Season 12 Chit Chat Thread

[Nogravitasatall]

 

1 hour ago, son-goku5 said:

There have been calculations that if you planted wind farms on the plains in the south and southwest of the US, you can easily sate the energy demand of the entire nation. On the high plains for example, you often have sustained winds of 40 mph that can gust up to 60. Supplement that with widespread solar farms to alleviate eventual low winds and you have renewable energy for the entire US. The problem of course is that you'd have to rework the energy grid and the even bigger problem is the special interests that control most politicians. And even though both parties have that problem, that ownership is more widespread in the republican party, just look at the politicians who always want to strengthen the fossil fuel industry and weaken renewables.

The Koch brother’s tentacles...

  http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/30/covert-operations?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Edited July 30, 2018 by Nogravitasatall

[joyceraye]

19 hours ago, son-goku5 said:

Ricky Gervais had a great suggestion for a vote like Brexit. They still have "Do not drink!" on bottles of Bleach. So, his suggestion was, take those stickers off, wait for 2 years and then have the vote.

Another two years of this jibber jabber and then another lot of voting and nothing else on the telly ? 

[son-goku5]

7 minutes ago, joyceraye said:

Another two years of this jibber jabber and then another lot of voting and nothing else on the telly ? 

Yeah, but the real stupid people would have been dead because they drank bleach ^^

[Die Zimtzicke]

15 hours ago, djsurrey said:

It seems to me that Obama was calling for research into new green technologies.  Then the political pendulum swung in the opposite direction. Trump is a disaster. Wisdom gave way to crass self interest. Trump is 70 and may never see the hell he is unleashing. It will take new technologies and political will to reverse the harms done to the environment. Global problems will require global solutions. 

The promise to bring back coal was idiotic. Deregulation of oil, gas and coal is absolute negligence. So of course I'm hoping the mid term elections throw out the republicans to try to mitigate the damage.

The attack on solar energy was moronic. We need those solar panels he doesn't want in the US.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trump-effect-solar-insight/billions-in-u-s-solar-projects-shelved-after-trump-panel-tariff-idUSKCN1J30CT

1 hour ago, Nogravitasatall said:

There have been calculations that if you planted wind farms on the plains in the south and southwest of the US, you can easily sate the energy demand of the entire nation.

There are a lot of wind farms in the Midwest, particularly Indiana. And it has been determined they could be put on rigs in the gulf but the oil companies don't want them out there.

[Nogravitasatall]

9 hours ago, Die Zimtzicke said:

The attack on solar energy was moronic. We need those solar panels he doesn't want in the US.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trump-effect-solar-insight/billions-in-u-s-solar-projects-shelved-after-trump-panel-tariff-idUSKCN1J30CT

There are a lot of wind farms in the Midwest, particularly Indiana. And it has been determined they could be put on rigs in the gulf but the oil companies don't want them out there.

Quotes problem, but ok.

There are solutions but the USA politically isn’t fostering their implementation under the current administration. One role of government is to be strategic in its governance, and look at timelines beyond the near quarters and fiscal years. The agencies do the planning on the long term stuff, and the administration picks the options or directs that long term planning.

But this US administration is issuing directions that just seem bonkers as long term plans. Bring back coal, build the wall, mine the parks, increase pollution. Bonkers, long term. One last (hopefully) spasm of nostalgia for unlimited, unregulated, frontier-style exploitation. Irresponsible and short term thinking, from a mean and cranky old man and the bunch of old farts, zealots and robber barons in his cabinet.

Whereas we know we are in a closed system with finite resources that have to last our civilisation for as long as we hope have it around. And no supernatural interventions are likely. 

[son-goku5]

9 hours ago, Nogravitasatall said:

Quotes problem, but ok.

There are solutions but the USA politically isn’t fostering their implementation under the current administration. One role of government is to be strategic in its governance, and look at timelines beyond the near quarters and fiscal years. The agencies do the planning on the long term stuff, and the administration picks the options or directs that long term planning.

