RationalWiki talk:What is going on in the world?
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[edit] 3D printer and world hunger
I don't see how 3D printers will help world hunger in any way. Unless you can turn sand to bread or broadcast a sandwich with it, a 3D printer is a useless middleman. I'm unimpressed with 3D printers period. I first saw them on the Colbert Report, where I thought, "what, because I need to make a wax bust of Stephen Colbert more than once in my lifetime?" Sure, you can make the odd knickknack with one, but it's little more than a resource intensive novelty. It's not a universal assembler. It's not even close, and it's not even a precursor (assuming such a machine would even be possible)--"Shut up, Brx." 23:42, 21 May 2013 (UTC)
- The article mentions that the use of powders would expand the number of nutrient-sources out of which it is possible to synthesize edible food (so you wouldn't need to rely on raising cattle for protein, rather than, say, a mosquito trap). That said, as I understand it, world hunger right now isn't being caused by a lack of food, but by how unevenly it's distributed, and this technology alone would do little to solve that.Lady Corvex (talk) 02:09, 22 May 2013 (UTC)Lady Corvex
- ...world hunger right now isn't being caused by a lack of food, but by how unevenly it's distributed, and this technology alone would do little to solve that. True, but it's so much easier to pretend that these disparities don't exist and prattle on about how quick techno-fixes and the free market fairy will fix everything at some unspecified point in the future. Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 03:42, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
- Clearly, since you hate 3-D printers so much, you've never done any sort of prototyping. Anybody whose ever had to design something or invent something or test something for prototype would tell you that, sometimes, being able to create scale models of things (in this case, with a 3-D printer) is invaluable. Especially when you're talking about projects where you might have to invest millions (or, even, billion) of dollars in revenue, only to find out it doesn't work as well as you'd hoped. In those circumstances, being able to print out small, plastic test models with an initial investment of a few thousand dollars is worth it. Don't believe me? I've seen real life uses of 3-D printers in various design engineering environments. Reckless Noise Symphony (talk) 14:59, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
- Alright, then 3d printers are useful for creating scale models for the purpose of prototyping.--"Shut up, Brx." 15:40, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
- Well, well, well. Look who's eating their hat--"Shut up, Brx." 03:03, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
- Alright, then 3d printers are useful for creating scale models for the purpose of prototyping.--"Shut up, Brx." 15:40, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
- Clearly, since you hate 3-D printers so much, you've never done any sort of prototyping. Anybody whose ever had to design something or invent something or test something for prototype would tell you that, sometimes, being able to create scale models of things (in this case, with a 3-D printer) is invaluable. Especially when you're talking about projects where you might have to invest millions (or, even, billion) of dollars in revenue, only to find out it doesn't work as well as you'd hoped. In those circumstances, being able to print out small, plastic test models with an initial investment of a few thousand dollars is worth it. Don't believe me? I've seen real life uses of 3-D printers in various design engineering environments. Reckless Noise Symphony (talk) 14:59, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
- ...world hunger right now isn't being caused by a lack of food, but by how unevenly it's distributed, and this technology alone would do little to solve that. True, but it's so much easier to pretend that these disparities don't exist and prattle on about how quick techno-fixes and the free market fairy will fix everything at some unspecified point in the future. Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 03:42, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
[edit] Judge Roach, lesbians, and divorce agreements
The article in question is selectively-edited, and omits a key part of the father's lawyer's statement(found here):
“”"I see how this creates a situation where [Carolyn] can't marry Page, while [Joshua] could marry a girlfriend," lawyer Paul Key told the Huffington Post. "But that's not why we're doing it. We would have done the same thing if it were some guy that had moved in."
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In other words, if the mother had a boyfriend who wasn't planning on marrying her, this wouldn't even be news. Similarly (and probably more importantly), if gay marriage was legal in Texas (or across the USA), this would also not be news (because they would have just gotten married and the clause would be moot). --Seth Peck (talk) 17:53, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
- Okay
1) 'This would not be news' - a century ago, yeah, but last time I checked, people cohabit, even after marriage;
2) this is a morality clause being invoked after the divorce had been finalised, there is no fucking chance that it would be considered constitutional if it was interfering with a heterosexual relationship that wasn't harming the children and any two-bit lawyer would know that - the clause was only put into the final decree because there was a gay relationship, and has only been invoked because it is a gay relationship;
and 3) it's the father's lawyer saying, "But's that's not why we're doing it. We would have done the same thing if it were some guy that had moved in." Really? I mean, REALLY? Let's see him produce a case where he's successfully done exactly that, after the divorce has gone through, because I'm kind of guessing he hasn't. And that 'kind of guessing' bit, that was sarcasm, because see above re:unconstitutional.--
Jabba de Chops 19:08, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
- Just like with the story of the 18-year-old supposedly being a rapist for having sex with a 15-year-old, the case is stupid and outrageous even without the homophobia angle. 'Morality clause'? Really?
