Seasons
This is a forum or general chit-chat, small talk, a "hey, how ya doing?" and such. Or hell, get crazy deep on something. Whatever you like.
Posts 104 - 115 of 6,170
Posts 104 - 115 of 6,170
Nice try jbryanc, the weather's just a screwed up as the rest of the world, so no easy chit-chat there either... 
Glad to read you all again. I was starting to suspect the FBI had confiscated the server's hard drives and put Benji in electroshock therapy. Before anyone starts suggesting good medication, the thought didn't last too long, I'm fine.
Actually, anyone else think we need a specific forum for this sort of debating? I like it, but I don't want to force people to have to put up with it when they'd rather be talking about the foot of snow in front of their door...
I'm out for tonight, lot's to discuss tomorrow night though!
Glad to read you all again. I was starting to suspect the FBI had confiscated the server's hard drives and put Benji in electroshock therapy. Before anyone starts suggesting good medication, the thought didn't last too long, I'm fine.
Actually, anyone else think we need a specific forum for this sort of debating? I like it, but I don't want to force people to have to put up with it when they'd rather be talking about the foot of snow in front of their door...
I'm out for tonight, lot's to discuss tomorrow night though!
I dunno Rahz, the forum's title box does say it is for pretty much anything. I think regardless of how many forums you put up for different things, each eventually gets taken over by one discussion. We had two going at one point, the evolution and capitalism one. Now capitalism has won out again (like it always seems to). If these forums were split off into one for debating of issues and another for more general chit chat the latter would eventually get tied up with some intense debate or other. It's the nature of conversation and how it evolves.
Good point Corwin. I ended up thinking the same thing. It's just that sometimes people on the west coast tend to take advantage of their climatic advantages in news groups dedicated to the weather.
I'm just kidding, but my mom does seem to call me from Vancouver more often when it's sunny on her end of the continent.
I'm just kidding, but my mom does seem to call me from Vancouver more often when it's sunny on her end of the continent.
It's not always sunny in Vancouver, but it nearly always is on the Sunshine Coast, several miles north, where lies the true Centre of the Universe.
It's raining today tho'.
It's raining today tho'.
no no no...the center of the universe is houston. always sunny, always cloudy, always a drought, and there is always rain and hail too...and even from all of the places i have been, the moon seems so much larger in houston then in any where else in the world.
Hey!
There;s a brass plaque on my front door that says "Center of the Universe."
You can't argue with brass plaques, lady.
There;s a brass plaque on my front door that says "Center of the Universe."
You can't argue with brass plaques, lady.
We are the Borg. Highways are irrelevant. Dancing is irrelevant. You will all be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
I'll try and do this in order...
Eugene... I applaud your stance. You can go tell any scientist wannabe's that there's still lot's of room for surprises in our quest to find the answer to everything. But don't you find it hard to believe in ideas that have only been around for a couple thousand years? I mean, even though we don't have enough proof to give ourselves up to the theory of evolution, it seems to me that there's at least enough evidence to realize that what our versions of the bible have to say about our origins is kind of silly. Although there are good ideologies in the bible (and the rest of the holly writings and religious beliefs), I don't think even people who consider themselves religious actually believe in heaven and hell anymore, do they? Don't they realize the meaning of infinite? it just keep going... forever!
Moving right along here... Corwin, what about having simple tax brackets that make it so the big corporations pay a way higher percentage than companies who have rather small advertising budgets? (Say for example: 50% for the big guys and 0% for the little ones) It won't stop Levi's from sticking gigantic silver tabs all over our subway systems, but at least it will free up some cash for whatever organization we feel deserves it...
Now back to the discussion about capitalism. First, I'd like to clear a couple points up... I DO NOT have any solution that would replace capitalism, just as I don't think we should file our leftover bibles in the recycling. There are a lot of good things about capitalism. I repeat, a lot of good! Hi, my name is SirRahz, and I'm in love with my iBook... ok?
