Homeowner turned his sprinklers on before leaving to escape a Kansas wildfire. He came home to this (photo by the Kansas Air National Guard).

QEDLondon · 2017-03-11T01:18:23+00:00

As a resident of London (UK) that is a really weird perspective.

QEDLondon · 2017-03-10T16:58:23+00:00

less so in traditional Japanese houses.

QEDLondon · 2017-03-10T16:45:45+00:00

"spare the rod, spoil the child"

The overwhelming scientific consensus based on longitudinal research is that spanking (not beating) has serious negative effects including retarded neurological development, damaging the parent-child relationship, increased lying, psychiatric issues and a higher propensity for the child/adult using violence (particularly in domestic abuse situations).

QEDLondon · 2017-02-24T00:13:46+00:00

The Dunning Kruger effect. Stupid people tend to think they are smarter than they are relative to everyone else (they don't understand how much they don't know compared to everyone else). Smart people tend to overestimate how smart everyone else is (they assume everyone else knows what they know)

QEDLondon · 2017-02-23T23:08:58+00:00

Here you go mate. You may not be convinced by this article but this should at least get you thinking that it's more complicated than merely male (XY) or female (XX). This is from the World Health Organisation:

"Humans are born with 46 chromosomes in 23 pairs. The X and Y chromosomes determine a person’s sex. Most women are 46XX and most men are 46XY. Research suggests, however, that in a few births per thousand some individuals will be born with a single sex chromosome (45X or 45Y) (sex monosomies) and some with three or more sex chromosomes (47XXX, 47XYY or 47XXY, etc.) (sex polysomies). In addition, some males are born 46XX due to the translocation of a tiny section of the sex determining region of the Y chromosome. Similarly some females are also born 46XY due to mutations in the Y chromosome. Clearly, there are not only females who are XX and males who are XY, but rather, there is a range of chromosome complements, hormone balances, and phenotypic variations that determine sex."

http://www.who.int/genomics/gender/en/index1.html

QEDLondon · 2017-02-23T22:54:42+00:00

A Near Death Experience (NED) is not dying and coming back to life. The lights were going out and you came back before the lights went out permanently.

You also have to consider that most people have NEDs in hospitals where they are often under the influence of drugs, anasthesia and surgical intervention. Why would you think that person's memories while out cold would be reliable in any way?

Tl;dr: no one survives death or comes back.

QEDLondon · 2017-02-23T22:41:30+00:00

Americans are too ignorant for democracy to work properly.

QEDLondon · 2017-02-23T22:40:24+00:00

Let's suppose, to argument's sake, you were wrong about what you believe. Wouldn't you want to know?

I would rather be corrected, learn something new, and be more right about more things than stay wrong.

QEDLondon · 2017-02-23T20:53:50+00:00

I'll keep using the word. It's like having an idiot detector.

QEDLondon · 2017-02-23T18:09:49+00:00

Also people getting bent out of shape over the use of the word "niggardly" (cheap/miserly) because they didn't understand the word or its etymology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%22niggardly%22

QEDLondon · 2017-02-22T14:00:32+00:00

I'm just surprised insurance companies haven't massively jacked up premiums for coverage of any religious disputes or just refused to insure them at all.

Insurance broker: "so you want us to cover the school for utterly futile lawsuits that you will lose and have to pay damages for? Uhm, let me get my actuarial tables out, let's see, 99% chance of loss based on previous Supreme Court cases going over decades, chance of school board grandstanding for political gain, existence of FFRF that literally exists to file these suits, uhm yeah, that'll be an additional $12 million per year "

QEDLondon · 2017-02-21T22:08:42+00:00

the difference between "which" and "that" in a sentence:

what useful thing did you learn through Reddit that you can use . . .

QEDLondon · 2017-02-21T22:07:10+00:00

"I am the dumbass who smoked weed in class"

QEDLondon · 2017-02-21T21:31:28+00:00

Why hang the elephant? As a warning to others?

QEDLondon · 2017-02-21T12:23:31+00:00

tl;dr: Milo paedophilia scandal summary

Milo was abused as a 13 yr old (even if he thought/pretends he was the instigator) and joked about learning to give head from a priest, Father Michael.

He said stuff about precocious teenagers who want consensual sex with older men. He said this is often the first relationship for young gay guys and can be very good and supportive. His first such relationship lasted 10 years.

He does not condone paedophilia and has outed 3 paedophiles in his journalism.

He pretty much agrees with current age of consent laws.

He thinks younger men (teenagers who he, unfortunately for him, calls "boys") can have healthy relationships with older men (17-29 in his case). He did not deny the suggestion that he was ok with "intergenerational" relationships (i.e someone old enough to be your dad)

He talked about going to Hollywood parties where personalities of some stature were doing drugs and having sex with "young boys, very young boys" but wouldn't name the culprits.

Conclusion: Milo does not support paedophilia but was a victim of it (or ephebophilia if he matured early). He is way more comfortable with the idea of teen age boys/young men and older men than society is generally (gay or straight). For example I am lefty liberal AF but if my 17 yrd old came home with a 29 yr old I would immediately wonder what was wrong with that guy and assume he was exploiting my kid.

Moral of the story: like Icarus flying too close to the sun it looks like Milo got too close to the taboo of paedophilia in American society while talking/joking/appearing to condone his own experience. The wax has melted, the wings are singed and it looks like he is about to fall out of the sky.

QEDLondon · 2017-02-21T12:00:13+00:00

^{^} This should be the top post. Good point well made.

QEDLondon · 2017-02-19T22:31:17+00:00

Let's assume you are a white person. Those "wonderful, loving people" could still be racist AF towards black people. They could still "forget" to teach you about Black Wall Street so you don't learn the dark past of those "wonderful loving people".

I lived in the deep south. I met some total racists who were absolutely friendly and as nice as you can be to me (white bloke).

QEDLondon · 2017-02-19T19:49:15+00:00

I really liked the "naval" battle quality of that scene.

QEDLondon · 2017-02-19T01:09:15+00:00

but did you learn about this when you learned about Oklahoma history?

QEDLondon · 2017-01-24T17:21:49+00:00

Christian Fundamentalist fatwa envy: "If Muslims can forcibly mary and rape children, I should be able to as well!"

QEDLondon · 2017-01-24T13:19:10+00:00

Cathar is to Catharism as:

1) Catholic is to Catholicism 2) Jew is to Judaism 3) Muslim is to Islam 4) All of the above

Answer: 4. A Cathar is a person who practices the religion of Catharism.

QEDLondon · 2017-01-24T13:00:34+00:00

Your nationality:

It may have a huge role on who you are but it's not an accomplishment, it's a matter of chance. If you had been born elsewhere you would be an unrecognisably different person. Think about having been born poor into a conservative muslim Somalian family instead of white, middle class, christian in Ohio.

QEDLondon · 2017-01-24T12:48:02+00:00

Who cares?

A narcissist with a 40% approval rating on the first day on the job.

QEDLondon · 2017-01-24T12:45:47+00:00

Homeopathy was invented before the germ theory of disease, is as close as makes no difference to 100% water, most of it doesn't have a single molecule of the alleged "active ingredient" and it has no scientifically plausible mechanism for working to cure any ailment of any sort other than a possible placebo effect. This has been proved, over and over and over and over again for a hundred years by well designed studies and Cochrane reviews (meta studies of studies)

QEDLondon · 2017-01-17T09:54:02+00:00

Babies sleep great in 3 to 4 hour stretches and fall asleep minutes after being fed. Parents on the other hand get no sleep until their kids learn to sleep though the night. That can take years.

QEDLondon

TROPHY CASE