General Chat/Time-Waster Thread

[SirRob]

I CAN'T beLIEVE that Trump is doing CRAZY stuff like enforcing REPUBLICAN VALUES

This is the BEGINNING OF THE END PEOPLE

[Saxon]

1 minute ago, SirRob said:

I CAN'T beLIEVE that Trump is doing CRAZY stuff like enforcing REPUBLICAN VALUES

This is the BEGINNING OF THE END PEOPLE

I think most of us expected him to gag scientists' discussion of climate change with the public. (I said 'just when you think it doesn't get any crazier', but this was in jest;  previous presidents, like George Bush, did the same so it's not unprecedented.)

The problem is that the efforts of people like George Bush seriously damaged Earth observation sciences, and impaired efforts to manage our impact on the environment.

This is something that people should be genuinely upset about, because it looks like the USA is heading back to those days, when scientific reports about the Earth and climate were tampered with in order to make them appear more favorable of republican policies and research funding to projects involving remote sensing and data collection were throttled. :\
 

[SirRob]

2 minutes ago, Saxon said:

I think most of us expected him to gag scientists' discussion of climate change with the public. (I said 'just when you think it doesn't get any crazier', but this was in jest;  previous presidents, like George Bush, did the same so it's not unprecedented.)

The problem is that the efforts of people like George Bush seriously damaged Earth observation sciences, and impaired efforts to manage our impact on the environment.

This is something that people should be genuinely upset about, because it looks like the USA is heading back to those days, when scientific reports about the Earth and climate were tampered with in order to make them appear more favorable of republican policies and research funding to projects involving remote sensing and data collection were throttled. :\
 

How can you keep scientists from spreading the truth? I'm not paying attention to the intricacies of what Trump is doing, but I'm very curious as to how he could possibly enforce something like that.

In regards to impact on the environment, yeah, it sucks that it's going to be pushed off the priority list, and I'm against it because the environment is very dear to me. And certainly what happens to the environment now affects our future. It's not like the environment is going to be destroyed for the sake of being destroyed, though. It's not a black and white problem, because these environmental issues come at the expense of the economy, which the US has been struggling with and is the biggest concern for a large portion of Americans. Hopefully one day we'll be able to strike an appropriate balance, or progress enough to the point where we can ensure our quality of life while keeping the planet sustainable. Unfortunately today isn't that day, and the people have to weigh what is more important to them-- and the people have voted, so we ought to respect that.

[Saxon]

14 minutes ago, SirRob said:

How can you keep scientists from spreading the truth? I'm not paying attention to the intricacies of what Trump is doing, but I'm very curious as to how he could possibly enforce something like that.

In regards to impact on the environment, yeah, it sucks that it's going to be pushed off the priority list, and I'm against it because the environment is very dear to me. And certainly what happens to the environment now affects our future. It's not like the environment is going to be destroyed for the sake of being destroyed, though. It's not a black and white problem, because these environmental issues come at the expense of the economy, which the US has been struggling with and is the biggest concern for a large portion of Americans. Hopefully one day we'll be able to strike an appropriate balance, or progress enough to the point where we can ensure our quality of life while keeping the planet sustainable. Unfortunately today isn't that day, and the people have to weigh what is more important to them-- and the people have voted, so we ought to respect that.

The gagging order on EPA is an effective Media blackout, which prevents those scientists from awarding new contracts for the forseeable future and bars them from using EPA's websites or social media accounts. Previous scientific reports produced by Scientific institutions in the USA in the Bush era have had content altered, to prevent them from undermining republican policies.

People are noticing references to climate change in US state-run social media outlets being removed, for example the twitter accounts of the Badlands National Park was recently scrubbed of all references to climate change: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38740205

 

I can't believe you've come down that 'people voted for this, so let's respect the government's decision to censor climate scientists'. ._. Honestly.
It's irresponsible enough to dismiss the substantive impact humans have on the environment as an issue that should be dealt with by a popular vote, rather than one decided by the multinational cooperation of experts, but this is even worse, because most of those voters are now going to have their access to important knowledge about their environment restricted.
Most other nations are taking steps to try to manage their environmental impact, and you seriously think that the richest country on Earth, and its second biggest polluter, should just turn round and say 'sorry guys, our money is more important,'.

Without a suitable environment for future generations, there won't be an economy. It's so short sighted. :\
 

 

[Toshabi]

2 hours ago, Sarcastic Coffeecup said:

I like how Trump has been in power for mere days and he's already proclaimed a national day for patriotism and his ego worship, signed the abortion bill, backs the oil industry, appoints shitty people into power who deny factual science and also is demanding Mexico to pay for the wall.

 

Few days and this many fuckups is impressive. It's almost like this could've been avoided.

 

It could've been avoided, but the liberals. Liberals Liberal Liberals. Liberals are the reason why things like Trump can and will continue to happen throughout the years. Let me tell you something, I think you're stretching it a bit with most of what you've said minus silencing Badlands from giving their opinion/facts. But I can understand the rush of emotion you're going through given the sudden shock that another part of the world isn't sucking the tits of liberalism (not a shot at you, just read on). 

 

I've lived in probably one of the most liberal areas of the world. My state is as blue as blue can get and has been blue my entire life. I'm in the middle-lower class and my family, for the most part, is moderate with exceptions to my mom. I don't understand why liberals are shocked about any of this. How they're shocked that a man like Trump can come to power. How they're shocked that people can actually back people like Trump and have the nerve to turn their heads when they come rolling into the station to proclaim the wonders of Liberalism. The truth of the matter is, people are finally getting sick of Liberalism. 

 

For 8 years, we've had an incubation (it was probably something similar in the bush era, but I was just chibi-toshabi at the time) of liberalism brew up in this country. For a time, liberals were able to do as they pleased policy wise (despite getting very little done when they controlled the house and senate during Messiah Barack's presidency). In that time, I was just hitting college. Barack seemed like a pretty amazing candidate from what the media brought him up to be, from what my professors suggested and what the overall consensus was. I gotto say, after watching him talk, I was pretty wow'd by him too and figured he'd be a gateway for a brighter future for this country. The little guy did seem to be at this administrations best interest. But then the years rolled on. 

 

In his terms, the biggest changes I've seen (From a living civilian's standpoint) from him:

- Gay marriage is legal across the board.

- ACA/Obamacare

- Osama Bin Laden taken down

- A lot of Joe Biden/Obama bromance

Other than that, I'm not too sure what more he did for this country or for the state I was living in. Growing up, I never gave too much attention to it until the issues started hitting me from actually trying to live in this country. Those woes were balls high taxes (20% of my paycheck goes to the government), unaffordable healthcare, impossible living costs and a very competitive/tight job market. Despite the nature of work that I do (IT/System Security), I make almost half of what I could make if I were living in a less blue state. In fact, it seemed like the more and more I made, the less and less I actually pocketed. Especially when attempting to finish my education, I was swallowed alive by debt and the opportunities for grants/scholarships were almost non-existent for me. 

 

So, I started asking questions. My first and most important one being "Why can't me and my fiance afford healthcare when something like Obamacare exists"?

 

Silence.

 

Not a single democrat/liberal were able to give me an appropriate answer for this. At the moment, healthcare for me costs me $200/mo with a $70 copay and only 40% of my prescription costs being covered for. That's 6% of my paycheck going to the government for a healthcare plan I can't even use. If I were to ever see myself or my fiance put in a situation where we'd need the ER for surgery, we'd be drowned in debt and most surely burnt to the ground. Some of my democratic friends sympathized and said "We're sorry but we don't know. Check the government websites, maybe you can get help". Sadly, no plans were made available to me unless the plans in my area cost me a total of 8% of my income. 

My family has been supportive of me and have been covering the bill for healthcare when I was 23~24 due to us still being able to be under our parents plan, but when I hit 25, something happened. My dad called me and told me I need to start paying $75 a month to help with the health insurance costs. According to the bill he was getting,  healthcare pricing for his plan nearly tripled since Obamacare was put into play. Things just became pretty damn unaffordable. Even now when I'm off his plan, the premiums went up higher even though I'm not on his plan anymore. My parents who were once financially stable seemed to be in a more difficult position prior to Obamacare and the Obama policies. Reminder: We're still living in the most blue state out there. 

I bring this up to my friends crying that Trump is going to destroy so many lives with his healthcare reform and what happens? "Well its the SYSTEMS fault for backing out of the healthcare plan. Its SOMEONE ELSE'S fault for why you're miserable, not us". Well, no wonder places backed out of it when its apparently pulling the entire insurance industry under. Most these conversations end up in me being told I have little to no idea how the system works. The people in my office (all democrats btw who are livid about Trump) told me last month that insurance used to be 100% covered by the company back 4 years ago. The pricing of insurance spiking up is what made things not affordable. But what's all I can gather from just living. 

But at least people on the poor spectrum are taken care of. And that's no sarcasm. I'm glad ACA did save these peoples lives, but at the cost of my welfare and others. I don't live comfortably. I'm going to survive this month on $25. Most of my pay check goes to paying off student loans, health insurance, car insurance and rent. I can downgrade the house I'm living in (which is pretty small as is), but that's going to put me back into the hellish neighborhood I moved out of, which I'll mention later on in this rant.

 

Then I go to my twitter on the other topics from liberals. I see nothing but a mob of angry people screaming, shouting, yelling at people who disagree with any of their policies, calling them ignorant, nazis, racists, homophobes, ect. The whole muslim thing right now has me really intrigued. A political party that's so staunch on bashing a religion like Christianity for its beliefs (No gays, abortion bad, women need to be supporters of man, ect.) are completely in love with supporting and coddling the hell out of the muslim belief (aka, No gays, abortion bad, women need to be supporters of man, ect). And even though we see shit like mass shootings, bombings, ect. from them, they will be first to point out "NOT ALL MUSLIMS" instead of sympathize for the victims. 

 

I admit I'm a bit biased and bitter on the muslim topic, but that was after enduring 2 years of living in a muslim apartment complex where my fiance and I received scowls and threats from our neighboring muslims when they found out we were gay. Yah, so glad that I'm a fucking disgrace to these people for living my private life in my house and not out in the open, where they literally walk around, pray in public and shit talk and scoff at me when I come home from work. I'm so glad we were able to get out of there before things got any more intense.

 

But we're xenophobic for stating that the muslim belief is no different than the Christianity belief and we think that this shit should be frowned upon. The "We think gays should die and women should hide their faces and let men be in charge" belief. You know, the kind of things they give shit to Christianity for.

 

And liberals constantly say "DON'T TRUST THE MEDIA" and "FUCK FOX NEWS", and yet, the only fucking thing I see coming from the media other than fox news is an Echo of what all these liberals are saying all over the internet, on the streets and fucking everywhere. What media is evil? Fox News? 

 

You wonder why people turn to Fox News? Its because people are looking for answers other than what the fucking liberals are feeding them. They swallowed the bitter pill liberalism fed them and are fucking miserable from how it fucked with their bodies. Fox News is a radical just as bad as CNN, but to others, it offers different answers to the current day problems when liberals can't seem to comprehend that people are pissed off that things aren't working when the same old liberal answers aren't making things betters. Sure, those answers are probably not going to work. Maybe they will? If they do, you guys are fucked. I really do hope they do tbh, cause this liberal culture is toxic as hell.

 

But I digress.

