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While I agree with his first post on the matter, once he shifted his focus to Israel, I have to again disagree I don't know why the focus of the thread shifted to Israeli actions ( most of this thread was posted shortly after my eye operation ), but the above seems an irresponsible statement. Russia occupied the Ukraine for over 50 years, under the guise of the USSR, took all of their produce to sell and finance their 5 year modernization plans, and in the process, starved 8 million Ukrainians to death. ( yes, 8 million; more than the Jews that died in the Holocaust ) Three years ago, Russia again invaded the Ukraine, branding them Nazis, and currently has 300000 troops in Ukrainian land which they have seized by force and untold missile attacks. ( and I won't even mention China and its oppression of some of their people, and people of lands they've occupied, like Tibet ) Yet, Mistermack, who has openly defended Russia's actions in the Ukraine on this forum in the past, chooses to call out Israel as the worst offender ? Methinks there is a bit of anti-Semitism at play here. ( it's a good thing I don't give demerits )

I don't do 'tweets' nor do I care what others 'tweet' about in social media. ( forums is as far as I go ) And my opinion of Joe Rogan is that he should have stuck to announcing MMA fights.

You need some serious smelling salts and a heater to dig up something this old.

As I alluded to earlier, it is related to how funding (for teaching and research) is allocated, and in the US (but also Canada, and I believe UK) there is marked disparity in what universities get. Also in many publicly funded universities in Europe you lack many amenities (and sports teams), but in return you can study without getting into debt.

Apparently it's not "so many" US universities that make it to the top ranks.

I could very well be a descendant of B Mussolini. 😁

You heard wrong.

Society as a whole. Words and terms and their applicable uses evolve with time. This is natural and has happened for thousands of years or more. Perhaps a better question is why are so many insecure people worried about other people and how they define themselves? Why not just acknowledge their view is different from yours and go on with your day? Fear. Stupidity. Tribalism. Hatred. These explanations all seem to fit the response here, and it's challenging to think of better explanations for the ridiculous response. Bruce is now Loretta. Who cares other than the ignorant?

No one owns them. Usage trends determine the actual definitions. They don't define the words, they reflect contemporary meanings; how people use them in the aggregate. I find the concept of cultural misappropriation a bit nebulous and hypocritical, since all cultures borrow some things off each other... same with these social identity labels.

It is not so much the inherent stability of the molecule that causes mutations, but rather the difference in copying the genetic material (which is more prone to errors in RNA viruses for a variety of reasons).

We all make mistakes and hopefully learn from those mistakes. We cannot know everything and have to apply our resources to those things that we can most accurately know and which are likely to be most beneficial or of most consequence. If something is unclear to us we can investigate further and it may become clearer.

David Ignatius looks at a possible three party solution to the Gaza war that the Biden administration is working on. Here's a gift link, courtesy of my subscription. https://wapo.st/4bzxyyb Pull-quote: Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to travel to the Middle East soon. He’ll probably stop first in Saudi Arabia, where he hopes for a renewed pledge from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to normalize relations with Israel if — and only if — Israel ends the Gaza conflict and commits to the eventual creation of a Palestinian state that includes Gaza and the West Bank. Blinken is then likely to travel to Israel, where he’ll meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli leader, mired in war, deeply wants a breakthrough peace deal with MBS, as the Saudi leader is known. But at the same time, Netanyahu and his hard-line coalition refuse the Saudis’ conditions of a quick end to the fighting in Gaza and a path to Palestinian state. Here’s President Biden’s game: He wants to make Netanyahu an offer his coalition can’t accept politically — but that the prime minister, whose legacy as a historic Israeli leader has been shattered, personally might not be able to resist. If Netanyahu embraces the Saudi proposal, his coalition will fracture, and he’ll need to find new partners. If he refuses, his government might be toppled by rivals who embrace the U.S. formula for ending the war.

The mechanisms are actually known and is largely related to their replication mechanism. RNA viruses, including poliovirus have fairly high mutation rates and SARS-CoV-2 is actually on the lower end for RNA viruses. Conversely, poliovirus is on the higher end of the scale. Conversely, poliovirus has a much smaller genome (7.5 k vs 30k). The reason why we have so many SARS-CoV-2 variants is likely related to yet another factor, namely the fact that so many people have been infected. For example, at the peak of polio outbreaks in the USA ca. 50k individuals were found to be infected in a year. At the peak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the USA had over 900k cases per day. The high circulation ultimately means more mutations and higher chance of positively selectable traits.

! Moderator Note Considering that "this new approach" hasn't been described by the OP, it's safe to assume you've either made up this post or generated it using crappy AI. This is both spamming and posting bad faith arguments, which are against our rules. Please stop.

Interestingly though, it has spawned a few questions: 5, and counting...

Another approach is to feel shame that any group of people in any way connected to oneself has committed or imagined such a vile collection of acts . They brought shame on themselves and all who did not actively oppose them. I can't understand why the OP thought his or any religion was relevant ,unless they were saying "well I am not Jewish and so am not biased in that respect " In other words ,perhaps implying that a Jewish person might have stronger feelings about it than others. It is an interesting point that vile acts have also been committed against other groups throughout history(even if the holocaust seems to have been the worst in concept because of its sickening rationality and preparation.) To analyse it ,whilst necessary almost seems to play into the hands of those who admire and seek to emulate the perpetrators. What frightens me is the thought that ,whilst this crime may have taken place in Germany other countries might well have been willing to participate . After all the Jews have been hounded down the centuries and Hitler may have been referring to this when he said that this industrial mass genocide would resolve the "Jewish question" once and for all.

Because receiving an unwanted advance from a woman feels qualitatively different to me from receiving one from a man. I do not imagine I am unique.

There's been alot of talk over the last few years about "what is a woman?" and whether someone can just declare themselves to be another sex. "It's not that I don't empathise with transgenders" says mega-feminist Julie Bindel "but they can't use the term woman. That word is taken." But what does she mean by taken? My ethical question is... who owns words? Who decides what they mean? With personal names, other than certain specific legal contexts (eg passport, obtaining benefits) anyone is free to call themselves anything they like. I can call myself Queen Boadicea if I feel like it. There are dictionaries, and scientific terms, but neither is enforceable by law. So what's to stop an individual saying "My personal definition of a woman is this;"etc etc Who owns words? Cheerz GIAN🙂XXX

You routinely make such statements with no context or explanation. Do you get a kick out of being purposely vague? This is my thread. Please stop. Telepathy is not one of my talents. On topic: I think the true long term intent of the present administration is clear in the Defence Minister's statement in answer to the US's statement admonishing the settler's current exploitative tactics in the West Bank: