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At 8/7/10 10:46 AM, poxpower wrote:

At 8/6/10 10:28 PM, HibiscusKazeneko wrote: in a nutshell, sex=babies, no questions asked. If this means I wind up with 20 or 30 children, so be it.

or you could use condoms...

...

Note for Pox...
Quiverfull = no condoms, no spermicidal foam, no vasectomies, no nothing.

At 8/7/10 11:43 PM, HibiscusKazeneko wrote:
Note for Pox...
Quiverfull = no condoms, no spermicidal foam, no vasectomies, no nothing.

When we can't even adequately feed half of the going on 7 billion people that are already here... what exactly is the logic of having more than one or two kids? It's irresponsible, quite frankly.

At 8/8/10 01:08 AM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote:
oh no I just ay a commercial on tv about some faulty birth control and some how it causes birth defects or adverse side effects and this Lawyer Firm would give you a free consultation to see if you a apply for a claim then I thought about your mother's situation thats why I brought it up.There is no way I was trolling you. if I came off as doing that I am sorry.

I see. I've been accused of trolling many times here, so I know how you feel.
You probably don't know this, but they do warn in the commercials for birth control products that they do have known side effects, namely blood clots, heart attacks, strokes and cancer.
Also you have to take those law firm ads with a grain of salt. While they do present factual data in their ads, said firms may not actually give legitimate victims all they're entitled to; they take a good chunk of the award money for themselves.

At 8/7/10 11:43 PM, HibiscusKazeneko wrote:

Note for Pox...
Quiverfull = no condoms, no spermicidal foam, no vasectomies, no nothing.

Am I supposed to be impressed by the levels of insanity contained in this?
??

Giving birth carries a far superior health risk to women than having sex with a condom.

At 8/8/10 02:04 AM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote:

At 8/8/10 01:23 AM, HibiscusKazeneko wrote: I see. I've been accused of trolling many times here, so I know how you feel.

so were cool? because I wasn't trying to be malicious what so ever.

Yeah, we're OK.

You probably don't know this, but they do warn in the commercials for birth control products that they do have known side effects, namely blood clots, heart attacks, strokes and cancer.

yeah but it seems like it only happens with such a miniscule percentage of people it happens to you don't worry about it. my favorite side effect is Anal seepage personally.

Anal seepage, you say?

Also you have to take those law firm ads with a grain of salt. While they do present factual data in their ads, said firms may not actually give legitimate victims all they're entitled to; they take a good chunk of the award money for themselves.

yeah I bet thats true, but I bet its not very much when the have a absolute legit case they will probably settle out of course so you you don't have to pay to much to the lawyers.

True, true. That's why I recommend going first to the American Bar Association if you legitimately need a lawyer rather than calling one of those firms that run ads on TV and radio.

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote: Your profession or course of academic study

Current profession; customer service associate for a big box home improvement retail chain. I work 40 hours a week dealing with contractors and home owners, and I get to see firsthand how the recession is effecting the housing market in my area.

Issues that are of special concern to you

Media Bias, namely, the fact that when Bush was our President we had weekly (if not nightly) reports on how low his approval ratings were, and now that Obama is in office and his approval ratings are quickly starting to decline... we're not hearing jack shit about it on the nightly news.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

Economics. Pretty

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

Independent Conservative who leans towards Authoritarianism. I cannot support the Republican Party with a clear conscious, but at the same time, I still think the Democrats in charge of our government right now are fucking idiots who have this inability to accept responsibility for their actions without trying to drag the republicans in with them.

At 8/7/10 11:43 PM, HibiscusKazeneko wrote: Note for Pox...
Quiverfull = no condoms, no spermicidal foam, no vasectomies, no nothing.

You went out of your way to tell the most outspoken atheist on this forum that your not practicing safe sex because of a religious conviction? And you wonder why people call you a troll? If you're not a troll, you're a very flawed individual at the very least, and I'm ashamed to call myself a homeschool supporter because of it.

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote: Your profession or course of academic study

Current profession is as a box-chukker for FedEx, though I graduated from U of Mich (go blue!) with a BA in Music and will be applying for PhD programs in Science and Technology Studies next fall.

Issues that are of special concern to you

The interaction of Science and society (shocking considering the above answer, I know), especially as concerned with religion (see: HPV vaccine controversy, stem cell research, embryo-centric politics, human augmentation controversies).

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

International politics and diplomacy. Intercultural differences greatly inform problems in policy cooperation and approaches to tech, networks, and industry. As a corollary to my intended postgrad research this I am sure will be one of the things I focus on. Also interested in Military involvement in socio-cultural and diplomatic issues.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

Technically left-ish. I'll vote Dem more than Rep, but in truth I probably sympathise more with a Libertarian view of things. I am a pragmatist and a utilitarian at heart, so party-style political platforms are anathema to me. I pick and choose which seems to be the best course and go with that regardless of the "party" it's associated with.

