Slashdot Mirror
The Man Behind Online Porn's 'Steve Lightspeed'
Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "'In the online pornography business, just about everybody has heard of Steve Lightspeed,' who runs a network of sites, reports the Wall Street Journal Online. 'But few in the porn world know much about Steve Jones, the 39-year-old married father of two behind the Lightspeed persona -- and that's the way he wants to keep it.' In WSJ.com's profile of Jones, tension between his job and the rest of his life is evident: 'He said he and his wife mostly socialize with others inside the porn business, in part because it avoids the awkwardness of explaining his line of work. "Most of our friends tend to be in the industry," he said. Relationships with family members can also be tricky. Mr. Jones's mother works for Lightspeed Media, handling customer service duties, but he said some relatives don't know about his work and likely wouldn't approve.'"
'But few in the porn world know much about Steve Jones, the 39-year-old married father of two behind the Lightspeed persona -- and that's the way he wants to keep it.' I hear slashdot is a great place for a porn king to be noticed.
..nobody seems to know anything about
..don't panic
Cool. The Wall Street Journal is submitting their own articles to Slashdot now. Nothing like a little free advertising.
Download my free songs!
...which it'd be hard to assume it isn't, then sir, I owe you a drink.
Informatus Technologicus
now there's some news for nerds.
Linux : Hotrod
"Lightspeed fits today's active life style, whether you're on the job or having fun. Lightspeed Briefs - style and comfort for the discriminating crotch."
The owls are not what they seem
"Uhh, he brings much joy to Slashdotters around the world."
Friends don't let friends line-dance.
Indeed. This man is a hero.
WANNAWIKI Wannawiki WannaWiki WANNAWIKI!
I am unsure as to why this is news. Subject X works in the Y industry, an industry not looked upon with great respect by a majority of the public. Because of this X does not want his family to know he works in the Y industry and generally associates with people from the Y industry so as to avoid embarassment due to his profession.
You know you want google to always remember you searched for Tawnee Stone. How old is she now, like, 25?
"But few in the porn world know much about Steve Jones, the 39-year-old married father of two behind the Lightspeed persona -- and that's the way he wants to keep it."
Have no worries, your secrets are safe with us.
... but he said some relatives don't know about his work ...
They do now.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
I'm not at all clear why this is a story for Slashdot.
Having an successful Internet business doesn't make an interesting in and of itself.
Is this supposed to make those of us not in the porn business feel grateful that we don't have his problems?
Steve Jones, the 39-year-old married father of two behind the Lightspeed persona -- and that's the way he wants to keep it
So now they did told us his real name... well here is my piece of mind:
I really envy Steve Jones for having that cool job!
There.. Wallstreet.. no go and whinge somewhere else... Maybe on some christian board or such... BTW.. aren't christians those who makes holes into their condoms?
Excellent! I'm all set to follow in his footsteps!
A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
"Mr. Jones's mother works for Lightspeed Media, handling customer service duties..." I'm sorry but that just makes me LOL!
Steve -- http://tail-f.net/
Yeah right. And Steve Ballmer's children have never touched an iPod or used Google.
They'll have an idea something is not quite right. Moving house because the neighbours won't let you play with their kids? Not at all suspicious.
Keep up the good work though, Superdad! Shame you can't get that bumper sticker "Your AP kid gets DP'd by my kids".
Hey, they make it easy for you to submit it to digg and slashdot. And those links seem to be part of their page template. Could be a wave of the future. Provide links from your material so people can easily submit it to other websites as "news".
Now, if there was some way to submit slashdot stories to Novell
I have no problem with WSJ submitting one or two articles that we might like now and again, but if it happens more than a couple of times, I'll start getting really worried.
Bottom line: The occasional submission; OK, regular submissions; they're using us.
Obligatory Soundbite Catchphrase
What a complete waste of space - this 'news' is ... and bogus too. Why else would someone who is trying to keep their 'illicit' job a secret - let the Wall Street Journal cover it?
