Cultural/Political/Social Trends & Divergence Thread

[wasted]

15 hours ago, Len Cnut said:

See you at the Mickey D's drive-thru boss

Double Filet O Fish and Coke, please. Hold the fries I want to live forever. 

 

[wasted]

16 hours ago, killuridols said:

18 hours ago, wasted said:

We can worry but Trump might nuke us, so let’s party like it 1999. 

They might nuke us all but in the meantime you have the right to live a somewhat healthy life, without six fingers or twelve tumors in your head.

I completed a quote. Itsa a new day. 

The point is the power that wants to get elected assumes votes are in giving people a better life overall. Yes, a few people are born with tumors. Firstly, prove it, secondly who cares? I think this is the mentality. I’m not saying it’s bad to try to stop them, but the goals keep moving, one minute it’s this chemical, then it’s another. Tell me Mr Segel, why are the wicked so strong? 

It’s hard to imagine there are people with so little of a conscious, or guilt. Then I look at myself. I have a feeling so many things in my life are built on corruption. Take this iphone for instance or this t shirt, someone got exploited somewhere I’m sure. Maybe it was this job or no job? So who am I to say? 

The head tumor thing is more a more good than harm thing, of anything. Maybe they should just stop doing that. But they will find some other way to cut corners or “improve” the product. 

[Len Cnut]

58 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I have calluses on my hands too. 

Oh yeah?

[SoulMonster]

31 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

Oh yeah?

Well, one of them. 

[DieselDaisy]

5 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

I think the big difference between England and Germany as far as humor in culture goes, is that in England is it pervasive throughout their culture, whereas in Germany it is more used for special occasions, sequestered. Germans tend to be more formal, so it is probably connected to that. 

Did you read Bryson's essay on the difference between British and American comedy? I think it is in his Notes From America. He basically summarizes that for an American humour is about the fifth or sixth most important thing in their life, whereas for the British it is the first (that quote by Cleese that an Englishman would sooner admit to being a virgin than not having a sense of humour - quoting from memory). Americans also take everything with a earnest literalness which means they sometimes do not grasp irony. 

But, just to confuse things, there are a few rare specimens of Americans who operate like the British; you get a surprise when you find them but they do exist. It goes without saying Bryson is ''British''.

[soon]

Whats the Stand Up scene like in UK? Is going to comedy club a regular part of nightlife in UK?

[EvanG]

10 hours ago, killuridols said:

Actually, I've been thinking I'm attracted to cities/towns that reflect their main economical activity, because I also love those places around ports and fishing industry like this beautiful place in Chile called Valdivia.

 

The city Lodz is how you described. It's one of the biggest cities in Poland and definitely not one of the prettiest. There used to be a lot of industry but then the city fell into decline after the fall of communism, and nowadays they are using a lot of factories and industrial area for commercial spaces, but maintained that industrial charm. 

6 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

I hung around Mitte for a while. And you capture the feeling of that Berlin neighborhood perfectly. Alternative, industrial, set to a fading bourgeois background.

I had an apartment in Mitte, it's the district where I guess you spend most time if you're only in Berlin for one or two days because most of the famous Berlin sights are there. But I would advise everyone to go to Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, because it's like going to a different city even though it's a ten minute metro ride away from Mitte. Those districts are a lot more alternative and also have a really cool vibe. Charlottenburg is nice too, but it's a lot more commercialized with a huge boulevard with many stores and not quite that alternative like the other districts.

