Pat @Pat@qoto.org

@SpinozasHeresy @freemo

If anyone should be denied bail, it's a guy who has his own intercontinental jet.

@admitsWrongIfProven

CSPAN caller of the day. I couldn't do it justice with a text description; you'll need to listen-to or watch the video.

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If you're ever in Florida, make sure you stop by the restaurant with the chief who had a huge necrotizing sarcoma.

(Remember to wear your respirator while you are eating so you don't get infected by COVID-19.)

#cspan #respirator #covid19 #disease #restaurant

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The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

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Accessible description of video:

first a scene from Airplane! (1980) a closeup of Lloyd Bridges with a puffy face and a silly grin, he is sniffing glue. zoom out showing that all of his hair is sticking straight up. pan right to show air traffic controllers walking around, but they are upside down -- the camera is upside down and so was Lloyd. (that's why his hair was sticking up and his face was puffy)
Cut to a night scene from Starman (1984) showing Jeff Bridges standing naked, his arms out with his palms up. a small bright bluish light is next to him about shoulder height. the light slowly moves up and illuminates his head showing that his hair is sticking straight up, just like his father's was.

#celebrity #movieStar #actor #JeffBridges #LloydBridges #hair

@techladylaura

We spent all that blood and treasure in Iraq and now they are aligned with Iran, supporting Iran's nuclear program.

That worked out well. (sarcasm)

@Lazarou

It would be cool if some smaller animal gained higher intelligence and language, like a small bird or a mouse. But because they lack manual dexterity they would train other animals to do the work. Kind of like the way we used animals to do farm work before the industrial revolution.

It would be cool to see a parrot perched on the shoulder of a bonobo or an elephant directing it to build machines and electronics and stuff. That would be something to see.

@freemo

>"My fear is the collapse of western societies might lead to a super power gaining control and makiing things much worse."

That scenario has already happened -- a superpower taking control and making things worse: The USSR collapsed, then there was a deep global recession. Bush raised taxes and poured a ton of money into Russia and other former Soviet states to keep them afloat.

Then the US was the sole superpower and the world watched to see what we would do. Would we be responsible stewards of the planet or abuse our power.

What we did was to rent out our military to the oil industry and launch a series of oil wars throughout the Middle East and launched a "war on terror" throughout northern and central Africa, leaving death and destruction everywhere. The world was watching; China was watching.

Then our leaders said that they were pivoting our gun turrets toward Asia. And we wonder why China suddenly stepped up their defense spending. What did you expect them to do after we just tore the Middle East a new one and openly said we were going after China next? Yeah, they did what any sane country would do. They are trying to defend themselves against the US.

Now the US is desperately trying to accelerate the timetable for WWIII so we can attack China before they have time to build up their military.

Abre los ojos.

@voidabyss

@Lazarou

Raccoon archaeologists. Yeah, I could see that.

@2ck

When they do it, they are often talking to the camera, to the TV audience, so it's not about interview technique. If it's irony, it's very subtle and I don't see it as irony. I'm sure people who understand what's going on (that the TV people are playing dumb), know that it is just for show, but I get the feeling that the vast majority don't see it that way.

Next time I see someone doing it I'll try to get a clip and post it here (if I remember).

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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

Starman (1984)

The Starman has small balls and Jenny Hayden has big eyes, and when they get together…

The special effects are dated and there are a few plot holes, but this is a great film with a huge helicopter budget – highly recommended.

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(video: fair use clips from the film)

Accessible video description:

a hand opens showing two small silvery balls, Starman looks pensive, he picks one ball out of his hand and looks sad or meditative; Jenny Hayden is in the dark and looks scared or amazed, she has big eyes; a spaceship that is pointy in front and spherical in the back heads towards Earth; fighter jets take off, one of them fires at that spaceship as the jet’s instrument panel is shown; cut to a house in a rural setting, then the camera is looking out through the window as a fireball streaks across the sky with a picture of Jenny and Starman inside the house in the foreground; the fireball crashes into the ground with a spectacular fiery explosion rising into the air.

#science #fiction #ScienceFiction #SciFi #FTW #sfftw #film #movie #alien #army #DNA #RoadTrip #explosions #spaceship #helicopters #meteor #crater #jackpot

@AmandaHilden

Thank you for this reference. It helped me create this poll...

https://qoto.org/@Pat/106720086570559633

@stux

OMG, I thought this was drone footage!

@3ammo

I just ran across this old thread and it looks like I left you hanging. Sorry. I'll reply now in case you find it again or for others who may be reading this...

>"For all we know, probabilities have no place in any part of quantum mechanics other than in a measurement.

>"Connecting measurement to consciousness is okay, maybe."

That's true, probabilities may only be related to measurement. But measurement is only differentiated from other QM interactions in that it 1) connects the phenomenon to our consciousness, and 2) it connects the QM interaction to the macro, which itself may be what introduces the probabilities (or may not), or it may simply be the change in reference frame.

>"I was referring to the Lorentzian signature of spacetime (the temporal component of the metric has an opposite sign to the spatial components of the metric).This is just math for "time only goes forward", kind of. So the preservation of causality is baked into relativity."

>"This is just math for "time only goes forward", kind of. So the preservation of causality is baked into relativity. "

There are conditions under which those signs change. In a black hole at the Schwarzschild radius time is 0, and beyond that threshold the signs for space and time flip (for some models).

Also, for massless particles, time is 0 in their reference frames, and I believe there can be no causality without time. So, for example, gluons would be non-causal during their existence.

@louiscouture

"Woke" isn't a noun, FYI.

Here's a nice (visual) overview of the history of world civilizations...

https://youtube.com/watch?v=__BaaMfiD0Q

#history #civilization #politics #climate #archaeology #world #corruption #economy #pandemic

(sorry for the youtube link, couldn't find it elsewhere)

@crosswordman

Why was this under a CW? Do jigsaw puzzles trigger a physiologically harmful or psychologically traumatic reaction in some people?

@jwhevans@mstdn.social @bonifartius

I'm guessing that this is actually a serious topic of research in psychology/sociology; they may even have a name for this phenomenon.

Hypothesis:
I see a lot of TV personalities do this, pretend that they don't understand something. I think it has to do with ego-reward -- a lot people would rather feel that they are smarter than others. When someone around them expresses ignorance on a topic that they themselves understand, then they feel better about themselves. Even if they also don't understand the topic, someone else's ignorance allows them to at least feel that they are "average".

People who are better at social interactions will pick up on this right away and then pretend to be more ignorant in order to get people to like them more -- those around them will have more pleasant feelings when they are around that person.

It's seems counter intuitive, but it makes sense. Unfortunately, when this becomes the norm, it reinforces an aversion towards education and intellectualism. That sucks.

Will the United States collapse before the end of this decade?

#USPol #InternationalRelations #world #corruption #covid19 #war #bank #debt #economy #politics

@ZingerLearns

STEM = science, technology, engineering, math

What does "SPED" mean?

@peterdrake

He played Captain Hook in Peter Pan. 🙂