Ser Scot A Ellison

2 minutes ago, kissdbyfire said:

This is us, Scot, us humans.
We have very terrible people… on both sides.
 

I know…  

1 minute ago, kissdbyfire said:

You’re right. But it’s still a valid rhetorical argument for someone who is shamelessly proposing ethnic cleansing like it’s a vacation in the Caribbean.

Understood.  That said I have seen some Hamas sympathizers (elsewhere not here) seriously argue for the evacuation of the Jewish citzens of Israel.

On 4/8/2024 at 11:20 AM, Conflicting Thought said:

Or israelis could migrate to europe. 

That went well for Jews there in the past… didn’t it?

On 4/6/2024 at 7:52 PM, Corvinus85 said:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/06/americas/ecuador-vice-president-arrest-mexico-embassy-diplomatic-tensions-intl-hnk/index.html

 

What the actual fuck?  That’s an act of war.  That is Mexican territory that was raided.

1 hour ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Phrasing?

Unintentional.

54 minutes ago, TrackerNeil said:

I am sure this won't damage him on the right. One of the lessons I took from 2016 is that the God Squad has a lot less influence over the GOP than I previously thought. They will line up enthusiastically behind whomever wins the nomination, whether that person is Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin on Yolo Minneapolis.

I do think, however, we've seen signficant evidence that abortions drives turnout among voters who often favor Democrats. I confess I didn't expect to see that, but the past few elections have changed my mind. Americans care about abortion, and the majority of them seem to care about keeping it mostly legal. Trump may come to regret bragging that he's the guy who ruined Roe.

The precence of an abortion rights question on the Florida Ballot has made the Presidential election in Florida that much more… interesting.  Trump is trying to split the baby.  
 

That will not drive away his diehards.  But it also, surely, will not attract anyone upset by Roe being reversed.  The presence of abortion rights as a serious issue in the 2024 election hurts Trump and the Republicans… it helps Biden and the Democrats.

40 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Ukraine's precision targeting is getting seriously impressive. They tracked a Russian armoured convoy and hit it in the middle of a town when it made a gas stop. The gas station was partially destroyed, the vehicles totally and everything around it seemed to be untouched. Multiple KamAZ transports destroyed and a Tigr IMV.

Ukraine has deployed yet another new drone model, the OWA-UAV, which is an attack drone which is jet-powered. They used them to hit a series of targets in Belgorod Oblast. They travel far too low for S-300 or S-400 to be effective but far too fast to be easily shot down by Pantsir or standard anti-drone weapons. They're basically budget cruise missiles. Range is unknown at present.

 

SLAVA UKRAINI!!!

2 hours ago, Tears of Lys said:

But has anyone else experienced "exploding head syndrome"?   It's funny, I know, but it's an actual thing apparently.  It happens in that time when you're just falling asleep, and then "BANG!"  I've had it once in a while for as long as I can remember.  It's harmless, but when it first happens, it's quite disconcerting!   You look around to see what happened and did anyone else hear it.

Yes.  I’ve experienced that.  I just thought I was weird.  I’ve never mentioned it to anyone.  I didn’t known happened to anyone else… it has happened more frequently as I’ve gotten older.

I never fly in my dreams.  I have dreamt of falling off a building at least once… I knew I was going to die… then I woke up.  It was… disconcerting.

3 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

An event I look forward to. We should be absorbed by Andromeda. 

Because our galaxy’s name is stupid. Milky Way. 
 

What do you call a resident of the Milky Way?

Milky Waytian?

When I was a kid I always wondered why our galaxy was named after a candy bar… a good candy bar… but a candy bar nonetheless.

Then I learned the history behind the name…

21 hours ago, Take on Me said:

I've only read the first 3 Dune books.  Still have a few Herbert books to finish.  I've toyed with the idea of exploring KJA's expanded universe, but too many negative reviews have held me at bay.  Are any of them worth a read?  My reading hours are in short supply, so I'm picky about what I invest them on.

Don’t waste them on the KJA fanfiction crap.

14 hours ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

Well, no. Maybe some of the older stories are like simple comic books, like the tales of the various judges. But most of the scriptures are far more interesting. The gospel of Mark is a brilliant work of apocalyptic esotericism, an impressive mosaic of scriptural allusions. Ecclesiastes is some gorgeous and heavy philosophy. The psalms are a wealth of beauty and raw human emotion.

This is important and enriching material. But only when approached properly, not like some cake recipe for salvation.

Your second paragraph is exactly why “Sola Scriptura” fundamentalism scares me to death.

2 minutes ago, kissdbyfire said:

I’m as certain as I can be w/o definitive proof that there is life and intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. I believe it because the universe is possibly more vast than we can fathom at this point, so it doesn’t really make sense to me that there’s only life on Earth - how very typical of our hubris and ignorance! 
Another reason is, we can’t really be the best the universe has to offer, seriously. 

