“Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
The take home message is if you want people interested in a robot on mars, give the robot a mohawk haircut
otherwise, you just need to make peace with the fact the greater mass of humanity just doesn't care, and will never care, unless it has kim kardashian's ass
you're worried about nitirites and nitrates in your diet? celery has a lot of nitrites and nitrates. so does spinach. so does lettuce
fruit juice has formaldehyde
chocolate has theobromine
peanuts have aflatoxin, a potent carcinogen
parsley has plyacetylenes
do you want a couple hundred more scary chemicals in your food listed from plant sources?
guess what: the plants ARE TRYING TO KILL YOU. the absolute worst chemicals for you in your diet ARE NATURAL, FROM PLANTS
have been since dinosaurs began munching on them. so herbivores and omnivores like us respond with an organ called "the liver". which breaks down the toxic, carcinogenic, teratogenic, and otherwise lethal brew of noxious chemicals that plants have firing at us for millions of years. it's chemical warfare, us versus them, an arms race
do you know what morning sickness is? do you know why newly pregnant women vomit at the scent or sight or taste of plants?
because evolution has taught women's bodies to stick with THE SAFE MEAT FOOD SOURCES to avoid the noxious alkaloids in plants that will mutate her fetus at the sensitive stage of early pregnancy
just because you can string together a bunch of chemicals doesn't mean you understand what the greatest toxic danger to your body is that is out there: PLANTS
some people in this world think of relationships not in terms of financial equations or equations of control and force
the "truths" you speak of don't apply to me. only to your insecure, shallow, petty way you think about the people around you. which will doom you to only meet other insecure, shallow, petty people like yourself. please don't mistake the lame "rules of engagement" you believe in apply to me, or the rest of the world. they only apply to your pathetic life, and define the parameters by which your life and your relationships will be shallow and weak, and inferior to others who actually believe in personal integrity and emotional fidelity as most important
i read posts like yours, and all i can think is "thanks be to praise i am not you and i am not leading your stunted life"
because there exists a certain sort of partisan asshole who believes everything the west says. and there exists another sort of partisan asshole who believes nothing the west says. automatically. without thought. by the same token, what iran says is automatically correct, or incorrect, based on this same lame bias
of course, the truth is both the west and iran are lying assholes. and to understand this is to be an impartial intelligent observer with critical thinking skills
but, because of the tribalism central to so much of our thinking, an automatic embrace of one side or another is the only way certain brains can process the world they live in. when of course, the only proper reaction, based on principles, is to reject BOTH sides
the real flamebait are all those out there with automatic biases for or against what the west or iran says. that if the west says "{XYZ}" then they automatically believe "NOT({XYZ})". automatically. without thought
if Hillary Clinton says Iran eats its own children, then by golly eating children is a wonderful thing and Iran has the right. if Iran says Americans eat their own children, then by golly why are Americans so evil to eat their own children? some people are capable of both thoughts at the same time. because tribal allegiance matters more than allegiance to principles and reason
the morons in this world with their brains turned off, and engaged in full on tribal chest thumping are the morons who start wars and support wars. the poster i responded to, who seems to genuinely believe Iran is not pursuing the bomb, is part of the problem in this world, the kind of person war is created by and for, to believe such horrible lies. oh, but the lie came from iran, and we hate the usa, so let's believe iran's lies
their brain is turned off, kneejerk partisanship rules, lies are believed all around
Ferdowsi became a media "sensation", or "meme",[8] when during the August 6, 2012, landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars, he wore an unusual mohawk hairstyle that was seen on NASA TV's live broadcast of the event. As the Flight Director he was in a prominent camera position and his mohawk unexpectedly became an iconic image of the landing.[9][10][11] Ferdowsi explained that he wore a new haircut for every mission and the mohawk was chosen by his team by popular vote.[12] When President Barack Obama called to congratulate the team, he noted the popularity of the "Mohawk guy," saying "You guys are a little cooler than you used to be."[13] Ferdowsi said in another interview that he did it to help lighten the seriousness of the workplace and "If my mohawk gets a few more people excited about science and this mission, that’s awesome."[6]
The man specifically addressed the proxy wars you list. He says direct war between moscow and Washington did not happen because of the bomb. Without the bomb preventing all out world war iii, the wars you list would look like tiny drops in the bucket. Mutually assured destruction is a valid concept that stopped world war iiI even if your feeble mind can't understand it.
