July 12, 2021

Police Officer Test

Police Officer Test

How do you tell the difference between an Australian Police Officer, a Canadian Police Officer, an American Police Officer and a Scottish officer? The answer is found below.

QUESTION: You’re a policeman, on duty by yourself. You are walking on a deserted street late at night.
Suddenly, an armed man with a huge knife comes around the
corner, locks eyes with you and screaming something that sounds like
obscenities, raises the knife and lunges at you.

You are carrying your full belt of force options and are an expert in using them.
However, you have only a split second to react before he reaches you. What do you do?

ANSWERS:

Canadian Police Officer:

Firstly he must consider the person's human rights:

1) Does the man look mentally unstable, poor and/or oppressed?

2) Is he newly arrived in this country and does not yet understand the
law?

3) Is this really a knife or a ceremonial dagger?

4) Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to
attack?

5) Am I dressed provocatively?

6) Could I run away?

7) Could I possibly swing my retractable asp baton and knock the knife out of his hand?

8) Should I try and negotiate with him to discuss his
wrong-doings?

9) Why am I carrying so many destructive use of force options anyway and what kind of message does this send to society?

10) Does he definitely want to kill me or would he be content just to wound me?

11) If I were to grab his knees and hold on, would he still want to stab and kill me?

12) If I raise my firearm and he turns and runs away, do I get blamed if he falls over, knocks his head, suffers an injury or even worse, dies?

13) If I hurt him and lose the subsequent court case, does he have the opportunity to sue me, cost me my job, my credibility and the loss of my family home?

Australian Police Officer:

BANG!

American Police Officer:

BANG ! BANG !
BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG !

'Click'...Reload...

BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG !

Glasgow Police Officer:

"Haw, Jimmie....! Drop the wee knife reet this minute noo, unless ye want it stuck up yer arse !”

June 9, 2021

Live MSNBC web program record?

I recently cancelled my sat TV subscription as about all I watched on it was PBS and MSNBC. I have found I can get both of them online (PBS on Roku and MSNBC at https://livenewstime.com/msnbc-live/ (thanks to those who provided that web address)).

I would like though to go even better and record the MSNBC progs so they can be played back later and the commercials skipped (same as what one does on a PVR). Was wondering if anyone knows of a Windows app that allows for that?

Thanks for any assistance....

May 30, 2021

Following up on

the recent UFO threads:

> https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/30/opinion/ufo-sightings-report.html
>
> I’m a Physicist Who Searches for Aliens. U.F.O.s Don’t Impress Me.
> May 30, 2021, 9:30 a.m. ET
> Part of an unclassified video taken by Navy pilots that has circulated for years showing interactions with “unidentified aerial phenomena.”Dept. of Defense handout/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images
> By Adam Frank
>
> Dr. Frank is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester. He and his colleagues were recently awarded a NASA grant to study signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.
>
> This month the TV news program “60 Minutes” ran a segment on recent sightings by Navy pilots of unidentified flying objects. The pilots’ accounts were bolstered by videos recorded by cameras onboard their planes that captured what the government now calls “unidentified aerial phenomena.”
>
> In the wake of these enigmatic encounters, people are asking me what I think about U.F.O.s and aliens. They’re asking because I’m an astrophysicist who is involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. My colleagues and I were recently awarded one of the first NASA grants to look for signs of advanced technology on planets outside our solar system. (I’ve argued in these pages that the 10 billion trillion habitable planets that we now believe exist in the universe make extraterrestrial civilizations far more likely.)
>
> I understand that U.F.O. sightings, which date back at least to 1947, are synonymous in the popular imagination with evidence of extraterrestrials. But scientifically speaking, there is little to warrant that connection. There are excellent reasons to search for extraterrestrial life, but there are equally excellent reasons not to conclude that we have found evidence of it with U.F.O. sightings.
>
> Let’s start with the Navy cases. Some of the pilots have told of seeing flying objects shaped like Tic Tacs or other unusual forms. The recordings from the planes’ cameras show amorphous shapes moving in surprising ways, including appearing to skim the ocean’s surface and then disappear beneath it. This might appear to be evidence of extraterrestrial technology that can defy the laws of physics as we understand them — but in reality it doesn’t amount to much.
>
> For one thing, first-person accounts, which are notoriously inaccurate to begin with, don’t provide enough information for an empirical investigation. Scientists can’t accurately gauge distances or velocity from a pilot’s testimony: “It looked close” or “It was moving really fast” is too vague. What a scientist needs are precise measurements from multiple viewpoints provided by devices that register various wavelengths (visual, infrared, radar). That kind of data might tell us if an object’s motion required engines or materials that we Earthlings don’t possess.
>
> Perhaps the videos offer that kind of data? Sadly, no. While some researchers have used the footage to make simple estimates of the accelerations and other flight characteristics of the U.F.O.s, the results have been mixed at best. Skeptics have already shown that some of the motions seen in the videos (like the ocean skimming) may be artifacts of the cameras’ optics and tracking systems.
>
> There are also common-sense objections. If we are being frequently visited by aliens, why don’t they just land on the White House lawn and announce themselves? There is a recurring narrative, perhaps best exemplified by the TV show “The X-Files,” that these creatures have some mysterious reason to remain hidden from us. But if the mission of these aliens calls for stealth, they seem surprisingly incompetent. You would think that creatures technologically capable of traversing the mind-boggling distances between the stars would also know how to turn off their high beams at night and to elude our primitive infrared cameras.
>
> Don’t get me wrong: I’ll read with great interest the U.S. intelligence report about U.F.O.s that is scheduled to be delivered to Congress in June; I believe that U.F.O. phenomena should be investigated using the best tools of science and with complete transparency.
>
> But there may be more prosaic explanations. For example, it’s possible that U.F.O.s are drones deployed by rivals like Russia and China to examine our defenses — luring our pilots into turning on their radar and other detectors, thus revealing our electronic intelligence capacities. (The United States once used a similar strategy to test the sensitivities of Soviet radar systems.) This hypothesis might sound far-fetched, but it is less extreme than positing a visit from extraterrestrials.
>
> What’s most frustrating about the U.F.O.s story is that it obscures the fact that scientists like me and my colleagues are on the threshold of gathering data that may be relevant to the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life. But this evidence involves subtle findings about phenomena far away in the galaxy — not sensational findings just a few miles away in our own atmosphere.
>
> Powerful telescopes that will soon be operational may be capable of detecting city lights on the night side of planets that orbit distant stars or the telltale mark of reflected light from planet-wide solar-collecting arrays or the distinctive sign of industrial chemicals in a planet’s atmosphere. All of these “technosignatures,” should we find evidence of them, will be small effects. If we do detect such things, you better believe that my colleagues and I will go to extraordinary lengths to eliminate every possible source of error and every possible alternative explanation. This will take time and careful effort.
>
> The work of science, though ultimately exciting, is mostly painstakingly methodical and boring. But that is the price we pay because we don’t just want to believe. We want to know.
>
> Adam Frank (@AdamFrank4 ) is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester and the author, most recently, of “Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth.”

_______________________________________________
skeptic mailing list
skeptic@linuxmafia.com
http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/skeptic
To reach the listadmin, mail rick@linuxmafia.com

April 26, 2021

Marriage Advice From Those Who Know Best

KIDS HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS IF ONLY WE WOULD PAY ATTENTION! 😎

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHOM TO MARRY? (written by kids)

1. You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming. -- Alan, age 10

No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all the way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with. -- Kristen, age 10

2. WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?

Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.. -- Camille, age 10

3. HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids. -- Derrick, age 8

4. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

Both don't want any more kids. -- Lori, age 8

5. WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?

Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough. -- Lynnette, age 8

On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date. -- Martin, age 10

6. WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

When they're rich. -- Pam, age 7 (Love her)

The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that.
- - Curt, age 7

The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do. --Howard, age 8

7. IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED

It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them. -- Anita, age 9 (bless you child)

8. HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?

There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there? -- Kelvin, age 8

9. HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?

Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a dump truck. -- Ricky, age 9

April 25, 2021

Excellent Covid Vid

Something to show your hesitant/denying/anti vaccination friends/relatives.

March 11, 2021

Here's an onion in the Covid ointment:

"New study warns Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines could be far less effective against South Africa variant"

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/542182-new-study-warns-pfizer-and-moderna-covid-19

February 7, 2021

EXO-CD24 - Covid-19 Breakthrough Drug?

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/tel-aviv-hospital-cures-29-of-30-covid-19-patients-in-days-it-says-658024

"Twenty-nine out of 30 moderate-to-severe COVID-19 patients who were administered a treatment developed by Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) as part of a Phase I trial recovered from the disease and were released within three to five days, the hospital said Friday."

January 31, 2021

Trump's lawyers quit, Giuliani seems the only possibility left and,

?1612062839

January 22, 2021

Joy Throughout the Land

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CKSUFzLnuVS/?igshid=cb6b5okxv4r

January 7, 2021

A plan to take hostages?

https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1347011413101998080