J. D. Stembal

What was the nature of her therapy and what is her relationship to her parents? If you continue seeing her, I would suggest you investigate her familial relationships very early on, and not just because she is Chinese.

I need to learn to finish reading the original post before I reply! Tell the boyfriend what you are doing with her (maybe initially leaving out the kissing part), then see how they react. That is how you will know what the next move is.

Why would the customer act in this way? You said she was knowledgeable about philosophy. Why is the manager looking for ways to remove her from the store instead of being a good manager? This sounds like a life boat scenario with no good solutions as you have laid it out. If the fries are cold, then the customer will probably ask for fries that aren't cold or a refund. Why would the fries be worth 100 Euros? Why would this scenario escalate to the police being called? Give the customer some tasty fries and all will be well. If you want to consider a more interesting scenario, what if the customer walks in open carrying a handgun or rifle? Let's say he's a hunter, and wants Chicken Nuggets before he leaves town to bag some juicy elk. Does the manager refuse him service based on the fact that he is armed, and tell him to leave? Or does the manager serve the customer despite his misgivings about armed citizens without blue uniforms in his restaurant? To reiterate an earlier theme, why does this MacDonald's scenario interest you?

Not that this is a logical proof, but if you did not want to take the time to hand write a letter (but had the time to teach the printer your handwriting), why don't you just hand write the letter? I could see this service being used by some public figures responding to mail, but that $3.00 per letter charge will add up quickly without a bulk discount. How is this evil? It isn't unless you consider subsidizing the Postal Service unethical.

What is the customer's complaint and why isn't the manager addressing it?

Realize that intelligent people are often encouraged to undergo a lot of post-graduate study and become lawyers, doctors, and scientists. There are intern programs that invite students and faculty to Washington D.C. to see how the sausages of legislature are made. These professionals, since they have much time and money invested in their area of study, are naturally tempted to become part of the new priestly class that cozies up to the teat of the state for privileges and power, at least according to Rothbard. Intelligent people often want to set themselves up as authorities, and derive great pride from occupying prestigious places of power within the government. What are lawyers, but students of the laws within their home state or jurisdiction? How would we possibly need most of them in a free society? Of course, they often also go on to work in the state legislatures, and then, if charismatic enough, move up to the federal level, kissing the Ring of Power in order to become Lords of the Sith. Doctors and medical researchers are heavily involved in lobbying for money to fund studies to try to prove this and that. They are often hand picked by politicians to speak about such things as national health and chair on committees that determine public health policy. By the way, what is the current state of our public health? The American Academy of Pediatrics finally reported in 2012 that the benefits of circumcision outweighed the risks. This statement came as circumcision rates have fallen to one of the lowest rates since being recorded. In 2007, the World Health Organization endorsed it as "an important intervention to reduce the risk of heterosexual HIV." Only a quarter of the male world population is circumcised. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/health/research/17circ.html?_r=4& Reasoning people should be more focused on the bottom two thirds of the IQ bell curve if they want to succeed in spreading philosophy. In some significant ways, they have the least to lose from opposing the violence of the state.

I did not actually dislike the film as much as I thought I would. It's never discussed why the father and mother split up, other than the tired "we were too young and not responsible enough to have children." Have you ever heard of adoption, mom and dad? You initially learn that dad is off somewhere in Alaska. Who knows when he is coming back? The step-fathers are obviously depicted as creeps and abusers, and they're just there for no reason other than to pay some bills and keep mom happy enough to stay in one place. I did not find myself feeling sorry for the mother at all. I was telepathically asking her the whole time, "What vile behavior did you dish out to chase away Ethan Hawke?" The important lesson the father learns is to have kids with the religious conservative so she will want him to stick around longer. This would be a very pragmatic move later on in life when you are running out of good options for a family.

I am afraid that I cannot tell what is satire and what is not satire. Every time I walk into Ikea I feel like I'm being lured into the Swedish Borg collective.

