EDD - "The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them.

But why should you keep your head over your shoulder? Why drag about this corpse of your memory, lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place? Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then? It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day. In your metaphysics you have denied personality to the Deity: yet when the devout motions of the soul come, yield to them heart and life, though they should clothe God with shape and color. Leave your theory, as Joseph his coat in the hand of the harlot, and flee.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day." - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

I don't stand by everything I've said about porn in the past. I think I've changed a lot. If you have read my posts in this thread it should be obvious to you that I've made some very different points.

I'm sure you know this, EDD, but while I may change my mind on certain points, porn is something I'll never really change my mind about. You know that feeling that you get when you're trying to explain to a Christian that God doesn't exist? Like they just don't get it because they're indoctrinated and willfully ignorant and stubborn? Like you're threatening their favorite pet and they need to defend it with everything they've got? It feels kind of like that. I am completely convinced that porn is useless, destructive filth. I may not have all of my facts straight. I may not know all of the pros and cons. I don't understand everything. But I think that the rest of you are either delusional, confused, indoctrinated, or in serious denial about how hideous porn is. I'm sorry for this condescendig attitude. I don't disrespect your intellect. I just think that you have an incredibly false and convincing set of beliefs that are virtually impossible for you to discard.

And I don't know why you think that I haven't taken a more moderate stance on porn. I definitely have. Did I mention sexual crime even once in this thread? Nope. I don't blame pornography for sexual crime, but in some cases it probably doesn't help. False schemas and lies about sex and relationships that are told by porn (especially the degradation of women and the idea that sex is something men do to women) may have the power to influence the weak-minded and borderline insane people that commit sexual crime. I don't really know.

I don't have a vendetta against porn because I've been personally hurt by it, I hate porn because it is the repulsive, cancerous, deceptive opposite of art.

'We fear death, yet we long for slumber and beautiful dreams'

- Kahlil Gibran

'Consider the true picture. Think of myriads of tiny bubbles, very sparsely scattered, rising through a vast black sea. We rule some of the bubbles. Of the waters we know nothing...'

- Niven & Pournelle

'We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal ONE. And this deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are shining parts, is the soul.'

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

'If we wish to understand the nature of reality, we have an inner hidden advantage: we are ourselves a little portion of the universe and so carry the answer within us.'

- Jacques Boivin

Wheres Waldo? Oh, he's easy to spot this year folks, just look out for the swirling mass of benevolent doom somewhere on the satellite photo.

Otherwise, here are some free Rules of Thumb for improving your writing skills. Most of them apply in other languages as well.
(from my pal Rootlesstree) :

1. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat).
6. Always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also, too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments. No comma splices, run-ons are bad too.
11. Contractions aren't helpful and shouldn't be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
14. One should never generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
16. Don't use no double negatives.
17. Eschew ampersands and abbreviations, etc.
18. One -word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23. Kill all exclamation points!!
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
25. Understatement is probably not the best way to propose earth shattering ideas.
26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
27. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
31. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
32. Who needs rhetorical questions?
33. Exaggeration is a million times worse than understatement.
34. Proofread carefully to see if you (have) any words out.

I thought it was pretty cool...

Oh, and anyone have the link for the video? I have some nieces and a nephew that need to "find Waldo"...

Where's Waldo? and Kama Sutra ... or maybe Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

>> ^NordlichReiter:
That's... uncanny.
Any on notice any ethnicity in that crowd?


I saw a black guy at 31 to 34 seconds. It was like trying to find Waldo.

How do I return the favor for someone who just gave me a quality star? By *discarding one of their videos. Sorry buddy, but it's a dupe of this:

http://www.videosift.com/video/Finding-Waldo

I duped this very same video a few months back, so I feel your pain. Sorry.

Don't worry about it man, thanks for the hilarious video.

In reply to this comment by NordlichReiter:
thanks for the promotes

In reply to this comment by JAPR:
*promote lol

thanks for the promotes

In reply to this comment by JAPR:
*promote lol

lol. It would be even funnier if 'waldo' wasn't given away in the title.

Cool-Plenty of natural CO2 to make more plastic shit with-

"greener"-
Please don't let these snake-oil fucks tax the individual for carbon....you want greener kiddies, stop paying for the shit that you think causes any other color, and find Waldo the hidden-Start with Gore, and find out who hired him to make a fool of himself, and everyone who's still a sucker-

"Help reduce the use of fossil fuels" by converting what you buy from the real polluters-those who manufacture the need you imagine you have-oh wait, fuck it, China and the so-called 3rd world won't stop-so all your tiny efforts are vanity-wanna buy some oxygen???

This Cornell chemist must have never heard of hot sand-but you know he hears the ching sound....."ching ching"-

Q: Do we need plastic? No. Rather have a keyboard with crystal keystrokers....

I was looking for Waldo the whole time. Never could find him.

>> ^gwiz665:
Everyone loves colorful balls...
>> ^Obsidianfire:
Edit: I got tired of the Waldo. I like the colorful balls more.



It's okay.. no no, it's fine, you can touch them.. </creepy>

Everyone loves colorful balls...
>> ^Obsidianfire:
Edit: I got tired of the Waldo. I like the colorful balls more.