My father woke up, screaming "Stop!"
"Wait a minute! Stop it boy!
What do ya think you're doin'? That's no way to treat an expensive electric instrument"
And I said "God damn it Daddy"
"You know I love you, But you've got a hell of a lot to learn about electric cars."

God I hope that isn't Kraft singles... May as well be hitting them with gold leaf with as expensive as that crap is.

A 2012 United Nations report summarized 65 different estimated maximum sustainable population size and the most common estimate was 8 billion. Advocates of reduced population often put forward much lower numbers. Paul R. Ehrlich stated in 2018 that the optimum population is between 1.5 and 2 billion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_population

Since we are at or near 8 billion and are far from sustainable, haven’t been for over 50 years, I think the 1.5 number is far more realistic, maybe even high. I think the 8 billion estimates assume international cooperation, constant advances in farming tech with constantly increasing yields (that aren’t happening), and don’t account for climate change disrupting supply chains and production at various levels….so wishful thinking.

War sucks for population control. It’s messy, expensive, destructive of both infrastructure and ecology, and just crap at killing meaningful numbers. We need to reduce by billions, the worst war killed a few million and destroyed much of Europe. A war that kills 1000 times more people….yikes. Forget global warming, hello planetary disintegration.

The only acceptable method IMO is quit having children, then you don’t kill anyone to achieve sustainability. For some idiotic reason, average people find the idea of not having excess children horrific and totally out of the question, but the idea of starving their children to death seems to garner a “shit happens”.

Agreed, we need something like an airborne infectious prion where there could be no vaccine, no sterilization, no escape…..only that would wipe out everyone so maybe not that.

Sheesh. Expensive and tedious tasks.

There’s a difference between “racist” and “biased”. IMO, that’s what Bill is saying.

(To be clear, the difference I’m standing on here is racist implies it intentionally targets one race, biased in this context means while it may inadvertently impact one group, that is not the intent.)

Standardized testing is biased towards those with better educational opportunities….not any particular race. It just so happens one “race” is far more likely to have fewer educational opportunities on average….but that’s not the test’s fault or design, nor the student’s, and is not MEANT to target anyone by race. It just measures what you know….what you’ve been taught.

When it comes to SATs, they don’t take into account the educational opportunities people may not have had, and so aren’t a great measure of a student’s ability to learn, but are a measure of what they’ve learned. As such, they are a good metric for colleges to use in admissions, but are also sorely lacking when it comes to identifying ability. That means they should not be the ONLY measure used in admissions, but are still a useful tool for colleges.

I’m all for color blind admissions, if they measure ability as well as wrote knowledge, finding a way to measure how well they made use of the opportunities to learn they were presented….no matter what their skin color or economic status. So far, I don’t believe any such measure exists.

Really, I’m all for free jr college for anyone. It’s cheap, $150 a semester the last time I went, probably double that now, still a bargain. Most people drop out before year 3, so that’s a great way to allow everyone the opportunity for higher education without the expense…and frees up 4 year colleges to eliminate year 1&2 and teach more people who might graduate.

I raised the guitar high above my head
And just as I was about to bring the guitar crashing down upon the centre of the bed
My father woke up, screaming "STOP"
"Wait a minute, stop it boy. What do you think your doing?"
"Thats no way to treat an expensive musical instrument"
And I said "God damn it Daddy"
"You know I love you, But you've got a hell of a lot to learn about Rock 'n' Roll"

Mate, if those two got any closer together, that LIGO would be detecting the birth of a new black hole somewhere in the Sol system.

I used to love Church: a dinner of Taco Bell burritos, a wooden pew, and the word of Christ. Clench, lean 15 degrees to the left, relax your sphincter and PUSH! The silence that is golden will last about 10 seconds before the retching and piling out the doors brings an end to today's sermon. That's when you snatch the collection plate and bolt out the back door.

I lost a major source of income when I became an atheist.

Did you know Taco Bell delivers? At least in Seattle they do. I have to wonder what life choices lead to the terminus of hauling two dollar food between source and the customer 25 miles away. Yeah, that $5 tip will more than pay for gas, upkeep, insurance and oil changes on that riced-out K car you've been driving since The Pet Shop Boys were still popular.

