New Stable Elements May Have Been Found

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Now a team at the University of Arizona in Tucson has made a mystifying and “exciting” discovery while analyzing an incredibly dense asteroid named 33 Polyhymnia. The asteroid — named after the Greek muse of sacred hymns — is so dense that researchers theorize that it may be made up of elements not contained on the periodic table.

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In a study published in mid-September in The European Physical Journal Plus, researchers concluded that Polyhymnia has a measured density higher than those of any elements known to exist on Earth.

Eric Lagatta
October 19, 2023
Study: Asteroid known as Polyhymnia may contain ‘superheavy’ elements unknown to humans

It may be “interesting” trying to bring back samples. Imagine trying to use a stick to scrape a sample off the turret of a modern tank. That asteroid is going to be an alloy of some sort…

We live in interesting times.

Cyborg Rights

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Over the past half-century, the microprocessor’s capacity has doubled approximately every 18-24 months, and some experts predict that by 2030, machine intelligence could surpass human capabilities. The question then arises: When machines reach human-level intelligence, should they be granted protection and rights? Will they desire and perhaps even demand such rights?

Zoltan Istvan
October 19, 2023
Creating Sapient Technology and Cyborg Rights Should Happen Soon

Interesting questions. Just wait until artificial life forms are allowed to vote and they multiply at exponential rates. Things will get really interesting then.

There is No Free Will So Behave Accordingly

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The world is really screwed up and made much, much more unfair by the fact that we reward people and punish people for things they have no control over. We’ve got no free will. Stop attributing stuff to us that isn’t there.

Robert Sapolsky
Stanford University neurobiologist
October 17, 2023
Stanford scientist, after decades of study, concludes: We don’t have free will

I’m unconvinced this is true, but I understand how such a conclusion can be defended. Perhaps I should read his book. But what is most interesting to me, as pointed out in the article, is that people who come to believe this claim end make changes in their lives which are detrimental to themselves and others:

Even if the range of potential outcomes is limited, there’s simply too much variability at play to think of our behavior as predetermined.

What’s more, he said, it’s harmful to do so.

“Those who push the idea that we are nothing but deterministic biochemical puppets are responsible for enhancing psychological suffering and hopelessness in this world,” Tse said.

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A widely cited 2008 study found that people who read passages dismissing the idea of free will were more likely to cheat on a subsequent test. Other studies have found that people who feel less control over their actions care less about making mistakes in their work, and that disbelief in free will leads to more aggression and less helpfulness.

All this makes me wonder… Is belief in free will is an evolutionary survival of the fittest response?

And further more, even if you were to know there is no such thing as free will, you (paradox alert!) should choose to behave as if you have free will.

Lack of Arrests Due to Lack Of Gun Control

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Late Thursday, a gunfight broke out in a parking garage by Philadelphia International Airport when, according to police, a pair of officers saw a group of people trying to break into a car. One officer was killed — a 50-year-old father — and another was injured.

No one has been arrested in connection with the killing, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department told Insider.

In a statement, Krasner, a progressive Democrat, blamed the lack of arrests on state and federal gun laws.

Charles R. Davis
October 13, 2023
A Philadelphia police officer is dead and thanks to ‘gun-crazy’ politicians his killer is on the loose, DA says

Larry Krasner is the District Attorney of Philadelphia. He blamed the 2nd Amendment for the lack of an arrest. Does he also blame the 5th Amendment for the lack of convictions? It would be a lot easier to get confessions if people could be interrogated without an attorney present. And just imagine how many convictions they could get if the entire Bill of Rights were disposed of and torture was allowed and it was illegal to complain about it.

Gun control isn’t about safety. It is about control.

Luxury Beliefs

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Their worldview includes fixed positions on race, gender, decolonisation, sexuality, slavery and the Palestinians. Although much of this causes real harm, particularly to teenagers and Jews, these ideological positions are signifiers of social status rather than authentic moral positions. They are luxury beliefs.

It is striking how closely this group adheres to these orthodoxies. Because it is a question of identity, it is almost unthinkable for devotees to hold some of those views but not others, and very hard for them to change their minds. Last week, Jeremy Corbyn appeared unable to revise his vision of Hamas as “friends” even in the aftermath of the massacre.

Jake Wallis Simons
October 15, 2023
Why liberals have ended up cheerleading for jihadism

I like the label, “Luxury beliefs.” That describes the beliefs of gun control advocates as well. The people advocating for gun control will not be materially affected by the banning of guns and they like pleasure of feeling morally superior in ridding the world of the yucky guns.