But this US administration is issuing directions that just seem bonkers as long term plans. Bring back coal, build the wall, mine the parks, increase pollution. Bonkers, long term. One last (hopefully) spasm of nostalgia for unlimited, unregulated, frontier-style exploitation. Irresponsible and short term thinking, from a mean and cranky old man and the bunch of old farts, zealots and robber barons in his cabinet.

Whereas we know we are in a closed system with finite resources that have to last our civilisation for as long as we hope have it around. And no supernatural interventions are likely. 

In 1983 (I think), the US began construction to build a superconducting super collider close to Waxahachie, Texas. In 1987, they began arguing over the costs and congress was told that it would cost around $4,4 billion. Then, in 1993, the project was canceled by congress, after $2 billion had already been spent. 

That's the poster child for a long-term project that has to be financed through several administrations. You pay in money and then you cancel.

Another example of something like this is more recent, the new tunnel between New York and New Jersey. Because Chris Christie had mismanaged his state's budget, he needed the money that was to be used for the tunnel on the NJ side for other things, so he canceled the tunnel project (I think the new governor has reinstated it again)

And you're right, election cycles is the enemy of long-term planning. while agencies can do it, no politician, especially a US presidential candidate, can really run on something that would take 10-20 years to complete because he or she needs visible results of a policy to run on in the next election

[Nogravitasatall]

24 minutes ago, son-goku5 said:

In 1983 (I think), the US began construction to build a superconducting super collider close to Waxahachie, Texas. In 1987, they began arguing over the costs and congress was told that it would cost around $4,4 billion. Then, in 1993, the project was canceled by congress, after $2 billion had already been spent. 

That's the poster child for a long-term project that has to be financed through several administrations. You pay in money and then you cancel.

Another example of something like this is more recent, the new tunnel between New York and New Jersey. Because Chris Christie had mismanaged his state's budget, he needed the money that was to be used for the tunnel on the NJ side for other things, so he canceled the tunnel project (I think the new governor has reinstated it again)

And you're right, election cycles is the enemy of long-term planning. while agencies can do it, no politician, especially a US presidential candidate, can really run on something that would take 10-20 years to complete because he or she needs visible results of a policy to run on in the next election

Makes one pine for Lord Havelock Vetinari, Lord Patrician of the city-state of Ankh-Morpork, what!

It’s a law of political nature that the new lion kills the former lion’s cubs, but Trump seems only able to move the already dead around and just make the corpses twitch . He could only cripple ACA but he can’t kill it, he won’t revive manufacturing by holding the tariff gun to the population’s head and new coal burning assets can’t get financing. Visa overstayers just fly over walls. Additionally  he established a policy that has his administration torturing children. Never mind the personal flaws and the Putin issues.

 He told his electorate a whole lot of porkies. It’s a three-card monte confidence trick. I wonder if they will see through it in November.

I can only speculate how history will view this period.

[son-goku5]

1 hour ago, Nogravitasatall said:

Makes one pine for Lord Havelock Vetinari, Lord Patrician of the city-state of Ankh-Morpork, what!

Ah, a Discworld reference, food for my heart 🤣

1 hour ago, Nogravitasatall said:

It’s a law of political nature that the new lion kills the former lion’s cubs, but Trump seems only able to move the already dead around and just make the corpses twitch . He could only cripple ACA but he can’t kill it, he won’t revive manufacturing by holding the tariff gun to the population’s head and new coal burning assets can’t get financing. Visa overstayers just fly over walls. Additionally  he established a policy that has his administration torturing children. Never mind the personal flaws and the Putin issues.

The lion only kills the cubs if they're not blood-related. So a lion taking over for his brother won't touch his nephews or nieces. Though Trump would even maul his own children if it would help him.

And on top of flying over walls, Mexican drug smugglers are already using tunnels. Won't a stretch to have immigrants fleeing from their country paying them to use these tunnels to get under a wall.

1 hour ago, Nogravitasatall said:

He told his electorate a whole lot of porkies. It’s a three-card monte confidence trick. I wonder if they will see through it in November.

Many independents and women do. His hard-core base (read: the racists, bigots and idiots) will vote for him even if he came to them and shot one of them dead.

1 hour ago, Nogravitasatall said:

I can only speculate how history will view this period.

