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tb_technical

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Insult me all you wish. My brain is too smooth. The smoothest there is - your words simply slide right off!

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Editors have biases. The best we can do is shine a spotlight on them.

People are opposed to this, of course. No one likes to be reminded of how they're limited - and people get really nasty when you accuse them of being a dishonest interlocutor.

There already is a separate wikipedia article about the specific program. It is an extensive article. If you look up "Stargate CIA" in any search engine you'll find it easily.

There is a large amount of data on this topic. Literally hundreds of pages of reports and summaries of experiments written over decades of effort (if memory serves). The CIA was trying to use the phenomenon to view distant targets with mediums. It was deemed ineffective, and discontinued in the 90s. Even today there are people attempting to replicate remote viewing and prove it as a phenomenon.

For the record, I do not believe this phenomenon is as effective as is claimed. Regardless there is a chance that remote viewing (also known as astral projection) is just something the human brain commonly imagines in some populations. It might be an emergent property of human brains reacting to certain input stimulus, like ASMR.

Regardless, the article written about remote viewing as a concept should be allowed to cite documents about how the Stargate program defined and tested remote viewing (their methodologies, etc). But editors, like all humans, have bias.

There was a similar kerfuffle that happened about a decade and a half ago about homeopathy. It lead to an edit thread where one of the founders of Wikipedia was cursing about how fake something was.

The only objection I have to this, is that primary sources relevant to an article should be allowed to be cited. If a study, whitepaper, or report is widely discredited - include that too. The sum of human knowledge needs to include what we know to be false as well.

The remote viewing article keeps being reverted as pseudoscientific when original research conducted by the CIA is cited. Such citations are removed swiftly. Any changes are denied or rolled back.

The rationale is that, even though the documents themselves are a primary source from an organization that poured significant resources into researching the phenomenon of remote viewing, the individual posting the declassified document isn't an authority on the subject.

Apparently if youre not a doctor, you can't read primary sources?

Many such cases.

Wikipedia is absolutely a powerful resource, but it it's clearly controlled by moderators with a bias, and there's no incentive to challenge said bias or consider alternative worldviews.

From the article you posted, blocking still stops people from communicating with you.

The only difference with how it is now is they can still view your posts. I don't have a dog in this fight (don't have Twitter) but this seems like a good feature.

On reddit I've been blocked and then called a Nazi/reprehensible person/nonhuman scum. When blocked, you can't see what people say about you. I would like to report the comments for harassment, but I can't.

Blocking should stop someone from being able to communicate with you - but it shouldn't be a shield against reporting harassment.

Congress should not be allowed to change any of their positions (besides mutual fund backed retirement accounts, 401ks, etc) while in office. But they'll never vote for this.

I guess the best thing you can do, individually, is watch Nancy Pelosi on unusual whales and make the same moves.

Never thought of it that way. I like the positive framing.

Oftentimes I worry about industrial pollution, unsafe and unfair working conditions, and a loss of relevance in high technology.

But in this case, the factories are not widely staffed - so there's reduced chances of accidents.

The future is now, and I'm the old man.

Could you elaborate why an executive having sensitive conversations with a governor is corrupt? I'm having difficulty understanding this outlook.

My industry has historically been extremely corrupt. This is why rules were defined for reportable expenses. Could you boil down your viewpoint into rules that can be applied in an organization, rather than a vibe test? I think I could better understand you, then.

Personally, I define it as corruption when quid pro quo occurs, nice gifts, expensive dinners, etc.

In government work, in my field specifically, it's the inappropriate transfer of money (gifts, deals, dinners) that's reportable.

The limit for reporting in my field (for gifts) is 10 dollars.

That's simply not true, many HAMs in remote areas join to learn how to operate radio equipment and assist crisis responders - especially in the northern frontier states. There's a big appeal in my community - but we might not be the norm.

Look into the ARES program (ARRL).

They absolutely also enjoy it for personal use, but in areas where dying from exposure is a real concern in winter, the radio is an important lifeline.

Frankly, the reason China is the last man standing on solar was their aggressive subsidy in the 2010s. Killed all of the American and European manufacturers, then the subsidy ended and they were the last man standing.

The other things you are said are also true, I just wanted to provide a little historical context.

They're normal people - some of them good and some of them bad - some bright and some dim.

I'm not trying to be mean when I say this: don't kid yourself into thinking you're in a club with the cream of the crop, anywhere - you're just setting yourself up for disappointment in the best case and horror in the worst case.

Some equipment is drop in - hooking up an audio output to a keyed radio is only occasionally difficult. You see a lot of these solutions in the HAM radio space.

The actual radio equipment is a tad more sophisticated - and in poor areas (where it's barely hanging on) is held together with spit, glue, and prayers (exaggeration, joke, but aspects of it are true).

Believe it or not, the RF cables are (in many cases) more expensive than the radios themselves.

Background: Computer systems, radio systems, General class HAM, but certainly not an expert.

You really have to ask the question "does all industrial production aid itself to war?" when making this determination.

Additionally, most people don't consider the Mexico factor. Presently some of the most talented machinists in the world live in Mexico manufacturing parts for American automotive (and other industries).

But, really, this comparison can only be proven in conflict - something both the USA and the CCP want to desperately avoid right now due to his economically coupled they are.

Just in time logistics has been a disaster for the American war machine.

I don't understand, can you explain why high interest rates will help economic development in the USA in light of its staggering held debt?

I'm not an economist, I don't understand how this works.

Conversely, if you've never worked in a factory or a shipyard, I don't want to hear your opinion on excessive safety regulations.

I've seen OSHA violations of such severity, of such imminent danger, you couldn't get a tailor pin up my sphincter with a jackhammer.

They exist for a reason, and you're going to have to do your project on the cheap by yourself, sorry.

Since we're making ethnocentric assumptions and making comparisons between the USA and India, perhaps our building standards encourage safe public infrastructure?

Perhaps if India was more like the USA, safe road travel would improve - and consequently - their 172k traffic fatalities would fall to a more acceptable level (by the way there are doubts this figure is correct - people speculate it's much higher)?

And before you complain about the population difference, I checked the per capita rates of traffic fatalities. India outpaces the USA by quite a bit.

By the way, this is all an apples and oranges comparison. Building standards has nothing to do with road fatalities.

I know contractors travel for work, but flying in? Wouldn't the cost for shipping all the contractor boxes, renting living quarters, local food, and aircraft fare rapidly eat into the savings? Not to mention the downward pressure on wages this would have...

Depends on your metrics of "dominant country" tbh. In terms of GDP the US is leading. In terms of purchasing power parity China is leading.

In terms of military prowess the US is superior, if you believe their advertised weapons capabilities. That being said, if we believed what countries said about their own weapons, then Russia has a number of world ending superweapons - clearly they're the leader here /s.

If you believe total number of naval vessels determines might, the Chinese Navy's numbers make them superior. If you believe damage control and logistics determine naval might, the USA has one of the most sophisticated support fleets in the world with world class damage control (combat survivability - but this is a meme).

If you believe technological development makes a nation superior, the USA maintains it's edge with trade allies South Korea and Taiwan.

If you believe total production is what makes a nation superior... China.

Look, you get what I'm saying. The dollar is still the primary reserve currency (for now) and the US still ensures safety in international waters while projecting power regularly.