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If the mandate of NPR is to report facts wouldn't republicans be excluded by definition?

New episode out now! DB Cooper and the JFK Assassination with my good friend John Limbach. https://thecoopervortex.podbean.com/e/db-cooper-and-the-jfk-assassination-john-limbach/ Enjoy!

Our office was in the path of totality..big boss catered BBQ and we all went out and watched it together. Was a great show, but I'm in the same boat for lack of photos. I figured there'll be literally millions of pictures, many of them taken by better photographers than me. I'd prefer to watch it with my eyes rather than through my phone.

Oh, no. They die. Then they get beaten some more. And more. And more. Brent never admits being wrong. Ever. Jakee never lets go. Ever. I'm usually good for a couple smartass comments. And eventually you have a 'horse smoothie'.

Is that the one where you could put any name down and click the box that said you were a scientist? I heard Mr. Banana Rama's scientific accomplishments are very special. And, who isn't aware of the science behind the healing powers of Mongolian overtone singing? Do you not see the irony touting your scientific record and then hyping the validity of the Great Barrington Declaration based on the number of signatures?

Yes, and we all thought that the Russian military was competent. We were wrong.

That is an impressive enough resume I suppose. What is your opinion on the direction given to the public by the NIH? are they some sort of scammers? Is your posistion influenced by the politics around the pandemic, or is the rest of the scientific community just plain wrong and only you are correct? https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2021/11/face-masks-covid-19 You may think that we don't already know about the Dunning-Kruger effect but you are wrong in making that assumption. The bottom like is that face masks can and do play a role in reducing the spread of droplets containing viral particles therefore reducing but not eliminating the spread of viral infection. At a time when the health system was overwhelmed with cases of covid leading to sever overtaxing of the system anything reducing the infection rate was very much welcomed and needed.

Effectiveness of N95 Mask in Preventing COVID-19 Transmission Plus if both parties are wearing masks; the transmitter and the receiver protection is doubled?

Such a terrible thing, especially because he was so very much certain. Does anyone know if he's still dead?

Beside the bronzed copy of WaltAppel's final post?

That one's going up on the wall in the moderator's lair.

L Ron Hoover anyone?

It's all about religious freedom; The GOP is sponsoring these bills at the behest of The First Church of Appliantology.

As some of you know, I am now at a startup (Smartville) designing systems that let you use old EV batteries as energy storage for your house, business or grid. This is a way to: 1) Not have to throw out/recycle all those old EV batteries 2) Have a way to store energy from renewable (solar, wind) 3) Provide grid backup during times of high demand. A while back, none other than Scott Miller called me and asked me to do a podcast with him on what I'm doing with Smartville. It's up now at the link below. https://creatingacoolerworld.com/

Yep. When you factually report on the trial that found that Trump sexually assaulted E Jean Carroll, it makes him sound like a rapist (since, objectively, he is one.) Then when you factually report on the sexual improprieties of Joe Biden, the report sounds . . . not that bad, since he has not sexually assaulted anyone. Conservatives demand that the media make both reports sound the same. Even if you report on the accusations, it makes Trump sound worse, since 13 women have accused him of sexual assault (one of which was proven) and he's admitted to sexual assault on TV. Then you report on the one woman who's accused Biden, and it makes it sound like Trump is much, much worse. Trump supporters demand enforced equality. If you spend 15 minutes listing all of Trump's accusers, you have to spend 15 minutes on Biden's one accuser. If you make it sound like Trump raped someone, you have to make it sound like Biden raped someone too. They want rapists made equal to non-rapists, criminals made equal to non-criminals, and people who pay to cover up their banging a porn star made equal to people who don't bang porn stars. This demand for equality in everything is, ironically, something they vociferously oppose when applied to the rest of society, and indeed regularly claim that people are NOT equal and should not be forced to be. Unless their last name is Biden. Then they should be made equal to Trump.

