Yesterday I sat to watch “After Earth” (amazing how diverse evolution was after 2000 years ) BUT my first thought was an emotional scene at the beginning when Will Smith is being honoured/respected by a Ranger who lost a leg. The Ranger is in a futuristic wheelchair and insists on standing so he can salute. The emotions and (holding them in) run high in this scene of sacrifice. BUT all I’m thinking is why doesn’t the Ranger have a cool prosthetic leg ??? He has a cool wheelchair …and they have advanced wow technology - LATER it was reinforced when Will’s kid, Cadet grabs his weapon (looks like a long can at first) and can press a few buttons and the “blades” form out and can reshape
NOPE. Nobody in the future thought to advance tech for missing limbs…
I don’t own a TV. I don’t have Netflix’s I probably watch about 15 to 20 movies a year and most of them only half way through and several will be movies I have seen before. “Life of Brian” pops into my head. I think it is about time to watch that one again. The other day I thought avout “The Invention of Lying.” I nearly gave it another watch. Literally most of my time is devoted to documentaries./ I run debates in the backgrould like most people run music. I do like artistic short films, those little five minute jobs. I like first amendment audits, cop watchers, 20/20. Real History, and of course Cosmology, Physics, Philosophy, and Psychology… at least the stuff that is dummied down sufficiently so that I can grasp it. I have tried to tackle quarks and spins and flavors and freaky actions at a distance and all that other shit several times… it just boggles the mind. I have no use for it in my daily life so no urgency I guess. It remains a Mystery. As do so many things.
I’ve come to terms with those things, but still struggle with the concepts of dark matter/dark energy. Those seem really bizarre to me. String hypothesis is another weird one that I’ve given up reading articles and books on. I call it string hypothesis rather than string theory because it’s untestable in its current form, hence doesn’t qualify as a theory.
Dark matter is pretty simple: if you try to estimate how much mass there is in a galaxy, based on what we can see (based on what we are receiving light from) it doesn’t even come close to enough mass to keep the galaxy from flying apart based on our understanding of gravity.
Presumably either:
What we think we know about gravity is fundamentally wrong.
Or we aren’t doing a good job counting the mass.
The notion of dark matter is simply suggestion #2: that maybe there is stuff out there that doesn’t emit light (hence the name: dark matter) that we failed to count.
Oh, I have no problem with that part. I just have a hard time imagining something that makes up most of the matter in the universe, yet is completely undetectable with current technology. Assuming it actually exists, it must be pretty strange indeed.
“Do you want to go on a killing or raping spree? Was fear of God’s punishment the only reason you never went around raping and killing? I’m pretty sure the answer to both questions is “no,” right? The real reason you never killed or raped is that you were never inclined to, isn’t it. Why are you worried that leaving your faith behind will make you want to be a maniacal killer, or rapist, or maybe killer and rapist?”
I speak only for myself. You seem to be referring to the claim that a non believer cannot be a good and moral person. This is a common, ignorant and and arrogant claim made by some christians especially on this forum. I’ll assume you are aware of why the claim is simply wrong… However, be happy to mention a few things if you want.
Why do I do or not do illegal and/or immoral things:
Mostly, it’s one or a combination of three basic reasons: I lack the desire, I fear the consequences or it is to my advantage to comply. This motivation is called ethical egoism. This is a small part of my personal, moral and ethical makeup.
The reasons for my behaviour are not always self interest. Sometimes I do something because it’s the right thing to do. IE Good for it’s own sake. (altruism) I think most human beings I’ve known sometimes behave that way. As far as I’m aware, I’ve never met anyone who behaves that way all the time. Nor anyone who is complete arsehole all of the time.
“Ethical egoism is a normative theory. As previously indicated, it recommends, favors, praises a certain type of action or motivation, and decries another type of motivation. It has two versions: individual ethical egoism and universal ethical egoism. In the first version one ought to look out for one’s own interests. I ought to be concerned about others only to the extent that this also contributes to my own interests. In the second version, everybody ought to act in their own best interest, and they ought to be concerned about others only to the extent that this also contributes to their own interests.”
I suggest you add Anton Petrov at https://www.youtube.com/c/whatdamath to your list of what to watch. He stays abreast of a lot of cool stuff, and keep it understandable.
In fact, his latest video covers the possible discovery of a dark energy particle.
@Cognostic He has something in common with you. Part of his bio.
Head English Teacher, grades 9-11
Seongnam Foreign Language High School, Seoul, South Korea English Teacher, grades 1-6
Jeongsan Language Academy, Seoul, South Korea
Pretty sure? And you are willing to risk what, by inviting one of them into your home to be your roommate? No! Not right. Most of the people I know, or once knew, who made such assertions, had already killed, raped, and murdered. The fact that they found God and made such an assertion while in prison or while still living in the half way house, had nothing at all to do with how they were going to behave when they were finally released. When someone tells you, “Were it not for religion, I would be…” Believe them! They warned you.
I watch him all the time. Never looked at his bio. Most recent one was something about finding the particle for dark matter. I did not have time to watch it. I plan on getting back to it.
As you probably know, Australia has no Bill Of Rights. We have freedom of speech and of assembly. Right now there are demonstrations about a Covid19 mandates, making vaccinations mandatory and lock downs for non compliance. Some anti lock down demonstrations have become violent… . In my opinion, in these cases the greater good trumps the rights of people whose intransigence is putting the lives of others at risk.
In Melbourne the State government closed down the building industry for 2 weeks for failing to comply with vaccination mandates.
I have no problem with such people earning a Darwin award in principle. Perhaps we could wait until they become infected and airlift them to the middle of the Simpson Desert and leave them there. Unfortunately, before that happens the morons will have almost certainly have infected many others.
While I’m stamping my little foot; Individuals who do stupid things (such as say sailing solo around the world at age 16) should be obliged to take out massive insurance and presented with a bill if they need to be rescued.
I’m sorry, that is absolutely hilarious. (As tragic as it sounds, my dark sense of humor, just imagines the ‘day-after’ epidemic.") 50,000 infected people swarm local hospitals. All travel to Australia shut down. All international trade stopped. Not only do the idiots kill themselves but they kill the country. Most certainly worthy of a Darwin Award.
I wonder if any of these Church Congregations have been elected for Darwin Awards? We had one here in Korea where 26 people were were identified as having contracted the disease after a Sunday Church get together. I guess the follow up would be difficult. (Especially since it would all be in Korean.) Also, I could be accused of “Private Investigation.” Highly illegal in Korea.
In Canada the average night in IVU is $3500 (low est). Pre-Covid ICU stays were 3 days. NOW Covid patients avg. 13 day in ICU. A hefty $45,500 per person. Currently we have in Alberta 212 in ICU with Covid ($9.6 million).
BUT the mom and pop stores are gonna make up for it because…
) BUT my first thought was an emotional scene at the beginning when Will Smith is being honoured/respected by a Ranger who lost a leg. The Ranger is in a futuristic wheelchair and insists on standing so he can salute. The emotions and (holding them in) run high in this scene of sacrifice. BUT all I’m thinking is 
why doesn’t the Ranger have a cool prosthetic leg 
??? He has a cool wheelchair 
…and they have advanced wow technology - LATER it was reinforced when Will’s kid, Cadet grabs his weapon (looks like a long can at first) and can press a few buttons and the “blades” form out and can reshape 
for this pandemic 
