Pinball is great, and I'm fond of some of the "pinball people" I've met.
Many seem interesting and dedicated, but others just seem to have too much money and time, and have an enormous ego because of their collection. Pinball is fun, I agree. However, like many expensive hobbies it seems to attract some really elitist dickweeds, and I'm having a hard time with the competing emotions of feeling sorry that this guy died, but at the same time elated that I hope the news momentarily pauses a few real assholes I've known. It won't, I know that, and it doesn't really matter.... so forgive my terrible pettiness, but M & L (you Federal Agent lunatics, you), wherever you are, I hope this makes your a day a little dimmer and distracts you for a split second where-in something truly awful befalls you both.
Petty? Yes. But so are whackjob federal agents with an axe to grind.
After getting a new Elantra because something wrong with the Saturn and the dealership said it was dead (assholes lied, it was an easy fix) I gave the car to my sister.... who promptly ook NO care of it and ran it into the ground. God. Dammit. That car had another 100K miles on it EASY, and her excuse was "Well, it's getting old since it has 125K miles on it." I loved that car, it got me through more shit than any person I've ever known, quite honestly.
If hey brought them back I'd buy one in a heartbeat. R.I.P. you wonderful cars, you.
As a financial professional, I find your tone uninformed and... annoying.
Buying out a company under a single shareholder is basically impossible. Companies themselves often hold large amounts of stock in order to prevent things like a hostile takeover. People would have to GIVE UP their shares in order to control the company. So, your idea is misplaced as is your sarcasm.
Buying rights to music and movies, literally paying off people in order to take back our culture, which we then release permanently to the public, seems like an alternative.
Yeah, about that.... As much as I'm prone to buying into the whole Renaissance notion of the "will to power" so many of us are indoctrinated into, it's being shown more and more (sorry, no references here other self-study and college profs) that this is simply NOT TRUE. It could even be viewed as a power grab through language ("I'm responsible! I get resources for that!), a way for the "haves" to justify that the "have nots" simply don't deserve to get anything because they're inferior.
In fact, if you're a psychologist I think it's rather disingenuous of you as a professional not to point out that situation, conditioning, and even genetics have a HUGE effect on behavior, while the construct of society itself positions what is "right and prosperous" and what is not. In another culture I guarantee your brother would be the more successful one, while you would either be poor or dead.
Perhaps you were busy or just wanted to he make your point so I shouldn't be so picky.
You really have no clue sitting up there on your little throne, do you?
I see a lot of situations people get into, and life is not all roses for many. Your kind of thinking is what helps the race to the bottom, while corporations rake in massive profits and pay out some of the worst inflation-adjusted income levels in the last 100 years...
It's great that you're one of the lucky ones, but have you considered empathy lately?
Has anyone else considered that the politicos in the U.S. aren't as stupid as we're making them out to be?
Perhaps they've pulled this ACTA thing together because they KNOW they it will never get fully ratified, and a bunch of this crazy copyright stuff is merely to get the RIAA/MPAA off their back? "Sorry! We did our best, looks like you'll have to compete in the open market..." Then they've fulfilled their duties to the companies they know are dying, and actually positioned themselves to buddy up to the online communities by saying "Hey! ACTA wasn't passed... you didn't REALLY think we meant it when this thing went through, did you? We've know for years that those dumb assholes at the recording industry are dead in the water... we just needed to get them off our backs to concentrate on you guys!"
I mean, it's a bit far-fetched,but I just can't shake the feeling that these people are not THIS stupid, because individually many aren't.
"that Obama and his Department of (In)Justice are more in the pockets of Dodd and his Hollywood masters than the most venal member of Congress, let those doubts disappear now. We can expect no more from a gutless *GOVERNMENT* staffed from the RIAA and MPAA's "let's sue children for a living" legal teams."
My fear, personally now, is that I've seen the people who claim to uphold life. They carry a gun everywhere they go "just in case, I'd rather they die than me". The people in power are NOT focused on life. They have WAY more power than they should and seem quite focused on doing whatever is necessary to get what they want, and burn anyone they deem "unfit".
My point: the fear of those who claim to defend life, the (imo founded) fear they are not telling the truth, seems to cause an awful lot of trouble.
Personally, I think it's the system. Some paranoid greed-headed gun nut who's a federal employee with an inferiority complex, toting around a pistol in an entirely peaceful, crowded tourist area is 1000x more dangerous than anyone sitting here advocating bloodshed on the internet. At least here we can each communicate and reason with each other, dissuade people from doing what is clearly the wrong thing (violence). With the above-mentioned person? HE IS THE LAW. Do not attempt to communicate with him, for he is doing this for your own good. Which is scarier to you?
As much as your point is taken, your ad hominem pretty much unveils you to be as deluded as these "gun nuts". While I'm sure you want to put a very fine point o n the horrors of war/revolution, consider also that some people are simply expressing that they feel completely hopeless, and that all they see before them is bloodshed to affect change.
