Danneskjold

Still waiting for that thread of yours.

I wouldn't even call what E has optimism. It's more confidence. If I were to be asked if you could have too much of either I would say yes, it's called being self-deceptive or delusional. I think the difference between confidence and optimism is that confidence is about yourself, optimism is about everything else. I find that I tend to fall on the confident and pessimistic side. I think that, in general, this promotes a good amount of independence so it works for me. This isn't to say you couldn't be independent otherwise.

Welcome to Oregon.

The Hulk Hogan Show. I hate it, but I think no list of crap would be complete without this show on it. Follows an x-pro wrestler around in his family life. Most entertaining thing that ever happened was when his daughter went on a date and Hulk Hogan decided to try to intimidate the kid. The kid says on-camera when he was interviewed later, "What's he gonna do? Fake body slam me?". Best line ever.

You mean the historians didn't point out that the Persians were also human? Also that the Persians were VERY lightly armed compared to the heavily armed Spartan hoplites (their shields were made out of wicker, like the chair stuff except tighter woven)? Also that the Spartan's speciality in combat wasn't as individuals but as units? An x-Spartan testified in the Persian king's court that one Spartan alone was a excellent warrior, but it was when they were in their battle formation with their group that they were unstoppable. How about that Sparta, after Thermopylae, was completely militaristic? I can point these flaws out after the trailer, seems like the History Channel isn't doing great research.

Kori, American Idol concentrates more on bad singers than good ones. It's just stupid.

1) The people who mix up those mini-yogurts with the cream on top, then plain middle, and flavor on the bottom. Why should they get to redistribute wealth? 2) Checkers, why should all the pieces be restricted to moving the same amount of squares? Whoever made that game was a fascist. 3) Solid colors, things should not be evenly distributed. Solid colors are the peak of immorality. 4) Cells, the process of cell-division (mitosis and meiosis) only serve to keep the stronger cells from surviving and thriving. Instead of letting them grow they keep splitting to make smaller and more tiny cells. This operates much in the same way as anti-trust laws and is clearly immoral. Why punish those who succeed? 5) Rowing (Crew) the sport, everyone has equal standing and no one is permitted to excel for the reason that they might disturb the social order/rowing rhythm. Add your own!

I used to think I had Asperger's Syndrome. It was kinda funny because it seemed to fit perfectly. Turns out that it's everyone else that has the problem. Silly me.

I like the Jack Bauer part. American Idol sold out long ago, O'Reilly isn't that great and doesn't understand economics as well as he thinks he does (doesn't understand the futures market). Don't have a clue about the last paragraph. Move somewhere?

It's called rational egoism for a reason. If you want to do something well you should take the steps to make sure you can do it.

I could have used that "The Three Comprachicos" essay (or a simplified variance of it) in k-8th grade.

I don't know if I've ever really had a primary caretaker. I mean my mom has been around more to be sure, but I relate to my dad far more than I relate to my mom. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom. She is a wonderful person. However, I find that I think far more like my father than like my mother which is why I am not sure I would call either of them my primary caretaker. It was an equal effort and I'd say it turned out alright. I've never noticed any real mommy issues, then again around this age all my friends are trying to get as far away from their parents as possible.

Girls, well, it bugs me when they're over-emotional, but I can generally avoid that. Other random habits that bug me are when girls tell me about guys at their school (if I don't go to it) or talk about how hot movie star x is. Girls listen to crappy music (rap and pop is never a good combination). (Disclaimer: the above were intentionally stereotypes, but I do see them alot.) In all seriousness, the worst thing about girls is that they lie to make you feel better. Girlfriends that tell you something because you want to hear it are doing you more harm than good. They just can't wrap their minds around that. If you don't mean it, don't say it.

Dragonfly, If you claim to have the right to life, you must ask "What gives me the right to life?" The answer is that what makes you human gives you the right to life (we can debate exactly what/why that is later). If being human gives you the right to life then you must grant the right to life to all those that share the trait. So you couldn't torture and murder anybody without violating their rights.

Did I hear Yogi Berra? *peeks up and looks around* In theory, theory is practice. In practice it isn't. -Yogi Berra

That one?

Thanks, Chris. Yes, it's a little trouble focusing with three eyes, takes some practice, but you get used to it.

