Fine. So they chose one arbitrary "center" and stuck to it. In that case, their center happens to be significantly to the left of the American center, and pretty close to the European center. Eurocentrism at its most arrogant.
Point is, there is no absolute center, and geometric representations of political views are inherently flawed.
By European standards. Not American standards. America is to the right of Europe.
Re:Sigh.... Another Atkins Cultist
on
Coffee is Addictive
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· Score: 2, Interesting
A couple ideas:
1. Genetics: I haven't seen very many fat Asian-Americans either.
2. Rice isn't as important as you think. It's a staple of Asian meals, but they don't eat a big plate of rice and a little bit of meat and vegetables on the side. Rice is always there, but it's not the primary component of the meal. You're always eating plenty of meats and vegetables to go along with it.
3. Portions. Perhaps they just eat ridiculously low portion sizes that would leave the average 200 pound American (that's me) craving an actual meal afterwards.
As for the lack of exercise, maybe we should adjust our eating habits to our lifestyle, instead of adjusting our lifestyle to our eating habits. Instead of randomly physically exerting ourselves from time to time like the Exercise Nazis would have us do, maybe we need to find a way to eat so that we can get by on our current activity levels.
And maybe Atkins is the way to do that. I don't know for sure, myself. But athletes eat carbs. They eat a LOT of carbs. That's because athletes are in a constant state of physical exertion. Most of us aren't in a constant state of physical exertion. The high-carb orthodoxy tries to make us eat like athletes, and then exercise as much as athletes, therefore (in their estimation) making us as healthy as athletes. That sort of thing would work if we abandoned the past couple centuries of technological innovation and worked in the fields. But people have to work for a living in the 21st century, and when they work, for the most part, they aren't physically exerting themselves. There goes the time we'd set aside for exercise.
That said, I'm not against exercise, but exercise for the sake of weight control (unless you're consciously trying to *lose* excess weight) shouldn't have to be an essential part of our lives. Exercise because it feels good, because you enjoy martial arts or something, or because you want to attract women. Don't exercise because your diet requires you to.
People work in Luxembourg (adding to their GDP) but live in France (thus not adding to their population). Luxembourg's high per capita GDP is a statistical oddity.
I don't disagree. In fact, I'd agree with you. I'm also totally against the Iraq war. But as an opponent of the Iraq war, I don't like to see people use bad reasoning to support the Iraq war. How important an objective is to you is not the only consideration in how many resources you allocate to that objective--that was the main point I was making.
134,000: Number of US troops practically necessary to invade an established country, overthrow its government, and occupy a resisting population.
17,900: Number of US troops practically necessary for a manhunt.
Iraq and Afghanistan were two different missions. If you recall, the Taliban was overthrown with a total of zero US ground troops--just the Northern Alliance, US air support, and Pashtun warlords. Iraq had no indigenous anti-Saddam rebels, because Saddam killed them all!.
By your logic, the fact that I spend $200 a year on video games and absolutely no money for the air I breathe, proves that I consider video games a higher priority than my own preservation.
If the troops are encamped, the rough layouts of the encampments can be seen. Logistical networks can be determined. One can watch troop movements over slow, but still appreciable periods of time if images are taken once every three days. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable in military affairs than I can give you better examples.
Even now, the military has significant interest in keeping secret the specific strategy and tactics they used in the Afghanistan war, so that future enemies will be less able to predict what we'll do on the battlefield. Should it be kept secret? I'm not saying. I'm just saying that there are legitimate arguments to keep this stuff secret.
The ABM treaty allows either party to unilaterally rescind the treaty provided they give 6 months notice. That notice was given by the United States in 2001.
My father was indeed an officer for much of the time. It may as well have been tradition--according to him, voting was just something that you just didn't do.
My father (who served on active duty in the Marine Corps from 1945 to 1973) claims that during the earlier part of his military career, members of the military didn't have the right to vote. Incidentally, the 1864 election you mention was, in fact, held, but there was wide talk of canceling it due to the ongoing civil war--the Constitution was, after all, effectively suspended to allow for the first income tax in US history, and other things. (The Sixteenth Amendment was later passed to allow for an ongoing income tax.)
The funny thing is, military members didn't use to have the right to vote--it was considered insubordination for them to choose the government that they were obligated to serve.
This might explain the fact that I've seen a definite personality difference between liberals and conservatives. In fact, the personality difference is usually more profound than their actual policy disagreements, at least from my perspective. Now, the great thing about being a libertarian is that there are libertarians of both liberal and conservative personality types, who nonetheless share the same views. (To name a prominent libertarian of each personality type: Mary Ruwart seems to be a liberal personality type while Walter Williams is a conservative personality type.)
