Brentb

I think we're conditioned to view war as something more fair and moral than what it really is. Most politicians sidestep the horrors of war, and pretend that some sort of "surgical" strike will result in only damage to deserving people. The U.S. government's own statistics have show that the US can't avoid significant collateral damage. A president that is honest with the public about the horrible and dirty realities of war will make it less likely that the US will engage in war.

It mostly shows that Americans have their collective heads up their asses. A continent of miserable, destitute, and disease ridden people and Americans are upset that an animal was killed in their midst. I haven't been able to figure out why it matters at all that this lion was killed.

The U.S. government, and governments around the world can't pay their own debts without massive money printing. The beast is dying. Why poke at it? They're going to inflate away the value of your loan along with all of your paper assets anyway.

It may be difficult to get a job as a cartoonist, but you could just start your own website featuring your comics and sell advertising space, T-shirts, coffee mugs, etc. that feature your comics. Have you heard of Axecop? http://axecop.com/comic/episode-1/ Your comics in particular suggest a pretty bleak or dark outlook on life. They show a lot of talent though. If you keep at it, and study the craft and study comedy writing, you could make a great website if you really wanted to.

I'm not concerned about that. I don't understand how someone could be made to feel ashamed for not laughing at something. I get that comedy can often have an agenda, and that when it has an agenda that I don't agree with, then I won't likely find it funny. If someone in your personal life makes an offhand comment that's offensive to you, and tries to play it off as comedy, that's probably passive aggressive because it's probably about you. A comedian writing a joke or a sketch is not likely to be passive aggressive. People who are trying to make people laugh are typically doing just that - trying to make people laugh. They're not trying to change you the way that someone in your life might. Their incentive is in getting laughs and feeling accepted and valued by people, not messing with stranger's heads.

When I was 19 I thought that fun was for losers. I think the members of this forum take things very seriously - which has both it's advantages and disadvantages. What I see here is people treating an aesthetic issue with all the seriousness of a moral issue.

I found the first half to be funny. It had enough heightening or exaggeration to be funny. The second half wasn't exaggerated enough to be comedic, which I think is the reason people think that this is criticism of Stefan - as if his opinions on daycare and spanking are so absurd that the person making the video didn't think they required much exaggeration to be funny .

I think so. He won't actually feel hurt by your disapproval, like a more normal person, but a sociopath can register the information that he's not well-liked. The sociopath would try to avoid doing things that make him less likable because being likable more easily allows him to manipulate people. I've heard that Bill Clinton in particular always had to be liked by everyone. If he walked into a room and someone didn't care for him, he would focus on that person with all the charm and flattery that he could muster until he could get them to like him.

I wouldn't bother attempting to debate. Ostracism works in general. Politicians have pretty thick skin and seem to be delusional, so I don't know how well it would work on them but it's worth a try. If we're forced to let mass murders walk the streets freely, we can at least try to knock down their pride a little.

It depends on what you enjoy and what you find rewarding. If you like to build things and work with your hands, then electrician is probably the way to go. Engineering can be more challenging, but most engineering is not all that technically challenging, at least not after you've been doing if for a number of years. It's mostly just a matter of getting things organized and communicating to the right people. No matter which direction you go, keep exploring what interests you, and work your ass off as much as possible. Hard work allows you to maintain a standard of excellence for yourself so that when you do pick a direction or decide to change directions, you'll have the confidence that you can put in the hours and make it happen. As far as the student loan debt question goes, that's tough. I don't think I would go to college if I was going to come out with 100K+ in debt. Apprenticing in a trade definitely has an advantage there.

It's like asking: do koala bears eat too much? If you're not a koala, and you're not feeding them, then it's none of your business. If you're not paying a CEO, and you're not a CEO, then it's none of your business. Like you said - it's just jealousy and greed on the part of the gossips.

You're going nowhere because you don't know what you want. You'll find what you want if you spend time exploring both yourself (therapy and/or other self-knowledge work) and the world around you. If you make a commitment to achieving what you want, and take steps to fulfill on it, then you'll start going somewhere. The excuses for your lack of success (others betray and manipulate the system) need to go. As long as your focus is on others or on your own status, you won't be able to see what you want or achieve it. I'm making it sound easier than it is. It's simple, but it's not likely to be easy or quick.