 

 

I'm all for Trump. I was hoping it would be a wake up call for liberals to change how they're poisoning the democratic party, but I guess not. They're more bitter and more fucking insane as ever. Fuck your fucking policies and your system. This petty ass name calling and stomping around like little fucks is what made people in the middle choose someone like Trump than a corrupt, do-nothing bitch like Hillary. 

 

This coming from an ass hole "Nazi" who is just trying to live in peace in this hell of a state with his husband. 

 

And this isn't meant to come off as a "FUCK YOU", but more of an explanation as to why Trump is even a thing.  But I digress to the end. 

 

Also, IIRC, the EPA gag was overturned. That's a president listening to some sense, no? But it's going to be noted as a "President backs down because we slapped his dick, ect. ect." Had it been a democratic president doing this "BRAVE, BOLD LEADER MAKES MOVE TO BE BIPARTISAN". Maybe I heard wrong on that, but unfortunately, I don't have all the facts straight. All work and no play makes Toshabi a dull boy. All I can really report on accurately is the average living condition of how things are for people like me and  how we have to function in the world you people create. For better or for worse. 

 

If "a Hillary presidency" is the future that was the "It could've been avoided" route you spoke of, then all I can really do is sigh. 

tl;dr-

 

 

[Saxon]

8 minutes ago, Toshabi said:

 

 

 

 

To be honest, I think this is just propaganda.

I think that the people who cast tantrum votes, placing a climate change denier and anti-vaxer in the white house because they wanted to upset a feminist that they heard about from Sargon of Akkad, should perhaps be a little more introspective.

You have to accept responsibility for your own decisions at some point- you can't just blame an ineffable mass of liberals for all of your problems. It's as if you guys actually voted as if you wanted to exchange mean twitter comments for real problems, like defunding medical NGOs and the other serious problems Coffee mentioned.

 

 

[Toshabi]

1 minute ago, Saxon said:

To be honest, I think this is just propaganda.

I think that the people who cast tantrum votes, placing a climate change denier and anti-vaxer in the white house because they wanted to upset a feminist that they heard about from Sargon of Akkad, should perhaps be a little more introspective.

You have to accept responsibility for your own decisions at some point- you can't just blame an ineffable mass of liberals for all of your problems. It's as if you guys actually voted as if you wanted to exchange mean twitter comments for real problems, like defunding medical NGOs.

 

Thank you for not reading my post. 

[Saxon]

1 minute ago, Toshabi said:

Thank you for not reading my post. 

I read all of it, including your experiences in a muslim apartment. I've also been lectured by muslims about how I'm going to burn in hell for being gay.

I struggle to see how this means that any of Sarcastic Coffee's concerns can be considered irrelevant, or why you are entitled to blame liberals for everything.

You're right to assume that people won't read your post though, because it's very long, and it begins withweird assumptions about Sarcastic's political views. Most people outside of the USA do not subscribe to the 'republicans versus liberals' culture war- most us would not even fit on that spectrum, so I don't know why you're responding to Coffee as if he is emblematic of liberals in your country. He is a Finn. 

 

 

[Saxon]

So I'm having trouble finding any news articles that show trump has decided to reverse the media blackout on EPA.

I know that an agricultural scientific association was able to reverse their command to undergo a media blackout, when they disavowed it. Is it possible you are confusing it with this?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38745829
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38746608

As of 1 hr ago many national parks are refusing to remove references to climate change from their social media outlets. EPA however has not made any posts to any of its sites since the 19th of January.

[Toshabi]

11 minutes ago, Saxon said:

 

I struggle to see

That right there. Sorry Saxon, but I don't have much to really go off on with you. You have a way of finding 1 point in a post to engage and leave the rest out because ??????? I dunno. Thats just you I guess

I agree rage voting just to piss of a democrat (Which is something I didn't elude to in my post) is bad, but when what the dems feed you makes shit worse and worse on your home life, you tend to want to explore other options.

 

Also, the EPA thing I was pretty unsure on. Word of mouth only over here, but it is as you stated and that is what I was probably confusing it with.

[Saxon]

7 minutes ago, Toshabi said:

That right there. Sorry Saxon, but I don't have much to really go off on with you. You have a way of finding 1 point in a post to engage and leave the rest out because ??????? I dunno. Thats just you I guess

I agree rage voting just to piss of a democrat (Which is something I didn't elude to in my post) is bad, but when what the dems feed you makes shit worse and worse on your home life, you tend to want to explore other options.

 

Also, the EPA thing I was pretty unsure on. Word of mouth only over here, but it is as you stated and that is what I was probably confusing it with.

You had hundreds of points. If I had addressed all of them my post would have been so long that nobody would have read it. :\
It's sort of ironic, because you have decided that my post should be reduced to one clause, evidently you didn't see this as a double standard?

I felt like the prevailing tone from those many individual arguments in your post was that you weren't happy with the liberals, so you thought this justified choosing somebody who is even worse, and that if things turn out bad, the liberals only have themselves to blame, especially if they have a twitter account.

I think this is a case of 'out of the frying pan and into the fire', Toshabi.

[SirRob]

39 minutes ago, Saxon said:

The gagging order on EPA is an effective Media blackout, which prevents those scientists from awarding new contracts for the forseeable future and bars them from using EPA's websites or social media accounts. Previous scientific reports produced by Scientific institutions in the USA in the Bush era have had content altered, to prevent them from undermining republican policies.

People are noticing references to climate change in US state-run social media outlets being removed, for example the twitter accounts of the Badlands National Park was recently scrubbed of all references to climate change: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38740205

 

I can't believe you've come down that 'people voted for this, so let's respect the government's decision to censor climate scientists'. ._. Honestly.
It's irresponsible enough to dismiss the substantive impact humans have on the environment as an issue that should be dealt with by a popular vote, rather than one decided by the multinational cooperation of experts, but this is even worse, because most of those voters are now going to have their access to important knowledge about their environment restricted.
Most other nations are taking steps to try to manage their environmental impact, and you seriously think that the richest country on Earth, and its second biggest polluter, should just turn round and say 'sorry guys, our money is more important,'.

