Hey Tiff
Been busy this year, busier than any I can remember.
But all is well, except for the political situation down here. Things are getting a bit messy because this is the election year and everyone is going to start throwing shit soon.
I have spent so much time in front of the computer at work that I don't even want to turn mine on when I get home.
Things should be slowing down a bit so I might get a chance to stick my nose in here more often.
Just got to keep on smiling. Damn it, where do they hide the clown smilie?

Who is winning here?

So sad. So many good people die too young while so many continue being useless until ripe old ages.

I only talked a few times with him, but he was someone to respect.

RIP MarsMan

Life itself, the ability to enjoy everything else.

It's new, quirky, and purely speculative. Therefore, it's true. — Sapientia

How so?
According to this theory I can say that next week a million dollars will fall from the sky at my feet and it will be true.

Questions or concerns? — Hanover

WTF.
Me things u done put a spanner in de workz.

Could we please have some guidelines as to exactly what could fall into the "last word" category?

Could it be the last word in a book? If so, are there any specific types of books?

Could it be the last posted word before a post is set to lock? if so, when would it be locked?

Could it be the last word uttered by the last specimen of humanity? Err sorry, that one wouldn't count because no one would ever hear it.

Let gets some rule to the game folks and then find ways to bend and break them.

Déjá vu!

Have I been here before? :-}

If something could be completely omnipotent, then it ought to be able to stop any sort of logical conclusion from obtaining, correct? — maplestreet

Yes.

What sort of answer is this? — maplestreet

Obviously not the one you were sitting there waiting for, less than 3 minutes to reply seems kind of fast.

Of course a planet so hot that it rains gemstones is conceivable, I have a mental image of it right now. — maplestreet

But did you conceive it before I mentioned it? that is the point I was trying to make.

And I could easily have a mental image/conception of a planet so hot that is rains gemstones any time before it was every noted by scientists. — maplestreet

But you didn't did you. Which just goes to show that anything is possible as soon as someone discovers or conceives it. No one will ever know until then whether something is actually possible.

sneak away to have sex with that cute girl (she's such a neanderthal) — Bitter Crank

Well that would certainly be more entertaining than sitting around the fire discussing where the universe came from. X-)

Scientist reported the other day that they have found a planet so hot that it probably rains gem stones, they cannot prove it yet but who would have thought something like that was conceivable.
There are probably millions of things that no one can even imagine but that really do exist, just don't ask for proof until they are actually discovered.

It's frustrating, because anyone in the world could post on a forum like this, but out of billions of people, and surely tens of thousands who have some interest in academic philosophy and who regularly use the Internet and sometimes post on message boards, it always seems like venues like this can't manage to do anything but attract the same 20-30 regulars (if that many) having more or less the same conversations with each other over and over for years on end. I don't know why that is. — Terrapin Station

The same can be said for the past several thousand years. Many people exist but only a few get together to discuss the important things of the world. the rest either do not understand, find it boring or always have more important things to do (like farcebook).

Sure, I'm just not clear why they must be able to do this? Are we just trying to fit the bill for them being aliens that can visit earth from outer space? Where's the requirement coming from? — Benkei

Ok, do you think that earth plants could reach another planet? It is obvious that in their present state, even taking into account the fact that they can communicate, they would not be able to reach the other side of the road by themselves.

But if, if the distant future, they developed the ability to create things from the environment in which they live they might develop the ability to travel in space. I don't find it hard to imagine that plants could develop appendages and thinking/reasoning capacities enough to be able to construct things, at least not as hard as a blob.

Why must they? — Benkei

Would it be possible for our plants to get into space?
No way unless they develop the ability to manipulate the environment to their benefit instead of just being affected by it. That doesn't mean that they don't affect their environment just that they don't do it deliberately.

Plants already communicate, reacting to their environment. That is a certain level of intelligence already. — Benkei

Yes they are intelligent to a certain level, but they would have to purposefully interact with their environment which ours don't. I think it is more that possible that in some other place they have developed this ability.

Maybe they can reach us without using appendages to design machines. Perhaps their equivalent of skin is hard enough for them not to explode in a vacuum (perhaps they have an evolutionary process similar to ours and their ancestors lived in something similar to an asteroid belt). — Ovaloid

And perhaps they fart instead of using propulsion motors. It would have to be an extremely weird being to be able to attain speed enough to launch it self from where ever it is and then be able to steer itself in the emptiness of space.

