MigL

The same situation which is unfolding now. And which everyone is worried about; the fate of women, minorities and human rights.

No, I simply presented different options, depending on your level of commitment. One option would have been to do nothing, ignore the situation and stay out. A second would have been a nuclear 'show of force' to gain fear and respect ( as their own leaders do ). The third, and most expensive, would have been a commitment for the long run, giving Afghans a taste of a free democratic society, and ensuring they don't go back to the old way. The Americans have spent a sizeable portion of the third option ( in money and lives ) to get the results of the first option.

Even if we were to attribute some tangible quality to the notion of space-time, if space is removed by Back Holes when they compress matter, why is the expansion of space not evident near Black Holes ? In fact, why is it only evident at large astronomical distances ( galactic cluster scales ) ? Does 'space' move through space to go cause expansion at a different location ? And what could possibly compell it to move ? I'm not sure I understand your definition of Dark Matter either, but what you state doesn't agree with accepted theory or observational evidence.

Exactly. Almost 80 years after WW2, the US still has 6 Air Bases in Germany, as well as bases in Japan and Italy. You obviously believe they shuld either stay out, or, once they've made the commitment, they should see it through, and not pull out before the job is done. And obviously 20 years is not long enough to get the job done. I'm convinced, Peterkin, but someone needs to let CharonY know ...

I am comparing the situation to Iraq after the first Gulf War. The Coalition Forces pulled out rather quickly, leaving Saddam Hussein in power, and he quickly re-established brutal control by gassing a couple of towns that had been spurred to revolt by the Americans. Iraq became quite stable after that event; at least until George Jr. decided to stir it up again 20 years later..

Oh no, you didn't ... Unlike Star Wars, and the 'force', at least Star Trek gives a nod to accepted Physics, and mentions such things as 'inertial dampeners' and 'Heisenberg compensators' to deal with problems like accelerations and transporters. They just don't explain how these things work. But if they did it wouldn't be fiction.

War is brutal and inhumane. The Afghan people understand brutal and inhumane. That is why they fear the warlords and the Taliban; they have no respect for Americans who try to avoid killing, and if they do, apologize for it. Peacekeeping and nation-building are concepts lost on them. America will never win another war with half-hearted attemps; no matter how much money it throws at the problem. It started with Vietnam and televised war. People at home are not willing to be brutal/inhumane enough to actually win the war, so why go in in the first place ? you cannot win half-hearted war, so don't even try. I have often said, after 9/11, the US should have air-dropped leaflets over a large mountain in Afghanistan telling people to leave in 24 hours, at which time they should have delivered a Thermonuclear bomb large enough to level that mountain. Afterwards they should have announced " you attack us again, we will do this to the rest of your country." That is something the Afghan people, warlords, and all others involved would understand.

I was born in a little town called San Angelo dei Lombardi, with nearby ( at higher elevation ) Guardia dei Lombardi. Bot were established by the Lombards, before the turn of the millenium, close to their Duchy in Benevento. And I get my 'history' of the Roman Empire from my books by E Gibbon The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Wikipedia

Did you even read my post, or just the first two lines of it ? How is your post a rebuttal of the fact that we are born with just instinct and no concept of social/community interaction ?

This is all fine and dandy, and I recognize some of those articles you posted from Wikipedia, however ... The best explanation we have for mass ( gravitational or inertial ) is an interaction of fermions, and some bosons, with the Higgs field, due to a broken symmetry as the universe dropped to a lower ( vacuum ) energy state. An interaction produces the property of mass; no interaction produces nothing, i.e. particles remain massless. What exactly would produce negative mass ?

That is often stated by 'apologists', but is not always true. The Roman Empire was sacked. and conquered, by many Northern and East European tribes for several hundred years, yet it was the Roman culture, law, and way of life that assimilated the 'barbarians; not the other way around. The 'barbarians' in effect, became Romans; Roman citizens did not become Goths, Burgundians, Lombards, Francs, or even Huns.

Why do people always use the example of the poor person who steals food to feed his kids ? What about the mass murderers, the rapists, and other who 'get off' on the suffering they cause to other people ?What about the rich people who are just plain greedy, and cheat others out of their life savings ? Do they not need to be separated from a safe and orderly society ? That does not hold true for the large percentage of criminals who re-offend. No-one who is incarcerated for life, or who gets the death penalty, has ever re-offended. Do I need to cite references for this statistic ?

A lot of imagination. Very little knowledge, and no observational evidence.

Or maybe you're just old, and going senile, like the rest of us ...

Last I checked, that Justice woman is holding scales, signifying a 'weighing' of circumstances, and a sword, signifying some level of punishment for one's misdeeds. Bad outcomes seem to be the esiest method to teach someone the error of their ways, but easiest isn't always best. If we care about someone, like our kids, we try to teach them, and hope they don't actually have to experience that bad outcome, to learn. A compassionate society tries to do the same with those who break the law; and calls it rehabilitation.

