The Weird, Random, and Interesting things that Fit Nowhere Else Thread..

[Blarghagh]

Thanks for the link, Barothmuk. That was an interesting read, if very disturbing.

 

There's a lot of solid points to be made against the idea that the world is worse off than it was. Most of the arguments for it seem to boil down to

 

 

That's not saying we don't have unique problems such as mass shootings and the growing detachment from society, but overall I think we're in a pretty good place and I'd rather not go back in time.

 

Although sometimes I read something disturbing and then I briefly go "human beings must all be destroyed" like the alien roach infiltrator that I am, but that's just a scutellum-jerk reaction.

[Malcador]

I think it's just the fact that the kids get more and more obnoxious each generation.

[Raithe]

Kim Jung-un Claims He Cured Aids and Ebola

 

 

 

We have become used to the transparent and crass propaganda that comes out of North Korea, including the endless pictures of Kim Jung-un pointing at stuff or playing with happy children. Now he has added snake-oil salesman to his list of fictitious accomplishments.

 

The Korean news agency announced:

Pyongyang, June 18 (KCNA) — Kumdang-2 Injection developed by the Korea Pugang Pharmaceutic Co., Ltd is believed to be efficacious for different epidemics.

 

In this regard KCNA met Dr. Jon Sung Hun, director of the company.

Jon said:

The researchers insert rare earth elements (REE) into insam (ginseng) by applying the micro-elementary fertilizers of REE to the fields of insam. Inside the herbal body of insam the REE had got combined with the saccharides into desired complex compounds.

The injection is made of extracts from those complex compounds.

As a strong immuno-activator, the injection has been recognized to prevent different malignant epidemics.

 

They cite a study in African in which they claim a “54% complete cure” rate for AIDS. The miracle drug also apparently cures MERS, bird flu, and Ebola. The announcement is probably timed as a response to the MERS outbreak currently active in South Korea – a respiratory viral infection that has already killed about two dozen people.

The North Korean scientists will not reveal what other “secret ingredients” the product has, only the rare earth infused ginseng.

 

The claims that the product activates the immune system is not based on any science. If true, such effects might be harmful, leading to inflammation and auto-immune disease. The claims, in fact, are so highly implausible that they are not being taken seriously by the scientific community, even if they were not coming from a totalitarian dictator.

 

[s13ep]

Let's say you're staring at field of white flowers, dotted around green grass, the way it looks to you from a certain angle may be that there is more white than green. This moment is of a certain beauty, it's not harming you thinking differently. If you want, be lost in your own thought, thought is meaning -- words are a tool. Wisdom is the useful expression of this meaning, so you either are wise ( with wisdom ) or foolish ( wisdom evades you ).

The theory is that, Heaven and Hell ARE ON EARTH, and that the Western world should remain flourishing, in effort not to make it turn out like parts of the Eastern world.

[Bartimaeus]

snip

 

"The Weird, Random, or and Interesting Things[...]"

 

I think it's just the fact that the kids get more and more obnoxious each generation.

 

Isn't it more likely that kids just *seem* to get more and more obnoxious each generation...because you're getting older?

[ShadySands]

 

 

I think it's just the fact that the kids get more and more obnoxious each generation.

Isn't it more likely that kids just *seem* to get more and more obnoxious each generation...because you're getting older?

Nah, that's not it

[Malcador]

Isn't it more likely that kids just *seem* to get more and more obnoxious each generation...because you're getting older?

Could be. Either that or it is just the Internet exacerbating things. In any case, more of them need some beatings.

[Meshugger]

 

Lots of things are screwed up nowadays. Just ask your grandparents what they think.

My grandpa fought in World War 2, I doubt he would side with you.

 

 

So did mine.

 

I am not talking about technological progress, material wealth or political stability (which are all much better of course). I am talking about values. Narcissism, indulgence and hedonism are celebrated as virtues.  

[Hurlshort]

 

 

Lots of things are screwed up nowadays. Just ask your grandparents what they think.

My grandpa fought in World War 2, I doubt he would side with you.

 

 

So did mine.

 

I am not talking about technological progress, material wealth or political stability (which are all much better of course). I am talking about values. Narcissism, indulgence and hedonism are celebrated as virtues.  

 

 

How to you measure hedonism, exactly?

 

I can point to clear gains in the rights of minorities and drastically better crime rates across the country, and you are talking about the feelz.

 

In terms of indulgence, my grandparents generation drank like fishes and smoked like chimneys.   

[Ineth]

So...... In 2013, in response to wide-spread criticism, President Obama set strict rules for drone strikes to help prevent civilian casualties.

But, as it turns out, he then went and secretly exempted drone strikes in Pakistan/Yemen/Afghanistan (i.e. pretty much all of them) from those rules.  :facepalm:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/20/americas-drone-policy-all-exceptions-no-rules-yemen

[Meshugger]

 

 

 

Lots of things are screwed up nowadays. Just ask your grandparents what they think.

