Many years ago I compared the general economic forecasts of economists to those of the astrologers in what when then American Astrology magazine, a semi-scholarly attempt at presenting astrology as a legitimate field of scientific inquiry. I followed each of their predictions form five years. The results revealed that economists were right less than 1% of the time while astrologers were right about 10% of the time. Since we all know that astrology is bogus the results say a lot about economists. Maybe it's time to do the study again.

Of course Edward Hadas' grasp of economics is questionable, he's an economist. The field of Economics long ago retreated from the reality of economics when it transformed itself from an honest inquiry of human economic behaviour into the netherworld of suspect and irrational ideology.

As far a civility goes, some have argued that civility is really a form of censorship ('political' correctness) that actually discourages and even prohibits open discourse of important subjects and issues. See the article by Randal Kennedy, "The Case Against Civility," The American Prospect, republished December 19, 2001.

http://prospect.org/article/state-debate-case-against-civility

Except I wasn't talking about gas emissions from volcanoes.

I was talking about the basic frequency of volcanic and geologic activity. Let's just say "Earthquakes" so we can stay clear of preconceptions.

Earthquake frequency is steadily rising, and this, among the other non-emission related items indicated, are tightly linked to the climate change events we are experiencing today.

People are clinging to the belief that climate change MUST be our fault, and therefore is also within our power to fix.

It isn't.

As for reading about sun spots. . , I suggest you do some.

Corporations may constantly, insistently and annoyingly claim that their products are innovative when clearly they are not but, for me, the word that is abused the most would also rank up there with most overused as well. I am referring to the word, experience.

During the last number of years, the word 'experience' has been popping every everywhere associating itself with products and corporations. Corporation XyZ no longer talks of quality products at a fair price but offer us an "XyZ experience." Customer service representatives are pleased to give us a great "XyZ experience" instead of courtesy, promptness and (above all) service.

Can the experience. Give me quality and fair prices along with prompt, courteous and effective customer service.

Strange how New Yorkers were initially hostile to the original World Trade Centre buildings when they were built. With time that hostility was muted down to mere indifference. The only people who seemed to actually like them were the tourists. It wasn't until they were destroyed that they became 'iconic' and a 'symbol of American freedom and ingenuity' even for New Yorkers too. Living historical revisionism in action.

It sure seems to be a Quantum Computer to me.

It either works or it doesn't.

Nobody seems to know for sure one way or the other, not the CEO who is still running tests to see, and not their detractors who can only speak in percentage certainties.

Prediction: When the question collapses into one state or the other, it will either turn out to be just an exotic classical computer, or it won't work at all. Because if it turned out to work as intended, then it would effectively prove that particles are both waves and particles and that we know what they are doing, and AFAIK that's against the rules.

But until then, the whole question is in a super-position.

You're welcome.

Nonsense.

What is usually going on in cases like this, (and they are far more frequent that you'd suspect) is that you're not going to look simply because you don't want to feel 'wrong' about something. In your mind, you honestly believe that if you don't see it, then you can maintain your illusion of reality. Most adults reach the emotional maturity of a five to eight year-old and then stop developing, and this is why such childish systems of management are so common among adults. This is not your fault. Society does this to you by design to keep you weak and ignorant.

It is the result of growing up in a hyper-competitive culture, in a school system which pits children against one another, causing them to build emotional and mental shields for protection.

I've done the work to move beyond that. As a result, I don't care about winning arguments. I care about knowing reality and sharing that knowledge with others who don't have it, such as yourself. I don't want your outrage and I certainly don't mind what you go away thinking.

But until you explore the world and the (easily) available material on a subject, it means your opinions on that subject are worth exactly nothing.

Those who profess wisdom while refusing to explore the world are insignificant. This is a sad truth. You can fix it, but it is a rare, rare thing when people actually do.

It takes a monumental amount of work to take down those walls and build new systems of spiritual management which will then allow the processing of actual knowledge.

I could be wrong, of course, but I'm probably not. In any case, please feel free to ignore and forget the preceding. This is for the benefit of others reading here as much as for your own.

Good luck.

Well put.

Now you're catching on.

Look around you, look at the world. We're presently experiencing the tail end. Enjoy it while it lasts. These are the good times.

-FL

Don't worry about that. Forget I said anything.

Yeah, also you shouldn't let the fact that I don't use drugs alarm you. You're certain I'm full of nonsense, right? So there you go! You're fine. The things you ignore can't hurt you, right?

-FL

No. People who are not programmed to be offended by these ideas would quickly recognize what I was talking about.

The question you could benefit from asking yourself is "Why am I reacting so strongly to this?"

The answer is this, and it's worth taking a long moment to consider this, because it may be the only truly important and valuable thing you will hear all year: There is a predator in your mind which knows that it is being threatened by ideas which would make you stronger and it weaker. It's response is to pump anger into your mind which you will mistake for your own. This is how it controls you. This is how it has always controlled you.

You are a prisoner. When you understand that, then you will have a chance of moving forward.

-FL

No, I was actually being relatively clear; more so than is normal around here. The fact is, I was specifically addressing another person who was using the fact that people generally hold different definitions for many common wordings to evade an idea s/he was uncomfortable with. It wasn't that this person did not understand; s/he did not WANT to understand.

You are doing something similar; you are deliberately getting hung up on inconsequential differences in the stream of communication while avoiding the central ideas, which if they were truly hard for you to grasp, you could ask for clarifications on. But instead you attack nonsense.

-FL