Comments

  • Climate Change (General Discussion)


    Around the dam site, and on some fish. But compared to the environmental impact of oil production, it’s small indeed.
  • Climate Change (General Discussion)
    Three Places Changing Quickly to Fight Climate Change

    Uruguay, a nation of 3.4 million people wedged between Argentina and Brazil, generates nearly all its electricity from renewable sources. In 2008, the government set a goal of transforming the electric grid, which had come to depend on imported oil.

    The country had a lot of hydropower, but years of drought in the 1990s and 2000s slashed the dams’ output. Uruguay was forced to import oil instead, at volatile prices, and faced shortages and blackouts. Officials noted the increasing cost competitiveness of renewables, especially wind, and set out to build a local wind industry nearly from scratch.

    Between 2013 and 2018, wind generation grew sharply from almost nothing to about a quarter of Uruguay’s electricity mix. By the end of 2022, the most recent year data is available, Uruguay generated more than 90 percent of its power from renewables, with wind and solar growing even as hydropower declined.

    Often said that these smaller countries can’t compare to a leading polluter like the US. But it can compare to states— like NH, VT, MA, NC or SC, etc. Enough states do it, there will be a turning point. The question, as always, is how quickly.

    Should have started 30 years ago. Then there’d be room for more optimism. We’ve already shot past the Paris target of 1.5 however. That’s dunzo. There will be massive damage caused by this, and we may reach tipping points because of our delay.

    But this and other examples shows it can certainly be done. The people are there, the technology is there— the dying fossil fuel industry, their lobbyists, and their lackies in congress, still in denial. So given our anti-majoritarian system, short term thinking, and general science ignorance, stupidity will most likely put prevail.
  • RIP Daniel Dennett
    Dan Dennett. Sad to see him go.

    Fellow resident of my hometown, I remember he signed every book of his that the library had, with a little note saying “To the readers of Andover…”. I always liked that.

    Went to a lecture of his when I was a freshman, met him briefly in the hallway. Seemed like a kindly old man.

    I liked his take on religion — felt it was a better attitude than the others of the late 2000s, like Dawkins and Hitchens.

    This interview (below) with Bill Moyers always stood out to me as fairly reasonable. The rest of his thinking I never found terribly interesting.

    In any case— may he rest in peace. A real loss to the philosophy community— if there is one.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    Israel is just another country on a long list of countries which have resorted to crimes against humanity in order to try and subdue an occupied population, and used their resistance as an excuse to do it.Tzeentch

    Absolutely.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    Israel is ethnically cleansing the area, but doing so “carefully.” And with much better propaganda. Congratulations!

    So calling it genocide is just ridiculous. Can’t just look at the numbers dead and the starvation and the rubble. Pay attention to the intentions and carefulness.

    Reminds me of Iraq and Afghanistan indeed…apologists for their state’s war crimes often sound similar.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank


    What’s even more telling is getting to know a poster by their repeated display of ignorance and genocide apologia. A little more disgusting than an emoji, in my view. And if you’re too stupid to see the context, that’s on you.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    make sure to compare the deaths of maybe 8 or 9000 civilians to the 11 million killed in the holocaustBitconnectCarlos

    :lol:
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank


    Yeah, yeah…shouldn’t you be justifying genocide or something?
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    Are you concerned about the rise of Islamophobia?BitconnectCarlos

    Like the kind I see on this thread? Yeah, very much.
  • TPF Quote Cabinet
    We’ll go down in history as the first society that wouldn’t save itself because it wasn’t cost-effective.

    — some say Kurt Vonnegut, but I’m not sure.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank


    I’m not concerned with right-wing propaganda, nor with those who believe it.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    How nice it is to see genocide apologists get so worked about anti-genocide protests across the US. College kids, young people generally, the protest votes during the primary, a small number of voices in congress, etc — they really are having an impact, for the first time in my lifetime have I seen a top-ranking senator — not to mention president — make the slightest suggestion that Israel is in the wrong.

