The anti-science/anti-free speech left

o-nation. I see you agreed with me on these two points. Congrats. you have a wee bit of brain power .

You should have paid attention when I was recommending Old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon instead of suggesting other stuff. Other scotches, whiskeys are also good. This is exceptional. Its difficult to find. Go look for it. Its expensive but a rare treat. Don't waste time being a contrarian political hack. Old Pappy is so good it transcends politics.

 

Hah! I'm not as partisan as all that. Our Democratic congresswoman for Orange County is a close personal friend of a close personal friend of mine, and I've smoked a few doobies with her husband. The second man in my wedding is a lifelong Democrat whose wife belongs to the California Teachers Union and has tatooed across her back in large letters, "Si Se Puede". I sh*t you not.

I do have to admit, under Obama, none of us get along as well. I guess that is what happens when you have the president of the United States getting on national television every few weeks, calling half the people in the country terrorists, hostage takers, extremists, and the like. You just cant have a demagogue misrepresenting your views and stereotyping you in the most hateful terms on a daily basis without it effecting people after a while. Gallup's new polls just placed Obama as the most divisive president in the history of their polling. Ever.

I'll give the whisky a try. Maybe it will take the Obama edge off.

 

Thanks! I just got into CanStockPhoto and 123RF too! My last one I'm going to try is the biggest, ShutterStock. I've heard they are much more difficult though. I'm just kind of doing it for fun. Maybe I'll earn some pocket change. It's also good for learning. I would say about 25% of my images are rejected, and the reviewers aren't shy at all about telling photographers why their pictures suck.

On topic of this thread: Most people can't afford Old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. Obama is the President.

I found bottles of it on The Find ranging from $135-$1000:
http://www.thefind.com/food/info-pappy-van-winkle-bourbon

 

Rebecca: Good luck with your submittals. Old Pappy Van Winkle is expensive. I was lucky. I didn't pay for it. I was with some local "big shots" at a restaurant and they knew the chef/owner who added this to the meal. The "big shots" were familiar with it. I wasn't. I never saw the bill. Ha ha ha.

I'm too cheap to spring for that kind of stuff. I like it...but I don't like paying for it. But I figure o-nation is a big shot. He'll probably love it and start telling us all about it.

Seriously though Rebecca, the last reason in the world why that stuff is expensive is Obama. Be real. You may not like Obama, but he is not responsible for rain, snow, one's shoelaces being untied, cloudy weather, the fact that the Red Sox won the world series, or many other things that go on, regardless of what o-nation and his ilk like to blame him for.

If you read about the bourbon they have been producing it since the 1970's or 1980's. I know the tea party type extremists like to blame Obama for WWI, WWII, the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 and the one in 1989, the black plague from the middle ages and all sorts of other things.

Obama had nothing to do with any of those things including the high price of Old Pappy. Meanwhile the GOP brought us the biggest recession in the history of modern times. In fact the conservative GOP brought the Great Depression to the US. That is two for two for the worst major financial disasters in modern (and not so modern) American history.

That is not a good track record.

 

Given the quantity of hot air the guy produces, it might not be unwarranted to blame him for climate change.

Speaking of blaming people for ridiculous things, President Clinton disagrees with your assessment.



And then we have the fearless DEmocratic defenders of loose lending practices in their own words:

 

Thank you. I'm still all into Photoshop, the photography is a good partner to that. The only microstock agency left that I want to apply for is Shutterstock. Maybe soon. They kind of intimidate me, so I'm waiting awhile longer. Today I'm excited. Last night I applied to Demand Media as a photographer. Here's their Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_Media

They need pictures for their articles. I would just work out of my little home studio I've created. If they have enough work, I think that would be a dream job. Wish me luck! I feel bad because they fired my manager at work, they also fired his boss!! I saw him the night before and he was being so nice. I could tell he wanted to tell me something, but it's like he couldn't. The next day he was walked out. I think he knew what was about to happen. It's really sad.

So now I think I just want to start looking for something new. I'm also going to start selling ebooks in Kindle Publishing. I have someone from Fiverr writing my ebook right now. I have a lot of things going on now, that's kind of why I'm not visiting the forum as much. At least even if I don't become rich, I can always get my mind of the crazy shenanigans at work.

Anyway, please don't try to defend Obama!! We all know he's responsible for rain, snow, cloudy weather...!?!!.# j/k

 

Good luck on all that stuff. Photography would be cool. Meanwhile too bad about the stuff going on at your job. I'd check to see where and what o-nation has been up to. He likes it when bosses fire people.

Meanwhile, getting back to your bud, Obama. You forgot to blame him for earthquakes, migraines, tummy aches, Hitler and Ghenkis Khan, let alone the current cost of movies, traffic, smog, and whooping cough.

 

I said, "Most people can't afford Old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. Obama is the President." I never said he set the price for Old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. Just that many people can't afford it with the Obama economy.

Obamanation just likes incompetent people getting fired, especially the ones getting paid by American tax-payers. My manager got fired for breaking policy and unethical behavior, not incompetence.