If you sympathize that way, if you provide a real example of hope (none of which I personally see right now, honestly), then perhaps you'd win more minds to your side. Your point is taken, though: War is terrifying, but the sad fact is that one wonders whether, given how apathetic so many seem to be, if bloodshed isn't the only thing that will wake enough people up to cause any real change. Even then, that change may make things even worse than they are now.
Except they didn't. They put their own sense of righteousness before their countrymen (or need for discpline, or a paycheck. All human goals, all reasonable) They were deluded into thinking it would help, and look where it's gotten us. It's created many more evils than it ever fixed. If I go into a grocery store, shoot everyone in the store, then take enough money and food for a neighborhood full of homeless people, it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do no matter how much good I think I'm doing, no matter how necessary it feels.
Military service is important, but let's be honest: There are wrongs committed around the world all the time. When some whackjob in a White House decides to enrich a bunch of his friends by starting a war, though, no amount of rationalization changes the fact that anyone who participates is complicit in that crime.
This isn't about going out and standing up for something, don't kid yourself. I can and have done that. I've gone toe to toe to stand up for what I believe in and it's an ugly thing sometimes, but saying that we're somehow not able to talk about an issue like this unless we've "been there" is just a way to absently deflect viewpoints that are likely not similar to your own (as only military persons count according to your logic, and most/all would agree with you).
However, if you really want to help then I certainly hope you'll be out in the streets with the rest of us to get this shit changed around so that no other friend of anyone else EVER has to get his legs blown off because some overpumped rich shithead can make a few bucks. THAT is the real crime here, so while we might not agree, I deeply hope we can agree on that.
Slashdot Mirror
Pinball is great, and I'm fond of some of the "pinball people" I've met.
Many seem interesting and dedicated, but others just seem to have too much money and time, and have an enormous ego because of their collection.
Pinball is fun, I agree. However, like many expensive hobbies it seems to attract some really elitist dickweeds, and I'm having a hard time with the competing emotions of feeling sorry that this guy died, but at the same time elated that I hope the news momentarily pauses a few real assholes I've known. It won't, I know that, and it doesn't really matter.... so forgive my terrible pettiness, but M & L (you Federal Agent lunatics, you), wherever you are, I hope this makes your a day a little dimmer and distracts you for a split second where-in something truly awful befalls you both.
Petty? Yes. But so are whackjob federal agents with an axe to grind.
the L400 (nice mid-size version, whatever) had BMW brakes and a Saab engine, basically.
Awesome components, really built to last.
Yep.
After getting a new Elantra because something wrong with the Saturn and the dealership said it was dead (assholes lied, it was an easy fix) I gave the car to my sister.... who promptly ook NO care of it and ran it into the ground. God. Dammit. That car had another 100K miles on it EASY, and her excuse was "Well, it's getting old since it has 125K miles on it." I loved that car, it got me through more shit than any person I've ever known, quite honestly.
If hey brought them back I'd buy one in a heartbeat. R.I.P. you wonderful cars, you.
Whose shill are you, anyway? It ISN'T left and right. They're all together for the same things and you know it.
what would "preparing for it" look like?
I suggest going back and reading books like "The Jungle".
Same thing over there, and nothing happens until someone takes a stand.
I hate to say this, but George R R Martin is a fat, old, unhealthy man with 8-12 years of writing still to finish his particular series.
As The Fed is my witness I thought turkeys could fly!
Oh, trust me, those laws didn't come cheap. Companies paid very good money for them!
As a financial professional, I find your tone uninformed and... annoying.
Buying out a company under a single shareholder is basically impossible. Companies themselves often hold large amounts of stock in order to prevent things like a hostile takeover. People would have to GIVE UP their shares in order to control the company. So, your idea is misplaced as is your sarcasm.
Buying rights to music and movies, literally paying off people in order to take back our culture, which we then release permanently to the public, seems like an alternative.
Have a better solution?
Yeah, if you're looking at them all the time.
Type much?
Why not use Kickstarter?
Buy the rights to as many of these things as possible, then let them go to the public.
I have two hands you insensitive clod!
Sorry, that should be "free will".
Time for a nap (and yes, I too am a professional. Couldn't take naps without that, could we?)
Yeah, about that....
As much as I'm prone to buying into the whole Renaissance notion of the "will to power" so many of us are indoctrinated into, it's being shown more and more (sorry, no references here other self-study and college profs) that this is simply NOT TRUE. It could even be viewed as a power grab through language ("I'm responsible! I get resources for that!), a way for the "haves" to justify that the "have nots" simply don't deserve to get anything because they're inferior.
In fact, if you're a psychologist I think it's rather disingenuous of you as a professional not to point out that situation, conditioning, and even genetics have a HUGE effect on behavior, while the construct of society itself positions what is "right and prosperous" and what is not. In another culture I guarantee your brother would be the more successful one, while you would either be poor or dead.
