Total posts: 8,696
--> @oromagiI mean sure we can invalidate it due to lack of credentials and authority, I guess.
Agreed. The original premise is invalid. I don’t suppose that’ll check the conversation much at this point.
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@Greyparrot
There’s little relation between American Conservatism and the present right wing of US Party politics. Generally, I’d call the Times more conservative than the Post. Most reporting suggests that opinion @Post is neither ideological or interested in the truth, news and opinion are just commodities pimped by Rupert Murdoch & Co. but all that is neither here nor there. OP quotes one source then uses another source’ credentials. OP claims theOp-Ed is liberal and reliable but using OPs own fact checker, the true source is neither. Can’t we agree that the argument is invalidated by the error?
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@Swagnarok
+1 swag- if u r confusing the NY post and The NY Times then there’s not really to talk about.
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Toast St. Pat with a pic of your favorite beverage. Slainte!
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@mustardness
I absolutely agree that taking care of the ecological environment that sustains all humans here on Earth needs to be the priority. No outerspace colony should be seen as a viable alternative habitat for humanity. That proposition is entirely unproven and well down the road technologically speaking.
I take it you'd redirect NASAs hundreds of billion into improving nuke tech. That not an irrational proposition although I'm guessing that you underestimate the potential of less wasteful solar and wind. Regardless, I don't see why Moon colonization and nuclear development aren't highly compatible developments- we may well want nuclear powered ships and nuclear power plants for colonies. The Moon may prove a desirable dump for nuclear waste if we significantly ramp up production.
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@bsh1
We're not voting on the policy, just on the phrasing of it. The status quo is the same policy as the suggested in the MEEP. These rephrased policies are designed to say pretty much the same thing but in a more straightforward way.Do you think the COC is better phrased as-is?
Got it, perhaps I was thrown by "some slight alterations in vote moderation policy may be implicated." I understand that we're working to make the job of voting little easier by clarification but I'm not convinced that better understanding of an insufficient rule adds much value- like raking leaves with a mop. Still, clarity of purpose is it own benefit and I ought not deny that improvement by intransigence on the larger complaint. You may change my vote on
Should COC (Voting Policy) Section 1, Subsection A, B, C, & D be replaced?
to a halfhearted "yes."
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1. Should there be additional criteria that a debater voter needs to meet in order to be eligible to vote on a debate?
yes, C.B.D.A.E
2. Should the COC (Site Rules) Section 1, Subsection 3, Part 10 be repealed?
Hell yes
3. Should COC (Voting Policy) Section 1, Subsection A B C D be replaced?
No. Many debates merit a high standard of judging, many do not- often by choice. Won’t these narrower standards prove inapplicable to a variety of cases?
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@Alec
I generally support Moon first. I was thinking about making a debate and kind of researching Mars first arguments. Interesting that Alec assumes a one government solution [NASA]. I would have expected more capitalism but also more international participation. By law, any colony will need to be to benefit of all nations: no nation may claim territory, only property. Seems like the burden of cost should likewise be borne internationally. If I was in charge I'd want about 40% private- multiple, competing companies, 60% public. Best case would be something like 30/20/10 US/Europe/China. Using Alec's number that gives a $180 billion/yr burden but I think we can do better than that. I'd have to look it up but I think NASA's present pricetag for an 18 month manned mars mission is $800 billion. ISS cost about $150 billion.
Alec- I wonder what you think of the The 1967 Outer Space Treaty? - might be a good debate topic.
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There is seldom much profit in looking for scientific rigor in Hollywood Sci-Fi. Consider that the problem of Skynet is created by some fairly stupid programming: oops, when we instructed Skynet to protect the world, we forgot to explain that biology was the most important part of that world. Nor does it seem likely would cede control of the US nuclear arsenal to a corporation.
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@secularmerlin
seems like the flaw is more attributable to the first movie than the sequel. Why would Skynet build a time machine that only shifted organic matter? And what’s the chemical principle that preserves living tissue but can’t transport the same elements independently- carbon, iron, etc. wouldn’t it make much more sense that the shock of time travel kills living tissue?
I think, like a lot of sequels, T2 was a little embarrassed by an illogical plot point in the original and so ignored it.
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@secularmerlin
I tend to place T2 & Aliens in the same basket. Both franchises start as sci-fi with traditional horror structure- a woman outruns an increasing pace of homicide until fortunes turn at the climax. What I found most interesting about the sequels is how traditional horror was quashed, the women now actively seek the killers, not because they expect victory but because maternal instinct compels them and the fate of humanity hangs in the balance and because they are now transformed by prior experience into badass experts. In horror the woman’s innocence is usually what saves her, in these movies the woman is saved by experience. I’ve always considered these movies an important mile marker in the evolution of women in film.