 

Oh, I like it when people get fired for unethical behavior as well (Nothing against your boss individually mind you).

Take Lois Lerner, IRS employee at the center of attention on the scandal involving the IRS targeting tea party groups. She plead the fifth when it came time to testify in congress, an amendment put in place to prevent the government from compelling people to testify against themselves. By definition, when you plead the fifth, there is an implicit admission that something you could say on the topic would land you in jail. In this case, the topic in question was the proper and ethical performance of her job duties. She should have been fired on the spot.

Instead, Ms. Lerner now works as an "expert" on the government committee Obama has put together to tighten the rules on tax exempt organizations. This, mind you, while Obama claims there was not even a smidgen of corruption in the IRS targeted audits of conservative groups while six investigations into the matter are still under way. Perhaps Obama knows something we don't. After all, one of the lead Justice Department investigators into Ms. Lerner is a big time Obama campaign contributor.

Here is one example of Obama's ethical and non-corrupt government in action.

"My life before I spoke out for good government stands in stark contrast to the life I now lead. As a wife, a mother, and small businesswoman working with my husband, raising our children and participating in my church and PTA, the government collected my taxes and left me and my family in peace. But when I helped found and led True the Vote and King Street Patriots, I found myself a target of this federal government," she said. "Shortly after filing IRS forms to establish 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations, an assortment of federal entities including law enforcement agencies and a Congressman from Maryland, Elijah Cummings came knocking at my door. In nearly two decades of running our small business, my husband and I never dealt with any government agency, outside of filing our annual tax returns. We had never been audited, we had never been investigated, but all that changed upon submitting applications for the non profit statuses of True the Vote and King Street Patriots. Since that filing in 2010, my private businesses, my nonprofit organizations, and family have been subjected to more than 15 instances of audit or inquiry by federal agencies."

Engelbrecht was audited by the IRS, ATF and received multiple visits by OSHA and ATF.​

No government attention prior to being associated with a Tea Party group. 15 audits by various federal organizations afterward, all of which turned up nothing. Obviously when the audits come from organizations besides the IRS, the trail doesn't stop within the IRS. Yeah, not even a smidgen of corruption.

 

Bush Presidency:

Republicans: Nothing is Bush´s fault.

Obama Presidency:

Democrats: Nothing is Obama´s fault.

According to this logic, presidents have no effect on what is going to happen. Maybe it is time to remove Presidency post and save some money.

 

Uh oh, sounds to me like Obama needs to sign a bill forcing employers to keep ALL employees!

Give him some time.. Perhaps he'll cover that in his next SOTU.

 

Reddit is is deciding what is science and what is not. You can't do that. Remember, most major scientific theories started out as banned subjects. And that's because the banned subjects contradict a belief that the banners have a deep emotional interest in (a telltale sign of bad science - experiments must be dispassionate). That's why Einstein tried to ban quantum mechanics ("God doens't play dice with the universe").

If you want a scientific discussion you need to allow all opinions, no matter how opposed you may be - ESPECIALLY if you are opposed. If you believe so strongly it's wrong, make your case via the scientific method.

Once you begin to censor anything you lose all credibility.

 

There is an old saying; an adage; "He who smelt it, dealt it."

For those unfamiliar with the phrase, it refers to offensive smelly farts in a space with several people. It highlights the fact that its often the one who generated the smelly offensive fart being the first one to describe it and is typically the one who blames somebody else for the offensive act.

And thus we have this thread: a perfect example of that old adage that he who smelt it...dealt it.

The OP, by o-nation claims that those he opposes, "the left", are anti science and anti free speech. He claims that certain media are limiting free speech. He claims Reddit among others have cut discussions.

Of course as described above Reddit has not cut out any discussions. One subreddit established a restriction and explained their reasoning. One of the mods, a scientist wrote about it here . Reddit allows any posts whatsoever. The subreddit puts limits on discussions that strive to be reasonable, and above all else are entirely focused on the purpose of the subreddit and the reason the vast vast vast majority of its readers go there.

Now in this forum, just a few weeks ago we have the PERFECT example of the dilemma of web conversations and how they can be perverted by politically minded people.

The mods closed discussion on this thread about same sex marriage. I'm not a mod here but its obvious why they did this. The thread diverted from the topic with its last 40-45 posts with an overwhelming volume of attacks on one another. Discussions of same sex marriage had stopped replaced by attacks. I see that o-nation contributed to about 1/4 of the attacks in the last 40-45 posts.

The mods have closed discussion on other threads here over time. But its been a while. Meanwhile there are threads currently with dramatically more responses on potentially controversial topics: Does God Exist; Do you believe in God or Science. They have significantly more responses than did the Same Sex Marriage Thread. They just aren't as mean spirited. Read them. The discussions continue.

These mods terminated a thread, probably for the exact same reasons the science subreddit created limits on its threads. The science subreddit is about science. It wants discussions on science. Its not an open ended forum of vicious personal web attacks that HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH SCIENCE. Nor is a thread about same sex marriage an open opportunity to endlessly viciously attack people.

