Heh, I find it pretty common that the most popular role of an actor or comedian is rarely the favorite of their biggest fans. That said, I agree. Being in the US means my introduction to him was Mr. Bean, as I got older and had the chance to experience some of his other work, I came to enjoy his other work much more. His stage performances are hilarious, and yes Blackadder was amazing.

The thing about unforseen consequences is they're unforseen. The probable yearly die off should limit any unwanted damages to a few seasons...assuming Texas continues to freeze every year, which is far from certain.
I really hope this solution works without issues, because they clearly need one. I just fear that these kinds of species introductions often end badly, and once done they are irreversible. It seems likely that in a few years a colony of frost tolerant weevils could evolve and quickly spread on birds.

I hope this goes better than the introduction of nutria, which Texas did to combat other invasive water weeds. They are now a major problem, causing massive erosion problems and displacing naive species. It makes me wonder what problems these weevils are going to cause in 10 years....how many native plants will they eat to extinction?

Well, that's what I was taught were proofs, even if just proving simple addition....but that shouldn't be an introduction to math, I got them in geometry/algebra 2 my sophomore year.
Well, kids not understanding basic math isn't new either, senior year remedial math existed when I was in school, but wasn't the norm. If your assessment is correct, that's pretty sad.

All that said, I got paddled in 5th grade for insisting 4-5=-1. My teacher didn't understand negative numbers. Just saying, poor educators aren't a new thing, but they do suck ass.

The big problem is education is so politicised now that it's near impossible to figure out what's actually being taught and what stories are pure hyperbole. Here in the U.S. we've heard all kinds of insane claims about 'common core', most of which were bullshit, because making a federal standard for education wasn't what many wanted (how dare they tell us the war of northern aggression was about slavery, these slanderous accusations will not stand, sir) so a movement was born to oppose it by all means possible, which usually meant outrageous lies.
I'm really glad I don't have kids in school, I would probably home school them if I did.

Alone in the Dark 1 Long Play on PC DOS has been added as a related post - related requested by ant.

*related=https://videosift.com/video/Alone-in-the-Dark-1-Introduction-With-MIDI-Music

What was amazing was the outdated polygon graphics, MIDI music, etc. that still scared us. I remember having a hard time in the attic. Its controls and camera views drove me crazy! Haha. I never actually got far too in the full game. Did you finish it?

FYI from many years ago on VS: http://videosift.com/video/Alone-In-The-Darks-First-SceneLevel-Walkthrough and http://videosift.com/video/Alone-in-the-Dark-1-Introduction-With-MIDI-Music

Thailand, where I live now is called the "Land of Smiles". But I ran into some hiccups trying to fit in that conform to some of what the video said:

Basically, the "Land of Smiles" thing is pretty accurate -- generally Thais want to keep a (somewhat subdued) smile on their face. Even/particularly in frustrating/aggravating situations; Thais are extremely confrontation-averse and I think the smiling is a cultural adaptation to try to defuse those situations before they escalate.

BUT, when I first came here, I caught on to the "try to smile through all situations" culture but kind of went overboard on the enthusiasm in what I gather might be a typically American way. One time some Thais that I knew were introducing me to somebody that I hadn't met before. The new person didn't speak any English, and I couldn't speak much of any Thai at the time, so I was just trying to smile through the awkward second-hand introduction. Since I was just passively sitting back and smiling, the new person asked my friends if I was a "special person" -- a direct translation from Thai which means exactly the same thing that it does in English.

So I guess even in the "Land of Smiles", going overboard can make people think you're a bit dim...

Sincere thanks for that, @enoch.

While I am too ignorant of the situation to be completely convinced by either side of this, I must admit that it does seem fishy for Assad to use such weapons now. AND, the CIA and other US agencies / forces have a really long track record of doing shady things to "protect US interests" with proxy wars, false flag operations, etc. etc.

The US funding Syrian "rebels" that are an offshoot of Al Qaeda doesn't shock me much considering that the roots of Al Qaeda itself pretty much come from the CIA funding the Mujahideen in Afganistan...


Anyway, I can see and understand your reasons for choosing to downvote the video. That being said, I don't personally regret upvoting this because it does seem to be a good introduction / refresher to the situation in Syria, at least with respect to the standard media take on it. For someone like me, it gets me the broad strokes in 6.5 minutes, which has some real value.

But your post here (and a PM from eric) are equally valuable to me for pointing out bits where that "broad strokes" intro is controversial or potentially misleading (if not flat out BS). So again, sincere thanks to both of you.

