Those private Roman fire brigades would turn up to a burning building and cheerfully offer to put the fire out - for a hefty price. If the building owner couldn't pay, the building simply went up in smoke.
Alternately, the firemen would offer to buy the building from the owner at well below its actual value. Once they'd bought it, they would either put out the fire in their brand new building or let it burn down so they could build something else on their new vacant block of land.
That's why we need socialised & publicly funded fire brigades, police force, nursing & public school teaching staff etc - the crap pay & conditions and the constant fobbing off by their governmental employers ensure that only people who actually care about people & want to save lives, protect property, preserve the peace & educate children take those jobs
That's the thing. It was strongly opposed - just not by the Democrats, who were the only ones in a position to affect change and roll back some of the Bush damage. Why? Because the Democrats have been spinless bastards since (and way before) 2000 - when Gore could have forced an actual recount of the Florida votes but inexplicably chose not to. The Dems don't know when they're onto a good thing and they deserve only marginally less disgust than their opponents, who caused the whole mess to begin with. Hell, just because the Republicans broke the country, it's no reason to believe the Democrats can fix it - this time around, more than ever, a vote for the Dems is a vote for minor damage control, not a freaking revolution.
Yes, true - typo on my part there. BTW "my" media is better than what passes for journalism stateside (but only marginally).
On that topic: I think the fact that many of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis has gone down the ol' memory hole. If the Taliban's involvement with 9/11 was sufficient justification for invading Afghanistan, surely the nationality of the actual attackers should count for something ... oh, but wait, I almost forgot: the Saudi royal family are a friendly theocratic fundamentalist dictatorship with shitloads of cash, oil and influence, unlike the Taliban, who were a nasty theocratic fundamentalist dictatorship, mired in poverty & with no resources and with no real ability to defend itself from a trillion-dollar military empire. Although, until 2001, Bush & co seemed quite happy to talk with them about using some of their real estate for a certain oil pipeline.
Last edited by Hankstar, .
"Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you."
- Kurt Cobain.
The dude was right, but look what happened to him. Just sayin'...
Shotglass: let's continue this elsewhere - the natives seem restless.
- Kurt Cobain.
The dude was right, but look what happened to him. Just sayin'...
Shotglass: let's continue this elsewhere - the natives seem restless.
How do you think I met my wife? Sagan FTW!
Oops. If you're only mildly offended then I'm not doing my job...
Close. When I'm good Kevin gives me squid baths.
Bad luck Mazz, nothing can compete with the fury of the FURIOUS CAPS LOCK OF FURY assault (3xD20 and no saving throw)
Socialist as in "not privately owned and providing profit to shareholders, but "owned", administered & funded by the state through money (tax) collected from the populace". Seems the word "socialist" still raises big red flags for some even when it's applied correctly and not in a purely political or ideological sense.
Hummer, many conservatives loved the idea of that massive corporate welfare handout because it mainly benefited themselves - the owners & shareholders of the very banks & corporations which caused this very preventable & avoidable mess in the first place (and they were enabled by financial policies & legislation enacted by the current conservative government who did so unopposed until the Democratic congressional victory of 2006). They're happy to see many other institutions which were formerly state-run privatised (and turned into profit-making ventures) such as prisons, logistical/security duties formerly taken up by the military and now carried out by private subcontractors (Blackwater, Halliburton et al - which end up costing the taxpayer more money because those companies charge the government a lot more than it would cost the government to do it themselves) but when it comes to cops and firemen (and teachers, nurses etc), whose job it is to protect their property and their interests, they're happy to leave that cost to the public purse. Blackwater mercenaries don't strike for more pay, it's always government-funded teachers, police, nurses and related workers. Same in this country as well - it's never CEOs or investment bankers or even politicians who threaten strikes for more pay or better conditions; it's invariably public servants with high-responsibility and often high-risk jobs such as prison guards and the aforementioned public school teachers, nurses, police officers and firefighters, desperate for some recognition and adequate remuneration for the vital & challenging work they do. In fact, it could be said that it's the indispensable nature of their work that allows the government to continually fob them off and underpay and under-reward them: no cop with a conscience would leave the streets unguarded while he went on strike for a week, neither would an Intensive Care nurse whose patients need her.
Of course I'm not calling for full-time all-compassing socialism; just some perspective.
These rather rich CEOs putting their hands out for three quarters of a trillion dollars of taxpayer money - your money - to fix a mess they could have avoided but for their short-sighted greed looks a little, well, rich. Especially when these same conservatives (and many of their wealthy liberal colleagues - the Democrats are never blameless) bitch & moan about the potential costs of, for example, a decent public healthcare system - but then vote "yea" to spend more billions of dollars every day occupying two countries, one of which didn't even attack them.
It was a nice surprise to see this bailout defeated - seems quite a few conservatives see it for what it is: nothing but a big, expensive band-aid which can only hurt America's economy in both the short and long terms. You simply can't keep borrowing cash that isn't yours, especially if you're going to hand it out to people who in all likelihood will never return it. Very nice to see some conservatives actually being conservative
Last edited by Hankstar, .
There's your first problem, Shots. Don't talk science to girls - unless of course you're picking up nerd girls (who, by the way, are worth pursuing, said Hank who's married to a BSc who's going for a med school interview tomorrow and who spends far too much time at Kongregate).
Well, I was stalking his sister so it's only fair that he ties me down and does things to me which he uploads to his new flickr album (Tuesday is waterboarding/bath day!). But he's merciful: he left me one entire hand free and lets me visit lfsforum.net, hence my flurry of activity today.
Yeah, what he said^
I find it interesting that many American conservatives are quite happy with the concept of socialist ideas like the police, fire department and, say, $700 billion of corporate welfare (essentially a helping hand which rewards those most responsible for this mess in particular and in their greed & general gross incompetence stretching back at least seven years, & I don't think I'm the only one who saw this coming), but throw their hands up and scream "gaah! Commies! Slippery slope! Iron Curtain!" if anyone mentions something like free basic healthcare or decent, properly-funded public education. But it seems the bailout has been defeated in Congress, so it's a moot point. So now we can pick an easy target and, say, talk about how retarded Sarah Palin is!
In other news, I gave my favourite sock to my dog, who destroyed it, just as she always does. I demand my government fund my sock re-acquisition.
In other news, I gave my favourite sock to my dog, who destroyed it, just as she always does. I demand my government fund my sock re-acquisition.
Yeah, don't be a wet blanket Devil! But don't hit "report" either - the best way to combat silliness is to join in and be more retarded than Vader could possibly imagine.
So let's start a dream journal! I'll kick it off.
I entered the dream on top of a tall building, staring down through a rifle scope at the most vile, loathsome & heinously criminal humans of all time: the members of the band Supertramp. I was chanting my sniper mantra - designed to calm my body and true my aim - under my breath: "pink mist, pink mist, pink mist" when one of them looked up. He'd spotted me. I cursed and immediately opened fire, hoping I'd at least nail the singer if noone else (he's the one most directly responsible for them sounding like complete twats). Unfortunately, it seemed my rounds had been replaced with paintballs, so I attempted to spell out "YOU WANKERS" on the wall of the deli behind them as they took cover behind a pink Hummer. I'd spelled out "YO" when they returned fire. I ducked behind a mannequin and, as dreams do, I inexplicably sequed into a car chase: the Hummer was now chasing my battered brown Daewoo down Flinders St (Melbourne) and I was having to dodge drunken schoolies dressed in second-rate manga cosplay outfits who kept flashing gang signs and throwing empty vodka cruiser bottles at my car. When I realised that this was all completely ridiculous and implausible, I woke up next to a man dressed in full 18th century Royal Navy regalia (which was darkly stained, presumably by gunpowder & blood, for that was the odour which greeted my nostrils - I remembered an earlier dispatch regarding the massing of the Prussian fleet) & sporting a rather fetching eyepatch. He was sitting up with a silver breakfast tray (complete with a rose in a small vase) across his legs and was eating kippered herrings and fried tomato. He'd forgotten the salt & pepper but didn't seem too alarmed by it. I noticed he'd left his boots on and I made a mental note to scold him about it later (such conversations are best not had over breakfast). He greeted me, a lopsided grin covering his three-day beard, with a thick, slow, pastoral drawl, reminiscent of my days working in the apple orchards which borded my parents' farm: "Mornin' luv. Sleep ok?"
