dimanche 31 janvier 2016

Little red riding hood has a gun

http://ift.tt/1Q5TK0G

Of late the NRA appears to have drifted further off to bat crazy land. It appears to have evolved into little more than a political lobby group for paranoid extremists.

Now they appear to want to assist their simpler supporters by using fairy tales as analogies.

Hold your breath folks....here is the NRA's latest effort. Red riding hood with a gun!


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Anybody had a looksee at Lior Suchard?

Hey all

Pretty cool stunts this guy pulls.... eg

http://ift.tt/1PrZiGu


Without revealing his specific methods (I think it might still be against the MA?), does anyone have any general thoughts about how he achieves what he does?


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If the Universe is Finite and Expanding,

What is it expanding into? What word could be used to describe the non-universe "space" before the universe expands into it (what a horrible sentence that is)? Would nothingness be a good description? Could you say the universe is expanding into nothing? That doesn't sound right. It also doesn't sound right to say the universe is expanding into something.


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Making gray matter with woo

:eek:

Quote:

....The MRI images showed that the meditators (but not the controls) had increased concentrations of gray matter (the "computing" or processing neurons) in several brain areas, including the hippocampus (a deep brain structure important for learning, memory, and the regulation of emotions) and other regions associated with remembering the past and imagining the future, as well as with introspection, empathy, and the ability to acknowledge the viewpoints of others.....
http://ift.tt/1SS3PUM


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samedi 30 janvier 2016

Your awkward sex ed class/teacher.

Ok lets see how many sex ed classes I was in from Jr high on. And then I will grade them on their order of weirdness.

1. 7th grade sex ed. Mr Fortier (notice that most sex ed classes are taught by men?) He theory was that males were at their peak level of arousal at 12am and it tapered off from there. It was quite a lengthy theory he had so I will stop right there but it had quite a bit to do with ejaculation. There were no post tests. Class gets an A!

2. 9th grade sex ed. Mostly I remember that the guy wore tight running running pants that showed his package and there was a young girl who spent most of his class staring at his junk. (yes he was eventually caught.) I cant remember if there was a post test. C

3. 11th grade sex ed. Ok, by now most of us had had sex so the class mainly dealt with usual sex ed stuff like putting on condoms and STD's. The class was taught by a woman. The most notable thing about the class was that the bathroom was in close proximity to the class and, when I went to the bathroom, one of the female students publicly made a guess to the size of my stuff buy the sound of my pee hitting the water. I am pretty sure there was a post test. B

Nobody is going to cop to this are they?


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How Reaganomics Killed America’s Middle Class

Caught part of my favorite talk show host, Thom Hartmann, on Bill Maher's show and it got me looking on youtube for something I might post here.

I liked this one:

YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the ISF. The ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.
I AGREE

I'm an entrepreneur, selling in trade shows in the gem, fossil, jewelry, and mineral business. What Hartmann and Wolff suggest certainly fits what I've observed over the past few years concerning buying behavior of regular folks... many many can't afford the stuff they used to be able to. High end is doing fine long as you're highly competitive in your pricing.

It's a long vid but interesting.


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We're No. 16!

Or worse. The writer looks at numerous international rankings of public health, educational achievement, income equality, infrastructure, etc., etc., and finds the U.S. consistently way down the lists.
http://ift.tt/1Q2vNHm


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If 911 was a false flag inside job...

I'm posting this thread as a thought experiment. The premise shall be that the 911 truth movement is largely correct, and that 911 was in fact a "false flag" operation perpetrated in part by a small faction of American Government and Industry. If this thread will stand, I'll ask for one additional premise to be acknowledged. That being that the 911 event was organized in a manner meant to minimize death and ultimately enhance the security and safety of this Nation. Therefore some of the questions I'm interested in answering, given these premises, are:

What is an acceptable way forward for the Nation?
How might reconciliation be granted?
What are acceptable admissions of guilt and/or complicity?
Can our Constitutional Government remain intact?

This is thought experiment only, and participation in thinking about this scenario in no way means that you actually believe 911 was a false flag. The purpose is simply to discuss various outcomes based on this hypothetical premise.


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Chicago Chicago that toddlin' town

The good news is the CPD hasn't shot anyone yet this year. The bad news is that there have already been 277 shot and 51 killed. What is to be done? It is plainly obvious the city governance is incompetent.

http://heyjackass.com/

I can't vouch for the sites veracity, but they do list their sources.


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Retirement After 38 Years

I haven't been here in awhile but I wanted to let all of my aquantences here on International Skeptics (JREF), good aquaintences :thumbsup: and those who may have despised me :boggled: as well, that my FAA career is winding down. I submitted my retirement papers a couple of weeks ago, and will be retiring April 2nd:):).

My 34 years in the FAA and 4 years in the USAF have been very fullfilling. I have enjoyed my time coming to this site and have enjoyed sharing my expierences on this site. I will continue to come here and offer services when ever I feel I can provide some clarity on a subject that I have knowledge in.

I feel I have provided what I could to this site regarding my experiences on 9-11, and after 5 documentaries and working on UAL93, it is time for me to put my feet up and have a beer or two. If any of you are ever in New Hampshire or Cape Cod, look me up and we can talk about the old times. :cool::cool:


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Chobani Yoghurt choses to use the same tactics the Food Babe does

Quote:

A federal court has ordered the makers of Chobani Greek yogurt to stop running a series of new ads that claim similar products from Dannon and Yoplait contain insecticides and chlorine.
http://ift.tt/1ShFUhT

Basically it's exactly the same tactic the Food Babe has used to rake in the millions.

Sadly this kind of fearmongering is very hard to fight.


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vendredi 29 janvier 2016

Place Your Bets on the Iowa Caucuses

Place your bets ladies and gentlemen!

Give us your top five Republican finishers (in order) and win a prize.

Here's my list:

Cruz
Trump
Rubio
Paul
Christie

Drawing will be held Monday evening, so don't delay!


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Possible reason Obama/Clinton are chummy!

While there could be many reasons, here's one.

There has been speculation of her storming into Oval Office, and demanding Obama call off his dogs. To which he replied, he can not!
He recently gave an interview many saw as support for her.
Since she did at least two things that could have pissed him off!

One: continued relations with Sidney, who Obama barred from his administration.

Two: Using the cowboy server, giving the administration a black eye over transparency! Transparency being one of his pet issues.

Obama having an insider bit of information into the F.B.I. investigation began to lay this foundation of being chummy with her. So he would look above favoritism when she is finally charged, and convicted.

Face it if F.B.I. recommends charges and Obama stops them, he will end his tenure with an * historically. He may have also had the wrath of liberals if it looks like he was cool to her prosecution, because of earlier issues he may have had with her. Playing friendly, then letting the law handle it, he looks fair.

Thoughts?


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Japan gives away money. !!!!

Help yourself. The more you borrow the more they give you.


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Hallucinations because your bored

When I was 22 none of my friends were home. My parents were at a party, nothing was on TV and I had nothing to read. It was night time and zi was sitting in the den watching TV the program of which was terrible. I could see into the darkened living roome next to the den.

I saw a short, ugly man who was either hairy or wearing a shaggy garment who was walking across the room with a pained look on its face. It saw me looking at it and it hid behind an easy chair. The creature was walking a few inches above the floor.

I realized I had hallucinated and I suspected why.

Confirming my idea concering this experience my psychiatrist confirmed my suspecion.

I was so bored that my brain was trying to entertain me.

Anyone else ever have a similar experience?


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Gravy's List of Conspiritors

Gravy's List of Conspirators

I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel but the first time I red posts on this site I found a list written by Gravy with all the possible conspirators. The whole idea was to show how preposterous the Occam's razor test on the conspiracy theory is.
I have searched and searched for it to no avail. I have come to the conclusion that the search functions here on jref and I are not friends.
Does anybody know where it is posted or do you have a copy?

Thanks in advance.


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Call Me Indifferent...

I find it hard to get worked up over anything that happens on Twitter.

JK Rowling 'may sue MP' Natalie McGarry over Twitter row.


