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Immediate pluses:
1. Our conservatives are much more interesting than your
conservatives.
2. When you watch Cspan, you mostly see empty seats,
you
don't have to look at those idiots arguing with each other
all
day.
3. Lose the French, even the French fries.
4. Someone needs to bail
out Puerto Rico. And we can
combine all those nice Caribbean Colonies, so only one
set of Virgin Islands.
5. Need I go on?
Tetley Tea Folk
http://www.tetley.co.uk/tea-folk Very probably fictional [8th of 7, Jun 21 2016]
Orient
https://en.wikipedi.../Leyton_Orient_F.C. Mediocre [8th of 7, Jun 21 2016]
Mitt Romney Ven Diagram
http://www.newstate...s/images/Romney.PNG [Skewed, Jun 22 2016]
Canister shot
https://en.wikipedi.../wiki/Canister_shot Only short range, but very effective. [8th of 7, Jun 22 2016]
6-pounder
http://steencannons...pounder-circa-1750/ It does take a fair bit of polishing to keep it looking nice. [8th of 7, Jun 22 2016]
(?) To Wit, or Lack Thereof
http://www.nydailyn...g-article-1.2685046 [theircompetitor, Jun 23 2016]
Vikings, Normans, Danes, Romans, Goths, later Germans and others tried to save the Celts and later Britons from themselves
http://tinyurl.com/hrcojgg King George III and his colonial loyalist tried to save America in the same way, but they would have none of his safety. In the ultimate insult to Britain, even after the sanity of the Pistols Act of 1903, this gun crazy Texas Mayor and other Americans forced the deathly weapons upon the English lands instead. This comment sponsored by: The 50 Cent Party and Trolls from Olgino. Thank you for your support [Sunstone, Jun 23 2016]
How Europe's terrorists get their guns
http://time.com/how...sts-get-their-guns/ And unfortunately, despite the laws, there's no shortage of them. [doctorremulac3, Jun 23 2016]
Our future?
https://www.youtube...watch?v=YwZ0ZUy7P3E Seems plausible enough. [doctorremulac3, Jun 25 2016]
[link]
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You forgot about the billions of guns. (and of course Trump/Hitler retards) Thanks, but no thanks. |
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not that I'd want this - but to be honest [Ian] most of those niggles (accept the gun thing maybe) probably aren't that different from the niggles that someone from Utah might have about Maine (or vice versa) - & it all seems to work for them (kinda) |
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1. xenzag, you are british??
2. The British say "billions"? |
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Ooh, or it could become a colony of Canada... |
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// 1. xenzag, you are british?? 2. The British say "billions"? // |
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[xenzag] is very british. And what's worse, british billions are bigger than american billions. |
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Did I say billions? I meant trillions - America has more guns than there are molecules making up Jupiter. Every single person in America has enough guns to reach the moon and back. They need them to protect themselves from each other, because everyone else has so many guns. The only solution to this is to get even more guns of course. |
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There you are - at last, you understand. |
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// they dont have public transport that people like. // |
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Nowhere in the UK does either (London doesn't count - it's a foreign country) |
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// Everyone cant get in an accident or get old, because theres no health service. // |
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US healthcare is extremely good. There's really not much of a "health service" in the UK, and besides, the problem in the US only affects people with no money, who everyone knows aren't important anyway. |
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// Everyone fails to pronounce their speech word talking which will require subtitles. // |
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Could you explain that again, in a much simpler and substantially less confusing way ? |
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// Nobody drinks tea correctly or enough. // |
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But there are billions of guns, which implies the existance of ammunition for same - it's just a matter of sneaking up on the non-tea-drinkers* and shooting them. |
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*As a goodwill gesture, prior to the implementation of the sneak-up-and-shoot policy, vast quantities of teapots and proper tea would be shipped to the U.S. and distributed free to every household, along with instructions for preparation. The householders will be given the opportunity to prepare and consume proper tea, under the watchful eye of a squad of heavily-armed troops dressed as Tetley Tea Folk. <link> |
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I think the title of the idea is the wrong way around.
