leicsmac

A question I've asked before, and I've not really heard much beyond platitudes about "more urgent concerns" and a screed calling the entire scientific method into question (which doesn't really mean much when you can't state a better way of discerning the world works past, present and future). So I'd be rather interested in some answers, too.

There's definitely keywords for premod here, but I guess that's deemed a necessary step to take.

And the UK isn't the only place right now where that kind of thought is predominant, sadly. As you say, critical overhaul is needed as a matter of urgent necessity. And (and this is something said before that bears repeating) people who like the idea of short term self interest and/or ethnonationalist policy seem to think that those opposed to them are opposed because of some lofty moral ideals. That isn't true, at least not all the time. The simple truth is that their ideas, as espoused by Trump, Farage, Lukashenko, Milei and all the others around the world right now, are inimical to the continuity of our civilisation and (to a lesser extent) our biosphere. This goes beyond moral debates and political compassing. Such long term, one species acting as one planning, is about the difference between life and death for us and for a great many other species. That becomes more and more obvious as time passes.

"Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw.It was its tendency to bend at the knees." An additional complication is related to the bolded here - some absolutely vital projects need more than a single election cycle and need not to be changed or interrupted. The Chinese, for instance, are actually taking the world lead on vital energy and science infrastructure projects because they start them and mean to finish them. Democratic systems are great, but they do have flaws. The above one is a big one, and may end up being a fatal one.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0ygg06pgko https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg7n82gd7pvo Just more ideological corruption and election interference both at home and abroad, then.

Would the US and England be both in the same seeding pot and so not be able to play each other in the group stage anyway? It would be nice to finally get over the US World Cup hoodoo England seem to have and humiliate them in the opening group game with everyone including Felon#47 watching, though.

Yep, ignorance of vital matters, as well as being ignorant of what matters are vital, is both baffling and in some cases dangerous.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ypjjxd40qo The US Supreme Court has rejected a request from right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to overturn the nearly $1.5bn (£1.1bn) defamation judgment against him. Jones was ordered to make the payout in 2022 for claiming the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School - which killed 20 schoolchildren and six educators - was a hoax. A cvnt of a slightly different type, though I must say if someone making a death threat to Farage makes this thread, so does Arron Banks for similar and Alex Jones qualifies through incitement many times over.

On the general topic above, I do agree that the first Test will tell us a lot about the series. It speaks volumes that the only time England have won in Oz in recent memory, they looked like losing the first Test but then put on an absolutely colossal stand in the second innings that set the tone for the rest of the series. That being said, winning away in India, Oz, or indeed England in a five Test series is a rare thing for any team, and there's a reason it's so uncommon.

Just needs one big stand from the Saffers to make it interesting, currently 51/2. Should be an good final day.

Another win for SpaceX, highly successful flight. Hopefully they've ironed out most of the engineering difficulties that gave them issues on the first few flights of this Starship iteration.

Could be a good finish in the Pak-Saffer Test, SA coming back into it and have a target of 277 to chase down. Make that about even money IMO.

Exactly like that, yes.

There's something in that. Awful lot of atrocities to go round. It's unfortunate that the one that can both take more lives and create more such atrocities than any other often gets overlooked, though.

No, he's not a person who can play to a crowd, whether from an inspirational angle or a con artist angle. But speaking personally, I'd rather there be less of the slick deceptive exponents of realpolitik with all self- interest and no substance in international relations anyway.

A clown with the biggest clown of them all, then. Fitting. I guess all of us here have the privilege of being able to find it funny. For now, anyway.

Fair enough - I wasn't aware that the above matters were firstly something just to "seek attention about" and secondly someone else's problem, as opposed to, you know, everyone's.

Depends. Are global average temperatures still rising as fast as biodiversity levels are falling? Are both those with power and without mostly treating it as a low-priority issue at best and flat-out denying there's a problem at worst?

No doubt about that.

They do, even when the ones responsible for starting or stoking that fire then put them up.

Could make a point about a pair of arsonists then acting as firefighters too.

I just had to tempt fate there. Six wickets lost for around 50 runs, India will in all likelihood have a nominal target to chase. At least it isn't an innings loss, I guess.

Good to see the Windies showing at least some fight after following on here.

Your trebles for show, your doubles for dough. Littler showed that last night. On a related note, it's always a pleasure to see a Luke v Luke final - they bring out the best in each other, most of the time.

https://time.com/7325192/cdc-firings-government-shutdown-trump/ Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, said Friday’s layoffs would be a death blow for an agency that has already been gutted by previous cuts under Kennedy’s leadership. “CDC will have lost its ability to detect outbreaks and respond to them. It will no longer be able to track diseases, in America and around the globe. That includes infectious threats like flu, foodborne illnesses, and Ebola, as well as chronic diseases and injuries,” she said. A much freer hand for the next pandemic, then.