@Threadbane@newsie.social
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

Threadbane

@Threadbane@newsie.social

classical guitar, chess, golf, duplicate bridge, etymology, semantics, yoga, physics, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, Homeric Greek
Environmentalist Pothead Luddite Polymath
Club of Rome -> Limits To Growth
Keeper of Cats.

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paulbusch, to Canada
@paulbusch@mstdn.ca avatar

Good Morning
Today we have a rare off-season edition of . Duncan B.C. owns the world's largest hockey stick, at 62-metres and attached to the Cowichan Community Centre for the past 35 years. It's in a bad state of repair due to a pesky woodpecker and it needs a new home. But any new owner will get the 2nd largest hockey stick as Lockport in Illinois will soon install a 76.2-metre version outside a local arena.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/largest-hockey-stick-for-sale-duncan-1.7049728

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@jd @paulbusch
All the Canada geese are natural born US citizens. They migrate to the mid-Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf to lay their eggs, then migrate north to Canada for the summer.

davidr, to Birds
@davidr@hachyderm.io avatar

I came across a meme that showed someone putting oats into a greasy pan to dispose of the grease and then feed .

Since the kids have moved out, we don't go through enough jars to put meat fat into (the drain is out of the question). Win win!

Trying to confirm, google was only giving me garbage, but I found a pretty trustworthy link that specifically called out grease, rendered fat, seeds and oats.

https://www.audubon.org/news/holiday-cooking-birds

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@davidr
I mix cereal and bread scraps with bacon grease all the time. We feed the crows chicken bones, any meat scraps, fish, fat, french fries and they love it. Crows won't eat stuff like asparagus, broccoli, celery, etc. Those things we compost. The only things that go in the garbage are non-recyclable plastic and packaging, medicine bottles and so forth. Coffee filters and coffee grounds both compost very nicely. We produce very little garbage for the garbage trucks. 8^)

dangillmor, to random
@dangillmor@mastodon.social avatar

The Murdoch family's Fox "News" did its best to foment national fear and loathing with its dangerously bogus claim that the car explosion at Niagara Falls was terrorism.

It's a reminder that Murdoch and his underlings relentlessly inject poison into our civic bloodstream, for profit and power.

If you subscribe to cable/satellite TV or a digital equivalent, you are sending them money every month.

Please stop. Please cancel. Do not support this evil company.

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@dangillmor
Severing cable means severing the only Left leaning broadcast as well, MSNBC, the only anti-fascist channel out there, since CNN is merely FOX Lite now and the other news outlets are mainly "celebrity TV" and "mass murder" coverage. One can still turn to the BBC I suppose, but there's nothing else out there to stream, and MSNBC the next day seems somewhat empty. I'd love to get rid of all stomach-turning religious programming, too, like Eternal World Television Network and 700 Club.

ProPublica, to maps
@ProPublica@newsie.social avatar

Wisconsin’s Legislative Are Bizarre, but Are They Illegal?

Wisconsin’s case has garnered national attention. But a little-explored aspect of the suit — the pervasive presence of “Swiss cheese” districts (see some examples below) — could have huge ramifications for the outcome.

https://www.propublica.org/article/wisconsin-legislative-maps-bizarre-are-they-illegal?utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

Map showing Wisconsin's 48th and 79th Districts. It spotlights a disconnected "island" portion of the 79th floating in the middle of the 48th. That island, shown in an inset map, contains just 2 houses and a manufacturing plant. Caption reads: In Dane County, the Town of Burke is made up of disjointed tracts, resulting in noncontiguous boundaries for the town. Tiny portions of the town are in two different Assembly districts, both held by Democrats.
Map of Wisconsin's 2nd and 88th Districts. An inset map spotlights two disconnected "islands" that belong to the 88th district, but which are entirely surrounded by the 2nd. Caption reads: The 88th District, which features eastern sections of Green Bay as well as more rural areas, includes two detached islands surrounded by the 2nd District. Those islands correspond to the boundaries of two towns. The islands don’t seem to benefit either party. Both districts are represented by Republicans.
Map of Wisconsin's 47th District, showing how, in addition to its large, oddly shaped contiguous portion, it has numerous disconnected "islands" that do not in any way connect with the rest of the 47th. Caption reads: The Town of Madison, which had noncontiguous boundaries and was part of the 47th Assembly District, ceased to exist in 2022 when it was absorbed by the cities of Madison and Fitchburg. Yet the resulting islands in the legislative district remain. The district is notable for its large number of people living in noncontiguous areas.

