1.Yes you are.

2. Choosing to continue smoking and choosing to not take steps to get your weight under control and or stop overeating are well paralleled as demonstrated above. Feel free to argue it.

3. Being overweight in the playground DOES make them more likely to die of heart disease in later life.
Here's a quote for you.
“This is incredibly important,” said Jennifer L. Baker of the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen, who led the research, being published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. “This is the first study to convincingly show that excess childhood weight is associated with heart disease in adulthood, or with any significant health problem in adulthood.”

To you point about it being his business etc... You know what, you're right. It isn't his business.
Does that matter? Not a whole lot. In fact he IS doing her a favor.
Hurting her feelings however unkind may be an important catalyst in getting her to change her habits.
Vanity is an INCREDIBLY powerful driving force for people.

In my view, someone who knows there is a problem and chooses to ignore it is a bigger (although perhaps socially nicer) coward.

Oh and people get away with comments like that in public all the time. I don't know what fantasy world you live in where no one chastises anyone, must be nice.

>> ^Jinx:


Oh, I'm making hyperbolic conclusions and then you equate smoking to being overweight? Being fat in a playground doesn't make the kids more at risk of heart disease.

so I guess you're right then. I dont get it. I don't get why her weight is your business if its not some wrong headed belief that she is a poor role model (that at least seemed to be the point of the email no?)
There is no easy solution. I'm not suggesting we ignore obesity or its health risks but there are right ways of tackling problems and there are the futile ways. If it was as fucking easy and emailing fat people to point out that they are fat and oh, here are the health risks then, err, why are people still overweight? So stop pretending that this email is in any way helpful. At best its tactless, at worst its cruel. Now, if I had a family member with weight problems I would consider it my place and indeed my duty to not just confront them about it, but also help them maintain a healthier lifestyle. I'd hope they'd do the same for me, but a stranger who is unwilling to invest any assistance to me beyond their critique? Fuck that. Mind your business.

>> ^ChaosEngine:

>> ^criticalthud:
government really only reflects the mindset of the people.
we're stupid, so we have a stupid government.
but the older generations are REALLY stupid, and they're dying off. so there is reason to be optimistic.

Really? I'm not so sure. I think they were less enlightened, certainly, but what are we doing to prove we're less stupid?>> ^petpeeved:
I may be a simpleton but there really does seem to be a silver bullet to the mess we're in: remove the money incentive from national politics completely, starting with evicting all the lobbyists from Washington, and gutting the amount of money that flows into the political campaign warchests every election.
While I think that's a great idea, I'm very wary of the term "silver bullet". Fact is, that life is complex, and rarely has simple solutions. Economics and politics are an intricate interlocked system. Pulling on one thread alone never works.


there positives and negatives to be sure.
but overall for the species, the introduction of the internet allows a greater flow of information. This both increases overall awareness and allows for new associations to be drawn between bits of information. The overall effect is a palpable positive for intelligence, which despite our misplaced reliance on standardized testing, is heavily dependent on both awareness and the ability to create information associations based on logical connections.

The over 60 crowd is from a different era of both energy availability and access to information.
so i say, be a little patient. our timeline is much more instant - we demand instant change without necessarily being aware of how the tendencies of the species is changing . but in terms of evolution, we are changing rapidly, and the greatest catalyst, global/planet change, is just starting to take hold.

You're saying you can't buy it out because the price is too high. Government Insiders, etc. etc. etc. I hear you and I agree. Which is why I'm saying these groups are pointless.

We either have to organize ourselves, all the small business owners in America, the middle class, blah blah blah, etc etc etc, and put our money together to do it.

Or hope some radical benevolent dictator military movements seizes control and then doesn't go mad with power and turns it back into a democracy.

Frankly I unfortunately don't think either are likely.

Occupy Wall Street got tons of Money but they didn't' do anything with it. I feel that was a great catalyst for more liberal people and it was squandered.

>> ^DuoJet:

These people aren't "participating in the system" because said participation requires great wealth. Those with great wealth have no interest in such an agenda.
Conversely, the Tea Party was an inadvertently pro-corporate movement quietly backed by millions of corporate dollars. That is why it worked. Ever seen footage of police quelling a Tea Party rally? There is no equivalency between the Tea Party and the Occupy movement.

