Richard Robertson

I can’t think of “evolution” without breaking it down in to its types. Natural Selection drives the most classically discussed type, along with natural genetic drift mentioned (but not by name) in the article referred to above. There’s also cultural, scientific, and to be honest, even religious evolution, making it unreasonable to infer that…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Just as he was about to swipe the bird I clapped my hands and the bird escaped.

and then

The upshot was he now left all his “presents” in his own garden.

Maybe he/she realized later that you saved it from a very slobly, uncomfortable fall, and it’s finally time to forego some calories.

_Robert_ wrote:
at around 00:18

Yeah, I saw that too, but the fangs seemed to have missed, unless it was in between video frames. But it did look like like a lucky/accidental inch to the snake’s right would have been fatal for the cat, and/or both of them.

My question is, WHY? Surely the cat had a choice, so was it just for fun, or to catch…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
1) it takes some hypocritical nerve for humans to decry an invasive species. Mankind is invasive everywhere but Africa.

I believe in most cases, responsibility for the introduction of an invasive species belongs to one or more humans. The range of these species is huge, from microbes and prion diseases (e.g. HIV, ebola, plagues, mad…[Read more]

Yup, I have my own stories about the 2017 and 2018 fires, but they pale in comparison to tens of thousands of others here. I even made my own breathing mask out of a CPAP mask, a trimmed HEPA filter, and a gallon plastic jug during some days that were so smokey that most people left town (as recommended by health and emergency authorities), but no…[Read more]

Stay safe!  I forgot you were in Cali. Saw something about the power to 800,000 homes will be deliberately shut down. Keep us posted!

Strega said it for me. To make it clear to my kids I told them if they want a permanent resting place they could even sneak my ashes into a construction site and dump them into a cement mixer, but it’s totally their call.

The following clip is especially for younger people who haven’t watched The Big Lebowsky, and it’s from Coen Brothers (whom…[Read more]

I have tried to drive once, under the influence of weed.  This was not a good idea. First of all, I struggled to reach the breakneck speed of 25mph down my small road. It was as if G-forces were pulling my face back at this terrifying speed. Secondly, I reached the end of my road and couldn’t trust enough of a gap between cars passing, to move. Ba…[Read more]

Hey Davis, yes a huge number of Vermonters chuff quietly in their own homes. I believe it’s more common than alcohol usage. There have been some efforts to study the impact of legalizing weed – there was an expectation that there would be more driving impairment- so far that hasn’t been supported by numbers, but there isn’t a huge amount of usefu…[Read more]

Very funny Mr Punman. My father was Greek and spoke English with quite a heavy accent. He also liked to use puns, but his particular kind were somewhat unique, as he would base the pun on his accent, ie socks were ‘shocks’ and punned well with any electrical joke.

Reg, my sister-in-laws sister had both the urns containing her mother and mother-in-law respectively. The two sides of their family did not get on.  Consequently, whenever there was a family visit, the correct urn was placed on the mantelpiece and the incorrect one under the bed.  They switched these urns constantly, and never made a m…[Read more]

My preferences are that any bits of my body that can be of any use, should be made available for that purpose. The remaining parts are to be cremated and I do not give a shit what happens to the ashes. Flush them, scatter them, bury them – whatever those still alive want to do with them. I’ve already explained *I* won’t be there to care.

Jake I think Vermont has a farming community bias. We have workers who come to help during the harvest time, but they don’t contribute to the population census as they are transitory. A huge element of those farming communities are family based.

In addition, there are quite a lot of people of mixed race, and I don’t know how these are cha…[Read more]

Southern Vermont has a reasonably present African American community. I wonder if the very northern states are as populated with those immigrants who came in via the southern border or descended from slavery as the southern ones.

Regarding the opioid crisis, most of the drugs seem to come up through our southern border or west across from New…[Read more]

Vermont only has 650k or so population, so everyone feels their opinion counts.  For the longest time there was a banner across Main St with the words “Hate does not grow well in the rocky soil of Vermont”.

I’m in Vermont. It is apparently the least religious state in America. I know this, because when I first met the insurance commissioner here, he greeted me with, “Welcome to the Godless State!”  And sure enough if you google ‘the godless state usa’, there we are. Vermont.

Still, something like 25% are regular churchgoers. It amazes me because wh…[Read more]

Davis wrote:
The closer you approach 100% the more likely you live in a failed state.

I looked into Ethiopia today, found it quite interesting wrt religious mix and its purported secular government, and so added it as an AZ topic. Not knowing beans more about them, I wish them luck, especially those in an apparently really really small secular minority.