TheVat

Any reason I suddenly received a string of three downvotes in this thread on posts from February 2025? Pretty ordinary posts, so I can't quite fathom the objection. Or is this some peculiar reprisal for (jokingly) referring to Mark Zuckerberg as a Reptilian? Did anyone else get sudden DVs? @exchemist ? Or the bit about Poles having too many consonants -- that seemed also obviously a joke. And if these were stupid jokes why not then DV the offending post (s)? I welcome any feedback from either Poles or Reptilians, or possibly Reptilian Poles, though it's my understanding that Reptilians come from Zeta Reticulum and not Poland, generally. Or wherever Morena Baccarin came from in "V."

Sarg, I'd ram a ptarmigan snag. I'm rat, Pa Mardi Gras.

Wondering if they mean current theories are flawed? Dark energy discrepancy, Hubble tension, GR/QT compatibility issues?

Sounds interesting but also a "broccoli" book. I don't know as much about Sandberg, but Zucks is definitely one of the Reptilians. They are drawn to corporate culture, as part of their plan to alter Earth's environment and government in preparing for the invasion fleet's arrival. Heh. Read it about 5 years ago when it was first published. The book had a light hearted tone, and I liked the highly creative approach to alternate forms of life. Combined a good first contact story with a save the world story. I did find the astrophages a little hard to believe, but I think it makes the point that the forms life can take are potentially way beyond the terrestrial variations we know.

This is good to hear. We are native wild bee supporters, with various amenities in our yard to help bees - dead wood, sunny bare patches of permeable soil, a shallow water basin with pebbles (they like to have pebbles to land on), piles of old stems, native wildflowers, no chems. One thing I've noticed when nectar is scarce is bees sucking up juice from rotting fruit bits - this is actually not good for them, as fruit juices are not as nutritive for bees (wasps do better with that stuff). So you've got me wondering if this yeast supplement could be sprinkled on the fruit bits, when nothing is flowering - especially in drought years. It obviously wouldn't make up for a pollen shortfall, but it might help through lean times.

I picked up Red Mars at the library some years ago but somehow it didn't grab me. Sometimes I circle back to a book years later and end up liking it. I'll be interested in your comments, if you post any. I thought I did, but they turned out to be a tobacconist. I feel that the Poles, though mostly well-intentioned, deliberately put in unnecessary consonants to mess with foreigners. Had no effect on the Germans, of course.

"Mój poduszkowiec jest pełen węgorzy."

Emily writes her friend, worried about online Russian bot influencers. AIs sure rip media pseudonym, Amy. No dues paid Empire Russia.

Man passes basic sanity test. (Not wanting to admit how long I labored under the misapprehension that the great German physicist was inexplicably exiled to the Falklands before recalling there was a character of that name in BNW...)

You definitely have your symbolism mixed up there.

It's darkly funny that Republicans are painting themselves into a corner where they would basically have to promote full-bore socialism to actually unyoke the US from the global petro economy. And to implement it would have to get SCROTUS to reverse the landmark decision Youngstown v Sawyer, which said the POTUS simply cannot take over private corporations, even in war time. I remember Isaac Asimov called phosphorus "life's bottleneck." It had a hugely inefficient supply chain back then and still does now (something like 4/5 lost from mine to fork). The only saving grace for Asia and Africa is they have a long history of recycling from waste streams (which we're only starting to relearn in the West). Various groups in the USA including one I'm a member of are starting to promote "peecycling" with bringing agriculture and wastewater management together.

An actual POTUS would help inflation and suffering the whims of a global energy market by supporting wind power, instead of attacking it. The US has one of the largest wind supplies in the world and we don't have to haul the wind in on tankers. Onshore wind in particular has the lowest longterm generation costs of any energy source. We should be building out enhanced distribution grids AFAHP.

Some correlations are more a spur to forming hypotheses that can be feasibly tested. E.g. decrease in children walking to school and activities and rise in obesity and metabolic syndrome. It's facile to say cause and effect, but much harder to control other variables. Same with the oft-mentioned decrease in home-cooked meals. Or increased time per day with electronic media, and less time in the park. Or, or, or. Not my field, but is one challenge with longitudinal studies that people don't necessarily select just one healthy habit and make just one change? The families that, say, sign up for a Walk Your Kids to School program may also start putting more vegs on the plate, switching from frosted flakes to müsli at breakfast, supporting their kids in extracurricular sports, etc. Maybe one good approach is to study fairly homogenous communities where you have entrenched traditions and then some amenity is withdrawn in a clear-cut way so that you don't have a testing group that self-selected.

