I have mention this before, but I was at a talk by Astronaut Aldrin, and he said that the among the three astronauts, they were 90+% sure that they would make it to the moon, but only about 60% sure that they would make it back safely.

@Jolly Very cool. Thanks for sharing. Having just visit to DC and seeing the Lincoln memorial makes it more impressive to me. Plus the fact that I am pretty sure he wrote all his own speeches. On one wall of the memorial is the Gettysburg Address - 273 words. On another wall is his 2nd inauguration address - maybe 5 minutes long. Both will be remembered much much longer than current ones.

I was watching a stand up show by Ricky Gervais. Quite funny, (but don't watch if you are easily offended. He makes fun or pretty much everyone). Anyway, he was talking about people praying to god. He says something like, "How does that work? Does he just pick the ones he likes? Does he randomly reach into the bag and pull ones out? Is it a democracy? In that case, we're f***ed because China will get all the prayers". LOL. etc. The following is just a sample. Link to video

Of course… https://x.com/platinumcapit/status/1815297693281100250

I am sure common usage would play into any decision on such a case, and therefore it would go nowhere.

@jon-nyc said in About the money: You’ve been paying attention to politics for what - 36 months? It’s been kind of fun to watch. Like when your little sister goes to undergrad and comes home at Christmas mentioning Habermas and Marcuse. Keep it up, buddy. We’re proud of you. You have like three different kinds of sneering posts to dismiss me. You keep them on rotation, because you don't have a creative bone in your body, and all you can do is project your sneering condescension when push comes to shove. Meanwhile, you face plant every time I attempt to re-engage in good faith conversation with you. You are a nothing burger when it comes to backing up your opinions, and this has not changed for much longer than 36 months.

I guess he might not have the best representation going forward. [image: 1721649593740-gtdagjaxqaasmja.jpeg]

See: https://nodebb.the-new-coffee-room.club/topic/32660/muslim-assimilation

Once you allow politicians to dictate to the court and the courts are not independent, your country is lost

@taiwan_girl said in The Surrender: @Jolly said in The Surrender: @taiwan_girl said in The Surrender: @Jolly said in The Surrender: work with the Secret Service to provide protection to Robert Kennedy Jr., To me, how to decide who should get it and who should not. Should it just be President candidates? There are probably people in Congress who generate a lot more hate against them than Mr. Kennedy. But, maybe they have Secret Service protection? How many candidates have had their father and their uncle assassinated? Probably only one, but I am not sure that the average crazy person thinks of that if they are thinking of assassination someone. I am not sure that the average person even makes the connection. No, RFK is different. You get more crazy points for killing a Kennedy.

Wow! Good story. I am not sure I would have reacted the same way.

Different GOP.

@George-K Hope things will continue to go well.

Sad. Ego for a title that 99.9% of the population will never know about. (Re: the video. It would have been good to have some topographic maps of the mountain which showed the routes, etc.)

Intersting article. Thanks Jolly. Chinese banks loan money to governments that then give that money to Chinese construction companies and pay the loan back to the bank over time. This means the money essentially never leaves China, "while the bill is ultimately footed by taxpayers in other countries." This is becoming a big problem and countries and now starting to realize this.

Wow! Looks great for his age. (Looks better than President Biden also talks better than him (and talks better than President Trump also))

@taiwan_girl said in Turley on "Saving Democracy": @George-K said in Turley on "Saving Democracy": North Carolina joined this effort recently to block third-party candidates to avoid “mischief.” A more appropriate title for the article would have been, "Both parties move to block Kennedy and others in the name of saving democracy" (North Carolina Republics control both the state house and state senate) This is a move by the Secretary of State, a Democrat. In most states, elections are managed by the SoS.