In my opinion, this is a mighty fine era to live in, thanx to discoveries and advancements we've made in transportation, communication, medication, education AND entertainment! Despite these great achievements, Crab, can't we agree that there are also some negative side-effects?
Next thing, the reason your confused, Crab, about why I want to give the government more oversight is... I really DO NOT want to give the government more oversight - that vision, we can both agree, is a nightmare! I think the government already has way too much power. I too believe that we should be free to eat, drink, smoke, snort and inject whatever we like, so long as it doesn't have too many consequences on the rest of society's freedoms.
Here's a something you said, that I'd like to respond to... [answer to "why the government protects the minority"] "Because there is a constitution that guarantees us freedom from government control over private aspects of our lives, like religion for instance, and because we have a court system that is charged with interpreting the law as opposed to hunting for votes. The government is not interested in protecting the minority, it is limited in its power to overwhelm the minority, and it is constrained by the rule of law to protect the minority using its executive power and police force. ThatÂ’s how it is supposed to work, and what makes this a democracy is that we have a responsibility as citizens to uphold this standard and improve it rather than sink into the mire of mutual bribery and mob rule."
I'll try and keep my answer as simple as possible. The court system is interpreting the laws that the government is deciding. The government decides laws to protect their "owners" who are the companies that give them millions of dollars each year in campaign funding. The government in return protects the big corporations, by constantly creating and maintaining a "consensus" through the media. The countries richest (the corporations, the media and the government) team up in order to keep everyone (ie: the people who get their info through mainstream news/entertainment) believing that spending and making money is by default a *good* thing and stuff like the constitution is there to protect us all. So in reality, we have actually very little freedom to maneuver, unless we are willing to maneuver in the same direction the big guys are.
Well... At least we both agree that this is a democracy that needs improving.
That "Saudi Arabia" comment is a perfect example of how much energy the media (shall we call them the 5% gang?) puts into brain washing us all. Anyone here been to Saudi Arabia? Anyone know enough about the place to be able to judge whether or not the control the government enforces has any *positive* effects on their citizens? Can't be worse than the bombs going off caused by the belief that we're all *free* to fight for our religions and our ways of living!
Our leaders put a gigantic amount of effort in making us believe that the rest of the world is wrong and flat out threatening! They simply want us to stay put. They want us to stay in whatever's left of our "private" lives and they'll do everything they can to ensure that the majority of us continue to hunger for capitalism's benefits.
This brings us back to what got it all started: greed in a free market, is what I think's causing most of the misery in the world today.
However, maybe we can just agree to disagree on that for now? As I said, I don't think we need to clean the slate and take it from a fresh start. A lot of people have lost hope to the point that they believe that anarchy can't be any worse than this, but I still think we can improve on what we've got. And, some other night, I'll gladly bring forward some simple (nonetheless shocking!) ways we can do so.
Although I'm tempted, I won't go into *all* the details about how I imagine the economy and all the other aspects of life (is there anything else?) at various times in the future. There are a lot of problems to solve in our society and I think most of the people here are interested in the ones related to our new SQL universe. I will say this though, over a long enough period of time, there's a solution to every problem. Luckily, both time and problems are infinite.
I registered www.cyber-culture.com and eventually I'd like to dedicate it to specifically discussing issues like this (some day... *sigh* ...the page that's there now, has been there since I registered it!)
For now Crab, Eugene, Corwin, I look forward to reading your responses!
Eugene... I applaud your stance. You can go tell any scientist wannabe's that there's still lot's of room for surprises in our quest to find the answer to everything. But don't you find it hard to believe in ideas that have only been around for a couple thousand years? I mean, even though we don't have enough proof to give ourselves up to the theory of evolution, it seems to me that there's at least enough evidence to realize that what our versions of the bible have to say about our origins is kind of silly. Although there are good ideologies in the bible (and the rest of the holly writings and religious beliefs), I don't think even people who consider themselves religious actually believe in heaven and hell anymore, do they? Don't they realize the meaning of infinite? it just keep going... forever!
