"Putting things on your Kindle without Amazon's help involves a USB cable and copying files to the right place on the Kindle's filesystem using Windows Explorer"
This sounds easy enough. The time needed is way shorter than the time needed to read the book anyway. And, since when using Explorer is considered difficult?
I probably made myself unclear. My frustration was only that the media in BG was silent about the cable and the people discussing the issue never bother to look for diverse sources of information. That's why I want to just shout once - go and look elsewhere too!
I have explained my motifs and my frustration (which led to stronger language that I intended) in other posts above.
BTW, an interesting observation - a few posts pointed out to me that I used too strong of a word. That is true, of course, but the thing is , it is part of being "oriental". Somewhere in the beginning of the 20th century (if memory serves) an Iranian sociologist married American woman and they lived in both places. He later wrote a book about the cultural misunderstanding between the west and the east. One of the golden sentences went something like this:
"The Oriental is annoyed by the Westerner because he always says less that he means, whereas the Westerner is annoyed because the Oriental always says more than he means."
Agreed. My choice of words was colored by emotion. BTW, I found out recently where the word "idiot" is coming from. According to what I read, in ancient Greece and idiot is someone who always acts in his our interest only often harming the society in which he lives. Something like a super-ego, or a sociopath.
The major source of my frustration is that "divide and conquer" seems to work so damn well. I used to participate actively in BG political forums but I quickly discovered that any subject of discussion must fit in either "left, Russia, socialism" or "right, America, capitalism" paradigm. It's just so silly - why should you stick to the whole package? Why not take some good stuff from America and some from Russia? What's wrong with BG looking for the best deal for the Bulgarians? The moment I try to take reasonable (middle) ground I was immediately attacked by the commies for being "judeo-christian imperialist" AND by the right-wingers for being "idiotic, blinded, godless communist". I gave up writing a few years back....
To add insult to injury now I experience the same "dualism" in my everyday life. For the people back home I am already "a westerner" and for the ones here I will remain forever "oriental". How can explain that such dualism, when used wisely, frees oneself from plenty of cultural biases, because you can see (if you make the effort) both system "from the outside".
Of course, we will never know. I think the leak is genuine, but perhaps the diplomats got the picture wrong? Nobody is flawless. There are of course many more aspects to this story - who is going to build the power station, what type the reactors are, how the contracts will be distributed, cost of running, est.... Unfortunately, BG suffers from wide spread corruption, so even if something positive is about to happen, it can still go wrong simply due to poor and ineffective execution of the plan.
I turned the "human condition" or "why people are the way they are" in my hobby for life. I use every spare minute of my humble existence to think, talk, read and write about it.
I should laugh more - it's a valuable survival strategy when dealing with this particular subject...
You know, I was expecting your post to be modded up, but no. Alas, I spent my mod points yesterday.
Anyway, here is a funny thing. My country (Bulgaria) was building for many years a second nuclear power plant. The first one was almost completely closed because EU would not accept us with it (the reactors were dangerous bla bla..). So, since few years a massive debate about the second one rages across the media. Over time the two major opinions settled as such:
The so-called progressive, right wing, pro-western people are against it, because, they say it will need the Russians for the fuel and processing the waste. So we will INCRESE our energy dependence from Russia.
The left-leaning, pro-Russian crowd is for it. As you can guess their motives are exactly like the one above, only in their book this is a good thing.
There was of course the infinitely small minority of realists and nerds who were always for it, because of reality (let’s not go deeper into this – why nuclear power is back in the world and why did it take 50 years to realize the obvious)
And then Wikileaks came around. And one of the cables was dealing exactly with this power station. Now, pay attention:
According to the American diplomats in Bulgaria building the station DECREASES our energy dependence from Russia and Russian oil and gas tycoons intentionally crafted the anti- power station propaganda. The cable explains the logic behind this statement at length; I won’t reproduce it here.
I almost fell from the chair reading this cable. Why, oh why I don’t have the possibility to high jack all the media in BG and just shout, “Go read the cable, you idiots!” The people still argue like crazy about the issue and none has read the wikileaks. What a bunch of idiots we humans are, no?
how the Net opened our eyes to who we are? I mean, we are all afraid of surveillance and data mining by great powers - corporations and governments. But the greatest abuse IMO is done by common people on other common people.
Think about it - nowadays you go to an interview for a job. It usually starts with the HR department. They check your online activities and find something that makes you unsuitable in their opinion. But wait, who is deciding you are unsuitable? A common employee from the HR. Sometimes there are company guidelines but often there aren't any. The spread of information gives EVERYONE the possibility to evaluate everyone else and all of a sudden not only your professional credentials are under scrutiny but also the rest of your character. The availability of this personal information makes the process EVER MORE SUBJECTIVE. We are people - we are "trained" by evolution and society to judge. Constantly. And we are always biased.
What I want to say but cannot find the right expressions is that perhaps the sharing of so much personal information is not good. For all of us. We cannot handle it. Just like personal freedom in society is difficult to handle, because it comes with responsibility, this access to personal information also demands that we are not blinded by our own bias (or keep it to a minimum at least). That's a very tall order for most humans. Very tall...
Look, it is no good to reason about this idea within the paradigm in which we live. I see that most replies fall into this category. My idea is based on simple logic and reality. I do not address the really big problem - the paradigm shift that our civilization desperately needs. I have no idea how to bring about such shift, nor I know what the new paradigm will look like. How could I? But what we know, I think, is this:
1. Our Ponzi scheme is unsustainable and ultimately will bring our destruction. 2. Unlimited growth in finite system is doom to end with cannibalism 3. The effectiveness of using natural resources is dismally low in our civilization. We are not sophisticated at all. 4. Our system is incredibly short-sighted and happily destroys immensely valuable, sustainable wealth for temporarily profit.
