Barleycorns? Barleycorns.

Cities exist so that monsters and gods can raze them.

Someone ( I didn't actually read the article... ) released rankings of the countries in the world. USA was #8. Woo hoo! Suck on THAT France!

 

Canada was #2 which tells me the judges were Canadian. Sure they love Canada and have that smug superiority complex thing (French influence there) but are too self effacing to vote themselves #1

 

 

Edit: Doh! Forgot the link the article https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/overall-full-list

 

Also Donald Trump is less liked than Vladimir Putin. Let THAT one sink in. He hasn't even invaded anyone.... yet.

Edited January 24, 20188 yr by Guard Dog

I f-----g knew it! https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/5414736/swearing-research-happier-healthier-intelligent-honest/

 

Hi res image from the Juno spacecraft. Jupiter cloud tops. It's amazing how the centrifugal motion is churning out dozens of "hurricanes" each larger than the continent of Asia. You have to love Jupiter. It's a big, high gravity "catcher's mitt" scooping up most of the random rocks and comets that otherwise might have hit us. Without it's mass in the exact place it's in it's likely none of us would be here. It's difficult to dismiss the notion of a designed system when you consider this is yet another example of the exactitude of the balance that makes life on this little blue marble possible, So much so that one of the considerations of exoplanets as possible habitability is the presence of hi mass outer system cousins.

 

(edit: removed image to reduce clutter)

 

well, as to intelligent design, it is easy to forget  just how large the galaxy is.

 

 

tv and movie notions o' traveling the galaxy is soooooooo misleading. our planet and solar system might seem improbable, but such ain't the case on galactic or universal scale. there is literal hundreds o' billions o' stars in the milky way galaxy alone. many solar systems similar to ours is pretty much a mathematical certainty given just how many solar systems there is in this galaxy and beyond.  converse, one can also observe how the size o' the universe might simple be part o' intelligent design. einstein suggested God doesn't play dice with the universe, although he were not speaking in favor o' intelligence behind the design when he made the remark 'bout dice.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

It's also due to the 'sample size of one' effect, the setup is favorable for life, thus we are here, but it's the only place we know of so far with life (including simple forms of life). I suspect that once we find places with life on them elsewhere, we'll find that the Solar System isn't so unique in terms of supporting life.

 

Of course, the Solar System will always feel special to us because it's our home.

 

Still, if we were to look for places that could have life, it does make sense to look for systems that look similar to ours, but we shouldn't look only at those places.

Edited January 24, 20188 yr by smjjames

@ Gromnir & smjames I think it would be more apt to describe it as deliberate arrangement rather than "intelligent". A few years back I read a book by UC Santa Cruz professor Bruce Schumm called "Deep Down Things" about the four forces of particle physics and the exactitude of the balance between them. It completely changed the way I thought about physics. You won't find "proof" of the existence of God in the study of physics and cosmology but you will absolutely debunk the notion of randomness. I'll hit this more later. I'm at work at the moment and don't have the book here with me.

Deliberation requires intelligence by definition, no?

Assuming a quantized theory of the universe is correct. Just because the underlying structure is somehow consistent, symmetric, and balanced; It doesn't mean it was created to be as such. It can be that it's one of a variety of fundamental orders which generatively builds out a structure from it. If any such structure could form Goldilocks pockets which would form life, then it's not surprising that life would look at itself and come to realize just how perfectly everything had to be to arrive just at their moment. But the very same goes for some exotic crystal cavern on the opposite side of the universe.

 

There is a reason why those who carry out science often maintain an agnostic or atheistic position. It doesn't preclude that God exists, just that our strongest forms of reasoning don't need one, and don't affirm the notion of one. If God did design the universe, then he did so through systems which are emergent in properties and effective hide his hand. So you'll never really know if there is a hand behind his brush strokes.

SpaceX Test-Fires Falcon Heavy Rocket for Maiden Flight.

‘Anti-phobia pill’ breaks link between memory and fear.

 

WooHoo! This could probably obviate the need for trigger warnings left, right and center!

Looking forward to see development and research on that. Effects of long-term EMDR treatment in a pill? Sounds awesome.

Propanolol has been around for a while. It's mostly for lowering blood pressure in the short term. Not as a long term persistent medicine for hypertension.

 

If you have the nerves before a speech, your blood pressure seemingly drops to zero. It also blocks the fight or flight response, and prevents hand tremors or voice quaking. So it's a performance medicine for vocalists and musicians. Orchestras often use them, either for nerves or to quiet the hands.

‘Anti-phobia pill’ breaks link between memory and fear.

 

WooHoo! This could probably obviate the need for trigger warnings left, right and center!

Heck we've had something for that for a long time now:

 

On the other hand, misuse of that has probably led to the requirement of said trigger warnings on some occassions.

 

I loved his bit in his famous commencement speech about how he used to imagine a man with a clipboard coming to his door and saying 'it's over, time to get a real job'.

 

Sometimes mental illness feels like imposter syndrome about life.

Because it's always worth a repost whenever I see it...

 

Guess which of the two is still alive, though.

Well he is Death now.

Guess which of the two is still alive, though.

 

well, peter jackson is only in his mid 50s.

 

HA! Good Fun!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Scott_(criminal)

 

Meanwhile, authorities on both sides of the river teamed up with federal authorities to investigate the case. Their investigation eventually led to Joe Flachs, an old friend of Scott's. Flachs told authorities that Scott had told him he had broken the levee so he could strand his wife, Suzie, on the Missouri side of the river. Suzie worked as a waitress at a truck stop in Taylor, Missouri.[3] As the story went, Scott wanted to be free to party, fish, and have an affair.[5] Investigators subsequently found other witnesses who said Scott boasted about breaking the levee at a party after the flood.[1] Based on this evidence, Scott was taken to Missouri for trial in November 1994.

Oh for God's sake. Can we all just agree that if something that has nothing to do with neo-nazis happens to look a little like something some neo-nazis MIGHT wear it coincidental, unintentional, and nothing to get in a huff over?  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/30/world/europe/norway-skiing-knitting-nazis.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/technology/amazon-wristband-tracking-privacy.html

 

 

What if your supervisor could identify every time you paused to scratch or fidget, and for how long you took a bathroom break?

What may sound like dystopian fiction could become a reality for Amazon warehouse workers around the world. The company has won two patents for such a wristband, though it was unclear if Amazon planned to actually manufacture the tracking device and have employees wear it.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/03/va-should-drop-lincoln-quote-as-official-motto-group-says.html

 

Seems like not a big deal changing it. Is that motto sacred or something?

 

We changed our anthem this week for similar reasons http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics/anthem-bill-passes-senate-1.4513317