Actually no, you can be IGNORED, KILLED or CAPTURED without consenting, but to be RULED, you have to consent, otherwise those who would rule you, would have to either KILL, CAPTURE or just plain IGNORE you. Only three possibilities without consenting. You can only be ruled if you surrender/consent. Otherwise aggression must be initiated and carried out against you.
There are always choices. There are always consequences, some natural, most man made.
Wow, so you're telling me that I should consent to be ruled, by "registering" (research that term and understand it before you use it), and then... the merest power that surrender of my authority gives me... is to be ruled by whomsoever wins the dice roll between two groups of assholes I will be forced (at gun point) to pay for, and who will represent me not one bit? Oh but they WILL have the right (by my consent through "registration") to tell me what to do and dispose of my life and property as they feel fit?
I'm fairly sure I haven't consented for sometime now. My evidence was simple to see, I watched politics and tried the "Left-Right" scale. What a lovely choice. Bill Clinton and George Senior, then later Al Gore and George Junior... then some no name scumbag (Kerry) and George Junior? How exactly was it "easy to get rid of him" ?? He had 8 years to fuck up the country and its people as he desired, and the masses went along (as they always do). There's been screaming about impeachment, the "opposition" party went in promising to impeach Bush (impeach, for those of you politically challenged means INDICT the president, its a mere formalization of the other word, an impeachment does not guarantee removal from office, or even punishment.)
I've seen enough in my life to know that "voting" changes nothing. There are only TWO true effective votes. Feet and wallet. You either get going to where you want to be, or you pay for what you want in whatever manner you want. In the end, you cannot "petition" someone else for your freedom. In so doing, you become a begging serf. And rightfully should be treated as such.
Want to be treated like a serf? Consent to be governed by others and be told what to do... consent to have some depraved power hungry, child molesting lunatics legislate morality to you and your children. (Sort of how the "conservatives" permit boy raping priests to tell them how to be good "Christian" men... which, if priests actually lead by example, is obviously "lie your ass off, rape little boys, be a hypocrite about it, don't get caught, and become a diocese before long.")
Politicians aren't crooked only in the USA, they're the same everywhere, they just get caught more in North America and Western Europe. But I love the braindamaged point of view I hear (mostly on authoritarian forums, whether left wing or right wing notwithstanding) where "we elect them to represent us" or "they represent the will of the majority" or some such bullshit.
Voting is a lottery. It isn't the will of the "majority" or the "will of the people". Voting is a gamble, is my winning ticket going to rip you off to pay me for however many years, or will your ticket screw me to pay you? After all, once you gamble, you cannot complain that you didn't consent because you lost. You consented to be ruled when you consented to play their game. If you didn't register (research that word) or vote, you can say you withheld your consent, but you cannot withhold your consent if you registered and voted and lost the lottery. Freedom does not enter into the whole thing. Once you've registered and voted, you've cast your freedom into the lottery, and whichever side wins (not you, but the ticket running) gets to own your freedom and you. Speaking of which, ever wonder why they say "X is running with Y on the ABC party ticket"? Doesn't it seem strange that they should use the same terms as that other state operated enterprise? The Lottery?
Wait till you try to buy uranium to fuel it, and you get labelled a "terrorist threat seeking to buy yellowcake", and then they shock and awe your block with the 101'st airbor... no wait, they're still "freeing Iraq", guess they'll schock and awe you with the SWAT team.
Actually no, he takes food, vitamins, and the means to make more out of available materials, otherwise he dies when his supply runs out or his supply chain is cut off.
The questions I posed, however, (before I got caught up in the fun endeavor of arguing with you people) were these:
Why is it, that out of ALL the animals out there, only TWO mammalian species (a marsupial rat and homo sapiens) display this lack of capacity for synthesizing internal ascorbate from internal sugars? Seems to me that this would be a bigger concern than externally mounted testicles, which, aside from what the parent poster to mine said, is a "survival" concern?
So it seems to me like the failure to synthesize ascorbate internally (its lack develops the fatal condition known as scurvy, fatal if left with an uncorrected diet, that is), would be an intentional flaw, if the "intelligent" design folks be believed. This is whether one believes there is are gods, or merely an intelligent process of "evolution". Whatever the case, it seems to me, a FAR more serious flaw than externally mounted testicles, which don't really cause that much trouble for survival, whereas extended travel at sea centuries ago was lethal to many sailors until it was discovered that carrying lemons aboard (and eating them) was the cure. Now the question to ask is this. Is this a flaw introduced to keep humanity on this nursery world until some of its members mature enough to "make it out there" independently of the "seed stock", or is it a mere "coincidence"?
As long as I've lived, I've stopped believing in coincidence... every single experience and event, good or bad, leads to every other single experience and event, though I wouldn't go so far as to say there is a god (or many) I would wager to say that there's always another veil to be moved aside, more to see, more to understand.