You are a completely naive gullible fool if you don't believe Iran is pursuing the bomb.
You can say they deserve to have it. You can say Israel, USA, European responses suck. That's ok.
But if you honestly believe Iran isn't pursuing the bomb you are a complete idiot.
You believe only the West is capable of lying? You think you are smart by believing the opposite of what the West says? Here's a trick for you to learn: dont believe anything the west says AND anything Iran says. Not liking the west shouldn't be more important than your critical thinking skills. Not liking the west shouldn't mean embrace another lying asshole. Its actually possible to dislike the west and Iran at the same time.
I dont understand people who, not liking the west for doing certain evil things, embrace some other asshole doing the same evil things.
Also, some guys don't just sleep with anything they can and want to evaluate potential partners for being decent-looking, reasonably healthy, and not crazy before jumping into bed.
Teddy Roosevelt was in a different environment. The common man was very angry at big corporations for keeping them as virtual slaves and they were fighting back.
Today, we have the opposite thinking in the common man. That somehow their own government is evil and greed machines can do no wrong. Of course, the greed machines will take as much as they can, and this includes ruining the middle class and paying workers less and less and less. It will take time, probably the children the current generation, as the middle class fades away, to finally wake up to the real source of the abuse and to demand real control of corporations. Like the awakening during the gilded ages of Victorian times to the kind of abuse being perpetrated by monopolies and oligopolies (NOT capitalism).
It is a shame there are too many deluded and propagandized fools nowadays on the subject. The fruits of their beliefs will be just more abuse at the hands of the forces corrupting their own government. Curtailing those corporate forces requires action by the people. Currently, there isn't any. As their lives and their children's lives are diminished so some asshole making gobs of cash can make even more, there will be action. But years from now. The current crop of Americans is too fat and lazy and stupid about the real source of their plight: corporations. Not their own government, the only real tool at their disposal to fight the monopolies and oligopolies.
you have effective government, effective regulation
it does begin "we the people" you know. it is supposed to represent you. so make sure it does, remove the corruption
i don't understand people who think government is the source of the problem. the government is corrupted, and ceases to be an effective force against corporate power. it is an EFFECT, not a CAUSE
yet some fools want to weaken government. thereby what? allow the corporations unfettered rapacious profitmaking? do you think they respect your rights and freedoms? so support the ONLY effective means at your disposal to fight the force: your own government
don't circumcise your male children. then, upon adulthood, if they want to cut off their foreskin, let them make their own decision
oh wait, religion. WHARRGARBBBL applies
nevermind, there's no easy solution here, because we have the assholes who say it is written in a dusty old book, so it must be (blank out all thought and reason)
as long as there are those who accept the corporate corruption of their own government with helplessness, cynicism, or snide remarks, instead of actually fighting the corruption, then yes
that is, the social policy of a society is determined by the beliefs of a society. well, if those beliefs create enough unhappiness, as you allude to, this becomes a pressure to change the beliefs of the society, which in turns changes the selective genetic pressures again
memetics: the competition of ideas, is becoming more important than genetics in homo sapiens
genetics is now second fiddle to the real story of evolution within homo sapiens. we are now vessels for ideas in our heads, rather than vessels for genes in our cells, and the competition merely moves to a new battlefield
take french society before the french revolution: if a rich aristocrat runs over poor boy, oh well. you are implying the unhappiness resulting from that has no meaning. but it does: the french revolution happens
likewise, with the russian revolution, the arab spring, etc.
