• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

"Breaking" Mon 7-8-2024, Sorry Democrats, Biden Isn't Going Anywhere

AlexB23

Christian
CF Ambassadors
Site Supporter
Aug 11, 2023
11,387
7,706
26
WI
✟667,328.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Russia already started a war and their nuclear threats are empty.


I remember. Don't see how voting third party helps that.

Recheck the bio box on her wiki page.

For president? He's a big fish in a small pond. He's got a 50/50 shot to still be Assembly Speaker next year. Your grasping at straws.

Scott Walker could be better described as doing things *to* Wisconsin.

I'm sorry, but the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (never really considered joining them) is losing its credibility when they move their nuclear clock for non-nuclear reasons (climate change, "bio concerns", AI. Ha, AI could trigger a nuclear war if you left it incharge of the C&C systems.).
I will recheck Liz's bio box. But yeah, voting 3rd party never helps sadly, but it would be nice if the third party had a chance, though, even the third party candidates this year are not that good. But yes, there are no good presidential candidates from my state. Also, Scott Walker was the worst governor ever, as he took away unions in 2011 or so, about 5 years before I moved to Wisconsin.

For the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, I have thought that they were trustworthy, as "science" is in their name, but I do see your point, as the organization is focusing on non-nuclear issues for moving the Doomsday Clock hands. AI would be scary it is had access to the nuclear codes. Any false radar image could spook the AI into launching a missile. So, do you like atomic physics? That stuff is complicated, but fascinating.
 
Upvote 0

Truth7t7

Newbie
Dec 20, 2012
6,519
1,864
✟162,996.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Biden does indeed hold all the cards. He could and should have dropped out of the race after the mid-terms in 2022. Then, the voters would have chosen from the many possible alternatives.

Now, the choices are clear. Biden can insist and run, probably losing a major defeat, and probably losing the House. He could drop out, with everyone supporting Harris. He would not have to name her. The convention could do that. Finally, he could take a few medical tests and simply step down now.

IMO, the best alternative for the party and the country would be for him to drop out of the race and allow the party to fall in line for Harris.
Sounds like a fictional dream, Biden isn't dropping out, he's the democratic nominee
 
Upvote 0

Hans Blaster

Raised by bees
Mar 11, 2017
22,345
16,771
55
USA
✟423,282.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Atheist
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Democrat
I will recheck Liz's bio box. But yeah, voting 3rd party never helps sadly, but it would be nice if the third party had a chance, though, even the third party candidates this year are not that good.
There never are.
But yes, there are no good presidential candidates from my state. Also, Scott Walker was the worst governor ever, as he took away unions in 2011 or so, about 5 years before I moved to Wisconsin.

For the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, I have thought that they were trustworthy, as "science" is in their name, but I do see your point, as the organization is focusing on non-nuclear issues for moving the Doomsday Clock hands.
I can think of many things with "science" in the name that are not trustworthy, but that is not the point. For the whole of the Cold War the "doomsday clock" was about nuclear exchange. Now they have apparently mixed in other things and it makes no sense.
AI would be scary it is had access to the nuclear codes. Any false radar image could spook the AI into launching a missile.
AI is mostly useless and would know what to do with "the nuclear codes". Despite the name they do not actually have "intelligence".
So, do you like atomic physics? That stuff is complicated, but fascinating.
I have familiarity with atomic physics and nuclear physics, but that is not anywhere near the topic.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AlexB23
Upvote 0

AlexB23

Christian
CF Ambassadors
Site Supporter
Aug 11, 2023
11,387
7,706
26
WI
✟667,328.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
There never are.

I can think of many things with "science" in the name that are not trustworthy, but that is not the point. For the whole of the Cold War the "doomsday clock" was about nuclear exchange. Now they have apparently mixed in other things and it makes no sense.

AI is mostly useless and would know what to do with "the nuclear codes". Despite the name they do not actually have "intelligence".

I have familiarity with atomic physics and nuclear physics, but that is not anywhere near the topic.
I am a little young, so have never lived through the Cold War. This is a blessing for being born in '99. :) But yes, there are a lot of untrustworthy sources out there, and as a young man, discernment of news sources is not my strong suit, yet. I do agree, AI is not intelligent, it just paraphrases stuff, or analyzes data. It lacks sentience. Also, it is cool that you have familiarity with nuclear physics. My favorite isotope is Sr-90, cos it has a half-life of ~29 years and can in theory be used in radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) for space missions in place of Pu-238 (half-life of ~88 years). Science is much more interesting than politics, but I promise not to derail the thread with nuclear physics.

The Russians had a lot of RTGs though: Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators - Bellona.org
 
Upvote 0
Aug 29, 2005
34,371
11,479
✟206,635.00
Faith
Lutheran
Marital Status
Private
Upvote 0

Hans Blaster

Raised by bees
Mar 11, 2017
22,345
16,771
55
USA
✟423,282.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Atheist
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Democrat
Say's "Hong Qu" from drop box, your desperate

Hong Qu shared
CHIP50 REPORT…BATE 2024.pdf
with you.

