iNow

It’s probably better to view them as opportunistic. Host availability and predictability matter more than just about anything else. They’re also generalists when it comes to global populations, but specialists when it comes to local or regional populations. They’ll bite just about anything, but are better at biting certain things based on their local environment. It seems they’re pretty sensitive to temperature and humidity, and likely respond to chemical signals and similar hormone related outputs bodies generate. I cannot comment on its validity or modernity, but this overview seems comprehensive: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3790072/

More broadly, since repellents like Deet and similar products actually work, it seems rather obvious that ticks can sense and smell things in their environment that serve to alter their response or path... including differences between Person1 and Person2 Ticks also often focus on specific hosts... and will differentially bite deer over dogs or humans, for example.

Yes... and not just aggressive, but flawed. The human capacity for compartmentalization of thought is tremendous. I love sparring with theists (less so now than years ago), but if we're to pretend to have any sort of moral or intellectual high ground as atheists in this discussion then we need to avoid the types of sweeping generalizations and logical fallacies you have currently embedded in your own thinking.

Was your friend wearing Deet?

Deserves its own post here... within a few hours of the first debate last night, Weird Al published this gem:

When someone tells me they’re a Christian, I ask: Classic Jesus, or Republican Jesus?

The right became powerful in Japan upon the formation and dissemination of falsehoods one 2Chan. Then 4Chan came up and some of the boards became extremely popular for peddling conspiracy theories. The board got shutdown and turned into 8Chan where QAnon posted. He’s likely the guy who funded 2Chan and 8Chan, just with bigger Rupert Murdoch sized ambitions. It then grew in the US into something organic and internal just like occurred in Japan. Divide from within then conquer. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/llhe5nm

No

In order to reach and attempt to "de-program" a QAnon follower, it might be useful to explore the science of getting someone extracted out of a cult. This same approach may also sadly be required to reach a sizable share of ardent Trump supporters.

Fixed That For You. For Fuck's Sake

Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone

Does anyone know which night Putin will be speaking during the Republican National Convention next week?

Better than what?

I'll reiterate the need for the elimination of qualified immunity. The police union is extremely strong and has negotiated for officer protections that have become extremely detrimental to fair and equal justice in the US. It's made harder that police forces are controlled locally at the state level and very few (if any) federal level regulations and guidelines exist.

He's basically skipping Phase 3 of the clinical trial and using ht population as guinea pigs instead

It's mind boggling for many people who've grown up in the US, too

Perhaps a better, more situationally relevant question is: Have we given police too much authority to serve without either check or balance as judge, jury, and executioner? Have we abandoned our constitutional right to due process under the law in favor of quick conclusion at the receiving end of a standard issue field pistol in the hands of an underpaid, undertrained representative of the state?

Interestingly, this too is mistaken. Decades of evidence shows rather consistently that the riots get more out of control and the property damage gets worse the more police are present. From 50 years ago: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/system/tdf/kerner_commission_full_report.pdf?file=1&force=1 From 5 years ago: https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/05/01/when-police-ratchet-up-the-force-riots-get-worse-not-better/ And from 5 months ago: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/06/01/why-so-many-police-are-handling-the-protests-wrong

Wow. 10 neg reps all at once, exactly when drumbo then replied. Must have hit a nerve

But this is untrue and remains a false dichotomy regardless of how frequently you reintroduce it

No, it doesn’t. At least here we can finally agree

No I’m really not bothered by being at odds with just about anyone, especially not with the political classes. I also am not refusing to acknowledge anything. I’m simply poking at obvious holes in your rather remedial and illogical arguments. As I said. I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you. Would it perhaps be easier for you if I used fat crayons and construction paper instead?

More interactions with police increase the odds of a poor interaction occurring. That does not, however, mean additional interactions lead to negative outcomes. It’s not a function in the way approach, technique, and style of police engagement are. Hundreds of thousands of cops manage to have positive outcomes every day and often across their entire careers, so now you’ve added the hasty generalization error and confirmation bias to your use of fallacies. Just because you hear more about negative interactions on the news does not mean they’re occurring everywhere all of the time, yet that’s the core of your current position. While I acknowledge it’s more common in some communities than in others, violence with the police is the exception yet you keep asserting it’s the rule. I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.

Those outcomes are not a function of how many police there are or how many interactions with police there are. Those outcomes are a function of how the interaction goes and what steps the officers take to de-escalate. I’m hearing / reading you just fine, but merely repeating inaccurate points and incorrect assertions doesn’t magically render them valid. Perhaps, but that has nothing whatsoever to do with rehabilitation or the original point you were trying (and failing) to make. Stop trying to move the goal posts.