Robert Baratheon
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Posts posted by Robert Baratheon
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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.
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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.
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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.
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A society where the police lose contests of strength is a failed state.
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.
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Welcome, Geoff!
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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.
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Yes, you do. You know by the business transaction.
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?
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I think "durable" is a suitable antonym for "fragile". Resilient works, too.
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.
He went on to explain that once you're a general officer, he military owns you in a way you could never imagine. Everything you do is scrutinized. Every foreign dignitary that visits your area, you and your wife will be having dinner with. You can get fired for things done by people you've never even met. You have to look perfect all the time - everyone is watching and looking to you to set the example of excellence. Judgment must be exact. Character must be beyond reproach.
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.
I can't stand reality TV. It doesn't surprise me that Palin thrives in that environment. If by some fluke she were to make it back into some relevant political position, I guarantee she would bring the reality TV cameras in with her. She fits that "antifragile" description perfectly - all she has to do is keep using her catch phrases, winks, and "you betcha's" and no matter how many times she's caught bumbling when she goes off-script will matter. She's going to have a loyal legion of followers for the rest of her life.
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.
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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
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It's impossible to do business with people who don't share your values...
...because when there is no trust, there can't be a meeting of the minds...
...and where there isn't a meeting of the minds, there can't be a business agreement that won't be betrayed...
...and by the time you've been betrayed you've already been sucked down in the smelly legalese slime with the detritus feeders just as you deserve.
Not doing business with people who don't share my values is how I remain free of all that nonsense.
Greg
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.
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You need to go take your moral outrage to A&E, not to me. It's their own free choice how they do business. I have no control over or responsibility for their choices... only my own.
Greg
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?
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That may work in court...
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.
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It's very different. I won't even begin a business relationship with people who don't share my values... regardless of the money. I have a price, but it's not money... it's values.
A & E knew right up front that they were dealing with Christians, and they made the deal because there was good money in it for them. I'm all for that. I'll bet that company got lots of pressure from the leftist homosexual activists, so they had to cave in to the pressure from the totalitarian politically correct "word Nazis" by doing something even if it meant shooting themselves in the financial foot. If the Duck people walk out of A & E, they'll simply go to Fox and make money for them.
Phil stated his own honest personal opinion in a colorfully graphic manner, and while I might have chosen different words, I agree with the substance of what he said. And I don't even watch the program. In fact I don't watch any television at all.
Greg
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?
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Somehow I knew that response was coming.
Why do there have to be any hangings?
How else will all the sinners (everyone but Greg) get what they deserve?
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The totalitarian word Nazis are in power now. It's the tyranny of the perpetually emotionally offended victim.
Greg,
In another thread, you stated that you would not conduct business or associate with anyone who didn't share your values. How is this any different from what the A&E network is doing by firing this person?
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Notice no one else brings it up. Could it be that there's a bit more tribalism among the hard right than you would like to believe?
Not "no one." I brought it up. Post #2.
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Oh how I wish I could cancel our cable television subscription. It's degenerated into such a wasteland of bleaching human refuse that I'm ashamed to admit I actually pay for, and therefore contribute to, its business model. Unfortunately, my wife likes certain programs on as background noise while she's doing her work and the $20 extra isn't worth an argument.
Whenever I now encounter these manufactured controversies involving people who are only on TV because they're famous and only famous because they're on TV (e.g., this "Robertson" individual), I simply avert my eyes and back away slowly and apologetically, just as I would if accidentally intruding upon somebody taking a shit.
Dumb people angry at dumb thing said by dumb person from show for dumb people. 'Nuff said.
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False controversy. If you ran a store and your employee was openly espousing communism or fascism, would you allow the employee to continue speaking his piece?
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Nothing keeps you from your chosen view.
This is a tautology.
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Selection bias. Most of the international students you know are probably brilliant too.
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Numbers 21:9 "And Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze with a steady and absorbing gaze, he lived.
That's the origin of the icon in the blue medical symbol.
Greg
A seemingly plausible theory, Greg. However, in fact, it's the Rod of Asclepius, from Greek mythology:
Which reference is older?
Greg
Difficult to say.
That's lawyerspeak for knowing the facts but not wanting to admit to them.
Greek Empire: 800 BC-600 AD
Moses: 1329 BC-1271 BC
Greg
The Book of Exodus is "fact" now... LOL, okay, Greg.
"knowing the facts but not wanting to admit to them"
Kind of like knowing the serpent staff used in medical symbols derives from Greek mythology but refusing to admit it out of embarrassment.
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Numbers 21:9 "And Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze with a steady and absorbing gaze, he lived.
That's the origin of the icon in the blue medical symbol.
Greg
A seemingly plausible theory, Greg. However, in fact, it's the Rod of Asclepius, from Greek mythology:
Which reference is older?
Greg
Difficult to say. The religions of the world borrow heavily from each other and much of their historical accuracy is questionable.
None of this is relevant, however, because it is well documented that the medical symbol derives from Greek mythology and not from the Bible (as you stated with certainty).
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Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge advocate of alternative dispute resolution methods, especially mediation (even though it takes money from the lawyers - imagine that!) Litigation is a huge financial burden on all parties, and the courts are full of cases that could be better resolved privately. Most people have no idea what they are getting themselves into, especially in employment-related cases. I'm not against arbitration in all cases, but the way it is usually structured to operate in the United States is very problematic.
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Numbers 21:9 "And Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze with a steady and absorbing gaze, he lived.
That's the origin of the icon in the blue medical symbol.
Greg
A seemingly plausible theory, Greg. However, in fact, it's the Rod of Asclepius, from Greek mythology:
Does Anybody Know a Randian Hero?
in Objectivist Living Room
Posted
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.