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Without getting too far into the assertions made here or elsewhere about AGW, I will say that precise definitions matter greatly if we don't want threads that decay into trollery. The phrase existential threat is a shining example of imprecision. If a conservative uses it to caricature a moderate/liberal position, they may use it to mean complete extinction event, no humans left. This, most climatologists and ecologists agree, is not likely to happen, so the conservative feels they score a point. However, if their interlocutor said existential threat and meant something more like vast social disruption, widespread crop failure and famine especially in the tropics, many deaths from wet bulb temps over 35 C in tropical regions where AC is not widely available, massive wildfires, massive coastal flooding in areas of high population density then they are speaking of threats quite real and not too distant. And quite existential for those most vulnerable by virtue of geography and lack of resources. So any discussion must determine first what such terms mean, and find common definitions. And that can only happen when politics, and wearing team jerseys, is put aside.

I assume you've got the correct four meanings... Yes, It works in Dutch too.

Governor Ron DeSantis wants to eliminate 70% of all math books currently used in Florida. He says the other 12% are fine

Inspired by another thread, I thought it might be good to have a place to put funny or otherwise notable ambiguities, and any comments about them in general Here's some that have been posted already elsewhere by TheVat: Kids make nutritious snacks Miners refuse to work after death Panda mating fails, veterinarian takes over Old school pillars are replaced by alumni One I've found: A woman in the UK gives birth every 48 seconds

Since Reagan basically did the same thing Biden did, except he claimed he'd nominate a woman to the SCOTUS if she was qualified, it seems many folks nowadays just assumed a black woman wouldn't have those qualifications. And then GOP leadership treated Jackson like she was stinking up the place, enforcing systemic prejudice and doing their best to make sure an eminently qualified black woman would not move forward. My ass it had nothing to do with race.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/254896-a-panda-walks-into-a-cafe-he-orders-a-sandwich A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. "Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife annual and tosses it over his shoulder. "I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up." The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation. Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.

Which is better than my one math joke... What's the square root of 69? Eight something.

Well... it's better than my one math joke. How many meals a day do mathematicians eat? 9. They eat 3² meals a day.

Example I once read about AI in the domain of language understanding. It has 4 (at least?) meanings: "They saw the girl with the binoculars."

Healthy respect, no fear of crawlies or snakes here though the I have been bitten by scorpions and centipedes, woke to a very large huntsman covering my eye that I removed in the dark and had numerous snakes in the house and gardens. My dog killed one in her kennel just last week.( RBB) The most common snakes here are all venomous. Plenty of Eastern Browns, Red Belly Blacks and Bandy Bandy and over the years there have been losses of horses to them. In other animals, the reactions vary between individuals. Seems they have 'the instinct' or they don't ( to see a threat) Dogs that do, often pull their lips back while attacking as though the taste is also repulsive. This for both spiders and snakes, though I've had dogs that will stomp a spider instead. Insects are generally tossed into the air with each nip in a continuous motion, snakes shaken violently. Plenty of Funnel web spiders too. generally these are not toxic to canines and my terrier will jump on them if he finds them. Much appreciated when they are near where the kids play. We prefer to let them be, but the warnings have been handy, especially in the dark/ using the bath room!

A few things here. I think as a whole society has lost the ability (not sure how much there was before, but now it is definitely less) to discuss nuance. The example you mentioned is pretty bad to make your point though, as the 12 year discussion has far more nuance at least in academia and left-leaning areas than on the right wing. Just to make sure we are on the same page, the 12 year deadline was part of an IPCC special report and it was not referring to the demise of the human species, but it was referring to the limiting global warming to 1.5 C which was a seen as a critical factor. In the report we will find quotes such as This is what is part of the discussion in academia and policy and you will note that not even very left leaning governments at any point mentioned death within a decade. I am actually not sure where your claim of a 12 year death deadline came from, but it really sounds like distortion from right wing pundits. Even in left- I am not saying that the left is free from those mistakes, but the example you picked out does not really help your point. But to get back to my earlier point, it is true that outside (and sometimes also within) academia these things are almost never discussed with the necessary detail , and it is quite obvious why. Folks do not want to think. I get that, though in the past there was at least some level of perceived accountability with regard to falsehoods. But also folks were not as easily distracted by social media. We also see it with things which have immediate impact or are just simple facts (Sandy Hook shootings, COVID-19 pandemic) where folks increasingly just design their own reality. Of course this changes the whole discourse as we now have a whole generation of kids growing up with cell phones and social media, and many of those will be in the positions were said nuance would have been important. Yet modern politics demonstrated that facts don't matter, so why shouldn't they choose the easier road?

British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands There's a scene from The Meaning of Life which that one calls to mind.

More "textbook" examples (from Yule, George. The Study of Language) : Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana. Annie bumped into a man with an umbrella. Their child has grown another foot. I once shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I’ll never know. (Groucho Marx) These are designed for small boys and girls. The parents of the bride and groom were waiting outside. The students complained to everyone that they couldn’t understand.

I strongly disagree. The only thing that is remotely as deluded might be black Hebrew Israelites, from what I understand. I will also note that the killer of the Australian women was originally sentenced for 12.5 years in prison (later overturned to 4.5 years). Many startled police officers who shot folks, especially, but not exclusively of black men, got off free. When the black panthers were formed black folks were still being lynched and police brutality was way more rampant. Seeing even a remote symmetry in these examples is quite a bit of a stretch.

I enthusiastically recommend Trump with no qualifications whatsoever. In my opinion, we'd be very fortunate to get him to actually work for us. I can assure you that no person would be better for the job. I can't say enough good things about him, nor recommend him too highly.

Your offspring may be nice, but German children are kinder.

Post something controversial. That always seems to bring everyone out to play.

That's why I try my best not to be 'sociable'. Yes I do !!!

They don't call them "echo chambers" for nothing. The power they have to gaslight people (especially those who don't stray from one platform, and don't regularly clear cache and cookies) is creepy. The other distortion that bothers me is from platforms that favor brevity, like Twit(ter). Many issues are complex, and reducing one's thoughts to 288 characters may lead to shallowness and sloganeering. (For zen wisdom, it might be okay, and I do sometimes see very pithy stuff that is valuable)

Sure, because evolution, climate change and religion subjects equate to lesbian feminist activist professors of philosophy geting driven out of universities through witch hunts led by disturbed red haired morons who want to destroy peoples lives because they feel offended. Or young african american women who stigmatize Ketanji Brown nomination for being racist from the begining. Oh, and if anything uncomfortable will be left on the site after all the discussions run their course we can sweep it under the carpet by deleteing it right? BTW, I wonder how Sirona is doing, is she already a single Mom or is she still working on her way to becoming one?

My pleasure. Watching the bias train for too long makes me want to comment, I gotta work on that.