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16
Chasm / Civil or docility and pacifism
« on: February 18, 2013, 02:04:10 AM »
I'm finding two opposing civility ideals. The original kind is the active/aggressive civility found in Victorian discipline, feudal system fidelity, familial honor and dueling, or national patriotism. The new civility however is equated with being a compromising pacifist, a docile conformist, and manifests in the compulsory non-confrontational bourgeois psychology of Oprah Winfrey consumer societies.
The former are the bearers of standards and maintainers of civilization. The latter are the withdrawn enablers of slow decline, creeping anarchy and eventual barbarism.
The former are the bearers of standards and maintainers of civilization. The latter are the withdrawn enablers of slow decline, creeping anarchy and eventual barbarism.
17
Chasm / Building brains biochemistry
« on: February 02, 2013, 01:35:54 AM »Also, a lack of vitamin D causes depression and mental weakness. You need daily sun exposure to be healthy.
Omega 3 fatty acid is all the rage now in health and nutrition circles. The usual grocery store cooking oils are getting condemned for their Omega 6 content, where the molecule somehow displaces the Omega 3 one we need instead for neurological health. The result is a population of accidental and not in all cases hereditary dullards.
18
Chasm / Dumping virtual life for a real life
« on: January 24, 2013, 12:20:07 AM »Quote
I read a book lately: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Gaming Sci-fi. Fun and lighthearted. It tells the story of a boy who plays a game every moment of his life because it gives him hope.
Until the end, I didn't understand that I, too was living in a simulation.
My simulation encompasses nearly every living moment. It's Magic: The Gathering. It's books. It's TV. It's YouTube. It's this fucking site right here that I spend hours glued to.
My simulation is tailored perfectly to my interests. It's a bubble of satisfaction and distraction. It's a place where I can solve immense problems creatively and hear moving, deeply human stories. In my simulation, life is easy and there are so many good things to do.
But in the real world I have grown weak. I've become recalcitrant to discipline, and even the most menial tasks-- organizing my binders for classes, for example-- are postponed for days. I'm more socially awkward now than I was in high school. I've been in college for several months now, and I haven't even gotten a girl's number. I can't face myself in the mirror. I can't live like this anymore.
As long as I use media to escape my problems, I will be dead inside.
When I look away from my phone and computer and out of my window, I remember my dreams. I want to be a distance runner and a biologist and a lover and a father and everyone's favorite goofy drunk. I want faces, not usernames. I want hugs, not that fucking Reddit Gold crap.
So goodbye, Reddit. You've been wonderful, but I have things to do and be. Where I'm going, there's no room for imaginary friends.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Foodforthought/comments/171u7r/why_i_cant_reddit_no_more_warningfeelings/
Good for him!
19
Chasm / Digital era killing creativity
« on: January 06, 2013, 03:32:34 PM »
In summer 2010, the Atchleys joined with another researcher from the University of Utah to see what four days of backpacking in the wilderness, untethered from electronics, did for the creativity and problem-solving abilities of about 60 adults ages 18 to 60.
The effect was pretty plain to see: their creativity increased by a full 50 percent.
Perhaps that's no surprise, said Ruth Ann Atchley, an associate professor and chairwoman of KU's psychology department.
But it has huge implications for a society spending ever more time staring at electronic screens and less time just being outside. The Atchleys' study, published in December in an online open-access journal, cited data suggesting that a typical child today spends around 15-25 minutes per day playing outside and more than seven hours per day using media via TV, cellphones or computers. Adults spend even more time consumed by technology.
"We're being dragged in so many different directions and being tasked to deal with so many different things that we're beyond our capacity," said Paul Atchley, a professor of psychology.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/jan/05/unplugging-electronics-escaping-nature-makes-50-pe/
The effect was pretty plain to see: their creativity increased by a full 50 percent.
Perhaps that's no surprise, said Ruth Ann Atchley, an associate professor and chairwoman of KU's psychology department.
But it has huge implications for a society spending ever more time staring at electronic screens and less time just being outside. The Atchleys' study, published in December in an online open-access journal, cited data suggesting that a typical child today spends around 15-25 minutes per day playing outside and more than seven hours per day using media via TV, cellphones or computers. Adults spend even more time consumed by technology.
