As a Dutchman, you know, the country where bikes have their own lanes and there are more bikes than people, I'm going to teach you a very simple rule when dealing with cars.
Unless you see the car actually breaking to let you pass or you have direct eye-contact with the driver, he/she hasn't see you and you should act accordingly.
I only got my driver's license at 34, and I had no fucking idea just how many ways the driver's view gets obstructed even when 100% focussed on the road.
Humans are very fallible. Even when driving in the most responsible way possible, accidents can and will happen. Anticipate accordingly.
I've always felt that many of the symptoms currently attributed to Asperger's are behavorial traits that in the past would be considered typical of many males and accordingly compensated for, both domestically and in terms of employment.
Many of the hurdles in my own life that I have had to overcome are hurdles that in another time would never have been an issue. Ironically many of these hurdles are directly related to the freedom to make choices. What kind of career, a relationship or not, etc. In a time where I'd been married to whoever my parents felt would have been a suitable match and a job that matched my skills and personality (just how much empathy does, say, a blacksmith or a soldier need anyway?), these issues would never have cropped up in the first place.
Men, who happen to be in the majority when it comes to Asperger's, have always had a large percentage of insensitive pigs among them. Only in modern times have we started labelling this a disease instead of simply a personality trait.
Unfortunately they are fundamentally incompatible. You cannot have evolution led by anything, because then it becomes not evolution, but very gradual incremental design.
Sure it can. In fact, Creationists themselves were the result of God rolling snake-eyes on the evolution roll.
Ehmm, you just nailed the whole "religion" thing. The concept that this life can be pretty damn miserable and after it ends you serve as wormfood is too hard on a lot of people, so they make up fancy fairytales about a "next life" they get to go to if they're good.
Being afraid of death is a valuable evolutionary trait, but it makes us do funny stuff sometimes.
If your cause requires forcing somebody else at gunpoint to comply, it isn't just, it isn't honorable, and it cannot be justified. So, just don't do it.
You, Sir! Yes, you, I say! Would you kindly remove your penis from the screaming lady? No? Well, I shall file a formal complaint with the United Nations of Rainbows and Unicorns, indeed I will!
While war is horrible, atrocious and to be avoided at nearly all costs, sometimes the alternative is even worse. All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and doing nothing. And sometimes not doing nothing requires the application of force.
In his particular case both his father and his son had already decided to donate, so even if he hadn't, They'd very likely still have found him based on familial matches.
Worst of all, religion denies all of man's achievements, ascribing them instead to an all-mighty deity who simply bequeaths them on a whim. What a wonderful belief system... not.
I saw this the other day on some school project of a 6 year old. They were constructing some sort of gift card to thank God for their daily bread. For some reason her mother, who is the one that works her ass off to actually provide said bread, seems to approve of this.
I found Tachyon: The Fringe quite amusing as well.
Although that was mostly despite of the gameplay, not because of it. Weird storylines(preventing a space pirate from taking off with the stolen Sistine Chapel on a barge), good voiceacting, etc.
There's nothing particularly rational about either one, it's about what people want.
Actually, there is, and the same applies to a lot of other subjects, like for example drug prohibition.
There are plenty of different systems and methods that demonstrably do or do not work. It really isn't all that hard to look at them and point that out. There's nothing wrong with deliberately choosing not to use a system that works for reasons of principle, but in that case we could at least be honest and consistent about it.
If a nation or a state chooses to make health insurance optional, based on principles of freedom and individual responsibility, then do it properly. Let the corpses of those who were stupid or irresponsible pile up outside the ER for all to see.
Same thing with drug prohibition. It demonstrably doesn't work, it costs tons of money and there's a remarkable correlation between wanting to forbid it and believing in invisible men in the sky, so let's at least have some *honest* reasons why it should be disallowed.
You make a decent argument, and then provide the best reason why it is flawed.
If the current crop of politicians, who are mostly lawyers, are clearly and demonstrably unable to do a proper job, how do you know the baker and the mechanic won't do a better one?
Besides, politicians have to pass a lot of tests. The thing is that the electorate chooses to test on incredibly important subjects such as hair, teeth, flagpin wearing and the ability to spout immense amounts of bullshit instead of looking at minor details such as principles, realism and actual good ideas.