I remember this in middle school as being a catalyst for one of my first experiences with LSD25-saw it in the 7th grade, tripped in the eighth-Believe it or not, in Dallas Texas 1979, our science teacher conducted a discussion on the film after as she did each time she presented one. I was one of the kids that raised their hands affirmative if they had either known anyone, or had themselves had any experience with hallucinogens.(That, for all you here who think Texas is full of back-woods hicks bereft of any ideas of, or use for, critical thought).

I live in Alberta. Thankfully, 800 kms south of this stuff. There is a huge drug problem in Ft. Mac as well.

Here is an interesting documentary that was produced by my friend's brother. It is called "Downstream" and speaks about the Aboriginal community of Fort Chipewyan that lives near the Athabasca River that flows through the Tar Sands. The entire thing is on Youtube if this site is region blocked or whatever.

http://intercontinentalcry.org/tar-sands-documentary-downstream/

We enjoy an advantage in Alberta for having such vast proven reserves. Some new technology that refines the sands "in situ" using steam-assisted gravity drainage with special catalysts looks promising, like at the Suncor Firebag site. I used to work for Suncor, and am happy to not anymore.

WhyatI never understand is why we have high gas prices here just like everyone else. You'd think since we make the stuff, we would give ourselves a little break at the pumps.

The giant trucks and huge scoops up there is quite interesting. Brobdingnagian.

evolution favors intelligent life.
his kind is already facing extinction and will eventually disappear.

This is strongly suggested by the shrinking demographics of organized religion. We are getting more rational as a species. The addition of the internet hastens the process as, in overall effect, it facilitates the sharing of ideas. On top of that, a strong additional catalyst for change is the emergence of global warming and the depletion of resources, which will force the species to wise the fuck up.

That wasn't meant to be a comprehensive explanation of everything wrong with the ending, just one part. (MASSIVE spoilers to follow)

Also, when you say "Reapers prune only the few most advanced species in order to save less advanced organic life", save them from what, exactly? Synthetics? And Reapers are what, exactly? Synthetics?

Aside from the circular reasoning, it's also based on a premise that is at the very least debatable: the created will always rebel against their creators. I got to that conversation having brokered peace between the Geth and the Quarrians. Why wasn't it even an option for Shepard to question whether this was some iron law of the universe? Why is the Catalyst assuming peace between organics and synthetics is impossible? Why was it impossible for any ending to leave the Geth and Quarians both physically the same, and independent? Why wasn't it possible for Shepard to be annoyed about this?

Moreover, why kill organics to prevent robot uprisings? Why not have reapers wipe out synthetic races if/when they start to rebel, rather than wiping out organics before they can build synthetics?

If the Reapers are really saviors of the galaxy, why do they shoot first and ask questions never? If being converted into a husk is really a form of ascension, why not try to convince races to volunteer? Why not stick around for thousands of years to persuade us, if necessary? For that matter, why make this be some sort of every 50K year thing? Why not just make ascension into Reaper form a part of galactic culture, a reward given to races who've advanced far enough to warrant it?

But my biggest problem is that we don't really get to see any kind of real consequence of that final choice. All three endings are virtually indistinguishable, and there's nothing about the ending that reflects the choices you've made along the way, not even the ones from ME3. There's no real resolution for any of your crewmates either. I'd like to know what happens to Garrus, Liara, Tali, etc. after it's all over. "Stranded on a strange jungle planet" wasn't what I was looking for, either.

>> ^mentality:

>> ^NetRunner:
http://markel.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/f3p6x.jpg

That's stupid. Reapers prune only the few most advanced species in order to save less advanced organic life throughout the galaxy. Sounds like whoever made that was dozing off during the conversations with the catalyst.

does anyone find merit in the idea that global warming is the required catalyst for a change of human consciousness?

>> ^NetRunner:
http://markel.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/f3p6x.jpg


That's stupid. Reapers prune only the few most advanced species in order to save less advanced organic life throughout the galaxy. Sounds like whoever made that was dozing off during the conversations with the catalyst.