"Thank god," I sighed, "back to normal."
So let's start a dream journal! I'll kick it off.
I entered the dream on top of a tall building, staring down through a rifle scope at the most vile, loathsome & heinously criminal humans of all time: the members of the band Supertramp. I was chanting my sniper mantra - designed to calm my body and true my aim - under my breath: "pink mist, pink mist, pink mist" when one of them looked up. He'd spotted me. I cursed and immediately opened fire, hoping I'd at least nail the singer if noone else (he's the one most directly responsible for them sounding like complete twats). Unfortunately, it seemed my rounds had been replaced with paintballs, so I attempted to spell out "YOU WANKERS" on the wall of the deli behind them as they took cover behind a pink Hummer. I'd spelled out "YO" when they returned fire. I ducked behind a mannequin and, as dreams do, I inexplicably sequed into a car chase: the Hummer was now chasing my battered brown Daewoo down Flinders St (Melbourne) and I was having to dodge drunken schoolies dressed in second-rate manga cosplay outfits who kept flashing gang signs and throwing empty vodka cruiser bottles at my car. When I realised that this was all completely ridiculous and implausible, I woke up next to a man dressed in full 18th century Royal Navy regalia (which was darkly stained, presumably by gunpowder & blood, for that was the odour which greeted my nostrils - I remembered an earlier dispatch regarding the massing of the Prussian fleet) & sporting a rather fetching eyepatch. He was sitting up with a silver breakfast tray (complete with a rose in a small vase) across his legs and was eating kippered herrings and fried tomato. He'd forgotten the salt & pepper but didn't seem too alarmed by it. I noticed he'd left his boots on and I made a mental note to scold him about it later (such conversations are best not had over breakfast). He greeted me, a lopsided grin covering his three-day beard, with a thick, slow, pastoral drawl, reminiscent of my days working in the apple orchards which borded my parents' farm: "Mornin' luv. Sleep ok?"
"Thank god," I sighed, "back to normal."
Well, I'm not gonna lie to you: I, moody Hank, am the inspiration for David Duchovny's character.
OK, maybe I did lie to you. Either way, my timing seems to have been impeccable.
Nice to see you Shots
I sure as hell don't give a crap about talking about driving anymore, but for some reason I just can't leave. Time to jack some threads! Read any good books lately?Fall of man? We didn't fall, we (our ancestors, that is) crawled out of the soup, climbed up a tree and then climbed back down again because the birds were pecking our eyes when we slept (and because we kept nicking their tasty, tasty eggs), hence man's deep fear & loathing of all things that fly and his love for cats & Spanish omelettes & Kentucky Fried Chicken (made from birds which are imprisoned from birth and that actually cannot fly, KFC is often thought of as ironic yet disproportionate punishment. The Red Cross is investigating).
But this is no time for science!
Or is it?
"Ring A Rosy" is a popular European nursery rhyme that means nothing, or, possibly, means several things at once. Or both, in the kind of quantum etymological metacrisis that theoretical literary theorists have been puzzling over for millennia (they hope the Rather-Large Dictionary Collider, built at a cost of ten British pounds and located in Kevin's cellar, can yield positive results such as proving the existence of the theoretical "God Punctuation Mark" known as the "Quasi-Colon", said to give all other punctuation marks their mass).
I guess I was wrong about it not being science time. Heck, who am I kidding? It's always science time!
But not anymore!
If horror movies have taught me anything, "Ring A Rosy" is best sung very, very slowly by one spooky little child's voice, using lots of reverb & in a haunted house with background noises of creaking, rusted swings and the distant laughter of children. And maybe a screaming baby. The song should be followed by one of the protagonists standing, rooted to the spot and looking rather terrified, as something nasty rushes up the deserted hallway & pulls parts of him away from the other parts (instead of him, say, running like hell in the opposite direction), much to the frustration of everyone watching.
