TMA_1

I agree that it legitimizes through force the leadership of Iran. Nobody will think of doing to them what was done to Iraq.I also believe that the soon to be built nuclear weapons have a slim chance of being used. I just know from personal experience that narrow-minded religious views can and do delude people into doing pretty crazy things. I feel that people do not take this kind of thing as seriously as they should. We have know idea what the Iranians will do with their refined uranium, and the possibilities are endless. This kind of nuclear confrontation is different in a few ways from any other nuclear confrontation we have ever seen. Take the anxiety between the nuclear buildup of Pakistan and India, and elevate it a few times. The religious scruples of the leaders of Iran are pretty intense. It could even get worse. Many of these folks believe that they are the generation that will witness the coming of the Mahdi. It almost seems that this kind of thing isn't taken seriously.

The famous quote by Marshall McLuhan-- paraphrased; "Violence is a quest for identity" It is a gem, and to me seems fairly obvious. I have listened to many folks say that it is Iran's sovereign right to refine nuclear ore, even to a weapons grade product. I have heard that Iran only wishes to have nuclear weapons capability so that it will give other nations pause before attempting invasion, remembering the "coalition of the willing" in Iraq and Afghanistan, and recently the international air strikes and support in stripping tyranny from Libya. I have heard people say that Iran probably will not preemptively strike another nation with nuclear weapons... All of these ideas seem to a greater or lesser extant probable. One thing that alarms me though is that people seem to connect the stalemate of the Soviet Union with NATO and other powers as an analogy with Israel and Iran. What concerns me is that Iran's leadership has a spiritual doctrine that bridges the mystical with the physical. There are even those of the extremely devout in Iran that wish to push along world events to cause an apocalypse, believing the twelfth imam is already physically alive with us. I feel that Israel does have a point in fearing from a nuclear Iran. When nuclear weapons are backed not even by extreme political positions, but further it with religious ones, than the danger multiplies. what do ou guys think?

Hmm I think it is hard to say if one is more important than the other.

Did any of you see the Daily Show skit they had on OWS? It was pretty awesome.

You could be right athanasios, and I believe that though the scientific community always needs to keep a critical eye at these sorts of things, I also believe that too much cynicism can lead to downright arrogance. So we will see... only time will tell if this device will work.

http://www.theeestory.com/topics/7700?page=1 I just picked this site out for the sake of brevity. Many other sites have talked about Andrea Rossi's dubious past, and it all seems true. With this kind of background, I honestly cannot trust what this guy has to say or offer. On top of this, the use of Calorimeters in reported cold fusion devices has been around since the late eighties, and though I believe there might... and I mean MIGHT be a chance for this kind of "cold" fusion to work, I have to honestly say that I believe it most probably wont.

looks interesting. From what I can see it is about life, from the smallest to largest scale, and the sort of butterfly effect concept that we are "ripples" in "the holy ocean of eternity".

There are a few interesting concepts in proper fusion technology these days, and one in a sort of "cold fusion" that could maybe have a potential future, but as Dante said, Ill believe it when I see it.

What Lord J said pretty much. It definitely has influences, since the cultures in Dune derive from cultures from ancient earth. They have evolved to such an extant that it is hard to truly separate and designate which cultures truly came from which. It is a mish mash, really. Lots of allusions to his day and age, not to mention the fact that you can read and feel how dated his concepts are throughout.

functioning sociopaths I believe can become very successful, though generally close interpersonal relationships tend to suffer because of the specific behavior that is noted in sociopaths/psychopaths. I believe that there is a spectrum of those who are born sociopaths. It can range from cold blooded killers, to serial liars. Ever read any Oliver Sacks? If you are interested in the neurological aspects of human behavior, you should check him out.

I really want to get more involved in paper roleplay games, are you guys talking about these types of games done online? That would be neat to do. Is Shadowrun played online?

Marvin Gaye "After The Dance"and Elis Regina & Tom Jobim "Aguas De Marco"

I actually don't know much about the film ,or it's director. I saw a preview of it from the Caan film festival, and it really piqued my interest. Does anybody know anything about the film, or when it might be released to DVD? Anybody have some info on the film or the director? If anybody has any info, I would be much obliged. Also, what films have you guys watched lately? Regards: Titus

I have heard this talked about, and have seen people mention it and I have thought about it as well. Do any of you guys think Dune would be a great medium for an anime? I honestly think that it could work very well. I think it could allow for a very deep exploration of the Dune universe and overcome so many of the hurtles that a traditional filming would entail. What do you guys think about Dune as anime?

