Personally, after fratboy jocks, I've found the math geeks to be the "scariest".
Not because I feel intimidated by intelligence (or think having a knack for math makes you intelligent), but they just tended to be the oddest people on campus. I really have admiration for people that can produce on that abstract level, but I don't find them to be people I particularly wanted to hang out with. One could argue theatre geeks are more odd, but frankly, I just think of them as attention craving poser post-goths.
Ted Kaczynski was a math geek.
Frankly, I think role models are a tad overrated. If anything, I've found almost every western cultural role-model icon was a mythological meme and the story conflicting with the reality. (Thomas Edison comes to mind. Albert Einstein was brilliant and a humanitarian, but his personal life has some questionable choices. And his signficant research was pretty much over before 1950. Mother Theresa was quite the showboat and harpy. Bobby Fischer put chess on the map in America, but he is a racist schizophrenic.)
Role models are useful in helping erode stereotypes and be an early guide towards constructive goals in children; George Washington Carver, Colin Powell, Marie Curie, Jackie Robinson. Even Lance Armstrong, for showing losing one testicle to cancer doesn't mean you should give up on personal dreams. (Hockey sure could use a non-caucasian role model.) But I tend to think you're born towards certain talents and inclinations. I just don't like seeing people being chased away from them because they don't "envision" themselves as being able to make a significant enough impact to pursue a difficult career. I cringe at thought of all the potential scientists, engineers, and social workers that decide they're better off marrying rich and raising kids, or selling drugs, or making a killing in securities arbitrage.
I believe the motivation for this is economic. Women tend to be paid less than males. And given the choice of having a more talented female than less talented male, you go with the better talent.
I believe the industry is motivated to grow the best talent pool for the cheapest price. Of course, investment in encouraging women into the sciences only pays off if a presumption that women are subtly discouraged from pursuing science careers by the patriarchical culture is true. (I think its a safe bet, given current ratios and historical conditions 40 years ago.)
Given my male prejudices, I tend to think that women are psychologically less inclined towards the geekier professions. So a little investment to bump up the ratio a little isn't such a bad thing, particularly if there is a cultural bias that discourages them from pursuing sciences.
On the other hand, if women really want more power in society and better pay, I'd tell them to avoid the sciences and go into law, or possibly business.
I'm just curious. How did you go about calculating the parameters of the potential gain loss on such a move. You knew MCI had huge assets, they weren't going away. You knew there was serious, serious accounting fraud, and could not be sure as to the extent of the financial damage. Do you work as a professional analyst?
Also, did you jump onto the Enron bandwagon before they went under?
My, oh my... What an eloquent race-baiter you are.
At least I publicly defend my statements. Not throw stones like someone so craven they won't even risk damage to a pseudonym. Nothing says coward and worthless opinion like that.
So it's an entire culture.
Do you think it racism is a problem if only one person demonstrates it? Or do you think there is no racism in the United States, even though masses of people practice it? What is the nature of your retardation?
If you spot a racist, call that individual out.
That was PRECISELY what I was doing.
Stop painting with such a wide brush.
Translation: Stop suggesting racism exists in the United States.
Every time you do it, white people that have no axe to grind feel attacked, like they are being held responsible for actions and attitudes they have never taken or held.
Translation: You make Whitey feel bad about uncommendable actions of their ancestors. They then proceed to try to defend those actions solely because you point out the truth, and that non-racist Whitey is so retarded they feel the need to defend racism. If we just pretended it didn't exist, there would be no problem.
How very Japanese of you
You sow the seeds of bitterness and resentment, and act surprised when the harvest comes in.
Translation: Oh please let me live in my blanket of racist ignorance, so I won't feel it necessary to lash out in a manner that identifies me as racist cracker.
Race will continue to be an issue for as long as people choose to keep making an issue of it.
Yes, racism will be an issue as long as people feel the need to defend it.
An African-studies major dropping their "slave name" to get a Muslim name, when Muslims enslaved Africans as well means that the person who changed their name didn't do enough research on the subject, thus they are stupid.
No, it means you are so clueless, you have no idea what it means to be a minority in an American culture, and a liar. Or someone who cannot see how they were raised to think like a proper house nigger. You cannot see the racism in your statements.
In Africa, people are not raised to think they are inferior to "whitey". Therefore, they do not behave in the same manner when some emigrate to the United States. They seem to end up with more toys in the end. Name changing is merely psychological device to shed the negative self-image they have acquired by the "privilege" of being raised from birth in the United States. Name changing is break their psychological mold; it is an conscious act of self-identity and self-definition. (That is not being a slave.)