Perhaps they can consciously design the genes of their offspring and their equivalent of sex is like a human brainstorming session. — Ovaloid

How would that help them to get around? By giving their kids the ability to fart at near light speeds.

But the thing is, how would they even know we are here to come visiting? I suppose it would be possible for them to be able to detect radio signals as some animals can detect types of radiation energy that we cannot. But don't you think that if they had that ability they might also be able to breed in the ability to communicate with us by using it instead of coming here directly?

You're describing a plant. — Benkei

Do you think that plants from another planet could not be intelligent?

It is difficult to imagine all of the possibilities for intelligent life, because almost anything could be possible. What would be less difficult to describe would be the kind of alien that might come to visit and that would be humanoid. Simple reason is that they have to have some way to interact and manipulate their environment to be able to construct machines.
It is really not easy to imagine a blob or slug like being being able to do such things. The same applies to ethereal or liquid beings and any other without some sort of appendages for interaction with the tools and machines necessary to reach us.

Maybe she's practising for the Turing Test. — Wayfarer

She has a bigger chance of passing it than the owners of the site. 8-)

I was wondering about that. Who's posting under ModBot? Paul? — Nagase

She is a Bot. She does her own thing without anyone having to help her. X-)

I just awarded ModBot the poster of the month award for the shoutbox. She appears to be the most proliferate and productive member over there at the moment.
Sad, sad, sad. :’(

They are all topics that Trump is incapable of discussing intelligently. But from what I have seen of the guy, your list is only about 0.001 percent complete.

Well, it looks like they're trying to sell the domain for $50,000. — Michael

What I find interesting about that page is the price of the other sites that are up for sale

Related Domains For Sale or At Auction
YogaPhilosophy.com ($2,288) DesignPhilosophy.com ($3,875) SpiritualPhilosophy.com ($4,888) PhilosophyResearch.com ($2,488) GermanPhilosophy.com ($799) ChristianPhilosophy.com ($4,888)

Bit of a difference no?

He is neither alive nor dead, but undead. — Baden

Now the question is "Is he still in the box?"

c692d54914719657e04f6c6ca5b5a1a1.jpg — Banno

I hope you brought your cup! — andrewk

Of course he brought it, but it is not red anymore. Now it is invisible. :s

And on what do you base your claim that he is old?

I hope you buggers have somewhere to hide when he shows up.
The whiplash of his sarcasm will tear you to shreds.
The sharp prongs of his irony will pierce your shaking frames.

And if you are really honest, you all miss him. X-)

For anyone interested in museums, here's a list I have gathered. There is another file somewhere but buggered if I can find it.
19°25'33.70"N 99°11'11.43"W Museum Mexico
51°30'27.91"N 0° 6'9.33"W Museum Tate London
40°46'16.21"N 73°58'1.08"W Frick Collection
38°53'52.63"N 77° 1'22.67"W Smithsonian Washington DC
38.900046, -77.029153 National Museum of Women in the Arts
38°53'17.23"N 77° 1'38.38"W Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
38.897926, -77.023650 American Art Museum Washington, DC
32.713704, -117.175206 USS Midway Museum San Diego
38°53'51.62"N 77° 2'11.29"W The White House
47.517795, -122.296404 The Museum of Flight

48°51'38.00"N 2°17'49.46"E Musée du Quai Branly Paris
48°51'36.04"N 2°19'35.12"E Musée d'Orsay Paris
52°21'30.38"N 4°52'52.10"E Van Gogh museum Amsterdam
40°25'5.32"N 3°42'2.47"W ‎Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
51°30'31.98"N 0° 7'41.98"W National museum London
41°53'34.32"N 12°28'56.11"E Museo Centrale Del Risorgimento, Roma
41°53'37.02"N 12°28'59.28"E Museo Capitolina Rome
41°53'26.33"N 12°29'30.61"E Coliseum Rome
40°46'45.07"N 73°57'50.19"W Metropolitan art museum, New York
53°32'32.82"N 113°32'38.87"W Royal Alberta Museum Canada
49°16'34.51"N 123° 8'40.19"W Museum of Vancouver Canada
49°16'55.67"N 123° 5'53.41"W Police Museum of Vancouver Canada
52°31'15.03"N 13°23'48.74"E Berlin Germany
52°31'15.71"N 13°23'53.37"E Berlin Germany
52°31'10.22"N 13°23'53.79"E Berlin Germany
52°30'31.88"N 13°21'51.82"E Berlin Germany
49°37'1.30"N 6° 8'23.38"E Mudam Luxemburg City,
30°40'50.70"N 104° 0'48.63" E Jinsha site museum Chengdu China
30°40'59.06"N 104° 0'51.45"E Jinsha site museum Chengdu china
48°48'18.51"N 2° 7'11.25"E Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France
37°58'6.01"N 23°43'42.45"E Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece
33°52'7.14"S 151°13'2.36"E Art Gallery Of New South Wales, Australia