Edited August 24, 2018 by EvanG

[killuridols]

5 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

As far as this discussions goes, it hasn't anything to do with being conservative or progressive. For me, this is all about people jumping to conclusions. I am not taking a stance in the question of guilt between Monsanto and Argentinian farmers. I am taking a stance in whether it is right to just a priori put blame on one party. That's not fair. You have to base your conclusions on evidence. Not appeals to emotion. Not on predisposed opposition towards big industry. Evidence, evidence, evidence. Follow the evidence. If you don't have any, then don't jump on the screaming bandwagon. So what I am arguing against are arguments like "the farmers are innocent because they are poor," "Monsanto is to blame because they are a big corporation and hence evil," "Monsanto is to blame because the other party suffered leukemia," "Manufacturers of fertilizers should assign a rep to babysit farmers when they use the fertilizers to prevent them from spraying school grounds and using fertilizers as a condiment on their kids cereal." It's simply not enough for me. I think such argumentation is unfair. And I think everybody, even Monsanto, deserves to be judged fairly on basis of evidence. I guess it not politically correct to grant Monsanto fairness or even be treated as innocent until guilt has been proven, but I don't really care.

What is the evidence that you need? About what?

Whats up with what that Monsanto guy said "from now on, we will sell the product only to certified appliers"? It means that they did not take precautions with that before and only because their publicity is bad now they are willing to change.

4 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

And hey, I am not some spoiled guy who hasn't toiled beneath the burning sun. I am not unsympathetic to the plight of the farmers, the men of the earth. I have calluses on my hands too. I have lifted eels and greased wheels (yes). But if they have not followed instruction and thus poisoned their kids, then fuck them. 

I call bullshit on this. You know crap about being a farmer in the third world (and probably being a farmer anywhere). Growing a couple vegetables in your backyard is not being a farmer.

Seriously, you lose all respect when you say things like this. They are embarassing and ridiculous. Sometimes you sound reasonable but then you come up with stuff like this and I don't know what to think about that... I can only put it in the box of "utter ignorance" in relation to realities outside of the developed countries.

[SoulMonster]

1 hour ago, DieselDaisy said:

Did you read Bryson's essay on the difference between British and American comedy? I think it is in his Notes From America. He basically summarizes that for an American humour is about the fifth or sixth most important thing in their life, whereas for the British it is the first (that quote by Cleese that an Englishman would sooner admit to being a virgin than not having a sense of humour - quoting from memory). Americans also take everything with a earnest literalness which means they sometimes do not grasp irony. 

But, just to confuse things, there are a few rare specimens of Americans who operate like the British; you get a surprise when you find them but they do exist. It goes without saying Bryson is ''British''.

I have read his books it but can't remember this in particular. I do remember his fondness for the British and their humor, though. I like him.

[SoulMonster]

8 minutes ago, killuridols said:

I call bullshit on this. You know crap about being a farmer in the third world (and probably being a farmer anywhere). Growing a couple vegetables in your backyard is not being a farmer.

Seriously, you lose all respect when you say things like this. They are embarassing and ridiculous. Sometimes you sound reasonable but then you come up with stuff like this and I don't know what to think about that... I can only put it in the box of "utter ignorance" in relation to realities outside of the developed countries.

I never said I had experience of farming in the third world myself  It is more about having sympathy for workers regardless of what they do. One working man to another. The dirt under my nails used to come from eel poop and industrial oil, not soil and plant shit. Btw, I have asked my gardener to grow more than just a couple of vegetables, so you are wrong on that one, too.

[SoulMonster]

12 minutes ago, killuridols said:

What is the evidence that you need? About what?

The evidence that supports the conclusion that Monsanto did something wrong, i.e. that they either knew glyphosate was more dangerous than they reported, or that they didn't properly instruct the poor farmers on how to use the fertilizers. If they both were transparent about any known ill-effects of glyphosate, did all required tests, and properly instructed customers on how to use this fertilizer, then I feel they can't really be blamed. It is unfortunate, but not every tragedy has a bad guy.

[DieselDaisy]

9 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I have read his books it but can't remember this in particular. I do remember his fondness for the British and their humor, though. I like him.

''Sense of Humour Failure'', Notes from a Big Country, pp.385.

That Cleese quote incidentally is, ''an Englishman would rather be told he was a bad lover than that he had no sense of humour''. 

[EvanG]

I don't find your humour to be funny at all, Daisy, so you must be a great lover.

