A generation ahead of the sites mentioned in this article.
First impression: it tries to do too much. I don't want all that stuff, I just want an easy way to put my best photos in front of people -- whether I know them or not -- who like looking at photos. If a photo is private, I can opt to keep it private to my social network, but I don't have to.
Perfection is reached, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. --Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"There are also environmental consequences to being a vegetarian/vegan (though minimized or eliminated if you grow your own without using pesticides and chemical fertilizers)."
Most serious vegetarians are aware of this. I don't see how it stands as an argument against vegetarianism though. There is no such thing as a diet with zero footprint on the environment. But in general, for those of us living in the modern world who get food from modern sources, a true vegetarian diet is better on the environment than an omnivorous one.
"If everyone was vegan on an overpopulated planet, we'd turn the place into a dustball pretty quick too."
How do you mean? People eat meat that comes from herbivorous and omnivorous animals that have to be fed. It's more efficient for people to eat the crops directly. Anyway, in reality, there is obviously no danger of everyone on Earth suddenly becoming vegetarian.
"I choose to assume responsibility for what I am. Omnivorous. I eat what's available."
Appeal to nature. Societal pressures have us go against "what we are" (our genes) all the time. Someone who is hot tempered has no more right than anyone else to assault a person.
"If you are setting up a desktop for Grandma, use Sarge with no Sid packages."
I disagree... A lot of the recent improvements in [Linux] [desktop] software have had to do with UI. Grandma had a hard time grasping some older GNOME UI crap. I understand the benefit of a stable computer for grandma, but why not install Debain unstable once, then run a dist-upgrade everytime you visit? It'll be fine as long as she doesn't upgrade it herself.
I read your "Endorsing G. W. Bush" link, and have one question. Ignoring the debatable point that this is a just war, do you honestly believe we've "promptly won" it? If so, I'm curious at what point it became apparent to you that we did.
Quick, everybody stop breathing. We wouldn't want to use up Solder Fumes' precious oxygen. He needs it more, because he's thinking hard about the issues. You see, as an elitist prick, he deserves that O more than we do!
Oh come on, I'm not just spewing FUD here. Have you heard about all the state court cases brought by the Democratic party challenging Nader's right to be on ballots?
Yea yea, I didn't say squat about Republicans backing Nader. For the record, I think it sucks at both ends, OK?
Just about every meaningful state's Dem party has taken Nader to court in a bald effort to take away a choice on our ballots. The Dem party acts as if it has an inherent right to progressive votes. CLUE: To get back the progressives you lost in 2000, don't resort to oppressive schemes.
I just think the scientists are going on the set of facts available:
o Male fish producing eggs.
o Only observed in Potomac.
o Potomac is polluted as all get out.
They're going on what they know. It's not like their being dishonest by concluding that pollution is the culprit without enough evidence. They've come right out and said, we don't know, but this is our best guess.
We have a multiparty system, but the other parties just have not attracked [sic] the interest of the American people.
That is off the mark. The DNC and RNC... these are the real powerbrokers. They enjoy a rigged system that was set up, and is perpetually fine-tuned, to prevent would be power threats. A big part of it is propaganda: to reinforce the notion that if a candidate doesn't have a D or an R, it is not a worthy candidate, and thus a vote for that candidate would be wasted. It is very real, and it has a very real effect. It is probably the biggest hurdle for alt.parties-- a lot more damning than whatever people might think of a particular platform.
When Pat Buchanan suggested on a 2000 Fox News broadcast that Keyes go to NY to challenge Clinton for senate, Alan Keyes responded thusly,
I deeply resent the destruction of federalism represented by Hillary Clinton's willingness to go into a state she doesn't even live in and pretend to represent people there, so I certainly wouldn't imitate it.
Republicans, conservatives, are you embarassed by this guy or what?
In the US, the Western part was settled (by the Europeans, that is) much later than the Eastern part; as a consequence, the transportation infrastructure is less developed and it really shows...
I dunno, I wouldn't say transportation is less developed in the US west, just developed later and rooted in different technology, mainly automobiles. Western cities tend to be more spread out because of that, and the west as a whole is less densly populated than the east, not because it hasn't had the time to develop as much as the east, but because during the time of European settlement, the west was best suited for farming to supply the existing cities of east. Truckloads have been written about this, but my point is simply that western transportation has developed differently, not less.