Idiotic.
Shame you can't get that bumper sticker "Your AP kid gets DP'd by my kids".
That got a guffaw out of me. I'm sorry I used up all my mod points in the Vista Aero piracy thread.
I read the article and had the same "meh" reaction as well. There's really nothing about porn as a business - I assume there is some actual reason for entertaining lavishly at one of these conventions. The article makes a brief mention of business connections, but doesn't really go into how they work.
Porn jokes aside, I'm kind of interested in how that business actually works. Does Jones generate all of his own content? Does he license content from other providers? How does he handle distribution of physical inventory? How do contracts with stars work? How does he deal with credit card fraud? There actually could be a business story behind this. WSJ just decided to say that porn is naughty and pornographers have to live in secrecy. Ho-hum.
Anyone have any more interesting information about the guy, the business, or his business model? For example - how much he pays x model for a photoshoot, how much he profits, etc etc etc
That would be far better reading than this article.
Work will reimburse my MBA classes, and $30/month seems like a great deal on tuition either way! Hope I can keep my grades up!
As an ardent [hetero] consumer of Internet pr0n, I have to ask, "why should I care about male porn stars?"
Great, exploit other people's family members, just not his. Personally, if I was working in something that I was ashamed to tell my family members about I think I'd rather be digging ditches.
gigitty gigitty gigitty - Quagmire
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
One thing I wanna know about the industry is the background of the personnel, and how they came up with all those catchy movie names. Explicit yet subtle: "Mission to Uranus" or "Bottom Feeders"
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
Steve Lightspeed - He seems to enjoy his job.
I don't see anything morally wrong with it, as long as it is done by consenting adults. It's entertainment.
...when they become teenagers.
Joe Ordinary: "I found my dad's secret porn stash - four copies of Hustler!".
Lightspeed Jr: "*cough*, well..."
I have a feeling they'll be very popular at High School :)
-- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
Lightspeed manages to find the right girls. Not always the hottest, but the ones you might really want to be with.
And if you've ever watched the Tawny Stone videos...that girl is a clown, and a freak. Not a bad combo.
No reason to lie.
How the summary is written...
Steve Jones, the 39-year-old married father of two behind the Lightspeed persona
...before I started reading the comments, I thought that this guy sent his two girls to work in his business.....or two boys (!?!?)
I think you have vastly overestimated the worth of living in the "real world" (which I believe we are defining as average folk, so most slashdotters said adieu to that part of society many times over). I can't imagine a single interesting person I know that would stigmatize someone for working in the pornography business. Now, I'm aquainted with a hundred or so uninteresting, uninspired (but generally nice, if not misguided) folk that would ostracize such a fellow; but in all honesty, if I had some attribute that culled the time spent with people I'm just not impressed or interested in I would call it a blessing. There are, of course, a few exceptions... but nothing a good heart and personality wouldn't fix.
Ex nihilo nihil fit.
No differnt than people that look at porn. Would you like it if it was you daughter, mother, sister, wife, or girlfriend in that picture or movie?
If the answer to any of those is no then join club Lightspeed.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
'till I had to look at them all day...
As his children get closer to adulthood, he said, he'll explain what their parents do. "I wouldn't mind if my kids get involved in this business," he said. Then he added: "Behind the scenes."
These statements are in no way contradictory or hypocritical. Steve is behind the scenes, and is recommending the same to his children.
There may be more to Steve Lightspeed than I know, but I've seen some of his work and it was primarily very young and young looking girls doing naked dances and/or heavy petting with another similar girl. Jordan Capri was/is his star model, and she is extremely cute. AFAIK, there is no guy/girl stuff or hardcore, just cuties being cute.
In my eye, its not even porn. But there is no clear definition of porn at this time.
I thought the same at first, too. Then I realized, this is no different than what any other parent would say.
;) I'm sure even most garbage men would prefer their kids go off to college and become doctors/et cetera.
