Don't you think those "ladies", you know, just pretend? I don't think they get paid if they don't put on a show. I have only a general understanding of what that is, but I highly doubt those videos can be a reliable presentation. Unless you're speaking from the personal experience. Though, that would still be anecdotal evidence.
"free markets are doing what they did in the west a century and a half ago: lifting the society whole out of poverty and an agrarian existence, something central planning fails miserably at." This must be the most idiotic post I've seen in a while. Bravo!
"It could also be because there are government-based financial incentives for single mothers to keep having children, and no disincentives." Do you have any proof that single women just decide to have children to get government money? Some small number of them? Maybe. Most of them? Doubtful.
"Early Christians ran into a polytheistic society near the very end of polytheism's probable 500,000+ year reign." Where did you get 500,000 years? If I remember correctly the modern humans first appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago and the first records of polytheism that we found are about 4,500 years old.
"Commonly called the rythm method, timing sexual encounters against the menstral cycle is one of the oldest and effectiver forms of birth control." For a person who feels the need to "dumb down" things for others, you are surprisingly uninformed. The "rhythm" method is 75% effective (typical-use), so it is not one of the most effective methods. It was developed in the early 20th century so it is not even one of the oldest forms of birth control.
"Perhaps you should stay in school until your cognitive abilities fuully develope" "Nowhere did i say there was a god or any gods, just that the blind faith in the lack of one was noteworthy." So, if I don't consider you a murderer or a pervert because there is no proof that you are one, that would be "blind faith"? Excellent. I don't know which school you went to, but they sure screwed up your "cognitive abilities".
"We see faces even in places we know there is no reason to. Why would we ever see a face in a cloud, or even a picture on a page? Much of the visual information is wrong, the size, the distance, the color, the lack of depth.....but something in there says "face....right there". Shit, all it takes is a couple of circles and a line."
"Electrical impulses sent to muscles in a severed limb we know already produce movement, so instead of the energy source being blood sugar and oxygen why not the raw energy produced by the brain." I think we have found the person who wrote all those zombie movie scripts.
"PS. When an honest-to-goodness co-worker psychopath tried his smarm on me one particularly egregious time, the traits were so obvious that I actually found it entirely repulsive..."
This. It always amazes me how people miss it. Most smarmy behavior is rather easy to spot, and I'm not that particularly bright. There was just one who took me several years to figure out. Though, I'm not sure whether that person even realizes how egotistical, manipulative, etc. they really are. It's also possible that I just haven't spotted any true psychopaths yet.
"democracy appears undesirable, or at least sub-optimal, to many intelligent successful geeks." Translation: "I don't like it and a couple of people I met on the Internet agreed with me."
"Then you have people like me, who have become so disillusioned with government that I contend the whole affair should be done away with." Yeah... Because the alternatives are so much better...
"Is our government good? Is it effective? Does it have the right goals?" The answer to all these is "It depends" as any person over 25 (some minds take longer to mature) should know.
"Some percentage of the voting public is clearly dumber than I am, and clearly unable to manage their own affairs and well-being appropriately. So a rude question emerges: Should people who cannot manage their own lives get any role in managing mine? (e.g., a "vote")? I'm persuaded that the answer is, "no"."...and, most likely, you are dumber (a great metric by the way, but moving on) than somebody else, so should they decide that you don't manage your affairs well enough (another great metric) - you don't get to vote. Brilliant!
"now consider myself squarely an anarchist." "an anarchist ALSO doesn't recognize the right of a successful man to govern an unsuccessful one." Do you somehow think that not allowing the people you don't like to vote is not governing them? Or, you haven't made up your mind yet as to which point you are advocating?
"the fastest growing socio-cultural group is socially conservative Islam" Sources?
I think you misunderstood. I didn't mean that the government had to impose morality on the population. Far from it. The government has no business in regulating morals, etc. at all. I think the parent was just trying to point out the hypocrisy of the people who claim they were Christians while violating their religion's tenets. I thought you were a religious person arguing with that, so I joined in.
"If Mariah carey had gone independent instead of being with Columbia or Virgin Records etc. she would have been able to retain all of the profits, instead of just 10-15% share of it." Not that easy. I'm pretty sure she doesn't own any of her songs or videos. Nor her name. She'd have to start over.
Slashdot Mirror
"curtsey of the federal government."
Was it a bad pun or just an error?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtsey
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/courtesy
Don't you think those "ladies", you know, just pretend? I don't think they get paid if they don't put on a show. I have only a general understanding of what that is, but I highly doubt those videos can be a reliable presentation.
Unless you're speaking from the personal experience. Though, that would still be anecdotal evidence.
" just got a quote for $1,095.00 a month with a $10,000.00 annual deductible"
You are either not telling everything or just trolling.
"free markets are doing what they did in the west a century and a half ago: lifting the society whole out of poverty and an agrarian existence, something central planning fails miserably at."
