Airbrush

"... the universe is the ultimate free lunch! It came from nothing, and its total energy is zero, but it nevertheless has incredible structure and complexity. There could even be many other such universes, spatially distinct from ours." Excellent article and not too difficult for me. What about the incredible structure and complexity of the universe? That is not nothing. The universe did not come from nothing, it came from zero energy, some kind of potential condition from which a universe can appear.

Are there any theories in cosmology about "nothing"? What exactly is nothing?

Nothing never existed, nor will it ever exist, and that is infinitely old.

Other ideas to stop global warming: - figure out how to desalinate water on a massive scale. Then use the water to irrigate deserts to grow forests. - figure out how to get a volcano, of the right size and characteristics, to erupt enough to cool the climate, but not too much

Does anyone think Trump can be impeached before the Mueller investigation reaches a conclusion? I think no matter what happens now, the only way Trump can be impeached is from a bad outcome to the Mueller investigation, or the other investigations. Now the R's in congress are saying "don't say anything, just wait and see what happens to the investigations." Or there is a chance that after the midterm elections, democrats get a majority in the house. Then impeachment is possible. If he shoots someone on 5th Avenue, he may not "lose any votes". The question is how many people would he need to shoot before the republicans in congress change their mind?

The claim that Trump was not aware of the meeting between his son, son-in-law, Manifort, and the Russians, until very recently, is not plausible considering his close family unit. Trump's children and wife are robots to the dad. Trump has an off-the-scale overpowering personality, along with narcissistic personality disorder. That is how it is not plausible. He is a control freak on steroids. Clearly Trump is the kind of guy that would WANT to know about this at the time it happened. He may even understand that it would not look good for him to participate, and he would most likely make it plain to his son and team that the appearance should be he doesn't know about it. Even the Secret Service would have a problem with Trump, himself, meeting a team of Russians at that time. If Trump was never informed about the meeting, I think he would be very angry at his son for not tipping him off. Trump likes to know that kind of big news in a timely manner. I'm sure Mueller is aware of this.

I am generally in agreement, but the worst case of climate change does NOT "ultimately ensure we do not have a chance to survive". Humanity will "have a chance to survive" climate change (along with many other disasters), but in a weakened condition because of WARS over migration of coastal people moving inland, WARS over water, and WARS over scarce food and other resources. When you have more people trying to occupy less habitable land, that brings conflict.

I started this thread based on hearing "still no evidence for collusion" repeated so many times by Fox News and other Trump supporters. This is questioning the veracity of their claim.

This comes from the link directly above. Trump says regarding JOINING the Paris Climate Accord. “If it happens that will be wonderful and if it doesn't that will be ok too,” Mr Trump said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, appearing to leave the matter open-ended. “We’ll see what happens.” In typically vague Trumpspeak what exactly did he say? It looks like he said "If the US joins the world again in the Paris Climate Accord, that will be wonderful, and if it doesn't that will be ok too." Anyone disagree?

What is the current most reputable web site to go to on the subject of climate change? Did anyone hear Trump mention this article about the whistleblower Dr. John Bates? When he pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord he should have mentioned this.

"Hierarchy of human life" sounds like a caste system, superior and inferior groups of people.

Thanks for the great material for discussion! Someone sent me the story. What made me suspicious was the fact that when I googled the words "world leaders duped manipulated global warming data" I got many web sites with the story and all the stories were duplicates. Someone had copied and pasted the article in many different web sites. Has anyone noticed this technique by climate deniers to copy and paste bogus articles?

Ok then, substitute "religious leaders" for Hitler. What Trump and religious leaders have in common is ability to pull people into their delusion.

