TheVat

Arthur Clarke's space elevator. I wanted that to happen but sensed that the super polymer cables needed, plus other tech details, we're going to be a RW challenge. Or just not feasible getting it off the drawing board and scaled up. And no one or very few anticipated problems like orbital debris.

I was always amused by the notion that doors (i.e the architectural ones) would change in some highly futuristic way. Aside from better gaskets and insulation, we still have the basic door with knob, latch and hinges that we've had for centuries. I think this illustrates that some technologies "mature" and then resist much more innovation (beyond materials upgrades). Nobody whose residential threshold I cross has a door that slides aside or dilates or parts like a membrane or flips upward like a DeLorean or whatever. Bo-ring!

Teleonomy, that's the term I was looking for earlie to make that distinction. Thanks, @exchemist . And teleology, when it does arise, pertains to artificial selection rather than NS. A society could agree that articulate speech is so important (coordinating hunting or plant gathering, say, or transmission of essential memes and histories to young ones) that they reward verbal fluency by codifying special marital privileges and extra shares of certain foods and amenities that enhance child care, thus increasing the fertility rate for the silver-tongued, thus (assuming there are alleles that mediate neurogenesis or what have you in such a way) enforcing a form of AS. Corn (maize) is a common example of AS, but once a species has sufficient intelligence it can develop culture and codes which bring about AS within its own species. This also means the line between sexual selection and AS can become quite blurred in a restrictive human culture.

Amen.To that!

Yes this is why I wanted to advise Luc against using "purpose" as a term. When he remarked, I felt that the meaning of teleology was not understood. A teleological explanation IS one that assigns a purpose to some phenomenon. Purpose comes from conscious minds. When we say a rock has a purpose, we mean that we sentient beings have a purpose for that rock.

There is another side but the question is if there is empirical support for a teleological explanation of any sort of selection. Evolutionary theory, with its present strong empirical foundation seems to be the opposite of a teleological explanation. The former qualifies as a scientific theory, the latter is a philosophical conjecture. It's very important to understand this distinction before proceeding further.

Yes. Flashing on a scene from Raising Arizona where the parole board guy is telling Nicholas Cage they have a name for people like him. "Recidivist! Repeat oh-fender!"

Sounds a bit like a backdoor way to bring back the luminiferous aether.

If you are referencing Operation Valkyrie, I have reservations about threads that escalate to suggesting assassination. (perhaps that's your point?) Such a means of deposing a fascist wannabe could cement a future of autocratic rule, as people rally around a strongman who can ensure order. Peel me a Chiquita. 47 is a white nationalist. He will not be going after the melanin-impaired.

Money. https://news.law.fordham.edu/jcfl/2018/12/09/the-american-prison-system-its-just-business/ I am also reminded of studies that found that violent crime is primarily a crime of youth. People over 30, their number in violent crime statistics plummets. Most violence comes from young people whose emotional impulsivity is high. If allowed to rejoin society, they generally (except for a small percent, usually estimated around 2-5%, who are sociopaths) master impulse control and can lead peaceful lives. OTOH, leave them caged with sociopaths and the mentally ill, and they don't do so well.

No hazard, right. As one of us suggested, you might open a window and/or run an exhaust fan if pouring it out in the toilet.

I remember this. Lower grade Silverberg, though an interesting concept. I remember the protagonist falls in love with his own great great grandmother and gets in a lot of trouble. Clearly no respect for the butterfly effect.

I reside with a botanical person who advises to avoid urine on anything unless quite diluted. You're right that urea can burn lawns. But dilution and then a good watering and you've recycled some beneficial phosphorus and N into the garden. The OP has inspired a rewrite of an old drinking song (if inspired is really the verb): 20 bottles of piss on the floor, 20 bottles of piss, Take one out, spread it about, 19 bottles of piss on the floor. (And so on)