It doesn't matter if they change it to be a muslim name. They did not chose a muslim name because they wanted to be identified as a muslim slave. For openers, all Muslims are not slave traders, except to racists, most likely the White ones. Second, it was not the muslim slave traders that made their ancestors suffer IN THIS country. Abdul did not own a southern plantation and proceed to rape their great, great grandmothers. At worst, they were merely middlemen who don't have clean hands. Those crackers then proceed to accuse black people of being stupid because they change from a white slave name to a SUPPOSED muslim slave name. It makes those pieces of shit sleep warm at night ignoring the magnitude of their ancestors inhuman behavior, and thinking they're still have an edge on the colored folk.
There is no psychological payoff from changing your name from John Washington to George Clinton. No one notices the difference. But by changing your name to Adbul Aziz, or Umbogu Umbote, it is saying "I make a conscious act to reject the racist culture of my birth, and show I am not a porch nigger by accepting the circumstances of my predecessors".
There is a reason why I keyed on only one statement in the original poster's statement. I found others which I could interpret to be objectionable, but they were subject to debate and obfuscation. The rationale for my selection is this:
Who the fuck would begrudge someone for changing their name? Does it take money from their wallet? Does it ace them out of the promotion? Does it harm their kids?
Why expend the mental effort to find something objectionable about it? I can't think of anything that better identifies a racist, cracker mindset. Can you?
And by the way, I don't know what race you are, but if you noticed in Crash, no race came off unscathed.
Yes, and only a cracker would think the movie was about suggesting one group had cleaner hands than another. And the point being? How dare I recommend a movie that depicts racism in the United States today?
So don't blame the red states, blame your Democratic party for getting the blandest, most transparently obsequious, non-answer giving politician they could find. At least with Howard Dean they would have had a politician with some passion.
I am a registered independent. I do not blame Alabama or Ohio or Florida, I blame every retard that voted for George Bush. My anger extends to every Bush voter in the United States, including my home city of New York. Yes Kerry sucked, but at least he did not have a record of invading other countries under a questionable rationale. So, let shit for brains fuck up for four years, and boot him out based on HIS RECORD. INSTEAD, we voted for the shithead with a RECORD for being a shithead. Its all a scam anyway, both candidates were selected by the rich who decided on two shitheads. But I'm not going to proclaim that I am "proud " to live in a country of shitheads that are so fucking stupid they can't even realize when they are boning themselves in the ass. That would be stupid.
Yet what does the racially hyper-sensitive black-studies major in this country do ? He drops his "slave name" and takes on a Muslim name. It's crazy, a symptom of profound historical ignorance, ingratitude, and misdirected anger.
Precisely, what is it do you find wrong about a person who wants to change his name in order to embrace a religion and a cultural identity that was destroyed by enslavement?
I mean really, I can understand being antagonized by racial quotas. But you're attacking an individual, by calling him crazy, ignorant, ungrateful (hooboy, don't get me started on that one, Wonderbread), and enraged, all because he wants to put a psychological distance between himself, and a culture that basically labels him a nigger, and prejudges him based on his melatonin content. Really, how the fuck does changing one's name inflict hardship on YOUR life?
Given your family background, I really don't understand why you have such a problem with black whiners, compared to the Southern Crackers still expressing outrage over the North crushing the South, and having the temerity to insist white people should not be favored in employment or legal situations. (After all, "Its not discrimination if White people are better than the Negroes...")
Because of those rebel flag waving neo-Nazis, we have a Chimp in the White House that doesn't mind subverting the Constitution of the United States that your ancestors fought valiantly for. Losing New Orleans so we can invade Iraq and have brave patriots die from IEDs every couple of days, and the clueless paragons of stupidity not seeing how it is sucking the economic life out of this country. And get a Supreme Court Justice who is a piece of work, and will make life here unrecognisable from Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia, all in the name of public "safety" and a unitary executive.
Affects me a hell lot more that some loudmouth dark skinned losers whining over something no one gives a damn about anymore. And because of nineteen whackjobs, the general public thinks every schmuck from the Middle East is a terrorist. And yet, you retards can't even come to the same retarded conclusion when some white guys blow up a gov't building in OK, or blow up a bomb at the Olymics, assassinate doctors or scientists, or other adolescents at high schools.
And why shouldn't they whine? They listen to the same piece of crap media that tells you lefty, racial grievance-mongers are running amok. They just come to a different conclusion, that's all. Face it, whether its Rush Limbaugh, Al Sharpton, Hillary Clinton, Alan Keyes, Tavis Smiley, or Charlie Rose, they're all playing you for the retards you all are.
If you want to still pretend you're open-mineded and fair, and get an idea of how you appear to other people's eyes, you really should checkout Crash.
THEIR civilization collapsed. It is non-existent; expunged.
Otherwise, why not ask a decendant about the siginificance of the stone faces? Oh wait, there aren't any to ask...
The planet Earth is just as self enclosed as that island. A sign of intelligence is the ability to learn from other peoples' mistakes, rather than experiencing them first hand in order to learn them. With people like you, we're doomed.
