beecee

In the early/mid fifties, I remember getting building sets called "Bayko" and was designed for building houses, stations, garages, bungalows etc. It was my favourite Chrissy present! The Bayko sets started as simple designe building up to more complicated stuff and numbered arounf 4 or 5 sets from memory....the following photos give an idea of what could be constructed and the methodology...... In my very humble opinion, it leaves the LEGO construction sets for kids we see today, for dead! ....Anyone else remember them? Anyone else lucky enough to have had them? The other rather inovative and educational "toy" was the "meccano sets, which were more engineering orientated for building bridges, cranes, tractors vehicles etc... Memories, memories, things of long ago! That still to this old fart, appear far more educational and constructive then looking at electronical devices all day!!!

Sure. Whatever! 😂

😵 It seems like you are saying that criminals should dictate their own punishments? Then I must ask are you really serious??? Or is this just more cryptic rhetoric? Then I read your restorative justice system. Great idea if it works!!! So then we have some arsehole rape and assault your wife... or in a previous case I mentioned, a known criminal, on parole, abducting a little girl, and raping her for 45 minutes, then stabbing one of her rescuers....Obviously no such restorative justice system would ever work in such situations. Then your article goes on and says...."Before a restorative process begins, the facilitator checks that everyone wishes to proceed voluntarily, that the person responsible for the offence accepts the basic facts of the case and takes responsibility for their part, and that it is safe to proceed. The process focuses on three aspects (Scottish Government, 2017)" Again obviously a system that could be considered for minor crimes short of rape, serious assaults and murder. In essence the restorative justice system, along with the other many crime prevention and retribution methods that exist in a western society, (like parole, suspended sentences, ankle bracelets, community serivces) will not and should not apply to serious crimes such as rape and murder. The established court justice systems and punishments must apply in those. In situations as above, and as per the example I gave with my own Son in the justice/punishment thread, sometimes standing up to a bully, or helping others directly that are being bullied is far more a desirable outcome.( Briefly my Son at around 4 or 5 years of age was being hit constantly by another 4 or 5 year old and would come inside crying. I told him the next time it happened, to hit him back as hard as he could. The inevitable happened, my Son did what I had told him, and 40 odd years later they have been the best men at eaches weddings, and remain the closest of friends, along with his parents and myself and my Mrs.)

That essentially is what I have ben trying to say but with much less finese. Well said and applicable to any democratic society with various ethnic numbers in reasonable proportions. And how long has similar discrimination been going on since your country gained nationhood. The civil war says a lot about such previous discrimination.

https://phys.org/news/2022-04-chinese-astronauts-earth-months-space.html Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth after six months in space Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after 183 days in space, ending China's longest crewed mission as it continues its quest to become a major space power. The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft was the latest mission in Beijing's drive to rival the United States, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon. more at link............................... :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I read the article, and was certainly amazed and respectful of how advanced China is now in its space-faring efforts. Then after reading, "But under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the country's plans for its heavily-promoted "space dream" have been put into overdrive" I was slightly cynical and wondered at what expense, and the thought of poverty in China. But if the following is factual and valid, it appears they have conquered poverty also.....https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2021/09/24/whats-next-for-poverty-reduction-policies-in-china/ "Earlier this year China’s government announced that it had eradicated absolute poverty, measured against a standard equivalent to $2.30 per person per day applied to rural areas. The latest Household Survey on Income, Expenditure and Living Conditions data by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, available for the year 2018, suggest that against an international poverty line of $1.90 per day, the poverty rate had declined to below 0.5 percent. This suggests China has reduced the number of poor people by close to 800 million since 1980. Whatever the specific numbers, China’s poverty reduction is a remarkable achievement". and this..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_China In China today, poverty refers mainly to the rural poor, decades of economic development has reduced urban extreme poverty.[1][2][3] According to the World Bank, more than 850 million Chinese people have been lifted out of extreme poverty; China's poverty rate fell from 88 percent in 1981 to 0.7 percent in 2015, as measured by the percentage of people living on the equivalent of US$1.90 or less per day in 2011 purchasing price parity terms,[4][5]which still stands for 2022.[6][7][8]Chinese definition of extreme poverty is more stringent than that of World Bank, and is defined as earning less than $2.30 a day at purchasing power parity (PPP),[9]Since the start of far-reaching economic reforms in the late 1970s, growth has fueled a substantial increase in per-capita income lifting people out of extreme poverty. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: What do others think? I was certainly surprised when I checked out the poverty rate.