Free speech is a gift. It prevails in free societies and is off limits in controlled societies. It is clearly subject to abuse, as we see in the example of the same sex marriage thread, the science subreddit, and so many other web venues that convert from places to discuss and learn into places overwhelmed by personal attacks.

As to the other element of the title of this thread: that the left is anti science: Its interesting that this thread was started some days after an interesting poll conducted by Pew, which identified that there is a surprisingly high and increasing number of Republicans that don't believe in Evolution and that the percentage of Republicans (ie the RIGHT Wing...not the left)....has increased dramatically in just a few years. The percentage of people in the overall population that believe in evolution hasn't really changed, but the percentage of self proclaimed Republicans that believe in human development by a supreme being and not evolution has increased significantly.

One could see that the complete opposite of this Opening Thread was identified in a major poll just a few days before the thread. Then one sees that free speech about a topic is completely destroyed by people who switch the conversation from one about Same Sex Marriage to one of endless destructive personal attacks.

I'd just suggest that the title of this thread is a terrific example of that old adage: "he who smelt it, dealt it.

 

So much for keeping these discussions on a mature level. Did you read my last post? Would you like to comment on it?

I rarely report posts, but I will admit that I reported a handful of the posts on that thread. I'd say that the mods removed 75% of those I reported. Look at your posts, Earl. How many were personal attacks? How many posts did you write out of anger?

And don't look now, Earl, but you are diverting from the topic of this thread.

Now, back to the topic at hand: Earl, do you want to contribute to THIS discussion? Did you read my last post? Would you like to comment on it?

 

I think you are the first one to point this out!

Off Topic: Home working tip for the day: If you want to make extra cash working from home Google terms like, "ads quality rater" "zerochaos" "lionbridge" "leapforce" "appen butler hill"...I'm sorry, I can't say anymore. Otherwise, they'll have to kill me.

Hey, today I applied to be an expert for About.com in food photography. Wish me luck on that too! Hope everyone has a nice day!!

 

What a wonderful diversion. Reddit mods are banning people for their positions on issues, not closing threads for going off topic or personal attacks. Who knows why the mods closed that thread. Maybe they didn't like homosexuality being called an illness. Maybe they agreed with the opinions of those who couldn't defend their position in the thread, and couldn't stand to see you getting beaten like a red headed step child. Maybe it was thread closing Tuesday and that particular thread won the contest. Who knows.

Funny, my last reading of the bill of rights placed free speech squarely in the "right" category, not the "gift" category. I must have that wrong, being of the wrong political persuasion and all.

I love polls and studies. Here is an interesting one conducted by Yale, that actually delved into further delineating Tea Party supporters from Democrats and Republicans.

Yale law professor Dan Kahan posted on his blog this week that he analyzed the responses of more than 2,000 American adults recruited for another study and found that, on average, people who leaned liberal were more science literate than those who leaned conservative.

However, those who identified as part of the tea party movement were actually better versed in science than those who didn’t, Kahan found. The findings met the conventional threshold of statistical significance, the professor said.

Kahan wrote that not only did the findings surprise him, they embarrassed him.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html​

One does not destroy free speech by engaging in it. Free speech is destroyed by silencing those with opinions different than yours.

 

Laughable.

As if, you have never made any "destructive personal attacks".

 

yeah...I pointed it out...but did you just "smelt it" or "dealt it"

hey good luck on the food photographer application. How does that work? If you are accepted do they get you gigs just in your area or if a chef in Scranton, PA made some uber delicious goulash they were going to write about....would they fly you out there to take pics???? I'd guess if you get a rep for doing good food photography in your region and if its a fairly well populated area with a lot of restaurants and foodies, etc. you could get a lot of business doing food photography.

 

What if they paid to fly me to 5 star restaurants all over the world! Maybe not. I did research the pay. The most reliable information I've found is they pay somewhere between $300-$700 a month and you write 6-8 articles. Honestly, I'm not that enthused about the writing part. Maybe I'll get a personal assistant to proofread. I would enjoy the photography part of it. Who knows? If I invested enough time in it, maybe I could get paid by restaurants for a photo shoot. I could feature them! They might even give me free food!! You never know. I would imagine to start I would just be cooking on my own. As soon as I submitted my application I got an automated email from them saying sometimes they take a LONG time to get back to applicants. So I won't hold my breath, but it might be fun to do.

For the last week and a half, I have applied to about 7 different opportunities. The only one I've actually acquired is an offer this morning from Appen Butler Hill. These are very nice people, I think (at least my contact was). I had to complete a lot of paperwork this morning, like an NDA and agreements to various terms. If all is well, I should start that in 4 days. I'm on a mission!! I hope to hear from DemandStudios soon. Some of what I've heard is criticism, but that is actually the position that I hope to get next. Crossing fingers.

 

LOL. Where have you lived the last 15 years, in a South American jungle? Free speech is a gift given to those that agree with everything that government says.