Depending on what happens in 2020, if he stays in office that long. If he gets voted out, history will see it as a failed experiment. "What happens if you put a low-information voter and internet troll into the oval office to run the country?"

But the results are already clear. This presidency has damaged the US greatly in the long term, both fiscally and morally. Then again, the republicans and Trump have accelerated the upcoming financial bankcruptcy of the US immensely, so it may be possible that we won't have time to ponder who's responsible once we're out on the streets begging for crumbs...

 

 

Edited July 31, 2018 by son-goku5

[Nogravitasatall]

44 minutes ago, son-goku5 said:

Ah, a Discworld reference, food for my heart 🤣

The lion only kills the cubs if they're not blood-related. So a lion taking over for his brother won't touch his nephews or nieces. Though Trump would even maul his own children if it would help him.

And on top of flying over walls, Mexican drug smugglers are already using tunnels. Won't a stretch to have immigrants fleeing from their country paying them to use these tunnels to get under a wall.

Many independents and women do. His hard-core base (read: the racists, bigots and idiots) will vote for him even if he came to them and shot one of them dead.

Depending on what happens in 2020, if he stays in office that long. If he gets voted out, history will see it as a failed experiment. "What happens if you put a low-information voter and internet troll into the oval office to run the country?"

But the results are already clear. This presidency has damaged the US greatly in the long term, both fiscally and morally. Then again, the republicans and Trump have accelerated the upcoming financial bankcruptcy of the US immensely, so it may be possible that we won't have time to ponder who's responsible once we're out on the streets begging for crumbs...

Hah. I was using the lion cubs as a loose metaphor for how winners kill the loser’s projects. It works in organisations as well as politics. But I didn’t know the kin were safe. Thanks.  

Y’know, that still might be applicable in family organisations. Thought I’m not sure if it’s applicable to Trump Co. Maybe no one’s safe there.

Gosh, it’s messed up. I truly hope it ends better than I expect from the trend. (Pointless optimism; “it’s a million-to-one chance, but it just might work”.)

[son-goku5]

21 minutes ago, Nogravitasatall said:

Y’know, that still might be applicable in family organisations. Thought I’m not sure if it’s applicable to Trump Co. Maybe no one’s safe there.

No, Trump will throw everyone under the bus in order to save himself. The only one he maybe wouldn't is his daughter Ivanka, but then again, he wants to have sex with her...

[Nogravitasatall]

10 hours ago, son-goku5 said:

No, Trump will throw everyone under the bus in order to save himself. The only one he maybe wouldn't is his daughter Ivanka, but then again, he wants to have sex with her...

Ewww.

[son-goku5]

2 minutes ago, Nogravitasatall said:

Ewww.

I know. Sad and weird and disgusting but true.

[JE7]

Unsupported accusations of incest, the forum can sink no lower.

At least now I can talk about Merkel and her immigrant sex slaves and Mays affair with a goat

[Nogravitasatall]

1 hour ago, JE7 said:

Unsupported accusations of incest, the forum can sink no lower.

At least now I can talk about Merkel and her immigrant sex slaves and Mays affair with a goat

It’s from his line about him saying he might date his daughter. It was a comment in extremely poor taste, and I don’t  believe he meant it seriously, but he did make the comment. 

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/donald-trump-date-daughter/

That he made that joke surely says something of his character. You tell me what it says, if you like . To me it’s a *shudder* moment.

If you have anything unsavoury on Merkel or May, sure, put it out there if you want, as long as it doesn’t come from the same Russian meme factory as the anti-Clinton stuff. They are still doing their thing. 

But I think you are just being hyperbolic in your defence. ... goats, really?  

Edit: and further, Merkel and May aren’t Trump’s opposition, they are leaders of countries that are key NATO allies, so why even bring them up?  And if you wanted to bag my prime minister, that’s Malcom Turnbull.

But Trump is the one with the baggage that opens him up to this type of criticism. The other politicians have been vetted through years of testing in the political arena. Trump wasn’t vetted. And maybe he should have been. He only ever ran a privately held company with no accountability, no board and no shareholders. And six bankruptcies.