Have you asked yourself why science is under attack recently? It is not only the "religion strikes back" phenomenon. For the first time in the history of mankind science (en masse) turns towards society and says "we are doing it wrong and we will suffer the consequences". To my great disappointment nobody wants to hear this message, much less act on it. But I cannot brush it aside for it is reality. And facts are the most stubborn thing in the Universe.
So with my feeble mind and limited life experience I am trying to think of a solution. Much more important - I try to make people see this down-to-earth point of view and act on it. I don't want people to accept solution that I like or think is correct. I just want them to realize the truth about the condition of man and his position in the Universe.
Stephen Hawking does not agree with me, for instance. Remember, he advocated cancellation of our attempts to send signals to aliens because they will come and take the Earth from us. I find this idea incredibly stupid (due respect to Stephen for his brilliance otherwise). What can you find on Earth as resources that is not present in humongous quantities on some lifeless rock in space? What would Earth give the aliens that they already do not posses? Habitable planets? First: do they have a metabolism suitable for Earth? Second: Anyone who found a way to cross the interstellar distances faster than light surely can terraform almost any planet they like. One day, if we survive, Mars and Venus will be made habitable. Third: You know the math (and surely the aliens know it too) - give instantaneous travel to all habitable planets in the Universe to humanity and in 3000 years we will fill them. What next? The good old "kill thy neighbor, take his wife and livestock"? What if the aliens are really out there and some of them passed by Earth, say 100 million years ago and they had the mentality we have now?
"Hey Joe, there are only animals down here, some bloody dinosaurs (not even cute blue-skinned primitive peoples). Let's get that planet!"
Again, do not try to reason my idea from present day economics point of view. Of course it is not possible. I am talking about the time when the motivation of humans will be different.
I know how to fix the problem of employer-employee relation and as a bonus the majority of the problems of civilization will be dealt with too.
Here it is: The active, working population on Earth is N and remains N (slight fluctuations of course). The available jobs are always N+1. End of troubles. Forever.
There can never be fair exchange and fair deal if the supply of people is greater than the demand. In strict economic sense the human life and effort are the cheapest commodity on the planet. A racing horse costs more than a man. A tiger does (there are few hundred of them left in the wild). The list is endless.... Are we surprised that things go wrong? Take a historical example - the lives of peasants during the Middle ages in Europe. Their situation drastically improved after the Plague. There were simply not enough left to work the land. So Feudal masters suddenly became more peasant-friendly.
The bonus: Flat population with ever increasing knowledge and ever advanced technology means ever more possibilities per person. Until we arrive at the real communism (as opposed to the fake thing attempted in the 20th century) - air, water, food, shelter, education and health care are available to everyone, basically for free. I know that I lost any possible mod points by mentioning communism (and even more for suggesting that scarcity is not fundamental "law" of the Universe), but I urge you to meditate on this - limited (but sufficient) population in practically unlimited Universe. The absolute affluent society. Sustainable and rich - not the bloody Ponzi scheme we have now. The security in numbers is achieved. Now we need to stop being stupid animals and become truly human...
I really cannot understand this. How come that anybody on this planet needs courses in interpersonal skills (ok, anybody who is more or less healthy and sane)? I mean, if there is anything that separates us from the other animals, it our ability to socialize. Mammals are the champions of cooperation and socializing (social insects, I know, but there the cooperation is largely due to them being closely linked genetically) and among them Homo Sapiens is by far the most advance. Those things come absolutely naturally for us. Communication skills are absolutely essential for survival and procreation, especially in this day and age.
I’ll tell you anecdotal evidence. IMO, it pays big deal if the mother plays substantial role in the upbringing of her son(s). It seems that a boy brought up in all-macho environment having his brother(s)/father as a role model under develops its communication skills and emphatic ability. It is difficult for such boy to understand women.
Conversely, a girl brought up exclusively by women under develops logic, reason and certain technical affinity that can prove very useful even if the girl becomes ballet dancer and never needs to hold screwdriver. Such girl will have a problem understanding men.
Not exactly brilliant revelation here, but so far my life experience shows that the above is very significant.
Check the uprising during the winter of 1996/1997 in Bulgaria. Hyper inflation started kicking around October/November 1996. By Christmas the total wages of my family went down to 5$...a month! I was starving, for the first and so far last time in my life. I don't dare imagine how my parents felt at the time - their only child not having a piece of bread to eat...
Here is a small excerpt from Wikipedia talking about the prime minister's party at the time:
"The BSP, which still held the majority in Parliament, attempted to form a new cabinet. However, the UDF-headed opposition responded by organizing month-long street protests in big cities, demanding that the parliament should be dissolved and that elections must be held immediately because of the BSP's responsibility for the crisis. The protests culminated in a general strike and a siege of the house of Parliament, which was stormed and set on fire by the protesters."
Notice the word "month-long"? That's right, it took a month of strikes and protests no less, to topple those asses. For one month the capital and other major cities were blocked. No transport. No schools, kindergartens, university...hospitals barely operating, hyper inflation, stores empty....protests every day, people sleeping in front of the parliament, barricades on the roads. As a student I was every day on the streets, for a month...
However, I am afraid that only massive crisis like this one can provoke such response. When there is no bread on the table attitude to life changes dramatically. On a positive note - I have rarely seen such comradeship between citizens like the one during this month. People shared food, cigarettes, transport...everything. There was something in the air....
It is a bit of a crazy place. Our democracy and free market are full with funny and not so funny "glitches". I have to say my opinion is that (for the moment) the goverment there is worse than the business. Probably because the business is not too big yet and haven't learned all the tricks of the westerners. They seem to have learned though that the easiest way to do business is to use the goverment. A few glitches from recent times:
1. Documentation and legislation regarding trade with property (land, houses est.) is deliberately left wide open to abuse. I was a victim - a piece of land outside the capital that I owned was sold and I kept getting the tax forms for years! After discovering the scam I realized that due to the way the system is run I have close to zero chance to get back my land. Crazy, eh?