Without a suitable environment for future generations, there won't be an economy. It's so short sighted. :\
 

 

To be fair Saxon, I asked you to explain it to me; please don't make my opinion on that particular facet of the government's new environmental policies before I can. I was speaking on a broader scale, in regards to the republican stance on the environment in general, and I am sorry if that didn't come across. I'm actually very surprised that the government would have the audacity to go back and edit old social media posts. That is awful and petty. That said, even if government-run agencies are silenced, they cannot silence people and researchers who operate outside of direct government control. They cannot silence individuals such as educators and activists. So, I am not too concerned about the truth being hidden away, because it won't be no matter what the government does.

I agree that it is short sighted, Saxon. But I as an American see all around me people that are struggling financially. Even when we are the richest country on Earth, I don't think that necessarily means our economy is as strong as it could be; certainly other countries must have stronger economies. I doubt I know as much about the world as you do, but I do know that there are people around me here and now who would benefit from the changes that are being made. So, yes, I want to respect their choice, even if I don't necessarily agree with it.

Sorry if this post is already outdated, it takes time for me to collect my thoughts and I am not as smart as you or Toshabbutbue.

[Toshabi]

4 minutes ago, Saxon said:

You had hundreds of points. If I had addressed all of them my post would have been so long that nobody would have read it. :\
It's sort of ironic, because you have decided that my post should be reduced to one clause, evidently you didn't see this as a double standard?

I felt like the prevailing tone from those many individual arguments in your post was that you weren't happy with the liberals, so you thought this justified choosing somebody who is even worse, and that if things turn out bad, the liberals only have themselves to blame, especially if they have a twitter account.

I think this is a case of 'out of the frying pan and into the fire', Toshabi.

It's called "Effort posting". Its how you answer peoples questions. Disregarding them and taking on the 'easiest one to debate and justify' comes off as something my post mentioned.

 

And my point being, if option A doesnt work, why not option B? If liberals told me I am wrong for asking why things got worse or if they shrug their shoulders to such a notion, why not seek other answers? Why stay with a candidate who had very little concept or plans (demonstrated by her campaign) for making things better? People went with Trump because he tackled and had points on issues on people's mind Hillary wasn't even aware of. Even Bernie Sander tackled more than she did, but he got kicked out of the race by his own party.

 

And again, Hillary or Trump, /how/ do you win, exactly? 

[Sarcastic Coffeecup]

11 minutes ago, Toshabi said:

 

It could've been avoided, but the liberals. Liberals Liberal Liberals. Liberals are the reason why things like Trump can and will continue to happen throughout the years. Let me tell you something, I think you're stretching it a bit with most of what you've said minus silencing Badlands from giving their opinion/facts. But I can understand the rush of emotion you're going through given the sudden shock that another part of the world isn't sucking the tits of liberalism (not a shot at you, just read on). 

 

tl;dr-

 

 

You are digressing a whole lot.

Idk why you think I'm a libtard who screams equality and shit like that. I hate everyone equally (that's my contribution to equality) and libtards make a lot of noise I want to suppress. PC culture is rampant and overblown, I hate it, I hate so many goddamn things. I hated Hillary, I hate trump. I am a hateful person. You people had no good choices in that election so if Hillary had won I'd be complaining too. I think Trump is a selfish, egotistical person and unfit to lead a country. So is Hillary for that matter, but at least she would've likely brought on a new cold war with Russia, or maybe a full blown one and that would've culled our populace down, we already have overpopulation so yay for that. I completely understand how/why Trump won, but the framework in which he could win at all shouldn't have been allowed to happen. You have a huge population full of brilliant minds and these fucking shady ass clowns are the people you chose for top picks. This is what I meant by could've been avoided, not pro-killary. Perhaps I shouldn't say fuck Trump, rather, I should say fuck America.

Trump's court of jesters he's appointing doesn't really seem all that capable either. "Global warming needs more research." (This is a bullshit statement politicians and companies make when they KNOW research is against them, but want to make more money while they can (Think of the oil pipe)), the bullshit with a quite uneducated woman appointed a leader in education and whatnot, BANNING SCIENTIFIC PROOF OF GLOBAL WARMING, as well as our fresh new case of "alternate facts" doesn't reaaaally seem like this will be a good bunch to lead a nation and the media. I have very high doubts he can manage that magical wall he's planned AND make Mexico pay for it. Most of his campaign promises were incredibly far fetched, and his world view seems very naive and a lackluster. The way he presents himself is egotistic and the language he uses screams illiteracy to me. Again, I think he's unfit to lead.

I, having university mindset that emphasizes truth and scientific research, and with my field of study relating to nature I know the shit we need to do to keep this ball turning with some green on it, and I don't mean money. All Trump seems to care about is making money or ensuring others can, and neglecting environmental values right out of the bat, and THAT is my biggest issue with him along with his negligence to sciencentific research ("You know, I know, everybody knows that" is not a credible source). If he knew his shit he'd take nature far more seriously as a way to profit in the future too, since who knows what we can learn/develop from nature in the future, but if there's no nature there's no advancements. People voted with a gut feeling and forgot the other parts that didn't directly affect them. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, you guys are a major player in just about everything. So as much as I'd love to just let you play in a political shitty sandbox in peace, I can't just let this election go unnoticed because your greenhouse gases, oil spills, and other fuckups affect me indirectly too.

 

TL;DR fuck your whole elections, not just Trump.

