I take the opposite approach - any spider I see inside, even Black Widows, I carry outside in a cup. At least they then have a chance. And Widows will do their level best to nest somewhere far out-of-site and never bother you. I also encourage my neighbors to not sterilize around their houses with industrial bug spray because spiders and bugs are 99,999/100,000, nothing but beneficial.
Tastes are pretty easy to remember - think of all the candy bars at a grocery store. Some you may have had only once or twice in your life but I bet most people know what most of the dozens and dozens of candy bars taste like and can recognize them by their branding alone. Don’t sell yourself short!
Don’t most modern cars, even ICE cars, both slow-down-to and speed-up-to the speed designated by cruise control? I know my Subaru does, and my old Audi did, and both of the two Ford Escapes I drive for work do.
So if you buy stolen goods from someone who bought the stolen goods from the thief, and you knew the goods were stolen, you are doing nothing unethical. That’s all you’re saying, which is a position you can have, but it is a sad one. And you are, in fact, contributing to bad acts. The initial buyer may not have bought the investment if they knew there wasn’t a rube down the line that would take it off their hands.
Not only that, but your goal as a shareholder is to benefit financially from the company. If a company is a bad actor and you know it, you are expressly financing and benefitting from bad acts. I’m not sure why other commenters are trying to abstract this fact out of existence. It is not rocket science!
I think owning stock is a financial endorsement of what the company is actually doing- you own a fraction of the company and saying ‘I just want a return on my money, no matter what the company does’ does not absolve you from actually financially supporting bad actors. If I hoist you in to a building to steal something I am endorsing your behavior. Same thing.
But in dense grasslands and heavy forests the soil benefits from the sun, in that as the grasses and trees go through their lifecycles they reintroduce nutrients to the soil in the form of falling leaves/needles and death and decomposition. Grasslands and dense forests are also teaming with life, big and small, that nurture the environment. Is there really any doubt that if we cover massive swaths of land in solar panels the soil will become useless? I have not seen more than a few firsthand, but the earth under the large solar complexes I have seen is mud or dust.
I have posted one or two outlandish things whilst enjoying a few too many drinks and I have been properly downvoted; I have never seen or heard of anyone being restricted/moderated inappropriately. Any specific examples that come to mind?
Edit, to add: I also say ridiculous things when sober, on occasion. I didn’t mean to imply that the only time my mighty brain falters is when I’m inebriated.
I’m not saying I find it compelling evidence, but they note that ‘[t]he team looked elsewhere for evidence of finger amputation in other societies and found more than 100 instances where it had been practic[c]ed. “This practice was clearly invented independently multiple times,” they state.‘
And people have done (and continue to do) some rather gruesome and barbaric things based on religious beliefs. Digit mutilation seems rather benign, really.
The light pollution from Vegas is wild. My buddy and I were heading towards Las Vegas from Boise on 15 about 20 years ago and, at around 2:00 am, I thought I was hallucinating because it appeared that the sun was rising. It took us a few seconds to realize it was the lights of Vegas… because we were still nearly 70 miles away.
Most IRL play groups I’ve played with would count that as a loss for you (or, most likely, just not invite you back). And in competitive/regulated play you would timeout and lose. Not sure who these weirdos are that are stipulating to a draw against a deck that is unable to win.
Edit: I was wrong! I’ve only been playing competitively on Arena for years now. Per Rule 725.4 infinite loops are draws.
Do you lump MMR vaccines in with popular and mass-market medicine that is shit or homeopathy? How about the polio or HPV vaccine? Or the drugs that suppress HIV? Or setting bones? Or heart surgery, or laser eye surgery, or amputations… all the (vague) claims in your discussion are bunk; the fact there is an unacceptably high number of elective surgeries done does not take away from the fact that all measurable advances in medicine have come from modern medicine. The massive increase we have seen in longevity and quality of life as we age is tied to modern medicine; the fact there are still more discoveries to be made is a given.
I don’t know what percentage it is, but people in my age range (40-50) that I know who pirate tend to do so for fear of losing the media they love. I don’t even have time to watch 1% of what I have downloaded on my storage drives, but when I want to watch Mrs. Doubtfire in 25 years I want to make damn sure I can watch the original. I have little faith that whatever conglomerate owns that IP in a quarter century is going to make it easy for me to do so. Or make it even possible.
It doesn’t have to be to someone’s detriment - it can just be unethical. The obvious agenda here is for a private company to use DNA data sets to develop/streamline drugs and profit handsomely (or write off any losses on their taxes). To me it is offensive that as a society we tolerate shit like this, but maybe I’m an outlier. Though, like most other commenters, I don’t see how anyone who signed up for this service did not see this coming.
In one of his recent interviews for his book tour he talked about how could not now watch Friends because, based on how looked in the particular season, he would immediately remember what drug he was struggling with - pills, cocaine, or alcohol.
None of those ‘in the know’ have forecasted it, but I’m still hoping it is Apple rebooting their Wi-Fi hardware - I’m still running an old AirPort Time Capsule at home because it is so reliable and easy to use, but it is long in the tooth. I’d say the odds are not zero they are getting back in the Wi-Fi game!
The number you’re using is deceptive. You’re citing the Dept. of Defense’s (mandatory) budget, as if that is all the funding that goes to the military. It is not. After mandatory spending (DoD mandatory funds that you cite, social security, medicare, Medicare, interest…) about 25% of the budget is left for discretionary spending… BUT, nearly half of discretionary spending is government wages that, surprise surprise, includes military salaries and benefits. Then, a huge portion of the remaining discretionary funds are again allotted to the various military branches and war spending. Discretionary spending more than doubles the actual amount we put towards the military.
Because there’s no immediate and clear plan for a return on the investment due to how speculative things are, private funding is scant. Because we (the USA) are spending most of our money on the insane military complex there is little extra public funding for actually beneficial R&D.
This immediately called to mind a great bit Neil DeGrasse Tyson has about the stupidity of weapons targeting satellites: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/a-PHXGmexxM
When Facebook started I sure loved it. For a college kid it was such great way to keep in touch with all the friends you made that transferred schools (or that you met abroad), share pictures, plan events, and give people a quick snapshot of your personality. It really felt like a magical use of the internet that refined myspace in to a useful tool.
This seems like a specific application of the observed entropic principles that cosmologists have been espousing for a while. It leaves off the fun part to make itself a law though - all evidence indicates that we are headed towards a state of universe-wide low entropy/low complexity where everything is just radiation. Everything is a Bell Curve.
Edit: ‘evidence’ was probably too strong of a word and should have been something like ‘generally/widely accepted models’ instead.
I mean, the big difference is I have used bandcamp and it took me about 5 seconds to figure out how it worked… I read all your info pages and I have no idea what Kuky is. The stock images with all the latin words make it seem like it is just a scam.
If you’re thru hiking across the entire country with 5 lbs of gear you’re either fully van-supported or have done a massive number of food drops to prep. This is something only .001% of backpackers do. It is not remotely common.
Edit, to add: or you’re not counting all the gear your pack animal is carrying.
These look similar to, though much more rigid than, the 5 gallon containers Costco sells bulk cooking oils in (I buy quite a bit of peanut oil for deep frying). Come to think of it, I may give those a try - they are rigid enough to hold gear but flexible and sturdy enough to ratchet down a little bit. Could be a fun project.
whether or not something is found constitutional just depends on the prudence of the bench. Segregated schools were found constitutional under the same constitution that later found them not to be. The Supreme Court overrules itself all the time; the march of progress is slow: https://www.grunge.com/895625/the-supreme-court-has-overrule...