nathanm

I tuned into a threadTo read what some secular christ man had saidQuite possibly translated from Huttese to English?But the christ man was not doing the trick with the duplicating fishInstead it was some verse about a mind journeyAnd the ramifications of the applications of philosophyIt takes much guts to post one's rhymes on the webTo shine public scrutiny on verse which one's writThough the Internet Pool Bully shall dunk all thread headers below One reply's like a life vest of closed-cell foam

I think because Rand wrote a fictional story set in a realistic world with very heavy ideas. She gave it enough fiction to get people to read it, and enough philosophy to make people grumpy about it. Those other guys wrote academic books with only ideas (I know, not Reagan), so they aren't going to catch the popular imagination nearly as much. What? No super slow-mo ninja with superpowers? Take your kooky anarchy ideas elsewhere, buddy!

I thought it was really excellent overall. The movies are one part philosphy and one part spectacle. I thought the last two movies shifted towards spectacle and that's why they weren't as compelling. But his talk made me want to revisit them. I like that there was no hesitation about how he feels it applies to real life. He's a passionate guy and it's often easy to dismiss people's passion for meaningless fictional worlds, but when the fiction is more or less a catalyst for real ideas it has much more weight. Perhaps it is a shame that those who speak plainly about ideas that affect our lives are not held in the same lofty regard as those who are able to sneak philosophy into the parade float of fancy CGI and spectacle, but that seems to be how things are. Pondering authoritarianism, free will, symbolism and allegory while watching a guy doing a slow motion back flip and shooting an Uzi at the same time and being hammered by subsonic bass isn't a feat most people can do I've found.

"I don't care if he has a permit or not…" Pretty much the entirety of government summed up right there. Make a rule for everyone, exempt yourself. Concealed or open carry, legal or illegal…none of it matters in practice. You can be equally armed as another person, but unless that other person also thinks there are universal principles applying to all people equally, as you do, you will lose the game.

Just laying there like a log could've killed the grass. Now it's fertilized with life-giving blood and tears.

Ack, that's bugging the hell out of me. Let the record show that I meant to write: "Nothing beats growing up" My cousin was once arrested for marijuana possession. This probably had an effect on my ability to avoid typing extraneous words in sentences.

I'm sure their family life will be so much better now that the kid got the state involved. I hear that getting neck deep in the courts and jail is a great way to beat depression. Those 15 days in jail will be just what that guy needs to get his life turned around. It's a shame that he had to be so sophisticated, though. If you grow weed with minimal fans, regular incandescent bulbs and egg cartons for insulation the harm towards nearby children is greatly reduced. Nothing beats being growing up within proximity of alcohol and cigarettes of course, but not everyone is so lucky.

I can totally see why Stef felt bad about the low dollar donation, but he created the possbility for that to occur in the first place. If there's a minimum amount that makes it worth your while then that needs to be the base option. If you leave it open ended and you get whatever people give you sure you can feel bad about it, but it's still your fault. The market of the internet has conditioned us to expect to get a TON of awesome shit for free. Personally I'm amazed at what you can get for free. It kind of baffles me. But that's the environment Stef's work exists in. I dunno, I'm not sure the donation model is so great. In my life it's been a sore spot. That's why I like money, it takes the emotions out of exchanges between people. If I sell something on eBay I don't have to feel sad that someone will buy my Vintage Cool Thing for 2 bucks when it's probably worth 200 cause I set a minimum. Easily spared myself from disappointment. Maybe it won't sell at all, which also sucks, but it's better than feeling like I got taken by the buyer.

Gotta say I was totally aghast when first learning what that term meant, I thought it had to be a joke. I totally don't get it myself, but I think that people are responding to positive, non-cynical entertainment. It's hard to find media which isn't cynical out there and I suspect that show fills that need. It's something I've noticed in other popular shows, when there is sincerity and a genuine upbeat feel without irony and pathos people really latch onto that. Horrible, contemtible people in horrible, contempible situations is the basic format of so much TV, so I would guess My Little Pony is the antithesis. What makes it weird to me is that it seems (sight unseen) like a purely kids show, unlike some other kids shows which do have adult appeal. It's not nearly as creepy as the adult baby thing [insert fat guy video here, you know the one], which I find really sad. Bronies seem a little more mockable, good-natured-ribbable by comparison, although perhaps it comes from the same damaged childhood place.

