>> ^Drachen_Jager:
I've seen instant Karma twice in my life.
Once in High School during P.E. soccer a guy who was being an absolute jerk tried to kick my friend's shin, he missed and they connected shin on shin. My friend's shin was stronger.
The other time was on a winter exercise, again total jerk guy behind me while we were climbing a hill that was completely crusted in ice, he thought I was going too slow so started poking me in the butt with the machine gun he was carrying, he slipped and landed on his knee, that ended his military career.
So the lesson is, be nice to people, or if you're going to be a jerk don't do it where you're under threat of serious personal injury if something goes wrong...


Lol, i remember playing soccer ages ago. I don't know how the situation arose, but the ball had come to a stop and there was a player on each side of it. They both too a massive back-swing with their right leg, and swung. I arrived just in time to gently roll the ball back into my control, and they both ended up kicking each other extremely hard on the shin.

Yeah, exactly like you imagine it. Like little wooden clockwork boys swinging their legs back, stood upright, and.....thunk!

I've seen instant Karma twice in my life.

Once in High School during P.E. soccer a guy who was being an absolute jerk tried to kick my friend's shin, he missed and they connected shin on shin. My friend's shin was stronger.

The other time was on a winter exercise, again total jerk guy behind me while we were climbing a hill that was completely crusted in ice, he thought I was going too slow so started poking me in the butt with the machine gun he was carrying, he slipped and landed on his knee, that ended his military career.

So the lesson is, be nice to people, or if you're going to be a jerk don't do it where you're under threat of serious personal injury if something goes wrong...

This is why caldera volcanoes such as Yellowstone are so explosive. Water seeps down and contacts the shallow magma chamber causing a rapid increase in chamber pressure by the volatilization of the water and other fluids. This pressure builds fast until the pressure exceeds that of the roof crust of the caldera. In this case the walls of ice and the bucket on top created a sort of pressure chamber in the middle which allowed for the buildup and explosion.

You're constantly offering up nothing and still have everything...

What does that even mean? Who do you think you are, Joe Biden?

When I said 100% of "their" money should be taken, I didn't mean just the upper crust. I should be clearer next time. I really believe in a system where everyone puts their money into central government trust which can be evenly used to benefit all. Together we can accomplish many great things. Divided we are doomed to failure.

Doesn't work. Wiki soviet russia...before it wikis you!

Larger tax breaks for the upper crust. This is exactly why the 'Grand Old Parody' needs to go away. Haven't we evolved enough politically to realize a smaller government means more oppression from the rich land owners who make their money from the exploitations of the social working class?

The working class are incapable of living without the protection of government regimentation. Even collectively they are too weak and impotent to do for themselves in opposition to those who own the land and control the means of production, and can only exist by nationalizing (achieved by expanding the scope and reach of government) the means of production and land ownership.

When I said 100% of "their" money should be taken, I didn't mean just the upper crust. I should be clearer next time. I really believe in a system where everyone puts their money into central government trust which can be evenly used to benefit all. Together we can accomplish many great things. Divided we are doomed to failure.

>> ^keitholbermann:
I never understood why the rich and upper middleclass cannot accept the necessity of income tax. The more you make, the more you pay as part of a social contract between you and the country you prosper within that also allows you the opportunity to make higher income off the gross exploitation of labor.
IMO, 31 percent more income tax for the upper crust isn't sufficient. I disagree with our current capitalist system, and I think 100% of their money should be equally divided amongst all. Maybe the lower working class could take a higher percentage this time?


When all good arguments fail, create a new user and troll the response threads?

What's so wrong with a unionized world? We'd see poverty nearly wiped out with a well funded global socialized government. Imagine all the good that can be done when we are all truly one nation of earth.

There would be no room for capitalist systems to extort by force the precious resources from countries unable to defend themselves against the rich, militarized nations. All resources would be split amongst everyone without profit to be had, because no one person or one nation would own their land.

This would ensure the means of production would be owned by the working class instead of the upper crust.

I disagree rougy. Democrats are for the working class people, whereas Republicans are in support of the upper crust alone. It is more important now than ever that we have a Democratic majority in Congress and a Democrat President to undo all the terrible things Bush has done the past eight years, such as continued wars and handouts/bailouts for the rich.