[Saxon]

Just now, SirRob said:

To be fair Saxon, I asked you to explain it to me; please don't make my opinion on that particular facet of the government's new environmental policies before I can. I was speaking on a broader scale, in regards to the republican stance on the environment in general, and I am sorry if that didn't come across. I'm actually very surprised that the government would have the audacity to go back and edit old social media posts. That is awful and petty. That said, even if government-run agencies are silenced, they cannot silence people and researchers who operate outside of direct government control. They cannot silence individuals such as educators and activists. So, I am not too concerned about the truth being hidden away, because it won't be no matter what the government does.

I agree that it is short sighted, Saxon. But I as an American see all around me people that are struggling financially. Even when we are the richest country on Earth, I don't think that necessarily means our economy is as strong as it could be; certainly other countries must have stronger economies. I doubt I know as much about the world as you do, but I do know that there are people around me here and now who would benefit from the changes that are being made. So, yes, I want to respect their choice, even if I don't necessarily agree with it.

Unfortunately there is a network of campaign groups disseminating psuedoscience about climate change, and this is make it difficult for scientists to engage the public. Some prominent oil companies pay people to deliberately muddle the public's understanding of science. :\

I think that perhaps the financial struggles of America's poor could be better approached and solved by redistributing the wealth from the inordinately rich, such as the billionaires to create a fairer economy. However this is the class of people making all of the decisions now, so I think this is going to be unlikely.

I think what will happen is that the rich people who are profiting from everybody else's fiscal struggles, are going to become even richer and continue paying people to lie to the public that it's either this, and a damaged environment, or poverty.

 

5 minutes ago, Toshabi said:

It's called "Effort posting". Its how you answer peoples questions. Disregarding them and taking on the 'easiest one to debate and justify' comes off as something my post mentioned.

 

And my point being, if option A doesnt work, why not option B? If liberals told me I am wrong for asking why things got worse or if they shrug their shoulders to such a notion, why not seek other answers? Why stay with a candidate who had very little concept or plans (demonstrated by her campaign) for making things better? People went with Trump because he tackled and had points on issues on people's mind Hillary wasn't even aware of. Even Bernie Sander tackled more than she did, but he got kicked out of the race by his own party.

 

And again, Hillary or Trump, /how/ do you win, exactly? 

People used to berate me for 'effort posting'. Now they berate me for trying to write content brief enough for them to read. :\ It's impossible for me to win, toshabi.

If option A for treating a sore nose is mint tea, and it doesn't work, and option B is cutting the nose off, I don't think option B would become better justified by option A's failure.

I think people's general disdain for hillary clinton was a result of propaganda spread about her during the campaign. Trump managed to do the unimaginable, by convincing the world that she was corrupt and self centred and that he would 'drain the swamp', while bragging about not paying his own taxes, and eventually installing billionaires and oil tycoons to the highest positions in the land.

You've downloaded the Trojan horse attachment, and surprise surprise, it contained a virus.

[Toshabi]

5 minutes ago, Sarcastic Coffeecup said:

You are digressing a whole lot.

Idk why you think I'm a libtard who screams equality and shit like that. I hate everyone equally (that's my contribution to equality) and libtards make a lot of noise I want to suppress. PC culture is rampant and overblown, I hate it, I hate so many goddamn things. I hated Hillary, I hate trump. I am a hateful person. You people had no good choices in that election so if Hillary had won I'd be complaining too. I think Trump is a selfish, egotistical person and unfit to lead a country. So is Hillary for that matter, but at least she would've likely brought on a new cold war with Russia, or maybe a full blown one and that would've culled our populace down, we already have overpopulation so yay for that. I completely understand how/why Trump won, but the framework in which he could win at all shouldn't have been allowed to happen. You have a huge population full of brilliant minds and these fucking shady ass clowns are the people you chose for top picks. This is what I meant by could've been avoided, not pro-killary. Perhaps I shouldn't say fuck Trump, rather, I should say fuck America.

Trump's court of jesters he's appointing doesn't really seem all that capable either. "Global warming needs more research." (This is a bullshit statement politicians and companies make when they KNOW research is against them, but want to make more money while they can (Think of the oil pipe)), the bullshit with a quite uneducated woman appointed a leader in education and whatnot, BANNING SCIENTIFIC PROOF OF GLOBAL WARMING, as well as our fresh new case of "alternate facts" doesn't reaaaally seem like this will be a good bunch to lead a nation and the media. I have very high doubts he can manage that magical wall he's planned AND make Mexico pay for it. Most of his campaign promises were incredibly far fetched, and his world view seems very naive and a lackluster. The way he presents himself is egotistic and the language he uses screams illiteracy to me. Again, I think he's unfit to lead.

I, having university mindset that emphasizes truth and scientific research, and with my field of study relating to nature I know the shit we need to do to keep this ball turning with some green on it, and I don't mean money. All Trump seems to care about is making money or ensuring others can, and neglecting environmental values right out of the bat, and THAT is my biggest issue with him along with his negligence to sciencentific research ("You know, I know, everybody knows that" is not a credible source). If he knew his shit he'd take nature far more seriously as a way to profit in the future too, since who knows what we can learn/develop from nature in the future, but if there's no nature there's no advancements. People voted with a gut feeling and forgot the other parts that didn't directly affect them. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, you guys are a major player in just about everything. So as much as I'd love to just let you play in a political shitty sandbox in peace, I can't just let this election go unnoticed because your greenhouse gases, oil spills, and other fuckups affect me indirectly too.

 

TL;DR fuck your whole elections, not just Trump.

I didn't intend for my post to label you as such and sorry if it came across as that.  

 

Honestly coffee, isnt there just some sort of middle ground that can be reached that can hit these two birds with one stone? The politics of it all, It just really fucking beat me and many others down. People are frustrated. The working class gets hit the hardest. As soon as we make progress to get out of the shitheap known as poverty, new policies, obamacare, some green act, ect. bolster us back down. What middle ground does the US have? 

