laws and theories

um - no .... science only has theories
sometimes those theories get disproven or modified or enhanced or completely rejected only to be accepted later (plate tectonics was laughed at originally,  but we have MEASURED the yearly movement, so we KNOW it)

the theory of gravity formulated by newton was good enough.
good enough for pretty much everything on earth ...

BUT something was wrong. Mercury's orbit didnt fit that theory.
The theory was WRONG.
Einstein fixed it. TADA
New theory of gravity.

laymen speak of the law of gravity ... esp when making fun of people who fell down or dropped something. but in the end ... no laws in science

ON THE FLIP SIDE, next time someone says that EVOLUTION is just a theory, SMACK THEM IN THE HEAD!

Evolution is a fact. We have seen it happen.
We have a THEORY to explain HOW it happens.

If the creationists were really smart (which they are not), they would argue that their theory of evolution is equally valid. That god sits in a corner tweaking genes and causing species to evolve.  THAT could be argued as a separate explanation of the observed facts.

LOL

Questions to ask the GOP about their PLANS FOR HEALTHCARE!!

"This is a challenge the GOP will almost certainly fail. In fact, the right has become wholly invested of late in the notion that federal policymakers
must never, ever consider measures that would:
1) take away someone’s coverage.
2) Or cost consumers more.
3) Or force them to change doctors. 
4) Or raise the deficit.
5) Or raise taxes."

THIS ABOUT THIS for a second.
THE GOP has attacked Obamacare on these points.
ANY GOP plan would be measured on these SAME POINTS!!
HAHAHAHAH

HINT: The GOP doesnt have a replacement plan and pretty much ANYTHING that the GOP does will screw with one or more of these points.

high rise farms

rpm: Harbinger of the Doomed Rat: I'd say the breeders are contributing a f*ck of a lot more to society and our species than the child-free are.

Malthus is going to be right eventually. How soon do you want that to be?

Why?
Broken clock is right twice a day logic?

1) checks and balances on populations in wild are obvious. too many critters for the existing food supply = population crash.

2) while humans are critters, humans also have the ability to do a couple of things that critters can not do:

   a) restrict pregnancy

   b) increase food supply

   c) increase technology of food production

   d) decrease the population (war, exterminations, carousel )

Strangely enough, we have seen no evidence that Malthus will ever be correct.

Every time that pressure has increased, people have risen to the challenge.
And population pressure has been decreasing long after Malthus predictions.
His predictions basically excluded the industrial revolution.

Paul Erhlich was wrong, not even close and should be ignored, not worshiped.

Better yet, we havent even come close to tapping out the theoretical maximum of food production.

1) High-rise farms

2) fission power plants for grow lights

3) fertilizer directly from the N₂ in the air. 

While greenies dont like fission, it is a trivial solution to the problem of needing more food.

Initially costly to build the power plants and factories, but not so much that it couldnt be done if needed.

This doesnt even required new technology.  Existing technology could be used.

/yes, there are costs. but you could refine the uranium responsibly with regulation. you can clean the water from the factories and recycle it. etc etc etc

/the idea that the sky is falling has been around since 800,000BC.  Why do these people assume that we have to use yesterdays technology to solve tomorrows problems? 

addiction

yes no sort of
before I learned what I learned, I was just as ignorant as the average person.

"JUST STOP"

As with all mental illness, unless you have one, it is a COMPLETELY foreign concept.  It is close to impossible to empathize with something that you have ZERO experience with.  And the more mental something is, with no physical aspects, makes them the idea even harder to comprehend.

PANIC ATTACKS are a perfect example.
You can have them without being addicted, etc etc etc.
But unless you have had a full blown panic attack, they seem like a crazy person JUST OVER REACTING. GROW UP.

But once you have had ONE PANIC ATTACK!! WOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO
You instantly have empathy and sympathy for everyone who ever has and ever will.

I have an asshole sister who thinks that all psychology is complete bullshit.  Strangely enough, she really needs a couple decades of DEEP therapy before she could even come close to empathizing with another person.

knock on wood, my family does not have the addiction gene. everyone has pretty much been able to quit whatever they were on, whenever they wanted. cigs, crack, bottle, meth, crack.  When they were done, it was done.

I really feel for people how cant.
I dont understand it. But I get it.

But that is the minority.

bad medicine

so drugs are being used to treat symptoms, rather than tests being done to determine if there is some sort of underlying condition and then treating that condition?

COLOR ME SHOCKED
Especially given the terrible health care in the US.


CSB
I had undiagnosed hashimoto's (hypothyroidism) for probably 10 years.
ooo depression? lets put you on meds
ooo sleep problems? lets put you on meds
ooo weight gain? well you are just lazy
ooo hypertension? lets put you on meds
ooo sleep apnea? lets put you on a machine or something

Even after being put on hormone replacement, the doctor was under dosing me, because they are TERRIFIED of going over. LOL

FFS, once I FINALLY was properly treated, oh LOOK, my sleep problems went away, my depression went away, my weight improved, my hypertension improved.

All at the cost of a generic pill and proper testing.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

TL;DR - be in charge of your own medical health, because no one else is
/csb

The Ultimate Resource

PLUS
If you read pretty much all of history from 1000AD to now, you will mind billions of people repeating this same story, over and over and over again.

Chicken Littles. The end is near.
We are running out of wood!!!   YAY COAL!!
We are running our of coal (only in england)!!!   YAY OIL!!!
We are running out of clean air and water!!! YAY EPA!
We are running out of oil! YAY fracking, photo, wind, nuclear.
We are getting hot and melting!!! YAY tbd

Seriously. Solutions are TBD.
The world tends to solve problems once they are BIG, even catastrophic.

Look at Haiti earthquake (and every earthquake in a poor country). We have ALWAYS KNOWN that the buildings in Haiti were POS that would fall down in a strong wind. We did nothing. We reacted after the event.

If the global ocean actually rises, we will build dikes and move and poor will suffer. Like always. But globally, we will do NOTHING to stop the increase in CO2. It would require us to NUKE China and India to remove all of their fossil power plants. Anything else will barely slow the change.

For an AWESOME READ on the topic from my only personal hero,
try The Ultimate Resource, Julian Simon.

THis book converted me from an ignorant cynic and pessimist to an informed optimist. WTF!!

10 first kiss video

FFS - watch this
3 minutes of your life
107% chance that you will thank me

memories of all those first kisses
the awkward body language of some of them
some pulling away
some diving in

WHICH LEADS TO
who would you be?
would you be able to do this?
would you let someone else lead or enter your personal space?
are you so sure?

quite well done

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/11/tatia-pileva-first-kiss-strangers_n_4940669.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpbDHxCV29A