"No one knows what the fate of thinking will look like. In a lecture in Paris in 1964, which I did not give myself but was presented in a French translation, I spoke under the title: "The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking." I thus make a *distinction* between philosophy, that is metaphysics, and thinking as I understand it. The thinking that I contrast with philosophy in this lecture—which is principally done by an attempt to clarify the essence of the Greek "aletheia" (unhiddenness) — this thinking is, compared to metaphysical thinking, much simpler than philosophy, but precisely because of its simplicity it is much more difficult to carry out. And it calls for new care with language, not the invention of new terms, as I once thought, but a return to the primordial content of our own language, which is, however, constantly in the process of dying off.

A coming thinker, who will perhaps be faced with the task of really taking over this thinking that I am attempting to *prepare,* will have to obey a sentence Heinrich von Kleist once wrote, and that reads "I step back before one who is not yet here, and bow, a millennium before him, to his spirit."

The whole interview transcribed in Spanish:
http://www.ldiogenes.buap.mx/revistas/14/45.pdf

This is what I don't get. At first it was Global Warming, now it's turned into Global Climate Change. That way it's easier to deal with when scientists start to see cooling trends amongst the data collected. The way I see it, this planet has been supporting life for oh several billion years now. To assume that it will suddenly, with the last couple hundred years of limited weather data come to a cataclysmic end seems rather dramatic for something that's been several millenniums in the making.

I think the earth goes in cycles, in the 1980's it was a second Ice age, in the 90's it became Global Warming, now it's placated itself in the 00's to Global Climate change. I don't know I think I'll wait it out a couple more decades and see what happens when it changes to Global Climate Steadiness.

Watching the first 3 and the last 3 movies its so easy to see how George Lucas fucked it up, the first 3 movies were more based around the story set in wonderful universe, the effects were there to flesh it out, since it used models and props everything looked aged, scratched, filled with pockmarks from repeated laser blasts. The actors were in sets as well, it was easier to imagine Anakin's home world because they actually went and filmed in the Tunisian desert, Han Solo and Chewie actually sat in a cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. There was a tangible reality to the setting and events.

The last 3 movies were more about bombastic effects & CGI wankery, I mean really what was the reason behind Jar jar or that big disgusting thing Obi Wan meets in some diner? "ILM can do fake looking annoying characters" I actually remember that off one of their interviews.

The whole story of the first 3 movies was setting up the last 3, you already knew what was going to happen. It could have been a wonderful dramatic vehicle to see how Anakin slowly turns to the Dark Side by successive loses, where the power is the seducing factor not some old creep. But even then nothing was surprising or tangible because how are actors supposed to relate to something to the backdrop of a green screen? All the principal actors are award winning, yet they looked as convincing as the CGI characters because how are you supposed to emote to directions like "There is a big monster, look scared" or "You see thousands of Stormtroopers and a huge battle is taking place". Furthermore how is it that the past ends up looking far more advanced and futuristic then the present, its like they warped back in time technologically. But that just clarifies how visual effects took importance over the story line and characters.

George Lucas was never a good director of actors, he was always great behind the scenes making the effects work, and you can see how that took precedent in the last 3 films over making the story actually work. In some instances he seemingly just gave up, especially when Liam deduced Anakin's power by simple blood test, it killed the magical mythos of what being a Jedi was, and how it was so appealing to kids. The original 3 made it seem like being a Jedi was about believing in yourself, allowing the force take root within you.

The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite Star Wars film because it dared to be black, it dared to be a wonderful fantasy fable set in the future and more so it was actually directed by someone who sought to bring life and drama to the characters and events.

The Clone Wars special on Cartoon Network were amazing, they combined high fantasy with some actual character leanings, and in my opinion actually were better then the final film, which I thought was a enormous let down. Anakin becoming Darth Vader should have been the darkest chapter, yet it was all reduced to him being told by Emperor that his girl died, he screams "Nooooooo" and then is like "Okay so now am evil".

I didn't like this video and would downvote if I could, simply for the fact that they bring up stereotypical gender roles as something Disney tries to imprint in children (which I actually can agree with to some point).
However, my gripe with the creator of this video is when he shows us the scenes from "Beauty and the Beast" where Gaston shows his worst behaviour. This is what I have a problem with, as Gaston obviously is the bad guy and is clearly depicted as such even to the extent that small children can understand it. His advances also fails quite miserably, and in a humorously manner, which would also reinforce the lesson that acting like a man's man and treating women like objects (which is exactly like he does) is bad, especially when you take into consideration the mutually respecting relationship between Belle and the Beast.