We all love the garbage men as well, who come and pick up our trash and thus keep our properties from becoming landfills. Yet, nobody really wants their kid to become a garbage man.
The best part of this article is easily this quote from Mr. Jones, "'I drive an old, beat-up minivan.'" He sounds very respectable and trustworthy.
And it's as simple as that, even if you yourself are in the porn business. If only more parents would take the time to do this, we wouldn't suffer the spectacle of holier-than-thou types demanding that the government step in and place the entire Internet under a giant, child-proof cap.
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
NOT WORK SAFE
which it'd be hard to assume it isn't, then sir, I owe you a drink.
You don't owe him anything. If anything, he owes you a few boxes of tissues.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
I wonder if you work for Lightspeed Media Corp, do you get in trouble if porn is NOT found on your PC?
Never seen a "garbage collector" salary report, have you? You'd be surprised I think - they make nothing starting out but eventually they get paid pretty well. Better than a lot of jobs out there, and usually with very good insurance.
And yes, I actually do know a couple of people that "always wanted" to be garbage men.
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
There are several resources you can use to answer some or all of your questions. avn.com and ynotmasters.com among them.
Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
Ted Striker: My orders came through. My squadron ships out tomorrow. We're bombing the storage depots at Daiquiri at 1800 hours. We're coming in from the north, below their radar.
Elaine Dickinson: When will you be back?
Ted Striker: I can't tell you that. It's classified.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
I am unsure as to why this is a comment. User X remarks about Slashdot story Y, an blog not looked upon with great respect by a majority of the public. Because of this X does not want his family to know he remarks about Y blog and generally associates with people from the Y blog so as to avoid embarassment due to his profession.
"The man behind Online Pr0n's Steve Lightspeed" seemed to indicate the story would not be about him, but about some other dude.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
In my eye, its not even porn. But there is no clear definition of porn at this time.
Yeah, if you don't start with a horse, a midget, a tub of lard and a big blue tarp it hardly qualifies.
Then there's San Francisco. I stop in at a bondage shop to see a friend who works there and find the manager, a striking blonde who's been in several pornos and is unashamed about it, working the cash register. She usually has her clerks doing that, and I ask her where everyone is. "Oh, they're at dildo training".
Guess his secret is safe enough, even if that is his real name. I bet they DID obfuscate it, anyway.
Obligatory Soundbite Catchphrase
IMHO, once chicks start getting spread-eagled, they've crossed the line from erotica to porn.
"Cuties being cute" would be more along the lines of non-nude or teasing-but-still-barely-non-nude. Lightspeed stuff qualifies as solo porn.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
It seems to me that for someone to be concerned about shielding his children, etc. and that people who find out won't let their kds play with his because they don't like his business, and this bothers him, perhaps he should find another line of work.
I'm not a troll, but I play one on Slashdot.
Yet, nobody really wants their kid to become a garbage man. ;)
Amusingly enough a friend of mine (he and his wife are both college/university professors) with a young son said basically "after what I've been through I might go ahead and tell my kid to be a garbage man or a truck driver."
Daddy keeps peoples self winding watches fully wound up :]
The story was interesting. In fact, many WSJ stories are interesting. And they want exposure ( as many readers as possible). What is wrong with that?
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Your daddy is dropping incendiary bombs on innocents in some Middle-East backwater.
Your mommy works with Merck and helps people lead better lives through pharma.
When you grow up, you can take over the helm of the WalMega Corp and provide fine products to the poor workers that aren't getting living wages, and that can't afford the products unless we also offer them banking services (loans).
Our congressman/person is an upstanding member of our community who has never porked an underage, same-sex, animal/intern. He is only interested in representing our interests.
Fortunately, the end-of-life services provided in the US will make sure that we will rest in peace ($10,000 burial, $200,000 keep-alive-as-long-as-possible hospital stay [not including pain mediation], post-interrment removal of body parts.)
Whoops, I got off-topic...
Was i the only one expecting this guy to resemble quagmire? Giggity Giggity Giggity!