Trivia:

While not exactly proven (correlation is not causation), the wide spread introduction of refrigeration for food storage probably was the reason behind the gross decline of GI Cancer as a major source of death before the 1930s...

"Until the late 1930s, stomach cancer was the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Now, stomach cancer is well down on this list. The reasons for this decline are not completely known, but may be linked to increased use of refrigeration for food storage. This made fresh fruits and vegetables more available and decreased the use of salted and smoked foods. Some doctors think the decline may also be linked to the frequent use of antibiotics to treat infections. Antibiotics can kill the bacteria called Helicobacter pylori (H pylori), which is thought to be a major cause of stomach cancer."

American Cancer Society...

The mechanism appears to have been the move away from pickling/smoking...and towards fruits/vegetables/etc which an in-home refrigerator let you use...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1971721/?page=1

The list of possible covariates or confounders is unknown and practically infinite for climate. Weather - anything beyond three days is guesswork, climate - more complicated.

Science is about repeatability (and disprovability), and it is true, correlation can provide false repeatability. You sure win that one. Correlation can be a good lead sometimes to find real relationships, but you cant base science solely on correlation.

"If we assume the risks are real" - (sigh) just dont assume. Also I would not speculate about future risks, the current situation is already bad enough to warrant action. The conflation of climate science and economic science worries me deeply, having a degree in the latter. Pollution is not an economic benefit/cost, it is a side-effect, it becomes a cost only if it is artificially designated as one ("taxed") and is better dealt with not by incentives, but by strict "safety" regulations of technology. Economic subjects can deal with pollution taxes with economic tools, rather than change of technology.

Like the ozone hole, the hype alone, or economic measures, would not have stopped people from using sprays. "Safety" legislation and the induced introduction of an alternative technology did.

Hype will generate irrational responses.

Given how politics works goverments go after soft targets only, unless pressured. What should be hyped are not dire predictions of the future but A) polluters and what can be done about them and B) implementation of new technologies that replace polluting ones (thats where tax breaks can help).

I fail to see how the depiction of the luna dance is offensive to Hawaiians. I wonder if she would be offended by my DVD copy of Lilo & Stitch? Or my wife's Lilo bobblehead.

Some history: Protestants banned hula in the 19th century, so the celebration of this traditional dance seems to me to be empowering versus the censorship of what the Protestants called "heathen". Sure, the introduction of the Portuguese ukulele and other Western aesthetics changed the art form, but it's practiced in both modern and traditional forms today.

You also can't simply demonize the cross-pollination of cultures, because cultural values are always changing. Hawaiian and Polynesian culture went through many changes and forms long before anyone from the West showed up on their shores. The luau itself is partly symbolic of women's rights (as well as lower class rights) in Hawaiian culture, as before the luau, women were not allowed to eat the same food as men, and commoners could not eat with royalty or eat their royal Hawaiian food.

This change didn't happen until the 1800s, so it's likely that this level of equality within the Hawaiian culture is due in part to European contact, including the the King who himself became a Christian -- and yet also encouraged the luna dance.

When cultures make contact with each other, they become entangled. They influenced us and we influenced them -- and they're Americans now so deal with it. I once had pictures of Italian Americans on my wall (Godfather/Scarface posters) and my grandma has a Jew on her crucifix. Neither of us are Italian or Jewish. LOL

BWAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Not her firs public lie, in fact she's been publicly lying about herself since she met Trump, with his help.
Apparently she's repeatedly claimed to have a degree she never had....she actually left college before completing (nearly failing) her freshman year and never returned....but her biography both online and in her introduction at the convention claimed.....
"began modeling at age 16, but she only began working full-time after obtaining a degree. She graduated “in design and architecture at University in Slovenia"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/melania-trump-college-claims_us_578dd95ce4b0c53d5cfac0dc

What a pair of enormous frauds. The Republicans have one hell of a ticket. This is what you get when your entire party gets their "information" from Faux news.

*ban
Adstraordinary Matrix Introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNmniPUJusI

Yeah, i understand the somewhat pedantic technicalities, and also chromosones indicate the blueprints for differences that will occur over the course of that fetus-person's life. I suppose I am overly favoring the hormonal introduction of testosterone and DHT to develop male characteristics. Without which the penis would not form, breasts would develop, as well as other features, as it requires uniquely male hormones to stop feminine feature development, as it seems is the automatic course without such hormones.