ruveyn1

If the purpose is self defense and their is no other more virtuous way to defend one's self, then lie like a rug. ruveyn1

In vino veritas aber ins beir ist etwas auch. ruveyn1

No. It was a defensive strategy. Stepping out of harm's way. The side effect was that the system producing the injustice would collapse because of its internal contradictions. Once more: refusing to help (when one has no obligation to help) is NOT the same as doing positive harm. ruveyn1

What really amazes me is that Krugman thinks money grows on mentally synthesized trees. I wonder if he ever pondered the calamity that befell Germany. The money became worthless in a thrice. ruveyn1

Try these three: Your house burns down. Your business burns down. You contract a debilitating but not fatal disease. And you have no insurance for any of these casualties Now, can you afford this out of your own pocket? Who is better off. Someone who insured against these casualties or you, who have not? ruveyn1

I wish you good luck. If three calamities come home to you, do you have the funds to cover them all? ruveyn1

Insurance against risk or casualty is an indirect way of paying one's bills. If incurring the risk is a chancy thing, then saving up for the risk as thought it were certain to happen is not the best way of using one's resources. There are a million risks we may suffer, and we do not have the resources to hedge against them all. That is why insurance or risk-sharing is so handy. ruveyn1

Bringing children into the world is the sure fire way of influencing the future, the long term future after we are dead a gone. Sometimes our ideas outlive us, but it is more certain that our children who carry some of our ideas and values will outlive us. ruveyn1

You didn't "get someone to die". Failure to aid is not the same as positively doing harm. ruveyn1

No you don't "have a hand". You "have a hand" only when you are causally connected to someone's death or injury. You have no causal connection to any part of the cosmos that is beyond the event horizon of the cosmos. And you have no causal connection to anything that existed and ceased to exist before you did. You have no causal connection to anything outside the solar system which is most of the cosmos. ruveyn1

If someone is in the process of destroying himself, do not intervene. Problem solved. No magic at all. ruveyn1

I think refusing to support people who want to eat you alive is not the same as killing them. That is what I think. Refusal to aid is not the same as overt harm. ruveyn1

From those who have much, even more will be taken. To those who have little, even more will be given. A sure recipe for economic disaster. ruveyn1

This is just warmed over Karl Marx nonsense. ruveyn1

The earth was much warmer just before the onset of the Little Ice Age circa 1300 c.e. In those days trees and grass bloomed on Greenland (hence the name) and Vikings ran farms and raised herds on Greenland. Two cheers for warm weather. ruveyn1

The technological advance since the days of Gutenberg and later Franklin is mind boggling. Consider how we are communicating right now. On a world wide computer network the beginnings of which can be dated to 1866 with the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable. That was the beginning of our wired up world. As to Mars. May I speak frankly? It is a wasted dead sh*t hole of a planet and not worth the investment for a manned space program. We are much better off using our own Moon which is within reach, close enough to communicate with and can be put to very good use. Examples: Using the Dark Side as a place to build observatories. Total black skies and within reach for repairs. And if we ever find Helium 3 on old Luna in sufficient quantities we may yet get our controlled fusion power plants to light up our electric lights. ruveyn1

Who could possibly know what Ms. Rand would say to day. She has been dead a long time. If she had lived longer, she might have modified her views on some matters. In any case we could not possibly know. ruveyn1

The bond has been broken for a lot longer time than the recent Administration. You can go back to the Lincoln Administration when the government issued "greenbacks" in 1863 which were not redeemable in metal. Also the government attempted an income tax which under the Constitution of that time was not legal. That is why we have the 16 th amendment. In the Woodrow Wilson administration the government became overtly Fascist. The privately owned railroads were nationalizes (because of the war effort) and were not returned to private management until 1922. This complete flout the Constitution provision which enable government seizure of private property under eminent domain. The railroads were hijacked in the name of the war effort (The Great War aka World War I). No payment was made to the owners of the railroads so it was pure government hijacking and theft. The Constitution has been shredded for almost 100 years. ruveyn1

Is that any reason to be merciful with pirates? ruveyn1

I would be a bit more charitable. I would say it is a scene that shows what the consequences of bad ideas can be. ruveyn1

Examples. classical physics, quantum physics, thermodynamics, solid state physics ... etc. These are versions in the sense that there are differences in the underlying assumptions made in these fields...