Perhaps you were busy or just wanted to he make your point so I shouldn't be so picky.
Have you met more than a handful of politicians that DIDN'T epitomize those qualities?
Now hold on, they're human beings too.
If they get used to being monitored, I guarantee you that they'll want everyone ELSE to be monitored all the time too.
We can't treat solutions like this as though they exist in a vacuum.
DAH is gone!? Man, i really wanted to play that back in the day. Same with SpyHunter.
I just figured that they'd be around, and I could get a copy off ebay or something in the future when I have time to play.
Wow. Just, wow.
You really have no clue sitting up there on your little throne, do you?
I see a lot of situations people get into, and life is not all roses for many. Your kind of thinking is what helps the race to the bottom, while corporations rake in massive profits and pay out some of the worst inflation-adjusted income levels in the last 100 years...
It's great that you're one of the lucky ones, but have you considered empathy lately?
Has anyone else considered that the politicos in the U.S. aren't as stupid as we're making them out to be?
Perhaps they've pulled this ACTA thing together because they KNOW they it will never get fully ratified, and a bunch of this crazy copyright stuff is merely to get the RIAA/MPAA off their back? "Sorry! We did our best, looks like you'll have to compete in the open market..." Then they've fulfilled their duties to the companies they know are dying, and actually positioned themselves to buddy up to the online communities by saying "Hey! ACTA wasn't passed... you didn't REALLY think we meant it when this thing went through, did you? We've know for years that those dumb assholes at the recording industry are dead in the water... we just needed to get them off our backs to concentrate on you guys!"
I mean, it's a bit far-fetched,but I just can't shake the feeling that these people are not THIS stupid, because individually many aren't.
"that Obama and his Department of (In)Justice are more in the pockets of Dodd and his Hollywood masters than the most venal member of Congress, let those doubts disappear now. We can expect no more from a gutless *GOVERNMENT* staffed from the RIAA and MPAA's "let's sue children for a living" legal teams."
FTFY
Which political party paid you to make this statement?
Interesting point.
My fear, personally now, is that I've seen the people who claim to uphold life. They carry a gun everywhere they go "just in case, I'd rather they die than me". The people in power are NOT focused on life. They have WAY more power than they should and seem quite focused on doing whatever is necessary to get what they want, and burn anyone they deem "unfit".
My point: the fear of those who claim to defend life, the (imo founded) fear they are not telling the truth, seems to cause an awful lot of trouble.
Personally, I think it's the system. Some paranoid greed-headed gun nut who's a federal employee with an inferiority complex, toting around a pistol in an entirely peaceful, crowded tourist area is 1000x more dangerous than anyone sitting here advocating bloodshed on the internet. At least here we can each communicate and reason with each other, dissuade people from doing what is clearly the wrong thing (violence). With the above-mentioned person? HE IS THE LAW. Do not attempt to communicate with him, for he is doing this for your own good. Which is scarier to you?
As much as your point is taken, your ad hominem pretty much unveils you to be as deluded as these "gun nuts". While I'm sure you want to put a very fine point o n the horrors of war/revolution, consider also that some people are simply expressing that they feel completely hopeless, and that all they see before them is bloodshed to affect change.
If you sympathize that way, if you provide a real example of hope (none of which I personally see right now, honestly), then perhaps you'd win more minds to your side. Your point is taken, though: War is terrifying, but the sad fact is that one wonders whether, given how apathetic so many seem to be, if bloodshed isn't the only thing that will wake enough people up to cause any real change. Even then, that change may make things even worse than they are now.
Except they didn't. They put their own sense of righteousness before their countrymen (or need for discpline, or a paycheck. All human goals, all reasonable) They were deluded into thinking it would help, and look where it's gotten us. It's created many more evils than it ever fixed.
If I go into a grocery store, shoot everyone in the store, then take enough money and food for a neighborhood full of homeless people, it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do no matter how much good I think I'm doing, no matter how necessary it feels.
Military service is important, but let's be honest: There are wrongs committed around the world all the time. When some whackjob in a White House decides to enrich a bunch of his friends by starting a war, though, no amount of rationalization changes the fact that anyone who participates is complicit in that crime.
This isn't about going out and standing up for something, don't kid yourself. I can and have done that. I've gone toe to toe to stand up for what I believe in and it's an ugly thing sometimes, but saying that we're somehow not able to talk about an issue like this unless we've "been there" is just a way to absently deflect viewpoints that are likely not similar to your own (as only military persons count according to your logic, and most/all would agree with you).
However, if you really want to help then I certainly hope you'll be out in the streets with the rest of us to get this shit changed around so that no other friend of anyone else EVER has to get his legs blown off because some overpumped rich shithead can make a few bucks. THAT is the real crime here, so while we might not agree, I deeply hope we can agree on that.