Meme - mugshawtys @mugshawtys: "engaging in prostitution (these are twins, not the same girl)"
TheStrangerTheDanger: "How awful. Which county was this in so I know to stay away?"
ElderScrollsFanatic: "If I'm not mistaken they both are dead. One by OD and one got hit by a car"
TheStrangertheDanger: "Omg how sad! Does anyone know where they & were buried? In case I want to pay my respects of course"
just_an_average_guy: "This man is on a mission. Not a honorable one but a mission nonetheless"
House of the Dragon: Everything Game of Thrones has taught us about incest - "As the geneticist Razib Khan points out, “Daenerys Targaryen’s inbreeding coefficient is 0.375. Charles II, the last Spanish Habsburg, who was impotent ... mentally disabled and could barely walk, had a coefficient of 0.254.”"
Indian woman with pacemaker dies during attempt to scale Mt Everest - "A 59-year-old Indian climber, aiming to set a new world record by becoming Asia's first woman on a pacemaker to scale Mt Everest, died on Thursday after falling sick at the base camp of the world's highest peak in Nepal. Suzanne Leopoldina Jesus was admitted to a hospital in the Lukla town of Solukhumbu district after facing difficulties during the acclimatisation exercises at the Mt Everest base camp... Suzanne, fitted with a pacemaker, was asked to abandon the attempt to summit Mt Everest after failing to maintain a normal speed during the acclimatisation exercise on the base camp and showing difficulty climbing, Khatiwada said. Suzanne adamantly refused the advice, asserting that she had to climb the 8,848.86 metres-high peak as she had already paid the fee for acquiring permission to climb the mountain... "We had to take her back to Lukla forcibly," Sherpa said, adding that they hired a helicopter to evacuate her... Sherpa also wrote a letter to the Department of Tourism mentioning that Suzanne was not in a position to climb Mt. Everest as it took her more than 5 hours to reach Crompton Point, above the base camp, which is just 250 metres long. Climbers can usually cross the distance in 15 to 20 minutes, but it took Suzanne five hours on the first attempt, six hours on the second attempt and 12 hours on the third attempt to reach the point during the acclimatisation exercise, Sherpa said. “However, she wanted to set a new world record by becoming the first Asian woman to summit Everest with a pacemaker,” he said, adding that she was having difficulties in her throat and could not even swallow food easily."
Clearly, it's all mental. It's her fault she didn't believe in the quest enough.
Why Experts are Almost Always Wrong - "Every time there’s a national disaster, a gigantic event, a shooting, a breakthrough, really any news at all, you can rely on television news to find an expert. Some of them know quite a lot about what happened, what will happen, and why. But when it comes to a lot of experts, they really have no idea what they’re talking about. Blogger Eric Barker points out that political experts’ predicitons are only slightly better than a random guess, and way worse than a statistical model. In fact, so called experts were better at predicting events outside their own field. Barker points to a study from the 1980′s, when Philip Tetlock had 284 political “experts” make about a hundred predictions. The study is summarized in the book Everything Is Obvious* Once You Know the Answer... Another study found that “experts” who try to predict the outcome of Supreme Court cases weren’t that much better than a computer. The world saw evidence of that in their recent decision about health care, surprising nearly every “expert” out there. But that’s politics. Other fields should be better, right? Nope. Technology is the same way. Another scientist analyzed the accuracy of technology-trend predictions. About eighty percent of them were wrong, regardless of whether those predictions were made by experts or not. In 2005, Tetlock wrote a book about expert prediction called “Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?” In it, he explains that not only are experts often wrong, but they’re nearly never called out on it... The moral here? We really have no idea what’s going to happen, ever."
If you don't Trust the Experts, you're an ignorant Denier
Opinion | What is truth, anyway? - "In their book “Superforecasting,” Philip Tetlock and Dan Garner document how bad most people are at making predictions and the skill sets of those who are good at it. They begin with the results of extensive testing of people’s predictions. It’s not good. Even most so-called experts were no better than dart-tossing monkeys when their predictions were checked. When asked to make specific predictions — for example, “Will another country exit from the EU in the next two years?” or, presciently, “Will Russia annex additional Ukraine territory in the next three months?” — and their prognosticating feet are held to the empirical fire, Tetlock and Garner found that most experts were overconfident (after all, they’re experts), encouraged by the lack of feedback on their accuracy (if no one reminds you of your misses, you’ll only remember the hits — that’s confirmation bias), and are victims of all the cognitive biases and illusions that plague the rest of us. The worst forecasters were people with big ideas — grand theories about how the world works — such as left-wing pundits who predicted class warfare that never came or right-wing commentators who prophesied a socialistic demise of the free enterprise system that never happened. Failed predictions tend to be hand-waved away — “This means nothing!” “Just you wait!” Superforecasters, by contrast, practice active open-mindedness, which Tetlock and Garner defined quantitatively by asking experts “Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?” Superforecasters were more likely to agree that:
People should take into consideration evidence that goes against their beliefs.
It is more useful to pay attention to those who disagree with you than to pay attention to those who agree.
Even major events like World War II or 9/11 could have turned out very differently.
Randomness is often a factor in our personal lives.
Superforecasters were more likely to disagree that:
Changing your mind is a sign of weakness.
Intuition is the best guide in making decisions.
It is important to persevere in your beliefs even when evidence is brought to bear against them.
Everything happens for a reason.
There are no accidents or coincidences.
In his 2021 book “Rationality,” Steven Pinker suggests that we valorize norms of reason and rationality and pressure institutions to develop those norms that lead to truth-seeking rather than territory-defending. He had in mind academia especially, with its “stifling left-wing monoculture, with its punishment of students and professors who challenge reigning dogmas on gender, race, culture, genetics, colonialism, and sexual identity and orientation.” Finally, I believe that the most important norm of all is the freedom to critique or challenge any and all ideas. Why?
We might be completely right but still learn something new in hearing what someone else has to say.
We might be partly right and partly wrong, and by listening to other viewpoints we might stand corrected and refine and improve our beliefs.
We might be completely wrong, so hearing criticism or counterpoint gives us the opportunity to change our minds and improve our thinking.
By listening to the opinions of others, we have the opportunity to develop stronger arguments and deploy facts that better support our positions.
My freedom to speak and dissent is inextricably tied to your freedom to speak and dissent. If I censor you, why shouldn’t you censor me? If you silence me, why shouldn’t I silence you?"
If you don't Trust the Experts and Trust the Science, you're an ignorant Denier who needs to be deplatformed and depersoned
What Is Baking Soda, Anyway? - "One of the main reasons for using baking soda in baked goods today isn’t leavening at all—it’s getting that soul-warming golden brown color. You see, pH also affects color... Soda bicarbonate’s browning superpower also works for other oven-baked recipes, like super- crispy chicken wings that are as close as you’ll get to fried without emptying out a handle of oil. (Bonus: That alkalinity may also help crisp the skin by breaking down the skin’s peptide bonds, making for a more ragged texture that crisps up more readily.) In this case, it’s good to remember Corriher’s warning about the tiny might of baking soda: It needs to be mixed in with other powdered ingredients, like the garlic and onion powders in this Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings recipe, or it will taste metallic... One of baking soda’s oldest non-baking uses is to tone down the acidity by lowering the pH of a dish. It appears in cream of tomato soup, like Marion Cunningham’s classic version in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Acidic tomatoes can lower the pH of milk or cream, which will denature the dairy’s proteins, such as casein, causing them to unfold and then clump up. Adding a pinch of baking soda tames the acidity of the tomatoes, which prevents the milk from curdling. The logic can be extended to any overly acidic concoction. Sharma adds a pinch of baking soda to his morning coffee to lower its acidity and prevent acid reflux—that, too, is a traditional usage: Doctors have long recommended baking soda as an antacid to neutralize stomach acid and prevent kidney stones. Another old trick is one that has taken hold in some bean-loving cultures: Add a little baking soda to a cookpot of dried beans to help speed up the softening process. That’s how chef Michael Solomonov treats his chickpeas to make Israeli-style hummus, and Sharma’s mother does the same when cooking various bean dishes... Some cooks also like to use a similar technique for roasted potatoes or oven fries—parboiling them in alkalized water helps break down the pectin, and, in the case of potatoes, starch will leach out, creating a gelatinized starchy slurry on the exterior of the potatoes. That starchy coating will dehydrate in the oven, giving your oven fries an extra-crunchy crust along with that extra browning."