2. A few years ago anti-drug legislation was passed that does not discriminate between users and dealers and gives the same sentence to both disregarding even the amount of drugs possessed. This is one of the most stupid and damaging laws I have ever seen. It is definitely created in favor of the criminals.
3. Surprisingly, the people of BG rose against GM food and made lots of noise, even managed to hold their ground for a while. We will loose in the long run, because EU is pushing and we are oh so proud to be members of this club, but I was delighted by the sanity of my countrymen.
4. The goverment is having a very tough time to pass the anti-tobacco EU legislation. The Bulgarians, apparently misunderstood the idea of free market (sarcasm) and wanted separate bars and restaurants for smokers. The business says it will happily oblige, but the goverment is getting the finger from EU and keeps on pushing.
5. It is very common to pass a legislation which requires a defined private entity to exclusively deal with something. For instance- if you want to change any of you papers - ID, passport, driving license - the fees that you pay for the service can be transacted to the goverment only via one particular bank, which happens to be owned by the prime minister's "girlfriend".
Apart form our funny attempts at democracy and free market I agree - it is stunningly beautiful country with excellent climate and food. The food will last only a few years from now though - already we are moving to industrial agriculture. Strange - in the old times we called "food" what is now called "bio-food" and the whole country was fed with it.
It is true, if you bought milk you had to consume it in 2-3 days , but it was tasty and real. We even exported to USSR, so don't tell me we cannot feed our declining population (plus emigration) with real food. These tomatoes [http://bulstack.com/wp-content/gallery/produce-stand/bivolsko-sartse-480x360.jpg] might not look as good as the water bombs found on the shelves of western Europe but they taste approx. 1000 times better.
Totally agree on the women part too:)) Again, the move towards free market, combined with our "poorness" from the last 60 years means that most people are unhealthily focused on consumerism and are (on average) much more mercantile than the past. Women included. So I tend to have no problem with the looks of the modern BG women, but with what they have to say and what they think.
Sorry for the long off-topic expose. Ahh, the ramblings of an aging man....
From the top of the head - see what Spielberg extracted from Liam in "Schindler's list". What about Natalie in "Leon" (I read she makes sterling job in "Black Swan" too). Or Ewan in "Trainspotting"...
Why, oh why, GL did not give the directing to others?
I say, we decide to treat all species with respect. If nothing else, it is for our sake - there are too many holes that we blew and keep on blowing in the biosphere. It is highly destructive and irresponsible behaviour.
Who says that another species will not rise to civilization over time? Why should we decide the fate of the "runners-up" - the rest of the mammals? Oh, the arrogance..
As regards consciousness - I don't really care. It is, of course, fascinating discovery and who knows - one day we might be able to exchange "words" with dolphins or others. However, with or without consciousness, almost all living organisms experience pain and fear. So, no torture of animals of any kind! People that torture animals should be killed IMO. No needless killing, no obliteration of species just because someone wants to make a couple of bucks. Prtotect the bio-diversity, retrstrain our numbers, evolve...
Sadly, even those productive ideas are treated and presented to the world improperly both by promoters and deniers. Take the latest "bear- man" for instance. I saw his movies on the BBC. The man definitely means well. But:
1. To treat wild animals as pets is stupid.
2. To go to the hunters and try to show them how cute the bears are and look, they also care about their cubs, ain't that nice - I don't know, it rings hollow. The hunter should restrain himself not because he has been emotionally manipulated (the emotions can change - for instance the hunter might quickly discover that an animal can easily kill its neighbour's "kids" and loose the emotional attachment, which was improper in the first place) He has to restrain because of the very practical reasons to preserve HIMSELF and his children's future (and quality of life).
3. Do not try to impose "morals" on nature. The imagined hunter from point 2 should not get "disappointed" by behaviour of animals that is considered "evil" among humans. How often have I heard people dividing animals into "nice" and "bad" or "evil" categories. WTF?!?
I mean, the whole issue is (as usual), blown out of proportions and distorted. Pity.
It isn't always. Not if the issue is really important and can "offend" powerful groups of people. For instance, it states that the ethnics distribution in my country is:
Bulgarian 83.9%, Turk 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other 2% (including Macedonian, Armenian, Tatar, Circassian) (2001 census)
And then it states (under religion) that:
Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, other Christian 1.2%, other 4% (2001 census)
This is laughable. The MAJORITY of ethnic Bulgarians are non-believers. I have known several hundred people close enough in this country in my life (family, extended family, colleagues, class-mates primary, secondary school and university, close friends, remote friend, business accomplices, you name it.......and, from them I know 4 believers of whom only one counts as devoted (in our country it is not a taboo to talk about one's religious believes; you ask and people will answer). Even if you account for the narrow demographics in which I spend my life (highly educated) it is still completely impossible what they state.
I am not saying CIA is misleading in this case, perhaps they got this information from our government....whatever the truth, this facts are rubbish....
However, look what they say about Russia:
Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.) note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule
This is more like it, and yet they could not resist mentioning the "ebil commies" (and forgetting that Eastern Europe had its share of commies for about 50 years, so why only Russia ends up with atheists?!?).....remember the discussion on/. about the research showing that if you do not get told (constantly) that you are a believer you are not? That was the trick used by the commies - take away the power of the Church (political and economical) and you end up (largely) with non-believers. I.e. religion spreads via marketing and cultural brainwashing, just like every other ideology, it is not "innate quality" of human beings. Spiritualism is, religion is not. Especially particular religion.