After all, the UK is more countries than the US. |
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And we will only even begin to think about the
possibility of considering this if you guys are all made
to eat real chocolate and admit, publicly, that
Hershey's tastes of vomit. |
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/Every single person in America has enough guns to reach the moon/ |
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I can testify this is not true. We shoot at it all the time and only my old neighbor Turret could ever reach it. I think it was more the quality of his guns than the quantity though. |
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// Hershey's tastes of vomit // |
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Rubbish. Vomit is much more palatable than Hersheys. |
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//The thing is, this can never work, because the US is
incorrect in so many ways.// |
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Moving from the UK to the US, almost every prejudice I
had was unfounded. Most of the things I laughed at...
well, I'm better educated now. |
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"look at all those uncouth Americans, a baseball cap is
barely acceptable headgear for baseball".... |
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"How have I got sunburn through my hair? How is this
possible? I should obtain some form of hat to prevent
this..." |
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"Ha! look at these stupid wood houses... no wonder they
all rot/get eaten/fall over in a modest breeze" |
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"Wow, the winter freezes really made a mess of those
bricks... they're not gonna last long at this rate" |
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"heh, look at all those silly SUVs unnecessary 4wd, heavy
slow, too big, I mean, they plough the roads..." |
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"They ploughed the road, now my parking space is 3 ft
deep in snow... luckily my 4wd and extra clearance
means i can force this thing in and that tougher
suspension's going to come in useful in the spring when
the ice-damaged roads have got a million craters in
them" |
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//Vomit is much more palatable than Hersheys.// |
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Depending on the vomit, the nutritional profile might be
very good, much better than Hershey's. Actually, all the
chocolate bars are crap, about 50% sweeter with much less
classy wrappers. I spend the money on higher quality gin
instead. |
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Always a wise investment. |
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Assuming a gun stacks an average of three inches each American has 16,254,000,000 guns. There are 322 million Americans, meaning we have 3,301,000,000,000,000,000 guns. Jupiter is nearly all hydrogen and helium. I'm going to avoid a whole world of complexity and assume Jupiter never nearly underwent fusion. This lets me disregard helium hydride and just count the atoms. Wolfram Alpha gives me the number 1.349*10^45 just from Hydrogen (90% hydrogen so 90% times the weight of Jupiter in grams times the number of hydrogen atoms in a gram) |
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That means you're off by a factor of roughly 3,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000 |
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Fully aok with England joining the US. Scotland will take back Canada and recapitulate then north American political geography on a smaller scale. |
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// policy input from the Orient. // |
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They're only in Division Two, what do they know ? |
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//3,301,000,000,000,000,000 guns// I'd say that was about right, give or take a billion or two AR17s. As for Hershey Chocolate - isn't this made from liquefied horse hooves? |
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Maybe it should be virtual real tea then ? |
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Did Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Navajo, and Newscasters sign off on this ? No ? Wonder why ? |
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The Irish are too busy getting plastered on Guinness and fighting amongst themselves. |
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The welsh are preoccupied with how many more sheep they might get access to. |
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The Scots are still recovering from their Burns Night hangovers - the only thing they're interested in is more paracetamol, keeping the damned curtains SHUT, and perhaps a wee hair of the pack of rabid wolves that savaged them. |
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The Navajo have lots to say, but as they insist on using their native language, which only they understand, their views remain unknown. |
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As for the newscasters, they have no views or opinions of their own and simply parrot whatever scrolls up on the autocue. |
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What is this tea thing? In the US there is only coffee. All else
has faded into obscuri T. |
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Coffee (rotten for the most part compared to what we are used to in Europe) and guns - lots and lots of guns, and lots of cretins like Sarah Palin to operate those guns. |
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Yes but, to be fair, they did invent the light bulb and
the motor car, and recovered that Enigma machine
from the German U-boat. |
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So that was you on the grassy knoll, then ? We did wonder... |
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I think we should all be ruled by Luxembourg. When was
the last time you heard of anything horrid happening there? |
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well.. you may have forgotten one major point in it's favour (still don't want it myself mind) |
