Leaderboard

I just thought the pronoun thing wasn't very funny. We are allowed to react to the jokes, right? For example, my SpaceX/SpaceY joke was tasteless and crude, and I would support anyone's right to say so, or reject it any other way. Personally I find the pronoun choice for nonbinary folks a poor one that's kind of been forced on them by the fact that people are unable to adapt to new pronouns which would surely work better and without ambiguity. Instead of she and her, why not assign a new NB set of pronouns like de and der? This would eliminate what would seem to be a chronic source of confusion with they/their/them.

You mean as the same PIT for everyone? That would be equal, but not equitable. A person with low income would have to use a higher percentage of their income on essentials (housing, food, etc.) so will end up with with less disposable income as part of their overall salary than a person with a higher income and the same tax rate. An equitable approach would tax folks with higher income more (but a would also need to close loopholes for them to get around those). One common issue is that many super rich actually do not have an income per se, but most of it is based on assets/wealth. So to pay for things they borrow against their wealth and while they spend a lot, they do not need to pay income tax (or barely any at all). Which is why wealth taxes are under discussion, but apparently difficult to implement.

No. The uncertainty principle comes from QM, not relativity, and relates to non-commuting operators or, in the wave formalism, to certain pairs of properties being related to each other through Fourier transforms, whereby increasing precision in one leads to loss of precision in the other. QM is applied to physical systems - objects, if you like - rather than to spacetime.

Correct. GOP more likely to vote IRL on Election Day. Dems more likely to compose the majority of the mail-in ballots which will continue getting counted for a few more days.

No, I'm not accessing my dreams to find what I may already know or have forgotten. My goal is to expound on what I already know about mind, consciousness, the unconscious, and brain function. My study of dreams--not just my own--and the dreaming brain are one means among several that I have chosen to reach that goal. In my attempt to reach that goal, I have become convinced that our unconscious may have access to an immense amount of sensory afference (experience data), which could provide immeasurable insight that has escape our conscious awareness. The only way we may consciously access that insight--what we know and are capable of knowing--is through a better understanding of how this insight manifests through dreaming and dream content. I don't particularly endorse hypnosis, I think it is more harmful than helpful. However, there's considerble evidence supporting its theurapeutic benefit and there are some who are believed by many to have gained access to considerable amounts of insight, which they could not possibly know or gain otherwise ( See Edgar Cayce). I'm still on the fence about that last bit.

Even if he were only poking linguistic fun at the confusion of plural and singular, it's still a feeble and witless joke. Ok, to keep this thread relevant, here are two Musk jokes: Did you hear Musk and Bill Gates collaborated on a drug for erectile dysfunction? It's called ElonGates. Why did Elon Musk choose SpaceX as a name for a company to land on Mars? Because if he chose SpaceY he'd land on 14 year old boys.

Humor at the expense of already marginalized groups already being targeted for violence and abuse really isn’t funny. It’s shitty.

Haven’t been here for a while but came in to pay my condolences to most of the regulars who will have to pay the 16 bucks to stay around on twitter 😂