CIA fact book will never tell the real facts about this issue. I'll let you answer "why they won't?" yourself...
Can't you get a 4 wheel drive, 5 (7) seat-er from Volvo, BMW, Subaru...est?
I remember Top gear testing the Subaru in the country side and concluding that it is the perfect car - not flashy, vastly reliable, comfortable, optimum usage of space, not terribly expensive and able to tackle muddy countryside road with ease.
But they attribute all the lung cancer problems to smoking only. One day there will be no more smokers and the rates will still go higher. What excuse then? Terrorists polluting our precious bodily fluids?!?
Working life - 40 years (25-65 if you have Univ. degree) 30-40 % taxes a month. Health insurance - 150 euro a month
Out: Pension years - 12+ years (lifespan Holland male 77.5 yrs) - you can get 75-100% of your income (as was while you were working).
Health care - Alzheimer, Parkinson, heart problems, dementia (you will get those, or others - I am not a doctor, regardless of how healthy you live)
Old people care - common in the West, subsidized somewhat, don't have figures
Smoker.
In:
Cigarettes - 4.8 euro a package from which approx. 80% is tax and license fees - goes directly to government, but let's underestimate - 3 euros per package, 90 euros a month (pack a day) i.e. already paying to government 66% higher health "insurance".
Health insurance - 150 a month
Working life - 40 years (25-65 if you have degree) 30-40 % taxes a month (my dad smoked 2-3 packages a day and still managed to die a year after pension, thus amassing 44 years of working life - he started earlier with only college degree).
Out: Pension - almost ZERO (according to the statistics I am decreasing my lifespan with approx. 10 years because of smoking)
Health care - in case of lung cancer - almost ZERO (a bit of morphine for a few months + price of euthanasia if it gets too torturous) the other smoking related killer - heart attack occurs to all of us, smokers might get it SOONER, but eventually this price is the same for smoker and non-smoker). If you think lung transplant I happily agree to remove that option from the insurance for smokers, but only if you remove it for all because I don't want to pay for people that were "stupid" enough to expose themselves to industrial pollution, right?
Old people care - ZERO (you are dead)
Now, I am sure my numbers are off and we can haggle about details till the cows come home, but the official "proof" of how much more the smokers are expensive to society is UTTER BS!!
When it comes to severe obesity, start chasing the motherfuckers that arm-raced between themselves how much more salt and sugar to put in the food to addict their customers (well proven scientific fact - we are programmed to be high-fat high-sugar junkies) in the same way the tobacco manufacturers are chased. I dare you to do it, for there is the smoking gun. In my list of mafia industries tobacco comes quite late after such champions as (in order of nastiness from top to bottom): Pharmacy, Cosmetics, Food and Drinks, Entertainment, Professional Sport, Energy and Defense.
The most important thing he did was to get rid of the small-time mafia. Mostly Chechen by origin.
I know it will be probably impossible for you to understand, but Russia was very, very close to complete collapse at the end of the Yeltsin era. I mean real collapse as in "no more Russia". Due to the fact that they follwoed all the good advices of the IMF and other good-doers (sarcasm). People started calling democracy "shitocracy".
In the beginning of the 90-ties, just a few years after the "democracy" came I witnessed first hand in my own country (think Russia, only much smaller) what does it mean to have criminals in broad daylight on the streets. There was something similar during the famous Al Capone years in the US.
You know, you go to a disco, some big guy likes your girlfriend, you are beaten or killed (if you resist too much) she is taken to a villa somewhere and if she is really lucky she gets away only with multiple rapping (without torture and murder). Lucky, eh?
Shootings on the streets, women and children fall "collateral damage" on a daily basis. Racket for every small business. Drugs in schoolyards, beating of teachers, religious sects of all denominations polluting the brains of our youth inciting suicide, drug abuse, kids stealing all the family money to give them to their sect, endless car crashing (the new rich driving Porches they cannot handle) with lots of "collateral damage"....the list is endless.
In such situation anyone who can remove or thwart the rubble on the streets, even if it means huge corruption on high levels and blatant disregard for human rights is met as a god. Period.
That is what Putin did. He made Russia truly Western - the mafia now is on high places in business and politics, but much less "in your face" on the street.
After all, my personal conclusion about the famous East-West division is that:
The west is just the same, only more subtle and sophisticated. More effective in its sins (thus more dangerous). For instance the west was smart enough to partially enrich the majority of its own people so that they think they have it good. Very good move - the stuffed sheep is an easy one to control. As my wife puts it "Russia is a mafia state? Sure it is. But so is America, only there it is legal (corporatism)".
Hey, wasn't there something about breaking the sucrose in the mouth being an early "warning" system for reaching satiety? In other words, if you consume HFCS you can consume way more than you normally would because "the brakes" are not working (ever got sick by too much sugar? that's the mechanism).
I don't know where I read this, or whether it is true. But if yes, it will explain at least part of the problem.
Anyway, I don't like it at all, how the industry exploits in a very scientific way "the fallacies" of our nature. I mean, in the past fat rich and especially sugar rich foods were rarity, so we have literally a junkey - type reward system in our brains linked to high fat and high sugar content. Of course nowadays the food grows on the shelf and is PACKED with sugars and fats. The reward mechanism does not know yet that tomorrow there will be again a Big Mac. So it works and we get addicted.
Slashdot Mirror
Power.
"Putting things on your Kindle without Amazon's help involves a USB cable and copying files to the right place on the Kindle's filesystem using Windows Explorer"
This sounds easy enough. The time needed is way shorter than the time needed to read the book anyway. And, since when using Explorer is considered difficult?
I probably made myself unclear. My frustration was only that the media in BG was silent about the cable and the people discussing the issue never bother to look for diverse sources of information. That's why I want to just shout once - go and look elsewhere too!