the usa is entering a cycle. we had the labor unrests of a century ago resulting in a society with more concern for social welfare. now the venal types who say how much money you have in your bank should determine all, and screw everyone else, their beliefs are gaining traction. either that, or the idealistic naive types who think the marketplace is clean and perfect, and not prone to abuse, believe in what they believe, when their deluded beliefs actualyl result in those with money getting more money and those without getting less, regardless of hard work or merit or intelligence
classism rises. eventually, after some years, those who are poor not because of their inferior intellect, but just because of how they were born, they gain the upper hand again and we have a second american revolution of the undeserving poor taking over society from the undeserving rich
communism is of course stupid. but i wish society could stay committed to social safety nets and not have to have this endless pointless cycle between haves and havenots. that the haves admit they have to give more back to society because the fact they have more cash is not divine right, but just luck of the draw and because they were born in a society that gives them so much to start with. and those who havenot remain eternally vigilant about the encroachment of bad ideas that ensure they get even more poor
an ideal society is 90% middle class. but as we see in the USA the sea of poor grow in number, and a few with money make even more money, american society is headed along a cycle which result in revolt in the future. it will take time, but history speaks of this story time and time again. i just wish some of the idiots out there who believe in the perfect marketplace and don't trust their own democratic govt, see how the power of the rich and corporations is pointed in the USA right now against the health of the middle class
the choice is not between the perfect market and authoritarian govt. the choice is between the monopoly of YOUR democratic govt, and the oligopoly of corporations that corrupts your government and removes your livelihood and your rights. wake up, stop believing in fairy tales about some mythic pure marketplace that never existed and never will
this is a thread on slashdot, not a political plank. i will leave the carefully chosen words that actually have more venom than mine to the professional politicians. who apparently you will follow, because you seem to be the type who prefers serene lies over ugly truths
the problem according to you is word choice, not rationale. this is why we have the kind of snake tongued leaders we have in the world
now some other dude is putting his kids in a larger behemoth to survive a wreck with you, at your expense. the larger and more ridiculous gas guzzlers only affordable to those richer than you. which is the whole point of this nonsense: it is not about survival of the fittest, but about survival of the richest
at some point the american people will give up this ridiculous social darwinist religion and understand that you need to curtail the excess abuses of a social system where those with money win more money and everyone else scrapes by with less and less every year
just admit that you want energy companies deciding US policy rather than the actual american people
stop with the bullshit nods to the miraculous marketplace, which has no meaning in this conversation. we are just talking about a choice between two different monopolistic modes: energy companies, or the US government. i don't understand people who see so much menace in their own democratic government, and less menace in oligopolistic multinational energy corporations (that corrupt your democratic government). personally, as a resident of a democracy, i'll go with the organization that is entrusted with our willpower, however flawed, than the organization entrusted with making profit by any means necessary
the expansion and contraction we see at long ranges could simply be the crest and trough of something like waves on the surface of the ocean, a minor local event in a universe infinite in time and space. that's what i believe
the big bang fits too neatly with creation myths of abrahamic religions
what proof do i have for my belief? none
just a sense from looking at history and how anthropomorphic thinking and self-centeredness gradually gives way to finding ourselves at the center of a vast, uncaring universe. i feel the big bang theory is the last gasp of mankind's religious prejudices about reality affecting our science
oh and look, the big bang theory started with a priest at a catholic school, of course. who else would see the creation of the universe in this way, in a mind saturated with the "let there be light" family of books:
the big bang theory will be upended. i have no proof
just a gut feeling from the trajectory of mankind's thinking and what reality has shown in contradiction. the big bang theory is another creation myth, like any other
Slashdot Mirror
-Eleanor Roosevelt
The take home message is if you want people interested in a robot on mars, give the robot a mohawk haircut
otherwise, you just need to make peace with the fact the greater mass of humanity just doesn't care, and will never care, unless it has kim kardashian's ass
someone overdosed on Latter Day Saints?