I think his idea that civilization as a whole will collapse is absurd
I'm sure the Easter Island civilization would feel the same way.
I agree that Lovelock is overly dramatic and relatively unscientific, but he is writing to a periodical, and not a science journal. And lets face it, people are f**king cretins. They really don't give a damn unless they think it either directly affects them (unlikely) or their children (A LOT more likely). He's concerned enough about trends that he wants to address the issues NOW. Making cultural changes to avert disaster is much like getting a locomotive to hit the brakes before it hits that stalled car on the tracks. You have to have enough advance notice and act as soon as possible. It doesn't matter if you realize you needed to hit the breaks sooner when you're 100 yards away from the car.
Re:Give her my number, I'll fix things just fine
on
Getting Off NetHack?
·
· Score: 1
To people in the real world:
This is what is known as getting girls by hooking them onto heroin and then using it as a means to develop a social connection to them.
It would be still be slightly in the red if it weren't for the DVD sales, which are killing right now. (I haven't found any links to projected DVD sale profits.)
I think the people who believe there's going to be enough net profit to greenlight a sequel are seriously deluded. But bottom line, it didn't really lose money. (Unless Universal needs a big tax writeoff.)
Given the ominous "Development Hell" label being placed on "Enders Game", the movie may get made, it will bomb, and it will kill any chance to see "Speaker for the Dead". Which, to me, is the real written masterpiece. And they could totally sell out and market the piggies for the kids.
Lost is pretty popular and I used to like it a lot, but I stopped watching because the writers NEVER resolve anything of real importance.
Lost is not about resolving anything important to its story line. To do so would kill it. Its not about survival on an island with strangers. The way to think of Lost is a video canvas, where it tells stories of individuals past, and how it affects their perspective and how it affects their actions. Its surreal, without cheesy "spooky" effects. Its a totally metaphorical show, framed in "stark realism" (as opposed to space ships, or hopping through wormholes). People like Lost because they think Matthew Fox and/or Evangeline Lilly is total eyecandy, and they find mystery as attention-grabbing. The enemy and threats are not visible, its all in the imagination. And then you have to ask, "What are the real threats...? What is paranoia...?" "How far does outside intervention extend?" "yadda, yadda, yadda" Its a niche show for paranoia/conspiracy freaks.
Firefly was entertaining and well done, but its so freaking formulaic. Don't get me wrong, I like Firefly, I just don't think its great TV. Losing Cupid was a much greater loss (and cheat) for me.
Joss Whedon really came into his own when he made Firefly.
I disagree, unless you mean by "came into his own" as film producer. Angel was a better work than Firefly. In fact, I thought Dark Angel, which came before Firefly, was better work. (Or at least, watching Jessica Alba was more interesting than Morena Baccarin.) And the DA themes were more sci-fi, and more metaphorical references with reality, than Firefly. Then again, I hate most Westerns, so I'm a bit biased.
Hopefully its financial tanking doesn't set him on a backslide.
Serenity didn't tank financially. It just wasn't such a runaway financial sucess that Whedon was hoping for so he could continue producing future Serenity features. Its like signing Randy Johnson, hoping he'll bring you to the World Series, and later be somewhat disappointed with his performance. (Except the Yankees will have next year, but Serenity won't.)
Sometimes businesses are silly as they can possibly get. [...] Now Google has fallen pray to the same game.
Google is a company founded by Ph.Ds and has a preponderance of them. You, on the other hand, are nobody. And ignorant as well.
Google makes its positive quarterly statements from Internet advertising. Much of its page hits originate from AOL; AOL does much advertising business paying Google.
Now Microsoft wants to strangle Google's revenue stream by using its spare cash to co-opt the entities Google makes money with. A guy like you would think it smarter that Google would stand pat, and become the next Netscape.
I couldn't watch Lost because I thought the writers were just spoon-feeding the audience. I thought Lost was the worst writing I'd ever seen, down there with Buffy and Angel.
Lost is brilliant, from a TV network executives level (shit-for-brains). It is probably the first sucessful attempt at a surreal, Twin Peaks type of show that works. (The original TP didn't.) What storylines in Lost do you find had incredibly poor, predictable, stilted dialog? Did you hate the Twilight Zone? I can't think of anything more "predictable" that a series of morality play vignettes. Or do you mean by "spoon-feeding" that you hate the writers dragging out the storylines in the show? (Which is not the proper application of the expression "spoon-feeding".)
And to put Angel in the class of "horribly written"??? The dialogue was great & snappy (with hideous flaws in some instances), just like BtVS, but it was a film noir type of show. If you don't like the feel of detective stories of the '30s-'50s, if you don't like inner moral conflict and the nature of moral philosophy, you're not going to like Angel.