I Predict A Riot
But I guess that should be expected for an article about pr0n :P
For some reason I think Slashdot is being invaded by Fark.
Do you really think that googling "Steve Jones" is going to result in a plethora of focused information?
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
To you and middle America, maybe. Personally, I'd rather socialize with him than with someone who works for Microsoft or Halliburton. Now there are some jobs I see as having social stigma.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Interesting to think that FidoNet may have been the cradle of the king of cyber-porn.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
I always wonder what some names really mean. For example, before I read the article I assumed "lightspeed" was an indicator of ... well ... something else.
I wish the article would say a little more about how he got started and also how he got his wife and mom?!? (wtf?) involved. That just seems odd. I wonder how many porn company owners have either their wife or mother working for them?
"...he and his wife mostly socialize with others inside the porn business.." And that's a bad thing? Damn, I wish I had those problems!
For those bitching that this isn't news: maybe you're right, but put the word "porn" in the title and it'll get posted on slashdot!
YES4Adults discussion forums!
You gotta be kiddin' me.
"Kids, I just want you to know that we would be very proud for you to be in the family business. We're very proud of our business. Uh, NOT the product, mind you, just the business.
"You'll go into the 'production' end over my dead body."
Your take on this is like saying it's "not hypocritical" for a narco-trafficker to punish his kids for taking drugs.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
The first time I went to Burning Man (2003 - late in the game), I was intrigued by the number of "naked people". Not oogling them or judging them, or anything, but interested in the fact of the sheer number. By the end of that first day, it all became a part of the background. The environment of the nudists seemed to me just as normal as the clothed members...
I would imagine that the porn industry would be the same in regards to the models. Thinking about that, and hardcore pornography - seems like it would be a fairly crappy job, because of the routine - which is exactly opposite of the "fantasy" ideas of the profession. But it has to be true...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
What a nice chap. Quagmire indeed.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
>But there is no clear definition of porn at this time.
I can't claim I made this up but I read a great definition hereabouts, that I think is absolutely accurate: "if you lose interest in it once you've come, it's porn."
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
YouStockIt - Education through Unorthodox Methods
I know exactly zero people. (But then again, maybe I know a lot of people and just don't know it). This story is interesting because there's just not a lot of coverage of people that work in pornography outside of the scandalous stories about models destroying their lives with drug addictions. I don't have any problem with porn, but I'd be equally interested in a story about a spammer (which I do have a problem with) and what he tells his family and friends what he does.
Face it. People that work in industries not officially approved of by society (but which the majority of the populace have bought at some point) is fascinating. Your attempt to generisize it through person X and Industry Y really misses the point. I don't know any person Xs who work for Industry Y. If most people did, this story would be rather boring.
AccountKiller
Also, any info on where he found Jordan? She is certainly cute and seems to have a nice personality.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
(Note: I'm in Ireland)
I used to run a network of adult websites. I also had to hide this fact from people. Not because I think there is anything wrong with porn, or becuase I'm ashamed or anything like that - I had to hide it because quite a lot of people associate porn with child porn. Obviously this is retarded, but I got tired of having to explain myself.
It was funny - generally, guys would have great respect for my producing and publishing porn. Girls would either hate me or love me (normally the former.)
A lot of people would look at me like I was a danger to society, yet afterwards they'd go to the pub, get drunk and fuck some stranger (a typical Friday night in Dublin.) Yet somehow this was perfectly acceptable to them, but I was the weird one...
PS - HA! The spam verification image for this post is "fondling"!!!!!
You gotta be kiddin' me.
No, I'm not.
"Kids, I just want you to know that we would be very proud for you to be in the family business. We're very proud of our business. Uh, NOT the product, mind you, just the business.
"You'll go into the 'production' end over my dead body."
Your take on this is like saying it's "not hypocritical" for a narco-trafficker to punish his kids for taking drugs.