Let's face it, even if someone who is clearly principled and who actually tells the truth were to run, he/she wouldn't stand a chance. We don't want "leaders" who tell us the truth, we want ones that tell us that we're the ones doing just fine and everything would be peachy if it weren't for $them.
When comparing Western European power usage to that in the US, bear in mind that in western Europe we often heat our homes and water using natural gas. 1 cubic meter of natural gas has the energy equivalent of roughly 10 kWh (36MJ), so this tends to make US consumption look really exaggerated.
A typical Dutch household for example uses about 3000 kWH of electricity and 1800 cubic meters of natural gas per year.
I'm guessing you live in a relatively small apartment:)
Where innovating is a nice way of saying "funneling public money to private buddies and corrupting the electoral process while you're at it".
The most staggering part, however, is that US elections aren't followed by a spree of arrests. Then again, the DA who would have to prosecute is an elected official as well. Round and round she goes, where she is, nobody knows.
Actually, it isn't. It may pick up on basic accelerating and decelerating and shift accordingly, but it's not psychic. An automatic does not know I want to overtake and need the revs *right now*, nor does it know why I'm taking my foot off the throttle.
A semi-automatic that allows for overriding the base selections is an option, but even then I'd be very reluctant to give up the extra control that working the clutch provides.
You need to get up to speed my fellow countryman, it's now Europe and particularly drunk Polish we're supposed to hate. At least, I think so, our beloved friend has been rather quiet lately, must be getting ready to join a US "think-tank":)
Then again we're back to seeing Wilders and his buddies scream from the fringes, so who cares. Guess there's some advantages to actually having more than 2 parties to choose from.
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As a Dutchman, you know, the country where bikes have their own lanes and there are more bikes than people, I'm going to teach you a very simple rule when dealing with cars.
Unless you see the car actually breaking to let you pass or you have direct eye-contact with the driver, he/she hasn't see you and you should act accordingly.
I only got my driver's license at 34, and I had no fucking idea just how many ways the driver's view gets obstructed even when 100% focussed on the road.
Humans are very fallible. Even when driving in the most responsible way possible, accidents can and will happen. Anticipate accordingly.
Hell, you're lucky. Next time you may find yourself with a limousine parked outside.
1. Take a position based on purely selfish motives.
2. Conjure up arguments to defend said position.
3. ???
4. Profit! (in the short term)
I've always felt that many of the symptoms currently attributed to Asperger's are behavorial traits that in the past would be considered typical of many males and accordingly compensated for, both domestically and in terms of employment.
Many of the hurdles in my own life that I have had to overcome are hurdles that in another time would never have been an issue. Ironically many of these hurdles are directly related to the freedom to make choices. What kind of career, a relationship or not, etc. In a time where I'd been married to whoever my parents felt would have been a suitable match and a job that matched my skills and personality (just how much empathy does, say, a blacksmith or a soldier need anyway?), these issues would never have cropped up in the first place.
Men, who happen to be in the majority when it comes to Asperger's, have always had a large percentage of insensitive pigs among them. Only in modern times have we started labelling this a disease instead of simply a personality trait.
I just drop the rent on offices to the point where everybody's happy, even if they're profoundly miserable from standing in line for 3 days.
Knowledge of plants that reduced fevers and fought infections, which kinds of food to ingest etc.
Just because our ancestors didn't know *why* something worked didn't mean they didn't experiment and observe.
Unfortunately they are fundamentally incompatible. You cannot have evolution led by anything, because then it becomes not evolution, but very gradual incremental design.
Sure it can. In fact, Creationists themselves were the result of God rolling snake-eyes on the evolution roll.
Do you also hide death from them?
Ehmm, you just nailed the whole "religion" thing. The concept that this life can be pretty damn miserable and after it ends you serve as wormfood is too hard on a lot of people, so they make up fancy fairytales about a "next life" they get to go to if they're good.
Being afraid of death is a valuable evolutionary trait, but it makes us do funny stuff sometimes.
If your cause requires forcing somebody else at gunpoint to comply, it isn't just, it isn't honorable, and it cannot be justified. So, just don't do it.
You, Sir! Yes, you, I say! Would you kindly remove your penis from the screaming lady? No? Well, I shall file a formal complaint with the United Nations of Rainbows and Unicorns, indeed I will!
While war is horrible, atrocious and to be avoided at nearly all costs, sometimes the alternative is even worse. All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and doing nothing. And sometimes not doing nothing requires the application of force.
