MigL

If you look back at my posts, you may notice that I mentioned 'dark ages' in the context of written records. Because written and read words were exclusive to the religious clergy, the general population were left in the 'dark'. "Significantly, Baronius termed the age 'dark' because of the paucity of written records. The "lack of writers" he referred to may be illustrated by comparing the number of volumes in Migne's Patrologia Latina containing the work of Latin writers from the 10th century (the heart of the age he called 'dark') with the number containing the work of writers from the preceding and succeeding centuries. A minority of these writers were historians." From Dark Ages (historiography) - Wikipedia The above link includes a graph, and chart, of the number of manuscripts per century, and the numbers start to take off during the 14th century, as I've previously mentioned. I'm not claiming a lack of culture and civilization, and calling the era the Dark Ages may be out of fashion, but it is very applicable in the context of the read and written word. Never.

Ages are 'relative'. Compared to periods that came before, and came after, they were relatively 'dark'. But I could call them the Middle Ages, If I'm hurting anyone's sensibilities. ( any 1200 year old members of this forum ? )

Congratulations to your wife.

No they were not. The classical era included ancient Greece and Rome. With the fall of Rome, a lot of know-how was lost, and led directly to the Middle, or Dark, Ages; perhaps due to the fact that only religious people read, and copied, the old manuscripts, nothing to do with the fall of Rome. Muslims, however, seem to have retained the knowledge of the ancient Greeks, and the slow re-introduction into Europe led to the re-birth ( Renaissance ) in the mid 1300s. So your typical D Trump supporter can either choose to educate himself, or believe Trump's lies. This is sometimes made difficult by the fact that despots control information ( if not TVs and internet, then newspapers and public 'stumping' ), but this happens gradually. Do people not recognize Trump's attempts to control 'news' and elections ? Did the Chinese not realize Mao Zedong's purges of academics were meant to stifle opposing thought ? Did people not recognize Hitler and Mussolini's election tactics ( black/brown shirts ), Kristallnacht, and speeches ( blaming all their woes on Jews and the Treaty of Versailles ) were attempts at control, violent persuasion and spin ? Did V Lenin's supporters believe his speeches that the Revolution was good for the Russian people, while conveniently ignoring the 10 million people who died in the Revolution and subsequent Civil War of 2022 ? When people choose to ignore the 'reality' around them, in favor of increasing their personal gain/power ( thinking bad things will only happen to others, not themselves ), that sounds like a decision to me.

An early, and very accurate, account of landed property, and resources in labor force and livestock ( a kind of 'dry' historical survey ), was the Domesday Book of 1086, completed by request of William the Conqueror. Record keeping in the British Isles goes back a long way.

Makes the case for electing politicians that cannot be bought, and/or putting strict limits on political party financing contributions/influencing.

That could come in handy. Temember the time that giant alien artifact/intelligence came calling with whale 'sounds', and we had to go back in time, to bring back a whale ( as they had become extinct ), in a large transparent aluminum tank, in a Klingon spaceship ? Oh wait ... that was 1986's Star Trek; The Voyage Home ...

Reductio Hitlerum ?!?! Would Linkey feel 'at home' in 1940 Germany ? ( and, would quite a few Republicans ? )

That may be a very important aspect of it. People who don't think rationally, or who are ignorant, are more easily led to believe that fear and hate should dictate their lives. Early Christians were 'controlled' by fear of retribution in Hell, and hate ( denouncing ) of their neighbors as 'heathens'. They called them the 'Dark Ages' precisely because of the knowledge lost between the 'classical' era and the 'renaissance'. All totalitarian regimes try to keep their supporters as stupid and ignorant as possible, by taking away sources of news, and burning books which present alternate ideas; they control the newspapers, TV stations, and the internet. Alternative 'views' are not welcome, even from advisors ( Trotsky syndrome ), so that all of D Trump's cabinet are idiots, like P Hegseth, who fire Generals that give him bad news, or disagree with party lines. D Trump has gone as far as appointing L McMahon, a purveyor of 'fake sports performance' entertainment as Sec of Education, to overhaul the education system ( something she knows little about ), and keep people dumb. Or a crackpot like R Kennedy Jr, to keep people dumb, and sick, with his non-sensical, and unscientific, ideas about vaccination. Or S Bessent, who could be taught the ecomics of the bond market, and its implications, by a high schooler. In all these ways, totalitarian regimes are very similar to most religions, they don't work for the best interests of the people, rather they try to control them, keep them dumb and subservient, for their own gain ( power, influence and wealth ).

At least British people aren't as dense, and can change their minds. "When confronted over his hypocrisy for only turning on ICE when he got deported, he didn't fight it. "You got me!" he said." Milo Yiannopoulos changes his tune on Trump's ICE after 'physically degrading' removal Maybe he didn't watch the news, to see people getting brutalized, separated from family, deported to places unknown, and even shot to death; but at least he caught on when it happened to him 🙄 .

The really sad part is that trying to 'fix' the election isn't even necessary. Almost half of America is composed of stupid people, who can't seem to connect cause and effect, and will keep voting for the same idiots, no matter what idiotic, and despotic, policies are implemented. Witness this idiot Dairy farmer whines about mean Dems after admitting MAGA policies hurt her - Alternet.org Is it any wonder that most all 'educated' states ( where higher education is 60 to 75 % of population ) are 'blue', while most all states where higher education is 25 to 40 % of the population, are deeply 'red'. Most & Least Educated States in America in 2026

Maybe not. But Europe ( and Canada ) have come to realize, as the French did long ago, that the US cannot be depended on, nor trusted.