I have explained my motifs and my frustration (which led to stronger language that I intended) in other posts above.
BTW, an interesting observation - a few posts pointed out to me that I used too strong of a word. That is true, of course, but the thing is , it is part of being "oriental". Somewhere in the beginning of the 20th century (if memory serves) an Iranian sociologist married American woman and they lived in both places. He later wrote a book about the cultural misunderstanding between the west and the east. One of the golden sentences went something like this:
"The Oriental is annoyed by the Westerner because he always says less that he means, whereas the Westerner is annoyed because the Oriental always says more than he means."
Agreed. My choice of words was colored by emotion. BTW, I found out recently where the word "idiot" is coming from. According to what I read, in ancient Greece and idiot is someone who always acts in his our interest only often harming the society in which he lives. Something like a super-ego, or a sociopath.
The major source of my frustration is that "divide and conquer" seems to work so damn well. I used to participate actively in BG political forums but I quickly discovered that any subject of discussion must fit in either "left, Russia, socialism" or "right, America, capitalism" paradigm. It's just so silly - why should you stick to the whole package? Why not take some good stuff from America and some from Russia? What's wrong with BG looking for the best deal for the Bulgarians? The moment I try to take reasonable (middle) ground I was immediately attacked by the commies for being "judeo-christian imperialist" AND by the right-wingers for being "idiotic, blinded, godless communist". I gave up writing a few years back....
To add insult to injury now I experience the same "dualism" in my everyday life. For the people back home I am already "a westerner" and for the ones here I will remain forever "oriental". How can explain that such dualism, when used wisely, frees oneself from plenty of cultural biases, because you can see (if you make the effort) both system "from the outside".
Of course, we will never know. I think the leak is genuine, but perhaps the diplomats got the picture wrong? Nobody is flawless. There are of course many more aspects to this story - who is going to build the power station, what type the reactors are, how the contracts will be distributed, cost of running, est.... Unfortunately, BG suffers from wide spread corruption, so even if something positive is about to happen, it can still go wrong simply due to poor and ineffective execution of the plan.
Deal! :))
I turned the "human condition" or "why people are the way they are" in my hobby for life. I use every spare minute of my humble existence to think, talk, read and write about it.
I should laugh more - it's a valuable survival strategy when dealing with this particular subject...
You know, I was expecting your post to be modded up, but no. Alas, I spent my mod points yesterday.
Anyway, here is a funny thing. My country (Bulgaria) was building for many years a second nuclear power plant. The first one was almost completely closed because EU would not accept us with it (the reactors were dangerous bla bla..). So, since few years a massive debate about the second one rages across the media. Over time the two major opinions settled as such:
The so-called progressive, right wing, pro-western people are against it, because, they say it will need the Russians for the fuel and processing the waste. So we will INCRESE our energy dependence from Russia.
The left-leaning, pro-Russian crowd is for it. As you can guess their motives are exactly like the one above, only in their book this is a good thing.
There was of course the infinitely small minority of realists and nerds who were always for it, because of reality (let’s not go deeper into this – why nuclear power is back in the world and why did it take 50 years to realize the obvious)
And then Wikileaks came around. And one of the cables was dealing exactly with this power station. Now, pay attention:
According to the American diplomats in Bulgaria building the station DECREASES our energy dependence from Russia and Russian oil and gas tycoons intentionally crafted the anti- power station propaganda. The cable explains the logic behind this statement at length; I won’t reproduce it here.
I almost fell from the chair reading this cable. Why, oh why I don’t have the possibility to high jack all the media in BG and just shout, “Go read the cable, you idiots!”
The people still argue like crazy about the issue and none has read the wikileaks. What a bunch of idiots we humans are, no?
how the Net opened our eyes to who we are? I mean, we are all afraid of surveillance and data mining by great powers - corporations and governments. But the greatest abuse IMO is done by common people on other common people.
Think about it - nowadays you go to an interview for a job. It usually starts with the HR department. They check your online activities and find something that makes you unsuitable in their opinion. But wait, who is deciding you are unsuitable? A common employee from the HR. Sometimes there are company guidelines but often there aren't any. The spread of information gives EVERYONE the possibility to evaluate everyone else and all of a sudden not only your professional credentials are under scrutiny but also the rest of your character. The availability of this personal information makes the process EVER MORE SUBJECTIVE. We are people - we are "trained" by evolution and society to judge. Constantly. And we are always biased.
What I want to say but cannot find the right expressions is that perhaps the sharing of so much personal information is not good. For all of us. We cannot handle it. Just like personal freedom in society is difficult to handle, because it comes with responsibility, this access to personal information also demands that we are not blinded by our own bias (or keep it to a minimum at least). That's a very tall order for most humans. Very tall...
Look, it is no good to reason about this idea within the paradigm in which we live. I see that most replies fall into this category. My idea is based on simple logic and reality. I do not address the really big problem - the paradigm shift that our civilization desperately needs. I have no idea how to bring about such shift, nor I know what the new paradigm will look like. How could I? But what we know, I think, is this:
1. Our Ponzi scheme is unsustainable and ultimately will bring our destruction.
2. Unlimited growth in finite system is doom to end with cannibalism
3. The effectiveness of using natural resources is dismally low in our civilization. We are not sophisticated at all.
4. Our system is incredibly short-sighted and happily destroys immensely valuable, sustainable wealth for temporarily profit.
Have you asked yourself why science is under attack recently? It is not only the "religion strikes back" phenomenon. For the first time in the history of mankind science (en masse) turns towards society and says "we are doing it wrong and we will suffer the consequences". To my great disappointment nobody wants to hear this message, much less act on it. But I cannot brush it aside for it is reality. And facts are the most stubborn thing in the Universe.