Actually I've read a couple of medical papers awhile back that stated that partially developed scurvy is not common but still exists in "our society", mainly because of "not enough" ascorbic acid intake.
Back to our ORIGINAL SUBJECT:
HOW is what I said any different than worrying about placement of testicles?!? The original parent poster to my reply said that testicles were placed in a bad place for "survival", etc. I find the lack of ability to naturally syntesize ascorbate/ascorbic acid to be a FAR greater threat to survival than externally mounted reproductive organs. Perhaps I'm just mistaken. Since animals that can synthesize ascorbate are living all over the globe, but modern humans live only near supplies of vitamin C, be they natural or artificial in construction. Most are told "its good for you" but aren't aware just how BAD its absence can be. This is no different to the idiots scared of skin cancer who yet suffer from Vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D, however, can be synthesized by proper exposure to the elements that help said synthesis (sunlight, et al.) Man can live without testicles, but without proper amounts of the various vitamins, man doesn't live long or well. In fact, without those vitamins, humanity would not have lived very long, but has done just fine with externally mounted testicles. That was my point, it was thoroughly missed out by the typical individuals who didn't bother to read up on the comment I was replying to. I'm not surprised.
Agreed. However, say you forget to take it along, because scurvy hasn't existed in your "spare faring world nation" (all conspiracy theories aside, lets just presume so)... you've "cured" all disease, "cured" all the malcontents, and have a thoroughly borgified nation.
But this nation of organic "borg" have one big flaw. As they get further and further from home, eating processed this or that, they discover that... oops, they're developing unknown disease once they land on some new planet and begin to consume dry rations. But why, its got all the protein they need? Ooops, after countless die on alien worlds, and "alien pathogens" are blamed, nobody remembers that not enough (not just absence, but not enough) Ascorbic Acid (to be precise) is quite important to the human body, essential in fact. Foods may be substituted, even cardboard or protein powder can keep one alive, but the vitamins are essential, and in the case of C, vital, and unavailable without a steady outside source.
Yes, but man cannot survive anywhere once those "kilos" of Vit C are out. And scurvy is a NASTY way to die... really nasty.
The human body cannot synthesize it, so technically, without a good source of Vit C, you can wipe out a populace without needing to actually physically attacking them. Since they cannot, like most every other animal, synthesize it from internal sugars (glucose) humans are among the only species privy to the lovely thing known as "scurvy" within a short timetable after ceasing intake of Vitamin C. Amazing eh?
Testicles are among the least of our concerns... what SHOULD concern you, especially in a "SURVIVAL" related subject, is that man seems to have been meant to stay on Earth (until man gets over this particular problem.)
See, man is one of TWO mammalian species that requires an external source of vitamin C... otherwise we get scurvy... and eventually kick the bucket. Interesting that Earth's apex predator is range limited by something so simple as carrying a satchel of oranges or lemons on the ship... (okay, not all specimens of homo sapiens qualify for more than "monkey" classification, granted, and some are not capable of even surviving in society, nevermind without said crutch.)
However, a voyage to the stars, without a good supply of replenishable vitamin C would become a trip delimited by a few days/weeks past the day when the vitamin C runs out.
Pretty sad, when you think about it, every schmuck is looking at all these "big" problems, instead of looking at the fundamentals. Testicles and their placement on the body is nowhere nearly as bad as the fact that every single instance of homo sapiens in space would be cut short by the vitamin C supply. Ironic really, perhaps "intelligent design" might warrant a second look, unless of course, evolution and any supernatural forces others might attribute evolution to "realized" that man was a plague, and should be limited to Earth until it managed to kill itself off, whether by grey goo, killer designer virus, or just plain good ole' nuclear warfare.
If that isn't a vote for intelligent design or intelligent forces of evolution, I don't know what is:)
Nah, they aren't shot in the public square, that was a soviet thing... chinese too. The further west people went, the nicer communism was. Eastern bloc communism was nowhere nearly as horrible as it was in the USSR and further East (Vietnam, China, North Korea, etc.)
That being said, all redistributive governments have to "redistribute" someone's wealth or goods. Problem is, government produces NONE of it, so in order to "redistribute" and to pay those who redistribute, it must fleece/confiscate from someone else. With force of arms, of course. If you or I do it, its "robbery" and we get punished... if the government does it, its called "taxation" and its "for the good of the people". Problem is, when those who HAD things to be taxed and confiscated are gone, the only ones left to fleece and tax are the poor. And since the communist/socialist governments did a good job of it, almost everyone ended up poor AND taxed. Those who fled, with their wealth, only had to wait until the logical fall of communism, after the coffers and treasuries ran empty, and then, move back in after the "revolutions" and buy all the infrastructure at pennies on the dollar. This is classic history, and has happened countless times, but the only ones who bother to study and apply this history are the rich. As a result, they get vilified for having "dared" to take advantage of the fact that nobody else bothered to read up on patterns of the past.
