Sid Morrison 1's Comments

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Obviously, a monument to Nelson isn't a good choice anymore, but why not a monument to a hero of the Irish Republic? de Valera? Collins? Are those just "too political"? What exactly does THIS monument commemorate?
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
um... he's a Congressman, not a Senator!

Also, considering he spends about $500 / year on the lottery, hitting two $1000 prizes isn't an example of tremendous luck. Even the $250,000 prize he won 10 years ago was nice, but it wasn't a typical multi-million dollar "jackpot" by any means. If he hit 3 such multi-million $ prizes, I'd be a little more suspicious...

As for your assertion that either dirt poor people or filthy rich are typical lottery winners, I'd guess there's substantial validity to it. Both groups will probably purchase a "greater than average" number of tickets. The rich buy them because they can afford to play for a little excitement and the poor play because they are too stupid to realize that it is a poor investment of their limited resources. Since each of these groups is over-represented in the "purchasing column", they are over-represented in the "winning column" as well. As the slogan goes, "Ya gotta be in it to win it"
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Kudos to Bob for mentioning Zippy Chippy. He's a bit of a local hero in Western NY!

As for the Japanese and how they treat most old racehorses, we should remember what happened to 1986 Kenticky Derby Champion "Ferdinand" who was sold to Japan for stud in 1994.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_%28horse%29
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Whoops. I just looked it up... I was off by about a hundred years. Brunelleschi’s dome was finished in 1436, which makes it 571 years old! Dang.

Also, I'm a bit curious... Are people outside the U.S. as enchanted by Frank Lloyd Wright as we seem to be? Is he really regarded a a great architect outside our borders? If so, why?
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
My arguments against FLW are not that his structures are ugly and don't fit in (although I can see those points), but rather that they require inordinate maintanence & even complete re-engineering at incredible cost to keep from collapsing.

Wright was arguably a talented designer, but NOT a skilled architect. A real architect has to understand building science and materials engineering enough to work within these constraints. Wright either didn't understand these or he just didn't care, and as a result his structures (including the absolutely notorious "Fallingdown Water" shown here) have frequently required major structural re-engineering in just a scant few decaudes following their construction. These were not cheap FEMA trailers intended for short lifespans; rather, they were high $$$ custom design commisions for wealthy clients -- with normal maintenance, they should have been capable of lasting hundreds of years.

If Wright had designed the dome in Florence's cathedral (an enormous engineering challenge) it would have failed in 45 years (I'm being generous). Brunelleschi's dome is still there after 450 years.

Let's stop speaking of Wright like he was a god. The number one rule in architecture is that the building can't fall down. Wright was an artist/designer, not an architect. 'Nuff said.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
There's a used car dealer by me with a large (permanent) sign out front which says "BAD CREDIT? YOUR APPROVED!" Morons.

The place I work employs a couple of sign guys to paint, engrave, and otherwise make signage for the facility. These geniuses are forever screwing up signs they make. e.g. They had to label a stack of shelves, and they did a neat job. Too bad the indivdual labels when completed read "SHELVE 1", "SHELVE 2", SHELVE 3"... Ugh. Some of us joke about "looking for the union labelers" (a pun on an old union them song urging people to look for union labels when purchasing goods.) Yuk yuk yuk.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
L-
To answer your questions:
Welfare? No.
Food Stamps? No.
Food Banks? Not unless the money comes from voluntary donations, not tax dollars extracted under threat of prison. Lots of private charities run food banks and that's great. When governments *force* people to support others, that's not cool. Forcing people to work twice as hard to support slackers and moochers equals an absence of liberty.

You raise some good points in your second paragraph. Unfortunately, as you can see, there is inevitable subjectivity in deciding who is "deserving" and who is not. Libertarians like myself would prefer to pay our own bills and be responsible for financing our own healthcare, and saving for our own retirements. I am free to give to private charities (which I do) and I have great confidence they administer their dispursements to truly needy FAR better than a huge building full of government bureaucrats on high saleries and juicy lifetime benefits.

Inevitably, people who live on the dole grow lazy whilst those who have to get up early and look for work to feed their families are forever more productive members of society. The tremendous contributions American inventors made BEFORE the creeping socialialization in our country was a direct consequence of an essentially unlimited potential for success. At LEAST equally important was an absence of the dole / welfare / public assistance (whatever the least shameful term is these days). People worked hard or their kids went hungry. It sounds harsh, but honestly, the country's standard of living today (our "poor" are fat, with satellite TV and cell phones) is high today because of it. I won't even get into the myriad of medical advancements that took place because doctors and researchers weren't shackled under a government run health system that wouldn't let them reap the rewards of their own efforts...

S.T.F.S.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
I've got nothing against donating blood (and I do from time to time if I remember to stop taking my daily aspirin the week prior -- they don't like that), but the American Red Cross really bugs the heck out of me. I wish there was a better charity that ran the blooddrives.

My gripes about the American Red Cross?
1. Whenever there is a national emergency (Sept 11th, Hurricane Katrina, whatever) they are very quick to organize all sorts of emergency donation sites so that "the public can "help out". This occurs whether or not the emergency actually results in a NEED for blood.

2. Much of the blood they collect (especially on such emergency drives) is merely sold overseas as a means of Red Cross fund generation. There isn't anything technically wrong with this, but they work very hard to hide what's going on, and to instead imply that people are helping victims through donations.

3. Even if I donate a zillion units of blood, I still get charged if I ever *need* blood.

4. If they ever get ahold of your phone number, look out! They'll call and pester you day after day about upcoming blood drives. If you screen the calls, they don't leave messages, insisting to keep bothing you until you actually speak to them.

5. They attempted to hijack the many millions of $ donated by Americans into their 9/11 victims' relief fund to instead re-equip themselves with new computers and other office equipment. It was only after they investigative press (and the U.S. Congress) got ahold of the scam that they eventually relented, and agreed to spend "victims relief $" on victims' relief.

6. Ask any American service veteran (especially one who served in a theatre of war) what they think of the American Red Cross. 9 out of 10 times they will hate them.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Login to comment.


Page 1 of 6       next | last

Profile for Sid Morrison 1

  • Member Since 2012/08/17


Statistics

Comments

  • Threads Started 90
  • Replies Posted 0
  • Likes Received 1
  • Abuse Flags 0
X

This website uses cookies.

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using this website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

I agree
 
Learn More