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6. despite any faults it may (or may not) have still a far more democratic system than the EUs |
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// Luxembourg. When was the last time you heard of anything // // happening there? // |
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that would be [8th]'s iron grip on the news outlets & media since the Borg annexed the place |
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you're welcome, [blissy] :) |
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I'm finding it somewhat ironic that brexit support venn
diagrams populist support here. |
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//they did invent the light bulb// I thought they actually invited light itself, but the inventor was sadly dispatched when his offspring "took him out" with a gun wielding cuddly toy. |
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Hershey's tastes like that because they make it with
sour milk. Next time you accidentally taste a piece of
Hershey's chocolate you'll be able to easily identify
the taste as sour milk. Very strange, but true. |
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Now that Craft own Cadburys it now tastes like sticky muck too. This is because they changed the formulae by adding tons more sugar and probably some Frankenstein GMs for good measure. No wonder most Americans are so dim, when they eat so much poor quality food. |
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// most Americans are so dim, when they eat so much poor quality food // |
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You may be confusing cause and effect there. |
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I can't believe how far down this idea has gotten without
one mention of dentistry. But [xenzag] may yet get us
there, it must be some sort of dickheadedness gift |
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Thank you, I don't watch the news and what I said was very
insensitive. Thank you for editing. |
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//No wonder most Americans are so dim// |
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Just looked at a list of the top 25 high tech
companies in the world. 6 are Asian, 1 is German
and the rest are American. Not one is English I'm
sad to say. |
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Xenzag, have you ever been to this place you seem
to
occupy so much of your time thinking about?
Perhaps if you came and visited and made some
American friends you could lose some of this
searing hatred. |
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That's why I encourage kids to
travel the world early in their youth so
they meet
different people and experience different cultures
so they don't get caught up in this kind of
xenophobic stuff. This is how it works: you start
off with a mindset that "All (fill in the blank) are
horrible and should be wiped off the face of the
Earth." But you meet one person from that group
that turns out to be really nice. Then you change
your mindset to "All (fill in the blank) should be
wiped off the face of the Earth except for Bob."
Then
that sort of opens the floodgates to being tolerant
like "Well, let's not kill Bob's family either." Next
thing you know you're doing something more
interesting on a Saturday night than sitting home
alone thinking about how much you hate
everybody from (fill in the blank) such as hanging
out with and being friends with (fill in the blank). |
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Xenzag, I assure you, I'm intelligent, very trim and
athletic, eat a very healthy diet and am quite
socially responsible. If you like, I'll be your first
American friend, but if I'm not your cup of tea,
there are plenty of others over here from all
stripes that would love to be friends with you. |
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It's better than being filled of hate, I assure you. |
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// I encourage kids to travel the world early in their youth // |
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Oh, it's your fault is it ? All those loud, brash irritating young tourists ? You actually do that deliberately ? |
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There's a special place in Hell for people like you ... |
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// It's better than being full of hate // |
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NOTHING is better than being full of hate. It's the best there is. |
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Have you ever tried being in love? |
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What's the point of being strong if you don't have
anybody you love to be strong for? |
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// ironic that brexit support venn diagrams populist support here // |
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I sometimes wonder just how much utility venn diagrams actually have.. finding stuff like this [linky] when I'm looking for something serious may not be helping with that thought ;D |
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// to be fair, they did invent the light bulb // etc. // recovered that Enigma machine from the German U-boat. // |
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hmm.. if we did this all of that could be considered retroactively true - I'm almost persuaded it's a good idea now, just so I don't have to get all patriotic & annoyed whenever I watch one of those movies |
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Spelling: c'mon, or come on, not Common ? |
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I only have a few guns, and one of them is a WWII refugee from a British arms manufacturer. If you want to come over it can be yours free of charge as a welcoming gift. |
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/What's the point of being strong if you don't have anybody you love to be strong for/ |
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Because someone will ogle your rippling pecs and say "now that one could use my lovin!". |
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But are pecs supposed to ripple? Pretty sure mine don't.
