I think we need to have a debate thread for this stuff.

Colossal wrote:
This is a fun thread. Have fun here.

Fun fun fun fun Lookin' forward to the weekend.

vanSulli wrote:

Colossal wrote:
This is a fun thread. Have fun here.

Fun fun fun fun Lookin' forward to the weekend.

I want to be Lor.

Colossal wrote:
I think we need to have a debate thread for this stuff. This is a ducking fun thread. Have fun here.

Debates can be fun.

Sven wrote:
Diabetes can be fun.

too many things to quote. so I'll try to address it globally.

you can see a dick in that picture. the right figure is CLEARLY male.
now, call me crazy, but I am not happy with my dick being slapped on a monitor for someone to scan.

I'd rather take a risk than have these specific types of scanners, which don't even work.

not only that, but the technology is SCARILY expanding. look at this.

mobile body scanners, equipped for streets. and it's not just discrete scanning a single car. there's actually a second person, in the car, WHO CAN PERSONALLY SEE YOU, who MONITORS the screen. like it's footage.

bear in mind, we can EASILY see dicks on this scan already.

this could go by your house, and look inside.
this could look inside your car
this could even see exactly what you ate, and adrenaline levels of your body, which is not a joke.

These pictures all have one thing missing though. there's another reason to hate them. put aside all personal feelings, and ponder this.

This would also scan kids.

Now, scanning adults, it's debatable. but to perform a virtual strip-search on a child? that is unforgivable.
and street vans doing so? one of these vans could pass by elementary schools. and the kids wouldn't even know it. nor would the parents.

as for the NDAA stuff you're touching on, you do realise, Obama could CANCEL your elections, keeping himself in power? it's true. good old american freedom, eh?

I was following along until you started that about cancelling elections. You do understand that people would revolt if that happened? People are stupid, but they aren't going to just sit around doing nothing about something we literally worship like people do elections. Those loose gun control laws that we have in the US would find their use rather abruptly.

As to the imaging devices... third parties can make those too. If the feds want to scan me, I have no problem scanning other people with similar equipment. I'm totally okay with this idea.

The obama elections thing is bullshit so hard that I abruptly stopped agreeing with everything else you said. People in this country have a fetish about elections. The media forces it down on everyone; you're not about to see everybody up and just 'okay, we're done.'

Ugh, I'm letting myself get drawn in. I'll separate this from the fun duck thread.

I don't understand why Obama specifically would decide to cancel elections any more than any other president. I don't necessarily agree with lots of things he does (internets, anyone?), but that doesn't make him any more likely than any other bastard to start cancelling elections. As a former Republican (independant now after all the BS), I feel obliged to point out that these are literally baseless rumors by butthurt Republicans.

vanSulli wrote:
I was following along until you started that about cancelling elections. You do understand that people would revolt if that happened? People are stupid, but they aren't going to just sit around doing nothing about something we literally worship like people do elections. Those loose gun control laws that we have in the US would find their use rather abruptly.

As to the imaging devices... third parties can make those too. If the feds want to scan me, I have no problem scanning other people with similar equipment. I'm totally okay with this idea.

The obama elections thing is bullshit so hard that I abruptly stopped agreeing with everything else you said. People in this country have a fetish about elections. The media forces it down on everyone; you're not about to see everybody up and just 'okay, we're done.'

Ugh, I'm letting myself get drawn in. I'll separate this from the fun duck thread.

I don't understand why Obama specifically would decide to cancel elections any more than any other president. I don't necessarily agree with lots of things he does (internets, anyone?), but that doesn't make him any more likely than any other bastard to start cancelling elections. As a former Republican (independant now after all the BS), I feel obliged to point out that these are literally baseless rumors by butthurt Republicans.

Actually, he could easily cancel the elections. All presidents can. All they need do, is declare martial law.

Declaring that in of itself, that's a different matter. He'd need to have a major attack to declare that.

Perhaps, such as overthrowing government? The world is going to shit more and more with each passing day. The public can only take so much, until they push back. And lets face it, we are not going into a green area. Things are getting worse. Whether it happens later this year, next year, in 10 years etc.

another global uprising will happen. This is not speculation, it's stone cold fact. The world is getting worse and they won't stand for it. and the world will keep getting worse until lobbyists, banks and major corporations stop interfering with politics.