I didn't know Mormonism was that powerful
you're worried about nitirites and nitrates in your diet? celery has a lot of nitrites and nitrates. so does spinach. so does lettuce
fruit juice has formaldehyde
chocolate has theobromine
peanuts have aflatoxin, a potent carcinogen
parsley has plyacetylenes
do you want a couple hundred more scary chemicals in your food listed from plant sources?
guess what: the plants ARE TRYING TO KILL YOU. the absolute worst chemicals for you in your diet ARE NATURAL, FROM PLANTS
have been since dinosaurs began munching on them. so herbivores and omnivores like us respond with an organ called "the liver". which breaks down the toxic, carcinogenic, teratogenic, and otherwise lethal brew of noxious chemicals that plants have firing at us for millions of years. it's chemical warfare, us versus them, an arms race
do you know what morning sickness is? do you know why newly pregnant women vomit at the scent or sight or taste of plants?
because evolution has taught women's bodies to stick with THE SAFE MEAT FOOD SOURCES to avoid the noxious alkaloids in plants that will mutate her fetus at the sensitive stage of early pregnancy
just because you can string together a bunch of chemicals doesn't mean you understand what the greatest toxic danger to your body is that is out there: PLANTS
some people in this world think of relationships not in terms of financial equations or equations of control and force
the "truths" you speak of don't apply to me. only to your insecure, shallow, petty way you think about the people around you. which will doom you to only meet other insecure, shallow, petty people like yourself. please don't mistake the lame "rules of engagement" you believe in apply to me, or the rest of the world. they only apply to your pathetic life, and define the parameters by which your life and your relationships will be shallow and weak, and inferior to others who actually believe in personal integrity and emotional fidelity as most important
i read posts like yours, and all i can think is "thanks be to praise i am not you and i am not leading your stunted life"
thank you
because there exists a certain sort of partisan asshole who believes everything the west says. and there exists another sort of partisan asshole who believes nothing the west says. automatically. without thought. by the same token, what iran says is automatically correct, or incorrect, based on this same lame bias
of course, the truth is both the west and iran are lying assholes. and to understand this is to be an impartial intelligent observer with critical thinking skills
but, because of the tribalism central to so much of our thinking, an automatic embrace of one side or another is the only way certain brains can process the world they live in. when of course, the only proper reaction, based on principles, is to reject BOTH sides
the real flamebait are all those out there with automatic biases for or against what the west or iran says. that if the west says "{XYZ}" then they automatically believe "NOT({XYZ})". automatically. without thought
if Hillary Clinton says Iran eats its own children, then by golly eating children is a wonderful thing and Iran has the right. if Iran says Americans eat their own children, then by golly why are Americans so evil to eat their own children? some people are capable of both thoughts at the same time. because tribal allegiance matters more than allegiance to principles and reason
the morons in this world with their brains turned off, and engaged in full on tribal chest thumping are the morons who start wars and support wars. the poster i responded to, who seems to genuinely believe Iran is not pursuing the bomb, is part of the problem in this world, the kind of person war is created by and for, to believe such horrible lies. oh, but the lie came from iran, and we hate the usa, so let's believe iran's lies
their brain is turned off, kneejerk partisanship rules, lies are believed all around
weep for humanity and its tribal "thinking"
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Deterrence/Deterrence.shtml
do you want me to get another speech from his soviet counterpart?
or do you just want to admit now that you're an idiot who doesn't understand a rather simple concept?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobak_Ferdowsi
The man specifically addressed the proxy wars you list. He says direct war between moscow and Washington did not happen because of the bomb. Without the bomb preventing all out world war iii, the wars you list would look like tiny drops in the bucket. Mutually assured destruction is a valid concept that stopped world war iiI even if your feeble mind can't understand it.
You are a completely naive gullible fool if you don't believe Iran is pursuing the bomb.
You can say they deserve to have it. You can say Israel, USA, European responses suck. That's ok.