    They, along with the rest of the world, can see through the bullshit of those who want to complicate something that’s not at all complicated: stop killing innocent people. You don’t like it done to you, then stop engaging in it yourself. End your genocide, and your illegal occupation, and your illegal settlements in the West Bank, stop blocking UN resolutions, stop the “mowings of the lawn,” and you’d easily have the moral high ground. Until then, expect more October 7ths.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    He’s been a fairly staunch critic of Israel, Brazil, Indonesia, etc. Despite your bogus suggestion, he’s done so for decades.
    — Mikie

    I admit he's been a critique of Israel. But he mainly focuses on US actions because of the reasons he has given.
    ssu

    He’s been a staunch critic of Israel…and Brazil (especially under Bolsonaro but even beforehand with the treatment of Lula— in fact visited Lula while in prison), Indonesia (the Suharto regime, etc), the Philippines, China (“hardly saintly by any means”), the USSR (“a dungeon”)/ Russia, Germany, the UK, Canada (especially the policies regarding tar sands), and so on.

    Yes, his particular interest is on the US, because not only is it a superpower, it’s also here he lives. That’s very different from “the only job is criticizing the US and never criticizing other countries,” or any such nonsense even implying that.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    What’s wrong with trying to understand the beliefs and worldview of an interlocutor? I like to understand why people think as they do.Moses

    Yeah, which is why declaring what others believe or think is stupid and embarrassingly funny.

    Eh, nevermind.
  • Climate Change (General Discussion)
    New study calculates climate change’s economic bite will hit about $38 trillion a year by 2049

    Probably a huge underestimate, but hilarious that they have to put a dollar amount on it so the corporate masters can actually understand.

    Also, this is a good summary by Michael Mann of what we’re dealing with these days from the newest form of industry propaganda/ denialism:

    “Delayers.” Examples of individuals occupying that niche in the media today are folks like Judith Curry of the Georgia Tech School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, former UC Berkeley astrophysicist Richard Muller, and “skeptical environmentalist” Bjorn Lomborg. Rather than flat-out denying the existence of human-caused climate change, delayers claim to accept the science, but downplay the seriousness of the threat or the need to act. The end result is an assertion that we should delay or resist entirely any efforts to mitigate the climate change threat through a reduction of fossil fuel burning and carbon emissions. Despite claiming to assent to the scientific evidence, delayers tend to downplay the climate change threat by assuming unrealistic, low-end projections of climate change, denying the reality of key climate change effects, and employing lowball estimates of the costs of those impacts. When the cost-benefit analysis of taking action is skewed by a downwardly biased estimate of the cost of inaction, it is far easier to make the Pollyanna-ish argument that technology and the free market will simply solve the problem on their own. It is a backdoor way of saying that we do not need to pursue clean, non-fossil fuel energy sources, which are arguably the only real ways to avoid locking in dangerous climate change.

    Spot on. Best not to pay them any attention.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    You're an atheist who doesn't believe in anything.BitconnectCarlos

    You don't view intention as morally relevant.BitconnectCarlos

    You are _____. You do ____. You believe ____.

    Always hilarious. :rofl:
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    You're an atheist who doesn't believe in anything.BitconnectCarlos

    :lol:

    Then there are Jews like you I feel mostly sorry for for having been brainwashed to the point where you have no moral backbone to stand up to the scum amongst your midst.Benkei

    :clap:

    Nor have I been brainwashed.BitconnectCarlos

    Oh, well that closes the book on that one I guess.
  • Health


    Nice. Although I don’t love leg extension machines…
  • Ukraine Crisis
    Chomsky aside, this sort of thing sure is represented around here. :Djorndoe

    Yeah, maybe. But not by me, and certainly not by Chomsky (of which there’s 70 years of printed evidence).
  • Ukraine Crisis
    Chomsky and others see as their role to criticize the US while to critique other countries "isn't their role".
    — ssu

    Nope. Not what was said.
    Mikie

    That's exactly what he says.ssu

    No, it isn’t:

    It’s very simple: criticize countries all you like. Iran citizens can criticize Israel, etc. But that’s not what we admire dissents for— we admire them for speaking truth to power in their own country, where they can have an impact.Mikie

    Dissidents, almost by definition, criticize their country’s actions. We praise others for it, but they’re not treated well in their countries. Chomsky often uses the prophets or Socrates as examples.