Let's try and find a situation where you will INEVITABLY gain 1,000,000 dollars. Well, I know that you still have the option to commit suicide in which case you would not receive it. So technically his premise is wrong in that there are still alternatives. The faulty assumption here is that non-living things face things. They don't. They can't make decisions, the house did not face the decision of whether or not to burn down, the computer didn't choose to stop working, the cloud doesn't choose to absorb water. On the other hand, there are many instances where an animal will put itself in danger (protection of offspring etc.). Whether or not this decision is conscious, it is still an action where an alternative was available. The cloud can't self-terminate and the cohesion of water forces its growth. Life is valuable because no value can be created without life. The reproduction of an organism's genes allow it to undergo mitosis. Without mitosis our cells would get too large and we couldn't function. The production of body heat allows us to maintain an optimal heat level at which to operate our bodily functions. How is that not necessary? The second point ignores that the rock doesn't have the capability of valuing anything. Human beings that are aiming at self-destruction are missing the previous premise. So this one is inapplicable to them. Also, when she says that I would venture to assume that she doesn't assume that their intentions are self-destruction, just where they are aimed. Socialists really do believe that they are furthering their own life in many cases. Happiness, on the other hand, is necessary for human life. People who no longer have the will to live are people devoid of happiness. So, steps taken in order to create happiness is in line with self-preservation. This would be ignoring your life as value. If you ignore your life's value then you aren't following it at all. If I say, "life has intrinsic value, therefore I should serve everyone else's" that's ignoring the intrinsic value of my own life. If I say "life has intrinsic value, therefore I should serve myself," it still allows for everyone else to hold their life as intrinsic value. With self-sacrifice you cannot hold all life as intrinsic value. The first part is a strawman, the part about 13 not following is just false. She says people should be 100% rational, that being the ideal. She does not say they need to be 100% rational to live. Well, he built a giant strawman right there and it still doesn't have a brain. He managed to completely leave the "ethical" out of the ethical egoism. In order to say that you have the right to torture and kill 500 people you must also grant other people that same right. Also, you must ignore the right to life. Both of those things are against your own rational self-interest. That's aside from the massive violation of those 500 people's rights. That's all for tonight from me. I'm not sure how that is at all an effective refutation of Objectivist ethics.

Great show, I watch it because it's funny and because it's the most objective news source I know of. I figure, hey, he brings up topics and then gives positions on them that are so irrelevant that he really gives no opinion at all. So it's objective in the sense that it's in no way biased because the bias is so easy to disregard.

Well, I definitely agree with you to some degree. However, I just got a taste of what everyone calls the fascist side of the Republican Party when I was at Oregon's unofficial Republican Convention last weekend. We were talking about real ID, a system that would put a whole bunch of fun stuff in your driver's license including something that could be used as a tracking device. It would be necessary to enter certain buildings and such as well. It passed, narrowly, but it passed. It was confusing to me, how could people ever vote for that? Also, I was looking at my Rome unit in History of Western Civilization, and the teacher was talking about how redistribution of wealth saved the Roman economy. He was right. The thing is that the need for the economic laws redistributing wealth were caused by restrictions on social freedoms. As far as Guiliani goes, I'm really not sure about the guy. I don't trust him not to try to take everyone's gun away so long as he has a democrat congress.

All three of them.

My sister and I. I got bored and played with my webcam.

John, sometimes you have to let go of the minor details to see the big picture in a movie like this one.

To some degree, it is true. However, America doesn't export our raw sewage to third world countries. Our industrialization has allowed us to deal with it in more efficient ways, therefore our environment is improved.

Sorry for posting this in the Living Room, I was just trying to get into a high traffic area at first. The sportscenter segment was in regards to a football coach of mine who is confined to a wheelchair and can barely speak because of Lou Gehrig's disease. He writes speeches for our football team in order to motivate us once a week. His name is Jeff Young, he went to my high school and played fullback many years back. He found out that he has Lou Gehrig's disease in college, and was told he had three years to live. Today he's in his forties (I think, would have to check that). His daughter is in my math class. She's a very down to earth young woman. Jeff raised her as a single parent. It was a beautifully done segment, and I hope they re-run it sometime. Jeff Young is a great man. He writes a weekly newsletter you can get sent to your e-mail. I'm not sure of the link at the moment, but it should be easy enough to find if you google Jeff Young or Friends of Jeff or a combination of the above.