Maybe. You offering a fix may be a little too kind - sometimes I find a palindrome has an okay core but it just didn't build out well. I could salvage some of it, maybe. Rot an ill opal? I attack cattail, a pollinator. (Meh...) AI demolish silo, media.

Well, this certainly supports that: (AP) President Donald Trump invoked Pearl Harbor while defending the U.S. strike on Iran and his decision not to alert allies in advance, saying during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi: “Who knows surprise better than Japan?” 🙄

Some breakfasts, Emily can't make much sense of what's in her Google feed.... Non-extra fast peruse: dine muesli, attack cat tails, Eumenides erupts a fart: xenon?

Dear Mr Agent of Chaos, https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iran-attack-damage-wipes-out-17-qatars-lng-capacity-three-five-years-qatarenergy-2026-03-19/ Is there an adult somewhere nearby? Can you ask them to help you get over your tantrum about not getting a real Nobel Peace Prize, and then help you clean up this mess? I know you don't yet understand how actions in war, especially where Gulf states are involved, have massive economic ripple effects all around the globe, but maybe someone could read this report to you, which has an example, and help you with some of the big words and tricky concepts.

Seeing this article in The Guardian today, prompted me to think about aspects of freedom where the worst aspects of human nature are grossly amplified.... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/18/polymarket-gamblers-threaten-israeli-journalist-missile-strike-wager While I want the Internet to be as free as possible, I would also see it as a public good if behavior like this were cracked down on, and countries coming together to restrict online gambling. I mean, let's face it: a lot of restrictive laws only exist because of rotten apples like these. Such laws don't affect most of us, and it reminds those they do affect that maximum freedom is only achieved when people can police themselves. When you fail to restrain your worst impulses, then the consequence is that others will step in and do so, usually in a very unpleasant way. If that consequence is not there, then the wolves will gradually take over.

The excerpt does mention aerobic exercise benefits, which body building mostly is not. Hope this isn't about "looksmaxxing," that shallow, narcissistic and often self harming web fad led by "Clavicular." That's a destructive trend which will leave young men anxious and miserable and trapped in their self-obsession and distorted body image.

Re thread title, A moment of thought might suggest that wearing heavy headgear would most likely strengthen neck muscles. IIRC, Mark Zuckerberg has promoted something like this. Here's a humorous article on Mark's thicker neck and embrace of the manosphere....I believe the composition of his brain will become clear as you read. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/18/mark-zuckerberg-masculine-energy

My experience is that Independents (currently 45% of RVs) are often more likely to inform you they're Independents, often expressing a gleeful disapproval of the partisan goat rodeo. The least likely to share affiliation are those who live where their party is a small minority. As others note, those who are most intensely partisan are also those most caught up in a culture war, so I would think they reveal themselves in myriad and obvious ways. They are out to either troll the Libtards or troll the cryptofascist racist death cult. 😉 I am one of the 45% and dislike both American political parties, which both seem very cozy with billionaires and both focused on short term solutions and the next election cycles, except for a few genuine public servants like Bernie Sanders (who is, ahem, an Independent). You can probably guess the party I end up voting for on the principle of LOTE. That said, if we ever have a candidate who is genuinely about ending US foreign interventions (and "spreading democracy") and shrinking our role as World Cop and fast tracking renewables, then I would vote for them even if their party was the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.

Still getting a paywall, even with the unlocked url. Ezra Klein is usually a paragon of clarity. The Iranians do seem quite rational to me. Of course, almost any foreign government looks Spockian, set next to the current US regime.

As other noted, things that aren't inherently political. "Have you switched to bamboo toilet paper?" The Right seems to have signed on to a lot of cultural posturing that's about not giving a shite. (or what you wipe it with)

I don't understand BECs quite well enough to be confused. I don't have to know my legs are attached in order to run away from a tiger.

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