But if you honestly believe Iran isn't pursuing the bomb you are a complete idiot.
You believe only the West is capable of lying? You think you are smart by believing the opposite of what the West says? Here's a trick for you to learn: dont believe anything the west says AND anything Iran says. Not liking the west shouldn't be more important than your critical thinking skills. Not liking the west shouldn't mean embrace another lying asshole. Its actually possible to dislike the west and Iran at the same time.
I dont understand people who, not liking the west for doing certain evil things, embrace some other asshole doing the same evil things.
your grandmother does not need to find science appealing, a generation still in school does
the mohawk is a gimmick. a gimmick in the service of good
Also, some guys don't just sleep with anything they can and want to evaluate potential partners for being decent-looking, reasonably healthy, and not crazy before jumping into bed.
You are on the wrong website sir.
it makes me unhappy. It's unfair. Lucky women. Life sucks. Leave me alone.
You have to look back to the turn of the century:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Deal
Teddy Roosevelt was in a different environment. The common man was very angry at big corporations for keeping them as virtual slaves and they were fighting back.
Today, we have the opposite thinking in the common man. That somehow their own government is evil and greed machines can do no wrong. Of course, the greed machines will take as much as they can, and this includes ruining the middle class and paying workers less and less and less. It will take time, probably the children the current generation, as the middle class fades away, to finally wake up to the real source of the abuse and to demand real control of corporations. Like the awakening during the gilded ages of Victorian times to the kind of abuse being perpetrated by monopolies and oligopolies (NOT capitalism).
It is a shame there are too many deluded and propagandized fools nowadays on the subject. The fruits of their beliefs will be just more abuse at the hands of the forces corrupting their own government. Curtailing those corporate forces requires action by the people. Currently, there isn't any. As their lives and their children's lives are diminished so some asshole making gobs of cash can make even more, there will be action. But years from now. The current crop of Americans is too fat and lazy and stupid about the real source of their plight: corporations. Not their own government, the only real tool at their disposal to fight the monopolies and oligopolies.
you have effective government, effective regulation
it does begin "we the people" you know. it is supposed to represent you. so make sure it does, remove the corruption
i don't understand people who think government is the source of the problem. the government is corrupted, and ceases to be an effective force against corporate power. it is an EFFECT, not a CAUSE
yet some fools want to weaken government. thereby what? allow the corporations unfettered rapacious profitmaking? do you think they respect your rights and freedoms? so support the ONLY effective means at your disposal to fight the force: your own government
don't circumcise your male children. then, upon adulthood, if they want to cut off their foreskin, let them make their own decision
oh wait, religion. WHARRGARBBBL applies
nevermind, there's no easy solution here, because we have the assholes who say it is written in a dusty old book, so it must be (blank out all thought and reason)
as long as there are those who accept the corporate corruption of their own government with helplessness, cynicism, or snide remarks, instead of actually fighting the corruption, then yes
genetic survival is being determined by memetics
that is, the social policy of a society is determined by the beliefs of a society. well, if those beliefs create enough unhappiness, as you allude to, this becomes a pressure to change the beliefs of the society, which in turns changes the selective genetic pressures again
memetics: the competition of ideas, is becoming more important than genetics in homo sapiens
genetics is now second fiddle to the real story of evolution within homo sapiens. we are now vessels for ideas in our heads, rather than vessels for genes in our cells, and the competition merely moves to a new battlefield
take french society before the french revolution: if a rich aristocrat runs over poor boy, oh well. you are implying the unhappiness resulting from that has no meaning. but it does: the french revolution happens
likewise, with the russian revolution, the arab spring, etc.