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5. Hold the Door
4. The Battle of the Bastards
3. The Battle of HardHome
2. The Purple Wedding Pantomime
1. The Battle of Gold Road
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Not so much the activity of golf which is fine but the culture of golf: the clubiness, the maximized use of open space for minimized numbers in urban areas, the water usage and the carefully manicured lawns and the interminable whispered weekend tv matches and the tax breaks and the presidential golf traditions. Driving ranges? Good sport. Putt-putt? Excellent family fun. Country clubs in city centers? No, thanks.
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Well, SupaDudz has clearly abrogated his profile pick responsibilities- like that guy who initiates the ballpark wave but then when it comes around again acts like he's too cool to carpool and just sips on his beer: so I've assassinated SupaDudz and assumed his role. My first act is to move this shit to the PERSONAL category. Cuz that's all it is, just hey what are you into? If a picture paints a thousand words then why can't I paint you, etc. Speaking of assassinations, the Ides of March is next week so we're doing profile pics of the famously assassinated.
I'm going with Wikipedia's dead Rasputin .jpeg- in honor of SupaDudz.
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@Vader
almost- I'm still a couple of pints and a bag of chips short
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My nephew went through a prolonged phase of loving "Cars" He'll still just watch a Cars movies automatically if you drop it in front of him. Works like hypnotism. I particularly like the red rock west setting- which landscapes I've always found quite captivating.
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@EtrnlVw
I was never much of a "Back to the Future" fan. Too comic for Sci-Fi. Too broad for comedy. I thought the set looked like a Universal Studio amusement park ride even back then.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Did you ask this knowing that I'm naked now?
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@RationalMadman
i am decidedly uncareful in my influences. I embrace multitudes.
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@RationalMadman
Seem like we should move this to politics or something, but yeah. Frankly, I think England should have given everybody the franchise- English citizens all from North America to Hong Kong and so become a much longer lasting Empire. Even after a successful independence I think Great Britain and Ireland are stronger together and would benefit better from competition within a United Kingdom but that question is long past. I think most people there are well-prepared to live together without much religious intolerance and with as much autonomy over their affairs as parliament can spare. Belfast is prospering, the old divisions are fading. Northern Ireland is both English and Irish, Protestant and Catholic, Orange and Green. What's the value of restoring ancient emnities?
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@RationalMadman
As a Pagan, I see Lent as a deceptive concept. If you're giving something up, give it up. If you don't want to stop indulging in something, then be the filthy hedonist you were born to be and stop worrying about it.
Well the point is sacrifice- not something you have to give up but something you give up anyway as gesture, instead of slaughtering a ram, etc.
Any good pagan knows all about sacrifice, no?
Famously assassinated seems good.
OK then. We'll wait to what, Sunday?
I don't have much respect for Irish culture or mentality;
Oh, I do.
very alcoholic, angry and egotistical people in general (yet pose as humble catholics). If that offends you, I am NOT sorry.
I try to be hard to offend and your characterization is not so wrong. but we Irish can also take a punch.
IRA did horrific things
This is true.
and I feel no shame in saying Ireland is very nasty and corrupt on a deep level, including in its organised-crime world where mafia-like formations are very common even today.
I don't know any place in Europe that doesn't have some organized crime. My mother's family was super-IRA. My Grandmother fled Ireland at the age of 14- after her best friend was drawn and quartered by the police. We're still connected to that old family and they are incredibly proud of their violent resistance even today. Two of my cousins there served as extras in the movie Braveheart. I wouldn't try to defend IRA thuggery but I think Irish independence was just enough. I try to promote non-violent protest and I think the Anglo-Irish relationship was as susceptible to a potent non-violent movement as any dynamic of the 20th century but the Irish chose violence.
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@RationalMadman
St. Patricks Day is coming up, so is the Ides of March.
How about top ten drunks and/or the famously assassinated?
or how about a picture of what you would give up for Lent?
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I'm watching 8mile on Netflix. I saw it when it came out but not since. Man, I waited for a bus a couple of times at 8mile and Grand one hot summer years ago- a shocking dividing line between white and black, wealth and poverty right there. I wonder if its still like that.
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@Greyparrot
how about that- our best conversation ever.
