it the Not A Conference Conference. And, I suppose this means we will have to wait even longer before there is another meetspace version of NECSS, eh?

Here is where you can sign up:
https://www.theskepticsguide.org/not...THzlDKV8FYN7Zg

And, here are the bullet points I copied from that site, for the details they have thus far:

• Multiple days of socializing, pure content, shows, interactive events, and more.
• White Plains NY
• November 3rd-4th 2023
• Tickets will be $225
• We are looking to get a discounted rate for a block of rooms. This is dependent on the number of confirmed attendees. Right now $179/night
• We would really like to get 200-400 people. We won't be able to do it if it's 150 or less.

I already signed up. Will YOU?!!!

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It's Time to Protect Children from Inappropriate School Interference

The articles below discuss two recent cases where public school officials encouraged two girls, ages 11 and 13, to change their gender without their parents' knowledge. Neuroscience tells us that a child's brain does not fully develop its reasoning ability until later in life, until about ages 21 to 25. The reasoning part of the brain, the pre-frontal cortex, does not fully develop its connections with the rest of the brain until about ages 21 to 25:

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyc...ContentID=3051

https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families...aking-095.aspx

https://paradigmtreatment.com/teens-...developed-age/

Young teens are not equipped to make such enormous decisions. In addition, at their age, they can be strongly influenced by peer pressure and/or by non-family adult authority figures. Young teens are simply not equipped to deal with such pressure and influence, especially when it comes to making a decision about elective surgical alteration of their bodies.

I think we need laws to protect children from school personnel who would engage in such conduct. I also think we need laws to prohibit gender-transition surgery for anyone under the age of 21.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/maine-...on-no-accident

https://www.foxnews.com/media/califo...nsition-gender

https://www.foxnews.com/media/califo...ders-knowledge

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Volcano erupts in Russia

Alright, looks like the NATO HAARP weapons arrived in Ukraine...
Just kidding, maybe. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by USA Today Volcano erupts in Russia: Video shows spewing ash that spread some 42,000 square miles

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...h/11639657002/

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Whole Foods closes flagship store due to crime

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/11/busin...ure/index.html

Whole Foods is closing it's new flagship store in San Francisco after only one year. Why? Because of crime. Member of the San Francisco city council expressed disappointment that the store is closing but of course understands how the increased crime situation is causing this.

What are San Francisco and other cities going to do about this??? A society that fails to or even worse, refuses to fight crime is a failed society.

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Islamification of Britain and Europe

The Muslim population of Britain has risen by 44% within a decade.
In 2011 it was 2.7 million, in 2021 it was 3.9 million.

Refugees are calculated to be 86% Muslim and they are coming from countries like Afghanistan and Iraq and Syria and Eritrea.

Cities like Leicester and Luton and Birmingham are being over run.

Gaddafi once said " We have 50 million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe-without swords, without conquest-will turn into a Muslim continent within a few decades."

https://rairfoundation.com/conquered...-turning-back/

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RIP Al Jaffee

Al Jaffee died April 10. He was 102 and was working up until 2020.

I didn't know much about any of his work before, but I sure read a lot of his MAD work. Hilarious and stupendously prolific, he had lots more ideas than he had time to draw.

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From the Bottom of the Heap

From the Bottom of the Heap – Robert Hillary King

I was delighted to receive a copy signed by Robert Hillary King himself. (Dated 6/7/12). I was inspired to read this book having read Albert Woodfox' autobiography, as one of the so-called 'Angola Three', who spent several decades in solitary confinement in a penitentiary nicknamed 'Angola' (actually in Louisiana,USA), who civil rights activists campaigned against their harsh treatment owing to their having organised a Black Panther movement within the prison, believing their treatment to be a continuation of slavery that dominated the USA until quite recently, in which the southern states still had enforced segregation well into the 1960's.

