We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
There is no evidence for a Universe before the Big Bang.Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose, famed for his work on black holes, claims we've seen evidence from a prior Universe. Only, we haven't.
I was recently on a webinar about Disinformation and what the media and governments are 'doing' about it. I found it both interesting and, in and of itself, misleading (in other words, it could have been classified as 'disinformation').
Parts of it were excellent, discussing the manner in which AI is now being deployed and increasing the ability to do "Deep Fakes" and other false narratives. Several examples showed how easy it is to make these. I believe there needs to be a way to identify and combat these, without question. And many companies are creating ways to deal with the threat these represent. I have no doubt it will be an 'arms race' of sorts, never ending. But the reality is there's nothing new here. Fakes have existed for years. Back when well-known entities weren't as recognizable or identifiable as they are now, many 'fakes' popped up to mislead, distract, and defraud the population. Lord Gordon Gordon and Princess Caraboo were capable of perpetuating large scale fraud. "End of the world" cults were incredibly common. Phlogiston was an accepted part of science, and even Boyle (whose laws I still use when scuba diving) believed in it. Phrenology was a 'science' well into the early 1900s, and eugenics was utilized widely well in the 1980s (primarily by the Nazis and the Soviet Union). So you know, follow the science.
Biden's Claims About Universal Pre-K Are Malarkey. During the State of the Union, Biden claimed that "children who go to preschool are nearly 50 percent more likely to finish high school and go on to earn a two- or four-year degree," but evidence in favor of universal pre-k programs is lacking.
This entitled, infantilized, woe-is-me, the-world-is-against-me mindset is tragic and destructive. It is why "Squad" members AOC, Cori Bush, and Rashida Tlaib ranted, raved, whined, and cried after Republicans ousted Ilhan Omar from her seat on the House Intelligence Committee. "Islamophobia," they cried! "Racism!" Misogyny! An attack on women of color! Etc., etc. They did not mention that the other two congresspersons removed from the committee were Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, both white males. Never mind that two thirds of those taken off the committee for security reasons were white (heterosexual) non-Islamic males. "Racism!" "Islamophobia!" "Sexism!"
After adjusting for biases in BMI, a study
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