Nothing will change in America either. The peasants may revolt some day and put an end to the tyrannies here in America, but I have no doubt, that if they do, they also will, once again, go to their homes before following through and setting things right, so in the end, all they will have accomplished was a little "feel good" revolt, and still lost the greater war. And follow through is key in everything, from sports, to shooting targets, to having sex or smoking cigars to having revolutions. If you don't follow through, someone else does. And in history, someone "else" always has, because "the people" (aka "the revolutionaries" were too "tired" to follow through.)
Actually my uncles who also fled from there used to tell me, "nah, the Americans do it too, all countries do it, Stalin just ran out of space."
I thought it was a lie, and then I came to America and noticed that they throw you in prison for just about any old petty thing, including self harm or no harm... they don't care, they make more laws each day, declare more innocents as criminals, and haven't run out of room. Stalin did. These people have turned the prisoners into a manufacturing base. Your intelligent jobs go to India, your menial jobs go to inmates.
Nothing changes. Different tyrants are in charge, but the patterns and results are always similar... if not downright the same.
Sure, we'll be "fat and happy" for awhile (as the poster below said) but if we don't stop this mess while some of us are capable of being fat and happy, we'll all be skinny and starving, except those who engineer these things. Not that I expect anyone to stand up and stop it. Kind of reminds me of that final scene in I am Legend (Will Smith movie, not the original book) with the zombie smashing into the glass trying to kill him, while Will's saying "let me save you, I can help you, let me heal you" and the zombie just keeps mindlessly attacking. This is the apologist mindset. Which is fine, they get to be the ones to ask themselves "What have I done?" after its all gone down the drain.
As for property rights? IN AMERICA?? You're licensed to dig a well in your own yard, you're licensed to run any trade, you're forced to buy a license to defend yourself, and by all means and purposes your property is confiscated if you don't pay tribut
When "those evil communists" (and they WERE evil, no doubts about it) did the same damn thing in other countries, America's people wondered HOW IN BLAZES the Russians and the other Eastern Block people didn't revolt.
I mean, their rulers were reading their mail. Kidnapping those who spoke out against abuses, and torturing them... ahem *enhanced interrogating them*... Free speech zones were established, and those who dared speak elsewhere were arrested and sent to Gulags. People who failed to show up for vote or voted for the "upstart" candidate were harassed, and sometimes not heard from again if they dared speak out. Experiments were often run on citizens, and often on the military, without any information or informed consent given. Evidence was often planted of "seditious behavior" or "conspiracy to overthrow the People's Government", usually with some rusty gun being found in someone's haystack as "evidence". One of my uncles ran a small investigation unit when he was younger, and remarked to me as I was growing up, that it was amazing to him that the same gun was found in a dozen different individuals' homes. Those individuals, of course, were quickly apprehended for "intended terroristic activities" and were slam dunked in a typical "kangaroo court" (the name used was "special tribunals"). Nobody mentioned the serial number on the gun... those individuals were eventually executed.
How is it that those poor bastards living under communism didn't notice all this and put an end to it?! Well let me ask you this... how is it that the poor bastards living in the West don't also notice all this and raise hell? The pattern is the same, even the TERMS in use are the same. Strange that those digging in the future will ask the same questions of this civilization.
"How come they didn't see it or put an end to it? Were they really that stupid, gullible or blind? Did any of them at all actually walk away? Did any make it out?"
UNLESS, you happen to "beam" your words into my skull. If I hear you and know where you're coming, its one thing.
The moment you start me questioning my sanity, or looking for Slimer, I can guarantee I'll shatter your nose and crack your jaw and claim insanity via invasive trespass into my skull:) And I'll mean it too. Lets see what court can call deny me "temporary insanity" if I feel violated by your targeting me and making me feel violated.
Exactly, you can kill Hitler, you cannot kill Microsoft. You can only make them irrelevant, short of civilization as we know it being ground into dust, I don't see the end of Microsoft any time soon.
Hell, I dislike M$ more than most, but I've discovered that putting Linux boots on the ground, so to speak, will solve more than trying to trash talk Microsoft to death. We've been there, done that, didn't get shit done doing it.
Why not just smash the equipment, or sequester it... and when confronted by police, make a BIG case out of the fact that they were ignoring a public assault on your physical person and the company in question assaulted you with a "sonic shockwave device" which you find to be quite offensive and dangerous to your health and safety. Demand that they pay for the fear and lack of safety you felt, as well as the invasion of your personal space, then sue the city AND the company in question and research the few other means by which you can take them to the cleaners.
Isn't this ridiculous? They're worried that smoking, is bad, and banning smoking even in private residences or public places, but they have no problem allowing invasions of privacy that are targeted in such a manner.
Actually, rather than "fight em", just replace 'em.
No need to fight 'em, that just gives them a reason to struggle harder and live on.