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@Greyparrot
If that was true than the story would be running in the DNC Elite controlled media, which it isn't- it's only running on Fox. Therefore, the hitjob must be GOP.
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@coal
Well, I suppose I hoped to detect political opinion but I phrased it that way so you could pursue personal interests. If you think of cous-cous or whatever, that's fine but probably less interesting.
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@RationalMadman
How about a link to your best rap on this site so far, RatMan?
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@coal
Right, ok.... What do you think about when you think about Israel?
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@Vader
I think I would be terrible at this. I probably have way less biographical insight into likely participants than others and I don't listen to that much rap. Grand Theft Auto 3 San Andreas soundtrack is about as deep as I go. Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits is more my listening pleasure. Look, if you really need a sixth and you don't mind that I will suck, I'll give it a go just to keep things lively.
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@Vader
That increases my interest. How does that work?
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@Ramshutu
...and the preferred term now is little people.
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I agree that the reaction is rather hypercritical of some modest bit of parody, clearly marked off as humor. I think people have a right to brand themselves however they wish and even trying new pronouns- hey, fine I'll give it a shot- but the branding has to work to some extent. A new pronoun has to be simple and memorable and consistent or it's not really a pronoun anymore, is it? Then it has become a game that nobody wins or an excuse for phony outrage. I think it is fine for society to have some kind of conversation about how to make pronouns reflect increased gender fluidity but I'm not particularly interested in sitting in on those meetings. Come up with a pronoun that people will want to adopt- something simple and catchy or funny and people will pick it up without all this unnecessary sense of righteous imposition.
Similarly, we really need to get rid of the LGBT letter salad. Personally, I think queer is plenty inclusive and only one syllable and has some pedigree in the history of our language.
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BOGLAND
for T. P. Flanagan
We have no prairies
To slice a big sun at evening—
Everywhere the eye concedes to
Encroaching horizon,
Is wooed into the cyclops’ eye
Of a tarn. Our unfenced country
Is bog that keeps crusting
Between the sights of the sun.
They’ve taken the skeleton
Of the Great Irish Elk
Out of the peat, set it up
An astounding crate full of air.
Butter sunk under
More than a hundred years
Was recovered salty and white.
The ground itself is kind, black butter
Melting and opening underfoot,
Missing its last definition
By millions of years.
They’ll never dig coal here,
Only the waterlogged trunks
Of great firs, soft as pulp.
Our pioneers keep striking
Inwards and downwards,
Every layer they strip
Seems camped on before.
The bogholes might be Atlantic seepage.
The wet centre is bottomless.
-Seamus Heaney
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@IlDiavolo
What are gay rights like in Uruguay? My perception is that you're a fairly freedom loving bunch of folks down there.
Uruguay is more liberal than you think it is. We're the only country in Latin America where marihuana is legal, and homosexuals can get married. Nevertheless, there are still conservative people that don't like gays, they're very tolerant though.
No, that's pretty much I what I thought. I often see Uruguay near the top of lists like "most civil liberties" or "most free press." Good on you.
At any rate, I just wanted to know how it is in other countries because I see comedy movies, like "The Hot Chick" or "I now pronounce Chuck and Larry", where people laugh at gay things, and even more, they depict that being gay is inmoral, wrong, and not desirable.
Sure, but if we let the comedians define our morality we're all going to hell for certain. I think a movie that got the gayness of straight men fairly truthfully is "Y Tu Mama Tambien"
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@Vader
well I was thinking of Santa Claus but I see he’s less Greek in modern terms than I thought. So let’s switch to Socrates. Opa!
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@Greyparrot
What was your opinion of Kasich in 2016?
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@Greyparrot
That's a pretty straightforward question who is the best candidate from any party for 2020 in your estimation? I've seen you've cite more than one website listed on hate group watch site, which leads me to assume you're a Trump guy, right? Certainly, we know you're no Bernie guy so your motive when talking about the DNC is to promote division rather than decry.
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@Greyparrot
Trump, Obama, Bush, and Clinton were all considered no hope candidates at similar distance from the primaries. US politics are sufficiently unpredictable to humble the best of prognosticators. Who is the best candidate from any party for 2020 in your estimation?
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“Doesn’t seem like moderation is in tune with where Democratic-primary voters are right now,” the “Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos said to Hickenlooper on Monday, during an interview. Hickenlooper waved off the concern. “I don’t think voters are interested in labels anymore,” he said. “I think there’s an appetite for people that can get stuff done.”
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What about the tardigrade's capacity to survive outer space?
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