taks

um, why not just try to be yourself rather than come up with some novel pickup mechanism? it may not be the best for getting you into the sack, but at least you're being honest and you will wind up impressing someone that appreciates honesty. if you find a girl attractive, tell her. if she's interesting, tell her. if not, politely excuse yourself and move on to the next. quite frankly, your success rate in a bar is going to be... not very good. at least, not very good for anything more than a quick run through the sack. i spent 4 years on the other side of a bar watching night after night the same people trading the same partners for nothing more than short flings. they were miserable, and it was obvious. taks

what experience would that be? i don't. charity, btw, does go a lot farther when people aren't forced into at gunpoint. i didn't have time to read the rest of what you wrote (well, not enough time to really comment) because i am running late for school. teaching a one credit-hour class is for the birds. taks

but if it could be better, at less expense, and not violate your rights, wouldn't you prefer that? an insurance-based system with little government intervention would be extremely efficient and affordable for everyone and probably wouldn't take up 15% of our entire GDP (in the US). you can't even legally sue an HMO in the US, even if they violate your contract with them (an insurance policy is a contract). what does that do? it rewards bad behavior. now we're contemplating putting what everyone knows to be a corrupt, inept, and generally worthless government completely in charge of the whole system. ludicrous. taks

owning the means of production is only one aspect and, for the record, when the government stipulates how much one can charge for a service, it does at least control the means of production. a redistribution of wealth is a limit on personal liberty, no matter which newspeak language you use. you just don't consider property or a person's earnings "personal liberty." but the health care system is not market driven. no, it is used to to describe exactly what is being implemented: socialized health care, i.e., a socialist system. i'm not talking about the entire economy, i'm talking about one aspect of it. your healthcare system is socialist and soon ours will be too (assuming they can get it voted through before we kick 'em all out of office). taks

no, but i think you actually need to look at the definitions of the two, and understand the role in government in each, and while you're at it, look up what inalienable rights are. it is only partially so, handicapped by the myriad socialist programs that are in place. not really, but none are as efficient as a capitalist system. private ownership is the way to go. your last sentence is part of the problem with the world: most haven't actually studied it yet they somehow feel comfortable criticizing it as if they had. maybe if the rest of the world was actually taught the various economic systems, it would be a better world. unfortunately, even basic UHC requires violation of rights. they aren't rights if some people are more equal than others, and some people have to pay more than others for the same services. not if you look at the definition of the role of government in a free society: to protect your rights and property. nothing more, nothing less. police and fire are the two that fit that bill. furthermore, neither constitute an unequal distribution of wealth (in general) in the US. everyone pays based on what they get out of it. sort of like insurance. in the socialist UHC model, such a scheme is unaffordable. i already explained the difference between what you pay for and what you get - the examples are not even close to equivalent to UCH. 1. police/fire protection are necessary functions of government in a capitalist (or any) system. 2. it's not "state takes vs. federal government takes" it's "you voluntarily give to the state based on how much you use vs. federal government takes based on how much you earn." 3. for police/fire, everyone has the same life, yes, but not everyone has the same property to protect. those that have more, pay more, but also get more in return. 4. with UHC, everyone has the same life, again, but now everyone also gets the same treatment*, but they don't all pay the same. they are the same topic. UHC is about rights and necessarily about the utility of capitalist models vs. socialist models, i.e., which works better. don't get me wrong, i'm not saying we have anything close to a capitalist health care system here anyway. if we did, it would certainly be better than what we have. taks * the fact that socialist models are ultimately unsustainable and will offer sub-standard (and rationed) care is, quite frankly, only a side item to the rights issue, IMO.

i think the difference is that i don't find people like you evil. that anyone could find me evil, simply for thinking that people should be allowed (and required) to care for themselves is sad, actually. i find the system evil, and people that agree with it uninformed. you've been raised your entire life being told you are required to sacrifice for others and you don't have any rights of your own (even though it may not be sold that way). i, on the other hand, was raised knowing that i have rights that cannot be taken away by any person, government, or government agent and i have a duty to fight for them. my country was founded on this principle, and it is the very reason it has been this successful. taks

probably because you don't understand the distinction yourself. newspeak lives. taks

that doesn't make it any less socialist/collectivist/statist. newspeak doesn't change what is happening and if "being hurtful" is what it takes to wake people up, then that is what is necessary. government in general can't, and won't, be able to do this. the current system is already marred by too much intervention, and now the geniuses in charge want to make it even more inefficient. it will get worse once the last reasonably free-market health system goes down (and i say reasonably only in the most sarcastic sense). why not try a legitimate analogy, say, welfare, or medicaid. then ask yourself: does that make it right? as for legitimacy, police and fire are both a) paid by local resources, not federal or even state (though some police is, but not all), b) paid through usage taxes (in general), which means you get what you pay for. government's job is to protect your rights and property, both of which fall under the purview of police and fire departments. actually, the question is do you (in general) believe in individual rights that are inalienable? if not, then health care could be said to be a basic need. if you do believe in inalienable individual rights, then why would you ever agree to allow the government to steal from you with threat of force to provide for someone else? taks

particularly when you have a constitution that says you should not have to. taks

why, because they work better? even charter schools work better on less money than the public sector waste that is educating our youth. taks

that is, without a doubt, the most ridiculous statement you've ever made. unbeleivable gall. taks

definitely more fun that defenstration, but that goes back to my original post, too. that little 3-letter word has soooo much utility in life. taks

you are proof of my hypothesis. so am i. i woke up. very exciting. in an attempt to get myself psyched for camping season that is just around the corner, i'm having a freeze dried chicken ala king meal for lunch in a few moments. yay. taks

keep in mind it is not just the US nor just the bush administration. this was just the period in time in which specific methods (and those involved) were actually uncovered and discussed publicly. taks

oh. well, i only have 2 pupils. fortunately, my dood wins many more than he loses. like 70% or so. taks

you clearly missed the point of the post. sorry about your uncle, however. taks

i got the hammer at level 2. dog at level 3, and another at level 5 i think. it's great when he actually uses the thing and decides to hit. the broadsword came later than the hammer and sucks much more. supposedly i've got "lightening" whatever that is, as he's never done anything to indicate some power. how does a pupil help once you get him? i figured you get the 1 exp. point when he joins and that's it. do you get something for them fighting? taks

in two days we've collectively done 3 things, not counting this post. we're a boring lot anymore, eh? taks

there's something almost mystical reading "your brute has crushed god" http://taksm.mybrute.com/fight/79602244 taks

you wouldn't believe the rigmarole we went through to get our BT2 copy to run. i will never understand how my brothers and i figured out how to get the copy to load (we had a legit version that would not load at all). the first BT, btw, required you to answer questions from the book. guess they didn't think people would find a way to copy the book... you know, photo-copiers and all that being around since nearly the middle ages. taks

um... does it matter who the victim is? taks

i dislike gentoo as well. really, what it comes down to is i'm used to fedora (and its derivatives), which has enough differences from the "popular" distributions that i have a hard time using them, and i don't really have time to learn the others when most of what i use is fedora-based anyway. i have compiled linux from scratch many times, or at least, i've been part of the process. i've also compiled glibc and gcc from scratch (i was using a quad-core MIPS processor that had poor optimization due to a lack of support and i needed to make changes). what a pain. i'm pretty sure i've forgotten it all, too, which is fortunate since it caused me grief. i originally worked on sun/solaris machines for development purposes in 1995 but have not had to muck with them since i left harris in 1999. they are typically supported, btw, and i'm sure the NSA approves of solaris as an OS, though i've never met anyone that uses it for embedded purposes. VxWorks, nucleus, etc., and linux only recently, are the real-time OSes of choice. quite frankly, i'm not even sure what the difference would be using linux vs. "real-time" linux other than perhaps the ability to execute kernel functions directly. taks

hmm... i'm the one that always initiates things. oh, wait, we might be talking about different things. whatever you do, i don't care what anybody says, any sort of competition should almost always be shunned while dating (if not even after marriage). why? a few situations... first, if one is good at something and the other is not, the one that is good ends up in a teaching role. that rarely works out satisfactorily between couples. if both are good at something, it could get ugly competing to see who is better - things could end up getting mean. that's rarely a good outcome, either. if neither is good at it and both are learning, there is hope for a favorable outcome if one doesn't suddenly outpace the other by learning at a much faster rate. my wife and i started skiing together. i got good rather quickly. we can no longer ski together. that's not even a competitive sport, sheesh. competition bad in general, IMO, though certainly it depends upon your personalities. if one partner has zero competitiveness, then just about anything can work, though the competitive one still has to avoid embarrassing the other either by beating up on him/her badly, or intentionally letting him/her win. taks PS: my wife does ski now and she's actually better than she thinks she is, suffering primarily from a lack of confidence and poor leg strength for skiing. i suffer the latter, too, but i'm willing to keep going even when my legs are burning.

i found IWD2 unreasonably difficult my first time through, too, but a few months ago it was a cakewalk (finished it quickly). probably because i have uber IE experience now and know all the setups (BGs and IWDs) as if they were burned into my retinas. that can't be a good thing. taks

because they really, truly, think that piracy decreases revenue, DRM counteracts that effect, and second-hand sales are a problem. they can't see the forest through the trees: it costs them more sales up front from people that won't deal with it and the pirates ultimately get around the DRM/activation limitations anyway. remember the old skool games? bard's tale 2 had HOLES IN THE DISK for copy protection!!! amazing. i bet i still have one of the 5 1/4" floppies somewhere to check them. taks