(I'm not going to defend BtVS. I wasn't a teenage adolescent girl, and I didn't find high school as the most formative period of my life. But the writing was fine (up to season 5), and its the iconic showcase for Whedon's writing talent.)
Firefly did not have "realistic" dialogue. For openers, none of my friends or co-workers are that witty. You'd have to wade through twenty years of my life to glean the equivalent amount witticisms in one episode of Firefly. And action shows are not my definition of high entertainment. More like how the drooling masses entertain themselves.
While I do sort of agree with you, its not violence towards a woman, its violence towards Ann Coulter. And yet, no one has a problem talking about swinging a bat at Kim Jong Il, all because he's a guy...
In order for peanuts to be an economically viable biodiesel fuel, the energy produced by biodiesel use has to be greater than the energy consumed to make the biodiesel. It also needs to have high enough yields to supply the energy needs of a voracious country like the U.S. (Lets not even consider a shortage of farmland available for FOOD.)
While not all farming methods use petrofertilizers, the question remains: what are the yields from alternative fertilized fields? And what the heck would you use? How much nitrogren can be produced by it? How does it compare to the volume produced using petrochemicals? Can that volume sustain our current scale of COMMERCIAL agriculture?
Commercial farming is not chucking a couple of seed into the field and spraying your human waste all over the field. Yields from Mom & Pop farming two hundred years ago SUCKED. It was adequate because there were a lot less humans requiring foodstuffs two hundred years ago.
I'm not saying biodiesel is not an option for near future vehicle fuel. I'm saying its a much more complex problem from an industrial point of view, and the dollar is king. If you can't meet production volume and make it break even in production costs, its not going to happen.
Australia. The country was founded with the majority of citizens being convicted criminals from England, sent there to build a penal colony. You shouldn't be so eager to discount an accomplishment because the people involved are imperfect. It just makes you look like a petty person.
Yes, given your circumstances, I can see why you feel that way. Then again, I live in a neighborhood where the "common" wisdom is that I should be mugged or a casualty. (Its a lie, I think I'm reasonably safe.) I guess you're keen on staying in KC, MO. I don't think your "mansion" is a "good" one, if it means living in an area where you have to be concerned about your safety. I think you need to get into local politics to improve your situation. Or, if you think the cops will look the other way, mount an counter-insurgency operation with likeminded neighbors.
Odd. I've dropped my Treo600 quite a few times (on a tiled, cement floor), and yet haven't suffered any damage. I suspect T-Mobile is referring to other problems with Treo production quality or software flaws that encourages them to discontinue selling them. (And I'm assuming you're not lying about what your sales rep told you. I had a similar experience from a T-Mobile guy.)
Also, my city didn't even make the Top 20 list of most dangerous cities!
And do you really, really think it should? Your homicide rate is 0.012%. You have less than a 1/10000 chance of being murdered. Let me guess, you're also outraged you haven't won the lottery yet either. The key to being a competent adult is to properly evaluate threats and issues of concern to yourself. If you're really willing to make an active effort to avoid being murdered, this is my advice to you:
Do not go into a profession that involves violence. (Whether drug dealer or law enforcement)
Do not go into the taxi/limo or quikiemart profession.
Do not be a patriot and enlist in the US Armed Forces.
Do not have a girlfriend or get married.
Do not live in close proximity with relatives.
Do not live or be caught in a high crime area.
Do not practice or vocally support homosexuality.
Also, homicide is not necessarily an accurate indicator of violent crime by strangers. (Because the majority of homicides are committed by people the victim knew. Then again, I thought KC, MO was on the watchlist of higher crime areas.) If you really want to be alive two years from now, this will VASTLY improve your odds more than the above suggestions:
Do not drive/ride in a passenger vehicle.
Do not live at a private residence.
I commend you for having the sense to not bend over for soap in the prison shower, but one needs to realize humans on a biological level will mentally make up sensory information for something that's not there, tend to take anecdotal information and presume a trend that does not exist, and don't realize the news media exists to keep you glued to their (entertainment) service, not tell the truth.
You sense an increase in crime because that's what you see on the TV and what other people yap about (because the TV yaps about it). It doesn't mean that crime represents a significant physical threat to you. The bankruptcy bill, Iraq occupation, and Walmart are a much more significant threats to you, because they generate the poor starving people that have a motivation to mug you, or get involved in the drug trade.
My original objections about crime statistics as to do with the fact that raw data does not mean one can make relevant conclusions. It needs to be analyzed, validated, and put into context. Throwing out raw data and making an assertion is pretty much what people refer to using statistics to lie. Also, once an organization is shown to be subverting the methodology used to make a conclusion, you pretty much cannot be confident about anything they assert, like low crime rate.