They just sort of sit there. |
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(examines [bungston] and [doctorremulac3] for rippling abs, decides neither of them is getting any loving) |
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//have you ever been to this place you seem to occupy so
much of your time thinking about?// Been there many
times. Don't like much. Idiot land. Idiots with guns; many
many guns - scary. Place is also falling apart. New York is ok
though - like a trip into the 80s each time I go - silly city
that no one takes too seriously and a good contrast to
places with a real edge like London or Berlin. |
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Well, it looks like this re-union of the US and UK
doesn't have a lot of supporters. |
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I think we should just remain friends and see other
countries. Besides, if this UK / EU breakup happens,
rebound relationships are never a good idea. |
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[xenzag] you're awfully free with the use of some labels, and
I am getting a bit tired of it. A bit of self-analysis might be
in order, otherwise people might think you're like that
person who likes insulting people and put them in groups
using generalities. |
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// New York is ok though // |
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You should seek professional help immediately. You have a seriously abberant world view. NY is the pits. |
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// Idiots with guns; many many guns - scary. // |
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I'm starting to think that a shot gun wedding might actually
be the only option. Now who might have a few guns they
could bring to this unlikely union? |
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Do you just mean small arms, or can we bring artillery too ? We have smoothbore stuff, capable of firing canister- just like big shotgun <link>. Old, but still in proof and perfectly serviceable. |
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I wouldn't bother......the Americans already have all the
guns and we can only dream of what that's like. We could
bring Morris dancers or mummers. |
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[xen], you should remember that every gun that's in
the US is a gun that's not in England. |
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I do believe there's been several plans devised
through history for the invasion of England. I
assume Churchill (half American by the way)
reviewed contingency invasion plans with the US if
England had been invaded during WW2. I wouldn't
be surprised if there were cold war plans made as
well should England have been invaded by the
USSR. |
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That being said I think planners come up with
contingency plans for just about every scenario.
Greenland gets lippy. Bora Bora gets out of line.
We discover oil in New Caledonia. |
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Hell, we might just get butthurt from all the
insults and surprise you guys. ;) |
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The yanks already invaded a couple of times, Whitehaven in 1778 which was a total debacle, and then again in 1942 ... only three years late, but then who's counting ? And if you visit Stratford-on-Avon, or Canterbury, or numerous other places, you'll realize that there's nothing stealthy about an American invasion. You can hear them from miles away, and that's just the loud shirts.... the places are infested, and apparently it's still illegal to cull them or put down traps. |
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If you're formally going to invade, it would help if you could send a letter a few weeks beforehand giving the date and time, otherwise no-one will notice. |
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"At 8 a.m. one day in 1778, John Paul Jones, with
30 volunteers from his ship, the USS Ranger,
launches a surprise attack on the two harbor forts
at Whitehaven, England. Jones boat successfully
took the southern fort, but a second boat, assigned
to attack to the northern fort, returned to the
Ranger without having done so, claiming to have
been scared off by a strange noise. To compensate,
Jones decided to burn the southern fort; the blaze
ultimately consumed the entire town. It was the
only American raid on English shores during the
American Revolution." |
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I'm not sure if I'd put this in the victory category or
not. Certainly you'd take points off for some of our
guys being "scared off by a strange noise", but
points added for burning down the entire town. |
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Ugh, no thanks. If we let them in, they'd probably want to
vote and stuff. We didn't fight a revolution just to have a
bunch of Brits tell us what to do. |
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I'mma stir my coffee with my Glock .45 if I damn well please.