 

My vote doesnt count for much in my state. No third party has a chance. California will always vote blue. 

[SirRob]

15 minutes ago, Saxon said:

Unfortunately there is a network of campaign groups disseminating psuedoscience about climate change, and this is make it difficult for scientists to engage the public. Some prominent oil companies pay people to deliberately muddle the public's understanding of science. :\

I think that perhaps the financial struggles of America's poor could be better approached and solved by redistributing the wealth from the inordinately rich, such as the billionaires to create a fairer economy. However this is the class of people making all of the decisions now, so I think this is going to be unlikely.

I think what will happen is that the rich people who are profiting from everybody else's fiscal struggles, are going to become even richer and continue paying people to lie to the public that it's either this, and a damaged environment, or poverty.

 

People used to berate me for 'effort posting'. Now they berate me for trying to write content brief enough for them to read. :\ It's impossible for me to win, toshabi.

If option A for treating a sore nose is mint tea, and it doesn't work, and option B is cutting the nose off, I don't think option B would become better justified by option A's failure.

I think people's general disdain for hillary clinton was a result of propaganda spread about her during the campaign. Trump managed to do the unimaginable, by convincing the world that she was corrupt and self centred and that he would 'drain the swamp', while bragging about not paying his own taxes, and eventually installing billionaires and oil tycoons to the highest positions in the land.

You've downloaded the Trojan horse attachment, and surprise surprise, it contained a virus.

I'll take your word for it regarding muddling people's understanding. I think that is by far the worst thing a society can do. Knowledge should be accessible to everyone because it is central to the advancement of civilization. E-even if that includes knowledge about nuclear bombs.

I wish the issue of redistributing wealth was really that simple. Unfortunately, something like that could never happen, so we have to find ways around it. This is the case no matter what party is in office. I think historically the Republican party has improved the economy more than the Democratic party though, correct? At least that is what I am always hearing. I know the economy was bad when Bush was president, and was improving with Obama as president, but I'm not sure if that necessarily had to do with government intervention. Someone very smart should help me learn about this so I don't have to do it myself.

Also, regarding 'effort posting'... this is why we need an educated discussion forum. Because yeah, this is the thread where people go to talk about memes and what they did at the grocery store today.

[Saxon]

37 minutes ago, Sarcastic Coffeecup said:

You are digressing a whole lot.

Idk why you think I'm a libtard who screams equality and shit like that. I hate everyone equally (that's my contribution to equality) and libtards make a lot of noise I want to suppress. PC culture is rampant and overblown, I hate it, I hate so many goddamn things. I hated Hillary, I hate trump. I am a hateful person. You people had no good choices in that election so if Hillary had won I'd be complaining too. I think Trump is a selfish, egotistical person and unfit to lead a country. So is Hillary for that matter, but at least she would've likely brought on a new cold war with Russia, or maybe a full blown one and that would've culled our populace down, we already have overpopulation so yay for that. I completely understand how/why Trump won, but the framework in which he could win at all shouldn't have been allowed to happen. You have a huge population full of brilliant minds and these fucking shady ass clowns are the people you chose for top picks. This is what I meant by could've been avoided, not pro-killary. Perhaps I shouldn't say fuck Trump, rather, I should say fuck America.

Trump's court of jesters he's appointing doesn't really seem all that capable either. "Global warming needs more research." (This is a bullshit statement politicians and companies make when they KNOW research is against them, but want to make more money while they can (Think of the oil pipe)), the bullshit with a quite uneducated woman appointed a leader in education and whatnot, BANNING SCIENTIFIC PROOF OF GLOBAL WARMING, as well as our fresh new case of "alternate facts" doesn't reaaaally seem like this will be a good bunch to lead a nation and the media. I have very high doubts he can manage that magical wall he's planned AND make Mexico pay for it. Most of his campaign promises were incredibly far fetched, and his world view seems very naive and a lackluster. The way he presents himself is egotistic and the language he uses screams illiteracy to me. Again, I think he's unfit to lead.

I, having university mindset that emphasizes truth and scientific research, and with my field of study relating to nature I know the shit we need to do to keep this ball turning with some green on it, and I don't mean money. All Trump seems to care about is making money or ensuring others can, and neglecting environmental values right out of the bat, and THAT is my biggest issue with him along with his negligence to sciencentific research ("You know, I know, everybody knows that" is not a credible source). If he knew his shit he'd take nature far more seriously as a way to profit in the future too, since who knows what we can learn/develop from nature in the future, but if there's no nature there's no advancements. People voted with a gut feeling and forgot the other parts that didn't directly affect them. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, you guys are a major player in just about everything. So as much as I'd love to just let you play in a political shitty sandbox in peace, I can't just let this election go unnoticed because your greenhouse gases, oil spills, and other fuckups affect me indirectly too.

 

TL;DR fuck your whole elections, not just Trump.

On the subject of taking the natural world more seriously, because it is profitable, he already does. At least tacitly.

His application to build sea defences, to protect his international golf links hotel in Ireland, cited rising sea level and an increasingly energetic sea state caused by global warming, as justification.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/donald-trump-build-wall-ireland-golf-course-links-doonbeg-county-clare-plans-withdrawn-sand-dunes-a7460381.html

So even the people telling us that global warming is a chinese hoax are busy trying to protect their business interests from its effects.

 

5 minutes ago, SirRob said:

I'll take your word for it regarding muddling people's understanding. I think that is by far the worst thing a society can do. Knowledge should be accessible to everyone because it is central to the advancement of civilization. E-even if that includes knowledge about nuclear bombs.

