Airbrush

Those are all very good questions, Ten oz. BTW, every time I see that name I wonder "Ten oz of what?" If you would tell. It seems obvious to me that only by killing ISIS members can you manage them NOW. But we also need to think of the long term. If we had not removed Saddam, probably there would NOT be an ISIS today. It is worse to allow ISIS freedom of operations. Pakistan was never a "strong US ally". I do believe the western world is safer because the US went into Afghanistan. If we did not, Al Qaeda would probably have attacked many more western targets. They are disabled and on the run, which makes their life more difficult. No, it is not all "worth it". Iraq and Syria are failed states because they currently have full-blown civil war. The barbarism of Saudi Arabia has nothing to do with it. The Saudis are also threatened by ISIS, so why don't they fight ISIS? ISIS wants to take Mecca and Medina as they OWN, under THEIR caliphate. There must be a covert agreement between the US and Saudis, that the US will be Saudis police force to control ISIS. Killing ISIS members and removing Asad will not solve any long-term problems, but that is irrelevant. We are talking about what needs to be done now. You must bandage a bleeding wound now. In the long-term this is a Suni issue to resolve.

You are lucky you got motivated by your educated parents, and you passed that good habit on to your kids. Congratulations! Today US kids are mostly learning how to watch fantasy on TV or their smart phone, or play video games where you shoot zombies or monsters, or slice them into pieces. I grew up with Pacman, Donkey Kong, and Mario Bros. What's with the recent abundance of violent video games? Us Americans (U.S. Americans - hehehe), that I have met, have terrible handwriting, barely legible at best. How can anyone take useful notes with such bad handwriting? I worked as an accountant and bookkeeper for 20 years, and the worse part of the job was interpreting lazy-smart-ass people's handwriting. Good handwriting is a lost art. Everything is typed now. Good luck America if a solar flare, or CME (whichever is worse) returns us to a pre-industrial age. Try to figure things out by handwriting it! The good news is America will have plenty of expert drone controllers to fight terrorism!

Most of us Americans are very simple minded. We are only comfortable with 2 choices. More than 2 choices for president is too confusing for us Americans. We think that there are only 2 possible solutions to every problem. One is good, the other is bad. Let's blame it on our lousy educational system. When an American graduates from high school, at the age of 17 or 18, they are barely literate.

Yes that is similar to a program I saw on Science Channel. That is not a FAR vision into the future, only a second or so, which is not much help in predicting future events of significance. But very interesting nevertheless.

Interesting about the new trinity, Iran, Syria, and Russia. Yes I heard Kissinger on the radio regarding this. That guy is smart and experienced, but his voice is as hard as hell to listen to. I would like to see PINPOINT drone or stealth bomber attacks on ISIS anywhere they are isolated from civilians, anywhere in Iraq and Syria. When they are on the road to another city, they are sitting ducks for stealth air strikes. Do you think Asad is going to complain if you shoot up the ISIS headquarters in Syria? After ISIS is beheaded, then we are left with the trinity to deal with. They can wait. Iraq and Syria are failed states. Why aren't the Saudis doing anything? They can afford it. What about all the other wealthy gulf states that voice meek condemnation? What about NATO? ISIS declared war on the US by beheading 2 guys.

Exactly, so US intelligence KNEW about the convoys of stolen US armor going around Iraq and Syria attacking and enslaving villages and cities, and chose to do NOTHING about it for how long? Then finally those refugees on the mountain and a couple of beheadings got in the news and Obama is promising to destroy ISIS, finally.

Fine then you go first, sir. How do we disable ISIS? Is infiltration not an option? It looks like you don't have a clue. The gov't does NOT have people in place evidentally. ISIS marched over Iraq and Syria without opposition. A few forward observers could have easily called in drone strikes on columns of ISIS armored vehicles, which are hard to miss, kicking up huge dust clouds as they move to another town to enslave. How compartmentalized is a column of fighters in armored vehicles on a dirt road ? Looks like an easy target to me. All it takes is one spy in the column to call in the location. The success of an air/drone strike depends upon quality of information. Evidentally there HAS NOT been very good information. When you have spies in place, you get the best info possible. This looks like a fallacy in your reasoning. You suggest that one reason ISIS exists is because of US drone strikes. ISIS came into being because of BAD strikes, among other reasons. Just improve upon it! So this implies you oppose my proposition that infiltration of ISIS could be an effective weapon?

Good point, we don't want the leadership in ISIS to know what the allies are planning. However, if groups of ISIS members start to mysteriously explode, there could be an advantage to having the news media playing it up to discourage worldwide recruitment. How great a spy does it take to sneak into ISIS just deep enough to know where there will be a concentration of a dozen or more jihadis? Even a new recruit, from a foreign country, can easily get into a position to know when and where a number of brothers are gathering. They could "paint" the target area and send that info to the drone controllers. More than one spy can be inserted into a group, to report independently to get confirmation of a good target time and location. Moderate Muslims need to not only condemn the actions of ISIS, they need to go to the CIA and volunteer. If they are well-trained by the CIA, they could easily avoid capture and whatever hideous fate that brings, probably beheading after torture. In that exceptional case, they could even have a tracking device in their body. They press the self-destruct button, which calls in a drone strike to take them out and everyone nearby. News reports of groups of jihadis exploding would dampen enthusiasm for joining jihad.