Another knock on effect from the mainstream right’s embrace of Trumpism. You can’t report honestly on Trump without the coverage sounding like a hatchet job, so when the majority of right wingers choose to throw away their principles and support him anyway they’re not going to want to work for an organisation that makes them feel bad about that. Now, given how much your guy moans about lack of Hunter coverage (whose misdeeds he conflates with Joe, which is a pretty big red flag) I’d be interested to know how much time NPR spent covering Jared’s far more successful influence peddling from inside the White House vs Hunter’s solo efforts. Would anyone here really be surprised if the bias was actually in the other direction?

And who can forget Moses, who told his troops to kill all the women and kill all the children in a city, but keep the younger virgin girls "for their use." But he looks upon that with fond forbearance, just a historical quirk of years gone by. And sucking little boys' penises has a long tradition, and you have to understand X and Y and Z, and if you don't, you don't get to have an opinion. It's very nuanced, requiring a lot of study to understand the context. Muslims, though, worship a sick pedophile, and they're all mentally ill, period.

Yeah, but I’d bet you’d vote for her over pretty much any possible democrat. Wendy P.

Nope, if Trump wins we'll all be looking back at these as the good old days.

in 2017 the DZ was in the path of totality. Instead of selling camping sites or anything we shut down and just let cool people come on the property to enjoy. We flew a single formation load with two Caravans and our jumpers. I got to fly trail. Super amazing. The jumpers who couldn't be on the airplanes got to enjoy it without a million people around. They also had amazing experiences. One of the spectators who made the cut because she likes to come out and watch took an incredible pic that we have in the lobby. Big fun and long term memories.

The line sequence was: sheath-and-core dacron kevlar spectra vectran/hma Kevlar has poor abrasion resistance. It is also skinnier than dacron, so less friction in slider grommets and harder openings. Also, kevlar doesn't stretch much, so less shock absorption than dacron.

These Countries Have the Most Income Equality Happiness rankings follow closely, as does health care rankings, longevity, general education, trust of government, peaceful society, functioning justice system, etc. Everything else, i.e. "freedom", guns, free speech, military power, foreign influence, is just b.s.

He, of course, is not. He is merely the better of two bad options.

I think there is also a fairly large reduction in the number of people listening to radio - streaming is much better in many cases - especially the audio quality. NPR is hit and miss via streaming services - or those I'm familiar with I suppose.

Funny thing in all of this is, that even with all this supposed liberal bias, NPR is still a much better source for factual reporting than anything with a supposed conservative bias. There are a fair number of right leaning media outlets, which one of them would you hold up as providing generally correct reporting? Yet many of those networks seem to be financially doing very well. Which leads me to my opinion, counter to Berliner, that the drop in consumers for NPR is likely more because they are NOT sensationalizing things, than because of diversity and inclusion or not posting Hunter Biden dick pics.

USPS is controlled by Congress effectively and if they bothered, like so many other things, they could actually fix a lot of the issues. They effectively defunded the organization years ago by putting unfunded and unrealistic financial burdens on them to fund the pension program without figuring out the money that would be needed to make that happen. USPS stamps should be $0.80 and that would solve a lot of issues with their money problems. service comes by better fudning and the freedom to make decisions that work, as well as the DIRECTIVES to make it work Given that it is written into the Constitution, privatizing it is not actually an option, nor would I support that. The second you put profits at the forefront, the system will become corrupt overnight. It's not corrupt now, it is just shitty service. Privatizing it would ensure corruption AND shitty service. And agree with the earlier comment that it is being run by people that want to dismantle it, much like public schools all over the country. As long as we keep voting for idiots, this is what we will get

Why? They're pretty limited as far as what they can do. They are often necessary for keeping the country operating. You know, like now when the "Freedumb CooCoos" are actively blocking any legislation that benefits Biden in any way. Also, it's kind of funny how loudly the conservatives scream about them when a D is in office, yet how silent they are about them while an R holds the position.

