[A household with income under $13,000 spends about 9 percent of income on lottery.]

I had a friend who worked as a pizza delivery guy and had two kids and he paid $150 a month on cable... Had two cars he couldn't afford.

 

Strangely he had trouble paying bills and had bad credit... And he was a big supporter of Obamacare.

 

He should be the face of Obamacare I'm not sure you could pick a less sympathetic character.

I had a friend who worked as a pizza delivery guy and had two kids and he paid $150 a month on cable... Had two cars he couldn't afford.

 

Strangely he had trouble paying bills and had bad credit... And he was a big supporter of Obamacare.

 

He should be the face of Obamacare I'm not sure you could pick a less sympathetic character.

[oh the P-Jo ...]

The market has spoken and it doesn't want Peter Joseph's detritus...

 

He should stay with the pain of failure and not blame others, it might teach him a thing or two.

[Are CEOs paid too much?]

Given the ridiculous flows of money made possible by the fed and "quantitative easing" many CEOs are making their companies wealthy through knowing the right people in government.

 

But even "good" CEOs must be aware of how the government affects their company and respond to it... Which means that there will never be a clear line between those that deserve what they are paid and those that are mooching off the government.

 

You could certainly spend your time researching CEOs and figuring which were most bad, but at the end I the day you'd be wasting your time on things that don't really matter.

[School Sucks Podcast]

I do not enjoy school sucks much anymore...

I like Bret, but he has Wes Bertrand on so much it's like the Wes and Bret show lately.

 

Then there's Thaddeus... He's done some very interesting history research. but his various conclusions on things beyond his research don't seem to be well thought out.

[Any easy way to download premium content?]

iOS is not set up to allow downloading things easily. If you want to download a podcast I'd recommend an app, I use one called downloads lite, but there are many.

["Islamic State Member Warns of NYC Attack In Exclusive Interview - The Canadian Jihadist" ...thoughts?]

I don't know anything about vice news, but this is exactly the right move to get the US government deeper in and further bankrupt it.

 

Why would they even go to the effort of planning an attack when they can just make threats.

[Obviously we are not all Godless here]

"It's like obvious that totally obvious things are like totally obvious even to idiots like you... Don't be mean to us Christians cuz we're like so totally picked on.

I mean like for realz you all!!!"

 

I respect arguments and reason and evidence.

I don't respect ancient fairy tales that get millions murdered.

[Stefan, answer the trolley problem]

Wow... You successfully roped some people into discussing this problem.

I'm amazed.

[wisdom makes me stupid?]

What have you been reading?

 

I ask because after reading certain "philosophical" works I felt stupider.

[Hope Solo (Child Abuse and Domestic Violence in Women's Soccer)]

 

I got real confused by the thread title.... and wondered what kind of crazy cult had "star keepers"...

 

But then I realized Hope Solo is somebody's' name... a not very nice somebody.

 

 

[A Psyco who wants the Male Population Reduced by 90% or more..]

 

Well, women are just so peaceful, dontcha know!

 

 

A lot of people are for population reduction; environmentalists, socialists, nazis... all kinds of people aren't terribly worried about collateral damage as long as it happens to other people. It just so happens those people are poor and don't have friends in high places.

 

personally I am of the opinion she belongs in a padded room....

I agree completely!

[Was there a mix-up in the Scottish independence referendum?]

 

looking at the topic title I was hoping you were saying that people got it confused as to whether it was "Yes, I want independence!" or "No, I don't want to be a part of the UK!"

 

Now that would be funny... in the most democratic fashion possible.

[My anti-capitalist prof]

Sounds like a sociology class I had in college. Philosophy is not their strong point.

[A Case For Audio Journaling]

I've been audio journaling for quite a while, I originally was dissatisfied with it because audio is a pain in the ass. It can't be easily searched, even if you know what you want and more or less where to find it.

 

I started using dragon naturally speaking a while ago and that really kicked it into overgear. I can just talk to my recorder and let the program process it into text later. The text isn't perfect but it gives a way to search the audio.

 

If I'm sitting in front of my computer I can dictate and be sure the results are accurate. The feel and speed of that is different than just talking, but I find it works well for journaling because I can see what I just said and take some time to think about it.

I've not really tried just journaling with the recorder in a nice comfy spot. I take it with me when I'm taking a walk or riding my bike or going somewhere in the car... It's not the best for journaling since my mind can really wander in that situation.

[Is this a real story? It almost seems like satire! It's CNN]

 

Well, he does his job as a paid killer exceptionally well.

[Facebook beef; worth it?]

 

A quick update:

So, it didn't take me long to reach the end of my tolerance.

 

I made a few points, linked her to Stef's video about the effects of spanking and encouraged her to let the people in her life know about the harms of spanking.

 

After a bit of back and forth she posted that she was against hitting children, I asked her if that meant she was reversing her earlier defense of spanking. She said no, and I unfriended her.

