FriendOfDeSoto

Would it be acceptable in a conversation to talk about the I.C.E ?

I don’t see anybody getting thrown out of the house for daring to spell out an acronym that is usually pronounced as a word. What kind of people do you hang out with? It might cause confusion but context normally helps.

If you were speaking of I.C.E. to me I’d punch you in the face. Also if you referred to them as ICE. That’s because I refer to them, correctly, as the SS.

First of all, they did not pick any language at founding. They refused to settle on one. And I don’t think they ever changed that (although I wouldn’t put it past the current administration to do something like that because 47 has the best words as we all know). English is de facto the language of the US like Bern is de facto the capital of Switzerland but it isn’t set in stone.

German was briefly seriously discussed. That would have been funny.

I think the influence of the British Empire has done more to make English the lingua franca. But I think it is conceivable that we would be conducting a lot more diplomacy in French or Spanish if they had won out. But there are still huge chunks of Africa and Oceania that speak English. And Hockeyland. And big business hubs like Singapore or Hong Kong - the language of trade would still be English.

Why would Americans elect a serial bankruptcy business man, narcissst, and convicted sexual assault felon to appoint this loon?

Because there are no simple answers.

47 wants to disrupt and cause chaos in everything. The department of health is just another area for chaos, hence the appointment of this guy. I think it’s fairly safe that most Americans - and that includes many nominal supporters of the current GOP cultish clowncar - do not take their health advise from worm brain. It’s just unfortunate that he’s in a position of power where he will cause harm that will prevail long after he’s retired, or dead.

Define “Christian.” If it’s anybody who claims to be, probably quite high. If it’s more value-driven (love thy neighbour and all that), this correlation falls off a cliff. Pedophile is probably within the statistical rounding error margin of the entire population.

The correlation of being ICE and loss of human decency is nearing two perfectly overlapping Venn diagram circles.

The trick with a space elevator is that the cable needs to be very thin. The material needs to be strong. That’s just two reasons why we’re still far from putting that to any real use.

I don’t think having a small line through our atmosphere will slowly poison us. The extra radiation that would make it through is probably a rounding error. The material would have to be such that it doesn’t attract radiation. And even if we discovered that this could be a problem, if we have become smart enough to build this space elevator, we’ll probably be smart enough to figure out a way to filter it out.

There are apps for that but I just stuck with the stock Android app. You deactivate all the Google servers and just stick with the DAV ones.

But then again I rarely do anything with contacts.

You start your life by forgetting your past. All the times you fell over, were hungry or overtired, or shat your pants as a baby or toddler. You don’t remember that time unless something happened that’s traumatizing in the extreme. Somewhere between that age and when you start school you start retaining memories. Not all of them but enough to reminisce. You’re growing still so every day is a new experience and not everything makes the cut. And then you age. Once you cross 40 you’ll notice a lot more that you cannot remember why you went to the garage but you can remember all the teachers from your elementary school days. Most of your classmates too but that guy’s name in Accounting who you talk to every other day is nowhere to be found. And when you reach an age where death is becoming likely every day, you reminisce and you remember lots of stuff from ages ago but not what you had for breakfast. Dementia fucks with you but they remember their moody teenage music tastes and react more to that than their own offspring.

Memory retention is not a linear thing.

I’m going to guess yes, the mass increases. I’m not sure about physical size because it may just be density. But I also feel like I should stop talking out of my ass now.

Trick question: it’s until the heat death of the entire universe. You get turned into this long spaghetti that gets absorbed at an increasingly slowing rate. So your scalp or your feet never quite make it to the inside.

This may be less than accurate because I’m not an expert.

It’s funny you picked Apple computers because they were in a legal fight with Apple records of Beatles fame who’ve been around longer and were only allowed to keep the name if they stayed out of the music business. Which went well until iTunes and then they found themselves back in the lawsuit.