So with my feeble mind and limited life experience I am trying to think of a solution. Much more important - I try to make people see this down-to-earth point of view and act on it. I don't want people to accept solution that I like or think is correct. I just want them to realize the truth about the condition of man and his position in the Universe.
Stephen Hawking does not agree with me, for instance. Remember, he advocated cancellation of our attempts to send signals to aliens because they will come and take the Earth from us. I find this idea incredibly stupid (due respect to Stephen for his brilliance otherwise). What can you find on Earth as resources that is not present in humongous quantities on some lifeless rock in space? What would Earth give the aliens that they already do not posses? Habitable planets? First: do they have a metabolism suitable for Earth? Second: Anyone who found a way to cross the interstellar distances faster than light surely can terraform almost any planet they like. One day, if we survive, Mars and Venus will be made habitable. Third: You know the math (and surely the aliens know it too) - give instantaneous travel to all habitable planets in the Universe to humanity and in 3000 years we will fill them. What next? The good old "kill thy neighbor, take his wife and livestock"? What if the aliens are really out there and some of them passed by Earth, say 100 million years ago and they had the mentality we have now?
"Hey Joe, there are only animals down here, some bloody dinosaurs (not even cute blue-skinned primitive peoples). Let's get that planet!"
Again, do not try to reason my idea from present day economics point of view. Of course it is not possible. I am talking about the time when the motivation of humans will be different.
I know how to fix the problem of employer-employee relation and as a bonus the majority of the problems of civilization will be dealt with too.
Here it is: The active, working population on Earth is N and remains N (slight fluctuations of course). The available jobs are always N+1. End of troubles. Forever.
There can never be fair exchange and fair deal if the supply of people is greater than the demand. In strict economic sense the human life and effort are the cheapest commodity on the planet. A racing horse costs more than a man. A tiger does (there are few hundred of them left in the wild). The list is endless....
Are we surprised that things go wrong? Take a historical example - the lives of peasants during the Middle ages in Europe. Their situation drastically improved after the Plague. There were simply not enough left to work the land. So Feudal masters suddenly became more peasant-friendly.
The bonus: Flat population with ever increasing knowledge and ever advanced technology means ever more possibilities per person. Until we arrive at the real communism (as opposed to the fake thing attempted in the 20th century) - air, water, food, shelter, education and health care are available to everyone, basically for free. I know that I lost any possible mod points by mentioning communism (and even more for suggesting that scarcity is not fundamental "law" of the Universe), but I urge you to meditate on this - limited (but sufficient) population in practically unlimited Universe. The absolute affluent society. Sustainable and rich - not the bloody Ponzi scheme we have now. The security in numbers is achieved. Now we need to stop being stupid animals and become truly human...
Guys,
I really cannot understand this. How come that anybody on this planet needs courses in interpersonal skills (ok, anybody who is more or less healthy and sane)? I mean, if there is anything that separates us from the other animals, it our ability to socialize. Mammals are the champions of cooperation and socializing (social insects, I know, but there the cooperation is largely due to them being closely linked genetically) and among them Homo Sapiens is by far the most advance. Those things come absolutely naturally for us. Communication skills are absolutely essential for survival and procreation, especially in this day and age.
I’ll tell you anecdotal evidence. IMO, it pays big deal if the mother plays substantial role in the upbringing of her son(s). It seems that a boy brought up in all-macho environment having his brother(s)/father as a role model under develops its communication skills and emphatic ability. It is difficult for such boy to understand women.
Conversely, a girl brought up exclusively by women under develops logic, reason and certain technical affinity that can prove very useful even if the girl becomes ballet dancer and never needs to hold screwdriver. Such girl will have a problem understanding men.
Not exactly brilliant revelation here, but so far my life experience shows that the above is very significant.
Check the uprising during the winter of 1996/1997 in Bulgaria. Hyper inflation started kicking around October/November 1996. By Christmas the total wages of my family went down to 5$...a month! I was starving, for the first and so far last time in my life. I don't dare imagine how my parents felt at the time - their only child not having a piece of bread to eat...
Here is a small excerpt from Wikipedia talking about the prime minister's party at the time:
"The BSP, which still held the majority in Parliament, attempted to form a new cabinet. However, the UDF-headed opposition responded by organizing month-long street protests in big cities, demanding that the parliament should be dissolved and that elections must be held immediately because of the BSP's responsibility for the crisis. The protests culminated in a general strike and a siege of the house of Parliament, which was stormed and set on fire by the protesters."
Notice the word "month-long"? That's right, it took a month of strikes and protests no less, to topple those asses. For one month the capital and other major cities were blocked. No transport. No schools, kindergartens, university...hospitals barely operating, hyper inflation, stores empty....protests every day, people sleeping in front of the parliament, barricades on the roads. As a student I was every day on the streets, for a month...
However, I am afraid that only massive crisis like this one can provoke such response. When there is no bread on the table attitude to life changes dramatically. On a positive note - I have rarely seen such comradeship between citizens like the one during this month. People shared food, cigarettes, transport...everything. There was something in the air....
Love thy neighbour/friend/family
Love thy enemy
The ultimate neutrality. Treat everyone the same way.
Disclaimer: I personally go for the Golden Rule, i.e. Tit for Tat.
It is a bit of a crazy place. Our democracy and free market are full with funny and not so funny "glitches". I have to say my opinion is that (for the moment) the goverment there is worse than the business. Probably because the business is not too big yet and haven't learned all the tricks of the westerners. They seem to have learned though that the easiest way to do business is to use the goverment. A few glitches from recent times:
1. Documentation and legislation regarding trade with property (land, houses est.) is deliberately left wide open to abuse. I was a victim - a piece of land outside the capital that I owned was sold and I kept getting the tax forms for years! After discovering the scam I realized that due to the way the system is run I have close to zero chance to get back my land. Crazy, eh?
