Countries like the UK and Spain have had to put up with terrorism and the the threat of terrorism for decades,
That should have clued you in. Americans have little experience in such things. Cut them a break, eh? Sure, lots of Americans are lacking in worldly wisdom, but you're exhibiting just that in your "oh how I do wish the silly little minds in America would grow up" attitude.
In many vehicles nowadays, you can check your e-mail, view Web sites, even watch television, from the comfort of your driver's seat.
I would love to have this stuff in my car. However, it makes me tremble to think that the 'average' driver would have these things.
I'm glad it's not happening in the USA; it scares me enough already to see all the jackasses in mini vans with cell phones pasted to their ear yakking and laughing like fools as they try to merge onto the interstate. I don't want to see such simpletons watching a movie and surfing the web at the same time.
Dude. Wake up. Put down the primer and get with the 21st century, gramps.
Kids these days use the term 'meme' to mean a unit of information which is transferred from mind to mind.
Oh yeah, and the "pretentious weenies that seem to think that the word meme is hip" line. A first-year psych student will tell you, that is classic projection. YOU are the weenie, and YOU think the word is hip.
You're lucky to be able to choose what job you want.
Ain't that the truth.
It really is a matter of evolution. Evolution, meaning a more evolved state, meaning more evolved and complex social patterns than mere survival. More evolved levels of conciousness than just 'can I fuck it or eat it?'. Better and more complex levels of thought and behaviour, involving the fineness of music and art and conversation and interpersonal behaviour, rather than just, "Time to go hunting/gathering".
Morality conciousness is higher than 'survival' conciousness. Such views, as you so eloquently described, are only held by an elite in this world. It is, indeed, sad that so much of the world is so poorly evolved, both mentally and socially. But that does not make the fontunate elite's higher morality conciousness 'bullshit,' as you would say.
Think about it: if somebody walked up to you on the street, and gave you $1mil and asked you to kill someone where would you draw the line? Your arch-rival? Your boss? A bum? A random ordinary person? A celebrity? A friend? A loved one? Yourself? What if it was $10mil, or $100mil, or the Presidency of the US?
First off, sorry I was rude. I was trying to be funny and conversational in an outrageous, stree-wise sort of way, and I ended up just being rude. I should have put a smiley after it, or better, just STFU myself.
To answer your question, it goes towards what is good. When Robert Pirsig said 'Good is a noun' I knew what he meant, and agreed. Quality in action and being is much MUCH more valuable than $100 million dollars, or whatever. That's what I'm talking about. Quality of person is a THING and very real and a posession, when you look at it differently, and not just an idea, and I would much rather be monitarily poor and of fine personal Quality than rich and a scumbag. Seriously.
Sure you might die rather than live in disgrace, but would you make someone else die for your inflated sense of morality?
This 'Everyone has a price' line begs the point. It implies that everyone would, at some point, endure disgrace to achieve an end.
But the way I see it, not sacrificing myself and my being to save my Mom would be the disgrace. Refusing to spam and letting my Mom die would be the REAL disgrace. Becoming a spammer would be, to me, 'falling on my sword' to do that which is noble, namely, saving my Mom. Becoming a spammer to save only myself would, the way I see it, be disgraceful and I would sooner die. Seriously.
But the case in point of this 18-year-old, he sacrificed his honor for a very small price, and did indeed suffer disgrace. Doing what he did to save one's Mom would not be a disgrace.
Everybody has their price; some are just higher than others.
Not me. I have purposly not bred or married or undertaken any of those kinds of responsibilities so I could, at any time, say "Screw you guys" and check out. That is, of course, unusual. Very few people are ready to fall on their sword for their beliefs. But the world needs wet nurses as well as warriors. And weasles too, if only to serve as examples for their betters.
This life is not such a bed of roses picnic that I would be willing to stay under 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune'.
I fully believe in and live by the words of Nietzche when he said, "When it is no longer possible to live in dignity, it is best to die in dignity."
