In My Memory

Mike T, Socialism just doesnt work because its a terrible economic system, because controlling prices and redistributing wealth entails such ungodly monumental overhead that no government could pull it off without huge expenses, and socialist systems destroy competition so economies grow much much slower than populations which hurts everyone. Compare to a capitalist system where prices are self-regulating and competition always keeps the economy moving in a forward direction. There are social problems with capitalism, but those problems can be dealt with by social means, not by changing our economy. So in the end, we get a good economic system with a proper mix of social justice, and everyone goes home happy. Especially the Green Party.

Mike T, Are you saying that our economy is due to a lack of jobs, caused by the World Trade Organization which put us at war in Iraq? I thought inept administration and making a non-sequitor shift on the War on Terror from hunting down Osama bin Laden to spreading democracy in Iraq was the reason for our skyrocketing debt; that, and the recent hurricanes which destroyed many businesses and required expensive cleanup. I'm not sure how these problems translate into a failure of capitalism, and I dont see how socialism could have avoided them. And I cant really see what the WTO has to do with anything, especially the war in Iraq. Remember, the WTO has been around since 1944, and we've seen the economy boom and busts continually in members and non-members of it. You should be thankful for the WTO, because it enforces fair and free trade so that the cheapest goods get to the people who need them most, which raises the quality of living for everyone. Anti-globalization / anti-freetrade is probably one of the worst things anyone could wish on the country. I'm not sure which tax rebels you're talking about, but its very much possible that our current debt will be paid off eventually. Part of the problem is that we have a president who, while spitting in the face of conservatism, wont veto any expansions of government or military, so we're spending a lot more than we should to keep our country running efficiently. Too much government is very wasteful, and maybe if the US took 4 to 8 years to reduce the number of military projects, government spying, and start forcing Congress to read bills before they sign every unnecessary expansion into law. For example, some of Clintons economic success is a direct result of the Cold War and Bush Sr's wars ending, because he could afford to scrap all those unnecessary government projects and cut the size of the military in half, which helped to turn a debt into a surplus (which became a debt again after Bush entered office). If we find a good president who can get our government down to the prestine Clinton-era level, then we'll start building a surplus again.

When I had sex ed, I was told my uterus was the playground of demons and Satan himself, and only the sanctified union of marriage could protect me and others from their spells and drive the demons away for good. Yes, I'm serious.

Mike T, See economics 101: theres a difference between full employment and no unemployment. Unemployment occurs naturally by people switching jobs' date=' and at least for the US about 5% of Americans are switching jobs at any given time, right now our unemployment between people switching jobs and people who are actively seeking a job and cant find one is about 5.5%, so we are almost ideally where we want to be. Right now, our capitalist system does a very good job at maintaing full employment without government aid, and I think having the government guarantee jobs adds waaay too much overhead and logistics for the government to handle properly. If the government guaranteed everyone a job, it would basically be the same thing as the government selecting what jobs people have. I dont like this idea, its very dehumanizing and doesnt respect peoples autonomy to make choices for themselves (what would you think of your government if they put you in a career that you hated and had no choice to move elsewhere?). Apart from that, I generally favor a semi-socialized economy. For instance, its a good thing to remove all trade barriers, eliminate all agricultural subsidies, and promote free trade... but socialized medicine and state-funded public schooling are also a good thing. With proper planning, we can have the best of both worlds [b']Saryctos[/b], So whats the latest Powerball jackpot up to these days

Sisyphus, Jesus was pinko commie who believed in collective ownership, abolishing the myth of "private property", and redistributing goods "to each according to his need". Acts 4:32-35: :D

So what movies do you just love? Here's my list: The Godfather -- if you didnt like this movie, you are dead to me Fargo Insomnia One Hour Photo -- a desperately underrated movie Silence of the Lambs Equillibrium -- a dystopian movie based loosely on 1984 Pulp Fiction A Clockwork Orange One Flew of the Cuckoos Nest The Shining (the one with Jack Nicholson) The Breakfast Club Thirteen American History X Menace II Society -- probably my favorite in the list I have the best taste in movies ever

