G r e e t i n g s !
** TPO **
A personal blog with diverse topicality and multiple interests!
A personal blog with diverse topicality and multiple interests!
On the menu ... politics, music, poetry, and other good stuff.
There is humor, but there is blunt seriousness here as well!
There is humor, but there is blunt seriousness here as well!
Parfois, on parle français ici aussi. Je suis un francophile .... Bienvenue à tous!
* Your comments and evaluations are appreciated ! *
Showing posts with label My Scrapbook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Scrapbook. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Monday, November 20, 2017
Friday, November 10, 2017
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Friday, November 3, 2017
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
L'espoir ~ par Bernard Lavilliers, Jeanne Cherhal
<< L'espoir >>
Bernard Lavilliers, Jeanne Cherhal
~~~~~~~ *** ~~~~~~~
Bernard Lavilliers, Jeanne Cherhal
~~~~~~~ *** ~~~~~~~
Une belle chanson! ....
Monday, October 30, 2017
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Saturday, October 14, 2017
The Robot Bartender ~ by Anonymous
~ by Anonymous ~
A Floridian goes into a bar in Calgary where there is a robot bartender.
The robot says, “What will you have?”
The guy replies, “Whiskey.”
The robot brings back his drink and asks, “What’s your I.Q.?”
The guy says, “168.”
The robot then commences to talk about physics, space exploration, and medical technology.
So the guy leaves the bar and outside in the street, he is reflecting upon his experience at the bar. And the more he thinks about it, the more perplexed he gets ... so he decides to go back.
At the bar, the robot asks, “What’s your drink?”
The guy answers, “Whiskey.”
The robot returns with the drink and asks, “What’s your I.Q.?”
The man replies, “100.”
The robot begins to talk about NASCAR, Budweiser, the Lions, and hockey.
The man finishes his drink and leaves. But he is so intrigued by the result of his little “experiment” that he decides to try one more test.
He goes back to the bar and, as usual, the robot asks him what he wants to drink.
The man replies, “Whiskey.”
The robot brings the drink and asks, “What’s your IQ?”
The guy replies, “Whiskey.”
The robot brings back his drink and asks, “What’s your I.Q.?”
The guy says, “168.”
The robot then commences to talk about physics, space exploration, and medical technology.
So the guy leaves the bar and outside in the street, he is reflecting upon his experience at the bar. And the more he thinks about it, the more perplexed he gets ... so he decides to go back.
At the bar, the robot asks, “What’s your drink?”
The guy answers, “Whiskey.”
The robot returns with the drink and asks, “What’s your I.Q.?”
The man replies, “100.”
The robot begins to talk about NASCAR, Budweiser, the Lions, and hockey.
The man finishes his drink and leaves. But he is so intrigued by the result of his little “experiment” that he decides to try one more test.
He goes back to the bar and, as usual, the robot asks him what he wants to drink.
The man replies, “Whiskey.”
The robot brings the drink and asks, “What’s your IQ?”
Friday, October 13, 2017
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Rational vs. Emotional - by Hénock Gugsa
Rational vs. Emotional
- by Hénock Gugsa -
You be the judge! Are there foreign infiltrators into American politics on Facebook?***
=================================================================
Recently on Facebook, a friend of a friend posted the following:
<< BL:> How many other people are tired of those "thoughts and prayers and we will discuss this later" comments? ... My God...Reruns... America has dealt with enough reruns.>>
Comments and general reactions followed. I have extracted here the ones relevant to our topic. Of special interest are the exchanges between JH and myself (HG) ....
=================================================================
Recently on Facebook, a friend of a friend posted the following:
<< BL:> How many other people are tired of those "thoughts and prayers and we will discuss this later" comments? ... My God...Reruns... America has dealt with enough reruns.>>
Comments and general reactions followed. I have extracted here the ones relevant to our topic. Of special interest are the exchanges between JH and myself (HG) ....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JH:> As a progressive, in favor of much better gun laws, my opinion is that this is strategically bad timing for psychological reasons on the right. You have to understand how their mind reacts to this because they are the ones we need to get to work with us. They don't see victims and want to limit guns. They see a shooter and want to arm themselves. The emotions are just as high on the right as they are on the left, it's just a different emotion with different triggers. This is the worse possible time to talk to Republicans about guns.
HG:> No need to talk to them ever .... Just vote them out! Boot them out!
JH:> HG, Republicans vote them in because they are wired differently. It's not simply the politicians, but the people who vote them in. They are the ones clinging to their guns and they do it because they see a threat.
DK:> JH, a threat fed by the NRA and the GOP for decades.
JH:> DK, The left sees the gun as the threat. The right sees the shooter as the threat.
HG:> JH, I agree. They don't blame the easy availability of guns to everyone not even in times of mass massacres ... they blame mental health instead! Taking this a step further, their logic crumbles because republicans are also major obstacles to improvements (or even availability) of mental healthcare in general! But, we should not be defeatist. In time, due to attrition as a result of gun accidents (or deaths) to themselves and their loved ones, these gun nuts could potentially change their stance. Even some politicians, like G H W Bush, cancelled their NRA membership. I also have a sneaking suspicion that the number of gun lovers may not be as big as they would like us to believe. They do, however, have beaucoup money and that is where their power lies!