 

My Facebook feed is now down to FDR people, libertarians, peaceful parenting people, and people I knew from school... So it's ok for the most part.

[Hot Topic: Facebook users comments on spanking <- sickening!]

These facebook comments are nothing. I remember I ran across a christian youtube video that was wholly focused on how most of the ills of the US stemmed from the decline in child abu- I mean spanking. I can't find it now though.

Youtube comments will be seen as obvious examples of child abuse and poor education when future generations read them.

 

Stef's Adrian Peterson video has really brought out the bible and child thumpers... it's a wonderful thing, I hope they share the video with everyone in their social circles.

 

That guy talking about choosing which stick he got hit with reminds me of a fine quote.

 

Will: He used to just put a belt, a stick, and a wrench on the table. Just say, "Choose."

Sean: Well I gotta go with the belt there.

Will: I used to go with the wrench.

Sean: Why the wrench?

Will: Cause fuck him, that's why.

[The Human Heat Powered Flashlight]

The problem with heat based powering up is, for this device to be energized, it needs to take heat energy from you. Meaning it needs to feel cold to your touch, depending on how much heat flux has been engineered in.

I'd call that a huge bonus! My hands get sweaty whenever I'm playing a really intense game.

 

It would be cool, at least electronics have gotten efficient enough that we can talk about body heat powering things.

[Voting in the referendum for Scottish independence]

If they do it will be very interesting.

 

I saw someone blaming Scottish independence on ISIS, that's just too funny.

[New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie goes after libertarians]

When you view them as different scumbags jockeying for the right to wield the gun it can be hard to get too excited about when tries a different tactic to get ahead of the others.

[Economics of Iraqi failure]

An interesting ( if somewhat academic) topic is the question of how much economic policy makes the difference between hell on earth (North Korea) and a pretty nice place to live (South Korea).

 

Some time ago I read a piece by a free market economist on how the western Keynesian advisors to the south Vietnamese government basically trashed the economy to the point that communism in the north didn't seem so bad to your average Joe.

 

I assume that much of the same horrible advice was given to the Iraqi government. I couldn't find much info, but the fact that 95% of exports from Iraq are oil means the economy is a basket case.

 

It is a stupendous economic failure that many Iraqis find it more profitable to pick up guns and bombs than a briefcase.

[parenting an addict then taking away his crack]

My parents would take away my NES...

 

And I guess that's a good strategy if you don't mind getting deFOOed.

[I understand why Westerners are joining jihadi movements like ISIS. I was almost one of them.]

 

I understand why Westerners are joining jihadi movements like ISIS. I was almost one of them.

 

 

 

We are raised to love violence and view military conquest as a benevolent act. The American kid who wants to intervene in another nation’s civil war owes his worldview as much to American exceptionalism as to jihadist interpretations of scripture. I grew up in a country that glorifies military sacrifice and feels entitled to rebuild other societies according to its own vision. I internalized these values before ever thinking about religion. Before I even knew what a Muslim was, let alone concepts such as “jihad” or an “Islamic state,” my American life had taught me that that’s what brave men do.

 

[My research on ISIS]

Please do. The version in this link is the final draft, however: http://original.antiwar.com/Walead_Farwana/2014/08/23/the-history-of-the-islamic-state/

 

I haven't updated the google doc yet. Need to do that.

Thanks for posting. I've shared it with a few friends.

[Facebook beef; worth it?]

Hi J-William,

 

If she is in contact with children, in any way, I'd spend time on her.

 

 

/firstpost  here!

 

 

 

- Buggy

Alright, well first off, you posted some good points. She is a grandmother, and both her daughters have children. She is mostly defending the actions of her father. A libertarian friend has already given the argument about beating your wife and she said beaten wives should leave, so her position is typical... and easily taken down with logic.

 

I don't think she has much hands on time with the children, but she is certainly a powerful influence on her daughters. I doubt she would personally hit children, but she would clearly allow or encourage the hitting of children who "misbehave".

 

I do not know one way or the other about whether her grandchildren are spanked. I know that her older daughter is sending her children to public school. So there are no overt signs that they are bucking trends.

 

I will give it a shot and report back with my findings ;-)

 

 

A little feedback on your post: I almost didn't read your post. I found it very hard to read. I'm obviously no expert here, but I think you could have made your points in a simpler and less dry fashion. Are you a lawyer or academic? It was almost like reading a law briefing or a scientific paper... I mean this portion is a bit much "things potentially coming from her to the world as she is as a person at the moment" I mean... I can hardly slog my way through that.

 

You could sum up your first two paragraphs as "I assume she's an old lady and she might have power or influence over children or people with children, and if she does you should say something."

You could expand more on some parts, but we're not arguing some arcane bit of jurisprudence here. You have good points to make, I would hate for them to get lost in a sea of words.