Big surprise, @bobknight33 can’t understand what’s anti American even when it’s clearly spelled out in the US code….but you can’t read or write English above a second grade level (proven once again by this barely literate post), so it’s not that surprising.

Being against fascism and for the freedom to do what you want with your own body are VERY American sentiments, buddy. Again, no surprise you don’t understand. You believe we should have Christian Shariah law and no freedom of religion or bodily autonomy, and want to Make America Great Again like you think it hasn’t been since women and non whites got to vote.

Wearing an American flag as clothing, or defacing one to make a political statement is 100% AntiAmerican. I know, MAGA loves to do both of those things, so without putting two brain cells together you just insist that’s wrong, despite it being clearly stated in US law. Truth is that’s the least unAmerican thing MAGA has done…but it’s still actually an anti-American crime that carries a one year sentence.

Supporting an abusive civil servant displaying an anti American terroristic gang symbol of division that’s also undeniably a desecration of the American flag on a police uniform is about as unAmerican as it gets. Derp.

Again, your damaged little brain misfires…I’m hell bent against corrupt abusive cops because I love America, ya ijit.
(Btw- having a bent means having an aptitude, natural ability, capacity, or knack…so thanks for the unintentional compliment when you said I’m good at opposing corrupt cops.)

Enjoy watching MAGA eat itself and the Republican Party with it. Bankrupt in multiple states and physically fighting each other at GOP meetings. Talk about trash people! There is no group more trashy than MAGA, untouchable orphans in India are less trashy. 😂

That's insanely cool. Makes me wish I had any artistic aptitude whatsoever.

I wish we had this in the US:

1. At 18, you go into two years of national service, PERIOD. Unless you're in a coma, you're going. And you're going to go someplace you're not from and be on a team with people you're not used to so that your millimeter-wide view of America gets forced open to a mile.

You will be evaluated for mental and physical wellness. If you're suffering from mental illness, you will get help. If you're struggling with weight or other physical issues, you will get help.

You will be helping out in communities that you are not used to seeing: rural, inner-city, black, white, Latino. You will meet gay people, hard-core religious people, prisoners, entrepreneurs, carpenters and mechanics. You will get to know their world and help them understand yours.

2. After your two years, you have some choices:

- You can go into the military and strengthen those skills you've shown an aptitude for.

- If you want, you can attend a trade school, fully covered.

- If you want to go to college, your first two years will be covered if you get a AA/AS. Should you go for a four-year degree, your first three years will be covered.

Imagine what kind of nation we'd be living in right now has this been done in 1990.

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*ban

Let's extend it past white people. Almost* everyone in the world has got where they by an accident of birth.

I have a good job and I earn a decent living. I worked hard to get where I am and I continue to work hard to provide value to my boss so he pays me well. But I didn't get here entirely on my own.

First, I was lucky enough to be born in a first world country. Second, I have a reasonable aptitude for math and science and logic/programming comes easily to me.
Third, my parents both had good jobs (partially a product of their own births) and they cared about my education and gave me the opportunities to study.

And yeah, I'm white, English speaking, heterosexual and even more fortunately, male .

All of which gave me a frankly insurmountable head start over someone born in a 3rd world country whose family are scrapping by. Even if I had the same skills and work ethic, it's highly likely that I wouldn't have been able to have the quality of life I have now.

So yeah, I didn't own any slaves and neither did my ancestors. Hell, my country was oppressed for centuries. But that doesn't mean I still didn't come into this world with a massive privilege and it would be the height of hubris not to acknowledge that.

* obviously there are people who have pulled themselves out of extreme adverstiy despite everything against them. I'm not talking about those people.

In California we have a JR/community college system that transfers credits to 4 year colleges. You can take your first 2 years at a DRASTICALLY reduced expense, < $50 a credit the last time I went. You can also go there without a major or plan, just to learn. That's what I did for years and years, building up credits towards a degree without declaring one. It's really sad that that's not the norm, it seems like a great system. Not only does it make entry into 4 year colleges easier and cheaper, it also makes the 2/3 of students that drop out in the first 2 years have FAR less debt (if any) when they decide school is no longer the right option. It also opens higher education up to high school students with aptitude and older people who simply want to learn something new without breaking the bank to do so. This also makes for a better, more diverse student body.
Before someone who doesn't know makes the assumption that the level of education is lower than 4 year schools, you should know that many have been awarded 'best college' and 'best teacher' for the state repeatedly. True enough, there is an upper limit to the classes offered, but advanced molecular organic chemistry, offered and taken at Foothill college, was fairly advanced, as was advanced marine biology, taught by the repeated winner of 'best teacher' in the state. Each class cost about $250. WHAT A DEAL!

@bmacs27

Or, like every other perpetual motion cheater on the internet they just have some form of ducted air blowing across the top of the device.

They ought to have prisons where the prisoners learn remedial science all day long so they can send the perpetual motion nuts along with the dwfttw, young Earth, Intelligent Design, Ayn Rand, and all associated believers along with the climate change deniers there until they can pass a basic science aptitude test.

The world would be a better place.

That was the great thing about the punk movement... no actual aptitude with instruments or vocals were required. I would lump these guys firmly in the category of punk, or punk rock, or post punk rock.

On the other hand I find it difficult to compare any musicians to Yoko Ono, since she always comes across more as a conceptual artist. Even "Walking on Thin Ice" is more reminiscent of spoken word pieces than anything else:

>> ^probie:

A friend and I got into an argument over this very idea once. He insisted that some people are born with natural talent and no amount of practice would ever get someone without that talent to the same level. I wholeheartedly disagreed. I certainly believe that some people are born with a natural aptitude to certain tasks, whether it be music, art, etc. that give them an edge over others. But I refuse to believe that if you put in the time and effort, that you won't achieve the same level of success.
Good on this guy for taking on the challenge.