Dude, it was documented BEFOREHAND that Republicans pressured Pakistan to nab some bad guys during the DNC. And there it was, just as planned, on the 4th day of the convention.
Wow, you should be in Athens with these mental gymnastics... You can go twenty metauniverses deep if you want, but I'm still gonna ask you who created the first one.
I really don't have anything more to add. Sorry, but I'm going to bail on this one.
How do you KNOW that a perfect being could achieve the exact same thing without doing it?
Because it is all-knowing and all-powerful. Such a being could do literally anything-- even that which to us is impossible or unimaginable.
How do you KNOW what the purpose is- when none of the rest of us do?
Never said I did.
[Chop part about cyclical universe and God possessing only knowledge gained from previous generations... sounds like interesting science fiction but I have no comment.]
Funny though- you reject God on the same basis that I require a God- because the universe as revealed by science is way more amazing than any one religion, any process lacking a creator, could possibly create.
Where did this creator come from then? What created the creator?
Look, personally I have no idea if there's some kind of creator. If there is, and if we ever discover it, it will no doubt be through scientific process, just like everything we currently know about the world has been. Why insist on there being God to fill the holes of human knowledge? Hasn't he been kicked out of enough holes already?
Hmmm- there's another thought entirely that could explain it all- God is not only all three omnis, he's a fourth omni as well- omniinsane.
Well, if God created us in his own image, then you might be onto something there.:-)
But then God is not omnibenevolent. Typhoon Rananim has just killed over 100 people in China. If God knew this would happen, had the power to stop it, and chose not to, then he is not purely benevolent.
Slashdot Mirror
Picture flickr + friendster + blogger. That's Multpily.
No, that's sum.
A generation ahead of the sites mentioned in this article.
First impression: it tries to do too much. I don't want all that stuff, I just want an easy way to put my best photos in front of people -- whether I know them or not -- who like looking at photos. If a photo is private, I can opt to keep it private to my social network, but I don't have to.
Perfection is reached, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. --Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Not to be pedantic, but everything shares a common ancestor. From humans to birds to dinosaurs to bacteria. It all came from the same organism.
"If a lot of other vegans weren't so dammned overbearing about following that lifestyle, it would be a lot more attractive."
As a vegan, I totally agree with you. Your neighbor sounds like a smug uptight asshole.
"That pretty much sums up the experiences i've had with 99% of the vegetarians/vegans i've ever met"
Fine, but please be careful not to let that influence your actions too heavily against the vegetarian you meet tomorrow.
"There are also environmental consequences to being a vegetarian/vegan (though minimized or eliminated if you grow your own without using pesticides and chemical fertilizers)."
Most serious vegetarians are aware of this. I don't see how it stands as an argument against vegetarianism though. There is no such thing as a diet with zero footprint on the environment. But in general, for those of us living in the modern world who get food from modern sources, a true vegetarian diet is better on the environment than an omnivorous one.
"If everyone was vegan on an overpopulated planet, we'd turn the place into a dustball pretty quick too."
How do you mean? People eat meat that comes from herbivorous and omnivorous animals that have to be fed. It's more efficient for people to eat the crops directly. Anyway, in reality, there is obviously no danger of everyone on Earth suddenly becoming vegetarian.
"I choose to assume responsibility for what I am. Omnivorous. I eat what's available."
Appeal to nature. Societal pressures have us go against "what we are" (our genes) all the time. Someone who is hot tempered has no more right than anyone else to assault a person.
"If you are setting up a desktop for Grandma, use Sarge with no Sid packages."
I disagree... A lot of the recent improvements in [Linux] [desktop] software have had to do with UI. Grandma had a hard time grasping some older GNOME UI crap. I understand the benefit of a stable computer for grandma, but why not install Debain unstable once, then run a dist-upgrade everytime you visit? It'll be fine as long as she doesn't upgrade it herself.
I don't want to debate it either, but just one thing...
"If all of these does not make for a victory, I don't know, what will."
How about when there is no more killing and dying like we are seeing today in Fallujah?
I read your "Endorsing G. W. Bush" link, and have one question. Ignoring the debatable point that this is a just war, do you honestly believe we've "promptly won" it? If so, I'm curious at what point it became apparent to you that we did.