Aw, man, STFU. Everybody does NOT 'have a price'. Believe it or not, there ARE noble men and women. Heroic souls. People who would rather die than live in disgrace. You just aren't aware of them because they tend to keep their yaps shut, while the jackasses get all the press.
This guy spends $10K in the hopes of getting a 'pretty picture"?
That is obscene. I hope there is a Pearly Gates, and when he gets up there, St. Peter is a cat, and St. Peter tells him how many kitties lives he could have saved and made so much better for that wasted 10K.
The elitist attitude of "I don't want all these ignorant yokels screwing up my country"
Well, I don't want ignorant yokels screwing up my country. How can anyone WANT ignorant yokels screwing up their country? Down that path of double thought lies neurosis and an unacceptably high level of cognitive dissonance I am not willing to be burdened with.
I'll say it again, and say it with spirit:
"I'd rather not have people who are swayed by cartoon characters and gangstas making decisions affecting my life, thanks, anyway." - Le Marteau
If it takes some lights and shiny objects to get them interested again, by using what they are *already interested in*, what exactly is sad about that? I'd say it's a pretty smart way of beginning to reverse the downward slide of voter participation.
Why is it such a big goddamn tragedy if lots of people don't vote. The election will stil occur, and the people who WANT to vote WILL vote.
I'd rather not have people who are swayed by cartoon characters and gangstas making decisions affecting my life, thanks, anyway.
half of them don't even know how to change a flat tire
Example: I am constantly amazed at the number of cars I see on the side of the road which have fallen off the jack and are on the axle. I would think that everyone has seen this, and when time comes to change a tire, that they would do something to prevent the car from moving and thus falling off the jack. The stupidity of some of my fellow drivers stuns me, sometimes.
I gave up on them because their store is so damned annoying (at least the one nearest me). They've always got some car-audio amplifier mega-ghetto-blaster tremendo-up-to 11 bass thumper box going "BOOM... BOOM... BOOM" playing some crap for the entire warehouse to 'enjoy'. I don't know how anyone can work there.
Anyone who says otherwise is either 1) a liar 2) a fool 3) a polititian or 4) all of the above
You and I can still vote our conscience; can still not vote for the lesser of the evils, and rest assured that we did not cause the destruction of the country.
Only a schizophrenic or someone fully engaged in doublethink can seriously belive his one vote will 'save the country'. I will not compromise my standards to adhere to an insane belief, namely, that one can change the course of the most powerful nation in history with one vote.
I do not vote to 'save the country'. I vote because I am an American. I always have, and always will, vote for the person I think SHOULD be the president, not for the least evil of the options who has a pretty good chance of winning. I will NOT allow the specticle of tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber election to cause me to pick evil in ANY form.
Even though it is cool that you provided the article after it got slashdotted, there is no reason why your karma (as unimportant as it is) should be upped for doing so.
Your post is a great example of what is wrong with the moderation system. People treat mod points as PERSONAL rewards and punishments. Mod points should more properly be viewed as rewards and punishments FOR THE POST.
The post WAS informative. The site was dotted, and I wanted to read it. Thankfully, someone did.
True, it would have been more elegant if the poster had gone AC for it, but the fact that the guy may have been a whore in no way makes the post any less 'informative'.
But you, and others, will go ahead and use points to 'punish' people for being dicks. Go ahead, and be my guest. I, on the other hand, will use mod points as I belive they are intended: to allow users to separate the wheat from the chaff, should they so choose.
Well, if you shine a laser into a jet cockpit, damage the eyesight of a pilot, potentially cause him to crash the plane, doesn't that ipso facto MAKE you a terrorist?
No, not really. It makes you a murderer. Not all murders are terrorist acts. The word 'terrorism' implies the use of violence FOR POLITICAL MEANS. Unless the punk was politically motivated, he was not a dictionary-definition terrorist.
Of course, because the word 'terrorist' is so highly charged, it is now being bandied about so casually that the word is losing its meaning, as evidinced by your ignorance of the meaning of the word.
There are a million different ways to kill alot of people. Focusing on one is pretty damn political.