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Mathematics proves that Obama is the Antichrist

This video seems to claim that using gematria and triangular numbers, as well as various biblical passages that we can prove that Obama is the antichrist. Unfortunately I so not possess the knowledge to debunk these claims so I leave it to you good people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BeMh-fXdrM

Condensed version of the claims are in the description of the video.


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6 Pro-Christian Films That Made Christians Look Like Jerks

From Cracked:

6 Pro-Christian Films That Made Christians Look Like Jerks

Quote:

Christian films have a reputation for being heavy-handed, but they're more or less consistent in their messages of the importance of spirituality and family. However, some Christian filmmakers lay on the rhetoric so thick that they accidentally reveal some hidden part of their own personalities, be it deep-seated prejudice, a torture-porn fetish, or an affinity for Twilight slash fiction. Warning: The last entry is pretty gruesome.
Warning: A bit of NSFW language.


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Neil DeGrasse Tyson Gets Into A Rap Battle With Rapper Over Flat Earth Theory

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Gets Into A Rap Battle With B.o.B Over Flat Earth Theory

Flat earth rapper BoB releases Neil deGrasse Tyson diss track

Quote:

In response to the astrophysicist taking issue with his claim that earth is flat, rapper releases track larded with conspiracy theories and a shoutout for Holocaust denier David Irving.
"Flat Earth” rapper B.o.B has even more extreme, dangerous views: He promotes Holocaust denial.


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Boundary review & reduction in number of MPs, 2018

Under a law passed in the last Parliament there will be a reduction from 650 to 600 MPs before the next general election, and (almost) all constitutencies will have to be within 5% of each other in voter numbers. At the moment, the largest constituency has 112,000 voters, and the smallest just 22,000. Islands are protected under the legislation (ie the won't be joined into mainland constituencies).

This is clearly going to have a dramatic impact on UK politics. The over-representation of Scotland in Parliament will be corrected, as will the undervaluing of rural votes. Cornwall, BTW, isn't happy, as one of its constituencies will stretch into Devon, producing some of the best quotes from the last Parliament "It's the Tamar, not the Amazon, for heaven's sake" (Cameron), and "This is Cornwall, and over there that is England" (Lib Dem MP).

Labour opposed the bill as it likely removes a bias in their favour in the current arrangements, and no doubt the SNP will be hopping mad, just because they always are, but also because Scotland loses 6 MPs. It currently takes about 10,000 fewer votes to elect an SNP MP than it does a Labour MP, and Conservatives need a thousand more than Labour do to win a seat on average.

The 4 UK Boundary Commissions start their work on this matter this year, and have to finish by 2018 so that constituencies are settled in time for the next election in 2020. I for one welcome the reduction in the number of MPs, and the requirement for equal sized (voter numbers) constituencies. Does anyone see it another way?


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The ghosts and the walking dead

Ghost candidates

Ben Carson - I don't believe that he ever had any intention of being elected. He put out three books in 2015. I think his campaign has mostly been a way to get publicity and promote his books while having someone else pay for it. There is also the possibility that like Palin he is desperate to stay in the spotlight. However, unlike Palin, Carson was once accomplished and well respected. After becoming head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins at the age of 33 his team separated conjoined twins in a 22 hour operation in 1987.

Donald Trump - I don't believe that Trump actually wants to be president. I can't see him being out of the corporate world for four years or having someone else plan his schedule everyday. My guess would be that he is trying to rehabilitate his image after making a fool of himself with his birther obsession. I think he probably also has some lobbying goal such as a more favorable tax policy, fewer regulations, or perhaps eliminating the inheritance tax. Looking like a serious candidate could help with that.

Jim Gilmore - He's only raised $300,000 total, even counting outside groups. He has $34,000 on hand and debts of $43,000. I couldn't call this a real campaign.

The walking dead

John Kassich - $2.6 million in campaign cash on hand.
Rand Paul - $2.1 million cash on hand.
Chris Christie - $1.4 million cash on hand.
Martin O'Malley - $806,000 cash on hand.
Mike Huckabee - $760,000 cash on hand.
Rick Santorum - $227,000 cash on hand.


Over two million might sound like a lot of money but Lindsey Graham has already dropped out with $1.6 million on hand. The last chance to gain momentum is the gap between New Hampshire and South Carolina.

February 9, New Hampshire primary.
February 13, Republican debate in North Carolina.
February 20, South Carolina primary.

However, after South Carolina, the lagging campaigns will quickly fade since they won't have enough money or volunteers to get through Super Tuesday on March 1. This is also when I would expect the Carson and Trump campaigns to fade since the schedule leading to Super Tuesday is brutal and the candidate would have to be serious about running.


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jeudi 28 janvier 2016

Circuit City rising from the ashes?



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The Umpteenth Republican Debate Thread

I was on the road/boat*, so I missed the undercard. Thank gawd. But I expect my wife will turn it on and I'll be sitting here where I can see the computer and TV, so....

*M/V Walla Walla

Apparently some of the undercard are planning to turn up to Trump's veterans rally.

I'm a veteran. Screw you, Donald.


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Big Pharma Lie #162: "No link between drugs and suicide"

I had to check that the writer wasn't Captain Obvious.

Drug companies have been lying for years about a link between anti-depressants and suicide.

I'd be outraged if I hadn't talked everyone I've ever known out of using these idiot pills, but with millions of prescriptions a year, it's a problem for lots of people.


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NFL Player starts his PhD in Math at MIT...

http://ift.tt/23wFnvX

And if you want to sample his work:

http://ift.tt/1B01ZDy


So much for the "dumb NFL player" stereotype.


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The coolest weapons that never were

What would you classify as the coolest weapons or war that were never built but might have been feasible?

For me it would have to be those German supertanks of WW2.


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What Does "God Bless America" Mean?

As a lifelong athiest I have always been perplexed about the meaning of the word "bless." The first definition in the dictionary defines it as "to make something holy."

I suppose when a Priest might use the phrase "Bless you, my child" they are invoking some magic holy protection order that you may not come to harm, or rather, that you come to less harm than you might otherwise come to as the result of the erroneous direction to which your free will might lead you. That the Priest has put you under the protection of a diety, not complete protection, but by having a diety help you make the right choices.

When invoked by well-wishers after a sneeze I've heard that the ancients believed that your holy spirit left your body for an instant, and that the blessing was to assure that evil spirits did not take advantage of its absence and protection.

But what about when referring to a country? Does "bless" mean "approve of our actions?" That the diety should know that we are doing what we think is right and we hope you'll agree? Does it have the first sense of meaning, that is "make us holy?" Give us godly powers to vanquish our enemies?

The second line of the famous hymn says "stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above," which only adds to my confusion. I interpret "stand beside" as not to lead but to bear witness, but "guide" has a thoroughly different meaning. The rest of the line I interpret as a prayer to imbue us with an artificial sense of hope to help us make it through dark times. To get involved in a way that lets us know of your presence. But to me that seems to nullify the importance of faith as part of religion, as it is imploring the deity to provide evidence.

Are we asking for permission to do wrong and be forgiven in the afterlife? Are we asking for good health as we undergo whatever mission we undertake? What do believers think they are asking for when they use this phrase?


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Investopedia Article says England still owes $$$ to Rothschilds since Napoloen

I thought that was just a CT. Is investopedia like wikipedia where anyone can write articles?

http://ift.tt/1OSxzgA

Quote:

The Rothchilds' intelligence network was so vast and efficient that Nathan was often informed of military information before national governments. In fact, Nathan knew Napoleon had lost the Battle of Waterloo before the English monarchy. With this information in hand, Nathan spread the rumor that Napoleon had won and that everyone on the English Stock Market should start selling their useless English money. Rothchilds' agents were then able to purchase nearly the entire English Stock Market at incredibly low prices, thus controlling the entire English market before everyone found out that England, in reality, had beaten Napoleon. As of 2015, the English government is still paying back money owed to the Rothschild family from this Napoleonic fraud.


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Actor Damian Lewis 'too privileged' for school event

BBC News: Actor Damian Lewis 'too privileged' for school event

"Damian Lewis has hit back at critics who claimed he was too privileged to take part in his local comprehensive [i.e. state] school's 50th anniversary celebrations.

