You mean that Trump and Putin aren’t local mobsters?
My sarcasm usually comes through better.
4 Likes
This video illustrates the British museum’s awkward relationship with guns. The titles seemed out of place-- imitative of a very different style of video.
7 Likes
Yes, the titles were jarring.
And I’m sure most firearm afficianados would have much to “well, actually…”
The only thing I’d have to “well, actually” is not all revolvers use cartridges. My father had a black powder revolver where you would set primer, powder, wad, ball in each of the five chambers and then place the cylinder back in the frame. Is that being too pendantic?
7 Likes
Is that being too pedantic?
I’m beginning to think that gun pedantry is too often a deflection method used to assuage the conscience after yet another mass shooting.
7 Likes
Excuse me, most of these massacres have used small arms or mortars… /s
Also, if that was a matchlock rifle, it was probably for hunting rather than battle.
2 Likes
The title to this article is a bit clickbait-y, but it’s an interesting story.
8 Likes
It baffles me why criminals whose racket dictates they live a life as international fugitives would choose to have a child, let alone such a large family. must be tied to their narcissism, but jeez, aside from being a shitty parent, just be practical; a wife and ten kids are a huge liability on the lam, not to mention a mark a mile wide.
10 Likes
When you’re talking about traditional mafioso, they are very family oriented in general, I think, both in terms of the extended family they create among the people that work for them, and in terms of biological families - often leadership is passed down to children, so it’s important to have children - plus, in the Italian mob, they are often catholic, and tend towards traditional views on home life and gender roles. I don’t know if that holds true for other types of criminal enterprises like that, but it seems to be a big part of Italian gang culture.
9 Likes
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180313.html
Explanation: Is it possible to capture the entire plane of our galaxy in a single image? Yes, but not in one exposure – and it took some planning to do it in two. The top part of the featured image is the night sky above Lebanon, north of the equator, taken in 2017 June. The image was taken at a time when the central band of the Milky Way Galaxy passed directly overhead. The bottom half was similarly captured six months later in latitude-opposite Chile, south of Earth’s equator. Each image therefore captured the night sky in exactly the opposite direction of the other, when fully half the Galactic plane was visible. The southern half was then inverted – car and all – and digitally appended to the top half to show the entire central band of our Galaxy, as a circle, in a single image. Many stars and nebulas are visible, with the Large Magellanic Cloud being particularly notable inside the lower half of the complete galactic circle.
11 Likes
6 Likes
12 Likes
Wow, Andy and Lance hit the jackpot!
5 Likes
Fresh steaming pile, if you ask me.
“You can’t energy that away,” Dr. Holmes said.
7 Likes
TIL
Thread
Now that is method acting.
12 Likes
Astrology, Tarot and Psychedelics
(Sing it) one of these things is not like the others.
I can’t say whether psychedelics have any therapeutic uses and value, but my own personal experience would lead me to believe that it’s possible with caveats.
12 Likes
I’m not sure about the “now” part. In general psych patients tend to be more into spirituality and other things unscientific. They encounter those first, realise they’re only helping a little or not at all, and then they seek out professional help.
At least, that’s how it worked with me and other people I know.
Tarot decks are great for Jungian archetypes, or for when your brain is spinning into indecision and you need a gut check. Mercury retrogrades give me something external to blame so I don’t get more paranoid than usual. Energy stones are the more durable version of a teddy bear (and look less weird on my work desk).
If you’ve never had the need for any of those, good on you. But when one feels like there’s nothing to hang onto, yes, woo helps, if only because it makes something out of nothing.
It doesn’t matter that it’s woo. It matters that it’s help, often the only help available. Same reason I thank my Roomba when it’s done cleaning the living room.
13 Likes
Ninja
2 Likes
I’m sorry for any offense taken!
I agree; they are chemicals, just like any other substance. The government is allowing some research into them but more is needed. There are thousands of chemicals tested for cancer; we need to ramp up psychopharmaceutical research.
I can understand. Our teddy bears are our cats, and they work wonders. We talk to them and answer for them, and are greatly comforted by it.
Psychologically speaking, I wonder if it is more healthy to believe in possibly non-scientific things, just because that seems to be the way we evolved. I developed my skepticism early on, and it hardened (or cured, as in epoxy glue) with age. I mostly posted this for the “You can’t energy that way” comment.
Perhaps I should have posted this in the Possibly Untrue Science News topic, but couldn’t find it on the main page. I should have searched!
10 Likes
Oh thpppt, it’s not offence. It’s just re-establishing the situation.
I’m not terribly fond of woo types who use it to promote anti-vax and other awful things. There’s a difference between seeking comfort and advocating harm.
13 Likes
Exactly. There is nothing wrong with a placebo, provided that it’s not used as a replacement for good medicine.
Your energy stones are a great example. They provide comfort, but you know that if you start hallucinating or have more dangerous thoughts, they aren’t going to cut it.
Ritual can be very comforting, because it gives us something that we can control. IMO, Mercury in retrograde is no weirder than “God’s Will”. The words are different, but the effect is the same – something external to blame. None of which is bad until taken to extremes. But a therapist is far more likely to chide someone for believing Mercury is in retrograde than for stating it’s part of “[Major Religion’s Supreme Being]'s ineffable plan.”
11 Likes