Gorgon

The perpetration of genital mutilation through generations is a perfect example of religion as an entrenched negative group dynamic. It does not respect the individual. You can't write or perceive anything without perspective, of course perception matters, that doesn't mean you have to completely reduce the concept of good and evil to relatives, they are abstract constructs, but ones fundamentally based on the ideas of selfishness or selflessness, of how you yourself would wish to be treated by those around you. Religious or ideological wars between two kinds of 'right' usually end up perpetrating countless more kinds of 'wrong'. You can't change generations of social strictures by force of arms, and you should know better than to try. The answer to your hypothetical posit I guess is that you are both evil.

Yeah, that would depend on whether there actually was a water god, and whether he would drown everyone in a terrible storm of vengeance if not appeased. Religion can be a negative group dynamic, there are plenty of examples of this, I think you have to decide whether the religion is inherently humanistic and respecting of both individual and group at the same time. There aren't that many world religions that live up to that maxim, Christianity is homophobic, almost any religion is dismissive of other religions, etc. If forced to pick one, I would probably go with Buddhism, because of it's traditional acceptance of many and diverse sects,and traditional Japanese Kami worship, because of its acceptance of other gods.

Acting entirely selfish without concern for the group or, for the way you would be wish to be treated is considered evil, while doing something selfless, for the benefit of the group, even if such a group situation is entirely hypothetical would be good. I would argue that these broad definitions are universal, except maybe at a satanist convention.

You don't have to be Arnold to pull a trigger.

Get a proper cord mouse

I hate the new logitech drivers, during install it wants to install all kinds of datamining/spyware and toolbars, what the **** is that. Just unprofessional if you ask me, and 1 time out of 10 the control applet just fails load on startup. It also autoinstalls in the task bar. Certain programs are task bar worthy, and others are just not, I don't want 20 things down there giving me stress and popping up update windows. Get one with a cord, cordless is for laptops they can't compete at all when it comes to gaming, I still have a microsoft optical I bought over 6 years ago, opticals usually last forever, if the resolution is decent you won't need to buy another one untill the buttons break or get so loaded up with gunk they stick to their contact points.

What exactly is Sweden fighting in Africa ?

It's a pen with mouse buttons on you move across a magnetised surface to enable you to draw on the screen. I take it there is something in the makeup of the toolset that makes this desirerable. Other than that you would use it for art programs.

For the record though, I agree that being polite is a win-win proposition, it feels good, and you may be rewarded.

My conclusion is that you are getting to that age where everything used to be better, more refined and possessed of greater worth than what is now. Don't worry, it's a perfectly natural progression, like the one from wide eyed idealist, to shriveled up conservative.

I prefer sneaking around undercover, and then invariably being detected and having to run and gun my way out of there, like hitman. I don't want the game to be over just because I got discovered.

I'm reading Mao 2 by John Delillo.

A walter can't even penetrate clothing at it's maximum range.

Bond is all style and not enough realism, that was just great for the 70s and 80s, not so much anymore. Bourne, well the new one, not the one starring Richard Chamberlain was excellent, although the whole brainwashing thing got kinda old, not much material there for serializing unless you start off in another direction. Bauer was great for a TV show but it's great weakness is the plot which is usually everywhere and nowhere at once, that just gets to be really annoying after a while. For secret agent type I hope they find something more original and less generic.

The guys at studio ghibli are better than that.

@Gorgon QUOTE a significant advantage of a one-party state is that it avoids all the arguments that delay progress in a democratic political system Well yes, thats all true, but is that doesn't mean it's a good thing. The test doesn't ask whether it is correct but whether you agree. Dictatorships can get things done quicker, while that is an advantage of sorts, there are much greater disadvantages for the populace. The test only asks me if I agree with one side of the issue, which is misleading, since the answer is yes, but that should certainly not suggest that I believe dictatorships are a preferable form of government.

A true hippie would never use negative vibes, man.

Will and Grace is comedy ? I thought it was just one of those things you wind up watching out of force of habit, like King of Queens or Raymond. Seinfeld wasn't bad in its day. I can't believe anyone would mention Friends and Futurama in the same sentence.

All this fails to explain Benny Hill.

The term 'right' and 'left' in political context means something slightly different in each continent. A conservative European could easily be considered a Democrat for instance. Also, many of the questions are too loaded and hypothetical to be answerable no one chooses his or her country of birth, so it's foolish to be proud of it. Thats not a conclusion now is it, You can be proud if you happen to live in a country with founding values that you consider worthy, but automatic pride, as in the sense of patriotism, which we find everywhere from Dictatorship to beacon of democracy.... military action that defies international law is sometimes justified. It depends doesn't it, show me an example and I'll tell you whether it's justified, answering 'yes' should not automatically move me anywhere in the matrix, the devil is in the details. controlling inflation is more important than controlling unemployment. I don't feel that is an 'either - or' proposition, fiscal and monetary policy are tools used to reach an end goal of 5% unemployment, which is generally considered full employment, any less would create unsustainable wage increases and hurt the economy, but I can accept that my end goal is perhaps not the same as everyone else's. I would lean toward the controlling unemployment option. the prime function of schooling should be to equip the future generation to find jobs. What kind of schooling, elementary school, kindergarten ?. While I don't think it should be the prime goal of education, that doesn't mean that I don't think public education could and should do a lot better in that area. a significant advantage of a one-party state is that it avoids all the arguments that delay progress in a democratic political system Well yes, thats all true, but is that doesn't mean it's a good thing. astrology accurately explains many things Yes, like how gullible some people are. some people are naturally unlucky Is this philosophy or more an option for people who refuse to believe in social Darwinism. Where is the 'how the hell should I know' option. And here we go : Economic Left/Right: -3.38 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.10. I guess I can live with that. It's my understanding that Liberal in the US is mostly used by Republicans to describe everything that is wrong with Democrats. It's certainly not the same as economic liberalism (free trade), or 'traditional' liberalism (individual rights)

Lots of polls available, but where is the only one that really matters: Democrat or Republican. Given that the Republican ticket is decided, and that the policy difference between Obama and Clinton is negliable.

Also, stop mobbing the new guy.

Soft News. The idea is to take a break from the usually depressing real world of politics with a story about a puppy caught in a well, or as in this case the illicit purchase of a candybar. Even the Britney Spears well can run dry.

I though the rule changes were the one redeeming factor in IWD2, heh.

At least we could have had some dirty 'witcher postcards'