A Chaplin fan then.F-ZeroOne wrote:Just at the moment, I will take all the laughs I can get. And it could make for some interesting legal arguments going forward. Also, like Mel Brooks said about Hitler, make them ridiculous.
Politics Thread!
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zip accident
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Re: Politics Thread!
"My way is the way of not fighting":- the book of Enter the Dragon.
Re: Politics Thread!
1 in 500 of males have an extra X chromosome (XXY).
1 in 1000 have an extra Y chromosome (XYY).
1 in 1000 females have an extra X chromosome (XXX).
So, taking the American population as a round 300 million people, there's 600,000 XXYs, 300,000 XYYs and 300,000 XXXs.
That's over 1.2 million people, in just the US, whose "biological sex" - which is NOT the same thing as gender - does not conform to a simple "XX" and "XY" dichotomy.
(By the way, it's possible to have two extra chromosomes and the combinations get even complicated, but it does get rarer and rarer.)
And, yes, we're all female initially. Note that while the "Y" chromosome is optional, at least one "X" is not.
The X chromosome is big, the Y chromosome is comparatively tiny. Because, really, the X chromosome defines an entire human being - who is female by default - and then the Y chromosome is like a "patch". A small bundle of "instructions" on how to modify the female human into a male.
My point being that even in the place where it's most "binary" - it's either X or it's Y - things are vastly more complicated, and much more prevalent, than most people realise.
At 1 in 500 or 1 in 1000, you've very likely encountered such a person, and you probably never knew nor could outwardly tell.
(By the way, my use of "male" and "female" at the top of the post is just following the consensus on its classification. Any "Y" and you say "male". No "Y"s at all and you say "female".)
1 in 1000 have an extra Y chromosome (XYY).
1 in 1000 females have an extra X chromosome (XXX).
So, taking the American population as a round 300 million people, there's 600,000 XXYs, 300,000 XYYs and 300,000 XXXs.
That's over 1.2 million people, in just the US, whose "biological sex" - which is NOT the same thing as gender - does not conform to a simple "XX" and "XY" dichotomy.
(By the way, it's possible to have two extra chromosomes and the combinations get even complicated, but it does get rarer and rarer.)
And, yes, we're all female initially. Note that while the "Y" chromosome is optional, at least one "X" is not.
The X chromosome is big, the Y chromosome is comparatively tiny. Because, really, the X chromosome defines an entire human being - who is female by default - and then the Y chromosome is like a "patch". A small bundle of "instructions" on how to modify the female human into a male.
My point being that even in the place where it's most "binary" - it's either X or it's Y - things are vastly more complicated, and much more prevalent, than most people realise.
At 1 in 500 or 1 in 1000, you've very likely encountered such a person, and you probably never knew nor could outwardly tell.
(By the way, my use of "male" and "female" at the top of the post is just following the consensus on its classification. Any "Y" and you say "male". No "Y"s at all and you say "female".)
"Words ought to be a little wild - for they are assaults of thought on the unthinking."
- John Maynard Keynes
- John Maynard Keynes
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Harlequin
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Re: Politics Thread!
Indeed, hence my 'almost always' qualifier. 'In the vast majority of cases' hinted at another complication: due usually to hormone malfunctions, XX babies can in rare cases be born with male physical characteristics and XY babies with female ones.KlaxonCow wrote:1 in 500 of males have an extra X chromosome (XXY).
1 in 1000 have an extra Y chromosome (XYY).
1 in 1000 females have an extra X chromosome (XXX).
…
My point being that even in the place where it's most "binary" - it's either X or it's Y - things are vastly more complicated, and much more prevalent, than most people realise.
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Re: Politics Thread!
Yes, because "X" and "Y" are genetic. That's our genetic "blueprints".Harlequin wrote:Indeed, hence my 'almost always' qualifier. 'In the vast majority of cases' hinted at another complication: due usually to hormone malfunctions, XX babies can in rare cases be born with male physical characteristics and XY babies with female ones.
But what actually happens is epigenetic. By the "blueprints" analogy, a builder might be a millimetre out here, a degree or two off 90 degrees there.
The blueprints are the plan. But even the best laid plans never quite go 100% to plan.
