PGT: President-Elect Donald J Trump

[KootenayFlamesFan]

A 'research' drone. Sure it was.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Trump doesn't like drones that get captured.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Zarley

Yes, they have been brought up several times recently - in fact, I believe it was Fozzie who posted an in depth article regarding a Trump server pinging Russia. Keep up.

The article in question was discussing the behavior of the server and the Trump organization's use of the system. It was not jumping to the conclusion that anything nefarious was going on. The configuration of the server, the decommissioning and launch of a new server (doing the exact same thing), is why this was considered an issue of discussion within the security community. Keep up.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Originally Posted by New Era

The article in question was discussing the behavior of the server and the Trump organization's use of the system. It was not jumping to the conclusion that anything nefarious was going on. The configuration of the server, the decommissioning and launch of a new server (doing the exact same thing), is why this was considered an issue of discussion within the security community. Keep up.

Its the configuration that raises my suspicion... from the article...

Eighty-seven percent of the DNS lookups involved the two Alfa Bank servers. “It’s pretty clear that it’s not an open mail server,” Camp told me. “These organizations are communicating in a way designed to block other people out.”

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

Its the configuration that raises my suspicion... from the article...

Eighty-seven percent of the DNS lookups involved the two Alfa Bank servers. “It’s pretty clear that it’s not an open mail server,” Camp told me. “These organizations are communicating in a way designed to block other people out.”

That has raised some eyebrows as well. I was recently at a symposium where the issue was mentioned as a tangent on another subject. There was plenty of concern about the issue, but no one was willing to be committal on what the evidence was saying. That is part of the problem with scientists. Everything is a theory, even when there is a mountain of evidence in support and little against. This is why issues that should no longer be open for debate (climate change for example) remain issues open for debate, confusing the crap out of consumers of information. There is no consensus on what the DNS information meant, but there was a lot of leaning in one direction.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Roh-roh. Paul Ryan may have some 'splainin' to do.

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/14/gop-...idates-report/

This is kind of what I alluded to in a previous post. The larger picture is hardly discussed in American politics. The hack did not "just" affect the presidential race, it affected all races. The United States is broken and beyond all repair.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Unpresidented? Freudian slip?

Ha ha. Is that real? It has since been fixed if it was.

Anyway, gotta love that language. "Rips it out of the water...". Reminds me of "rips the baby out of the womb". Probably not a coincidence. I'm sure he cares equally about both issues.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by New Era

That is part of the problem with scientists. Everything is a theory, even when there is a mountain of evidence in support and little against. This is why issues that should no longer be open for debate (climate change for example) remain issues open for debate, confusing the crap out of consumers of information. There is no consensus on what the DNS information meant, but there was a lot of leaning in one direction.

A theory is an explanation, one strongly backed by evidence, of an aspect of the world. In short, a theory explains a fact.

That gravity exists is a fact. The theory of gravity explains how we understand gravity and under what conditions our understanding of gravity might be called into question.

The problem is not with scientists. It is with the masses who have no idea -- or persist in sticking their fingers in their ears when it is explained to them ad nauseam -- what a theory means in a scientific context.

(I'm sure you know all this, but I needed to vent when I read that.)

[Senator Clay Davis]

^^It was real. It was up for almost 90 minutes before being taken down for the replacement. He often has typos in his tweets. Many people are saying he's illiterate.

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Certainly appears that Americans are very optimistic and have high hopes for a Trump administration.

I don't know that those numbers are out of the ordinary. 36% believe he'll be "One of the greatest/Above average", while 43% believe he'll be "One of the worst/Below average". Wouldn't we see similar numbers, regardless of who the elect was?

[Senator Clay Davis]

Well I don't know what they were for Clinton, Obama or Bush, but as far as net approval coming in goes, he's the worst of those by a huge margin.

Obama was +58
Clinton was +52
Bush was +39
Trump is 0.

[Dogbert]

I would honestly have more respect for Trump supporters if, instead of ranting about "fake news" and everyone being biased against him, they would just come out and say they didn't care that Russia hacked the DNC to Trump's benefit, because their guy won and that's all they care about.