I live in a neighborhood in the Bronx where people have had their eyes pop out when I mention it. But I know I have no significant chance of harm as long as I don't do something incredibly stupid to present an attractive target. On the other hand, I would rather move to a more "happening" neighborhood, but part of my reluctance (laziness) is that I do not know the relative security change that will occur, and the damn NYPD won't release its GPS colllated data.
As for Pahrump, I'm pretty darn sure its population is over 116. Its all Art Bell's fault....
Normally, I'd say, don't lose sleep over the crime in KC, MO. But then again, you guys will be getting all thsoe New Orleans refugees that can't go back to the Big Easy. Hooboy, will the hurricane fallout hit the fan in the next few years. God bless GWB.
Slashdot Mirror
Personally, after fratboy jocks, I've found the math geeks to be the "scariest".
Not because I feel intimidated by intelligence (or think having a knack for math makes you intelligent), but they just tended to be the oddest people on campus. I really have admiration for people that can produce on that abstract level, but I don't find them to be people I particularly wanted to hang out with. One could argue theatre geeks are more odd, but frankly, I just think of them as attention craving poser post-goths.
Ted Kaczynski was a math geek.
Frankly, I think role models are a tad overrated. If anything, I've found almost every western cultural role-model icon was a mythological meme and the story conflicting with the reality. (Thomas Edison comes to mind. Albert Einstein was brilliant and a humanitarian, but his personal life has some questionable choices. And his signficant research was pretty much over before 1950. Mother Theresa was quite the showboat and harpy. Bobby Fischer put chess on the map in America, but he is a racist schizophrenic.)
Role models are useful in helping erode stereotypes and be an early guide towards constructive goals in children; George Washington Carver, Colin Powell, Marie Curie, Jackie Robinson. Even Lance Armstrong, for showing losing one testicle to cancer doesn't mean you should give up on personal dreams. (Hockey sure could use a non-caucasian role model.) But I tend to think you're born towards certain talents and inclinations. I just don't like seeing people being chased away from them because they don't "envision" themselves as being able to make a significant enough impact to pursue a difficult career. I cringe at thought of all the potential scientists, engineers, and social workers that decide they're better off marrying rich and raising kids, or selling drugs, or making a killing in securities arbitrage.
I believe the motivation for this is economic. Women tend to be paid less than males. And given the choice of having a more talented female than less talented male, you go with the better talent. I believe the industry is motivated to grow the best talent pool for the cheapest price. Of course, investment in encouraging women into the sciences only pays off if a presumption that women are subtly discouraged from pursuing science careers by the patriarchical culture is true. (I think its a safe bet, given current ratios and historical conditions 40 years ago.) Given my male prejudices, I tend to think that women are psychologically less inclined towards the geekier professions. So a little investment to bump up the ratio a little isn't such a bad thing, particularly if there is a cultural bias that discourages them from pursuing sciences. On the other hand, if women really want more power in society and better pay, I'd tell them to avoid the sciences and go into law, or possibly business.
I'm just curious. How did you go about calculating the parameters of the potential gain loss on such a move. You knew MCI had huge assets, they weren't going away. You knew there was serious, serious accounting fraud, and could not be sure as to the extent of the financial damage. Do you work as a professional analyst?
Also, did you jump onto the Enron bandwagon before they went under?
At least I publicly defend my statements. Not throw stones like someone so craven they won't even risk damage to a pseudonym. Nothing says coward and worthless opinion like that.
Do you think it racism is a problem if only one person demonstrates it? Or do you think there is no racism in the United States, even though masses of people practice it? What is the nature of your retardation?
That was PRECISELY what I was doing.
Translation: Stop suggesting racism exists in the United States.
Translation: You make Whitey feel bad about uncommendable actions of their ancestors. They then proceed to try to defend those actions solely because you point out the truth, and that non-racist Whitey is so retarded they feel the need to defend racism. If we just pretended it didn't exist, there would be no problem.
How very Japanese of you
Translation: Oh please let me live in my blanket of racist ignorance, so I won't feel it necessary to lash out in a manner that identifies me as racist cracker.
Yes, racism will be an issue as long as people feel the need to defend it.
No, it means you are so clueless, you have no idea what it means to be a minority in an American culture, and a liar. Or someone who cannot see how they were raised to think like a proper house nigger. You cannot see the racism in your statements.
In Africa, people are not raised to think they are inferior to "whitey". Therefore, they do not behave in the same manner when some emigrate to the United States. They seem to end up with more toys in the end. Name changing is merely psychological device to shed the negative self-image they have acquired by the "privilege" of being raised from birth in the United States. Name changing is break their psychological mold; it is an conscious act of self-identity and self-definition. (That is not being a slave.)