The Reason Why No Photography is Allowed in the Sistine Chapel - "while many assume that the no-photography rule is in place to prevent the flashing of cameras from affecting the art, the real reason dates back to the restoration of the chapel that began in 1980 and took nearly 20 years to complete. When Vatican officials decided to undertake a comprehensive restoration of Michelangelo’s art in the chapel, the price tag for such an endeavor prompted them to seek outside assistance to fund the project. In the end, the highest bidder was Nippon Television Network Corporation of Japan, whose $3 million offering (which eventually ballooned to $4.2 million) was unmatched by any entity in Italy or the U.S. In return for funding the renovation, Nippon TV received the exclusive rights to photography and video of the restored art, as well as photos and recordings of the restoration process by photographer Takashi Okamura, who was commissioned by Nippon TV. While many initially scoffed at the deal, the high-resolution photos provided by Nippon offered a hyper-detailed peek behind all of the scaffolding that hid each stage of restoration, and eventually won over some critics of the arrangement. As a result of the deal, Nippon produced multiple documentaries, art books, and other projects featuring their exclusive photos and footage of the Sistine Chapel restoration, including several celebrated collections of the photographic surveys that informed the project. The ban on photography within the chapel remains in effect despite the waning of the terms of Nippon’s deal. In 1990, it was revealed that Nippon’s commercial exclusivity on photos expired three years after each stage of the restoration was completed. For example, photos of Michelangelo’s epic depiction of the Last Judgment were no longer subject to Nippon’s copyright as of 1997, because that stage of the restoration was completed in 1994. For the record, Nippon has stated that their photo ban did not apply to “ordinary tourists,” but for simplicity’s sake—lest some professional photog disguise themself in Bermuda shorts and a fanny pack—authorities made it an across-the-board policy. The “No photos! No video!” rule remains in place for the Sistine Chapel (though as some recent visitors can attest, its enforcement isn’t exactly strict). Given the damage that can be caused by thousands of camera flashes going off in the chapel each day, it’s no surprise that Vatican officials decided not to end the ban when Nippon’s contract expired. After all, the chapel houses some of the greatest art in the world—and a gift shop stocked with souvenir photos."
Maybe we haven’t found alien life because it’s sleeping. - "Aliens do exist; they’re just all asleep. According to a new research paper accepted for publication in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, extraterrestrials are sleeping while they wait. In the paper, authors from Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute and the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade Anders Sandberg, Stuart Armstrong, and Milan Cirkovic argue that the universe is too hot right now for advanced, digital civilizations to make the most efficient use of their resources. The solution: Sleep and wait for the universe to cool down, a process known as aestivating (like hibernation but sleeping until it’s colder). Understanding the new hypothesis first requires wrapping your head around the idea that the universe’s most sophisticated life may elect to leave biology behind and live digitally. Having essentially uploaded their minds onto powerful computers, the civilizations choosing to do this could enhance their intellectual capacities or inhabit some of the harshest environments in the universe with ease."
Known Alias: How Stephen King Was Outed as Richard Bachman - "King’s professional problem, if he could be said to have one, was that he secreted words like most people produce sweat. His novels were swelling in size—The Stand’s first publication saw it cut from 1152 to 752 pages—and he was eager to publish more than the industry standard of one book a year. Editors balked: Multiple releases would glut the market, they insisted, undercutting the King brand and cannibalizing his sales... Beyond circumventing the antiquated thinking about being too prolific, King had an alternative motivation for pursuing a pseudonym. He had long wondered if his work could be successful outside of the notoriety he had developed over the years."
Esports host covers herself in black paint after criticism over “revealing” outfit - "An esports host in China has gone viral after responding to criticism over her short skirt outfit by turning up to a broadcast fully covered in black clothing and face paint. The caster, known as Zhazha, faced backlash from some viewers who took issue with her wearing a short skirt during a recent Naraka: Bladepoint broadcast. Critics accused her of dressing in a way to attract attention from male viewers, while others speculated that the broadcaster had asked her to dress as such to increase viewership. Zhazha responded by appearing alongside her male co-hosts dressed head to toe in a black outfit that covered her entire body."
