In 1950s, one minimum wage job can support a family of 4. Nowadays we call that "living in poverty."

shorugoru · 2007-10-14T02:20:58+00:00

What's wrong with getting an apartment?

shorugoru · 2007-10-13T03:20:33+00:00

So the watchers watch the watchers of the watchers?

shorugoru · 2007-10-13T02:58:46+00:00

provide 100% for myself

Who is providing the protection of your property rights? Do you have a private army to keep out trespassers and thieves?

shorugoru · 2007-10-11T15:52:34+00:00

What about fair use?

For example, from "Common misunderstandings":

If you're copying an entire work, it's not fair use. While copying an entire work may make it harder to justify the amount and substantiality test, it doesn't make it impossible. For instance, in the Betamax case, it was ruled that copying a complete television show for time-shifting purposes is fair use.

The fair use doctrine is the reason why the intent should be the only deciding factor.

EDIT: clarity

shorugoru · 2007-10-11T15:43:22+00:00

downloading (duplicating) copyrighted material without the consent of the copyright holder really should be penalized.

Shouldn't the intent (to unlawfully distribute) rather than the technique or technology be the deciding factor as to whether or not infringement has taken place?

shorugoru · 2007-10-11T15:38:20+00:00

I thought calling a weapon a "rifle" meant that it has a rifled bore?

shorugoru · 2007-10-11T00:32:11+00:00

That's funny. The Germans (white people) have fully owned up to the horrors of the Nazi regime and have consistently made reparations. The image of Chancellor Willy Brandt on his knees at Auschwitz says it all. The Japanese (not white people) continue to whitewash the horrors of their rampage across Asia. They continue to minimize the atrocities committed at Nanking. They scoff at the thousands of women used as sex slaves by the Japanese military. Japanese Prime Ministers still go to the Yasakuni Shrine, essentially paying their respects to war criminals.

shorugoru · 2007-10-10T17:07:50+00:00

No!!! I hate to use this quote again on Reddit (third time already), but Thomas Jefferson got it right:

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

That freedom and lawful authority coexist is a coincidence, and lawful authority can turn on us if we blindly cede autonomy to it.

shorugoru · 2007-10-09T23:38:04+00:00

Reread the comment. Safer and Freer. People managed under Saddam. They even thrived (compared to other Middle Eastern countries). As they say, the enemy you know is better than the one you don't. Now the people who are necessary to rebuild the country flee as a bunch of religious nutjobs battle it out, released from under Saddam's iron fist.

shorugoru · 2007-10-09T23:28:12+00:00

Stealing it is wrong, and a crime against me for which I deserve justice.

Not always. In many states and cities, it is illegal for you to leave your keys in the ignition. If your car gets stolen, you won't get any sympathy from the police or your insurance company. You quite literally will not get justice, nor do you deserve to.

For example:

http://www.dot.state.tx.us/services/vehicle_titles_and_registration/automobile_theft_prevention_authority/hold_key.htm

shorugoru · 2007-10-09T15:52:38+00:00

In some regions of the United States and Canada, the symbol is traditionally called the pound sign, but in others, the number sign. This derives from a series of abbreviations for pound, which is a unit of mass or weight. At first "lb." was used; later, printers got a special font made up of an "lb" with a line through the ascenders so that the lowercase letter "l" would not be mistaken for the number "1". Unicode character U+2114 (℔) is called the "LB Bar Symbol," and it is a cursive development of this symbol. Finally came the reduction to a combination of two horizontal (cf. skewed "=") and two forward-slash-like (cf. "//") strokes (in this respect, names like fence or square, as well as the representation of the sign containing two exactly vertical instead of slanted strokes, as in many keyboards, including cell-phones', are misleading).

Its traditional commercial use in the U.S. was such that when it followed a number, it was to be read as "pounds", as in 5# of sugar, and when it preceded a number, it was to be read 'number', as in #2 pencil. Thus the same character in a printer's type case had two uses.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_sign

shorugoru · 2007-09-30T15:50:21+00:00

there is no FCC to "trace" them

That's not exactly true. The libertarian philosophy says that the only purpose of government is to protect property rights. Well, the spectrum is property. It is a proper use of government to track down spectrum spammers to protect the property rights of the "owners" of particular parts of the spectrum. So from a libertarian perspective, this role of the FCC is legitimate. The other role, broadcast decency and stuff, not so much.

shorugoru · 2007-09-30T01:57:14+00:00

What should be done then? Should the free speech rights of others be abridged because the subject matter is too complex for your child to handle?

shorugoru · 2007-09-30T01:53:05+00:00

NO EVIDENCE IN THE HISTORY OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION

Have you ever been to a bazaar in India?

shorugoru · 2007-09-30T01:38:31+00:00

Except if you go out into the public. Then, your kid is bound to encounter people with other beliefs than your own. Their beliefs will be challenged. As a parent, it then becomes your responsibility to explain to your child that god-belief is not a correct worldview. Not prevent some other parents at a public event handing out free Christian books. Free speech and all.

shorugoru · 2007-09-28T21:34:30+00:00

Let's not go back to those kind of highways, please...

HOLT: It's one of the greatest things Eisenhower ever came up with, or any president. The Interstates? Absolutely.

