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You misspelled “propaganda and lies.” What DID go out in Russia is access to independent news from the BBC, and all access to Facebook and Twitter for Russian residents. Authoritarian lockdown of internal information and dissemination of disinformation is now in full swing within Russia.

What a ridiculous interpretation given that the civilian population is voluntarily standing up, taking up arms, and fighting alongside their military by the hundreds of thousands to defend not only their country, but democracy itself.

The OP apparently denies that there was anything rational in the foundation of any religion. Yet, as @Peterkin and @Ken Fabian point out, there are perfectly rational reasons to account for the origin of religions. The OP makes much of the need for evidence to define, or identify reality. (And seems to have reached the questionable conclusion that he has quite a good grasp of reality.) Our early ancestors had minimal evidence; no microscopes, telescopes, chemical analyses, MRIs; no systematic process for investigating nature. Based upon the evidence they did have, it was reasonable and rational to imagine that the movement of the trees in a wind, the changing of the seasons, the blessings of the sun, were the product of agency. To conclude otherwise would, based upon available evidence, have been nonsensical. If the alternative to believing in an afterlife is a life long, paralysing fear of death, perhaps it is rational to believe a religion that offers an alternative. Conclusion - there are rational reasons for founding a religion. (As an aside, Ron Hubbard seemingly did it for the money.) My conclusion is that the OP knows almost nothing about religion, practically nothiing about how sciences such as anthropology or geology can investigate the reality of the past, and next to nothing about what constitutes reality. Apart from this, his posts are entertaining. @deependFor the record. I am an agnostic, but atheistic in regard to all the religions I have so far come into contact with. As to cult membership, I am quite engaged by model railways, but - contrary to your apparent expectation - there is a lot of evidence that they really do exist. I found almost nothing in your posts that was logical, or reflected reality, or revealed an understanding of what your were discussing. I echo the implicit recommendation by @Phi for All: don't assume you know better than everyone else: stop preaching; listen to what others say; reflect on it; engage, rather than tell people how they think and how wrong they are. I look forward to the interesting discussions that could follow your conversion. Damascus, this way!

As of March 5th LUKOIL stock dropped 92% and the board released the follwing statement on Saturday morning: "The Board of Directors of LUKOIL expresses herewith its deepest concerns about the tragic events in Ukraine. Calling for the soonest termination of the armed conflict, we express our sincere empathy for all victims, who are affected by this tragedy. We strongly support a lasting ceasefire and a settlement of problems through serious negotiations and diplomacy" They changed their attitude significantly and by significantly I mean 180 degrees, it looks like sanctions are working.

It seems like only yesterday that the East coast of Australia, faced one of the worst bushfire seasons in living memory, with hundreds of homes destroyed, whole towns wiped out,lives lost and billions of our native animals perishing. Now we have the same east coast having our worst floods in living memory, with month's worth of rain falling in a single day...Roads interstate impassable, and whole towns flooded, by what are being called a once in a thousand year flood! https://phys.org/news/2022-03-australia-tens-thousands.html The couples' home floated fully intact for about a kilometre While I am aware of extreme weather events around the world, when they hit close to home, one starts to wonder. We have 4 moths to go before our next general election, I hope that peopel are aware and concerned enough to vote out our present incompetent climate change denying governemnt, for our Labor party who promises to do much more in that regard.

Totally agree with that summation. How the hell, can people believe that it is the democratic western nations that are indulging in fake news ( a terminology that forever will keep the name of Trump alive) and lies and misinformation? Sometimes I really wish I could block politics totally out of my mind...politics and religion! two areas where people can twist, turn and alter the facts to reflect and protect their inner biases and beliefs.

The apology accepted. I did not mean to ask what I did not ask.