Yup. Like so many other powerful things. Used for my benefit, it's awesome. Used against me, awesomely frightening.

Doctors and dentists wear them to mitigate bacterial transmission. They are not PPE. Humans are constantly shedding skin cells and hair follicles that often contain bacteria. Ever work in a Class 100 clean room? Ever do any SEM or AFM imaging? It’s clearly visible. N95’s are designed to mitigate inhalation of particulates greater than 0.3 microns in size when fit tested and worn on a clean shaven face. They do not block mist. Both offer zero protection for the eyes. Virus was first postulated in the late 1800’s & directly observed in the 1930’s. So… nobody ever found out if masks worked until just now? Absurd. My training and experience was about 40 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia Livermore National Laboratory, Dugway Proving Grounds, Ft Detrick. i am coauthor on 16 scientific journal papers, have several patents, an R&D 100 Award, was a principle developer on BioWatch Gen 2&3, a principal operative for field deployment, testing and incident response, and worked as a member of the NEST/ARG community. I also worked as a consultant for DHS & Northrop Grumman. I was responsible for personnel safety which included PPE selection and use appropriate to the hazards. if you still stand by your assessment, that’s fine with me, but you might look up Dunning-Kruger effect.

Right. That's why doctors wear them. And dentists. And tattoo artists. And cancer patients. Your 'training and experience' is... Bullshit. What's next? CO2 poisoning from wearing them?

This is a link to a Go Fund Me account being set up for a re-scan of tie particles. Through Tom's goodwill and McCrone Labs' interest in the case, McCrone has agreed to do a re-scan of one of the tie stubs for only $500, which is essentially at cost for microscope time. We are setting up the account for up to $1,500 for the possibility (no guarantees) that McCrone might agree to re-scan an 2 additional stubs in the future at the same cost. A re-scan would provide x-y coordinates with a true "north south" orientation that would allow Tom to look at specific particles of interest more easily and definitively. Thank you for your consideration. http://This is a link to a Go Fund Me account being set up for a re-scan of tie particles. Through Tom's goodwill and McCrone Labs' interest in the case, McCrone has agreed to do a re-scan of one of the tie stubs for only $500, which is essentially at cost for microscope time. We are setting up the account for up to $1,500 for the possibility (no guarantees) that McCrone might agree to re-scan an 2 additional stubs in the future at the same cost. A re-scan would provide x-y coordinates with a true "north south" orientation that would allow Tom to look at specific particles of interest more easily and definitively. Thank you for your consideration. https://gofund.me/7a65d011

In my professional training and experience working with aerosolized pathogens both in both research laboratories & in the field for national bio defense, (DOE, DOD, DHS), cloth masks are ineffective at preventing virus transmission. This has been in the knowledge base for about 100 years.

Sorry son, but picking was my usage and you are stealing it. Whatever bangs your wangers, I guess. There is nothing for me to let go. As I have pointed out here previously you have a real talent for reading for inconsistency and a pit bulls disposition. I think I observed then that you'd be great on a legal team reading opposition briefs. But here it seems that all you do, or want to do, is tear other peoples posts apart; you seem to really enjoy it. Also, you really don't seem to want to put yourself out there. Now, it won't come as a surprise to anyone, especially Brent, that I think he is often full of shit when he's being serious and full of mischief when he's not. But, unlike you, he is out there non-stop making new-ish points and waves and this forum would be less without him.

jakee will never let go. All you are now is another crab at a crab pickin'

You mean an NPR employee is of the opinion that there is a bias. He then provides hearsay and correlation without causation in his opinion piece. You are presenting it as "bias revealed" because it agrees with your opinion. Quite frankly, you are doing the exact same the NPR employee is claiming NPR does.

