Highgate

It is too complex for sides. The nuances are too numerous, the rights and wrongs too diffuse.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me to be a critic of both Israel's entirely unjust and downright colonial treatment of Palestinians since 1948, and a critic of years of Hamas' disgraceful and inhuman attacks on civilians culminating in this latest atrocity. 
I have absolutely no idea how this can get any better...it's always been such a ticking time tomb. 
 
 

Seems perfectly reasonable to me to be a critic of both Israel's entirely unjust and downright colonial treatment of Palestinians since 1948, and a critic of years of Hamas' disgraceful and inhuman attacks on civilians culminating in this latest atrocity. 
I have absolutely no idea how this can get any better...it's always been such a ticking time tomb. 
 
 

Seems perfectly reasonable to me to be a critic of both Israel's entirely unjust and downright colonial treatment of Palestinians since 1948, and a critic of years of Hamas' disgraceful and inhuman attacks on civilians culminating in this latest atrocity. 
I have absolutely no idea how this can get any better...it's always been such a ticking time tomb. 
 
 

Seems perfectly reasonable to me to be a critic of both Israel's entirely unjust and downright colonial treatment of Palestinians since 1948, and a critic of years of Hamas' disgraceful and inhuman attacks on civilians culminating in this latest atrocity. 
I have absolutely no idea how this can get any better...it's always been such a ticking time tomb. 
 
 

I think we might have to file that under 'speculative', but who knows. I'd dispute the notion that we can create a computer simulation of this universe, in all it's complexity, from within this universe. I think it would have to be from outside in some larger universe to achieve that, ...and thinking about that sort of thing is too much for my puny brain.  Maybe the aliens, when they eventually show up, will be able to explain all this to us 😄   

If this is a simulated universe, then why make it so detailed and so vast? There seems too much redundancy and complexity in this universe for it to be a simulation.  Seems far more likely to me that this universe is the real deal and simulated universes are merely an interesting philosophical idea. 

If this is a simulated universe, then why make it so detailed and so vast? There seems too much redundancy and complexity in this universe for it to be a simulation.  Seems far more likely to me that this universe is the real deal and simulated universes are merely an interesting philosophical idea. 

Last year was a nightmare. The almost unthinkable nearly happened - we were so close to losing our beloved football club, founder members of the football league, champions under Clough and Mackay, FA cup winners after the war and European Cup semi-finalists.
David Clowes, a genuine fan with the means to do so, rescued the club at the last minute. He himself says it "was close".
Thanks to him, we have a club, our club.
We must learn the lessons of the past. We must not get into the same precarious mess ever again.
But....we can move on. We must move on. We should now look forward. We do not have to merely be content that the club is still in existence.
It's ok to demand more from the manager, the teams on the pitch (not just the first team but especially them).
We should demand exciting, entertaining football that gets results. It does not mean that we won't forever be grateful to David Clowes for saving the club.
It means we want Derby County to once again be a beacon for good football. Attacking football. Positive football. Entertaining football.
That means passing football, intricate moves, running with the ball, creating chances. It doesn't mean sitting back and hoping to score from a corner or a free kick.
I like Paul Warne, the man. But I don't like his tactics. I don't like his desire to play 3-5-2 with the players he has available, I don't like his use of players out of position or not giving the academy players a chance. I don't like the emphasis on set pieces rather than attacking play.
Yes, at least we still have a club.
But we are Derby County. The football should be, must be, ought to be better 🐏

An important reminder that while we understandably focus on the threat of climate change we often tend to forget all the other ways in which we are systematically damaging our environment.  Habitat destruction is one of the most pernicious for me, as we gradually take more and more of the planet's surface for our own use, and leave less room for every other species...all of which has unsurprisingly resulted in an alarming acceleration in the rate of extinctions.  

An important reminder that while we understandably focus on the threat of climate change we often tend to forget all the other ways in which we are systematically damaging our environment.  Habitat destruction is one of the most pernicious for me, as we gradually take more and more of the planet's surface for our own use, and leave less room for every other species...all of which has unsurprisingly resulted in an alarming acceleration in the rate of extinctions.  

You’re not wrong. Russia came up earlier. I really would’ve hoped that we’d have learnt by now that war is never a good idea (and I’m coming fresh off the back of watching Oppenheimer). If we don’t learn some lessons as a society, we really are doomed. 