[SoulMonster]

11 minutes ago, EvanG said:

I don't find your humour to be funny at all, Daisy, so you must be a great lover.

A great lover of pre-industrial Europe, togas, and monocultures.

[EvanG]

Underneath all that cynicism and wit I bet that he's a romantic at heart.

Edited August 24, 2018 by EvanG

[wasted]

2 hours ago, DieselDaisy said:

Did you read Bryson's essay on the difference between British and American comedy? I think it is in his Notes From America. He basically summarizes that for an American humour is about the fifth or sixth most important thing in their life, whereas for the British it is the first (that quote by Cleese that an Englishman would sooner admit to being a virgin than not having a sense of humour - quoting from memory). Americans also take everything with a earnest literalness which means they sometimes do not grasp irony. 

But, just to confuse things, there are a few rare specimens of Americans who operate like the British; you get a surprise when you find them but they do exist. It goes without saying Bryson is ''British''.

Bill Bryson? He’s American for sure? I read his books and he’s always tazzing around looking for coffee. He went round the UK looking for ye Olde quaint Britishness. I wish they’s build a motorway over Stonehenge. Put a McDonald’s instead of it. But he does seem British, but didn’t he marry a brit and was lecturer at a UK university? 

Edited August 24, 2018 by wasted

[EvanG]

When I was in uni we had to read Bill Bryson for one class. I had a British teacher, she was crazy about him. I think that even led to a complaint from some students because they really couldn't get through the book... haha... I just remembered this. I don't remember if I finished the book myself, although I didn't seem to have as much trouble with it as some other students.

[killuridols]

1 hour ago, EvanG said:

Underneath all that cynicism and wit I bet that he's a romantic at heart.

He cringes everytime I give him a like or a dolphin. And when I post  after quoting him, I bet he dials the police inmediately 

Edited August 24, 2018 by killuridols

[wasted]

45 minutes ago, EvanG said:

When I was in uni we had to read Bill Bryson for one class. I had a British teacher, she was crazy about him. I think that even led to a complaint from some students because they really couldn't get through the book... haha... I just remembered this. I don't remember if I finished the book myself, although I didn't seem to have as much trouble with it as some other students.

His writing very conversational or casual isn’t it? It’s just like someone rambling about whatever he wants. I have no problem with but I never found it tough going. It’s middlebrow stuff not heavy theory. 

[EvanG]

20 minutes ago, killuridols said:

He cringes everytime I give him a like or a dolphin. And when I post  after quoting him, I bet he dials the police inmediately 

I don't think he's comfortable with flattering words or affection. When there's something to bicker about or a smartass remark to be made, he's the first in line, but when someone says something nice about him, he goes mute. And then he calls me bitter and grumpy!

[Len Cnut]

How is Dies' not a romantic?   He belives in a higher power, romantic, always harking back to the past, romantic, holds the world around him to moral standards, romantic   This is a forum full of romantics really.

[EvanG]

2 minutes ago, wasted said:

His writing very conversational or casual isn’t it? It’s just like someone rambling about whatever he wants. I have no problem with but I never found it tough going. It’s middlebrow stuff not heavy theory. 

I barely remember it, it's more than ten years ago. It was probably too British for Dutch students. : )

[Len Cnut]

Who the fuck is Bill Bryson?  I've seen it about on bookshelves I think.

EDIT: Just googled it, some hairy ginger pissflap that does travel shows and books.

Edited August 24, 2018 by Len Cnut

[SoulMonster]

5 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

Who the fuck is Bill Bryson?  I've seen it about on bookshelves I think.

EDIT: Just googled it, some hairy ginger pissflap that does travel shows and books.

Brilliant author. Very elegant prose. And ridiculously funny.

[SoulMonster]

In fact, The Summer of 1927 (or whatever its title is), is one of the best books I have read in many years. He also writes on different topic, like a biography on Shakespeare, a book on the English language, and a short history of (nearly) everything. He simply has an amazing talent as a story-teller. Highly, highly, highly recommended.