wolfriverjoe

That was my first thought. I had no clue it was going to be about 'vibrations' and 'end times' at the same time. Where's Ron these days? I know he had to go off and do 'secret' stuff that [Q] was 'dropping' about. But I thought he'd be back by now. He'd just love that article. You didn't read the article, did you? The "Fifth Dimension" isn't a 'place'. It's a state of consciousness. Vibrations. End times. Peace & love. The whole site is pretty interesting.

But we are a 'socialist' country in many ways. Billvon keeps pointing this out when folks scream "This would make us SOCIALIST!!!!!" Roads, Air Traffic control, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, public schools, even (gasp!) the INTERNET. I tend towards 'Libertarian' in a lot of ways. But even those tendencies are tempered by the simple fact that I need certain services. I paid my property taxes last month. Not a trivial sum. But I always go into the office with a smile. My garbage gets picked up. My street gets plowed when it snows (10" on Tuesday. Grrr...) The potholes get filled. Most importantly, when I dial 911, the cops or firemen arrive within a couple minutes (I know this for a fact). To expect that stuff for free is stupid. To expect services, but not be willing to pay taxes for them... That would make me a Trump supporter.

He is using a definition of 'socialism' that doesn't apply to Sweden. It's pretty much the 'strict Marxist' definition. And Sweden isn't that. So what? Nobody on the right in the US uses that definition when calling what the Ds propose 'socialism'. Not even the rather 'out there' proposals that sparked this thread are that. They aren't even as far toward 'socialist' as Sweden actually is. The right screams "No socialist government has ever worked!!" When asked "What about the northern European countries?", they answer "THAT'S not REAL socialism". Classic 'moving the goalposts'.

Since when has he linked anything else?

They are trying to seize the money. They don't actually have any of it yet. There's a good chance the US will not see much (if any) of it. Ever. I'll sit back and watch, but I don't expect to see any wall get built. Right now, Trump is claiming that he wants to FINISH the wall. But it's not even started. There's some repair & upgrades of fencing that's already in place (like in El Paso). But that was put in a while back. It's not new. But the idiots don't seem to realize that.

Right. Everyone who quotes these insanely high numbers has a long history of advocating hate towards immigrants. Real 'welfare' numbers that I can find are more like $5B - $8B. And those numbers completely ignore the tax contributions from illegals using fake SSNs (they pay taxes & SS withholdings, but cannot get refunds on overpayment or receive benefits when they get old).

$100 Billion? Really? Got any proof of that? Illegals aren't eligible for welfare. Or SNAP benefits. Some states allow them to obtain WIC (women, infants & children) food assistance. They can get emergency care at hospitals, then skip out on the bill (citizens can and do this too). They can get educated at public schools. But the idea that illegals can come here and get all sorts of welfare, food, housing and other assistance is blatantly false.

Do you think laundering money for the Russian mob isn't a crime? Do you think obstruction of justice isn't a crime (lying to the FBI about contacts with the Russian government - Flynn)? Do you think a business deal that includes a multi-million dollar penthouse condo being given to the head of a hostile nation isn't at least a little bit questionable? And there's the very simple fact that Mueller has yet to reveal anything about Trump. I suspect he has a lot of info about him. Flynn, Manafort, Pecker, and all the others that have been turned. Do you think Mueller would be offering immunity or recommending light/no prison sentences for these guys if they didn't have something very valuable to the investigation?

Gotta love how he's gone from 'Build the wall!" to "FINISH the wall!" Really. Understand that he is now taking credit for 'fence repairs', on border barriers that were built under both GWB & Obama. And his idiot supporters just keep on believing this crap. LA Times story: https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-wall-shift-20190212-story.html Both Jimmy Kimmel & Trevor Noah have skewered it pretty good too.

Yup. Far, faaaaaar bigger than sexual assault, theft by fraud, paying off attorneys general to avoid charges in the theft by fraud case, lawsuits for racial discrimination, hiring illegal immigrants, calling Nazis & Klansmen 'fine people', and a lot more.

Not strange at all. It's been asked a few times before (there's a hint in here). Generally, 'coloring' stuff is not always a good idea. You don't know for sure what all is in the ink you are using. Will it damage or degrade the line? That could be 'bad'. Some folks consider the Sharpie brand 'safe', but I don't think anyone knows for certain what is truly 'acid free' and safe to use. Also, I was taught to discern between line groups by knot placement. Each group of lines has the knots at the same (relatively) height. And each group is a different height. (All the A lines are at the same height, which is different from all of the B lines). Last, but not least, it's 'brakes', not 'breaks' (and bridle not bridal, flare not flair).

It was mentioned in the thread in Bonfire that you guys have a solution to the spam problem, it's just needing a bit of fine tuning before implementation. As a suggestion: Set up a filter so that any thread title that includes "Passport" and "Driver's License" and "Ielts certificate" gets the thread deleted and a 7 day ban for the person who posted it. EVERY forum had one Saturday afternoon. Every one.

Her proposals are absolutely zero threat. Zero. Unlike Trump, she can't throw a tantrum and shut down the government when her ridiculous and impossible ideas get shut down. Her 'socialist' ideas won't get into committee, let alone out of it and onto the floor for a vote (which wouldn't pass if, by some miracle it did). However, she has a certain amount of power. The power to ask uncomfortable questions. And demand answers. Answers given under oath (and penalty of perjury). THAT is what scares the Rs. For good reason. Please note that the right wing is not attacking her proposals. Not much anyway. They're attacking her.

Interesting quote in the linked story (first one): If I understand this correctly, when they 'cooperated', they gave Mueller information. They may have given incriminating information, based on the assumption that they would have immunity from prosecution. Which may have gone right out the window. It would be fabulous to see them prosecuted for crimes based on their own statements. Also, since the extortion threats went via e-mail, it can be prosecuted as a federal crime.