Its been 13 days and the results are as follows: Most Helpful Most Knowledgable Most Interesting Best Debater Most Enjoyable Most Improved 5614 Ashennell AzurePhoenix DV8 2XL AzurePhoenix pcs 5614 Bascule AzurePhoenix AzurePhoenix AzurePhoenix pcs 5614 ecoli AzurePhoenix Bascule AzurePhoenix pcs 5614 Herpguy AzurePhoenix Bascule AzurePhoenix pcs 5614 In My Memory AzurePhoenix Bascule AzurePhoenix pcs 5614 In My Memory Bascule Bascule AzurePhoenix pcs 5614 In My Memory Bascule In My Memory AzurePhoenix sunspot 5614 In My Memory Bettina In My Memory AzurePhoenix sunspot Bascule insane_alien Bettina In My Memory AzurePhoenix yourdadonapogos Bascule Jim Cap'n Refsmmat yourdadonapogos AzurePhoenix yourdadonapogos Bettina Klaynos ecoli yourdadonapogos herme3 Cap'n Refsmmat Herpguy In My Memory Dak In My Memory insane_alien ecoli insane_alien In My Memory penagte In My Memory Ryan J 5614 (8) In My Memory (4) AzurePhoenix (5) Bascule (4) AzurePhoenix (10) pcs (6)

Sea snails! Next word: Cthulhu

1. 5614 2. Jim 3. Bettina 4. Bascule 5. AzurePhoenix 6. yourdadonapogos

We all want to know, what does your username and avatar mean? My username: my name IRL is Juliet, but at the time I was signing up for the board I wanted something a little more anonymous. I dont know why I chose "In My Memory", but I really liked the sound of it when it came to mind. My avatar: its a cartoon of me, and actually its not a bad resemblance. It was created with Yahoo! Avatars. Trivia and other things you probably didnt know: I found out some time ago that "In My Memory" is the name of a trance-styled CD, which takes its name from one of the songs on the disc. I bought the CD to see if it was any good, and the song "In My Memory" itself is actually very beautiful and is a favorite of mine. But the rest of the album is maybe a 3/10 and almost unlistenable.

Martin, Everyone likes pretty women in cute skirts Hmmm... I'm not sure this is really possible in the real world' date=' unless you have a built-in audience then you really cant attract a specific [i']type[/i] of user. I've read a lot of forums, and I notice there are a few personality types that almost always generate lots of traffic: - Teenagers, for whatever reason, like to make 20+ posts per day, and they'll do it for months at a time until they "burn out". They increase traffic, but may or may not increase quality. I remember a user on this board, Hellbender, whose profile said he made an average of 30 posts per day, I always liked his posts. - Crackpots. Even though this is a science board, I think crackpots are a good thing, because you would be amazed how much valuable material can be contributed to a board from people rebutting a crackpot with his own pet theories about relativity or philosophy. And you'll be surprised how quickly your critical thinking skills willl be fine-tuned when you come across a persistant crackpot who can weasel his way through any semantic loophole. For instance, I owe all the laymens understanding I have on electricity and some higher level physics to reading the debates between intelligent people and crackpots. - Almost all of the most heavy traffic forums I've ever seen have a lot of bells and whistles, like having lots of different smilies, flash games, and so on. Its a cheap way to generate traffic and user interest, but it works. - A good way to increase the quality of posts is to award something like a monthly "Post of the Month", perhaps for various categories like "Most Science-y Post", "Funniest Post", "Most Original Thought" and so on. Doing that encourages to scope out interesting posts (in theory it means actively reading rather than passively skimming through posts) and contributing, because its sorta special for people to get recognized and compete for the best posts - And more pretty women in cute skirts, that always works! Thats all I can come up with off the top of my head

Tree, Understanding the principles of invisibility, eh? Then how about that scene where James Bond actually hides behind his invisible car

Discovered via the Agony Booth, a Q&A on the physics of Star Trek:

Jim, The poll doesnt say 72% of troops want to leave rapidly, its says this:: At the very least, 25% of troops think we should "leave rapidly", and all the other respondants who wanted to leave anywhere between "now" and "within a year" were pooled together to generate the figure that 72% of soldiers want to leave by 2006.

