Why 2012 is the best year in history
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/leading-article/8789981/glad-tidings/
something doesn't feel right about this article…
Why 2012 is the best year in history
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/leading-article/8789981/glad-tidings/
something doesn't feel right about this article…
Happiest People in the World! Where does your country rank?
I am surprised my country isn't at the bottom of this chart, though.
Lately, it's just looks like that "love to complain about everything ever" is our national trait.
something doesn't feel right about this article…
Yeah, it seems a bit blithe about fracking, and also war isn't anywhere near humanity's number one killer
But apart from that, I like to think things are looking up
The hell?
The day after Labor Day, just as campaign season was entering its final frenzy, FreedomWorks, the Washington-based tea party organization, went into free fall.
Richard K. Armey, the group’s chairman and a former House majority leader, walked into the group’s Capitol Hill offices with his wife, Susan, and an aide holstering a handgun at his waist. The aim was to seize control of the group and expel Armey’s enemies: The gun-wielding assistant escorted FreedomWorks’ top two employees off the premises, while Armey suspended several others who broke down in sobs at the news.…
The partnership came to a crashing end when Armey marched into FreedomWorks’s office Sept. 4 with his wife, Susan, executive assistant Jean Campbell and the unidentified man with the gun at his waist — who promptly escorted Kibbe and Brandon out of the building.
“This was two weeks after there had been a shooting at the Family Research Council,” said one junior staff member who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. “So when a man with a gun who didn’t identify himself to me or other people on staff, and a woman I’d never seen before said there was an announcement, my first gut was, ‘Is FreedomWorks in danger?’ It was bizarre.’”
I read the article twice and I still don't understand what's going on.
I think a literal armed coup happened at a Tea Party organization??
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Since it's bloodless I'll have to laugh at the story lol. The Tea Party no better than third world politics, whodda thunk.
@Monkey:
The Tea Party no better than third world politics, whodda thunk.
Well, their policies would turn the US into a third world country, so why not?
The most amazing thing about this to me is that a former Speaker of the House was involved in it and the organization in question; if it was the local Tea Party of Deertick, Oklahoma and it was local dogcatcher Buford Earl Cletus IV doing something like this, that'd be one thing. But somebody like Dick Armey trying to take over a fairly powerful political operation like FreedomWorks this way just makes it surreal.
Poor guy. Wonder what made him snap
Well, with a name like that
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324669104578203132463233930.html
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russian-parliament-mull-anti-us-adoption-bill-18064296
"Let me prove how we support human rights by taking the already confirmed hope of adoption from 50 orphans and force them back into orphanages by parliamentary decision, that will show them how absolutely non-human rights infridging our government is !"
Seriously Putin. You're taking your anger out on orphans. This is…..realy disgusting, even for you.
@Monkey:
I think a literal armed coup happened at a Tea Party organization??
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Since it's bloodless I'll have to laugh at the story lol. The Tea Party no better than third world politics, whodda thunk.
Well, their policies would turn the US into a third world country, so why not?
The most amazing thing about this to me is that a former Speaker of the House was involved in it and the organization in question; if it was the local Tea Party of Deertick, Oklahoma and it was local dogcatcher Buford Earl Cletus IV doing something like this, that'd be one thing. But somebody like Dick Armey trying to take over a fairly powerful political operation like FreedomWorks this way just makes it surreal.
That sounds like straight out of an American TV drama on cheap cable channel.
A bad one.
That sounds like straight out of an American TV drama on cheap cable channel.
A bad one.
No, cable wouldn't have had him walk away from his failure with eight million dollars. That only happens in Corporate America and not on television as writers understand how much that sort of thing pisses people off.
Saw an article elsewhere, but it boils down to this.
The recoil of a slinky, stretched under its own weight, is a pretty fantastic physics problem, especially when you capture it in super-slo-mo. No matter how long the slinky, the bottom will stay in place, hovering, until the rest catches up.
Also, from the top of a building.
