I get that there are areas where people are less likely to vote due to various laws set in place, but in what real world is there actually active voter suppression going on? There's an occasional (very occasional) stink in media that AllSides colors blue about voter suppression, but in general, nothing comes of it. Just like articles that AllSides colors red that raise a stink about voter suppression the other way (or ballot stuffing or what have you), in general, even if we grant that there is some level of corruption to American elections, it is balanced out, and, like a recent case in Pennsylvania, if there is corruption of officials or counting or what have you, the illegal actions are prosecuted. I remember growing up, people in my neighborhood had the opportunity to be bussed to voting sites—on buses everyone knew were paid for by a certain party. I don't entirely understand that element—perhaps spending time overseas made walking to a polling place seem natural to me. It certainly wasn't too far to walk even for the elderly. If by voter suppression, you mean tactics that make it more challenging to register to vote, it seems like Americans in general have become too complacent with regard to "rights" and too in-arms about privilege. Both main political parties seem to be more about bread and circuses, and even if there is an emotional appeal regularly to join party X to save the world by voting for its folks, the shooting at the congressional baseball game several years ago and how both parties responded to it make it clear that politics is a power game on both sides just like the baseball game was.

I would agree that much has been lost since 1600. At the same time, to avoid a “The sky is falling” attitude, it seems like the information from the USDA is helpful in balancing negative and positive views. https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/...

...and yes, I recognize the article notes forest growth isn't enough, but it doesn't do a good job of working through all the details

I am curious how this ties into (1) forest growth in developed countries offsetting the losses and (2) how the bagged peat (as soil in garden centers) industry ties in with this. I am not discounting that this might be concerning, but the majority of the countries noted other than the Congo have had massive efforts in the last 100 years to increase forest size (offsetting at least some of the carbon release issues noted in the article). I mention the sale of peat noting that it is likely a very minor part of the presented concern, but most industries today in the developed world at least tend to look for ways to be sustainable (if only to continue making a profit). Is wetland habitat loss tied primarily to climate shifts in rainfall patterns (the article notes England is becoming drier) and are there other environments that will have the same level of carbon trapping happening shortly?

Lest this be taken as a comment about the current admin, they started back in January of 2024 with the current pre-transition archive work, and they have done this for each cycle back to 2008—apparently it's the norm for new administrations to erase massive amounts of data (and given that the government has to pay for server space just like everyone else, it makes a bit of sense to have a garage cleanup at least once every four years—why not every spring like the rest of us?). I do like that someone wants to archive things though.

As ~ClickOnThis notes above, it seems likely that this is at least in part to create legal precedent — doing that gives a greater chance of success when other media organizations (or even individuals) file suits against Amazon in the future. If I were writing a thriller novel, I'd come up with all kinds of conspiracy theories to tie to this, but it is probably something simple and something the legal department somewhere advised against future liability or whatever.

Among the highest per capita in emissions. There's very little data out there on net emissions, and I would like to see this. There was a recent study on CO2 production in old landfills with forests sitting on top of them, and for whatever reason, the study didn't look at net CO2, only at CO2 coming out of the ground. I'm pretty sure there's a major variable involving carbon sequestration via tree growth that isn't getting accounted for. Is the US with its massive tree planting (significantly more forests than in the early 20th century) and urban gardening campaigns really one of the top five worst polluters? I've never been in a city in the US (in the last couple of decades) where a mask was needed for lung health. This isn't true in some other countries. It used to be that Orange County's pollution (in Cali) had killed off most of its orange trees, and this isn't true anymore (though there's apparently a virus that's trying to do the job now if the interwebs are to be believed).

I am a bit confused why you don't think it applies on a public bus. Looking at the relevant code (thank you for the link), it looks like not only would c3 apply (noted by someone below), but section c.7.1 would also appear to apply--as long as a FoIA request were allowed for the recordings, it would be legal ("publicly accessible" recordings) even if there isn't prior notice to the riders on the bus.

Noting the description of the purpose of each of the parts of the brain connected (I clicked through to the journal article abstract), is this possibly part of how trained reflex action develops (not knee-jerk, but the reaction people have in martial arts after learning a movement, etc.)?