the usa is entering a cycle. we had the labor unrests of a century ago resulting in a society with more concern for social welfare. now the venal types who say how much money you have in your bank should determine all, and screw everyone else, their beliefs are gaining traction. either that, or the idealistic naive types who think the marketplace is clean and perfect, and not prone to abuse, believe in what they believe, when their deluded beliefs actualyl result in those with money getting more money and those without getting less, regardless of hard work or merit or intelligence
classism rises. eventually, after some years, those who are poor not because of their inferior intellect, but just because of how they were born, they gain the upper hand again and we have a second american revolution of the undeserving poor taking over society from the undeserving rich
communism is of course stupid. but i wish society could stay committed to social safety nets and not have to have this endless pointless cycle between haves and havenots. that the haves admit they have to give more back to society because the fact they have more cash is not divine right, but just luck of the draw and because they were born in a society that gives them so much to start with. and those who havenot remain eternally vigilant about the encroachment of bad ideas that ensure they get even more poor
an ideal society is 90% middle class. but as we see in the USA the sea of poor grow in number, and a few with money make even more money, american society is headed along a cycle which result in revolt in the future. it will take time, but history speaks of this story time and time again. i just wish some of the idiots out there who believe in the perfect marketplace and don't trust their own democratic govt, see how the power of the rich and corporations is pointed in the USA right now against the health of the middle class
the choice is not between the perfect market and authoritarian govt. the choice is between the monopoly of YOUR democratic govt, and the oligopoly of corporations that corrupts your government and removes your livelihood and your rights. wake up, stop believing in fairy tales about some mythic pure marketplace that never existed and never will
this is a thread on slashdot, not a political plank. i will leave the carefully chosen words that actually have more venom than mine to the professional politicians. who apparently you will follow, because you seem to be the type who prefers serene lies over ugly truths
the problem according to you is word choice, not rationale. this is why we have the kind of snake tongued leaders we have in the world
now some other dude is putting his kids in a larger behemoth to survive a wreck with you, at your expense. the larger and more ridiculous gas guzzlers only affordable to those richer than you. which is the whole point of this nonsense: it is not about survival of the fittest, but about survival of the richest
at some point the american people will give up this ridiculous social darwinist religion and understand that you need to curtail the excess abuses of a social system where those with money win more money and everyone else scrapes by with less and less every year
just admit that you want energy companies deciding US policy rather than the actual american people
stop with the bullshit nods to the miraculous marketplace, which has no meaning in this conversation. we are just talking about a choice between two different monopolistic modes: energy companies, or the US government. i don't understand people who see so much menace in their own democratic government, and less menace in oligopolistic multinational energy corporations (that corrupt your democratic government). personally, as a resident of a democracy, i'll go with the organization that is entrusted with our willpower, however flawed, than the organization entrusted with making profit by any means necessary
soccer mom texting in her gas guzzling behemoth, when wrecking with a subcompact, tends to survive better than the poor guy in the subcompact
so the real solution is to just get rid of the gas guzzling behemoths
but i guess some people want status conscious assholes driving our energy policy
we could have those deaths in the middle east instead, where we send our young people to die, so we can fill our gas guzzling behemoths back home
personally, i'd rather just kill the gas guzzling behemoths. status conscious assholes should not drive our energy policy
I see what you are saying. Jesus was a carpenter, so you are saying Jesus crafted the different animals by hand. I understand your point now.
(poe's law disclaimer: yes I am joking)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law
the expansion and contraction we see at long ranges could simply be the crest and trough of something like waves on the surface of the ocean, a minor local event in a universe infinite in time and space. that's what i believe
the big bang fits too neatly with creation myths of abrahamic religions
what proof do i have for my belief? none
just a sense from looking at history and how anthropomorphic thinking and self-centeredness gradually gives way to finding ourselves at the center of a vast, uncaring universe. i feel the big bang theory is the last gasp of mankind's religious prejudices about reality affecting our science
oh and look, the big bang theory started with a priest at a catholic school, of course. who else would see the creation of the universe in this way, in a mind saturated with the "let there be light" family of books:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre
the big bang theory will be upended. i have no proof
just a gut feeling from the trajectory of mankind's thinking and what reality has shown in contradiction. the big bang theory is another creation myth, like any other
it's turtles, all the way down
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down
LOL!