So there you have it. Another mystery solved.
Thank me later, punks.
Last edited by Hankstar, .
I, too, prefer stalking women to masturbating by myself.
Humbug!
Not a single Finn amongst them - at least give 'em Rallycross.
Not a single Finn amongst them - at least give 'em Rallycross.
Mmm, the pre-1962 Monza 10km track.
There's an awesome version available for Grand Prix Legends. With arguably much better cars too
So a happy existence involves insulting people you don't know from a bar of yellow soap on the interweb?
Teach me, master.
I'm waiting for the "I built a Perpetual Motion Machine" thread ...
I'm with that guy.
Either remove this section or start moderating the damn thing with a pair of iron fists (or just start moderating it, full stop). Since its inception it's been a flame-magnet and it's only become worse in the last year. Mods, imho, need to start opening up cans of Chuck Norris.
Either remove this section or start moderating the damn thing with a pair of iron fists (or just start moderating it, full stop). Since its inception it's been a flame-magnet and it's only become worse in the last year. Mods, imho, need to start opening up cans of Chuck Norris.
He woke the squid (annoying), who woke me (very annoying), which made me double grumpy.
Get back to bed Kev, you need your beauty sleep.
Get back to bed Kev, you need your beauty sleep.
Yeah well, I heard the whole HIV/AIDS thing is a scam by latex manufacturers to make people buy lots & lots of condoms. Oh, and there are pyramids in freaking Bosnia. And the world is 6000 years old! Don't believe the Big Science Conspiracy!!one!1eleventy!!1
This chap is claiming that the fungus allegedly responsible for cancer, Candida, is also responsible for asthma, food allergies, depression, weight gain, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and vaginitis. Well, he's got that last one right - vaginitis is a thrush infection most commonly cause by the candida fungus. So why doesn't it cause vagina cancer?
A. the reasons people get "ousted" from medicine are usually along the same reasons people get "expelled" from the scientific community: pseudo-science; extraordinary claims with no evidence; "studies" which are biased and uncontrolled; improper methodology; beginning with assumptions and working backwards to justify them; mistakenly conflating coincidences for cause & effect. Until this "cancer = fungus" connection can be reliably proven, repeatedly with unbiased double-blind testing, this doctor and his alleged baking soda cure should be regarded with the utmost skepticism.
If his simple treatment really cured cancer I would expect any doctor worth the term (and especially oncologists) to be jumping on it and using it to treat all their cancer patients, not vehemently denying it to funnel profits into Big Medicine. I know people who have cancer and some who are, for now, in remission. I worked for a short time at a lab in a dedicated cancer treatment hospital in Melbourne. I know that if something came along that could make cancer go away without the need for painful, debilitating chemo & radiation, their doctors would be on it in a second, "profits" be damned. People become plastic surgeons for money; people become oncologists to treat people with cancer. I cannot imagine any self-respecting paediatric oncologist deliberately overlooking an effective cancer treatment while simultaneously looking an 8-year old brain cancer sufferer (and his parents) in the eye and telling them there's no more than can be done and they'd better just make little Timmy comfortable.
B. the only people "profiting" from cancer are cranks who prey on credulous, desperate people who are running out of options. Having a cousin, aunt and close friend who all recently survived three different forms cancer and the associated chemo & radiation treatments, I get really, really pissed off by this kind of bullshit.
C. Mercola.com bills itself as "The World's Most Popular Natural Health Newsletter". Now, effective as many natural remedies can be, a lot of people who use them unfortunately think that any modern medical treatments are not to be trusted, because they're "unnatural" and because people make money from them. My naturopath wife (who's about to start studying medicine - i.e. proper doctorism) encounters this anti-modern point of view all the time and has a lot of trouble convincing people that natural medicine has its limits and that people should be able to recognise them and use a combination of modern and natural treatments - if & where appropriate. More than once, being aware of naturopathy's limitations, she's referred a client to a doctor for a more modern & comprehensive treatment, only to be met with fierce, almost dogmatic resistance to the thought.
