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Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
Qapla'
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posted November 26, 2015 09:32 PM |
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Tolstoy and Dostoevsky should have lived for 900 years if you ask me.
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Dies_Irae
Supreme Hero
with the perfect plan
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posted November 28, 2015 04:16 PM |
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Teacher: Terrorism has a single goal. What is it?
Student 1: Killing innocent people?
Teacher: Incorrect. Death is only a byproduct of terrorism.
Student 2: A show of strength?
Teacher: No. A weaker persuasion does not exist.
Student 3: To cause terror?
Teacher: Concisely put. Quite simply, the goal of terrorism is to create terror and fear. Fear undermines faith in the establishment. It weakens the enemy from within… causing unrest in the masses. Write this down. Terrorism is not an expression of rage. Terrorism is a political weapon. Remove a government’s façade of infallibility, and you remove its people’s faith.
From: Dan Brown, Angels and Demons (2000).
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Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
Qapla'
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posted November 29, 2015 12:18 AM |
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"There are two big teams in Milano. Inter and Inter Primavera"
"After I shake the hand of a Juventino, I always count my fingers"
"Inter has been born by leaving the group of Milan. This shows what you can make out of nothing"
"Dell'Alpi empty? You can buy games, but you can't buy real fans"
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Herry
Bad-mannered
Famous Hero
100% Devil
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posted November 30, 2015 08:51 PM |
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"I don't know what weapons World War III will be fought with, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - I forgot who.
"Be a mouse till you're forced to roar." - Anonymous
"Life is like normal people. It eats, it gives, and it ****s. And when it s***s, you better be careful if you don't fancy being flushed down the toilet." - Me
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frostymuaddib
Promising
Supreme Hero
育碧是白痴
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posted November 30, 2015 08:55 PM |
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Herry said:
"I don't know what weapons World War III will be fought with, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - I forgot who.
Albert Einstein., in an interview with Alfred Werner, Liberal Judaism 16 (April-May 1949), 12. Einstein Archive 30-1104, as sourced in The New Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice (2005), p. 173.
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Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
Qapla'
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posted December 01, 2015 01:20 AM |
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Proud to be Nixonite
I gave 'em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I'd have done the same thing.
You've got to learn to survive a defeat. That's when you develop character.
Government can provide opportunity. But opportunity means nothing unless people are prepared to seize it.
Defeat doesn't finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he's defeated. He's finished when he quits.
In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars.
We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another - until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.
If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together.
Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion.
Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.
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fred79
Disgraceful
Undefeatable Hero
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posted January 29, 2016 03:26 AM |
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"Once the monkeys learn they can vote themselves bananas, they'll never climb another tree." -Robert Heinlein
to me, the quote exactly describes why politics and positions of leadership or authority are so easily corrupting.
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted February 02, 2016 12:00 AM |
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"While many of us like to believe that our husbands or wives were uniquely suited to that role, it is not true; if it were, the chance of finding them would be remote. I at one time did some rough calculations on the subject and concluded that my present wife is about a one in two hundred thousand catch. That seems reasonably consistent with the fact that I found her, given the mechanisms our society provides for the early stages of the search process, such as sorting people socially by interests and educational status. I was lucky, but not unreasonably lucky. It is also consistent with the fact that in the years since finding her, I have met one or two other women who might have been as well suited to me.
They might have been as well suited to me, but it would have been foolish to investigate the matter. Once a couple has been married for a while, they have made a lot of relationship specific investments, born costs that will produce a return only if they remain together. Each has become, at considerable cost, an expert on how to get along with the other." - David Friedman
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Eccentric Opinion
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Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
Qapla'
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posted February 14, 2016 09:08 AM |
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"It's quite simple, in the end: tell me what you want."
Anakin squinted up at him. "I don't understand."
"Of course you don't." The last of the sunset haloed his icewhite
hair and threw his face into shadow. "You've been trained to
never think about that. The Jedi never ask what you want. They
simply tell you what you're supposed to want. They never give you a
choice at all. That's why they take their students— their victims—
at an age so young that choice is meaningless. By the time a
Padawan is old enough to choose, he has been so indoctrinated—so
brainwashed—that he is incapable of even considering the question.
But you're different, Anakin. You had a real life, outside the Jedi
Temple. You can break through the fog of lies the Jedi have
pumped into your brain. I ask you again: what do you want?"
Anakin and Palpatine, Revenge of the Sith novelization.