Does anyone know anything about the following story? It says: “...world leaders were duped into investing billions over manipulated global warming data” that has the details of yet another global warming data scandal. According to the report, fake data was made up prior to the 2015 Paris accords. The Mail on Sunday today reveals astonishing evidence that the organisation that is the world’s leading source of climate data rushed to publish a landmark paper that exaggerated global warming and was timed to influence the historic Paris Agreement on climate change. A high-level whistleblower has told this newspaper that America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) breached its own rules on scientific integrity when it published the sensational but flawed report, aimed at making the maximum possible impact on world leaders including Barack Obama and David Cameron at the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015. The report claimed that the ‘pause’ or ‘slowdown’ in global warming in the period since 1998 – revealed by UN scientists in 2013 – never existed, and that world temperatures had been rising faster than scientists expected. Launched by NOAA with a public relations fanfare, it was splashed across the world’s media, and cited repeatedly by politicians and policy makers. But the whistleblower, Dr John Bates, a top NOAA scientist with an impeccable reputation, has shown The Mail on Sunday irrefutable evidence that the paper was based on misleading, ‘unverified’ data." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4192182/World-leaders-duped-manipulated-global-warming-data.html I searched the internet and there are many examples of this exact same claim, and yet I don't remember Trump ever talking about this during his trip to Paris. I don't see it debunked at all.

Exactly! For every person that is very successful in any endeavor, there are 10 others just as qualified, or more qualified, but they were not in the right place at the right time. In a CLOSE election, both the non-trivial and trivial can make the difference between winning and losing.

Airbrush: "What Trump and Hitler have in common is a genius at pulling people into their own delusion. They can be totally wacked on a subject, but they have such conviction in their delusion that others join in with zeal. He can say the most ridiculous (sic) things and his 35% following give him a pass because Trump is a brilliant con artist telling them what they want to hear." GeniusIsDisruptive: "rediculous" (sic) hate tirade" ​Zapatos: "Your post is as ridiculous as that of Airbrush." I'd like to know specifically how my post is "ridiculous" or a "hate tirade". Please explain. How is a "genius at pulling people into their delusion" ridiculous?

Yes, thanks, I just heard the "I love it" reply from DT Jr to the incriminating email.

I have no special definition for "collusion". I am only referring to what I hear over and over on Fox News. According to the now-infamous Russian lawyer, Natalia, Donald Trump Jr wanted information "so badly" about the DNC. How did she know they wanted this info so badly? "It's quite possible that maybe they were longing for such information. They wanted it so badly,” Veselnitskaya said of the June 2016 meeting." http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/11/russian-lawyer-natalia-veselnitskaya-interview-240393

That sounds interesting, thank you very much. How much would it cost to buy a cooling suit in which you carry a backpack of frozen ice pack and a battery to power a circulating system? How much water tubing, or what diameter, does it take to cool off torso, arms, and legs? In the age of global warming it seems like more hot days and a growing demand for an affordable cooling system.

What is a smart one-liner to give in reply to the next Fox News/WH/Trump claim that there is "still no evidence for collusion" with the Russians? Since there is still no evidence for collusion with the Russians, the investigations are witch hunts. Is it possible that there IS solid, documentary, time-stamped evidence for collusion, but that was appropriated by one, or all 3, investigations? Why does nobody reply to "still no evidence for collusion" with a snappy "yeah, but any evidence is confidential until the investigation(s) reach conclusions, and the results are made PUBLIC!" What am I missing?

Yes, thank you, I have been following Game of Thrones. In the news they said this will be the first of the last 2 seasons, and each of these last 2 seasons will be half as long as a usual. Is that correct?

She lost the election from any of a number of failures, as well as logistical on the ground. I know this sounds terribly superficial, but a large part of our population is superficial and sexist. If Clinton had consciously suppressed her natural inclination to have a too-wide-eyed look with too-wide-toothy smile, like a first grade teacher on the first day of class, she may have won the election. The election was THAT close. Almost any trivial thing could have made the difference between winning and losing. Look at Angela Merkel, she always has a controlled-serious look, even when she is smiling. Back to the impeachment of Trump, its beginning to look like Trump cant be impeached until the special investigation by Bob Mueller reaches a conclusion, or by the midterm election, whichever comes first.

Do fire fighters have access to cooling systems to wear under their heavy gear on a hot summer day? What is 1-200 hundred? You must mean 1-200 thousand. Is that US dollars?

The riots in Hamburg Germany, for the G20, shows an army of riot police in very heavy clothing, helmets, and facemasks. It is also a hot summer day. The news made no mention of cooling systems inside the clothing of the riot police. How expensive would it be to wear a cooling system?

My vote is for more probes/satellites/telescopes to search within a radius of 100 light years. Other galaxies seem irrelevant when it comes to the question of other life. Whatever we can learn about life in other galaxies, we could learn more about life within 100 LY. What is realistically within reach within the next few hundred years? Who cares about life in other galaxies?