King doesn't pretend to have lived a life free from crime. The thing to remember is, in these southern US sates, many poor Black children are born into poverty and crime, due to the lack of opportunity and historical oppression. Stealing and street gangs is all many of these youngsters have ever known. Before they knew it they were in jail for life, after 'three strikes'. I believe Woodfox was released after 42 years and died recently, which is how I got to hear about him. His book is stunning and well worth a read. King's narrative is humble, modest and quiet. There is not a single hint of grandiosity or boasting. He doesn't deny his criminal record, whilst at the same time strongly fights back against unfair court procedures and barbaric prison treatment (solitary confinement for years on end).

King describes his childhood and his family ties, how he moves from one neighbourhood to another, how he found himself following a life of petty crime and ending up in jail. He was accused of participating in a killing of a prison guard during a prison riot/stand off, which he strongly denies. The real culprit after many years eventually confesses that King had nothing to do with it. However, after many applications for justice, all summarily refused, he finally has a breakthrough and accepts reluctantly a 'vacated' sentence in exchange for a plea deal agreeing that he was in a 'conspiracy to murder'. With the support of the Angola Three activists, at least he is a free man, and Woodfox was eventually freed some years later, for different crimes, although they were friends in jail, King well-known for his skill in making confectionery inside.

It is a sad story, of King's mother unable to care for her children and their having to live with King's grandmother. He has a number of siblings, some of different parents, plus numerous relatives int he extended family network. He writes fondly of his own family and there is even a family tree included.

Cruelly, the prison authorities refuse to let him attend his mother's funeral.

The book has some great pictures which are well captioned.

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Black Holes, 10'th verse

So I'm still thinking about black holes, but hey, you can't blame a guy for thinking about holes, right?

Which actually brings me to a previous thing I STILL don't understand. Which probably won't surprise anyone, since I'm still not a trained physicist. So I'm probably missing something, and I KNOW that, so please explain slowly and in simple words, like for Pixie Of Key :p

So: premise 1: gravity propagates at the speed of light. This was empyricaly proven recently when the gravity waves from a merger reached us at the same time as the light.

Premise 2: inside the event horizon all light cones lead to the centre. Even light can't go towards the outside at all.

It seems to me like if the matter were concentrated in the centre (either singularity, Planck density, or really anything smaller than the event horizon) then the information that there's some mass there distorting space couldn't actually reach any matter that just crossed the event horizon. That would involve something moving at the speed of light going outwards. Which it can't.

And yes, I know, the event horizon is only a coordinate singularity, only in Schwarzschild coordinates, etc. You explained that to me already. I think I get it. But no matter what coordinates I use, information still can't go outwards without going superluminal. (Unless I'm missing something. Which I probably am.)

It seems to me like the only way something behaving almost like one from outside could possibly form, is to never actually form a black hole. Like, stop at the Schwarzschild radius + 1 Planck length, or something like that. That's the only way that information that there's a big mass there can possibly flow outwards without going superluminal.

As usual, I'm not actually Pixie Of Key or such, so I realize that if my understanding differs from that of actual physicists, it means I must be the one who's wrong. I'm not gonna go crackpot here and play Secret Socrates or anything. But that leaves me wondering WTH do I get wrong there. Anyone who can explain in simple words, I'd be most grateful.

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Net Promoter theory and volunteer advocacy

This is not a call-out. Just an attribution of the starting point in a discussion.

Phiwum's tangent in the Ukraine war thread is mildly interesting to me, but off topic for that thread. So I thought I'd start a separate thread for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by phiwum (Post 14047703) Acting on behalf of is different than acting to their benefit. I find it extraordinarily unlikely that the Russians know of and have any relations with Michel. If I were to praise Coca-Cola, I might be benefitting them, but I would not be their agent. There would be no relationship at all. Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

Net promoter theory says that voluntary advocates are a powerful force for growing a business. Marketing departments across a wide range of industries treat them very much as agents, and aim to recruit as many of them as possible.

I don't think voluntarily and independently advocating for Moscow makes one any less of an agent than if one is doing it for pay, or in coordination with the regime.

If you voluntarily praise Coca-Cola, that makes you the best kind of agent for Coca-Cola's interests. One who works for free, out of sincere passion for their product.

Also, I cannot help but note that you are also acting as an agent for both Samsung and Tapatalk, by allowing them to inject mentions of their product into your posts.

