StringJunky

So, what happens when it reaches the Planck limit?

My guts were correct. England need to stop 'bigging it up' pre-match and just shut up and get on with the job.

If that happens, and Trump gets in, we'll likely be moving away from the US. It doesn't help Ukraine in the long term, but I think people will be talking about shifting the axis of geopolitical influence. NATO is already talking about what to do to mitigate a Trump presidency. I can see the UK putting more effort into Europe. It would have been a nightmare if the Tories had got back in because quite a few lean MAGA right and pro-Trump.

You mean politically in the US? War-wise it seems to be fairly stalemate for now.

A two-faced political marriage of convenience with all the resilience of a house built on sand.

I did see it, but probably got removed at source. I'll bet a pound to a penny that most people went "Damn!".

We can be grateful it happened now and not near the election. I'm fairly sure other stuff and time itself will make it just another memory. A week is a long time in politics.

And you have to have them serviced every couple years or so. The costs don't stop after buying timepieces of that precision and complexity.

I am in concordance with your thoughts. Fascism is on the rise. It's in full swing in Israel as well. Hungary. France, also, if Marine La Pen had won. This trend is mostly a reaction to a rate of migration that disturbs the populations of target countries, I think. People are just going to have to get used to a major effect of climate change. People are going to move away from much of the equator to the north as resources dwindle because of it. The anti-immigrant sentiments will only get louder. I don't know the solution. Perhaps nature will just do what it will. It's not going to be pretty.

That can be muted if the Project 25 manifesto is kept front and centre up to the election.

When you support England, you know the meaning of disappointment... like our weather.

I'm not surprised. Could happen the other way too.

That works for me. The optical contrast between them and Trump would be glaring and probably have more people, especially gender equality-minded women going to vote, not to mention the landmark nature of such a pairing. A Newsome/Harris pairing could work as well. Harris needs to be there as a familiar face in any of the combinations, I think.

The owners have learned from the bitter experience of mouldy bathrooms and apartments. A friend has a university student house and it is a big problem.

Hilary blew it with the email thing. It came across as entitled behaviour iirc.

Trump, but that's not an option, so if the other lame horse steps aside, a relatively young filly can increase the optical contrast between them and make the voters choice easier. She'd also be the first female Prez, which would be a landmark, just as Obama did. From where I sit Harris would create better optics for the the swing voters who are not overly partisan for either side.

Whatever the cause, it doesn't really matter, Biden's recent behaviour is still evident and can't be disputed. If a person is driving a car erratically, it doesn't matter what caused them to do so, they need taking off the road. You find that out after.

It's quite possible that I'm off the mark. The reason I put my post up was because I thought, maybe wrongly, the focus on purely chemical processes was far too fundamental/low level to be talking about Gaia-type processes in the same breathe.

What about about all the living systems, directly or indirectly modulating the environment according to their needs? Amongst all the various competitions for resources there can be an overarching homeostasis that allows a certain range of organisms to exist simultaneously. within the parameters of that prevailing environment and maintain it. There are also endosymbiotic and ectosymbiotic relationships that between them can modulate their immediate environment. Then you have microscopic organisms and plant life recycling carbon dioxide and other materials whose effects are environmentally global in their effects, so you have hierarchies of organisms all doing their job of maintaining an Earth-sized environment that sustains them together. That's homeostasis in my book. If people want to call that overarching process 'Gaia' that's fine with me. I know what they mean.

What will be, will be. I'm glad I'm closer to dying than being born. Politics is a choice between a shit sandwich and shit on toast. Certainly is this year in the US and UK.

I think one or two here are looking at it the wrong way. NEITHER of the two current challengers are fit to run the country. We want the Dems to win, so sort it and make that possible.

George Clooney, who is a Biden supporter, collecting high-dollar donations for him, has said he should step down.

You need to figure out what 'life' is before you move onto 'mind', then, you do the fancy stuff like 'intention' and 'intelligence'

"You run and you run to catch up with the sun But it's sinking....." - Roger Waters

Can I borrow your crystal ball?