It doesn't matter if they change it to be a muslim name. They did not chose a muslim name because they wanted to be identified as a muslim slave. For openers, all Muslims are not slave traders, except to racists, most likely the White ones. Second, it was not the muslim slave traders that made their ancestors suffer IN THIS country. Abdul did not own a southern plantation and proceed to rape their great, great grandmothers. At worst, they were merely middlemen who don't have clean hands. Those crackers then proceed to accuse black people of being stupid because they change from a white slave name to a SUPPOSED muslim slave name. It makes those pieces of shit sleep warm at night ignoring the magnitude of their ancestors inhuman behavior, and thinking they're still have an edge on the colored folk.
There is no psychological payoff from changing your name from John Washington to George Clinton. No one notices the difference. But by changing your name to Adbul Aziz, or Umbogu Umbote, it is saying "I make a conscious act to reject the racist culture of my birth, and show I am not a porch nigger by accepting the circumstances of my predecessors".
There is a reason why I keyed on only one statement in the original poster's statement. I found others which I could interpret to be objectionable, but they were subject to debate and obfuscation. The rationale for my selection is this:
Who the fuck would begrudge someone for changing their name? Does it take money from their wallet? Does it ace them out of the promotion? Does it harm their kids?
Why expend the mental effort to find something objectionable about it? I can't think of anything that better identifies a racist, cracker mindset. Can you?
Yes, and only a cracker would think the movie was about suggesting one group had cleaner hands than another. And the point being? How dare I recommend a movie that depicts racism in the United States today?
I am a registered independent. I do not blame Alabama or Ohio or Florida, I blame every retard that voted for George Bush. My anger extends to every Bush voter in the United States, including my home city of New York. Yes Kerry sucked, but at least he did not have a record of invading other countries under a questionable rationale. So, let shit for brains fuck up for four years, and boot him out based on HIS RECORD. INSTEAD, we voted for the shithead with a RECORD for being a shithead. Its all a scam anyway, both candidates were selected by the rich who decided on two shitheads. But I'm not going to proclaim that I am "proud " to live in a country of shitheads that are so fucking stupid they can't even realize when they are boning themselves in the ass. That would be stupid.
Precisely, what is it do you find wrong about a person who wants to change his name in order to embrace a religion and a cultural identity that was destroyed by enslavement?
I mean really, I can understand being antagonized by racial quotas. But you're attacking an individual, by calling him crazy, ignorant, ungrateful (hooboy, don't get me started on that one, Wonderbread), and enraged, all because he wants to put a psychological distance between himself, and a culture that basically labels him a nigger, and prejudges him based on his melatonin content. Really, how the fuck does changing one's name inflict hardship on YOUR life?
Given your family background, I really don't understand why you have such a problem with black whiners, compared to the Southern Crackers still expressing outrage over the North crushing the South, and having the temerity to insist white people should not be favored in employment or legal situations. (After all, "Its not discrimination if White people are better than the Negroes...")
Because of those rebel flag waving neo-Nazis, we have a Chimp in the White House that doesn't mind subverting the Constitution of the United States that your ancestors fought valiantly for. Losing New Orleans so we can invade Iraq and have brave patriots die from IEDs every couple of days, and the clueless paragons of stupidity not seeing how it is sucking the economic life out of this country. And get a Supreme Court Justice who is a piece of work, and will make life here unrecognisable from Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia, all in the name of public "safety" and a unitary executive.
Affects me a hell lot more that some loudmouth dark skinned losers whining over something no one gives a damn about anymore. And because of nineteen whackjobs, the general public thinks every schmuck from the Middle East is a terrorist. And yet, you retards can't even come to the same retarded conclusion when some white guys blow up a gov't building in OK, or blow up a bomb at the Olymics, assassinate doctors or scientists, or other adolescents at high schools.
And why shouldn't they whine? They listen to the same piece of crap media that tells you lefty, racial grievance-mongers are running amok. They just come to a different conclusion, that's all. Face it, whether its Rush Limbaugh, Al Sharpton, Hillary Clinton, Alan Keyes, Tavis Smiley, or Charlie Rose, they're all playing you for the retards you all are.
If you want to still pretend you're open-mineded and fair, and get an idea of how you appear to other people's eyes, you really should checkout Crash.
THEIR civilization collapsed. It is non-existent; expunged.
Otherwise, why not ask a decendant about the siginificance of the stone faces? Oh wait, there aren't any to ask...
The planet Earth is just as self enclosed as that island. A sign of intelligence is the ability to learn from other peoples' mistakes, rather than experiencing them first hand in order to learn them. With people like you, we're doomed.
I'm sure the Easter Island civilization would feel the same way.
I agree that Lovelock is overly dramatic and relatively unscientific, but he is writing to a periodical, and not a science journal. And lets face it, people are f**king cretins. They really don't give a damn unless they think it either directly affects them (unlikely) or their children (A LOT more likely). He's concerned enough about trends that he wants to address the issues NOW. Making cultural changes to avert disaster is much like getting a locomotive to hit the brakes before it hits that stalled car on the tracks. You have to have enough advance notice and act as soon as possible. It doesn't matter if you realize you needed to hit the breaks sooner when you're 100 yards away from the car.