JH:> HG, If we could rely on logic, this would be easy, but the high emotions just bypass rational thought. Which is part of why I think it's bad timing. We need people to be rational about this, not emotional.
DK:> JH, the threat is neither; the real threats are the organizations and politicians who pander to fear and stoke hate.
BL:> I understand but at what point do we have a real conversation.
HG:> JH, then why hasn't anybody ever taken up the issue when there was a lull to the emotional mood? Why haven't we seen anybody rise up to the challenge with rational wisdom?? No, everybody was sort of put into a "snooze" mode until the next big massacre! I say: strike while the iron is hot! Emotion can be used as the fuel to get the rational juices going. Remember the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". That was one heck of an emotional story. The American Revolution and the Civil War were essentially rational convictions driven by engines of emotion. Why do we disparage emotion so much even in the face of so much truth facing us?
DK:> if you’re not outraged by horror, you’re dead to life. Those of us who have seen human flesh decimated by bullets are way beyond appalled; we are outraged because we live with those images for life. Climb down out of your intellectually remote tower and smell the carnage. It stinks, it reeks, it is gawd awful. It is the most vile and disgusting thing to have emblazoned on your heart. If carnage does not outrage you; if the lack of integrity by politicians does not does not make you livid; if the sight of gore doesn’t revolt you, you are living in a fairy world detached from reality. You’ve obviously never been there.
JH:> HG, Because your leadership sucks. Don't believe me? Look at the nation.
HG:> JH, that's why earlier I said boot the bums out. But now, are you abandoning your argument for the abandonment of emotion in favor of icy rationalism?! It seems you're flailing all over the place.
JH:> HG, You want to know, why hasn't anyone taken it up. Because they think that the best time to do something is when their base is energized. I think they keep failing because they don't understand the opposition or why this is strategically bad timing.
JH:> HG, I say boot them out too, but we aren't the majority that elected them.
HG:> JH, Here's the thing. They, the majority, are showing us their hand by not doing anything. That is their move. They are also (like you) asking everybody to be rational, not emotional ... their favorite mantra being: "Now is not the time!" Our only resort is to keep being emotional, to keep the fire burning until the next election and go out and VOTE! We should not let anything or anybody dissuade us, or discourage us from our civic duty. We should not listen to foreign (Russian) agents posing as Americans to muddle the issues by pretending to be on our side. They are wolves in sheep's clothing. I will not be worried about "the majority that elected them". And by the way, that majority is not set in stone!
JH:> HG, And you're winning like crazy right?
HG:> JH, Dasvidaniya to you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** So do you agree that JH is a sort of an agent-provocateur? If so, you are right! Because at the end of my exchange with him there, I went and checked his profile. There was practically nothing there, no photos, no bio, no indication of anything but a troll, a bot ! As a result of that, I immediately blocked him in order to prevent any future contact. A major lesson there!
JH:> As a progressive, in favor of much better gun laws, my opinion is that this is strategically bad timing for psychological reasons on the right. You have to understand how their mind reacts to this because they are the ones we need to get to work with us. They don't see victims and want to limit guns. They see a shooter and want to arm themselves. The emotions are just as high on the right as they are on the left, it's just a different emotion with different triggers. This is the worse possible time to talk to Republicans about guns.
HG:> No need to talk to them ever .... Just vote them out! Boot them out!
JH:> HG, Republicans vote them in because they are wired differently. It's not simply the politicians, but the people who vote them in. They are the ones clinging to their guns and they do it because they see a threat.
DK:> JH, a threat fed by the NRA and the GOP for decades.
JH:> DK, The left sees the gun as the threat. The right sees the shooter as the threat.
HG:> JH, I agree. They don't blame the easy availability of guns to everyone not even in times of mass massacres ... they blame mental health instead! Taking this a step further, their logic crumbles because republicans are also major obstacles to improvements (or even availability) of mental healthcare in general! But, we should not be defeatist. In time, due to attrition as a result of gun accidents (or deaths) to themselves and their loved ones, these gun nuts could potentially change their stance. Even some politicians, like G H W Bush, cancelled their NRA membership. I also have a sneaking suspicion that the number of gun lovers may not be as big as they would like us to believe. They do, however, have beaucoup money and that is where their power lies!
JH:> HG, If we could rely on logic, this would be easy, but the high emotions just bypass rational thought. Which is part of why I think it's bad timing. We need people to be rational about this, not emotional.
DK:> JH, the threat is neither; the real threats are the organizations and politicians who pander to fear and stoke hate.
BL:> I understand but at what point do we have a real conversation.
