Robert Baratheon

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About Robert Baratheon

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    Arlington, Virginia
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    Robert Baratheon
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    Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms

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  1. Peter

    Why was this guy banned? Peter 

    1. Michael Stuart Kelly

      Michael Stuart Kelly

      Peter,

      I can't recall. I looked through the content and it looks like there is a lot of stuff deleted. It's not there and I know I didn't delete it. Back then, I didn't have a policy about blocking the deletion of posts after a few days. 

      I remember him getting really nasty and prolific. And outraged after I moderated him.

      I mentioned him in a post not too long ago:

      On 10/18/2019 at 2:06 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

      Think The Crazy Lady, or the dude who worked in the government for Cass Sunstein who called himself a character from The Game of Thrones, or the SJW who used a doll as an avatar, etc. Here are their avatars in order just in case you don't remember who I am talking about. 

      image.png seymourblogger, and 

      image.png Robert Baratheon, and

      image.png SoAMadDeathWish

      The mess these people caused and the sheer amount of attention they required from me to keep readers from exiting en masse is what I was trying to avoid. They aren't the only ones, either. 

      Later a lot of people left because of my pro-Trump position, but many still read OL. (I see the signs... :) )

      I'm not the only one who remembers the nastiness of this dude, though.

      On 10/18/2019 at 3:45 PM, Ellen Stuttle said:

      Those three - seymourblogger, "Robert Baratheon," and SoAMadDeathWish - were all actual people who did cause trouble.

      That's the best I can do for now.

      To paraphrase Howard Roark to Toohey: But I don't think of him.

      :) 

      Michael

    2. Peter

      Peter

      Thanks Michael.

  2. Robert Baratheon
    Rand's heroes are idealized and fictional. They also derive from a time when the administrative state was only a tiny fraction of what it is today. I don't know any pure heroes because The System doesn't allow for purity - it can't tolerate it. There is no way one can survive in the modern world without participating. It's the same principle as drug dealers forcing the newbie to shoot heroin or clip someone from a rival gang to see if they're a narc.
  3. Robert Baratheon
    The reason why there are so few "pure" heroes is The System makes hypocrites of us all from the day we are born. The food we eat is produced with government subsidies. We drive on public roads in cars built according to public safety standards. The military fights wars for us whether we ask it to or not. Our salaries are garnished into social programs like Social Security and Medicare, and they are doled back to us at the end of our lives. This makes it nearly impossible for a pure hero to emerge without being shouted down by the progressive elite as ingrates and frauds.
  4. Robert Baratheon
    I use a standing desk at work as well. The adjustable kind is the best, so you can alternate between standing and sitting. Standing keeps me much more alert and engaged - if it's better for my health, then that's a bonus as well. When I used to sit for most of the day, I would drink water in small sips from a glass. This would force me to get up regularly to refill the water or use the restroom - again, if better for my health, another bonus.
  5. Robert Baratheon
    So, again, Greg, this raises the question of how people boycotting Duck Dynasty and A&E is any different from your boycott of anyone whose values you don't share.
  6. Robert Baratheon
    It's important to clarify with whom the police are competing. It's appropriate that they should be able to outgun small groups in order to fulfill their policing duties. The trend of local police departments maintaining "street tanks" for full-fledged combat scenarios is troubling.
  7. Robert Baratheon
    Welcome, Geoff!
  8. Robert Baratheon
    Bush probably felt he was doing the right thing at the time by not upsetting the children and finishing their story. We also don't know exactly what his aides told him. I don't see any malicious motive behind his lack of reaction. It probably wasn't the best response, all things considered, but it's a bit unfair to Monday-night-quarterback these details related to an unprecedented developing situation.
  9. Robert Baratheon
    Your position is I know a man's values because he showed up at my house and bought a wooden dresser from me? How does that make any sense?
  10. Robert Baratheon
    Ack! Don't let Taleb hear you say that - he has a tendency to blow his lid over such misunderstandings (common and forgivable IMO if you haven't read his works). Taleb created the term "antifragile" because he emphatically felt resilient and durable were not suitable antonyms for fragile. Those characteristics lie at "point zero" of his fragile-antifragile spectrum and are the property he calls "robustness" - a mere tolerance for disorder and shocks. Antifragile describes something actually improved by shocks and randomness over time - a very biological/libertarian concept. Some of what you're describing is fragility; some of it is just additional responsibility. It is possible to be antifragile but also have additional demands on your time. Celebrity figures tend to be antifragile (not always - depends on the nature of their fame and income), but political figures are usually fragile. Palin operates in both realms, so I think her fragility/antifragility depends on which realm we're talking about. She's antifragile in the sense that many "scandals" that would ruin the typical politician would overall improve her celebrity and profitability (e.g. nude photos), but it's not true that she's impervious to all shocks, like the Kardashians are. For example, if Palin were caught on tape saying things unflattering to Tea Partiers/libertarians, she would be severely harmed by that.
  11. Robert Baratheon
    In his latest book, Antifragile, Nassim Taleb describes "antifragility" as follows: "Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty. Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile. Let us call it antifragile. Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better." Reality-star entertainers such as the Kardashians (or the Robertsons for that matter) tend to be antifragile because any received publicity – positive or negative – works to their favor by expanding their fame and fortune. Like a science fiction Blob, the more you attack them, the stronger they grow. Nuclear generals, while ostensibly "powerful" in the conventional sense, operate at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum in hyper-fragile land. Any aberrant behavior or misstep can immediately lead to their downfall: http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/20/us/michael-carey-investigative-report/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
  12. Robert Baratheon
    I sold a wooden dresser last month to somebody I met through Craigslist. I have no idea what his values were, but in all likelihood I don't share them. He needed a bookshelf, and I needed to get rid of a bookshelf. Nobody was betrayed by anybody. It worked out fine.
  13. Robert Baratheon
    I'm not experiencing any moral outrage, which is why I called it a "fake controversy" in post #2. I don't care what happens to Duck Dipshit, or A&E, or the gay activists, or any of the players in this story. Your statement has nothing to do with the point I raised, which you still haven't addressed: how is A&E firing their employee over a difference in values any different from your refusal to do business with people with different values?
  14. Robert Baratheon
    Greg, The silly crap that was just aimed at you doesn't even work in court. It's basically hatred jazzed up a little. But only a little. There's not a smidgen of elementary observation behind it. You've only said a bazillion times on this forum you deserve the consequences of your own actions. And this dude says you exempted yourself. Duh... Michael Actually, Greg got me wrong - he's exempted himself from the category of sinners he's always railing against, not the made-up laws of his religion.
  15. Robert Baratheon
    So it's immoral to begin a business relationship with somebody who doesn't share 100% of your values, and Greg categorically will not do so. BUT... if A&E is already in a business relationship and discovers an entertainer doesn't share their core values, or alternatively, if A&E compromised their integrity with the hire but then later reconsidered that decision, then it's immoral for them to terminate the business relationship at any time? Anybody following the logic here?