To people in the real world:
This is what is known as getting girls by hooking them onto heroin and then using it as a means to develop a social connection to them.
I don't need to get off my couch to welcome our Fructose Overlords, do I?
It would be still be slightly in the red if it weren't for the DVD sales, which are killing right now. (I haven't found any links to projected DVD sale profits.)
I think the people who believe there's going to be enough net profit to greenlight a sequel are seriously deluded. But bottom line, it didn't really lose money. (Unless Universal needs a big tax writeoff.)
Given the ominous "Development Hell" label being placed on "Enders Game", the movie may get made, it will bomb, and it will kill any chance to see "Speaker for the Dead". Which, to me, is the real written masterpiece. And they could totally sell out and market the piggies for the kids.
Lost is not about resolving anything important to its story line. To do so would kill it. Its not about survival on an island with strangers. The way to think of Lost is a video canvas, where it tells stories of individuals past, and how it affects their perspective and how it affects their actions. Its surreal, without cheesy "spooky" effects. Its a totally metaphorical show, framed in "stark realism" (as opposed to space ships, or hopping through wormholes). People like Lost because they think Matthew Fox and/or Evangeline Lilly is total eyecandy, and they find mystery as attention-grabbing. The enemy and threats are not visible, its all in the imagination. And then you have to ask, "What are the real threats...? What is paranoia...?" "How far does outside intervention extend?" "yadda, yadda, yadda" Its a niche show for paranoia/conspiracy freaks.
Firefly was entertaining and well done, but its so freaking formulaic. Don't get me wrong, I like Firefly, I just don't think its great TV. Losing Cupid was a much greater loss (and cheat) for me.
I disagree, unless you mean by "came into his own" as film producer. Angel was a better work than Firefly. In fact, I thought Dark Angel, which came before Firefly, was better work. (Or at least, watching Jessica Alba was more interesting than Morena Baccarin.) And the DA themes were more sci-fi, and more metaphorical references with reality, than Firefly. Then again, I hate most Westerns, so I'm a bit biased.
Serenity didn't tank financially. It just wasn't such a runaway financial sucess that Whedon was hoping for so he could continue producing future Serenity features. Its like signing Randy Johnson, hoping he'll bring you to the World Series, and later be somewhat disappointed with his performance. (Except the Yankees will have next year, but Serenity won't.)
Google is a company founded by Ph.Ds and has a preponderance of them. You, on the other hand, are nobody. And ignorant as well.
Google makes its positive quarterly statements from Internet advertising. Much of its page hits originate from AOL; AOL does much advertising business paying Google.
Now Microsoft wants to strangle Google's revenue stream by using its spare cash to co-opt the entities Google makes money with. A guy like you would think it smarter that Google would stand pat, and become the next Netscape.
Well, you can't call it Google/AOL. People will think its a verb, not a noun.
Lost is brilliant, from a TV network executives level (shit-for-brains). It is probably the first sucessful attempt at a surreal, Twin Peaks type of show that works. (The original TP didn't.) What storylines in Lost do you find had incredibly poor, predictable, stilted dialog? Did you hate the Twilight Zone? I can't think of anything more "predictable" that a series of morality play vignettes. Or do you mean by "spoon-feeding" that you hate the writers dragging out the storylines in the show? (Which is not the proper application of the expression "spoon-feeding".)
And to put Angel in the class of "horribly written"??? The dialogue was great & snappy (with hideous flaws in some instances), just like BtVS, but it was a film noir type of show. If you don't like the feel of detective stories of the '30s-'50s, if you don't like inner moral conflict and the nature of moral philosophy, you're not going to like Angel.
(I'm not going to defend BtVS. I wasn't a teenage adolescent girl, and I didn't find high school as the most formative period of my life. But the writing was fine (up to season 5), and its the iconic showcase for Whedon's writing talent.)
Firefly did not have "realistic" dialogue. For openers, none of my friends or co-workers are that witty. You'd have to wade through twenty years of my life to glean the equivalent amount witticisms in one episode of Firefly. And action shows are not my definition of high entertainment. More like how the drooling masses entertain themselves.
You date a girlfriend geeky enough to appreciate Firefly. You've never heard of it.
1) You are not a geek. You do not belong here. Stop reading stuff from this website. Go to Kuroshin or Technocrat. Shoo.
2) You do not deserve your girlfriend. Smurfs need to date Smurfette, you on the other hand can easily get by on standard issue female.
Oh, why am I falling for this ruse? Your girlfriend obviously only exists in your Sybillike mind.
While I do sort of agree with you, its not violence towards a woman, its violence towards Ann Coulter. And yet, no one has a problem talking about swinging a bat at Kim Jong Il, all because he's a guy...
