TheVat

It does not help the story that the thymus is located in the chest, not the throat. Given the cold places I have lived, I would have died about a thousand times if -2 F caused such an effect. One time I was out in -25 F for about an hour and did get a patch of gray skin on my face, a touch of frostbite, but that was unusual. Usually you can handle that temp with wicking layers and a good winter coat and boots. I had just gotten tired of my glasses fogging when the scarf was over my face and so had yanked it down. The main danger, as anyone who's spent time in Arctic or subarctic conditions will tell you, is with the feet freezing. A lot more lost toes out there than lost noses. A relative of mine served as a geologist and ornithologist on the Crocker Land Expedition, and joined a couple of other Arctic expeditions as well. Our extended family has always had a touch of stoicism about cold weather, with males especially tending to experiment with various levels of underdressing in winter. A fair amount of this insanity seemed to derive from the polar explorer in the family tree. Often framed as "Cousin Elmer went to the North Pole." In my entire life I never saw my father wear a coat with a hood, or much of any headcovering. He never seemed too uncomfortable.

It is funny, though it's my impression that it is not farting but rather the failure to fart that is painful and debilitating. Perhaps their thymus glands had attacked them, constricting the normal avenues of release.

Kelly, Beshear, Shapiro. My guess is it's dwn to those three. All three give her daylight between her and Biden and know how to talk to moderates without inflaming Progressives. (though Shapiro has been so pro-Israel that he could put off the progs in the No More Bombs for You, Bibi cohort) What's really encouraging is Biden waited until the RNC was over to step down, so the GOP is stuck with Vance now. Any of my trio will eat Vance for breakfast. As name drops go, that's about as good as it gets. Astronauts have that special shine.

Kelly is looking better to me now, for several reasons 1. Immigration hawk, which would allow Kamala to get a little separation from Biden and his unpopular immigration record 2. No threat of lost Senate seat to GOP, since AZ has the governor (D.) appoint replacement. As @swansont noted also. 3. Proven ability to work in hard vacuum. (who else can claim that?) 4. Proven ability to work in a red state (purpling, now) and perhaps a conduit to Kamala for bipartisan efforts. 5. The whole grace under pressure thing, from dealing with wife Gabby's severe injuries to helming space missions. (see 3) 6. Has a Masters degree in a scientific field. (a great thing to have, in my completely unbiased opinion...)

As someone who is a zombie at certain hours of the day, I was also quite triggered by that thoughtless slur. So much that I had to stress-eat some brains.

But there is also an adaptive advantage, in social species, to codifying actions which promote tribal cohesion and trust between all members of the group. So taking care of a weak member could strengthen group dynamics and increase overall survival chances - caring could prove adaptive in this way and its effects would be net positive, the transmission of "kind" genes promoting group survival outweighing the possible transmission of an infirmity (assuming it is even genetic in the first place)(and that someone would accept a weakened person for mating).

Yes, not the year for an open convention. Primary voters did check a box next to Kamala Harris, so the Dems should proceed on the basis that that, and now Joe's endorsement, make her the most solid choice and they should fast track an early pre-convention nominating vote (as had been planned for Joe). If primary voters were willing to have Harris be the backup to a man who would turn 86 in his last year of office, I'd say they were okay with her as President.

The DEI Hire crap gets regular workouts. Justice Jackson weathered this a couple years ago. Should be challenging to try and smear that on someone whose been Attorney General, US Senator and VP, but I'm sure they will try. Cogitating wildly on her possible VP choices, I wonder if there might be serious consideration of someone like Gen. James Mattis, who radiates probity, instead of the usual calculus of finding a strong swing state governor. They can't really pick Newsom (unless causing Middle America to cringe from an All California ticket is a goal). I like Buttigieg but he's not ready (for reasons already mentioned) and Transport Secretary to VP would be some anomalous form of political quantum tunneling. Also, I wonder if the swing state governor gambit could backfire in some way. Twill be fascinating to watch all the gears turning.

People writing in to the Post. A couple political forums I browse. It wasn't meant as a statistically rock solid sample, just me noting the weirdness. As the rest of my paragraph says, I don't find it a plausible match. The last unity ticket to win was Abe Lincoln and Andrew Johnson - and the longterm result wasn't that great. I don't know who CV is. 😏

Delegates are now free agents, by party rules, but likely it will be seen a better chance of winning if they accept Joe's endorsement of Harris (especially given her sterling resume) rather than waste time on all the horsetrading and pyrotechnics of an open convention. If they still do the early pre-convention nomination balloting, they can give Kamala and Veep a couple extra weeks. I'm hearing all kinds of weird buzz. One is a Unity ticket, e.g. Harris-Cheney or Harris-Kinzinger. While such a hypothetical fistful of bipartisanship could be interesting and motivating to some Log Cabin Republicans and Indies, I doubt it would happen. More likely, a strong governor as a VP, like Beshear, Newsom, Shapiro or Whitmer. Or a Mindbending Number of Firsts ticket, Harris-Buttigieg. I want to be the first to point out that a Harris Beshear pairing could be called (cough) the Barber Ticket. 🙄

It is quite not funny. Which may be why people are trying to find something to laugh at - as Stephen Colbert once said, it's harder to be afraid of something when you're laughing at it. I think many of us are managing our anxiety in silly ways.