Chris on X - "Does anyone remember how 9 Republicans voted for Sonia Sotomayor even though she is, well, Sonia Sotomayor. And 5 Republicans voted for Elena Kagan for SCOTUS even though she had no prior judicial experience. And Republicans didn't filibuster either of them (this was back when the judicial filibuster still existed in full). Good times. Our graciousness was rewarded with Democrat filibusters for all three Trump nominees and I think like 2-3 throwaway votes in total between Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett. All 3 were federal appellate judges upon nomination, unlike Kagan. And now we just assume all Democrats will vote against a potential Alito or Thomas replacement. Totally love the way respect and decorum is entirely one-sided in Washington. And then in the distant future, when a Democrat president nominates a liberal justice, the press will scream about norms and decency when only 10 Republicans vote for the nominee. Good times."
Stouffville mayor pushes region to look at new transit model - "The app-based system lets riders request a bus near their door for a transit fare, with the routes generated based on who is requesting them to come up with the fastest route. Bradford West Gwillimbury launched its partnership with Argo in April. As part of the partnership with Bradford, all buses are fully electric. Residents can use the app or call to book a ride for $1 or pay a $3 cash fare. The key component to the system is the smart-routing technology, which allows residents to be picked up and dropped off near their door. The technology develops smart stops based on real-time data and rider demand. Algorithmic routing is designed to reduce the cost per ride."
Jared Taylor on X - "Not smiling anymore. Florida Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick stole $5 million in phony government Covid relief. Splashed out $109,000 on a diamond ring (probably in the first photo). House Ethics Committee (she's looking glum at hearing) will decide punishment."
Chris on X - "We should once again be very happy that Republicans moved quickly to expel George Santos from the House because now we get to complain that Democrats won't expel both Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Eric Swalwell, despite much more serious allegations, as they finish out their complete terms in Congress."
Time to slam Republicans for hypocrisy
Fandom Pulse on X - "Some fans are speculating that The Boys star Erin Moriarty's appearance has changed because of Graves Disease. Moriarty on the disease: “If I hadn’t chalked it all up to stress and fatigue, I would’ve caught this sooner,” she wrote, urging her followers to pay close attention to their own health. “Don’t ‘suck it up’ and transcend suffering; you deserve to be comfy.” Do you think that this has to do with her current look or is it plastic surgery?"
Jim Alaska on X - "Graves disease affects your eyes, not the buccal fat in your cheeks or the size of your breasts."
Meme - kira 👾 @kirawontmiss: "What Erin Moriarty would’ve looked like without all the surgeries 👀"
"With surgeries. No surgeries"
Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 on X - "Overheard in Silicon Valley: "UBI is for farm animals.""
Auron MacIntyre on X - "It’s very simple. UBI disconnects the economic cycle from human concern. It creates a closed techno-commercial feedback loop that ignores the needs of humans. People ignoring or downplaying this consequence haven’t grasped its implications"
Meme - BricksCe... @BricksCe...: "Paige Bueckers to the ref: "Do you need my glasses?""
Dr. Glauco... @DGlauco...: "Nobody asked, but she's a -1 maybe a -1.5"
ethan @thisappisnotok: "And you're dying alone so what"
Dr. Glaucomflecken @DGlaucomflecken: "Ok I probably could have phrased this a little better"
Meme - "The American mind cannot comprehend this"
*Woman in light red dress showing cleavage smoking nonchalantly as men in foreground sit at table drinking beer and smoking, with others in the background sitting outside at tables as part of cafe culture*
ɐ͎ʞ͎ć͎ı͎ɹ͎ɐ͎ɯ͎ @leamaric: "One thing about Europe is that you can always tell when someone isn't a local, like these kids."
Im not european peter, what is it? : r/PeterExplainsTheJoke - "This is in Marbella, and there are several reasons this group looks like tourists rather than locals.
• They’re drinking pints. A local would usually order a caña or a clara, or a tinto de verano if they want something colder. Large pints in the middle of the afternoon read as “holiday mode.”
• The guy on the left is dressed in a basic t-shirt that looks heavy for the heat. Local men favour light cotton shirts or polos during the day because they breathe better and look neater. A t-shirt isn’t unheard of, but you rarely see one worn as the main outfit for a café meal.