In his particular case both his father and his son had already decided to donate, so even if he hadn't, They'd very likely still have found him based on familial matches.
Add a dose of social pressure and there you go.
And I expect that within your community you were the exception, with a nice amount of disapproval and social pressure as a result?
In your case the brainwashing didn't take, good for you. Many are less lucky and proceed to do the same to the next generation.
Worst of all, religion denies all of man's achievements, ascribing them instead to an all-mighty deity who simply bequeaths them on a whim. What a wonderful belief system ... not.
I saw this the other day on some school project of a 6 year old. They were constructing some sort of gift card to thank God for their daily bread. For some reason her mother, who is the one that works her ass off to actually provide said bread, seems to approve of this.
Insanity breeds insanity.
I found Tachyon: The Fringe quite amusing as well.
Although that was mostly despite of the gameplay, not because of it. Weird storylines(preventing a space pirate from taking off with the stolen Sistine Chapel on a barge), good voiceacting, etc.
Does the title come with a robe and a hat?
There's nothing particularly rational about either one, it's about what people want.
Actually, there is, and the same applies to a lot of other subjects, like for example drug prohibition.
There are plenty of different systems and methods that demonstrably do or do not work. It really isn't all that hard to look at them and point that out. There's nothing wrong with deliberately choosing not to use a system that works for reasons of principle, but in that case we could at least be honest and consistent about it.
If a nation or a state chooses to make health insurance optional, based on principles of freedom and individual responsibility, then do it properly. Let the corpses of those who were stupid or irresponsible pile up outside the ER for all to see.
Same thing with drug prohibition. It demonstrably doesn't work, it costs tons of money and there's a remarkable correlation between wanting to forbid it and believing in invisible men in the sky, so let's at least have some *honest* reasons why it should be disallowed.
You make a decent argument, and then provide the best reason why it is flawed.
If the current crop of politicians, who are mostly lawyers, are clearly and demonstrably unable to do a proper job, how do you know the baker and the mechanic won't do a better one?
Besides, politicians have to pass a lot of tests. The thing is that the electorate chooses to test on incredibly important subjects such as hair, teeth, flagpin wearing and the ability to spout immense amounts of bullshit instead of looking at minor details such as principles, realism and actual good ideas.
Let's face it, even if someone who is clearly principled and who actually tells the truth were to run, he/she wouldn't stand a chance. We don't want "leaders" who tell us the truth, we want ones that tell us that we're the ones doing just fine and everything would be peachy if it weren't for $them.
Exemptions are made when it concerns e-mail or telephone calls where the purpose is reading/listening in for quality monitoring.
When comparing Western European power usage to that in the US, bear in mind that in western Europe we often heat our homes and water using natural gas. 1 cubic meter of natural gas has the energy equivalent of roughly 10 kWh (36MJ), so this tends to make US consumption look really exaggerated.
A typical Dutch household for example uses about 3000 kWH of electricity and 1800 cubic meters of natural gas per year.
I'm guessing you live in a relatively small apartment :)
They were pretty much told to bugger off. Because that is how banana republics roll.
In other news, democracy is now officially for export only.
Where innovating is a nice way of saying "funneling public money to private buddies and corrupting the electoral process while you're at it".
The most staggering part, however, is that US elections aren't followed by a spree of arrests. Then again, the DA who would have to prosecute is an elected official as well. Round and round she goes, where she is, nobody knows.
Actually, it isn't. It may pick up on basic accelerating and decelerating and shift accordingly, but it's not psychic. An automatic does not know I want to overtake and need the revs *right now*, nor does it know why I'm taking my foot off the throttle.
A semi-automatic that allows for overriding the base selections is an option, but even then I'd be very reluctant to give up the extra control that working the clutch provides.
So that's the answer to step ????? before "Profit!"? God ads....
Damn, I'm disappointed.
You need to get up to speed my fellow countryman, it's now Europe and particularly drunk Polish we're supposed to hate. At least, I think so, our beloved friend has been rather quiet lately, must be getting ready to join a US "think-tank" :)
Then again we're back to seeing Wilders and his buddies scream from the fringes, so who cares. Guess there's some advantages to actually having more than 2 parties to choose from.
You walk in a desert when you see a turtle lying on its back...
If that means it manages to actually start plant life on Mars, I'm all for it.
Terraform away!