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it is times like this that make me sad that I am banned from the webbot forums

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man, that forum was pretty hilarious. not only was I banned for, like, suggesting that someone said something Not Smart (in a very mild tone, as I had no desire to actually post on the forum to begin with), but before I was banned all hell broke lose. there was like a thread urging people not to overreact to "certain new comers" and there was another thread about a crack down on the rules. I got PMs from several people accusing me of being multiple different people that were apparently semi-famous in the wacko community. and none of them were upfront about it--they were some variant of "I know what you're up to, man...." and then it would continue from there. also I got kind of weirded out because someone kept sending me cryptic messages with extra life, extra lives, or something of the sort even though I was using negativedge so then I got paranoid and I was like seriously wtf internet am I being followed?!?!?!?

good times all around

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what the fuck 5000 pages a year

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then again, I'm not exactly concerned that our schools are failing the 'hopelessly deficient"--I'm concerned that they are admitting them.

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the biggest problem raised here isn't that morons are getting advanced degrees, or that schools don't care about anything, or that no one can write at all--it's that graduate programs are designed in a way that a guy with google and fifty hours at his disposal can crank out a degree regardless of what he knows. eventually we all have to come to terms with the fact that thought is not rewarded or even necessary at any level of education.

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That has nothing to do with thought, and everything to do with language. I bet he wouldn't write a paper in German, either.

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You could say this about anything--I don't know why it is such a surprise that it also applies to economics.

Though, really, finance, economics, et al. are pretty high up on the list of things people take an interest in/almost know something about. The proof? As always, TV commercials. Pay attention to the linguistics when money is involved versus when anything else is. I am only kind of being facetious.

economics is just one long graph that keeps getting new bars, curves, and spikes. it is interesting as a discipline because it is highly abstract while dealing with what should be the most tangible thing of all.

I am very tired.

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replace "economics" with "politics" (and they are the same thing, so why not?) and you might as well just consult Plato, who noticed the same problem 2400 years ago. give everyone a say (politics of populism, and besides we live in America where the TV tells us we are important individuals) and they assume this means they have something important to say.

but really, it'd be no different with 17th century Russian literature.

you see this all the time with art and literature, actually. try talking to a dumbfuck about what is worth reading and what isn't. you could have a Phd, he ain't gonna believe a word you say.

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the bankers may be covering their own asses, but the rest of us?

an overwhelming unconscious desire for catharsis. even if we're all living in a ballardian fever dream in five years

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so I guess NASA found aliens or something

hopefully they are going to teach us how to combat this menace

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no they found a ship with big lasers. they are going to unveil their own super weapon and we are to be instructed in how to brace for the coming war.

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so when can we expect the onion wikileaks: grass is green, etc etc article

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so they're sucking wikileaks off instead, I see

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yeah but the bacteria also has space lasers

they just aren't telling us yet

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I dunno anytime you announce an announcement you're just being a bit of a shithead

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Headline: DUDE X IS A MEGALOMANIAC

Line 1: IN MY NEW BOOK THAT I WROTE CHECK OUT MY BOOK

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why do you seem to think that the constitution is the only thing holding this or any country together?

it's like a ten page, poorly written document from a bunch of rich white dudes that lived 220 years ago. you might as well consider it as handed down from god himself if you think it bears striking relevance to your life today.

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I think the world is a terrible place for everyone!

but I don't think any piece of paper is going to change that

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I know, Mr. Status Quo

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don't give me any of this about social networking, as if Facebook is an inalienable human right. you didn't use facebook five years ago, and you didn't use twitter three. transactions are a fraud--credit enslaves, not frees, and if you need mastercard to make yourself known we have far, far deeper problems to face. and we do. of course.

you can perhaps make a case for the internet itself, as in simple access, at which point the options are either to nationalize the networks, like we have with roads, or open up even further in the hope access persists through any attempt to constrict it. in either case, corporate interests are not your interests, and they are not my interests. as we have well learned in the last couple of years, they are the interests of states. this is the price we pay for our house of cards.

I mean, who is to tell them they cannot turn off their services? the state? the state that they are doing it to protect? the citizenry has no friends. to realize this rather than continue on with the illusion through some bantering on rights is a modicum of progress in and of itself.

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huh

I had no idea Portugal did that. seems like something you'd hear about

then again I don't think I ever hear about anything related to Portugal outside of stuff about Christiano Ronaldo

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yeesh

what happened to you, motherland :(

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well ok whatever that's your definition of a descriptor. my point is some dude walks into a grocery store and shoots people in the head and we're worried about who he voted for

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no, it doesn't. it has to do with sanity. he's not an assassin; he's a nutjob

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It seems we're hearing a lot lately about China's technical prowess. Which makes you wonder about motivations.

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and people keep asking me why I stay away from politics. they are inherently low brow--even to dwell on, much less engage in--divorced from reality, and, above all, depressing. oh and entitled. I see dead bodies: dracko sees rednecks (and he's a brit, the redneck appears to him as a dragon or a fairy does--they are boogeymen or promised beings meant to cull or inflame his emotions and beliefs), the middle east, and a soap box. to top it off, my "view" (which is reality) is base, defeatist, narrow, or stupid, whereas his is selfless and cultured (mech's link accuses me of "moral weakness," which is laughable).

I'll be over here, guys.

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I am taken aback by this news.

Does this mean the world isn't going to end?

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I'm pretty sure clif is about a year away from just proclaiming himself jesus/buddha and being done with it

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yeah I mean a school board is inherently political. it is a governing body.

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stories 4-8 will spend the first twenties years of their active lives helping story 1 and its relatives do their thing

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I'm pretty sure no one in the world has ever masturbated to hillary clinton

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religion is a consequence, not a cause. people would find other things to kill each other over. necessarily.

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come on man, I don't read your posts.

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