From a marketing perspective? You can charge more for an energy storage solution. From a technical perspective? Energy storage systems generally include things like inverters, protection circuits, battery management systems, charge controllers etc so that it can be used for energy storage in (for example) a house. For example, the Tesla Powerwall contains the battery AND an inverter (so it can be used with the home's 240V power) and a cooling system, and a BMS, and protection, and case/mounting hardware. At larger scales, these systems are called BESS - battery energy storage systems. We've built a few of them. One of them is featured in the story below, to give a sense of scale. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2022-10-24/used-electric-vehicle-batteries-put-to-good-use-at-new-energy-storage-system

So you can't. As usual you post bullshit and you can't back it up when you are challenged. Appears a tax bracket isn't the only thing you aren't maxing out.

The best motivation for EVs. I'd love to get off the oil tit and out of ME politics. Then they can blow each other back to the stone age for all I care.

Author Cola of the Dropzone.com Title: Just for fun Fictitious thoughts for Cooper 8:17 I landed in a field west of Brush Prairie. I planted the landing, but the cordage of the ransom twisted around my right foot and with my momentum and the dead weight of the bag I went down. I didn’t go face down but stumbled and came on one knee. My right hand stretched out before me to steady the fall but it slipped completely out from the wet grass. I came to rest laying on my right side. I managed to catch the silks gracefully float over me obscuring my vision for a moment as they cradled to earth in front of me. The first thing I could make out beyond the silks were some heifers now at a distance trotting away. There was a slight breeze on the field but nothing of immediate concern. A little mud on my palms, soiled trench coat. My legs and shoes were muddied. In the distance some 240 yards I could see a light on a barn and beyond that mostly obscured I made out the silhouette of a farmhouse. Laying quietly, I listened for any dogs. Nothing stirred and the night was silent except for a slight flapping of the chute and ringing in my ear. I got to my feet and took measure of myself. Standing there I noted my legs worked and nothing of body had broken. Mistakenly I was standing upright, I then hunched down bringing my head below the grassy barbwire edge of the field. I further knelt on one knee. Taking a glance around, my nerves were on, my senses sharpening as I looked over to the field, bordered by a road to my left, another field to my rear, the farmhouse in front and some pines opposite the road on my right. Evergreens in that country there. I felt I was facing south. I looked to the horizon of the barbed wire outline of the field and toward the barn for any threats. My breathing went flat as I sucked air over my tongue and gazed intensely in every direction. Moving slowly I took in the full detail of my surroundings. Coming down I had seen a single vehicle traveling the road some 600 yards past where I landed. I was confident he’d not seen me or the chute in the rear view. The acid of my stomach had started to sour in those 30 minutes I waited to walk down the stairs. In my waiting, I had found up front a turkey sandwich I’d ordered for the crew and I forced it down then to settle the acid. However, as I now knelt quietly looking around, I noticed a burning sensation in my sinuses and back of my throat. My stomach must have splashed into my esophagus during the jump or when I pulled the rip cord. I don’t know for how long I stared out at my surroundings, time slows in moments like that. I sat there listening on every bug walking every blade of grass or fluttering in that field. I was still undecided thinking over if I had the resolve to do what might be required had I been seen. I guess in the sheer intensity of working through my pan-acy and on those nasty thoughts I felt my stomach empty out into my lower bowels. It’s odd to think yourself fortunate in life to have shit yourself a time or two. However, in having the benefit of these prior experiences, when the feeling now came over me I quickly unfastened the parachute harness, stepped back, dropped my drawers and relieved myself. With this relief my mind relaxed and an incredible rush came over me. Squatting there I couldn’t believe what I’d pulled off. It started to sink in. It began with a slight snicker at my thoughts and my spirits lifting. As I crapped, I passed a little gas and then giggled on that, and more gas chased after my giggle. I set into a pattern of giggling then gas, giggle louder, then louder fart still and this sequence twice over, took me into a chuckle. I tried to cup my mouth, with one hand, but the absurdity of shitting in that cow pasture and having to quiet myself, further served to intensify my snickering. As I pressed my hand against my mouth to hold in any laughter my own hand worked against me. The hand being moist from touching the ground when pressed to my lips, let out its own little series of farts, that were because of the cupping directed straight into my left ear drum. All of this was too much for me in that moment and I then came into a roaring laugh which discharged my bowels completely. I stood partially out of panic, pulled my pants up, belly laughing into the open field and then cackling like a lunatic of sorts as I applied some restraint in clamping down on my mouth while I buckled my britches. I thought for sure that dam Farm dog had heard me now. I buried my mouth in the crook of my elbow but the wet overcoat did not lessen the effect. After so many hours playing the stoic, the pressure valve had suddenly blown open, I’d never had such a high, I was now uncontrollable as the laughter from the stress of it all took me over. Cackling. Cackling. Cackling grinding my teeth pinching my mouth shut. The first thing that came to mind was a pillow, so I took off my raincoat and then my jacket. I balled up the jacket and buried my face in it. This dampened my laughter and taking a seat I let it roar on for a few until I came to that point of being strained by the laughter, dry from it. Taking those last few heavy and deep breaths. Exhaling. Inhaling. Exhale -Inhale to gain my composure. a ohhhhhh, a-hewwwww followed by a snickering, he he he he he. Then an a ohhhhhh in, an a-hewwwwwww out, an another snickering he he he he he. As I went on like this I became a little emotional. Being at the edge of tears from the laughing I was a little glum at having to force myself to dampen my own high spirits. After I had suffocated this untimely bliss my body felt wrung out as if I had just had one of those cries a man is known to have. The kind of cries we men have, the alone ones, behind closed doors, once every 8 or 12 years or so. That’s how I felt in that field, broken up. I snickered some here and there the rest of that evening as I walked the rails. For a long time after, that dam snicker was friendly to me warming my spirits and tickling my senses the rest of my days. It would come on at the most inappropriate of times. This new aspect of me unfortunately served to often intensify future assaults upon me from every angle. From that point on I seemed to cackle in the face of conflict and this blessing of light spirit brought with it women problems, authority problems. The snicker was not of my own doing but a reaction. The perception of which by others often interpreted as a sign, a proof, of my pleasure in their displeasure with me. How do you explain this to someone that you do not take joy in their displeasure, that you’re not part, of that part, of the lowest part, of human existence.