Edited August 1, 2018 by Nogravitasatall

[son-goku5]

4 hours ago, Nogravitasatall said:

It’s from his line about him saying he might date his daughter. It was a comment in extremely poor taste, and I don’t  believe he meant it seriously, but he did make the comment.

 

6 hours ago, JE7 said:

Unsupported accusations of incest, the forum can sink no lower.

At least now I can talk about Merkel and her immigrant sex slaves and Mays affair with a goat

Not only because he said he would like to date her (or that he would date her if she wasn't his daughter), I also look at his body language towards her and comparing it to the body language he displayed towards his wife (during the RNC convention in 2016)

When his wife came out for her speech, he essentially stopped her from hugging him by grabbing her upper arms. Or as the saying goes, he held her at arms length. But when he came out to "thank" his daughter for her speech, his hand moved way below her hips, to the side of her ass. Every expert when it comes to body language will tell you, that's a sign that you want more than something platonic

[djsurrey]

Quote

U.S. president Donald Trump has falsely claimed you need to show photo identification to buy groceries in his country.

from https://globalnews.ca/news/4364297/donald-trump-groceries-voter-id/

The people at the rally cheer him on regardless of if there is any truth in what he is saying.

How does he come up with nonsense like that?

[Nogravitasatall]

18 minutes ago, djsurrey said:

The people at the rally cheer him on regardless of if there is any truth in what he is saying.

How does he come up with nonsense like that?

I wonder if they pay money to go or is it a free show? Either way then it’s love or infatuation.

In the USA you can apparently write cheques for groceries and hence need ID to validate who you are. Given many in the USA are without banking facilities, I suspect it’s uncommon. I have never seen anyone buy groceries with a cheque in Australia as an adult and can’t even really remember it as a kid (soooo maybe?) . It’s  been cash or card here since, what... the 80’s? Maybe he remembers it from his childhood? Or could it be it’s just a cultural thing, specific. Or maybe he’s just imagining it. Certainly it’d be mostly untrue, like much else he says.

Everyday, it’s something to distract from what is really going on, like Mnuchin’s 100 billion capital gains tax grab for the 9.99%, by regulation, not legislation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/opinion/editorials/100-billion-tax-cut-mnuchin.html

[son-goku5]

1 hour ago, djsurrey said:

The people at the rally cheer him on regardless of if there is any truth in what he is saying.

How does he come up with nonsense like that?

He makes it up as he goes along. Or, as Joe Scarborough had put it: "It's now 7:21 am. You know what Donald Trump is thinking about? 7:22"

58 minutes ago, Nogravitasatall said:

I wonder if they pay money to go or is it a free show? Either way then it’s love or infatuation.

I think the admittance is free. But every rally costs the American taxpayer around $450,000 because of security and whatnot. So if you take that price for every rally he's done after the inauguration (and remember, he's not really running for reelection yet, he's doing these rallies to make himself feel better by hearing cheers from the crowd), he already spent a lot taxpayer money.

He had 9 rallies in his so-called "thank-you tour": $450,000 x 9 = $4,050,000

He had 21 rallies after the "thank-you tour" with 7 more planned, so that's $450,000 x 28 = $12,600,000

So, a combined $16,650,000. And unless they're slated as campaign rallies, the taxpayer has to bear the burden. If it's a campaign rally, the campaign itself has to pay.

1 hour ago, Nogravitasatall said:

In the USA you can apparently write cheques for groceries and hence need ID to validate who you are. Given many in the USA are without banking facilities, I suspect it’s uncommon. I have never seen anyone buy groceries with a cheque in Australia as an adult and can’t even really remember it as a kid (soooo maybe?) . It’s  been cash or card here since, what... the 80’s? Maybe he remembers it from his childhood? Or could it be it’s just a cultural thing, specific. Or maybe he’s just imagining it. Certainly it’d be mostly untrue, like much else he says.

Here in Germany, it's extremely rare to write a cheque for buying groceries. Maybe that's because basically everyone has a debit card and a bank account from the time they're sixteen or even earlier (if your parents allow it). The only time you have to show ID is when you buy alcohol or cigarettes and you look too young to buy them.

