mlaboos, your own admitted morality is, by Scott's subjective measure, so low that his only rational opinion is that you are evil.
And it doesn't matter if you have that morality due to ignorance or lack of empathy or lack of reasoning skills, by your own statements and your opinion that morality is subjective, you are, in Scott's subjective opinion, evil. That's the bad thing about arguing that morality is subjective!
I like the idea of a smart gun that has a gps and transmitter. As soon as you pull it out of a safe or holster, it transmits your location to the police, so they can arrive and arrest you. Exceptions: you are at a designated shooting range or other allowed location.
That's a reasonable solution, but a database of allowable shooting areas seems difficult to manage. I could see it getting hairy with regulations and such as well. You could also just be standing in a designated location and shoot into a non designated area with some ease I would imagine. In that case it would come back to the gun being able to manage itself. But then people may have hacked management software...
Really the only instance when you would want lethal bullets would be when and if you were hunting game. Otherwise I would say make all guns non lethal. Another idea would be if a gun could paralyze you in such a way that it would stop all bodily functions for a given period of time. Then if you shot an animal with that you could have waystations administer some regulated drug that would kill the animal. That way every weapon would work the same so there wouldn't be any issues with discerning targets and the actual lethal part would be the drug administration. Generally when hunting its hard to load a deer for instance in the same day. Such endeavors can sometimes be an all day activity. In that case maybe you don't want any sort drug. Maybe then you could allow people to just cut the animals throat. That would limit any sort of violence mostly to knives which I would be much more okay with as weapons. Chances of civilian casualties would be much lower.
Another idea would be if a gun could paralyze you in such a way that it would stop all bodily functions for a given period of time.
I absolutely wish this could become a thing because it would be approximately fucking instantly that this would be used for some really, really good pranks.
Another idea would be if a gun could paralyze you in such a way that it would stop all bodily functions for a given period of time.
I absolutely wish this could become a thing because it would be approximately fucking instantly that this would be used for some really, really good pranks.
These guns exist. Most notable among them are the two attached to the sides of Muhammad Ali's torso.
A Canticle for Leibowitz is a very good book. Now, I'm not going to say that I wouldn't pirate a book that I'd like to read, but when we're talking about an established, well-known book like this, why don't you get it at the library? I'm really jealous of you guys for having access to the New York Public Library. If I lived in NYC, I'd spend most of the time I wasn't at work at the library.
I went to the local library here during the first week I moved here. I looked for graphic novels and found absolutely none. What I did find were faith-based vampire novels. I shit you not - they had actual vampire novels written from a Christian perspective. I'm still not entirely sure what that really means, because I was too horrified to read the blurb inside the book jacket past the point where it promised that the vampires were church-going protestants.
Anyway, I found a "librarian" and asked him about graphic novels. He looked about twenty years old, but he'd never heard of such a thing as graphic novels. He did some searching and finally concluded, "If we don't have them, they must not be very popular."
So I asked about interlibrary loans. He called a supervisor and they both looked at me as if I was crazy while I explained to them about how I had used interlibrary loans before. The supervisor finally said, "What we mainly have here are DVDs of bible movies. We have the 'Left Behind' series on that shelf over there if you're looking for actual books."
So that's what I have to deal with in this pit. Damn you if you have easy access to the NYC Public Library and waste it.
Now, I need to say something about the age-bashing. I hate to do this, because it makes me feel like a politically correct hippy, but PLEASE - I understand the point about how some old attitudes need to "age-out", but the mere fact that a person is older than you doesn't mean that that person subscribes to these old ideas.
In the crappy area where I live now, I encounter PLENTY of younger types, like the "librarian" kid, who share the same attitudes, lack of curiosity, anti-intellectualism, luddittry, and general malaise and poor outlook that you might associate with being "old".
It's not the mere fact that a person is of such-and-such chronologic age. It's whether they subscribe to old ways of thinking.
Honestly? I read flying and on subways. I never want to have to carry a physical paper book with me anywhere ever again. That is the sole reason.
One of my favorite places to read is at the Pizza Hut Buffet. I just eat and read, eat and read until I can't eat anymore. Then I waddle out of the Hut and try not to fall asleep as I drive back to the office.
For that sort of thing, I think actual, physical books are better. I think it's easier to read a physical book one-handed while eating pizza.
Pizza Sauce can ruin a book made of dead trees. You can just wipe that shit off the front of your iPad.
That's why I read one-handed. I can't read my iPad one-handed nearly as easily. I can do it, and I have read the iPad at teh pizza buffets, but it doesn't work quite as well.
Why don't you move out of these backwood boonies? Get your ass to NYC or some other 'enlightened' metropolis!
I see this sort of thing all the time:
This is an actual billboard near where I live. The first time I saw it, I didn't leave my house for a week, I was so scared. This is literally "Children of the Corn" territory.
Pizza Sauce can ruin a book made of dead trees. You can just wipe that shit off the front of your iPad.
That's why I read one-handed. I can't read my iPad one-handed nearly as easily. I can do it, and I have read the iPad at teh pizza buffets, but it doesn't work quite as well.
I bring my iPad or Kindle to the bake shop and read. I don't even hold it. I leave it on the table and just look at it. I only need to touch it to turn the page. I eat the food with two hands.
When you whip out the iPad do the locals look at you in abject awe or horror? Do they know its not a tool of the debil? Do they ask which version of the bible you are reading?
