Search found 451 matches
- Sat May 18, 2024 6:42 pm
- Forum: Politics
- Topic: Elephants should have never let homo sapiens evolve?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 80
Re: Elephants should have never let homo sapiens evolve?
Tool use is a compelling explanation for human supremacy, but I wonder if it points to something deeper. Intelligent animals all seem to accumulate knowledge ("culture") in a manner that extends their physical abilities. Dawkins calls this the "extended phenotype" because it works a lot like genetic...
- Thu May 16, 2024 2:58 pm
- Forum: Politics
- Topic: agenda47-the-american-academy
- Replies: 6
- Views: 149
Re: agenda47-the-american-academy
Trump's plan is clearly dumb, but huge university endowments in the US are a real issue. Private institutions like Harvard still receive government money in the form of research grants, student financial aid, and tax-free status. At some point it's reasonable for taxpayers to ask whether such suppor...
- Tue May 14, 2024 2:13 am
- Forum: Politics
- Topic: War, what is it good for?
- Replies: 1082
- Views: 120901
Re: War, what is it good for?
What's the point of chatting about these things online if you're going to tell anyone who disagrees with you to shove off?
I'm sure there's a subreddit you could go instead where you wouldn't accidentally run into someone with a different view on the conflict.
I'm sure there's a subreddit you could go instead where you wouldn't accidentally run into someone with a different view on the conflict.
- Sat May 11, 2024 2:10 pm
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Climeworks and CO2 capture
- Replies: 12
- Views: 281
Re: Climeworks and CO2 capture
One of the other things people seem to be ignoring is that there's a way of removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it in a way that's good for the environment, running entirely off solar energy and being very compact. It's called photosynthesis and the chemical factories are called plants. Un...
- Sat May 11, 2024 2:27 am
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Climeworks and CO2 capture
- Replies: 12
- Views: 281
Re: Climeworks and CO2 capture
It is arrogant to think man can change the climate. I don't know why you have that intuition. The natural carbon cycle creates and sequesters about 210 gigatons of CO2 per year. Human activities (mostly fossil fuel burning and deforestation) cause an additional 40 gigatons per year and we sequester...
- Fri May 10, 2024 9:04 pm
- Forum: Politics
- Topic: The Politics of Protest
- Replies: 4
- Views: 98
Re: The Politics of Protest
There is a lot to unpick here. You're asking at least 10 separate questions. I'd like to comment on some of this. Putting a marker here to try to remind myself to reply later. My intention here was to offer some introductory thoughts on a complex issue + some discussion questions I thought were int...
- Fri May 10, 2024 8:28 pm
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter
- Replies: 22
- Views: 489
Re: Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter
I really must say that harry Potter has more complex character development and plot consistency. J.K. Rowling does a fabulous job of keeping the main cast short and memorable, whereas I am not sure LotR does the best job of managing all the characters. Just my opinion tho I agree with this, but it'...
- Fri May 10, 2024 7:46 pm
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Climeworks and CO2 capture
- Replies: 12
- Views: 281
Re: Climeworks and CO2 capture
Carbon capture from the air on the scale needed to achieve Paris targets is extremely unlikely. CO2 is less than a 10th of a percent of the air by volume, the energy and materials required to capture carbon from the air are themselves polluting, and the cost per dollar sequestered is abysmally high ...
- Fri May 10, 2024 6:58 pm
- Forum: Politics
- Topic: The Politics of Protest
- Replies: 4
- Views: 98
The Politics of Protest
Here in Canada I've noticed some bizarre inconsistencies in how the police, courts, and public opinion react to various protests. There seem to be deep disagreements about what methods of protest are acceptable. In recent years we've seen first nations and environmentalist activists block major rail...
- Thu May 09, 2024 11:30 pm
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter
- Replies: 22
- Views: 489
Re: Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter
I personally think LoTR is the better franchise. They're better books, better movies, better video games, etc. I think they'll have a deeper and longer lasting impact on the culture than HP, which is not to diminish how wildly popular HP is. That said, it seems like the owners of these intellectual ...