@RobbyBevard:
Saw an article elsewhere, but it boils down to this.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzgndmn01x1r5fqqfo1_400.gif
The recoil of a slinky, stretched under its own weight, is a pretty fantastic physics problem, especially when you capture it in super-slo-mo. No matter how long the slinky, the bottom will stay in place, hovering, until the rest catches up.
Also, from the top of a building.
Well more or less. But ,based on that video it seems from a certain length it tends to collapse on it's side towards the end rather then simply "folding up" neatly like the one in the gif.
@No:
Well more or less. But ,based on that video it seems from a certain length it tends to collapse on it's side towards the end rather then simply "folding up" neatly like the one in the gif.
Because it has too much speed and momentum then and too big a slink so theres some recoil working against it. But the bottom still stays in place till the rest catches up.
@No:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324669104578203132463233930.html
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russian-parliament-mull-anti-us-adoption-bill-18064296
"Let me prove how we support human rights by taking the already confirmed hope of adoption from 50 orphans and force them back into orphanages by parliamentary decision, that will show them how absolutely non-human rights infridging our government is !"
Seriously Putin. You're taking your anger out on orphans. This is…..realy disgusting, even for you.
So Putin continues to descend into Bond Villainy.
But seriously, this smacks of cutting off one's nose to spite their face.
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/youtube-sony-bmg-universal,news-16514.html
Oh you, Music Industry. When will you realize that you cannot prolong the inevitable?
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/youtube-sony-bmg-universal,news-16514.html
Oh you, Music Industry. When will you realize that you cannot prolong the inevitable?
This whole YouTube and Industry partnership seems like a huge mess.
On one hand you have the industries trying to fake their earnings like they've done here. (How embarrassing it must be for them now that they've gotten caught).
On the other hand YouTube continues to be a platform of thousands of copyright infringement content.
Kind of want youtube to go back to how it was two years ago, when advertising, legal issues and whatnot didn't seem to hinder the service.
The girl who isn’t shaving her legs until NHL lockout ends
Hockey is srs bsns.
The girl who isn’t shaving her legs until NHL lockout ends
Hockey is srs bsns.
Hockey is the best sport.
No, I'm not joking. This lockout is doing terrible things to me.
I'm not shaving my legs either! Because I'm a guy…and I never shave my legs.
Whatever works for her I guess. I've been protesting by wearing my Modano jersey every Friday. But a Stars jersey doesn't really fly so close to Kings territory...
I think its really hard to say, its quite varied, my psych teacher told me that personality disorders and mental illness are not really the same. When I keep thinking about mental illness I think of hallucinations/delusions or voices y'know someone who is psychotic.
Sorry, I know this is really delayed and you probably don't care about this discussion anymore :P Just saw this and thought I'd comment. The symptoms you're talking about, like hallucinations and delusions, are known as symptoms of psychosis, which are present in some mental illnesses but not all (like depression). There's a bit of debate over what society should deem as a 'mental illness', but problems like social anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder are just as much 'mental illness/psychological disorder' as schizophrenia is. The symptoms are just different. You don't have to have symptoms of psychosis to be diagnosed with a mental illness; there are many mental illnesses that don't involve psychotic symptoms.
On the other side-note mentioned: I consider autism a developmental disorder as well, but I also believe it is of relevance to psychology because of the huge socio-emotional component, and the role of psychotherapies (especially those for children) in treating it.
Is anyone here aware or interested in the First Nations movement hitting Ontario and most of Western Canada right now? Because I'm living right in the middle of a small cultural war…needless to say, my Facebook is full of one-sided Native propaganda spewing biased statements about the racist treatment and ignorance of everyone against their movement.
It's called "Idle No More", and was basically initiated when Chief of Attawapiskat, Theresa Spence, announced she was going on a hunger strike until she could meet with Prime Minister Steven Harper...which is not exactly a good start to this movement. The rest of the events (locally) have been very ridiculous, including a spontaneous Pow-wow with drums and loud screaming in my local mall, which would have been fine, if they had asked for the malls permission first. But they didn't, so at least 60 people were blocking the shopping area for most of the day without warning, and when a gaurd went to ask them to stop, he was pushed into an elderly man and later terminated from his job for sparking a mini-riot.
The video description is also wrong...as you can see a lady has her hands on the gaurd as he is falling BACKWARD into the elderly person.
Full Wiki for complete information on the movement…I just want some outside opinion on this, because I'm too scared to point out the flaws to any of my friends for fear of being called a bigot, ignorant, racist motherfucker.
I don't know what you want an opinion of. The movement as a whole. This one video. Or just whether or not we think your post makes you an ignorant bigoted racist motherfucker.
if it's the first the movement sounds reasonable bad oil pipelines, waterways, environment and such. I don't know if this is the best way to get their point across but it has got peoples attention so it might be working.
If it's the second i don't really like to make opinions from snapshots of incidents. I don't know what happened before or after the video started recording so really i'm only looking at what someone wants me to see which sometimes isn't bad but in many cases, especially this one, it's not a good place to start.
If it's the last one you sound annoyed by the movement and how it's impacting your life on facebook and at the mall but you haven't really commented on the movements objectives. They seem to have a valid complaint even if you don't like the way they're going on about it. Still if you care about any of the actual issues you shouldn't be afraid to voice your opinion. If you're just mad about the mall, maybe best keep that to yourself.
If it's the last one you sound annoyed by the movement and how it's impacting your life on facebook and at the mall but you haven't really commented on the movements objectives. They seem to have a valid complaint even if you don't like the way they're going on about it. Still if you care about any of the actual issues you shouldn't be afraid to voice your opinion. If you're just mad about the mall, maybe best keep that to yourself.
No I think you misunderstood me… it's not impacting my life on Facebook, I just can't dive into a serious discussion on BOTH sides without offending any of my friends, mostly regarding the wrongful termination of the security guard...like a week before Christmas...because he was doing his job.
I definitely don't care about the mall. I don't think it's fair that the display went on without permission or warning, and when a young security gaurd steps in to do his job, he's made out to be the villain.
I definitely agree that First Nation's people should stand up for their rights, but I believe they are doing it all the wrong ways. Hunger strikes and unexpected flash-mobs won't help their cause.
I think Harper is being really boneheaded in not meeting the chief at the very least. If he keeps treating her like she's some nobody, its going to come back to bite him in the ass. Also the hunger strike is a little misleading…she's eating soup everyday or something...she's not in any danger at all.
I have to admit I'm not very well versed in the specifics of what Idle No More wants (they don't really have a clear message either). But I do think unilateral action on the part of the government is pretty wrong, and that these omnibus bills are absolutely ridiculous.
I definitely agree that First Nation's people should stand up for their rights, but I believe they are doing it all the wrong ways. Hunger strikes and unexpected flash-mobs won't help their cause.
You can't really blame them. Native issues were pretty much ignored by your average Canadian (and the government) before the whole movement. Even when Idle No More started, no one gave two shits until they started blocking roads and stuff
I've never really gotten a good idea about how native relations are in Canada, they vary so wildly here in the US I can't quite use any point of comparison.
He's aparently at death's door.
Or perfectly fine, no one knows.
Right now there's a power void, the VP is with him, both Opo and them are in inner conflict. The country is paralized, there is no weath, no corn flour, very little chicken and meat, no $ to ANYTHING, there have been around 20k violent deaths this year, just crimen, no army vs people, no bombardment, just… rampant crime.
I just don't have the will to wish him dead any more, as cancer this year has hit close to me, I don't know what to do, except, keep on working, keep on living, and keep on voting against them (except last time, fuck El Pollo that hasn't done anything for my state for 6 years). What else can a fatty 25y/o middle class system engineer do?
He's aparently at death's door.
Or perfectly fine, no one knows.Right now there's a power void, the VP is with him, both Opo and them are in inner conflict. The country is paralized, there is no weath, no corn flour, very little chicken and meat, no $ to ANYTHING, there have been around 20k violent deaths this year, just crimen, no army vs people, no bombardment, just… rampant crime.
I just don't have the will to wish him dead any more, as cancer this year has hit close to me, I don't know what to do, except, keep on working, keep on living, and keep on voting against them (except last time, fuck El Pollo that hasn't done anything for my state for 6 years). What else can a fatty 25y/o middle class system engineer do?
It really is amazing that people can still defend any statesman who blatantly lies about their severe health issues like this. It doesn't matter what their ideals are, this is about as blatant sleaze as can be. All about the power.
Anyone whose known someone with severe (chemo level) cancers like I have knows how much shit Chavez has been full of since he ever started using the word "cured".
A real statesman would step down and organize their succession.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2011/10/ringling-bros-elephant-abuse
Ringling Bros. circus elephants revealed to have been subjected to constant torture belying the circus's image of "positive reinforcement" training
Benevolent and forgiving Dear Leader offers hand to absolve south of being an imperialist lapdog monkey and desire to reunite Korean peninsula, also expresses desire to increase agricultural production a quadrillion fold to share with the famine-stricken rest of world
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/01/20131145239391827.html
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2011/10/ringling-bros-elephant-abuse
Ringling Bros. circus elephants revealed to have been subjected to constant torture belying the circus's image of "positive reinforcement" training
To be honest… I'm completely opposed to animals performing in the circus to begin with.
@The:
To be honest… I'm completely opposed to animals performing in the circus to begin with.
The animals are 90% of how the circus got so big; the elephants were the main attraction.
@Cyan:
Benevolent and forgiving Dear Leader offers hand to absolve south of being an imperialist lapdog monkey and desire to reunite Korean peninsula, also expresses desire to increase agricultural production a quadrillion fold to share with the famine-stricken rest of world
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/01/20131145239391827.html
Dear Leader was Jong-Il while Great leader was Il-Sung; this one is Kim Jong-Unicorn.
The animals are 90% of how the circus got so big; the elephants were the main attraction.
not always
sometimes the main attractions are….ummm..
flamingos like doflamingo.
..lol
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/337/2/0/don_quixote_doflamingo_color_by_tanuki13-d4i3xk4.jpg
Another case of political correctness gone mad.
1.) Big Fat Quiz of the Year is always rude and boisterous.
I don't know how you could watch something with jimmy carr in it and still think you'll be watching something fit for the whole family.
2.) The jokes weren't even that bad, just schoolboy crudeness. Nothing particularly offensive.
3.) The show isn't live. If the jokes were truly that offensive, then the broadcasters wouldn't have shown it. Blame them if you're upset, not the comedian.
4.) Easily offended people are not the target audience.
The reason the comedians are so rude in the first place is because ninnies like you aren't EXPECTED to turn up and listen to them.
It's called life, fucking deal with it and change the channel. It's that damn simple.
Who the hell watches a tv program, finds a comment they don't agree with, and thinks
"waaah, i'm gonna phone up and whine to the company to take my unreasonable amount of spite out on someone who's only doing their job!
oh, how i wish i knew how to stop taking television so seriously!"
it pisses me off that crude humor is becoming less and less frequent as more and more soccer moms get their panties in a bunch about pointless crap.
over a million people watched the quiz, and only 165 people complained. how is that a number worth acting over?
that's like removing a subject from school because ONE student in the ENTIRE school didn't like it. absolute madness.
Anonymous really is playing the Batman role these days:
@MDL:
Another case of political correctness gone mad.
1.) Big Fat Quiz of the Year is always rude and boisterous.
I don't know how you could watch something with jimmy carr in it and still think you'll be watching something fit for the whole family.2.) The jokes weren't even that bad, just schoolboy crudeness. Nothing particularly offensive.
3.) The show isn't live. If the jokes were truly that offensive, then the broadcasters wouldn't have shown it. Blame them if you're upset, not the comedian.
4.) Easily offended people are not the target audience.
The reason the comedians are so rude in the first place is because ninnies like you aren't EXPECTED to turn up and listen to them.
It's called life, fucking deal with it and change the channel. It's that damn simple.Who the hell watches a tv program, finds a comment they don't agree with, and thinks
"waaah, i'm gonna phone up and whine to the company to take my unreasonable amount of spite out on someone who's only doing their job!
oh, how i wish i knew how to stop taking television so seriously!"it pisses me off that crude humor is becoming less and less frequent as more and more soccer moms get their panties in a bunch about pointless crap.
over a million people watched the quiz, and only 165 people complained. how is that a number worth acting over?
that's like removing a subject from school because ONE student in the ENTIRE school didn't like it. absolute madness.
I know right? It's ridiculous. There was something liek this after Citizen Khan aired last autumn. People complained it was 'racist' and ;derogatory towards Muslims' in similar numbers to the BFQ complaints. Guess what? Nothign happened, except Citizen Khan got renewed for another season.
I wouldn;t complain that people phone in and complain after watching it though – it's right that people can complain and it shows us where lines are to be drawn. What's annoying is, in both examples, very few people complained in the 24 hours after the broadcast - most complained following media coverage of it. People read abotu something they'll take offence at, then go watch it, are offended, and complain. The Daily Mail criticised the show for being in poor taste and printed all the 'controversial' jokes in full .... and complaints went up about 16 times or something.
I mean, the jokes were a little risky, but not as much as is being made out. And considering the comedians on the show, you'd expect them to be a little risky.
Front page news on Aljazeera, had to search for it on CNN. Makes no sense
@Nex:
Front page news on Aljazeera, had to search for it on CNN. Makes no sense
Quote from the Article: "The victims ranged in age from less than one to 17 years old."
From less than one? Seriously?
Quote from the Article: "The victims ranged in age from less than one to 17 years old."
From less than one? Seriously?
Yeah… There's some PRETTY (and by pretty I mean REALLY) messed up people in the world, if you didn't know. lol
This is a very difficult story to find an opinion on, other than the easy-to-agree with idea that rehabilitations are good. Like I'm all about positivity, forgiveness, the sort (though it can be difficult to always feel that way when victims can be so heavily victimized and perpetrators, who are expected to be forgiven, aren't really… affected?)
Whether one should start from the unhealthy behaviours that manifested in eventual murder (set aside gun ownership at the moment), or whether one can trust Conor (the murderer's) perspective, and where the forgiveness comes from or is directed at. It feels like a double edged sword without an easy answer (what the victim would want is not of consideration, as they are dead so it's hard to feel if it can be included), although surely in this case for the parents forgiveness is a method in which they can live the rest of their lives with less of a burden of anger? I think?
Dunno. Interesting story but my mind is kind of elsewhere to think too heavy on it right now.
I think the conclusion of it though is pretty apt. The prosecutor made a good decision with 20 years I suppose and mostly the 10 parole, assumedly to keep an eye on him afterwards since he's known to have anger issues.
Edit: Also I know not everyone is me and their natural reaction might be more "fuck any murderer" which is also why the article can be interesting. IDK. There's a lot of ways to think about it.
Jesus, that was probably the heaviest thing I've read in the last month. I easily agree with Holy in principle about how rehabilitation should be the focus in the justice system instead of punishment, but I had only thought of it in terms of preventing minor criminals from descending into more violence through the awful prison environment. Reading how the specific murder in the article happened really tests that belief though. I don't want to look through the article again since it was pretty depressing for me, but did they know before the murder that he had anger issues? That could open up another whole area of discussion around the mental health implications of this but I'd probably just be grasping at straws trying to say something meaningful about it.
I take my chance and do what I like the most, that is, I disagree with you. First of I find this story pretty optimistic and inspiring. Second, while I see why this story may be controversial to other people, for me it's fairy easy to deal with (at least from how that case have been presented). Now I have to explain why I think that.
"In hearts of each of us sleep thousand demons" that's a poetic metaphor, meaning that each of us has some issues, that one day may come out. People don't commit murders and other crimes because there is something wrong with them, no people commit crimes because there is something wrong with all of us. We tend to forget about that, thinking we are all that better than them, because normally we are able to keep our demons in check. However it's perfectly normal and perfectly human to loose control at times of great stress. It happens to all of us that we snap and shout at somebody or hit somebody, but for most of us that's all. Still it's enough for us to feel like we weren't ourselves or like something have been possessed by something us when we did what we did, happens more often to people with anger issues, but it's just as likely to happen to anyone else, albeit with less frequency. A fraction of murders also goes under this. As well as this particular case. The death of the girl from the hand of her beloved saddens me greatly, but it isn't shocking (it would be if I knew the pair, because I would have personal perspective). This could have happened to any of us, or at least any of us who have access to guns, but knives could have been just as effective. It's not a case of somebody who planed murder or did it because of mental illness. That's a case of pretty decent guy who regrets what he did. He wasn't even likely to become murderer for the second time, or, at least no more likely than any of us. Sure, he could avoid it all if he went for therapy for his anger issues. But it's not that he killed her due to his anger issues, but his issues were great responsible in creating a situation when he snapped and killed her. Of course any of it doesn't make him less guilty or less responsible for what he did. But it makes him worthy of forgiveness. He doesn't even need harsh penalty - the awareness of what he did is already harshest penalty for him, because he is just as normal human being as many of us. That lives us with need to satisfy sense of justice, both of community and of victims family and having penalty that would scare away other possible offenders. The family forgave him and they don't want high penalty for him. This particular type of murder wasn't committed with consideration for consequences, regardless of the penalty possible offender of those kind won't be scared. Lives us with satisfying community. And here is the only question: good of individuals involved in the case or will of community. My personal answer is good for individuals involved. That includes the murderer - what he did doesn't make him less human.
Make me happy, that the victim's family decide to do all the things they did. If they didn't, they, as well as the boy and his family would have all much darker lives. Now they are as free of that shadow as they can. It had to require a lot of strength from them to do it all.
I find the whole case optimistic, because I know bad things like that with sheer force of inert and it takes will to do good, because I know that murders like that won't cease to exist, but that situation shows, there is a hope for those who continue to live to live their lives without overwhelming bitterness and hate. And that way at least the people involved in the case are determined to rise awareness and thus prevent at list some situations when it can occur in the future.
Of course this sort of resolve can be put to other type of murders an heinous crimes. But in this particular case and in similar cases it's very good resolve.
(note: I don't think it's likely for any of us to become murders, but still there exist small possibility.)
(to be clear I don't assign positive nor negative value to normalcy or typical human behavior, I'm neutral to them at least in most contexts.)
Anymore else see that article about the US ex governor and googles head honcho paying a visit to North Korea? It's meant to be aimed at releasing a US/NK citizen which sounds great, but the US response to it was nothing but negative. Kind of seems like an odd message to put out when one of your own is at risk.
I'm surprised the forgiveness article didn't include a mention of neurolaw, especially given the dimension of emotional instability in the highlighted murder case. And it usually comes up when discussing the evolution of criminal justice (e.g., the case where head trauma caused a guy to become a pedophile, so doesn't that mean all of our actions are ultimately predetermined by the accidents of brain chemistry, etc.)
I'm surprised the forgiveness article didn't include a mention of neurolaw, especially given the dimension of emotional instability in the highlighted murder case. And it usually comes up when discussing the evolution of criminal justice (e.g., the case where head trauma caused a guy to become a pedophile, so doesn't that mean all of our actions are ultimately predetermined by the accidents of brain chemistry, etc.)
the concept forgiveness and the concept of somebody being predetermined to commit the crime rule out one another, or rather they belong to two different universes of viewing the world. You can't give forgiveness to brain chemistry. If somebody was predetermined to do something he/she can hardly be forgiven, because there is no way of holding him/her guilty/responsible for the deed in the first place.
That's what I'm saying. It's relevant to the topic of forgiveness because it renders it moot.