Um, the United States was founded on the ideas of philosophers, like John Locke, David Hume, etc.
To say that no worthwhile philosophy was done since DesCarte, is kind of baffling for an American.
As to Superheroes, the United States went to them because of the Senate Subcomittee on Juvenile Deliquency, and they are thus the ultimate expression of American political propaganda as art (because only proper political propaganda could survive the 50's purge of sequential art).
"Oh, no, I got out of that suckers' game. I now run my own hedge-fund firm, Rearden Capital Management."
"What?"
He stood and adjusted his suit jacket so that his body didn't betray his shameful weakness. He walked toward her and sat informally on the edge of her desk. "Why make a product when you can make dollars? Right this second, I'm earning millions in interest off money I don't even have."
He gestured to his floor-to-ceiling windows, a symbol of his productive ability and goodness.
"There's a whole world out there of byzantine financial products just waiting to be invented, Dagny. Let the leeches run my factories into the ground! I hope they do! I've taken out more insurance on a single Rearden Steel bond than the entire company is even worth! When my old company finally tanks, I'll make a cool $877 million." -- ATLAS SHRUGGED: UPDATED FOR THE CURRENT FINANCIAL CRISIS.
A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual, and certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.
Hmm, you know, the previous administration was one of the most corrupt in history, but someone should've told Obama it's not a corruption contest and he doesn't need to try to win it by being more corrupt.
Oh well, I guess it's too late for that now... he's decided which side his bread is buttered on.
As to me, I have to decide in 4 years whether to vote 3rd party, write in Dr. Phineas Waldorf Steel, or stay home and catch up on my reality-TV watching (um... I mean book reading.... that's the ticket)? Decisions, decisions...
Look, I know all about Sony's thinking. I hate them. Back when I had a Playstation 1, an edict came does from the Sony of America brass. The edict? No "2-D" games for the United States.
So, I went throught the complicated process of chipping my Playstation so I could play games like Samurai Spirits and the re-release of the Mega Man games. Which I bought as imports, legally.
Well, Sony didn't like that. They did have a legitimate problem with it actually, the chip that broke their region control allowed CD copies of games to play as well. Their solution? Did they come to the conclusion of doing away with region control? How about bringing out the games they were restricting from the US market?
No, their solution was to cause legitimate games to not work on the Playstation's that were chipped. However, pirated copies of the same games worked fine.
With Sony, it has for many years been all about control, about shaping the market into what they want it to be, not finding a need and filling it. The sooner Sony is gone, the better. The little they produce of value can be made just as well by their competitors.
"He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldronaii, he came as a large and moving Torb! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex supplicants they chose a new form for him, that of a giant Slohr! Many shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slohr that day, I can tell you." -- Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer, Volguus, Zildrohar Lord of the Sebouillia
Well, at least the new reality show wave will be classy!
Of course, on that show, I think that the perks should be like, "You've won the challenge. You have your choice of not having to work Sunday, or some ammo clips for your AK 47."
Well, a competent, principled conservative might not have been bad for President.
Instead we got George W. Bush.
In that election, I voted for Harry Browne. I still think he would've been better than either Gore/Lieberman or Bush/Cheney. I don't regret my vote.
I think if I had been a Leftist at the time (I'm considerably further Left now), I wouldn't have regretted voting for Ralph Nader. Al Gore ran as a triangulating New Democrat in the Clinton mold, in other words, outflanking Republicans on popular Right issues. Hence the choice of the neocon Lieberman for his running mate. (Of course, in those days I didn't know what a neocon was... I just knew Lieberman wanted to ban Mortal Kombat. It was a more innocent time.)
After the election, I re-evaluated the two major party candidates, after George W. Bush had had a chance to govern for a while. Of course, the grotesque mis-government of the man, coupled with the disasterous reaction to 9/11 causes Al Gore to look very favorable in retrospect. Well, that and his self-deprecating appearances on Futurama.
However, I don't know if anyone knew exactly how bad GWB was at the time, certainly his incompetance and mendacity were well hidden in the mainstream media.
However, he got elected twice! In other words, we had him in office for 4 years and the majority of the electorate said, "Oh yeah! We want four more years of that freakshow! Maybe when he's done we'll be living in that cool movie, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Go on, Mr. President, run the country and the world into the ground!"
I am so God-damned sick of the three laws. I want to say to people who take them seriously, "Oh, you read Asimov in high school, good for you." It's been so obvious that this is not the path the human race is on.
Also, for things for people to fixate on, why the three laws? Why not psychohistory? That seemed more fun to me.
Asimov was a cockied-optimist. His is not the world we inhabit.
Here you use the word beat to try and suggest that he abuses his children. This is both incredibly dishonest and mischievous. The correct word is spank.
The usual reason, in my personal experience is that the tv was broken, my Dad couldn't fix it, my Mom got a new TV, then my Dad manages to fix the broken one so it "sort-of" works.