Good approach on 3/2/1 but I'd suggest trying 2/1:) Fighting didn't work. Mocking M$ just made geeks feel better. But ignoring them is what drove them up the wall (it also lets those doing any code work or support work focus on the code work and support work, as opposed to wasting away and stressing out fighting the mighty giant.)
One can compare Microsoft under Bill and Steve to IBM under Prescott Bush, good for propping up various dictatorships and their future attrocities (and laundering money to them before and during World War II) but evil to the core. Microsoft is like that IBM, and despite anyone's wishes, it will not die, not anytime soon, and in 20 years, they'll be the "good guys" (most likely against Google's rather insidious ways) the same way as IBM today is the "good guys" against Microsoft's insidious ways. Do not forget that at one point, in the 70's and 80's, it was Microsoft that was seen as "good guys" to IBM's being "purveyors of fine FUD". None of this has changed, they're all bad guys, its just the temporary alliances that have changed. IBM needed a way to sink Microsoft and improve their public image, helping the Linux community at large was a cheap way for them to do this while gaining more than they lost.
I predict that eventually, Microsoft will lose enough ground to Google to become deeply worried. Google will ally with various dictatorships and tyrannies (including the various fledgling police states of the Western world) and turn their impressive reach into people's lives into a device for spying and creating evidence of malfeasance where there truly was none. They'll become the basic paid snitch looking to entrap innocents in the 21st century, and only the people they hurt and those close to each case will hate them for it but that will not stop their deeds nor redeem the various forces employing their services.
At that point someone else will pop up as an alternative to keep the system going and keep people plugged into this struggle. But ignore them and focus on what needs to be done, mock them if it makes you enjoy life, and then move on, get done what you have done. Mock them and ignore them but walk away from their products. I used to "fight them" too, and then at one point I gave up the struggle and became polite about it. Even my mocking of M$ has been relatively humorous in nature when facing people upset over their products. Over time, I've replaced quite a few Windows installs with Linuxes, all except the truly hard core gaming computers (no need to work with gamers who aren't willing to tweak, and the new generation is nothing like the overclocker and system builder generation of old), but frankly, those who spend too much time gaming, have other issues in their lives they need to fix, emotional needs, physical needs, etc. I'd say stick to mocking Microsoft cleverly and appropriately, lose the anger, and replace just about everything you can replace when the client is willing. If they want Microsoft and insist, let them have it. More cash for you. Later on, if they bitch, remind them that you offered a better (though slightly more involved at the onset) solution.
No, when you tell me to shut up, what you're doing is saying that you'd rather wait until you get strafed.
You're also a victim worshipper... I'm watching to see if anyone who ISN'T a victim worshipper will be around. I've got RELATIVES, not "friends" who were murdered through government aggression. And the patterns are cyclical. They're occurring in the West now, because they've gotten to their logical conclusion in the East.
Some of my great grandparents were killed by invading Russians and the following collectivization... in America, the "allies" call them "heroes" or "allied Russian forces fighting for freedom", even though where my grandparents grew up, the Nazi soldiers were remembered for being gentlemen and even paying rent to stay in their town and be fed by the locals, while the Russian "saviors" were the ones who indulged in rapes and butchery and burned whatever they couldn't steal.
History... has always been written by the victor... in America, as in everywhere else. If you ever get to be a "refugee" it means you didn't see it coming. And you won't, you're too busy telling those who do, to shut up.
In a country where more than half the populace is armed, legally or illegally, and where military and even sanctioned paramilitary (cops, tsa, etc) forces are FAR into the minority, one does not want to lose the golden goose (which is America). So to keep fleecing it until the last possible moment, without waking up the Giant, Jack will have to continue baby stepping things, until he's stolen every possible golden egg. Then he can lead the giant to his doom when he wakes up angry and upset that his gold is being stolen.
It takes baby steps to get to a goal when the sleeping Giant is just starting to grumble in his sleep. If Jack stays downwind and remains stealthy, by the time the Giant wakes up, the only thing LEFT for him to do is fall off the beanstalk.
Because the fellow probably understands what you did not.
Its called "mission creep" or "incremental gains". Sure, today they're searching your bags, ordering you around and humiliating you (take off shoes, behave like a prisoner of war, shut up about it, be obedient to authority at all times, etc). SWAT's been "obedience training" kids in some school with their little "practice raids". It even made the national news.
Give it a few more years, and we'll see how far this rabbit hole goes:)
Thanks, I appreciate your insult (coming from you, that is) explains things to me well.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually no, you can be IGNORED, KILLED or CAPTURED without consenting, but to be RULED, you have to consent, otherwise those who would rule you, would have to either KILL, CAPTURE or just plain IGNORE you. Only three possibilities without consenting. You can only be ruled if you surrender/consent. Otherwise aggression must be initiated and carried out against you.
There are always choices. There are always consequences, some natural, most man made.