HG:> JH, then why hasn't anybody ever taken up the issue when there was a lull to the emotional mood? Why haven't we seen anybody rise up to the challenge with rational wisdom?? No, everybody was sort of put into a "snooze" mode until the next big massacre! I say: strike while the iron is hot! Emotion can be used as the fuel to get the rational juices going. Remember the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". That was one heck of an emotional story. The American Revolution and the Civil War were essentially rational convictions driven by engines of emotion. Why do we disparage emotion so much even in the face of so much truth facing us?
DK:> if you’re not outraged by horror, you’re dead to life. Those of us who have seen human flesh decimated by bullets are way beyond appalled; we are outraged because we live with those images for life. Climb down out of your intellectually remote tower and smell the carnage. It stinks, it reeks, it is gawd awful. It is the most vile and disgusting thing to have emblazoned on your heart. If carnage does not outrage you; if the lack of integrity by politicians does not does not make you livid; if the sight of gore doesn’t revolt you, you are living in a fairy world detached from reality. You’ve obviously never been there.
JH:> HG, Because your leadership sucks. Don't believe me? Look at the nation.
HG:> JH, that's why earlier I said boot the bums out. But now, are you abandoning your argument for the abandonment of emotion in favor of icy rationalism?! It seems you're flailing all over the place.
JH:> HG, You want to know, why hasn't anyone taken it up. Because they think that the best time to do something is when their base is energized. I think they keep failing because they don't understand the opposition or why this is strategically bad timing.
JH:> HG, I say boot them out too, but we aren't the majority that elected them.
HG:> JH, Here's the thing. They, the majority, are showing us their hand by not doing anything. That is their move. They are also (like you) asking everybody to be rational, not emotional ... their favorite mantra being: "Now is not the time!" Our only resort is to keep being emotional, to keep the fire burning until the next election and go out and VOTE! We should not let anything or anybody dissuade us, or discourage us from our civic duty. We should not listen to foreign (Russian) agents posing as Americans to muddle the issues by pretending to be on our side. They are wolves in sheep's clothing. I will not be worried about "the majority that elected them". And by the way, that majority is not set in stone!
JH:> HG, And you're winning like crazy right?
HG:> JH, Dasvidaniya to you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** So do you agree that JH is a sort of an agent-provocateur? If so, you are right! Because at the end of my exchange with him there, I went and checked his profile. There was practically nothing there, no photos, no bio, no indication of anything but a troll, a bot ! As a result of that, I immediately blocked him in order to prevent any future contact. A major lesson there!
Friday, October 6, 2017
Tyrant's Tantrums ~ by Hénock Gugsa
Tyrant's Tantrums
~ by Hénock Gugsa ~
Back in the days of antiquity, there were tyrants that behaved like infants with their defiant stance against good manners. Nobody or hardly anybody dared to challenge the power or privilege of those dictators. They did as they wished.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Cassini/Huygens Project (1996-2004) - by TPO
Cassini/Huygens Project (1996-2004) *
~ by TPO ~
====================
The European Science Agency's Huygens spent eight years and 934 million miles stuck, barnacle-like, to Cassini's much larger belly. On Christmas Eve 2004, Cassini and Huygens split. Huygens landed on Saturn's moon ,Titan, three weeks later.
[...]Huygens had the most ambitious goal of all: It is the only machine to land on a world beyond the asteroid belt.
Huygens's final design, a hockey puck set in a tea saucer, was a hedge against the unknown. It would withstand the friction of Titan's atmosphere. It was prepared to float, should it land on an ethane sea. But first the saucer had to fly.
Titan's surface was a mystery before the ESA and NASA sent the Huygens probe to investigate it. The moon, larger than Pluto or the planet Mercury, is a whopper of a satellite.
Observed from space, Titan is a hazy orb. Methane transforms into hydrogen cyanide and other hydrocarbons in its nitrogen-rich atmosphere, coloring the sky orange.
[...]Huygens had the most ambitious goal of all: It is the only machine to land on a world beyond the asteroid belt.
Huygens's final design, a hockey puck set in a tea saucer, was a hedge against the unknown. It would withstand the friction of Titan's atmosphere. It was prepared to float, should it land on an ethane sea. But first the saucer had to fly.
Observed from space, Titan is a hazy orb. Methane transforms into hydrogen cyanide and other hydrocarbons in its nitrogen-rich atmosphere, coloring the sky orange.
On the moon, the familiar has a chemically alien twist. The scientists continued: “Instead of liquid water, Titan has liquid methane. Instead of silicate rocks, Titan has frozen water ice. Instead of dirt, Titan has hydrocarbon particles settling out of the atmosphere.” Titan's twist on Earthly features could in theory support microbial life, some chemists say, despite the frigid temperatures.
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* Source: "Speaking of Science: Cassini’s most impressive feat: Dropping a moon lander on Titan" - by Ben Guarino, The Washington Post, 9/13/17
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* Source: "Speaking of Science: Cassini’s most impressive feat: Dropping a moon lander on Titan" - by Ben Guarino, The Washington Post, 9/13/17
Monday, September 18, 2017
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