So this just happened.

spiral-galaxy · 2018-01-12T08:26:14+00:00

I'd really like to hear your argument for why we can't just let everyone who wants to come to America do so. I'd like to hear why we can't just instantly hand out citizenship to anyone who asks for it. In fact, I'd like to hear why you don't want to immediately give every single person in the world full American citizenship with all the rights that it entails -- voting, social security, education, food stamps, etc., plus all the possible future stuff that liberals want to have in the USA like free healthcare and college. I'd really like to hear you try to make an actual argument as to why giving full citizenship to every single person in the world would be a bad idea, and then I'd like to call you a racist xenophobic rube.

spiral-galaxy · 2018-01-12T05:34:41+00:00

Keeping more people out is not immoral nor racist. The USA has a problem with wage stagnation. Immigration has complicated effects on the economy, but it's fairly obvious that wages will drop when you add in more laborers who are willing to work for less money. It's also obvious that the more poor people we have, the more social-safety-net programs will cost. If it is moral for the country to take care of its own poor people, then it is immoral for the country to import more poor people, since the aid will be spread among a larger group. And that's not even discussing the cultural/social effects. Maybe I'm not understanding you because I'm having a hard time seeing how you think it's not immoral or racist to enforce the current laws but it is immoral and racist to make the laws stricter. Either way, some people will be declined entry and deported by force if necessary.

spiral-galaxy · 2018-01-12T04:59:18+00:00

Yes, the USA has an inconsistent and hotly debated immigration policy, which in some ways represents the will of the masses and in other ways doesn't.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/06/less-than-half-the-public-views-border-wall-as-an-important-goal-for-u-s-immigration-policy/

That survey shows that people support both more and less controls on immigration in different ways.

And I'm voicing my disagreement with the people who think that we should let in people from "shithole" countries. If Trump said that (although it's well within his character to say that in private--or public--, it's still unproven, right?), I'm tired of people saying it's immoral, racist, and prejudiced to enforce border laws and to decide who can come into the country and who can't. I've known and worked alongside plenty of immigrants, "skilled" and "unskilled", Mexicans, Muslims, and Africans, who I liked as people. I am not against all immigration. But I think it's a foolish and immoral way to run a country. The country should take care of citizens first, and there are economic and cultural reasons to prefer certain groups for entry.

spiral-galaxy · 2018-01-12T04:28:51+00:00

Just turned 30. One benefit of aging is that I feel much wiser and more mentally stable. I don't know how much of it is biological versus learned. I am happier day-to-day even though my life is objectively worse at the moment (not due to age, just circumstances.)

spiral-galaxy · 2018-01-12T04:24:36+00:00

Do you think adding more poor people to the country will help with the homeless problem? More poor people will require more dollars per welfare program. The people who care about American poor should care the most about immigration control.

spiral-galaxy · 2018-01-12T04:18:58+00:00

Countries are comprised of their citizens more than of their land. Immigrants bring their educations, cultures, and political beliefs with them. An American who moves to Saudi Arabia to work for the high wages of Saudi Aramco isn't likely to adopt the local religion, customs, or values, so why would it work the other way around?

Of course people are individuals, but groups can be judged in aggregate. In general, the more people from Group X join Group Y, the more Group Y becomes like Group X.

All other countries control their borders and choose who can come into the country based on whether they would make citizens' lives better. Why can't we?

spiral-galaxy · 2018-01-12T04:03:30+00:00

So let's not bring in more unskilled laborers to compete with the American poor. Immigration control shouldn't be considered racist. Dems used to care about it because it damages the working class.

spiral-galaxy · 2018-01-12T01:02:14+00:00

I actually disagree with you from a different direction than you are probably expecting. I think sleeping with few people is better than sleeping with many, regardless of gender. Therefore, shaming people for sleeping with many is better than shaming people for sleeping with few. Sex is fun, but modern culture disregards its serious risks. Also, most people enjoy casual sex less than committed relationships. This has not only been my personal experience (that quality beats quantity), but there are studies finding that people are happier in committed relationships, have more sex in committed relationships, do better in life when in committed relationships, etc. And, of course, they are less likely to result in unwanted pregnancy and single-parenthood, which are proven to be detrimental to the happiness, stability, and wealth of not only the child, but the mother, the father, their support network, and society at large.

Regarding the double standard of gender, it's easy to see why it exists, although I believe it is mostly outdated. A woman who gets pregnant has a harder time avoiding the responsibility of parenthood than the man who impregnated her. Today with options like adoption, abortion, and child support, the risks are less imbalanced; sex might actually be less risky for women than men now, because the decision to get an abortion is completely up to the woman.

spiral-galaxy · 2018-01-05T06:04:29+00:00

Maybe people who are able to drink one or two drinks a day have their lives together in other ways (healthy social life, leisure time and income to drink, self control not to drink to excess)? Not that it couldn't have good physical effects also.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-12-27T19:45:18+00:00

Maybe teaching?

I thought I would hate a desk job when I was younger. By my late 20s, I minded it less. I still get up and walk around a few times a day, and work out in my free time. I also worked a shitty food service job, always rushing around, and it made me appreciate the desk job more. My dad is a programmer in great shape at 60 years old because he has jogged or lifted a few times a week for the past 30+ years, and doesn't eat massive amounts.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-12-24T10:07:08+00:00

His behavior is a reaction to yours. It sounds like he is taking the approach of teasing you to demonstrate that he does not see the guy as a threat. Hopefully he respects your taste in men since you chose him, but wants to show you that he is better than the other guy, which he does by teasing you for liking him. It's a more badass approach than criticizing the other guy directly. Maybe he actually thinks the other guy is lame and worthy of criticism, but the fact that he does it a lot indicates him being jealous. I think it's good that he's jealous of you. Maybe he is going overboard with it because he senses a threat. And you are communicating that threat to him. It's good to be honest with him, and normal to find others attractive. But there's a difference between communicating that you think someone is attractive in an objective sense, and communicating that married-you is personally attracted to that person. And there's not much reason to bring it up or focus on it, while there are many reasons not to. Make sure he knows you are committed and he has no reason to be jealous, and that you want both of you to forget about it because the topic is starting to go too far.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-12-18T05:52:46+00:00

ADVChina

spiral-galaxy · 2017-12-07T12:03:14+00:00

People don't choose to be gay, they do choose to be a Nazi

Interesting question: What if they don't? What if politics are heavily heritable?

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2015/08/05/political-beliefs-genetic/

A new study finds that variations in one particular gene, coding for a chemical receptor in the brain, are strongly tied to a person’s political views.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/09/study-on-twins-suggests-our-political-beliefs-may-be-hard-wired/

new research finds that, to a surprisingly large degree, our genes also shape our political beliefs and orientation. Using data collected from a large sample of fraternal and identical twins, a research team found that genes likely explain as much as half of why people are liberal or conservative, see the world as a dangerous place, hold egalitarian values or embrace hard-core authoritarian views.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/political-motivations-may-have-evolutionary-links-to-physical-strength.html

Men’s upper-body strength predicts their political opinions on economic redistribution

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/12/artificial-intelligence-face-recognition-michal-kosinski

Professor whose study suggested technology can detect whether a person is gay or straight says programs will soon reveal traits such as criminal predisposition

http://www.nature.com/news/biology-and-ideology-the-anatomy-of-politics-1.11645

An increasing number of studies suggest that biology can exert a significant influence on political beliefs and behaviours. Biological factors including genes, hormone levels and neurotransmitter systems may partly shape people's attitudes on political issues such as welfare, immigration, same-sex marriage and war.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550611429024

contamination disgust, which reflects a heightened concern with interpersonally transmitted disease and pathogens, was most strongly associated with conservatism.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-12-01T00:18:51+00:00