The Eton-educated [i.e. private] actor told the event people who had complained were "missing the point" as the evening was "a celebration of our community... and the role the school has played here".

Alumni from Acland Burghley School in north London had signed a petition against the Homeland star's appearance.

The actor lives near the Camden school."

Glaringly absent from this is how Lewis choose to school his own children. If he was planning to send them to this school (neither are old enough yet), I think he would have mentioned it.


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Far-reaching conspiracies mathematically likely to be discovered.

A recent paper has computed the chances of a far-reaching conspiracy remaining secret for any length of time, and concludes that the chances are mathematically minimal that this will happen.
Specific conspiracies mentioned are the supposedly-suppressed cure for cancer, the moon landing "hoax", and vaccines causing autism.
This seems to be another nail in the coffin of the idea that a huge secretive elite can stay behind the scenes and remain undiscovered for any significant length of time.
Your thoughts and comments are, as always, most welcome.
http://ift.tt/1WPMpHN


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Alarm clock that can be set via Internet?

Anybody know of such? It's for a friend. :D


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mercredi 27 janvier 2016

Google has a champion beating Go computer

Linky.

Essentially, instead of a brute force approach, it is a deep learning approach that first was trained with humans and then other versions of itself to learn beyond human information.

Very cool, albeit oddly bittersweet.


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Naval Space Fleet

What do we have on 'space war/defense', ideas, lofted by navy/pentagon types, from the early days, before cooler heads prevailed?

In the earlier days, post 1946 or so.

Were any proposals requested from or offered to Navy/Air Force/Pentagon?


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When did we replace "normal" with "normative"

Quote:

adjective
1.
conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.
2.
serving to establish a standard.
3.
Psychology.

approximately average in any psychological trait, as intelligence, personality, or emotional adjustment.
free from any mental disorder; sane.

4.
Biology, Medicine/Medical.

free from any infection or other form of disease or malformation, or from experimental therapy or manipulation.
of natural occurrence.

http://ift.tt/1DttxF9
Quote:

adjective
1.
of or relating to a norm, especially an assumed norm regarded as the standard of correctness in behavior, speech, writing, etc.
2.
tending or attempting to establish such a norm, especially by the prescription of rules:
normative grammar.
3.
reflecting the assumption of such a norm or favoring its establishment:
a normative attitude.

http://ift.tt/1npaoRz
When did large numbers of people decide that objective reality can be changed by the application of language if enough people decide to do so?

When did "normal" become a 4-letter word? Actually, let me amend that: I know "when": about the time that those who seek legitimization of fringe choices, lifestyles, and modes of thought learned how to out-shout everybody else.

The real question is when did the rest of us cede the verbal (and therefore intellectual) point to them?


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How low will oil go?

Oil dropped below $30 a barrel, but now its above that.

I keep reading news about how there is so much oil that they may need to store it out at sea.

I read American oil companies are losing tens of billions in oil sales.

Iraq is pumping 500 million barrels.

So where is the floor? Did we already hit it?

Two weeks ago they were talking about $15-$20 a barrel. Was that a stretch?


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White guy will apparentely play michael jackson role

http://ift.tt/1QtiD93

Either this is a ploy to gather buzz and hype, or this is irremediably and terminally stupid. Assuming this has basis in reality, what do all those who said there is nothing wrong with the oscar, think of that one ?


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Pastoral Science and Medicine

Lately I've been hearing radio commercials for a local weight loss clinic, run by a doctor, which is supposed to create personalized weight loss plans specifically tailored to each patient. I noticed that at the end of the commercial, they included really faint, really fast dialogue, like the disclaimer you usually hear at the end of a car commercial. The last time I heard the commercial, I turned up my radio so I could hear it better, and it states that the guy running the clinic is a "Doctor of Pastoral Science and Medicine".
I thought "Pastoral? So the guy's actually a veterinarian?" I decided to do a search and found that it's not "pastoral" in the sense of fields and flocks, it's apparently "pastoral" in the sense of a pastor.

From various Google searches:
  • "Pastoral science and medicine is both a spiritual, scripture and scientific evidence based medicine."
  • "Similar to the secular approach of “functional medicine”, Pastoral Science and Medicine addresses the underlying causes of disease, using a systems-oriented approach and engaging both patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership, with the added dimension of providing spiritual care and guidance when sought."
  • "The scientific evidence & faith based application & practice of natural therapies for the maintenance of physical, mental & spiritual well being & the prevention of unnatural destructive occurrences (Spirit-Soul & Body)"


I can see why they said it so covertly, assuming any listeners knew what it meant.
"Functional medicine", meaning medicine that actually functions? I'm pretty sure that "secular" medicine also treats the underlying causes of disease, unless they're assuming that disease is caused by sin and spiritual unbalance. I discovered that the doctor who runs this clinic also has a local chiropractic office, so maybe he helps you lose weight by laying on hands while adjusting your spine.


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If you're a veteran near Des Moines, IA who hates Trump...

....this is your chance to show it.

http://ift.tt/1SjZLet

Quote:

Hours before announcing his decision to boycott the final Republican presidential debate before the Iowa caucuses, real estate mogul Donald Trump on Tuesday asked his followers on Twitter whether he should participate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trump is reportedly planning a competing event in Des Moines, Iowa, near the location of the Fox News debate, that will be focused on veterans.
Round up all your veteran friends who don't support Trump (I couldn't care less who they actually support, so long as they don't support Trump), head to the event, and stage a silent sit-in. Be sure to wear items that proclaim your veteran status. Just sit there the whole event and do nothing but stare at him. If you get enough folks in on it, imagine what it would do for Trump's "image"; he can't throw you out like he does most protestors at his events because you're veterans, the very people he claims to support. You're not doing anything like some of his protestors; you're just sitting there. Staring. Saying nothing. Doing nothing. Just... staring.

I wonder how dark orange his face would get... I swear to FSM, if I lived closer to Des Moines, I'd be all over doing this.


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The White Privilege Conference

http://ift.tt/1WNLGqo


'One workshop, titled “Self Care and Healing as Change Agents,” will provide attendees with a safe-space to share the emotional burden that comes from being a social justice warrior.'


It's hard out here for a SJW.


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The Illuminati is apparently using mind control in video games...

Can't remember why my CTer started about this, but he linked me this video 2 months ago:

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

Worst examples ever used. Deus Ex being one of them, since I own the PC port and have been playing games for 15 years...

I told this to him and even showed him an interview with the Development staff from the first Game, Ion Storm:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEz2rOlHzK8

Harvey even said that several people asked them how they knew these things were going to happen (not sure what Deus Ex predicted that eventually would happen but...), and they answered that they didn't know this was going to happen.

But the answer I got from my nutty Professor was: "But there's still mind-control in video games." :rolleyes:

Deus Ex is basically a game about Conspiracy Theories, but the guy in the video is only showing the Illuminati ending, there are 3 in total and most important THE ILLUMINATI DOESN'T EVEN HAVE ANY POWER IN 2052!

Storyline (for those interested):

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

At 29:00, you'll see the second ending for the game: blowing up Area 51.

The 3rd ending is the Protagonist merging with Echelon V Helios:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JfnFXdkSTI

GTA is a game that likes to mock silly things. According to some people that have responded to the first link, they think this Illuminati thing is BS.

Call Of Duty is a mainstream shooter game, maybe because of that.

I'm going to look up the release dates for the others games that are in that video, I knoow they're all release after the millenium but I'm not 100% sure when.

So after all this rambling, my question is: What's the real reason that the CTers hate video games and why do they link it with operation HAARP (that was the mind control thing from the CIA in 1953 according to wikipedia)?


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The Doc vs. the Uber Driver

An idealistic young physician expresses her disappointment in services rendered by an Uber driver:
http://ift.tt/1WO5JoD
http://ift.tt/1SjBOnH
http://ift.tt/1WO5JoH


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Mathematical Disproof of Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracies are 'prone to unravel' http://ift.tt/202tuyB

Oh crap!