I wish the issue of redistributing wealth was really that simple. Unfortunately, something like that could never happen, so we have to find ways around it. This is the case no matter what party is in office. I think historically the Republican party has improved the economy more than the Democratic party though, correct? At least that is what I am always hearing. I know the economy was bad when Bush was president, and was improving with Obama as president, but I'm not sure if that necessarily had to do with government intervention. Someone very smart should help me learn about this so I don't have to do it myself.

Also, regarding 'effort posting'... this is why we need an educated discussion forum. Because yeah, this is the thread where people go to talk about memes and what they did at the grocery store today.

 

Many other countries, which are not as wealthy as the USA, enjoy similar standards of living, more equal economic prospects and cheaper healthcare, even guaranteed by the state in many western european nations.

So those ideals are not beyond achievement.

I'm not an economist, do I don't know whether the US economy prospers more under democratic or republican governments. It is possible that the state of the wider world economy may have a bigger influence on the US economy than which leader is in charge, unless they squander their monetary reserves on an expensive foreign invasion.

 

[Feelwell]

1 hour ago, Toshabi said:

~Alot~

Holy. Shit.

[Chaosmasterdelta]

There was free cake at school today. I accidentally grabbed two forks since I was to busy worrying about the balloons on the table. Also, there were 3 dropped things in the vending machine when I got there. I didn't know what to do with them so I put them in places in the library with a sign saying "free".

[DrGravitas]

A neat news article on Ars Technica about the first successful formation of metallic hydrogen in the lab. At nearly 500 Gigapascals of pressure, that's no simple task! In fact, they found that normal diamonds (between which the hydrogen is pressed) would fail under the pressure. Employing various tricks to prevent the diamond anvil failures, they were finally able to observe metallic properties, like reflectivity, emerge!

Now that metallic hydrongen and its basic properties have been confirmed (although they can't tell with certainty whether the metallic form is a solid or liquid) they plan to work on getting larger samples made.  With that, they can try to test some of its more interesting predicted properties: Metastability (remaining metallic after the pressure is released) and potential superconductivity.

[Zop]

14 minutes ago, DrGravitas said:

A neat news article on Ars Technica about the first successful formation of metallic hydrogen in the lab. At nearly 500 Gigapascals of pressure, that's no simple task! In fact, they found that normal diamonds (between which the hydrogen is pressed) would fail under the pressure. Employing various tricks to prevent the diamond anvil failures, they were finally able to observe metallic properties, like reflectivity, emerge!

Now that metallic hydrongen and its basic properties have been confirmed (although they can't tell with certainty whether the metallic form is a solid or liquid) they plan to work on getting larger samples made.  With that, they can try to test some of its more interesting predicted properties: Metastability (remaining metallic after the pressure is released) and potential superconductivity.

Although I really doubt something like this would be economic or stable enough, you might be able to make a pretty killer hydrogen storage system for use with hydrogen fuel cells, depending on the bond energies in metallic hydrogen versus H2, and how the metallic hydrogen interacts with membranes and other junk.

[FenrirDarkWolf]

@Toshabi

You made some good points tbh

I live in a little poor town in a Red State that was hit really hard by the depressions that happened (a lot of businesses are failing down here), and it's kind of scary. The economic situation in the US really scares me, especially since I have oodles of student loan debt to pay off in a few years, plus the fact that my parents make below average for living. Healthcare is really fucking expensive, I haven't visited a doctor in years because of it.

[LazerMaster5]

And here I just hope Trump doesn't get us nuked. He wants to move the Israel capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which many middle eastern nations would interpret as an act of war. He is also busy burning bridges of allied nations, to where they don't want to cooperate with him. Not even a week into office and there is already a dark cloud of war looming on the horizon.

[FenrirDarkWolf]

I wish @Amiir was still active. I want to see if this is true

[Tsuujou]

2 hours ago, LazerMaster5 said:

And here I just hope Trump doesn't get us nuked. He wants to move the Israel capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which many middle eastern nations would interpret as an act of war. He is also busy burning bridges of allied nations, to where they don't want to cooperate with him. Not even a week into office and there is already a dark cloud of war looming on the horizon.

Links?

[Hux]

Hey guys, would you think any less of someone if they wound up homeless due their financial situation?

Just wondering famalam

[FenrirDarkWolf]

7 minutes ago, Hux said:

Hey guys, would you think any less of someone if they wound up homeless due their financial situation?

Just wondering famalam

Of course not.

...Is something the matter?

[Saxon]

6 hours ago, LazerMaster5 said:

And here I just hope Trump doesn't get us nuked. He wants to move the Israel capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which many middle eastern nations would interpret as an act of war. He is also busy burning bridges of allied nations, to where they don't want to cooperate with him. Not even a week into office and there is already a dark cloud of war looming on the horizon.

The bulletin of atomic scientists has moved the doomsday clock to 2 and a half minutes to midnight, the second closest it has ever been.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-38760792

Links?

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_of_the_United_States,_Tel_Aviv

The US embassy in Israel is in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is not currently recognised as the Israeli capital. The US passed an act in 1995 requiring the embassy to be relocated to Jerusalem, which they would then recognise as the capital, by 1999 unless doing so would be considered a threat to national security.

The decision to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv and not recognise Jerusalem as the capital has been renewed every 6 months ever since, but Donald has indicated he will not renew it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38711701

(half way through article)

[Hux]

2 minutes ago, FenrirDarkWolf said:

Of course not.

...Is something the matter?

I was just wondering if people would think less of someone because of it.

I think it'd be interesting to see how it's perceived by different members with different worldviews.

[FenrirDarkWolf]

Just now, Hux said:

I was just wondering if people would think less of someone because of it.

I think it'd be interesting to see how it's perceived by different members with different worldviews.

Okay...

[Saxon]

1 minute ago, Hux said:

I was just wondering if people would think less of someone because of it.