This is a selection of news during the last days on phys.org that have caught my attention in the last days, for one reason or another. Developments in Environmentally-Friendly Technology: New screening system may point the way to clean, renewable hydrogen power https://phys.org/news/2022-03-screening-renewable-hydrogen-power.html Sewer treasure: Engineers reveal how to optimize processes for transforming wastewater sulfur to valuable materials https://phys.org/news/2022-03-sewer-treasure-reveal-optimize-wastewater.html Archaeology: Origin of the 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf discovered https://phys.org/news/2022-02-year-old-venus-willendorf.html Cosmology: Experiment on reservoir in India fails to find evidence of cosmic dawn https://phys.org/news/2022-03-reservoir-india-evidence-cosmic-dawn.html More information, as well as criticism, welcome. Enjoy.

The technique used on the Venus intrigued me, as I was unfamiliar with it. Described as micro-computed tommography, it builds up a 3D image of the interior via X-ray examination. Such non-destructive techniques are surely transformational in several fields. I see an analogy with seismic tomography, which has provided such deep (pun intended) insights into the Earth's interior through examination of earthquake data from multiple stations. The central message of the paper appears to be that the analysis has been able to identify a source south of the Alps, while the Venus was made north of the Alps, indicating far ranging communication between Europeans 30 millenia ago. The researchers were able to determine that the oolite from which the Venus was carved was not of Miocene age (which could have been sourced neraby) by, but Jurassic. We have the same oolite in the UK, part of the Great Oolite Group. Wikipedia note "It is exposed at the surface as a variably thick belt extending roughly NE-SW from the coast of Dorset up to the Humber." Fellow Britons in these areas may be familiar with it. Thank you for pointing us towards these interesting items.

"Research published in 2014 revealed that one Philippine Rafflesia species from the island of Luzon, R. lagascae (a synonym of R. manillana), may have lost the genome of its chloroplast and it is speculated that the loss happened due to the parasitic lifestyle of the plant.[10]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia#Loss_of_the_chloroplast_genome https://www.google.com/search?q=plant+without+chloroplast

A community that shares language and beliefs and rules of behavior has advantages. I think the human imagination and propensity to dream and fear the unknown combine to make having shared beliefs, even wrong ones, better than having none. The need for sharing beliefs came long before it was clear what was rational and what was not. The power to evoke strong emotions does make humans vulnerable to manipulation - but makes it possible for leaders to unite and inspire them to a great task or a Cause. The power of unified belief to aim people in the same direction have made societies strong. Having unified beliefs that are all evidence based and rational ought to make societies stronger but I don't think anyone's ever actually tried it. I'm not sure humans are even capable of agreeing on what is evidence based or what is rational. If you come to that question with beliefs already in place they probably seem evidence based and rational.

And most things just don't need knowing. Good philosophy! Or, you could start a whole thread about why no such discussion should take place.

You know how I can tell you're preaching? Because you quoted my post but didn't address a single point I made in it. You didn't address the distinctions I made, you ignored my Aristotle quote (directly in response to your previous post), and then you hand-waived away the rest of what I said with a declaration about what's pointless and what's truth. If you want to learn, I'd say this is why folks don't like to discuss anything with you. You don't engage, you just spout the stuff you think you're sure of. It's not interesting, it's not educational, and it's certainly not discussion.

They don't have chloroplasts. Even liverworts and mosses (the most primitive plants that still exist) have chloroplasts. Do mantises have chloroplasts? And That's why they're not autotrophs: They don't synthesise sugar from CO2, consuming water. Animalia (cellular respiration): C6H12O6 + 6O2 --> 6CO2 + 6H2O (many intermediate steps omitted) Plants: Cellular respiration plus, Photosynthesis: 6CO2 + 6H2O --> C6H12O6 + 6O2 which is (overall and oversimplifying) the inverse of cellular respiration. LOL. x-posted with @Genady

This is your lucky day then. I personally have a lack of belief in deities. I don't claim they don't exist, I just don't see any evidence to support them. I might think differently if there was any evidence, but for now it's just a lack of belief. Not sure how you can call that a cult. Is there a cult of people who don't believe in dragons, or a religion of people who don't believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster? If atheism is a religious cult, doesn't that mean BALD is a hair color? "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." – Aristotle – One can study a thing without embracing it, and it's never a bad idea to understand why people think the things they do. Objectively, you should be willing to ask yourself, "Is it me? Am I the drama?"

