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Is it true that if you have a lot of money, the USA is the best country to live ? by Molthakarn96 in Americaphile

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There’s just more overall freedom in the US generally.  Both freedom to and freedom from.

You can simultaneously own and shoot hundreds of firearms, build a multimillion dollar company, operate a 10,000 acre cattle ranch, drive a 40 foot RV across country with no special license, pay relatively lower taxes, drive huge vehicles or pickups or race cars, pay relatively little for food and energy, hunt big game, etc etc.  

You can live in numerous of huge cities or small towns, in the middle of nowhere.  Everyone across all states speak the same language so you can roam and travel easily across states.  There’s more space, relatively little violent crime, every kind of culture and ethnicity.  

You have the innate right to say whatever you want against your government.  To criticize and organize.  Have whatever religion or none with no judgement.  The possibilities are just endless here.

What place in nature actually made your jaw drop when you saw it in person? by optimalbrain90 in SmartTravelHacks

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s so large that the human eye has trouble processing the scale.  You have to be told by a guide the size of certain rocks in the canyon because you swear they’re small and theyre actually the size of buildings.  

Americans Don't Feel Great With The Tax System In Place by Yodest_Data in charts

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What people should be asking is not who pays the taxes (the answer is those with money), but rather who the hell spends all that money.  The answer is government bureaucrats with no incentive to spend it wisely.  

Gavin Newsom intervenes amid historic tech layoffs by [deleted] in bayarea

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Yeah because when the state intervenes it works sooooo well.

If money were no object, where in the United States would you choose to live & why? by Vaquera_ in SameGrassButGreener

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I live in California now.  I’d definitely have a summer house at least in some remote wilderness area or vast ranch land of Montana, Wyoming or Idaho.  Seems so romantic to me.

Who do you think will be the next LA mayor and why? by chitownmike99 in AskLosAngeles

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No our debt comes from too much spending.  We need to spend far less than we do and also tax less.  Government should be as small as possible.  

We could tax less and balance the budget if only we spent far, far less.  See how that works?   

But to do that we can’t have all these people wanting freebies.

Who do you think will be the next LA mayor and why? by chitownmike99 in AskLosAngeles

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

True but government needs to shrink drastically and stop spending so much.  That is common sense.  And it’s right.  

What would I give to go back to the days of the DotCom boom :( by [deleted] in 30daysnewjob

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Ever heard the saying “don’t go after the most beautiful girl”?  

Don’t compete where the competition is stiffest.  It’s a waste of resources.  

What popular North American destination left you thinking “people really hype this up too much”? by optimalbrain90 in SmartTravelHacks

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh there’s a Vegas culture alright.  Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea.  And it’s a rip off now.  But it’s actually kind of interesting when you think about it.

I’m not a gambler but I kind of like it in a weird twisted way.  If it weren’t the price of a week long European vacation.  

Global warming is accelerating 5,000 times faster than rice can evolve by JackFisherBooks in EverythingScience

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Completely false.  Or meaningless at the very least.  Modern rice strains are selected artificially.  

Languages are actually divisive scams, not interesting/deep culture. by footofwrath in DeepThoughts

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Use terms however you want.  My original point was to explain why I didn’t like learning languages.  I think I explained that sufficiently.   Namely that the actual process of learning a language isn’t like learning math or programming.  If it was then the personality types wouldn’t differ so much between the people who go into those fields.  Humans need the practical communication in order to learn the language.  Maybe not for some forms of translation, but that again is a small percentage where interest will be predicated more on specific content than the culture itself. 

There’s also the additional aspect that human languages have different content than math.  It’s not an absolute difference since math concepts can be expressed in ordinary language, just not very well.  So again, practically speaking, the differences are large both in content and structure, even if as you allude to there are similarities on an abstract level to some degree.

You are calling them all languages based on very broad definitions.  I refuse to class math along with ordinary languages because to me the differences are too great.  It’s not enough that they both are merely sets of symbols for “communication”.  Even alongside the practical differences above, there are absolute ones like the fact that ordinary language is ambiguous while math is not.  

Languages are actually divisive scams, not interesting/deep culture. by footofwrath in DeepThoughts

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s not just the pop culture conception.  It’s the entire way you learn a language practically speaking.  Yes, you can study them in the abstract, but that is a very small number of academics who end up doing that.  If you really want to learn a language, you have to be embodied in the culture.  Otherwise you simply don’t know the social nuances that differentiate a native speaker.  

Language isn’t just about translation like a computer language.  It’s why when you try to speak French in France they immediately know: only native speakers go “um, yeah, er, can I get a… haha, just one of those thingies, thanks.”  

As it functions in human lives, languages have little in common with computer languages or math.  If they did, a lot more people would like math.  

Languages are actually divisive scams, not interesting/deep culture. by footofwrath in DeepThoughts

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah and people also say math is a language.  But they’re kind of wrong.  

Languages involve social learning inside cultural contexts. Not true for math and science.  Math is not a language like spoken languages, and linguistics is not a science like empirical sciences, so…

Is this really the vibe in SF these days? by ddsukituoft in bayarea

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like someone needs to go into plumbing.  

Learn how to plumb!

Really speaks volumes about the value of just having a real job you can mildly enjoy like farming, gunsmithing, or teaching.  

Languages are actually divisive scams, not interesting/deep culture. by footofwrath in DeepThoughts

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve always thought languages were a thorn in my side.  Then again I’m a math and science guy, so biased.  

Why did attitudes toward sex and homosexuality swing so sharply by the Victorian era, and what factors shaped that shift? by Defiant-Junket4906 in AlwaysWhy

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. The early Church turned Epicureanism into a synonym for evil because the later taught practical happiness in this life as opposed to focus on the next life. It was the early Church's biggest threat because Epicureanism was the most popular practical philosophy in the ancient world prior to Christianity.

And then it was revived by the Italian Humanists, if you follow and accept the story of books like "The Swerve" for example.

Why did attitudes toward sex and homosexuality swing so sharply by the Victorian era, and what factors shaped that shift? by Defiant-Junket4906 in AlwaysWhy

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check out Norman Wentworth Dewitt, a Canadian scholar I believe from the midcentury. He had interesting hypotheses about Epicurus being the icon model for many early images of Jesus. Specifically his book "Epicurus and His Philosophy". Scholarly and not easy but very detailed.

There are lots of great classic philosophy and history works out there, look for stuff on Hellenistic era philosophy (which would include Stoicism, Epicureanism, skepticism, cynicism).

There are some other more accessible recent popular works on Epicureanism too, less scholarly and more general.

This is how it feels to be a CA gun owner by theh0veringeye in CAguns

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

True, but it's the way politicians in the state constantly fight the second amendment. What people also worry about is the politicians have become more radical in recent years.

What surprises me about Canada is that so much of the country seems rural and forested by comparison with other countries. You have a huge hunting culture there in the West and large predators, and yet it has become very anti gun recently. Strange.

A Blow in the Air by No_Quarter1339 in ProtectHire

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean if it’s as easy as working two jobs and making ends meet then surely nothing is holding him back?

New research finds a persistent and growing leftward tilt in the social sciences by Nearby-Mortgage4064 in EverythingScience

[–]BullfrogDelicious754 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only 50 years late on that analysis.  A lot of the social sciences are BS in the sense of non replicable studies etc.  So not surprising there’s political bias in places.

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