Forum: The Crucible

From leading the Wikileaks revolution to hiding in a consol. A few weeks ago, Julian Assange lost his case for extradition to Sweden to answer to charges of rape. He has always claimed that if he was to be sent there, he would be extradited to...

Its a topic that has come up quite frequently over the last few days with the death of Margaret Thatcher. She was a divisive character and has loomed large on not just the national but international stage. However, there is a section of people...

I've been thinking a ton about this issue lately, as I've a bit of a hobby of reading woo-debunking blogs such as Respectful Insolence. Of course, most of the bad science spread around on the web is by laypeople, but nowhere near all of it. There...

Reading a 2020 Dems candidate thread at the Dope made me think of this: Gore wins in 2000, therefore 9/11 doesn't happen. Therefore we don't invade Iraq, does Saddam stay in power, only to be overthrown during the Arab Spring?

If the South had won the Civil War, do you think the North would had recognized the CSA, and had/have diplomatic relations?

As I'm sure the world is aware by now, Steve Jobs has resigned from his position as chief guru and visionary for Apple. He was responsible for iTunes, iPods, iPads, iPhones etc. etc. Most would say his return to the company prevented it from...

You have 2 hypothetical American politicians Barbara a Democrat/Green and Brian a Republican/Constitution. How would they be perceived in these (mostly) European countries, and covered in the U.S.? Barbara Sinn Fein (Ire) Green (Aus) LEF...

Between Brexit and Trump, it's kind of apparent that the smart folks aren't getting what's going on.

Were rank-and-file soldiers forbidden from running for office? If not, could the CSA have produced a plausible candidate?

Watching a series on the Constitution, with one episode focusing on the 14th amendment. One issue they briefly allude to is "anchor babies". I wonder how widespread the phenomenon is?

I enjoy watching a show called Pawn Stars, which is a reality show about a large, family-owned pawn shop in Vegas. Basically, the show consists of people bringing in interesting items, and the shop figures out an appraisal of the worth, and then...

Political hypothetical conversation: Obama: I want to eliminate the cap on the SS tax. Boehner: Fine, but it must be revenue-neutral. Obama: Fine by me. What would the resulting rate be, approximately?

So how do you feel about nuclear power after the Sendai Earthquake? Given that the Fukishima nuclear reactors survived the fifth largest earthquake and a large tsunami with no major leak of radiaition. That in some parts of Japan, the...

Kevin Carter became (in)famous having snapped this photo during the Famine in Sudan in 1993: He won a Pulitzer for the photo, but shortly thereafter committed suicide. At the time there was much commentary along the lines that Carter...

According to several reports, chemicals weapons have been used by the ruling regime in Syria to attack the rebels who are fighting them. Chemical weapons are banned by several treaties, and for good reason, so if they have been used it certainly a...

It seems that Google are determined to roll out their latest toy, if indeed a $1000 pair of glasses can be called such. Google Glass, with the camera lens, permanent internet connection and general all round spying capabilitiy is about to hit the...

Story here. I simply can't believe this. I'm not going to write my own screed here because I'm too heated right now to keep this from being moved to the Pit. I'm just going to quote some of the comments I found the most incredible (there's not...

I'm watching the Pope leave Vatican City. Can't say I'll miss him...hope they do a better job picking the next guy.

Quite a few times in the past few years, I've seen disparaging references to people who have a GED (General Equivalency Diploma) rather than a regular high school diploma. I just wondered if anybody could shed light on this. My background: In...

The Sixty Minutes piece on Bobby Jindal mentioned that he believes in, among other things, creationism. This fits in will with his predictable views on abortion and stem cell research, of course, but I'm wondering if this is a common belief held by...

http://articles.philly.com/2012-08-15/news/33201606_1_susan-brozena-transplant-evaluation-heart-transplant I saw a bit of debate about this yesterday, and opinions ranged from "This is eugenics" to "the disabled are less deserving of life", which...

This year, the Nobel prize committee went one better than most other years and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU. Not any particular part of the EU, not some people in it, but the entire conglomerate. I wasn't aware that the EU had...

http://now.msn.com/bill-would-ban-parents-from-trying-to-cure-gay-kids A new bill that’s the first of its kind has opinion hotly divided in California, this time over whether parents can be banned from trying to “cure” their gay children....

I'm not even sure how something like this can be taken seriously, because even by my standards it's ridiculously unveiled racism. The whole concept, science, and everything about it is 3rd rate self-published crap. If anything it hurts the concept...

With the rise of the multi billion dollar blockbuster, which are all action and no plot, there seems to be a need for it to be as hyped as possible in order to try and get everyone to see it. The problem is that just be watching the trailers they...