Reminds me of when an NHL ref completely blows a call and hands a team the game - the NHL has to act like everything is on the up-and-up so as not to look bush-league, and the fans of the winning team bend over backwards to argue that their win was legitimate. It's like the biggest homers on HFBoards decided to band together and back a presidential candidate.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

A theory is an explanation, one strongly backed by evidence, of an aspect of the world. In short, a theory explains a fact.

That gravity exists is a fact. The theory of gravity explains how we understand gravity and under what conditions our understanding of gravity might be called into question.

Well, yeah, I think that's what New Era is getting at. Climate change is the "theory" which explains how we understand rising sea levels, melting ice caps and rising global temperatures and under what conditions our understanding of those things might be called into question.

The problem partially is with scientists in a way, but it's a good problem to have. (Good) Scientists are, by nature, non-committal to fact-based thinking and consistently open to new information that may change their theory. Theories are meant to be questioned.

I think what New Era is saying is that the nature of theories give too much space for idiots who don't even understand them to start questioning them.

This is also why it's completely idiotic when people say "yeah, well scientists have been wrong before." Of course they have. But there is a difference between a theory and a study that shows a link between two things.

People see one study and go "oh! This causes that!" because one study showed a link and people hear the word theory and go "oh, that's just a guess" because of what the word theory means outside of academics.

That might be the fault of the people, but scientists are notoriously awful at explaining their own information to people who aren't scientists.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Going back to the Trump/Alfa server topic...there may never be evidence that makes it indisputable that something nefarious was going on...but the other possible explanations are so weak...and given the context, its just so alarming.

[jammies]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

That might be the fault of the people, but scientists are notoriously awful at explaining their own information to people who aren't scientists.

It's almost entirely the fault of the average person. Many topics are complex and can't be explained simply and definitively, yet most people seek plain and unambiguous answers anyway.

I don't think it is due to people lacking the intellectual capacity to understand, either. It's just much easier to only engage in superficial and emotional thinking, as that's what humans are good at and have evolved to prefer. We'll be decrying the ignorance of the masses until the benevolent machines either save us from ourselves or put us in zoos as quaint, exotic beasts.

[PepsiFree]

I think I'd thrive in a human zoo.

Just not the Calgary one, I heard they can't even keep fish alive.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by jammies

It's almost entirely the fault of the average person. Many topics are complex and can't be explained simply and definitively, yet most people seek plain and unambiguous answers anyway.
I don't think it is due to people lacking the intellectual capacity to understand, either. It's just much easier to only engage in superficial and emotional thinking, as that's what humans are good at and have evolved to prefer. We'll be decrying the ignorance of the masses until the benevolent machines either save us from ourselves or put us in zoos as quaint, exotic beasts.

And to make matters worse, people tend to be very uncomfortable with holding positions in uncertainty. It simply isn't acceptable for so many people to say "I don't know". They would rather have an answer -- even an untenable one -- than no answer at all. A well-known example of this is 'the God of the gaps'.

[photon]

North Carolina's Republican's efforts to hamstring the incoming governor seem to be over and a success for them, probably the biggest one impacting the elections process making it pretty much impossible for the governor to roll back existing voter suppression efforts and putting Republicans permanently in charge of the board of elections in even numbered election years.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...r-grab/510950/

[PostandIn]

Originally Posted by photon

North Carolina's Republican's efforts to hamstring the incoming governor seem to be over and a success for them, probably the biggest one impacting the elections process making it pretty much impossible for the governor to roll back existing voter suppression efforts and putting Republicans permanently in charge of the board of elections in even numbered election years.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...r-grab/510950/

I don't even live there and this makes my blood boil. The hypocrisy of the outgoing Governor is jaw dropping. Is there anything Republicans aren't going to get? It's unbelievable what's going on in the US. For as much as I disagree with the Second Amendment THESE are the kinds of conditions that the forefathers had in mind that warrant armed insurrection. It's southern-fried Fascism.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump
We should tell China that we don't want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!

Crikey, got to bed Donald.