Markley’s Law Flipped

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VIa Kevin Crystal @PhilaBOR:

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Typical Response

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Via TxJarhead @BeardedTexan69:

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Quote of the Day

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This is why we need to ban assault weapons Too many insecure males use assault weapons as substitute phallic symbols and there masculinity Is tied in to how big they’re assault weapon is This is a dangerous combination

Jon Westergren @WestergrenJon
Tweeted on March 4, 2023

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!

Their grammar is as atrocious as their thinking abilities.

Analysis? We Don’t Need No Stinking Analysis!

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There are good arguments to be made, but the court didn’t offer them.

Adam Winkler
UCLA law professor
October 11, 2023
9th Circuit stays ruling against California ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines

The 9th Circuit put a stay on striking down of the “high-capacity” magazine ban. I found it interesting they didn’t analyze the law as per Bruen. As pointed out by Winkler, no friend of gun owners, they didn’t even put effort into making the best arguments for the anti-gun side. They seems to have said, “This law is good. Therefore it shall remain in effect.”

I suspect they knew, at least as some level, if they tried to arrive at their desired result via an articulated Bruen analysis they knew they would look even more stupid, ignorant, and/or evil than they do without doing the analysis. By saying,

“public interest tips in the favor of a stay,” as “mass shootings nearly always involve large-capacity magazines.”

They are engaged in interest balancing. But as pointed out by SCOTUS in two different rulings, the Second Amendment is the result of balancing the potential harms versus the good. No further balancing is allowed.

Artificial Limits Lead to Disarmament

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As this Court explained in its prior decision, “[a]rtificial limits will eventually lead to disarmament. It is an insidious plan to disarm the populace and it depends on for its success a subjective standard of ‘necessary’ lethality. It does not take the imagination of Jules Verne to predict that if all magazines over 10 rounds are somehow eliminated from California, the next mass shooting will be accomplished with guns holding only 10 rounds. To reduce gun violence, the state will close the newly christened 10-round ‘loophole’ and use it as a justification to outlaw magazines holding more than 7 rounds. The legislature will determine that no more than 7 rounds are ‘necessary.’ Then the next mass shooting will be accomplished with guns holding 7 rounds. To reduce the new gun violence, the state will close the 7-round ‘loophole’ and outlaw magazines holding more than 5 rounds determining that no more than 5 rounds are ‘suitable.’ And so it goes, until the only lawful firearm law-abiding responsible citizens will be permitted to possess is a single-shot handgun. Or perhaps, one gun, but no ammunition. Or ammunition issued only to persons deemed trustworthy.”

Roger T. Benitez
United States District Judge
September 22, 2023
Virginia Ducan v. Rob Bonta

This could have been written by someone deemed to be a paranoid gun nut by the people on anti-gun side. This is now official federal policy in regards to gun law.

Protect

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I used to think gun owners loved their guns more than their own kids.

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For some politicians it seems easier to push for gun control than focus on firearms education. However, any good parent knows this is not an effective long-term strategy. The DC Project believes we need to utilize educational, anti-bullying, and mental health programs, to reduce accidents and curb violence.

DC Project, Women for Gun Rights
June 7, 2022
Protect Like A Mother

If you are convinced of the absurd, such as gun owners love their guns more than their own kids, Then it is time to reconnect with reality. You probably arrived at your conclusion through faulty data and/or logic.

Gun Control Emboldened Criminals

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Making it more difficult or even more expensive for me and people that look like me and other law-abiding citizens. will not make us safer. It will embolden criminals. Gun owners are not the enemy and these gun control policies are not the solution.

Lucretia Hughes
June 8, 2022
DC Project Delegate Lucretia Hughes Testifies Before House Committee

The first two sentences are true. At first glance the last sentence would appear to be true. But it depends on your premise.

If the premise is the problem is people with guns committing violent crime then yes, gun control is not the solution and ordinary gun owners are not the enemy.

But, as I’m am inclined to believe, these days most of the politicians advocating gun control are not motivated to make innocent people safer. They are part of the criminal class and ordinary gun owners are their enemies. This is why they lie so much. The truth would destroy their ambitions to rule over an enslaved population.

Dating a Scientist

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I used to be a scientist at a government laboratory. I found this amusing.

Via Aella @Aella_Girl:

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There is more than a little truth in that.

Lessons Learned

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So far we’ve had two countries come to the stark realization that they simply cannot arm an otherwise largely disarmed populace fast enough to effectively deal with invaders.

Yet “gun control” cultists here still want to repeat those same mistakes. They’re incapable of learning.

In Chains @InChainsInJail
Tweeted on October 9, 2023

The primary point is probably valid. But I believe the gun control cultists want invaders and anything else which will bring down our country. Gun control is just a symptom of a much bigger agenda.

The lesson they will/have learned from the Ukraine and Israel is that disarmament of U.S. private citizens is a good first step.

The lesson the general population needs to learn is that private citizens need unincumbered access to military arms.

