TheVat

Jenna Ellis looks disturbingly happy for a mugshot. Kind of a Manson Girl vibe. Trevian Kutti looks like she is auditioning for a horror movie scene where she picks up an axe or chainsaw. Trump looks like someone frightened who is trying to look tough.

Odd how the power of the Cult seems to overcome what would normally be an aversion to cowardice. Especially among the blue collar portion of TFG's base. Trumpers I encounter would not usually be the sort to be okay with someone backing away from the debate arena (and instead retreating to the safe space of a Tucker Carlson interview during the Milwaukee debate). I can remember a time when prairie republicans out here would have found that repugnant. But now they lap up his weak sauce of debates don't matter, big waste of time, and I'm so far ahead.

Ken, as usual, steps in and posts much of what I wanted to say, except better. I will just add how annoying it is that American business has such dislike for worker profit sharing (with a few exceptions), the sort of Marx Lite that gives workers a stake in their company and correlates with improved quality and productivity and worker loyalty. The whole Red Menace thing is tiresome.

Seems like it. Putin grew up in street gangs in the postwar ruins of Leningrad, so that way of thinking about power is natural to him. I think we're both experiencing citation fatigue, neither wants to dive deep for previously posted poll data, so for now I'm just saying we see the trend differently. Slainte.

Somewhat new to this concept. Wouldn't such a view, universally practiced (I'm applying Kant's categorical imperative here), lead to species extinction? Having babies: it's a nasty dirty job but somebody's got to do it. I suppose we could scale back a bit, get population down to some sort of ecological ideal with psychologically optimal amounts of wilderness and personal lebensraum and grizzly bears snatching salmon, but at some point it would still be necessary to get the fertility rate back to 2.3 (commonly seen as replacement rate). Antinatalism sounds kind of antihuman, taken in the long term. On the individual level, it makes more sense. If Mary wants to be a monk and a lepidopterist, and not be bothered with the whole mommy track thing, that should be perfectly okay, and no one should be pushing the breeder lifestyle at her. If Joe wants to raise weimaraners and go into town once a week to be spanked, that's his business. Sounds lonely to me, but maybe I just don't get weimaraners. Sorry, am losing the serious focus this issue deserves.

You seem to have a two-tiered system for evaluation of polling results. Ohe tier is acceptance of polls that are pro-Russian hegemony, the other tier is dismissing polls that are pro-Ukrainian sovereignty and NATO membership, usually implying they were conducted at gunpoint (metaphorically, anyway). And the poll you mainly reference was only Crimeans IIRC, and done while it was already under Russian control. Your system seems not too objective. Russians report the pilot seemed very depressed and said things to copilot like, "Going to find me a couple of SAMs and dive into them if you don't stop popping your gum."

More recent opinion surveys suggest support for Ukrainian independence has only grown. https://www.rferl.org/a/ukrainian-unity-identity-poll-russian-invasion/32001348.html#:~:text=As many as 96 percent,declare a “good” one. As many as 96 percent of Ukrainians support their country joining the European Union, and 91 percent now favor joining NATO. Some 92 percent profess a “bad” attitude toward Russia, while only 2 percent declare a “good” one. Hrushetskiy believes these changes will prove enduring because unity around them has been developing gradually since Ukraine gained independence from Soviet rule in 1991. A significant increase in support for the pro-European and transatlantic geopolitical orientation of the country -- and a corresponding decline of positive sentiment toward Russia – were notable features of the 2004-05 Orange Revolution and the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, he noted.

I was tempted to just type DYHACFT? again, but I will try to address this further. (yes, some trustworthy polling would be helpful on this matter) You might get fewer DVs if you could better explain what you mean by a preference to be linked to Russia - do people having such preference really want to be part of Russia or part of a puppet state? Zelenski's landslide win suggests the majority do not. And there may be some who would like both better ties to EU and cordial links with Russia. Again, I don't feel you have any reliable source on public opinions in Ukraine. As always, the first casualty in war is...

Thanks, I wondered. So if I run my VPN through Switzerland or Sweden and those countries sign some MoU on IP filtering, then I'm blocked. Unless I move to Gibraltar or Panama or some other haven. Or I'm Ed Norton in Glass Onion and I do all my business through a fax machine. 😀

Wouldn't bad actors just use VPN to step around Geo IP filtering?

Much as I respect the genie/bottle argument I still believe that, since nuclear war could end our species and bring a kingdom of cockroaches, the global goal should remain nuclear disarmament. When nations came to an accord that nerve gas and biological agents should not be used, treaties were made. There are powerful economic incentives for major powers to not engage in massive wars with each other. I believe we can eventually get everyone to the table to agree that a nuclear sword of Damocles over the head of every person on the planet is not a viable instrument of foreign policy and that mutual economic destruction (and don't forget cyber war) is adequate to the task of deterring a conventional WW3. There is also the massive expense of maintaining nuclear arsenals, and thus massive economic benefit of elimination of them. Adding MORE nukes, and more nations to the nuclear club, strikes me as a terrible idea. I would think mass shootings have taught us, on a smaller scale, what happens when a crazy person gets their hands on a mass killing device. We are still here because we've been extremely lucky. And luck has a way of running out. My generation grew up with the threat of nuclear annihilation hanging over our heads. I think some of us would like to see future generations face at least one less catastrophic scenario.