    Critiquing other countries is something Chomsky often does. There’s plenty to criticize all over. He’s been a fairly staunch critic of Israel, Brazil, Indonesia, etc. Despite your bogus suggestion, he’s done so for decades.

    When speaking specifically about dissidents — those critical of their own countries — it’s kind of silly to ask “is there anything good about the US foreign policy?” The response, “All the countries we haven’t invaded — I like that,” and his explanation of why it’s silly is pretty obvious. In that context, it’s “not the job” of a dissident to discuss things he likes is clear.

    “Their task is to condemn the crimes of their state.” (Referring to Iranian dissidents.)

    You somehow get out of this that Chomsky “sees his role” as not criticizing other countries, which in fact he’s done for decades. The emphasis should be, however, on where you have the most impact. “The reason I’m particularly interested in the US [apart from being a superpower] is because I’m here.” Which is exactly right.

    So this:

    Yet when you just criticize one actor and be totally silent on everything elsessu

    is complete bullshit. Another ridiculous misrepresentation.

    Worry less about critics and more about the “tunnel vision” of brain-dead jingoists.
  • Climate Change (General Discussion)
    Many of us realize climate change is a threat to our well being. But what we have not yet grasped is that the devastation wreaked by climate change is often just as much about headline-grabbing catastrophes as it is about the subtler accumulation of innumerable slow and unequal burns that are already underway — the nearly invisible costs that may not raise the same alarm but that, in their pervasiveness and inequality, may be much more harmful than commonly realized. Recognizing these hidden costs will be essential as we prepare ourselves for the warming that we have ahead of us.

    Let’s start with heat, which is killing more people than most other natural disasters combined. Research shows that record-breaking heat waves are only part of the story. Instead, it may be the far more numerous unremarkably hot days that cause the bulk of societal destruction, including through their complex and often unnoticed effects on human health and productivity. In the United States, even moderately elevated temperatures — days in the 80s or 90s — are responsible for just as many excess deaths as the record triple-digit heat waves, if not more, according to my calculations based on a recent analysis of Medicare records.

    In some highly exposed and physically demanding industries, like mining, a day in the 90s can increase injury risk by over 65 percent relative to a day in the 60s. While some of these incidents involve clear cases of heat illness, my colleagues and I have found that a vast majority appear to come from ostensibly unrelated accidents, like a construction worker falling off a ladder, or a manufacturing worker mishandling hazardous machinery. In California, our research shows that heat may have routinely caused 20,000 workplace injuries per year, only a tiny fraction of which were officially recorded as heat-related.

    Unseen Ways Climate Change Effects Us
  • Health


    Injuries can definitely hamper progress.
  • Rings & Books
    these three men have managed to say so little about what Midgley actually wrote.Banno

    Haven’t read it. Maybe they’re thinking of the freon guy.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    You have to be for or against!!!ssu

    What a stupid way of characterizing things. It’s like being in middle school. Embarrassing.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    Chomsky and others see as their role to criticize the US while to critique other countries "isn't their role".ssu

    Nope. Not what was said.

    It’s very simple: criticize countries all you like. Iran citizens can criticize Israel, etc. But that’s not what we admire dissents for— we admire them for speaking truth to power in their own country, where they can have an impact. Did you even watch the video?

    That such a simple point is confusing just shows how clouded one’s judgement must be with projection. At least try hearing what’s being said first and THEN find a way to distort it.

    totally silent on everything elsessu

    :lol:

    Yeah, that definitely describes Noam Chomsky. Totally silent about “everything else” for the last 70 years. A world renowned genius like you — some internet dude — is surely the man for the job of setting him straight.

    But yes, keep portraying yourself as the one person who truly “gets it” about international relations in its true complexity.
  • I’m 40 years old this year, and I still don’t know what to do, whether I should continue to live/die


    Okay— sorry for the hostility. I feel it often leads people away from meditating rather than encourages them, that’s why I get annoyed. I’m sure that wasn’t your intention.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    If it's so powerful, why does it feel that Israel is calling the shots and the US simply follows?ssu

    You know very well why that is: the Israeli lobby and Israel’s strategic position in the Middle East.