My grandpa fought in World War 2, I doubt he would side with you.

 

 

So did mine.

 

I am not talking about technological progress, material wealth or political stability (which are all much better of course). I am talking about values. Narcissism, indulgence and hedonism are celebrated as virtues.  

 

 

How to you measure hedonism, exactly?

 

I can point to clear gains in the rights of minorities and drastically better crime rates across the country, and you are talking about the feelz.

 

In terms of indulgence, my grandparents generation drank like fishes and smoked like chimneys.   

 

 

I would say that it can be quite demonstrated in the case of mrs. blackface earlier in the thread.

 

//edit: there also of course the collapse of marriage, the rise of single parents, a youth completely cynical to being able to affect the political arena (SJWs excluded) 

Edited June 20, 2015 by Meshugger

[Hurlshort]

Divorce rates have actually steadily dropped since the highs of the late 70's and early 80's.  Now you can argue that the rate of marriage has slowed considerably, but those that do tie the knot are divorcing less and less.  Here is a decent article on it:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/upshot/the-divorce-surge-is-over-but-the-myth-lives-on.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1

 

I'm not sure how Dolezal symbolizes hedonism.  What, exactly, are you blaming for her issues?  Society in general?  Why don't you try the parents, who home schooled her, moved her around the world, etc.  She hardly fits the mold of a typical part of her generation.  

 

 

 

There are pros and cons with every generation.  But the whole 'grass is greener in my grandparents day' is simply an illusion, and rarely holds up to scrutiny.

[Meshugger]

Divorce rates have actually steadily dropped since the highs of the late 70's and early 80's.  Now you can argue that the rate of marriage has slowed considerably, but those that do tie the knot are divorcing less and less.  Here is a decent article on it:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/upshot/the-divorce-surge-is-over-but-the-myth-lives-on.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1

 

I'm not sure how Dolezal symbolizes hedonism.  What, exactly, are you blaming for her issues?  Society in general?  Why don't you try the parents, who home schooled her, moved her around the world, etc.  She hardly fits the mold of a typical part of her generation.  

 

 

 

There are pros and cons with every generation.  But the whole 'grass is greener in my grandparents day' is simply an illusion, and rarely holds up to scrutiny.

 

I am not accusing her or her wonky parents for enabling her insanity, that's their problem. I am accusing the institutions that enabled such dumb behaviour without her ever being called out. That's what i meant with the grandparent's generation, such idiocy would have been shunned and not given prime-time TV.

[Hurlshort]

So these institutions should implement some sort of racial purity test to weed out the bad ones?

 

[Meshugger]

So these institutions should implement some sort of racial purity test to weed out the bad ones?

 

 

How cute. Asking for rationale is like being a nazi. Did i struck a nerve or something?

 

I do appriciate that marriage hasn't gone worse though. But it doesn't matter if the nuclear family structure in desintegrates.

[Hurlshort]

 

 

How cute. Asking for rationale is like being a nazi. Did i struck a nerve or something?

 

I do appriciate that marriage hasn't gone worse though. But it doesn't matter if the nuclear family structure in desintegrates.

 

 

Not at all, I'm having tremendous fun talking this over with you.  I'm just not sure how you expected an institution to deal with Dolezal here.  Should they investigate everyone's racial background?  Just the light skinned ones?  Should they only hire the ones that look the part?  It just seems like it is a scenario laced with traps and you are being a bit simplistic about it.

 

Also Dolezal by most definitions was raised in a nuclear family.  Sure, they adopted, but she was raised by a married couple and they even homeschooled her, which fits right into the social conservative criteria of not undermining parental authority by relying on outside education.

 

Personally I see nothing wrong with a nuclear family, my wife and I would fit that definition, but I hardly see it as the only possible scenario for successfully raising a child.  Again, show me the statistics that point towards ruin.  The nuclear family has been on decline decades, and yet society is still chugging along.

[Bartimaeus]

I don't see why we're getting so stuck on her race: so what if she identified as black? I'll admit that transracialism sounds pretty silly to me, but if she identified as being more of the black ethnicity/culture than not, so what? Does it really matter that much? Isn't it some of her other craziness that we should be more concerned about?

Edited June 21, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[213374U]

I can point to clear gains in the rights of minorities and drastically better crime rates across the country, and you are talking about the feelz.

 

Funny that you say you can, but you didn't.

 

Because I can point to the absolutely insane rise in prison population (especially after the "War on Drugs" was launched in the 80s), the fact that there are more blacks under correctional control today than there were slaves in 1860, and that crime rates, while currently at a decades-low, are still higher across the board than they were in the 1960s.

 

Lol, "feelz".

