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News Briefs 23-06-2008

Quoth Illidan: You Are Not Prepared!

Big thanks to Greg!

Quote of the Day:

What a pity that the human animal is not able to put his moral thinking into practice. …I fear that machines are ahead of morals by some centuries and when morals catch up perhaps there’ll be no reason for any of it.

President Harry S Truman, in his diary.

  1. Social viagra
    It’s called alcohol. Jokes aside, I’m more than a little wary of shyness being treated like it’s a disease that needs to be cured. I’m naturally quiet, speaking only when I have something worthwhile to say, and I don’t socialise like extroverts do. There’s a big difference between being quiet, reserved and a little shy, and lacking self-esteem and self confidence. One is a natural personality, the other is negative thought patterns and/or hormonal imbalance. And we know full well how effective anti-depressants such as Zoloft are — little more than placebos, with nasty side-effects.

    I find the idea of an “anti-shyness drug” repulsive to be honest. And this:

    the hormone is believed to make people more generous.

    Excuse me? I’m one of the most generous, charitable people around, and I’m a shy, quiet type. I’m sure it’ll make people give generously to the big pharmaceuticals.

    It could have other commercial benefits. For instance, it could be sprayed in restaurants to put diners at ease, or be used as an alternative to tear gas to calm rioters.

    Bloody hell, that is abhorrent! It’s 2008, not 1984.

    There are ways to help self-esteem and depression without resorting to drugs. Meditation, exercise, healthy diet are some. Fighting Big Pharma and Neo-Con corporations is another.

    1. I’m with you on this, Rick
      The idea that there’s a pharmacological solution to everything deemed a ‘behavioral problem’ is another troubling aspect of our current paradigm. God only knows how many basically healthy kids have been sedated over the past couple of decades, and anti-depressants are distributed like aspirin.

      Pharmaceutical advertising is out of control, while at the same time, it seems that not even a week goes by without some news report about a discovery of a previously unknown dire side effect that leads to recalls and massive lawsuits. It’s a mess.

      1. LOL
        [quote]It has also been shown to increase the level of monogamy in rodents.[/quote]

        This is kind of hilarious, considering that in our own species, the more extroverted and self-confident individuals tend to be also the less inclined to monogamy 😉

        —–
        It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
        It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

        Red Pill Junkie

  2. Michelangelo
    Sistine Chapel: the pinnacle of urban graffiti 😉

    —–
    It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
    It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

    Red Pill Junkie

    1. The big “?”
      [quote] There is still uncertainty within the scientific community as to which routes early humans used to migrate out of Africa.[/quote]

      For me, it is more of a mystery WHY they left in the first place.

      —–
      It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
      It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

      Red Pill Junkie

      1. because
        Because Africa was not such a nice neighborhood, bad climate and competition for the nice places to live. And they heard rumors that it might be better elsewhere? Or just that the dominant locals did not want them. Like today, take your pick.

        Also, the immigration controls were not all that effective in those days.

        —-
        The large print giveth,
        The small print taketh away.

        1. But Africa is huge!
          You telling me the continent wasn’t big enough for all the human population of the era? We are talking how many here? 500,000 human beings, a million at the most?

          —–
          It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
          It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

          Red Pill Junkie

  3. Thermobaric weapons
    [quote]Thermobaric weapons, or vacuum bombs, were first combat-tested by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s and their use by Russia against civilians in Chechnya in the 1990s was condemned worldwide.[/quote]

    So, back then it was a weapon of the Evil Empire—the soviets—but now it’s totally cool because it’s being used by the Freedom Fighters, right?

    Why don’t they use chemical & biological weapons too? Sure, there’ll be complaints, but what the heck right?!

    [quote]Eventually, they decided to get round the ethical problems by redefining the weapons.

    “We no longer accept the term thermobaric [for the AGM-114N] as there is no internationally agreed definition,” said an MoD spokesman. “We call it an enhanced blast weapon.”[/quote]

    Awesome! They’d better watch out though. What if Ahmanidejad plays their game and claims Iran is only seeking “fission-based deterrent instruments”, but not “nuclear weapons”?

    —–
    It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
    It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

    Red Pill Junkie

    1. careful
      Careful with the analysis there.

      There are problems with fission based, or fusion based weapons. These problems mostly have to do with ruining the countryside, and the atmosphere and other such things, for many many years.

      Cluster bombs have the problem that little parts of these are left over, like land mines, and they explode years later. Hurt or kill people, especially little kids who play with small stuff. The point is this happens years or decades after the war is over.

      Thermobaric bombs don’t do that. Yes they make a big bang and break things and kill people. But after one minute, it is done.

      —-
      The large print giveth,
      The small print taketh away.

          1. That’s the problem
            Simply renaming a thing changes its nature? A rose by any other name and all that…

            Politicians always try to rationalize things to make us swallow all their BS.

            —–
            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

    2. I can’t help but wonder
      I can’t help but wonder if this…
      [quote]The use of the Hellfire AGM-114N weapons has been deemed so successful they will now be fired from RAF Reaper unmanned drones controlled by “pilots” at Creech air force base in Nevada, an MoD spokesman added.[/quote]
      …might actually be due to this:
      [quote]Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, said: “It is staggering the MoD has added these weapons to Britain’s arsenal in cloak-and-dagger secrecy. Parliament has never assented to their use.”[/quote]

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