Recent posts

#61

Politics / Re: amerika

Last post by Recusant - February 04, 2026, 05:23:46 AM

I just checked in with a discussion board dominated by fervent Trumpists. The term I came across is "insurrectionists." That is, people who protest against the ICE officers are in rebellion against the operations of a government law enforcement agency. Convenient, because use of lethal force against insurrectionists is "reasonable". A matter of national security if you will. It's pretty clear that at least that discussion board is down with vicious authoritarianism because they agree with its goals. The rhetoric of "deporting criminals" covers a lot of ground with them.

I suppose it stung when the term "insurrectionists" was applied to asshats who beat the crap out of law enforcement while breaking into the Capitol to smear crap on the walls and loot. There is a certain mentality that finds it gratifying to throw something like that back. So what if it's arrived at through bogus means. The people at the Capitol were patriots not insurrectionists, but those lefties deserve everything they get!!

#62

Politics / Re: amerika

Last post by Dark Lightning - February 04, 2026, 12:43:14 AM

I've said that and had MAGAts come back with the claim that there is no activity like in blue cities because the populace is cooperating with ICE. Bunch of jack-booteed government thugs. All these farmers losing their livelihoods. Faces...leopards...

#63

Politics / Re: Duke of Bullshit: "The" Do...

Last post by Dark Lightning - February 04, 2026, 12:40:20 AM

What a man, punching a bunch of girls. Too bad one or more of them didn't have martial arts training. Disgusting.

#64

Politics / Re: Duke of Bullshit: "The" Do...

Last post by Icarus - February 04, 2026, 12:31:45 AM

Maga dude gets his Trump card punched....................
https://imgur.com/gallery/maga-adult-male-assaults-high-school-students-protesting-ice-texas-maga-loves-to-fafo-time-to-find-this-idiot-so-he-can-be-charged-assaulting-minors-sqUdaHm

#65

Politics / Re: amerika

Last post by Icarus - February 04, 2026, 12:04:09 AM

Cincinnati and Columbus will be near the last on the list of victim cities. Ohio is predominately republican and has a substantial MAGA population. 

Perhaps you have observed that the main focus of ICE operations is in Democratic majority cities.

#66

Politics / Re: Duke of Bullshit: "The" Do...

Last post by Icarus - February 03, 2026, 11:57:13 PM

I respectfully disagree Rec. We need not be diplomatic nor bother with polite deception.  I believe that the multi millions of angry demonstrators are not much interested in being polite or diplomatic, not now. We have damned well had very close to all that we can peacefully tolerate.

We have given up on the hope that space aliens will kidnap the mentally and morally disabled Trump. 

#67

Laid Back Lounge / Re: What's on your mind today?

Last post by Icarus - February 03, 2026, 06:02:08 AM

Where is the Asmo?  In fact where are our HAFers who have not posted to this section for a long time.?

#68

Politics / Re: Duke of Bullshit: "The" Do...

Last post by Recusant - February 03, 2026, 12:46:41 AM

Trump is just thumbing his nose at and mooning the world. He wants to appoint Putin to the "Board of Peace" in Gaza. A mass murderer of civilian women and children. A true man of peace.

Tariffs for those who don't support his takeover of Greenland, what a fuckwad.

US has turned loon, how to disentangle?

Carefully and using all the diplomatic tradecraft you have (including polite deception). A powerful and tetchy loon.

Rob Hirst percussionist extraordinaire has died

Yeah, I'd seen that. While this ain't the gone but not forgotten thread, another influential musician has also gone. Billy Bass Nelson, the founding bassist of Funkadelic.

#69

Science / Re: Stonehenge

Last post by zorkan - February 02, 2026, 12:38:50 PM

Last ice sheets melted away from England 10,000 years ago.
They didn't get as far south as the Wiltshire Downs.
Stonehenge only dates from 5,000 years ago.
Stones transported by rafts then rollers from South West Wales is the most likely.

[Abstract:]

#70

Science / Re: Stonehenge

Last post by Recusant - February 01, 2026, 10:13:16 PM

Definitively determined that the stones weren't carried to the Salisbury Plain by glaciers. As much as anything in science is definitive. They failed to find evidence of glaciers. I thought it was already generally agreed among paleontologists/archaeologists that people got the stones there, but of course there would be some who supported an alternate hypothesis. 

"A century-old Stonehenge mystery may finally be solved" | ScienceDaily

New research from Curtin University offers the clearest scientific support so far that people, rather than glaciers, carried Stonehenge's well known bluestones to the ancient monument. The findings take aim at one of archaeology's longest running debates and add weight to the idea that the stones were deliberately moved by human hands.

The study focuses on how the Altar Stone and other massive rocks ended up at Stonehenge, a question that has puzzled researchers for generations. By ruling out natural ice driven transport, the research strengthens the case for purposeful human planning and effort.

To investigate the stones' journey, Curtin scientists used advanced mineral "fingerprinting" methods to study microscopic grains found in rivers near Salisbury Plain in southern England. These tiny mineral fragments act like geological time capsules, preserving evidence of how sediments moved across Britain over millions of years.

Using world leading instruments at Curtin's John de Laeter Centre, the team examined more than 500 zircon crystals. Zircon is one of the toughest minerals on Earth, making it ideal for tracking ancient geological processes.

Lead author Dr. Anthony Clarke from the Timescales of Minerals Systems Group in Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences said the analysis revealed no indication that glaciers ever reached the Stonehenge area.

"If glaciers had carried rocks all the way from Scotland or Wales to Stonehenge, they would have left a clear mineral signature on the Salisbury Plain," Dr. Clarke said.

"Those rocks would have eroded over time, releasing tiny grains that we could date to understand their ages and where they came from.

"We looked at the river sands near Stonehenge for some of those grains the glaciers might have carried and we did not find any. That makes the alternative explanation - that humans moved the stones - far more plausible."

[Continues . . .]

The paper is open access:

"Detrital zircon–apatite fingerprinting challenges glacial transport of Stonehenge's megaliths" | Nature Communications Earth & Environment

Abstract:

How Stonehenge's building blocks arrived on Salisbury Plain remains debated, with glacial and human transport mechanisms proposed.

Here we test the possibility of Pleistocene glacial sediment input using grain-scale U–Pb fingerprinting of detrital zircon and apatite from modern stream sediments surrounding Stonehenge. Zircon ages span 3396–285 Ma, with age peaks at ~1090, 1690, and 1740 Ma, matching the Laurentian basement of northern Britain.

Salisbury Plain detrital zircon ages match those of southern British rocks sourced from the London Basin, implying local sediment recycling rather than glaciogenic transport. Apatite ages of ~60 Ma reflect post-depositional U–Pb resetting, consistent with the distal effects of the Alpine orogeny.

Collectively, our data show Salisbury Plain remained unglaciated during the Pleistocene, making direct glacial transport of Stonehenge's megaliths unlikely.