- Thu May 09, 2024 7:35 pm
- Forum: Politics
- Topic: Mar~a~Lago declared Federal Prison for the Criminally Insane by US Supreme Court
- Replies: 4
- Views: 97
Re: Mar~a~Lago declared Federal Prison for the Criminally Insane by US Supreme Court
I think what MM sketched out above would be the perfect premise for a reboot of The Apprentice, which might be a good plan B for Trump if the election doesn't go his way. Tonight on NBC - The Apprentice: Lockdown Edition. Join hosts Major Mitchell and Brainbomb as they put Trump, Elon, and a roguish...
- Sun May 05, 2024 4:51 pm
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Convince me to take up smoking [HIDDEN]
- Replies: 34
- Views: 4543
Re: Convince me to take up smoking [HIDDEN]
Looks like Nebraska could vote to legalize cannabis later this year, which might open up a whole new type of smoking.
- Fri May 03, 2024 2:13 am
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Death Star vs 4 Borg Cubes
- Replies: 21
- Views: 456
Re: Death Star vs 4 Borg Cubes
It's hard to know the true capabilities of the Borg or Empire because both these badies were only destroyed by the "God's on my side" narrative advantage conferred on the self sacrificing good guys. With no Data to shut down the Borg and no Luke, Han, and friends to risk life and limb for the Rebell...
- Sat Apr 27, 2024 5:33 pm
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Jesus was a Socialist
- Replies: 113
- Views: 2476
Re: Jesus was a Socialist
Why wouldn't God have also kept the Germans who became Nazis on track if he has this power? What a terrible thing it would be for God to save only "his own" from the fate of becoming genocidal murders - what did the ones who became Nazis do to deserve this punishment? Why weren't all Germans "his ow...
- Fri Apr 26, 2024 8:17 pm
- Forum: Politics
- Topic: Has former British PM Meg Thatcher been reincarnated in Brainbomb's offspring of feminine gender?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 318
Re: Has former British PM Meg Thatcher been reincarnated in Brainbomb's offspring of feminine gender?
To add to Octs point, conservative parties are doing quite well in Italy, France, Netherlands, Canada, etc. It just doesn't seem correct to say that conservatives / right wing populists are doing poorly right now. Unfortunately Trump is the Reagan/Thatcher figure who finds himself at the centre of a...
- Fri Apr 26, 2024 2:40 pm
- Forum: Politics
- Topic: Police using Gay Pride events to sanitise their public image?
- Replies: 13
- Views: 399
Re: Police using Gay Pride events to sanitise their public image?
I really doubt that it's fair to denigrate conservative gay men as non-political laggards who are merely riding on the coat tails of Queer activists, or as a group that uses their gay status cynically only when it benefits them. But otherwise your post gets to the crux of my question. LGBTQIA2S+ is ...
- Thu Apr 25, 2024 10:21 pm
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Jesus was a Socialist
- Replies: 113
- Views: 2476
Re: Jesus was a Socialist
I think there is a more charitable view of why someone might be fiscally conservative. If I'm taxed more, is that money really going to go to Namibia? Or will it be used by my government to spoil its base before the next election? Even if that money were dedicated to foreign aid, is my government we...
- Thu Apr 25, 2024 9:52 pm
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Jesus was a Socialist
- Replies: 113
- Views: 2476
Re: Jesus was a Socialist
Most people (at least in the US) support capitalism because they are influenced by propaganda (not necessarily from the government) claiming capitalism is effective. [Redacted because this is not the Politics sub-forum]. It's probably best to be a little more generous than this when making assumpti...
- Thu Apr 25, 2024 9:12 pm
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Jesus was a Socialist
- Replies: 113
- Views: 2476
Re: Jesus was a Socialist
Broad stroke conversations like this always seem to fall apart due, in part, to misaligned definitions. Some folks seem to think capitalism = some sort of Scrooge McDuck economy where the rich literally sit on a pile of gold rather than investing, generating wealth, etc. Meanwhile, "socialism" seems...
- Thu Apr 25, 2024 3:09 pm
- Forum: Off Topic
- Topic: Jesus was a Socialist
- Replies: 113
- Views: 2476
Re: Jesus was a Socialist
Your perpetual failing is your desperate need to have your particular God at the centre of all good things. Attributing dissent to intellectual dishonesty makes you blind. I thought it was masturbation that did that? Attributing blindness to masturbation makes you intellectually dishonest? :?