Basic human needs and desires are established via culture and biology. Sex and altered states of consciousness are both part of every society known to mankind. Sex is a need, not a want. If I were to stop thinking about sex, it would require castration. Just ask your local Catholic priest. Even after castration, some animals engage is reflexive sexual behavior when they are young.
Seeing young cuties on a computer or TV screen is an outlet for many. Its cited in many research publications that unwed pregnancy, child porn, molestations, and similar sex problems or crimes are directly proportional to the societal acceptance and openness associated with sex.
Hypocrisy is denying and ignoring the human need for sex. Myths like adultery is merely thinking of sex with another person besides your spouse does not agree with human nature or any animal that reproduces via sex with another animal. Besides myths about immaculate conception and humans being delivered to the Earth via aliens, sex is where most people come from. The human population is actually growing faster than people are dieing, so somewhere, somehow, when noone is looking, sex is going on.
The Jesus guy I'm familiar with seemed to hang around with lepers and hookers. He wasn't much for tax-collectors (but, really, who is?). I think the parent is a wee bit confused.
If they did use Jones in leiu of his real name, they missed a golden opportunity. How much harder would it have been to call him Johnson instead? Richard Johnson, there's a pseudonym for you.
"Linux doesn't exist. Everyone knows Linux is an unlicensed version of Unix"- Kieren O'Shaughnessy
As others found out.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
As in "he does it really really fast?"
I thought women were always complaining that it doesn't last long enough? As in
"Why are bull-riding cowboys lousy lovers? Because they think eight seconds is a long ride!"
then a lot of men are married to porn stars
There's an excellent thread in the Something Awful forums right now:
= bbaeae202b50ae5b572834cc5a1ae2dc&threadid=1773429
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s
The gassed almost six million apostrophes in WWII.
Looks like I'm amongst an army of horndogs when it comes to her.
So he wants to keep his children away from it and likes to keep it a secret, but he doesn't mind exploiting other peoples children (aka, "barely legal/18" "youthful models")? He makes these girls look younger than 18? Why even have a family? Why stay with his wife and daughter? Maybe he wants to bring her into the business when she becomes "barely legal". "Everyone thinks we're all involved in every dirty piece of the business. It's really not like that." That's basically like a general telling his troops to go attack a village - he's not actually going into the battle and slaughtering people himself, he just puts out the order, his hands are clean. "Our goal was to make a little extra money for our kids' college fund." So exploit a young college girl whose father is trying to put through college so you can pay for your daughter to go to college? Any chance of a repeating cycle there? I've heard that what goes around comes around, and it may prove true in this case - though I doubt that he will object, as I said he's probably setting her up for a career in it as well. Why have his daughter go to college? So she doesn't have to resort to porn? So why help another college girl resort to porn? A master of hypocrisy he is. Interesting that his mother works for him - that says a LOT. Poor man, he never decided to break the cycle. He has sold his soul to his studity, so naive of the consequences that will follow. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, Steve.
It doesn't really matter to him, I suspect, since he's working 7 days a week I doubt he sees much of his kids at all.
Chances are good his kids know exactly what he does, and perhaps feel some sense of shame since he does something that he so disapproves of that he doesn't want to tell them.
But it's ok, since they've got their own computers and the internet to babysit them.
-Adam
IMHO, once chicks start getting spread-eagled, they've crossed the line from erotica to porn.
"Cuties being cute" would be more along the lines of non-nude or teasing-but-still-barely-non-nude. Lightspeed stuff qualifies as solo porn.
As I said, there is no generally accepted definition of "porn" beyond that its generally associated with sexual content via some form of media. I'm not sure, but I don't think strip clubs are considered porn. Prime time TV ads in some countries would be considered porn in others. Its all relative.
Oh, TubeSteak seems appropriate username for this discussion.
He has a nice business, a dozen of employees get a living thanks to it. Models are paid. Customers get what they were looking for. He doesn't promote anykind of violence. There is strictly nothing to be ashamed about. He should be proud of his achievment.
:-) but...Sincerily what is the worst? Producing a movie glorifying the war; singing how great the drug dealer life can be or making a video clip about a beautiful nude girl?
