I think Daniel Pink's book ( Drive ) may have something to say here. I haven't read it myself (it's been on my list for a while), but I've heard the high level summary from a lot of different places: money isn't actually all that good a motivator for intellectual work, once you've hit a certain point where it's no longer something that needs to be worried about. After that point, according to Pink, y
Is this situation really so much worse than previous incidents? I'd like to think that this is just the regular seasonal bullshit, but I'm noticing that even commentators and news organizations that I usually find level-headed and neutral are getting caught up in this, which makes me worried that you're right. There's enough people coming out to try and clear the air, but it's still uncommonly virulent. I've got to say, I'm really getting cheesed off at the BS that's floating around.
(The quip about the Irishman is a good one, gonna have to find a way to use that somewhere) Leauki, I understand what frustrates you there, but if you start prosecuting Journalists for witnessing crimes that's a dangerous way to go, and makes it very easy for an oppressive government to take advantage of. For instance, should journalists in Iran be arrested for photographing rallies that the government has declared illegal? Nevermind that they are, often... we already know that the Ir
You know, Leauki, if that chip on your shoulder were any bigger I'm pretty sure you'd topple over. :P
He's some clown that lived in the US in academia for a while badmouthing us, then came on back when he realized he could get the leadership of the Liberal party and a shot at the Prime Minister's position. You know, a real man of principle.
I've always found the "disproportionate response" criticism kinda stupid. Anyone who knows anything about self defense knows that "disproportionate reponse" is the only way to do it RIGHT.
I was a little surprised to see that, though it's gratifying to see our country take an actually ballsy approach to foreign affairs. Definitly one of the things I like about the Tories these days... willing to stick up for principles instead of always following the path of least resistance... or the most money. As you can no doubt tell from the preceding paragraph, as a fellow Canadian I'm going to have to disagree with Artysim: 1) I think the chances of them losing their mino
While I think you're right to say that anti-semitism must be somewhere in the lopsided coverage (and most certainly in any calls for gas chambers) I think a large part of this is going to be the relative profile of the two conflicts. The west only really pays attention to the events in Pakistan because it's got a huge impact on how things go in afghanistan where many countries (my own, Canada included) have troops deployed. Neither the Pakistani military nor the Taliban are really all th
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Didn't we already establish that the Israelis weren't THAT badly outnumbered? Yeah, they pulled off some impressive military victories, but there's no need to invoke any sort of religious justification for the victory. Given an incompetent set of normally antagonistic armies driven primarily by racism and propaganda versus a slightly smaller army of people fighting for their very right to exist, I'm pretty sure I'd be putting my money on the ones whose only option is "win or be murdered"
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You know, reading the quotes in the original post, you almost make it sound as if the Nazis were NICER about it.
[quote who="Kodiak888" comment="12"]I would be very surprised if you couldn't get all of the items on every version of every game with the use of item codes and the console.[/quote] Prepare to be surprised.
[quote who="Leauki" comment="3"]So if someone I trust tells me something I cannot disprove, I'll believe it. [/quote] Hey, Leauki, I know this guy named Russell, I've heard he's got a teapot you might be interested in...
[quote who="Rosco_P" reply="17" id="2391984"] As for 'back in the day' programming stories, I bought a C++ programming book before I even owned a computer. I went 6 months just doing the exercises from each chapter on notebook paper. It was weird going from that to a full on IDE. [/quote] THAT sounds familiar. I learned BASIC that way all the way back in elementary before I ever discovered the family computer had the QBASIC IDE, and then I repeated the proce
[quote who="Leauki" comment="1"]Why does the west still recognise the "Islamic Republic" as the legitimate government of Iran? When was that government ever legitimate?[/quote] Ever since it got its grubby hands on all the guns and money.
[quote who="KFC Kickin For Christ" reply="641" id="2371339"] There are three times as many prophecies in the Bible relating to His second coming as to His first. That makes the second coming three times as certain as His first coming. [/quote] Oh, so the veracity of prophecy is based on consensus now? Good to know.
A buddy system for countries? I like it. I've mused on something similar, though not nearly to the depth you have. One problem: what happens when a country like Saudi Arabia, China, or Syria decide to buddy up? How would you stop them from abusing human rights, redefining human rights to be whatever they want them to be, or rigging independance votes/not respecting the results? In other words, how would this be enforced? I'd be skeptical of the UN being any sort of authority on human
[quote who="Leauki" comment="5"]I think one cannot deny that Israel's current existence as a state is a miracle. Most people have forgotten that the 1948 and 1967 wars were not as clear-cut as they now seem to be, now that they are won. In both wars it seemed more likely that Israel would be defeated. In both wars Israel's victory was a very sudden surprise to her enemies, to the world, and to Israel herself.[/quote] From Wikipedia on the 1948 war: "On 12 May David Ben-Gurion
Have you looked at Aubrey De Gray's work? He's one of the people actively attempting to cure aging, and his ridiculous facial hair aside, seems to me to have a good approach to the problem. His approach is to develop "rejuvenation" techniques that fix damage after it occurs (but before it can cause problems) instead of stopping the damage in the first place or just dealing with the problems the damage causes... his "engineering" approach to aging, as he calls it. According to De Gray,
Okay, I probably shouldn't have been taking a sip of my drink when I read that line.
This world seems to have a very warped sense of scale. I look forward to the day when sanity prevails. I do not anticipate that being any time soon.
Heh. Those ones are pretty good.
Oh, of course China wants North Korea propped up! Like you say, they're useful, and the Chinese government is plenty pragmatic when it wants to be (see the current state of Chinese capita--I mean communism). What I can't see is a good reason for China to want their crazy nutjob dependant neighbours waving around nukes. Any "benefits" gained by giving Kim Jong Il more ways to seek attention and stoke his ego with his giant phallic missiles are offset by the fact that he's the first nutter
Not to mention that Iran is run by folks who wouldn't be completely opposed to ushering in the apocalypse a bit ahead of schedule.
@ the_peoples_party: I am fully aware of Bin Laden's background. The statement was an exaggeration... I'd hoped for comic effect. My thought though is that however dangerous Islamic terrorism might be, the goddamned bomb is still the biggest threat to human existence we've got. Islamic terrorism might be the vehicle (say, someone manages to nuke Tel Aviv...) but I'm willing to bet that the recent proliferation of nuclear technology among hostile powers (Iran and North Korea) are
I dunno if a technological singularity is that close... as I understand it, predictions about elements of the idea tend to be overly optimistic. I haven't read Kurzweil's stuff (and I've only skimmed across most singularity research... one of these days) but I'm willing to wager that true immortality of the kind you're describing isn't going to be around in 40 years. What I could see, however, is that human lifespan will have been significantly extended by that time in les
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