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Or, similar method with white flour which has the added benefit of not polluting the soil. It's what I did, oh so many years ago. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

That's pretty much the end result of pardons/commutations, right? Hundreds are given throughout every presidency, (some more than others) and everyone always finds a few to bitch about. By far most are given for compassionate reasons; a person so old they'd otherwise die in jail for some goofy minor crime where sentencing went awry. Stuff like that. Hell, even GWB didn't pardon Scooter Libby, he simply commuted it after awhile. So Libby is still a convicted felon. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/02/libby.sentence/ No. This IS different. The crime here was disobeying a court order. It was for six months. Trump blatantly pardoned as a political favor and as a sign to his "team" they don't have to cooperate in the FBI Russia probe because if they get tossed in jail, he'll pardon them too. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

Caesar rooted for neither the lions nor gladiators as long as the masses were entertained and distracted by the circuses. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

This has been speculation for quite awhile. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

In another forum (EFF and security based) we've been discussing this for awhile. Over there, nobody was surprised and in fact it's the sort of BS we've suspected Trump's administration would pull on groups since before the election. While not quite the dystopian hellscape some have predicted, there are quite a few examples of Trump's 1984 style authoritarian desires having been carried out already. Yes, ANYONE who is interested in participating a dissenting voice to this administration ought to be covering themselves. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

On that point we're in 100% agreement. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

Excellent! quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

It was an interesting once in a lifetime experience. Neighbors were over for a cookout. We offered a celebration of praise and supplication to Jesus Christ. The people deserving of praise were the scientists, dating back to Newton's time, who enabled you to know when to look for the eclipse. No religious leader played a part in that. John, while Newton worked out the math of orbits, virtually every civilization around the world has worked out eclipses far in advance of Newton being conceived. ;) Noticing the nodes and working out the cycles was relatively easy since again, virtually every civilization eventually develops astronomical calendars for agricultural purposes. Disagree. Only since celestial mechanics was created have we known to the second (or even the hour) where totality would occur at any specified lat/lon, decades in advance. I guess it all depends on how thinly one wishes to slice that hair. I mean, you could just as easily say it was really due to John Harrison's work, because what good is knowing the theoretical Lat/Long until you actually have the ability to navigate to it and prove it? Newton himself thought the longitude problem was unsolvable. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

Funny, to me he sounds like a sock puppet. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

I would say that in general they're probably better than people who ask this sort of question. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

It was an interesting once in a lifetime experience. Neighbors were over for a cookout. We offered a celebration of praise and supplication to Jesus Christ. The people deserving of praise were the scientists, dating back to Newton's time, who enabled you to know when to look for the eclipse. No religious leader played a part in that. John, while Newton worked out the math of orbits, virtually every civilization around the world has worked out eclipses far in advance of Newton being conceived. ;) Noticing the nodes and working out the cycles was relatively easy since again, virtually every civilization eventually develops astronomical calendars for agricultural purposes. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

And yet, there he is with the ear of the current occupant of the Oval who is also more than willing to favor Prince's completely unqualified relatives with government appointments. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

This is what Erik Prince has been pushing for. He'd take over responsibility of controlling the population and it's safe to say where that would lead; he'd be the de facto dictator. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/afghanistan-camp-david/537324/ quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

Well, it HAS been good for those in the business of blood money. If somebody really wants to know motivations of keeping it going ask those people first. The next people to ask are those that will profit from the natural resources on the off chance that one day they are able to exploit them. It has been estimated there is about a trillion dollars in the ground of Afghanistan. If it costs a few 10s of billions of dollars to someday be able to get control over them, I think you'll find most people would still think that is a bargain . . . for them. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

I'm not sure it's an actual -rule- of being a politician, but if you can maintain status quo on total bullshit and kick the can down the road to the next guy -- bonus. That and . . . "We have always been at war with Eastasia." Sadly, war is "good for business." Oh sure, it's fucking murder and blood money, but at least somebody is making a buck off it. It also mesmerizes the masses (well, the dumber ones at least) into believing you're some kind of fucking hero for killing people, so it's good for the polls with some people. "Mission Accomplished!" quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

Ah, now I see it. Minor damage, no injuries (at least officially), and probably why I didn't see it anywhere else. Okay. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

When was this? I can find no record of the Connie having any significant collision. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_(CV-64) http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a27021/ship-collisions-us-navy-history/ Collisions do happen, but "always running into things" is, I think, an exaggeration. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

I kind of wish you written this differently. I can still celebrate a noble person who has lost a worthwhile cause. Stevens was neither a noble person nor fighting a worthwhile cause. Having lost a fight doesn't mean a person is bad. Being an asshole does. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

Once was insane. Twice? Is there a systemic issue with the basic seamanship in the US Navy now? quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

Planning on dying soon? https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2019-july-2 quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

Try focusing less on religious texts and more on why humans are fascinated with solar eclipses to begin with. For instance, one of the first things every civilization around the planet throughout history has done is develop a calendar to denote the seasons for the purposes of agriculture. In the course of doing this, they also all notice eclipses and eventually discover they happen in cycles. Regardless of country or religion, they observe nature and begin to understand gods aren't in charge, but simple, explainable, and most importantly predictable processes. It's the very beginnings of science. Eclipses are a lot of things, but unless you're a caveman there is no need to invoke any religious overtones on them. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

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In some respects, yes. In others, no. I feel sad for the little towns who are trying to make hay out of it and jacking up their prices just to do virtually anything along the path. Of course, that is the most 'Murican thing ever, so there is that. It's just sad they can't enjoy it, but instead feel like they have to milk it. On the other hand, a TOTAL eclipse is far more rare a viewing opportunity than you're giving credit to. For the vast majority of people on the planet it would be a once in a lifetime thing if they were extraordinarily lucky. MOST people will never see a total eclipse with their own eyes. On the other hand (yes, I sometimes have three hands), I can go out and buy a macro lens today and see your "million astounding things happen in nature every day," because, well, they do in fact happen every day. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

There was a long history and story behind it -- essentially this is dropzone.com, not nut case central. The situation has sort of resolved itself. If this thread ever got out of hand we'd isolate it like the other one. Let's just not let this get out of hand with wacko conspiracy theories numbering in the thousands of pages. ;). K? quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver

Lex Luthor: Some people can read War and Peace and come away thinking it's a simple adventure story. Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe. ----- Some relative gave young Einstein a simple compass as a present. Einstein's curiosity about how it worked started his life long journey unlocking the secrets of the universe. I don't understand people who don't want to know how the things they use work. To them, as long as the toast pops up, that's all that matters. To them there's no reason to ever even think about the system they've just used. My guess is "GPS guy who never used a compass" also has no idea whatsoever how his GPS determines its position in 3 dimensional space. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver