Displaying 61 To 90 Of 981 Comments Was Tolkien worthy of a Nobel prize? http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/poll/2012/jan/06/tolkien-nobel-prize Any opinions? » Posted By Caru On January 6, 2012 @ 12:19 pm That’s an interesting point, though I would like to make the distinction between education and Education. The former is merely the memorisation of knowledge, while the latter is teaching someone to learn for themselves. Now, both of these are important – all mathematicians begin by memorising the basic tables – but the latter is the most important. I make this distinction because the Chinese government is really only teaching the former. Thought police roam the corridors of universities as we speak. However, the former often leads to people discovering the latter on their own and this is something that the Chinese government fears. » Posted By Caru On January 2, 2012 @ 5:11 pm Before China embraced modernity, the majority of the people were both poor and poorly educated. Though this remains the case, a rising number have become wealthy enough and worldly enough to both realise that they are being cheated and that they can do something about it. All I can say is, thank heavens for the Enlightenment. » Posted By Caru On January 2, 2012 @ 4:17 pm Happy New year, everybody! » Posted By Caru On January 1, 2012 @ 10:29 am Well, he’s obviously guilty with regard to the Wikileak dump, but that doesn’t necessarily make what he did a bad thing. I also think that it’s obvious that he had no intention of harming the people of the US. The worst you could say about him is that he was somewhat incompetent in the way he leaked the information, as KQuark has pointed out below. » Posted By Caru On December 30, 2011 @ 9:03 am Well, if Jesus was born today there would have been no such thing as Christianity and the last 2000 years of world history would have been radically different so many of these questions might simply not apply. » Posted By Caru On December 30, 2011 @ 8:50 am That’s a great video. What have the Romans ever done for us was one of the best scenes in the Life of Brian and it’s a great parallel to the anti-Obama hysteria. » Posted By Caru On December 30, 2011 @ 8:43 am The worst part of it is that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. If you’re going to insult someone, at least do it well. 😉 » Posted By Caru On December 27, 2011 @ 11:36 am My dad did that too. I just gave my little cousin an illustrated book of the poem as a Christmas present. » Posted By Caru On December 27, 2011 @ 11:27 am Exactly! Although I’d add another message that they get: They’re supposed to get married and have unprotected sex. Even though this one is less prevalent nowadays and mostly confined to the radical religious segment of the population, when combined with the others you’ve mentioned it’s just as damaging. I mean, the Catholic Church still defines morally acceptable sex as that which takes place within a marriage and results in semen being deposited in the vagina. It’s specifically defined to prevent condom use. I’ll bet that they’ll come up with one for the new pill, since according to their writings it’s perfectly acceptable. » Posted By Caru On December 27, 2011 @ 11:11 am I’ve heard people trying to defend the “therapy bag” by comparing it to pressure treatments that are sometimes used on autistic children. Regardless of whether those treatments are effective or not, they confined a child to a dark, small place, that doesn’t administer any form of pressure and leads to hyperventilation due to oxygen depletion, which can lead to panic. This is abuse. There’re no legitimate arguments for such treatment. » Posted By Caru On December 27, 2011 @ 11:05 am “Young women in areas where teen pregnancy rates are highest may struggle most in trying to get the morning-after pill, which can prevent ovulation–and thus pregnancy–after unprotected sex.” http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=pharmacies-mislead-teens-morning-after-pill Lying to teenage girls about their sexual health options should be a crime, or at least worthy of some kind of disciplinary action. Furthermore, the Health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, probably shouldn’t have the power to unilaterally overrule the FDA, especially for such obviously political reasons. » Posted By Caru On December 27, 2011 @ 10:52 am President Obama has issued eighteen signing statements as opposed to President Bush’s 161. » Posted By Caru On December 27, 2011 @ 6:49 am I have to disagree. If cross posting is so bad and if these two posts are so worthless, then why did they spark a conversation below and why did you take part in it? Also, the majority of HP users are already anonymous, they just use monikers. » Posted By Caru On December 27, 2011 @ 6:42 am I know it’s a bit early for most of you, but: [img]http://mycatbirdseat.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Merry-Christmas.jpg[/img] Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house The children were nestled all snug in their beds, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow With a little old driver, so lively and quick, “Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry! The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, » Posted By Caru On December 24, 2011 @ 4:20 pm Hey, guys. I’m wondering what you think about the SOPA bill that’s currently in Congress? I found this video talking about one website’s efforts to stop the bill from being passed as it is: http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/team-nchick/specials/33613-mr-awesome-goes-to-washington » Posted By Caru On December 17, 2011 @ 9:29 am More people are willing to give Michele Bachmann a chance than Ron Paul? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. » Posted By Caru On December 13, 2011 @ 1:12 pm Everything’s going well, though it’s been hectic the past few weeks due a severe case of backlogged assignments. I haven’t been on here for a while because of it. » Posted By Caru On December 13, 2011 @ 1:09 pm His argument rests on the validity of his statistics, so if there’s anything wrong with them it’s a problem for his argument. He has a book on this theme, where he presumably lays out his statistical methodology, but since it’s 800 pages long, I probably won’t be reading it anytime soon. » Posted By Caru On December 13, 2011 @ 12:50 pm Hey, guys. I thought that you might be interested in this TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence.html » Posted By Caru On December 13, 2011 @ 10:37 am OWS Episode V: The U.S. Empire Strikes Back In all honesty, I disagree with that completely. However, Adams does make a good point in that a person who hold little to no moral obligations in his private life is likely to have little to no moral obligations to his country. But, I would say that the former doesn’t cause the latter, but they’re both symtomatic of an underlying issue: Selfishness. » Posted By Caru On November 17, 2011 @ 4:41 pm This a brilliant article, AdLib! You’ve perfectly captured to essence of the police response to the OWS movement. Honestly, I don’t think that I’ve anything to add but my praise. » Posted By Caru On November 17, 2011 @ 4:29 pm Weekend Music Thread – Daylight Fifth Dimension – Aquarious/ Let the Sun Shine in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwxRRByI1hw Sunlight – Natalie Imbruglia
» Posted By Caru On November 5, 2011 @ 2:42 pm Irish Presidential Election and Referenda: Results. Thanks for following, Kes. Higgins has a certain honest charm about him. It definitely helped him this election. » Posted By Caru On November 5, 2011 @ 10:51 am Fine Fáil and Fine Gael are a distinction without a difference, so I’m not surprised by any disatisfaction with them. Michael D. Higgins is a very well-respected figure, so I wouldn’t say that his success is a reliable measure of Labour’s standing. However, I would say that when combined with Gay Mitchell’s poor performance, it shows that Labour is the more popular of the two coalition parties. If the thirtieth (cheeky, 😉 )Amendment was better written, then I would have voted for it. It would have saved a lot of time, effort and money. __ Why, thank you, Khirad. 😉 I do believe that we Irish are at the cutting-edge of bullshit and you’re right to smell it here. It’s a brilliant way to snub the Church, IMO, and I hope that they continue in this vein. It also saves money! Your cynicism was well placed. __ About the ships, I think that the Israeli response was utterly ridiculous, possibly illegal, unnecessary and profoundly unhelpful to everybody. A better response would be to stop the ships peacefully, and then negotiate an agreement wherein the Israelis could take the ships cargoes, search them and hand them over to the Palestinians. Everybody wins. “Sásta go déanach” on its own would mean something like “a late satisfaction” or “belated happiness” With the rest of the sentence it means something like “Belated, happy Halloween” or “A late, happy Halloween.” But, be careful! There are language purists out there who won’t accept anything but traditional farewells. Slán agat! » Posted By Caru On November 5, 2011 @ 10:49 am Overwhelmingly so, Sue. By the time all the preference votes had been transferred he had nearly twice the amount of votes as the runner-up, Sean Gallagher. » Posted By Caru On November 3, 2011 @ 2:49 pm Yes and no. The Labour Party is the largest left-leaning party in Ireland. However, they are rather centre-left (in European terms), so the other left-wing parties tend to look down on them and everybody looks down on Sinn Fein (the second largest left-leaning party.) That said, it is a big deal for the Labour Party, which represents the majority of left-wing Ireland. » Posted By Caru On November 3, 2011 @ 2:47 pm An interview with Linda Weber, author of “Life Choices: The Teachings of Abortion” That was a very interesting interview, escribacat. Kudos to Ms. Weber for agreeing to an interview and providing such interesting comments. Abortion is a weighty topic and it’s rare that someone can speak about their position on it with such clarity. Though in most cases I agree with Linda’s views on abortion, I must draw the line at attaching any spiritual or quasi-enlightened nature to abortion. » Posted By Caru On November 2, 2011 @ 11:13 am The Ravin’ – A Political Parody Thanks! I don’t know all that much about haiku, except for the structure. » Posted By Caru On November 2, 2011 @ 3:51 pm Seconded! » Posted By Caru On November 2, 2011 @ 3:36 pmComments Posted By Caru
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”
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