"We're being dragged in so many different directions and being tasked to deal with so many different things that we're beyond our capacity," said Paul Atchley, a professor of psychology.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/jan/05/unplugging-electronics-escaping-nature-makes-50-pe/
20
Chasm / Weaponized feces test a groundbreaking success
« on: December 23, 2012, 12:21:35 AM »Quote
OAK PARK — A woman assaulted on the CTA Blue Line in Oak Park last week told police another passenger struck her in the face with a sock filled with human excrement.
“He had a sock full of his poop on me,” said the 21-year-old college student. “It was everywhere; on my face, my hair, my clothes.”
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/12/19/cta-passenger-attacked-with-sock-filled-with-feces/
Modern life: the countryside is civil while the city is savage.
21
Chasm / Iconic dead end of Western Civ almost castrated
« on: December 14, 2012, 09:59:28 PM »
The instrument for castration would be hand-held hedge clippers used for trimming roses, the court document said. The victims were to be strangled with a paisley tie "because that was what he (Mr. Martin) had used previously," the affidavit said, without elaborating.
"In response to Mr. Staake's reluctance to follow through with the castrations, Mr. Ruane stated he was going to do it and get 'five large for each one I get.' Mr. Martin confirmed that Mr. Ruane was going to get $2,500.00 per testicle," the affidavit said.
The testicles were to be put in bags, to be hidden in a place such as the engine compartment, the document said.
When asked by CNN if that grisly plan would be applied to all victims, including Bieber, McDonald stated: "It would be safe to say they were going to do it for every one of them."
None of the three men have been charged in the alleged murder plot against Bieber and his bodyguard, but the investigation is continuing, New Mexico State Police Lt. Robert McDonald told CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/13/us/justin-bieber-murder-plot/
"In response to Mr. Staake's reluctance to follow through with the castrations, Mr. Ruane stated he was going to do it and get 'five large for each one I get.' Mr. Martin confirmed that Mr. Ruane was going to get $2,500.00 per testicle," the affidavit said.
The testicles were to be put in bags, to be hidden in a place such as the engine compartment, the document said.
When asked by CNN if that grisly plan would be applied to all victims, including Bieber, McDonald stated: "It would be safe to say they were going to do it for every one of them."
None of the three men have been charged in the alleged murder plot against Bieber and his bodyguard, but the investigation is continuing, New Mexico State Police Lt. Robert McDonald told CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/13/us/justin-bieber-murder-plot/
22
Chasm / Police: Apple Product 'Life Threatening'
« on: December 10, 2012, 12:06:57 PM »
The Victoria police in Australia issued a stern warning Monday urging iPhone users to stop using Apple's Maps app in iOS 6 after having to rescue several people who became stranded thanks to the flawed program. Police said they have been called to rescue of a number of distressed motorists over the past several weeks who got lost in Australia's Murray-Sunset National Park after following directions on their iPhone.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413025,00.asp
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413025,00.asp
23
Chasm / Investor: billions to die over short time frame
« on: December 09, 2012, 01:07:01 AM »
Basically, Grantham thinks most of us are going to starve to death.
Why?
In part because we're churning through a finite supply of something that is critical to our ability to produce food: Phosphorus.
Phosphorus is a critical ingredient of fertilizer, and there is a finite supply of it. The consensus is that we will hit "peak phosphorus" production within a few decades, after which point our phosphorus supply will inexorably decline. As it declines, we will be unable to feed ourselves. And you know the rest.
http://www.businessinsider.com/peak-phosphorus-and-food-production-2012-12
Why?
In part because we're churning through a finite supply of something that is critical to our ability to produce food: Phosphorus.
Phosphorus is a critical ingredient of fertilizer, and there is a finite supply of it. The consensus is that we will hit "peak phosphorus" production within a few decades, after which point our phosphorus supply will inexorably decline. As it declines, we will be unable to feed ourselves. And you know the rest.
http://www.businessinsider.com/peak-phosphorus-and-food-production-2012-12
24
Chasm / Amsterdam to exile human trash
« on: December 06, 2012, 04:15:22 AM »
In a move that sounds straight out of Orwell, Amsterdam allocated 1 million euros last week to a plan that would relocate trouble-making neighbors to camps on the outskirts of the city, the BBC reports.