Well, the mineral extraction industry has a LOOOOOONG history of very short term thinking. They go in, take what they can and leave a huge mess. They've put huge amounts of time, energy and money into climate change denial. I'm not sure how that can translate into anything other than 'not caring'. It may be that they don't think the effects will be that serious. Also, I've know people who absolutely refuse to recycle anything. They have large amounts of family working for Caterpillar. They say 'my family depends on mining equipment being bought. Recycling anything is taking money from their pockets." When asked if they are worried about the environment, they say that the concerns are overblown, it's all a 'liberal plot', or that they simply don't care about that. So there are some who don't care. And I don't know anyone who understands the science who claims that CO2 is the primary driver of temp change. Water vapor has a much stronger effect. So does methane. But, CO2 does have an effect. And it's the thing that is changing the most. And it's changing because we (humans) are dumping huge quantities into the atmosphere. So while it's not the 'most powerful' greenhouse gas, it is the one that's the biggest factor in AGW.

Well, I have a small house. No pool. No fuel burning 'toys' (boat, atv, ect). I have a couple cars, but use my motorcycle & bike to get around when practical (not so much right now). I don't do 'long distance' vacations' much. Weekends down to the DZ, and Summerfest in August is about it. Much of what I do is somewhat selfish. Using the bike or the motorcycle saves gas over the SUV. No A/C means my electric bill is lower. I have some big trees along my southern property line, so my house is shaded. Same with keeping my house at 65 in the winter. I put on a sweatshirt, my heat bill is lower. Same with going to LED for all my lights. Better for the environment, better for my wallet. But I also do a lot of little things. I recycle as much as possible. I recently found a way to recycle plastic film (bags, packaging, shrink wrap, ect). That isn't something that municipal recycling will take. That reduced my garbage by a significant percentage. I've used reusable cloth bags at the grocery store for years now. No bottled water. I have a couple of good reusable bottles. Farmer's market for as much as practical in the summer (minimizes transport). My personal contributions aren't much. But if everyone did these things, the world would be a better place. Would it be enough? I don't know. I somewhat doubt it. But it would help.

No. Not AGW. Decreased volcanic activity and increased solar radiation. So when those natural factors went back to normal, the temps dropped (actually dropped more than normal, resulting in the 'Little Ice Age). Droughts in North America ended, fires decreased. But the Mayans were still gone. And while natural cycles are just that, cycles; we are continuing to alter the ecosystem. We are continuing to dump huge quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Unless that is addressed in some way, the 'natural cycle' will not happen. Warming won't stop. Again, this really won't impact me. Real, serious, 'civilization ending' stuff won't happen until long after I'm dead. Not sure why so many seem to (want to?) think that means it's not real or that they shouldn't care.

Acid rain too. I think the biggest reason we understood and took action on both of those was the time frame. They could show that CFCs were destroying the ozone layer pretty quickly. Once CFCs were 'banned' (greatly reduced in reality), the ozone layer repaired itself equally quickly. The acid rain was quite similar. The effects were dramatic and sudden (on a geological time scale). The science was clear, straightforward and very hard to argue with. Yet many still did. And once high sulfur coal was greatly reduced, the acid rain issues greatly diminished and the lakes that were 'killed' restored themselves, mostly anyway. AGW is far slower. I don't have to worry about it personally, I'll be dead long before any serious issues come about. So why should I have to pay extra or suffer deprivations to mitigate it? Which is a very selfish and stupid attitude to have. Unfortunately, many have that attitude. And, like so many other issues, our descendants will have to pay the price.

You realize that that was the medieval warming period, right? A period of several hundred years of warmer than normal temps. During which, parts of the Arctic (Greenland in particular) saw large amounts of glaciers melting. The Vikings settled there...Until it got cold again. Also, there was a very long and harsh drought in North America. That drought was a likely cause of the fall of the Mayan civilization. And lots of fires.

Well, the spammers managed to find it. I was hoping the update would do something to reduce this, although I realize that can be virtually impossible.

The 'stars & dots' on the left have changed to an orange box with the word 'unread' to the right of the thread title. I haven't tried to get into a 'fully read' thread, so I don't know about that part. The thing that is bothering me the most is that the order of subjects in "Skydiving" has changed a lot. I just commented on this in another thread. Used to be General, Safety, G&R, Instructors, Tandem, Incidents, Tunnel, Events, History. Very different now. Edit to fix the word in the orange box. Duh.

Most of those changes seem to be a direct result of suggestions and criticism. I didn't have much problems with the old format, and the new one has taken some getting used to. But I'm getting used to it. One thing that I'm having a hard time with (harder than I think I should) is the order of the 'skydiving' subjects. It used to be General, Safety, Gear & Rigging, Instructors, Tandem, Incidents, Wingsuit, Events, History (or something like that). It's very different now.

You aren't looking hard enough. I finally tried the 'search' function. It gives helpful suggestions after the first search. Tried "Concrete Rebound Hammer", and it gave me a zillion results with "concrete" or "hammer" or "rebound" in it. It has a top bar that gives the suggestions. One was "Concrete AND Rebound AND Hammer", which gave me this: https://www.dropzone.com/forums/topic/115683-rip-concrete-rebound-hammer/?tab=comments#comment-4813283

Most of the Darwin Awards stories are true. They do a fairly decent job of fact checking. However, they do tell 'unconfirmed' and "urban legend" stories (the .22 fuse replacement/frog gigging story is one of those). The list above, however, is not new. That's an older list with a more recent date tacked on. For example, #4, the lawyer in Toronto 'testing' the window strength, is both really old and true. It happened in 1993. https://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1996-01.html

Ouch. It almost looks like they never saw the ground and didn't flare.