Thales

I took it half way seriously, because I know that's the way these people think. They are trying to control our lives now and with some success.

Mister A, going by what you quote, I don't see where it says that Rorty debunked Objectivism. There is a superficial attack on Objectivism by whom ever you are quoting. That's all I see.

Here is an excellent break down of Avatar. This guy is a little odd, but very insightful:

Oh no, Elway was the big reason the even got to those first three superbowls. After that they were over matched by teams like the 49ers.

That should read "foretell the FUTURE". Arrrrrrgggggh.

Quite true. You can sum component sign waves to recreate complex wave forms. I'm still curious as to what Andrew Grathwohl is saying.

Didn't Ayn Rand read Helmholtz? Anyway, I find it hard to believe sounds from instruments are not periodic. They always sound the same. A violin sounds like a violin, because it has a particular timber and range of pitches. How can it sound the same and not generate the same wave form? And don't synthesizers store wave forms and replay them to mimic the sound of instruments? Or, am I misreading you here?

"Dissociation" I think is the better term. "Excommunication" implies some sort of organization he was a member of that he was kicked out of.

When Alexander the Great entered India he was brought to "The Speaking Tree" that the Indians believed could speak all the languages of the world and foretell the truth. Check this video out. The key part is at about 1'20" in and only lasts a few seconds. The tree they filmed looks quite a bit like the tree in Avatar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9o07JqxM6M

The first two are recent expansion teams, and so there is a good excuse. The Lions, otoh, are doing as badly as the city of Detroit.

Well, well, whose looking like the football genius now? ... Hey, listen, it's only a game!

You only realize how great that throw was when you see the long shot at the start. Fantastic play!

Glenn Beck recently (1/22/10) had a special that covered the deadliness of various collectivist regimes and their supporters. I highly recommend this program for a glimpse at what the people who perpetrated these social systems thought and what they did. What they did really stands out, because it shows they meant what they said. It covers Hitler, Stalin, Mao, et. al. Che Guevara is in it as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWAAqsoRG3g...feature=related You won't believe how bad George Bernard Shaw was.

I think Russia is going to be investing in Canada instead of the U.S. ... hang on looking for story. Here it is: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/22f1bd26-05db-11...&SID=google If America sinks too low it will lose international respect. We are respected for our freedom, economic and military power. Lose those things and nobody will care. We'll be a has been.

No, definitely Sowell.

Martin Luther King certainly had many intellectual flaws. To me this guy is a solid hero: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmBY2uFCYsw...layer_embedded#

Are you telling me that everyone one who drives a pickup truck is a racist according to Olbermann? Oh my god, that's out there, waaaaaaaaay out there.

Is what you stated above a truth? Is it right?

Hey, D'kian, where is our football playoffs update? Seems to me you aren't doing your job.

Well then he did mean it as an allegory. It doesn't take very much thought to realize that it won't work, that man would suffer and perish under such a system. You can use "the magic" to sell poison, too.

If Cameron meant the Nav'i as an allegory for how man ought to live, then it fails tremendously. If he meant them to be a very different kind of creature that can survive in ways man can't, then I have no problem with this aspect of the story.

Worse, anti-man.

It true, I'd regard that as the equivalent of an artist endorsing the Third Reich back in the day.

The Nav'i are aliens, so the issue of collective versus individual may be harder to judge. But, let's assume they are identical to humans in terms of how they survive. If they are identical to humans, how they treat each other would be an indication of how much respect they are worthy of rights wise, not to mention how they treat outsiders. If they enslave each other and force each other to engage in tribalistic rituals, then the society is primitive and not worthy of a great deal of respect. Now, the way they were portrayed in the movie everything looked idyllic, so it's really hard to make a sound judgment based on such fiction. It's a fantasy land with fantasy characters behaving as the director wished.

Okay, I have a SB prediction. If the Colts can win their first playoff game against the Ravens, then I think they will win the whole thing. The reason I say this is because the first game will be a real challenge for them to knock the rust off. But, if they can do it, and start hammering on all eleven cylinders, I think they will win the SB. This team is a sleeping giant. ... But what about the Cowboys you ask? Okay, good point.