MigL

I see. It's obviously easy to find blame and point fingers, but extremely hard to actually do anything to better the situation ? Status quo then, I guess.

And yet another safety consideration becomes politicised. Vaccination, to save people's lives, became a Republican vs Democrat issue. Gun control, which would save kid's lives, and allow people to walk the streets unafraid, is a political issue of Republican vs Democrat ideology. It seems the problem is not the vaccines or gun control, but the stubborness of Americans to 'stick' to an ideology, even when so many lives are lost, and simply looking to place blame on the opposite side instead of looking for solutions/compromise to begin changing things. Republicans blame Democrats for being soft on crime and wanting to get rid of police so they need to be armed to protect themselves. Democrats blame Republicans foor opposing gun control legislation and allowing kids to be killed in weekly school massacres. Nobody blames the number of available guns in the US ( 400 million, with only a million registered ), that makes policing so dangerous, and contributes to the 'shoot first, ask questions later' mentality of cops in the US. Or the gun sales to kids themselves, or the losers/ misfits of society who cannot get laid, and think the solution is to massacre others. Or the mentally ill who still need protection from all their 'imagined' tormentors/wrong doers. Or the easy availability of 30 round clips, that can be fired off in less than a minute, ostensibly for 'target practice' or 'hunting'. Etc Etc. When does the madness stop ? When all your elected politicians say to the NRA " Take your political lobbyists and contributions, and fuck off" Everyone is up in arms when we lose kids to the war in Afghanistan, but turn a blind eye to the larger number of people lost to gun violence over those same 20 years.

As far as I know, Neon, being a noble gas, is unsuitable for manufacturing or doping electronics/semiconductors. It is however, one of the noble gases used in the lasers that provide the UV lithography for masking/etching semiconductor layers. Hablas Espanol tambien ?

All depends on the purpose of these 'gangs'. A 'gang' that plays cards and golf together, is a social club. A 'gang' that runs women, a protection racket, or sells drugs, is not. And I don't see how you can decriminalize it. Keep in mind that most progressive revolutions have 'eaten' themselves, when some revolutionaries did not think the simple progressives were radical enough. It happened with the French Revolution, which had just and noble causes, but eventually became an excuse to chop off anybody's head who had disagreed with you. Or the November ( Orthodox calendar ) Revolution in Russia, where the Bolcheviks usurped the power and ruthlessness of the Oligarchs, and after massive killing sprees, replaced them. If I had to, I would classify myself a social liberal/progressive, but because I like to question some of the ideologies/methods, I'm not considered 'progressive' enough by those who spout ideology verbatum. Off to the guillotine with me ( and a couple of others ) then!

Yes, causality is a bitch. Any two way FTL motion would undoubtedly violate causality, as it would be a 'time' machine. It would be more useful to discuss science based transportation modes, as opposed to science fiction.

To borrow thoughts from the thread on falsefiability, neither the 'rare Earth' orthe 'uninteresting Earth' hypothesis are falsefiable with existing technology. We might as well conjecture that a God createed only us and no others, and put us in an uninteresting 'frame' to teach us humility. All our conjectures are based on what we've experienced, and certainly cannot be the basis for what we don't know.

You don't seem to understand that the 'argument' is presented by the whole post, not snippets, taken out of context, and intended todemonstrate the hypocrisy of the situation. Is it any wonder that even though you have twice as many posts on this subject as CharonY, he is taken much more seriously? Further examples of 'progressivism' run amok. Rex Murphy: The not-so-magical erasure of J.K. Rowling (msn.com) I should say misguided, or misnamed, progressivism. How is this 'progressing' the human condition ?

Yes, I mentioned that in my other post. But it is OK to attribute the disparity between men and women in the prison population, to increased violence amongst men. And, of course, the statistics prove that. Yet if I say the increased incidence of black males in jail is because they commit a disproportionate amount of crime, every 'progressive' will label me a 'racist'. And any provided crime statistics are because of the discriminatory system. If I say women are underrepresented in 'power' occupations because they are not aggressive enough to deal with the stressful situations as men are, every 'progressive' will label me a 'misogynist'. And any provided hiring/representation statistics are because of the discriminatory system. Seems 'progressives' have an endearing label for anyone who disagrees with their 'conclusions', and only use statistics to buttress that view.

But you failed to address the 'data' that does not fit the narrative. The incarceration rate is 13.7 times higher for men, than it is for women. While the percentage of black males in prison is 38% out of a population that is 13% black, is a large discrepancy, it is nowhere near 13.7 times higher. The choices are clear, you either jail more women so as to be more inclusive, or jail less men. But I don't hear any 'progressives' making that argument.

I don't think Ontario has anything to brag about in that department. We only look like we're ahead, because we're lagging behind in the race backward. You sound a little miffed that Douggie won the election, while Steven DelWho? and Andrea (Whiner) Horwath quit their leaderships 😃 . Incidentally, I did not vote, because the PC candidate in my riding went to school with my older brother; and then, with me ( yes, he failed ). So, I don't presume to have any right to complain about the results.