Most of the people outside of colleges are not that engaging either. I'm guessing that since you were expelled that you didn't have your choice of schools to attend, so you'll have to prove yourself at a low tier school and transfer somewhere with better students and professors to work with. Of course that begs the question of whether you should go to college at all. College is useful if you are interested studying anything in science or engineering. Other than that, I don't really see the point. I didn't when I was in college either. I was most interested in art and literature, but I only took math, engineering, and science classes because the arts classes were not worth the money in my opinion - I could teach myself that, and for the most part I have by simply reading about a book a week and looking things up on the internet.

You're not going to live forever. At some point you will die, and your life can be summarized as: worked 42 hours per week**. (or maybe worked 42 hours per week and had nice abs) Explore yourself and the world for what value that you want to provide. Then when you're dealing with problems that you're passionate about and are infinitely larger than how to get your butt off the couch, you'll adjust your health habits because you'll be someone who wants to live. **Sure they'll say something nice and flowery at the eulogy, but ultimately your life won't have mattered. It sounds harsh, but when we objectively evaluate the way the vast majority of us live, it is undoubtedly true unless we do the work to take extraordinary actions.

1) "loose" vs. "lose" I can ignore most misspellings and not care, but when people write "loose" it always trips me up and I have to reread the sentence to understand that they meant "lose". 2) Crappy street musicians. In Chicago, there are some phenomenal musicians who might practice on the street just for the heck of it and earn a couple of bucks while their at it, but there are also some bums who have managed to get their hands on an instrument (or worse, a bucket and a couple of sticks) and use it as an advanced means of begging. There is a bum outside my office building right now who plays nothing but "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" very poorly on a loop for 5 hours about once per week. They do this because the dumb tourists will give money to the crappy bum musicians as if they were real musicians, thus subsidizing noise pollution.

My first reactions was: "fuck 'em" - bunch of hypocritical culture nazis trying to tell everyone what they can and can't do. However, after I thought about it for a bit, I realized that this could be an app used by kids. I don't think young kids would understand the tongue-in-cheek usage of the word "nazi". Parents won't want their kids getting any sort of positive connotation of the word. It also doesn't help that you have something smoldering in your icon. Maybe change "nazi" to "wizard". Then when you get emails from the fundamentalist Christians about the evils of wizardry, you can laugh it off and tell them that you'll put a spell on them if they send you any more emails.

I think that an alpha is someone who makes themselves highly valuable to the people around them, and they are confident in that they know that they are highly valued. Women tend to be valued based on appearance. This is especially true for young women since they typically haven't yet developed a lot of skills in anything beyond looking good and being fertile. It's value that counts though, appearance is just the predominant value that women provide. I wouldn't refer to women like Ayn Rand, Julia Child, or Oprah as betas simply because they aren't/weren't that pretty. They're women who command attention, make things happen and get what they want. That's not beta.

It's primitive logic Man jump backward. Man land on back. Man show brave. Woman like. Make babies. This doesn't look like extraordinary behavior for children. Some of these guys look a little old to be doing stuff like this, but that's probably because they didn't have a father around to show them what it is to be a man.

It is far easier to murder a bunch of people and get caught, than it is to frame someone else for murdering a bunch of people and not get caught.

The primary function of a roof is to keep the elements out. This means that the roof is going to need to sealed regardless if it's a "cool roof" or a "green roof". So a cool roof can be no more expensive than a typical roof if a white-colored sealant is used. A green roof is going to be more expensive since in addition to the sealant, you'll have to have the roof designed for added load of whatever volume of saturated soil and vegetation you have. The environmental benefits of a green roof over a cool roof are negligible if any. I don't see any purpose for a green roof beyond aesthetics, or if someone wants a penthouse with a garden.

I don't understand why so many people are opposed to self-defense among cops, but are okay with self defense among everyone else. Sure, the justice system as it stands is fundamentally unjust since it is funded with stolen money and is (ab)used to fill the whims of legislators and judges, however that does not mean that every action performed by someone in the "justice" system is unjust. From what I heard in this video, the cop behaved in that same manner that a responsible concerned citizen or private security guard would act. So why jump to conclusions and vilify him?

What Would Jesus Do? Watch truckers masturbate.

The way that I see it, if you do what you said that you would do in your speech, then you're fulfilling your commitment. You were elected based on that, so the responsibilities of your office have just shifted away from middle school outreach and toward company outreach. If other officers take issue with that and want to keep it as middle school outreach, then you can offer your resignation so that someone more suitable can fill the position.

When I hear "give back to the community" I think of those psychos that shoot up schools and theaters - they're giving back what they got from the community. "give back" is antithetical to "give" Paying FDR isn't about giving anything for me. I put money, time, and/or energy toward what I value so that what I value will expand.