Anybody that don't like it is welcome to have some freedom
delivered right to their doorstep courtesy of Uncle Sam. |
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It may only be a characterless lump of Eastern European mediocrity, but it deserves just a bit more respect than being dipped in coffee... |
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I was thinking of this posting while listening on the radio about how the Brexit-favoring crowd have many of the same motivations as the Trump favoring crowd. I checked and am happy to confirm that one need not be English born to be prime minister! The UK even had a Canadian. |
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So, if Trump fails in his effort to be President, he could cross the water and take a swipe at the #1 spot in the UK. Or #2 - not sure if the Queen counts but I am sure they would get along famously. |
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//It may only be a characterless lump of Eastern European
mediocrity, but it deserves just a bit more respect than
being dipped in coffee...// |
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The coffee is Folger's instant, BTW. |
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Instant coffee stirred with a gun. No wonder America is
being left behind and falling apart. Why not just fire
bullets into the cup to add some vitality and agitate the
feeble brew? That would be more American would it not? |
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special cups would be required, steel perhaps, I advise the use of a shotgun, you could empty the bird shot out of the cartridge & replace it with sugar thus sweetening the drink at the same time |
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If the shotgun is close enough to put most of the charge into the cup, the muzzle blast sprays the coffee everywhere. |
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9mm parabellum rounds from 5m cause a lot of splash (after two rounds, about 20% of the coffee remains in a 350ml container with a similar form factor to a mug) and what's left tastes awful. |
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I'm thinking now that you lined up five hundred armoured cups of that typically awful wishy-washy America coffee, you could fire one of those gattling type multi barrel guns at them to both stir and heat them up in the space of a few seconds. I'm sure every American must have at least one of these weapons in their arsenal - possibly even in their arse-en hole? (sorry, but couldn't actually resist) |
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// muzzle blast sprays the coffee everywhere // |
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a screw on top for the cup with a hole to insert the barrel might help there |
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The problem there would be back-pressure. The propellant gases have to vent somewhere, or the barrel will rupture. Nasty ... |
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//The coffee is Folger's instant, BTW// |
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Oh. I tried that once as a late-night emergency measure.
Purely as a source of caffeine. If it had caffeine it only
served to make me more aware of the surrounding
dreadfulness of the whole experience. |
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//America is being left behind and falling apart.// |
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//Just looked at a list of the top 25 high tech
companies in the world. 6 are Asian, 1 is German
and the rest are American. Not one is English I'm
sad to say.// |
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18 of the world's top 25 high tech companies are
American, not one is from your
"edgy" (as you called it) country. The future is in
high technology, always has been. Not sure where
you think your country is going but yes, please,
leave us behind. |
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By the way, it must be said that some of the most
brilliant people who have ever lived are English.
You madam, are clearly not one of them. |
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Not sure I have ever liked the name: "BREXIT",
anyway. Maybe "EUgenic" is better, but I'm not sure
which side is becoming purer. |
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Well, quite a historical day today. If England leaves
the EU Texas might be inspired to consider leaving
the US again. |
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Very interesting. Hope you guys make the right
decision. Whatever that may be. Despite the sparring
back and forth, England was the home of my
ancestors and it'll always have a place in my heart,
reciprocated or not. |
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//Just looked at a list of the top 25 high tech companies in the world// You don't really know what "edgy" means do you? [doctorremulac3] Hint - it's got nothing to do with making plug-in plastic boxes filled with wires and sporting cooling vents. |
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I'm pleased to say, I neither know, nor care what
you mean by "edgy" and to belittle the amazing
advances of science because its mechanisms may
have some identifiable characteristics is like
calling the amazingly complex human body a bag
of
meat. It betrays ignorance. |
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You're insulting a bunch of people when you say
xenophobic stuff like you do. Might want to
consider just being nice. A bit of fun ribbing is one
thing but sheesh. This is just nasty. |
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[doc] may be right. Even the American half of me is
starting to feel a little defensive. |
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//I'm pleased to say, I neither know, nor care what you mean by "edgy"// Then why make comments about something you don't understand? Come back when you have recovered your humour. This is not a scientific journal - it's the halfbakery! - you know for halfbaked foolery - so sorry if I've hurt your feelings. |
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//...the American half of me...// |
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Hey Max, were you born on the border? Which end? (of both yourself and the country) |
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So happy to discover MB is half USian. I find his sense of
humor hysterical. Must be where he got it. |
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Oh that's a lovely little piece of historical trivia [Sun], nice link |
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like food aid parcels but with guns, I used to live in Sudbury ("comparable in size to"), is Victoria really that small? |
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No use shipping tea to the Yanks; they would throw it overboard when it reached port. |
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If they also tarred and feathered someone from the IRS at the same time, it would be worth it. |
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Good link TC. Added a follow up link. |
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I must be an oddity. I don't own a gun, and only
rarely drink coffee. |
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The pretty much clinches it. American coffee causes
gun ownership. |
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//So happy to discover MB is half USian. I find his
sense of humor hysterical.// Aww, thanks [bliss]. I
put my personality down to combination of my