• The other two are overdressed for the time of day. The woman’s dress and the guy’s open-knit top look like evening outfits. If you compare them to the people behind them, locals stick to linen shirts, cotton tops, and relaxed daytime clothing.
• They’re in a part of Marbella that draws tourists. Locals avoid the pricier restaurant streets during peak hours unless they work nearby or are meeting someone specific.
• Their table has only drinks. Locals usually order at least a tapa, some olives, or bread when sitting at a table like this, especially during lunch hours.
• Their energy is off for the setting. The woman is posing, and the guys look like they’re gearing up for a night out. Terraces like this are for slow conversation, coffee, or a light drink, not pre-drinks or photo shoots.
tl;dr: they’re in a tourist-heavy area, dressed for the wrong time of day, ordering drinks locals wouldn’t order at that hour, and treating a daytime café like a nightlife backdrop. This is the Spanish version of someone walking into a small-town diner in Alabama wearing a tuxedo at 2pm, ordering three shots of tequila, and posing for Instagram while everyone else is eating burgers and drinking sprite."
Meme - "*SuperSize Me*
>eat mcdonald's for a few days
>"AAAAHHHHH I'M FUCKING DYING MY LIVER IS SHUTTING DOWN I'M HAVING ALL THE SYMPTOMS OF A RAGING ALCOHOLIC GOING THROUGH WITHDRAWALS"
in retrospect, we really should have realized something was off"
Thread by @xwanyex on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "Watching this Apollo 13 documentary and you get all these “pale blue dot“ sentiments throughout it, about how this is our only home, and aren’t we so insignificant, and look how tiny we are, and doesn’t this mean that we all have to get along, and shouldn’t we really be working toward world peace, and isn’t the big problem in life that we haven’t been nice enough to each other. The moon oneshotted a generation into hippie liberalism. Maybe it would have been better if we hadn’t gone. Yeah, the Earth is our only home. That’s why we fight wars over it. That’s why we care about the minutia. That’s why we are parochial and defensive. It’s because it’s the only thing we have and we want to protect the parts of it that we inhabit."
Man detained in mental hospital after trying to set up Pakistan's first gay club - "The man, who chose not to give his identity in an interview with The Telegraph, had filed an application to set up the club in Abbottabad, the conservative northern city where Osama bin Laden was found and killed. In the application filed to the deputy commissioner (DC) of the city, the man said the club was to be a “great convenience and resource for many homosexual, bisexual and even some heterosexual people residing in Abbottabad in particular, and in other parts of the country in general.” Gay sex is illegal in Pakistan and can be punished by two years up to life in prison. The conservative religious culture also makes it difficult to be openly homosexual, although in practice the laws are rarely applied... The application stated that in “the envisaged gay club, tentatively to be called Lorenzo gay club, there would be no gay (or non-gay) sex (other than kissing).” “A clearly visible notice on the wall would warn: no sex on premises. This would mean that no legal constraints (even obsolete ones like [anti-sodomy] PPC section 377) would be flouted on the premises”... the application was leaked on social media, prompting fury from locals and politicians in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where women face limits on their ability to access education and on socialising outside their homes. Naseer Khan Nazir, a leader of the Right-wing Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PATY), said that if permission for the club was granted, there would be “very severe consequences.” Another MP from the party said that he would douse the building with petrol and set it on fire. The leader of Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI), a conservative religious party in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, claimed that the man trying to set up the club had recently returned from a visit to the UK... Friends said they were extremely concerned for his safety and that they had been blocked from visiting the man or finding out more information. “Everyone is afraid that talking about it will put them in danger,” one said. “I do not know about his well-being for many days” they said, adding that they had “tried to find out about him a couple of times but without success”. The friend added that the applicant’s sexuality was well-known in Abbottabad and there had never been issues with him in the community. They said he was now highly “vulnerable” and “anything could happen to him at any time.” In an interview before he was sent to the Peshawar mental hospital, the applicant told The Telegraph: “I talk about human rights and I want everyone’s human rights to be defended”... “If the authorities refuse, then I will approach the court and I hope that like the Indian court, the Pakistani court will rule in favour of gay people.”... Religious parties have accused the applicant of working on behalf of a foreign state and called for Abbottabad’s DC to be dismissed simply for considering the application."
Damn colonialism!