The technology we've developed could help save us, or alternatively it could be the reason for our destruction. Just thinking about nuclear bombs for example.  We just have to use our tech wisely, unfortunately wisdom may not be our collective strong point. 😂

I think we just take for granted that life will continue happily on this planet, and forget that we are cosmic accident, an incredibly unlikely balance of 1000 very specific factors. If one little thing changes just a little bit, we could be mars or Venus. 

I couldn't agree more.  
On being doomed as a civilisation, I'm still hoping it won't come to that.  

I agree with your point that consumerism is at the heart of a lot of environmental problems. And indeed that there are those who will use our current climate problems/crisis (whatever you want to call it) as an opportunity to make more money.  I fear that's always going to be the case no matter what situation we find ourselves in. However, exploiting climate change is not the  'green agenda' as it were, it's just people using green issues as a fig leaf for their own motives. The environmentalist mantra was always, 'recycle, reuse and reduce', which is about as anti-consumerist as you can get. If an environmentalist wants people, when the time comes to replace something like a car for instance, to choose the eco-friendly or sustainable option, then that's not encouraging consumption but rather advocating sustainability.
There are a lot of grey areas and room for debate about how to tackle our environmental issues with the least pain (or preferably no pain at all) for the most vulnerable people in society.  I certainly don't claim to have all the answers in that regard. 
What does seem to be black and white though, is the scientific data itself.  Atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases are rapidly increasing, and ocean and air temperatures are rising. There is no arguing with these data points. The data itself along with what we know about atmospheric physics leads to the inescapable conclusion if we don't act rapidly then temperatures and sea-levels will rise considerably. About this, there no longer is any room for debate. 

I agree with your point that consumerism is at the heart of a lot of environmental problems. And indeed that there are those who will use our current climate problems/crisis (whatever you want to call it) as an opportunity to make more money.  I fear that's always going to be the case no matter what situation we find ourselves in. However, exploiting climate change is not the  'green agenda' as it were, it's just people using green issues as a fig leaf for their own motives. The environmentalist mantra was always, 'recycle, reuse and reduce', which is about as anti-consumerist as you can get. If an environmentalist wants people, when the time comes to replace something like a car for instance, to choose the eco-friendly or sustainable option, then that's not encouraging consumption but rather advocating sustainability.
There are a lot of grey areas and room for debate about how to tackle our environmental issues with the least pain (or preferably no pain at all) for the most vulnerable people in society.  I certainly don't claim to have all the answers in that regard. 
What does seem to be black and white though, is the scientific data itself.  Atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases are rapidly increasing, and ocean and air temperatures are rising. There is no arguing with these data points. The data itself along with what we know about atmospheric physics leads to the inescapable conclusion if we don't act rapidly then temperatures and sea-levels will rise considerably. About this, there no longer is any room for debate. 

It won't quite keep going though....it should peak at around 11bn before the end of the century and then start reducing gradually.  That's what the demographic models say anyway. 
Still,  a population of 11bn will put an awful lot of extra pressure on our planet's finite resources.  Part of the problem is that the consumerism that is great for our economies is really detrimental to our environment.  

Seems to me that over population together with a global economic system that societally rewards and hence encorages over consumption, are the main forces to overcome.
1bn additional people on planet earth in the last decade. That's a lot of people all needing and expecting SOME resources...

I think it seems worse this year as no Didzy - watching him elevated the same football

I don't think it makes you a nut, but it does make me feel a bit sad to see someone so horribly cynical
It's not like anything you're saying here about rich people engineering a situation to enrich themselves at the cost of the poor doesn't happen EVERYWHERE - in every walk of life.  I agree with you up to that point
I think where we differ is that I can see that both things are true. Man-Made Climate Change is real and we need to act on it - AND yes a load of ruthless oligarchs will profit massively from that at our expense. But those guys will get richer at our expense whatever , so why rail against it? The only logical thing to focus on is keeping the planet habitable and food supplies plentiful. There are only 2 outcomes and both involve the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor, just that one involves societal collapse and the other (hopefully) doesn't
Unless you have some other utopia in mind - in which case, please share it with the class
 
 
 

Is that a challenge?
I don't think if you had an IQ of 0 you would be capable of doing Maths equations and reasoning 😂

I’d imagine there would be regime change before nuclear weapons.
Agreed with the rest though, only to add social media can be a double edged sword.

Yeah absolutely, any such vote would have to involve pre-war inhabitants only.  Which would be a tricky thing to organize to say the least.