The “scum villages,” as critics have called them, would lie in isolated areas and provide only basic services to their unwilling residents. According to details of the plan reported by Der Spiegel and the BBC, residents will live in “container homes,” under the watchful eye of social workers or police. The residents themselves might not make very good company. According to the BBC, they’ll include families that engage in repeated, small-scale harassment, like bullying gay neighbors or intimidating police witnesses.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/04/amsterdam-plans-to-relocate-troublemakers-to-scum-villages/
The “scum villages,” as critics have called them, would lie in isolated areas and provide only basic services to their unwilling residents. According to details of the plan reported by Der Spiegel and the BBC, residents will live in “container homes,” under the watchful eye of social workers or police. The residents themselves might not make very good company. According to the BBC, they’ll include families that engage in repeated, small-scale harassment, like bullying gay neighbors or intimidating police witnesses.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/04/amsterdam-plans-to-relocate-troublemakers-to-scum-villages/
25
Chasm / Robert Stark interviews Brett Stevens
« on: November 09, 2012, 02:27:19 AM »Quote
Brett Stevens converted to conservative politics after seeing everything else fall short. A computer programmer by day, he writes on underground music and conservative, family-oriented and healthy living topics.
Quote
Robert Stark is an artist and host of a political talk show called 15 Minutes of Freedom on www.myfbn.com. He is a strong defender of the Constitution and National Sovereignty and rejects Partisan Politics and Political Correctness.
http://www.examiner.com/article/q-a-with-brett-stevens-of-amerika-org
28
Chasm / U.S. companies eject burdensome employees
« on: October 27, 2012, 04:03:53 AM »
They need to invest more in hardware and software automation replacements for most of these career seat warmers, then fill in where needed with the overachievers. After the startup costs, they'll end up with a net savings with which to reward the minority of people who were actually getting things done for the company.
Quote
North American companies have announced plans to eliminate 62,600 positions at home and abroad since Sept. 1, the biggest two-month drop since the start of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Firings total 158,100 so far this year, more than the 129,000 job cuts in the same period in 2011.
Quote
"Companies are saying, ‘Let's not build up inventories, let's be lean and mean until we know until we have a better idea of what 2013 is going to look like,'" said Janna Sampson, who helps manage more than $3 billion for Oakbrook Investments in Lisle, Illinois. "There is a fear now as companies see that the economic recovery is not picking up."
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/firings-reach-highest-since-2010-230641726.html
29
Chasm / Study: diversity makes us psychotic
« on: October 25, 2012, 04:26:36 AM »
Just like smoking dope and other maladjusted Baby Boomer fads:
Quote
Results
For every ten percentage point reduction in own-group density, the relative odds of reporting psychotic experiences increased 1.07 times (95% CI 1.01—1.14, P = 0.03 (trend)) for the total minority ethnic sample. In general, people living in areas of lower own-group density experienced greater social adversity that was in turn associated with reporting psychotic experiences.
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/201/4/282.abstract?etoc
30
Chasm / Slow collapse is fine
« on: October 23, 2012, 01:38:28 AM »
The old system is well into its death and decay. New system growth has begun to replace it. At this point it is a huge mass of rot. We still have to search around for the little sprouts of life just beginning.
I'm going from a collapsing Mayberry mostly formed of the old system to a real Mayberry that never adopted much of the old system, within a year. There isn't so much an open and closed window in which to do so, but it is the realization of our moving from an optimal to less optimal state to get better positioned as the months pass.
Quote
It’s a systemic crisis. The systems we rely upon aren’t viable.
They haven’t been for a long time. Every year we are worse off than the year before.
A political fix, switch, or reform isn’t going to do the job.
Quote
Why do I think this is good news? Two reasons.
Firstly, many people are finally waking up to the fact that the old system isn’t viable anymore, and we need to create a new one. A system that actually produces a real opportunity to pursue happiness and not the illusion of one.
Secondly, this creeping crisis hasn’t consumed all of our resources yet. We’ve been damaged, sure. But we still have the flexibility to make some strides towards something new. Something we can have a say in building.
http://www.resilientcommunities.com/were-in-a-slow-motion-collapse-take-advantage-of-the-time-available/
I'm going from a collapsing Mayberry mostly formed of the old system to a real Mayberry that never adopted much of the old system, within a year. There isn't so much an open and closed window in which to do so, but it is the realization of our moving from an optimal to less optimal state to get better positioned as the months pass.