I have a problemwith any system that requires equality of outcome, CharonY, and maybe you can explain it better to me. So called 'progressives' are always clamoring that gender make-up of Government positions, or hiring, should reflect the gender distribution of the society. Always saying black males make up a disproportionate percentage of incarcerated population compared to the make-up of society. ETC. This is then used to indicate gender and racial biases, as well as systemic discriminationwithin positions of power/hiring and the justice system. Yet the American incarceration rates are 93% male and 7% female, from a society which is 50 (+/-1) % equal. Obviously the make-up of inmates does not reflect the make-up of the general population, and we should not expect equality of outcome in male/female incarceration rates, as one group, the males, displays qualities which are more anti-social, and deserving of higher incarceration rates. why then, is this ideology of 'equality of outcome' applied to such things as hiring for psitions of power, or 'racial' discrimination, when we see that there are other factors involved.

This is the kind of insanity perpetrated by your Government GOP passes bill aiming to root out 'suspected' transgender female athletes with genital inspection - Ohio Capital Journal "House Republican lawmakers in Ohio passed a bill at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday night that would ban transgender girls and women from participating in high school and college athletics. It also comes with a “verification process” of checking the genitals of those “accused” of being trans." Genital inspections ???? Your daughter ran a little too fast at the high school track meet ? Well, drop your pants young lady, so we can see what you have between your legs ! Why do you guys keep electing such morons ?

My bad. Should have used some emojis for that joke. ( or maybe it was a 'dig', like the following ) From you perspective. From other's perspective, you've often used a roller.

Seems simple enough to me ... Have half of the males running the Government say they identify as females. Problem solved, and 'progressives' are happy. ( 🙂 😃 😆 I'm joking; don't go losing it, Peterkin )

I think we can all agree that the deserving would be police, armed forces and farmers with long guns. The non-deserving would be criminals, mentally ill, and most anyone else living in cities. I guess that makes you a conservative Phi.

It also makes the baddies job a lot easier when attacking the goodies. And if neither has guns, easier still.

They also sell a USB to SATA cable with a separate power supply, so you can run 3.5 in drives if that is where your OS resides. I have never had any issues running 2.5 in HDs or SSDs from good quality USB to SATA cables.

Sorry Koti. I do hope you choose to stay. Your opinion has always been respected, if not always agreed with, by me. I would hope you respect mine, even if you disagree with it.

I can see that happening to 'armed teachers' at the next ( coming soon ) school shooting.

Well, since almost all have taken their leave of this discussion ... From the little I've read about the trial, Peterkin's assessment just about sums it up You could substitute J Depp and A Heard in this scenario and get the testimony given, by both, at the trial, except for the fact that J Depp usually passed out drunk/stoned, before apologising for things he didn't remember doing, and promising he wouldn't do it again. In my opinion, he is an abuser, and when the British press said so, his libel suit against them failed. I don't know why, given the facts presented, he won this lawsuit; if you are abusive, someone saying so is not libelious. I guarantee it will be overturned on appeal. Or maybe he'll refuse the settlement, having already gotten his career back, under threat of having to air out more of their 'dirty laundry' in court.

I don't have statistics to back it up ( as CharonY always seems to ), but I would think men largely perpetrate physical and sexual abuse on their female partners, while women largely perpetrate emotional abuse on their male partners. Historically emtional abuse hasn't been treated as abuse, but the situation is changing rapidly, and I would think this is what Koti is referring to.

Really ? Let's use your example of a 'gay' pre-pubescent child. Does he/she not realize he/she has feelings of attraction towards the same sex, long before outwardly expressing such feelings, and being told they are 'not normal' ? He/she has eyes to look around, and see what the majority ( those we choose to call the loosely defined 'normal' ) of others are like; they just want to be part of that 'normal', and fit in. They blame themselves for not being able to, and that can lead to dire consequences. Maybe we shouldn't tell them they are 'normal'. Maybe we should tell them they ARE different, but that difference is a benefit to society ? If you feel that telling people they are different, and their differences should be celebrated, makes you a bigot, you must be a hoot at the Canadian Multicultural celebrations in May ...

"Is the universe really 13.7 billion years old ?" Doesn't need to be. It could have been created yesterday, along with all the evidence of being 13.7 billion years old. But, since all we have to go on, is the evidence, I guess we'll have to say, yes, it really is.

All very valid INow, BUT, everyone wants to 'fit in', and be what is loosely defined as 'normal'. Different is nice when it's your own choice, like pink or green hair; not so much when you can't help the quality that makes you 'different'. And while no one is born feeling 'different', your thoughts and feelings are apparent to you long before they are apparent to an accepting ( or not ) family/friends/society. Maybe we've been going about it all wrong. Maybe we should not be trying to change society to accept this as the new 'normal', and accomodate/accept different individuals into that 'normal'. Maybe we should be hilighting and celebrating those differences, and realizing that the differences, like multiculturalism and a varied gene pool, make our society richer for them.

This is the second trial that J Depp has taken part in. He brought a libel lawsuit against a British paper that had accused him of being a wife abuser, and it was thrown out as the evidence agreed with the accusation. This trial was more along 'entertainment' rather than fact finding. I guarantee that she appeals the judgment and will not pay anything. Both came off looking like spoilt idiots, but this is Hollywood, all publicity is good, and gets you movie roles.