MilkmanDan

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Birthdate: May 7th, 1981 (43 years old)

A little about me...

I was only trying to establish a strong "dairy presence" in the neighborhood.

Member Since: August 16, 2009
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Comments to MilkmanDan

15 Comments

PlayhousePals

says...

oh no ... I hadn't thought of that.

He's fortunate to be so multi faceted. And, as he indicated, he has a boatload of comedic relief from all of the people he knows. That will certainly come in handy [oops, sorry] utilizing the 'laughter is the best medicine' theory.

What a shitty summer break, huh?

MilkmanDan said:

I know he plays guitar, and that would be his fret hand -- hope he can get back to 100% there. I find playing an instrument to be a great way to keep in a positive mental state after being sick or injured.

oritteropo

says...

As I heard it, the problem is that some people will tend to slam on the brakes on an orange light when they see a red light camera and then get rear ended.

I admit to only briefly perusing the list, but the descriptions on some of the links mention a similar conclusion.

MilkmanDan said:

Man, that makes zero sense to me ... but thanks for providing links to studies, because all I've got to back up my tendency towards skepticism of the idea is gut feeling plus personal anecdotes.

Weird, wild stuff.

eric3579

says...

Happy Birthday Dan!

PlayhousePals

says...

Happy Birthday MilkmanDan! May it be hormone free

newtboy

says...

Thank you, kind sir.

MilkmanDan said:

Thanks much for in-depth answers to the solar questions! Have a couple power points.

oritteropo

says...

Hi @MilkmanDan, Get voters for the video by hovering your mouse over the number (desktop version) or clicking (mobile version).

MilkmanDan said:

[...]

I tried to figure out where to see "who voted for this video", currently under the comment entry box. I can't find that information in beta UI. I must admit that the current location isn't particularly logical, but I know to look for it there and I can't find it at all in the beta.

[...]

eric3579

says...

fyi - Scroll over #of votes to see pop up of who voted for the video

Thanks for chiming in. I pretty much agree with you on all points.

siftbot

says...

Congratulations! Your comment on Jon Stewart leaving The Daily Show. has just received enough votes from the community to earn you 1 Power Point. Thank you for your quality contribution to VideoSift.

oritteropo

says...

They might not be that close together, but the distance from Bangkok to either NYC or Topeka KS is almost the same You just head in opposite directions for the shortest path.

MilkmanDan said:

Yeah, I actually get quite a bit of novelty seeking attention here in Thailand, even as a nerdy white dude.

Where are you from?
Kansas.
Is that close to New York?
...No.

siftbot

says...

You just received a gift of 1 Power Point from member @ChaosEngine. What an incredible specimen of awesomeness.

ChaosEngine

says...

thanks man, that's awesome!

MilkmanDan said:

I remember we had a quick comment chat about Rocksmith a while ago, and specifically about tab vs. Rocksmith for learning. I found the link to a program a guy made that can convert Rocksmith .psarc files into guitar pro tabs, and thought you might be interested:

http://www.rocksmithtotab.de/

siftbot

says...

Congratulations! Your comment on Cross section of a wasp nest seen through a window has just received enough votes from the community to earn you 1 Power Point. Thank you for your quality contribution to VideoSift.

siftbot

says...

Happy anniversary! Today marks year number 5 since you first became a Sifter and the community is better for having you. Thanks for your contributions!

eric3579

says...

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y!!

PlayhousePals

says...

Hey MilkmanDan! Hope you have a fabulous birthday today!

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MilkmanDan said:

This is a very interesting question that I've thought quite a lot about during my life (to myself, not in any sort of professional capacity).

The conclusions that I have come to (so far) are:
I think that, yes, religion in general terms IS a significant (but it is a stretch to say the ONLY) restraint on a pretty large number of people.  Which is a prospect that I personally have a negative and pessimistic reaction to, similar to what it sounds like you do.

However, I think that there are lots of mitigating circumstances.  First, many different religions currently provide that restraint to people.  And in the past, many many more religions provided it to even more people.  Many of those different religions have been very very different.  Some have been near polar opposites.  That proves that if your goal is restraining people from being utterly evil, and someone suggests that religion has made or is making a noble effort towards that (like your uncle), the positive aspects they are cheering for are not unique to any single religion, or dogma, or whatever.

If one accepts that many many diverse and completely different religions can potentially have the positive effects that we're looking for, then the actual source of those effects can not be something specific to any one religion.  Instead, it has to be something that is held in common by all such religions.

Religions are so diverse and different, it might be hard to imagine something that they have in common.  No specific god is held in common, even though all the Abrahamic religions might arguably share that aspect.  Not even the simple idea of a god or gods or creator is far from universal; Buddhists revere no god.

Yet I believe that there is one easily overlooked thing that all religions DO have in common. Humanity. They all come from flawed but usually well-meaning people.

However, atheists hold that humanity in common with religions as well.  And that makes me believe that if we understand humanity better, either through psychology, or empathy, or whatever, we can achieve the positive effects of religions without the religions themselves.  Certainly without the stone-age dogmatic nonsense -- which tends to have arguably as many if not more BAD effects as good.  This actually gives me great hope for humanity; rather the opposite to the conclusion that I came to originally when pondering the question.

There may always be people who have no empathy, and for whom nothing would serve to restrain them from what humanity at large would easily identify as great evil. No religion will handle such individuals any better than no religion ... so I guess I don't lose any sleep over that.

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