Quick, everybody stop breathing. We wouldn't want to use up Solder Fumes' precious oxygen. He needs it more, because he's thinking hard about the issues. You see, as an elitist prick, he deserves that O more than we do!
Oh come on, I'm not just spewing FUD here. Have you heard about all the state court cases brought by the Democratic party challenging Nader's right to be on ballots?
Yea yea, I didn't say squat about Republicans backing Nader. For the record, I think it sucks at both ends, OK?
Just about every meaningful state's Dem party has taken Nader to court in a bald effort to take away a choice on our ballots. The Dem party acts as if it has an inherent right to progressive votes. CLUE: To get back the progressives you lost in 2000, don't resort to oppressive schemes.
I just think the scientists are going on the set of facts available:
o Male fish producing eggs.
o Only observed in Potomac.
o Potomac is polluted as all get out.
They're going on what they know. It's not like their being dishonest by concluding that pollution is the culprit without enough evidence. They've come right out and said, we don't know, but this is our best guess.
Dude, you wanna talk about voter suppression? Read up about the Dems vs. Nader. Some serious antidemocratic stuff going on there.
We have a multiparty system, but the other parties just have not attracked [sic] the interest of the American people.
That is off the mark. The DNC and RNC... these are the real powerbrokers. They enjoy a rigged system that was set up, and is perpetually fine-tuned, to prevent would be power threats. A big part of it is propaganda: to reinforce the notion that if a candidate doesn't have a D or an R, it is not a worthy candidate, and thus a vote for that candidate would be wasted. It is very real, and it has a very real effect. It is probably the biggest hurdle for alt.parties-- a lot more damning than whatever people might think of a particular platform.
Excerpts from "Stolen Honor", from the ever witty Adam Felber.
It's funny because Peter Gammons looks like John Kerry's dad.
Lick Bush and Dick in 2004
See also A Linguistic Big Bang, from The NY Times Magazine, five years back.
In the US, the Western part was settled (by the Europeans, that is) much later than the Eastern part; as a consequence, the transportation infrastructure is less developed and it really shows...
I dunno, I wouldn't say transportation is less developed in the US west, just developed later and rooted in different technology, mainly automobiles. Western cities tend to be more spread out because of that, and the west as a whole is less densly populated than the east, not because it hasn't had the time to develop as much as the east, but because during the time of European settlement, the west was best suited for farming to supply the existing cities of east. Truckloads have been written about this, but my point is simply that western transportation has developed differently, not less.
Dude, it was documented BEFOREHAND that Republicans pressured Pakistan to nab some bad guys during the DNC. And there it was, just as planned, on the 4th day of the convention.
Wow, you should be in Athens with these mental gymnastics... You can go twenty metauniverses deep if you want, but I'm still gonna ask you who created the first one.
I really don't have anything more to add. Sorry, but I'm going to bail on this one.
So you didn't answer my question. Where did this creator come from?
Either God has free will, or we do, not both?
I don't know, that seems to be what the AC I replied to was saying...
Also, since when did omniscient cover prescient?
Err, omniscience is infinite awareness. The very definition of prescience, in Merriam-Webster, is devine omniscience...
How do you KNOW that a perfect being could achieve the exact same thing without doing it?
:-)
Because it is all-knowing and all-powerful. Such a being could do literally anything-- even that which to us is impossible or unimaginable.
How do you KNOW what the purpose is- when none of the rest of us do?
Never said I did.
[Chop part about cyclical universe and God possessing only knowledge gained from previous generations... sounds like interesting science fiction but I have no comment.]
Funny though- you reject God on the same basis that I require a God- because the universe as revealed by science is way more amazing than any one religion, any process lacking a creator, could possibly create.
Where did this creator come from then? What created the creator?
Look, personally I have no idea if there's some kind of creator. If there is, and if we ever discover it, it will no doubt be through scientific process, just like everything we currently know about the world has been. Why insist on there being God to fill the holes of human knowledge? Hasn't he been kicked out of enough holes already?
Hmmm- there's another thought entirely that could explain it all- God is not only all three omnis, he's a fourth omni as well- omniinsane.
Well, if God created us in his own image, then you might be onto something there.
But then God is not omnibenevolent. Typhoon Rananim has just killed over 100 people in China. If God knew this would happen, had the power to stop it, and chose not to, then he is not purely benevolent.