Current world events, can we have an open discussion?

[FenceFurniture]

Well, Trump does appear to be making more progress than his predecessors.

Yebbut that is all he wants - the appearance. I doubt he cares anything for an actual result, as long as he has something to twit about. Something to keep him on the front page. "It's how I am, it's what I do (I'm just the greatest human being ever)". Oh puh-lease.

The long game is how this guy should be judged and evaluated. Anything else is just falling for his bullsh.

[Bushmiller]

Powerful nations and powerful people have manoeuvered and manipulated situations to their own advantage since time immemorial so I have little reason to believe that the likes of the Chinese and the Russians are doing what the Americans and before them the British have done in the past. The Russians, the Chinese, the Americans, the North Vietnamese and Donald will very likely end up with what they deserve and realise too late the wisdom of choosing wisely the people with whom they sleep.

See my signature below, which has been there for many years now, to gauge my perception of the matter.

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

As far as the universe is concerned I have just never been able to get my head around how it started. It does not really matter what theory to which you subscribe you have to ask "Where did that come from?" "What was there before?" The only sensible answer to that is that we don't know and never will know. The scientists say that nothing is created or destroyed. Ultimately can that be right?

Regards
Paul

[doug3030]

As far as the universe is concerned I have just never been able to get my head around how it started. It does not really matter what theory to which you subscribe you have to ask "Where did that come from?" "What was there before?"

Except for this theory:

“In the beginning the Universe was created.
This had made many people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.”

Restaurant at the End of the Universe

[doug3030]

Or another theory:

On the first day, the Flying Spaghetti Monster separated the water from the heavens. On the second -- because He could not tread water for long and had grown tired of flying -- He created the land and complemented it with a Beer Volcano. Satisfied, the Flying Spaghetti Monster overindulged in beer from the Beer Volcano and woke up hungover. Between drunken nights and clumsy afternoons, the Flying Spaghetti Monster produced seas and land (for a second time, because He forgot that He created it the day before) along with Heaven and a midget, which He named Man. Man and an equally short woman lived happily in the Olive Garden of Eden for some time until the Flying Spaghetti Monster caused a global flood in a cooking accident. (While emptying His Holy Pasta Pot of water, He did not pay attention to where this water was going.)

[Chief Tiff]

Consider this explanation also:

"In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded."


Lords and Ladies; Terry Pratchett

[Chief Tiff]

Or another theory:

On the first day, the Flying Spaghetti Monster separated the water from the heavens. On the second -- because He could not tread water for long and had grown tired of flying -- He created the land and complemented it with a Beer Volcano. Satisfied, the Flying Spaghetti Monster overindulged in beer from the Beer Volcano and woke up hungover. Between drunken nights and clumsy afternoons, the Flying Spaghetti Monster produced seas and land (for a second time, because He forgot that He created it the day before) along with Heaven and a midget, which He named Man. Man and an equally short woman lived happily in the Olive Garden of Eden for some time until the Flying Spaghetti Monster caused a global flood in a cooking accident. (While emptying His Holy Pasta Pot of water, He did not pay attention to where this water was going.)

(Gasp) you quote the Gospel, were you touched by his noodly appendage and thus became a Pastafarian?

[rwbuild]

Always was, is and will always be and the human race try as it might will never get the answer this side of eternity

[woodPixel]

Mmm, the holy gospel.

Beer volcanos... And Christmas parking spots at the front of shopping centres.

Such mightiness!! Ramen!

[TermiMonster]

A change of what?

Whatever you want it to be. eg, the sun comes up, moves across the sky, goes down, etc. We agree to call that a day. which we agreed to break down to hours, minutes, etc for convenience. Without us, agreeing to these things, and measuring them as accurately as we can, etc, they would not exist. ie there is no such thing as a minute, except that we, for convenience, create it as a measure of a proportion of 1 day.
There is, in fact, only 1 time, and that is this instant. The past is only memory, and the future only what we imagine, or predict (based on memory of the past).
Maybe.

[elanjacobs]

Haven't watched it yet, but there's a new video from the Royal Institution about The Physics and Philosophy of Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6rWqJhDv7M

[woodPixel]

I would say that my landlord, banks and electricity company have a rather acute sense of what time is....

Especially when I am late!

[Twisted Tenon]

I would say that my landlord, banks and electricity company have a rather acute sense of what time is....

Especially when I am late!

So Einstein was right, time is relative


TT

[rwbuild]

Of coarse time is relative, we all know how long it takes the wife to get ready.....

[doug3030]

"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."

Douglas Adams - Hitchhikers' guide to the Galaxy 1979