You noticed that, eh? I saw the light when I was in the airport soon after 9/11, and there were National Guardsmen in jungle camouflage in the terminal.
Jungle camouflage! In an urban setting! I mean, we all know how well jungle camouflage blends in with the Smart Carts and the rental car counters. Plus, the problem with 9/11 wasn't in the terminal, it was on the frickin' airplane.
So why was the National Guard in terminals wearing jungle camouflage? I'll tell you one thing: it had nothing to do with security.
I have had enough. Both major parties can SUCK MY BALLS. I REFUSE to vote for the lesser of two evils. I REFUSE to buy that crap that by not voting for either of those bastards is "wasting my vote" I REFUSE to watch those two yak it up on Thursday.
I don't give a rat's ass if my candidate won't win the election. At least my vote will be counted, and will be put into the column of other like minded folks who have had enough. At least the totals will show that SOME voters are not suckers and can think for themselves.
If you want to save your country, don't waste your vote.
You, or I, cannot "save the country" by voting. You cannot seriously believe that you can. I have to believe you are just spouting off nonsense... not really thinking about what you are saying, because no rational individual would say things like you are saying.
Your vote does not matter. Don't believe the hype. Think for yourself, and stop spouting off nonsense like a schizophrenic. Don't vote to "save the country". Vote because you are an American, and that's what American's do.
We are all assuming the Colorado DMV runs Windows. They probably do. But no where in the articles is the name of the OS they run mentioned. Yesterday I searched Google news for the name of their OS, and no article mentioned it.
Slashdot Mirror
Countries like the UK and Spain have had to put up with terrorism and the the threat of terrorism for decades,
That should have clued you in. Americans have little experience in such things. Cut them a break, eh? Sure, lots of Americans are lacking in worldly wisdom, but you're exhibiting just that in your "oh how I do wish the silly little minds in America would grow up" attitude.
In many vehicles nowadays, you can check your e-mail, view Web sites, even watch television, from the comfort of your driver's seat.
I would love to have this stuff in my car. However, it makes me tremble to think that the 'average' driver would have these things.
I'm glad it's not happening in the USA; it scares me enough already to see all the jackasses in mini vans with cell phones pasted to their ear yakking and laughing like fools as they try to merge onto the interstate. I don't want to see such simpletons watching a movie and surfing the web at the same time.
Dude. Wake up. Put down the primer and get with the 21st century, gramps.
Kids these days use the term 'meme' to mean a unit of information which is transferred from mind to mind.
Oh yeah, and the "pretentious weenies that seem to think that the word meme is hip" line. A first-year psych student will tell you, that is classic projection. YOU are the weenie, and YOU think the word is hip.
and the occasional escaped breast
You liked that? I would sooner see Barbara Bush's escaped breast that sister of Michael's.
I guess that's it. She's a Jackson, and that whole clan has a really really disturbing vibe.
You're lucky to be able to choose what job you want.
Ain't that the truth.
It really is a matter of evolution. Evolution, meaning a more evolved state, meaning more evolved and complex social patterns than mere survival. More evolved levels of conciousness than just 'can I fuck it or eat it?'. Better and more complex levels of thought and behaviour, involving the fineness of music and art and conversation and interpersonal behaviour, rather than just, "Time to go hunting/gathering".
Morality conciousness is higher than 'survival' conciousness. Such views, as you so eloquently described, are only held by an elite in this world. It is, indeed, sad that so much of the world is so poorly evolved, both mentally and socially. But that does not make the fontunate elite's higher morality conciousness 'bullshit,' as you would say.
Think about it: if somebody walked up to you on the street, and gave you $1mil and asked you to kill someone where would you draw the line?
Your arch-rival? Your boss? A bum? A random ordinary person? A celebrity? A friend? A loved one? Yourself? What if it was $10mil, or $100mil, or the Presidency of the US?
First off, sorry I was rude. I was trying to be funny and conversational in an outrageous, stree-wise sort of way, and I ended up just being rude. I should have put a smiley after it, or better, just STFU myself.