Edited June 21, 2015 by 213374U

[Namutree]

 

Good god, I thought my example was the worst it had gotten for now. Source?

I'm sure me googling "under-age sex workers" has now got me on some watchlist.

 

Anyways, couldn't find the article I mentioned but here's the study it was based off. Link.

 

I feel dirty just reading it.

[Meshugger]

 

 

 

How cute. Asking for rationale is like being a nazi. Did i struck a nerve or something?

 

I do appriciate that marriage hasn't gone worse though. But it doesn't matter if the nuclear family structure in desintegrates.

 

 

Not at all, I'm having tremendous fun talking this over with you.  I'm just not sure how you expected an institution to deal with Dolezal here.  Should they investigate everyone's racial background?  Just the light skinned ones?  Should they only hire the ones that look the part?  It just seems like it is a scenario laced with traps and you are being a bit simplistic about it.

 

Also Dolezal by most definitions was raised in a nuclear family.  Sure, they adopted, but she was raised by a married couple and they even homeschooled her, which fits right into the social conservative criteria of not undermining parental authority by relying on outside education.

 

Personally I see nothing wrong with a nuclear family, my wife and I would fit that definition, but I hardly see it as the only possible scenario for successfully raising a child.  Again, show me the statistics that point towards ruin.  The nuclear family has been on decline decades, and yet society is still chugging along.

 

 

Well, people with eyes quickly see that she is not what she is claiming to be. The transracial hoopla only came after her parents told the press (which is a thing in itself). As for nuclear family, i see it as symptom of a healthy of a society. Historically speaking, i do not know of any high cultures that flourished when the family structure broke down. 

[Bartimaeus]

Just curious...do you know of any specific examples where the traditional family structure has broken down and has had clear adverse effects as a result? I would think if something like that happens, there's usually a whole bunch of other terrible crap going on at the same time.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[Hurlshort]

Historically speaking, the concept of a family structure is diverse and complex.  While the biological basis of a man and a woman having a child is a constant, you have all sorts of variance in structure.  Arranged marriages, dowry, polygamy, matrilineal and patrilineal societies, places where the man moves in with the wife's family, vice versa...etc. 

 

But I don't think you will find a single civilization that has crumbled because the family structure broke down.  You might have an argument when inbreeding becomes detrimental to royal bloodlines.  But that is about the closest I can think of.

[Meshugger]

Not because of the of the family structure breaking down, it is only the symptom of a society stopping to function. In my opinion, it correlates with the greater problem of no values and the slow progress to collapse. When people start treating transracialism as something other than a mental illness, my spider-senses are starting to tingle seriously. 

 

I refuse to believe that a society where everything is personal without any common social values will endure in the long run (anyone mentioning the US is disqualified, the country is founded on an ideal). But i will not derail this any further, carry on.

[Hurlshort]

 

I can point to clear gains in the rights of minorities and drastically better crime rates across the country, and you are talking about the feelz.

 

Funny that you say you can, but you didn't.

 

Because I can point to the absolutely insane rise in prison population (especially after the "War on Drugs" was launched in the 80s), the fact that there are more blacks under correctional control today than there were slaves in 1860, and that crime rates, while currently at a decades-low, are still higher across the board than they were in the 1960s.

 

Lol, "feelz".

 

 

Heh, clearly I've been reading too many of the ethics and journalism stuff, I feel silly that I used feelz.  

 

Prison reform is a huge problem in this country and I don't dispute that.  I'd also argue that inner city schools are hardly at a place we should be proud of, despite 50 years of desegregation.  I definitely do not see us as being over the rainbow, we still have plenty of issues to tackle.  

 

I would argue that comparing prison population to slave population is problematic if you don't adjust for the tremendous population boom since then.  For an article that uses some frightening percentages to make their point, what is the percentage of black people enslaved in 1850 versus the percentage of black people in prison?  But again, I completely agree that the rates regardless of that are terrible.

 

I think you are seeing a shift away from the war on drugs in many states, and a softening on the Federal level, so I hope that is a positive trend.  In California we just voted to drop most nonviolent felonies down to misdemeanors, which results in releasing about 40k more people from prison every year for the next decade or so.  This does create a lot of other issues, but I see it as a step in the right direction.  

 

I wasn't sure what you wanted me to do with the last link.  I looked up violent crime in California.  While the 60's look great, the current numbers are just a bit higher than they were in the 70's.  But factoring in the doubling of the population that seems pretty positive.  It's also not going to take into account how much easier it is to report crimes (911 didn't exist until the late 60's), the increase in police departments, and other modern factors.  

 

For example, the stigma around sexual abuse has changed dramatically.  If the number of reported sexual abuses cases has gone way up in recent years, does that mean there is more sexual abuse happening, or simply more reporting?

[Raithe]

Heh, and a response on a certain speech..

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdHYhwU35Jg