good times

Oh hey, missed this the first time around:

First off you know I've read more than The Jungle. Pr sure Upton Sinclair was a socialist. Or at least, more of a socialist than the US was at the time. He def had beef against laissez-faire government and with good reason.

How is removing oversignt from capitalism by destroying the government going to result in anything but a Randian utopia? Please, enlighten me.

You may be misreading my posts. Of course we need to change a lot and we're currently heading in the wrong direction. Stripping government of oversight is a step toward Anarchy though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-capitalism

:shrug:
Because without the government propping it up capitalism, and its hierarchy wouldn't exist. Ayn Rand is dumb dyke that has little understanding of people, or economics. The idea of 'anarcho-capitalism' as actually working as described in that article is silly. With the absence of the state the people are most likely going to form something akin to an anarcho-syndicist, or anarcho-communist society which benefits everyone in the community rather than the anarcho-capitalism which leaves the hierarchy of the state, but eliminates the protective measures. If it were up to the workers in a community, and they are providing for the people in a community, and their families why would they choose to have deplorable work conditions? To produce things in grotesque matters?
I mean, without oversight how do I know if the food I get is safe to eat? How do I ensure that I can live a comfortable life and earn a living wage? How can I ensure social justice?
With the breaking down of nation-states, and formation of smaller enclaves of people akin to kibbutz the need for oversight is unnecessary. If people realize that people are greater than profit then there isn't any reason to fear those things as much as we do now. This may seem like an absurd concept because since the pharoah ruled in the land of the nile there was a hunger for profit, but that was derived from the hierarchy. If we look even further back at the essence of man in societies like the !Kung, the Sami, and the Dakota we see a different relationship between the people, and the earth. Just because we've developed all this modern thinking, modern 'stuff,' and no longer need to worry about food, shelter, and water for the most part doesn't mean that we can't incorporate those communal lifestyles into ours.
I mean, f***, can you imagine what the south would be like with no government? HOLY SHIT. There's be a black man from every tree!
Yeah, I'm aware. I'd hope that in smaller based communities racist notions could be dispelled because of their illogicality, and the recognition of the beauty of all mankind.

I think that in the absense of a state the people with resources would still have those resources. They might not be in the form of money per se (since I guess it wouldn't be printed or trusted without state backing), but there will still be sources of power. I'm thinking about many places in Africa here that actually don't have a de facto state but have an abundance of terrible people with resources.

On the point of state-backed heirarchies: I agree that this is a serious issue but I don't think the solution is removal of the state (see above for why). IMO the solution is to excize those parts of the state that do that and leave the protections in place.

Finally, Mete probably knows more about this than I do but my gut feeling is that xenophobia would tend to be increased in smaller enclaves of society not decreased. I admit I could be wrong though.

Also, yes. Ayn Rand is terrible. We agree on that.

[This message has been edited by drnick (edited 06-09-2011 @ 04:17 PM).]

would you kindly...

I was wondering how long we could talk about rand on a video game forum before that came up.

Infinite looks effing awesome. I wish I had the hardware/time to play it.

PS3 .

Or not, I haven't even finished part 2 on it (I'm a horrible person).

You need to get your kid into gaming so you can justify buying a decent rig .

She's 3. I'm not sure she's ready to tackle turn of the
(20th) century American isolationism and racism.

[This message has been edited by drnick (edited 06-11-2011 @ 01:56 AM).]

Dont give me that gobbledygook

Maybe start her on Sims and see if she shares her dads love of wrenches, then move on to Bioshock .

Nobody else needs to know a 3 year old doesn't care about video games...

I'd laugh if she actually did, and never let you on it.

Due to my losing weigh thread having been archieved I'll drop this pic here to show that I haven't quit with my intention to lose weigh. Comparison between the initial stage and now

NSFW

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/5895/currentprogress1020106.jpg

New pic in OP.

and it is so done. And MH is still alive!

good going MH! Pride of the Swedish Norwegian Finnish.

Oh cool it looks like you got new glasses.

http://www.mediafire.com/?l5qnm60mnzq7hlg

Feel free to download that, it's a song I made for Ashrzr over at HGMM. It's based on a song I made some years ago.

Here're the lyrics (a word of warning, it's quite... Un-Majory ):


DEATH ON WINGS

The gates of hell have given way
All the sins of humankind will now be laid
At their feet and they shall get paid
If they wish to see the day
Of lesser shadows

*chorus*
Death on wings
All mortal Things
Get swept away
In a hail of blood and thunder
Death on wings

In the rise of the day with no light
When the humanity will still fight
Will the pure and the wise and the brave
Meet their ends in the coldest grave
Of hellish shadows

*chorus*
In the final day
The strong will fail
They're swept away
In a hail of blood and thunder
Death on wings

In the end of time, dusk and dawn
Will the lord of the demons spawn
And the lone man still standing
Will then step foward and sing
In defiance and in sorrow
"There will be no tomorrow!"
Gathers his courage and
Spits the in the devils eye
And thence will die

*chorus*
Death on wings
All mortal Things
Get swept away
In a hail of blood and thunder
Death on wings

I have a new ringtone.

when do Amorphis sign you? :horns:

Saffah, you think my log-based prediction of the saloon's total TMO post counts will still hold?

We are now in the perimortem lag phase

I thought of Saffah when I saw this:
http://www.excalibur-publishing.co.uk/surgery.htm


_{some related reading:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/07/08/street-cleanin-man-street-cleaning-simulator}

I thought the second link said cockpapershotgun what is wrong with me?

Endorsed by Dr. Kumar Shah!

Attention! This product is a computer game and not for training or tuition purposes!!! The product is NOT suitable for conveying specialist knowledge in medicine or surgery. All operations shown are simplified considerably and only represented in excerpts. It is not possible to prepare yourself in any way for medical operations using this software or gain knowledge and skills that could be implemented in reality. We cannot accept ANY RESPONSIBILITY for the correctness of the operation procedures and information shown.

Is seems like Kumar Shah has some questions to answer, care to explain why the software you endorsed isn't up to scratch?