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@ProPublica
There is really no reason for computer voting terminals (or even in-person voting for that matter), but computers are the quick and easy answer to drawing voting precincts. An off-the-shelf GIS can draw equal population adjoining polygons without resorting to weirdness, totally unbiased and fair without human intervention. To stop gerrymandering we have t take humans out of the creation of voting maps completely.

LeftistLawyer, to solar
@LeftistLawyer@kolektiva.social avatar

A revealing article on the headwinds facing the transition to -energy.
From the article:

  1. and stocks are declining due to higher costs of raw materials and slow supply response.
  2. chargers and copper mining, critical for the energy transition, face demand uncertainties and reluctance in investment, and
  3. Despite government subsidies, energy sectors struggle with high costs and interest rates, indicating a slower and more expensive transition than anticipated.

This is the problem with entrusting matters of such dire importance to -- especially in an age of resource scarcity. As I say in my pinned toot:

Capitalism is little more than an ideological hangover produced from a time long past when low hanging fruit was everywhere for the taking and people thought it would never disappear.

That quote has deeper context than most suspect. I penned it years ago shortly out of law school after taking a Wildlife Law class from the, now deceased, Professor Dale Goble. He literally wrote the book on the Act. There he introduced me to the reason species have, historically, been driven to -- new technology + capitalist opportunism:

Gun powder killed the mega-predators. Whales? Spear gun. Passenger pigeon? Net guns. I could go on. But then we invented the petroleum economy, and in the opportunistic race for economic growth the decline has quickened by means of the collateral damage caused by degradation. Which, brings me to my point ---

The ideology that is capitalism was built around gluts. It cannot exist without low hanging fruit to fuel the necessary to get past the bottleneck of widespread consumer adoption. We are seeing the problem in stark outline today. Without in the resource extraction sector, generating the necessary momentum to survive the capitalist "valley of death" is nearly impossible.

I conclude, there must first be an ideological transition away from the hangover that is capitalism, if we ever want to transition sustainable green-energy. The fruit is gone, folks. If we ever want it back, capitalism won’t take us there

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/11/has-the-energy-transition-hit-a-wall.html

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@LeftistLawyer
And conserving resources is never even part of the equation. Does everybody have to have an SUV, do we need riding lawnmowers or thermostats set to 68 when the temp is 100F? Under Carter, there was a fleeting time to use less, to turn the lights out when you left a room, carpool, put on a sweater instead of turning up the heat. Now, we just try to meet rising demand, with no effort to encourage lowering demand.

Free_Press, to news
@Free_Press@mstdn.social avatar

Mike Lindell needs to get his nose out of the coke...

Steve Bannon helping MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell promote major sales as his friend struggles to pay off legal fees from his election lawsuits and his company faces financial hardships that have crippled operations

https://www.newsweek.com/steve-bannon-tries-save-mypillow-mike-lindell-slashes-prices-1843917

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@Free_Press
Finally, some good news on my timeline this morning.

lauren, to random
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org avatar

Other GOP leaders are defending the GOP senator who tried to get into a fist fight yesterday with a witness during a Senate hearing (Bernie Sanders stopped him). This shouldn't surprise anyone, because the GOP leadership is now dominated by moronic thugs, bullies, and charlatans.

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@lauren
The operant word for the GOP leadership (and membership) is psychopathic. That they are thugs, bullies and charlatans is merely symptomatic. Fifty years ago, the Republicans were the "smart" party. Hard to believe, eh?

