Thanks for the quality!

In reply to this comment by JiggaJonson:
*quality

Mitt Romney's little behind closed doors speech reminded me of this.

Thanks for the trifecta!

In reply to this comment by JiggaJonson:
*doublepromote
*quality

Human, fucking, garbage.

I forgot how much I loved this series. Need to dig out the DVD's sometime soon...

Thanks for the promote!
In reply to this comment by JiggaJonson:
*promote

Thank you, that means a lot to me. I have the same frustration about arguments -- I feel like it's the best way to really challenge your own convictions, but you can't learn anything from a conversation that instantly devolves into namecalling and accusations, and that happens waaay too often.

Anytime you wanna have a civil debate, I'm happy to oblige.

In reply to this comment by xxovercastxx:
Just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate our discourse. It seems awfully hard to argue with people without fighting with people anymore and you damn near always keep it civil and on topic.

Upvote granted. That is probably the best way to reply to that sort of argument too.

The real underlying problem with the "gas prices are going up because the Fed is printing money" theory is that gasoline is just one price, and "inflation" is a rise in the price of everything, overall. Economists say that to really spot inflation, you have to look at prices that are generally pretty stable; volatile commodities like food & gas which see frequent large shifts in both supply & demand are very poor measures of inflation, because there's just too much non-inflationary noise. Here's a much more in-depth explanation from Krugman: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/core-logic/

Keep in mind that the methods economists use to measure inflation show that we've been in a period of record-low inflation. That should, for any rational person, be the end of talk of inflation. This constant cry of "INFLATION!" at every price increase is quite literally the economic equivalent of hearing hoof-beats and assuming it's zebras and not horses.

Most changes in prices happen in response to real shifts in supply or demand, not because the Fed is expanding the monetary base.

In reply to this comment by lampishthing:
I researched a comment on the sift for the first time in about 2 years. I would like an upvote oh sage one.

You might even find it interesting!!!!

A real TED talk would be titled "The Impact of Technology on Society in the 21st Century: From the Android phone to Androids, and Beyond" and would be given by an unassuming but compelling professor of some sort, rather than a businessman intent on making himself a physical manifestation of pure hubris.

But, good idea for a viral marketing campaign.

Lol, if you're disappointed I'll contribute $20 towards having your head examined by professionals.

>> ^ChaosEngine:

>> ^NetRunner:
Why Mass Effect is the Most Important Science Fiction Universe of Our Generation
If all you know of the series is this trailer, you have missed out, and need to go out and buy ME1 right now.
>> ^Nebosuke:
Bleh... let's combine 2 things we already have too much of in video games: alien apocalypse and zombies.


ok, I have just done exactly that. If I am disappoint, I will be expecting $20 worth of entertainment from you

*isdupe

Game isn't out yet -- this is just a trailer.

But I'm worried about whether they'll be able to deliver the goods on this one too. Dragon Age 2 was a big letdown, and I've already grown tired of SW:TOR.

However, ME1 and ME2 were both absolutely awesome. ME2 didn't have the kind of plot I expected the sequel to ME1 to have, but ME3 sounds like it's gonna bear more similarity to 1's storyline than 2's. It's also supposed to lay to rest a lot of long-running storylines (Geth vs. Quarrian conflict, the Krogan genophage, etc.), not just the Reaper/Sheppard storyline.

Lots of high expectations on this one. I hope they pull it off.

>> ^artician:

Huh. Yeah I love this series, but I'm unimpressed with the direction they took the final one. The first game had some amazing writing and promises of such an interesting universe. The last thing I really wanted to do was go back to earth and fight the same old enemies like an action hero.

I haven't had a chance to look at anything else in the series, but that one is awesome. I'm a bit surprised it didn't really take off, since it seems like the kind of thing the political sift crowd loves.
In reply to this comment by bareboards2:
Hey thanks!

Didn't seem to strike a chord with anyone, though.

I think this series of parodies are terrific.

I guess it is just you and me, though...


In reply to this comment by NetRunner:
*promote

Why Mass Effect is the Most Important Science Fiction Universe of Our Generation

If all you know of the series is this trailer, you have missed out, and need to go out and buy ME1 right now.

>> ^Nebosuke:

Bleh... let's combine 2 things we already have too much of in video games: alien apocalypse and zombies.

Thanks for the promote!

In reply to this comment by Lawdeedaw:
Cock blocking the almighty!? *promote

So I guess I should just ask point blank, are you saying that my overall premise is wrong, and that there is no such thing as "idle rich"?

And just to make myself explicit, where I was really gonna go with the argument was that there's a fundamental problem with castigating "idleness" and valorizing "work", especially if your definition of "idle" is "not receiving any income" and "work" as "receiving income from any source".

Paris Hilton is an awesome springboard from the usual "welfare queens vs. captains of industry" conversation into something a little more grounded in reality, since both welfare queens and captains of industry are just figments of our imagination. The real people we lump into those categories never live up to those caricatures.

In reply to this comment by oritteropo:
No, and in fact the people I can think of who lived off their inheritances tend to have done something notable as well, or I probably wouldn't have heard of them (like the impressionist painter Paul Cezanne).

When I tried a google search for more candidates, the first hit was from ancient Greece! Apollodorus, son of Pasion the slave...
In reply to this comment by NetRunner:
Do you have a better example in mind? I mostly use her as my go-to example because she's a name people will recognize, associate with being ridiculously rich, has a reputation for having a crap work ethic, and a reputation for being completely out of touch with how normal people live.

I have more nuanced reasons for picking her as well, but that's really more of a springboard into a discussion about what "work ethic" really means...