Doors that swish open when you walk towards them
Computers that play __3-D chess__ !
(People that play 3-D chess)
Actually, 3-D chess has been invented, you can buy sets and rulebooks from companies that specialize in Star Trek merchandise. I'm sure some people (in theory) play it. And I've been in airports where the doors swish open pretty much like those in Star Trek, and at about the same speed.
And every time I hear a communist argue like this, they lose all credibility with me. You, my friend, are the one who's mind is controlled with propaganda.
The comparison with Hitler was more than apt, because both Hitler and Castro are dictators, and more specifically, they are both dictators whose rule was notable for having the specific intention of implementing their own ideology onto society by force. And, back to the original topic, I believe Castro would have used the Olympic Games the same way Hitler did--as a propaganda opportunity.
I'm against needless comparisons with Hitler as much as anyone, but when it's actually relevant, the comparison is more than warranted.
Now, if you for some reason like Castro's ideology, that's fine to a point, but what right does Castro have to make himself dictator, "imprison or sometimes execute", as you say, any political opposition, and implement that ideology, by force, on all Cubans? The thing is, here in America, if I want to, I can join the Libertarian Party, or the Green Party, or the Natural Law Party, and all I have to deal with is trying to overcome some overly strict ballot access regulations. From there I'm free to convince as many people as I can that we're a good alternative to the establishment. In Cuba, I wouldn't have that freedom--by your own admission, I would be "imprisoned or executed".
Any government that puts people to death for their political activism is a completely illegitimate government. You call America the totalitarian country? Have you actually tried living in the United States? There isn't much that you can't do, so long as you pay your taxes, don't get involved with drugs, and don't hurt other people. I'm not saying we don't have our problems. But no matter how bad our problems are, we are still more free than Cuba, at the very least. Is the US as free as I'd like? No, of course not. But we're a long way from a dictatorship, and the Patriot Act isn't by a long shot the closest we've come to one.
Slashdot Mirror
Fine. So they chose one arbitrary "center" and stuck to it. In that case, their center happens to be significantly to the left of the American center, and pretty close to the European center. Eurocentrism at its most arrogant.
Point is, there is no absolute center, and geometric representations of political views are inherently flawed.
By European standards. Not American standards. America is to the right of Europe.
A couple ideas:
1. Genetics: I haven't seen very many fat Asian-Americans either.
2. Rice isn't as important as you think. It's a staple of Asian meals, but they don't eat a big plate of rice and a little bit of meat and vegetables on the side. Rice is always there, but it's not the primary component of the meal. You're always eating plenty of meats and vegetables to go along with it.
3. Portions. Perhaps they just eat ridiculously low portion sizes that would leave the average 200 pound American (that's me) craving an actual meal afterwards.
As for the lack of exercise, maybe we should adjust our eating habits to our lifestyle, instead of adjusting our lifestyle to our eating habits. Instead of randomly physically exerting ourselves from time to time like the Exercise Nazis would have us do, maybe we need to find a way to eat so that we can get by on our current activity levels.
And maybe Atkins is the way to do that. I don't know for sure, myself. But athletes eat carbs. They eat a LOT of carbs. That's because athletes are in a constant state of physical exertion. Most of us aren't in a constant state of physical exertion. The high-carb orthodoxy tries to make us eat like athletes, and then exercise as much as athletes, therefore (in their estimation) making us as healthy as athletes. That sort of thing would work if we abandoned the past couple centuries of technological innovation and worked in the fields. But people have to work for a living in the 21st century, and when they work, for the most part, they aren't physically exerting themselves. There goes the time we'd set aside for exercise.
That said, I'm not against exercise, but exercise for the sake of weight control (unless you're consciously trying to *lose* excess weight) shouldn't have to be an essential part of our lives. Exercise because it feels good, because you enjoy martial arts or something, or because you want to attract women. Don't exercise because your diet requires you to.
Dude, Canada is by definition the middle of nowhere!
it currently takes 1.1 calories of oil energy to produce 1 calorie of food energy
We like to call that the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
People work in Luxembourg (adding to their GDP) but live in France (thus not adding to their population). Luxembourg's high per capita GDP is a statistical oddity.
This is the only motivation I needed. I have now decided to become a bounty hunter.
Dave Barry's a libertarian, incidentally.
Er, make that, "I don't like to see people use bad reasoning to oppose the Iraq war."
I don't disagree. In fact, I'd agree with you. I'm also totally against the Iraq war. But as an opponent of the Iraq war, I don't like to see people use bad reasoning to support the Iraq war. How important an objective is to you is not the only consideration in how many resources you allocate to that objective--that was the main point I was making.