The line follows 110th St. North of there, you can shoot whoever you want. 🤪

The 47 regime, unfortunately, is trying to cloak its uncivil nature with some crude and ham-handed legalisms, e.g. the child won't be deprived of statehood but will revert to the statehood of his immigrant parents. The birthright citizenship revocation (violating our Constitution and two centuries of legal precedent) is aimed at a child born on US soil, to let's say Honduran parents. The spurious legalism is to assert that the child's citizenship emanates from the parents and not the patch of ground. Therefore she is Honduran, even if she was born in Peoria, Illinois. One of the things that makes this all so pernicious is that many of these immigrant parents come here and enter the workforce and are so occupied with getting a foothold that they really don't have time to negotiate the labyrinth of paper work and court appointments that is their own path to citizenship. So it's unrealistic to expect them to be naturalized before their child is born, even if that is their intent. That's why the Constitutional right of birthright citizenship for the children has always made abundant sense.

Yup. I got rid of emulsifiers, ultra processed junk, high FODMAPs and bad lipids, and it dialed inflammation way down. Fermented food generally seems to help - Icelandic oat skyr has been a revelation. People should have a chance to live the lifespan their telomeres allow, and not the whim of irritable immune systems.

There is also the struggle of people on special diets finding niche items on shelves (GF, low salt, low/no sugar, low FODMAP, etc) at supermarkets where the focus is high turnover items. Those folks can experience partial food deserts even where there's a grocery nearby. So these CoNY stores could possibly also make that step away from the purely profit centered selection and possibly give a boost to public health. (That relates to one of the gripes about dollar stores - they have groceries but it's almost all ultraprocessed crap)

However, you will need the smaller 50 MW flux capacitor, which O'Reilly doesn't stock, if you are building an interocitor.

I think Koko, in "The Mikado” has provided some guidance on this matter.... As some day it may happen that a victim must be found I've got a little list — I've got a little list Of society offenders who might well be underground And who never would be missed — who never would be missed! There's the pestilential nuisances who write for autographs — All people who have flabby hands and irritating laughs — All children who are up in dates, and floor you with 'em flat — All persons who in shaking hands, shake hands with you like that — And all third persons who on spoiling tête-á-têtes insist — They'd none of 'em be missed — they'd none of 'em be missed! There's the banjo serenader, and the others of his race And the piano-organist — I've got him on the list! And the people who eat peppermint and puff it in your face They never would be missed — they never would be missed! Then the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone All centuries but this, and every country but his own; And the lady from the provinces, who dresses like a guy And who "doesn't think she dances, but would rather like to try"; And that singular anomaly, the lady novelist — I don't think she'd be missed — I'm sure she'd not be missed! (...)

This looks like a trending thing in online ads lately. I don't know the formal name for them but they are basically enigma objects which tease you because they look like something but in fact are just contrived to catch your eye and make you click on it. I know merchants like Temu use these a lot - you never find out what the enigma object is, and your computer takes on a crap ton of cookies and trackers. And they hoover up data about you. At least this one doesn't look obscene, which is more than can be said for some e-commerce firms.

NPR.org And also, apnews.com. Are not connected to any billionaire owners or political parties, and I've found them pretty neutral and fact-based. What I like especially is that they seem to cover everything and do not, like some news outlets, ignore news stories that don't "fit"' with some corporate or political spin.

Seems like an excellent repurposing of such places. May I suggest Mar A Lago for future training sessions? These killings seem outstandingly reprehensible. What a sad and broken person this young guy was. It's fortunate that firefighters wear such heavy gear - otherwise there could have been more fatalities. And yet again, hello lawmakers: what part of the mental illness + firearms equation are you having trouble with?

Time travel traffic jam on the grassy knoll, 11/22/63. Temporal traffic cops dispatched to the scene, along with paradox counselors.

You mean it uses lots of trendy buzzwords? Like "resonance fields"?

LOL. I had an uncle who had me believing that you could get your brain scrambled standing right in front of a microwave oven. Although, perihelion being early January, it does mean Oz has a bit more intense peak heat in its summers. The upside is that earth is orbiting faster around perihelion so the southern hemisphere summers are a little shorter. IIRC, the effects of distance and orbital speed mostly balance out and so overall insolation is roughly the same between the hemispheres.