About as much as Yasser Arafat. Maybe a little more, but both were terrorists.
Would it be better for the West if "Arab Spring" had never happened?
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About as much as Yasser Arafat. Maybe a little more, but both were terrorists.
Would it be better for the West if "Arab Spring" had never happened?
Probably better for the West, yes, has the Arab spring ended though? Or at least is it clearly better or worse? (is my question)
As far as I can see, it turned into the Syrian civil war, which now includes Iraq. Total disaster.
Will presidential candidate Lindsey Graham's plan to put 10,000 American troops in Iraq gain popular traction (whatever happens to his candidacy)?
I doubt it, people are sick of that war, and besides, we won already so there's no need to go back.
http://campusbeast.com/wp-content/up...hed_thumb3.jpg
If you could only eat one animal for the rest of your life, but you received an unlimited supply of any and every piece of the animal you wanted, which animal would you choose?
Oh I dunno. Maybe Bison. It worked for the Plains Indians.
Same question.
I'll eat sockeye salmon forever please.
Fish or fowl?
Oh good answer, though I'll have more leftovers.
Well, fish is better, but old fish is as bad as new fish is good, so fowl.
Should the West hold its nose at most of Putin's skullduggery and just work with him to defeat Islamic extremism?
There's nothing the West can do about Putin short of starting a nuclear war so yes.
How would a bottom up revolution play out today if it took place in a nation with nuclear weapons (China, Russia)?
It would play out differently in any given country. The one to watch (and worry about) obviously is Pakistan.
Would you rather have known about ISIS before last year, or to have missed all those news reports about childhood obesity, surprise veteran homecomings, and kids with leukemia rescuing puppies from drain pipes?
My being obese isn't likely to start WWIII. ISIS, however... Nuff Said!
Does FOX News seem to have stopped even pretending to present the news?
I haven't watched them for so long I don't know what they're pretending these days.
In Taiwan, Obama is frequently compared to a bat, apparently because of his big ears. What animal do you associate with George W. Bush (based only on physiognomy)?
Chimp of course.
Should criticism of Israel policy be correctly treated as what it really is, anti Semitic hate speech? (I'm not kidding, this is a Canadian government proposal)
Not unless there's jail time. The last thing we need is another empty gesture.
If I say there was an Armenian holocaust as I board a train in Istanbul, change my mind on the journey, and state that there was no Armenian holocaust when I disembark in Paris, can I be jailed in both countries at once?
Sure, can, should and if i may say, must be jailed both times. King Soloman would know just how to sort you out.
Detail your entire beauty regimen, and you have to comment even if it's something as banal as putting on moisturizer once a week.
As your confessor, Clopin, I'm pleased to note your spiritual growth.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clopin
I shower and shave every morning. I brush my teeth at least twice a day, but I never floss. I clip my fingernails once a week. My wife clips my toenails for me every two weeks (because I'm too lazy and it would never get done). She shaves the back of my neck once a month. I wash my hands before meals. That's it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clopin
Same question (and goodnight).
Haha remember when I asked whether you were more susceptible to snake oil or conspiracy theories in this or that? Well I'm easily swayed by both, but especially snake oil so keep that in mind when you read the following.
1. Skin
My skin is incredibly dry, I have chronic eczema which I treat with corticosteroid cream and living in an incredibly dry region doesn't help much. As a kid a recommended remedy for very bad flare ups was bathing with oatmeal and I make use of these potions to treat dry skin on my face (I don't bother moisturizing my body with any special treatments, it would simply take too long);
1. Olive oil/Yogurt or plain olive oil more often
2. Olive oil/sea salt
3. Cooked oatmeal (moisturizer)
4. Dried oatmeal (exfoliant)
2. Hair
I don't use shampoo or commercial conditioner on my hair, but I do make up and apply the following mask up to three times a week, but usually just once:
Egg/olive oil/lemon/salt
3. Hygiene
I also exclusively take showers with 100% cold water and try to cold water swim as much as possible (I think this helps my chakra, like I said, snake oil).
