Unknown's avatar

They deserve to have the AR-15 style military grade guns banned

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Slide the <> back and forth

We should ship all #AR-15 style guns to #Ukraine. They urgently need military grade weapons. Perhaps the #GOP could coordinate shipping?

“No parent should drop their kid off at school and then need a DNA test to ID which child is their child because they have been blown to pieces by an AR 15.” – David Hogg

Bazookas, howitzers, or machine guns are banned. Those arms are dangerous and solely useful for military purposes. AR-15 style assault weapons should be included in this group. Common sense would rule if it weren’t for the efforts of the NRA and the GOP.

We need to DEMAND common sense guns laws.

Unknown's avatar

The blame for this belongs to the NRA and everyone who takes their money and support

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“Unrestricted access to deadly weapons is a political choice, and we should say it.”

Paul Krugman

Article V of the Constitution provides two ways to propose amendments to the document. Amendments may be proposed either by the Congress, through a joint resolution passed by a two-thirds vote, or by a convention called by Congress in response to applications from two-thirds of the state legislatures.

The men who wrote the Constitution wanted the amendment process to be difficult. They believed that a long and complicated amendment process would help create stability in the United States. Because it is so difficult to amend the Constitution, amendments seem like they are permanent.  BUT AMENDMENTS BE CHANGED.  The Constitution provides the way.

“When are we going to do something?”

Hypocrisy anyone? Guns are banned during Trump’s upcoming speech at the NRA conference.

Unknown's avatar

fossil fuel companies, industrial military complex, right wing extremism, religious fanaticism, all out to sell their own brand of water.

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Random thoughts stimulated by a can of water:

“Fascism, in order to be successful as a political movement, must have a mass basis. It must secure not only the frightened submission but the active cooperation of the great majority of the people.” – Theodor Adorno

The Trumpian Personality is attempting to control the conversations in our news media, our social media. The “P” words – politics and power and profit, they pray you will look the other way.

Did you ever wonder why Facebook built Messenger? Did you ever wonder why Musk has made us think it would be good to take Twitter private? Why did they take FM radio receivers out of our smartphones? Virtual reality, the meta verse, these are ways to get you to look the other way while “they” control the real world. The future living room will have a T-V and multiple VR headsets.

They tell you it is not secure enough to vote via the internet. And yet electronic banking is fine. There is Paypal, Venmo, Zelle, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Quicken. We can even pay our taxes electronically. Voting has power in a democracy. They don’t dare make it easier for us to vote. Don’t let the Republicans gerrymander your voting districts. Don’t let them make it harder to vote.

Beware, be aware, of what brand of water you buy.

Unknown's avatar

Tricks and Quotes

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  • Puzzles of life:
  • Why is it when we put French bread in the toaster we don’t get French toast ?
  • Why does Hawaii have an interstate ?
  • Why do the Flintstones celebrate Christmas ?
  • Why are nickels bigger than dimes ?
  • Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard ?
  • Why do people say tuna fish but don’t say beef mammal or chicken bird ?
  • Why do mirrors reflect sideways but not upside down ?

Unknown's avatar

Futurism

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The hourglass graphic posted here the other day did not include the link to the original article by Max Roser at Our World In Data . His article is excellent, he discusses our future which may be excellent, or then again, possibly not so good. The future itself is vast, and our responsibility is tremendous. If you thought the hourglass was intriguing, then you should read the full article:

ourworldindata.org/longtermism

In the above article, Max Moser points us to an article written by a group called “80,000 Hours” by Benjamin Todd about existential risk reduction (quoted and pointed to below). The not-for-profit company “80,000 Hours” has a funny goal of trying to help figure out what we can do with our career to make the world a better place. It seems like this group should be reviewed, especially by the younger people.

The full article below is said to be a 25 minute read, but a podcast is included. Perhaps commuters could listen to it.

Here’s a suggestion that’s not so often discussed: our first priority should be to survive. So long as civilization continues to exist, we’ll have the chance to solve all our other problems, and have a far better future. But if we go extinct, that’s it.

80000hours.org/articles/existential-risks/

Statistically speaking, I wonder how many people even give a damn about this stuff. Perhaps these articles might make a difference.

”The future is ours to win. But to get there we can’t just stand still…” – Barack Obama

Unknown's avatar

Stand with Ukraine

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Things change over time.  About 55 years ago, my college required one semester of a foreign language for graduation.  Since I was majoring in math and physics, I wanted a language besides English that most scientific papers were being written in.  At that time, Russia was the most “scientific” country other than the United States. So I took a semester of Russian!  Let’s face it, I got a C for the class.

Я не говорю по-русски.
  
Pronounced: YA ne govoryu po-russki. 
Meaning: I don’t speak Russian.

Time marches on. These days, Russia is no longer a scientific powerhouse, even if they do help support the International Space Station.  If I were to apply the same logic today, I would have to choose Mandarin Chinese! 
 
Russia has become a failed state. The future was theirs to have, and they blew it.  What a shame.  Let that be a lesson to folks in the USA.  We too must learn to cooperate with our world neighbors.  There is room for both Capitalism and Socialism.

We should all de-militarize and spend all that saved money on climate change solutions. Otherwise, 55 years from now the world will be a different place for everyone!
Unknown's avatar

World citizens understand Celsius

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When USA citizens travel, they need to become acquainted with Celsius. All the world except the USA use Celsius (C) as their temperature scale.

To me, it is comfortable outdoors between 23 – 33 Celsius. Above 35 means carry water. Below 19 Celsius probably means jackets required.

”The creative adult is the child that has survived.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

Unknown's avatar

The difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit is one of Degrees!

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Think of Global Warming or Climate Crisis. The idea is that the average temperature around the world is slowly rising due to human activity. Scientists and all the world except the USA use Celsius (C) as the temperature scale. USA businesses do not want to spend money to change their printed materials, so they lobby to stick with Fahrenheit.

One degree Celsius is 1.8 times larger than one degree Fahrenheit. Those who talk about Global Warming should keep this little table in mind when you are around luddites.

Temperature Change Equivalences

1.0 C <=> 1.8 F
1.5 C <=> 2.7 F
2.0 C <=> 3.6 F
2.5 C <=> 4.5 F
3.0 C <=> 5.4 F
3.5 C <=> 6.3 F

”Catastrophe is not a matter of fate. It’s a matter of choice.” – George Monblot