Hong Qu is one of the Authors of the report at Northeastern University.
 
Upvote 0

AlexB23

Christian
CF Ambassadors
Site Supporter
Aug 11, 2023
11,387
7,706
26
WI
✟667,328.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Hong Qu is one of the Authors of the report at Northeastern University.
Yep, in fact, just so everyone knows that Hong is a legit source, this is some basic info about him: "Hong (he/him, yeah some woke pronoun stuff, but that is par for the course in 2024) is a third year student working with Professor David Lazer (Lazer is a cool surname by the way). Hong has a liberal arts BA from Wesleyan University and a MS in Information Science from UC Berkeley. He plans to investigate how online civic and misinformation networks shape public opinion, behavior, and policy toward science and technologies.

TLDR: Hong is a legit source, and is reliable, cos he studies civics and misinformation networks. :)

Source: Hong Qu | People
 
Upvote 0
Aug 29, 2005
34,371
11,479
✟206,635.00
Faith
Lutheran
Marital Status
Private
Yep, in fact, just so everyone knows that Hong is a legit source, this is some basic info about him: "Hong (he/him, yeah some woke pronoun stuff, but that is par for the course in 2024) is a third year student working with Professor David Lazer (Lazer is a cool surname by the way). Hong has a liberal arts BA from Wesleyan University and a MS in Information Science from UC Berkeley. He plans to investigate how online civic and misinformation networks shape public opinion, behavior, and policy toward science and technologies.

TLDR: Hong is a legit source, and is reliable, cos he studies civics and misinformation networks. :)

Source: Hong Qu | People
Now that we have determined that the study is legitimate, the meat of it states that the debate did not change the polling of either candidate.

"Our results indicate a modest churn of voters’ preferences, with no substantial shift in the race between Biden and Trump."
 
  • Agree
Reactions: AlexB23
Upvote 0

AlexB23

Christian
CF Ambassadors
Site Supporter
Aug 11, 2023
11,387
7,706
26
WI
✟667,328.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Now that we have determined that the study is legitimate, the meat of it states that the debate did not change the polling of either candidate.

"Our results indicate a modest churn of voters’ preferences, with no substantial shift in the race between Biden and Trump."
Agreed 100%. Also, I do not trust polling, as we will find out everything in November 2024, but yes, the polling numbers barely moved.
 
Upvote 0

Hans Blaster

Raised by bees
Mar 11, 2017
22,345
16,771
55
USA
✟423,282.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Atheist
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Democrat
Yep, in fact, just so everyone knows that Hong is a legit source, this is some basic info about him: "Hong (he/him, yeah some woke pronoun stuff, but that is par for the course in 2024) is a third year student working with Professor David Lazer (Lazer is a cool surname by the way). Hong has a liberal arts BA from Wesleyan University and a MS in Information Science from UC Berkeley. He plans to investigate how online civic and misinformation networks shape public opinion, behavior, and policy toward science and technologies.

TLDR: Hong is a legit source, and is reliable, cos he studies civics and misinformation networks. :)

Source: Hong Qu | People
Alex,

None of that was necessary. The prime issue that I responded to was the apparent insinuation that "Hong Qu" was not a credible source for the report, so I pointed out that he was one of the authors. There are (sadly) many on this board who would reject it any way because they reject anything from science/academia that challenges their preconceived dogmatic notions (or some false sense of "skepticism"). But that's not why I posted a reply...

Alex, you really need to learn to not be so triggered by anything even remotely close to gender identity. Your aside about the authors pronouns, sheesh man. Can you recognize the gender of Chinese persons by their name? I can't. I bet most Americans can't. If I was him I'd use pronouns in my bio too. (I don't know if he includes a picture, I never would.) I don't use pronouns in my bio/sig file, but that's because my name (and face) clearly communicate the correct pronouns, so anyone assuming based on normal clues will guess correctly. Things are similar on this board. There used to be gender labels in the short (pulldown) descriptions, so it was easy to get the gender right of another poster you were talking about. If you didn't state your gender identity regularly, I would still guess correctly since your avatar matches your gender despite your gender ambiguous name. There are plenty of posters here for whom I wouldn't know how to discuss them in the third person because there user names and avatars are both gender ambiguous. (Then there are the ones with crossgendered avatars, that's potentially confusing.)

In short, there are lots of reasons to include pronouns in your bio that have nothing to do with transgendered and non-binary people, but do have everything to do with being addressed correctly.
 
Upvote 0

AlexB23

Christian
CF Ambassadors
Site Supporter
Aug 11, 2023
11,387
7,706
26
WI
✟667,328.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Alex,

None of that was necessary. The prime issue that I responded to was the apparent insinuation that "Hong Qu" was not a credible source for the report, so I pointed out that he was one of the authors. There are (sadly) many on this board who would reject it any way because they reject anything from science/academia that challenges their preconceived dogmatic notions (or some false sense of "skepticism"). But that's not why I posted a reply...

