The Skeptics Guide to the Universe Forum

Twitter or "X" is going to die and be a shell of what it once was and the only person that Musk has to blame is himself. Hope he learns from this, but he won't.

Drugs currently are not legal and thats exactly what happens.
Like with free speech, a line has to be drawn somewhere for social good.
People should not be able to decide their own antibiotic prescription and dose for example.
Alcohol is currently legal and expensive and most people do not drink moonshine.
Smokes are the same. Theres a niche (but lucrative) market for cheap ones but on the whole, people pay for them or try to quit.
Im ok with food standards being raised to the point where junk food is impossible if the evidence shows it will aid public health.
I dont think prohibition is generally a good option for most things though. It just seems to benefit the budget of enforcers of the policy and the dealers and crushes poor people in between the two.
I do think there could be an argument for banning certain individuals from buying alcohol and requiring a license to buy it as opposed to just going by age. If you prove you cant handle it, you dont get to buy it.
I can immediately see a lot of problems with it though.

I feel like The Librarians doesnt really work if you havent seen the made for tv movie series.
And then it barely works.

Should all drugs be legal? Should anybody be able to take whatever drug they like? Anti-vaxxers believe that people should be able to take whatever quack remedies they like, which effectively means that anybody can prescribe any drugs to anybody who cares to take their advice. Most of us here go to a medical doctor when we get sick in order to get science-based advice on what, if any, medicine we should take. Any substance that has an effect generally has several effects and a doctor is educated in the art and science of balancing the positive against the negative. And we have laws to prevent quacks from putting up a shingle and prescribing actually harmful drugs that don't do anything positive. But if all drugs are legal, then any self-styled "wellness guru" can prescribe actual medicines for conditions where they are counter-indicated. It's bad enough that homeopaths and naturopaths can promote and sell their nostrums. Making all drugs completely legal will take us back to the days of snake-oil salesmen, because "people have a right to take whatever they want." This is in fact what the anti-vaxxers want.

Also, if all drugs are legal, most drug users will get their drugs on the street, where they'll be cheaper, and where there's no regulation on purity or labeling. I.e., you think you're getting heroine but unbeknownst to you or your dealer on the street, it's actually fentanyl and you die of an overdose. Or it's laced with horse tranquilizer. Or maybe it's just milk sugar and you're cheated out of your money.

I think we need regulation of drugs. We just shouldn't be filling our prisons with users.

Quote from: Pogues frontman and songwriter Shane MacGowan dies aged 65The death has been announced of Pogues frontman and songwriter Shane MacGowan. He was 65 and had been ill for some time.

In a statement shared on social media, The Pogues wrote: "It is with the deepest of sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Shane MacGowan.

"Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning with his wife Victoria and family by his side."

MacGowan had been receiving treatment at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin for several months. He was discharged on 22 November and returned home to spend time with his friends and family.

In the 1980s, he led the Irish punk band who are best known for their hit festive song Fairytale Of New York which was released in 1987.

In a post on Instagram, MacGowan's wife, Victoria Mary Clarke wrote: "There's no way to describe the loss that I am feeling and the longing for just one more of his smiles that lit up my world.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music.

"You will live in my heart forever. Rave on in the garden all wet with rain that you loved so much"

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2023/1130/1419329-pogues-frontman-shane-macgowan-dies-aged-65/

What an absolute giant, and every dentist's dream. Didn't produce a lot of music lately, but he will be sorely missed.

Connections
Puzzle #172
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟩🟦🟦🟦
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩

but is it happy?

At least we'll still get to cringe at the disgusting, fawning obituaries that Obama, Biden, Clinton, Starmer, Blair, etc. posted or will be posting on the subject one last time.

Quote from: werecow on November 28, 2023, 05:15:16 PMWatching the first episode of The Librarians. So far I kind of hate it. The characters are all Mary Sue types who struggle with nothing and between them know everything. They solve puzzles mere nanoseconds after they arrive on scene and the whole thing is basically them coasting through their adventure while being magic and smug about it (except for the one character who does math because she's the token modest nerdy character). This worked for me in Eureka and Warehouse 13 because the characters sometimes ran into actual trouble, but so far nothing has really gone wrong for these guys. Yawn.

I remember dropping this show early on back in the day for all of the same reasons.