What's in the news?

[Lustful Bride]

Some may find this interesting. I don't understand much of it as I know nothing about the Eastern Orthodox faith.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine’s-spiritual-split-from-russia-could-trigger-a-global-schism/ar-BBOfJ0b?ocid=spartandhp

[gaggedLouise]

Some may find this interesting. I don't understand much of it as I know nothing about the Eastern Orthodox faith.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine’s-spiritual-split-from-russia-could-trigger-a-global-schism/ar-BBOfJ0b?ocid=spartandhp

Mmm. They're not really competing on matters of theology and faith, but it's the Ukraine/Crimea conflict feeding into a fight over the control of the Orthodox church in Ukraine (and among expatriate Ukrainian orthodox christians). With the Patriarchate of Moscow, which has always had under its mantle the majority of Christians in Ukraine, having sided with Moscow in the standoff between the two countries, Ukraine now wants to take over control of most of the orthodox church parishes - if not openly to the  political rulers, at least bring them over to the Patriarchate of Ukraine which is relatively new on the field, and which would side with the government at Kiev.

In the eastern orthodox world, seniority between churches is very important so this is going to blow up a lot of dust and angry words. :( It really makes me think of what happened in the 16th century, during the Reformation, when Henry VIII, Gustav Vasa of Sweden and many other European kings and princes wanted to gain control of the riches of the church in their country and harness the influence of said church to their own needs as political rulers,

[Lilias]

The SCOTUS is effectively blocking the North Dakota Native Americans from voting: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/411085-native-american-tribe-slams-supreme-court-decision-upholding-north

[stormwyrm]

Good grief. We have a hurricane, hurricane Leslie, headed towards Portugal and Spain. The last time something like that happened was in 2005, and before that, the only other hurricane known to have made landfall there was in 1842. Before hitting Spain and Portugal, it will hit Madeira first. It may be the first tropical cyclone to ever hit Madeira in recorded history, which goes back to at least 1420.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2018/10/12/you-are-not-hallucinating-hurricane-leslie-is-headed-toward-spain-and-africa/amp/

You don't often see a hurricane track that looks like this:

[Orval Wintermute]

It's like Putin & co have stopped even trying to pretend there is democracy in Russia. If the 'wrong' person wins just cancel the election after the fact.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/13/communist-challenge-exposes-cracks-putins-power

[ShadowFox89]

 I feel like we're going to see this attempted in the US next.

[Lustful Bride]

Hostage situation in German train Station. Police and Special Forces surrounded the area, its unknown how many hostages have been taken or their status.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/hostage-situation-underway-at-cologne-train-station-in-germany/ar-BBOpHcB?ocid=spartanntp

[Lustful Bride]

Well this article made me sad. I didn't even know that office existed.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sidelined-health-official-says-epa-inaction-means-kids-are-disposable/ar-BBOpeeN?ocid=spartandhp

[Lustful Bride]

Signs continue of a Polio like disease spreading.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/most-states-facing-confirmed-or-possible-cases-of-polio-like-illness/ar-BBOrkX2?ocid=spartandhp

[Lustful Bride]

American Uighur muslims speak out against China's internment camps, especially if they have family in the camps.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/uighur-americans-speak-against-china’s-internment-camps-their-relatives-disappear/ar-BBOzucF?ocid=spartandhp

Very brave of them. Others have had their families intimidated or threatened if they chose to speak out, but silence is China's greatest tool in continuing to put people into camps.

[Beguile's Mistress]

Who needs street lights?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/china-plans-to-launch-an-artificial-moon-to-light-up-the-night-skies/ar-BBOAHOu?ocid=spartandhp

[gaggedLouise]

Who needs street lights?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/china-plans-to-launch-an-artificial-moon-to-light-up-the-night-skies/ar-BBOAHOu?ocid=spartandhp

Yes, saw that too at another site. Intriguing solution: I was trying to figure out what height of orbit the satellite would need to be in to be able to gather and reflect light into the night zone for several hours. One "natural time zone" (the movement of the sun 'across' the surface of the earth) is 15 meridians, and for China (or central Europe) this would be maybe 1300-1400 km (800-870 miles for you Americans). So if the mirror satellite should be able to lit up the town for six hours after sunset, it needs to be so high that a person travelling with it (or a camera mounted on board) would be able to see the ground more than 8.000 km to the east. I know there is a formula for calculating how far the horizon will be from a mountain of a given height; haven't looked it up but I figure that the height to achieve a horizon of +8.000 km must be at least 1000 km, likely a bit more.

