Jared Kushner, who doesn’t like reading history books, says he has a new Middle East peace plan ...

Druvius comments on Jun 24, 2018:

Well, until we hear the details, I will reserve judgment. I would be surprised if it was anything the Palestinians would support though.

UFO’s, science, and religion

Druvius comments on Jun 24, 2018:

If we do ever find hard proof of an alien intelligence, it will depend on the religious leader. Most religions won't have any trouble with the idea. The Holy Rollers and such will ascribe them to Satan I guess. Then there's this: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2008-11-24

Do you think that one day humans will travel to another galaxy ?

Druvius comments on Jun 23, 2018:

If civilization survives and technology continues to advance, it's entirely possible. If one can build a spaceship capable of constant 1g acceleration, and that's just an engineering problem, humans could explore the universe in a human lifetime. The catch is ... a lifetime for people on the ship. Relativity means that billions of years will pass outside the ship, so if the travelers returned to Earth billions of years will have passed. One way trip basically.

Koko the gorilla that used sign language has died, she was 46 and died in her sleep.

Druvius comments on Jun 23, 2018:

A little, but not much. 35-40 in wild, 50 or more in captivity. And while she was great for gorilla publicity, the idea that she "mastered" sign language is misleading at best. She knew a lot of symbols and was adept at communicating with them, but she, nor any animal has ever shown any ability to comprehend grammar, IE string words together to make sentences. Why humans quickly master this and nothing else does is still not understood.

Five Worrisome Trends in Healthcare | Medpage Today

Druvius comments on Jun 23, 2018:

Not to mention that life expectancy is dropping in the US now, if that isn't an indication something is rotten in the state of Denmark, I don't know what is.

Trumpland - no, no, nothing like 1930s Germany. Well, just a bit... [theguardian.com]

Druvius comments on Jun 23, 2018:

Yeah, I thought comparisons to the Nazis were overboard for a long time. I'm starting to worry that things could get a lot darker in the next decade.

I keep hearing things like, all these women couldn't have possibly dealt with sexual harassment.

Druvius comments on Jun 22, 2018:

Most men think of women as less than human. We have a long way to go still.

My ex's house burned down last month.

Druvius comments on Jun 21, 2018:

No, you're normal in this respect.

Man eats own leg

Druvius comments on Jun 21, 2018:

I heard about this, skipped any pics cause it is a bit macabre. I'd probably take a pass, intellectually whatevs, but trying long pig isn't on my bucket list.

Koko is dead, RIP Koko.

Druvius comments on Jun 21, 2018:

Here's the science: http://skepdic.com/essays/apinglanguage.html

Sometimes I feel like I've woken up in an alternate universe.

Druvius comments on Jun 21, 2018:

This explains it:

I find it curious that so many conflicting reports were used to explain the discovery of fossil ...

Druvius comments on Jun 21, 2018:

They aren't a threat to scholars, because no such finds have ever been made. Nineteenth century reports are all fabrications. If such are ever found by science, they would be studied, not hidden. Oddly enough, mastodon skeletons superficially resemble a giant "human" skeleton, and their skulls if viewed from the wrong way superficially ressemble a one eyed "human" skull. It's been conjectured such discoveries by the ancients are the origin of giant/cyclops myths. There's even a case where ancient Greeks carefully interred a skeleton of a mammoth as a "human" burial.

Except they called it an escalator.

Druvius comments on Jun 20, 2018:

Although they can break, there have been some horrific accidents as a result.

Except they called it an escalator.

Druvius comments on Jun 19, 2018:

In terms of passenger trips, most used form of mass transit in the US. :)

When is it OK for white people to use the n-word? [patreon.com]

Druvius comments on Jun 17, 2018:

On the one hand a little dismayed by the fact that some commented without reading. On the other, glad everyone said "never," because yes, that's what the post was about. :)

Does anyone feel better now that Trump claims to have "solved the problem" of North Korea?

Druvius comments on Jun 15, 2018:

He didn't block progress on the issue, which is what every president since Truman has done. Let's hope he keeps it up, this is a situation which has festered too long. The Koreans and the Chinese get the lion's share of the credit, but if the war is ended Trump prancing around with a Nobel Prize is a small price to pay.