According to the women's lawyer, the morality clause technically makes it illegal for Carolyn to have anyone she is dating or intimate with at her home with her two children anytime after 9 p.m.
- What a load of bullshit. (talk to) /æn əˈmɛɹɪkən ˈnaiːɪlɪst/ 19:47, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
- What legal consequences could a divorce agreement even do? Could she seriously be put in prison for a breech? --Revolverman (talk) 23:14, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
- Presumably it relates to the child custody/access, i.e. civil law rather than criminal. The ex-husband is pushing for this clause to be enforced, so most likely he would push for the children's mother to lose custody if she breaches it. ωεαşεζόίď
Methinks it is a Weasel 23:21, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
- Ahh. Ok. What a fucking scumbag, willing to hurt the kid to punish his ex. Prick. --Revolverman (talk) 00:45, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
- Turns out I was wrong: breach of divorce terms is deemed contempt of court (a criminal offence) & is legally punishable as such if the judge chose to take that tack. In fact, that's what the ex-husband in this case was pushing for: "The motion cited 181 dates between Sept. 15 and April 4 that the clause has been violated because Price, his ex-wife’s “female paramour,” had spent the night while his children were there. Joshua Compton’s motion asked that his ex-wife be held in contempt, jailed and fined for each violation." Fucking scumbag indeed. Ŵêâŝêîôîď
Methinks it is a Weasel 20:11, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
- Turns out I was wrong: breach of divorce terms is deemed contempt of court (a criminal offence) & is legally punishable as such if the judge chose to take that tack. In fact, that's what the ex-husband in this case was pushing for: "The motion cited 181 dates between Sept. 15 and April 4 that the clause has been violated because Price, his ex-wife’s “female paramour,” had spent the night while his children were there. Joshua Compton’s motion asked that his ex-wife be held in contempt, jailed and fined for each violation." Fucking scumbag indeed. Ŵêâŝêîôîď
- Ahh. Ok. What a fucking scumbag, willing to hurt the kid to punish his ex. Prick. --Revolverman (talk) 00:45, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
- Presumably it relates to the child custody/access, i.e. civil law rather than criminal. The ex-husband is pushing for this clause to be enforced, so most likely he would push for the children's mother to lose custody if she breaches it. ωεαşεζόίď
- What legal consequences could a divorce agreement even do? Could she seriously be put in prison for a breech? --Revolverman (talk) 23:14, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
- Since no one else seems to get it: the point is that it might not have anything to do with the gender of the person living with the ex. Look at it from the father's point of view: he doesn't know who this person is who's living with his children (or may not know them well enough), and if HE had a girlfriend living with him (who he wasn't married to) then his ex would be able to sue him for custody rights based on the divorce agreement. Divorces involving kids are almost always sticky, touchy arrangements; the fact that the mother is in breach of her part of the agreement overrides any relevance over the gender of the person living with her while she has the kids. --Seth Peck (talk) 19:07, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
- I don't like people having that much power over their exes. Agreements that include things like 'morality clauses' should be private arrangements and not be treated as law -- the court should determine whether the woman sleeping with her girlfriend is harmful to the kids if the exhusband has a problem with it. (talk to) /æn əˈmɛɹɪkən ˈnaiːɪlɪst/ 19:21, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
- From what's being reported, it seems a lot like the ex-husband is using the court system vindictively & the judge is playing along, most likely because of the same-sex relationship. The morality clause is standard in parts of Texas & some other states but very rarely enforced when divorcees are cohabiting in a hetero relationship, while it is enforced arbitrarily against same-sex households. Wéáśéĺóíď
Methinks it is a Weasel 20:11, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
- From what's being reported, it seems a lot like the ex-husband is using the court system vindictively & the judge is playing along, most likely because of the same-sex relationship. The morality clause is standard in parts of Texas & some other states but very rarely enforced when divorcees are cohabiting in a hetero relationship, while it is enforced arbitrarily against same-sex households. Wéáśéĺóíď