Alex, you really need to learn to not be so triggered by anything even remotely close to gender identity. Your aside about the authors pronouns, sheesh man. Can you recognize the gender of Chinese persons by their name? I can't. I bet most Americans can't. If I was him I'd use pronouns in my bio too. (I don't know if he includes a picture, I never would.) I don't use pronouns in my bio/sig file, but that's because my name (and face) clearly communicate the correct pronouns, so anyone assuming based on normal clues will guess correctly. Things are similar on this board. There used to be gender labels in the short (pulldown) descriptions, so it was easy to get the gender right of another poster you were talking about. If you didn't state your gender identity regularly, I would still guess correctly since your avatar matches your gender despite your gender ambiguous name. There are plenty of posters here for whom I wouldn't know how to discuss them in the third person because there user names and avatars are both gender ambiguous. (Then there are the ones with crossgendered avatars, that's potentially confusing.)

In short, there are lots of reasons to include pronouns in your bio that have nothing to do with transgendered and non-binary people, but do have everything to do with being addressed correctly.
Well, I like Hong Qu, and his stuff, but the colleges have to put this gender stuff. But yes, I do see your point, and there are a lot of skeptics here.

And yes, I am a guy, though Alex could be a man or woman's name. Why did the gender labels get removed? I joined the forums in August 2023.
 
Upvote 0

Hans Blaster

Raised by bees
Mar 11, 2017
22,345
16,771
55
USA
✟423,282.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Atheist
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Democrat
Well, I like Hong Qu, and his stuff, but the colleges have to put this gender stuff. But yes, I do see your point, and there are a lot of skeptics here.

And yes, I am a guy, though Alex could be a man or woman's name. Why did the gender labels get removed? I joined the forums in August 2023.
It was a software upgrade, but I presume they had choices as to which items from the user database are displayed. The default avatars were a gray male/female figure (the kind of symbols put on restrooms). I had the generic "male" symbol as my avatar for 3 years. (Wow, was it really that long? How time flies.) I suspect they didn't want any of the "gender stuff" on display. SMH. Management leans towards conservative, evangelical Christianity on the whole.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: AlexB23
Upvote 0

AlexB23

Christian
CF Ambassadors
Site Supporter
Aug 11, 2023
11,387
7,706
26
WI
✟667,328.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
It was a software upgrade, but I presume they had choices as to which items from the user database are displayed. The default avatars were a gray male/female figure (the kind of symbols put on restrooms). I had the generic "male" symbol as my avatar for 3 years. (Wow, was it really that long? How time flies.) I suspect they didn't want any of the "gender stuff" on display. SMH. Management leans towards conservative, evangelical Christianity on the whole.
Yeah, I understand the symbols. But yes, some folks can be more conservative and stuff. For myself, I am not part of evangelical Christianity, as it gives a bad rep to Christianity (though, I will not judge them). That is one of the reasons I am Catholic*, though I like the Protestant denominations as well, as I was a Protestant before 2022. Centrist Christianity is a bit more tame and mild compared to the conservative or liberal types of Christianity. Jesus told us to be non-judgemental, and I try not to be, though failure happens a lot.

*My AI on my laptop has access to Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Baptist documents as well as church history, so the AI does not have a bias for any denomination. Am planning on adding more Christian documents to the machine in the future. One could say that I have an AI-ddiction in 2024. ;)

1720754130942.png
 
Upvote 0

Hans Blaster

Raised by bees
Mar 11, 2017
22,345
16,771
55
USA
✟423,282.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Atheist
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Democrat
Yeah, I understand the symbols. But yes, some folks can be more conservative and stuff. For myself, I am not part of evangelical Christianity, as it gives a bad rep to Christianity (though, I will not judge them). That is one of the reasons I am Catholic*, though I like the Protestant denominations as well, as I was a Protestant before 2022. Centrist Christianity is a bit more tame and mild compared to the conservative or liberal types of Christianity. Jesus told us to be non-judgemental, and I try not to be, though failure happens a lot.

*My AI on my laptop has access to Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Baptist documents as well as church history, so the AI does not have a bias for any denomination. Am planning on adding more Christian documents to the machine in the future. One could say that I have an AI-ddiction in 2024. ;)

View attachment 351452
Your AI will eventually start mashing different kinds of Christianity, I would suspect in rather hilarious ways.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AlexB23
Upvote 0

AlexB23

Christian
CF Ambassadors
Site Supporter
Aug 11, 2023
11,387
7,706
26
WI
✟667,328.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Your AI will eventually start mashing different kinds of Christianity, I would suspect in rather hilarious ways.
Haha, we will have to see. An experiment, but yeah, mashing denominations together is a bad idea, hence why I will ask it to give multiple perspectives without mashing it together.
 
Upvote 0

Hans Blaster

Raised by bees
Mar 11, 2017
22,345
16,771
55
USA
✟423,282.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Atheist
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Democrat
Haha, we will have to see. An experiment, but yeah, mashing denominations together is a bad idea, hence why I will ask it to give multiple perspectives without mashing it together.
Ahh, the bad book report style.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: AlexB23
Upvote 0