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Good. Keep slamming.

“ compares 's 'vermin' remarks to rhetoric

Biden slammed former President Donald Trump's remarks last weekend that characterized his political opponents as "vermin" who pose threats within the country.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/biden-compares-trumps-vermin-remarks-nazi-rhetoric-rcna125266

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@GottaLaff
The only problem is that the MAGA are flying Nazi flags alongside Trump flags, while 40% of the country prefers Putin and Hitler to Biden.

lednabwm, to random

Yes, dear....

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@MugsysRapSheet @nosmaharba @avi917 @lednabwm
'Atheist are DEFINED by their "faith"' Like saying that totally bald people are defined by their hair color. Give your god(s) the boot. They're just a waste of time and money, unless you're making money off of them.

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@MugsysRapSheet @nosmaharba @avi917 @lednabwm
"Bald people don't insist they have hair."
Non sequitur. It would appear that you have untidy thought processes, likely a root cause of your delusion that supernatural gods exist. I believe in your god(s) as much as you believe in:

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@MugsysRapSheet @nosmaharba @avi917 @lednabwm
Basic definitions of the word "religion".

The belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers, regarded as creating and governing the universe.

A particular variety of such belief, especially when organized into a system of doctrine and practice.

A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.

Note that atheism has no "practices". We have no doctrine. You are not speaking English.

GW, to random
@GW@newsie.social avatar

America’s War Economy and the Urgent Call for Peace in the Middle East

Twenty-three years and more than two wars later, this statement reads as a tragic footnote to America’s Global War on Terror that left an entire region of the planet immiserated. It contributed to the direct and indirect deaths of close to 4.5 million people while costing Americans almost $9 trillion and counting.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/11/06/americas-war-economy-and-the-urgent-call-for-peace-in-the-middle-east/

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@GW
They should refer to the war in Iraq as Cheney's war.

stevesilberman, to random
@stevesilberman@newsie.social avatar

Every reporter in America should stop what they're doing, read, and absorb the importance of what Will Bunch says here. We are one election away from a fascist state ruled by a career mobster with a sadistic craving for revenge. That's what's at stake in 2024! https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/journalism-free-press-gaza-extremism-20231105.html

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@stevesilberman
And everybody except psychologist Dr. Mary Trump refuses to say that he's out of his mind. Trump is WAY more than a mobster, he's a demented, delusional psychopath with serious cognitive impairment who should be in an institution for the criminally insane.

marcelias, to random
@marcelias@mas.to avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @marcelias
    All the problems vanish if we just go to all mail-in.
    No polling sites to set up/protect, heat or air condition.
    No poll workers.
    No voter intimidation.
    No computer security problems.
    No computer voting terminals, or people to set them up and maintain them.
    No waiting in line.

    Forcing people to vote in person borders on insanity.
    It has NOTHING to recommend it, NOTHING to justify it. It's a waste of money and a waste of everybody's time.

    RememberUsAlways, to Palestine
    @RememberUsAlways@newsie.social avatar

    I'm just going to say what everyone else will not.

    is a terrorist nation where is in control for nearly 20 years.

    It's long past the time that takes a stand against .

    may be the new standard and example for embracing terrorists against humanity.
    I support Democracy
    I support

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @RememberUsAlways @mafeesh @TimWardCam @MattMastodon
    "Not a random group of religious morons." Relative to the Zionist side of religious morons, who all have Jewish mothers to unite them, they are.
    The US no longer has any national interest in either side, now that it has ramped up its oil production to meet demand. Let the Europeans and Chinese duke it out with the locals for their oil.
    "Israel is at war. Hamas' is at terror." Jingoism at its finest. Both sides are sadistic and barbaric.

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @RememberUsAlways @mafeesh @TimWardCam @MattMastodon
    I think there should be two state solution, just to calm things down, and that Israel should give back some of the occupied land. It won't, but it should. I just think the US should get its nose out of the fight. The US should simply support UN decisions and go with the majority. If the UN wants to send in peacekeepers, fine, but the US should butt out and stop giving everybody money and weapons to kill each other with.