I think that's it, I bite my fingernails off and shave a couple times a week, my method of removing toenails has grossed out a couple girlfriends but I'm going to keep doing it, it is:
Wait until toenails grow long enough to fold back and forth until they become weakened at a joint and then rip them off, OR, bite off the ones you can reach with your mouth.
I brush and floss once a day.
Do you like ladybugs or dragonflies more?
Well, biting your toenails is pretty gross, but at least you floss.
Should the lion who killed the idiot who rolled her window down at that drive through park in South Africa be "destroyed"?
No, but it probably will be. That said, I think people make too big a deal about animals, especially bears; animals just aren't as important as people and sometimes they do need to be... "destroyed" (I've also always found that word usage really weird).
If you were a journalist would you volunteer to cover a war zone?
Absolutely, if I were young, and fit, and serious about my career.
Should "Lyin' Brian" Williams, the NBC anchor who forgot that he hadn't actually been shot down over Iraq, get his position back?
No.
Should it be a criminal offense for a news organization to knowingly and purposefully falsify information?
Good for you, Clopin. Lykren said he "refused to care." :)
Civil charges, if there were damages.
If you were guilty of a felony, would you rather be tried in the US, Canada, or France?
I'll take my chances in Canada.
Assuming you are twenty years old would you rather go to jail for ten years or lose ten years of your life entirely.
Oh and Lykren doesn't care about anything other than the glorification of his own massive ego! You hear me Lykren? Please come back to wasting time on here if you do.
You mean get out of prison at 30 or die ten years before I would otherwise have died? Dying early. I don't want to spend my 20s in prison.
And stay where you are, Lykren, and study hard. Come back in the fall and call us names we don't understand in Japanese.
Would you rather lose all memory before today (but be able to make new memories now-- you don't have dementia) or lose both legs at the knees?
I'll take the loss of legs, my memories are my personality and everything I know about myself.
How do videos like these make you feel, and do you think this type of thing is actually representative of a majority of voters or just heavily cherry picked?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uf7MR0f4XDI
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw8WIia47WE
The first one repeats the same point over and over and over, which I found kind of insulting to my intelligence (even though I agree with the point). Some of the kids interviewed seemed legit but others seemed like (bad) actors. Also where are the grown ups? As a "campus report" it was, to a degree, inherently cherry picked.
The second one kept showing me its commercial, then throwing me out; but "Hillary has no accomplishments" has been a cpac talking point for some time now, so I assume it's election propaganda, too.
If you hit and killed dog in traffic, would you stop to see if you could find out who the owners were, and then let them know?
I guess I would have to.
I've noticed that a pretty strong majority of active posters here are religious, do you think there is a connection between people who are interested in literary fiction and people who are religious, if you do then why do you think that is? It only strikes me as noteworthy because off of litnet I don't think I know a single person of any religious orientation.
If that question makes you uncomfortable then how would you feel and what would you do if you had a son, daughter, nephew or some other younger relative who became a total shut in/hikkikimori?
It doesn't make me uncomfortable. I imagine that people who love literature don't have much problem with finding truths to live by in stories with varying degrees of historicity, and that most wouldn't be inclined toward silly (and in my opinion ignorant) "all or nothing" thinking toward the various faiths. LitNet also has little tolerance for bullies, and my experience is that many (though not all) cyber-atheists are little better than that. Probably there are just as many people of faith on other sites, but they are hiding.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clopin
I would tell him or her about LitNet so we could stay on touch.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clopin
Have you ever wanted to be a hermit?
Yes, the general Atheist notion is that religion is eminently silly and ridiculous and that as soon as you're educated enough you will stop believing in it entirely, and I've found that to be very much untrue.
Yes, I have, I get along pretty well alone and I think I could hack it, I wouldn't want to begin to be a hermit for another thirty years at least, however.
To what extent do you think great literature is diluted through translation? I notice that Russian literature is very much esteemed here (and elsewhere) by people who can not read Russian, and I myself love the Russian novels. If the books are made so much worse through translation how do you explain the massive appeal they have for non Russian readers (often much more appeal than novels by English authors like Dickens, George Elliot and Jane Austen)?