Inscribed seventh-century window ledge unearthed at Tintagel Find adds to view that Cornish ...

Druvius comments on Jun 15, 2018:

Love stuff like this. Wonder if the scribe ever dreamed his writing might have survived tha Ages.

Ancient Aliens.

Druvius comments on Jun 15, 2018:

Unfortunately that show plays fast and loose with the truth, outright lying about some things and omitting key things that disprove their conjectures. Entertaining though, I saw the Peruvian Stargate episode and was intrigued. Intrigued enough to do further research ... https://unitedcats.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/the-peruvian-stargate-la-puerta-de-hayu-marka/

Just found this, and had to share: "Further asserting the independent thinking of the state, Vermont...

Druvius comments on Jun 14, 2018:

http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/why-vermont-declared-war-on-nazi-germany-months-before-pearl-harbor/

In the back of my mind.

Druvius comments on Jun 13, 2018:

Their military is designed for defense, so not sure what would be the point of that.

Woman Sues NASA Over Vial of Moon Dust She Says Gifted by Neil Armstrong ...

Druvius comments on Jun 12, 2018:

Don't know the specifics, but do know from prior readings that in the years after the first landing a lot of lunar material was handed out for PR purposes more or less willy nilly. So it's entirely possible that her case has merit, IE the sample might well have been given to her legitimately at the time. NASA only much later started trying to reclaim all the Lunar material returned from the Moon.

The North Korean Dictator Brought His Own Personal Port O Potty With Him to Singapore.

Druvius comments on Jun 11, 2018:

A reasonable worry. Dictators have to be ultra paranoid, because people are out to get them.

Noah's ark

Druvius comments on Jun 11, 2018:

Yeah, it's a story that requires multiple layers of special pleading to take literally. A wooden ship that size would break up in normal waters, so God had to have strengthened it somehow. And no one else had a boat? And no evidence of a global flood, they'd figured that one out by 1830. Biblical literalists are unfazed by facts sadly.

NASA is sending Helicopter to Mars!! Smart or Silly? Thunderf00t [youtube.com]

Druvius comments on Jun 11, 2018:

Why would it be silly? Being able to explore local terrain via helicopter will make directing rovers to promising locations much more efficient.

HI guys! Im new to this site and I wonder how many of you guys are leftists or socialist?

Druvius comments on Jun 11, 2018:

I'm a realist, I take a dim view of ideology and religion.

The material that makes up a neutron star is it a solid or a liquid or something in between?

Druvius comments on Jun 10, 2018:

I would guess that neutron stars are such an exotic state of matter that the usual categories don't really apply.

I had seen this before and maybe some of you have seen this video as well.

Druvius comments on Jun 9, 2018:

Meh. He's right, we can't talk to chimps or any other animal. That's because somewhere in that 1.5% difference is the ability to tell the difference between "Man bites dog" and "Dog bites man." If other animals had language, we would most definitely talk to them. And while Niel might not wonder what worms and other animals are thinking, plenty of scientists and lay people are. He's a smart guy, but these are sophomoric speculations.

"President" tRump was in my country today, I can't wait to see the reports on how he made an ass of ...

Druvius comments on Jun 8, 2018:

Could you keep him? We can pay!

So NASA found organic material on Mars.

Druvius comments on Jun 8, 2018:

Well, there's certainly a good chance there's life hiding under surface, even if just microbes. The Mars 2020 mission will have even better instruments. What an exciting time to be alive. :)

Do you care or worry or get embarrassed if your pets see you naked?

Druvius comments on Jun 7, 2018:

No. At a neighborhood meeting once a neighbor complained that our cat would watch her undress through her skylight! She was really upset about it. Like wtf, did she think the cat was telling us what she saw? lol.

Methane, maybe?

Druvius comments on Jun 6, 2018:

They detected methane on Mars long ago, so there must be more to it than that.

Could you stay isolated for five days in total isolation as an asocial experiment?

Druvius comments on Jun 6, 2018:

I've done so on solo camping trips many times, easy.

Drowning is not the only danger when getting Baptized: [yahoo.com]

Druvius comments on Jun 5, 2018:

Yeah, it's stuff like this that shows the transcendent absurdity of a personal God playing a role in our daily lives. You'd think lightning rods would have done the trick, but peeps still fall for it.