Skip is a solid suspect.

You are just jealous you can't pay for gas.

So you were trolling. Got it. I don't know what you meant, considering you'll say anything to get a reaction.

Kari Lake has jumped onto the bandwagon of outrage by demanding the Dem Governor do something immediately to bring back common sense. She said that a woman and a mother she understood this issue better than any of her opponents for Senate. Which is odd, because two years ago when Lake was running for governor she said she was “thrilled” to think that the “great law” which was already on the books could be reinstated by the court and act as an example for other states to follow! It’s almost funny how every dirty trick the Senate Republicans pulled to get their ultra-right wing court was justified as serving ‘the will of the people’, when the end result has been something the huge majority of people in every state really fucking hate.

No, I think his point is that corporations go to the government and say ‘give us what we want or we’ll sack X hundred/thousand people’.

WL wasn't exactly in the path of totality but still had 98-99% of coverage. Photo taken through solar glasses with my phone.

I think the Bull Moose candidate, Teddy Roosevelt, is a better choice than the Republican or Democrat offering.

With the help of a known Russian agent. And she has now stated that Russia is much better than the US. Those two little factoids normally set off some alarm bells.

My memory is that you didn’t really like Trump, but felt it was more important to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House, so you voted for him. Id submit that Trump is a greater threat to how our country operates; one of the best things about the US is that we trust our succession, and that the person fills the position, not that the position is wrapped around the person. But that was threatened in 2020, and Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t intend to accept a loss this year, that he plans to pardon people who consider an invasion of the Capitol and the shenanigans that went along with it to be OK. In addition, his need for personal loyalty (rather than to the position) is very concerning. Personally, I consider this to be a significant threat to the structure of the country. Wendy P.