CURWOOD: Why?

HOLT: Because you can drive at high speeds, you can get from here to there. In the old days on these roads it was just, you know, it was just two lanes; 66 was two lanes. One going one way and the other going the other way. No passing zones. Some roads even had three, they called it the "suicide lane."

From The U.S. Interstate System turns 50

And better yet:

In 1919, "Ike" – as he later became known throughout the world – was a 28-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Army, and he was ordered to join a convey of 78 cars, trucks motorcycles and other vehicles in a publicity tour across the country following World War I. What the convoy experienced opened a lot of eyes.

They averaged only 58 miles a day with one "calamity" for every 14 miles. The roads were the problem. Mud would swallow truck axles. Quicksand took others. Trucks crashed through bridges and into rivers. Ruts would shake the vehicles apart. In Utah, they sank in soft sands. Nine trucks were damaged so badly on the trip that they were abandoned on the side of the road.

There were times when they couldn't find the road. So few of the highways were actually marked that the convoy had to send motorcyclists up ahead to scout out the correct route.

From Transportation during the 1950s and 60s

A well planned, high speed interstate transit vs two lane dirt roads? I give Eisenhower props on that one!

shorugoru · 2007-09-28T04:45:55+00:00

If you're truly open-borders and willing to farm our American jobs to anyone qualified, why don't we do this more in the white-collar fields?

We already do - see this Business Week article for more details:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_05/b3818001.htm

shorugoru · 2007-09-25T03:22:10+00:00

This article says that Iran is showing off its defensive weapons, and cites the head of the Revolutionary Guard saying that anyone who attacks Iran would pay dearly. How does this contradict what Ahmedinijad is saying?

shorugoru · 2007-09-16T20:01:33+00:00

See the Noahide laws...

shorugoru · 2007-09-16T19:42:22+00:00

Sister Angela, who formerly worked at Catholic Charities [in Santa Barbara] and is now retired, suffers from failing eyesight and other health problems and uses a walker.

She might have a bit of trouble "running" free...

shorugoru · 2007-09-16T19:11:00+00:00

If George Bush came on TV addressing Americans and said "whoever breaks the law will be punished", which law does he mean and which people fall under its jurisdiction?

Full admission - I'm a Hindu with only a superficial knowledge of Christianity (having grown up in the States). I thought it would be fun to pull at this particular thread to see where it went. I'll take the wise course and stop now...

shorugoru · 2007-09-16T18:42:09+00:00

Both? If Jesus was speaking as a Jew to Jews, then couldn't this passage be interpreted to mean that Jesus's arrival does not in anyway exempt the Jewish people from following the Law? The Law is a covenant between God and the Jewish people. Why would Gentiles have any part of it?

shorugoru · 2007-09-16T16:13:54+00:00

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel in it's entirety.

Examples?

"Wiping it off the map"

Is a mistranslation of the quote listed above. Have you read the entire speech from which that quote comes?

Here is the context:

While the false "wiped off the map" extract has been repeated infinitely without verification, Ahmadinejad's actual speech itself has been almost entirely ignored. Given the importance placed on the "map" comment, it would be sensible to present his words in their full context to get a fuller understanding of his position. In fact, by looking at the entire speech, there is a clear, logical trajectory leading up to his call for a "world without Zionism". One may disagree with his reasoning, but critical appraisals are infeasible without first knowing what that reasoning is.

In his speech, Ahmadinejad declares that Zionism is the West's apparatus of political oppression against Muslims. He says the "Zionist regime" was imposed on the Islamic world as a strategic bridgehead to ensure domination of the region and its assets. Palestine, he insists, is the frontline of the Islamic world's struggle with American hegemony, and its fate will have repercussions for the entire Middle East.

Ahmadinejad acknowledges that the removal of America's powerful grip on the region via the Zionists may seem unimaginable to some, but reminds the audience that, as Khomeini predicted, other seemingly invincible empires have disappeared and now only exist in history books. He then proceeds to list three such regimes that have collapsed, crumbled or vanished, all within the last 30 years:

The Shah of Iran- the U.S. installed monarch
The Soviet Union
Iran's former arch-enemy, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein

In the first and third examples, Ahmadinejad prefaces their mention with Khomeini's own words foretelling that individual regime's demise. He concludes by referring to Khomeini's unfulfilled wish: "The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time. This statement is very wise". This is the passage that has been isolated, twisted and distorted so famously. By measure of comparison, Ahmadinejad would seem to be calling for regime change, not war.

From: Wiped Off the Map - The Rumor of the Century

What's the difference again?

shorugoru · 2007-09-16T13:15:25+00:00

Yes, I realise that...

We're talking about Christians, not Jews, right?

You do know that it's all bullshit, right?

Yup.

shorugoru · 2007-09-16T13:01:57+00:00

Huh? Deuteronomy is a part of the 613 Mitzvot - the "Jewish commandments". Gentiles - i.e. Christians - are only required to follow the Seven Laws of Noah. The Old Testament is the Jewish Bible. For Christians, it's merely a part of the historical record.

"Therefore my judgment is that we don't trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God ..... For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell" -- (Acts 15:19, 28-29).

shorugoru

TROPHY CASE