What reasons did the doctor give for dismissing the test results? These ideas may be heretical to some in medicine, but blood cholesterol numbers (and blood sugar) are still very significant as a future predictor of cardiovascular health. Steve Phinney and Jeff Voleck initially turned me on to this metric in the book, The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living. Here's a blog that I only just skimmed that explains the TG/HDL ratio decently enough. http://primaldocs.com/opinion/the-triglyceride-hdl-ratio/ Your ratio was 6.08 at the time the last test. I would be a little worried over the doctor's lack of concern. I'm glad to hear that you've made some changes, and lost weight. I hope you that continue feeling strong and healthy! I've been worried about my dad's health for nearly two decades. I couldn't list all the different cardiovascular procedures that he has had. I fear he's going to need a pacemaker, eventually. You can see why these are personal issues for me.

I met a mother who claimed to have over 90 sexual partners, male and female. I don't know if this technically makes her a sex worker, but she had been an erotic housekeeper. http://www.fantasygirlmaids.com/services.html I was dating her friend, and the second time she ever spoke to me, she blurted out that I was very attractive. At the time, I smiled at the compliment. Later, after I learned about her past and the open relationship with the father of her kids, I began to feel uneasy in her presence, as if every time she looked at me, she was a predator salivating at the sight of her prey. I'm not suggesting that only virgins are suitable prospects for motherhood, but I am noticeably repulsed by women that are sexually liberated to a prolific degree.

We have eyes, just like you. At least, I have two of them. If it doesn't require advanced knowledge, you should be able to explain the animation techniques used to fake this video from 1953 in the U.S.S.R.

George McGovern died over two years ago, so conveniently, it's too late to tar and feather him.

I disagree with this definition of beauty. It goes far deeper than the epidermis. Obviously, the skin is an important part of it as the body's largest organ. We would all look pretty scary without it, and die very quickly. I urge you to watch this video from Elliot Hulse, where he describes how mind and body are intimately interconnected. * I also had terrible acne as a teenager, which still lingers in my adulthood as very slight facial scarring. I blame this condition on the large quantities of dairy cow hormones I consumed. I get the odd zit still, but it no longer covers me like a blanket rash. I had a very serious case of back acne up until three years ago when I finally gave up drinking milk. It used to hurt to lay on my back!

Thanks for sharing your insight, Hannah. While this isn't true of all women, I do find that many of the women that I have met put a really high value on being liked by others. There are some men like this as well who equate their self worth with the amount of Facebook friends they have collected. I find the thought of having to keep up with hundreds of friends repulsive. I've viewed friends are easily replaceable because I never had any that were worth keeping around me. If they were worth keeping, I probably repelled them with my alcoholism. Taking up the mantle of philosophy is like not washing for a year, and getting a skin infection. You start to reek in a way that's very unpleasant for the majority. Could you share with us some of your motivations for taking an interest in philosophy? Are you frightened at the thought of being considered a social outcast for walking the path of philosophy?

Do what feels natural, and respond accordingly. If a statist from my past reconnected with me and started showing enthusiasm for reason and evidence, I would feel a little dumbfounded at first, then vindicated. I don't expect it to happen at all with my family or friends. The typical involuntary responses that I receive from talking about voluntarism are laughter, blank stares, eye-rolling, exasperated sighs, and head shaking. I know two men that are still willing to have civil discussions with me, but I've never dropped the against me argument on them. The last time I did, it was like a neutron bomb going off in the relationship. Both of them would most likely endorse the use of the gun. I have moral and personal obstacles with them (they are pro-corporal punishment), and I've known one of them since 2002.

I gave Eve Online another shot over the holidays. The game play seems a little snappier than it used to be but the user interface is still abysmally confusing and unintuitive. It's often the subtle details that mess up your day. The only other two games I've played in the past year are FTL and The Binding of Issac, which are not multi-player over a network.

And now for something completely different! The chick assault weapon would have to be mounted snugly against the breastbone and fired using the beak, but they would not be able to reload by themselves. I don't know that they can lug around heavy calibers or a lot of rounds. We require a mutant variety of over-sized fowl. Turkeys?