Apologies. Geology is not an area I'm comfortable, or proficient, in. I had previously read that NW Scotland is home to some of the oldest rock formations in Europe, and assumed that meant a long period of geologic inactivity. I don't recall where I originally read it, but Wiki seems to agree. "The geologic history of Europe spans billions of years and reflects a complex interplay of tectonic processes. Archean rocks, over 2.5 billion years old, represent the oldest formations of the Precambrian era and are exposed in the northern Baltic Shield, Ukraine, and northwestern Scotland." From Geology of Europe - Wikipedia I guess 'old rocks' don't necessarily mean geologic inactivity.

I doubt it, I think they'd be welcome. It's not the 60s anymore, and C de Gaulle has been dead since 1970. Europe knows it is stronger united.

I always thought the British isles were pretty stable geologically. I once read that Northwestern Scotland has exposed rock formations dating back 2.5 Billion years. ( Archaean rock formations ) Then again, I come from a region in Southern Europe with active volcanoes and earthquake zones due to the African plate pushing up into the Eurasian plate.

But there are impeachable offences while in office. And plenty of crap he's done while not in office, some of which he escaped prosecution because he became President Elect, which I'm sure will come back with a vengeance. Along with the full release of the Epstein Files. ( unless the next President is also in them ) That seems to be the official reason given. However, why use a military C-17 ? The only reason I can think of is that the C-17 can be outfitted with the Roll-on Conference Capsule ( ROCC ) which the C-40B ( modified B737 for military/government officials ) cannot. The ROCC is a working conference container with secure communications/SCIF accreditation for discussion/communication of classified information/intelligence. I doubt 'warnings' need to be delivered securely. But at least those two morons, S Witkoff and J Kushner, weren't there ...

What would T Kelce want with commercially scalable fusion ?

HaHa! Love it ( but it's not too late to go back ). No wonder he's disgruntled. It probably made him start to hate English cooking At least EEnglish cooking has clearly defined meat, like cheap fish or mutton; swarma has 'mystery' meat 😄 .

Stable members !?!? 😄 😄

I'm reminded of a short story I read in an anthology in the 70s. THE BEST POLICY by Randall Garrett

No. Perhaps you misunderstood my question. Galilean relatrivity is based on the notion of absolute ( background stage ) of both space and time. Newton's laws operate in this 'domain'. Einsteinian relativity discards this notion of absolute space and time, there is no 'preferred' frame or background stage, due to the fluid interdependence of time and space. This does not only affect time and distances, but also properties dependent on them, such as velocities, kinetic energies, etc. Is my question. As it is often difficult explaining why mass is invariant, but kinetic energy is relativistic, or frame dependent. Or why energy radiated by a moving object differs from that radiated by an object at rest ( in your frame ), although made up of the exact same atoms.

I've never had to think about what makes a property relative as opposed to invariant, because I've been exposed to this stuff for almost 50 years. It seems to me that the 'basic' tenet of Einsteinian relativity is the interchangeability/swapping of distance with time, depending on frame. Any properties/quantities that involve distance, time, motion, etc. would be frame dependent, or relative; energy of a moving mass or charge being one such property. Properties that are 'intrinsic' ( measured in the rest frame ) and not dependent on distance or time would then be invariant. Is there a relativistic principle, or other law, that states this idea more clearly ? ( I remember a great discussion about a charge 'falling' in a gravitational field, and whether it radiates or not )

Invariant ( rest ) mass is just that ... invariant. Relativistic mass is dependent on the relative velocity of the observer. Another way of looking at it is that the rest mass is equivalent to the rest energy via E=mc2. While the relativistic mass, or energy, takes relative motion into account via E2=(mc)2+(pc)2. Oh, and keep your finger off the 'return' key 😄 .

Hopefully the purpose of the visit was to ask for asylum for D Trump and his Administration, once he is forced out of office by impeachment in November, and they are all looking at jail time for war crimes, extortion, treason, corruption and racketeering, insider trading, etc. Oh, and lets not forget Trump and Lutnick's close association with J Epstein, the extent of which still hasn't come to light. ( I think I read that Trump is mentioned, only in the released Epstein files, 29000 times, while Jesus Christ is mentioned in the Bible only 1900 times. That's a lot of smoke; has to be a fire somewhere. ( maybe he'll distract us by renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America ) As Doug Ford, Ontario Premier, said "Donald Trump can kiss my ass".

I do think most all immigrants try to assimilate into the new culture, I mean, they left their home, and everything they know for a 'better' life in a foreign country; they are obviously trying to get away from some aspects of their culture they don't agree with. It is only when they are labelled, feared and overwhelmingly blamed for crime that they become 'militant'. ( note that I am a former immigrant to Canada, of Italian heritage/culture ) That being said, some cultures are definitely weird. I have befriended, in the last couple of years ( through work ) some 5-6 Indian young men. One, a dear friend who still keeps in touch after moving to Western Canada, is a strict vegetarian, but in the 5 years I worked closely with him, I never saw him eat any raw vegetables; every thing was processed and out of a bag. Needless to say, he had high blood pressure and borderline diabetes at 28 years of age. Maybe that was his way of assimilating to the Canadian 'way of life'.