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Messages - Mesozoic Mister Nigel

#31606
GE owns Universal now. Which merged with Comcast/NBC.

Here's the thing.

Our economy is based on growth; not just profit, but continually larger profits. The stock market absolutely requires growth. After a certain point, the only way for a company to grow is to absorb its competitors. The inevitable result of that is acquisitions and mergers. Acquisitions and mergers lead to several large companies holding functional monopolies over the market. Furthermore, interlocking directorates mean that in many cases these corporate giants are collaborating with each other, not competing. Anti-trust laws used to limit how much control any one company had over the media... not anymore; thanks Telecommunications Act!

And they're not done merging, yet. No matter how big they get, they still have to keep growing, which explains a lot about our intensely militarized society and the reasons we have to keep going into other countries to "fight for democracy". At present, over 51% of the entire U.S. budget goes toward our military. And that military is fighting to "protect our interests", which really means to "gain access to resources and markets" for Big Corp. The U.S. government works for U.S. assets, not U.S. citizens.

Rah rah, go USA!

#31607
Think for Yourself, Schmuck! / Re: Handcuffs
January 26, 2012, 03:29:44 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on January 26, 2012, 03:13:32 PM
I kind of agree, but run your post through the filter of Nigel's "uncomfortable topic:race" thread. I would hesitate to say that by identifying entrenched racism, you can construct a brain state to avoid it completely.

It may be possible to avoid seeing racism completely if you're white, and it may be possible to avoid seeing sexism if you're male. But that brain-state is just a form of avoidance, and doesn't actually serve any higher purpose than making the user feel more comfortable in their world. If you are black, your avoidant brain-state isn't going to prevent you from being pulled over by the cops for driving while black. If you're female, that avoidant brain-state isn't going to prevent you from being approached with unwanted, insulting, and lewd propositions by strangers.
#31608
Think for Yourself, Schmuck! / Re: Handcuffs
January 26, 2012, 03:22:28 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on January 26, 2012, 12:53:03 PM
Quote from: Nigel on January 25, 2012, 03:59:08 PM
So when you recognize your self and your self-imposed limitations, what do you do with the limitations imposed upon you by society?

When I examine this further, my gut reaction is, "Well, shit.  We can't self reflect our way clear of fully instituted social violence.  I guess we're FUCKED FOREVER."

But that seems just as bad as the magical thinking trap I almost made for myself.  It reeks of helpless nihilistic determinism.  And, you know, fuck that.  There is nothing wrong with trying to improve your wiring to filter out bad signal, even if it won't end socially sanctioned sexism.

So, I guess the OP is aimed soley at a state of mind that is not being threatened by immediate existential threats of violence.  There are some social limitations that fall into this frame, but by no means does it intend to fix everything.  To be quite honest, even if you can figure out what personal traits were critically examined, and what was swallowed whole without a second thought, that doesn't change what's happening to you, it changes your understanding of it.

In a way, it's trying to find a way to identify bad signal.  It won't stop the bad signal, but at least you'll understand what it is you're dealing with a bit better.

I agree with you about the usefulness of the OP; self-reflection is useful in identifying and removing self-imposed limitations. Once you have recognized that a limitation is socially imposed, you can act against the limitation through activism and education. You may not change that limitation in your lifetime, but you can make progress. For example, currently most schools are primarily funded by their neighborhood's property taxes. The predictable results are that the schools in wealthy neighborhoods are much better and have more educational resources than schools in poor neighborhoods. We as a society are imposing a limitation on access to quality education on poor children. As a poor child, I might grow up to reflect on this and resent it. I may also take action to remedy my lack of education, but what do I do to remedy the inequity that caused it? It makes sense to support campaigns for starting a state-wide pool from which schools are funded equally on a per-student basis. Schools in wealthy neighborhoods will still receive donations from wealthy parents, of course, but the education provided by the public for the public good will be equalized.

Some ways of changing your world are internal. Others are external.   

Of course, as an aside, it should be recognized that due to resource constraints it's relatively less likely that poor people will have the luxury of all this self-reflection; it is by nature a luxury.

I just wanted to ask the question about socially imposed limitations because it seemed like the tenor of the thread was moving in that magical-thinking direction where all obstacles can be overcome by wishing them away, and I wanted to ground it a little.
#31609
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2012, 05:51:19 AM
I've done some thinking, and it occurs to me that Nigel doesn't DO drugs, Nigel IS drugs.

Not just the man-made kind.  But also the natural kind made by your body that makes you into a paranoid-schizophrenic-neurotic-compulsive-perverted-Jack-the-Ripper-American-Psycho kind of guy. And also the ALIEN kind that are anything from Mars Attacks to Alien to Videodrome to the porn version of Harry Potter, that make you mutate into something so horrible, so awful, so monstrous that you could NEVER even be NOMINATED for elective office and so would have to be appointed on an emergency basis to a non-confirmed role as a provisional something or other until congress comes back into session and has you exiled to Guam.

Or kill me.

Whoa  :lol:

Awesome!
#31610
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2012, 06:21:08 AM
Quote from: Nigel on January 26, 2012, 06:19:40 AM

Somehow, I stopped paying attention for a minute, and while I wasn't looking they made real functioning robots and convincing ai. And then they combined the two, and made it sing karaoke.


Oh, that's it.  That's the ABSOLUTE LIMIT.

It's bad enough that PEOPLE sing karaoke.  Now the fucking TOASTER is gonna start in?