The latest, at lrast what I could find, on the new recovety efforts at the Antikythera wreck site.

Druvius comments on Jun 5, 2018:

It's pretty clear from the Antikythera mechanism that there is a lost body of knowledge from the Classical Age. Other gears have been found in other archeological sites, this is just the only case we have where a relatively intact mechanism has been found. The Tower of the Winds in the Acropolis displayed a 24 clock for example. Makes me wonder.

You and your kid are at the fair waiting in a long line.

Druvius comments on Jun 5, 2018:

They might have every reason to cut in line, the child might be disabled in some non obvious way that makes standing in line a hardship. Unless you know for sure they are cheating, MYODB.

Everyone should read this book

Druvius comments on Jun 5, 2018:

Mike Adams is a con artist selling snake oil. https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/lectin-the-new-food-bogeyman/

My mother's side of the family has been Canadians.

Druvius comments on Jun 4, 2018:

I have ancestors who were run out of Mass for the same ... supporting their legal government. :)

I used to think that religion was one of the biggest problems in the world.

Druvius comments on Jun 3, 2018:

Politics and greed are much worse. Religion is just a vehicle for evil people, but most religious people are just people.

Why is it easier to accept someone is gay than it is to accept someone isn't interested in sex?

Druvius comments on Jun 3, 2018:

There's nothing wrong with you, lots of people are asexual. Our culture just has all sorts of stereotypes we are supposed to meet. Times are changing though.

Precursors to human behaviour ? ://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_behavior_in_animals

Druvius comments on Jun 3, 2018:

It was all just speculation. Chimps do have a sense of fairness if that's what is meant by moral agency. My suspicion is that higher functions like spiritualism follow language, they don't precede it. Primates definitely do not have language though, that is limited to humans. And it's still an evolutionary mystery how we acquired it.

After we have calculated all of the nationally determined commitments (NDCs) in the Paris Agreement,...

Druvius comments on Jun 3, 2018:

For all practical purposes we have set our planet's climate on an unstoppable path that is going make our planet increasingly inhospitable to humans. We're not really an intelligent species.

I am fascinated by how far back in our human history archetypal stories go.

Druvius comments on Jun 2, 2018:

Unfortunately in modern times there has been all sorts of cultural cross contamination. An eighteenth or nineteenth century traveller could easily have shared the Celtic wren story with an aborigine and it was promptly incorporated into their mythology. I do agree it's a fascinating topic and there is certainly much to be learned from native tales.

He escaped the eruption just to be killed by a falling boulder. [iflscience.com]

Druvius comments on May 29, 2018:

Hoping they will eventually discover another carbonized library there someday. We can read the scrolls now. So much ancient literature has been lost.

Roxy Music - My Only Love (HQ) - YouTube

Druvius comments on May 26, 2018:

Agreed. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fUSci4L3MWY

Can You Make Up for Lost Sleep on the Weekend? [livescience.com]

Druvius comments on May 26, 2018:

Interesting, and shows how complex life is. Yes, you can at least to some degree make up for lost sleep. Still, bottom line, you're better off getting a good night's sleep every night.

Would you guys like to reply to the ammosexual trolls, I can ask Admin to not remove their posts, ...

Druvius comments on May 26, 2018:

Our last one deleted his post.

Is The Handmaids Tale possible?

Druvius comments on May 25, 2018:

Yes. That being said, even should the USA become a Evangelical dictatorship, the similarities to The Handmaid's Tale would be pretty superficial. The future is known to no one.

"I am a rational human being, free of silly supernatural beliefs!"I assert as I smudge my house and ...

Druvius comments on May 24, 2018:

Whatever floats your boat. People uttery devoid of imagination and wonder are missing out.

Life size dinos

Druvius comments on May 24, 2018:

A new item for my "When I win the lottery" bucket list.

Great response by little girl about the color of her doll. [yahoo.com]

Druvius comments on May 24, 2018:

Yerp. Bigotry, any flavor, is learned.

Has anyone had an uncomfortable experience with open carry nuts?