For some athletics I think its definitely Genetic

A friend and I got into an argument over this very idea once. He insisted that some people are born with natural talent and no amount of practice would ever get someone without that talent to the same level. I wholeheartedly disagreed. I certainly believe that some people are born with a natural aptitude to certain tasks, whether it be music, art, etc. that give them an edge over others. But I refuse to believe that if you put in the time and effort, that you won't achieve the same level of success.

Good on this guy for taking on the challenge.

>> ^KnivesOut:

Again, I don't necessarily think you're a sexist or a misogynist. I think you may be suffering from the same "boys club" attitude that many of the engineers I've worked with operate under. I just want you to introspect a little and consider the possibility.

Possibly. I'd like to think I don't suffer from that, although in reality, I cannot ignore the fact that we are all a product of the society we grew up in. In my defence, it is something I've thought about and I feel I'm open to the possibility of being wrong.

>> ^KnivesOut:

For the sake of argument, what if we replaced the masculine/feminine terms in your question with racial ones:
"why do we need to promote any career/vocation that is traditionally single [race] dominated to the other [race], e.g. [some profession] to [blacks], [some other profession] to [whites]?"
I'm drawing no conclusions about the importance or the value of one profession over the other, merely putting it into racial terms instead of sexual ones. To me, it feels just as icky.

I understand the ick factor there. But isn't there a difference between assuming a racial bias and a gender or even cultural bias? (bias is really the wrong word here, but I'm struggling to come up with a better one). I don't believe we can ignore the fact that different genders or cultures show aptitudes for different things (I believe culture is more important than race in determining this, in fact, I generally believe race to be largely irrelevant).

I guess my idea is to be "post-feminist/racist". I'd hope that we can accept individuals on their merits.

>> ^KnivesOut:

I believe that sexism is still widely accepted in our society, to a much higher degree than racial intolerance, or even tolerance of "alternate lifestyles". It's insidious, and it crosses the entirety of our society (sexism in every racial community.) Women still get paid less for the same work, they still have a harder time getting promotions (and then still make less money.) Women are even very sexist against each-other (you should see the looks my wife gets when she tells other mothers at school functions that she's finishing a compsci degree.)


This I agree with. Look at the current crop of games from E3. I utterly dislike the idea that anyone is judged in a career on anything other than their merits.

>> ^KnivesOut:

Maybe I'm overly touchy about it, and for that I apologize.


You probably shouldn't. In general, I am a cantankerous, grumpy bastard who's entirely too sure of the correctness of his own opinions.

>> ^alcom:

As a parent myself, I think he's making a fair and forceful statement here. His daughter's posting clearly demonstrates her entitlement, disrespect and immaturity. I'm guessing Lou is a consistent and fair disciplinarian and to this point his daughter hasn't gotten the message.
True, he could have donated the laptop to someone. But I doubt very much that he wants to spend more time wiping the personal data off it!


too many parents want to be friends with their children

that's not what a parent is... they are an authority figure... and if they don't teach their children that their actions have consequences, NO ONE WILL

i'm not a big fan of guns and yeah, i think a punishment of making his daughter donate the laptop would be more politically correct, and I'm not a big fan of him shooting off some hollowpoint exploding shells within sight of several homes and busy roads

but over-reaction? no... more people need to discipline their children... entitlement and disrespect are HORRIBLE character traits for a parent to allow to fester in their child...

making comments as to his parenting aptitude is plainly moronic... you are making a judgement based on this ONE instance of your knowledge of their relationship... and that leads me to think you fall into "lets be friends" camp

there's no room for REASONING until they reach the age of REASON... and that isn't their teens... it usually falls much later, after they've moved out and had to start to deal with some of the things they put their parents through... when they come back to mom and dad and say "I never understood until now"

some kids never get there... more and more often it seems... a nation of self-important brats

LOL! The next word was 'aptitude'. That's rich.

Wow, marbles, you sure came out of that argument looking like a fool, didn't you? Do you know how to argue using facts? None of your posts that I've seen show that you do. It's not often but every once in a while the phrase, "I've never won an argument with an idiot." pops into my mind, and I'm sure Yogi can empathize. Now, that's the quote verbatim that I heard when the phrase entered my sphere of knowledge but personally I'm more cautious about calling people 'idiot's or 'stupid' as I believe (know) that people can change given the chance and that their current level of knowledge or aptitude at discourse, while it may be lacking, is not their possible maximum level of knowledge/aptitude.

Some background from Wikipedia:

To test the theory of a person’s ability to delay gratification, the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment (1972), conducted by Prof. Walter Mischel, at Stanford University, California, studied a group of four-year-old children, each of whom was given one marshmallow, but promised two on condition that he or she wait twenty minutes, before eating the first marshmallow. Some children were able to wait the twenty minutes, and some were unable to wait. Furthermore, the university researchers then studied the developmental progress of each participant child into adolescence, and reported that children able to delay gratification (wait) were psychologically better adjusted, more dependable persons, and, as high school students, scored significantly greater grades in the collegiate Scholastic Aptitude Test.[2] More recently, the study Foetal Alcohol Syndrome: Developmental Characteristics and Directions for further Research (1994) reported that children afflicted with foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) are less able to delay gratification; indicating, perhaps, that poor impulse control might originate biologically, in the brain.[3]

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_gratification)