Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-6078851-20130415204132/@comment-6078851-20130505170325

one of the problems with the ignorant (whether they're dumbass or genius) is the inability to accept the validity of other peoples views. i support your idea of educating and nurturing the ignorant but the biggest barrier are the individuals themselves - 'someone convinced against their will is of their own opinion still', plus most of the ignorant believe that they are awake and  that their eyes couldn't be more open. it also doesn't help that most of media, corporations and governments propogate the notion of, "our way is right, don't listen to others and we'll tell you not only what to think but how to think." i also agree that true civilisational progress comes from disparate views forged into a cohesive whole. and by disparate i mean logical and rational differences of opinion - those who allow others to dictate their opinion for them don't have a valid opinion, because it's someone else's opinion that is simply being regurgitated by a mindless drone. i agree that wrong and misled opinions are worth listening to, providing that there is individual thought behind their ideas, but in regards to manufactured (propoganda) opinions i, like you, have to fight the impulse to just start pounding away.

the whole problem with importing perishable goods is money. because of the inequality of world currencies it's cheaper to grow, reap, ship and distribute goods from overseas rather than use local systems. and as we all know 'money is the be all and end all of life', so if a buck can be saved here and there then obviously that's progress. (it doesn't really translate in text but the last sentance is highly sarcastic)

i'm a qualified gym instructor so i know all about individual training programs and such, and while we agree on increasing facilities that cater to those who enjoy casual violence i disagree on incorporating them into prisons. prisons, on the whole, don't work - yeah some people go to prison and are released back to a normal life, but prisons are breeding grounds for more crime. hardened criminals go to jail with other hardened criminals and instead of being a rehabilitationary process it simply allows these people to collaborate in their endeavours of more crime. the u.s. prison system is one of the worst examples - minor offenders, potheads shoplifters etc, end up in places where they are coerced, phychologically and physically, into serious crime organisations, and so end up back in jail for longer where this process keeps on going. this is fine with the u.s. government though, because the u.s. penal system is a buisness - did you know, 90% of the u.s.'s miltaries' protective gear, helmets, boots, body armour etc, are manufactured in american prisons? and considering that it's estimated that about 40% of people in u.s. jails shouldn't even be there the conclusion i come to is that the u.s. penal system is less about incarcerating the guilty and more about filling the prisons with as much slaves as possible. the prison system definitely needs to be re-thought.

and while i despise unwarrented violence i also support casual violence between consenting parties. personally i love mma and i did do kickboxing for a while and though it didn't bother me being hit i couldn't bring myself to throw a proper punch because i didn't feel threatened. i have an odd idea of fair, or honourable violence - if you were to hit me for no reason then you would be hit back, regardless of size, within a second, but if you hit me from behind and i didn't see you hit me, even if we were the only people there, then i wouldn't hit back. even with my rational mind telling me that there's no-one else who could have hit me, because i didn't see you doing it would stay my hand. this is the crux of the 10+ jumping i recieved - no-one had the nerve to hit me face to face, they were hitting me in the face but always from behind. now, 10+ (reports vary from 12 - 15 but i was in no position to count so i say 10+) people, so obviously i was totally surrounded and every time i turned to face whoever last hit me they stopped, and then i was being hit from those who were now behind me, so i turned and so on. this went on for maybe 10 minutes and the rucus moved close to some telephone boxes where someone smashed my head off a phone box and (this always sound cheesy, even to me) i almost lost my temper. my head was split open, my face half covered (literally half, from the split and down my nose and chin) in my blood but i now had a solid surface (phone boxes) and no-one behind me and i was seriously pissed off. i spun on them (probably showering a couple with my blood) and screamed "who the f*ck wants a go i'll take you's on one at a time...lets go" while moving towards the nearest of them one fist cocked. within 30 second of my offer everyone was gone! because of my "i didn't see you hit me so i'll give you the benefit of the doubt" mentality i didn't hit a single person, literally not one, but given that no-one was willing to take up the offer i consider that a win for me and the whole incident is a point of pride.

events like this is the sort of thing that institutionalised violence could help to prevent, not to mention the harm that people come to, although it's a point of pride i also accept that luck played a part - if i had went down or tripped i could easily have been kicked to death.

i think we have different definitions of fragile. i'm referring to how easily any organic organism can be killed, and by extension its species. most bacteria can be killed simply at high temperature. if the worlds climate and oceans change temperature by only a couple of degrees c huge swathes of life start dying. solar radiation, an extremely common thing in the universe, if numerous, strong or frequent enough hits earth the only things likely to survive will be deep ocean creatures as the ocean will act as a shield of sorts. life does adapt to the changes though, but that depends on life surviving to adapt. the human race, by my definition, is not strong but our success is precisely because of our adaptability.

i have to correct you about pulsars. pulsars are small, dense stars that spin extremely fast - the one i mention spins at something like 300 times a second. the radiation they emit, while considerable, doesn't compare to the emissions of normal black holes let alone supermassive ones. and as i said, the current research leads experts to think that this pulsar's axial tilt cycle coincides with most of earths extinction events. but when it comes to things like theortical research, paleaontology etc no-one will ever know until someone see's it in person.

rfid chips. brilliant idea. keeps track of things so it can be known exactly where they are. i don't have a problem with that. when it comes to putting them in humans though i have a gigantic problem with that. now i'm sure there's good reasoning to put them in people - prisoners for one, military personnel might even benefit from their implementation. but the idea of having simply everyone implanted with them terrifies me. isn't the world looking a little too 1984 already. if the plans for this go ahead then we can kiss goodbye to any notion of freedom we think we have, and the observant can already see that there's no such thing as freedom in our current societies merely the illusion of freedom. first it was cctv (which hasn't deterred any serious crime, just made it more tech savvy), then if rfid's happen it will be the second step to the total subjugation of the masses. i truly believe that they will happen and as such i may end up in jail because i will not submit to that level of personal invasion (i also get the irony that if i end up in jail i'll be rfid'd).