Also, "...blahblah whining and such..." -- look, if I want unfair criticism of a job well-done, I'll ask my clients to pay up. That's primo Gonzo humor you're tut-tutting and you paid exactly nothing to enjoy it. Y'know who else was a cheap ingrate? HITLER! Why ya gotta by like Hitler, Moonsammy -- IF THAT IS YOUR REAL NAME. I have my doubts on this topic, by the way.

Hey, what's Bob up to? I always enjoy a cheap laugh at the expense of the less fortunate.

(seriously dude -- I can hold 1:1 with a Clydesdale for an hour and have enough left in the tank to draw a standing ovation at Centurylink Field.)

If you count the total costs, remove government subsidies and exemptions from ecological laws, there are few more expensive ways to generate energy than oil and coal today.

Turbines, solar, wave, tidal, and geothermal are all insanely cheaper today when you count the whole cost, not just the price at the meter. Have been for decades. My solar system paid for itself in about 8 years.

"ARE coming"

I try to be as smart as I am able to, my means are humble.

Do you presume that everyone in Texas who proclaims himself a christian is obliged to have the same official christian opinion on abortions?

Dissenters to be burned at a stake on Sunday.

I do not claim to know "very fundamentals" but I am sure there are many interpretations even in Texas of what christianity is or should be. Which exactly do you have in mind?

I am glad videosift is graced by the presence of the Texas supreme christian fundamentalist who knows what people in Texas should think, the penalty for nonconformity being to "fuck off out of Texas". Sounds very unchristian to me, but what do I know about christians in Texas, right?

Well enjoy your 15 minutes of fame, Texas. Abortions dont care, they will keep on being performed, just secretly, dangerously and expensively. Lawyers will be happy. Poor people will die. In the name of preserving the life of a cluster of cells which might or might not have gone on to become a human, actual humans will be harmed.

Texas still has "blue laws" restricting the sale of not just alcohol but other non necessities on Sundays. Enacted in 1961 and largely repealed in the 80's, you still cannot buy liquor at a store on Sundays, and car dealerships must close one weekend day. This was their way of forcing the Southern Baptist religious beliefs of the ruling class on everyone.

Edit: I grew up there in the 70’s when you could only buy food or medicine on Sundays, and some groceries and pharmacies closed.

Texas has a LONG history of legislating religious "morality", from it's inception through today. They love to talk about their freedoms, but you really only have the freedom to follow their narrow definition of morality. These morality laws always effect the poor far more than the wealthy, often completely exempting the well off....for example, you can buy an expensive mixed drink to go from a bar, restaurant, or hotel...they even have drive through bars...on Sunday morning in Texas, but you cannot buy a cheap bottle in a liquor store to pour your own. This is typical.

Refusing a vaccine should be like smoking, being a heroin addict, or not wearing your seatbelt, a legal reason for insurance companies to deny coverage.

I heard some major multinational corporations are charging their employees who aren't vaccinated $200+ a month extra for medical benefits. A good start, but it should be more if not just a complete forfeiture.

In Florida doctors did a walkout this morning to protest the huge numbers of unvaccinated morons needing hospitalization, and how they've overwhelmed an already long term overworked and understaffed industry to the breaking point.

Being vulnerable is a choice, one with very expensive consequences. Those making the choice should pay their own bills...they're invariably the same people that scream about taking personal responsibility when it comes to others. 100% of hospitalization and deaths in the last months in my county have been unvaccinated people, and they're unable to treat anyone else because they're over capacity now.

It's FDA approved, it should be mandatory.

Imo, anti vaxers should be given fournier's gangrene in icu, then told there's no one available to treat it.

so is she trying to get to a "a ha! gotcha!" moment? or what's the point of this inquiry?
someone just realized submarines are expensive?
or she is pro-nuclear submarine?
being that Australia is a giant island, makes a lot of sense for them to have a few subs.

That's all cool and stuff but, can it do all that while holding a glass of very expensive wine without spilling a drop?

Very expensive too!