Pizza Sauce can ruin a book made of dead trees. You can just wipe that shit off the front of your iPad.
That's why I read one-handed. I can't read my iPad one-handed nearly as easily. I can do it, and I have read the iPad at teh pizza buffets, but it doesn't work quite as well.
I bring my iPad or Kindle to the bake shop and read. I don't even hold it. I leave it on the table and just look at it. I only need to touch it to turn the page. I eat the food with two hands.
Meh, I could say, "I read too fast for that", but I won't.
When you whip out the iPad do the locals look at you in abject awe or horror? Do they know its not a tool of the debil? Do they ask which version of the bible you are reading?
See above image. They're very serious about church here. It really freaks them out that (1) I'm not "from" here, and (2) I don't attend a local church.
How do you even live in that environment? Do you hide out at home on Sunday mornings so the church truency patrol doesn't catch you?
I spend most of my free time in the office.
There's a church near my house (there's a church near everywhere here - you're never more than 100 feet from a church) that plays LOUD bell-music at 6:00 p.m. every night. That would be bad enough, but they have a cheap-sounding recording that plays through some blue-haired old lady favorite hymns for about half an hour. You can't go anywhere in town without hearing it.
. . . and the cheap sounding speakers are actually more grating than the music. It sounds like someone made a vinyl recording of an old music box that's been dropped into a bucket of water so that all the internal workings are waterlogged and rusted out, and then left the vinyl recording in the sun so the vinyl has warped, and then taken it back into a recording studio and recorded it using a damaged needle while the turntable revolved at the wrong speed.
For that sort of thing, I think actual, physical books are better. I think it's easier to read a physical book one-handed while eating pizza.
I hold my kindle exclusively one-handed for all of my reading. My second hand never touches it.
Believe me, I've tried that. And as I said, I can do it just fine.
However, for me, it's easier to read an actual book one-handed. It probably has something to do with reading physical books one-handed for nearly fifty years before kindles existed.
I know this is kind of old now, but I believe Scott is confusing Hong Kong with mainland China. Hong Kong has strict anti smoking laws that apply in restaurants, bus stations and public venues such as parks and beaches. Hong Kong would rank rather low in overall smoking population compared to many of it's Asian neighbours. (China / Japan, I'm looking in your direction!)
I know this is kind of old now, but I believe Scott is confusing Hong Kong with mainland China. Hong Kong has strict anti smoking laws that apply in restaurants, bus stations and public venues such as parks and beaches. Hong Kong would rank rather low in overall smoking population compared to many of it's Asian neighbours. (China / Japan, I'm looking in your direction!)
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And it doesn't matter if you have that morality due to ignorance or lack of empathy or lack of reasoning skills, by your own statements and your opinion that morality is subjective, you are, in Scott's subjective opinion, evil. That's the bad thing about arguing that morality is subjective!
And, unfortunately, often only two steps ahead of reality.
I went to the local library here during the first week I moved here. I looked for graphic novels and found absolutely none. What I did find were faith-based vampire novels. I shit you not - they had actual vampire novels written from a Christian perspective. I'm still not entirely sure what that really means, because I was too horrified to read the blurb inside the book jacket past the point where it promised that the vampires were church-going protestants.
Anyway, I found a "librarian" and asked him about graphic novels. He looked about twenty years old, but he'd never heard of such a thing as graphic novels. He did some searching and finally concluded, "If we don't have them, they must not be very popular."
So I asked about interlibrary loans. He called a supervisor and they both looked at me as if I was crazy while I explained to them about how I had used interlibrary loans before. The supervisor finally said, "What we mainly have here are DVDs of bible movies. We have the 'Left Behind' series on that shelf over there if you're looking for actual books."
So that's what I have to deal with in this pit. Damn you if you have easy access to the NYC Public Library and waste it.
Now, I need to say something about the age-bashing. I hate to do this, because it makes me feel like a politically correct hippy, but PLEASE - I understand the point about how some old attitudes need to "age-out", but the mere fact that a person is older than you doesn't mean that that person subscribes to these old ideas.
In the crappy area where I live now, I encounter PLENTY of younger types, like the "librarian" kid, who share the same attitudes, lack of curiosity, anti-intellectualism, luddittry, and general malaise and poor outlook that you might associate with being "old".
It's not the mere fact that a person is of such-and-such chronologic age. It's whether they subscribe to old ways of thinking.
For that sort of thing, I think actual, physical books are better. I think it's easier to read a physical book one-handed while eating pizza.
This is an actual billboard near where I live. The first time I saw it, I didn't leave my house for a week, I was so scared. This is literally "Children of the Corn" territory.
There's a church near my house (there's a church near everywhere here - you're never more than 100 feet from a church) that plays LOUD bell-music at 6:00 p.m. every night. That would be bad enough, but they have a cheap-sounding recording that plays through some blue-haired old lady favorite hymns for about half an hour. You can't go anywhere in town without hearing it.
. . . and the cheap sounding speakers are actually more grating than the music. It sounds like someone made a vinyl recording of an old music box that's been dropped into a bucket of water so that all the internal workings are waterlogged and rusted out, and then left the vinyl recording in the sun so the vinyl has warped, and then taken it back into a recording studio and recorded it using a damaged needle while the turntable revolved at the wrong speed.
However, for me, it's easier to read an actual book one-handed. It probably has something to do with reading physical books one-handed for nearly fifty years before kindles existed.