Lettuce is for rabbits. But I did like that video you posted. Someone should let Dimreepr know that, at last for those two, the competition is NOT 'just a game'.

I imagine things are opposite now and entry into the US might be problematical. Next time cross at one of Niagara's 4 border crossings. You can do your house arrest at my place. ( don't bring weed; I prefer booze ) Or maybe we'll go visit Peterkin.

Doesn't seem to have been much of a problem, L Hubbard failed to complete her lifts, and was not in medal contention, Quinn of the Canadian female team earned a gold, along with her team-mates ( take that, Rapinoe ). This is a fairly decent overview of Trans athletes in competitive sports Transgender people in sports - Wikipedia This quote from the above " Biological sex differences in humans impact performance in sports.[34][35] Debate over whether and how transgender women should compete in female sports often has to do with whether they have an unfair advantage over cisgender women due to higher testosterone levels and skeletal, muscle and fat distribution differences. Testosterone regulates many different functions in the body, including the maintenance of bone and muscle mass.[36] A 2021 literature review concluded that for trans women, even with testosterone suppression, "the data show that strength, lean body mass, muscle size and bone density are only trivially affected. The reductions observed in muscle mass, size, and strength are very small compared to the baseline differences between males and females in these variables, and thus, there are major performance and safety implications in sports where these attributes are competitively significant."[34] After 24 months of testosterone suppression, bone mass is generally preserved. The review states that no study has reported muscle loss greater than 12% with testosterone suppression even after three years of hormone therapy.[34] It found that trans women are in the top 10% of females regarding lean body mass an'd possess a grip 25% stronger than most females.[34] They suggest that instead of universal guidelines, each individual sport federation decide how to "balance between inclusion, safety and fairness" due to differences between sports.[34]" References are included in the quote, should you wish to pursue. Edit x-posted with JC

I'm sure you have also ...

Yes. And who gets first dibs on food and reproduction ? From your link "The job of maintaining order and cohesion falls largely to the alphas, also known as the breeding pair. Typically, there is only one breeding pair in a pack. They, especially the alpha female (the mother of the pack), are the glue keeping the pack together. The loss of a parent can have a devastating impact on social group cohesion. In small packs, human-caused mortality of the alpha female and/or the alpha male can cause the entire pack to dissolve." Don't have a dog; have a cat. She is very 'needy', and probably lonely since I had to put down her sister. She only brings 'toys', and seeks company, when she wants to play, not necessarily when I want to play. I agree with you, there are species like wolves ( also dolphins elephants, etc ) who are somewhat social. But when the wildebeest herd is being chased by the lion, the heard doesn't encircle and protect the young and infirm; they are 'sacrificed' to save the healthy. Primal instincts are less pronounced/evident in some species than in others ( such as us ).

Apparently it's not too cold ...

Paint ?

I have broken the law in Italy. ( as well as Canada, the US, Germany, Mexico and Argentina ) Fortunately, Italian cops can be bribed. It's not his fault. It's a disease; he's a forum junkie. 😄 😄

You guys have it wrong. Nobody is born 'good'. We are all born with basic animal instincts. Instincts that we have evolved over millenia as a means of survival. Dominate others, take what we need/want, and deprive others of their needs as they are the competition for survival/reproduction. We see it all the time in 'lesser' animals; we pretend to be different ( Dim even thinks we have a 'soul' ). In fact it is society, and social living, that requires the qualities which we have come to consider 'good'. Do wolves share food with the ill, or injured, of their pack ? Why do children have to be taught to share ? There is no reason to discuss Dim's 'soul'; we are simply animals. Societal living tries to impose these 'good' qualities on us so that we can better get along, and our whole society benefits. But we have free will ( so Eise tells me ); what do we do with those who are anti-social and don't want to live by our collective 'good' rules ? We cast them 'out' of socity so they can't harm our collective 'good', The magnitude o their anti-social behaviour determines whether they are abolished from society forever ) life imprisonment or the death penalty, depending on culture ), or if there is a chance to re-integrate them into society, a temporary 'separation' where they can see the error of their anti-social behavior, and hopefully become contributing members of society again. I'm not sure jails, as we currently have, are the best vehicle for that rehabilitation, and re-insertion, into society. I would think an institution like the Armed Forces would be; they stress structure andpersonal responsibility, self-sacrifice for your group, and teach you a useful 'trade' which can help the transition back into society. Current jails do none of that, on the contrary, they produce more of the animalistic survival behavior we are trying to eradicate.

What prison isn't? Halden Fengsel. As Geordief relates, maybe you should ask the inmates if they want to be there. If they don't, then some might describe that as torture. It seems I am unable to communicate my thinking clearly. I am not rejecting any of the many definitions given of 'torture', just that there are so many, and we are all talking about different definitions. To me, getting slapped once a day, every day, might not be torture, but being incarcerated in Halden Fengsel certainly would be. ( what can I say, I'm a free spirit )