"I am sure I will be labeled as flamebait here..."
... or something to that extent, is a sure fire way to get moderated up. Not to knock this post too much, but a 5!? I remember when it took close to a poet laureate to get there. Moderators need to spend more time fishing out the good 1's & 2's out there, rather than boosting the already credited posts to 4's & 5's.
I definitely agree here, and that getting older has a lot to do with it... but, MTV's target market was not always 14 year old girls and frat boys (pretty much the same thing)!!
I am trying to figure out just when it was that MTV really started to suck.
Everyone will say it happened when they stopped playing music videos... but when did that happen? My memory has begun to fade on me, but I really do remember enjoying MTV at some point!
It was pretty bad well before Singled Out ever came along.
How many people were shocked at themselves when they started prefering VH1 to MTV!?
Name me ONE other group that it is socially acceptable and/or politically correct to mock/oppress/discriminate against.
I will give you that. By and large, the only group it is OK to make fun of in public are white trash/rednecks. That is true... it is almost politically correct TO make fun of white trash:)
Every morning, after I have succombed to the evils of temptation and vanity, I look in horror at my besodden bed sheets... as all the little beings die in writhing agony. Oh the horror!
One of those could have become the next Nobel Peace Prize winner.........
The Catholic church believes this to be true, but I personally don't find enough compelling evidence in the Bible to support it.
I was raised Catholic and attended years and years of church and Bible School (forget how to spell Caticlysm), and not once was I ever taught to believe this.
In my understanding groups that tend to believe this fall towards the Ultra-protestants, Baptists and non-denominational faiths, in which the Bible is taken close to word for word, and believed to be 100% true.
Catholics believe the bible is open to interpretation. While they may have numerous faults (Christ, they did not admit the Earth revolves around the sun until 1992!!!!!!), I do not believe that to be one of them.... at least today.
And I could be wrong so do not flame me too harshly.
Boy, I did word that badly (Shoulda taken that mino in english to a major)...
But the question essentially being asked is essentially Are economic freedom and prosperity directly correlated?
The study came up with an overwhelming "Yes"
The study also showed that political freedom and prosperity were also hinged closely together (with the few exceptions being Hong Kong, Singapore and Bahrain).
Another interesting thing the study did find, was that the freedom in the world is actually dwindling. For the first time since the study was done (annually), there were more countries curtailing economic liberties than expanding them... all across the board.
It's a fact that 90% of private americans funds belongs to 10% of the people, what kinda distribution is that re. the post I'm replying to.
That does suck... but comparatively that is a good statistic. I can imagine that the divurgence between some of the more repressed countried approaches 99% to less than 1%.
The study does point out that free countries tend to foster the growth of a large middle class.
Christians believe that when someone dies unsaved they go to hell and burn in pain for eternity. We don't like the idea that others might be subjected to this, so we are trying to help as many people as we can.
I am pissed at myself for being sucked into this thread... but oh well.
The above has always been my largest criticism of Christianity. The idea that I am doomed to eternal suffering if I am not "saved". While "saved" means a lot of different things to a lot of groups, I am going to go with "saved" under the following meaning: I am saved if I believe in Christ.
So what I am being told is that the majority of our population goes straight to hell, no matter how they lead their lives or if they have ever even heard of Christ (there are plenty who have not). They (and I guess I) are dammned.
And I have listened to Christians tell me to my face, that I am going to hell... simply because I do not necesarily believe in Jesus Christ.
I always like to use the example of Gandhi... here you have a man who sacrificed his entire life for the good of the people. But according to this thinking, he is currently sipping scalding hot margaritas with the Devil.
While not all Christians hold this view point (but then are they true Christians?), but a very large amount of them do. Do you? Do you honestly believe this, and are you really trying to save me from this impending doom? No matter how I live my life, I will suffer eternally... if you are not able to "save" me?
If that is how it is... that is certainly not a God I would be proud to call my own.
