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Super Tuesday open thread

Joe Biden: Does anyone really think this weirdo dingus can beat Trump

By David Futrelle

Big day. Big big day. Lots of shit going on. Discuss.

Also: VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!

I mean, if you’re in the US. If you’re not in the US, I guess don’t vote, unless maybe you’re a citizen abroad but I don’t know how the mechanics of that work exactly.

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Alan Robertshaw
Alan Robertshaw
4 years ago

I liked when Philomena Cunk interviewed Dr Brian Cox.

BC: “…Andromeda will collide with the Milky Way on about the same timescale as the sun goes nova; and anyway inevitably the universe will be torn apart.”

PC: “Didn’t you once tell us ‘Things can only get better’?”

BC: “Yes”

PC: “So why should we believe a word you say now?”

Katamount
Katamount
4 years ago

I just wanted to apologize to folks for the earlier post. I think I’m still a bit short-tempered from two days without food following my colonoscopy. Combined with my ongoing cold, it’s left my brain firing on impulse.

It’s no excuse, just wanted to explain myself. I think I’ll take a break from the primary down south. It’s not doing anything good for me.

Anonymous
Anonymous
4 years ago

@Nagalfar
Assuming of course that we or whatever form of sentient being that succeeds us doesn’t find its way to another planet or solar system first, but the human mind doesn’t handle looking that far into the future very well. Like I said before, we are a species that thinks mostly in the short term.

@dust bunny
I think you meant to @ me, Ohlmann would likely agree with you.

Even if we assume the IPCC findings are skewed at best, it’s unlikely things will get to the level of Venus unless we go out of our way to burn every single drop of oil on the planet and then some. More likely the world will be more similar to a giant jungle, or so I assume.

@Ohlmann
I understand that this is indeed unprecedented, at least on our own scale. I do not particularly like that either. But the full story about what will happen relies on a LOT of factors we don’t yet understand. Saying that the biosphere is certain to be destroyed by human action falls into the very same pitfall you spoke against.

Alan Robertshaw
Alan Robertshaw
4 years ago

@ anonymous

More likely the world will be more similar to a giant jungle

Which ironically is how a lot of scientists, and sci-fi authors, envisaged Venus to be until the science showed what a real hellhole it is.

Although It wouldn’t surprise me if there was some microbiology even there. Life finds a way.

Snowberry
Snowberry
4 years ago

Believing that anyone lives or has ever lived anywhere other than the jungles of Antarctica is heresy. — Descendants of half the planet’s survivors, year 2700

Our ancestors must have been extremely hardy to survive the heat south of the Arctic circle; the gods have cursed us with fragility. — Descendants of the other half of the surviors, year 2700

Earth is a shithole. — Citizens of Bezosville, Luna, year 2700

dust bunny
dust bunny
4 years ago

@ anonymous

it was indeed, didn’t get to edit for some reason. i don’t think turning earth into venus is a likely outcome either. just wanted to point out that while ipcc does valuable work, the one thing they’re not necessarily a very good source for is ruling out worst case scenarios.

Naglfar
Naglfar
4 years ago

@Anonymous

More likely the world will be more similar to a giant jungle

I think there would be too much pollution and damage to support a diverse jungle; I’d expect a massive desert.

@Snowberry
Global warming is a myth! It is God’s will that we live under the sea here. We have always been underwater.-conservatives living in what was Florida, year 2700

Anonymous
Anonymous
4 years ago

@Alan Robertshaw
We already have existing multicellular organisms that can survive enormous amounts of radiation, nearly total dehydration for decades on end, and even direct exposure to the vacuum of outer space for over a week.

And funny you should mention life on Venus, there’s tantalizing hints that bacteria might exist within its clouds, feeding on carbon dioxide. Researchers already have an idea of how they’d test it by way of a specialized aircraft that could sample the clouds for traces of organic compounds.

(A)utonomous Escapist
(A)utonomous Escapist
4 years ago

@Diego Duarte

You know what happened in Iceland aftet the 2008 crisis? They jailed their bankers and criminals, and haven’t had a problem with those fuckers since.

I really wish people would stop repeating this, they served minimal sentences, and went right back to their ways and fortunes, same as the politicians who had ousted them, the old right-wing party was re-elected to power at the first possible opportunity, and Iceland is currently embroiled in a new bubble-economy of over-tourism (more than three tourists visiting per Icelander, more than a million visitors in a country of 325.000) that is wreaking havoc on the natural wonders people are so eager to see.

Alan Robertshaw
Alan Robertshaw
4 years ago

@ anonymous

there’s tantalizing hints that bacteria might exist within its clouds, feeding on carbon dioxide.

That’s one of the things I was thinking of; and I remind myself of all the extremophiles we have here.

Naglfar
Naglfar
4 years ago

There are also bacteria in the deep ocean that live at temperatures of over 120°C at hundreds of atmospheres of pressure. Venus is significantly hotter than that but doesn’t have as much pressure as the deep ocean. The real challenge would be the heat, as no known life on earth can be active at those temperatures. Even some forms like tardigrades which can remain dormant at those temperatures can only reproduce or move in cooler conditions.