Recognizing that you are intentionally trying to poke fun at different texts without looking at the context, I figured I comment on the first two.

That's certainly one way of looking at a poem about love between a man and a wife, but it certainly isn't the only way of looking at it (and I'd argue, not the best). We can see allusions to pretty much anything we want in some types of poetry, but that doesn't mean we ought to--the passage in question that usually is tied to this is:

• With all the trees of frankincense,
  Myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices.
  You are a garden spring,
  A well of fresh water,
  And streams flowing from Lebanon."
  Awake, O north wind,
  And come, wind of the south;
  Make my garden breathe out fragrance,
  Let its spices be wafted abroad.
  May my beloved come into his garden
  And eat its choice fruits!

Is some kind of sexual/romantic setting in view? Almost certainly, but any particular variety of sex shouldn't be directly drawn from the passage.

The passage in Matthew 25 to which you refer is looking at the bride's attendants and specifically at the fourth stage of a traditional Ancient Near East wedding, equivalent to an extended modern reception/final consecration of the marriage like the wedding feasts that go on for days in Asia now. Some Western weddings have a large number of bride's maids even today. In case you are wondering about the second part, where some don't get to join in, would you want half your wedding party to come to the reception if it was a time where leaving a young unmarried woman alone or with a small number of attendants could cause her to be assaulted by those outside the community?

...unless you live in Philly, anyway. The US government left the loopholes in place in December for using 3D printing to make plastic guns (you just have to have a metal strip so it meets the requirements of current law).

It could be that I am missing part of your point, but isn't the indirect stimulation of DARPA projects, green energy investment, etc. a part of the US government's way of responding to the potential threat of a foreign unified macro-economy?

I think the statement that everyone but the USA seeks peace is far too simplistic an assessment (particularly your parenthetical, which ignores a lot of the modern international dynamic in favor of tongue-in-cheek name-calling). There are problems with violence throughout the fabric of humanity. In China, violence tends to be focused on dissidents, the occasional border tiff with India, and the proxy wars in the Middle East and Africa. In Europe, there is a tendency to suggest peace, but right now there is a real push in a number of European countries to fix the Syrian and Egyptian problems (not that there is a real solution for Syria--both "sides" are problematic, and in Egypt it was under the military dictatorship that women could walk alone at dusk in the streets without fear of rape, the Christians and Muslims didn't kill each other, and a return to that government might help restore that peace). Europe is divided on the question, though, and throwing in war hawks from Iran and Russia doesn't help. The USA has its own share of stirring the ants nests of the world, but it is by no means alone. A number of the powers that be see it as beneficial for the individual country to shift problems outside its borders--proxy wars, aiding in "police actions", etc. Should we seek peace where possible? Yes--and that is certainly the goal of many. Should we fail to be realistic about general human self-interest? I hope not.

Documentation helps everything (unfortunately it is also part of the problem). Those I fail, fail, regardless of class percentage--it is usually low but there are occasions when it is above the magic "15%" I've heard is the unwritten rule.

At my university job, all assignments are turned in electronically, plagiarism checked automatically and then left for me to grade... cuts out waiting around for a student who "left the paper in his car, please please please wait for a few minutes". This of course, even with a plagiarism check, allows for a careful student to cheat--but then, that's always been possible provided someone is motivated enough to look for the "easy" (often more work or at least more money than doing the assignment) way out.

As far as the diploma'd guy getting a job with your company over the experienced guy, I hope they are also looking at internship experience because I wouldn't hire more than about 1 in 10 of the students I see for anything other than McDonald's. I say this not because they aren't capable but because they aren't motivated and perhaps more importantly haven't really decided what they want to do in life.

Teaching at a private university myself and having done public and private both, everything is tied to a money game. Money is tied to successful alumni (either through direct giving or from foundations that consider what happens to graduates) and having alumni, of course, requires graduation. Higher graduation rates depend on high individual class success. Class success is viewed as tied to grades. The value of the bachelor's degree in the US has dropped substantially in the last 20 years and it is no wonder that there is a push for online education. It is cheaper than physical teaching, it provides a readier supply of students and income and since an internship is the only way to be sure that a student is learning anything related to their chosen field anyway (in many cases), why not?