I can't come up with any other groups that senselessly kill scientists, or have done anywhere near the amount of damage to scientific progress that WMC's have (this doesn't mean that it doesn't happen, but I can't think of an occurance).
The crusades are an excellent example of WMC's senselessly killing scientists. At that time, the Arab world was bounds ahead of Europe in terms of Science, Astronomy and Mathematics. The crusades held up progress for a mere 500 years.
Oh wait... that is not what we were trying to figure out....
Thte following was taken from a Wall Street Journal Article entitled: Freedom is the Surest Path to Prosperity.
I saved it because it was such a great read.
The question they asked was is economic freedom itself that has contributed to the wealth of the people (or lack of) in over the 160 different countries studied.
Well, the study showed that there was indeed, a high correlation between economic freedom and economic growth. And nor is this wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. The income gap between the rich and poor is smallest in countries with greater freedom.
The Index of Economic Freedom: (I will include a summary)
FREE
1) Hong Kong (though now challenged after the government intervened in the stock market last year) 2) Singapore 3) Bahrain 4) New Zealand 5) Switzerland 6) United States 7) Ireland Luxembourg Taiwan United Kingdom
Mostly Free
11) Bahrain 12) Japan 14) Australia Belgium Canada 18) Austria 25) Germany 28) S. Korea Kuwait Thailand 33) Sweden 34) France Italy Spain 54) Israel 62) S. Africa 65) Poland
Mostly Unfree
72) Saudi Arabia 75) Kenya 81) Columbia 85) Mexico 90) Brazil 97) Egypt 106) Russia 120) India 124) China
Repressed
135) Haiti 141) Sudan Syria 152) Vietnam 153) Iran 155) Bosnia 157) Iraq Libya 160) Cuba N. Korea
The U.S. still has a long ways to go in many areas... but damn, I really am proud to be an American. At least people can actively, and outragreously attack (vocally) anything they see fit. Every American out there screaming that the United States sucks, has to realize that we are one of the few countries where they can DO that! The right to bash and ridicule you own country is something that many people really take advantafe of, without realize what kind of power that is.
And as to valuing leisure time, consider this: when our company IPOs, you'll be sitting in the office waiting for them to fax you the shareholder agreements so you can sign and fax them back. I, on the other hand, will be on the beach spending the IPO dough drinking mai tais while I wait for my fax. Then, while you are valuing your leisure time sitting by the phone hoping I'll call you back with the dinner plans, I'll have turned my phone off.
though I am sure someone will find a way to poke their eye out with any product, and her lovely lawyer could still find a loophole in even the above warning label.
One way this might work was outlined in L. Neil Smith's The Probability Broach. In it he envisions an alternate-America democracy in which anyone who wants to can show up for Congress. However, most people don't care to make the trek to the Capitol (intentionally parked on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, as I recall) so they delegate proxies to vote for them. If you like the way a potential proxy thinks, you can register to have him or her cast votes on your behalf. If they tick you off sufficiently, you unregister. I can easily see advances in digital democracy leading to citizens being allowed to delegate different proxies for different issues.
This system already exists.... for publicly held corporations.
Every single share holder is welcome to show up at the annual shareholders' meeting. Whether you own 1 or 1 billion shares, you have the same opportunity to be heard.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it is about time one of the major characters dies. I quit reading the books a long time ago because it was simply:
Our characters get into a sticky bind.
Our characters narrowly escape.
That gets really really boring after a while.
Bill is afraid at this moment......
... yeah, maybe that his company might only grow at a rate of 35% a year, as oposed to 48%.
Starting a post with:
"I am sure I will be labeled as flamebait here..."
... or something to that extent, is a sure fire way to get moderated up. Not to knock this post too much, but a 5!? I remember when it took close to a poet laureate to get there. Moderators need to spend more time fishing out the good 1's & 2's out there, rather than boosting the already credited posts to 4's & 5's.
I definitely agree here, and that getting older has a lot to do with it... but, MTV's target market was not always 14 year old girls and frat boys (pretty much the same thing)!!