The OP is simply the multiverse hypothesis. That means no beginnings, just changes to what is already existing. A "bulk" within which an infinite numbers of universes pop into existence, or bud off of previous universes.

This group is a national priority for the USA and many other nations. Why are we not discussing this here? ISIS is accumulating great wealth from sympathetic wealthy donors from Saudi Arabia and other gulf states. How do you decapitate ISIS? Air strikes in Syria. Will Asad object if a coalition destroys his enemy? Not likely. After the head of ISIS is cut off in Syria we can worry about Asad. Why do I never hear of an effort at INFILTRATION against ISIS? Hundreds of jihadi yahoos from all over the world are joining with apparent ease, why can't some anti-ISIS Muslims also slip in unnoticed? I never hear about it so I suppose there is only a SECRET CIA project to recruit Muslims who can blend in with real jihadis. They need to do the following: join ISIS, get confidence from their handlers, get info on meetings, and call in a drone strike. Then they get paid handsomely and retire. Send NEW spies in to continue the fight. If groups of jihadis start blowing up mysteriously and often, that will dampen overall enthusiasm for joining.

I'd also like to know that. But it seems to me the people who created the WMAP are located on Earth. And there is a north/south for our solar system disk and it only makes sense that they would align it with our solar system's north/south. And if they didn't, I wonder why not?

"Say after 9/11 the US had dropped leaflets, made radio/TV transmissions and even loudspeakers from low flying planes, advising people to leave the area around a large mountain in the next week.They then proceed to drop a large thermonuclear device which levels the mountain leaving a glass lake, and can be seen for hundreds if not thousands of miles. Does anyone doubt that the Taliban and its offshoot ISIS, would have realised what is at stake and abandoned all plans to take the fight to the western world ? Maybe its time to remind these third world countries just how BIG our hammer really is ! Let me say that I don't personally advocate this course of action ( I'm more of an isolationist ), but bring it up to incite discussion ( not arguing and hatred )." Yes I doubt using a nuke in the middle east will have any negative effect upon ISIS or any other terrorist group. That will only encourage recruitment of moderate Muslims to a just cause against the "Great Satan". "How BIG our hammer is" sounds ludicrous! We are trying to emphasize how ACCURATE our hammer is. Maybe that is what you meant.

I just figured it out. The reason for those lights in the sky is the ETs are very clever. They project those lights like a mirage, to distract us, while they are busy doing something somewhere else.

I doubt that most ISIS guys are rappers. He is probably the only rapper that ever joined ISIS. Yes they are stateless criminals, but they do take Sharia law seriously and are nation-building a Caliphate. They are all devout, pray 5 times a day, Muslims. They must be because they live communally with other jihadis. You must appear to be a virtuous Muslim to your fellow jihadis. Agreed that as mideast oil loses its' hold on western countries, the wealth of the oil countries will decline. ISIS funding comes from those countries in the area. What's with that? Can't that be cut off?

That only goes for EM signals sent into space. A much more advanced ET can detect the gases of life in our atmosphere from a much longer distance than we can. Forget about EM signals and spectroanalysis of our atmosphere, they could have other means for finding planets that are very favorable to life over a long period of time. Our solar system is extraordinarily orderly compared to most we can detect. ETs will recognize that. Our planet is gifted with outstanding, and rare conditions for life to evolve. That would certainly be of interest to them, but they wouldn't want to chat with us.

Agreed that very intelligent ETs are probably very scarce. But within a radius of 10,000 light years, there is a good possibility for such a civilization to have survived extinction. We could be reduced to the stone ages during the next few hundred years by a supervolcano. How can we defend against a supervolcano?

Because ISIS effectively declared war on the US by that beheading, which was their response to US air strikes in Iraq to help those refugees and secure the dam. The drug cartels are careful to not attack Americans. When a convoy of ISIS, in stolen US armor vehicles and anti-aircraft artilary, are on their way to kill innocents, you need air strikes. Only the US will step up. It is too late for a political solution. Iraq won't get involved because their military is ineffective, and neighboring states won't get involved because the US has habitually done heavy lifting in that area. Evidentally our relationships in the area are not very strong. Yes, if the good 99% of Muslims, that live in the area acted, as I propose by INFILTRATION, the problem of Muslim extremists would be solved very quickly, all over the world. A would-be jihadi is not going to join organizations that are at high risk for infiltration by anti-extremists. So what's the matter with those 99% good Muslims? They need to do something for a change, rather than just public condemnation. But that is a tough job. If you screw up and get caught, you get beheaded after untold torturing. That is why they should be well paid for the job of infiltration, location reporting, and drone strikes. I don't see a problem with air strikes inside Syria, since Asad would be glad for ISIS to be decapitated.