Moving right along here... Corwin, what about having simple tax brackets that make it so the big corporations pay a way higher percentage than companies who have rather small advertising budgets? (Say for example: 50% for the big guys and 0% for the little ones) It won't stop Levi's from sticking gigantic silver tabs all over our subway systems, but at least it will free up some cash for whatever organization we feel deserves it...
Now back to the discussion about capitalism. First, I'd like to clear a couple points up... I DO NOT have any solution that would replace capitalism, just as I don't think we should file our leftover bibles in the recycling. There are a lot of good things about capitalism. I repeat, a lot of good! Hi, my name is SirRahz, and I'm in love with my iBook... ok?
In my opinion, this is a mighty fine era to live in, thanx to discoveries and advancements we've made in transportation, communication, medication, education AND entertainment! Despite these great achievements, Crab, can't we agree that there are also some negative side-effects?
Next thing, the reason your confused, Crab, about why I want to give the government more oversight is... I really DO NOT want to give the government more oversight - that vision, we can both agree, is a nightmare! I think the government already has way too much power. I too believe that we should be free to eat, drink, smoke, snort and inject whatever we like, so long as it doesn't have too many consequences on the rest of society's freedoms.
Here's a something you said, that I'd like to respond to... [answer to "why the government protects the minority"] "Because there is a constitution that guarantees us freedom from government control over private aspects of our lives, like religion for instance, and because we have a court system that is charged with interpreting the law as opposed to hunting for votes. The government is not interested in protecting the minority, it is limited in its power to overwhelm the minority, and it is constrained by the rule of law to protect the minority using its executive power and police force. ThatÂ’s how it is supposed to work, and what makes this a democracy is that we have a responsibility as citizens to uphold this standard and improve it rather than sink into the mire of mutual bribery and mob rule."
I'll try and keep my answer as simple as possible. The court system is interpreting the laws that the government is deciding. The government decides laws to protect their "owners" who are the companies that give them millions of dollars each year in campaign funding. The government in return protects the big corporations, by constantly creating and maintaining a "consensus" through the media. The countries richest (the corporations, the media and the government) team up in order to keep everyone (ie: the people who get their info through mainstream news/entertainment) believing that spending and making money is by default a *good* thing and stuff like the constitution is there to protect us all. So in reality, we have actually very little freedom to maneuver, unless we are willing to maneuver in the same direction the big guys are.
Well... At least we both agree that this is a democracy that needs improving.
That "Saudi Arabia" comment is a perfect example of how much energy the media (shall we call them the 5% gang?) puts into brain washing us all. Anyone here been to Saudi Arabia? Anyone know enough about the place to be able to judge whether or not the control the government enforces has any *positive* effects on their citizens? Can't be worse than the bombs going off caused by the belief that we're all *free* to fight for our religions and our ways of living!
Our leaders put a gigantic amount of effort in making us believe that the rest of the world is wrong and flat out threatening! They simply want us to stay put. They want us to stay in whatever's left of our "private" lives and they'll do everything they can to ensure that the majority of us continue to hunger for capitalism's benefits.
This brings us back to what got it all started: greed in a free market, is what I think's causing most of the misery in the world today.
However, maybe we can just agree to disagree on that for now? As I said, I don't think we need to clean the slate and take it from a fresh start. A lot of people have lost hope to the point that they believe that anarchy can't be any worse than this, but I still think we can improve on what we've got. And, some other night, I'll gladly bring forward some simple (nonetheless shocking!) ways we can do so.
Although I'm tempted, I won't go into *all* the details about how I imagine the economy and all the other aspects of life (is there anything else?) at various times in the future. There are a lot of problems to solve in our society and I think most of the people here are interested in the ones related to our new SQL universe. I will say this though, over a long enough period of time, there's a solution to every problem. Luckily, both time and problems are infinite.
I registered www.cyber-culture.com and eventually I'd like to dedicate it to specifically discussing issues like this (some day... *sigh* ...the page that's there now, has been there since I registered it!)
For now Crab, Eugene, Corwin, I look forward to reading your responses!
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