Perhaps the following may have something to do with the resurrections of such extreme ideology...... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon Since its emergence in American politics, QAnon has spawned movements around the world. The exact number of QAnon followers is unclear,[3][31] but the group maintains a large online following.[2][3] Following increased scrutiny of the movement and its hashtags, mainstream social media companies such as Twitter[32] and Facebook[33] began taking action to stop the spread of the conspiracy theory. QAnon followers have perpetrated acts of violence on numerous occasions.[34] Members of the movement actively took part in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, during which they supported Donald Trump's campaign and waged information warfare in an attempt to influence voters.[35][36] After Joe Biden won, they were involved in efforts to overturn the results of the election. Several associates of Donald Trump, such as General Michael Flynn[40] and two members of his legal team, Lin Wood[45] and Sidney Powell,[51] have promoted QAnon-derived conspiracy theories. When these tactics failed, Trump supporters – many of them QAnon followers – attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Capitol Riot was a watershed moment for QAnon and led to a further, more sustained social media crackdown on the movement and its claims.

The redshift observed and measured, is a cosmological redshift, or a redshift caused by the expansion of space, not a Doppler redshift determined by the galaxies themselves moving away. This along with other areas of evidence such as the CMBR re-enforces the BB model of universal/space/time evolution. This is what is known as the Hubble Constant. https://www.google.com/search?q=hubble+constant&rlz=1C1RXQR_en-GBAU952AU952&oq=hubble+constant&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l9.6544j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Hubble constant, in cosmology, constant of proportionality in the relation between the velocities of remote galaxies and their distances. It expresses the rate at which the universe is expanding. The cosmological expansion (redshift)observed is seen over the larger scales of the universe. Over smaller scales such as our Local group of galaxies, and clusters of galaxies, the increased mass/energy density and consequently gravity, over such regions, sees such regions decoupled from the overall cosmological expansion, much as for example, a fish (galaxy)swimming upstream at 10 kms/hr, against a current (space expansion) of 8 kms/hr. Over such high mass/energy density regions, we may see a Doppler Blueshift. eg: Milky Way and Andromeda.

Justice as you and WIKI say, is imparting to each what he deserves. In a reasonable westernised democratic society, justice is dispensed by the courts of the land. As in any endeavour, sometimes they can get it wrong. As it happens, I watched a program last night based on a British Nanny in the USA, named Louise Woodward, who was wrongly convicted of murder of a baby https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Woodward_case The justice we generally talk about, and I presume what you have in mind, concerns criminal justice systems for crimes and misdemenours. There are also ample opportunities and chances given to those convicted of crime to change their ways and again become reasonable law abiding citizens. Sometimes these opportunities like parole, suspended sentences, are to no avail, and are ignored by some. This was all discussed in the justice/punishment thread a while back. Imparting justice can also be a more personal issue as per for example, imparting justice to a bully. There are examples of such also in the justice/punishment thread.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/15/putin-thought-ukraine-war-was-a-missile-to-nato-it-may-be-a-boomerang extract: By invading Ukraine, Putin thought he had hurled a missile at the west. It has emerged to be a precision-guided boomerang. To have turned two stolidly non-aligned countries into Nato members would join the pantheon of great strategic blunders of wartime. It is all the more extraordinary since the turnaround has been so rapid. Finland, with its brand of semi-neutrality for the past 70 years and emphasis on consensus-building, tends to shift foreign policy with glacial speed. Finland’s tolerance of Putin was so embedded that some on the left claimed it strayed close to collaboration as the Finnish political elite shunned the Russian opposition. In the government’s annual survey in December, Finnish support for Nato membership stood at 24%. Four months later, Finnish politics has somersaulted. Support for Nato membership stood at 68%. Surveys now show more than half of the 200 parliamentarians back Nato membership. In the 2015 Finnish parliamentary elections, 91% of SDP candidates were opposed to Nato membership. The Finnish SDP prime minister, Sanna Marin, said everything had changed. Russia is “not the neighbour we thought it was”, she said. Alexander Stubb, a former Finnish prime minister, said Finland’s membership is based on rational fear, created on the day of the Russian invasion. He predicts the Finnish application will be with Nato HQ by the end of May. “The train has left the station.