This must be the most idiotic post I've seen in a while. Bravo!
"It could also be because there are government-based financial incentives for single mothers to keep having children, and no disincentives."
Do you have any proof that single women just decide to have children to get government money? Some small number of them? Maybe. Most of them? Doubtful.
"Early Christians ran into a polytheistic society near the very end of polytheism's probable 500,000+ year reign."
Where did you get 500,000 years? If I remember correctly the modern humans first appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago and the first records of polytheism that we found are about 4,500 years old.
"Commonly called the rythm method, timing sexual encounters against the menstral cycle is one of the oldest and effectiver forms of birth control."
For a person who feels the need to "dumb down" things for others, you are surprisingly uninformed. The "rhythm" method is 75% effective (typical-use), so it is not one of the most effective methods. It was developed in the early 20th century so it is not even one of the oldest forms of birth control.
"Perhaps you should stay in school until your cognitive abilities fuully develope"
"Nowhere did i say there was a god or any gods, just that the blind faith in the lack of one was noteworthy."
So, if I don't consider you a murderer or a pervert because there is no proof that you are one, that would be "blind faith"? Excellent. I don't know which school you went to, but they sure screwed up your "cognitive abilities".
"We see faces even in places we know there is no reason to. Why would we ever see a face in a cloud, or even a picture on a page? Much of the visual information is wrong, the size, the distance, the color, the lack of depth.....but something in there says "face....right there". Shit, all it takes is a couple of circles and a line."
Pareidolia or, more generally, apophenia.
"Electrical impulses sent to muscles in a severed limb we know already produce movement, so instead of the energy source being blood sugar and oxygen why not the raw energy produced by the brain."
I think we have found the person who wrote all those zombie movie scripts.
"Especially since the USSR was at least as racist as the US ever was........"
Are you high? If you know anyone from USSR, ask them. Sober up first.
Nurse, this one's braindead. Downstairs please.
I'm a very crappy psychopath. I manipulate, lie to and hurt mostly myself :-|
"the poster misrepresented government based redistribution as charity"
Where did he say anything about the government exactly?
Are you sure you are referring to http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4478993&cid=45505581 ?
"Learn to think correctly bro. Your post is useless." :)
Cura te ipsum
"PS. When an honest-to-goodness co-worker psychopath tried his smarm on me one particularly egregious time, the traits were so obvious that I actually found it entirely repulsive..."
This. It always amazes me how people miss it. Most smarmy behavior is rather easy to spot, and I'm not that particularly bright.
There was just one who took me several years to figure out. Though, I'm not sure whether that person even realizes how egotistical, manipulative, etc. they really are.
It's also possible that I just haven't spotted any true psychopaths yet.
Besides, most of them (probably all) consider themselves much smarter than the police. Hence the teasing and taunting.
"What are your sources?"
Criminology?
"democracy appears undesirable, or at least sub-optimal, to many intelligent successful geeks."
Translation: "I don't like it and a couple of people I met on the Internet agreed with me."
"Then you have people like me, who have become so disillusioned with government that I contend the whole affair should be done away with."
Yeah... Because the alternatives are so much better...
"Is our government good? Is it effective? Does it have the right goals?"
The answer to all these is "It depends" as any person over 25 (some minds take longer to mature) should know.
"Some percentage of the voting public is clearly dumber than I am, and clearly unable to manage their own affairs and well-being appropriately. ...and, most likely, you are dumber (a great metric by the way, but moving on) than somebody else, so should they decide that you don't manage your affairs well enough (another great metric) - you don't get to vote. Brilliant!
So a rude question emerges: Should people who cannot manage their own lives get any role in managing mine? (e.g., a "vote")?
I'm persuaded that the answer is, "no"."
"now consider myself squarely an anarchist."
"an anarchist ALSO doesn't recognize the right of a successful man to govern an unsuccessful one."
Do you somehow think that not allowing the people you don't like to vote is not governing them? Or, you haven't made up your mind yet as to which point you are advocating?
"the fastest growing socio-cultural group is socially conservative Islam"
Sources?
Wow... Please stay in Thailand.
I think you misunderstood. I didn't mean that the government had to impose morality on the population. Far from it. The government has no business in regulating morals, etc. at all.
I think the parent was just trying to point out the hypocrisy of the people who claim they were Christians while violating their religion's tenets. I thought you were a religious person arguing with that, so I joined in.
"Oh my, Godwin's law already. You're done."
You are funny. Now try to actually learn to apply that law correctly.
Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking when I replied to you. It's obviously a waste of time.
I remembered the third one:
- when a song/movie/game/book just aren't available for purchase.
"If Mariah carey had gone independent instead of being with Columbia or Virgin Records etc. she would have been able to retain all of the profits, instead of just 10-15% share of it."
Not that easy. I'm pretty sure she doesn't own any of her songs or videos. Nor her name. She'd have to start over.