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @RememberUsAlways @mafeesh @TimWardCam @MattMastodon
    We have NATO and SEATO for that. Nobody in the Middle East is even on our side! Turkey aligns with Russia now, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, basically the entire Middle East is just a chaotic religious mess. Bag it. Pull out like we did in Vietnam, where we didn't belong in the first place. The only winners are the arms dealers.

    Ya gotta know when to hold up,
    Know when to fold up,
    Know when to walk away,
    Know when to run.

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @RememberUsAlways
    Israel is just another theocratic, militarily aggressive apartheid state that continues to accrete more territory and kick out the people who lived there. The US was more of a democracy than Israel is when a slave's vote only counted for 3/5 of a freeman's vote.

    lednabwm, to random

    Holy errors, Batman...

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @DaWoDerPfeffer @Robert_R_Freitag_II @JoeQuinlan @lednabwm
    The Herod stories are the ones that truly label the NT as fiction. First, the underlying reason for Mary and Joseph being in Bethlehem at all was to pay taxes, showing that the authors knew nothing about the procedures Romans used to collect taxes. Second, why in the world would Joseph take his late term pregnant wife with him - riding on a donkey!? It's interesting to note that Mary doesn't become a virgin for another 3 hundred years.

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @DaWoDerPfeffer @Robert_R_Freitag_II @JoeQuinlan @lednabwm
    The NT authors tell us that Herod was killing first born Jewish sons to preempt a Messiah from dethroning him, retelling the Ramses legend and Passover. Besides the fact that the Jews themselves do not remember this - and they do remember stuff like this - the Romans didn't either. Romans were real bean counters, and they would have kept records of both Herod's edict and how many Jews they killed, day by day. They don't exist.

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @DaWoDerPfeffer @steven @Robert_R_Freitag_II @JoeQuinlan
    @lednabwm
    The English/Germanic days of the week are all pagan, named after the Teutonic pantheon,, except for Saturday. Xianity didn't really go over big up north until deep into the Dark Ages.

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @Jeramee @steven @DaWoDerPfeffer @Robert_R_Freitag_II @JoeQuinlan @lednabwm
    I generally bring up Sherlock Holmes as a comparison, and now that the copyrights have expired, there are new Sherlock Holmes stories by new authors popping up, just like the NT. I recall that Sherlock was modeled on a French police detective familiar to Conan Doyle, so something similar could have taken place with Yeshua. In any case, the NT is definitely fiction: The Further Adventures of Jesus Christ, Superstar.

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @lednabwm @Jeramee @steven @DaWoDerPfeffer @Robert_R_Freitag_II @JoeQuinlan
    Joseph Smith the Glass Looker, for example.

    MichaelEMann, to random
    @MichaelEMann@fediscience.org avatar

    "Pioneering scientist says global warming is accelerating. Some experts call his claims overheated" by Seth Borenstein for the @associatedpress https://apnews.com/article/global-warming-climate-change-accelerating-worse-92facd6145ab9ab32281ff5d641517f0

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @MichaelEMann @associatedpress
    Notice that it's always "experts", especially economists, that don't like what the scientists are saying.

    CelloMomOnCars, to TeslaMotors
    @CelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

    About those "abated" or "unabated" :

    "We found that scenarios with more gas were reliant on potentially unachievable levels of () and () .

    This suggests that narratives around as a “bridge”, “transition”, or “cleaner” fuel may be misplaced."

    (It's always useful to ask WHO is pushing for a particular solution. The fossil fuel industry pushes for CCS and CDR).

    https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-why-all-fossil-fuels-must-decline-rapidly-to-stay-below-1-5c/

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @enobacon @CelloMomOnCars
    For a century? More like a millennium. I really thought that most people understood the problems with perpetual motion by now, but apparently not. We learned it in about 3rd or 4th grade back in the early1950s, but all they teach these days is...well, I have no idea, come to think of it. Certainly not science of any description.

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