https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/26616/perseverance-looks-toward-santa-cruz/ February 14, 2022 Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory performed tests on rocks such as this one to understand why the first attempt by the agency’s Perseverance rover resulted in a powderized sample. A duplicate of the rover’s drill attempted to create cores from crumbly rocks. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover. For more about Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ nasa.gov/perseverance March 01, 2022 Smaller than a penny, the flower-like rock artifact on the left was imaged by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the end of its robotic arm. The image was taken on Feb. 24, 2022, the 3,396th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The “flower,” along with the spherical rock artifacts seen to the right, were made in the ancient past when minerals carried by water cemented the rock. Figure A shows a tighter view of the flower-like feature. Clouds can be seen drifting across the Martian sky in an 8-frame movie made using images from a navigation camera aboard NASA’s Curiosity rover. Shadows from these clouds can be seen drifting across the terrain. These images were taken on Dec. 12, 2021, the 3,325th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. A second 8-frame movie, taken using the same navigation camera, is included here as Figure A. These images show the clouds as they were seen drifting directly above Curiosity. Scientists can calculate how fast the clouds are moving – and how high they are in the sky – by comparing the two perspectives. These clouds are very high, nearly 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the surface. It’s extremely cold at that height, which suggests these clouds are composed of carbon dioxide ice as opposed to water ice clouds, which are typically found at lower altitude. Martian clouds are very faint in the atmosphere, so special imaging techniques are needed to see them. Multiple images are taken to be able to get a clear, static background. That allows anything else moving within the image (like clouds or shadows) to become visible after subtracting this static background from each individual image. https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/26557/curiosity-captures-drifting-clouds-on-dec-12-2021/

We may not understand fully, quantum theory, but we do have evidence of it. https://www.magellantv.com/articles/can-quantum-physics-teach-us-about-god-and-ourselves https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2lk8tw/in_quantum_mechanics_what_exactly_counts_as/ "It has been understood and generally accepted for a few decades now that an "observation" or "measurement" in QM occurs whenever the macroscopic state of the measurement apparatus becomes entangled with the state of the system under study. In practice what this means is that observation occurs whenever the the measurement apparatus interacts with the system under study through any interaction that is strong enough to cause some bit to flip or a needle to move. So, for example, if you completely isolate your electron in a vacuum chamber, no measurement occurs until, for example, a photon from the electron escapes into the walls of the vacuum chamber. Then the electron's wave function "collapses" because it has become entangled with the vacuum chamber, which in turn is entangled with the measurement apparatus, so that any bit that flips or needle that moves in the measurement apparatus is correlated with whether the electron was at point X or Y, for example". :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Universe acts in (sometimes) mysterious ways. We still have no direct evidence of any god acting mysterious or otherwise.

I think we all understand Unlawful invasion, war, murder, rape, atrocities, war crimes, etc, and the inherent evil it is, drunk or sober. +1

Some humans (if they can be described as that) are indistinguishable from the evil they perform/undertake. eg: Idi Amin; Adolf Hitler; Putin. They deserve nothing more than hate.

Didn't think it was worth another thread.................... https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/judge-slams-trump-charlatan-jury-finds-jan-rioter/story?id=84090253 Judge slams Trump as 'charlatan' after jury finds Jan. 6 rioter guilty on all counts A federal judge in D.C. on Thursday delivered a scathing rebuke of former President Donald Trump and expressed dismay over the state of American politics just moments after a jury found a defendant charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot guilty on all charges. "You know, I think our democracy is in trouble," Judge Reggie Walton said at the conclusion of the third jury trial for a defendant charged in the Capitol assault. "Because unfortunately, we have charlatans like our former president, who doesn't in my view really care about democracy, but only about power. And as a result of that, it's tearing this country apart."

There's about as much wisdom in that remark, as the many remarks Pauline Hansen has made. For our Northern hemisphere friends, Pauline Hansen is an Australian fish n chip shop owner, turned xenophobic politician, about the same ilk as America's (Alaska) Sara Palin, perhaps a rung or two lower morally speaking. A closer analogy in actual fact was the number of times Hitler's own military and others tried unsuccessful attempts to get rid of him. Maybe some reasonable Russian military personel will likewise try and hopefully with more success at getting rid of this crazy murdering son of a bitch, that is responsible for invading another country, waging war, war crimes such as rape and murder, and the use of unlawful weapons by all reports. Whether or not this is an empty threat, it still goes to show the mentality of this raving looney. Moves such as the following might force his hand one way or the other..... https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/finland-sweden-move-ahead-nato-membership-84057499 Finland, Sweden move ahead toward possible NATO membership European Union nations Finland and Sweden have reached important stages on their way to possible NATO membership

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/29/ukrainian-soldier-russian-warship-medal-snake-island Ukraine gives medal to soldier who told Russian officer to ‘go fuck yourself’ Roman Hrybov, released in a prisoner swap, made remark over radio as warship approached on first day of invasion I do now! 😉

https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1514694135004999689 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/14/russia-moskva-cruiser-sunk-stormy-seas-defense-ministry