To answer your question, it goes towards what is good. When Robert Pirsig said 'Good is a noun' I knew what he meant, and agreed. Quality in action and being is much MUCH more valuable than $100 million dollars, or whatever. That's what I'm talking about. Quality of person is a THING and very real and a posession, when you look at it differently, and not just an idea, and I would much rather be monitarily poor and of fine personal Quality than rich and a scumbag. Seriously.
Sure you might die rather than live in disgrace, but would you make someone else die for your inflated sense of morality?
This 'Everyone has a price' line begs the point. It implies that everyone would, at some point, endure disgrace to achieve an end.
But the way I see it, not sacrificing myself and my being to save my Mom would be the disgrace. Refusing to spam and letting my Mom die would be the REAL disgrace. Becoming a spammer would be, to me, 'falling on my sword' to do that which is noble, namely, saving my Mom. Becoming a spammer to save only myself would, the way I see it, be disgraceful and I would sooner die. Seriously.
But the case in point of this 18-year-old, he sacrificed his honor for a very small price, and did indeed suffer disgrace. Doing what he did to save one's Mom would not be a disgrace.
Everybody has their price; some are just higher than others.
Not me. I have purposly not bred or married or undertaken any of those kinds of responsibilities so I could, at any time, say "Screw you guys" and check out. That is, of course, unusual. Very few people are ready to fall on their sword for their beliefs. But the world needs wet nurses as well as warriors. And weasles too, if only to serve as examples for their betters.
This life is not such a bed of roses picnic that I would be willing to stay under 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune'.
I fully believe in and live by the words of Nietzche when he said, "When it is no longer possible to live in dignity, it is best to die in dignity."
Aw, man, STFU. Everybody does NOT 'have a price'. Believe it or not, there ARE noble men and women. Heroic souls. People who would rather die than live in disgrace. You just aren't aware of them because they tend to keep their yaps shut, while the jackasses get all the press.
This guy spends $10K in the hopes of getting a 'pretty picture"?
That is obscene. I hope there is a Pearly Gates, and when he gets up there, St. Peter is a cat, and St. Peter tells him how many kitties lives he could have saved and made so much better for that wasted 10K.
For the kitties! Think of the kitties!
The elitist attitude of "I don't want all these ignorant yokels screwing up my country"
Well, I don't want ignorant yokels screwing up my country. How can anyone WANT ignorant yokels screwing up their country? Down that path of double thought lies neurosis and an unacceptably high level of cognitive dissonance I am not willing to be burdened with.
I'll say it again, and say it with spirit:
"I'd rather not have people who are swayed by cartoon characters and gangstas making decisions affecting my life, thanks, anyway." - Le Marteau
If it takes some lights and shiny objects to get them interested again, by using what they are *already interested in*, what exactly is sad about that? I'd say it's a pretty smart way of beginning to reverse the downward slide of voter participation.
Why is it such a big goddamn tragedy if lots of people don't vote. The election will stil occur, and the people who WANT to vote WILL vote.
I'd rather not have people who are swayed by cartoon characters and gangstas making decisions affecting my life, thanks, anyway.
I engage in sex with my girlfriend regularly
Damn, man, show a little soul!
I bet you "fulfil your dietary requirements by ingesting food". And you "provide means for purchasing desired goods and services by going to work".
You could learn something by listening to the brothers.
half of them don't even know how to change a flat tire
Example: I am constantly amazed at the number of cars I see on the side of the road which have fallen off the jack and are on the axle. I would think that everyone has seen this, and when time comes to change a tire, that they would do something to prevent the car from moving and thus falling off the jack. The stupidity of some of my fellow drivers stuns me, sometimes.
I've pretty much giving up going to best buy
I gave up on them because their store is so damned annoying (at least the one nearest me). They've always got some car-audio amplifier mega-ghetto-blaster tremendo-up-to 11 bass thumper box going "BOOM... BOOM... BOOM" playing some crap for the entire warehouse to 'enjoy'. I don't know how anyone can work there.
The government has interests in... preventing you or others from doing any thing that pleases you.