It is no use to flail these people with attacks... that is just too easy a thing to do. Why is there such a reaction taking place in the vaguely labeled "west"? People here see that changes are taking place at such a blinding pace that it frightens them... it frightens me. This huge paradigm shift we see happening in the world is occurring without any real control. Those who are actually in control are setting themselves upon a path in which they will see the greatest benefit. Those who are living in the "developing" countries are indeed seeing great benefits, but are also still suffering from those who only see money as their highest motive. What's worse is that those in the west are tied up or are directly involved in the wage slavery and cultural destruction of untold millions throughout these developing countries. It is assumed that we in the west have at least partially learned from our past, and treat workers in a much kinder fashion, but this is not the case. Look at China, where the districts open to manufacture for companies in the developed world like Apple and Microsoft are pumping out millions of products in conditions which would NEVER be allowed in a place like America or Germany. Those people in china are indeed making more than they ever have, but at what cost? It is destroying lives, entire families and communities over there. And here, we are seeing the complete destruction of a viable working class. It is an almost complete service economy, and the middle class is a phantasm which politicians always seem to discuss here. Not only economically, but culturally we are seeing entire shifts in the way we think, the way we act and react with everybody else and it is horrifying to be stuck in this grinding mill controlled by thousands with no ears and eyes set to the spectrum of mammon. There is no real great villain in this world that we can blame. It is interesting that Reinhold Niebuhr said something to the effect that individually, people tend to listen to their conscience much more than when those individuals lay within a group. Packs generally do greater evil than individuals. If an individual is tied up on a road and he sees that a car is approaching at high speed, it is fairly easy for him to untie himself and step out of the road in time. Now if say it is a group of people who are tied together and are unable to get off the road until they untie themselves, it will obviously take much longer because of the need for cooperation and communication with one another. I believe we are seeing the need to begin and act extremely fast in working together to solve some of the greatest problems we have ever faced as a human race. The increasing instability of the global economy, the hanging specter of global climate change and many other challenges are coming towards us faster and faster each day. Though these groups are in my opinion very mistaken in how to handle many of our problems these days, it is obvious that they sense the dangers that are coming to us. They seem to me like canaries in a coal mine. I am in agreement that these groups, when manipulated by specific individuals and groups tend to go down the road of fascism. We have to be extremely careful with this and it is just another danger that we may potentially face. I do not think though that denigrating these groups helps though. In fact I think it just toughens their resolve and makes these groups more extreme. They are not yet "nazis" or anything of the sort, though they could very well develop into a similar form if the west is not careful. I think we should see how the middle east is evolving, we should look at how the populist groups will evolve over the coming years and see if groups like the muslim brotherhood will get their complete hold on the governments that are newly popping up in the middle east. we should watch and see if we can apply anything we see over there with our situation, though it is in so many ways totally different than our own situation. I hope that in the democratic countries, as things get worse, that this might get all us citizens more involved in a positive way in actually changing our countries for the better. Where we can shove off what is old and irrelevant and keep what is good. I am afraid though that there is not much time. I am also afraid that things could go sour in so many different ways. Do you guys think that we have enough time to make the changes needed for a much smoother transitioning in our global economy? How about politics on a global scale? Do any of you guys think that things might be able to get smoothed out without the need for bloodshed and divisiveness through all these fast transitions? What do you guys think of climate change in the midst of all these issues? Sorry if these questions are a bit off topic. If they are than nevermind. haha Regards: Titus

haha! ...ah... Speaking of remembering goofy things said in the past. I looked at some of the corny crap i've said and all I can do is laugh at myself. When I was a teenager, I sure said some stupid and conceited things. :-) As a matter of fact, I dont think that has changed much. haha

All of you guys here have created some great posts. It sucks to see the fighting, though I understand how and why it happens. Even though it is never this simple, I hope that whoever is involved in this can try and cool down a bit. There should be no need for banishments or snarky comments. From my experience, when I have flipped out and got snippy towards others, it led to all sorts of goofy drama, and after a few months you will look back at it and say to yourself: "Damn! This was a bunch of petty baloney!" I hope it all gets figured out because if any of you guys were to leave, it would make this site much less colorful and fun. Regards: Titus

I would suggest a pretty awesome book I read a long while ago. It is a two volume set of books called "The Decline of the West". In my opinion, There is some pretty profound stuff inside the these books. Here is a link from wikipedia with a bit of info about it if any of you guys are interested. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decline_of_the_West

I actually really like what Johnsonius had to say. Even if it was not what some of you were expressly talking about, it was still valid to the topic in my opinion. Good share, Johnsonius!

