General Updatia
Mar. 2nd, 2008 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nolawitch58Does anyone know when the new political party platforms will be available? After primary season? I've been trying to find something more recent for all parties, but the best I can do is the 2004 election cycle and that makes me angry to revisit.
Hubby and I had a good debate about Nature vs. Nurture. Even though we're in opposite camps on the issue, it's nice to know that we can both come up with a plethora of supporting evidence after which I conceded just to get him to stop shouting. If nurture is the most important thing, then we should be discouraging people who are antagonistic or ambivalent from breeding. Why have people raising children who will do a desultory job? If nature is the most important thing, we also should discourage people with mental and physical illnesses and propensities to antisocial behavior from breeding. Either way, people should be discouraged from breeding.
Unfortunately, he doesn't believe that the population has exceeded Earth's carrying capacity. He claimed that the the capitalist economy deliberately refuses to feed and care for people. To a large extent, that's true, but that doesn't mean that there aren't too damned many people either.
Those idiots, such as John Stoessel, who say that everyone could fit into the state of Texas are full of shit. I did the math, brothers and sisters. Texas is approximately 268,601 square miles according to Netstate. Though there are more born every second, let's use the figure of 6.5 billion people. We'd each get a paltry 1,150 square feet of the "great" state of Texas to live upon. I'd rather have an acre of swamp in Louisiana than roughly 34 x 34 feet of Texas. When you consider that it takes an average of twenty something acres per year to provide the resources an average American uses, how could anyone not see that we need to put the brakes on population before it's too late.
Already China and India are industrializing and with that step into modern life will come a larger burden on the planet. I asked hubby if he thought it was important for tigers and lions and elephants and other creatures to be allowed to live as well. He took an anthropocentric position and said not so much as people. Well, I say tigers, et al have more right to the planet since they don't befoul it the way we do. Where humans and wildlife are at odds, humans need to lose every single time. We are arrogant to think that we are the only lifeform that matters on this planet.
In other, less gloomy news, the coven initiated two new witches Friday night. Those are my last students for a while. I'm tired and really need to concentrate on my writing. Once I get something published, I'll probably take a new batch. I'm procrastinating on the book proposal. Every time I sit down with it, I'm too irked by the process to do it properly. Instead I'm working on a screenplay. Ah well. Such is the way of the Muse.
The upcoming week will be lots of fun at work. We've got a new system cutting over and that's going to mean spending next Saturday at the office. I spent part of yesterday there trying to get my archive files in order. Though I didn't make it through to a complete update, I got everything organized so that I can slog away at it whenever I get time during the week. Funny how I can't seem to do stuff like that when the phones are ringing, reports need generating and people are having problems. I can only multitask up to a point and then my hamster jumps off the wheel.
The fact that there is no "Doctor Who" or "House" on TV is driving me nuts. I'm jonesing for both my favorite doctors. "House" will be back next month with new episodes. I can't remember when "Doctor Who" starts on Sci Fi. It's kinda nice not having a standardized TV seaon anymore. In the summer, we can see new programs and not reruns of shows we've seen. Since it's too hot to go out in the summer, watching a new show with a cold beer in the air conditioning is nice.
I get the feeling that I've forgotten something. Meh. I'll edit if so. That's all the rubbish I can think of to say right now.
Hubby and I had a good debate about Nature vs. Nurture. Even though we're in opposite camps on the issue, it's nice to know that we can both come up with a plethora of supporting evidence after which I conceded just to get him to stop shouting. If nurture is the most important thing, then we should be discouraging people who are antagonistic or ambivalent from breeding. Why have people raising children who will do a desultory job? If nature is the most important thing, we also should discourage people with mental and physical illnesses and propensities to antisocial behavior from breeding. Either way, people should be discouraged from breeding.
Unfortunately, he doesn't believe that the population has exceeded Earth's carrying capacity. He claimed that the the capitalist economy deliberately refuses to feed and care for people. To a large extent, that's true, but that doesn't mean that there aren't too damned many people either.
Those idiots, such as John Stoessel, who say that everyone could fit into the state of Texas are full of shit. I did the math, brothers and sisters. Texas is approximately 268,601 square miles according to Netstate. Though there are more born every second, let's use the figure of 6.5 billion people. We'd each get a paltry 1,150 square feet of the "great" state of Texas to live upon. I'd rather have an acre of swamp in Louisiana than roughly 34 x 34 feet of Texas. When you consider that it takes an average of twenty something acres per year to provide the resources an average American uses, how could anyone not see that we need to put the brakes on population before it's too late.
Already China and India are industrializing and with that step into modern life will come a larger burden on the planet. I asked hubby if he thought it was important for tigers and lions and elephants and other creatures to be allowed to live as well. He took an anthropocentric position and said not so much as people. Well, I say tigers, et al have more right to the planet since they don't befoul it the way we do. Where humans and wildlife are at odds, humans need to lose every single time. We are arrogant to think that we are the only lifeform that matters on this planet.
In other, less gloomy news, the coven initiated two new witches Friday night. Those are my last students for a while. I'm tired and really need to concentrate on my writing. Once I get something published, I'll probably take a new batch. I'm procrastinating on the book proposal. Every time I sit down with it, I'm too irked by the process to do it properly. Instead I'm working on a screenplay. Ah well. Such is the way of the Muse.
The upcoming week will be lots of fun at work. We've got a new system cutting over and that's going to mean spending next Saturday at the office. I spent part of yesterday there trying to get my archive files in order. Though I didn't make it through to a complete update, I got everything organized so that I can slog away at it whenever I get time during the week. Funny how I can't seem to do stuff like that when the phones are ringing, reports need generating and people are having problems. I can only multitask up to a point and then my hamster jumps off the wheel.
The fact that there is no "Doctor Who" or "House" on TV is driving me nuts. I'm jonesing for both my favorite doctors. "House" will be back next month with new episodes. I can't remember when "Doctor Who" starts on Sci Fi. It's kinda nice not having a standardized TV seaon anymore. In the summer, we can see new programs and not reruns of shows we've seen. Since it's too hot to go out in the summer, watching a new show with a cold beer in the air conditioning is nice.
I get the feeling that I've forgotten something. Meh. I'll edit if so. That's all the rubbish I can think of to say right now.
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-03 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-03 02:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-03 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-03 03:04 pm (UTC)And what the pandemic doesn't take, militant people with weapons will decimate. As a pandemic progresses, services- including food and transportation- become scarce, and people take things into their own hands. From what I've learned in my various fora on disaster preparedness, it'll take about 18 months for a major pandemic to run its course. No one is prepared to hole up for that long. Even I am only equipped for about 3 months.
Scary...
Congrats on your new coven members. I sometimes wish I had a good coven to belong to, but that door is now closed to me for now. I sure could use the fellowship...
On a completely different topic
Date: 2008-03-03 08:43 am (UTC)Re: On a completely different topic
Date: 2008-03-05 02:25 am (UTC)I would have liked to hear that discussion :-).
Date: 2008-03-03 12:28 pm (UTC)Why does it have to be a choice? Nature of course determines a lot of things, but this doesn't mean that you can't ruin a lot in a person by way of "nurture"... Not sure if you can improve much, though.
I'd be happy if people would settle for some real pragmatic planning, before they breed, in fact :-).
(Which of course would be helped much if everyone had some serious education...)
Off topic: Are your dates set yet? This to remind you of the three-month advance registration for the CERN visit....:-).
Dates
Date: 2008-03-05 02:27 am (UTC)Re: Dates
Date: 2008-03-05 07:30 am (UTC):,(
Date: 2008-03-07 08:39 pm (UTC)I won't be able to take any time off during that Period as i'll be covering for a collegue who is out on holiday from the 30th of june to the 18th of July.
So the only times I can possibly see you will be the 13th or the 20th as I'll be at work the rest of the time.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-03 02:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-03 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-03 08:52 pm (UTC)People who do not want to breed should be given free and reliable birth control.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-04 01:28 pm (UTC)I often and still wonder why there is any debate on nature v. nurture when it seems so clear: can't have one without the other. Therefore at best, it can be said to be a matter of degree.
(snarky aside: which, would you say, caused Bush into his life decisions and style?)
If either or both are "bad", then results are generally bad; if either or both are "good", expect decent results. The degree of badness or goodness determines final outcome. Individually, we each have a small say in the matter in our own worlds. There are many examples of how someone with seemingly little chances overcomes the bad stuff (or "undercomes" the good, e.g., "The Bad Seed") in either/both areas.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-05 02:33 am (UTC)Bush also proves the nature argument. He was born with a silver spoon. He had every opportunity and comfort and yet he wasn't content to make his own life a piece of shit; he had to spread the shit all over the whole country. Conversely, look at Angelina Jolie. She is a philanthropist and genuinely decent person. She was born into a wealthy Hollywood family and could have been as insipid and shallow as Paris Hilton.