I'm not saying he'll cancel elections, and start revolts. I'm saying he'll cancel them, /during/ revolts.

As for scanners, fairdo's. but I don't feel the same. That is why the EU has banned all airport backscatter use, to which I am VERY happy about.

There's a good reason the world feels like it's going to shit.

It's the same reason everyone's freaking out about global warming. It's the same reason protest movements are more and more common. It's the same reason the internet is at war.

It's all about money.

Let me clarify. It's all about wealth; money is just a good indicator of that.

News corporations report the bad stuff. Why? Because if they can get to it first, and report it first, and make a big deal about it, then people will want to watch their show and buy their paper and read their website. People like hearing about the world going to hell, whether they realize it or not. It's been going on for decades, since before the world wars.

Governments need money to support the country, but politicians introduce wasteful programs and redirect funds so that a good deal of the money goes to people who will then make sure those politicians get re-elected and stay in power. More power = more influence = more wealth. Screw the poor.

Global Warming is a big deal partially because scientists like the attention (this is actually a really big problem in science nowdays, nobody wants to repeat experiments to verify results because repeating experiments doesn't get you in the news), and partially because then companies get to sell you stuff thats "green" and "Eco-friendly," and costs twice as much, while really it reduces the carbon footprint by about 0.001%.

So really, the problem here is that people want stuff. All the time. We always want more, unless you're an extremely religious person who has given up all worldy possessions, which I think is one of the main reasons while religion is still valid. Or we come to this conclusion that humans are intrinsically wrong and decide that the best solution is to strap bombs to ourselves and blow up a plane, because then there will be a few less people in the world.

I'm not really sure where I was going with that rant, I just felt like spewing words onto a page that sort of makes sense. There's not really any one solution, because capitalism enables the douchebags in charge of companies to keep pushing other people down, and communism enables the douchebags in charge of government to keep pushing other people down.

Maybe we should just go back to a farming economy. That would solve ALL our problems. Of course, then the internet wouldn't exist so...

I must make a point that, the Mainstream Media do NOT report on the much more political bad things, such as anything released by Wikileaks.

Not only that, but even with the stories they DO report on, they miss out many, many details.

To take the best example, SOPA and PIPA, as well as ACTA and CISPA. The Internet is so huge, that these affect everyone, yet it's not covered. Same with the Occupy movement.

It's why I've turned to other, more informative news outlets. I personally enjoy The Alyona Show as my main income of global news, which have an entire segment dedicated to the mainstream Media missing a story. And this segment is played all 5 days of the week it's on/submitted to YouTube.

"Kremlin" associations to me, are a nonissue. Russia likes to keep to its on, and while recent decisions on Internet and equality there are unnerving, the USA, I believe, is the largest threat to the world economy, the Internet and war.

Guys. Iran aren't making nuclear missiles. It was a nuclear power project. Yet the media jumped all over that, and twisted it. Thing is, the only reason the USA goes to war is money, oil, or a way to intimidate china.

So much text. And I didn't even TRY to read it... whoah...

Keklolzor wrote:
So much text. And I didn't even TRY to read it... whoah...

Basically "blah blah blah the world is going to shit"

We should rename this to the Pessimism & Conspiracy Theories Megathread

p0rtalplayer wrote:
There's a good reason the world feels like it's going to shit...

I got news for you. It doesn't feel like the world is going to shit... it IS going to shit.

jrlauer wrote:

p0rtalplayer wrote:
There's a good reason the world feels like it's going to shit...>

I got news for you. It doesn't feel like the world is going to shit... it IS going to shit.

Going? Please. It IS.

p0rtalplayer wrote:

Keklolzor wrote:
So much text. And I didn't even TRY to read it... whoah...>

Basically "blah blah blah the world is going to shit"

We should rename this to the Pessimism & Conspiracy Theories Megathread

what I've suggested so far doesn't quite grip conspiracy. maybe mild paranoia. every scenario I've told could very well happen.> jrlauer wrote:

I got news for you. It doesn't feel like the world is going to shit... it IS going to shit.

see? JrLauer knows it, and she's a girl ohgod joking

This thread got people posting in a hurry. I'm tempted to through more topics into the fire, but I'm worried it'd become a brushfire instead of simply fueling the mapping mechanism.

Van this thread is literally built for a fire. Look, it even has mod-built fire-proof aperture-approved borders around it's section in the site!
'least I think that's the point of this...right?

Anywho, I agree with p2p: all about personal greed. They want, want, WANT. It's an abyss of obsession to the point where it becomes a necessity, a drive to which they MUST have more or they will drive themselves insane otherwise.

(there's actual cases of that; it's kinda scary)

I also agree with Sven: the world is shit already; it's just getting even worse. I predict what will happen is, the greed becomes so huge we run out of money to keep it afloat (either from Inflation or the worldwide economy just outright crashes) and they are forced into humility because now they lost thier fortunes. It would be a dramatic reversal: people who can farm, fish or otherwise provide food suddenly get the power, because they control who gets fed. We'd be knocked down a fair few notches trying to pull back up from the collapse. It would be partly chaotic and partly orderly; we've gone too far in communication technology for an outright and completely chaotic situation. This complete crash will take a fair bit of time to happen, as they will try to keep things going for as long as possible.

Another, much closer in time factor is Oil/Gas (i'm not sure which it is but henceforth I shall call it oil). We are consuming it at a rate that we will eventually run out, as you cannot make more of it since it comes from fossilized remains, and to make it into oil to begin with takes millions of years. Then we need to work it still further to get it into a useable state. It takes MORE energy to do this than you get out of the oil! This is proof we are holding on to older tech because it is cheaper. (granted this is also far more convenient: there are a LOT of things that normal folk use that utilize oil, so to suddenly shift would be a very bad idea)

Overall I don't like how Humanity is holding up at the present. :/

Hey, who edited my top page post...I NEVER use ampersands

groxkiller585 wrote:

I also agree with Sven: the world is shit already; it's just getting even worse. I predict what will happen is, the greed becomes so huge we run out of money to keep it afloat (either from Inflation or the worldwide economy just outright crashes) and they are forced into humility because now they lost thier fortunes.

While a crash is a definite possibility, I'm not sure it would go down that way.

I think it's much more likely that, after the initial riots and random acts of violence, things settle down into a sort of feudal structure where a local power (a large company with access to resources, rich person with land, etc) starts providing food and stuff in exchange for work, other stuff, etc.

That...would actually be a pretty neat premise for a book. Call it speculative fiction.

The speculative fiction has been tried, but I haven't found any good stuff yet in all of it.

Here's some more kindling:

I just got morbidly offended because a very good friend of mine whom I previously had no reason to have anything but the most unwavering of respect for posted a 'support Chik-Fil-A' picture on Facebook.

I shouldn't really be offended, because that's, like, their opinion, man. On the other hand, this goes against something I consider a core fact that is integrated with my views of humanity. Where, oh fellow Aperture Innovators, does the path to righteousness lie?

I wish to make an incredibly fringe statement to further spur debate/activity.

I do not believe we should be sending all that money to Africa and the like. Some, yes. But I believe the rest should be spent on sex education for the populous.

Mainly telling the guys to stop making kids already.

Now, you may rush to think me racist. But, I really am not. I do not care if a baby is black, white, purple or anything inbetween. I say this, due to this graph

Notice how the graph goes up like everyone in developing countries spontaneously became bunnies in heat.
I'd much rather our money goes to show these people the harm of having children long-term, than to have them think "oh an extra worker I cannot wait to have my 25th baby."

In my own opinion, this graph shows just why we're still getting guilt-tripping adverts about kids not having water. It is not our guilt to feel. It's the parents fault for creating them, knowing they'd live forever in poverty and illness.

braces for flames

Industrializing countries sure do populate quickly. However, as you can see from the United States (it started out as mostly poor and rural), the population exploded after the industrial revolution and then slowed down after the country got richer. This is well-documented: after reaching a 'stable' state, people are educated and healthy enough to stop regarding sex for its intended purpose so highly, and the population stops growing as fast. Like your graph shows, the population went way up, but near the edge of the graph, you can see its slowing down (relatively) quickly.

I think they have somewhat more of a right to be reproducing than just about any other group of people on earth, simply because there are fewer people in that part of the world as compared to lots of other places.

Educating people about responsible reproduction practices is great, but you need people who are healthy and happy enough to actually listen. That is, let's get them enough water first.