>> ^legacy0100:

Hoooolllleeeeyyyyy shiiiiiiit


Okay, what did I do wrong THIS time, ant?

Was it the 'holy' part? I'm sorry Ant but I happen to be a firm believer of Divinity of feces!!! It fertilizes the earth and help plants germinate! It acts as catalyst of new plant life. Hence why Shit, can be 'holy'

@jbaber

"Truth for authority, not authority for truth."


The facts are that religious institutions, specifically the many denominations of Christianity in the United States, supported the status quo in regard to slavery, women's rights, birth control, evolution, and tried to censor free speech.

See the following, Slavery - 1 Timothy 6:1 as used by southern ministers promoting slavery, the Comstock Laws( and Anthony Comstock on wiki) and their abuse in regard to 1)atheism (which was labeled obscene) 2) birth control 3) free speech.

While I think the abolitionist movement specifically owes more to Enlightenment philosophy - not atheism or Christianity, I believe it is justified to point on the specific failings of religious institutions.

Were some Christians abolitionists? Of course. John Brown was as were many of the delegates to the 1840 convention (many were Quakers) which also denied women delegates the right to vote.

But other important leaders such as William Garrison and Henry Stanton were anti-clerical.

In closing, religious institutions, as a whole, were not and have not been the catalyst of change, but of upholding the status quo.

He's funny, but I have a feeling if it were good they wouldn't be door to dooring it. Elbow grease is the catalyst there.

Door to door salesmen are like trolls, you don't want to feed them or they keep coming back. Massive resurgence of them these last two years, most don't bother knocking anymore.

>> ^VoodooV:

So I'm a little confused. The description makes it sound like there was no intention to be green and the only reason they became green was because the police took away the generators.
The video however seems to imply that it was their idea to be green from the start.
Smelling something fishy here.


I agree the generators being taken was more a catalyst that gave the idea traction, rather than the event which sparked the idea.

Sorry if my description/title gave the wrong impression, that was not my intention.


Edit to clarify: Although it was Times Up!'s intention to be green from the start it's likely the OWS movement as a whole wasn't motivated to adopt the idea until the generators were taken. The video was made by Times Up!, and showed their perspective.

I found the video through this article: http://gothamist.com/2011/10/29/video_occupy_wall_street_will_soon.php

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

Top Amazon review:
To Train Up A Child
527 of 565 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Thoughts of someone whose mother used this book, November 15, 2010
By
M. Gray - See all my reviews
This review is from: To Train Up A Child (Paperback)
My mother was given this book while I was a child. Wanting to raise a well-behaved child, she would spank me with a belt. She is proud of me. I am a senior at Princeton University and practicing Catholic. However, today my mother would tell you that I am these things in spite of the teachings of "To Train Up a Child," in spite of the self-loathing and insecurity caused by whippings which would not end until I could pretend to be content. Pretend to embrace the necessity for my own torture.
I was abused. Please do not look to this book for guidance.


This was disturbing. It was like I was watching the same clip of the other couple months back. You can tell their is a strange mindset at play here.

Usually, the definition of psychology for someone will be doled out with complexes, traits, disorders, bi-polar, psychopathy, sociopath, etc... This is reserved for a single person of one mind, of course. But this shows that there is an undeniable new entry for a couples and groups; a couple that has many children and are highly religious. With just the right catalysts, like that evil book you linked and which was talked about, it becomes something else. Their co-habitual drug of fun was given a test drive: the book or simply, their "rod". But, they wanted to fly; to take it farther. So they took that book and made each answer stronger, more correct. ...And how could they be wrong when God made them feel so good...

Scary stuff. I'm sorry for what happened to you @dystopianfuturetoday . Parents have a tough job, but punishing your child with full on physical force is not an answer. There are atleast 100 better books on parenting than these idiotic "Christian's Force Rod!" type books.

Protests are often a catalyst for democratic change. Think women's rights, civil rights, the end of the Vietnam war, the labor movement, the New Deal/end of great depression, etc...