Druvius comments on May 24, 2018:

No. Have a positive story though. (Bear with me!) One of them showed up at the Fourth of July celebration in my sleepy little very pro Trump Iowa town. Not only did someone call the cops, when they showed up they made it very clear to him that legal or not, legal or not, don't do that shit here. :)

'Impossible' EmDrive Space Thruster May Really Be Impossible [space.com]

Druvius comments on May 23, 2018:

Well, it never did make any sense.

This has probably been discussed before but I am quite new here, so please excuse me.

Druvius comments on May 23, 2018:

This was the case thst really made it clear just wht a gun crazy lot Americand are: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Yoshihiro_Hattori

New evidence about the human occupation of Asia is cascading in | Aeon Essays

Druvius comments on May 21, 2018:

Our understanding of the origin and spread of our species is still in its infancy. Wonderful age to be in though as the new tools we now have, especially DNA, are giving us insights Leakey could only dream of.

How ‘human errors’ challenge intelligent design theory | Genetic Literacy Project

Druvius comments on May 21, 2018:

You can't debate with the ID crowd. "God deliberately made errors to test our faith" or "Satan introduced errors to fool us" both work. Countless others could be come up with I'm sure. Sigh.

Just curious.

Druvius comments on May 20, 2018:

My favorite is the Creationist explanation for the fossil record. All of the animals in the fossil record existed before the flood. Some however could climb or swim better than others. So as the flood waters rose, the drowned animals were sorted into the layers we see in the fossil record today. I'd say you can't make this shit up, but someone did.

I'm watching a debate on political correctness that I believe aired earlier this week.

Druvius comments on May 20, 2018:

Yes, slavery has existed throughout human history, and it was an ugly thing. But yes, in the American South it reached historical levels of depravity. Slaves in Rome were just slaves, they came in all races, and weren't considered sub human or deserving of slavery because of their skin color.

Did the city of Atlantis exist?

Druvius comments on May 20, 2018:

The Greek city of Helike, submerged by an earthquake and tsunami in Plato's youth was likely the inspiration for the Atlantis story. Since no reference to Atlantis that doesn't trace back to Plato has ever been found, we can safely assume he made it up.

Our Illegitimate POTUS & the Iran nuclear deal: I, for one, believe he withdrew because it was the...

Druvius comments on May 20, 2018:

Not sure it was his idea, but yes, he has surrounded himself with war mongers who fantasize about "regime change" in Iran. Having learned nothing from Iraq, Syria, or Libya.

Jupiter and Venus Squeeze Earth's Orbit - Scientific American

Druvius comments on May 18, 2018:

Huh? An utterly completely wildly insignificant contributor to climate change over the short term. I'm sure there are people ignorant enough of the science to think this somehow has any relevance to AGW, hell, many of them are in Congress.

POTUS bone spurs

Druvius comments on May 18, 2018:

He's a draft evader, much worse than a draft dodger. At least a draft dodger is honest about what they are doing.

Earth Shatters Climate Record, Sending Planet Toward 'Worst Case Scenario:' April was the 400th...

Druvius comments on May 18, 2018:

Yeah, the species, or at least modern civilisation, is effectively doomed at this point.

Noah's Ark, Kangaroos and Australia

Druvius comments on May 17, 2018:

"Answers in Genesis" does address this, but it's such a painful exercise in motivated reasoning (sprinkled liberally with what the old fashioned folks call "lies",) that I couldn't get through it. It's really a shame, Biblical literalists give religion a bad name.

There are a lot of articles claiming that the FDA holds back on cures for cancer.

Druvius comments on May 15, 2018:

There are many countries, not to mention people, who would instantly use such a cure if it was available. It's a secret that literally could not be kept. So no, just another conspiracy theory.

Going out on a limb here; does anyone else remember The Firesign Theater?

Druvius comments on May 13, 2018:

"Shoes for industry!"

Welcome Back, Pluto? Planethood Debate Reignites [space.com]

Druvius comments on May 11, 2018:

Silliness. A glance at its orbit shows clearly it isn't in the same class as the eight planets in the plane of the ecliptic. Pluto, like the asteroids originally misclassified as planets, was misclassified whej it was discovered.

Never Before Seen: Deer Spotted Eating Human Bones (National Geographic) ...