This is quite strange the fascination/repulsion the society has for this "traditionnal" business. It exists for centuries (first were drawings, then black and white pictures, magazines and now web sites) and so many people are still so unconfortable with it.
I don't want to sound like a hippy
I prefer the last one.
Olivier
Jones is a very common name, not quite as comman as Smith, but very common. Even if you googled it, you'd still comes up with a little of different Steves.
However, still not very kinda/responsible of the article author, unless he got permission to write about Mr. Jones.
I'm very conservative on fiscal matters. That's why I've been voting D. When a Republican sits in the oval office, deficits go up. When a Democrat runs the White House, deficits go down. It's been that way for over a quarter of a century.
I as a nerd am not so interested in the pornbusiness. I can understand the link between the internet and the porn business. But what I don't understand is why this should be stuff that matters and how this is new for nerds. In fact I don't get the news value of this post at all. Being a nerd doesn't mean we wank all day so that these kind of superficial topics would be of any interest.
Get a domain, set up a server, advertise, take some pictures that customers will pay to see, post pictures on the server, and if you're running things correctly, Profit!.
- love their titanium bikes!
:-)
- now if only they'd put out a nice cyclocross Ti bike!
p.s. bah on pr0n! i'm married and have a healthy sex life, unlike many slashdot readers...
What, you want to resign your comission as a scientific officer doing top-secret research for the national Biological/Nuclear/Alien warfare bureau and become a second class again ?
Damn, that's what I call courage...
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
"if you lose interest in it once you've come, it's porn."
That does not seem like a very good definition. Husbands frequently go to sleep after sex, and rinse and repeat the process some other night. Most prostitutes are not that good, so after busting a nut, the prostitute is quickly shown the door. I've never heard of someone losing interest in porn after the first or X number of orgasms.
I guess the best definition of porn is "sensory reproductions of sexually arousing situations often intended for use in masturbation or arousal before a sexual act with another person".
Ha! I should be a lexicographer so I could say, "I know what I'm talking about, I wrote the book".
I'm even a registered R., and I'm hoping that we lose both the House and the Senate, so that we can do a little self evaluation and (hopefully) return to our original principles. The GOP is not walking what they talk.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
If this guy knew what he was doing, he'd have his cable modem/DSL connected to a proxy server that only routes http (e.g. Squid) in a locked closet and tell the kid they can surf whatever they want, but he'll know all about it. That child protection software will do no good once the kid figures out how to download and burn a copy of any live Linux distro...
*** Sigs are a stupid waste of bandwidth.
Of course not! Kids are too precious to be used as target practice.
Now advanced product testing on the other hand...
*** Sigs are a stupid waste of bandwidth.
Just remember that Jesus also didn't hold back, but told people the truth, in love. Jesus was the first one to point out the sins of those around him. The difference between him and the religious leaders of the time was that he offered them the way of forgiveness rather than just condemnation.
So, while I agree that Christians ought to live among non-Christians in response to the great commission, the truth is that morality is often reduced to the lowest common denominator. Not being divine as Jesus is, Christians often have to choose not to associate with some other people so they won't compromise. There must be a balance.
"If men will not be governed by God, they will be ruled by tyrants." - William Penn
Your analogy on this is very sketchy. This guy isn't telling his kids not to consume his products (which is what your analogy is saying). He's not telling his kids not to do what he does. He's telling them not to do a certain job in his company. This seems perfectly reasonable to me.