    Who is saying that the US is “all powerful”? Why must every statement be caricatured?

    And that's simply my point. US one actor, the largest, and Russia is another, China another and the local countries are also.ssu

    They’re of differing power and influence. So “ one actor” is true, but not “Just” one actor.

    Yet many indeed think it's very bad, like Noam Chomsky.ssu

    Often very bad, yes.

    you don't have to be a dissident, you can support your country when it does something good.ssu

    Do you really think being a dissent means never supporting something your country does that’s good?

    What is going on with you? What’s with these odd strawmen?
  • I’m 40 years old this year, and I still don’t know what to do, whether I should continue to live/die
    Not saying, I am breathing, not counting breaths or focusing on the breathing. These too are the story.ENOAH

    No it isn’t. No more a story than “being breathing,” which is just a hokey phrase. Just look at whatever you feel or think, try to sustain that awareness with equanimity. That’s all.

    I really dislike when people sentimentalize meditation.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)


    Does anyone even listen to this Trump cultist anymore? Lol.

    Eh, whatever. Carry on; you’re doing God’s work changing everyone’s minds about the degenerate, pornstar-fucking con man. :up:
  • Rings & Books


    It’s just free market principles at play. :wink:
  • Ukraine Crisis
    Is this a joke or are you really just incapable of understanding the fairly simple idea?
    — Mikie
    All those interventions, including the theoretical ones aren't fairly simple.
    ssu

    That’s not the idea I’m referring to.

    Secondly, it's not a world where first the US acts and then everybody else responds. The US is just one player among others, even if it is a big player.ssu

    You really have no idea how the world works, in that case.

    Yeah, it’s nice to pretend to have special knowledge about international affairs, that everybody is being too “simplistic” and you alone see the true complexity — but leaving stupid bullshit aside for a moment: the United States is by far the world’s superpower and has been for decades, beginning only now to be rivaled by China. Their influence militarily, economically, and politically (in the UN and otherwise) is enormous. Any scholar worth a damn will know this.

    So yes, the US is one player, and a major one, shaping world affairs. That’s not being “US-centric,” it’s being realistic. Moreover, nearly any country in the world — including Russia and China — know this to be true, and their leaders have said so.

    Is the US a “bully”? If this fails under “a narrative” in your mind, then you can be easily ignored.
  • It’s Bizarre That These People Are Still Alive
    I just realized Ethel Kennedy is still alive. How is that possible? Wow…

    RFK got killed in 1968 and they already had 11 kids.
  • US Election 2024 (All general discussion)
    Don Poorleone

    Haha— never heard that one before. Made me chuckle a little, especially after just watching the Godfather.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    strategic interestRogueAI

    Exactly.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank


    :rofl:

    Yes yes, whatever you say. Now please continue using your “extensive” historical knowledge to justify genocide. :up:
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    I can guarantee I know history in this region better than you.BitconnectCarlos

    :rofl: Wow! Good job!

    Keep the jokes comin’, please.
  • Israel killing civilians in Gaza and the West Bank
    Zionism is decolonization.BitconnectCarlos

    :grin: Okay buddy.
  • “That’s not an argument”
    Since I notice no people at all falling down stairs, I have to ask: Does Mikie live or work in a building with exceptionally perilous stairwells?Vera Mont

    :lol:

    Touché.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    That is the point: without US support, Ukraine, Korea, Vietnam, the Iraqi government, Israel, etc., wouldn’t have lasted too long. US support is crucial. Okay, then we ask: so what? Given this fact, the further question is: Why Korea and Ukraine and Israel or Nicaragua, but not Sudan or East Timor or Nigeria or Haiti?
    — Mikie

    So what?
    What do you have against K-Pop? Of having South Korean electronic gadgets and cars? Of them being wealthy and not on the verge of famine?
    ssu

    Is this a joke or are you really just incapable of understanding the fairly simple idea?