134,000: Number of US troops practically necessary to invade an established country, overthrow its government, and occupy a resisting population.
17,900: Number of US troops practically necessary for a manhunt.
Iraq and Afghanistan were two different missions. If you recall, the Taliban was overthrown with a total of zero US ground troops--just the Northern Alliance, US air support, and Pashtun warlords. Iraq had no indigenous anti-Saddam rebels, because Saddam killed them all!.
By your logic, the fact that I spend $200 a year on video games and absolutely no money for the air I breathe, proves that I consider video games a higher priority than my own preservation.
If the troops are encamped, the rough layouts of the encampments can be seen. Logistical networks can be determined. One can watch troop movements over slow, but still appreciable periods of time if images are taken once every three days. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable in military affairs than I can give you better examples.
Even now, the military has significant interest in keeping secret the specific strategy and tactics they used in the Afghanistan war, so that future enemies will be less able to predict what we'll do on the battlefield. Should it be kept secret? I'm not saying. I'm just saying that there are legitimate arguments to keep this stuff secret.
I thought the Republicans were all about not fucking gays--I mean, since fucking gay people is gay sex and all...
The ABM treaty allows either party to unilaterally rescind the treaty provided they give 6 months notice. That notice was given by the United States in 2001.
Well, then don't sell the TV tuner version in the UK, or at least make it optional.
My father was indeed an officer for much of the time. It may as well have been tradition--according to him, voting was just something that you just didn't do.
My father (who served on active duty in the Marine Corps from 1945 to 1973) claims that during the earlier part of his military career, members of the military didn't have the right to vote. Incidentally, the 1864 election you mention was, in fact, held, but there was wide talk of canceling it due to the ongoing civil war--the Constitution was, after all, effectively suspended to allow for the first income tax in US history, and other things. (The Sixteenth Amendment was later passed to allow for an ongoing income tax.)
The funny thing is, military members didn't use to have the right to vote--it was considered insubordination for them to choose the government that they were obligated to serve.
Obviously, this has changed...
Maybe YOUR lifestyle. If so, hand over your geek license.
I would take the two minutes to rinse it off with the hose if I found it particularly offensive.
This "two weeks" business is only true if you allow it to erode naturally.
In the United States, suicide is illegal...
Only illegal? It's a capital offense!
This might explain the fact that I've seen a definite personality difference between liberals and conservatives. In fact, the personality difference is usually more profound than their actual policy disagreements, at least from my perspective. Now, the great thing about being a libertarian is that there are libertarians of both liberal and conservative personality types, who nonetheless share the same views. (To name a prominent libertarian of each personality type: Mary Ruwart seems to be a liberal personality type while Walter Williams is a conservative personality type.)
Doors that swish open when you walk towards them
Computers that play __3-D chess__ !
(People that play 3-D chess)
Actually, 3-D chess has been invented, you can buy sets and rulebooks from companies that specialize in Star Trek merchandise. I'm sure some people (in theory) play it. And I've been in airports where the doors swish open pretty much like those in Star Trek, and at about the same speed.
And every time I hear a communist argue like this, they lose all credibility with me. You, my friend, are the one who's mind is controlled with propaganda.
The comparison with Hitler was more than apt, because both Hitler and Castro are dictators, and more specifically, they are both dictators whose rule was notable for having the specific intention of implementing their own ideology onto society by force. And, back to the original topic, I believe Castro would have used the Olympic Games the same way Hitler did--as a propaganda opportunity.
I'm against needless comparisons with Hitler as much as anyone, but when it's actually relevant, the comparison is more than warranted.
Now, if you for some reason like Castro's ideology, that's fine to a point, but what right does Castro have to make himself dictator, "imprison or sometimes execute", as you say, any political opposition, and implement that ideology, by force, on all Cubans? The thing is, here in America, if I want to, I can join the Libertarian Party, or the Green Party, or the Natural Law Party, and all I have to deal with is trying to overcome some overly strict ballot access regulations. From there I'm free to convince as many people as I can that we're a good alternative to the establishment. In Cuba, I wouldn't have that freedom--by your own admission, I would be "imprisoned or executed".
Any government that puts people to death for their political activism is a completely illegitimate government. You call America the totalitarian country? Have you actually tried living in the United States? There isn't much that you can't do, so long as you pay your taxes, don't get involved with drugs, and don't hurt other people. I'm not saying we don't have our problems. But no matter how bad our problems are, we are still more free than Cuba, at the very least. Is the US as free as I'd like? No, of course not. But we're a long way from a dictatorship, and the Patriot Act isn't by a long shot the closest we've come to one.