Wow, so you're telling me that I should consent to be ruled, by "registering" (research that term and understand it before you use it), and then... the merest power that surrender of my authority gives me... is to be ruled by whomsoever wins the dice roll between two groups of assholes I will be forced (at gun point) to pay for, and who will represent me not one bit? Oh but they WILL have the right (by my consent through "registration") to tell me what to do and dispose of my life and property as they feel fit?
I'm fairly sure I haven't consented for sometime now. My evidence was simple to see, I watched politics and tried the "Left-Right" scale. What a lovely choice. Bill Clinton and George Senior, then later Al Gore and George Junior... then some no name scumbag (Kerry) and George Junior? How exactly was it "easy to get rid of him" ?? He had 8 years to fuck up the country and its people as he desired, and the masses went along (as they always do). There's been screaming about impeachment, the "opposition" party went in promising to impeach Bush (impeach, for those of you politically challenged means INDICT the president, its a mere formalization of the other word, an impeachment does not guarantee removal from office, or even punishment.)
I've seen enough in my life to know that "voting" changes nothing. There are only TWO true effective votes. Feet and wallet. You either get going to where you want to be, or you pay for what you want in whatever manner you want. In the end, you cannot "petition" someone else for your freedom. In so doing, you become a begging serf. And rightfully should be treated as such.
You get what you want and pay for.
Want to be treated like a serf? Consent to be governed by others and be told what to do... consent to have some depraved power hungry, child molesting lunatics legislate morality to you and your children. (Sort of how the "conservatives" permit boy raping priests to tell them how to be good "Christian" men... which, if priests actually lead by example, is obviously "lie your ass off, rape little boys, be a hypocrite about it, don't get caught, and become a diocese before long.")
Politicians aren't crooked only in the USA, they're the same everywhere, they just get caught more in North America and Western Europe. But I love the braindamaged point of view I hear (mostly on authoritarian forums, whether left wing or right wing notwithstanding) where "we elect them to represent us" or "they represent the will of the majority" or some such bullshit.
Voting is a lottery. It isn't the will of the "majority" or the "will of the people". Voting is a gamble, is my winning ticket going to rip you off to pay me for however many years, or will your ticket screw me to pay you? After all, once you gamble, you cannot complain that you didn't consent because you lost. You consented to be ruled when you consented to play their game. If you didn't register (research that word) or vote, you can say you withheld your consent, but you cannot withhold your consent if you registered and voted and lost the lottery. Freedom does not enter into the whole thing. Once you've registered and voted, you've cast your freedom into the lottery, and whichever side wins (not you, but the ticket running) gets to own your freedom and you. Speaking of which, ever wonder why they say "X is running with Y on the ABC party ticket"? Doesn't it seem strange that they should use the same terms as that other state operated enterprise? The Lottery?
B... b... but, who's gonna keep killin' those damn Iraqi's... AHEM, I mean "terrorists"?
[endsarcasm]
Wait till you try to buy uranium to fuel it, and you get labelled a "terrorist threat seeking to buy yellowcake", and then they shock and awe your block with the 101'st airbor... no wait, they're still "freeing Iraq", guess they'll schock and awe you with the SWAT team.
Actually no, he takes food, vitamins, and the means to make more out of available materials, otherwise he dies when his supply runs out or his supply chain is cut off.
The questions I posed, however, (before I got caught up in the fun endeavor of arguing with you people) were these:
Why is it, that out of ALL the animals out there, only TWO mammalian species (a marsupial rat and homo sapiens) display this lack of capacity for synthesizing internal ascorbate from internal sugars? Seems to me that this would be a bigger concern than externally mounted testicles, which, aside from what the parent poster to mine said, is a "survival" concern?
So it seems to me like the failure to synthesize ascorbate internally (its lack develops the fatal condition known as scurvy, fatal if left with an uncorrected diet, that is), would be an intentional flaw, if the "intelligent" design folks be believed. This is whether one believes there is are gods, or merely an intelligent process of "evolution". Whatever the case, it seems to me, a FAR more serious flaw than externally mounted testicles, which don't really cause that much trouble for survival, whereas extended travel at sea centuries ago was lethal to many sailors until it was discovered that carrying lemons aboard (and eating them) was the cure. Now the question to ask is this. Is this a flaw introduced to keep humanity on this nursery world until some of its members mature enough to "make it out there" independently of the "seed stock", or is it a mere "coincidence"?
As long as I've lived, I've stopped believing in coincidence... every single experience and event, good or bad, leads to every other single experience and event, though I wouldn't go so far as to say there is a god (or many) I would wager to say that there's always another veil to be moved aside, more to see, more to understand.
Actually I've read a couple of medical papers awhile back that stated that partially developed scurvy is not common but still exists in "our society", mainly because of "not enough" ascorbic acid intake.
Back to our ORIGINAL SUBJECT:
HOW is what I said any different than worrying about placement of testicles?!? The original parent poster to my reply said that testicles were placed in a bad place for "survival", etc.