- I don't like people having that much power over their exes. Agreements that include things like 'morality clauses' should be private arrangements and not be treated as law -- the court should determine whether the woman sleeping with her girlfriend is harmful to the kids if the exhusband has a problem with it. (talk to) /æn əˈmɛɹɪkən ˈnaiːɪlɪst/ 19:21, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
[edit] E.W. Jackson on the three-fifths doctrine
He explained it very poorly, but he is right: the purpose of the three-fifths compromise was to limit the legislative power of slave-holding states. Here's the deal: A state's representation within the House of Representatives is directly proportional to the number of people it has. For census purposes, the South wanted to count slaves as people, so that their population numbers would be higher and they would have more representation. The North, in contrast, said it was hypocritical for the South to count slaves as people when they had none of the benefits of legal personhood. The Three-Fifths Compromise was the end result of this. It was a way of reducing the extent the slave-holding states could increase their legislative clout just from possessing more slaves (since slaves had no representation). Apokalyps2547 (talk) 19:36, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
[edit] Mandatory sentencing piece
Do we have a more recent citation than 2007 for that one? Hydrogen and Time (talk) 12:35, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
- Maybe we need WWGO. Innocent Bystander (talk) 12:41, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
[edit] Roman Polanski
Disgusting pervert makes me puke. Lock the cunt up Scherben (talk) 23:42, 27 May 2013 (UTC)
[edit] baghdad bombings
Its on the front page of the beeb now and has been for a few days. How many Internet's does that get me? AMassiveGay (talk) 00:24, 28 May 2013 (UTC)
- It's Monday now, and the bombings happened on Monday.-- how has something that happened on Monday been reported for a few days? Faced with mysteries dark and vast/statements just seem vain at last. 00:55, 28 May 2013 (UTC)
- my mistake. I was sure i have seen reports of bombings in Iraq over the last few days. I have a very poor sense of timeAMassiveGay (talk) 01:05, 28 May 2013 (UTC)
- Kinda my point. Bombings there all blend together because nobody really gives a toss about those people. But three Americans die in a relatively insignificant terrorist attack and the world grinds to a halt for a week. Faced with mysteries dark and vast/statements just seem vain at last. 03:20, 28 May 2013 (UTC)
- The old saw is that "Dog Bites Man" isn't news, but "Man Bites Dog" is. The tragic, horrific fact is that mass casualty bombings in Iraq simply aren't unusual, although even by Iraqi standards, the bombings on Monday were awful. There was plenty of coverage in Western, including American, media on Monday, but little since then. There also haven't been any particular developments in the story since then.
- Kinda my point. Bombings there all blend together because nobody really gives a toss about those people. But three Americans die in a relatively insignificant terrorist attack and the world grinds to a halt for a week. Faced with mysteries dark and vast/statements just seem vain at last. 03:20, 28 May 2013 (UTC)
- my mistake. I was sure i have seen reports of bombings in Iraq over the last few days. I have a very poor sense of timeAMassiveGay (talk) 01:05, 28 May 2013 (UTC)
- A mass casualty bombing in an American city, by contrast, is extremely unusual. So American media was dominated by an unusual and horrific event in America. English language media in other countries also gave more coverage to an unusual and horrific event in an English-speaking country than to a horrific but horrifically common event in an Arabic-speaking country. That's not terribly surprising. By the way, I checked the BBC's, al-Ahram's and al-Jazeera's Arabic language websites, and they weren't giving the Baghdad bombings front page coverage, either. al-Jazeera did give them coverage on the front page of the Middle East section, in the middle of the second-tier stories. So the comparative lack of coverage doesn't seem to be a uniquely Western perspective.
- And just one more note. In 2005 I was stationed in the Gulf, and part of my job was monitoring Open Source Intelligence, i.e. the news media, on events in the region. If three were Americans killed and dozens seriously wounded, many with amputations, by IEDs, we called it "Tuesday." Other than some perfunctory reporting on the latest casualty figures released by the Pentagon, there was rarely any coverage, at all, in the American media on these events. To be sure, there was a lot of coverage on the Iraq war in general, but mass Iraqi civilian casualties got more coverage in the American media that I saw, and for that matter in the classified intelligence reporting that I saw, than American combat casualties.209.188.42.183 (talk) 20:29, 29 May 2013 (UTC)
[edit] someone might want to WIGO this up somewhere...
[1] my brain hurts too much to write things up at the moment. ThiehLooking for potion recipes 17:52, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
[edit] Just so you know...