Beautiful and Inspiring

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Yesterday was a victory. For freedom fighters to break out of a 15-year blockade so successfully under the inhuman genocide of Israel was so beautiful and inspiring to see. It shows the world that we will always fight and always resist and we need to celebrate these acts of resistance because this was a success. Revolutionary violence initiated by Palestinians is not terrorism – it is self-defence…

Hanin Barghouti
October 7, 2023
Pictured: Activist who called Hamas attacks ‘beautiful and inspiring’

It has been said that one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter. In this case I think the more applicable adage is that in war the truth is the first victim.

Even if you were to accept the claim Hamas is a group of freedom fighters, Israel gets a vote on what to call them. There is probably some Yiddish phrase that I am clueless of but is the rough equivalent of “dead meat”.

My guess is that the leaders of Israel have a thought process something like, “What price did Hamas think they would have to pay for this evil treachery? Okay, now multiply that price by 1,000. We are now going to deliver that price it as quickly as possible.”

By the time the IDF has finished with Hamas, people like Ms. Barghouti will no longer call Saturday’s attack “beautiful and Inspiring”. She will realize what she called “genocide” on Saturday will soon be “the good old days.” And the most positive name for Saturday’s attack will be “The Great Mistake.”

Persistent Ignorance and Insults

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That must be a really small penis you are trying to make up for

Dog Sat On My Pizza (@DogSatOnMyPizza)
Tweeted on September 27, 2023

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!

I moved this guy to near the head of the queue because of his persistent ignorance and insults in the thread.

But, as is usual, In Chains @InChainsInJail, kept him in his place.

Just Like it was Done in the USSR

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He’s only in it for himself. He’s now defending himself in civil actions and criminal actions. And when do they break with him? Because at some point maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members. But something needs to happen.

Hillary Clinton
October 6, 2023
Hillary Clinton says Trump supporters may need to be ‘deprogrammed’

Presumably this would best be done in a psych hospital. Just as they did it in the USSR.

With Gun Owners Like This

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I think we might be on the precipice of things getting much worse. I think this Bruen decision, the Supreme Court ruling, quite possibly will unleash so many lawsuits against so many counted-upon regulations that citizens may wake up to the equivalent of, like, no stop signs in their town anymore, except for it’ll be on gun regulation.

Ryan Busse
Former executive at Kimber America
A senior adviser for Giffords,
Currently attempting to become the Democrat candidate for the governor of Montana.
Former Gun Company Executive Explains Roots of America’s Gun Violence Epidemic

With gun owners like this, who needs enemies?

Natural Stupidity

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I’m supposed to be worried about Artificial Intelligence destroying us all, but the fact is our Natural Stupidity is more than adequate for the job.

Roberta X
September 21, 2023
Threat Spectrum

Case in point:

The latest round of state test results is raising alarm in Baltimore City Schools. Project Baltimore found that 40% of Baltimore City high schools, where the state exam was given, did not have any students score proficient in math. Not one student.

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But that’s not the only alarming finding we made. In those 13 high schools, 1,736 students took the test, and 1,295 students, or 74.5%, scored a one out of four. One is the lowest level, meaning those students were not even close to proficient.

I don’t know if the demonstrated natural stupidity is on the part of the students, teachers, or (or we should embrace the power of “and”?) administrators. But this is scary stuff. From just one city there are now thousands (this has been going on for several years) of young adults with near zero math ability. These sort of people have been diffused into society for decades years now.

As a Heinlein character famously said:

Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human.  At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house.

A case can be made that our country, if not the whole world, is on a superhighway to Idiocracy. An alternate hypothesis is that there will be a great collapse, a massive die off, and those who survive will be “the best and brightest” and the human race will be the better for it.

I don’t know which scenario is more likely. But I am in agreement with Roberta when she said natural stupidity is more than adequate to destroy us all.

I want an underground bunker in Idaho as my observation post.

Which Will Remain More Effective?

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once again, while you’re at the range taking tactical carbine for the 7th time,

leftists are getting civil disobedience and resistance training

and they’re going to use those tools a lot more effectively over the next 18 months than you’ll get to use your training over the next 18 years.

you have to be armed and dangerous to remain safe and credible, but let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that it’s the best solution to our political and social problems.

the left views violence as a dial that can be turned up or down, while the right views it as an on/off switch.

which view has been more effective over the past 10 years? which will remain more effective over the next 10?

Mike Shelby | Do Your Area Study @grayzoneintel
Tweeted on October 4, 2023

This is an interesting assertion..I can see it being true in certain timelines and not in others. But which timeline is most probable? And would it be appropriate to push events in the direction of certain timelines? And how do you know your actions will have the desired effect? It is such a complex system…