I find the lack of ability to naturally syntesize ascorbate/ascorbic acid to be a FAR greater threat to survival than externally mounted reproductive organs. Perhaps I'm just mistaken. Since animals that can synthesize ascorbate are living all over the globe, but modern humans live only near supplies of vitamin C, be they natural or artificial in construction. Most are told "its good for you" but aren't aware just how BAD its absence can be.
This is no different to the idiots scared of skin cancer who yet suffer from Vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D, however, can be synthesized by proper exposure to the elements that help said synthesis (sunlight, et al.)
Man can live without testicles, but without proper amounts of the various vitamins, man doesn't live long or well. In fact, without those vitamins, humanity would not have lived very long, but has done just fine with externally mounted testicles.
That was my point, it was thoroughly missed out by the typical individuals who didn't bother to read up on the comment I was replying to. I'm not surprised.
..."spare faring world nation"... I meant to say "space faring world nation". Apologies.
Agreed. However, say you forget to take it along, because scurvy hasn't existed in your "spare faring world nation" (all conspiracy theories aside, lets just presume so)... you've "cured" all disease, "cured" all the malcontents, and have a thoroughly borgified nation.
But this nation of organic "borg" have one big flaw. As they get further and further from home, eating processed this or that, they discover that... oops, they're developing unknown disease once they land on some new planet and begin to consume dry rations. But why, its got all the protein they need? Ooops, after countless die on alien worlds, and "alien pathogens" are blamed, nobody remembers that not enough (not just absence, but not enough) Ascorbic Acid (to be precise) is quite important to the human body, essential in fact. Foods may be substituted, even cardboard or protein powder can keep one alive, but the vitamins are essential, and in the case of C, vital, and unavailable without a steady outside source.
Yes, but man cannot survive anywhere once those "kilos" of Vit C are out. And scurvy is a NASTY way to die... really nasty.
The human body cannot synthesize it, so technically, without a good source of Vit C, you can wipe out a populace without needing to actually physically attacking them. Since they cannot, like most every other animal, synthesize it from internal sugars (glucose) humans are among the only species privy to the lovely thing known as "scurvy" within a short timetable after ceasing intake of Vitamin C. Amazing eh?
You seem to know little about this subject.
:)
Testicles are among the least of our concerns... what SHOULD concern you, especially in a "SURVIVAL" related subject, is that man seems to have been meant to stay on Earth (until man gets over this particular problem.)
See, man is one of TWO mammalian species that requires an external source of vitamin C... otherwise we get scurvy... and eventually kick the bucket. Interesting that Earth's apex predator is range limited by something so simple as carrying a satchel of oranges or lemons on the ship... (okay, not all specimens of homo sapiens qualify for more than "monkey" classification, granted, and some are not capable of even surviving in society, nevermind without said crutch.)
However, a voyage to the stars, without a good supply of replenishable vitamin C would become a trip delimited by a few days/weeks past the day when the vitamin C runs out.
Pretty sad, when you think about it, every schmuck is looking at all these "big" problems, instead of looking at the fundamentals. Testicles and their placement on the body is nowhere nearly as bad as the fact that every single instance of homo sapiens in space would be cut short by the vitamin C supply. Ironic really, perhaps "intelligent design" might warrant a second look, unless of course, evolution and any supernatural forces others might attribute evolution to "realized" that man was a plague, and should be limited to Earth until it managed to kill itself off, whether by grey goo, killer designer virus, or just plain good ole' nuclear warfare.
If that isn't a vote for intelligent design or intelligent forces of evolution, I don't know what is
Nah, they aren't shot in the public square, that was a soviet thing... chinese too. The further west people went, the nicer communism was. Eastern bloc communism was nowhere nearly as horrible as it was in the USSR and further East (Vietnam, China, North Korea, etc.)
That being said, all redistributive governments have to "redistribute" someone's wealth or goods. Problem is, government produces NONE of it, so in order to "redistribute" and to pay those who redistribute, it must fleece/confiscate from someone else. With force of arms, of course. If you or I do it, its "robbery" and we get punished... if the government does it, its called "taxation" and its "for the good of the people". Problem is, when those who HAD things to be taxed and confiscated are gone, the only ones left to fleece and tax are the poor. And since the communist/socialist governments did a good job of it, almost everyone ended up poor AND taxed. Those who fled, with their wealth, only had to wait until the logical fall of communism, after the coffers and treasuries ran empty, and then, move back in after the "revolutions" and buy all the infrastructure at pennies on the dollar. This is classic history, and has happened countless times, but the only ones who bother to study and apply this history are the rich. As a result, they get vilified for having "dared" to take advantage of the fact that nobody else bothered to read up on patterns of the past.
Nothing will change in America either. The peasants may revolt some day and put an end to the tyrannies here in America, but I have no doubt, that if they do, they also will, once again, go to their homes before following through and setting things right, so in the end, all they will have accomplished was a little "feel good" revolt, and still lost the greater war. And follow through is key in everything, from sports, to shooting targets, to having sex or smoking cigars to having revolutions. If you don't follow through, someone else does. And in history, someone "else" always has, because "the people" (aka "the revolutionaries" were too "tired" to follow through.)