2. A few years ago anti-drug legislation was passed that does not discriminate between users and dealers and gives the same sentence to both disregarding even the amount of drugs possessed. This is one of the most stupid and damaging laws I have ever seen. It is definitely created in favor of the criminals.
3. Surprisingly, the people of BG rose against GM food and made lots of noise, even managed to hold their ground for a while. We will loose in the long run, because EU is pushing and we are oh so proud to be members of this club, but I was delighted by the sanity of my countrymen.
4. The goverment is having a very tough time to pass the anti-tobacco EU legislation. The Bulgarians, apparently misunderstood the idea of free market (sarcasm) and wanted separate bars and restaurants for smokers. The business says it will happily oblige, but the goverment is getting the finger from EU and keeps on pushing.
5. It is very common to pass a legislation which requires a defined private entity to exclusively deal with something. For instance- if you want to change any of you papers - ID, passport, driving license - the fees that you pay for the service can be transacted to the goverment only via one particular bank, which happens to be owned by the prime minister's "girlfriend".
Apart form our funny attempts at democracy and free market I agree - it is stunningly beautiful country with excellent climate and food. The food will last only a few years from now though - already we are moving to industrial agriculture. Strange - in the old times we called "food" what is now called "bio-food" and the whole country was fed with it.
It is true, if you bought milk you had to consume it in 2-3 days , but it was tasty and real. We even exported to USSR, so don't tell me we cannot feed our declining population (plus emigration) with real food. These tomatoes [http://bulstack.com/wp-content/gallery/produce-stand/bivolsko-sartse-480x360.jpg] might not look as good as the water bombs found on the shelves of western Europe but they taste approx. 1000 times better.
Totally agree on the women part too:)) Again, the move towards free market, combined with our "poorness" from the last 60 years means that most people are unhealthily focused on consumerism and are (on average) much more mercantile than the past. Women included. So I tend to have no problem with the looks of the modern BG women, but with what they have to say and what they think.
Sorry for the long off-topic expose. Ahh, the ramblings of an aging man....
Mod up!!
From the top of the head - see what Spielberg extracted from Liam in "Schindler's list". What about Natalie in "Leon" (I read she makes sterling job in "Black Swan" too). Or Ewan in "Trainspotting"...
Why, oh why, GL did not give the directing to others?
I say, we decide to treat all species with respect. If nothing else, it is for our sake - there are too many holes that we blew and keep on blowing in the biosphere. It is highly destructive and irresponsible behaviour.
Who says that another species will not rise to civilization over time? Why should we decide the fate of the "runners-up" - the rest of the mammals? Oh, the arrogance..
As regards consciousness - I don't really care. It is, of course, fascinating discovery and who knows - one day we might be able to exchange "words" with dolphins or others. However, with or without consciousness, almost all living organisms experience pain and fear. So, no torture of animals of any kind! People that torture animals should be killed IMO. No needless killing, no obliteration of species just because someone wants to make a couple of bucks. Prtotect the bio-diversity, retrstrain our numbers, evolve...
Sadly, even those productive ideas are treated and presented to the world improperly both by promoters and deniers. Take the latest "bear- man" for instance. I saw his movies on the BBC. The man definitely means well. But:
1. To treat wild animals as pets is stupid.
2. To go to the hunters and try to show them how cute the bears are and look, they also care about their cubs, ain't that nice - I don't know, it rings hollow. The hunter should restrain himself not because he has been emotionally manipulated (the emotions can change - for instance the hunter might quickly discover that an animal can easily kill its neighbour's "kids" and loose the emotional attachment, which was improper in the first place) He has to restrain because of the very practical reasons to preserve HIMSELF and his children's future (and quality of life).
3. Do not try to impose "morals" on nature. The imagined hunter from point 2 should not get "disappointed" by behaviour of animals that is considered "evil" among humans. How often have I heard people dividing animals into "nice" and "bad" or "evil" categories. WTF?!?
I mean, the whole issue is (as usual), blown out of proportions and distorted. Pity.
Dear Romanian goverment,
please read this book [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyrd_Sisters] before it is too late (for you)!
Regards (for now),
Granny Weatherwax
remember Gaff from Blade Runner? Addresing Deckart he says that word.
It is one of the most common Hungarian bad words - means "horse dick" The full insult is "Lófasz a seggedbe" - a horse dick in your a@@
So, Lófasz a seggedbe minister! (I am 25% Hungarian, so I have the right to curse him)
It isn't always. Not if the issue is really important and can "offend" powerful groups of people. For instance, it states that the ethnics distribution in my country is:
Bulgarian 83.9%, Turk 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other 2% (including Macedonian, Armenian, Tatar, Circassian) (2001 census)
And then it states (under religion) that:
Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, other Christian 1.2%, other 4% (2001 census)
This is laughable. The MAJORITY of ethnic Bulgarians are non-believers. I have known several hundred people close enough in this country in my life (family, extended family, colleagues, class-mates primary, secondary school and university, close friends, remote friend, business accomplices, you name it.......and, from them I know 4 believers of whom only one counts as devoted (in our country it is not a taboo to talk about one's religious believes; you ask and people will answer). Even if you account for the narrow demographics in which I spend my life (highly educated) it is still completely impossible what they state.
I am not saying CIA is misleading in this case, perhaps they got this information from our government....whatever the truth, this facts are rubbish....
