Lacessit

My urologist in Australia has the qualifications FRCS, FRACS. That's as high up the medical tree as one can get. He's also one of the nicest people I have ever met, Malaysian Chinese. Every time he performs a cystoscopy on me, "obstructive prostate" appears on the post-op report. I have been on finasteride or dutasteride for about 8 years, for BPH. I pee about 2-3 times a night. I asked him if having a TURP would be a preferred option. He said in his experience, 90% of TURP patients develop one or more complications. It did not matter what ablation procedure was used. His advice was to stick with the medication for as long as possible, and regard surgery as a last resort. This is a surgeon who makes over a quarter of a million dollars a year from surgery. My only annoying side effect of finasteride/dutasteride is a significant reduction in libido.

My oncologist sits in a chair all day talking too. I would probably be dead without the medical science she used.

Quite true, scientists are usually not well paid. One has to enjoy the work one does. I did it well enough to get paid above the odds, after saving the company I worked for a lot of money. I made myself quite unpopular with several engineers and one purchasing manager, when my findings conflicted with what they had down as holy writ.

If that's what you learned, you did not become a scientist. You became a PR guy.

Not just the islands......

While the Cambrian period was great for plant life, we are not plants, and we don't have exoskeletons. False equivalence. You post omitted to mention the Cambrian era ended with a mass extinction.

I can't say I have noticed people fumbling with cash, it always seems to be some idiot with a phone. What do you do when your service provider decides to throw a wobbly when you are shopping?

You have it @rse about. One of my chemistry instructors was a M.Sc in organic chemistry. Many years later, I saw him again. He had added M.D. to his name, and specialized in dermatology. He used to joke he chose dermatology because his patients never died, and they never got better.

Obviously, quoting my post in full did not fit your narrative either.

If your time is so valuable, why are you posting here?

Doctors are scientists, and the selection process in terms of becoming a doctor is far more brutal and Darwinian than anyone getting a degree in physics, chemistry or biology. You think a surgeon waltzes into an operating room brandishing a newly minted degree? It takes years of understudying with more experienced surgeons before they can pick up a scalpel. The expertise required to read an X'ray , CAT scan, ultrasound or ECG does not come out of a cereal box.

How many people do you see with the app prepared? Maybe it has not occurred to you the people waiting in a queue behind whatever retard is fumbling with their phone, have got better things to do with their time.

The first thermoscope was invented in 1592. It could only measure temperature changes, not specific measurements. There is no accurate answer to your question. Red Indians in America and Aborigines in Australia did not have thermometers to get average data until 300 years later. Asking scientists to measure the temperature from ice cores and tree rings over a 10 year period in the Middle Ages is too small a time span. Try 100 years, you might get an answer. We know the average sea temperature has risen by 1.1 C since the Industrial Revolution. We also know CO2 levels have gone from 300 ppm to 420 ppm. QED.

Probably doped up? Your opinion, unbacked by any evidence. Given Trump shows complete reluctance to release any medical records, how many pills do you think he's popping? There are yes men, and there are yes sir how high men. Biden lost 2 cabinet level people via retirement in his tenure. Trump lost 14, many by firings when they did not say yes. https://www.govexec.com/management/2024/03/biden-administration-has-far-less-turnover-trump-does-impact-agency-performance/395271/

Biden was quite cogent when he gave his State of the Union address. Trump got him confused in the debate. To say he was doolally for his entire presidency is drawing the longest of long bows. The right conveniently forgets Biden surrounded himself with competent advisers. Trump is repeating history by appointing toadies and yes-men. We all know what a sh!tshow that turned out to be the first time. Perish the thought you should admit it, though.

Being on the right means you are always right, in spite of overwhelming evidence you are not.

Usual snark to be expected from you. Bye-bye.

Perhaps you are not aware Trump plans to increase the military budget, by about $100 billion. AI works the same way as any other computer. Garbage in, garbage out.

1/ In his last presidency, he milked $240 million from American taxpayers by playing golf on his properties, then having his secret service detail billeted on said properties at an average of $800,000 each time. He played golf over 300 times. 2/ The poor saps who depend on social security and food stamps, of course. 3/ RFK is an antivaxxer, and antifluoride crusader. You might trust a guy who says a worm ate his brain, I don't. Crazy as a bedbug.

In Australia, I simply place my Visa debit card on the device, and my account is debited. The process takes seconds. In Thailand, people at checkouts faff about on their phones for minutes. One would think they would learn to use the <deleted> things after the first few times, but no.

Trump has got what he wants from the voters. A get out of jail free card. More opportunities to bilk taxpayers. If you think he's not going to throw some of the people who voted for him under a bus, you are delusional. Appointing a recovering heroin addict as his Health czar, what could go wrong?

Please explain how imposing tariffs and cutting taxes will improve the USA's budget mess.

We can do something about the amount of carbon dioxide we generate. AFAIK nothing can be done to prevent generation of water vapor. Every 1 degree C increase in temperature results in the atmosphere holding 7% more water.

I tend to agree a lot of money dedicated to climate change is badly directed. Carbon Capture and Storage ( CCS ) is an example, thermodynamic BS. There is not a single CCS facility operating to design specifications. Billions have been wasted on white elephants. A 1.1 degree C change in ocean temperature doesn't sound like much. In fact, it represents a massive amount of energy. The Russian Tsar Bomba is the most powerful nuke ever detonated. It produced an energy output of 2 X 10*17 joules. The total volume of the world's oceans is approximately 1.335 billion cubic kilometres. To raise the temperature of the world's oceans by a single degree requires 5,45 X 10*24 joules. I.e 7 orders of magnitude greater than the Tsar Bomba.

Back in Australia, there is a Mitsubishi Magna. I fitted it with LPG after-market at 80,000 km. It's now on 330,000 km. Nothing wrong with the engine, the transmission is a bit fragile. I guess the best way to find out whether an engine has hardened valve seats is to ask the manufacturer. At a Thai garage, it's possible you will be told what they think you want to hear.