Yeah, definitely I am also talking about the natural world he created as well. But what is neat is that we humans fill an ecological niche in the world as well. in many ways our thoughts and actions are byproducts of the interconnectedness of all that is in or on the earth. We are a part of the ecological chain of existance. In a way we are not THINGS that exist but EVENTS that take place within existance. We are dynamic forces just as much as a waterfall or a tree. Dune is pretty awesome. Glad I picked it back up!

After just posting a blurb on culture in dune, I realized how cool it is that it really is all about ecology. It is all about closed systems and their contents evolving or trying to evolve. Its about fears of stagnation or mutilation of the systems. It's about the eventual dispersion of man's seed through suffering and hope over thousands upon thousands of years in the continuance of mankind's evolution. of course Dune is about all sorts of stuff... but man it just struck me what an ecologist's fancy it all is.

Because power is held on a planetary scale, and the distances are so massive, the whole enviornment affected the culture and politics of mankind. Planets became Feifdoms to men who were family to the ruling elite. It is a really cool concept that seems to make no sense, but the environment itself distanced mankind, brought him back politically into an archaic form of rule. Back to the times of the platonic Golden Man. When social class made sense again. Kynes talked of energy increasing as a system became smaller. Imagine our culture now, nearly all democratic, so close to one another, a true global village. Now imagine that dispersing into space... Why are there so many wars now? As the system closes further and further, matter contained within heats up faster and faster... entropy. The Jihad? The Golden Path? Dispersions, slowing down entropy.

I agree that we must wait for Christ. Until then we have to make do with what we've got. I understand that there have never rreally existed any true forms of democracy within a large nation state. I think the term democracy has come to be used in reference to democratic republics and the like.

Edric, I always have genuinely liked your point of view, and I think that the point of view you and many others espouse is one that should be adopted by more people these days. I believe that as the state of living improves throughout the world and folks become more educated, not only will this increase knowledge and create a healthy empirical outlook on life, but empathy and sensitivity will increase as well. The problem I see is that though we are more globally interconnected than ever before, the connections between us are rather chaotic, and without a lot of rhythm or reason. It seems to me that this chaos is especially the case because economic development is growing at a much faster pace than political development. Because of this, the people cannot aid in guiding economic development, whether those people live in America, or Afghanistan. I think one way of helping the problem is if we create and unite already created labor and trade unions across the world. This way the people might have a better chance at controlling their own economic destiny. I do NOT know much about how any of this stuff works, so I am kind of flying blind here in these statements. I do agree with you guys that this information really isnt anything monumental or game changing. I dont think this is the point, though. The game changer here is the fact that a few hackers and whistle blowers can now, with the power of the internet, strike fear in the hearts of powerful nation states. The reason why I was concerned I guess is because the relationships between the many nations of the world are at times very brittle. . This kind of thing can take an already unstable world and destabilize it even further. After thinking about this for a few days, I feel now that maybe the world needs to be shaken up a bit. This event is a jolt, but it is a sign of things to come I think.

Err the western governments have not shown a lot of hostility towards wikileaks, when you look at what russia has done to whistleblowers and journalists... diplomacy should be transparent as well?? you guys nuts? The world has not coalesced enough to allow this kind of transparency to exists amongst powerful nations. I think transparency is honestly wonderful, as long as all nations are exposed all at the same time, without bias, without deception. Many western nations are Republics. They are not run by syndicalist trade and labor unions, or by oligarch espousing the will of the proletariat.This kind of transparency does not work unless nations like america transform into new kinds of nations. How can we even imagine this to be while other nations are currently consolidating power, and have no wish to become more and more geared towards the people? Transparency would also be great withiin wikileaks. I would love to know where they store their encrypted and unencrypted data, and I would also like to know who some of their sources are. If Assange and his crew think nation states should proverbially strip naked and expose themselves, then what right does assange have to keep so man secrets, hold back so much information, and expose information on his time?