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....the law bites back

http://ift.tt/1SaY3Oy
Quote:

When you seek to cast aside other people's rights, in the name of your own personal agenda, you never know when you might want those rights intact for yourself. On Monday, Melissa Click learned that lesson, as prosecutors charged her with assault.

Click is the communication professor who grabbed a videographer's camera and said .... "Hey, who wants to help me get this reporter out of here. I need some muscle over here."

When her conduct went public, Click doubled down in an "apology," but one in which she ultimately blamed the victim.

She was no longer an educator; she was a thug, calling for violence to suppress legitimate reporting. .... When Donald Trump throws protesters or journalists out of his rallies, he gets (well deserved) scorn for it. .... we hear crickets from "my side" of the political divide.
Interesting article.

Ranb


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The end game in the Pacific War, some sources.

The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II

A Collection of Primary Sources

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 162

Edited by William Burr - 202/994-7000

Posted - August 5, 2005

First Updated - April 27, 2007

Latest Update, August 4, 2015 (click here)

Straight from the archives of No Such Agency. ;)


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mardi 26 janvier 2016

Poll: Steven Avery

wasapi expressed an interest in a poll concerning Steven Avery's guilt or innocence. I decided to post one, just to see what the majority of members here think.

ETA: I rewrote the questions to include Brendan Dassey as well.


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Box boy Richard Gage is back at it again



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My Idea for a Better "Debate" Format

I think the consensus is that all of the debates have been fairly lousy from a "inform the voters on issues" perspective. Even the candidates seems to think they suck. With that in mind, I put together a few rules to improve things. I know there isn't a chance of these being used, but I figure it would be interesting to see where people go with it:

1) No more than 5 candidates. I would leave it up to the host1 to decide who will be there, but there's no need for a clown car on the stage. I also bet that after seeing these rules, you won't have to worry about too many candidates accepting

2) The first round will consist of 3 to 5 questions about policy or current events that each candidate will be given in advance and all candidates will answer the same questions.

3) The second round will be each candidate has to answer one criticism of a statement or action of theirs or give a response to a perceived weakness in their campaign. They may or may not be given this in advance.

4) During all this, fact checkers will be going through the statements to ensure accuracy. The third round will consist of the candidates accounting for any discrepancies between what they say and what the fact checkers find.

5) Each candidate will get 1 minute for opening remarks, 1 minute for closing remarks, and 3-5 minutes2 to answer each question posed to him/her in the first 2 rounds. The host can decide how much time to allot to the third round.

6) The microphones are off by default. A candidate's is on when it is his/her turn to speak and shuts off when their time is up. (a candidate may be allowed to defer left over time from one question to another question at the host's discretion)

7) If you go off topic or attack another candidate, your microphone is shut off. We want to know what you think and/or plan to do about the issue, not what someone else said or did.

This format should
  • keep the event moving
  • give each candidate equal time to discuss the same issues
  • prevent personal attacks and confrontations between candidates and moderators
  • prevent any candidate from claiming they were "attacked" or ignored
  • force the candidates to say something of substance

Good ideras? Bad ideas? Anything else you would add?

1 "Host" refers to the group or groups organizing the event, not the moderator(s).

2 Obviously, this will be up to the host and will also be dependent on the number of participants. Trying to keep this under 2 hours.


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Canada - Energy East Pipeline & Quibbling

The usual perps are taking sides and slinging mud, which is NOT what our economy needs right now.

Jokers the right: Brad Wall and other anti-Trudeau, anti-noncons, etc.

Jokers to the Left: Anyone trying to get the pipeline built now, but have to put up with right winger antics, since it will show how big of a fail Harper was if it actually gets built now.


Yes, my biased is revealed.


Now there are idiotic statements about equalization payments punted towards Quebec, since that province is not friendly politically about pipelines for several reasons, but the cons aren't helping by insulting Quebec with ignorance and claims they should stop benefiting from oil revenue (that is not part of equalization payments if it comes from the provinces).

Equalization payment facts:
Quote:



Equalization is financed entirely from Government of Canada general revenues. The provinces are uninvolved in the transfer except to the extent that they may qualify for Equalization payments; provincial governments do not contribute financially to the Equalization program, and each province’s ability to raise tax revenues is unaffected by the transfer.
http://ift.tt/1nNUd0K


What do conservatives do? Make claims like this:

Quote:


Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall noted that Quebec municipalities were benefiting from $10 billion in transfer payments as part of Canada’s equalization system. In the Canadian federation, equalization transfers money from the wealthiest provinces to so-called "have-not" provinces to ensure that all parts of the country have adequate resources for public services.

Calgary Conservative MP Jason Kenney, a former federal cabinet minister who took to his Twitter account on Thursday, noting that oil production generates billions of dollars in transfer payments to Quebec
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The stupid, it burns, and I'm so sick of it.


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First Female Marines Apply to MARSOC

Story here..

http://ift.tt/1ZR5Q2O


Quote:

Just weeks after previously closed military ground combat and special operations jobs were declared open to women, the Marine Corps' special operations command has had its first female applicants.
And..

Quote:

MARSOC's training pipeline is notoriously grueling. After a three-week initial assessment and selection period that tests physical fitness and a range of other aptitudes, Marines enter a second, 19-day assessment and selection training phase. Applicants who make it through both A&S phases can then begin a nine-month individual training course that covers survival, evasion, resistance and escape [SERE], special reconnaissance, close urban combat, irregular warfare and many other skill sets.
May be a while before there is really anything to discuss..


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Chucky Flies First Class

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Possessed dolls on Thai Smile Airways.

I feel sad for the people who have these. If not already, grieving parents will be sold a doll said to contain the spirit of their departed child.

I wrote a story involving a possessed Japanese Jenny doll on a KAL flight. But she didn't have her own seat till she possessed the pilot.

I wish the kid on the KAL flight I was on in September had been one of these dolls and just sat there silently.


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The Santilli telescope and Invisible Terrestrial Entities

On September 15, 2015 at 9:15 pm, the author aimed a pair of 100 mm Galileo and Santilli telescopes at the night sky over Tampa Bay, Florida, as seen from the NE orientation of the terrace of room 775 of the Vinoy Renaissance Hotel in St. Petersburg… The tests were merely intended for the search of antimatter galaxies and, consequently, the paired telescopes were aimed at the sky, but sudden clouds halted the tests and the author oriented the pair of telescopes horizontally over Tampa Bay.

To his great surprise, unidentified yet clearly visible entities immediately appeared in the screen of the camera attached to the Santilli telescope, without any enlargement, without the same entities being visible to the naked eyes, and without any corresponding image existing in the screen of the camera attached to the Galileo telescope.

This unexpected discovery triggered a novel systematic use of the pair of Galileo and Santilli telescopes, this time, for the search of entities, here called Invisible Terrestrial Entities, that are invisible to our eyes as well as to our optical instruments with convex lenses, but are otherwise fully visible via the Santilli telescope with concave lenses, and are located in our terrestrial environment.”

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A Constitutional Convention?

It sounds like there is a real possibility that the states could call a Constitutional Convention to rewrite the U.S. Constitution. Two questions:
1/ Could it happen?
2/ If so, could it be limited to a single, specific purpose, like passing a balanced budget amendment, or would everything be on the table?http://ift.tt/1VoVwh2


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Felony Charges for Anti-Abortion group responsible for hoax Planned Parenthood

http://ift.tt/1VoVyWq

Quote:

A Houston jury investigating alleged misconduct by Planned Parenthood declined to charge the women’s health provider,announcing*instead felony charges for the leaders of the anti-abortion organization that targeted Planned Parenthood with its widelydebunked*series of “sting” videos in 2015.
Looks like some presidential hopefuls, governors, and legislators owe planned parenthood a public apology.

ETA: Seems I messed up the thread title. Should say ... Planned Parenthood Videos


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Colbert Confronts Rumsfeld About Iraq

After a short, light segment about a game app that former SecDef Donald Rumsfeld helped invent, Stephen Colbert asked him some penetrating questions about the war in Iraq (video link at bottom of story):
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Potential pitfall for Bernie?

It had seemed to me that a large number of my friends supported Bernie. So I conducted an informal poll. The good news, for Bernie fans, is that I was right and nearly all my friends liked the guy.