And I doubt he "remembers it from his childhood". I doubt Trump ever went grocery shopping.

1 hour ago, Nogravitasatall said:

Everyday, it’s something to distract from what is really going on, like Mnuchin’s 100 billion capital gains tax grab for the 9.99%, by regulation, not legislation.

Yeah, I read about that too. I'm trying to understand the thought process of Mnuchin and his ilk. "So, we gave 1,5 trillion dollars in tax breaks to our rich friends, how about we add another 100 billion to it without having to ask congress?"

[Die Zimtzicke]

11 hours ago, Nogravitasatall said:

It’s from his line about him saying he might date his daughter. It was a comment in extremely poor taste, and I don’t  believe he meant it seriously, but he did make the comment. 

There's actually a page that keeps track of creepy things Trump has said about his daughter.
https://forward.com/schmooze/357185/7-creepy-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-ivanka/

11 hours ago, Nogravitasatall said:

But Trump is the one with the baggage that opens him up to this type of criticism. The other politicians have been vetted through years of testing in the political arena. Trump wasn’t vetted. And maybe he should have been. He only ever ran a privately held company with no accountability, no board and no shareholders. And six bankruptcies.

I don't know how Pence, being from Indiana, can keep his nose up Trump's rear like he does. Trump came into Gary with the casino and the Miss America pageant saying he was going to revitalize the city and before long the casino was bankrupt and sold, all the people who'd invested in it has lost their money and the pageant was gone. Gary wound up being worse off than when he started. It's why NW Indiana is the only part of the red state that doesn't support him.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-trump-gary-casino-deal-20160921-story.html

Edited August 1, 2018 by Die Zimtzicke

[Die Zimtzicke]

Wonder if this will affect anything regarding the show or future allegations against famous people...
https://wgntv.com/2018/08/01/la-prosecutors-decline-sex-abuse-charges-against-cbs-ceo-les-moonves/

[Chrismo]

7 minutes ago, Die Zimtzicke said:

Wonder if this will affect anything regarding the show or future allegations against famous people...
https://wgntv.com/2018/08/01/la-prosecutors-decline-sex-abuse-charges-against-cbs-ceo-les-moonves/

They declined pressing charges because of the statue of Limitations. He admitted making the advances. Why Julie Chen talked about it on her show I don't get.

[Tensor]

It was announced today on twitter, that Joe Steiger, well known Big Bang theory fan, has died.  He had muscular Dystrophy but was very upbeat and optimistic about life.  I'll miss you Joe.    

[djsurrey]

8 hours ago, Nogravitasatall said:

Maybe he remembers it from his childhood? Or could it be it’s just a cultural thing, specific. Or maybe he’s just imagining it. Certainly it’d be mostly untrue, like much else he says.

I don't know. It just seems like truth does not matter to him. It seems like his supporters just turn their minds off.

[BigBangEnthusiast]

3 hours ago, Tensor said:

It was announced today on twitter, that Joe Steiger, well known Big Bang theory fan, has died.  He had muscular Dystrophy but was very upbeat and optimistic about life.  I'll miss you Joe.    

There are a lot of condolence messages on Instagram today. I followed him there and agree he was very upbeat, even just a couple of days ago. He will be greatly missed by the fandom.

[son-goku5]

1 hour ago, djsurrey said:

I don't know. It just seems like truth does not matter to him. It seems like his supporters just turn their minds off.

I think, in his mind, the truth is what he says it is. That's called delusion.

He says that millions of illegal immigrants voted in the last election, that's why he lost the popular vote. Not true, but in his mind it is.

He says that people are flooding into the country, like a swarm of insects. In reality, more people are leaving for Mexico than are coming in, but in his mind, the swarm is reality.

He says that everyone coming over the border from Mexico is a criminal, a gang member. In reality, 0,3% of immigrants are actually part of a gang, so 3 out of a 1000. But in his mind, what he says is reality.

And he does that with everything. He called himself the favorite president America ever had, more popular than Abraham Lincoln (even though there wasn't polling yet during Abe's time). But in that case, he might just see the republican numbers where he does have around 90% approval and he simply ignores the Democrats and Independents and what they think.