"If my son wants to be a pimp when he grows up, that's fine with me. I hope he's a good one and enjoys it and doesn't get caught. I'll support him in this. But if he wants to be a network administrator, he's out of the house and not part of my family." Steve Wozniak, http://www.woz.org/
I thought when I threw in my porn webmaster towel and stopped spending half my day on GFY and instead switched to wasting my time on /. that I would also escape having to hear about Steve Lightspeed and Tawnee Stone ever again...I was so wrong! =/
God, I love the circular nature of the net. Notice that the WSJ article links to a wikipedia article that uses the WSF article as its source : )
-Grey
Silver Clipboard: Time Management Tips
That's also assuming that there's no duress involved (Linda Lovelace claimed to have worked at gunpoint, and the UN reports that slavery is on the increase in the US) and that the alternatives are viable (minimum wage is less than half of what's needed for a single person to actually live). One of the problems is that the education needed to get a job worthy of the name is expensive, even though well-paid jobs pay the Government through extra income tax.
It's impossible for anyone to be 100% sure that consent has been given, but if you are confident that it has (within whatever threshold you set for yourself) and that it is likewise genuine, then I can see nothing wrong.
I would add one other proviso - if fMRI scans subsequently prove that there is permanent harm to those sections of the brain involving judgement, then you would also need to give yourself consent to cause that harm, in full knowledge. At this time, no such harm has been proven - all studies have been statistical in nature and no study of actual mechanisms have been bothered with. (Both sides seem to prefer clearly defined regions of doubt and uncertainty, suggesting that most studies are actually being carried out by philosophical white mice.)
Note that this last bit requires a demonstration of actual harm, BUT ALSO allows all individuals concerned the right to override this through personal choice.
Freedom of choice is only meaningful if it allows you to choose something someone else might not like. But it is also only meaningful if you are free to choose, and have a working knowledge of what the choices are.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I've always been taught that it's fine to spend time with anyone, as long as you stay true to God.
For instance, if your neighbor is an alcoholic, invite him over for a BBQ, go with him to the county fair. However, if he's going to a bar, tell him you can't and explain why. Offer alternatives to the bar even.
If it's relevant, tell him about your life and your walk with God. If it's not, don't bring it up. Witness to him by showing him your life with God, not by quoting scripture and telling him he's going to hell.
This is a simplistic view of things, but it get's my point across. BTW, I can't consider myself a christian right now, however I used to be.
Heh, of course he is. He's a dude. If he were the one in front of the camera, he'd be out of business.
So you say that the guys working at Phillip Morris encourage their kids to smoke?
I mean, Im planning on purchasing a franchise for a small convenience store (kinda like 7Eleven), but no way I would be letting my kid work on a place like that...
No sig for the moment.
If only more parents would take the time to do this, we wouldn't suffer the spectacle of holier-than-thou types demanding that the government step in and place the entire Internet under a giant, child-proof cap.
Hey, don't you trample on my rights to be an inept ignorant parent without consequences, you racistsexistbigotedhomophobe.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
If I don't want my child to be a game programmer because the industry abuses them, is that any different from not wanting that child to be a porn star because of the abusive aspects of the industry? Am I then obligated to stop buying video games and viewing porn?
Incredibly NSFW link showing its more than just cute girls being cute:
2 -rev NSFW!!
http://galleries.jordancapri.com/fg/039/?r=nastyf
im just saying, ...
(and now back to #xxxhackedpasses)
Am I then obligated to stop buying video games and viewing porn?
Yes, if you truly believe that buying video games requires its programmers to be treated poorly and the same with your favorite starlet, and you feel bad about the way they are treated, why perpetuate the bad treatment?
Good porn starlets are hard to come by. Many of the longer career ones appear to be very healthy psychologically and are often very intelligent as well. The ones between 18 and 22 or so years old often don't last long. They can't hack it. You know, good game programmers are hard to come by too. They are what, between 18 and 25 years old, or at a max around 30. They are often intelligent as well, and they too don't last long.
Its a tough call. Sometimes I feel bad about buying clothes that I know are made in a sweatshop overseas. Sometimes I feel bad about buying electronics that are manufactured overseas by similar people. I never feel bad about porn stars, prostitutes, or game developers.
So, we both have cognitive dissidence to deal with.
Maybe more like a mine owner not wanting his kids to go into the mines.
Hahaha!
"cognitive dissidence"
I like that, I'm going to use it.