- trivia -

[sear]

#60 meme summons to mind the expression "spoiled brat".

"upset" #60

Constructive dialogue can involve more than one person.
Involving more than one does not necessarily render a conversation constructive, particularly if there's a MAGA involved.

for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galations 6:7

Utopian fantasies tend to fizzle.

"Crime will wither away after the fall of capitalism." an anarchist that posted under the pseud sanarchus

 

[Shiftless2]

 

[sear]

"The Bible" #62

Supercilious critics prop up their dismissive condemnation of holy scripture based only on >99% of its contents,
thereby dismissing the vast remainder of ancient wisdom disclosed therein.

"The Golden Rule":
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." KJV Matthew 7:12

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

If there's any more concise fundamental standard for human behavior, suitable for students at nursery school through doctorate level please post it in this thread now.

crickets chirp

 

[Shiftless2]

"The Golden Rule":
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." KJV Matthew 7:12

One verse that Evangelical "Christians" conveniently ignore.

 

[sear]

"One verse that Evangelical "Christians" conveniently ignore." S2 #64

"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to the garage makes you a car." Dr. Laurence J. Peter [S2's point w/ #64 scare quotes]

Pete !

"One verse that Evangelical "Christians" conveniently ignore." S2 #64

"The fact that somebody over-sells an idea doesn't make it a bad idea. It makes them a bad salesman." Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA ret)

In matters theological / philosophical it helps to distinguish faithful practitioners from poseurs that falsely claim the mantle for advantage.

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful." sometimes attributed to Seneca the Younger (c.3 BCE - CE 65)

I know this quote is commonly attributed to Seneca, but it is mistakenly attributed to him. How do I know this? In Volume 1 of "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", written by Edward Gibbon, he writes, "“The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord." making sense Administrator Rob W. Case https://makingsense.proboards.com/thread/720/young-boys-search-god

 

[Shiftless2]

Something for the gearheads among us

WD Detailing Reels

WD Detailing Reels. 1,811,472 likes · 325,022 talking about this. Welcome to the WD Detailing page! We will provide you with all kinds of satisfying car detail videos!. Watch the latest reel from WD...

www.facebook.com

 

[Shiftless2]

A Canadian student built a $30,000 dialysis machine for just $500 using recycled parts

Anya Pogharian was only seventeen when a school assignment became something far bigger. While learning about dialysis, she noticed how exhausting the long treatments are for patients. That moment sparked an idea that refused to fade. Instead of writing a basic report, she chose to build something real.

Using recycled and cheap materials, she focused on helping people, not winning praise.

The result stunned many experts. Her dialysis prototype cost just five hundred dollars, compared to machines costing tens of thousands. During testing, it worked far better than expected. Even more surprising, it showed signs of reducing treatment times from hours to minutes. For families dealing with constant hospital visits, that change could mean freedom, rest, and dignity.

What started in a classroom is now being discussed worldwide. In places where medical equipment is rare or too expensive, ideas like this matter deeply. Anya’s project proves innovation does not need massive funding. Sometimes empathy, curiosity, and courage are enough to spark real change...could this inspire a new wave of student-led medical solutions?

#fblifestyle #MedicalInnovation #TeenInventor #DialysisCare #FutureMedicine
References:
CBC News, Teen builds low-cost dialysis machine for school project
BBC News, Student invention could transform dialysis access worldwide
Global News, Canadian teen gains attention for affordable medical device

SOURCE

 

[Shiftless2]

 

[Shiftless2]

And now for something important

Betty Boop becomes public domain this year​

https://imgur.com/tNBzwJn

 

[Shiftless2]

Hardly trivial but it doesn't fit anyplace else



He published her diary as his bestseller. When she finally wrote her own book, he had her doctors silence her. Then she died in a locked ward—but her story refuses to stay buried.

Montgomery, Alabama, 1918. Zelda Sayre was eighteen and unstoppable.

She smoked in public, danced until sunrise, and kissed whoever she pleased. In conservative 1918 Alabama, she was a scandal—beautiful, fearless, and unforgettable.

When a struggling young writer named F. Scott Fitzgerald met her at a dance, he fell instantly. He proposed. She refused.

"I can't marry you unless you can support me," she said.

So Scott wrote a novel to win her. When This Side of Paradise became a sensation in 1920, he sent a telegram: "BOOK SOLD. MARRY ME NOW."

She did. She was nineteen. For a few dazzling years, they were the golden couple of the Jazz Age—rich, famous, and living recklessly.

But Scott had a secret.

He was reading Zelda's intimate diaries—her private thoughts, beautifully written—and copying ....

MORE>

 

[Shiftless2]

A generation learned that asking “why?” wasn’t disrespectful—it was essential.