Good enough to go on the Lanai or in the garage. If you don't mind banging on it once in a while... or tuning it through the VCR, or the fact that everything looks a little bit greener than it should.
If my TV breaks and I plan to buy a new one, I get a stern warning from my Mom, "Don't you dare tell your father..."
I can't say anything, I have four computers in various states of functioning... the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I guess.
Excellent points, all of which could be said of other franchises which are being milked (Doctor Who being an obvious example).
I always saw Dr. Who as essentially being a bad show which had some unbelievably good writers at times. Now, I'm sure that is going to be thought of as grotesquely unfair by the true fanatic... but I've watched some of the very old stuff, and it was kind of painful. To me. Personal opinion should count for nothing... but that's how I feel.
Here's the thing... Dr. Who has been retconned so many times that he has whiplash. So have most of the creatures on the show (check out the pre-Genesis of the Daleks origin of the Daleks sometime.) It would not be the beloved show it is today based on the first few seasons... I don't think. Not trying to be arrogant, I could be wrong.
Now you make me want to hunt up episodes of Eldorado, you know that right?
It's important to remember "Wagon Train in Space" was just a lie. Seriously, nowadays Roddenberry would say, "It's like... um.... CSI in space. That's the ticket."
Hmm, Obama? I'd guess any company that he's not currently giving tax money too. So, Goldman Sachs can't afford to pay taxes, but I'm sure Chrysler can. (Any money Obama loans a company like Chrysler is intended for Chrysler's userers anyhow.... it just looks better if it is filtered through Chrysler first.)
Remember, the tax money is mostly going to the usurers, who are basically people who lend money for interest. And what is money lent at interest? A privately collected tax! Except, instead of going for schools and roads, it goes for the head of Goldman's third yacht or solid gold toilet or whatever tacky, sociopathic rich people spend their money on...
By the way, the only difference I can think Republicans would do in this particular area is give each working class person working at Chrysler a hard punch in the face in addition to every other thing they are doing. So, that's in Obama's favor.
Slashdot Mirror
That's how they brought the Master back in an old Dr. Who epsiode. Except his line was, "Come now, Doctor, you know I'm indestructible."
Um, the United States was founded on the ideas of philosophers, like John Locke, David Hume, etc.
To say that no worthwhile philosophy was done since DesCarte, is kind of baffling for an American.
As to Superheroes, the United States went to them because of the Senate Subcomittee on Juvenile Deliquency, and they are thus the ultimate expression of American political propaganda as art (because only proper political propaganda could survive the 50's purge of sequential art).
I thought communism was:
But it might have been published in a college newspaper, ala Life in Hell.
Hmm, you know, the previous administration was one of the most corrupt in history, but someone should've told Obama it's not a corruption contest and he doesn't need to try to win it by being more corrupt.
Oh well, I guess it's too late for that now... he's decided which side his bread is buttered on.
As to me, I have to decide in 4 years whether to vote 3rd party, write in Dr. Phineas Waldorf Steel, or stay home and catch up on my reality-TV watching (um... I mean book reading.... that's the ticket)? Decisions, decisions...
... it might be a CEO. Why, I hear the CEO of Sony just wrote an article about Guardrails for the Internet.
I bet if the price were right, he could get the job!
Look, I know all about Sony's thinking. I hate them. Back when I had a Playstation 1, an edict came does from the Sony of America brass. The edict? No "2-D" games for the United States.
So, I went throught the complicated process of chipping my Playstation so I could play games like Samurai Spirits and the re-release of the Mega Man games. Which I bought as imports, legally.
Well, Sony didn't like that. They did have a legitimate problem with it actually, the chip that broke their region control allowed CD copies of games to play as well. Their solution? Did they come to the conclusion of doing away with region control? How about bringing out the games they were restricting from the US market?
No, their solution was to cause legitimate games to not work on the Playstation's that were chipped. However, pirated copies of the same games worked fine.
With Sony, it has for many years been all about control, about shaping the market into what they want it to be, not finding a need and filling it. The sooner Sony is gone, the better. The little they produce of value can be made just as well by their competitors.
"He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldronaii, he came as a large and moving Torb! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex supplicants they chose a new form for him, that of a giant Slohr! Many shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slohr that day, I can tell you." -- Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer, Volguus, Zildrohar Lord of the Sebouillia
You do realize that China has had a thriving film industry for years and years?
In fact it is not unheard of for great Chinese films to be remade in English, like Infernal Affairs. The English language version won an academy award, I think.
I prefer the works of the Shaw Brothers and Tsui Hark, myself, but then I'm a traditionalist.
It's not a cartoon. It's a comic book, from the early 50's.
Oh, and "only the red heads" obviously!
Well, at least the new reality show wave will be classy!
Of course, on that show, I think that the perks should be like, "You've won the challenge. You have your choice of not having to work Sunday, or some ammo clips for your AK 47."
Seriously, think of the ratings!