EDIT: And the Mulan bit just made me laugh out loud. She quickly learns that masculinity is primarily defined by strength and physical prowess, does she? Never mind the pathetic try to imply that masculinity equals sexism, does the commenter actually try to say that Mulan somehow teach children to fall into the classical gender roles? Seriously, that's the dumbest thing I've heard this millennium.

The only thing that I can imagine the creator of this video would find completely PC would be 90 minutes of those little ghost creatures from Princess Mononoke. However, we couldn't possibly have the word "princess" in the title as it would subconsciously force all girls watching it into becoming subordinate to boys.

Anna Politkovskaya was not an "ultra liberal crazy" as you put it, she was in fact one of the few journalists who dared questioned the official line from the Kremlin, she asked the questions that no one dare asked and was submitting to various acts of harrassement by the state who viewed her reportage as dangerous.

Politkovskaya made her name reporting from lawless Chechnya, where many journalists and humanitarian workers have been kidnapped or killed. She was arrested and subjected to mock execution by Russian military forces there, and she was poisoned on the way to Beslan, but survived and continued her reporting. She authored several books about Chechen wars and Putin's Russia and received numerous prestigious international awards for her work.

Her numerous articles critical of the war in Chechnya described abuses committed by Russian military forces, by Chechen rebels, and by the Russian-backed Chechen administration led by Akhmad Kadyrov and his son Ramzan Kadyrov. Politkovskaya chronicled human rights abuses and policy failures in Chechnya and elsewhere in Russia's North Caucasus in several books on the subject, including A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya and A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya, which painted a picture of brutal war in which thousands of innocent citizens have been tortured, abducted or killed at the hands of Chechen or federal authorities."

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Politkovskaya

She wrote:

"We are hurtling back into a Soviet abyss, into an information vacuum that spells death from our own ignorance. All we have left is the internet, where information is still freely available. For the rest, if you want to go on working as a journalist, it's total servility to Putin. Otherwise, it can be death, the bullet, poison, or trial - whatever our special services, Putin's guard dogs, see fit."

And if you highly doubt that the Kremlin or Putin would order the assassination of a rogue reporter then I think you missed the poisoning of FSB dissident Alexander Litvinenko by Polonium-210:

As of 26 January 2007, British officials said police had solved the murder of Litvinenko. They discovered "a 'hot' teapot at London's Millennium Hotel with an off-the-charts reading for polonium-210, the radioactive material used in the killing." In addition, a senior official said investigators had concluded the murder of Litvinenko was "a 'state-sponsored' assassination orchestrated by Russian security services."

Or are British authorities "fantasy level conspirators" as well? I think your personal admiration of Putin's usurpation of power is interfering with your ability to discern the facts.

On August 28th 2007 it was announced that 10 people were arrested in connection to her murder:

"Controversy arose because the prosecutor, Yuri Y. Chaika, suggested that the motive for killing had not been to silence Ms. Politkovskaya, whose efforts to uncover corruption and brutality under President Vladimir V. Putin had brought her international acclaim but scorn from officials here.

Rather, the prosecutor said, the killing was intended to discredit the Kremlin, by raising suspicions that it had been involved, and ultimately to destabilize the Russian state. That now-official theory is markedly different from one broadly accepted by her peers, who have said she was killed in retaliation for her work or to prevent additional articles from being published.

Among those arrested, the prosecutor said, were a police major and three former police officers, who were working with a criminal gang led by a Chechen. Also arrested, he said, was a former officer in the F.S.B., the principal successor to the K.G.B.

Mr. Chaika added that the killing had been ordered from abroad, although he refused to identify the man suspected of being the mastermind or disclose his whereabouts, and provided no evidence to support the claim. The prosecutor would not release the names of any of the suspects.

His description of the motive aligned neatly with Mr. Putin's first public statements about the killing last year and with a pattern of government contentions that foreigners were trying to undermine Russia and the Kremlin, and to tarnish their reputations."

- NYT

It was standard Soviet practice to blame any problems that occur within its borders on foreign influences in the past. The press brief went on to state the murders were designed to destabilize the political situation in Russia and blame the Kremlin for it. This is totally ridiculous considering that the only people to benefit from her death was the Kremlin and specifically Putin himself.

Alexander Litvinenko, the ex-FSB Lt.Col and dissident accused Vladimir Putin of personally ordering the assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. He himself was poisoned on November 1st of 2006, via lethal dose of polonium-210. As of 26 January 2007, British officials said police had solved the murder of Litvinenko. They discovered "a 'hot' teapot at London's Millennium Hotel with an off-the-charts reading for polonium-210, the radioactive material used in the killing." In addition, a senior official said investigators had concluded the murder of Litvinenko was "a 'state-sponsored' assassination orchestrated by Russian security services.

"The Kremlin press pool is a handpicked group of reporters, most of whom work for the state and the rest selected for their fidelity to the Kremlin's rules of the game. Helpful questions are often planted. Unwelcome questions are not allowed. And anyone who gets out of line can get out of the pool.

The Kremlin press pool is like so many institutions in Russia that have the trappings of a Western-style pluralistic society but operate under a different set of understandings, part of what analyst Lilia Shevtsova of the Carnegie Moscow Center calls "the illusion of democracy." Television channels air newscasts with fancy graphics but follow scripts approved by the Kremlin. Elections are held, but candidates out of favor with the Kremlin are often knocked off the ballot. Courts conduct trials, but the state almost never loses. Parliament meets but only to rubber-stamp Kremlin legislation.

Putin offered an example of that at the news conference when defending his decision last fall to abolish elections of regional governors. "The leaders of the regions of the Russian Federation will not be appointed by the president," he said. They will be approved by "regional parliaments, which are directly chosen by secret ballot." Putin compared this to the Electoral College, which selects U.S. presidents. "It is not considered undemocratic, is it?"

In fact, under the new system, Putin will appoint governors. His selections have to be ratified by regional legislatures, but if such a legislature rejects his choice twice, it will be dissolved. As for secret ballots, Russian regional leaders have proved adept at generating the outcomes they wish.

Anna Politkovskaya was just one of the dozens of reporters to meet their end during the reign of Putin, yet the press which is 80% state controlled dare not question the official line from Kremlin. She was murdered on October 7th 2006, which also happened to be Putin's birthday.

"Russia is yet another country where a free press is upheld in the language of the constitution, but the reality is one of state control of expression, concentration of media in the hands of the very few and very rich, and violence against journalists who report on crime and corruption.

Vladimir Putin's tenure has been marked by firm and incremental moves by the state against press freedom and independence. In some cases, the Putin government's strategies are relatively direct, such as strict controls on reporting in Chechnya. Other approaches -- such as the targeting of journalists with politically-motivated libel suits, or hostile takeovers of key media outlets by businessmen with close ties to Putin himself -- are more subtle, yet consistent and effective strategies for ensuring that the state influence permeates the media at all levels.

The strategy has resulted in the takeover of a prominent and outspoken, independent, national television station and the consolidation of newspaper and magazine ownership under a handful of powerful oligarchs. While an independent press does exist in Russia, the overall effect has been to stifle criticism of Putin and his regime on key issues like government corruption and abuses in Chechnya. Media support for the Putin government was particularly evident in the parliamentary elections in spring of 2004, during which Russian press groups complained of state-dominated television's promotion of the pro-Kremlin parties.

The right to free expression is more flagrantly violated at the local level, where journalists who report on corrupt politicians and organized crime are routinely harassed, attacked, and sometimes murdered, with generally only a perfunctory and thoroughly flawed prosecution to follow. A noteworthy case is the murder of the editor-in-chief of an independent newspaper in Togliatti, an industrial city in the Volga River region, in October of 2003. It was the second murder of the editor of the very same publication in less than two years. The following investigation has been denounced as a sham."

- Source http://www.pbs.org/

I watched the main prosecutors briefing on PTP Planet in Russian that morning. The rhetoric, method of presentation, hostile opposition to any questions by the press left no doubt in my mind that it was simply a political ploy to ease criticism of the Putin government with regards to the murders. Suddenly after years of inaction not one, but several murders are explained away neatly, however neither actual motives, names of other suspects nor any concrete evidence backing up the claims were presented.

For more on Russian subversion of democracy I recommend you check out my sift - http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Rise-of-Pro-Putin-Youth

good post. for a knowledgable and respectful discussion of all things religion stop by the discussion forums on www.infidels.org

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/index.php

Qruel


In reply to this comment by xxovercastxx:
I'd like to skew from the topic slightly and say that I participate in discussions like these not for the sake of argument, but for the sake of debate. I don't expect to convert anyone, but I am interested in hearing how other people think and why they choose to act/live the way they do. The frustrating part is that these normally degrade into childish fights and it's pretty rare that I come away feeling I understand the faithful any better.

Since this particular conversation is already well on its way to becoming useless bickering, I feel no shame in saying that QM is a moron for bringing up Stalin and Mao Zedong again. First, mentioning 2 atheists that did a lot of evil shit says nothing about the validity of the bible or religion. Second, even if it did, citing 2 people out of the billions that have lived in the millenniums past (all six of them!) really doesn't carry much weight. If Stalin and Mao were Catholics/Jews/Presbyterians/Jehovah's Witnesses/etc, they would have been evil fucking Catholics/Jews/Presbyterians/Jehovah's Witnesses/etc. Faith does not prevent evil and atheism does not guarantee it.

There are evil, twisted religious people and there are moral, upstanding atheists. I happen to be one of the latter and I'm tired of being villainized by narrow-minded twits like you.

I'd like to skew from the topic slightly and say that I participate in discussions like these not for the sake of argument, but for the sake of debate. I don't expect to convert anyone, but I am interested in hearing how other people think and why they choose to act/live the way they do. The frustrating part is that these normally degrade into childish fights and it's pretty rare that I come away feeling I understand the faithful any better.

Since this particular conversation is already well on its way to becoming useless bickering, I feel no shame in saying that QM is a moron for bringing up Stalin and Mao Zedong again. First, mentioning 2 atheists that did a lot of evil shit says nothing about the validity of the bible or religion. Second, even if it did, citing 2 people out of the billions that have lived in the millenniums past (all six of them!) really doesn't carry much weight. If Stalin and Mao were Catholics/Jews/Presbyterians/Jehovah's Witnesses/etc, they would have been evil fucking Catholics/Jews/Presbyterians/Jehovah's Witnesses/etc. Faith does not prevent evil and atheism does not guarantee it.

There are evil, twisted religious people and there are moral, upstanding atheists. I happen to be one of the latter and I'm tired of being villainized by narrow-minded twits like you.

^word. the entire budget for Terrahawks was probably about the same as Lucas spent on the joystick for the millennium falcon.

Millennium has two n's, just to let you know.

Tags changed from "lego, stop motion, millenium falcon" to "lego, stop motion, millennium falcon" by gold star member Fjnbk.

It's a very elegant design.  But I have to wonder what the cost justification could be for building it, in an era when canal shipping is a practically dead mode of transportation.  Was this built for some kind of millennium celebration?

"I was more impressed with Batman & Robin Mr. Freeze thingy, and that was what.. 1999? I've ridden Dragster, and it's about as exciting as any of those generic, at any amusement park type rides. Like a power tower, or whatever. The best rides are Raptor, Magnum XL, Beast, Millennium Force"

Nonsense. I've been on those coasters many many times and they're totally different. No comparison.

"And no, they ripped off a ride designed for Cedar Point to be the fastest/tallest. And just modified it 2 yrs later to be a clone to steal title of fastest/tallest. It clearly is an attempt buy some "coolness" to another park."

Whatever. Knowing that there's a similar coaster somewhere else doesn't make this one feel any less awesome.

I was more impressed with Batman & Robin Mr. Freeze thingy, and that was what.. 1999? I've ridden Dragster, and it's about as exciting as any of those generic, at any amusement park type rides. Like a power tower, or whatever. The best rides are Raptor, Magnum XL, Beast, Millennium Force

And no, they ripped off a ride designed for Cedar Point to be the fastest/tallest. And just modified it 2 yrs later to be a clone to steal title of fastest/tallest. It clearly is an attempt buy some "coolness" to another park.

Not compared -- listed:

1. Millennium Actress
2. Grave of the Fireflies
3. Akira