Druvius comments on May 10, 2018:

Things just keep getting weirder ever since that weasel fell into the supercollider. ;)

Israel has the right to defend itself.

Druvius comments on May 10, 2018:

Ultimately Israel needs to make a just peace with the Palestinians and their neighbours, if they aim for long term survival. The former is the path to the later. Don't see much hope of that in the near future.

The intolerance towards cigarette smokers.

Druvius comments on May 10, 2018:

Yeah, it's ridiculous. In Berkeley the only place one can legally smoke outside their home is standing in the middle of the street. America's culture of virtue signaling is out of control.

This Is America

Druvius comments on May 9, 2018:

Works for me. America has issues.

Question: ammosexuals always talk about protecting their families, and that's why they need as many ...

Druvius comments on May 9, 2018:

Violent crime is at historic lows in the US. So all they are saying is they are ignorant, cowardly, and immature.

[inquisitr.com] Very interesting perspective on Alien space travel.​

Druvius comments on May 6, 2018:

This makes little sense. The benefits of things like weather, communication, and other satellites vastly outweighs the costs of getting them into orbit. If it cost 2.4 times as much on Earth to get payloads into space it might have slowed space exploration some, but certainly wouldn't have prevented it. As for star travel, .2c seems feasible with current technology, bringing flight times down to decades for nearby stars. Humans started buildimg cathedrals they knew wouldn't be finished for centuries. Star travel might be slow, but that wouldn't stop humans or aliens.

Gun That Looks Like Cell Phone Promoted On NRA Website Can you possibly be that fucking stupid! ...

Druvius comments on May 2, 2018:

http://concealednation.org/2013/06/funny-concealed-carry/

It's the same shit every time.

Druvius comments on Apr 29, 2018:

There are no good arguments against reasonable gun control, so they are limited to a quiver full of bad arguments. Some more ridiculous than others.

Alfie Evans thoughts?

Druvius comments on Apr 29, 2018:

The experts weren't proved wrong. And there was no treatment possible, he was receiving paliative care. This is a case that shows in the UK at lrast that the system works. It's the religious right that drove the opposition to this on ideological/religious grounds, trying to create controversy where there wasn't any.

If you could travel back in time and alter any one historical event, what would it be?

Druvius comments on Apr 27, 2018:

Anyone who really is a student of history knows this is a trick question. Any event in history if altered could just as easily have made things worse. No one has a crystal ball. That being said, my entry would be as follows. When the Praetorian Guard rioted against Pertinax in 193ad, and he chose to talk to them, he persuaded them to end their rebellion and support his rule. Instead of killing him. Interesting question.

I had to put my tuxedo to sleep this afternoon.

Druvius comments on Apr 27, 2018:

So sorry. Know your pain.

This is off topic but I can't help talking about it.

Druvius comments on Apr 23, 2018:

Well, interesting case. Yes, PETA's contention is wrong, monkey's cannot hold a copyright. Only human beings can. However, does this mean the pictures are public domain since the monkey took them, or can the owner of the camera claim copyright?

[youtu.be] Think I'm officially a Dr. Mike fan. Has nothing at all to do with how cute he is?

Druvius comments on Apr 23, 2018:

I saw a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup once labeled "100% fat free!"

How about Synchronicity?

Druvius comments on Apr 21, 2018:

It's an interesting idea, Jung was no fool. I certainly tend to experience it more when my mental state is positive and my life is on track, far less so when I am down. Sort of like the unconcious mind reinforcing good vibes. Or bringing things to attention that could use pondering. That the human mind can even notice and parse such things is a tribute to how complex it is and how complex its interplay with the world is.

[thecut.com] Ah ha! Finally someone said it.

Druvius comments on Apr 21, 2018:

Yes. One of my favourite definitions of feminism: “Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.” ― Cheris Kramarae

Ripley is my hero.

Druvius comments on Apr 21, 2018:

She had her priorities straight. An interesting fan theory: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/2odixp/alien_jones_the_cat_was_best_friends_with_the/

How long has it been since this investigation started?

Druvius comments on Apr 20, 2018:

Benghazi!

What does everyone think about that new study that make pose the question of whether or not there ...

