Topics

31

Trash Can / Ron Paul predicts the recession of 1987... in 1983

« on: May 18, 2009, 03:38:44 am »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCSPrLs8oD0

From 7:30+.

"In a couple of years, you will see the recession, if not the depression of '86 or '87."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_(1987)

Note to rabbit: Nothing I post is intended for link wars. This is just an interesting tid-bit showing Ron Paul's consistency. We all know I'm a Ron Paul fanatic, but that shouldn't make this any less interesting. If you trash it again, I'll repost it again and talk to a leader.

32

Trash Can / Ron Paul predicts the recession of 1987... in 1983

« on: May 17, 2009, 08:26:05 pm »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCSPrLs8oD0

From 7:30+.

"In a couple of years, you will see the recession, if not the depression of '86 or '87."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_(1987)

33

General Discussion / CD-ROM issue.

« on: May 17, 2009, 07:50:09 pm »

Ever since I've rebooted earlier today, my CD-ROM has been acting funny. It shows up in Device Manager fine, but it doesn't recognize when I toss in discs. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drive in device manager, different discs, and I've tried different operating system, but none has worked (Note this is a laptop, so I am unable to test the drive in another box). I assume this means it's a hardware issue and now a driver/software/CD issue.

Any suggestions on further diagnosing the problem? I'm gonna toy around in the BIOS a bit, but I don't expect to find anything useful.

34

General Discussion / Competition

« on: May 12, 2009, 12:09:10 pm »

I feel competition is a natural motivation for achieving certain tasks. Other ways to tap into motivation could be better, but it's easier through competition, at least for myself.

35

Gaming / StarCraft 2 Beta

« on: May 07, 2009, 03:00:26 pm »

http://www.blizzard.com/ -- on the left. Go opt in.

36

General Discussion / Foobar vs Winamp

« on: May 04, 2009, 11:52:56 am »

Which do you prefer, and why?

37

Trash Can / Re: Ron Paul on Secession

« on: April 20, 2009, 09:30:04 pm »

Very well thought out posts, trust.

38

Trash Can / Mind Altering Substances

« on: March 18, 2009, 08:11:34 pm »

Also, to respond to the OP.

MM, I realize that you partially remove ownership of your comments by saying "could be considered beneficial". Personally I think this is a cheap tactic -- a kind of trap in argument -- but I will play along with it. So I am not responding to you in criticizing this proposal; I am instead criticizing the proposal itself with no allegations of your ownership. If the proposal is not the same as your "potential" proposal, so be it; it is pretty clear what the proposal is regardless.

I think it is silly to say that alcohol and drugs could be put to the effect of self-development. Alcohol does improve your confidence, but this should not be taken seriously. There are plenty of things that improve one's confidence that aren't drugs themselves. For instance, having a hot girl accompany you to a dance probably improves your confidence. Or being the "alpha-male" among a group of guys probably improves your confidence in talking to a girl. But these aren't drug-related. So the implication that alcohol has some kind of therapeutic value in improving confidence is silly because therapeutic value implies that alcohol is the "best tool for the job", but clearly there are many "tools for the job" -- many ways of improving confidence -- and alcohol is one of the worst options, in light of its negative effects.

As for marijuana, it is silly to say that it could achieve mental growth, for it would be used as a crutch, and a crutch is always at odds with mental growth. Marijuana may not be physically addictive, but there would still be a dependence born out of this use of it. Not necessarily an addiction, but a dependence, and this would not be good; there would rather be a regression in mental growth. If marijuana really were such a great thing for mental growth, there would be an academic following to such a theory. The view that there is a conspiracy against people's happiness among academia and all of the various psychiatrical institutions is quite juvenile -- if marijuana really did make us better human beings, they would use it; they would not sacrifice the "right answer" and their reason to political bias.

Personally, I think marijuana should be legalized, but not because it has value for mental growth. I think it should be legalized simply for the reason in that people who smoke it are getting ripped off in terms of price, and also because it is far less safe getting it on the black market than it would be from a convenience store. I also don't think it's very harmful -- much less so than cigarettes -- so I think it makes sense to legalize it. On the contrary, I think it is quite silly to exalt marijuana, and I think that part of the reason why it is so glorified is for the very reason that it is illegal. A certain demographic that argues for its legalization has a vested interest in its illegality, the existence of which they are probably naive to.

I think that in general the glorification of alcohol and drugs is very naive and selfish. It is glorified simply because people want to find spiritual value in it; the desire to find this value precedes and anticipates the actual discovery of the value. I think it would make sense that such a trend exists in the atheist population, as they feel keenly the absence of spirituality in their choice to desert or abstain from religion. But spirituality can be found in other, better ways, in more honest ways, and I think it is silly to turn to drugs and alcohol as a gateway to spirituality. It is a rather desperate, naive, and self-serving choice -- it is also somewhat self-deluding.

Thankfully I only posted this for myself. Otherwise, I might have to read this unreasonably long post. Please: use word efficiency.

Blaze edit: title

39

General Discussion / Mailing List Software

« on: March 18, 2009, 08:05:41 pm »

I decided it's finally time to set up a mailing list for the band. Anyone know of any good web-based mailing list software?

40

Entertainment District / David After Dentist

« on: March 07, 2009, 11:56:14 pm »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs

41

General Discussion / Frank Zappa on CNN's Crossfire in 1986

« on: February 22, 2009, 04:15:02 am »

For those who don't know, Frank Zappa is a well renowned progressive musician from the 60s to the 80s. This is a great of him talking about censorship on CNN's Crossfire in 1986. It's very amusing to look back at the moral fiber of "mainstream" America of that era.

42

I'd like to join! / no title

« on: January 20, 2009, 01:58:51 pm »

no text

43

General Discussion / New Laptop

« on: January 11, 2009, 01:10:42 pm »

My old laptop finally crashed. Luckily I can still recover data off the hard drive.

I'm looking for a cheap laptop, with the most bang for my buck. Unfortunately, Newegg doesn't have a large selection of cheap notebooks, so I'm unsure of an easy tool for comparing prices. I'm also fine with getting a laptop that is prebundled with Linux if it means I get even more bang for my buck. (I have a Windows XP Pro disk and a valid key.)

Any suggestions? I'm off to Dell and other websites for now.

44

General Discussion / A little help?

« on: November 06, 2008, 06:41:30 pm »

If anyone listens to any of these radio stations, please call in and request The One You Left Behind from Vayden. The more plays, the higher we'll be on the charts. The higher we are on the charts, the more opportunity for good tours.


Octane Sirius Satellite USA

Squizz XM Satellite USA

KUPD Phoenix, AZ

WIIL Chicago, IL

WKLQ Grand Rapids, MI

KEYJ Abilene, TX

KJML Joplin, MO

WBUZ Nashville, TN

KFRQ McAllen, TX

WRZK Johnson City, TN

WZBH Salisbury, MD

WYBB Charleston, SC

WKLC Morgantown, WV

WQXA Harrisburg, PA

KNXA Fayetteville, AR

WKQZ Saginaw, MI

WCPR Biloxi, MS

KXFX Santa Rosa, CA

45

General Discussion / Typing Tutor

« on: October 22, 2008, 05:06:56 am »

Although I can type quite quickly, I've developed some very bad habits over the years. Share typing tutor programs you've had good experiences with so I won't waste my time guessing what's good.