I agree.  But… we do not have enough data to make concrete predictions as to where…

Here… to end the derail.  A thread to discuss extraterrestrial life, its possibilities, and its prevalence…

To end the derail in the international events thread… discuss…

1 hour ago, The Anti-Targ said:

We can have a conversation about life elsewhere once we've found several thousand planets with more or less identical (or better) habitability potential to Earth and confirmed none of them have any kind of life we could recognise as such. But for now, we haven't even firmly ruled out life arising independently elsewhere in our own solar system.

I keep seeing that stated.  We cannot (I use “cannot” deliberately) know that.  We know their rough location compared to their parent stars and their rough size.  No more.  That isn’t enough to say they can support life… much less technologically advanced life.  

Consider if a technologically advanced civilization had visit Earth during the million years of the Great Dying would they have said Earth was “habitability”?

35 minutes ago, JGP said:

Do I need to, Scot? The universe is pretty damned big and likewise aged, there's the timespans and distances we're talking about, then consider the technological infancy of humanity. I mean, Webb's found evidence already of galaxies of a size that defy our theories of the early universe, and instead of billions of galaxies out there its more like trillions... Do I need to go on. You're smart, walk it out.

 

 

Sure. On that scale it's patently clear humans really, really suck.

[turns off the News]   

More space means more opportunities for intelligent life to arrise.  The Fermi paradox asks why haven’t we hear them?  The question holds.  

I do think there is other life in the universe probably intelligent life… it’s simply interesting the we haven’t heard it yet.

4 minutes ago, Bironic said:

I think in the piece that I remember it was meant more on a humorous level, basically that we humans are such a stupid people and a bad influence overall so if you're intelligent you will understand that you're better off avoiding us... but yes the dark forest hypothesis would probably fall somwhere in there as well...

I know… that’s the wink.

1 hour ago, Bironic said:

I think it was in a comic strip (maybe calvin and Hobbes, not sure tbh) where someone says that the best evidence for intelligent life in the universe is the fact that they are hiding from us

Isn’t that the “Dark Forest” hypothesis?

3 hours ago, JGP said:

Hope you're right.

Myself, also possibly unlike many, I believe the universe is geared to favor emergence from complex adaptive systems, and where those systems stack up enough, life. And, if fortune continues to favor said cooperative interactions, eventually intelligent life. 

I've zero doubt there's many somethings out there, but do doubt they've all transcended their foundational nature.     

Interesting.  How do you address the Fermi Paradox?

25 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

 

Conspiracy kooks make my head hurt.

4 hours ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

The state has always had this kind of power. Right wingers want prayer back in school back (and we all know which religion they'll be teaching) and have successfully corrupted the courts to a point where they'll make decision more impactful than whether or not there should be some regulations on what parents can teach their kids (as there already are).

And that’s wrong in my earnest assessment.

19 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Trump sues two Trump Media co-founders, seeking to void their stock in the company

https://apnews.com/article/trump-lawsuit-truth-social-cofounders-d14ee7b187cdb1d7504903504874b1d1

 

Why… oh why… would anyone partner with that man for anything?

18 minutes ago, TheLastWolf said:

Of course not. Hell, I've been called all kinds of shit from anarchist to more colourful nouns but never something even remotely resembling your accusation. I just can't stomach innocent kids' minds being polluted that's all. It is personal, for I had a few choices and fortuitous turn of events leading to the barest of an escape from leading a similarly biased existence.

How else would you bar parents from teaching their kids about their religious beliefs?  I’m very confused.

34 minutes ago, TheLastWolf said:

Not all parents turn out to be Terrence Mallick sadly. In fact, the vast majority- Ugh. I mean, I do encounter their children on a daily basis, don't I? Most people are someone's children (raised is what I mean, not the Tyrion kind sarcasm "...mother. Some woman, most usually are"). And their upbringing disgusts me when it comes to social divisions of all kinds. Just look around the globe, am not responsible if you have a relatively better environment, the world is still burning for many.

When even most parents pass on undesirable acquired knowledge, what hope does an institution have, free from monitoring and prone to all sorts of nefarious interference.

The poor kid had no choice in his birth (consent ahem), is asking to not impose the shittier of the average moronic adult's prejudices and biases too much?

So… you would empower the State to impose criminal sanction upon parents who teach their kids about their faith?  Look I don’t think all parents are perfect but that seems like… a lot… of power in the hands of the State.

Last night I dreamt that I grew my hair long and that it was very dark… (I’ve always had sandy blond/light brown hair) that I decided to attend a work function in a dress.  Got to the door and decided that was a poor idea then struggled to get back up to a hotel room to change into a suit. 

I don’t ever recall having another dream like that one.