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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/10/19 in all areas

  1. I saw an ice chunk float by in the harbour last February. I felt bad for everyone heading south looking for a warm swim in the ocean. Silly thought of course but any time temperature is in transition the assumption of equilibrium is at best an approximate one.
    2 points
  2. Well, there different forms of banking with varying purposes. In the Chinese Song Dynasty a system of low-interest lending was backed by the state was introduced to allow farmers to take on debts for spending during winter and planting seasons, which was repaid during harvest seasons. It was also used as an insurance against crop failure. What we know about the Mesopotamina system, it appears to be centered around royal houses and temples where commodities were safeguarded.
    1 point
  3. Watching Al Jazeera will introduce you to plenty of third-world problems: vaccination and antiboiotic resistance, contaminated water and landfill landslides, collapsed buildings and dams, tsunamis and earthquakes, sand mining and The Great Green Wall, air quality in Bangkok and New Delhi, and smuggled firearms and the direct sale of firearms, armoured vehicles, and fighter jets. Yet some of them still find time to invent, like Sounthirajan Kumarasamy and his team did, and I want to see more of it. Our planet is accelerating toward a mass extinction, and India by itself has three times more heads than the United States. Although foreign leaders favoring the status quo will blame protests on foreign influences, they benefit from globalized scientific advances and in fact some of the wealthier countries will exert economic pressure on our corporate media. The members of this forum are not corporate subordinates who cannot freely discuss these foreign influences. Beijing (mainland China) seems to have effectively eliminated coverage of Hong Kong's huge, on-going protests in a globalized city as wealthy as any american city. Saudi Arabia has been buying american fighter jets, has bribed Trump via his hotels, and has bought information from Twitter employees. When they trade with us to fund their pro-government media, we are already an influence. The foreign influence seems to be in our direction, and not theirs, when they purchase or replicate our weapons or surveillance technology and when they actively suppress our coverage of their civil rights violations. At the very least, we are obliged to print a blank page in the Chinese section or the Arabic section, otherwise we are complicit. Moreover, when american companies buy, hire, or "move" overseas to avoid taxes and minimum wages, we lose out and our rich are advantaged by the privilege of overseas activity. 1:00 PM: The documentary reminded me of the report on the Falun Gong influence behind the pro-Trump Epoch Times that you were seeing advertised on YouTube. That's a wacky story. 1:15 PM: Actually, information on how Badger Sportwear's shoe materials were traced to the Uighur detention centers is surprisingly difficult to find, but it's more up to date. I forgot lobbying, an issue which is more prominent but also more complicated. Here is a Fortune 1997 archive on its Power 25 lobbying groups. I have long remembered that the NRA, the Christian Coalition and the National Right to Life Committee fall within the top ten, but what I didn't notice before is that AIPAC was actually no. 2. Although the Israeli issue is tied up with conservative Evangelical Christians, what might be more notable is that The Israel American Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) actually represents a foreign country. Of course, AIPAC had a very, very minor role in Trump's anti-Palestinian decision to recognize Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv, as the capitol of Israel... eek. To be honest, I don't fully understand how lobbying influences D.C. I do know that business firms and "the business lobby" are very powerful, and that being a lobbyist is profitable. AOC documented DC's ironic lines of homeless people who were paid placeholders for rich lobbyists. Moreover, it seems that Saudi lobbyists were exploiting loopholes to pay off our politicians over the war in Yemen. Another peripheral -- or not so peripheral -- issue was accidentally omitted. Chinese investors have hidden their money overseas by "parking" that money in american and Australian housing markets, artificially inflating the price of housing. This has exacerbated the homelessness problem in certain cities. I think the Australian government was doing something about it... It might be difficult to estimate the actual impact of this hidden Chinese money. In any case, we don't want our rich to avoid our taxes, and we don't want their rich to artificially inflate our housing markets. However, I would like to know the positions of lobbying groups like AIPAC on tax avoidance schemes and money laundering schemes. These issues might not be so peripheral after all. Cyprus and Switzerland are notorious money laundering locations, and Trump's (German) Deutsche Bank controversy momentarily made headlines. In years past, HSBC-US and Wachovia were convicted of laundering money to the drug cartels, but the punishment wasn't close to proportional. On this October 26th, Mexico's AMLO surrendered El Chapo's son to an unexpectedly forceful display from the drug cartels. Some important question ensue. Where is the Mexico lobby? Why couldn't central american lobbyists push for stronger fines against those banks? Why do the activities of foreign lobbying groups seem to undercut international law rather than uphold it? 12:24 PM CST, November 13th, 2019 12:30: I forget the specifics, but I think international corporations had a stake in the burning of the Amazon, an area which Brazil's Bolsonaro wants to economically develop. Lula Livre!
    1 point
  4. the war of the worlds Is a cautionary tale of such arrogance.
    1 point
  5. I'm with you on that. To me, extinction is the enemy, and if we can prevent it, it doesn't really matter how. Of course, you don't want to advance the extinction of one species, by trying to save another, so it has to be done carefully. But if you can keep the remaining species alive, until the human population gets under control, then that's a result.
    1 point
  6. That does not change the facts or that they are lying, in most cases they are just mistaken, like you.
    1 point
  7. Mistermack, Obama advised Egypt's democratically elected Mohammed Morsi that he could appease the rogue military with political concessions. Morsi followed suite, making concessions, and the coup proceeded anyway. Similar revolutions are underway in Sudan (thank god!), Algeria, and Iraq and Lebanon. This thread is direly lacking in historical context. The Wahhabist-Salafist ideology of ISIS originated from the ultraconservative Wahhabism that legitimized the House of Saud in the 1700's. In WW1, The House of Saud ultimately gained control of Mecca and Medina, the required pilgrimage sites for all muslims, and the Jordanian dynasty was pushed northward. In 1975, the reformer King Faisal was assassinated. Fast forward. Saudis comprised the majority of the 9-11 hijackers, and the official religion of Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism, is linked to the religious ideas of ISIS. Fast forward again. Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia (and Donald Trump) are ultraconservative allies (or ultra-militarized in Egypt's case), and they're arming Khalifa Haftar in Libya and loosely connected jihadi groups in bombed-to-hell Yemen. I would explore the complexities of killing an idea if that were a steadfast commitment. Ironically, Yemen was more populace and its port city of Aden facilitated British-Arabic cultural exchange, but the Saudis struck oil. Coincidentally, ultraconservative Wahhabists have the economic means to spread and enforce their ultraconservative version of Islam. Who wants to buy that hybrid car and let the muslims work this out? Those Lebanese protesters are ruthless!!!
    1 point
  8. ! Moderator Note OK. This is a Science forum. Not a Wild Guess forum. You had your chance. Do not bring this subject up again.
    1 point
  9. Introducing invasive species is what humans do! We intentionally and unintentionally bring a gaggle of invasive species with us wherever we go. It's completely natural for us to do so. I can't see any problem with eliminating an invasive species as long as we are using the term correctly. Invasive suggests the species is a problem, some introduced species do not become a problem, but some become intense problems, feral pigs is an example, and carp. Carp have been around so long that many people do not know they are an invasive species nor is the damage they do as obvious as the damage feral pigs manage to inflict in the environment... State and federal wildlife management tend to go with the invasive equals not providing a money producing resource. Florida is a great example, fish accidentally introduced by the aquarium fish hobby are invasive but fish introduced by fish and game for the pleasure of anglers are said to be well established. Personally I am a proponent of introducing non native fish that are in trouble in their natural range into streams here that are recovering from devastation and have open niches in their habitat that a non native fish that is going extinct could fill here. The dwarf sturgeon is one that I have championed actively to be released in the Poca River in WV. Before they became completely extinct https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_sturgeon The chinese paddlefish was one I thought should be introduced into the Mississippi River: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_paddlefish The chinese river dolphin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baiji And the chinese alligator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_alligator The list of endangered species is long and sad and their introduction into friendlier habitats is controversial swinging from those who want to rewild north america with african animals to those who think that no species should be introduced under any circumstances...
    1 point
  10. I would like to add that evolutionary psychology is suffering from a number of issues, and is one a the forefront of the replication crisis. Many of these issues stem from ill-defined research questions (to which I would include OP). Originally, the premise was fascinating, and there have been successful studies. However, many aspects in human evolution in this field are based on extrapolation, which are often not based on solid evidence. As such, a lot of these studies may be just-so stories. As a result solid science is mixed with heavy storytelling and the latter unfortunately dilute the former.That is not to say that the field is useless, but rather it is still a field trying to figure itself out. The worst thing is probably the fact that the interest in these studies are not in line with the level of evidence they can provide. Pop culture often takes tentative studies as ultimate validation of some long-standing assumptions and stereotypes.
    -1 points
  11. in the attached picture i attempt to show the force I'm working with. The idea is to exploit the force on AB. although the currents in the example DO NOT CREATE A CIRCUIT, they show the force im working with. IF, the circuit were to be closed with a wire from D to C, the total force on DC would cancel out the total force on AB. also, We find the magnetic field vector direction by using the right hand rule. Because the current vector is inline with the writing surface, the magnetic field vector is represented as an X for into the surface and O for the vectors outward direction. Magnetic fields at 90 angles from an ions velocity vector do something curly to its path, but still follow electric field lines. not talking about radiation. im talking about magnetic fields acting on currents in wires and free ions. change your drugs bro.
    -1 points
  12. not this again? When are you going to start being honest?
    -1 points
  13. And how do you know I mean it in another way? The object acted in a way that was unusual. In particular, the way it was lit (this was before dawn), and to some extent how it moved (I couldn't tell how far away it was, because I didn't know how big it was). But, it being the Washington DC area and it was along a commuting route, I knew I wouldn't be the only one seeing it. The local news tracked it down; I imagine they had gotten calls. OK, so you want to use the word in a way that's unlike anyone else. Kinda defeats the purpose of language, though.
    -1 points
  14. Who are you to judge how anyone else uses the word? 😊
    -2 points
  15. When I joined this forum, I was hoping for the chance to engage in an intelligent conversation about issues in Special Relativity that have confused new students for decades. Instead, I have found myself talking to walls. So I will be exiting from this forum, but I want to leave three parting thoughts: Thought 1 - Despite how many people say it for other people to hear, despite how many people write it for other people to read, despite how many people key it for other people to link to - The Fact of Nature that the speed of light is the same in all inertial frames plays NO role in explaining the successful application of Special Relatively to solving physical problems! It is a Red Herring! There is another Fact of Nature at work here. What other Fact of Nature? Well, I’ve hidden it in plain sight in Thought 2. Thought 2 - "Slip slidin' away. Slip slidin' away. The nearer your destination, The more you're slip slidin' away." - Paul Simon I've been hoping to offer some thoughts on "relativistic mass" - the notion that mass increases with increasing speed. It's common to come across the statement that accelerating a particle becomes more difficult as particle speed approaches c because "particle mass approaches infinity". I prefer to state the issue differently. I would say that accelerating a particle becomes more difficult as particle speed approaches c because the external field responsible for the acceleration loses effectiveness as the particle speed approaches the speed at which the field mechanisms function. This, of course, offers an explanation for why light speed forms a limiting speed in nature. An old boot can travel no faster through the water than the maximum speed at which the fisherman can reel in the line. Whenever I think about this phenomenon, Paul Simon's song comes to mind. The speeding particle slips and slides away from the grasp of the external field. Thought 3 - I can’t leave this forum without saying something about time dilation. It has always puzzled me that while the physics community easily accepts that time dilation effects in General Relativity relate in some way to the interaction between the time-keeping system and the surrounding gravitational field, the analogous time dilation effects in Special Relativity are viewed as “just so”. Well, I have never cared much for a “just so” story. But I do hold the view that Nature does not care at all for a “just so” story. Something is going on out there! In the most dominant example - the retarded decays of unstable particles moving at speeds close to light speed - I again must fall back on my belief that these effects are in some way a consequence, in ways not at all understood, of the rapid motion of the particles through surrounding electric and magnetic fields. I hold (and this is where Special Relativity exhibits its most severe vulnerability as it is commonly described) that no physical effect can occur as a consequence of merely moving at a uniform speed in an inertial frame of reference. And now, from sunny Alabama (a state in the USA, refer Rand McNally maps, circa 1934), I happily say GOODBYE, Y’ALL!! ROLL TIDE!!
    -5 points
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