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Hans de Vries

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Everything posted by Hans de Vries

  1. I think that's it Having a nationalist French government in Canada trying to violently impose (with help of far right/neo Nazi "activists") French language and anti-English/anti-American political narrative... It is so unlikely that it sounds almost comical. but that's what's happening in the Ukraine - the current government is systematically trying to eradicate Russian cultural/lingustic heritage in Ukraine even though 50-60% of Ukrainians use Russian as their main language and the two countries are as linked to each other as England and Scotland.
  2. Like seriously? If the aforementioned far-right Quebecois violently took power in Canada, declared French to be sole official language, banned all English langage media and declared Anglo-Canadians to be invaders who oppressed the true (French) Canadians for centuries - then an armed revolt in multiple regions of Canada would be certain. And in that case, US will have full right to intervene in Canada in order to protect its brethren people.
  3. I may say, yes and no. The southeastern part of Ukraine was deprived of any sort of political representation after a violent coup that forced a democratically elected president to flee the country at the threat of death and brought a government that is completely unacceptable to people in those regions of Ukraine - in Donbass over 90% of people speak Russian as their main language, they do not want to be forced to speak Ukrainian and worship Western Ukrainian ww2 Nazi collaborators like Bandera and Shukhevych.. So they started a rebellion and Russia was forced to intervene - otherwise it would be a treason of its own people. An analogous situation would be if the French speaking part of Canada tried to violently impose its identity over the rest of the country. If the Anglo-Candians then rose in revolt, wouldn't it be legitimate for US to intervene militarilu?
  4. Belarus is not terribly stressed by Russia's presence. Kazakhstan and China aren't either Finland probably isn't either. A big % of Ukrainians probably aren't either - in USSR times Ukrainians and Russians (except Western Ukrainians) were considered practically one nation (like English and Scottish people), milions of people moved between Russian and Ukrainian SSR without any issue and they still do - for a matter of fact, 4 out of 8 leaders of USSR were ethnic Ukrainians.
  5. Hi. What are the exact details of how the purported rape victim remembered the rape? Wasn't she unaware of it for over 30 years and then "remembered" it after some star alignment or something like that? THat's what she wrote:
  6. Comparing Islam with Christianity is like comparing rodents to cephalopods. Both are animals and derived from a common ancestor but this is about as much in terms of their similarity.. Jesus was a man of peace. His apostles were a peaceful folk. There is no account of them engaging in attempts to spread their religion by force. Christianity was created in an environment that was extremely hostile - the Roman Empire. Under these conditions resorting to sword would very quickly put an end to entire religion. Quietly spreading the Gospel was the only way to go. Furthermore, the Christian religion very quickly *bu the time of Paul of Tarsos) became influenced by Greek philosophy and drifted away from Judaism and it's strict legalistic framework. Muhammad was neither peaceful nor persecuted. To the contrary - he was the one who persecuted others. He became the absolute ruler of Arabia (would a peaceful prophet really want this much power?) and was extremely harsh towards even the slightest criticism of himself or his religion. The Quran tells Muslims to strive to be like Muhammad - and his successors (the first the "sahaba") immediately attacked Byxantium and Persia and achieved great military success within 10 years of Muhammad's death.
  7. Well, this is the type of girl I am looking for: 1. Very attractive (this is not an issue, I know a lot of attractive girls) 2. Very self-confident, with high self esteem, feels good among people, likes interacting with them. 3. Has a rich sex life (had many boyfriends, changes them often) 4. Exhibits a strong drive towards "high life" - likes expensive clothes, cosmetics, jewelry etc, dresses well but not too formal 5. Likes partying. 7. Above average intelligence but not extraordinary high. 8. With a laid-back, warm personality. Content with life, smiles often, is kind to others and wishes them well. Well liked by other people. I am not looking for a long term relationship though... A brief one.
  8. Well... I am looking for a relationship with a highly specific kind of woman and I will have to detect personality type of women within days, maybe even hours, of meeting them. Can things such as clothing style, body language, style of speech etc. tell much information about personality?
  9. I realize that the it wasn't an abrupt event. Neverthles, it's outcome was basically a return to pre-Roman levels of development - nearly total collapse of cities and cessation of almost all economic activity above the level of a small village - Rome itself went from having a population of at least 500,000 to less than 50,000 and for centuries it was still the largest European city by a significant margin. (in Charlemagne's times there were still less than 10 urban areas with population above 20,000 people in all of Western Europe). Moreover, all cultural activity virtually ceased and did not return to Principate (early Imperial) levels until maybe 1200s in Italy and 1400s in the rest of Europe.
  10. When a major civilization reverts back to a much earlier stage of development, how do you call it? The decline was so severe that even writing barely survived in some rare, far-spread monasteries.
  11. You should not forget that a very impressive period of growth occured in Europe between 1000 and 1500 AD. It simply took time to rebound from the collapse of Rome, a disaster that could only be compared to a major nuclear war.
  12. Aren't IQ tests still used precisely because people who do well at IQ tests also tend to do well at other cognitively demanding tasks (and therefore, are a good predictor of general intellectual ability)? If you carelessly breezed through the test and scored 140 you are almost certainly smarter than someone who put the hardest work possible and still scored only 100 for example.