Basically, every single "practitioner" that's appeared in my lifetime who has claimed to be able to cure cancer, or proclaimed cancer is caused by an easily-cured and until-now undiagnosed simple disorder or infection (for which he happens to have discovered a cure) has been shown to be lying through his ****ing teeth. Inevitably, they pop up for a while, charge extortionate amounts of money for their "breakthrough", get their fifteen minutes and then slither back under the rug, never to be seen again. There is no reason to treat it as such until sufficient evidence is furnished. Frankly, I don't see it happening.
This chap is claiming that the fungus allegedly responsible for cancer, Candida, is also responsible for asthma, food allergies, depression, weight gain, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and vaginitis. Well, he's got that last one right - vaginitis is a thrush infection most commonly cause by the candida fungus. So why doesn't it cause vagina cancer?
A. the reasons people get "ousted" from medicine are usually along the same reasons people get "expelled" from the scientific community: pseudo-science; extraordinary claims with no evidence; "studies" which are biased and uncontrolled; improper methodology; beginning with assumptions and working backwards to justify them; mistakenly conflating coincidences for cause & effect. Until this "cancer = fungus" connection can be reliably proven, repeatedly with unbiased double-blind testing, this doctor and his alleged baking soda cure should be regarded with the utmost skepticism.
If his simple treatment really cured cancer I would expect any doctor worth the term (and especially oncologists) to be jumping on it and using it to treat all their cancer patients, not vehemently denying it to funnel profits into Big Medicine. I know people who have cancer and some who are, for now, in remission. I worked for a short time at a lab in a dedicated cancer treatment hospital in Melbourne. I know that if something came along that could make cancer go away without the need for painful, debilitating chemo & radiation, their doctors would be on it in a second, "profits" be damned. People become plastic surgeons for money; people become oncologists to treat people with cancer. I cannot imagine any self-respecting paediatric oncologist deliberately overlooking an effective cancer treatment while simultaneously looking an 8-year old brain cancer sufferer (and his parents) in the eye and telling them there's no more than can be done and they'd better just make little Timmy comfortable.
B. the only people "profiting" from cancer are cranks who prey on credulous, desperate people who are running out of options. Having a cousin, aunt and close friend who all recently survived three different forms cancer and the associated chemo & radiation treatments, I get really, really pissed off by this kind of bullshit.
C. Mercola.com bills itself as "The World's Most Popular Natural Health Newsletter". Now, effective as many natural remedies can be, a lot of people who use them unfortunately think that any modern medical treatments are not to be trusted, because they're "unnatural" and because people make money from them. My naturopath wife (who's about to start studying medicine - i.e. proper doctorism) encounters this anti-modern point of view all the time and has a lot of trouble convincing people that natural medicine has its limits and that people should be able to recognise them and use a combination of modern and natural treatments - if & where appropriate. More than once, being aware of naturopathy's limitations, she's referred a client to a doctor for a more modern & comprehensive treatment, only to be met with fierce, almost dogmatic resistance to the thought.
Basically, every single "practitioner" that's appeared in my lifetime who has claimed to be able to cure cancer, or proclaimed cancer is caused by an easily-cured and until-now undiagnosed simple disorder or infection (for which he happens to have discovered a cure) has been shown to be lying through his ****ing teeth. Inevitably, they pop up for a while, charge extortionate amounts of money for their "breakthrough", get their fifteen minutes and then slither back under the rug, never to be seen again. There is no reason to treat it as such until sufficient evidence is furnished. Frankly, I don't see it happening.
I tried that trick when I was 16; said I'd just go and buy weed if they didn't buy me a SNES. Didn't work - they took ALL my money away
But that forced me to learn to grow my own, and you know what they say about teaching a man to fish ...Obviously the quality of threads at this forum is still as high as it was when I took my sabbatical. Very glad I dropped by
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG