stutefish

Reply to Iraq War could cost $2 Trillion Dollars in Politics JoeUser Forums

It would solve all the Social Security problems temporarily. In reality, it would simply postpone the problems of Social Security. Also, it would leave about 2 Trillion Dollars worth of freedom, democracy, and counter-terrorism unsolved. Might as well say we should phase out Social Security altogether, establish personal retirement programs like 401(k)s and Roth IRAs, and use the SS taxes to fund an additional several billion

Reply to The Problem With the Theory of Evolution in Ethics JoeUser Forums

Draginol (and others) say that Evolution doesn't make moral conclusions at all. This is my point. Evoluotion doen't make moral conclusions; why should we? More importantly, why should we make moral conclusions that contradict the natural process of evolution as we currently understand it? And why should we make moral conclusions that are inconsistent? Hitler, a product of evolution, kills Jews. Therefore, we conclude

Reply to The Problem With the Theory of Evolution in Ethics JoeUser Forums

Sure, Hitler may have been evolutionarily undesirable. I'm just saying he can't have been morally undesireable, any more than the Bird Flu is morally undesireable. Pacdragon says that morality is an evolutionary necessity, because it motivates us to eliminate undesireable evolutionary outcomes from our population. But then why don't we make a moral judgement against polio? We seem to have been motivated quite well to eliminate polio, without ever t

The Problem With the Theory of Evolution in Ethics JoeUser Forums

WARNING! I am about to say something morally repugnant. If you are offended by things like Holocaust Denial and thought experiments depending on extreme examples of moral relativism, stop reading now. Okay, so the problem with the Theory of Evolution is that it leads to conclusion that the Holocaust, which killed many of undesireabl

Reply to A new application of Godwin's Law in Misc JoeUser Forums

Censorship! Fascism! Just like Chimpy McHalliHitler Oilburton!

Reply to Forming new society of recovering troll-a-holics in Politics JoeUser Forums

Heh, I thought the thing to do with trolls was to keep them distracted with pointless debate on topics of their own choosing, until they're suprised by morning and turned to everlasting stone by the rays of the sun.

I Dream of Conspiracy in Life Journals JoeUser Forums

Had another dream last night. This one started out on a desert island, with vague undertones of Gilligan's Island. Don't ask why; I don't know. It's not like I've watched Gilligan's Island in, like, the last twenty years or so. Maybe it's a Lost thing. But then it turned out that I had Learned Too Much about the Conspiracy. Goons promptly abducte

Reply to Must-See Places in Fun destinations JoeUser Forums

So much to choose from! One of our great cities, one of our natural wonders, and one of our cultural artifacts. New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles... The Grand Canyon, the Rockies, the Everglades... Disneyland, the Mall (Washington, D.C.), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory...

Reply to Who is Really most SEXIST? in Philosophy JoeUser Forums

I believe that men and women are very different, and that this should be strongly reflected in society and language (in so far as healthy societies and useful languages reflect what is true in the world), but not in rights or laws. What does that make me?

Reply to The Iraq War is making America LESS Secure! in Politics JoeUser Forums

I don't buy it. If 9/11 happened when America was more secure than it is today, shouldn't we be seeing more terrorist attacks, insted of none at all? The fact is, terrorist types may be getting more angry and disgruntled, but as the number of states which support them dwindles, and as they run out of safe havens from which to plan and launch devastating terror attacks, their ability to act in any significant way on their disgruntlement diminis

Reply to Getting out the vote!! in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Oh me, for sure.

Reply to Why I might vote for Martin in International JoeUser Forums

I guess this decision makes sense if you trust Martin to fulfill his campaign promises, and if you believe he has the political influence to overcome any opposition, and if you're sure that he is not excessively beholden to lobbies or special interests that might dissuade him.

Reply to Who Said in Politics JoeUser Forums

I think Reid has a point. Think about it: Vegas has large crowds, including a rapidly-growing number of families with children. It's an engine of commerce in the region. It occupies a special place in the American psyche. It's highly symbolic of the decadence and depravity of western culture. Were I a terrorist, I'd put it on my target list just for the tourist-crowd death toll potential al

Reply to Let Me Say This About That in Religion JoeUser Forums

Heh. Not really. And the more I think about it, the less sense it makes.

Let Me Say This About That in Religion JoeUser Forums

So it occurred to me that there's phsyics, and then there's metaphysics. As the prefix "meta-" implies, "metaphysics" is about things that are beyond the power of physics to describe. Now, through constant study, physics is able to describe more and more things. But it will never be able to describe everything. In fact, advances in the realm of ph

Reply to Table Selection in Gaming JoeUser Forums

So what will be your strategy for learning to spot table types in real life, where you have no computer aid?

Reply to Lab Day in Life Journals JoeUser Forums

Heh. I've always been a precocious writer and reader, but I got into the sysadmin game through the back door, via helpdesk technician and some technical training courses. All the companies I ever worked in, desktop (and later server) support was pretty compartmentalized from the network administration responsibilities. So I could run Cat 5 (missed out on the whole coax era), configure TCP/IP settings, and all that. But as fa

Reply to Saddam's Terror Training Camps in Politics JoeUser Forums

I take it, kingbee, that you were one of those who always believed that there were strong ties between the Saddam Hussein regime and terror groups?

Reply to Poll Favoring Dems Means Little in Politics JoeUser Forums

I've read that 52% of the respondents to this poll were Democrats, and 40% Republican, but I can't find any support for this claim. Does anybody have some details on the exact specifications of this poll?

Reply to Abramoff: A 'Republican' Fund Raiser? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Apparently it's a traditional garb of the Orthodox Jew, a subculture with which Abramoff at least occasionally identifies. I assume he was trying to signal that he was serious about the trouble he was in, or something.

Reply to Still here folks... in Misc JoeUser Forums

Maybe it was a term of endearment? I call my friends "nigga" all the time, and they're not even black!

How Basic Cable Is Worse Than Network Television in Life Journals JoeUser Forums

With Network Television, you pay for shampoo, and the shampoo company pays for your television entertainment, and you get shampoo commercials. With Premium Cable, you pay for shampoo, and you pay for your television entertainment, but there's no shampoo commercials. With Basic Cable, you pay for shampoo, and you pay for your television entertainment,

Reply to Pat Robertson's A Bigger Dumbass in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Clearly, I need to work on my pitching

Reply to Values Displaced in Politics JoeUser Forums

I'm not sure if stevendedalus is saying that the government should force his wealth-redistribution value system on all citizens, or if he's saying that the government should stay out of it and that private citizens should exercise their right to free speech to try to convince people to adopt their value system. If it's the former, I'm all against it. If it's the latter, I'm all for it.

Reply to Pat Robertson's A Bigger Dumbass in Current Events JoeUser Forums

All very true, Daiwa. What I meant was, Amadinejad is a religious crackpot who wields the power of the state. Pat Robertson is not. To me, this makes Robertson a lot more like Ralph Nader or Michael Moore or even Osma Bin Laden (though without the worldwide network of murderous thugs bent on world domination through violence, of course), than like Amadinejad.