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Herry
Bad-mannered
Famous Hero
100% Devil
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posted February 14, 2016 10:02 AM |
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"This is unfair!"
"You say that quite often. I wonder what's your basis for comparison."
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted April 18, 2016 02:44 AM |
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"Though modern democracies make plenty of bad choices, in general, they do significantly better than one would expect, given how silly and misinformed median voters are. What seems to explain this is not the 'wisdom of the crowds' - the median voter is not wise - but instead that in democracies, political parties, elites, bureaucrats, and others have significant leeway to act independently of voters' wishes. If you think democracy is a good thing in itself, perhaps that upsets you. If instead you think, as I do, that democracy's value is purely instrumental, and that political systems ought to be judged by how well they deliver on procedure-independent standards of justice, you should be happy." - Jason Brennan
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Eccentric Opinion
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artu
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted April 18, 2016 11:36 AM |
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Edited by artu at 11:37, 18 Apr 2016.
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Misses the point entirely. Yes, the crowds are not wise, but the "elites" are on a leash, because they are voted by them. That's why power abuse is significantly less in democracies compared to authoritarian regimes. And that's why it's not just about voting but also about a free press, independent courts etc.
It's far from perfect, of course. But it's the best political insurance system people could come up with as of now.
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Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted May 18, 2016 03:45 AM |
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Edited by Corribus at 06:26, 18 May 2016.
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"The world has far too much morality. If you added up all the homicides committed in pursuit of self-help justice, the casualties of religious revolutionary wars, the people executed for victimless crimes and misdemeanors, and the targets of ideological genocides, they would surely outnumber the fatalities from amoral predation and conquest. The human moral sense can excuse any atrocity in the minds of those who commit it, and it furnishes them with motives for acts of violence that bring them no tangible benefit. The torture of heretics and conversos, the burning of witches, the imprisonment of homosexuals, and the honor killing of unchaste sisters and daughters are just a few examples. The incalculable suffering that has been visited on the world by people motivated by a moral cause is enough to make one sympathize with the comedian George Carlin when he said, 'I think motivation is overrated. You show me some lazy prick who's lying around all day watching game shows and stroking his penis, and I'll show you someone who's not causing any ****ing trouble!'" -Steven Pinker
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I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg
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Zenofex
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Kreegan-atheist
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posted May 18, 2016 08:45 AM |
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Quote:
You show me some lazy prick who's lying around all day watching game shows and stroking his penis, and I'll show you someone who's not causing any ****ing trouble!'"
That's actually one of the most sheepish misconceptions that are usually advertised as wise truths - that if you do nothing but drown in your apathy and ignorance, you are harmless and innocent. There are times when you won't hurt anyone by doing nothing and there are times when such lazy, self-centered inactivity crosses the border of irresponsibility and turns you into a tool in the hands of people who are more motivated. A slumbering cattle which funds the productions of weapons used to break somebody else's head for example.
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artu
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted May 18, 2016 12:54 PM |
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I was going to post something similar. I guess, Carlin's trying to express the virtue of "minding your own business" and he does have a point when it comes to overreaching zealots who try to dictate people how to live their lives. But that only works in a system where everybody else also has their right and means to "mind their own business." Imagine though, you are living in Nazi Germany (oh, yes, Goldwin's law) and the Gestapo is hunting down your Jewish neighbors. Doing nothing and turning away suddenly seem less virtuous, doesn't it.
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Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted May 18, 2016 01:38 PM |
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Well, he's also a comedian.
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I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg
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artu
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted May 18, 2016 01:54 PM |
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And a very political one.
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Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost
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artu
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted May 18, 2016 07:48 PM |
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"I'm not young enough to know everything." J.M. Barrie
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Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted May 18, 2016 09:47 PM |
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Zenofex said:
There are times when you won't hurt anyone by doing nothing and there are times when such lazy, self-centered inactivity crosses the border of irresponsibility and turns you into a tool in the hands of people who are more motivated. A slumbering cattle which funds the productions of weapons used to break somebody else's head for example.
You're not hurting anyone in that case, either - it's whoever's using the weapons that's doing the hurting. Besides, if you don't do anything (including taking on an obligation), you can't be guilty of anything. For example, it's not like I'm responsible for people starving if I don't give to charity, that's just something that happens.
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Eccentric Opinion
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artu
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted May 18, 2016 09:54 PM |
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The quote is not about legal obligation but moral initiative.
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Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost
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