Silkworm,

My favorite equation: (4MovAvg > 9MovAvg > 21MovAvg > 50MovAvg) AND (Today's_High > Yesterday's_HIGH) AND (Today's_Low < Yesterday's_Low) = Bullish Its one of the most simple equations I use for stocks between US$10 and US$100, very fast too, and very reliable. I also like e^(pi*i) + 1 = 0

Average salary for a player in the NFL: Median salary for an NBA player: Average salary for a college professor: Average salary for special education teachers: Some of the most expendable and unimportant members of society the most overpaid, and the most important ones are paid so little. Even the lowest paid NFL player inexplicably earns 5x more than the highest paid college professor, and that makes absolutely no sense to me. Are we just masochistic?

My nominations: "Peacekeeper Award" for excellence in moderation: Pangloss for his work in the Politics forum "Best Singularitarian": Bascule "Person I'd Most Likely Bake Cookies For": YT2095 "Most Delightfully Cynical": Sayonara3 "Shakespeare Incarnate": Phi for All "Most Egocentric Megalomaniac": In My Memory "Best Male Avatar": Ecoli "Best Female Avatar": Bettina "Person I'd Most Like To Have Coffee With": Martin "Most Gurl Power": AzurePhoenix "Favoritest Poster Who Is Half My Age": Yourdadonapogos Martin, I used a lot of photos, but I really like the cartoon one, its very me

IMMs results: Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for John Kerry compared to George Bush. Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for White compared to Asian. Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for Helpers compared to Leaders. Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for Rich People compared to Poor People. Your data suggest a moderate automatic identification with Love compared to Money.

A killer bee and a wolverine. It would be a killing machine

"I'm so pretty, and smart, and adorable, and overall a more valuable being in the universe than anyone else" ... oh, nevermind, I say that all the time

"If it werent for my horse, I wouldnt have spent that year in college." "OMG! I thought that movie 'North' was cinematic genius!" Captain Kirk: "Ok, we'll form an away team consisting of myself, Mr Spock, Dr Sulu... dang, we're one man short." Anonymous redshirt ensign: "I'll go with you, Captain Kirk" "Egad! President Bush has outsmarted me again!" At an academy of science: "... in conclusion, everything Einstein said was wrong and Darwin was a shill." "I believe I've learned to communicate in their native tongue. Meow meow meow meow meow."

Pangloss, The best objective source I have is Human Rights Watch. But for now, I'll concede and say that I dont see the US through rose-colored glasses like everyone else does, and leave my comments at that without further comment JohnB, :embarass: *IMM slinks away, hoping no one will notice *

*slaps keyboard* screwyouguysimgoinghome ... well, thats odd...

Pangloss, This will probably be my partisan leftism talking, but probably since 9/11 we've become a significantly less free nation, especially by the government spying on its citizens, labeling people enemy combatants to circumvent constitutional protections. Here are a few issues that come to mind: - parts of the UK have liberalized euthanasia laws - the the UK has recently legalized gay marriage (compare to the US where 11 states have banned it) - the UK and Australia have both taken steps to expand anti-discrimination policies to gays and lesbians - the US has the highest legal drinking age in the world, as well as some of the most restrictive drug laws in the world. - many countries have a much freer press. See Reports Without Borders, where the United States was marked as the 44th freest nation in the world, behind several dozen European nations and Australia. The US continues to execute prisoners, which I would consider a human rights violation. And among other things, I dont think many UKers have to worry about the government seizing their property to build a minimall. JohnB, That the cliche "America is the freest nation in the world" is, at worst, an American-made myth. Severian, Maybe things are different in the UK, but I think 95% of all American voters would fail a first-semester economics 101 exam if one were given to them right this second. Economics is more important than any other science for the typical American, but I dont think many people in the United States make informed economic judgements. And I think our politicians make monetary and fiscal policies based on what their party wants rather than what makes good economic sense. I'd prefer to see a whole seperate branch of government, made up of economy theorists and professors and Alan Greenspan, created to handle economy rather than our easily bribed congressman. (<--- IMM doesnt like her state senators.)