Actually my uncles who also fled from there used to tell me, "nah, the Americans do it too, all countries do it, Stalin just ran out of space."
I thought it was a lie, and then I came to America and noticed that they throw you in prison for just about any old petty thing, including self harm or no harm... they don't care, they make more laws each day, declare more innocents as criminals, and haven't run out of room. Stalin did. These people have turned the prisoners into a manufacturing base. Your intelligent jobs go to India, your menial jobs go to inmates.
Nothing changes. Different tyrants are in charge, but the patterns and results are always similar... if not downright the same.
Sure, we'll be "fat and happy" for awhile (as the poster below said) but if we don't stop this mess while some of us are capable of being fat and happy, we'll all be skinny and starving, except those who engineer these things. Not that I expect anyone to stand up and stop it. Kind of reminds me of that final scene in I am Legend (Will Smith movie, not the original book) with the zombie smashing into the glass trying to kill him, while Will's saying "let me save you, I can help you, let me heal you" and the zombie just keeps mindlessly attacking. This is the apologist mindset. Which is fine, they get to be the ones to ask themselves "What have I done?" after its all gone down the drain.
As for property rights? IN AMERICA?? You're licensed to dig a well in your own yard, you're licensed to run any trade, you're forced to buy a license to defend yourself, and by all means and purposes your property is confiscated if you don't pay tribut
You know what I LOVE about this?
When "those evil communists" (and they WERE evil, no doubts about it) did the same damn thing in other countries, America's people wondered HOW IN BLAZES the Russians and the other Eastern Block people didn't revolt.
I mean, their rulers were reading their mail. Kidnapping those who spoke out against abuses, and torturing them... ahem *enhanced interrogating them*... Free speech zones were established, and those who dared speak elsewhere were arrested and sent to Gulags. People who failed to show up for vote or voted for the "upstart" candidate were harassed, and sometimes not heard from again if they dared speak out. Experiments were often run on citizens, and often on the military, without any information or informed consent given. Evidence was often planted of "seditious behavior" or "conspiracy to overthrow the People's Government", usually with some rusty gun being found in someone's haystack as "evidence". One of my uncles ran a small investigation unit when he was younger, and remarked to me as I was growing up, that it was amazing to him that the same gun was found in a dozen different individuals' homes. Those individuals, of course, were quickly apprehended for "intended terroristic activities" and were slam dunked in a typical "kangaroo court" (the name used was "special tribunals"). Nobody mentioned the serial number on the gun... those individuals were eventually executed.
How is it that those poor bastards living under communism didn't notice all this and put an end to it?! Well let me ask you this... how is it that the poor bastards living in the West don't also notice all this and raise hell? The pattern is the same, even the TERMS in use are the same. Strange that those digging in the future will ask the same questions of this civilization.
"How come they didn't see it or put an end to it? Were they really that stupid, gullible or blind? Did any of them at all actually walk away? Did any make it out?"
Indeed... I love drunken Scots, they remind me of sober Scots, and they all sound like Dwarves, but taller.
Seriously, Scots are a fun bunch, whenever they're not busy trying to kiss up to international corporations or the British Crown.
UNLESS, you happen to "beam" your words into my skull. If I hear you and know where you're coming, its one thing.
:) And I'll mean it too. Lets see what court can call deny me "temporary insanity" if I feel violated by your targeting me and making me feel violated.
The moment you start me questioning my sanity, or looking for Slimer, I can guarantee I'll shatter your nose and crack your jaw and claim insanity via invasive trespass into my skull
M$ is just a company, its not Hitler.
Exactly, you can kill Hitler, you cannot kill Microsoft. You can only make them irrelevant, short of civilization as we know it being ground into dust, I don't see the end of Microsoft any time soon.
Hell, I dislike M$ more than most, but I've discovered that putting Linux boots on the ground, so to speak, will solve more than trying to trash talk Microsoft to death. We've been there, done that, didn't get shit done doing it.
Why not just smash the equipment, or sequester it... and when confronted by police, make a BIG case out of the fact that they were ignoring a public assault on your physical person and the company in question assaulted you with a "sonic shockwave device" which you find to be quite offensive and dangerous to your health and safety. Demand that they pay for the fear and lack of safety you felt, as well as the invasion of your personal space, then sue the city AND the company in question and research the few other means by which you can take them to the cleaners.
Isn't this ridiculous? They're worried that smoking, is bad, and banning smoking even in private residences or public places, but they have no problem allowing invasions of privacy that are targeted in such a manner.
Talk about a world needing a massive overhaul.
Actually, rather than "fight em", just replace 'em.