American mother, my English father, and my generic
pharmaceuticals. And somewhere in the mix is
Swiss-German and Jewish, so I'm never sure if it's OK
for me to tell Jewish jokes or not. |
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Oh for Pete's sake... now Vancouver Island wants to become its own province. |
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...it's all getting a wee bit silly |
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I didn't even know Vancouver had an island. |
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It has an island with a lake in it, and an island in the middle of that lake. This geographical mise en abyme is known as a stutteration. |
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Yep, Vancouver Island is pretty sweet. Old growth Sequoia forests, prehistoric looking spiky rhubarb plants that dwarf a man, and something in the air and water that seems to make the locals very... friendly. |
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It's Canada's only rain forest, just four hours drive away from Canada's only desert. It's like a little slice of the whole planets' geology and weather in one little slice of Gods' own country. Had to migrate a few thousand miles to find it. |
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I highly recommend a visit. Look me up if you ever find yourself on this end of Canada. |
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P.S That goes for any halfbaker making it this far north... or south as the case may be. |
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I was woken up in the middle of the night by a
massive explosion in Vancouver once. Everybody
walked into the streets in their pajamas to see
what was going on. Big mushroom cloud rising up
from downtown. |
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Turns out somebody was cleaning an oven with
some kind of solvent that went gaseous and blew
the whole restaurant up. Sounds fishy to me but
that's what I was told. |
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The non blowing up parts of Vancouver are pretty
beautiful though. |
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Are you in Vancouver then? If so, I would very much like to attend another west-coast half-con. It's very cool meeting the people behind the monikers you've read for years. Every halfbaker I've either met, heard or seen on video gets their voice pasted over their written words in my head as I read them. |
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Sometimes I can peg an author by the voice that pops into my head as I read an idea. |
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I hope that's not too creepy, there's not much I can do about it if it is though... it just happens. |
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//prehistoric looking spiky rhubarb plants that dwarf
a man// Wow. Who knew Vancouvrians were so
short? |
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Since we have not met you will just have to keep using the voice of Neil Young for my posts. |
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//Vancouvrians were so short// Lower center of gravity = better hockey don'tcha know? |
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Like Neil Young but a bit less nasal and with a tone that gets lost in background noise. |
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//Lower center of gravity = better hockey don'tcha
know?// But surely also shorter legs=slower running? |
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I find the best pucks have no legs at all. |
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//Are you in Vancouver then? If so, I would very
much like to attend another west-coast half-
con.// |
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I'm down south in San Francisco thereabouts. I'd
love
to actually meet some of the people I feel like I've
known for years. Some of them are legends in my
mind. I've probably even got mental images of
what they look like that have absolutely no basis in
reality. I think I'd be kind of star struck. Crazy eh? |
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The only halfbaker I've met irl is Ian W., who lived
down
the street from me for a good while until he moved
to Italy. |
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If you're ever anywhere near Motown, for god's sake
get out
of there and go north a county to mine where it's
much
better. |
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I have to say that if Brexit wins and Trump loses, I'll
just about lose my respect for your little island snd
claim bragging rights on the nation with a hair of
common sense. |
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A long time ago we had a birthday calendar with
users pics
gracing it. |
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up late watching the results come in here, could still go either way |
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[doc] suggested somewhere up there that if we do jilt Europe it might encourage Texas to make a break for freedom |
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I can see it now - UK leaves Europe, Texas leaves the US, the US & Europe get together to bitch about their ex partners over a bottle of Chablis get drunk & end up cutting one arm off all of Texas & the UK's suites then throw them out the bedroom window |
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huh.. I'm stunned, the votes aren't all in yet but the BBC has called it for leave, looks like we're leaving |
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yup - we're leaving her, just all the boring paperwork & divorce settlement to get through now (so that could take years then) & a couple of the kids might ask to stay with mum (Scotland & Northern Ireland) |
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there's a chance the Netherlands may be next |
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Options that seem to satisfy: EEA, EU Customs
union, EFTA, Council of Europe, something new, or
completely out. |
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What colour car do you want: Black or not black? |
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don't know which of us is keeping the car yet so the question may be moot ;P |
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Nowhere. Britain stays put- the rest have to pack thrir bags and go. |
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Take this island to Cuba! |
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// Take this island to Cuba! // |
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You have that the wrong way round [Loris] |
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The EU as a political system is functionally closer to Communist government structures than Democracy as most people understand it |
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So "Take this island away from Cuba!" would be closer the mark |
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Though if you're referring to that rather amusing little cartoon of the UK sailing away from Europe it looks likely we might be headed for Canada to me :) |
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Hence once more the idea. |
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It's quite evident, chest beating anti-Trump sentiment
non-withstanding, the same forces are at work around the
planet, like a fractal algorithm running, producing
variations but also producing a recognizable pattern.
