MigL

I simply offered an option. The quetion in the OP is after all, " how to solve it". The 'sharp end of the stick' between the oppressed and the oppressors is the police enforcement. Simply getting more of the oppressed groups into police enforcement of their own neighbourhoods, where they are familiar with the issues and circumstances, would do much to reduce real and even 'perceived' oppression. It would allow people to trust police and ask for their help, instead of fearing/avoiding them.

But surely that doesn't show that either the manipulators or the manipulated are insane, does it Phi ? The manipulators, and Overtone can list several for you at a moment's notice, use every means available to them to further their own agenda and get their way. Things like campaign financing by big corporations or the use of religion ( family values ) to sway people's votes. The manipulated are often just ignorant of the issues and just react to campaign slogans or on an emotional level. So yes, you have some people who use Office or politics for their own agenda and not the greater good. You want to call these people bad; I'm OK with that. You also have some people who can easily be swayed by these 'bad' people. You want to call them ignorant ( of the issues ); I'm OK with that too. But if I choose not to have the Government and society be responsible for me and my actions, rather, recognise some personal responsability, or, if I hope the government governs as I live my life, with some restraints on spending, instead of living large today, while my heirs or future generations are stuck with the bill ( both examples of Conservative values ), does that make me insane? I choose to think not. You of course, are free to think of me as you will ( an example of one of many Liberal values that I cherish, 'tolerance' and 'right to an opinion' ). So, if you notice, it most certainly is about people.

I am Canadian and I know of the former Defense Minister. Unfortunately we have our fair share of wing-nuts in Canada, just like England seems to. Have you seen the state of our Defense Forces ? Do you have a problem with Strange ? You certainly act and post like it ? You see, that's what gives religion a bad name, the bad disposition of those who preach it !

Well yeah, I'm making it about people ( and including myself ). Does that make me thin skinned?

A massive white hole would imply a specific origin to the universe, and an 'explosion' outward from there. Neither fits with observational evidence. And this 'see-saw' effect between the two universes would imply that our expansion has to be slowing to lead to the eventual collapse and expansion from the other universe's end of the E-R bridge. The expansion is in fact, accelerating !

I guess David falls into the second category of the two kinds of people in this world, Swansont. ( I really liked that ) And Strange, Mordred's rock could have been floating, like an ice 'rock'.

If you recognize yourself as 'insane', you're either wrong or insane. I don't see how you could have heard differently. But seriously. I have never disputed the fact that there are wingnuts on all sides of the political spectrum, and yes a lot of them are Republicans. What I have said is that SOME Conservative principles are beneficial to society and to me ( in my opinion ). I am also of the opinion that SOME Liberal principles are beneficial to society ( and me of course ). I have weighted these principles, and other policies put forward at election time, and directed my voting accordingly. Sadly, never in an American election, even though your elections affect us almost as much as our own do. I believe a lot of other people do as I do, But maybe the US is more ideological and people tend to vote as they and their families always have, without actually examining the issues. From my perspective, that doesn't give me the right to call others with differing opinions, 'insane'. And of course I don't have Overtone's perspective; he may be really pissed-off at the state of American politics ( with a lot of good reasons ). And he may see fit to call those he blames for the current state of affairs 'insane'. That's his personal choice to do so.

Wow Tar. You do tend to go off on tangents...

It would be nice if Obama ( and Bush ) would do something to affect change ( like giving people viable employment ). Flowery, hopeful speeches only go so far. How about instituting a grant system which would help underprivileged minorities get the education and training needed for law enforcement so that they may police their own neighbourhoods ( and others ). And not just in Ferguson, but all over the country.

We made the 'switch' in Canada when I was in school. This gave me the advantage of being conversant in either system ( bi-systemic if you will ). People older than me have problems with Metric. People younger than me have problems with Imperial. I use whatever system is appropriate to the situation.

What does any of this have to do with whether Jesus was a real person or not ? I would think we should be discussing historical documents in our search for proof. Certainly NOT Atlantis ( risen or not ), psychic powers nor mysticism. Can we get back on topic.

OK All dimensions are information. Information is not necessarily a dimension ( but it can be ).

Why do people always pick complex systems to try to understand entropy ? Take a box, with a partition down the middle separating two differing gases. The difference between the gases is arbitrary, it could be temperature, composition, or even colour. It is in equilibrium, but there is only one way to 'organize' this separation. Now remove the partition from the box and the gases quickly arrive at a new equilibrium, whether a median temperature, a mixed composition, or even a mixed colour. However there are now a multitude of ways, or 'organizations', for this mixing. This increase in the number of ways to organize the system, or degrees of freedom, is a measure of the increase in entropy of the system ( note also that with gases of differing temps, work can be done, but after the partition is removed and equilibrium is reached, no more work can be done as there is no temp difference ). This is what we mean by order and dis-order, and how entropy increases in non-reversible systems

Soylent green crackers, anyone ? ( do any of you under 40 yrs age know what they are ? )

Take an 'infinitely' long ruler. Expand the spacing between each graduation from 1cm to 2cm. Repeat to 3cm and further. As many times as you please. Is there a center ? Is there an original point where it started from ? What does 'your' common sense tell you about the expansion ? Or is your common sense un-common ?

But it doesn't measure the 'desire' to migrate to a particular country. Total immigration also includes people forced out of their home countries by circumstances such as wars, famine, etc. There are a few undesirable countries in the top ten that I wouldn't even visit. Yet I've paid money to go to St. Lucia, and its very far down the list. I could certainly see myself living there. I live very close to the US borber ( 10 min ) and the number of people coming into Canada as landed immigrants or on a Visa, and subsequently trying to 'sneak' into the US is high.They must still think that the US is the 'land of opportunity'. And Canada seems ( to me anyway ) to be a very desirable home country.

Or do you mean that astrology worked in the past but has been corrupted by modern horoscopes ? Maybe we should re-visit human sacrifice to affect harvests also ?

Pleasing if derivative artwork. What meaning ?

Your post #22 was absolutely correct ! You stated 'Can't take these things too seriously". I reassure you, no-one is !

Thank-you John, just what I would have said. 'Natural' is open to interpretation. So, back to the original question, has government grown too intrusive into people's lives ? Does it try to control our lives more than was originally envisioned when we first decided to live under a 'government' in ancient Sumer ? Just in some areas ? Or do you think the government should have even more control/responsibility over our lives ? Just in some other areas ? And what are those areas ?

The simplest metric to use is 'illegal' immigration. Which country is the rest of the world trying to get into ? And what is the reason for that ? I haven't actually researched it, but I think you'll find the US is right up there.

Mmmmm, calamari !

And those 'seasonal quadrants' you're talking about, like Capricorn, Leo, Sagittarius, etc. ARE constellations, the apparent position of specific stars in the sky, some of whose light was emitted hundreds if not thousands of years ago. But you go on thinking they have a causal connection with you. Let me know how that works out.

Which multiple universes are we talking about here ? The QM 'many worlds', the multitude of solutions for string theories, other domains with differing symmetry breaks, or any other speculative multiverse idea. I believe AJB and I were talking about Everett's 'many worlds' interpretation of QM, where each observation/interaction generates a different universe/timeline. But this is all academic because, as AJB has stated, we have no way of detecting these other 'universes', nor can they influence ours in any way. So, whether they exist or not, makes no difference whatsoever

Then its not just the conflict of interest that render his claims invalid. There are multiple other problems.