Oh, just wait until you see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_migLQ802Go&feature=relmfu
#31611
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2012, 06:15:30 AM
Quote from: Nigel on January 26, 2012, 06:13:41 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2012, 05:31:07 AM
Quote from: Nigel on January 26, 2012, 05:29:03 AM
Oh WOW.

Roger's got a case of the holies.

It's my new avatar.  It speaks to me.  It tells me things.  HORRIBLE things.

I try to avoid looking directly at it, because it creeps me the fuck out. In a way very similar to how this creeps me the fuck out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T42svkFfHBw&feature=related

Oh, Goddammit.  The Japanese are all going to starve to death in their homes, when they stuff a Sailor Moon outfit on that thing and mass-market it.

Somehow, I stopped paying attention for a minute, and while I wasn't looking they made real functioning robots and convincing ai. And then they combined the two, and made it sing karaoke.

I am simultaneously fascinated by and terrified of intelligent robots.

Honda is marketing regular, non-intelligent functioning robots this year. Those creepy little white ones.
#31612
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2012, 05:31:07 AM
Quote from: Nigel on January 26, 2012, 05:29:03 AM
Oh WOW.

Roger's got a case of the holies.

It's my new avatar.  It speaks to me.  It tells me things.  HORRIBLE things.

I try to avoid looking directly at it, because it creeps me the fuck out. In a way very similar to how this creeps me the fuck out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T42svkFfHBw&feature=related
#31613
Oh WOW.

Roger's got a case of the holies.
#31614
OMG, "The Cave of the Caveman Jewels"!  :lulz:
#31615
Quote from: Bu☆ns on January 26, 2012, 04:49:14 AM
Quote from: Nigel on January 26, 2012, 04:46:53 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2012, 04:37:52 AM
Quote from: Nigel on January 26, 2012, 04:37:29 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on January 26, 2012, 03:26:32 AM


WHY IS THERE A SNAKE COMING OUT OF MY EYESOCKET???  :lol:

AND WHERE'S THE NOSE RING?

DID IT TURN INTO A SNAKE AND CRAWL UP MY NOSE?

Extreme piercings these days

I'm all about extreme piercings. I almost bled to death from one.
#31616
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2012, 04:37:52 AM
Quote from: Nigel on January 26, 2012, 04:37:29 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on January 26, 2012, 03:26:32 AM


WHY IS THERE A SNAKE COMING OUT OF MY EYESOCKET???  :lol:

AND WHERE'S THE NOSE RING?

DID IT TURN INTO A SNAKE AND CRAWL UP MY NOSE?
#31617
Quote from: Fuck You One-Eye on January 26, 2012, 04:44:13 AM
Quote from: Fuck You One-Eye on January 26, 2012, 03:59:04 AM
Google search turns up nothing, but it does turn up several cases of people contracting MRSA (the flesh-eating staph bacteria) via sharing coke straws, so if there was an outbreak in France among cocaine users that's probably the source rather than the cutting agent itself, though if it was cut with levamisole, anyone who had a levamisole-caused immune system crash would be incredibly susceptible to MRSA.

Yep. I think you nailed it.
#31618
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2012, 04:36:54 AM
Quote from: Nigel on January 26, 2012, 04:35:32 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2012, 04:15:17 AM
Quote from: LuciferX on January 26, 2012, 02:32:51 AM
Quote from: Nigel on January 25, 2012, 07:48:52 PM
You cannot be serious.

I know, I can't say I want to stand behind that...  Happened to my friend, confirmed by a doctor.  There was also a French tekno song from the time entitled "stafilo-coke", however that may corroborate things.  I shit you not. :aaa:

Since when does staph survive on cocaine?

I can believe that the friend had a staph infection, but the idea that the staph came from the coke seems pretty silly. I mean, there's staph everywhere so if you're susceptible for some reason, it's not unlikely that you'll pick it up, and if you're sticking a straw in your nose that someone else just had in their nose, there ya go.

Plus, if the coke was cut with levasimole, your face might rot off either way.

http://www.emaxhealth.com/6705/cocaine-laced-levamisole-may-cause-skin-rot

Jesus Christ.  People can't even do DRUGS right, anymore.

Seriously. It's retarded.

"Hey, we have this highly profitable, highly addictive product that everyone wants. What do?"

"Let's put something in it that will make our customer's body parts rot off!"

"OK!"
#31619
Quote from: Bu☆ns on January 26, 2012, 03:26:32 AM


WHY IS THERE A SNAKE COMING OUT OF MY EYESOCKET???  :lol:
#31620
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2012, 04:15:17 AM
Quote from: LuciferX on January 26, 2012, 02:32:51 AM
Quote from: Nigel on January 25, 2012, 07:48:52 PM
You cannot be serious.

I know, I can't say I want to stand behind that...  Happened to my friend, confirmed by a doctor.  There was also a French tekno song from the time entitled "stafilo-coke", however that may corroborate things.  I shit you not. :aaa:

Since when does staph survive on cocaine?

I can believe that the friend had a staph infection, but the idea that the staph came from the coke seems pretty silly. I mean, there's staph everywhere so if you're susceptible for some reason, it's not unlikely that you'll pick it up, and if you're sticking a straw in your nose that someone else just had in their nose, there ya go.

Plus, if the coke was cut with levasimole, your face might rot off either way.

http://www.emaxhealth.com/6705/cocaine-laced-levamisole-may-cause-skin-rot