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Everything posted by shirgall
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There is more than one way to contribute, as is often said on the show, "like, share, and subscribe".
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Voting is great so long as it never imposes unchosen positive obligations. For example, only the people who vote for a tax have to pay it. Then it's not coercion. If you go into an organization and that organization states that the procedural rules for deciding things directly require that all members accept, support, promote, and comply with decisions made under those procedural rules, then those rules are not unchosen positive obligations. That is a far cry from the supposed social contract and our ability to leave the country if we don't like what Congress does, for example.
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The FBI historical timeline here actually has a lot of famous Soviet spy cases that are interested to read up on: https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/intelligence/timeline These names provoke tons of reading: Klaus Fuchs Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Aldritch Ames Robert Hanssen There are also some interesting tell-alls from the likes of defectors like Yuri Bezmenov.
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KKK pre-dates communism by quite a bit, and was an organized resistance to Reconstruction. Certainly could have been influence later, but it would not have been special or unique, as a lot of subversive activities were funded or supported by Soviets.
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How Taxation is Not Theft
shirgall replied to MysterionMuffles's topic in Libertarianism, Anarchism and Economics
What kind of choices do you have in prison? If choosing to resist ends up with me not having any freedoms at all, how is that not an hollow choice? -
[H&W] Oral health. Oil pulling. Secrets of tooth decay.
shirgall replied to A4E's topic in Science & Technology
Calls back a classic... http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/snake-oil-supplements/ -
Patriarchy theory destroyed in 1 minute
shirgall replied to Donnadogsoth's topic in Men's Issues, Feminism and Gender
Approximately 80% of household spending is distaff-controlled. -
How Taxation is Not Theft
shirgall replied to MysterionMuffles's topic in Libertarianism, Anarchism and Economics
Tell that to Irwin Schiff (RIP). -
How Taxation is Not Theft
shirgall replied to MysterionMuffles's topic in Libertarianism, Anarchism and Economics
Reduction of options by initiating force is the issue. Why are we talking about nature in a thread about taxes? -
How Taxation is Not Theft
shirgall replied to MysterionMuffles's topic in Libertarianism, Anarchism and Economics
Because only persons can coerce. -
How Taxation is Not Theft
shirgall replied to MysterionMuffles's topic in Libertarianism, Anarchism and Economics
Coercion n. the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats Choice is illusory in the face of coercion. -
If I may be permitted to interpret Anuojat's statement, Atheism is not believing the big lie of heaven. Stefan's video says it is common that Atheists--while rejecting the Big Lie of religion--accept a worse Big Lie, belief in the omnibenevolent power of the state. The default position may be an innoculation against religion, but it is an insufficient innoculation against the state. Empirically states exist and wield tremendous power. It is much harder to be skeptical of the claim that the state is necessary for the safety of eggs and offspring.
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The Prime Directive was a thinly veiled analogy to the "nuclear club". Once a culture was able to produce the disruptive technology of their era, it moved from one status to another. It was also a thinly veiled analogy to the conquest of indigenous cultures. Remember that the pitch of Star Trek was "Wagon Trail in Space". The writers were seemingly asserting that the "third world" should be left alone to find their own way (even though the first world of the west and the second world of the communists rampantly interfered with the development of the third world) until they developed the bomb, or warp drive, when they should be free to join the United Nations as an equal. The Prime Directive provided fertile ground for stories about the obvious impulse to interfere with, rescue, and guide lesser nation-states. It made for good TV.
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Kids aren't supposed to be happy all the time, right?
shirgall replied to brucethecollie's topic in Peaceful Parenting
An important aspect of maturity is coming to the realization that one is responsible for one's own happiness and is not responsible for someone else's. While it is gratifying to delight someone, it is not an obligation to do so. As a parent, I certainly felt compelled to delight my children to instill the sense of wonder and excitement that leads them to growth. -
Patriarchy theory destroyed in 1 minute
shirgall replied to Donnadogsoth's topic in Men's Issues, Feminism and Gender
Sexual attraction temporarily drops IQ five or more points. In the meantime women will always find a way to have a conflict where there's a victor and they can therefore identify appropriate breeding stock. Until socialism evenly allocates sexual availability to sexual desire, it will always be unfair and unbalanced. -
By engaging in the forums we are doing very little to spread knowledge of science and philosophy. It is a look inward, not outward, It is also a very tiny speck in the big picture of bandwidth costs to FDR. The people that really bring down the value of FDR are the trolls, nitpickers, and abusers that distract and degrade folks that are here to learn or are here to help. Getting a response is their reward. Just ignore them. Remember that Stefan is willing to engage Youtube comments, but not the forums, most likely because it reaches more people.
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Female Protagonists Who Earned Their Combat Prowess
shirgall replied to MysterionMuffles's topic in Miscellaneous
While she Mary Sue'd over time, but when things first started, she was quite a bit more egghead than career soldier. Struck me very much like the kind of person that went into the Air Force to become an astronaut than a warrior. Unfortunately, it got extremely unrealistic about what she could do compared to the amount of time she put into skills and learning. Compare her to Daniel who had the benefit of getting "swole" from spending time in a sarcophagus (even cured his nearsightedness) but was never a special forces type and Jack who was interesting because he hid what he was learning so everyone would underestimate him (although they were incredibly inconsistent about his interest in astronomy, and it was unreal that he could fly anything he got his hands on). -
Prince: another brick towards total drug legalisation?
shirgall replied to Donnadogsoth's topic in Current Events
By the way, opiates and the flu do not fix well... as as far as the video goes about the "save shot" a little more about Narcan: http://www.drugs.com/pro/narcan.html -
As with other real-world endeavors, the empirical realists will be more effective than the romantic idealists.
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He's a man-made construct, who started on one of the many gods of the mountains to becoming the one true god four thousand years ago. There's a difference between murder and killing and that's the element of justification. Murder is unjustified, and it is the priests of Yahweh that get to interpret justification.
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Doesn't this relate to the fact that public displays of courtship from high sexual market value contestants raises the perceived sexual market value of the recipient, but similar displays from low[er] sexual market value contestants could lower the perceived value of the female? Gals don't like it when they are obviously out of the league of a suitor, but the suitor tries anyway, therefore the suitor doesn't think she is "out of his league" and therefore she is not as high-valued as she thought.
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Htvfd460, you have described the commonality between most religions as being kind to one another and grateful... Bill and Ted have summarized this into a more succinct form than the heavyweight indoctrination model of most religions and don't require you to have faith in something unprovable in the bargain. Have you come to the conclusion that religion is unnecessary on your own? Have you answered your own question? Bonus points for George Carlin appearing in religious allegories as Rufus.