Discussion about hot topics trending today

[aretood2]

sifting through manure you may find a grain of corn

https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...-sparking-fury

dilemma for the neocons: this time they can't call it Fake News

The difference between the bias of Fox and the bias of other news networks is that the liberals in the other ones just spin the facts while the Fox ones just rely on lies until there's either absolute proof (and even then) or the lies no longer suit the GOP's agenda.

[thekillman]

The difference between the bias of Fox and the bias of other news networks is that the liberals in the other ones just spin the facts while the Fox ones just rely on lies until there's either absolute proof (and even then) or the lies no longer suit the GOP's agenda.

Not sure what you're implying by this, since i can read it both ways. Facts are one thing, interpretation is another. 10 different papers can write 10 different articles about the same fact. No matter how hard you try, there will always be leeway in interpreting facts. What's important is to make a clear distinction between what a fact is, and what the interpretation is. If on the other hand you're implying that the rest of the media at least does factual reporting (while not strictly being unbiased), then i agree.

On the other hand, i also regularly see memes and posts about stuff that doesn't even try to be accurate and factual on social media, so i think "old media" gets a lot of bad rap unnecessarily when stuff like Facebook doesn't even try. Facebook has been doing it's damnedest to avoid any responsibility for content and moderation. CNN copies questionable content? Outrage. People "like" questionable content 500m times? nothing wrong with that. Recent shooting? let's link to alt-right baseless conspiracies in stead of actual news.

Perhaps you can clarify what you meant by "social divide", then.

I kind of meant a generic social divide. Because i think it's fairly evident that there's 2 or 3 America's out there, that all want representation for wildly different things.

I've been wondering about these problems because i see them elsewhere too, although nowhere near the scope and extent as i see it in America. A difference between rural and urban for instance. I grew up in the countryside and currently live in a city (not even that big a city). These worlds couldn't be further apart. I see more diversity in a day that i've seen prior in my life. And i mean that in the broadest context. Different kinds of people, different religions, different ethnicity. A City faces a whole different set of problems than a rural town. In a small town anyone could own a gun and you'd be fine. But in a city? You don't want the vigilante people in a city.

Yet, when it comes to legislation, you can't make that divide. Gun control fit for a city would have to be applied to a town. it's likely that townspeople wonder why the hell those rules even exist whereas city people wonder how the hell anyone can live without them. More people leads to more problems, requiring more rules. You could drunk drive in the outback in Australia for 3 days straight and not hit any other car. Do that in New York and i give you a minute before you hit something. You could empty an assault rifle in rural america and not hit a thing. You couldn't shoot once in NY without doing major damage.

More people, more problems. And there are only going to be more people. But the Earth isn't getting any bigger.

[Falcon Horus]

Well, I'll be damned...

Infertility and surrogacy first mentioned on a 4000-year-old Assyrian clay tablet of marriage contract in Turkey

A first mentions about infertility and surrogacy is discovered on a 4000-year-old clay tablet of marriage contract belonging to the Assyrian period exhibited at Istanbul Archeology Museum in Turkey.

4,000-Year-Old Assyrian Tablet Makes First Known Infertility Diagnosis and Recommends Slave Surrogate

A 4,000-year-old Assyrian tablet discovered in central Kayseri province, Turkey, is an ancient marriage contract with the first known diagnosis of infertility. The clay record says that the wife should allow her husband to hire a female slave to act as a surrogate if the couple does not conceive within two years after the date of marriage.

The discovery, which was recently announced in the journal Gynecological Endocrinology (the first link), was made by archaeologists who were carrying out excavations in Turkey’s Kültepe district, which was home to a settlement and trade colony of the Old Assyrian Empire from 2,100 BC and 1,800 BC. It is also the site where over 1,000 Old Assyrian tablets, known as the Cappadocian tablets, were found in 1925.

An Ancient Solution to Infertility
The recently discovered tablet is an ancient prenuptial agreement written on clay tablet in the Old Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language using the cuneiform (wedge-shaped) script, the knowledge of which came into Anatolia with Assyrian merchants. It sets out what should occur in the event of infertility, defined as the inability to produce a child within two years of marriage.

