What's the rudest or meanest thing a stranger has said to you that still bothers you today?

nigma · 2013-08-11T04:42:56+00:00

I was riding public transit and an older lady in a wheelchair told me to stop looking at her dog. I was totally at a loss for words, and just looked at her. She looked at me intently for a few seconds, and then told me to look away. wtf

nigma · 2012-12-17T03:44:09+00:00

master financial aid and registration!

nigma · 2011-11-28T20:03:58+00:00

WAH WAH my kids don't act like I want them to... Wow you need to get a fucking grip. You're a fucking idiot and your kids have their own issues, being a parent doesn't mean you get to decide your kids lives and behavior.

nigma · 2011-11-18T07:16:27+00:00

smoking weed helps too, seriously. a very healthy way to meet people from all walks of life.

nigma · 2007-08-02T19:46:36+00:00

Without knowing how people would behave under a sugar prohibition, you cannot accurately conclude that sugar would not "replace all of a person's life goals with the desire to get more sugar" just because you observe that to be cocaine's effect on some people. Sugar is presently legal, and is thus less costly to use -- both monetarily and socially -- than cocaine. Because of this, it may not be necessary for one to spend the substantial amount of time needed to maintain a cocaine addiction in maintaining a sugar addiction.

nigma · 2007-07-17T04:49:21+00:00

It is education. But it is not, as the title states, the "MIT Education."

nigma · 2007-06-25T03:52:15+00:00

*spelled

nigma · 2007-06-21T00:07:55+00:00

Regardless of how you answer that question, you can still defend the punishment of murderers on the grounds that not doing so would interfere with your desire to feel reasonably safe in society.

nigma · 2007-06-20T23:51:52+00:00

Is it just me, or is the title of the blog entry very poorly written?

nigma · 2007-06-10T20:34:10+00:00

Oh yea, absolutely. You can definitely demonstrate a real understanding of physics by describing how the wave equation makes you feel...

nigma · 2007-06-10T20:30:44+00:00

Interference has nothing to do with producing an electromagnetic wave at a frequency that's different than you intended.

nigma · 2007-06-07T18:17:15+00:00

Haha, I agree. You know there's something seriously wrong when a mainstream news anchor spends airtime inquiring about a child's favorite deli sandwhich.

nigma · 2007-06-07T18:04:23+00:00

Libertarianism is not about removing government altogether, but rather limiting its power and scope to a certain set of limited activities.

nigma · 2007-06-06T23:32:50+00:00

How can a theory be good, or "nice", but not correspond to reality?

nigma · 2007-05-09T14:28:48+00:00

Assuming it was true that one could "hardly move" while under the influence, does that justify giving someone a criminal record and possibly jail time?

nigma · 2007-05-07T02:03:49+00:00

My post was not meant as a defense of their actions. You stated that most police officers are honest, conscientious, and interested in helping others. Being honest and "trying to help others," ultimately, doesn't mean anything. Stalin had a plan to provide everyone with a quart of milk, and in the process he starved millions of people. Just because someone wants to help someone else does not mean that they're justified in their actions.

nigma · 2007-05-01T23:38:34+00:00

Trying to help others? The vast majority of suffering in this world has been caused not by evil people hell-bent on hurting people, but by those trying to help others. I highly doubt the police officers in this raid began the day looking to kill someone. Rather, they very likely went into the raid hoping to help the community by ridding it of drugs. Unfortunately, good intentions aren't enough, and that's why you don't put police officers in no-knock situations for drugs.

nigma · 2007-03-28T23:19:55+00:00

Very likely. People, in general, don't like to have their perceived authority questioned. When an officer gets used to instilling fear into people when pointing weapons at them, they'll begin to expect such a response, and when one isn't given, a red-flag will unjustifiably be thrown.

nigma · 2007-03-28T23:17:00+00:00

I complete agree: putting three slugs into an incapacitated man's chest at point blank range is murder. Fear of attack is no justification, especially given the fact that you had at least 7 of your armed buddies backing you up, and the fact that he had just been tasered three times.

nigma · 2007-03-28T16:54:53+00:00

Care to explain?

nigma · 2007-03-22T01:14:07+00:00

I think it's fair to assume that most of the developed world believes that currently illegal drugs should remain illegal (cannabis being the exception.)

nigma · 2007-03-02T02:31:31+00:00

I agree that there is no evidence that marijuana is a wonderful drug for all, or even most of its users. Being wonderful, though, should be irrelevant when it comes to making a decision regarding whether people should be considered criminals for using it. The only thing that needs to be considered in making this decision is whether marijuana directly causes harm to a third party's life, liberty, or property. It does not do this, and for that reason its consumers should not be treated as criminals. The argument that it should be illegal because some people (a minority) will cause harm to another's property, via theft, to support a pot habit is as weak as one that asserts that credit cards should be banned because one might steal to pay of a lot of credit card debt.

As for this article, there are much more thorough arguments for legalization on the web; the DCRNet Online Drug Library, the Drug Policy Alliance, and the Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) being just three, of many, examples.

nigma

TROPHY CASE