With a Democratic majority, we can feel safe once again that those who are more intelligent and more informed than us will prove to do what is best for all of us. You should trust in our leaders to do what is best.

I never understood why the rich and upper middleclass cannot accept the necessity of income tax. The more you make, the more you pay as part of a social contract between you and the country you prosper within that also allows you the opportunity to make higher income off the gross exploitation of labor.

IMO, 31 percent more income tax for the upper crust isn't sufficient. I disagree with our current capitalist system, and I think 100% of their money should be equally divided amongst all. Maybe the lower working class could take a higher percentage this time?

I had one of those comments that didn't survive the great database crash of 3/12/09 for this post.

I think it's the wrong assumption to think that whatever software security systems we can create will be able to contain an "intelligence explosion." The understanding we have of our security systems will, by nature, be less than the understanding that the resulting super-intelligence will have. It's like opening Pandora's Box just a crack to peek inside.

The most powerful forces above Earth's crust have been evolution and intelligence, but intelligence has been limited by evolution and evolution is limited by time. This hypothetical singularity event is essentially removing the limitations of time on the evolution of intelligence in a synthetic environment.

The other wrong assumption taken by many people is the idea that the result of a singularity event will benefit us, or that the resulting super-intelligence created will relate to us on any level. It might relate to us as well as we relate to dust mites. It's naive to think that our intelligence is so great that no future entity can be beyond our comprehension. That's the very definition the singularity--that it is beyond our comprehension. Foolish optimism is pervasive in singularity enthusiasts. Why is it considered a wise move for humanity to risk our survival on an unknown?

>> ^peggedbea:
the turning point came when i had to do a bladder study on 2 boys 2 weeks in a row, both were under 7, both had not been circumsized and both had chronic bladder and kidney infections. when i went to cath both of them their foreskins were filthy and crusted on, i dont think their parents have EVER pulled that stuff back and cleaned it properly.

WTF, are you an idiot? This only shows the mental damage American society (or whatever society you're in) has had from years of unwarranted circumcision : bad genital hygiene. The Chinese/Japanese/Indian/Latino-American/European are for the majority uncircumcised and lo, they wash their foreskin and don't get any more infections than the circumcised. And why would what other parents can't do influence your choice? Because they're so dumb they can't wash their child's foreskin you're going to lower yourself to their level and not wash your child's foreskin too? What if they jumped off a bridge, would you jump off too?

The generalized correct reasoning here is this: don't wash foreskin = infection. Wash foreskin = no infection. Everything else is pure bullshit (because as we all know bovine feces is sterile).

i interviewed all my male friends both circumsized and uncircumsized, and one friend that had not been circumsized as a baby, but chose to be later on in life, everyone says circumsicion. so we did it.

And so you're a hypocrite and a sheeple. Not surprising coming from an idiot. Ask a Sunni if Shiites are bad, of course he'll say yes. Ask an evangelical church-goer if atheists are bad, of course he'll say yes. It still doesn't mean their opinion has any value outside of their little micro-society.

he was 6 hours old, they numbed him and gave him a chocolate sucker to suck on. nowadays they circumsize babies by putting this plastic bell over their penis, it cuts off circulation to the foreskin and it falls off in about a week. we had no problems and he doesnt seem to miss it and i dont feel bad about it now.

Glad the experience didn't give you PTSD.

foreskins have been shown to carry disease and a contributing factor the aids epidemic in africa, but still as nature intended.

False, false, false, and you're an idiot. The "study" that "proved" a "link" between foreskin and AIDS was a "study" that looked at the prevalence of AIDS vs the prevalence of circumcision, and ONLY in some regions of South Africa. More that 30% of South Africans have HIV. Correlation is NOT causation, not even link. Do some statistics: you'll be scared by how easy it is to find correlations between non random normally distributed sets, which includes nearly everything that has to do with human life.

its also interesting since ive grown up in a culture of male circumsicion, im intimidated by foreskins and prefer that stuff cut off if im gonna have sex with it, all my female friends feel the same way.

Yes it's interesting, but not the way you think it is. It's interesting in the same way the neurotic women Freud psychoanalyzed were interesting : they were mentally ill.

how do the men feel about their foreskins, or lack there of?

Coming from a now mostly circumcision free society, we do not feel much of anything about our foreskins unless they give us trouble, like any other part of our body.

also, to this day the smell of chocolate dumdums reminds me of the day my son was born.

Proof of your neurosis? You tell me.

Finally, I think the Ancient Greeks had it right : a man is not naked until his foreskin is fully retracted. Maybe circumcision is why so many Americans are still so prudish regarding nudity?

I'm against all circumcision and I think anyone who supports MGC but denounces FGC is a complete hypocrite. You're destroying the same piece of tissue with the same function. In my experience it's always the mother that insists on getting her son cut, usually because "it's hard to keep clean" otherwise. Oh, God forbid you have to make an effort to take care of your son! Kids are notorious for having dirt behind their ears; maybe you should cut those off too.

How would you feel if your mother hacked off half of your sexual organ because she didn't feel like cleaning it?

>> ^peggedbea:
you bring up an interesting topic, male circumsicion... i have a son, his dad and i argued through my whole pregnancy about whether or not to have cicumsicized. i did not want it done. as it is mutilation and if you werent supposed to have a foreskin, you wouldnt be born with one. the turning point came when i had to do a bladder study on 2 boys 2 weeks in a row, both were under 7, both had not been circumsized and both had chronic bladder and kidney infections. when i went to cath both of them their foreskins were filthy and crusted on, i dont think their parents have EVER pulled that stuff back and cleaned it properly. i interviewed all my male friends both circumsized and uncircumsized, and one friend that had not been circumsized as a baby, but chose to be later on in life, everyone says circumsicion. so we did it. he was 6 hours old, they numbed him and gave him a chocolate sucker to suck on. nowadays they circumsize babies by putting this plastic bell over their penis, it cuts off circulation to the foreskin and it falls off in about a week. we had no problems and he doesnt seem to miss it and i dont feel bad about it now. foreskins have been shown to carry disease and a contributing factor the aids epidemic in africa, but still as nature intended. its also interesting since ive grown up in a culture of male circumsicion, im intimidated by foreskins and prefer that stuff cut off if im gonna have sex with it, all my female friends feel the same way. how do the men feel about their foreskins, or lack there of?

well done - the sift needs more upper crust emus!
congrats - keep posting

you bring up an interesting topic, male circumsicion... i have a son, his dad and i argued through my whole pregnancy about whether or not to have cicumsicized. i did not want it done. as it is mutilation and if you werent supposed to have a foreskin, you wouldnt be born with one. the turning point came when i had to do a bladder study on 2 boys 2 weeks in a row, both were under 7, both had not been circumsized and both had chronic bladder and kidney infections. when i went to cath both of them their foreskins were filthy and crusted on, i dont think their parents have EVER pulled that stuff back and cleaned it properly. i interviewed all my male friends both circumsized and uncircumsized, and one friend that had not been circumsized as a baby, but chose to be later on in life, everyone says circumsicion. so we did it. he was 6 hours old, they numbed him and gave him a chocolate sucker to suck on. nowadays they circumsize babies by putting this plastic bell over their penis, it cuts off circulation to the foreskin and it falls off in about a week. we had no problems and he doesnt seem to miss it and i dont feel bad about it now. foreskins have been shown to carry disease and a contributing factor the aids epidemic in africa, but still as nature intended. its also interesting since ive grown up in a culture of male circumsicion, im intimidated by foreskins and prefer that stuff cut off if im gonna have sex with it, all my female friends feel the same way. how do the men feel about their foreskins, or lack there of?


also, to this day the smell of chocolate dumdums reminds me of the day my son was born.
>> ^dgandhi:
Talk to men in any big city in the US, and you will find and almost identical response to MGC.
What this shows is that when a society decides to ritually abuse their children they rationalizing it as normal and necessary, which is the reason my parents had my junk cut into, and my GF's parents conditioned her to wallow in gilt.
This has nothing to do with religion, this is all cultural. Just because this particular form of abuse is alien to you does not make it any worse than what your society does on a daily basis.