And I think the distinction between "acting on behalf of" and "acting to the benefit of" is irrelevant to the question of agency. Putin has many official agents acting on his behalf, but manifestly to his detriment and the detriment of his country.

Trying to promote someone else's interests, voluntarily and independently, just makes you a voluntary and independent agent of those interests. It doesn't make you not an agent.

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Dalai Lama a perv?

"Dalai Lama apologises after kissing boy and asking him to ‘suck his tongue’"

Weird, to say the least.

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Comparing the Motives of Putin and Hitler with regards to invading Ukraine"

Because this needs to be discussed rather than shuffled away to AAH. Have at it!

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Titillating Tesselation Discovered!

Here's an article about a new repeating/non-repeating shape that's just been discovered, as one-of-a-kind. Fascinating. They call it "the hat" but in its inverted form I think it looks more like an untucked t-shirt (which I've since heard from other sources as well), especially in this graphic.
The implications for things such as 3D printing or quilting are intriguing. Also notable is how it's overlaid on a basic hexagonal structure. Who said "there's nothing left to discover"?
the-hat-einstein-shape-tile-discovery

Attached Images

einstein.jpg (44.7 KB)

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Texas Governor Abbott plans to pardon man convicted of murdering BLM protestor

Texas Governor Abbott plans to pardon man convicted of murdering BLM protestor

Quote:

A US army sergeant and ride-share service driver has been found guilty of the murder of a protester during a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020 in Austin, Texas. After an eight-day trial and two days of verdict deliberations, a jury in Travis county, Texas, found 33-year-old Daniel Perry guilty of murdering air force veteran Garrett Foster, 28. Perry is white, as was Foster. While the jury also found Perry not guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the murder conviction left him facing a maximum of life imprisonment. He could be sentenced as soon as next week, according to the local television news outlet KXAN. However, Texas’s Republican extremist governor Greg Abbott said on Saturday on Twitter that he was already working on pardoning Perry from his conviction, which he called an attempted jury nullification of Texas’s self-defense law.

Decide for yourself if it was self-defense after you read this:

Quote:

In court, prosecutors brought up Facebook messages that Perry sent prior to Foster’s killing. In one message, Perry wrote: “No protesters go near me or my car” and “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters,” the Austin television news outlet KTBC reported. Another message that Perry sent on 31 May 2020 said: “I might have to kill a few people on my way to work they are rioting outside my apartment complex.” A few days later, Perry commented on a Facebook post of a video titled “Protesters Looters Get Shot San Antonio Texas”, writing, “glad someone finally did something”. During the trial, Austin police detective William Bursley testified about evidence found on Perry’s cell phone. Part of the evidence included online searches for “protest tonight”, “protesters in Seattle gets shot”, “riot shootouts” and “protests in Dallas live”. “This is an age-old story about a man who couldn’t keep his anger under control,” said prosecutor Guillermo Gonzalez, according to the Austin American-Statesman. “It’s not about police, and it’s not about protest marchers.

This ******* was armed and looking for trouble. He hasn't even been sentenced yet, but Gov. Abattoir is ready to pardon him.

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The lunacy of the fringe left...

Because a recent sidetrack got vaporized (hope it rematerializes), I thought I'd show fringe lefty idiocy isnt immune to the ridicule it deserves, right alongside its conservative counterparts.

Unless someone can convince me either of these brain trusts are secretly GOP (Donnie's eclipse buffoonery doesn't really tip the scale)...

[yt]TxrliP3vshg[/yt]

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Charlie Kirk calls school shootings 'a prudent deal' to protect the Second Amendment

Charlie Kirk calls school shootings 'a prudent deal' to protect the Second Amendment

Quote:

Righ-wing Daily Wire commentator Charlie Kirk said at his Turning Points USA Political Action Committee Faith conference on Wednesday that the tens of thousands of annual firearm-related deaths in the United States are an acceptable price to pay in order for Americans to keep their Second Amendment constitutional right to bear arms.