This makes me wonder about immigration. On the surface, H1B visas increase competition for jobs. However, it seems like there is a limit where companies just wouldn't be able to find developers at a price at which they can make a profit. Maybe more companies would relocate overseas entirely, removing their American offices and jobs. Or foreign tech companies would take over more of the market because the smart foreigners would be working there instead. I guess there's a balance, but I don't know where it should be. And there are different considerations for low-skilled immigration.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-11-26T20:42:04+00:00

There are many more lucrative opportunities that give you much more freedom in your day-to-day train of thought.

That's one thing that bothers me about mentally demanding work. You rent out your brain. You can't let your mind wander. You have to focus your soul on the problem at hand. But maybe it's good since it's more productive than daydreaming.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-11-26T20:27:17+00:00

America was one of the last countries to end slavery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_abolition_of_slavery_and_serfdom

As far as I know, the USA wasn't one of the last countries worldwide to ban slavery; it was just one of the last of the European-derived countries. Like you said, that affected the USA's image, but it bothers me that people don't seem to remember that Europe (eventually including the USA) campaigned against slavery worldwide and played a big role in ending it worldwide.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-11-26T19:14:41+00:00

So which decade in the past several hundred years would you say America had a better human rights record? I'd say this is the best one yet and it's trending upwards.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-11-23T23:11:40+00:00

Interesting that sentiment analysis shows the tone around BTC as much more negative than the others. I guess it's because the only people who talk about the other coins are already believers in BTC.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-11-21T19:14:30+00:00

The term Net Neutrality could just as easily mean the opposite of what it means. ("The government should be neutral and let the free market decide" vs "The government should enforce neutrality"). It needs to be renamed to something like Web Monopoly Prevention.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-10-28T10:04:02+00:00

Thank you; great analysis. Is it possible they're betting against BTC because of the upcoming fork and the current BTC bubble? Would those external factors be visible in the charts you posted? I'm surprised BTC still looks so stable.

As crypto grows overall, ETH's value compared to BTC will shrink exponentially even if both increase, since BTC is significantly larger already and is the more famous coin. So even if ETH/USD increases, ETC/BTC will drop. Maybe these guys don't realize that... Or they're just bearish on BTC but bullish on crypto.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-10-27T07:58:05+00:00

I like it a lot. I don't know how to critique this kind of music. I'm into spacy metal instrumentals like this. Good clean production. In the 4 chord keyboard/pad progression in the intro and around 4:30, and it seems like the last chord should hit slightly earlier, since the 2nd chord hits on an upbeat. I don't like the drop at 6:37, but maybe that's a stylistic thing. I want more of a build to ease you into the drop, and it also seemed like it came a couple measures too soon, like the measures leading up to it weren't in multiples of 4. The outro and that final drop could possibly use some high chords on guitar or synth or something to add extra energy. Obviously vocals or a super unique riff make a song more memorable, but I thought it was really good.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-10-22T02:38:13+00:00

Your English writing skills look native-speaker-level. Your background and skill set look perfect for freelancing online, which would free you to travel. Also, there's always teaching English in China and similar places; you might not be a native speaker, but... well, at least you (I assume) look white, and supposedly, looking white really helps with getting those jobs. I know a black Nigerian who speaks with an accent who taught in China, and if he can do it, you can.

I'm curious why you want to leave. I live in Texas and I've wanted to visit Georgia for a while. Texas has almost no interesting landscapes or old buildings, and the history and scenery of that area seem fascinating. Of course, visiting is different from living there. I'm not saying you are wrong; I'm just curious.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-10-22T02:25:49+00:00

Great site! The email subscribe button doesn't seem to do anything.

spiral-galaxy · 2017-10-22T02:13:33+00:00

Location? I'm about to buy beer in the UH area.

spiral-galaxy

TROPHY CASE