Parents are both Hippie liberals (who raised me in a redneck racist republican area... go figure) and I went to a neo-liberal hippie school, so technically that should be where I am... however discussions with people who are smart (here and elsewhere) have moderated my view quite a bit. Also, pulling myself to a place that can recognize appeals to emotion (where most retarded party-style propaganda lays) have allowed me to take a more logical approach to politics.

Within your post, take the opportunity to inform the rest of us about something of special interest to you. If you're fascinated by foreign policy, for example, share an interesting story others might not know about why Afghanistan was carved up to look like it does, or why Nixon was a better foreign policy leader than people think.

Since STS is my chosen topic (though there is very little out there that doesn't interest me) let me posit this scenario:

Intel has announced that it has an implantable neural chip in development that can control personal computing by thought alone. They expect it to hit the market by 2020. When we look at mind-controlled computers and wheelchairs and mind-reading FMRI machines that already exist... this jump doesn't seem so impossible.

If we take it to the next logical step (which should happen within 10 years of Intel's chip) which is fully-implantable personal computing, then we get into realms that might bother people: enhancing the human mind with computers. If we blend biological and technological thought what will happen? When a company has intellectual property rights over your ability to think, what happens? When those with money can become vastly more intelligent than those without, what happens?

That, and more, is basically what I am looking to study in my graduate (and beyond) work.

On the opposite side of this, people who know a lot about things you want to know are invited to post worthwhile books or articles to get you started on the path of learning. Someone who knows nothing about the modern history of North and South Korea could be recommended "The Two Koreas," for example.

For those interested in this stuff I can suggest a few books:

The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurtzweil: This book outlines the historical and possible future paradigms of technological growth and is a good primer into the realm of human cybridization (TM me) though it tends to take a VERY optomistic approach to the societal acceptance and repercussions of this advancement.

The Pasteurization of France by Bruno Latour: this book is a wonderful introduction to how science interacts with politics and society. This is not an easy book to read, but it will fundamentally change your perspective of science.

The Body Multiple by Annemarie Mol: This book helps us realize how much our interactions with the world inform the reality of that world. Specifically focussed on Artherosclerosis and the ways in which it is enacted differently in the patient, in the exam room, and in the laboratory, we are informed of the vital role that interaction has on ontology. Nothing exists in a vacuum, nothing exists sans interaction... and in fact that interaction DEFINES the object. A pure objective thing cannot exist. Also a very tough book to digest.

We Have Never Been Modern by Bruno Latour: Likely the hardest book to understand on this list, this book breaks down the reasons why modernism as a social philosophy (and, resultantly post-modernism) is incorrect, and posits a new idea: actor-network theory. This states that there is no disconnect between the natural and the cultural, only a chain of objects that are a mixture of both that are related to each other through actors both human and non-human to create a network that holds up a single larger object or idea. And the only difference between these things is the length and strength of their network.

There are certainly more books out there that would best inform people about this course of inquiry... but this is a big crunchy reading list already. Discussion about the issues is certainly welcome, though... bring it on! :D

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote: Your profession or course of academic study

M.Sc in econometrics and operations research, 1.5 years of Arabic language and culture. Currently working on a Ph.D. in computer science / mathematics, 1 year completed, 3 to go.

Issues that are of special concern to you

I used to care about the Middle East, but everything that could possibly be said about the more popular topics has already been posted on this board and the people who cared enough to say something new about it (like Demosthenez and cellardoor (yes)) are gone now.

I now read anything on this board that relates to privacy/the internet, European affairs in the broad sense and topics about obscure conflicts such as Abkhazia/South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh. I also used to like religion topics but I haven't been keeping up with what been said about that topic on this board for some time now.

Also, due to my background I like to read about statistics but not nearly enough is said about it on the BBS.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

My knowledge of economics is unfortunately rather superficial but I don't think I care enough to really want to know more about it. Also, I like to learn more about computer networks.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

Probably left-liberal, to varying degrees. The party that I vote for is most related to the British Liberal Democrats, if that rings a bell, but I also voted for labour parties in the past and I voted for the Communists in the last European Parliament elections because I think the European Parliament is a corrupt waste of taxpayer money.

Within your post, take the opportunity to inform the rest of us about something of special interest to you.

I'm not much of a reader but I can recommend Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman for anyone who cares. Currently I'm reading Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis which I, so far, think is an incoherent amalgamation of factoids and non sequiturs but which is probably a good read for people who want to try to understand the kind of anti-Islam ideology that is currently influencing one of the major far right parties in the Netherlands (which might even join the next ruling coalition) and which hopes to become a powerful political factor in the US.

Also, I can highly recommend Measure, Integral and Probability for those who are looking for a readable introduction to measure thoery.

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote: Your profession or course of academic study.

Civic duty guy on his last few days of mandatory civic duty. First year student of Political Science with Mass Media and Communication.

Issues that are of special concern to you.

The middleeastern conflict, climate science and the language debate in Finland (it's like the biggest thing since everything else guys).