"Why you red headed Wildcat!"
Well, a competent, principled conservative might not have been bad for President.
Instead we got George W. Bush.
In that election, I voted for Harry Browne. I still think he would've been better than either Gore/Lieberman or Bush/Cheney. I don't regret my vote.
I think if I had been a Leftist at the time (I'm considerably further Left now), I wouldn't have regretted voting for Ralph Nader. Al Gore ran as a triangulating New Democrat in the Clinton mold, in other words, outflanking Republicans on popular Right issues. Hence the choice of the neocon Lieberman for his running mate. (Of course, in those days I didn't know what a neocon was... I just knew Lieberman wanted to ban Mortal Kombat. It was a more innocent time.)
After the election, I re-evaluated the two major party candidates, after George W. Bush had had a chance to govern for a while. Of course, the grotesque mis-government of the man, coupled with the disasterous reaction to 9/11 causes Al Gore to look very favorable in retrospect. Well, that and his self-deprecating appearances on Futurama.
However, I don't know if anyone knew exactly how bad GWB was at the time, certainly his incompetance and mendacity were well hidden in the mainstream media.
However, he got elected twice! In other words, we had him in office for 4 years and the majority of the electorate said, "Oh yeah! We want four more years of that freakshow! Maybe when he's done we'll be living in that cool movie, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Go on, Mr. President, run the country and the world into the ground!"
To quote Kent Brockman, "Democracy doesn't work!"
I am so God-damned sick of the three laws. I want to say to people who take them seriously, "Oh, you read Asimov in high school, good for you." It's been so obvious that this is not the path the human race is on.
Also, for things for people to fixate on, why the three laws? Why not psychohistory? That seemed more fun to me.
Asimov was a cockied-optimist. His is not the world we inhabit.
We don't even inhabit this world, "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."
This is the world we inhabit: "you now have 15 seconds to comply!"
Verhoven:1 -- Asimov:0 !
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/11/19/
Tomato, tomato....
The usual reason, in my personal experience is that the tv was broken, my Dad couldn't fix it, my Mom got a new TV, then my Dad manages to fix the broken one so it "sort-of" works.
Good enough to go on the Lanai or in the garage. If you don't mind banging on it once in a while... or tuning it through the VCR, or the fact that everything looks a little bit greener than it should.
If my TV breaks and I plan to buy a new one, I get a stern warning from my Mom, "Don't you dare tell your father..."
I can't say anything, I have four computers in various states of functioning... the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I guess.
Hmm, I don't think that would be a problem where I live in Florida, I suppose it might be in other states.
One of the sickest things I've read these many years on Slashdot, and that's saying something.
Gentlemen, I give you the neurosis caused by careful training into the Puritan mindset that afflicts many Americans.
Quarantine your cultures against it, I say!
That says it all, "Sexual Desire == Addiction."
Oh, by the way, if you are a woman, stay the Hell away from this guy! He is "motivated, tormented and tempted" by his "sexual desire addiction."
He probably keeps duct tape in his van as well...
I would pity him, but I never pitied Claude Frollo or Lord Angelo, so why start now...
I always saw Dr. Who as essentially being a bad show which had some unbelievably good writers at times. Now, I'm sure that is going to be thought of as grotesquely unfair by the true fanatic... but I've watched some of the very old stuff, and it was kind of painful. To me. Personal opinion should count for nothing... but that's how I feel.
Here's the thing... Dr. Who has been retconned so many times that he has whiplash. So have most of the creatures on the show (check out the pre-Genesis of the Daleks origin of the Daleks sometime.) It would not be the beloved show it is today based on the first few seasons... I don't think. Not trying to be arrogant, I could be wrong.
Now you make me want to hunt up episodes of Eldorado, you know that right?
It's important to remember "Wagon Train in Space" was just a lie. Seriously, nowadays Roddenberry would say, "It's like... um.... CSI in space. That's the ticket."
I give you Mr. Ox... (small spoiler for VTM: Bloodlines)
Hmm, Obama? I'd guess any company that he's not currently giving tax money too. So, Goldman Sachs can't afford to pay taxes, but I'm sure Chrysler can. (Any money Obama loans a company like Chrysler is intended for Chrysler's userers anyhow.... it just looks better if it is filtered through Chrysler first.)
Remember, the tax money is mostly going to the usurers, who are basically people who lend money for interest. And what is money lent at interest? A privately collected tax! Except, instead of going for schools and roads, it goes for the head of Goldman's third yacht or solid gold toilet or whatever tacky, sociopathic rich people spend their money on...
By the way, the only difference I can think Republicans would do in this particular area is give each working class person working at Chrysler a hard punch in the face in addition to every other thing they are doing. So, that's in Obama's favor.
"A cautious, corporate-friendly centrist."
I would also accept "a New Democrat."
A third interesting choice is "America's Tony Blair." But of course, in that case the "a" would have to be capitalized.