The bad news is that I am the only one that plans to actually vote.

"Nah, man, voting is for chumps."

"Can you vote at a Starbucks?"

"I heard if you register you get called for jury duty so no way, brah."

"Voting is too adult." -- said by a 32 year old! :rolleyes:

These were only some of the responses I got. Could this be an issue? Is Bernie popular with a demographic that isn't even going to turn up at polls to vote? I'm doing my best to try and change minds about the value of voting but I'm not sure how many people I can influence on my own.


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Unaccompanied minors and age determination

Over the years Sweden has had a steady (until recently) influx of migrants that are formally described as "unaccompanied minors" (in Swedish it's usually "Ensamkommande barn", literally "Children who came alone"). Despite being formally described as "children" (anyone under the age of 18 is legally and formally called a child) most are supposedly somewhere in the age-range of 15-17. Informally these are usually not called "children" but refereed to as youths (ungdomar)

Sweden, like most countries, treat minors and youths more leniently and they are afforded more "protection" in law. Most notably is the fact that if someone under the age of 18 is refused asylum status and permanent/temporary stay in the country they cannot be deported unless there is someone who can take custody of them in their country of origin. Even when their identity and age is firmly established it's not uncommon for any family or relatives to refuse to take them in. Likewise the state is also often unwilling or unable to take custody of them. Thus they wont be liable for deportation until they become 18 years old and thus an "adult".

By contrast there's nothing really positive from being found to be 18+ years old. In one case where someone was incorrectly determined to be a minor even-though they weren't, and it was detrimental to them, was when the police apparently thought that a 32 year old Romani beggar from Bulgaria was 13 years old. Another person was detained on suspicion on having committed "human smuggling" crimes. Despite the fact that the "victim" had documents identifying him and his age the police and prosecutors were apparently convinced that he was far, far younger than that. It took physical examination from both a doctor and dentist plus additional documents from Bulgarian government agencies to convince them that he really was at least 18 years old.

Although it's something of a freak case it still demonstrates that naively establishing someones age based only on superficial looks is prone to being hugely inaccurate. Together with the fact that there's strong incentives for people to understate their age means that more objective, reliable and accurate measure for establishing someones "true age" is needed.

What such tests and examinations are available? In the case with the 32 year old beggar the news reports mentioned that he was examined by a "doctor" and a dentist but I'm uncertain about what exactly such tests mean in practice.


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Conspiracy! card game is Leaked onto Kickstarter! Reptilian overlords are Miffed!

I suspect at most of the people here are like me and enjoy reading about and debunking conspiracy theories. In case it's not obvious, this card game was made by my husband and myself (yes that is us in the video).

Conspiracy! has been leaked onto Kickstarter! and the Reptilian overlords are miffed! $19 with US shipping included. Conspiracy! is a fun and unusual card game for 2-4 conspiracy theorists that plays in about 45 minutes (or so "THEY" want us to believe).

http://ift.tt/23rcyRH



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Ice creams getting smaller - for the good of your health

This from the BBC website:

http://ift.tt/1ZSxGRF

Quote:

Unilever, the multinational firm behind brands including Magnum and Cornetto, is to make all its ice creams aimed at adults smaller.
I'm sure that prices will fall commensurate with the reduction in portion sizes and that this really is an exercise in public heath improvement and nothing at all to do with protecting or improving profit margins :rolleyes:


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Creationist argument about DNA and information

Most are aware that the Answers In Genesis website gives arguments about creationism. One of their arguments is:

Christian: “DNA has information in it—the instructions to form a living being. And information never comes about by chance; it always comes from a mind. So DNA proves that God created the first creatures.”

The opposing answer they give is:

Atheist: “There could be an undiscovered mechanism that generates information in the DNA. Give us time, and we will eventually discover it.”

This seemed like a weak argument to me but I saw someone refute the meme version of this creationist argument using this same statement--that we don't know. So, I'm wondering if someone has a stronger refutation.


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lundi 25 janvier 2016

The self defeating debate strategy of religion

I was on a Christian website and I noticed two things. The first is that supposedly rational discussion was often countered by resorting to a biblical quote. That seemed very odd to me because these types of quotes are very weak in arguments. However, I then noticed that the guidelines say:
  • All discussions with the intent of belittling or mocking Christians or Christianity will be promptly removed.
  • All discussions belittling Christians by calling them mentally inferior, ignorant, bigoted, etc. will be promptly removed.
  • All discussions blaspheming the Christian God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will be promptly removed

Now, suppose someone used Psalm 14:1

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

I would normally just paraphrase it to show how silly it is. For example:

The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

or

God hath said in his heart, Only a fool believeth in me. I am corrupt, I have done abominable works, I doeth none good.

But that would presumably be considered blasphemous. So, I can see that in this framework what would normally be a very weak debating tactic would now be very strong tactic since it could not be easily countered. I notice too that no one who suggested that atheists or homosexuals were evil could be accused of being prejudiced. In other words, you could be called a fool for not believing even if you had logical reasons, but you couldn't suggest that someone was a fool for believing even if they had no reason for their belief.

That would suggest to me that someone used to having discussions inside a religious framework would probably be shocked to find out how weak their arguments are or that they were unaware of what makes a solid argument. That might explain why someone like Kirk Cameron seems to think that his arguments are nearly irrefutable but why I find I find arguments like his so empty.


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President Obama-bans-solitary-confinement-for-juveniles

I just heard that president Obama bans solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons. I am of mixed opinions about this. I worked in corrections for 3 years and understand that a certain percentage of juvenile inmates are going to be mentally ill, as well as homicidal, or otherwise, in some way feral so I understand the need for the practice. I also understand that the institutionalization and dehumanization of these places more often than not creates the problem. Two things can happen in a facility, at some point the inmate stops trying to get better and resolves to create the biggest headache to the staff that they can accomplish, this can involve violence to staff and other inmates and can
escalate to homicidal urges. Or, an inmate can become mentally ill to the point of being unable to control their impulses and often become difficult to control and violent.

I see President Obama as addressing one side of the problem by letting them out and institutionally thats the way they are being directed to do. However by letting them out they may be creating victims of other inmates because these individuals may target them.

Also staff working in an uncontrollable environment will have a higher turnover rate so higher incidence of costs, mistakes, and accidents will occur.

Keep in mind if one of these people attack another inmate, chances are, in an uncontrolled environment, the staff will choose self preservation over the well being of the inmate. I would no longer want to work in one of these places, but I do understand and agree where President Obama is coming from. I don't think its going to make these places any nicer though.

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Braingasm, Thank you Sagan

Thinking is my drug



" We are an intelligent species and the use of our intelligence quite properly gives us pleasure. In this respect the brain is like a muscle. When we think
well, we feel good. Understanding is a kind of ecstasy."

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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Planned PArenthood/Texas?

At least one bunch got it right!
http://ift.tt/1RK55t1

Or did they exceed their constitutional authority and the Tea party takes over the courthouse tomorrow?


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impeaching judges, good idea or no?

If you do as I do and spend all your non-high speed rail free time checking up on what the right wing has been up to you will find that lately they do not like judges.

It seems to have started right around the time Federal judges kept saying gay marriage bans were kind of illegal. It has now sort of reached a constant furor. Recently Texas senator Louie Gohmert brought up the subject of impeaching judges that rule in favor of gay marriage. In the past he's said they need to be impeached for putting mans laws above God's laws but in his most recent statements has a little new twist on it.

Quote:

The Supreme Court said, ‘You know, we told you you couldn’t use ‘God,’ now here’s the new line: We’re God. We are your God. Forget what God, Moses, Jesus ever said, we are your God now, the five of us in the majority, you do as we tell you.’
That's right. Wanting people to have equal rights means these judges are declaring themselves God. :rolleyes:

Generally I'm against impeaching judges that make unpopular decisions. I thought that when I disliked Citizens United and I think it now.


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Recommend me some books

I'm just coming to the end of Uprooted by Naomi Novik, which I've enjoyed very much, and I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to read next. She's got a series of books about dragons in the Napoleonic wars, but they don't really appeal to me.