Excellent. We are in total agreement on this one issue.

I think I can see at least three yetis there.

You are wrong in thinking that I am wrong. It has nothing to do with ghosts or woo or any of that nonsense. It's far deeper in human social development, farther back in time, far more basic. Why should i even try? Christianity is such a late-comer to supernatural beliefs, so embedded in the civilized era of human history, was so quickly absorbed into imperil politics that it's almost entirely artificial. How is that relevant to the origins ofr functions of religion? How many religions are you familiar with? And how familiar? Obviously. I submit that you are wading in the baby pool of this subject. A little more reading would help. Are you aware that the majority of 'normal' people subscribe to some religion?

By reading the works of historians and anthropologists. You know, sciencey type stuff. We happen to know lots of things about people and what they did prior to them having a written language. Other than your rather rude dismissal of what I had to contribute do you plan on adding anything here? Or is you plan just to piss people off?

No.

The winners of the Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020 awards have been announced with some truly spectacular images. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/in-pictures-54105085 Nicolas Lefaudeux: Overall Winner I don't have sufficient permissions to upload all the images but I'd like to give the winners a name check nonetheless... Nicholas Roemmelt: Aurorae category Bence Toth: Best New Comer Alain Paillou: Our Moon category Alexandra Hart: Our Sun category Lukasz Sujka: Planets, Comets and Asteroids category Thomas Kast: Skyscapes category Peter Ward: Stars and Nebulae category Alice Fock: Young category Julie F Hill: Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation Finally, Rafael Schmall: People and Space category (my particular favourite) The star in the centre of the image is the Albireo double star, surrounded by trails of moving satellites.

Why?

Are orchid mantises plants?

In other words, metals aren't chemicals. Thanks, but I already knew that. If you're going to start telling me things I already know, we aren't going to get very far. Also, protons and neutrons are part of what makes up an atom's electrons. So protons and neutrons are part of how atoms arrange themselves chemically. I just don't happen to think that all the same kind of atoms could be classified as a metal. Metals have very specific characteristics. I have heard that at the center of Jupiter, because of the pressure it is under, hydrogen becomes so dense that it will form a metal. But to me, that isn't the same thing. Are all atoms metals? No. That proves nothing. Is carbon a metal? I don't think so. But it is an atom that can be widely found in many kinds of molecules.

Anything that isn't supported by evidence is a cult. It doesn't have to do with the paranormal. Next, Aristotle said that everything was made up of earth, water, air and fire. Was he right? I wonder what he thought about the orbit of planets too. Whatever it was, he was probably wrong. People can have various philosophies. But when you speak of nature as it is, you are either right or wrong. Next, some things just don't need study. You can go on and on about why religions exist. But then the fact that they are nonsense gets buried in the mountains of pointless debate. Next, the truth is the truth. I don't give a flippin flying fuck what people think of it. It is what it is. Reality. I am also reminded of something Samuel Clemens once said. He said, "It is easier to fool people than it is to convince them they've been fooled."

The Ukrainian army uses the tactics of Middle Eastern extremists, hiding behind the civilian population as a human shield. As RIA Novosti reports, retired Colonel Douglas McGregor, a former adviser to the head of the Pentagon, said this on Fox Business. According to him, this tactic is explained by the fact that the APU lacks mobility, there are no air defense systems and air cover. "They have to hide in settlements, mixing with the population. We could see similar things in the Middle East. When we defeated the Islamists there, they fled to the cities, used people, civilians, as human shields and tried to avoid destruction. This is exactly what is happening now in Ukraine, where the army is using the population to avoid defeat," McGregor stressed.