Quote:

Kirk then attempted to justify allowing anyone and everyone to own guns, regardless of the risks to public health and safety: "Now, we must also be real. We must be honest with the population. Having an armed citizenry comes with a price, and that is part of liberty. Driving comes with a price – 50,000, 50,000, 50,000 people die on the road every year. That's a price," Kirk declared. "Wow," a man in the audience exclaimed. "You get rid of driving, you'd have 50,000 less auto fatalities. But we have decided that the benefit of driving – speed, accessibility, mobility, having products, services – is worth the cost of 50,000 people dying on the road," Kirk added, declining to mention that the operation and ownership of motor vehicles are heavily regulated privileges that can carry severe consequences when they are violated. Kirk therefore concluded: So we need to be very clear that you're not going to get gun deaths to zero. It will not happen. You could significantly reduce them through having more fathers in the home, by having more armed guards in front of schools. We should have a honest and clear reductionist view of gun violence, but we should not have a utopian one. You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won't have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It's drivel. But I am – I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe.

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Was Jesus a Zombified human sacrificed ill begotten son of YHWH?

Q: Does the New Tall tales (a.k.a. New Testament a.k.a. NT) contend that Jesus was the ill begotten son of YHWH a deity in the Buybull (a.k.a. Tanakh a.k.a. Old Testament a.k.a. OT)?

A: Yes.

Q: Does the NT contend that Jesus was ill begotten by YHWH with the express purpose of making an expiatory sacrificial lamb out of him as allegedly prophesied in the OT?

A: Yes.

Q: Was he slaughtered as the expiatory sacrificial lamb on Passover according to the will of YHWH... in order for YHWH to be appeased of his grudge against mankind which he has been letting fester for millennia because of a callow couple he made out of mud and a baculum for allowing themselves to be beguiled by a talking walking snake he made and let it loose on them to inveigle them into eating the forbidden fruit of a magical tree he also made and let loose on them too?

A: Yes.

Q: Was Jesus according to the New Tall tales a human?

A: Well... ¿yes?... he was the result of YHWH raping a human married 13 years old girl... according to Christian lore and the New Tall tales... so... ¿demi-human?.

Conclusion... the demi-human ill begotten son of YHWH was expressly ill begotten by YHWH in order to make an expiatory sacrificial lamb out of him... allegedly according to the Buybull's prophecies... to expiate and atone for the original sin and other personal sins of the ones who are stupid enough to buy with their money and with their faith this mephitic pile of claptrap.

Read this article that expounds and exegetes the whole sordid farcical melodrama.

And here are a few verses from the New Tall tales...

• Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
• 1 Peter 1:18-19 Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
• John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
• 1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures
• John 12:27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
• Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
• Matthew 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
• Romans 5:9-19 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.... we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son... but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.... Therefore as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
• etc. etc. etc.

And here is what human-sacrifice means...

Quote:

Human Sacrifice, the offering of the life of a human being to a deity. The occurrence of human sacrifice can usually be related to the recognition of human blood as the sacred life force. Bloodless forms of killing, however, such as strangulation and drowning, have been used in some cultures. The killing of a human being, or the substitution of an animal for a person, has often been part of an attempt to commune with a god and to participate in divine life. Human life, as the most valuable material for sacrifice, has also been offered in an attempt at expiation.

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Ancient empires

The Persians, the Assyrians, the Romans and Greeks of course, the Babylonians, etc...just been getting into reading more on these oldest of empires. Anyone else a fan?

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TN Republicans Voting to Expel 3 Democrats from State House of Representatives

They have voted to expel one already and the other 2 are expected to be expelled also today.

Quote:

Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson acknowledge that they didn't follow the rules of order and decorum by speaking without being formally recognized. But they're facing a disciplinary measure that's only been used twice since the 1800s. Republicans have said the trio's actions amount to an insurrection.

Quote:

Days earlier, a 28-year-old assailant shot and killed six people at an elementary school in Nashville, prompting crowds of students and parents to visit the legislature, urging new controls. Jones, Pearson and Johnson called out Republican leaders for not responding to the push for gun restrictions in response to the mass-shooting crisis in the U.S. They did so, they said, to amplify the voices of protesters and their constituents.