I think it'd be interesting to see how it's perceived by different members with different worldviews.

Jesus Hux, we were worried that you were about to reveal that you were going to be evicted.

[Vae]

I hardly see how someone's housing situation is relevant to anyone else.
Are we gonna start turning in rent and mortgage receipts on the forums too? Seems kind of nosey.

[Saxon]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38767179

An American basketball player in New Zealand accidentally got his eyeball poked out of its socket when he was playing.
Medical staff got the eyeball to pop back in, and his vision is, thankfully, not damaged.

Imagine how scary that must have been for him.

[Hewge]

This almost makes me want to play Smite again. #BlessedDoge

 

[Faust]

1 hour ago, Saxon said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38767179

An American basketball player in New Zealand accidentally got his eyeball poked out of its socket when he was playing.
Medical staff got the eyeball to pop back in, and his vision is, thankfully, not damaged.

Imagine how scary that must have been for him.

You've got to wonder what his vision would have been like for that short while. It'd be like being cross-eyed and not being able to close one eye.

[Fossa]

1 hour ago, Saxon said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38767179

An American basketball player in New Zealand accidentally got his eyeball poked out of its socket when he was playing.
Medical staff got the eyeball to pop back in, and his vision is, thankfully, not damaged.

Imagine how scary that must have been for him.

Good thing he had insurance! Or at least one hopes...the bill would have been even more traumatic. Ouch.

[Saxon]

28 minutes ago, Fossa-Boy said:

Good thing he had insurance! Or at least one hopes...the bill would have been even more traumatic. Ouch.

I don't know how the system works in New Zealand, but I'm guessing the basketball team's owners took care of costs for him.

[Saxon]

17 hours ago, DrGravitas said:

A neat news article on Ars Technica about the first successful formation of metallic hydrogen in the lab. At nearly 500 Gigapascals of pressure, that's no simple task! In fact, they found that normal diamonds (between which the hydrogen is pressed) would fail under the pressure. Employing various tricks to prevent the diamond anvil failures, they were finally able to observe metallic properties, like reflectivity, emerge!

Now that metallic hydrongen and its basic properties have been confirmed (although they can't tell with certainty whether the metallic form is a solid or liquid) they plan to work on getting larger samples made.  With that, they can try to test some of its more interesting predicted properties: Metastability (remaining metallic after the pressure is released) and potential superconductivity.

So evidently this research has been received skeptically and some scientists don't think it should have been published.

I read a short description of it and the authors who published the paper tested for metallic behaviour by measuring reflectance, reporting that it was the same as an Aluminum mirror.

Other scientists have pointed out that the diamonds used to press the sample were coated in Aluminum oxides...and this just struck me with the thought 'Oh, the Aluminum oxide on the press has formed Aluminum metal (a common industrial application for Aluminum oxide) and that is why the reflectance matches an Aluminum mirror; it is one'.

[DrGravitas]

26 minutes ago, Saxon said:

So evidently this research has been received skeptically and some scientists don't think it should have been published.

I read a short description of it and the authors who published the paper tested for metallic behaviour by measuring reflectance, reporting that it was the same as an Aluminum mirror.

Other scientists have pointed out that the diamonds used to press the sample were coated in Aluminum oxides...and this just struck me with the thought 'Oh, the Aluminum oxide on the press has formed Aluminum metal (a common industrial application for Aluminum oxide) and that is why the reflectance matches an Aluminum mirror; it is one'.

Cool bit of extra info, thanks!

[Fossa]

I've been noting more sodas that are inbetween diet and regular, clocking in at say, 40 or 80 calories a can, VS. 150. 

My main weakness in my diet has to be sodas, so this is an improvement...diet ones taste horrible. I do like San Pellegrino, too, but plain water tastes funny to me, in the city, like bleach, or something.

[DrDingo]

I was walking back from the Uni shop, and I saw a guy cycling along without using his hands whilst carrying a crate of Budweiser

Respect

[DrGravitas]

Had to push back up that blasted sidewalk lamppost again.

On the brightside: a light snowfall while I was walking!

[Feelwell]

Just now, DrGravitas said:

Had to push back up that blasted sidewalk lamppost again.

On the brightside: a light snowfall while I was walking!

I woke up, walked past the backdoor window a couple times and then realized it's lightly snowing.

I booed.

 

Also, a disturbing thought just occured to me.

Someone in the world, somewhere, is highly sexually attracted to Donald Trump.

[fennecbyte]

58 minutes ago, Feelwell the Rabbit said:

Someone in the world, somewhere, is highly sexually attracted to Donald Trump.

Sorry to break it to you, but it's a lot more than one.

[FenrirDarkWolf]

3 hours ago, DrDingo said:

I was walking back from the Uni shop, and I saw a guy cycling along without using his hands whilst carrying a crate of Budweiser

Respect

I once saw a guy juggling all his bags and food and school stuff while riding his unicycle.

[Tsuujou]

My friend willingly admitted he's about to become racist against white people because of an article he read about some odious shit a white woman did in the 1950's.

[Glowing Glass]

6 hours ago, Feelwell the Rabbit said:

Someone in the world, somewhere, is highly sexually attracted to Donald Trump.

 

[FenrirDarkWolf]

1 hour ago, Tsuujou said:

My friend willingly admitted he's about to become racist against white people because of an article he read about some odious shit a white woman did in the 1950's.

 

what

[Crazy Lee]

2 hours ago, Glowing Glass said:

 

GOD DAMMIT @Zerig STOP MAKING FAGGY VIDS OF YOUR TRUMP FETISH.

 

 

2 hours ago, Tsuujou said:

My friend willingly admitted he's about to become racist against white people because of an article he read about some odious shit a white woman did in the 1950's.

 

With that logic I should hate all white people because of all the racist shit that happened over 50 years ago.