Displaying 181 To 210 Of 1,384 Comments OK…. correct me if I’m wrong (and I’m sure someone will), but it seems to me that the only really common denominator in morality is the Golden Rule (and it’s NOT ‘Do unto others, then run like hell!’ ADONAI…). Every religion and ethics system I can think of or have heard of has this principle at it’s core. Everything else stems from that. It is the very definition and codification of empathy. What that says to me is that it has been always recognized that there are people among us that need to have this principle explained to them and that rules and punishments have to be devised to keep these non-empathetic citizens of the tribe/family/city/country from doing deeds that go against their neighbors. Even your examples from Hammurabi have that feel to them… “Better be careful… falsely accusing can get you deaded!” A warning to the sociopaths. My question lies along the lines of why some people are sociopaths (Republicans and CEO’s anyone?) and some are not. Are we really two tribes of humanity split along those lines? Is one more selected for in the Darwinian sense than the other? Is THAT why we are seeing more and more of one than the other? Pondering… » Posted By PocketWatch On March 4, 2011 @ 10:00 am The View From Here: An Open Letter to President Obama Kinda got buried below… My solution, such as it is, is to support and get elected state senators and congress people, judges, district attorneys, and school boards that are liberal, progressive, green, and socialist. THAT is the pool from which salvation shall arise. Not very satisfying, but it’s the only way. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 3, 2011 @ 4:11 pm ghsts, I cannot disagree with your comment above. I still think that no matter WHO he has around him, the economics of the situation, and the Congressional realities he has as well, pretty much dictate what can and cannot be accomplished. Do I wish for more? Hell yes! Do I think he could do a better job at communicating to his base and the middle? Maybe. I know that he gives an address every week. It’s never covered or commented on in the media. Anything he says gets twisted and tortured until the President himself probably cannot recognize it. We live in a time where ‘yellow journalism’ is the norm, and that, too, shall pass, but not, I fear, in my lifetime. My solution, such as it is, is to support and get elected state senators and congress people, judges, district attorneys, and school boards that are liberal, progressive, green, and socialist. THAT is the pool from which salvation shall arise. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 3, 2011 @ 3:18 pm chaz, at least 2 things we have in common, then. And I DO understand ‘fed up.’ Imagine being a real, living breathing Socialist and having to endure the Bushiacs for 8 years! » Posted By PocketWatch On March 3, 2011 @ 1:59 pm chaz, as always, people are welcome to their opinion. I simply would not characterize things to be anything like that. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 3, 2011 @ 1:50 pm AB, I’m not a native Texan, but as they say, I got here as soon as I could! » Posted By PocketWatch On March 3, 2011 @ 1:47 pm jkk – I got one right? LOL » Posted By PocketWatch On March 3, 2011 @ 1:43 pm I’ve been reading the back-and-forth on this for an hour or so, and have something to say. First of all, as a Socialist (when it comes to societal issues), I have been disappointed with our national government for over 30 years, and that disappointment is still extant. One would have thought by now we would have had some form of national health care, gotten the message that nation building and planetary policing is not our job, understood that infrastructure is the magic bullet to prosperity, figured out that laws apply to ALL citizens, not just those who are like us (whoever THAT is…), that campaign election laws really need to be fixed, and that for-profit enterprises should not be allowed anywhere near strategic elements of our internal systems. But nooooo….! As a pragmatist, I understand that no one can be “blamed.” Each element of our government operates very differently. A President is as captured by the system as is a Congressman or Senator. The first rule of politics is, and always will be, to govern you must get elected first. Has President Obama done his best? I have no idea, since I have no notion of what goes on behind closed doors or what has to be attended to we will never know about. For example, the man has surrounded himself with Wall Streeters to advise him on the financial mess. OK… I think about this… who else would have any notion about what has happened and what might be needed to fix it? Even if he were able to find academics to fill that role, the President has no power to run the country by fiat (notwithstanding the efforts of his predecessor). Congress needs to act, and so on and so on. But let’s suppose that our President did all that we dream we wanted and Congress passed the necessary legislation. Even to prosecuting certain people for treason. I leave it to others to imagine the backlash and upheavals that these actions would cause. With a corporate press and activists willing to bring firearms to Presidential events with no accountability… well, treading lightly and incrementalism sounds wise to me. The Left has always been somewhat scattered and disorganized because it contains so many of differing opinions and ideas. I like it like that. To become a monobloc of thought is one way to really lose this fight, and it IS a fight. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 3, 2011 @ 12:52 pm Doing Business – The Right Way (Part 11) Artist, thanks. I know that there are some owners out there that “get it.” Sadly, too many do not. One way I solved the Sales/Operations problems in a custom manufacturing concern was to have all major bids go through an approval process that included Operations. A salesman HAD to have the Ops Mgr sign off on the man/hours and materials costs. If materials were a big issue, the procurement guy had to sign off as well, not only for costing but for timing… some materials had long lead times from the vendors, and sales people tend to be optimistic on delivery schedules. And any job bid at less than 15% Net HAD to be signed off by the company President. It’s all about process. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 3, 2011 @ 1:37 pm 2nd – I hear ya. I don’t take anything personally. This is all about adapting this stuff to your own business. There is no such thing as “one size fits all.” That’s why I am avoiding specifics and keeping to general principles. Just develop a process to make sure that such things can’t happen. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 2, 2011 @ 1:51 pm 2nd – Ahhhhhhhhhhh…. that’s the beauty of my suggested system. If that happened, guess what? The cost of that printer comes right out of the bonus pool! Oooops! (BTW, NEVER ‘buy’ office equipment… lease it. Technology changes too fast, and you end up with obsolete equipment. It’s about the same costs, and if you have a junker, all it takes is a phone call to rectify! Just a piece of advice from your Uncle Pocket…) When people are financially invested in the process, they will respond in a smarter way than if it wasn’t “their” money. It takes a little training and experience, but no one gets their project approved in that staff meeting without a cost/benefit analysis and argument. People start to become ‘internal entrepreneurs’ within the company. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 2, 2011 @ 9:50 am 2nd – You have touched on a subject that I really didn’t cover because of time, length, and the fact that every business is different. The unspoken but very necessary issue you touch on is “process.” In most small companies, no one is allowed to actually spend money except the owner. In your example, the Office Manager would not be able to do that without the knowledge of the owner who signs all checks, and, unless the owner was a total deadhead, it would not go forward. Each of the groups needs to have a process established for either adding to the pool or removing value from the pool. You also want to make it transparent and understandable. It is my experience that quarterly is a good interval, since it is long enough to accumulate rewards and wash out any mistakes. Yearly is too long, since peoples’ attention will wane. There must be a clear and visible process to establish what is put in the pool and how it is shared out. Again, in your example, the Admin team comes up with an idea and in the weekly staff meeting presents it. If everyone agrees, it moves forward. The idea may be modified or added to in some way. By having weekly staff meetings that present ideas, update the pool amounts, and discuss issues with operations or sales, etc., people become involved and continually interested in the process as well as the results. This now gets the pressure off the owner, which is the whole point, going back to Part 1 and how micromanagement is not a best model for running a business. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 2, 2011 @ 9:32 am They Should Been (more than) Contenders! Khirad, have you seen “Secret Ballot” (2001)? I really like that movie. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 3, 2011 @ 6:10 am KQ, I liked Avatar as well. The plot was pretty standard, but that was a good choice, I think. There was so much going on visually in that movie that to have a complicated plot or totally incomprehensible aliens would have been too much for the everyday movie goer. I saw it a couple of times in 3D Maxx, and it was superb. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 3, 2011 @ 6:05 am The recruit who committed suicide in “Full Metal Jacket”… the transformation in that bathroom was totally terrifying. When I was in boot camp, we had three people commit suicide in our company over the course of 12 weeks of training. They were draftees. I don’t even know what to say about that… » Posted By PocketWatch On March 3, 2011 @ 5:56 am PBS is now airing a special on the Triangle Fire of 1911.. Republicans must be having fits of ecstasy that we are going back to conditions like that. Unions… bah! Working conditions… phhhht! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 5:58 pm Auntie – Given the Koch Industries and affiliated companies’ interests in forest and consumer products (paper), it is no surprise that the asset sale approval at no bid is buried in Senate 11 in Wisconsin. That would give Walker the permission to sell off about 25% of the state (state forests) at firesale prices and say that it’s because Wisconsin needs the money. Nice! PS: It’s not ALL about breaking unions. There’s more there than people are talking about. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 3:30 pm When I interview people for a job of any kind, I always ask the following question pretty early in the conversation: “How much do you need to get up and come into work every day? Nothing fancy, but what will cover it for you?” I believe in paying a living wage, and that seems to be fairly individual to people and scales differently depending on where you live. I also ask the company ahead of time what the pay range is for the position they want to fill. Interestingly, I have never had anyone tell me a number that was way out of line with what the company was going to offer. Since I also believe in compensation for performance, I think this whole notion that “the best” of these fools and narcissists that are hired to run these companies into the ground are basically “hit and run” artists that go from company to company and leave havoc wherever they go. How they con anyone into believing they are the best or the brightest is a mystery to me. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 10:53 am Hate Housework? You are not Alone! I love the Google thingy! A selected list of named phobias on one side of the political spectrum…. Arithmophobia- Fear of numbers. http://www.phobialist.com/index.html » Posted By PocketWatch On March 1, 2011 @ 7:32 am The Crisis of Reality:Conclusions The belief that stars are the “twinkling souls of our ancestors” is a lovely thought to contemplate, as well as researching the fascinating myths that gave it birth; but not likely to contribute to further unraveling of the mysteries of the universe from a scientific standpoint. Ahhhh…. This is actually interesting to me… Myth versus our current scientific understanding and how the two always seem to converge. Did our ancients really have something, or did they just stumble onto it? Consider the following facts (as far as we know…): Our Sun is thought to be a third-generation star, that is, it was not created in the first bunch of stars after the Big Bang, or the second, but the third. How are stars formed? The answer we currently understand is that when a star goes supernova, the shock wave spreads out and if there are any gas clouds in the vicinity, they get compressed. That compression accentuates the gravitational attraction of the gasses and particles, and things start to coalesce. After a time, a mass of gasses and elements gets large enough to ignite, and a star is born. So, if all that is true, sometime billions of years ago, a star became a supernova. It could have had a civilization on a planet circling it for all we know. Maybe a sun near the supernova did. All that got vaporized and became an interstellar cloud of gasses and dust. Billions of years later, a star created by that first supernova itself went supernova, and the process repeated itself, along with the same possible extinguished civilizations or life. There’s no way to really tell, but we are talking billions of years here. Anyway, that second supernova pushed on the gas cloud that became our sun and planets, and here we are. And thousands and millions of other stars that were created by the same processes. Are not the current stars possibly the beautifully twinkling souls of our remote ancestors in that context? I submit that they are, and that we are all connected to everything more deeply because of it than we know or can understand. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 12:46 pm Chern – What can POSSIBLY be more fun than debating “truth” and the nature of reality? My goodness! ::mutter:: Now, if could just fix my slice off the tee! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 12:28 pm I have a feeling that was the point… » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 12:16 pm Moist – Nice! I was referring to time as the fourth discernible dimension. I know there is some question as to whether time is actually just a perception or a real dimension. In the math surrounding QP, time can go either way… 3D objects moving through time… are we really time-tubes of protoplasm? » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 12:12 pm Moist – I know. I focused on this one thing because it made little sense to me. I think there IS magic in the universe in that I know there are things that can’t be explained, that there are phenomenon that are beyond our understanding or ability to measure. I simply think that we (or I, really) don’t have to attribute those things to a “god” or anything else. I attribute it to the fact that we have limited senses and understanding of the entire universe or our place in it, and never will have a full grasp of what we are really a part of. It’s impossible. Science says there may be 11 dimensions, and maybe more than 20, yet we are stuck with 4. There is so much more to this place than we can know or sense. THERE is the “More,” not a list of rules, ceremonies, or a system of thought, or a sense of purpose. At least that’s what I live by. I try and be open to those few little moments that are magic, and accept them for what they must be… a glimpse of “more.” » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 11:01 am Abby – LOLOL! I HATE that question! It assumes so much and tells so little. I always get either puzzled looks or glazed eyes when I respond that way. Suits me just fine! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 10:21 am Bringing the conversation of objective versus subjective reality back up top… I will concede that what I refer to as “objective” reality is limited by our senses and what can be measured by instruments we concoct. Consider a star… What is it? Is it an object that is a condensed continuous thermonuclear explosion? A gravity well? Part of a group of such objects? Or is it a beautiful twinkling soul of one of our ancestors? Any of these answers are literally true. Which one we want to believe or think upon depends on the context. My sole point is that we need to ask the right question to get the answer we need for the problem at hand. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 10:14 am Moist – People tend to look at only one side of that Obj/Subj coin at a time. Seeing both sides is a slightly higher way of seeing the world that we rarely engage in during our day to day activities. And we become complacent in seeing just that one side and imagine that what we experience is the only reality, when there is another one, or many realities. But that still begs the question: What is truth? Is truth objective fact, or is it subjective perception/opinion? My answer is, what do you want from that fact? Is the fact being considered a point on the way somewhere? If so, subjective reality works well. If you are looking to establish a point of reference for another objective fact, then objective reality seems to be the better way to go. Context is EVERYTHING. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 9:50 am Moist – Your last sentence somehow reminds me a little of the “glass half full/half empty” question. Which is it? My answer is neither. I see a glass with water in it. The REAL question is, what is it that you want from those two things? Do you need a glass? Water? If it’s the first, the water is irrelevant. If it’s the second, is that amount enough? Too much? What do you need the water for? My point is, there is an objective situation that we layer with subjective realities based on our needs and wants. Which is true? Both, I think. It just depends what you are talking about. Are you being objective or subjective? They are two very different things. That tree, BTW? If I heard it falling next to me, I’d run. That’s reality. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 9:21 am Caru – I wasn’t going to delve into the quantum physics thing, and I won’t really (I read books on the subject for fun… total geek here!), but I have always found it fascinating that the more you read about it, the more it resembles what the philosophers have been saying since the beginning of human existence. We ARE a part of everything, and there is NO difference between the “surface” of your skin (a null concept in quantum physics) and the rest of the universe. I think our personal confusion comes from the notion that we are somehow separate from “nature” rather than an integral part of it. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 9:07 am Caru – I don’t necessarily disagree. I thought about “the definition of sound” when I commented. That’s the classic response to my proposition. It just strikes me that there is “objective reality” (facts independent of observation and analysis) and “subjective reality” (what the mind – any mind – interprets as reality. As an engineer, I know that my opinion of how something works in its physicality has no standing. When I was building robotics in factories and doing startups, I used to say “Technology has no mercy.” That robot WILL walk over and kill you if you are standing in the wrong place. Your opinion about that is immaterial. You can’t deny that reality or make it subjective. Introspection and exploration of subjective realities are not a bad thing, but that’s not all there is. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 8:46 amComments Posted By PocketWatch
Athazagoraphobia- Fear of being forgotton or ignored or forgetting.
Cenophobia or Centophobia- Fear of new things or ideas.
Coitophobia- Fear of coitus.
Eleutherophobia- Fear of freedom.
Enosiophobia or Enissophobia- Fear of having committed an unpardonable sin or of criticism.
Epistemophobia- Fear of knowledge.
Erotophobia- Fear of sexual love or sexual questions.
Eurotophobia- Fear of female genitalia.
Francophobia- Fear of France or French culture. (Gallophobia, Galiophobia)
Genophobia- Fear of sex.
Gnosiophobia- Fear of knowledge.
Gymnophobia- Fear of nudity.
Gynephobia or Gynophobia- Fear of women.
Hedonophobia- Fear of feeling pleasure.
Hellenologophobia- Fear of Greek terms or complex scientific terminology.
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia- Fear of the number 666.
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words.
Hobophobia- Fear of bums or beggars.
Homophobia- Fear of sameness, monotony or of homosexuality or of becoming homosexual.
Ideophobia- Fear of ideas.
Ithyphallophobia- Fear of seeing, thinking about or having an erect penis.
Kainolophobia or Kainophobia- Fear of anything new, novelty.
Katagelophobia- Fear of ridicule.
Kolpophobia- Fear of genitals, particularly female.
Medorthophobia- Fear of an erect penis.
Neophobia- Fear of anything new.
Nudophobia- Fear of nudity.
Oneirogmophobia- Fear of wet dreams.
Panophobia or Pantophobia- Fear of everything.
Paraphobia- Fear of sexual perversion.
Peccatophobia- Fear of sinning or imaginary crimes.
Phallophobia- Fear of a penis, esp erect.
Philemaphobia or Philematophobia- Fear of kissing.
Philosophobia- Fear of philosophy.
Phronemophobia- Fear of thinking.
Polyphobia- Fear of many things.
Poinephobia- Fear of punishment.
Psychophobia- Fear of mind.
Sciophobia Sciaphobia- Fear of shadows.
Sesquipedalophobia- Fear of long words.
Sexophobia- Fear of the opposite sex. (Heterophobia)
Sophophobia- Fear of learning.
Stygiophobia or Stigiophobia- Fear of hell.
Technophobia- Fear of technology.
Xenoglossophobia- Fear of foreign languages.
Xenophobia- Fear of strangers or foreigners.
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