Well, I've said this before, but I made it up, so it's no truism or cliche: reading a translation is like listening to a ballgame on the radio. You can get a really accurate and vivid feel for what's going on, depending on the broadcaster's skill. But to read in the original language is to be at the game. Personally I avoided Russian lit for years because I didn't think it could possibly come up to Dickens or Shakespeare or even Arthur Conan Doyle in English. But in fact--or at least in my opinion--Dostoyevsky surpasses Dickens (and of course Conan Doyle) by far. So does Tolstoy. I have no way of knowing the answer to your question about translations, but it's certainly impossible that the ideas and the underlying humanity of these men does not have quite a lot to do with the way they can touch all readers.
Meet the right girl, Clopin, and you won't want to be a hermit anymore. :)
If you had a child, would you advise him or her to study science or the humanities (one or the other)?
A hermit can be married!
I plan on making homeschooling my children the top priority in my life so by the time they're old enough to go to university a humanities education would be totally unnecessary as they will have read about two thousand books by then (this isn't that incredible either, if you spent the six hours a day you're actually inside the classroom from preschool to graduation and spent it reading instead you could easily get through several thousand books). I'm convinced kids can pretty much learn anything through being taught at a young age, John Stuart Mill was taught Greek/Latin and the classics when he was eight or so and Laszlo Polgar trained his three daughters into world class chess players. I would advise science I suppose, though I'm not cut out for it and I wouldn't advise my children to do something which was against their natural inclination.
Should porn stars or former porn stars experience stigma or negative repercussions in their lives or in pursuit of other employment options? Should a pornstar be able to transition into an elementary school teacher, for example?
No stigma if that's all he or she was doing. And if he or she is qualified, there is no reason a former porn star shouldn't be a public school teacher (although I would recommend being discreet about it with the students--and their parents!). Private schools, of course, should be able to hire or not hire whomever they like for any reason they choose.
Would you consider marriage with an ex- (or current) porn star?
No, I would casually date one though. I want children and I'm just not interested in that being a reality of their lives, or mine for that matter.
And I agree, I think a stigma against porn stars is especially silly when nearly the entire male population makes use of pornography (I still don't want to marry one though).
Same question haha.
Well, I want to start by saying that the porno magazines and stag films I was exposed to in undergraduate dorm life were utterly boring and (as I said in another thread) the faked orgasms made me miss my old girlfriends too much to really get into the stories. I wouldn't have had anything against marrying a retired porn star, though, if we were in love, and had a financial plan, and had a reasonable chance of reasonably good relations with our inlaws (my Dad would have been cool). A working porn star would have been a problem, though. I imagine the lifestyle would not have been what I wanted, and it probably wouldn't have been a healthy situation for any kids we might have had. She would definitely have had to have put it behind her (no pun intended ;-) ).
Would you date someone who had genital herpes?
Yes, I could get past that, but it would be a big strike against her and unless I thought she was pretty great I would probably dump her when I found out.
What's your Briggs Myers personality type?
Libra?
Actually, I don't know anything about Briggs Myers personality types. Is that "Type A personality" and all that? ? I'd rather not think of people like that.
What's yours and what does it mean? :)
Oh it's like a horoscope, only personally tailored to you (well, personally as in, one of sixteen types you can be after taking the test). I'm sure it doesn't mean anything.
I've taken the test a few times and always get INTP.
http://www.16personalities.com/intp-personality
Are raspberries by far the best berry? And if not, what is (and why are you so wrong)?
Yes, raspberries are the best berries, especially the red raspberries found in raspberry tarts. Mmmm-boy! Thank you, Trader Joe!
What is the best kind of stinky food?
Also talk to you later.
Fish sauce. And I'll leave that question open. Ciao.
Chou doufu (fermented tofu). Stinky and lovely.
60s jazz beard or hipster beard?
I know it well, Clockwise. The stench fills the Taipei night markets on lovely hot nights. :)
Anything is better than hipster facial hair, so fine, 60s Jazz beards.
Do you eat the green, gucky stuff inside a lobster?