I am trying to figure out just when it was that MTV really started to suck.
Everyone will say it happened when they stopped playing music videos... but when did that happen? My memory has begun to fade on me, but I really do remember enjoying MTV at some point!
It was pretty bad well before Singled Out ever came along.
How many people were shocked at themselves when they started prefering VH1 to MTV!?
Name me
:)
ONE other group that it is socially acceptable and/or politically correct to
mock/oppress/discriminate against.
I will give you that. By and large, the only group it is OK to make fun of in public are white trash/rednecks. That is true... it is almost politically correct TO make fun of white trash
But then, I'm not complaining...
Every morning, after I have succombed to the evils of temptation and vanity, I look in horror at my besodden bed sheets... as all the little beings die in writhing agony. Oh the horror!
One of those could have become the next Nobel Peace Prize winner.........
The Catholic church believes this to be true, but I personally
don't find enough compelling evidence in the Bible to support it.
I was raised Catholic and attended years and years of church and Bible School (forget how to spell Caticlysm), and not once was I ever taught to believe this.
In my understanding groups that tend to believe this fall towards the Ultra-protestants, Baptists and non-denominational faiths, in which the Bible is taken close to word for word, and believed to be 100% true.
Catholics believe the bible is open to interpretation. While they may have numerous faults (Christ, they did not admit the Earth revolves around the sun until 1992!!!!!!), I do not believe that to be one of them.... at least today.
And I could be wrong so do not flame me too harshly.
Well spoken.... except for that last sentence(huh?)
:)
Boy, I did word that badly (Shoulda taken that mino in english to a major)...
But the question essentially being asked is essentially Are economic freedom and prosperity directly correlated?
The study came up with an overwhelming "Yes"
The study also showed that political freedom and prosperity were also hinged closely together (with the few exceptions being Hong Kong, Singapore and Bahrain).
Another interesting thing the study did find, was that the freedom in the world is actually dwindling. For the first time since the study was done (annually), there were more countries curtailing economic liberties than expanding them... all across the board.
It's a fact that 90% of private americans funds belongs to 10% of the people, what kinda
distribution is that re. the post I'm replying to.
That does suck... but comparatively that is a good statistic. I can imagine that the divurgence between some of the more repressed countried approaches 99% to less than 1%.
The study does point out that free countries tend to foster the growth of a large middle class.
Christians
believe that when someone dies unsaved they go to hell and burn in pain for eternity. We don't like
the idea that others might be subjected to this, so we are trying to help as many people as we can.
I am pissed at myself for being sucked into this thread... but oh well.
The above has always been my largest criticism of Christianity. The idea that I am doomed to eternal suffering if I am not "saved". While "saved" means a lot of different things to a lot of groups, I am going to go with "saved" under the following meaning:
I am saved if I believe in Christ.
So what I am being told is that the majority of our population goes straight to hell, no matter how they lead their lives or if they have ever even heard of Christ (there are plenty who have not). They (and I guess I) are dammned.
And I have listened to Christians tell me to my face, that I am going to hell... simply because I do not necesarily believe in Jesus Christ.
I always like to use the example of Gandhi... here you have a man who sacrificed his entire life for the good of the people. But according to this thinking, he is currently sipping scalding hot margaritas with the Devil.
While not all Christians hold this view point (but then are they true Christians?), but a very large amount of them do. Do you? Do you honestly believe this, and are you really trying to save me from this impending doom? No matter how I live my life, I will suffer eternally... if you are not able to "save" me?
If that is how it is... that is certainly not a God I would be proud to call my own.
I can't come up with any other
groups that senselessly kill scientists, or have done anywhere near the amount of damage to
scientific progress that WMC's have (this doesn't mean that it doesn't happen, but I can't think of an
occurance).
The crusades are an excellent example of WMC's senselessly killing scientists. At that time, the Arab world was bounds ahead of Europe in terms of Science, Astronomy and Mathematics. The crusades held up progress for a mere 500 years.
