DavidV
-
Posts
2935 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
13
Status Updates posted by DavidV
-
In the last James Bond film, the Haitian government passes a minimum wage bill that would put all the workers in the country's textile companies out of business. So the companies hire a mercenary group to overthrow the president and replace him with someone who understands demand and supply. Problem solved, aggressor removed from power, millions of poor workers get to keep their jobs. So why is Bond trying to kill the heroic mercenary who saved the Haitian economy?
-
that is precisely the plot of "The Secret of The League", only it's 1906 Britain instead of Haiti, and not just bloody mercenaries are used but more civilized actions taken in addition to the inevitable.
-
In answer to your question, because the modern James Bond works for the a Social-Democratic British Government that was never subjected to the treatment described in Ernest Bramah's novel.
-
-
So I finally applied for my residency visa this week. I wonder how much background research they do. In other news, all hail the Glorious People's Republic of China, new global superpower and paragon of achievement and virtue!
-
Is the reason you moved to China to escape an impending economic collapse in America?
-
-
The "cheating" claims by Ron Paul fanatics are sad and pathetic. How obtuse do you have to do be realize that Americans just don't care about capitalism and freedom? They *like* their welfare-warfare mixed economy. The idea of personal responsibility, competitive markets, and no entitlements terrifies them. We like our slavery dammit! Sheesh. Stop wasting your time and money on politics and focus your energy on something productive.
-
It's probably not Ron Paul fanatacism, as much as it's repulsion by the other candidates.
-
-
Hey Facebook Friends, Living in China, sometimes I feel that there is a cultural "firewall" between China and the West. I am active on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. Whatever I post there quickly gets translated and "retweeted." In the interest of cultural exchange, I would like to try an experiment: Reply or message me with your message, favorite quotes, and topics. I will post some of them to Weibo and post some responses and comments back to FB wall.
-
It's like looking through a kaleidoscope while riding a roller coaster- Leonard Peikoff, April 18, 1996
-
-
"What is it to be spiritual? To recognize the finer harmonies of conduct -- to live to the ideal -- to separate the incidental, the evanescent, from the perpetual -- to be enchanted with the perfect melody of truth -- open to the influences of the artistic, the beautiful, the heroic -- to shed kindness as the sun sheds light -- to recognize the good in others, and to include the world in the idea of self -- that is to be spiritual. There is nothing spiritual in the worship of the unknown and...
-
This Status Update gets cut off at "There is nothing spiritual in the worship of the unknown and..."
-
-
Many invertebrate species engage in "traumatic insemination" where the male stabs sperm directly into the female body, inside which the sperm navigate to the ovaries. This presumably evolved as a way to bypass mating plugs and/or female selection ability. In some species, the females attempt to evade insemination by evolving bodies that are hard to grasp or mimicking male appearance. Perhaps this is why we also observe traumatic insemination of males as well. In Xylocoris maculipennis, t...
-
I can't read the whole of your entry, but one has to keep in mind that those sea slugs are hermaphroditic (both male and female) and that once inseminated become female. So, that old adage that there wouldn't be "war between the sexes" if there was only one sex, just isn't true. In hermaphroditic species, it is total war during mating.
-
-
So, Sophie failed her hearing test in both ears three times now. She startles at loud sounds, so she's definitely hearing some things, but apparently not enough. Hopefully her ears are just clogged with vernix. We'll do another test a month from now. Of course I'll be obsessing about it until then.
-
My nephew had the same type of problem. He ended up getting tubes in his ears and that made all the difference.
-
-
The new avatar is better. The older one didn't look like you for some reason, the camera angle was off or something.
-
An apple has been my only meal during the last 24 hours, and I couldn't finish my lunch yesterday. I guess I'm still recovering from my bout of fever, but it does seem like my insulin resistance is down. Previously, I'd go nuts if I didn't consume carbs every few hours.
-
So I can take my jeans off without removing my Vibram FiveFingers. Which is good, because they take forever to put on...
-
I just heard Ayn Rand's essays "Of Living Death" (on Humanae Vitae) and "Requiem for Man" (on Populorum Progressio) and then Peikoff's "Religion vs. America." This triple-header is a utterly devastating blow against religion. A must read for anyone with a religious background or opposing religion.
-
Did you know you can make cocktail sauce by just mixing ketchup, lemon juice and horseradish?
-
"Remember that America is the country of the pioneer, the non-conformist, the inventor, the originator, the innovator. Remember that all the great thinkers, artists, scientists were single, individual, independent men who stood alone, and discovered new directions of achievement — alone. ...
-
I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world - Richard Dawkins
-
Bought too much cheese and berries from Costco. Required by Sarah to eat cheese for two meals a day for the next two weeks. Oh, the humanity.
-
Bought too much cheese and berries from Costco. Required by Sarah to eat cheese for two meals a day for the next two weeks. Oh, the humanity.