Trump is crude and repellent, while British politicians
have that nice accent. Otherwise, a majority of the
people are concerned about who is eating their cheese,
and once that number rises above a certain percentage
(or every 50 years) strange things start happening. |
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// Trump is crude and repellent, // |
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Hilary is slick, oily, sophisticated and even more repellent. |
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//while British politicians have that nice accent. // |
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// Otherwise, a majority of the people are concerned about who is eating their cheese, // |
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Who wouldn't be ? Cheese is IMPORTANT ! |
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// and once that number rises above a certain percentage (or every 50 years) strange things start happening.// |
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"[ytk], PUT THE GLOCK DOWN AND STEP AWAY FROM THE COFFEE. NO-ONE NEEDS TO GET HURT HERE" |
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// concerned about who is eating their cheese // |
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I paid for that cheese, I was kind of hoping to eat it myself.. |
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[8th] I'll grant you Hillary is quite repellent, statistics tells
us a bit less so than Trump, but time will tell. I'm certainly
not supporting either. |
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//You have that the wrong way round [Loris]// |
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Skewed, it's (derived) from a Monty Python show. In one scene there's a man trying to divert a plane (which is on its way to Cuba) to Luton.
In a later scene, a bus going to Luton is hijacked with "Take this bus to Cuba!" |
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I've been commanding things which couldn't possibly go to Cuba ever since I saw it, so this was too good an opportunity to pass up. |
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"Sail this galleon to Cuba ! " |
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Well I say good for you guys. It's not like "How will
Britain survive and thrive without Greece and
Croatia?" |
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That being said, British politics are really none of my
business. |
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You could always rename the Southern half as Judah, and
the northern half as Israel. The British living overseas
could become known as the lost tribes. |
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And then vote in Trump as your PM of the new un-UK.
That would solve our current headache here. I can
hear his anthem now. Britain needs an official one
anyway... |
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And did those feet in recent time,
Walk upon England's mountains green:
And was the holy King of Debt,
On England's pleasant pastures seen!
|
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And did the orange Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Trump Tower builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
|
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Bring me my Brow of burning gold;
Bring me my hat of Crimson fire:
Bring me my hair: O locks untold!
Bring me my list of crooks and liars!
|
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I will not cease from Mental Spite,
Nor shall the hoard sleep in my land:
Till we have built an EU Wall,
In England's green & pleasant Land |
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//NO-ONE NEEDS TO GET HURT HERE// |
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Hmm, are you sure you can't think of anyone here that needs
to get hurt? |
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A wall is a good idea. Combine the Antonine and Hadrian
walls, work them along the current southern Scot border,
post guards and make sure nothing gets through. |
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We have a Wall Builder that we'd be glad to give you when
we're done with him. It will be the best wall. Scotland will
pay for it. |
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(edit) okay, we're done. Take him. Please. |
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Pretty sure we could buy the commonwealth. |
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United States: 16.77 trillion USD (2013 GDP) |
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Commonwealth Of Nations: $10.450 trillion (GDP
2014
estimate) |
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But we're all on our way to third world status in
ten
generations or so. Who'll get there first? Dhunno.
Whoever
collapses last wins. I guess. |
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Interestingly enough, the old EU (feels weird to
say that) was (US$16.8 trillion in 2014) almost the
exact same as the US. |
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The singularity will likely outrace the Social Security crisis,
[dr], so no worries :) |
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Yes, I would like [po] on my team, finally. Yes. |
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//Pretty sure we could buy the commonwealth.