Someone's fucked up with the vote numbers. There's two with the same number there... --Certified Sick Bastard 12:34, 31 May 2013 (UTC)
[edit] Now I'm no evolutionary biologist
But I can't wait to hear Ken Ham and good old AIG explain this one away. Oldusgitus (talk) 05:45, 1 June 2013 (UTC)
[edit] Bus driver fired
Why do gradeschoolers, let alone elementary kids, need to pay for the shit they get at lunch anyways? And i like the school's blatant admission that they fired him because he dared to say something that put them in a bad light. Way to go. — (talk to) /æn əˈmɛɹɪkən ˈnaiːɪlɪst/ 05:14, 7 June 2013 (UTC)
[edit] Prostitution, Rape, Murder, Theft in Texas discussion
Why should taking $150 and not having sex when you are a prostitute, or taking money and not giving drugs you sold, not be considered theft? The fact that the act is illegal does not make taking money for a purported illegal act not theft. (I've discussed this issue generally with lawyers and police officers in regards to hypothetical drug sales gone bad.)
So this woman, who decided to engage in purported prostitution, got what was coming to her. She is not a victim; she is a nighttime thief. She did not have to choose to steal people's money under the pretense of prostitution, but she did and now she's dead. The law allowing deadly force for nighttime thefts has been the law for many years, and was applied appropriately. Maybe you could charge the defendant with attempt to solicit prostitution, but that is it. She should have given back the $150 she stole back.
(I didn't discuss rape here, but if you want any honest discussion of prostitution, you have to discuss rape. The feminists want to legalize prostitution - not all, but a sizable amount - but those people seem to rarely discuss the negative consequences that come with prostitution.) Peace (talk) 13:14, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
So the way I see this you have several issues here, which allowed for this defense:
- . Is stealing in an illegal transaction stealing? Texas law has always said yes.
- . If you said yes to 1, should there be a special exception for prostitution (as opposed to drugs)?
- . Should deadly force be able to be used for a nighttime theft in general in Texas?
I don't see how any of these questions, aside from possibly 3, relate to gun availability in Texas, although the defendant did have a semiautomatic gun. Peace (talk) 13:22, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- She "got what was coming to her" - yep, that's the way it is in Texas. If you steal after dark the person you steal from can blow you away. And you don't think that has anything to do with the gun culture that is so pervasive? OK. Innocent Bystander (talk) 13:44, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- According to the story, the $150 was a driver's fee. Any sex would have been extra. She may have been guilty of false advertising, but I see no theft. Faced with mysteries dark and vast/statements just seem vain at last. 13:47, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- I doubt the driver fee was ever advertised on Craigslist. You don't get to make up fees off the top of your head and then call that an agreed transaction. Not saying that she should have been justified to be shot, but she did break the law on theft. ConservapediaEditor (talk) 14:50, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- "I doubt the driver fee was ever advertised on Craigslist." Right. Like I said, false advertising. Anyone who thinks that you can get a woman driven to your apartment and that said woman will then have sex with you, all for 150 bucks, has a pretty skewed idea of how the world works. Faced with mysteries dark and vast/statements just seem vain at last. 15:15, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- The issue is not that she didn't have sex. The issue is that she attempted to run away with the $150. That is theft. ConservapediaEditor (talk) 15:49, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- The $150 that the John owed for the driver's fee. Faced with mysteries dark and vast/statements just seem vain at last. 15:56, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- The issue is not that she didn't have sex. The issue is that she attempted to run away with the $150. That is theft. ConservapediaEditor (talk) 15:49, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- "I doubt the driver fee was ever advertised on Craigslist." Right. Like I said, false advertising. Anyone who thinks that you can get a woman driven to your apartment and that said woman will then have sex with you, all for 150 bucks, has a pretty skewed idea of how the world works. Faced with mysteries dark and vast/statements just seem vain at last. 15:15, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- I doubt the driver fee was ever advertised on Craigslist. You don't get to make up fees off the top of your head and then call that an agreed transaction. Not saying that she should have been justified to be shot, but she did break the law on theft. ConservapediaEditor (talk) 14:50, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