On my forearm, I've got a freckle. What's a freckle? It's a spot where I'm expressing melanin. We all have the melanin genes - indeed, they're very ancient genes, we share in common with all primates - but, when you're white, your genetic "blueprints" say that they should be turned off.
So what's that freckle? Yeah, some of my cells didn't get the memo properly. Within that freckle, I'm black.
Therefore, yes, the genetic "blueprints" might say XX or XY or XXY or whatever. But what actually happens is epigenetic. Under or over production of a hormone at a crucial point can paint an altogether different picture than the gene "blueprints" intended.
And, again, remember we're focusing on "biological sex" here, exactly because this is the simplest and most "binary" it gets. And look how knee-deep in complications we're already getting.
I do get it, though. Folks yearning for the days when "a man was a man, and a woman was a woman". Simpler times. Confident times. Easy answers.
But, of course, it's just a delusion of memory. The genetics we're talking about have been true for the entirety of human history. All of it. There was no time, in the history of Homo Sapiens, where this stuff wasn't true or where those odds - 1 in 500, 1 in 1000 - weren't actually happening.
The true "simplicity" of the past was that we didn't know or acknowledge these truths. But they were always true.
They didn't become true because I found out about them. They were always true, and now I know. The only thing that actually changed was my own ignorance of reality.
"Words ought to be a little wild - for they are assaults of thought on the unthinking."
- John Maynard Keynes
- John Maynard Keynes
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Harlequin
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Re: Politics Thread!
Whatever happened to the days when small furry intersex creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry intersex creatures from Alpha Centauri?
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Re: Politics Thread!
It's never been the same since that supernova went off.Harlequin wrote:Whatever happened to the days when small furry intersex creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry intersex creatures from Alpha Centauri?
"Words ought to be a little wild - for they are assaults of thought on the unthinking."
- John Maynard Keynes
- John Maynard Keynes
Re: Politics Thread!
As it happens, I don't think I've ever seen one of his films but I know The Speech. And now you've said it, yes, "The Great Dictator" seems appropriate, though apparently Hitler saw it and Chaplin reportedly always wondered what he thought of it.zip accident wrote:A Chaplin fan then.F-ZeroOne wrote:Just at the moment, I will take all the laughs I can get. And it could make for some interesting legal arguments going forward. Also, like Mel Brooks said about Hitler, make them ridiculous.
By the way, at least one evolutionary biologist I follow has stated that yes, Trumps not saying all US citizens are female - they're trans. I'm sure that will please his supporters even more.
"Stars don't twinkle in space." - Char Aznable.
Re: Politics Thread!
Politics can be a bit contradictory:
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“It’s a free country, but we represent the White House and the president and that’s best done sober,” the second source added.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/party-over-t ... fb&tsrc=fbThe nation’s capital is notoriously boozy, and leadership expects staffers to socialize —but they should do it sober. “Is one drink a fireable offense? We’ll have to see what happens,” the source told the outlet.
and
https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-prepa ... 11121.htmlWASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as the nation's defense secretary late Friday in a dramatic tie-breaking vote, swatting back questions about his qualifications to lead the Pentagon amid allegations of heavy drinking and aggressive behavior toward women.
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SuperMappy
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Re: Politics Thread!
Honestly, isn't there better things we could be doing and I don't mean the wanking part.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... turbation/
Mississippi state lawmaker introduces Contraception Begins at Erection Act with fines for masturbation.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... turbation/
Mississippi state lawmaker introduces Contraception Begins at Erection Act with fines for masturbation.
Bustin' Naughty Folks since 1983
MAME: Forever Young!
"If you buy a game at launch, you are paying the most amount of money for the worst version of the game" - TotalBiscuit
MAME: Forever Young!
"If you buy a game at launch, you are paying the most amount of money for the worst version of the game" - TotalBiscuit
Re: Politics Thread!
Abrahamic biological ignorance.
You know what happens if you don't ejaculate?
The body reabsorbs it, and recycles it to make more sperm later. You are "saving" absolutely nothing.
It's different with women, as they are born with a set number of eggs and something is actually being irretrievably lost. Once all the eggs are gone, then the menopause kicks in. But, even there, the attrition rate is unbelievable, to make you realise that there is no benevolent anything overseeing this process that cares a twopenny damn for us humans.
But, with men, sperm is being perpetually manufactured, whether you use it or not.
Sperm are just a "courier". They are intrinsically born to die (if, in fact, we can even technically say that sperm is alive in the first place). Billions of sperm in one ejaculation, but only one needs to make it to the egg. The attrition rate is ridiculous.
Do nothing, and sperm is reabsorbed. Sperm have no inherent means of survival - they cannot eat, they cannot (directly) reproduce themselves. Even the lucky "winner" that reaches the egg is basically "eaten" by it. The egg takes the DNA and then absorbed the rest.
A female has around 6 to 7 million eggs at 20 weeks of gestation. By the time she's born, she'll only have 1 to 2 million. By the time she's reached puberty, there will only be 300,000 to 400,000 eggs left.
Yes, before those eggs can serve any purpose, she's lost over half of the total she had at birth, which itself is a sixth to a third of the original total.
Every month, the woman will lose around 1,000 eggs. This is unaffected by birth control nor even pregnancy. In the 9 months of pregnancy, she will still lose some 9,000 eggs.
The attrition rates here are insane. There's no benevolent anything overseeing these biological processes that cares for every sperm and egg. No fucking way. Because there's a perpetual mass-murder at scale of thousands, millions and billions perpetually going on... and that's per human individual.
It's absolutely 100% nothing more than a numbers game. An inefficient process of producing vastly too much, accepting that the vast overwhelming majority of it all is going to fail and die. Which is proof in itself, really, that there's nothing magically overseeing this process that cares for the preservation of life, or it wouldn't inherently accept, as part of the process, that the overwhelming majority is going to die, would it?
Anyway, they've got their religion wrong as well.
In the story of Onan, his brother had died. As was the cultural custom of the time, Onan was obligated to take his dead brother's wife and impregnate her on behalf of his dead brother.
So Onan sleeps with his dead brother's wife and then pulls out early, spilling his seed on the ground. And this angers God.
But, first of all, Onan was not masturbating, he was sleeping with his dead brother's wife.
Two, this is a really weird cultural tradition - that you're obligated to fuck your dead brother's wife to keep up the "baby making" quota for society - and I don't see Mississippi rushing to make that one law.
Because, three, they won't do that because the act of sleeping with your dead brother's wife advocated for in the Old Testament is, in fact, adultery / bigamy by the New Testament.
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount says "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’[a] 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" and he also says "It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
So by New Testament Jesus, what Onan was doing was committing adultery. And he could not legitimise it by marrying her, because that is also adultery / bigamy in the eyes of Jesus.
And, yes, please do take this blatant contradiction between Old Testament God and New Testament Jesus as demonstration that all of this is a flawed set of mythological fairy tales made up by an ancient tribe of Bronze Age goat-herders that does not, in fact, contain any magical answers to the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
But, yes, in summary, they are scientifically wrong and also they are, in fact, Biblically wrong too. Even if their God was not complete bullshit, they are NOT actually paying any attention to what the story of Onan actually is about and says. God's message is "don't pull out early when fucking your dead brother's wife", not "don't have a wank".
And, as I say, as there is no law - and no push to make a law - that insists that you're obliged to fuck your dead brother's wife, then I don't think the story of Onan therefore has any relevancy on anything at all.
You know what happens if you don't ejaculate?
The body reabsorbs it, and recycles it to make more sperm later. You are "saving" absolutely nothing.
It's different with women, as they are born with a set number of eggs and something is actually being irretrievably lost. Once all the eggs are gone, then the menopause kicks in. But, even there, the attrition rate is unbelievable, to make you realise that there is no benevolent anything overseeing this process that cares a twopenny damn for us humans.
But, with men, sperm is being perpetually manufactured, whether you use it or not.
Sperm are just a "courier". They are intrinsically born to die (if, in fact, we can even technically say that sperm is alive in the first place). Billions of sperm in one ejaculation, but only one needs to make it to the egg. The attrition rate is ridiculous.
Do nothing, and sperm is reabsorbed. Sperm have no inherent means of survival - they cannot eat, they cannot (directly) reproduce themselves. Even the lucky "winner" that reaches the egg is basically "eaten" by it. The egg takes the DNA and then absorbed the rest.
A female has around 6 to 7 million eggs at 20 weeks of gestation. By the time she's born, she'll only have 1 to 2 million. By the time she's reached puberty, there will only be 300,000 to 400,000 eggs left.
Yes, before those eggs can serve any purpose, she's lost over half of the total she had at birth, which itself is a sixth to a third of the original total.
Every month, the woman will lose around 1,000 eggs. This is unaffected by birth control nor even pregnancy. In the 9 months of pregnancy, she will still lose some 9,000 eggs.
The attrition rates here are insane. There's no benevolent anything overseeing these biological processes that cares for every sperm and egg. No fucking way. Because there's a perpetual mass-murder at scale of thousands, millions and billions perpetually going on... and that's per human individual.
It's absolutely 100% nothing more than a numbers game. An inefficient process of producing vastly too much, accepting that the vast overwhelming majority of it all is going to fail and die. Which is proof in itself, really, that there's nothing magically overseeing this process that cares for the preservation of life, or it wouldn't inherently accept, as part of the process, that the overwhelming majority is going to die, would it?
Anyway, they've got their religion wrong as well.
In the story of Onan, his brother had died. As was the cultural custom of the time, Onan was obligated to take his dead brother's wife and impregnate her on behalf of his dead brother.
So Onan sleeps with his dead brother's wife and then pulls out early, spilling his seed on the ground. And this angers God.
But, first of all, Onan was not masturbating, he was sleeping with his dead brother's wife.
Two, this is a really weird cultural tradition - that you're obligated to fuck your dead brother's wife to keep up the "baby making" quota for society - and I don't see Mississippi rushing to make that one law.
Because, three, they won't do that because the act of sleeping with your dead brother's wife advocated for in the Old Testament is, in fact, adultery / bigamy by the New Testament.
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount says "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’[a] 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" and he also says "It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
So by New Testament Jesus, what Onan was doing was committing adultery. And he could not legitimise it by marrying her, because that is also adultery / bigamy in the eyes of Jesus.
And, yes, please do take this blatant contradiction between Old Testament God and New Testament Jesus as demonstration that all of this is a flawed set of mythological fairy tales made up by an ancient tribe of Bronze Age goat-herders that does not, in fact, contain any magical answers to the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
But, yes, in summary, they are scientifically wrong and also they are, in fact, Biblically wrong too. Even if their God was not complete bullshit, they are NOT actually paying any attention to what the story of Onan actually is about and says. God's message is "don't pull out early when fucking your dead brother's wife", not "don't have a wank".
And, as I say, as there is no law - and no push to make a law - that insists that you're obliged to fuck your dead brother's wife, then I don't think the story of Onan therefore has any relevancy on anything at all.
Last edited by KlaxonCow on Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:59 pm 0, edited 1 time in total.
"Words ought to be a little wild - for they are assaults of thought on the unthinking."
- John Maynard Keynes
- John Maynard Keynes
Re: Politics Thread!
When there's nothing else you can do but cry, you might as well take the piss.SuperMappy wrote:Honestly, isn't there better things we could be doing and I don't mean the wanking part.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... turbation/
Mississippi state lawmaker introduces Contraception Begins at Erection Act with fines for masturbation.
Re: Politics Thread!
Also, no understanding of human nature either.
You're criminalising having a wank?
Excellent. You're taking the "slightly naughty" thing and making it a criminal offence. So it's really, really naughty. What a naughty bad boy / girl you're being. Et cetera.
Like, you think this'll discourage it? On the contrary, you're turning the fetish up to 11 now.
It's now really edgy. It's now prohibited. It's now very, very, very naughty.
I expect the rates of masturbation behind closed doors to not alter in the slightest. And the rates of risky naughty public masturbation to greatly increase - because making it "verboten" to have the missus wank you off in the public toilets is just dialling up the "forbidden fruit" of it all.
Scientifically wrong. Theologically wrong. And having no understanding of human nature, a complete failure to understand that they're actually making it more sexually attractive, not less. You complete fucking morons.
You're criminalising having a wank?
Excellent. You're taking the "slightly naughty" thing and making it a criminal offence. So it's really, really naughty. What a naughty bad boy / girl you're being. Et cetera.
Like, you think this'll discourage it? On the contrary, you're turning the fetish up to 11 now.
It's now really edgy. It's now prohibited. It's now very, very, very naughty.
I expect the rates of masturbation behind closed doors to not alter in the slightest. And the rates of risky naughty public masturbation to greatly increase - because making it "verboten" to have the missus wank you off in the public toilets is just dialling up the "forbidden fruit" of it all.
Scientifically wrong. Theologically wrong. And having no understanding of human nature, a complete failure to understand that they're actually making it more sexually attractive, not less. You complete fucking morons.
"Words ought to be a little wild - for they are assaults of thought on the unthinking."
- John Maynard Keynes
- John Maynard Keynes
Re: Politics Thread!
But, yes, this is where the rot sets in.
This is a large chunk of what "Project 2025" is going to be about, as its authors are absolutely Christian fundamentalists who want to infuse "Christian values" into American politics.
They intend to fully criminalise pornography - that's a stated aim. They're already moving to criminalise masturbation there.
The massive worry is that they're already openly transphobic - on the first day, Trump felt it important to make it official that America will only recognise "male" and "female" from conception - that they're almost certainly coming for LGBT+ legislation and people.
And attacking DEI - Diversity, Equality and Inclusion - legislation is not just about the racism. Oh, no, because DEI has also had a lot to do with promoting women in the workplace but they want the "baby factories" back as traditional wives again.
Hopefully, in reality, they cannot actually make "the Handmaid's Tale" true - the term is only 4 years and they'll face opposition - but this is absolutely Project 2025's "wet dream":
Make America Amish Again.
(I mean, one keeps up the facade of humour. But we really could be on the precipice of something truly fucking awful, and America genuinely descends into becoming a tyrannical theocracy. It's not impossible. It happened to the Islamic Empire at its height. And Iran was actually a modern progressive nation in the Middle East, until the West undermined the Shah and let the Islamic revolution take over.)
This is a large chunk of what "Project 2025" is going to be about, as its authors are absolutely Christian fundamentalists who want to infuse "Christian values" into American politics.
They intend to fully criminalise pornography - that's a stated aim. They're already moving to criminalise masturbation there.
The massive worry is that they're already openly transphobic - on the first day, Trump felt it important to make it official that America will only recognise "male" and "female" from conception - that they're almost certainly coming for LGBT+ legislation and people.
And attacking DEI - Diversity, Equality and Inclusion - legislation is not just about the racism. Oh, no, because DEI has also had a lot to do with promoting women in the workplace but they want the "baby factories" back as traditional wives again.
Hopefully, in reality, they cannot actually make "the Handmaid's Tale" true - the term is only 4 years and they'll face opposition - but this is absolutely Project 2025's "wet dream":
Make America Amish Again.
(I mean, one keeps up the facade of humour. But we really could be on the precipice of something truly fucking awful, and America genuinely descends into becoming a tyrannical theocracy. It's not impossible. It happened to the Islamic Empire at its height. And Iran was actually a modern progressive nation in the Middle East, until the West undermined the Shah and let the Islamic revolution take over.)
"Words ought to be a little wild - for they are assaults of thought on the unthinking."
- John Maynard Keynes
- John Maynard Keynes
Re: Politics Thread!
I don't like to see people shackled. 
I'm referring to the ilegal immigrants returned by the US to Brazil and Guatemala that were kept in handcuffs and shackles inside the planes.
I remember them reporting Brazilians before, during George Bush (son) government and Brazil was allowed to send planes to pick them up. It was cheaper for the US in anyway. This theatrics is not needed.
I'm referring to the ilegal immigrants returned by the US to Brazil and Guatemala that were kept in handcuffs and shackles inside the planes.
I remember them reporting Brazilians before, during George Bush (son) government and Brazil was allowed to send planes to pick them up. It was cheaper for the US in anyway. This theatrics is not needed.
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Harlequin
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Re: Politics Thread!
I hope you are aware that the Democrat's proposal is, as Dio pointed out, a pisstake in response to anti-abortion laws.KlaxonCow wrote:But, yes, this is where the rot sets in.
…
They intend to fully criminalise pornography - that's a stated aim. They're already moving to criminalise masturbation there.
https://ogles.house.gov/media/press-rel ... third-term.KlaxonCow wrote:Hopefully, in reality, they cannot actually make "the Handmaid's Tale" true - the term is only 4 years …
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