That Julia sure is needy. Isn't she already being carried through life thanks to Obama's policies? Now gun control too? Sheesh, give the dear leader a rest!

You can research genetic factors but there's nothing you can DO about it. Reducing childhood trauma is something people can DO. If it does or doesn't bring about some definition of an "anarchist paradise" is not as important. Since we all agree that it's a good journey to be on, I don't see why there should be so much arguing about the nebulous destination.

Sweet, now I can duplicate all of Stef's output, say it was made by me and make a million bucks!

I hear lots of bellyaching about the various kids in my family circle, about their lack of motivation and apathy, getting in trouble for underage drinking etc. but you look at their parents and it's not too hard to see why. The pattern has just repeated itself. There's not a big pro-spanking attitude that I can see, but they are big on guilt, snarkiness and putting people down. You can see the framework for the negativity when we are together in a social gathering but I can tell it must be much worse behind closed doors. It can be very painful to realize that you have to act the way you want others to act, rather than just complaining about their behavior. From what I can tell children can get extremely passionate about something and the friction comes from parents trying to mess with that. Yes, maybe the kid just wants to build his Legos and not socialize so much. So what? His mind is working and growing and it's focused hard on something. Just let that process run its course. It's not a bad thing. I don't like it when outside people try to dilute someone else's obsessions and turn them into their idea of "well-rounded". Well-rounded people don't necessarily make the cool shit we have today. Obsessive nerds did that. I haven't seen a whole lot of kids just acting outright mean and destructive, but I've seen them get upset over being pushed to not do whatever thing they are currently enjoying. Isn't that what adults want too? Don't we want to come home and do whatever the hell we want? And that's with the decreased passions and motivations that seem to come along with getting old. Now with kids they're on fire about the things they're into, so if you mess with them those passions can flare up into anger even moreso. These are just a few thoughts, I don't spend that much time with kids, but when I do I see that conflicts arise over really unimportant, easily avoidable shit. Now what I've just said translates to the hostile spanking apologist as, "Oh sure, just let kids do whatever they want, them them steamroll right over the parents! Blah blah blah!" I can't change their minds, but suffice it to say that they've probably grown up in a negative household and didn't see enough positive alternatives. I saw a number of examples of home environments in my youth that were consderably different than my own and I think that's what helped me out. I saw that the same 'crime' that a kid could do was met with vastly different reactions. Maybe these people have never seen a kid NOT get spanked for doing X, or they never saw a kid not even get near to doing X because it just wasn't part of their world.

One of the few times where deploying Operation Calm British Person really didn't seem to work as well as it usually does. About all I got from Morgan is that there's less gun deaths in Britain than the US and then there was a lot of "Alex… Alex… Alex… Alex… Alex…"

Like TheRobin has already said, stuff like slavery and the divine right of kings etc.…all those bad old ideas have been surpassed and have not come back. The idea that it's legit for some people to use force to get their way has not, unfortunately. That's what the anarchist wants to push forward. Statism isn't a fundamental part of a human being, it's just a bad idea like all those others that needs to be outgrown.

I believe in only having the smallest amount of relevance in a reply, to have full relevance would never work and there's been no example in history of it ever working, unless you count medieval Iceland.

If only there was a website, or perhaps a forum, where people saw government as immoral and evil. If you find one, post it here.

The spanking apologist only wants to look at non-spanking as a parent's ambivalence towards abberant child behavior which is the result of a long line of parenting mistakes, rather than as the basic ground rule at the beginning of a long line of positive interactions with kids. No concern is given for laying the groundwork, only in how people react to disasters. If the kids are going apeshit and the parent feels the need for beatings, well they've already screwed up a long time ago. It's their fault it got this far. But hey, I don't have kids so just disregard this entire post. [] No kids, no credentials. Just like how people who have never shot anyone in their life before have no right to criticize people who have.

Please, Mr. Muhlbauer, do go out and try your plan! No, not the cops, YOU. Knock on some doors, ask the nice people to hand 'em over. But please, bring a camera crew. It would make for awesome viral video I am sure.