Axecalibur: Middle Name Danger
Axecalibur: Middle Name Danger
4 years ago

Seems youth turnout… well, didn’t really turn out. Huh… Forget what I said earlier about Texas. Not gonna say Sanders has no path (he def still does), but, even if he manages the nom (which seems significantly less likely than before Tuesday), that’s not good for his chances in the general.* Especially considering only Biden so far has been able to boost turnout

Few things I take from this
1)the whole primary process is fuckin cheeks. It needs some real fundamental change, cos this truly ain’t it
2)it’s fuckin wild how we’re still relying on ‘turnout’ to choose our leaders
3)is this what Sanders fans felt like in 2016 watching their candidate get washed by ‘the establishment’ person in the South? I mean, I’m obvs not gonna be racist about it, but it does sting a lil, yeah

*side note: I hate how we as a society just agree that a dem’s chances in the general are entirely about that dem’s personal capabilities and not, at least half, about how far ‘the people’ have their heads up the ass of white supremacy

Valentin
Valentin
4 years ago

It’s cool that life will still survive but personally I also want to survive, have children, a beautiful husband, a nice house, have grand children and a future that involves everything good I enjoy and love about humans and humanity. I’m excited to talk about the cool organisms which will survive anything and exist in the future and make new life but this is a crisis that will cause suffering soon, 10 years, 20 years there will be so much horrific suffering even more than now from climate catastropha. My mum likes to talk about future creatures and apocalypse of the earth, she always talked about that, she’s a scientist, so I’m tired and depressed by it already.

Alan Robertshaw
Alan Robertshaw
4 years ago

Hey Axe; great to see you back!

It’s been ages. I think the last time we chatted it was all about whether Bernie Sanders or a hyper competent woman who somehow has ‘electability’ issues had the best chance of beating Trump; and I was annoying everyone with animal rights extremism. How times change!

Anonymous
Anonymous
4 years ago

@Valentin

Understandable, but what is there to say about that beyond “only a miracle can save us now…if we even deserve to be saved after all this”?

Surplus to Requirements, Observer of the Vast Blight-Wing Enstupidation
Surplus to Requirements, Observer of the Vast Blight-Wing Enstupidation
4 years ago

“If we even deserve to be saved”? Please tell me what would cause, say, a 2-year-old toddler in the third world to not deserve to be saved, given that a 2-year-old toddler in the third world certainly hasn’t actively contributed to this situation and hasn’t really even passively benefited the way one might argue a 2-year-old in the first world has.

Anonymous
Anonymous
4 years ago

@Surplus to Requirements, Observer of the Vast Blight-Wing Enstupidation

Okay, in hindsight I see I was being overly dramatic and a bit too quick to disregard the innocent. But it really will take a miracle to save us now.

Hippodameia
Hippodameia
4 years ago

I was annoying everyone with animal rights extremism. How times change!

Just fucking stop, all right? All you do lately is hijack threads and it’s gone far beyond annoying.

Lainy
Lainy
4 years ago

Guys I have some big news. I have enough credit hours to graduate with a minor in History next year along with my degree in archaeology!

KindaSortaHarmless
KindaSortaHarmless
4 years ago

@Lainy

Congratulations!

I just hope you don’t end up having to study us.

Surplus to Requirements, Observer of the Vast Blight-Wing Enstupidation
Surplus to Requirements, Observer of the Vast Blight-Wing Enstupidation
4 years ago

@Lainy:

Congratulations!

@all: [OT]

Something seems to have hijacked my Android phone. While I was trying to watch a movie it lit up making loud alarm sounds and when I pressed its sleep button to tell it “not now” it only slept for a second or two and then woke itself again. I ended up actually shutting it off outright so I could watch the movie undisturbed.

It’s been acting wonky ever since. If I reboot it, the same notification comes up with overblown alarm noises (loud enough to risk waking the neighbors) and is difficult to silence or dismiss. If I do dismiss it, the phone works semi-normally but every minute or two it generates the “new notification” sound (at a normal volume, thankfully) even if there are no actual notifications. Rebooting it brings up the loud alarm noises notification again, which there seems to be no way to get completely out of its system.

How do I dismiss this notification so that it stays dismissed? The text looks like a news report about a child abduction somewhere, which while tragic isn’t exactly something I need to be urgently notified about at 3:00 in the morning, as it neither poses any kind of threat to me nor is something I’m in any position to do anything about. I can see using blaring alarms to notify people who are a) in the immediate vicinity of where it happened and b) are actively out and about, rather than at home, and so might cross paths with the subject of the message, but I am neither. What do they want me to do, get showered and dressed and then start waking up my neighbors to organize a search party? For someone last seen hundreds of miles away?

I want control of my phone back. I’ve shut it off again for now, but I’ll surely be wanting to use it for something at some point, and I’d rather it not wake up half the city with blaring noise when I do go to use it again because it has some useless stale extra-super-duper-priority notification lodged in its rusty innards that some stupid software bug is preventing it from registering has been acknowledged and dismissed by the user …

Valentin
Valentin
4 years ago

Humanity doesnt deserve suffering and death just because a few greedy million and billionaires will destroy the planet just so they can have more money.

Naglfar
Naglfar
4 years ago

@Lainy
Congrats on having enough credits!

Alan Robertshaw
Alan Robertshaw
4 years ago

@ lainy

Congratulations!!!

Just remember always to choose the wooden cup; that’s the cup of carpenter.

Lumipuna (nee Arctic Ape)
Lumipuna (nee Arctic Ape)
4 years ago

Iceland is currently embroiled in a new bubble-economy of over-tourism (more than three tourists visiting per Icelander, more than a million visitors in a country of 325.000) that is wreaking havoc on the natural wonders people are so eager to see.

As hipster volcano tourists say, “I liked Iceland before the country was cool”

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