Let's try that again.

Doesn't mean it isn't true or that he's wrong. He's hardly going to trick kids into reading his article, to trick them. I think reading is the vehicle into learning things in your life that unlocks what you'd really love to do.

It seems that the only two sides of politics that exist is the agonist and the antagonist. Left and Right have become obsolete as a consequence of their absolute polarization.

Intelligence can manifest in different ways unrelated to reading, math, music, painting for example. I'd also say that language could be considered a limiter of intelligence when you're restricted to words. I seen high intelligence is as much of a curse as a blessing, thinking can be addictive especially if you have hard emotions that you're avoiding feeling.

I can tell you from reading thousands of pages of proposed Acts of law; it's a fucking tedious slog that takes weeks out of your life and is absolutely vital component of a functioning democracy - way better than just voting. What's magical is the patience to do it or face the consequences of not doing it. The best way to solve that problem is log onto your government's page where laws are proposed and start reading AND writing about a portion of law that interests you.

That's what democracy needs.

Freedom of speech carrys with it an inherent responsibility to figure out what the reality is and make a judgement call. Respect is earned if someone can be civil, polite while they express that freedom.

Hopefully it's something that really offends them.

opps - That's not the comment I wanted to make.

I didn't know "The Expanse" was based on books, however I can say the TBP books are excellent. Great to see the Chinese producing Sci Fi that (mostly) transcends borders.

Yeah - great books there 52/2. Bear is certainly one of the greats R.I.P, up there with Clarke. One book Bear wrote "City at the end of Time" seemed to be a homage to Clarke's "City and the Stars" which was one of my favorites.

Then there were the Killer B's (Brin, Bear and Benford) who I think expanded Asimov's Foundation - not sure if that's what Apple are playing though as I haven't read Foundation or his Robot series -- yet.

We can't talk about Bear though without mentioning "Eon" which is probably one of the greatest Sci Fi books ever written. I know it's a big call, Eternity, Forge of God and Anvil of Stars are of similar quality - but also much of his stuff from Star Trek to the back story for Halo took both of those into hard sci fi territory.

No, it's a challenge finding decent Sci Fi after consuming the greats. Reynolds, Hamilton, Reed also write good science fiction that's worth checking out.

Similar age to me. I started on comic books, a stack as big as I was, then sci fi books, then electronics, then computing which made me the geek I am today!

It could be you dissociating because of something you are reading, I've had similar experiences. It's worth looking into - you never know what it will uncover for you.

I'm usually too engrossed to care, however I have had a few people come up to me and comment that I was actually reading a real book and then asked me about it. So it can oddly be a way to meet people, especially if they've read the book.

That's fantastic, I wish I had the time, I only get through about 18-30 a year reading over breakfast, which is mostly studying. My rate climbs when I'm on vacation which is when I have a chance to read some Sci Fi for pleasure, so you're really living a readers dream there.

Yes - I get lower levels of fatigue with paper as well. I can't remember where I read the study on retention rates where plain old paper books still rule around 80-90%, screens are around 25-30%. Apparently it's due to the amount of energy the visual cortex spend on determining a character. Paper has a hard outline between black and white whereas screens have digital noise (we all know as dither) that causes the brain to have to determine what the character is. That's why real books on paper are my choice for all technical reading.

It's such a good point you raised though, reminding me of eye care experiences I had to do so I could keep reading. I had many cervical spine issues which is *still* taking a lot of work with physio therapists and chiropractors to resolve. I was getting double vision - but only in one eye - that was affecting my reading and causing concern that soon I would not be able to see the page.

The treatments started to relieve the symptoms but the headaches were getting worse. I started using some eyedrops called "Liquid MSM drops" with > 15% MSM which stung a lot however something started happening in the double vision eye and over the course of a few month (with the help of some minor surgery from a doctor) a sebaceous cist the size of a chik pea was removed from behind my eye - I was so sick.

Combined with the above the headaches have been slowly fading, eyesight has been improving and slowly getting sharper.

Hilarious that you grammar policed yourself after the Bradbury reference. PKD is a great author too.

to watching porn by fleshlight.

As long as Rage keeps going. They get famous musicians in to play whatever they like. Tonight's DJ is Jocko Homo from Devo. One of my favorites was Mike Patton from Faith No More. So many great guests.

From looking at the current playlist isn;t as long as I expect, it generally plays music videos from 12:00 am to 7am without a single commercial, not that I can stay awake all night anymore to find out. lols Still great to just have on. Enjoy!

To clarify; your argument is that most pollination is not done by bees and that I should make a list to understand your argument? Most pollination is done by bees because they are more effective than birds and other insects or manual pollination. Can you show me why it is a lie?

It sounds like you have some specific expertise on this. Can explain why these bees don't matter to the ecosystem? In the Amazon, where these bees live, what other major pollinators are there? Wouldn't it mean the Amazon looses pollination capacity for their crops if they go extinct?

Yeah those arm chair guys, does that mean your one of those activist types that burns flags and has blue hair? Don't worry I'm not going to put on a tees shirt and start yelling Bee Lives Matter. I simply think the point is it's more than honey, there is the toast, cereal, tea, oh yeah steak too because cows eat a lot of grain, basically food is why it's a good law.

No, when my dog died there was grief, a loss with a name. It was not at all the same experience as knowing you just killed that animal.

Bees also pollinate crops.

What specifically are you referring to?

Many animals are sentient and for an orangutan being genetically closest to human beings this is a step towards humans being more human.

Whilst it doesn't apply to many animals, when you look at recent studies into bird neuronal density being 4-8 more dense than mammalian brains and experiments into animal consciousness revealing that they have an experience of life similar to ours, it challenges our presumptuous attitude towards animals being dumb or just things. They clearly are not.

To understand where my compassion is towards animals comes from, learn to hunt, aim a rifle and kill and animal you're going to eat or skin. Once you see the life fading from their eyes you have little choice but to relate it to your own experience of life and it's value.