“The TV scientist everyone told to keep quiet stepped into a room where many believed humans and dinosaurs once walked side by side. What followed reshaped how America argues about truth.”

February 4, 2014. Petersburg, Kentucky.

Bill Nye—the bow-tied engineer who taught millions of ’90s kids that science could be joyful—waited backstage at the Creation Museum. In minutes, he would debate Ken Ham before an audience that would reach millions around the globe.

The real question wasn’t dinosaurs.

It was whether evidence still mattered.

1986: WHERE IT BEGAN

Long before the lab coat, Bill Nye was a Boeing engineer in Seattle, working on hydraulic pressure resonance suppressors for 747 airplanes. Exacting work. No room for guesswork.

Then came January 28, 1986. The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Seven astronauts lost. The cause traced to failed O-rings—an issue engineers had warned about but failed to communicate clearly to those in power.

For Nye, the lesson was permanent: when science isn’t explained well, when expertise can’t cross the gap to decision-makers, people die.

Making science understandable wasn’t show business.

It was a responsibility.

MORE>

 

[Shiftless2]

Genius businessman my ass



Forty years ago, american's idiot potus bankrupted and destroyed a great pro football league in just twelve months -- the USFL.

I sure am glad that when his billionaire slumlord dad died, the nimrod son wound up working at hardware stores on the south jersey coast and never got another chance to destroy any important american institutions.

(from wikipedia's USFL history page for the New Jersey Generals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Generals ) --

"Almost from the moment he bought the Generals, Trump sought to use them as a vehicle to get an NFL team. To this end, he began ....

MORE>

 

[Shiftless2]

Not exactly trivia but I don't want this to get lost in the Trump thread (do we need an RFK Jr thread?) but given the resurgence of measles this has to be said

Literally thousands of research hours – and dollars – have gone into debunking this claim.

https://www.iflscience.com/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism-heres-how-we-know-that-78480

 

[Shiftless2]

 

[sear]

#74

If Stonehenge were purely about astronomical observation* the ancients that built it could have used sticks instead of the mammoth rocks apparently hauled long distance to this site.

Is Stonehenge partly about astronomical observation, and partly a message for the generations?

Here we are, January 19, MLK day in 2026.

What is our message today, to those that will live a century, or a millennium hence? Don't forget to charge your smartphone? Not quite a megalithic message.

* "The whole monument, now in ruins, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice and sunset on the winter solstice." More from Wikipedia

 

[Shiftless2]

On February 4, 2014, a profound discovery of cultural division took place in a packed room in Kentucky. Bill Nye, known to millions as the "Science Guy," stepped into the heart of the Creation Museum to face a crowd of 900 people.

The audience held a firm tradition of believing the Earth was only 6,000 years old. They viewed fossils as tests of faith rather than biological history, and many believed that humans once lived alongside dinosaurs in a literal Garden of Eden.

Nye stood across from Ken Ham, a man with a fierce heritage of biblical literalism. The debate wasn't just about rock layers; it was a fundamental clash over how the USA defines truth, evidence, and the future of education.

For three intense hours, Bill Nye did something unexpected in the history of public debates. He didn't shout or mock; he taught with the calm, steady precision of the Boeing engineer he once was.

He laid out the discovery of ice cores, starlight from distant galaxies, and DNA evidence that proved a far older and more complex universe. He challenged the culture of ignoring facts that conflict with personal or religious beliefs.

His background in engineering taught him a brutal tradition: nature does not negotiate. While working at Boeing in the 1970s, Nye learned that a single mathematical error could cause a 747 to fall from the sky.

This respect for reality was solidified in the history of the USA by the 1986 Challenger explosion. Nye watched in horror as ....

MORE>

The last question in that debate said it all. They were both asked if anything could change their minds; Hamm said no, never, Nye said evidence.

 

[sear]

"The audience held a firm tradition of believing the Earth was only 6,000 years old." #76

This is a reference to Archbishop James Ussher, a professor at Trinity College in Dublin, calculated Earth's birth-date using clues from the Bible: 4004 BC ... https://stardate.org/podcast/2022-10-12


Sir Isaac Newton, among the most brilliant scientists of all time, clarified into concise words three seemingly immutable laws of motion.
Newton was not exactly wrong. But Einstein revealed that it's not quite as simple as Newton suggested. Einstein's insights help explain why both gravity, and speed slow down time.

The distinction between Biblical faith and scientific discipline? The Holy Bible is presented by some ostensible biblical experts as true, but static.
But as the Newton / Einstein contrast demonstrates science is eternally dynamic, subject to clarification, refinement, and peer-review.

"The last question in that debate said it all. They were both asked if anything could change their minds; Hamm said no, never, Nye said evidence." #76

Possibly not as insensible as it may seem to some.

PS
Thank you Mr. Nye. Engineers are the sorcerers of the modern age.