For a much more advanced ET observing what goes on here on planet Earth, think Three Stooges. ETs may observe us make great technological advances, then see us shoot ourselves in the foot.

Thanks for the info Ten oz. That answers one of my questions: "....The Ferguson police later clarified that Wilson did not know that Brown was a suspect in a robbery when he approached the two young men for walking in the middle of the street."

Does anyone know if the video of the strong-arm robbery was confirmed to be Michael Brown? When a witness said Michael "bum rushed" the cop, no news report I've seen ever defined the term. I guessed it meant he tried to head-butt the cop, but I was way off. Research shows "to attack or seize with an overpowering rush." http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-origins-of-the-term-bum-rush-1408721707 I've heard that Michael weighed 300 lbs. Can anyone confirm that? Situation: 1 - general bad relationship between cops and black community as evidenced by demonstrations, Michael was only the latest case 2 - 300 lb youth and friend walking down center of street, cop not aware of robberty nearby 3 - youths commanded to get out of street 4 - who knows? probably some cursing and cussing going on, right? 5 - 300 lb youth acts threatening, like an idiot, and cop flips out Edit: Cop not aware of robbery nearby

That is interesting info Moontanman. I've seen some documentaries about UFOs and there exists a lot more than merely "grainy photos", just nothing that is undeniably of extraterrestrial intelligence. IF they had enough time to study us, they could become "human experts" and understand human politics, and they could become adept at keeping solid evidence of their operations out of our reach. They could even create "fake visitations" that can be easily discredited, to support the assumption that ETs are not here simply because their is no undeniable evidence for them. Nice graphic and good point. It is unlikely a much more techno-advanced ET is within 100 LY. They would need to be closer to us than 100 light years to detect industrial gases in our atmosphere. If they are beyond 100 LY away, they would see Earth's atmosphere as it was over 100 years ago, before there were any techno-gases. But even from thousands of LY away, they could see our atmosphere shows life exists here. How could they tell if the life they detect was even "semi-intelligent" on the galactic scale of intelligence? It is possible they have a much more advanced method for scanning stars for planets with at least semi-intelligent life, than detecting radio waves or looking for techno-gases in planet atmospheres. They could be advanced thousands, or millions, of years beyond us.

From the Sec of Defense it appears that ISIS is an extraordinary new terrorist threat to the US. Their assets are in the Billions. What does it take to freeze their assets? That kind of funding may buy a nuke. ISIS would not hesitate to destroy all of New York City. They are now attracting extreme jihadis from all over the world. The best way I can figure to disable them and similar terrorist groups is by making them seem too dangerous to join. To infiltrate is a very dangerous job, you can get beheaded for doing it, but only true believers can do this important job. The good, true-believer, Muslims need to INFILTRATE the extremist groups. This will take an acting job and they should be trained by experts to appear like an extremist at heart. You need to get the confidence of your handlers. Next step is find the location for a gathering, excuse yourself, then call in the drone strike on your way to the "rest room". This is serious business. Good Muslims need to get their house in order and ACT (in the spirit of Mohammed) against those who are an embarassment to their religion. It is no longer enough to simply denouce extremism in public. Most people, if not all, can be somewhat delusional about certain things in life. I know I have been delusional about some things, until I could see beyond my delusion. I am probably still delusional about some things without being aware of it. ISIS is an example of people being VERY delusional. In the long term, people who are very delusional will probably not be as effective as people who are not very delusional. Very delusional people are more vulnerable. For example it seems to me that the politics of North Korea are more delusional than the politics of South Korea, and for this reason South Korea is much stronger economically than the North.

Watching movies I often notice the cop could shoot the bad guy, at close range of course, in the legs which are a fairly large target. From eye-witness reports of where Michael and Ofc Wilson tangled, from nearly touching to 20 feet away. Michael was a big, fat guy. He was 6'3" or 6'4" and 275 lbs. Just the size of this kid is intimidating to anyone. But him walking down the middle of the street, after strong arm robbery, and cussing at the cop, THAT was more scarry. Someone like that has huge thighs. Seems like an easy target for a cop who practices shooting his gun. Wilson seems to have freaked out and didn't even realize how many times he shot the kid, because he was up against a human tiger tank.

You are right. Certainly I meant a perhaps and need to be more careful how I say things. Grainy photos of lights in the sky. It would be a compartment within government that is not accountable to anyone but some old timer and the president. I am not speculating that there are ETs here on Earth covertly studying us. I'm only proposing a "what if" senario. Neil Tyson got it right. Probability is that an ET that can reach us is far more advanced technically beyond us than we are advanced beyond a chimp. They wouldn't talk to us because we would bore them. They would already know what we think. They could learn more about us in a short while than we will know about ourselves in a thousand years. Fermi Paradox solved.

ETs are good at "picking up" after themselves. That is why evidence is always inconclusive. If ETs have conspired with governments, they could use law enforcement and the military to collect evidence to be taken away by the ETs.