This weekend the F1 roadshow will pull into Bahrain for its inaugural F1 Grand Prix against a backdrop of civil unrest, bloodshed and violence. Several of the people involved in F1 have said that the politics of the region aer not really their...

For those not following this case, Trayvon Martin was walking through a suburb in Florida when he was followed by a neighbourhood watch volunteer called George Zimmerman. There was a confrontation between them and Travyon was shot dead with George...

In case you're unfamiliar with the story, there's been some news stories about working conditions in China, especially with respect to Apple's iPhone and iPad manufacturing. One of the most compelling stories was told by Mike Daisey, a monologist...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091210125546.htm Apparently some scientists in Europe have discovered that shutting off a gene called Foxl2, located on an autosome (or non-sex chromosome) in adult mice causes the cells in ovaries to...

Story here, about an 18-year-old college freshman, Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide after his roommate and his roommate's friend surreptitiously videotaped him having a sexual encounter with another male, livestreamed it, and tweeted about it:...

1) Abortion 2) Democratic Party/Republican Party 3) Gun Control 4) Capital Punishment 5) Pepsi/Coke 6) America/Europe (living standards, culture, soundness et al) 7) Chain Restaurants/Family one-off Restaurants 8) High Culture/Low Culture...

Yesterday, was Election day in Scotland for the Scottish Parliament and from the results it appears that Scottish Nationalists have not only scored record victories across Scotland, but are on course to gain a majority in the Scottish Parliament. ...

Travelling home I noticed someone had their laptop out, with a large display and was watching Drive Angry on it in full view of anyone who could have been standing behind him. Apart from being a dire Nicholas Cage movie, it is also 18 rated in the...

A journalist I follow on Facebook recently posted a video from National Geographic showing a ritual that the men of a certain tribe in Papua New Guinea perform. The ritual is meant to drive out the corruption of women and purify the men. Most of...

One of the ideas coming out of the london riots is that all 16 year olds should do several weeks of National Service. Originally, National Service meant serving for a little while in the army. However, in this instance it looks as though it will be...

Inspired by the Deus Ex game that's just come out. Here's the setup. You can have parts of your body upgraded or augmented by technological replacements. So if you lose a part of you, you can have it replaced by something, stronger and better....

The Doomsday clock which is supposed to track the likelihood of a global catastrophe has been move up by one minute from six to five minutes to midnight. This is in response to the lack of progress in nuclear disarmament and the attitude shown by...

A new medical technique is being developed which has the potential for removing several genetic diseases. It involves using the DNA from a third party to replace damaged genes as part of IVF treatment. The process is to obtain involves implanting...

President Obama has just signed into law a piece of legislation that allows US Forces to arrest and indefinitely detain anyone connected with terrorism including US Citizens. It was included on a Bill for troop funding, but in doing so raises some...

Today was World AIDS day, to raise awareness of the disease and its impact on the world. After several years it has fallen by the wayside as other stories have taken its place. Its effect should not be underestimated, but the awareness of it is...

A story that is currently doing the rounds. A drunk student was ejected from a train after he swore at the ticket inspector and refused to show his ticket. A large man asked if any assistance was needed befoer picking the student up and forcibly...

With Chris Christie now bowing out of the Republican race, Perry losing it in the debates, Palin keeping quiet, Bachmann, Hunstman and the other fading from view, it is looking more and more like Romney should be the Republican Candidate to go...

Video clip of Robertson saying that if the GOP wants to lose the next election, then they should keep on pandering to the extreme wing of the party. Stopped clock and all that, but still, if Pat "Katrina is Gawd's punishment on dem queers"...

Three teenagers in Northern Ireland have been up in court for burning poppies. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/1103/breaking37.html They were arrested and charged with incitement to hatred by the PSNI (Police Service Of Northern...

A new gene experiment on mice has managed to create a mouse that can run for longer and faster than its more natural counterpart. The idea behind it is to understand how they are affected and how to keep them healthy in old age and prevent damage to...

According to a lot of sources, it appears that a variety of sanctions have failed and that Iran is close to becoming a nuclear military power. Although it was known about from 2009 onwards, no outright action has been taken and now certain...

When they released thier wikileaks cables showing the dealing of the USA in Afghanistan, Julian Assange was feted as a hero of the freedom of information and the right for people to know what was going on. Then he was accused of rape by two...

It starts with a newly pregant woman having to make a choice between chemotherapy for neck cancer and carrying a child to term. If she has chemotherapy, she will lose the child she was carrying and never be able to have children. If she did not have...

A pro-life group is putting forward the idea that abortion should not be a "right" granted to women as part of law. Part of the reasoning about it is the number of abortions carried out each year is too high and that women are using it as a...