Druvius comments on Apr 19, 2018:

Amazing to me how many people leaped to the conclusion that this study was saying there is evidence for pre human civilizations. No, that's not even remotely what it was about. It was about, what sort of geological evidence would a pre human civilization leave? No different than "If the Big Bang happened, what sort of evidence would we see?" There's no evidence for a pre human civilization, but it's not impossible, and this study just clarifies what any scientist seeking evidence for same should look for.

What does everyone think about that new study that make pose the question of whether or not there ...

Druvius comments on Apr 18, 2018:

Science at its best. If there was a pre human industrial civilization, what traces would it leave? The preservation of ruins or fossils are extremely unlikely after tens of millions of years, but there are things in the geologic record to look for. None have been found yet, but but this study may encourage scientists to look further. Seems unlikely, but certainly can't be ruled out.

This is what I got for disagreement with Trump supporters on Facebook !!!

Druvius comments on Apr 18, 2018:

The sad thing (well, one of several sad things) is that some conservatives think this is clever and witty.

Is there intelligent life out there in the universe?

Druvius comments on Apr 18, 2018:

Maybe, depends on how likely it was that we evolved. Seti has done a number of very interesting studies over the past few decades, and boy, they've come up with nada. My suspicion is that life like ours is an evolutionary dead end. That we will either kill ourselves soon with war or climate disaster, and if not, sooner or later some nutcase will build a doomsday weapon.

I just tried to be the better man.

Druvius comments on Apr 17, 2018:

Good for you. I'm a big fan of taking the high road.

Customer service point of view.

Druvius comments on Apr 17, 2018:

How people treat clerks etc is possibly the best indication of character I know. Even if service help aren't at their best, I assume they are having a shitty day for whatever reason and it's even more important to treat them with dignity and respect. We're all in this together.

I've screwed up again.

Druvius comments on Apr 16, 2018:

Welcome to Earth? Good luck on the next one. :)

"People have lost the ability to judge what is real and what is not.

Druvius comments on Apr 15, 2018:

There has always been a strong streak of anti-intellectuism in America, but it's gotten much worse in the past few decades. I don't see it swinging the other way anytime soon. It's disenheartening.

800 showed up DOVER, Del.

Druvius comments on Apr 15, 2018:

Whenever you hear a slippery slope argument, means they don't have any good arguments. Easily one of the more dishonest false arguments people use.

The FACT is, our United States Congress has NOT authorized any military intervention whatsoever in ...

Druvius comments on Apr 15, 2018:

Yerp, we committed a war crime to punish Assad for alledgedly committing a war crime. And yes, Congress has abrogated their responsibilities.

What is your conspiracy fear that seems like nobody else thinks about?

Druvius comments on Apr 13, 2018:

That's a curious theory. It has been suggested that we should be careful about altering Mars, never heard it applied to the Moon. The only thing Moon mining looks good for now is He3, for possible use in clean fusion reactors on Earth. And for water, to use for missions to the rest of the Solar System. While I think your concerns are overblown, I appreciate the thinking process. Humans have a nasty habit of plowing ahead without worrying about the environmental consequences down the road. A habit that could have really unpredictable consequences in Solar System exploration.

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla.

Druvius comments on Apr 13, 2018:

A fine example of why "MOAR GUNS!" isn't the solution.

What is the point for people sagging their pants down to their knees?

Druvius comments on Apr 12, 2018:

It's blacks expressing solidarity with blacks in prison. And no, it's NOT a sign they are available in prison, that's shithead racist crap. I agree it's an odd fashion choice, but it is a free country, nu?

I want to say a little about Trolls.

Druvius comments on Apr 12, 2018:

There are no logical arguments against sensible gun control. Thus the endless garbage arguments by ammosexuals.

Should we have intelligence thresholds for voting?

Druvius comments on Apr 12, 2018:

No, voting requires good judgement, not intelligence.

Pope Francis says helping the poor and migrants is as important as opposing abortion

Druvius comments on Apr 11, 2018:

Woohoo! Help people while simultaneously depriving them of their rights and body autonomy! The Lord works in mysterious ways.

My new glasses!

Druvius comments on Apr 11, 2018:

Looking good.