True, there is some sober reflection called for. I have been wishing Harris could move to the top of the ticket, so I guess that has moved a notch closer. I hope this brings some party unity and juices some swing voters and the sit-this-one-out camp. Harris has been polling well the past week, so it will heartening if that's a sign of some real momentum.

Holy backflipping Jesus on a trampoline! Well I can now definitely assert that Biden cannot win the election! 😀

I shall call him Sarah Palin with slightly more facial hair.

Somehow I had completely missed that. The media handling of that event was amusing... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter_rabbit_incident

This thread demonstrates that there is no claim, however ridiculous, that cannot be the subject of a poll. My poodle was carried off by a pterodactyl. Do you think this is true? Yes No That's up there with some of the Charles Fort anomalies (which I found entertaining in my youth). I have always liked the story of Napoleon being attacked by bunnies. https://www.ripleys.com/stories/attacked-by-rabbits

https://www.theonion.com/loyal-dog-spends-hours-each-day-humping-owner-s-grave-1850042397

Forget plants, lets put those lazy freeloading whales back to work! Instead of just lazing around, singing whale songs and snacking on krill all day, we can train them to report for monthly liposuction.

A member was asking the location of another member recently and I pointed them to Ontario which reminded me I know basically one song about Ontario (wait, two songs, there's also Neil Young's "Helpless")...

When you click on a members name, much is revealed. They live in a land called On Terry Eau.

Juices are pancreas killers. Oranges and apples and (my favorite) blueberries have a variety of nutrients and absorption-slowing fiber in their natural form - juicing such fruit strips a lot of that out, and gives you a sugar-drink that will spike insulin and foster weight gain. Juices are also subjected to high temps and then (with a few exceptions, brands like Knudsen's) shot into plastic bottles, where nasty things leach into them especially if they have any acidity to them (like OJ). One way to make plain fresh fruit more interesting is combinations - e.g. fruit salad with apple slices, orange slices, berries, chunks of pineapple and/or mango, etc. Also get something with a little tartness in there - sweetness combined with tartness enhances flavor.

(written after OP reading only) Not so much. Some xenophobia is driven at a particularly local level (while some arises where there are in fact few newcomers, but people live in media silos, steered by fearmongers) and that has a particular quality to it I've seen up close in some communities in the American heartland. For example, there was a small Nebraska town where a large agribusiness operation opened and immediately hired thousands of immigrant workers - ethnicities don't matter to this tale, because this happens all over the world. Where a slow increase in immigrants, who came in and learned the local language and customs, would likely have triggered minimal xenophobic response, this was a different situation. The town suddenly doubled in size, and half the population formed an enclave that tried to preserve their native culture and language, and (in spite of heroic efforts all around) did not much reach out to the natives or gain much sense of local traditions (some of which, regarding noise levels in the evening or styles of personal etiquette on meeting strangers, e.g., were deeply ingrained in the community and seen very much as integral to the local culture.) In a perfect world, with perfect people, everyone would have been able to overlook cultural differences and welcome the immigrants and even enjoy getting acquainted with some of their customs. Diversity would have fluourished, happy ending. But people don't handle sudden shocks well, even if their hearts are kind. I myself, though I partially grew up in a very diverse and cosmopolitan city and had, by age 20, lived on both coasts, had the unsettling experience of visiting the town after being gone a decade, and feeling a bit lost. I guess people get attached to the idea of having places that change slowly and preserve a lower-stress way of life, even if there are some fictions such places are constructed on. I think a good analogy is an ecosystem where you have a slow shift over a period of millennia, versus a sudden cataclysmic change such that species cannot adapt very well. I think if the US had somehow kept immigration at a slower rate which helped place immigrants and helped them adapt to their new country, the Right would have had far less leverage in developing their immigrant-bashing platform.* As I said, when communities are overwhelmed, it creates this mythology that immigrants bring ruin and division, and the Right gets a lot of fuel out of this to inflame xenophobia. * this more successful kind of immigrant influx was made to work quite well in places like Lincoln, Nebraska, where Bosnian refugees were welcomed with massive social support and well-orchestrated programs to help them get a foothold and help their children move into English-language schooling. We had Bosnian refugees neighbors while we lived there, and I still miss them, a lot. The community was able to welcome them and appreciate what they contributed to Lincoln. Xenophobia failed to take hold (except in the already entrenched career bigots who inhabit every city).

Had missed that, thanks. That should create some cognitive dissonance for some of the Trump base. How to embrace diversity while parsing which diversity is okay and which remains an existential threat to America. Heh.

I think there was some misunderstanding. I wasn't questioning that geography affects area climate, a fairly obvious assertion. But you said climate was primarily controlled by plate tectonics, which seemed to be saying more, and about global climate. It is not clear e.g. that having all the land in a supercontinent near a pole is the primary cause of a snowball earth period. I can see how it would be a factor, especially in terms of having a high-albedo ice field of great size and at a latitude where it would persist.. Perhaps I misunderstood, but climate changes seem to happen from factors other than where all the land happens to be. Hence the request for citation, a request that @Agent Smith may not have quite understood - no clue what his little graphic meant there. It's okay, I will research this myself and the chat can move on.