What I'm looking for may sound a little contradictory, but what it is is I want something modern (so written within the last 5 years or so), but with a kind of old-fashioned feel. Preferably sci-fi or fantasy. Hard or soft sci-fi I don't mind, but when it comes to fantasy I'd much rather read about a magic user of some kind than I would about someone who's good with a sword.

I don't really want a silly comedy in the style of the Thursday Next books or anything like that. Which doesn't mean it has to be entirely serious, but I don't want comedy to be the primary focus. Authorial style in general doesn't bother me. I've enjoyed books which are light on details and I've enjoyed books which are big on details, so that's not a consideration. But I am looking more for something that will spark my imagination than I am something about, say, a grim post-apocalypse world full of cannibals. Which is not to say that cannibals can't feature, or that there can't be heavy themes, but I'm more in the mood for something that features dancing fairies or philosophising supercomputers than I am 600 pages of people murdering each other over tins of dog food.

Big ideas are good - I like Big Dumb Object kind of stories, or stories which are written around a clever central idea. Also stories which are told in a clever way. I got in to David Mitchell through liking the structure and technique of Cloud Atlas.

As to time period, I don't care when it's set, past present or future, but I'm generally not too keen on stories as mentioned above, where it's fantasy elements inserted into real historical events. I'm not feeling steampunk, either. I usually don't mind what age-range something is aimed at, but at the moment I'm in the mood for something aimed at adults, rather than children or young adults.

And, as far as the focus of the story goes, I'm easy on that unless it's romance. I'm generally bored by romances. I mean, they're usually fairly inevitable so I don't mind if a romance is part of the story in question, but I don't want it to be the focus. I'm more interested in adventure, or mystery, or exploring some kind of moral question, or something like that.

Also, just because it's the kind of mood I'm in, I'm leaning towards a female protagonist, written by a female author. This isn't a deal-breaker by any means an intriguing concept or premise will get me interested in a male-lead, male-authored book but I'm more likely to go for a female protagonist written by a female author at the moment.

Oh, and I'm looking for something that is available in epub format. Mobi will do, as I can convert it, but the point is I'm not looking to buy a physical book, but instead want something I can read on my Kobo.


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Should Austrlalia change its flag?

No, there's not really a serious proposal on the table to change the flag yet. But the University of Western Sydney conducted a survey to find out which of several options respondents would prefer as a replacement for the current flag.

Australia Day: 'Southern Horizon' most popular alternative to Union Jack flag design, survey finds

Quote:

The design, dubbed the Southern Horizon, was voted most popular in a survey of 8,140 people conducted by Western Sydney University.

The survey offered respondents a choice of six alternative Australian flag designs. Of those who took part, 6,427 chose a favourite flag.

Dr Benjamin T Jones, who oversaw the survey, said the Southern Horizon garnered 31 per cent of the vote, followed closely by the Reconciliation Flag, with 28 per cent.

Other designs included in the survey were the well-known Eureka flag (15 per cent), the Golden Wattle (12 per cent), the Sporting flag (7 per cent) and the Southern Cross flag (6 per cent).

...

Of the respondents, 64 per cent said they believed the Australian flag should change, while 36 per cent said it should remain the same.

Eighty-eight per cent of participants identified as having British, Irish or European heritage, while 3 per cent identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

"Australia has never had a truly democratic process to choose a national flag. The 1901 competition for a flag of government — not a national flag — required a British element and British approval," Dr Jones said.

"The response to this survey shows a proper national conversation on the Australian flag and a democratic vote is long overdue."

Australian Flag Proposal (Southern Horizon) [CC BY 3.0 (http://ift.tt/HdA8Wl)], by Bmoxey (Own work), from Wikimedia Commons


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Anti-abortion activist responsible for Planned Parenthood propaganda indicted

Quote:


HOUSTON — A grand jury here that was investigating allegations of misconduct against*Planned Parenthood*has instead indicted two anti-abortion activists who made videos of the organization.

In a statement, the Harris County district attorney, Devon Anderson, said Monday that the director of the Center for Medical Progress, David Daleiden, had been indicted on a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record and a misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs.

Another center employee, Sandra Merritt, was indicted on a charge of tampering with a governmental record.
LOL, that's what you get, you worthless liars.




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Hammering out cognitive theory

There really isn't a good place to put this because of the overlap in so many other areas. I guess here is as good a place as any.

I've been working on formalizing knowledge theory. One of the issues I've ran into is AI learning systems. This involves trying to distinguish between cognitive learning and AI learning. However, I haven't been able to find an AI system that can learn. Either I'm just not looking hard enough or the AI definition is very different from what I consider learning to be. The examples that I've found just seem to be indirect reprogramming rather than learning. Is there a learning system that doesn't require a human coach?


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Tick tock for Obama

*Cue Jeopardy theme* We are now five days into the last year of Obama's presidency. And five days closer to a Clinton/Sanders administration....or Trump...brrrr

Well Obama has some work cut out for him. Only one year left to:

  • Take all the guns
  • Institute communism
  • Get oil prices above $200 a barrel
  • Put all the cops in jail
  • Put Christians in concentration camps
  • Import 100 million Muslim men
  • Outlaw heterosexuality
  • Let the UN take over Texas
  • Institute Sharia Law
  • Create a worldwide caliphate

He'd better get busy.


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What do you do about an asthma attack?

This is a story about a high school kid who was suspended for taking another student to the school nurse during an asthma attack while the teacher twiddled her thumbs (almost literally; she sent an email). Leaving aside the idiocy of the bureaucracy, what do you do if someone has a severe asthma attack in front of you? If nobody has an inhaler, how can you help while you're waiting for the experts?
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Sarah Palin's job in the Trump Administration

So, what position will The Donald appoint her to?


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Cool example of paraedolia!

Saturday Karen and I were driving near Jacksonville Beach. The sign below looked like a demonic face to me.



Karen said it looked like Frank Zappa to her.

Today we stopped and took a closer look:



Anyway, we both thought it was a good example of paraedolia!


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Personal cancer stories

Looks like there hasn't been such a thread at least not for a while. Has cancer hit you directly, or someone close? Share your story?

Me:
In 1993 my mother had colon cancer. Underwent surgery and chemo. Had a colostomy that was later reversed.
I and my brothers then had colonoscopies and were clear.
I was told to have one again in 5 years.
I didn't.
Instead, in Dec of 2000 I noticed blood in the stool. "probably 'roids" was my thought and I treated it as such. Through Christmas season one gets busy and it wasn't until early Jan 2001 that it dawned on me that the blood had not abated despite regular use of medication. I went to the doctor. A bit odd that when I described my symptoms I got an appt that very day. I was the last patient the doc saw, obviously a 'fit-in'. He probed a bit and then uttered and "oh" quietly. He probably didn't even realize he had done so. He quickly took off his glove and washed his hands. He bolted out of the office saying he wanted to see if Dr."S" was still in the office. (She is a surgeon) He came back quick but that doctor had left already. He told me "I'm not saying its cancer but hemorrhoids are smooth and the lump I felt is rough". He would make an appt with the surgeon for a c'scope asap. After that I had two surgeries. The first was to see if it could be removed without taking my rectum as well. No dice and the second left me with no rectum and a (obviously) permanent colostomy.
The rest of the year saw chemo and radiation therapy that ended in early December of 2001.


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What would a Trump presidency look like?

I don't think he will be president, but I also didn't think he'd be the republican front runner for more than a few weeks, if at all. So maybe it's time to think about the unthinkable.

I think that Trump is more of a populist and an authoritarian than a conservative. I don't think he's too bogged down by a particular ideology so much, and maybe that's actually a good thing. But he is unpredictable, and that's not just me saying that, Trump himself says he's unpredictable:

http://ift.tt/1nJQbGw

Quote:

On Monday night, Bill O’Reilly asked the billionaire mogul turned GOP front-runner, “If you’re elected president, and you don’t like the [Iranian nuclear] deal, are you gonna bomb their nuclear facilities?”

“Bill, I’m gonna do what’s right,” Trump said. “I want to be unpredictable.”

This response was itself fairly predictable, and O’Reilly had a follow-up prepared: “Don’t the voters have a right to know how far you’re gonna go?”