I realize you meant "anything you please" but the way you said it was too ironic.
Kerry will need every vote he can get.
No, he doesn't.
The election will not be decided by my one vote.
Anyone who says otherwise is either
1) a liar
2) a fool
3) a polititian
or
4) all of the above
You and I can still vote our conscience; can still not vote for the lesser of the evils, and rest assured that we did not cause the destruction of the country.
Only a schizophrenic or someone fully engaged in doublethink can seriously belive his one vote will 'save the country'. I will not compromise my standards to adhere to an insane belief, namely, that one can change the course of the most powerful nation in history with one vote.
I do not vote to 'save the country'. I vote because I am an American. I always have, and always will, vote for the person I think SHOULD be the president, not for the least evil of the options who has a pretty good chance of winning. I will NOT allow the specticle of tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber election to cause me to pick evil in ANY form.
Even though it is cool that you provided the article after it got slashdotted, there is no reason why your karma (as unimportant as it is) should be upped for doing so.
Your post is a great example of what is wrong with the moderation system. People treat mod points as PERSONAL rewards and punishments. Mod points should more properly be viewed as rewards and punishments FOR THE POST.
The post WAS informative. The site was dotted, and I wanted to read it. Thankfully, someone did.
True, it would have been more elegant if the poster had gone AC for it, but the fact that the guy may have been a whore in no way makes the post any less 'informative'.
But you, and others, will go ahead and use points to 'punish' people for being dicks. Go ahead, and be my guest. I, on the other hand, will use mod points as I belive they are intended: to allow users to separate the wheat from the chaff, should they so choose.
Well, if you shine a laser into a jet cockpit, damage the eyesight of a pilot, potentially cause him to crash the plane, doesn't that ipso facto MAKE you a terrorist?
No, not really. It makes you a murderer. Not all murders are terrorist acts. The word 'terrorism' implies the use of violence FOR POLITICAL MEANS. Unless the punk was politically motivated, he was not a dictionary-definition terrorist.
Of course, because the word 'terrorist' is so highly charged, it is now being bandied about so casually that the word is losing its meaning, as evidinced by your ignorance of the meaning of the word.
There are a million different ways to kill alot of people. Focusing on one is pretty damn political.
You noticed that, eh? I saw the light when I was in the airport soon after 9/11, and there were National Guardsmen in jungle camouflage in the terminal.
Jungle camouflage! In an urban setting! I mean, we all know how well jungle camouflage blends in with the Smart Carts and the rental car counters. Plus, the problem with 9/11 wasn't in the terminal, it was on the frickin' airplane.
So why was the National Guard in terminals wearing jungle camouflage? I'll tell you one thing: it had nothing to do with security.
What banner would better symbolize politics...?
Oh, I don't know. A silhouette representing the sodomy scene from Deliverance?
I have had enough. Both major parties can SUCK MY BALLS. I REFUSE to vote for the lesser of two evils. I REFUSE to buy that crap that by not voting for either of those bastards is "wasting my vote" I REFUSE to watch those two yak it up on Thursday.
I don't give a rat's ass if my candidate won't win the election. At least my vote will be counted, and will be put into the column of other like minded folks who have had enough. At least the totals will show that SOME voters are not suckers and can think for themselves.
but let's give up the pretense that any of them expect to be elected president
Nobody said that they expect to be elected. They expect to INFLUENCE the process, and they do. Look at what Nader did in Florida.
If you want to save your country, don't waste your vote.
You, or I, cannot "save the country" by voting. You cannot seriously believe that you can. I have to believe you are just spouting off nonsense... not really thinking about what you are saying, because no rational individual would say things like you are saying.
Your vote does not matter. Don't believe the hype. Think for yourself, and stop spouting off nonsense like a schizophrenic. Don't vote to "save the country". Vote because you are an American, and that's what American's do.
We are all assuming the Colorado DMV runs Windows. They probably do. But no where in the articles is the name of the OS they run mentioned. Yesterday I searched Google news for the name of their OS, and no article mentioned it.