themadkat

Yes, sorry to say, but the AFC West is likely to be the single worst division in all of football this year, unless you can make the case for the NFC West instead (you say Raiders, I say Rams, you say Chiefs, I say Seahawks...tomato, tomahto, potato, potahto...)

Not so sure about that. I'm fairly certain he teaches at Notre Dame.

Unfortunately MacIntyre is a communitarian, and a conservative one at that. As far as I can tell, his morality basically just comes down to religiously-inspired traditionalism.

I couldn't object more strongly to a consequentialist characterization of Oism. Consequentialism is completely incompatible with acting on principle. It is the ultimate pragmatist, fragmented nonsense moral philosophy and, ironically, where it falls down is in its decision procedure, which is impossible, because of the magnititude of the calculations required with basically some form of precognition mixed in, differing for EVERY INDIVIDUAL CASE. Consequentialism is about producing the "best outcome" in any given instance (usually evading the question of what that even means). Objectivist ethics is about rationally identifying principles to live by and hence creating a morality that is actually useful and beneficial to human life. As for virtue ethics, I think of it more as a (generally good) moral methodology than an ethical theory in itself, as it is usually agnostic as to how we decide what the virtues ARE (Aristotle, for example, gave no further justification for his choices of what is a virtue...it is somewhat of a grab bag). In Nichomachean Ethics there is an entire chapter dedicated to how not to be incontinent. I always got a kick out of that one. Maybe it's translated differently in other volumes. In summary, to call Oism a form of consequentialism is to allow established philosophy to lump rational egoism in with other, immoral and expedient forms of ethical egoism, which is a bad path to go down. Remember that they still generally think of egoism as being about pursuing whims at anyone's expense.

To the degree that the soldiers were not behaving much better than a thuggish gang themselves, I think they lose the respect the uniform should normally entail. Remember that this dispute started more or less over a race-related beef of who should and shouldn't be dancing with white women, at a time when tensions between the local Mexican-Americans and white folks were already high due to economic conflict. I'm not excusing the Zoot Suiters, btw. I think it was all tribalistic garbage and I hate to see it happen in the USA. Both sides were wrong.

I LOVE this show.

Amy Lee (from Evanescence) Alyson Hannigan (Willow from Buffy, also in many, many movies and shows)

Isn't anybody dismayed by the fact that Coulter is so intensely anti-intellectual, in all her rhetorical tricks as well as in every book she produces? How can an Objectivist be enamored of someone who is nothing more than a pure attack-dog who cares nothing about what is true or good, only that her "team" wins? I'd be really, really disappointed to think that all it takes for someone to be admired around here is to say some things people like to hear, regardless of how they are said, whether the arguments are rational, and whether they've shown any evidence of being virtuous. Personally I think Ann Coulter is vile and find it darkly ironic that she was literally forced to shut up. I can respect the views of those who have mentioned (correctly) that her injury has nothing to do with her ideas or with the discourse in general and that perhaps it is not the best thing to be excited or make fun of someone getting hurt. What really bothers me is to see folks actually having anything good to say about her.

I find this advice pretty accurate. Some of the best leadership training (but not the only good stuff) I've had came from leading a team of 8-12 folks in an industrial/tech production setting where I was also doing the same work they did, so I knew exactly what to do and how to do it. I think most HR-driven seminars are worthless anyway, and I'm fairly horrified at the amount of money businesses are spending on these consultants to give seminars and workshops. It seems so wasteful.

Yes, and retarded to boot.

The thing that creeps me most about Rand's appearance is, she looks like she might be a relative. Seriously, she looks quite a bit like some previous generations of my family.

My sister has autism. If my parents could have known that before she was born (assuming that autism does not have an environmental trigger in susceptible individuals), I hope they would have still chosen to have her, because she is a great person. However, it has made things more difficult in our family for all these years, and it would be ridiculous to assert otherwise. I know that there is a strong chance that my own children could have autism, as well as a host of other, well, fascinating disorders that may have varying degrees of heritability (bipolar, depression, substance abuse, etc.) It does make me think very carefully about having children, and considering the possibility of having to care for an autistic or otherwise mentally troubled child, especially with the responsibility I already have towards caring for my sister's future. But I still believe the risk is worth taking.

To me, a song is (or ought to be) a single unit, a composition. The lyrics are an integral part of that composition, if they're there, just like a bassline or a catchy lick. I look for a unified whole.

I really have to disagree with you on this, man. To me the lyrics are tremendously important and a huge part of the song. I have a hard time enjoying a song if the lyrics aren't good or don't fit somehow with the rest of the song. Instrumentals are cool and all but I will never enjoy them as much as songs with lyrics. To say that the lyrics aren't part of the music is like saying you don't need a strong rhythm part or a good melody. The way you posit it is not representative of how I personally listen to music. When I put on the songs I like for a given mood, because I'm feeling or want to evoke that mood, that really can't be done as well without the lyrics. When I put on some Breaking Benjamin, for instance, I want that intensity, and sure the music is intense but it would never get the effect without the words. That's all there is to it.

Missed two here, 7 and 27. Guess I need a history/econ refresher.

Did you actually watch the video? Did you see who was being made fun of? Or did you just go off after making assumptions? None of the bands you posted were the targets of I Must Be Emo. It's about wussy kids from the burbs who like to pretend they have real problems. Seriously, dude, chill out. For the record, I do prefer the punk or even goth sound to emo. But I'm not heavily into/invested in any of those genres. Someone further down the thread had some rough things to say about punks...I'm not sure that's justified, there's some thoughtfulness to the punk scene depending on what you listen to. I'm a fan of The Clash and things of that nature. Early Pretenders also had somewhat of a punk influence.

I don't think it will come to pass, for one huge reason. They don't have the money for it. But if it did, I would resist it being mandatory, and I would resist any of my friends being forced to do it (I'm probably getting to be on the old side for it myself, especially by the time they'd have it worked out, I'd be over 25). I don't have as much of a problem with it so long as it's voluntary, but I don't see it as being useful or helpful for anything, so in that case it's just a big waste of resources and hence wrong for that reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HQIcdGg63I...&playnext=1 "Stop my breathing and slit my throat, I must be EMO"

Nick, Guardian is roughly equivalent to the _S_J MBTI type, so it can accomodate both thinkers and feelers. There are a lot of feeler guardians out there. In your particular case though, you seem to me like an ISTP. Look it up, and tell me if you think I'm right.

I thought this was really cool: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11...rcomputers.html

NTs for the win! Gotta love us NTs.

I'm sorry, what? I was too busy thinking about what to write my ethics paper on and how to play Up the Neck while flipping through Facebook, petting the cat and replying to these IMs. Yeah, I am totally guilty of that. My mom calls me her "Renaissance girl" because I have so many diverse interests, but as far as following through, not so much.

Hey John, you're back! Ready to pay me my scholarship money yet? You never did explain why it wasn't owed to me.

TAs and grad students get crap wages (exhibit A: me). But this isn't news. Everyone going into grad school knows (or should know) this and plan accordingly. It's not a surprise. Alternately, you can compete for other forms of funding too, and you don't have to rely exclusively on your TA pay. I'd think if you were a single parent and you were in grad school there would be all sorts of people lining up to fund you, if you look hard enough, in the form of foundations and such. And if you're not single, what's your spouse/partner up to while you're doing this grad school thing, mm?

As an aside, if it were not for her marriage to Frank O' Connor Ayn Rand would have been deported back to Russia.