“No, they don’t,” Trump replied. “The voters want unpredictability.”
So he promises to be unpredictable. Is this a good thing? Sounds like a gamble to me.

I think he might be for the U.S. What Putin is for Russia. And, that might actually appeal to a certain kind of voter. Putin's campaign slogan, if he had one, could easily be "I made Russia great again". And supposedly he is very popular in Russia. What exactly is Putin? I think nationalist, populist, and authoritarian are labels that could apply to both Putin and Trump. And they both seem to admire each other too. So how did Putin get so popular in Russia? Partly at first it was probably because the economy was growing pretty fast during his first two terms. More recently though it seems to have to do with "standing up" to other countries like Ukraine and Georgia. I don't think that Trump would invade Mexico, but he has already promised to build a wall on the Mexican border and make Mexico pay for it. And also to deport all illegal immigrants. He has also basically promised a trade war with China, Japan and other countries.

Anyway, my theory is that it would probably be quite bad, both for the U.S. and for other countries.


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dimanche 24 janvier 2016

The CIA Has a Sense of Humor

In honor of the X-Files re-boot, the CIA posted a page full of links to their UFO files:

http://ift.tt/1nIJPax

Kind of cool.


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Got addictive behaviors? Try a Dopamine Diary

Interesting idea. Courtesy of:

http://ift.tt/1nioqEF

Quote:

If you're ready, willing, and able to keep a dopamine diary for six months you can dramatically improve your life. A few minutes a day is all it takes to learn why people waste valuable time scrambling to score the same neurotransmitter that keeps chimpanzees doing what they do. Time that you can use to make yourself happier, healthier, wealthier, and wiser.

Like humans, chimpanzees obsess over, what Abraham Maslow called, deficiency needs for food, sex, safety/power, acceptance/approval/attention, and esteem/status. Maslow's deficiency needs correlate with the dopamine-induced survival behaviors that helped our predecessors survive and reproduce. Unlike chimpanzees, our forebears figured out how to score gratuitous dopamine by using drugs, gambling, religion, delusions, deceptions, and money. Money is especially popular because it can be easily converted into drugs, food, sex, power, acceptance, attention, status symbols, wagers, and other dopamine triggers.

For the first time in history it's possible to outsmart a brain chemical that continues to help ‘dumb’ animals survive but turned primitive Homo sapiens into dopamine puppets. Deprogramming thousands of years of inherited, unconscious, and irrational behaviors starts with noticing, acknowledging, and questioning dopamine-induced deceptions. That's where keeping a dopamine diary comes in.


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Good Guy With a Gun Shoots Firefighter

The firefighter he shot, by the way, was a volunteer attempting to assist a person who was having a seizure.

Arkansas firefighter shot and killed helping seizure patient in early morning medical emergency call; homeowner arrested

Good Guy thought that the firefighter was an intruder. So what did he do? Well, he had a gun, so he used it. His first response was not to find out what this strange person was doing in his house, his first response was to shoot.

When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

No word on how the seizure patient fared, by the way.


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Electric Universe: has there ever been a scientific research program?

It used to be, some years' ago, that Electric Universe (EU) proponents were many, and highly vocal. Look at the number of EU-related threads in the archives of ISF, for example.

These days, those proponents have retreated to Eejet-Tube vids, and unmoderated fora; even their fave forum today has little traffic.

One thing has always baffled me about the EU, and its fanatics: an apparent, complete, lack of any research proposals.

For example, all over the internet you'll find people asking EU fans things like "if you had total control over all the world's leading astronomical facilities - telescopes etc - where would you point them?" or "given unlimited funds, what experiments, here on Earth, would you conduct?" Yet, aside from SAFIRE and perhaps Lerner's Focus Fusion, there are no answers! :jaw-dropp

At least, none that I could find.

Which I find baffling.

I mean, isn't there even one EU adherent who is curious enough to think about doing an experiment, or making an observation, to test EU ideas? It seems to me that it'd take just one such to vastly improve the EU's standing (assuming the results of such experiments or observations were consistent with "EU theory", whatever that is).

Hence this thread: do any of you, dear readers, know of any published research projects/programs/experiments/observations, proposed by EU supporters (other than SAFIRE and Lerner's Focus Fusion)?


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Hellstorm: what the heck?

Just stumbled onto some dreck on Youtube called Hellstorm. It starts off with a monologue on how the other nations were envious of Germany and were trying to kill it through moral degradation and drugs which kept the nation impoverished and feeble. Then along came HITLER and Germany rebounded because HITLER was awesome. But the other nations were not going to let poor Germany be powerful so they decided to punish it.

huge graphics HELLSTORM!

It only gets worse from there.

It sort of glosses over how the war starts outside of the opening narration which seems to frame the war as initiated by the Allies to punish Germany for daring to be rich. It then moves directly into the air campaign spending loads of time describing the horror of firestorms in Hamburg and Dresden.

I made it as far as the land invasion bit and turned it off when it made the laughable claim that British and American troops raped and murdered millions as they marched in from the west.

Who was behind this thing?


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Refrigerator Mothers and other Debunked Theories

I was just reading up on Refrigerator Mothers and how "scientists" had theories that explained Autism and now decades later we realize it was total Woo.


Any others that come to your minds?

http://ift.tt/1S3LdRX


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US Marine found guilty of homicide for death of Transgender in Philippines

I found this as an older item but wanted to still post it
http://ift.tt/1S3LdBH
A United States Marine was found guilty of homicide Tuesday in the 2014 death of a transgender woman in the Philippines.

U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, 20, met 26-year-old Jennifer Laude at a nightclub in Olongapo City, northwest of Manila, while the Marine was on a break in October 2014 after joint military exercises in the Philippines. Pemberton, who was then a private first class, claimed that the violent incident took place after he discovered during sex that Laude had male genitalia and that when he fought her he acted in self-defense, Reuters reports. Laude’s body was found near a Navy base in Manila.

Pemberton reportedly admitted to choking but not killing Laude. A witness testified that Pemberton said, "I think I killed a he/she" after the incident, the Associated Press reported.


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Father and son dead over $25.

http://ift.tt/1Peq05c

Quote:

PEARL RIVER COUNTY, MS (WLOX) -
A 40-year-old father and his 17-year-old son are dead in Pearl River County, and two others critically injured after a shootout at the McLemore Gun Shop on Hwy 43 North near Henley Field on Saturday.

According to Pearl River County Sheriff David Allison, a gun owner and his son went to the shop to retrieve a weapon around 3:15 p.m. After being told it was not repaired, one of the men reportedly became agitated because he had to pay a $25 service charge; even though his gun was not fixed.

<SNIP>
"Good guys" with guns dead. "Bad guys" with guns seriously wounded. "Good guys'" wife and mother a widow.

I have to ask you; is *this* what the framers of the Bill of Rights had in mind for us?


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Don't Vax, Don't Tell

Quote:

Parents who choose not to immunise their kids are keeping it a secret from family and friends, rather than have to justify their controversial decision.
http://ift.tt/1nso2En


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Splitting sound output?

My computer gets used for games a lot, but I can also use it to stream Netflix et al to my TV.
This all works as advertised, but sometimes I would like to play a game while my wife wants to watch a series that can only be streamed.
Does anyone know of a way to split sound output so I can tell the computer to stream the sound from my browser to the TV and from a game to my headphones?
I know, I know two computers etc would be easier but at the moment that is not an option.


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samedi 23 janvier 2016

Is Obama hatred due to racism?

I think that the unhinged, disgusting hatred that the GOP has for the President of the United States has more to do with the fact that he is a Democrat than it does with him being black.

Does anybody really think that they would have treated him better if it he was white? No chance. They would have treated Hillary the same (or worse) although she probably would have been better prepared to deal with their scunbaggery.


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Michael Bloomberg may run for President

For those of you who don't know, he was the mayor of NYC for 12 years (ending in 2013). He has been a member of both the Democratic and Republican parties though he is now an independent. He is also one of the richest people in the world (net worth: ~$40B). He made his vast fortune on Wall Street and predictably says that it wasn't Wall Street's fault that the global economy was nearly destroyed though it irrefutably was their fault. He is also probably the number one gun control activist in the country having spent millions of dollars of his own money on the issue.