:) Fighting didn't work. Mocking M$ just made geeks feel better. But ignoring them is what drove them up the wall (it also lets those doing any code work or support work focus on the code work and support work, as opposed to wasting away and stressing out fighting the mighty giant.)
No need to fight 'em, that just gives them a reason to struggle harder and live on.
Good approach on 3/2/1 but I'd suggest trying 2/1
One can compare Microsoft under Bill and Steve to IBM under Prescott Bush, good for propping up various dictatorships and their future attrocities (and laundering money to them before and during World War II) but evil to the core. Microsoft is like that IBM, and despite anyone's wishes, it will not die, not anytime soon, and in 20 years, they'll be the "good guys" (most likely against Google's rather insidious ways) the same way as IBM today is the "good guys" against Microsoft's insidious ways. Do not forget that at one point, in the 70's and 80's, it was Microsoft that was seen as "good guys" to IBM's being "purveyors of fine FUD". None of this has changed, they're all bad guys, its just the temporary alliances that have changed. IBM needed a way to sink Microsoft and improve their public image, helping the Linux community at large was a cheap way for them to do this while gaining more than they lost.
I predict that eventually, Microsoft will lose enough ground to Google to become deeply worried. Google will ally with various dictatorships and tyrannies (including the various fledgling police states of the Western world) and turn their impressive reach into people's lives into a device for spying and creating evidence of malfeasance where there truly was none. They'll become the basic paid snitch looking to entrap innocents in the 21st century, and only the people they hurt and those close to each case will hate them for it but that will not stop their deeds nor redeem the various forces employing their services.
At that point someone else will pop up as an alternative to keep the system going and keep people plugged into this struggle. But ignore them and focus on what needs to be done, mock them if it makes you enjoy life, and then move on, get done what you have done. Mock them and ignore them but walk away from their products. I used to "fight them" too, and then at one point I gave up the struggle and became polite about it. Even my mocking of M$ has been relatively humorous in nature when facing people upset over their products. Over time, I've replaced quite a few Windows installs with Linuxes, all except the truly hard core gaming computers (no need to work with gamers who aren't willing to tweak, and the new generation is nothing like the overclocker and system builder generation of old), but frankly, those who spend too much time gaming, have other issues in their lives they need to fix, emotional needs, physical needs, etc. I'd say stick to mocking Microsoft cleverly and appropriately, lose the anger, and replace just about everything you can replace when the client is willing. If they want Microsoft and insist, let them have it. More cash for you. Later on, if they bitch, remind them that you offered a better (though slightly more involved at the onset) solution.
I believe he was "anglicized" as Mao Zedong.
No, when you tell me to shut up, what you're doing is saying that you'd rather wait until you get strafed.
You're also a victim worshipper... I'm watching to see if anyone who ISN'T a victim worshipper will be around. I've got RELATIVES, not "friends" who were murdered through government aggression. And the patterns are cyclical. They're occurring in the West now, because they've gotten to their logical conclusion in the East.
Some of my great grandparents were killed by invading Russians and the following collectivization... in America, the "allies" call them "heroes" or "allied Russian forces fighting for freedom", even though where my grandparents grew up, the Nazi soldiers were remembered for being gentlemen and even paying rent to stay in their town and be fed by the locals, while the Russian "saviors" were the ones who indulged in rapes and butchery and burned whatever they couldn't steal.
History... has always been written by the victor... in America, as in everywhere else. If you ever get to be a "refugee" it means you didn't see it coming. And you won't, you're too busy telling those who do, to shut up.
In a country where more than half the populace is armed, legally or illegally, and where military and even sanctioned paramilitary (cops, tsa, etc) forces are FAR into the minority, one does not want to lose the golden goose (which is America). So to keep fleecing it until the last possible moment, without waking up the Giant, Jack will have to continue baby stepping things, until he's stolen every possible golden egg. Then he can lead the giant to his doom when he wakes up angry and upset that his gold is being stolen.
It takes baby steps to get to a goal when the sleeping Giant is just starting to grumble in his sleep. If Jack stays downwind and remains stealthy, by the time the Giant wakes up, the only thing LEFT for him to do is fall off the beanstalk.
Because the fellow probably understands what you did not.
:)
Its called "mission creep" or "incremental gains". Sure, today they're searching your bags, ordering you around and humiliating you (take off shoes, behave like a prisoner of war, shut up about it, be obedient to authority at all times, etc). SWAT's been "obedience training" kids in some school with their little "practice raids". It even made the national news.
Give it a few more years, and we'll see how far this rabbit hole goes
Thanks, I appreciate your insult (coming from you, that is) explains things to me well.
If he could "talk his way in" that makes him one hell of a social engineer, up there with Kevin Mitnick and their ilk :P
Sounds like you could learn a few interview survival skills from that man if you're interested in mining him for knowledge.
What else do you think you'll be doing on the way to the Moon?? Research? Prep work?
Like hell, you'll be oogling ASCII @r4 b@b35!!