Quote:

"This was not an insurrection," Johnson told WPLN. "We've had skirmishes on the floor that have taken this long to resolve, and there were never any consequences." Jones said on CNN that Republicans are using authoritarian methods to silence the opposition. "It's very concerning and it represents a clear and present danger to democracy all across this nation," Jones said. "That should trouble us all." It is "morally insane," Jones said, to prioritize punishing lawmakers over a procedural breach after a mass shooting at a school.

Quote:

Republicans immediately criticized the three lawmakers for disrupting order and breaking procedural rules in the chamber, in a disruption they say lasted nearly an hour. House Speaker Cameron Sexton compared the incident to Jan. 6: "What they did today was equivalent, at least equivalent, maybe worse depending on how you look at it, to doing an insurrection in the State Capitol," he said.

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/06/11683...%20the%201800s.

I find this absolutely disgusting; to compare non-violent 'unruly behavior' that was protesting gun violence to Jan. 6 and to expel them rather than fine or censure them. The charge against them is breaking some rules. There have been physical fights on the floor of the chamber and worse violations of the rules than these three committed and no suggestion of expulsion was ever made. This is nothing more than childish and hateful GOP political revenge and to redirect attention from gun control after the school shooting and, I suspect, Trump's indictment. This is representative of the GOP party today. Reprehensible

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Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire

Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire

... IN LATE JUNE 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.

If Thomas had chartered the plane and the 162-foot yacht himself, the total cost of the trip could have exceeded $500,000. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t necessary: He was on vacation with real estate magnate and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, who owned the jet — and the yacht, too. ....

Hopefully it gave him time to reflect on his latest rulings.

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Froot loopy Anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenging Biden for presidency

Froot loopy Anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenging Biden for presidency in 2024

Quote:

Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and scion of one of the country's most famous political families, is running for president. Kennedy filed a statement of candidacy Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission. The 69-year-old's campaign to challenge incumbent President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination is a long shot. Self-help author Marianne Williamson is also running in the Democratic race. Kennedy, a nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of his slain brother Robert F. Kennedy, was once a bestselling author and environmental lawyer who worked on issues such as clean water. But more than 15 years ago, he became fixated on a belief that vaccines are not safe. He emerged as one of the leading voices in the anti-vaccine movement, and his work has been described by public health experts and even members of his own family as misleading and dangerous.

:crazy: :dl:

I'm sure Joe is quaking in his shoes. :rolleyes:

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Theoretical question regarding organ transplant

So let's say you have two healthy working kidneys. And you're rich, filthy rich. Is there any advantage to hiring a medical team to implant a third healthy working kidney in you? I mean, if two work well, will three work even better? Would this give you extra protection against your bad dietary and drinking habits? Is there no advantage? Or would it even make things worse for you? Are there any organs that you would be better off having more than the usual allocation of?*

* There is no prize for being the first person to respond with "penis."

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Janet Protasiewicz May Be Impeached by GOP After Wisconsin Election Win

Janet Protasiewicz May Be Impeached by GOP After Wisconsin Election Win

So, you win an election to the state Supreme Court that gives liberals a 4-3 majority. Hey, not so fast there, lady! Don't you dare take that seat!

Quote:

Democrat-aligned Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz scored a major victory on Tuesday as she secured election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but she could already be facing the prospect of impeachment. Republican state senate candidate Dan Knodl suggested last week that he would be open to impeaching Protasiewicz if he were to win his own race. This would give the GOP a two-thirds majority in the Wisconsin senate. Knodl made those remarks before the elections took place. Protasiewicz defeated Republican-backed Daniel Kelly, a former member of the state's supreme court. It was perhaps the most-watched election this year because of its possible effects on U.S. congressional districts and potential challenges to the 2024 presidential election. The court will now have an effective 4-3 liberal majority. This could open the door to challenges to maps for the U.S. House of Representatives, which currently favor Republicans.

If there are any of you left who think that the GQP will respect the will of the voters when it doesn't favor them, think again!

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Where does Trump get his hamburgers?