In order for peanuts to be an economically viable biodiesel fuel, the energy produced by biodiesel use has to be greater than the energy consumed to make the biodiesel. It also needs to have high enough yields to supply the energy needs of a voracious country like the U.S. (Lets not even consider a shortage of farmland available for FOOD.) While not all farming methods use petrofertilizers, the question remains: what are the yields from alternative fertilized fields? And what the heck would you use? How much nitrogren can be produced by it? How does it compare to the volume produced using petrochemicals? Can that volume sustain our current scale of COMMERCIAL agriculture? Commercial farming is not chucking a couple of seed into the field and spraying your human waste all over the field. Yields from Mom & Pop farming two hundred years ago SUCKED. It was adequate because there were a lot less humans requiring foodstuffs two hundred years ago. I'm not saying biodiesel is not an option for near future vehicle fuel. I'm saying its a much more complex problem from an industrial point of view, and the dollar is king. If you can't meet production volume and make it break even in production costs, its not going to happen.
Australia. The country was founded with the majority of citizens being convicted criminals from England, sent there to build a penal colony. You shouldn't be so eager to discount an accomplishment because the people involved are imperfect. It just makes you look like a petty person.
Not if you live on a continent full of "criminals" with success stories.
Yes, given your circumstances, I can see why you feel that way. Then again, I live in a neighborhood where the "common" wisdom is that I should be mugged or a casualty. (Its a lie, I think I'm reasonably safe.) I guess you're keen on staying in KC, MO. I don't think your "mansion" is a "good" one, if it means living in an area where you have to be concerned about your safety. I think you need to get into local politics to improve your situation. Or, if you think the cops will look the other way, mount an counter-insurgency operation with likeminded neighbors.
Odd. I've dropped my Treo600 quite a few times (on a tiled, cement floor), and yet haven't suffered any damage. I suspect T-Mobile is referring to other problems with Treo production quality or software flaws that encourages them to discontinue selling them. (And I'm assuming you're not lying about what your sales rep told you. I had a similar experience from a T-Mobile guy.)
And do you really, really think it should? Your homicide rate is 0.012%. You have less than a 1/10000 chance of being murdered. Let me guess, you're also outraged you haven't won the lottery yet either. The key to being a competent adult is to properly evaluate threats and issues of concern to yourself. If you're really willing to make an active effort to avoid being murdered, this is my advice to you:
Do not go into a profession that involves violence. (Whether drug dealer or law enforcement)
Do not go into the taxi/limo or quikiemart profession.
Do not be a patriot and enlist in the US Armed Forces.
Do not have a girlfriend or get married.
Do not live in close proximity with relatives.
Do not live or be caught in a high crime area.
Do not practice or vocally support homosexuality.
Also, homicide is not necessarily an accurate indicator of violent crime by strangers. (Because the majority of homicides are committed by people the victim knew. Then again, I thought KC, MO was on the watchlist of higher crime areas.) If you really want to be alive two years from now, this will VASTLY improve your odds more than the above suggestions:
Do not drive/ride in a passenger vehicle.
Do not live at a private residence.
I commend you for having the sense to not bend over for soap in the prison shower, but one needs to realize humans on a biological level will mentally make up sensory information for something that's not there, tend to take anecdotal information and presume a trend that does not exist, and don't realize the news media exists to keep you glued to their (entertainment) service, not tell the truth.
You sense an increase in crime because that's what you see on the TV and what other people yap about (because the TV yaps about it). It doesn't mean that crime represents a significant physical threat to you. The bankruptcy bill, Iraq occupation, and Walmart are a much more significant threats to you, because they generate the poor starving people that have a motivation to mug you, or get involved in the drug trade.
My original objections about crime statistics as to do with the fact that raw data does not mean one can make relevant conclusions. It needs to be analyzed, validated, and put into context. Throwing out raw data and making an assertion is pretty much what people refer to using statistics to lie. Also, once an organization is shown to be subverting the methodology used to make a conclusion, you pretty much cannot be confident about anything they assert, like low crime rate.
I live in a neighborhood in the Bronx where people have had their eyes pop out when I mention it. But I know I have no significant chance of harm as long as I don't do something incredibly stupid to present an attractive target. On the other hand, I would rather move to a more "happening" neighborhood, but part of my reluctance (laziness) is that I do not know the relative security change that will occur, and the damn NYPD won't release its GPS colllated data.
As for Pahrump, I'm pretty darn sure its population is over 116. Its all Art Bell's fault....
Normally, I'd say, don't lose sleep over the crime in KC, MO. But then again, you guys will be getting all thsoe New Orleans refugees that can't go back to the Big Easy. Hooboy, will the hurricane fallout hit the fan in the next few years. God bless GWB.