I can see the argument that this is not a feminist issue or gun rights issue per se, but the defense in 9.41 in the Texas Penal Code needs to be modified to prevent a defense when the fleeing after theft solely consists of an uncompleted transaction of illegal activity (including a drug deal gone bad, not just prostitution). I will lobby for this change, especially when that exception exists in the Castle Doctrine (the state is considering a rewrite of the Penal Code. I believe this is bad verbiage of law, not intended policy. While this woman did commit an illegal act, be it theft or prostitution, self defense is not meant to be used as a defense in illegal transactions. This does open a much broader discussion here, but I believe this should be uncontroversial, regardless of your views on drugs/prostitution/gun legalization.) ConservapediaEditor (talk) 14:32, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- And still, from this Brit's point of view, it's the fact that he shot her at all. The guy quite clearly took the law into his own hands. By comparison, see this example from Britain. OK, so that's the way it is in Texas. I'm just glad I don't live there. Innocent Bystander (talk) 16:10, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- We need to change the law, and the easiest way to do so is to say the theft defense does not apply when the theft solely consists of taking payment intended to commit a crime (I'm not a lawyer so pardon the phrasing). ConservapediaEditor (talk) 16:23, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- I think you ought to change to law to say that the theft defense does not apply under any circumstances - especially when everyone is packing. From WP English law permits one person to kill another in self-defence only if the person defending him or herself uses no more than "reasonable force" - personally that suits me fine. But if that's the way you like it.... Innocent Bystander (talk) 16:27, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- Sorry, that's not very clear (what preview!) - In British law the only reason one person may kill another is self defense with reasonable force. Innocent Bystander (talk) 16:29, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- I think you ought to change to law to say that the theft defense does not apply under any circumstances - especially when everyone is packing. From WP English law permits one person to kill another in self-defence only if the person defending him or herself uses no more than "reasonable force" - personally that suits me fine. But if that's the way you like it.... Innocent Bystander (talk) 16:27, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- We need to change the law, and the easiest way to do so is to say the theft defense does not apply when the theft solely consists of taking payment intended to commit a crime (I'm not a lawyer so pardon the phrasing). ConservapediaEditor (talk) 16:23, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- So, what — if you sell your Wii and some games to your buddy for 150$ during the night and ey takes it but refuses to pay according to you, you can kill em? — (talk to) /æn əˈmɛɹɪkən ˈnaiːɪlɪst/ 16:47, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- (ec) Amazing. Only in America do they try and justify shooting somebody for "stealing" $150. Money spent on an illegal transaction. Maybe they should just go back to hanging people for stealing a loaf of bread. I wonder if he would have walked free if he'd shot a drug dealer who'd taken his money and given him a bag of talcum powder? --PsyGremlinZungumza! 16:50, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
There's too much being made about the fact that this alleged theft took place in the context of an "illegal transaction", as if the killing would be OK otherwise. I would still find it objectionable if it was a shoplifter who was shot, or a grifter. Killing or maiming somebody to get your money or goods back has nothing to do with self-defence. Any law that condones this kind of retaliation is rotten, as far as I'm concerned. Wéáśéĺóíď
Methinks it is a Weasel 17:57, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
Peace, you are a dick Scherben (talk) 23:22, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
- Texas, as so often, has things upside down, unwilling to prohibit gun violence but busy legislating people's sex lives. Prostitution is illegal in Texas (not just pimping, or streetwalkers, or solicitation or trafficking, any transaction in which a person offers sex for money is a crime in Texas). But you can shoot (and thus likely kill) anyone who steals from you and you won't even have to face trial. Brilliant.
- And yes, Peace is being a dick about prostitution. Tialaramex (talk) 12:04, 10 June 2013 (UTC)
Peace said: "The feminists want to legalize prostitution - not all, but a sizable amount - but those people seem to rarely discuss the negative consequences that come with prostitution." Well this is blatant straw man that we have here. All right, you don't like feminists (don't deny it). What make you think that feminists have the exact same opinion about prostitution and that they don't know what's negative in it? Let's go check there to have some knowledge about it. This is bloody ridiculous.--Sultan Rahi (talk) 07:35, 15 June 2013 (UTC)
[edit] Gay propaganda
For context, in the UK (where the editor for that Russian story is based) the not so very different Clause 28 (aka Section 28, aka Section 2A, isn't bureaucracy wonderful?) was only repealed this century.
When I say not so very different: Clause 28 was also targeted at government-funded schools. It too pretended to be about protecting children from falsehoods about an "alternative lifestyle" when it was clearly anti-homosexual in nature. It too was a reaction to decriminalisation (if you can't ban gay sex, at least tell kids it's wrong) and it too was driven largely by an older conservative demographic, twenty-five years later enough of them are dead that the same UK party is pushing through Gay Marriage under Cameron without that much fuss.