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about.

Gee, uhm... Everything else I didn't list as a main concern? I'm pretty sure the only reason I'm not concerned is because I don't even know about it.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

Social Liberal, as far as labels go I'd assume. Blame the Moomintrolls, bleeding heart commies that they are destroyed my childhood.

etc. etc.

Since a lot of people are listing informational articles and books to read and whatnot, I'd like to give it a go too. There was some book I had to read for the entrance test in Political Science. I liked it, and it was informative, but I forgot its name. Uhm, let's see here...

... Eh, I'm a lighthearted individual. I'll recommend the sixth book in the trilogy of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Blog: The Science of Doom. Not entirely as foreboding as it sounds.

At 8/9/10 10:11 AM, lapis wrote:

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote: Your profession or course of academic study

M.Sc in econometrics and operations research, 1.5 years of Arabic language and culture. Currently working on a Ph.D. in computer science / mathematics, 1 year completed, 3 to go.

Would love to hear about your experiences learning Arabic. I'm considering either that or Kiswahili for my third language, using Rosetta Stone. Have you found it difficult to pick up the writing aspect?

At 8/10/10 10:49 AM, JMHX wrote: Would love to hear about your experiences learning Arabic. I'm considering either that or Kiswahili for my third language, using Rosetta Stone. Have you found it difficult to pick up the writing aspect?

Learning to write the different script went surprisingly well. Reading is still very difficult because you don't write the short vowels in the Semitic languages, and those short vowels actually may carry a lot of information like whether a verb is active or passive. This means that you really need to know a lot of vocabulary because if you don't know one word in a sentence then other words also become unclear seeing as their meaning may depend on the context.

It takes a lot of time though, and the beginning is very rough because the words are so different and the grammar (like how to form plurals) may seem unstructured at first. I also have no experience with Rosetta Stone so I can't say anything about how easy it will be to learn the language without personal guidance. I signed up for the Arabic language and culture major when I had lots of spare time because I only needed to finish my Master's thesis, and I spent about 10 hours on it each week on average. After 1.5 years, we went to Cairo for four months to be taught Arabic by actual Egyptians and during that period we were able to write professional application letters in Arabic --- by then the script no longer bothered me at all. I must say that it feels very rewarding to read back those letters that you wrote knowing that two years earlier you didn't know more than five words. Also, it feels rewarding to read the Arabic script under the name of an Islamic butchery, usually telling you that the food is halal or that it is indeed an Islamic butchery.

Fun detail: we started with colloquial (Egyptian) Arabic and only started with formal Arabic (fusha) after six months. Formal Arabic can be a little intimidating but it depends on what you want to do with the language, if you only intend to read magazine articles then colloquial Arabic might be a waste of time. However, expect people in basically any Arab country to laugh at you if you speak formal Arabic to them. I've been to Egypt and the West Bank being able to speak some Arabic and it really generates a lot of respect (and prices go down dramatically).

lapis --

Thanks. I've always found speaking some of the language helps lower your noticeability. As I try and decide on a new language to pick up, it's definitely going to be something that is classified as in demand by the State Department. Arabic may be something I should consider.

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote:
Your profession or course of academic study

I am a doctoral researcher in mathematics (geometry) and I've obtained a licentiate degree in physics, mostly taken theoretical physics courses.

Issues that are of special concern to you

Misrepresentation of science. I find that people often think too highly of how science and scientists work. Especially if this grants a form of arrogants, separating the stupid from the smart. It is often misused to state that a theory is just a thory, but science still is but an approximation of the actual universe, an attempt to understand it. Claiming we can find everything out through science and have done so reasonably well is wrong.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

Not sure, perhaps how opinions are distributed about the world. like what does an South American person think about liberalism.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

I am kind of leftish. I would claim socialist, but I don't mean this in a soviet communist way, rather a humanitarian way. It sometimes bothers me when I see people all jumping to the extreme when they are faced with left ideals. Like social healthcare and then people start to quote how the sovjet union was a big failure in order to debunk social healthcare.
Overall, I am in favour of central politics rather than the extremes. Too much one-sided conviction will automatically be bad for those who oppose it and there will always be opposition.

As for religion. contrary to what it might look like I am kind of an atheist. i would say agnost, but I don't really care for the existence of a God. I do tend to side in favour of religion, since I feel there are aspects of religion that provide benefits to people and in most threads, religion is only viewed as a major impediment to society. I feel I should treat religion and people who have faith in a religion with some form of respect, as long as they don't actually hold back society.

I do acknowledge that people will never be completely equal, but I feel hat everyone is entitled to the same rights, as long as those rights don't cause a burden on society.

^ Read some Robert Anton Wilson. A lot of what you said reminds me of things in his books. He calls himself a libertarian, but he advocates a lot of socialist programs (he advocates libertarian programs also; he contradicts himself all the time, but he does it intentionally) and he's not a raving objectivist or a neocon in disguise like most "libertarians" these days are.