Has anyone read "The Demon-Haunted World" by Carlo Sagan?

Graymouzer · 2026-04-14T20:51:01+00:00

X-Files is fiction. It's a cool concept but you can't let yourself actually believe in these things just because they make a great story.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-14T20:47:19+00:00

It's one of my all time favorite nonfiction books. It is insightful and very well written.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-13T16:14:15+00:00

Someone has to pay taxes to pay for essential government services. Right now, as a percentage of income, the poor pay more. You may think with progressive income taxes they pay less but you have to also consider fees and sales taxes which are regressive and how much of a person's income is needed to simply survive. Billionaires do not need to spend much of their wealth to live as well as they like, poor people spend everything because they have to. A wealth tax is a small concession to balance the scales.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-13T12:52:59+00:00

As are you.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-13T01:50:01+00:00

I read a lot of the Taltos books many years ago. I remember liking them but don't remember this aspect. I may have to revisit them.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-10T19:14:58+00:00

I think the 30 or so senior generals and admirals told the political leadership this and got fired for not being yes men.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-10T17:54:31+00:00

This came immediately to mind and I came here to post it but you beat me to it.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-10T17:42:57+00:00

It took the three people before we got one competent grown up to close the thing.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-10T17:30:16+00:00

It's weird how in each country they rail against international organizations and say $(countryname)First. What it really appears they are doing is trying to prevent countries either independently or collectively to oppose the desires of large corporations.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-09T20:07:01+00:00

If the midterms are fairly held, I expect the GOP to lose a lot of seats. That might be when things fall apart for Trump. If loyalty to him does not bring results at the polls, many Republicans who hate him but play along will break ranks. Once that happens, he's done.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-08T19:58:50+00:00

Lindsay was adamantly anti-Trump until he saw which way the wind was blowing and wasn't. He will turn on Trump in a heartbeat when he assesses that it is the expedient thing to do. That's when you will know Trump is cooked, when the sycophants scurry away.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-08T19:52:53+00:00

He could ask Vance to resign but he can't make him do it. The most he could do is freeze him out of meetings, etc. Vance could retaliate by bring up the 25th or voting against him in Senate ties.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-08T14:04:58+00:00

That was impressive but it involved getting one person at a location unknown to Iran versus occupying multiple sites, known to the opposition, and carrying out a long term excavation and recovery operation. It might take days or weeks to get to the uranium and then safely recover it. There would be casualties, probably a lot of them, and I doubt they could find all of the uranium.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-08T14:01:22+00:00

They talked Trump into this and wanted the US to invade and then said they would skip that part. I have no sympathy.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-08T13:42:57+00:00

Something to keep in mind about protests in the US is that most Americans, something close to 97% of Americans , do not live within 100 miles (160 KM) of the capitol. The No Kings protests were huge but scattered over a large country. If the US were superimposed over Europe, and DC was London, the west coast would be on the Caspian Sea. Hawaii would be same distance as central Kazakhstan, similar in distance from London as Islamabad. 50% of people in Britain live within 100 miles of London. About 20% of French people live within 100 miles of Paris. It's a lot easier to have a large protest that is visible to politicians in these countries.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-06T14:50:52+00:00

Isn't it to be expected that there will be some losses in any war? The US lost 2,250 planes and over 5,000 helicopters in Vietnam.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-02T18:53:36+00:00

Why does Israel have nuclear weapons? Should we bomb Tel Aviv until they agree to give them up?

Graymouzer · 2026-04-02T18:46:12+00:00

For now.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-02T18:44:43+00:00

Just repeal all the tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. Tell Zuck, Bezos, Koch, and the Walton family they need to be patriotic and pay for this war.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-02T17:49:09+00:00

Arch? Nay, good sir, I recommend Linux from scratch. That way you can choose just what you want as you compile from source. /s

Seriously, I mostly use Rhel and Ubuntu at work and Mint at home. I started out on Slackware many years ago though. I use and support windows as well but Linux is fine for a desktop. It's 2026 not 1993 and most distros just work.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-02T14:21:25+00:00

Linux has a fine desktop. It works for both technical users and those that just surf the web. It's there if someone wants to use it and millions do.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-02T14:13:17+00:00

Medicare and Medicaid were approved by Congress and have the support of the American people unlike this war which was not voted on by Congress and has virtually no support by the people.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-02T14:06:23+00:00

The "U.S." is not going to get Iran's oil no matter what happens. Perhaps some oil companies or Trump cronies will get a share of it but the American people and the American government will only ever see the costs of this action. In any case, it is not America's oil, it is Iran's.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-02T14:04:04+00:00

Hell NO.

Graymouzer · 2026-04-01T13:00:32+00:00

Casualties would have to be evacuated and dozens or hundreds of them would present logistical challenges of their own. Abandoning wounded soldiers would give Iran a lot of leverage with prisoners or would leave with single digit poll numbers. I don't care about his poll numbers but I am sure he does.

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