I'm actually a little surprised this wasn't a bigger deal in the US. Were your schools too busy arguing over whether to teach the classical elements or the periodic table of elements? Whether the Great Flood story is current affairs or history? Somehow you've gone from homosexuality notionally being prohibited in your country to gay marriage debates without that brief "It's legal but it's naughty so don't tell children" period in the middle, or have you? Tialaramex (talk) 09:45, 12 June 2013 (UTC)
- We're having both going on right now actually. There's the "Don't Say Gay" bill that keeps coming up in Tennessee and there have been other similar efforts around the country. It has been quite brief, really. 2005 wasn't that long ago. I'm not sure why we've seen such a fast change. I've pondered on it but can't see any clear answer. Ayzmo (talk) 01:04, 13 June 2013 (UTC)
- Change isn't a smooth, evenly-spaced linear progression. It's often discontinuous and happens rapidly -- witness the depth to which the Internet is an element of everyday life for hundreds of millions of people these days, and compare it to the world of 1998. I think (entirely PIDOOMA) that the slow introduction of gay characters into entertainment, and the increasingly common depiction of them as ordinary humans that happen to have different bedroom proclivities, as opposed to flamboyant lisping stereotypes, has combined with the meritocratizing effect of the Internet on speech to slowly turn the tide on the cultural groupthink around homophobia. The narrative successfully shifted (enough) away from gay pedophile predators and leather daddies and drag queens squicking out the Moral Majority crowd and into equality issues, for which logic has a much stronger hold.
- The popular image of the "average" homosexual has shifted from "kinky freak of nature" to "neighbour" for a significant portion of the population, and so equality comes down to a basic denial of certain rights against someone who is basically indistinguishable from the population. Justifying treating people as second-class citizens is easier when they can be called out as disgusting freaks that don't function with proper society. When the silent majority starts to drift away from this bigoted position, they can be sudden and decisive in expressing their will.
- As mentioned above, this is a big bag of PIDOOMA, and it's certainly not true everywhere, but I'm hoping that this is a primary factor behind the cultural shift we're seeing, because it'll continue forward. Ochotona princepsnot a pokémon 00:43, 16 June 2013 (UTC)
[edit] Scientists believe they have discovered how cancer spreads through the body,
Is this a case of a narrow and specific finding reported in the scientific literature becoming broad and general in the popular press? (We should name that phenomenon and have an article on it. Something like knowledge creep or something.) Also, while the article (...and who the fuck reads the Calgary Herald, anyways?) says that " it will be relatively easy to develop drugs that interfere with this interaction," it concludes that: "there’s a very long way to go to see whether this knowledge can be translated into new treatments for cancer patients.” If I knew the way/I would take you home. 02:10, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
- I'd just call it exaggeration or blowing things out of proportion. And, I imagine that's at least partially a reference to the process of drug trials, starting from promising compound A that does XYZ good thing in the lab through animal testing, then initial human trials, more rounds of human trials for longer periods and larger testing cohorts, etc. until finally it's sold on the shelves or marketed to pharmacies to carry and doctors to prescribe. Assuming it isn't found to kill or cause brain damage or (if we ask the Daily Fail) cause other cancer, somewhere along the line, or any other number of deal-breaking side effects, that still takes a bloody long time. And, right now, the metastasis mechanism is a potential discovery, so predicting any sort of meaningful ETAs on practical applications being discovered and isolated/understood in order to begin assembling drug compounds is kind of pointless, because not only are those interference measures as of yet at least partially unknown, the entire theory is still unproven. Ochotona princepsnot a pokémon 12:25, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
[edit] Tax man doesn't want your BitCoins
The tax man always wants dollars, that's a key part of why the dollar is valuable - everybody has to pay taxes. You can't pay taxes with Bitcoins, so they're only valuable if you can exchange them for something you want. And that makes them taxable, but again, in dollars. Thus, your WoW gold is only taxable if you convert it into dollars or other valuable stuff (which Blizzard says you mustn't). So long as all you do is play WoW the taxman couldn't give a shit. Your Pokémon playing cards and collection of bottle caps are likewise uninteresting to the IRS so long as they remain just that. When you auction them for $25 000 on eBay, or agree to swap them for a brand new family car, the taxman wants a cut, in dollars. Tialaramex (talk) 08:53, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
- Blinding flash of the obvious their my friend. --Revolverman (talk) 18:33, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
[edit] Last telegram??
That article is just not true. Two months ago I sent a telegram to my fiancée (which is a very good flirt), and I'm not convinced that telegram are actually completely stopped. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2013/0614/India-to-send-world-s-last-telegram.-Stop?nav=87-frontpage-spotlight 62.159.14.62 (talk) 13:51, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
- You need to read past the headline, bozo: " The world's last telegram message will be sent somewhere in India on July 14."