However, look what they say about Russia:
Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.)
note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule
This is more like it, and yet they could not resist mentioning the "ebil commies" (and forgetting that Eastern Europe had its share of commies for about 50 years, so why only Russia ends up with atheists?!?).....remember the discussion on /. about the research showing that if you do not get told (constantly) that you are a believer you are not? That was the trick used by the commies - take away the power of the Church (political and economical) and you end up (largely) with non-believers. I.e. religion spreads via marketing and cultural brainwashing, just like every other ideology, it is not "innate quality" of human beings. Spiritualism is, religion is not. Especially particular religion.
CIA fact book will never tell the real facts about this issue. I'll let you answer "why they won't?" yourself...
Can't you get a 4 wheel drive, 5 (7) seat-er from Volvo, BMW, Subaru...est?
I remember Top gear testing the Subaru in the country side and concluding that it is the perfect car - not flashy, vastly reliable, comfortable, optimum usage of space, not terribly expensive and able to tackle muddy countryside road with ease.
Amen!
But they attribute all the lung cancer problems to smoking only. One day there will be no more smokers and the rates will still go higher. What excuse then? Terrorists polluting our precious bodily fluids?!?
Non-smoker.
In:
Working life - 40 years (25-65 if you have Univ. degree) 30-40 % taxes a month.
Health insurance - 150 euro a month
Out:
Pension years - 12+ years (lifespan Holland male 77.5 yrs) - you can get 75-100% of your income (as was while you were working).
Health care - Alzheimer, Parkinson, heart problems, dementia (you will get those, or others - I am not a doctor, regardless of how healthy you live)
Old people care - common in the West, subsidized somewhat, don't have figures
Smoker.
In:
Cigarettes - 4.8 euro a package from which approx. 80% is tax and license fees - goes directly to government, but let's underestimate - 3 euros per package, 90 euros a month (pack a day) i.e. already paying to government 66% higher health "insurance".
Health insurance - 150 a month
Working life - 40 years (25-65 if you have degree) 30-40 % taxes a month (my dad smoked 2-3 packages a day and still managed to die a year after pension, thus amassing 44 years of working life - he started earlier with only college degree).
Out:
Pension - almost ZERO (according to the statistics I am decreasing my lifespan with approx. 10 years because of smoking)
Health care - in case of lung cancer - almost ZERO (a bit of morphine for a few months + price of euthanasia if it gets too torturous) the other smoking related killer - heart attack occurs to all of us, smokers might get it SOONER, but eventually this price is the same for smoker and non-smoker). If you think lung transplant I happily agree to remove that option from the insurance for smokers, but only if you remove it for all because I don't want to pay for people that were "stupid" enough to expose themselves to industrial pollution, right?
Old people care - ZERO (you are dead)
Now, I am sure my numbers are off and we can haggle about details till the cows come home, but the official "proof" of how much more the smokers are expensive to society is UTTER BS!!
When it comes to severe obesity, start chasing the motherfuckers that arm-raced between themselves how much more salt and sugar to put in the food to addict their customers (well proven scientific fact - we are programmed to be high-fat high-sugar junkies) in the same way the tobacco manufacturers are chased. I dare you to do it, for there is the smoking gun. In my list of mafia industries tobacco comes quite late after such champions as (in order of nastiness from top to bottom): Pharmacy, Cosmetics, Food and Drinks, Entertainment, Professional Sport, Energy and Defense.
The most important thing he did was to get rid of the small-time mafia. Mostly Chechen by origin.
I know it will be probably impossible for you to understand, but Russia was very, very close to complete collapse at the end of the Yeltsin era. I mean real collapse as in "no more Russia". Due to the fact that they follwoed all the good advices of the IMF and other good-doers (sarcasm). People started calling democracy "shitocracy".
In the beginning of the 90-ties, just a few years after the "democracy" came I witnessed first hand in my own country (think Russia, only much smaller) what does it mean to have criminals in broad daylight on the streets. There was something similar during the famous Al Capone years in the US.
You know, you go to a disco, some big guy likes your girlfriend, you are beaten or killed (if you resist too much) she is taken to a villa somewhere and if she is really lucky she gets away only with multiple rapping (without torture and murder). Lucky, eh?
Shootings on the streets, women and children fall "collateral damage" on a daily basis. Racket for every small business. Drugs in schoolyards, beating of teachers, religious sects of all denominations polluting the brains of our youth inciting suicide, drug abuse, kids stealing all the family money to give them to their sect, endless car crashing (the new rich driving Porches they cannot handle) with lots of "collateral damage"....the list is endless.
In such situation anyone who can remove or thwart the rubble on the streets, even if it means huge corruption on high levels and blatant disregard for human rights is met as a god. Period.
That is what Putin did. He made Russia truly Western - the mafia now is on high places in business and politics, but much less "in your face" on the street.
After all, my personal conclusion about the famous East-West division is that:
The west is just the same, only more subtle and sophisticated. More effective in its sins (thus more dangerous). For instance the west was smart enough to partially enrich the majority of its own people so that they think they have it good. Very good move - the stuffed sheep is an easy one to control. As my wife puts it "Russia is a mafia state? Sure it is. But so is America, only there it is legal (corporatism)".
Hey, wasn't there something about breaking the sucrose in the mouth being an early "warning" system for reaching satiety? In other words, if you consume HFCS you can consume way more than you normally would because "the brakes" are not working (ever got sick by too much sugar? that's the mechanism).
I don't know where I read this, or whether it is true. But if yes, it will explain at least part of the problem.
Anyway, I don't like it at all, how the industry exploits in a very scientific way "the fallacies" of our nature. I mean, in the past fat rich and especially sugar rich foods were rarity, so we have literally a junkey - type reward system in our brains linked to high fat and high sugar content. Of course nowadays the food grows on the shelf and is PACKED with sugars and fats. The reward mechanism does not know yet that tomorrow there will be again a Big Mac. So it works and we get addicted.
And shortly afterward the rest 2/3 expired by a virus that spread by means of dirty telephones......