“The female slave would be freed after giving birth to the first male baby, ensuring that the family is not left without a child,” lead researcher Professor Ahmet Berk?z Turp, from Turkey's Harran University, said [via Daily Sabah].

The tablet is on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum and is recognized as the earliest known mention of human infertility.

The Old Assyrian Tablet Collection
The prenuptial agreement adds to an enormous trove of Old Assyrian records already found in the area in 1925 by F. Hrozny.
“Unlike royal or temple archives discovered in other ancient centres, the cuneiform archives of Kültepe-Kanesh represent the single largest body of private texts in the ancient Near East,” reports UNESCO. “They were kept in archive rooms, neatly arranged inside clay vessels, wooden chests, wicker baskets or sacks.”

A fire eventually destroyed the settlement where the tablets had been found. It must have started suddenly as the excavations revealed that many of the tablets were still in their clay envelopes, indicating that the merchants hadn’t had time to dispatch their recently written letters or open those newly received.

The cuneiform tablets provide a foundation for the fascinating study of the pre-Hittite (circa 1940 BC to 1740 BC) network of Assyrian merchant colonies in Bronze Age Anatolia.

[aretood2]

Well, I'll be damned...

Infertility and surrogacy first mentioned on a 4000-year-old Assyrian clay tablet of marriage contract in Turkey

A first mentions about infertility and surrogacy is discovered on a 4000-year-old clay tablet of marriage contract belonging to the Assyrian period exhibited at Istanbul Archeology Museum in Turkey.

4,000-Year-Old Assyrian Tablet Makes First Known Infertility Diagnosis and Recommends Slave Surrogate

I don't find this surprising at all. Fascinating, but not surprising. In fact I'd be surprised if we were to learn that they didn't do this.

[Falcon Horus]

I don't find this surprising at all. Fascinating, but not surprising. In fact I'd be surprised if we were to learn that they didn't do this.

But they put it in the contract... Ancient pre-nuptials.

[dipsofjazz]

I wonder what GF's take on this is.

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2017/1...operators.html

I'm thinking there should be some maritime workers looking for new jobs shortly.

Doncaster council asked the public to name their two new road gritters. They tweeted:

https://twitter.com/MyDoncaster

?*Puts on tin hat* ?

We would like your name suggestions for two of our new gritting vehicles, please.

Keep em clean and be original - we'd prefer not to spend the next few days trawling through responses of Gritty McGritface and Gary Gritter. ?

After a pun-filled competition, they eventually had the two top names http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-42026485

[aretood2]

Fascinating.

[Coco Pops]

How long will it take for the USA to recover from Trump?

[Gatefan1976]

How long will it take for the USA to recover from Trump?

Depends on what happens going forwards.
If he serves his term, perhaps 5-10 years, if he get's both? perhaps 30-50.
Mind you, that's based on -repairing- on what you consider "damage" is. Reagan still does "damage" insofar as trickle down economics is concerned, and that's near 30 years. Some could argue that social damage done from Bill Clinton's sex scandals is still ongoing as well, and that's 20 years.
Damage in this case is subjective.

[Annoyed]

Nothing compared to the damage Obama did over his term.

[Falcon Horus]

Nothing compared to the damage Obama did over his term.

Yeah, you went from player on the world scale to 3rd world country in just under 6 months.

[Coco Pops]

Damage????????????????????

What damage?

Oh did you know Fox News was created just to be a GOP mouthpiece

[Annoyed]

And how many sci-fi stories have started out like this?

Meet 'Oumuamua, the first observed interstellar visitor to our solar system

[Falcon Horus]

And how many sci-fi stories have started out like this?

Meet 'Oumuamua, the first observed interstellar visitor to our solar system

Looks like a bit of let down....

[Gatefan1976]

Looks like a bit of let down....

Wait till you hear it's new zelund accent bro.