El Mamerro

Finally got around to watching this. Shit is super scary.

A few months ago I got to visit Oblong Industries, the guys who designed the actual Minority Report interface, and play around with the g-speak interface. It was completely badass, but like they described it, it was a virtuosic interface, meaning it takes time to master and should be played with the skill needed to play a musical instrument, "performed", if you will. And yet that thing costs tens of thousands of dollars, and now MS obliterated the playing field with this $150 accessory anyone can use. Way laggier and less precise, but still extremely versatile and accessible. My company just purchased a few and we're currently in the lab playing with all sorts of stuff and its really exciting. Lots of crazy stuff coming up due to this device for sure.

^You are aware that that photo you keep posting is NOT the California missile/plane that happened a few days ago, and is instead one that happened a year ago and was proven to be an airplane, right?

Fuck, I wanted to continue with my input but got sidetracked with a vacation. Now I'm back and don't have the energy :( Good continuing discussion nonetheless.

I'm just gonna keep deleting this moron's shit, but for the sake of the thread, just stop responding to him. You should see the cute little love notes he's sending me in private.

Now with 76% less killuminati bullshit.

To continue this format... On logic: I think the supercollider example is the closest to the context I had in my mind, which I think is how most people view the tax system and are generally OK paying up. The other example is a different context that would call for a different attitude towards what I'm willing to part with. On hypocrisy: I'm still not sure what action it is that I'm not consenting to, that I am in turn forcing on others. There's pleeeenty of stuff in the government that I have no interest in paying for, and am downright opposed to, but there's also stuff I like, and if they have to come bundled together, I'm still OK ponying up the money. Lots of us get into this kind of agreements with phone companies and other subscription services (deal with AT&T's shittiness if you want an iPhone), the only difference being a lack of coercion. Which lets be honest, doesn't feel like coercion to most people, and doesn't register the negative psychological effects that the concept of coercion implies. As far as I can tell, most people feel vastly more coerced by private companies that they willingly enter into agreements with, than being told by the government to pay tax. I don't feel that people are just "used to" coercive practice, as if they've been taking it up the ass so long they don't feel it any more, I just think it hasn't gotten to the point were people feel truly coerced into something they don't want. Cause for the most part, they do want it. On morality: I don't particularly feel that any and all types of coercion is immoral. The guiding principle of my moral value structure is to work and believe in things that diminish or eliminate suffering for humanity. Therefore, I'm ready to make concessions towards certain types of coercive practice that I believe would lead to that ideal, kind of the same way I'm OK with kids being coerced by their parents to eat their vegetables and be respectful to others even when they don't want to, because good health and social skills lead to peace and wellbeing both for the individual and for everyone as a whole (I can see AoD's head exploding from over here as I type this). Speaking of AoD, on Colorado Springs... I hate bifurcating discussions so I'm just gonna drop this particular one and let it be, I just wanted to bring up the existence of a place where some of these ideas can be tested out: I understand that prevention from entering into competition greatly hinders the process of picking up the slack, but that's limited to select services (I, for one, am very happy that responsibility for law enforcement can't be privatized); there are plenty of trouble areas popping up that are open to privatization, and others that citizens are being asked to man up and take care of themselves. I'm curious to see how it all develops.

Yeah, I eventually figured it out, but that was MUCH easier to follow, thanks. My (very brief in comparison) response is above your post, and although your clarification now offers a chance to reply more in depth, I think my response holds for now.

OK, correct me if I'm wrong but I understand that these are your conclusions: Illogical: NO Hypocritical: YES Immoral: YES On Illogical: Great, I didnt think it was so illogical either. I know I and many others believe this way and I don't think it's stupid or unreasonable to do so. On Hypocritical: This conclusion you seem to summarize with the statement: "Furthermore it is hypocritical to employ force against someone against their will, yet 'for their own good". This seems to describe something immoral (we'll get to that in a minute), but not necessarily hypocritical in the sense of "say/believe one thing, but do another". It requires the belief that a person's will is always, by definition, what's best for their own good, and I might not necessarily agree with this. On Immoral: This enters shaky subjective ground that's a matter of a different discussion altogether; it's not part of the question I asked, which was trying to get to the bottom of whether the thought was logically sound and ideologically consistent. It's immoral if you believe any type of coercion is immoral, which again, I don't necessarily agree with.

FF, I've always liked your posts, but no offense, they lately have become really quite impenetrable. I believe you have a point in there somewhere that can be stated without the dense logic puzzle and convoluted, mathy sentence structure. I will admit that type of analysis isn't my strong suit, so I'm sorry but I'm at a complete loss of what you're trying to say. *Edit: I'm going over it again and again and will probably figure it out, I just wish it wasn't so laborious to extract meaning from your posts.

No, as a matter of fact what I meant was this: Let's say I'd like to be able maybe to pay the minimum taxes possible, but I'd support that minimum being a bit higher for everyone, including myself. I know that only me paying more offers no significant increase in revenue. But everyone paying a bit more should result significant increase across the board. Stop trying to twist my thoughts into what you think they are. I'm stating a very simple, easy to understand concept. As for your other post, it looks to me like you just did a great job of explaining why the way you'd like things to be wouldn't work in reality.

That doesn't answer my question.

I understand this, but my question is, is shit really being taken care of and handled properly under this system? Are the people who enabled this system truly happy with the results?

Let's say I'd like to be able to pay the minimum taxes possible, but maybe I'd support that minimum being a bit higher for everyone, including myself. I know that only me paying more offers no significant increase in revenue. But everyone paying a bit more should result significant increase across the board. Is this really that illogical/hypocritical?

Ask them fellas in Colorado Springs how it's going for them by cutting the hell out of taxes. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14303473 Seems pretty rosy.

Yeah, I paid full price cause I'm an action junkie and I didn't have the patience to wait, but this is totally the kind of game to wait out for the price to drop, cause it will, and for a lot of people the game might not deliver the playtime they expect for $60. I take that same approach to games I'm not frothing at the mouth for, but am still very interested in, like the new Castlevania and Assassin's Creed, but this one I just had to have immediately and I'm glad to report it does not disappoint one bit. I'm on the last Act (same 5-act structure as GoW) and I'm sure I'm gonna play it through again immediately as soon I finish.

Vanquish is pretty much Ninja Gaiden with guns. You're always on the brink of death, and your heart rate is constantly through the roof... and it's epic as fuck, there's gigantic shit happening all around you all the time. I'm going bananas over this game.

Also, some of the pictures being posted here are not even from the same event, but a similar one that happened in San Clemente last New Year's Eve. And that one was proven to not be a missile. http://uncinus.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/4/#more-440

IT'S A SCHOONER

Playing Vanquish, head asploding.

Re: CHECKIN IN ON NIGGAS http://victory-light.blogspot.com/2009/12/jason-kidd-got-mexican-son.html This one made me laugh so fucking hard I had to turn off the internet for a day.

I videoconferenced for two hours, bought some lasers and some magnets, built a model volcano, trained hamsters to run on a wheel on command, and programmed a Lego robot. I wish I was making this up.

http://www.clarin.com/espectaculos/Simpson-Bansky_0_351564993.html