  13. IMHO the most important qualities of a good President are: 1. Having ability to make decisions without hesitation and ability to pursue a coherent, clear-cut strategy 2. Experience in running large organizations. Being book smart should not be important since presidents never work alone. They have advisors, secretaries etc. to handle matters of the state. Just becoming a congressman is an extraordinary achievement, comparable to becoming a Fortune 500 CEO and it can be safely said that people who get that far are AT LEAST smart.
  14. Is it higher than average or not? To my estimation, their achievements as a group are higher than predicted by the oft-cited 1 SD higher IQ.
  15. Anyone familiar with studies showing beneficial effects of various types of Buddhist meditation on human psychology? Not just stress reduction and other mundane shit but deeper changes. Is it possible to experience a deep personality transformation with meditation (long term)?
  16. How many genes are involved, solely or mostly, in the functioning of human brain?
  17. I would say yes - my near-native knowledge of English comes almost solely from reading websites. I can also speak fluently with little accent. Depending on your level fo talent and proximity of the target language to your native one, you should be able to master it in 6 months to 3 years. Start by reading simple texts and then progress to harder stuff.
  18. Simple - higher tilt means that during summer irradiance is higher than now. In the winter it's reversed - subsequently summers are hotter and winters get colder than now - by 15-20 degrees, maybe more! Under such conditions most of the planet will be at least chillingly cold during winter and oppresively hot during summer, with maybe 2-3 months of . Heating costs would increase by an order of magnitude and electric grid will be put under enormous stress due to overuse of AC. Add crop failures, stronger winds (larger differences in surface temperature) and well... we're done. Maybe wearher will be tolerable at the equator and pockets of humans could survive there. Well, if tilt gets 20 degrees LOWER (3.45 instead of 23.45 degrees ) many parts of the world will actually become warmer simply becausee snow that is there for a good part fo the year reflects a lot of light. The Siberian High would probably shut down too as the main factor contributing to it's formation (large air masses cooling over Asia in September-October) will be absent. And Siberian High is the main cause of low winter temperatures over much of Eurasia.
  19. So forget for a while about other planets... since I am also interested in establishing settlements in extreme places of Earth.
  20. Since we are thinking about colonizing other planets, it would be goood to establish test colonies in some more inhospitable places on the Earth. I am thinking about a test colony for between 300 and 1000 people, located either somewhere in Greenland, the edge of Antarctica or northern Canada is it possible to establish a settlement in these areas that is self sufficient in food and energy, using technology available in 5-10 years? The town would be built with a fairy high initial ivestment. Energy would be generated via solar, wind and possibly tidal generators and food would be grown in greenhouses. It would be built on a low lying area with a possibility of first clearing the area from ice. A small seaport would be built.
  21. With a 20 degrees higher tilt, could humans survive anywhere on Earth? From what I gathered, effects of that would be utterly catastrophic. 1. Everything above 45th latitude would be in the Arctic Citcle - so one could see the midnight sun in Paris. 2. Oceanic climate as we know today would cease to exist. Areas that previously had mild climate (like UK) would now have harsh, continental climate with SIberian-like winters and summers comparable to Baghdad. 3. South Europe and the Middle East would become absolute hell - in winter there would be temperatures below or near freezing and during summer they would scorch in unbearable heat - temperatures in the range of 50-60 degrees Celsius would be common. The change in temperature would be accompanied with severe changes in preciptiation - there would be periods of extreme drought alternating with massive flooding. 4. Subsequently most of life on Earth would die.
  22. How would climate on Earth look like if the axial tilt was higher, say 45 degrees and not current 23.45 degrees? Likewise, what if it was lower - 10 degrees for example?
  23. For a TV veteran this is simply unbearable. 10-15 years ago Discovery Channel, Science Channel etc. all showed content that matched the purpose those channels were created for and was fun to watch. Now both of these show mostly some BS about cars, explosions and guys making moonshine... where is science in all of this!? The Science Channel is the least affected by this phenomenon but Discovery Channel is a completely different channel than what it started. The worst case is, arguably, History Channel. It was once obsessed with WW2 but at least showed historical content. Now it's schedule is completelty dominated by programs about aliens and tough guys in rural United States doing tough jobs. There is max. 5% of history-related programming on the channel that proudly calls itself "The History Chanel". The only truly historical series was the Soviet Storm (produced by in Russia) World history is so rich and complex - they can make documentaries about uncount numver of topics - history of military technology, history of infantry tactics, history of cavalry, hisotry of the German army, history of Mexico, Netherlands, English Civil War, British occupation of India etc. etc... So much that thousands upon thosands of hours could be filmed... Isn't that better than Ancient Aliens?
  24. Here it is: http://time.com/3729660/science-genetics-mutations-similar-fathers/
  25. bump Last year I read an article claiming that level of genetic expression can vary depending on which parent the allele was inherited from and the general trend was that father's genes are more active than mother's. Can this actually influence complex traits in a significant manner?
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