Anyway, it seems he would only run if it was Trump or Cruz vs Sanders. Would he have any chance at winning such a race? If not, who would he take more votes from?

http://ift.tt/1K3Q0Qu


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General Chris Christie Thread

We need one for all things Christie, since the other one is really about the merits of school lunches.

I saw him this morning doing a presser about the current snowstorm. He's really good at that, just as he was during Hurricane Sandy. Any locals care to comment about how well he actually manages these crises?


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Weather control

Cloud seeding. Does it work?

What do we know about today's latest weather control technology?


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Do we really have a three-party system?

A commenter on another forum made an interesting observation: Our political parties are not really Democratic and Republican; they are Progressive, Moderate and Confederate. The point is that Progressives and Moderates in both parties have ceded way too much ground to the Confederates, going back to the '60s, when traditional working-class southern Democrats adopted "massive resistance" (their term!) to the Civil Rights movement, and continuing past the Reagan Revolution to the extinction of moderate, Rockefeller-style Republicans. On the Republican debate stage today, even Reagan and G.H.W. Bush would be seen as weak-kneed bleeding heart liberals. Seems to make a lot of sense to me. Discuss.


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Zebras' stripes: is there a purpose?

A new study says that the stripes are neither camouflage nor do they serve a social purpose. I'm not entirely sure I buy their results, but does there necessarily have to be a purpose for them? I mean, plenty of other animals seem to get along just fine without stripes: horses, wildebeest, etc. I think they probably do have at least some minor purpose, although I'm nut sure exactly what that would be, but since other animals seem to do OK without them, it's hardly a critical function.

ZEBRA STRIPES SERVE NEITHER CAMOUFLAGE NOR SOCIAL PURPOSES

ETA: a google image search on wildebeest suggests I may be wrong about wildebeest not having stripes. At least some of them do seem to have stripes, but not as pronounced as zebra stripes.


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The "East Wind Rain" Message and FDR's Foreknowledge of Pearl Harbor

The impressive evidence that U.S. Intelligence intercepted the December 4 "East Wind Rain" execute message, which signaled imminent war with America, is one of the keys to understanding that Roosevelt and a number of officials in his administration knew the Pearl Harbor attack would take place and knew that it would happen on December 6 or 7. This is why government officials tried so desperately to erase all evidence that the execute message was broadcast and intercepted. But now, decades later, the evidence that U.S. Intelligence intercepted the execute message is powerful and beyond credible dispute.

Some facts:

* We now know from released documents that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Assistant Director D. M. Ladd wrote memorandums documenting that U.S. intelligence officials had foreknowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack from information that came from Japanese intercepts, one of which was a coded message that repeated a specific term to indicate imminent war. The memos do not give the name of the coded message that signaled imminent war, but their description of it clearly matches other descriptions of the “East Wind Rain” execute message.

* An important step forward in research on the controversy regarding the "East Wind Rain" execute message came in 1985 with the publication of Admiral Edwin Layton's book And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway--Breaking the Secrets. Layton died before the book was ready for print. Historian John Costello and naval expert Captain Roger Pineau (USNR, Ret.), who had been assisting Layton with the work, completed the editing of the book and added a valuable "Authors' Notes" postscript. Among other things, Pineau and Costello found new evidence that the "East Wind Rain" execute message was broadcast and intercepted at least two days before Pearl Harbor was attacked, and that certain high officials in Washington sought to destroy all copies of the message and to pressure military officers to either deny they had seen the message or to say that it was a different execute message (such as "West Wind Clear") (pp. 517-521).

Costello and Pineau uncovered a 1944 Navy Intelligence document that contains evidence that the execute message was intercepted on 4 December. The document was produced by the Navy's Code and Signal Section (OP-20-G, aka "Station Negat") in Washington, D.C. It lists Japanese messages that were intercepted in 1941 and includes each message's date of intercept, its assigned serial number, and a brief summary of its contents. The document supports Captain Safford's assertion that the execute message was assigned the serial number 7001 and that it was intercepted on 4 December. The document says that message 7001 was intercepted on 4 December, and the summary of the message's contents says that "#7001 is believed to be the (missing) translation of the Winds Message" (p. 528).

Back then many people referred to the "East Wind Rain" execute message as the "Winds Message." We know that message 7001 could not have been the Winds setup message because the setup message was intercepted on 26 November.

* It should be remembered that no one disputed the existence of the December 4, 1941, “East Wind Rain” execute message, which signaled imminent war with the U.S., until 1944. Even the Roberts Commission did not deny its existence, nor did the Army Pearl Harbor Board and the Navy Board of Inquiry. A few officers said they weren’t sure which kind of “Winds” execute message had been received, but they confirmed that it was intercepted before the Pearl Harbor attack.

* During the Army and Navy investigations into the Pearl Harbor disaster, three senior military officers testified that the “East Wind Rain” execute message was intercepted a few days before the attack and that they saw a copy of it. Two other senior military officers testified that they were advised of the receipt of the execute message and discussed it with other officers a day or two before the bombing.

* The BBC documentary Sacrifice at Pearl Harbor presents evidence that at least two Western intelligence services intercepted the “East Wind Rain” execute message on December 4. The documentary includes interviews with two retired cryptographers, Eric Nave and Ralph Briggs, who were personally involved in handling the November 19 Winds code message (Nave) and the December 4 execute message (Briggs).

Nave, known as the “father of British cryptology,” was on duty at an intelligence station in Melbourne, Australia, when the Winds message was intercepted on November 19. Briggs, a Navy Intelligence non-commissioned officer and a Japanese linguist, was on duty at the Navy communication center in Cheltenham, Maryland, on December 4 and intercepted the execute message on that day.

* A document released by NSA in 1980 reveals that in 1977 the Naval Security Group interviewed Briggs about the “East Wind Rain” execute message. The document reports that Briggs confirmed that he intercepted the message on December 4, that he was ordered by his superiors not to testify at the 1946 Congressional hearings on the Pearl Harbor attack, and that he had discovered that the copies he had made of the message were missing from the station’s files. As one reads that document, one sees that, contrary to traditionalists, Briggs did not recant his story but stuck by every essential point of it.

In 1991, Nave teamed up with James Rusbridger to write Betrayal at Pearl Harbor. As part of their research for the book, they discovered that Lt. Charles Dixon, a cryptographer in the New Zealand Army, intercepted the “East Wind Rain” execute message on December 4 at a British intelligence facility on Stonecutters Island near Hong Kong. They learned this from an interview with Cedric Brown, a senior officer in the New Zealand Navy, who knew Dixon well.

* Two former attaches at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, Kenici Ogemoto and Yuzuru Sanematsu, confirmed, one of them in writing, that the East Wind Rain execute message was broadcast on December 4. One of these men, Sanematsu, became a leading Japanese naval historian after the war. In one of his books, he wrote about his personal knowledge that the Japanese Embassy in Washington received the execute message on December 4 and that its receipt caused quite a stir among the staff at the embassy.

* Both the Japanese Navy and the American Navy changed their codes on December 4, exactly as one would expect them to do in response to the broadcast and interception of the “East Wind Rain” execute message, which, again, meant that war with the U.S. was imminent. In addition, it was on this same day that the U.S. Navy ordered remote installations in the Pacific to destroy excess codes and ciphers, a standard procedure when war is expected to occur in the immediate future.

* December 4 was also the day when the Navy’s chief expert on Far Eastern intelligence, Captain Arthur McCollum, drafted an urgent war warning for Navy commanders in the Pacific. McCollum denied that his sudden urge to send a war warning on December 4 was prompted by interception of the “East Wind Rain” execute message, but Captain Laurance Safford testified that he discussed the interception of the execute message with McCollum on that day and that McCollum’s first draft of the war warning mentioned the execute message.

Some links:

http://ift.tt/1OEYc8J (this article discusses the FBI memos on military intelligence foreknowledge of the attack)

http://ift.tt/1OEYcp1

http://ift.tt/23kDZMT


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