United States: 16.77 trillion USD (2013 GDP)// |
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US National Debt: $US 17.8 trillion. |
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^ That figure is too low by now... |
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Yes, I referred to that in the 4th sentence. |
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Corrupt mismanagement of the economy isn't the real
problem. For the first time in history, something that's
driven civilization has been removed: a challenging
environment for survival that in the past forced the
individuals that make up that society to be strong and
much better off if they were intelligent. |
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Societies are powered by people and we get people from
via two different routes: K strategy mating parents and r
strategy mating parents. K strategy being like a bear or
an elephant, small litters raised to adulthood by the
parents vs r strategy, large groups of babies largely
abandoned at birth like salmon or mice. |
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K strategy is the way to go in a harsh environment, r is
the way to go in times of plenty. Due to advances in
technology, we've never had more plenty which is great,
but there's a downside. As humans increasingly adopt the
r strategy of mating, the offspring may get progressively
more stupid. The movie "Idiocracy" covers this better
than I can. |
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Controversial I know, and I'm also aware that there's one
scientist that says IQs are increasing but he fails to give a
good reason why. I obviously don't know if any of this is
true or not on either side but humans moving into a
different mating strategy to match the changing
environment seems pretty plausible. |
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Interesting stuff anyway. Check out the link. Right or
wrong, it pretty much sums up this theory. |
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//there's one scientist that says IQs are increasing
but he fails to give a good reason why.// |
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It's called the Flynn Effect, and has been well-
known and heavily researched for many decades.
Whatever it is that IQ tests measure has increased
steadily and very significantly over the last few
generations. |
|
|
Explanations for the Flynn Effect range from better
education (IQ tests are supposed to be education-
neutral, but may not be); through greater mental
stimulation (kids exposed to puzzles from birth
develop better puzzle-solving skills); to better
nutrition and disease prevention (the brain is the
hungriest and most delicate organ, so childhood
malnutrition or repeated infections will stunt its
development). |
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In the most developed countries, the Flynn Effect
seems to be levelling off; it is largest in developing
countries, where education, mental stimulation,
health and nutrition are all improving fastest. |
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I favor a 3rd theory: we' re splitting. |
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Nature does this a lot. "Hmm. Fins or feet, which are
better? Well, I'm nature so I always throw both into the
arena and let the victor take over." |
|
|
So you may think "Well, that's a forgone conclusion who
will win that evolutionary battle. The smart group." |
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But what if the smart group does something like destroy
itself with nuclear weapons or AI programmed deathbots
and the de-evolution group looks up from foraging grubs
one day and says "Ug, what that mushroom cloud on
horizon? Me see lot of those from smarty pants areas
these days." (Good grammar and contractions are the
first thing we lose
when we de-evolve.) |
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Nobody knows which path is best. Maybe sort of smart is
better. |
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The only thing I'm pretty sure of is that we are changing
very quickly. Divergence that used to take hundreds of
thousands of years is now going to happen in mere
tens of thousands or even thousands of years. |
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[dr] human manipulation will outrace any natural process,
and very soon (in geological terms, it's already happened). |
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And we'll be merging with or changing via, I'll call it "man
made life
technology"
pretty soon. Then you're talking overnight changes. |
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Of course you know some people think biological life will
spawn something completely different that takes the
forefront of evolution. Getting a little above my
brainpower to speculate on such things though. I can
throw out ideas and get most of the spelling right but it's
just wild guessing at that point. |
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Kind of interesting to think about though. |
|
|
//biological life will spawn something completely
different that takes the forefront of evolution.// By
most measures, that would be "management".
However, management is a bit like viruses - nobody is
quite sure if they meet all the criteria for life. |
|
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// are you sure you can't think of anyone here that needs to get hurt? // |
|
|
Not at this time ... we can think of many who do deserve to get hurt, but specifically, we just want to persuade you to stop mistreating your personal weaponry, for its own good. |
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I suspect the Flynn effect is just due to the pressure of a
more complex environment. We are forever being removed
from Plato's cave, into ever more broad and
nuanced situations. |
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