Oh wait... that is not what we were trying to figure out....
Thte following was taken from a Wall Street Journal Article entitled: Freedom is the Surest Path to Prosperity.
I saved it because it was such a great read.
The question they asked was is economic freedom itself that has contributed to the wealth of the people (or lack of) in over the 160 different countries studied.
Well, the study showed that there was indeed, a high correlation between economic freedom and economic growth. And nor is this wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. The income gap between the rich and poor is smallest in countries with greater freedom.
The Index of Economic Freedom:
(I will include a summary)
FREE
1) Hong Kong (though now challenged after the government intervened in the stock market last year)
2) Singapore
3) Bahrain
4) New Zealand
5) Switzerland
6) United States
7) Ireland
Luxembourg
Taiwan
United Kingdom
Mostly Free
11) Bahrain
12) Japan
14) Australia
Belgium
Canada
18) Austria
25) Germany
28) S. Korea
Kuwait
Thailand
33) Sweden
34) France
Italy
Spain
54) Israel
62) S. Africa
65) Poland
Mostly Unfree
72) Saudi Arabia
75) Kenya
81) Columbia
85) Mexico
90) Brazil
97) Egypt
106) Russia
120) India
124) China
Repressed
135) Haiti
141) Sudan
Syria
152) Vietnam
153) Iran
155) Bosnia
157) Iraq
Libya
160) Cuba
N. Korea
The U.S. still has a long ways to go in many areas... but damn, I really am proud to be an American. At least people can actively, and outragreously attack (vocally) anything they see fit. Every American out there screaming that the United States sucks, has to realize that we are one of the few countries where they can DO that!
The right to bash and ridicule you own country is something that many people really take advantafe of, without realize what kind of power that is.
Isn't a lot of this being done by TiVo?
You people need to stop watching so many movies, and start reading more books.
Gattaca is simply a Brave New World ripoff.
The book also goes on to explore subconscious engineering (ala 1984), as well as genetic engineering.
And as to valuing leisure time, consider this: when our company IPOs, you'll be sitting in the office
waiting for them to fax you the shareholder agreements so you can sign and fax them back. I, on the
other hand, will be on the beach spending the IPO dough drinking mai tais while I wait for my fax.
Then, while you are valuing your leisure time sitting by the phone hoping I'll call you back with the
dinner plans, I'll have turned my phone off.
uhhh.... you bet.
At least he will not be sued....
though I am sure someone will find a way to poke their eye out with any product, and her lovely lawyer could still find a loophole in even the above warning label.
"Not my fault"
For the same reason I refuse to wear a beeper or cellular phone.
When I am at work, I work, when I am not... I do not. I highly value my leisure time.
I use name-calling and sheer physical intimidation to keep them in line.
Just like I did in grade school.
Just inflate the egos here even more!
One way this might work was outlined in L. Neil Smith's The Probability Broach. In it he
envisions an alternate-America democracy in which anyone who wants to can show up for
Congress. However, most people don't care to make the trek to the Capitol (intentionally parked
on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, as I recall) so they delegate proxies to vote for them. If
you like the way a potential proxy thinks, you can register to have him or her cast votes on your
behalf. If they tick you off sufficiently, you unregister. I can easily see advances in digital
democracy leading to citizens being allowed to delegate different proxies for different issues.
This system already exists.... for publicly held corporations.
Every single share holder is welcome to show up at the annual shareholders' meeting. Whether you own 1 or 1 billion shares, you have the same opportunity to be heard.
On January 1, 2000 I will start wearing my silver jumpsuit and space helmet. I will show up to work everyday from that point, in my future wear.
Because that is what everyone else will be wearing in the year 2000. Don't miss out!
Since ou were asking... The Man with the Sign of the Beast just gave 1 billion dollars to charities in the U.S.
And he has repeatedly spoken about his plans of philanthropy in the future.
No matter what you think of him... that is very respectable.
.... and whoever said nerds were arrogant!?