This is shaping up to be an engaging thread! Briffault's Law, in case some people have forgotten it: I don't doubt the validity of Briffault's observation as it applies to our animal lineage, but it cannot be considered a complete theory without examining how it was co-opted by the state and religion early in the recorded history of civilization. Marriage is a platform for women to achieve sexual protectionism and forward their own political advancement, through the male proxies of husbands and sons. Of course, feminists have been trying to convince everyone for decades that men raped and pillaged for themselves, and that women suffered the consequences of male destruction and dominance. A woman's weakness is her strength; a man's strength is his weakness. Would men still be waging war if women were to take an extended vacation from the planet? What an thought-provoking proposition! With the advent of state-funded feminism, the oft-maligned false paradigm of the genders is clearly reversed, and the evidence is unmistakable. The proverbial cat is out of the bag, ladies! Women still get to invoke Briffault's Law ("My body, my choice!") while lobbying the state to rape and pillage men who don't play ball on their behalf and call it family policy. Whatever the consequences, men are starting to declare clear boundaries to protect themselves against the vagaries of women. If women don't like men hanging out in back rooms filled with smoke, discussing the current state of the male gender, then write to your politicians about it. Go ahead and use the guns. How often do you see men whining that they can't get laid with the same frequency as David Duchovny? Do you see males complaining about not being able to get access to fresh eggs like Paul Walker? No, we keep our primal desires under our hats and up our sleeves. We certainly don't ask the state for any favors. As for attracting women to general philosophy and this forum, I am indifferent to the rate at which it appeals to women. I know that we will always be welcoming and polite to anyone. You can't always tell the gender of a member by their profile, name or avatar. Women will furtively trickle into the threads over time, but I'm not going to pull any punches, or sugarcoat my message on their behalf. Are there many people here looking for a philosophy life partner? I've seen a couple "want to date" threads, but I figured it was men casting a wide inter "net" trawling strategy to maximize their results. I've heard a few callers mention the desire for an FDR-affiliated dating website, but how would that be executed? Honestly, would it work to bring philosophical men and women together? I have some doubts about it.

You can try, for certain, to teach someone philosophy and virtue, but they have to want to learn it, practice it and hone it. Not a whole lot of women are going to be coaxed down that path successfully. How many are going to be fakers, playing your own game against you? You might as well lay down the ground rules early to save some time.

Are you speaking of existence being morally preferable or aesthetically preferable? You hint at the former, so... How do you exist if creation is fundamentally better than destruction? Building a human body involves a lot of destruction at the chemical level. How have you determined that too much collective matter exists, and what is sustainable? How do you measure it?

Snowfalls have been decidedly below average for many of the ski resorts in the US, so environmentally focused articles were to be expected to come out of the Left. http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/feb/06/outdoor-economy-lobbying-business-washington-oil- The article ideologically pits the outdoor and wildlife industries against the more "rapey" types of industries, such as natural gas, petroleum and mining, claiming that outdoor recreation jobs lack representation in Washington D.C. Some of the quotable gems in this article are:

The evil can only be profitable when it is being subsidized involuntarily by everyone else.

This is damning proof that feminism isn't about equality, but a political struggle against men. The activists who guided the political message of the radical feminists in 1981 are some of the same people still waging the fight against men now (because they didn't have children?).

It's important that restitution always comes before forgiveness. Saying sorry does not change the past. Understanding someone does not allow you to forgive them. They have to understand you, and how they have caused you pain. Remember that forgiveness is yours to bestow or withhold. You can't forgive your parents if they have no idea that they've done anything wrong. My mother will claim with a straight face that people who love each other fight a lot. This is her excuse or explanation when I ask about the violence and verbal abuse that went on around the house between my parents. This is how I know she will never own up for my childhood and choosing to marry my father. She will not be forgiven until she gets that she wronged me, and then at least begins to make up for it. Your boyfriend telling you that your standards are too high is a defense mechanism. What he means to say is, "Your high standards for voluntary adult relationships make me uncomfortable." It will likely threaten to end your relationship, but you could ask him why he voluntarily allows his abusive parents to remain in his life. What are his standards like if yours are too high? The lack of connection you feel is probably a distinct lack of connection. How meaningful of a conversation can you have with someone who doesn't ever want to discuss his childhood?

This is a bit off-topic, but why aren't the doctors scrutinizing your blood numbers? The triglyceride/HDL ratio is the most effective predictor for heart disease (and a good indicator of the other disorders of metabolic syndrome) that exists in current medical science. Thanks for the information about prostate screenings. I've had the finger treatment before, and I can't imagine many more humiliating tests that you could perform on a man in the name of medicine.