I hope you are right. I personally don’t see it. I think we cannot underestimate the cult factor. All it takes is a Vance or an orange (or even the deviant MTG) to point at it and screech like a Body Snatcher: “It’s socialism! It’s handouts! Kill it with fire!” It won’t matter what you branded it as. Their branding will be stronger.

I am afraid that this isolated (and probably edited and not very scientific) example of people seeing the power is reason will not scale to the masses. The fear of socialism is irrational and I don’t think you can fix that with rational explanations alone. It’s not like people like Sanders or Ocasio-Cortez aren’t trying and there is enough of a base to get them elected - but not into executive power. On top of that you have the MAGA cult followers who would happily vote against their own self interest if they can say they owned the libs in the process.

I chose him because he is generally well liked. I haven’t heard anybody shit talk him. I don’t see him as a person of inaction or unaccountability. I do see him as somebody who acts from a set of values and who can heal wounds thoughtfully (without letting perpetrators go unpunished). Go ahead and replace him in your mind with somebody who fits that profile.

The problem with American politics is that it affects the whole world but the rest of the world doesn’t get a say. If you organize armed resistance against 47, that becomes very active when he declares himself king with no more elections, you are looking at a civil war 2.0. The right-wing supporters are already armed and organized, you’d give them something to shoot at. And the standing military will probably majority side more with the other side. At the same time, while the US is distracted by killing each other at a higher rate than usual, China will grab Taiwan, Russia will push through to the Elbe river, etc. So it would be better for the rest of the world if you could not solve this predicament by force/assassination. Protest, strikes, use politics. But I can totally understand why the sentiment to use the 2nd amendment for its stated purpose for a change is an appealing option.

A socialist will not win 2028, provided there even is an election. NYC is not representative of the whole country. And most Americans are still on this cold war hangover where socialism became a dirty word. An outspoken socialist would not win. Unless we get another great depression - which will if history is our guide more likely lead to war. Or if they manage to fake centrism so believably well and are then okay to be a one-termer once they show their real colors. The Democrats need a Mr. Rogers type politician (preferably male, blame the Midwest) without scandals (so nobody from CA) who can appeal to a sense of decency again. #MADA

You’re right, it could’ve been a case of preemptive obedience by the censors, based on popularity and face-losing potential of the meme. I vaguely remember reading about him not being pleased. But it’s also been a decade.

The economy is shit. No matter who will be in charge, they will fight an uphill battle.

There is one example in recent history where the reinstallation of the monarchy went great (=as well as it could): Spain. The monarch let the country slide from a dictatorship into a constitutional monarchy. One that decided to pull the veil of silence over the crimes of the old regime but still a democracy. So let’s hope the possible return of the Shah follows the Spanish example more than anything else.

I don’t think anyone can predict what will happen in Iran. My gut feeling is that a collapse of the current regime will lead to a fracturing of the country, something like a civil war between moderates and religious fundamentalists. A mix of what happened in Libya post Gaddafi, Iraq post regime change, and Syria post Assad. The overthrow of the mullahs will only be the first step.

Source: I’ve lived there for a decade, talked with people, including PSB officers.

Every time China is in trouble, mostly economically, they play up the Japan stuff. There are island disputes, there is historical baggage. They play it like a piano and those are pretty much the only times organized street protests are permitted.

I disagree with you about what you think is irrelevant.

As far as I’m concerned it was never racist. It was Chinese internet users looking at a picture of Xi and Obama at a summit and compared them in stature, aptly I might add, to Winnie and Tigger. It never stuck with Obama and Xi evidently took it with no sense of humor.

Outside of China the majority of people will not be aware of this meme or have forgotten all about it.

China? The country of Tiananmen Square? The country whose people practically develop an ever-changing coded language to avoid big brother coming down hard on any sort of criticism? The country that runs “reeducation” camps for many who do get caught? The country that has Uyghurs and Tibetans to blame “within,” and Japan without? Or the US? Where senior cadres of the party magically grow richer?

Don’t pin authoritarianism on lack of administrative competence.