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-stage-worldwide-climate-protests-after-ipcc-report-180979913/ Over 1,000 scientists from 25 different countries staged protests last week following the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s new report. The report warned that rapid and deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions are necessary by 2025 to avoid catastrophic climate effects. The group, called the Scientist Rebellion, writes in a letter that “current actions and plans are grossly inadequate, and even these obligations are not being met.” Their protests “highlight the urgency and injustice of the climate and ecological crisis,” per a statement from the organization. In Los Angeles, scientists including Peter Kalmus, a NASA climate scientist with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, chained themselves to the JP Morgan Chase building. “We’ve been trying to warn you guys for so many decades,” Kalmus says, his voice shaking. “The scientists of the world have been being ignored. And it’s gotta stop. We’re going to lose everything.” They were met by about 100 police officers in riot gear and arrested, reports Salon’s Eric Schank. more at link................ :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Just one question: Is this the most important issue of our time? I lied, here are some more.... While we are liable to survive the century, how many of us and our children may have an early end due to climate change and how much tougher will it be for those remaining?

Of course to the first senetnce! On the second, my only criticism of Biden himself, was that he maybe too old for the job. Of course though, that is more then balanced by the deposing of the meglomaniac fool you had previously as President. And sure, essentially and morally that is the correct decision in any reasonable democratic society. But that also needs (imo) to be weighed up against the premise that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done. And having so large a percentage of your population being Afro-American decent, it would be presumably comforting and pleasing to them to have that representation in the courts. As long as of course, that person is truly qualified. Let's say for example you have a vacancy in your high court system...You have ten potential all well qualified persons in line for selection to that vacancy. All the potential well qualified persons are male, except for one female Afro-American woman. And lets say the already appointed judges sitting in the high court are all white male. Don't you think it would be "nice"and wise, and appropriate to elect that female Afro-American to the vacancy?...particularly if there is only a hairs breadth between the capabilities, honesty and moral standings of all those potential well qualified persons waiting for that decision. But don't despair too much, at times such quanderies also face us down under.

I am sometimes an impatient old bastard. Let's all hope though, (for the sake of the innocent Ukrainians) that it does come more sooner then later.

I'm certainly not going to get into any debate with you about some off topic grammar or phrases I chose to use, and in what manner they were used. It is known though without too much doubt, that Putin is a crazed war criminal, of that we can be certain. And while any result or outcome is unknown with the justified taking out of this war criminal, the present sanctions and such are still not having the desired effect either...Innocent Ukrainians are still being killed, women are being raped and murdered etc etc. Or do you go along with the Putin line that it is all faked news? I'll gladly and proudly stand by my judgement of this war criminal, based on the reasonable assessment of the evidence available. The "may have/could have" that you are having trouble with, apply to that ever real possibility that he may have/could have potentially started a nuclear war.

Bingo!!! And the war continues, and innocent Ukrainians are being murdered, and raped, and tortured and war crimes continue to be commited, and Putin continues to defy the sanctions and other supposed deterrent actions, and thumbs his nose at NATO and the west. If this continues much longer, what will be left of Ukraine? What will its people be returning to? They are the only certainties. While stronger extra actions are still no guarentee to get a favourable result, neither are the current actions achieving much in the way of stopping the Russian/Putin genocide. Let's hope it makes an extra difference.

He certainly pulls no punches and says it as it is...With relation to the Australia/French submarine deal, that our PM scuttled in favour of an alliance under AUKUS, when asked by a reporter whether he thought our PM was a liar, replied, "I don't think; I know" https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2021/nov/01/i-dont-think-i-know-macron-accuses-scott-morrison-of-lying-about-submarine-contract-video

Another APOD photo.................... Milky Way over Devils Tower Image Credit & Copyright: MaryBeth Kiczenski Explanation: What created Devils Tower? The origin of this extraordinary rock monolith in Wyoming, USA is still debated, with a leading hypothesis holding that it is a hardened lava plume that never reached the surface to become a volcano. In this theory, the lighter rock that once surrounded the dense volcanic neck has now eroded away, leaving the dramatic tower. Known by Native Americans by names including Bear's Lodge and Great Gray Horn, the dense rock includes the longest hexagonal columns known, some over 180-meters tall. High above, the central band of the Milky Way galaxy arches across the sky. Many notable sky objects are visible, including dark strands of the Pipe Nebula and the reddish Lagoon Nebula to the tower's right. Green grass and trees line the foreground, while clouds appear near the horizon to the tower's left. Unlike many other international landmarks, mountaineers are permitted to climb Devils Tower. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Presumably the same Devil's Tower made famous in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" ? A solitary Masai giraffe is showered by light in a magnificent sun burst at Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. This image was selected out of more than 20,000 photo entries from nature photographers in 50 countries and displayed in the “Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards” exhibition on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History through April 20, 2015.