It appears that Trump is fond of hamburgers. Does he have a preferred commercial supplier, like McDonald's or Burger King? If he orders from outside, does his security detail hover over the kitchen staff at say Burger King, while they attend to his order?

Maybe Trump has a private chef making burgers, because of security issues. Does Trump have an official taster, to check that the burger is not poisoned? Does he suffer from paranoia (somebody is out to get me), or is his ego too big for that ? (Nobody would dare do that to me - I am Trump!)

Curious minds want to know!

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What do you do when someone pranks you?

If you're this man in Virginia, you shoot them.

YouTuber prankster shot and wounded by target of practical joke

Quote:

Tanner Cook, 21, was reportedly playing joke on man at Virginia mall when victim of prank shot him in abdomen A popular US YouTube creator who prides himself on making videos in which he displays odd behavior to put people off intends to keep at it, even after one of his targets allegedly shot him nearly to death. Tanner Cook – who regularly makes videos of himself pranking strangers for nearly 40,000 subscribers of the channel Classified Goons – was reportedly playing a practical joke on a man at a mall in the Washington suburb of Dulles, Virginia, at about midday on Sunday. A friend was recording him when things took an almost deadly turn, according to authorities as well as an interview Cook gave to the local TV station WUSA. The man, identified as 31-year-old Alan Colie, pulled a gun out and shot Cook in the stomach, investigators allege. Cook, 21, survived the wound and had to undergo surgery after first responders brought him to a hospital in critical condition. “I was playing a … simple … joke, and this guy didn’t take it very well,” Cook told WUSA from his hospital bed. Cook said the man who shot him “didn’t say anything” before firing on him, which authorities said also caused a panic among mall-goers.

Pulling pranks on people is juvenile and petty, but no-one deserves to be shot for it.

The shooter is in custody, with a court appearance in May.

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Equality and maximum diversity.

There are 32 "1" symbols and 32 "0" symbols.

The challenge is to arrange them in a matrix form, such that they will represent both equality and maximum diversity.

What is your solution?

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Happy 50th birthday, Cellphone!

The first ever call made with a mobile phone was a conversation 50 years ago between two rivals developing cellphone technology. Since then, the devices have found some unexpected uses.

Quote:

The year was 1973. Joel Engel, an American engineer who had worked on Nasa's Apollo programme, was leading an effort to create the world's first handheld mobile phone. Research at Bell Labs, where Engel worked, had several decades earlier contributed to the development of clunky, car-phones that allowed calls to be made on the move. His team were now trying to take the technology a step further – a device that could be carried around everywhere. On 3 April, however, the landline in Engel's laboratory rang. He picked up. "Hi, Joel," said the voice at the other end of the line. It was Martin 'Marty' Cooper, the leader of a rival research group at a radio and electronics company called Motorola. "I'm calling you on a cellphone, but a real cellphone," Cooper said. "A personal, handheld, portable cellphone." The race was won, and in some style. Standing in front of reporters and photographers, Cooper had made the call from in front of the Hilton Midtown hotel on New York's Sixth Avenue – around 30 miles (48km) from Bell Labs in New Jersey where Engel stood silently on the other end. Soon it would be possible to hold conversations with another person – and even multiple people at once – from anywhere at any time. The ability to beam short text messages, and later pictures and eventually emojis, would then follow. But while mobile phones transformed the way our species communicates with one another, it barely scratches the surface of what they have enabled.

A big step to the beginning of the end of civilization. :D

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The Vaccine War

Webinar coming up on April 13, 2023 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Skeptical Inquirer Presents: Virulent: The Vaccine War with Laura Davis & Tjardus Greidanus

Quote:

Recent years have seen the dialogue around vaccines devolve into a highly contentious, emotionally fraught firestorm, an ongoing collision between scientists and charlatans, truth and lies. Virulent: The Vaccine War is an invitation to think again, exposing the myths and laying bare the facts about vaccine science, its history, and what it will take to eradicate the world’s most deadly diseases.

Details and registration here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...TIWlewitX-HMxQ

I'll be there!

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