If the "new moon" is meant to be geostationary, and this sounds desirable, it would be placed at a height of around 35.800 km - three times the diameter of the planet, with

a circular geosynchronous orbit 35,786 km (22,236 mi) above Earth's equator and following the direction of Earth's rotation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_orbit

Would have to be a *very* powerful set of mirrors to create a steady pool of light a couple of times more powerful than the moon from 35,000 km up and aimed sharp at a specific city in China! :)

[TheGlyphstone]

Now here is the million dollar question. What is the difference between an extremely powerful mirror-aimed orbital nightlight and a space-based laser cannon?

[TheVillain]

Speaking as an Astrophysicist, they're pretty close. Just a question of how much Energy exactly would be delivored over what area and what amount of time.

[Oniya]

Now here is the million dollar question. What is the difference between an extremely powerful mirror-aimed orbital nightlight and a space-based laser cannon?

Focal length.

[Regina Minx]

Speaking as an Astrophysicist, they're pretty close. Just a question of how much Energy exactly would be delivored over what area and what amount of time.

In the words of Toasty, a toaster is just a death ray with a smaller heating element.

[TheVillain]

In the words of Toasty, a toaster is just a death ray with a smaller heating element.

Focal length.

In fairness, lighting up China genuinely could be what they have in mind. But yeah, if it wasn't obvious that the USA is run by idiots the fact that nobody's thought of this in DC is proof of it.

[Lustful Bride]

In fairness, lighting up China genuinely could be what they have in mind. But yeah, if it wasn't obvious that the USA is run by idiots the fact that nobody's thought of this in DC is proof of it.

As I love to say, I don't believe in most conspiracy theories about my government because I don't even believe in the competency of my government. ::)

[TheVillain]

As I love to say, I don't believe in most conspiracy theories about my government because I don't even believe in the competency of my government. ::)

It's definitely the best argument against 9/11 being an inside job.

Y'all need to stop electing religions nutjobs and start electing scientists.

[gaggedLouise]

As I love to say, I don't believe in most conspiracy theories about my government because I don't even believe in the competency of my government. ::)

If 9/11 had been an inside job engineered by forces high up in US government agencies, or even by the White House, we would have had some trustworthy eyewitnesses to the actual planning of the conspiracy by now. (And no, this argument can't be transferred to something like the JFK assassination perhaps being engineered by the CIA and/or the Mob: pulling off 9/11 was infinitely more complex, demanding and expensive than assassinating one man in a motorcade).

[TheGlyphstone]

If 9/11 had been an inside job engineered by forces high up in US government agencies, or even by the White House, we would have had some trustworthy eyewitnesses to the actual planning of the conspiracy by now. (And no, this argument can't be transferred to something like the JFK assassination perhaps being engineered by the CIA and/or the Mob: pulling off 9/11 was infinitely more complex, demanding and expensive than assassinating one man in a motorcade).

Clearly, the conspiracy killed/bribed/recruited/blackmailed everyone who knew the truth. Essentially, the only way to make a conspiracy work is to assume more people are members of said conspiracy than non-members, which is the exact opposite of a conspiracy.

[TheGlyphstone]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-definition.htm

[TheVillain]

It's times like this I like to remind myself that there are several issues where the mean age of the holders of the traditionally conservative side of the issue is at least 20 years older then the mean age of the holders of the traditionally liberal side of the issue and LGBT rights is one of them.

Meaning just sitting tight and waiting for them to die off is a not particularly satisfying but perfectly valid strategy.

[Lustful Bride]

It's times like this I like to remind myself that there are several issues where the mean age of the holders of the traditionally conservative side of the issue is at least 20 years older then the mean age of the holders of the traditionally liberal side of the issue and LGBT rights is one of them.

Meaning just sitting tight and waiting for them to die off is a not particularly satisfying but perfectly valid strategy.

+1  +1 so hard.

[elone]

I was watching MSNBC and they asked a group of people sitting around at a college, "Who is going to vote in November?"

Not one person in a group of about 20 raised their hands in the affirmative.

Crap people, if you don't vote, you can't complain.