But aren't they the Latin words that were adopted as the formal medical terminology back when Latin and Greek were the languages of scholars? I think of slang as more "street." It has a different meaning from jargon or terminology, forms which tend to be established in a more formal way. Without being snobby, I just think slang has a particular meaning and way it differs from more formal terms. In the US, we might say she's got a bun in the oven and that's slang. She has a fetus in her uterus is NOT slang, is it? Nor is she's pregnant. She wouldn't visit her OB-Gyn and be told "one change you will notice is bigger boobs, and they may be all tingly..." Likely a nurse, PA, or doctor would say "you may notice some breast enlargement and sensitivity..." (not to say there aren't doctors who develop a rapport with a patient by sometimes using humorous slang - that would depend on the patient I expect)

We should have a butcher's, then. (which brings up an interesting feature: removing the original rhyming portion of the slang, rendering it more obscure. So "look" was butcher's hook, then the hook was dropped.) Similarly "berk" was originally Berkeley Hunt, a rhyme for cunt. Berk is not as offensive as cunt, partly due to its full rhyming form being forgotten.

Interesting how pudendal slang carries different weights in different English speaking countries. In the UK, I noticed that c--t was in wide usage and for a vast range of tones and often very casual. Contrast with the U.S. where it is still considered more foul than a lot of the usual suspects. I remember seeing a film where F-bombs and similar dropped frequently, zero audience reaction, but then one character turned to another and called her a "magnificent c--t," and I heard audible gasps from several quarters. It may have been the character who spoke it, partly, who was a mayor at some elegant occasion, so the word is also a sudden reveal about him. If Ray Winstone had said it, perhaps no one would have batted an eye.

Chinese cats tend to say "mao" instead of "meow," for example.

How on Gaia's green Earth is photon emission a form of reproduction? If you want people to not make jokes or get rowdy, then you need to know your subject and supply a set of testable hypotheses that bear some relation to current knowledge. Atoms and subatomic particles are not life; life is composed of complex dynamic structures that are built of atoms bonded in molecules. Theories that particles and atoms are in themselves alive have tended to be in the tradition of a 19th century fad called Vitalism (Bergson called it elan vital, postulating some sort of ethereal life force) - such theories have been discredited for lack of evidence and coherence.

Some conditions, like sensory processing disorder often found in autism, respond to a sensation of pressure on the body. I haven't dived, and I don't know if it produces such a sensation on the body. But it could maybe work like weighted blankets and other methods that supply reassuring pressure. Sometimes called deep pressure therapy (DPT). It supplies proprioceptive input that is helpful. Thanks for cool photo.

Here's a more tasteful fermion pairing that is family friendly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_pair

Please, this is not a bosonic porn website.

Agree on the approaches to opioids (Perdue also deserved a much heavier penalty) and immigration, and I think Biden should have taken the tiller more on immigration rather than handing off to Harris. And the right wing news bubble doesn't help either, as Faux and other Murdochian news outlets have ignored positive things Biden has initiated or spun them negatively. One place where Biden can really shine, in a campaign, is that he can avoid negative atttacks and just sell his positive accomplishments. Old guys are better at not taking the bait (well, some old guys). If he ends up passing the torch to someone else next summer, I hope they are also of that temperament and listen to Joe.

That would make more sense. I don't well understand "charges continuing distributing" when the device is completely shut off, but assume that's inherent in the battery design.

Some devices have a drain feature* which, after you reach 100% will start to drain the battery in order to prevent overcharge. That's why my tablet, if I forget and leave it on charger all night, will be at 88-95% in the morning. It reached 100% at say 3 am, then started going down. Seems like a better device would just break the circuit at full charge. * maybe bug is a better term

I have not heard about immersion in tropical waters but the Wim Hof method, and others, find correlation between immersion in cold water and improved mental health. Oxygenation seems trickier in its effects - many disciplines use enhanced breathing techniques for health and mental clarity. Higher PP of 02, however, can lead to hyperoxia and impaired cognition, as I am sure you are aware. When I have climbed in the mountains over 7000 ft. I notice sometimes the lower PP of 02 brings a good feeling, but then it goes away above maybe 12000 ft. because it is too low for proper oxygenation and my hemoglobin levels haven't really adapted yet. Then I am more tired and not as sharp. I remember as a child being on top of a 12000 ft. peak with my family, and I got overexcited, running around a lot, then throwing up.

No doubt in the future, if a conscious AI is developed, there will be debate as to whether or not it is alive. And then the AI will be laughing at us.

More powerful tropical cyclones (AKA hurricanes) are related to warming, too. The high winds on Maui were from Dora, which made the fires much worse. Global warming increases atmospheric energy in various ways that can all contribute to more destructive wildfires. Another (non GW) factor in the huge destruction of homes is that the climate has allowed rather loose observance of building codes, especially older homes. We have friends in Hawaii who have mentioned that many older houses were built with basically a wooden shell with siding nailed on. No sheetrock on the interior. No wall cavity (that 14.5 inch space between studs) with fire resistant insulation. Jalousie windows that allow maximum ventilation and don't close enough to seal the interior. Such houses get "grandfathered in" and aren't later brought up to current code.