41°52'43.62"N 12°29'30.21"E Baths of Caracalla Rome
41°53'18.02"N 12°29'10.15"E Rione X Campitelli
41°53'24.73"N 12°29'31.92"E Piazza del Colosseo
41.879608, -87.623402 The Art Institute of Chicago
34.077587, -118.474507 Getty Center, Los Angeles
29.724969, -95.389557 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, USA
29.725409, -95.390522 Museum of Fine Arts 2, Houston, Houston, USA
45.433736, 12.340363 Doge's Palace Venezia, Italia
45.434241, 12.340577 San Marco Venecia, Italia
39.475596, -0.375222 Catedral de Valencia Plaça de l'Almoina, Valencia, España
55.734887, 37.606089 Tretyakov Gallery, Lavrushinskiy Moskva, Rusia
55.741797, 37.619994 Galería Tretiakov, Lavrushinskiy Moskva, Rusia
55.747364, 37.605349 Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
55.741676, 37.619747 Galería Tretiakov, Lavrushinskiy pereulok, 10, Moskva, Rusia
11.978146, 105.458765 Dei Doh Pagoda Camboya
24.891393, 74.646794 Chittorgarh Fort Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, India
24.891919, 74.643769 Kumbha Palace
24.879282, 74.645811 Padmini Palace
24.881193, 74.644333 Kalika Mata Temple
24.882901, 74.644342 Gora Badal Palace
22.505654, 73.473634 Sikander Shahs Tomb Gujarat, India
22.485839, 73.537278 Jami Masjid, Gujarat State Highway 150, Champaner, Gujarat, India


Just copy the coordinates into the google maps search box.

jamalrob
Wavin'l do ya no bloody good.

I know cause a friend told me to lookout for him in NY and he never showed up. :-#

Machu Picchu is way cooler.

Machu Picchu

Although I wonder if complete separation of the aesthetic from the erotic is ever possible or wanted for that matter. — Cavacava

How many dirty old men watch the gymnastics just to see the young ladies tying themselves in knots whilst wearing very little in the way of clothes?

Good point. I've not posted over there since Black Wednesday. I don't know if the takeover occurred on a Wednesday or not, but as far as I know, there are no other Black Wednesdays, so from this point forward I move that it be so called. Anyone second my motion? — Hanover

Try being a little more melodramatic about it and you might get my vote.

Just call it something simple like,
"The black day the philosophical light went out"
Like I said something simple. :D

We're at the pinnacle of technological evolution, with all of the sweet benefits, and luxuries, — Wosret

Didn't they say the same thing back in the 60's and 70's?

Philosophical methodology is via argumentation. — darthbarracuda

I hate using Wiki, but I am too lazy tonight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_methodology

You cannot argue without having disagreement.

This is why there is no philosophy of tupperware, or philosophy of car washing. — darthbarracuda

There are plenty of things to argue about with either topic, just as there are plenty of things to argue about with your spouse. But that is not the reason that a philosophy does not exist for them.
When philosophers argue, they don't really argue but present their explanations of the topic at hand and provide the evidence, ARGUMENTS, necessary to backup their way of thinking.

http://www.businessinsider.com/former-stanford-dean-shares-the-8-skills-everyone-should-have-by-age-18-2016-4
Something of interest.

You probably read Is Google Making Us Stupid?. — Bitter Crank

Not until you sent the link.

“I can’t read War and Peace anymore,” he admitted. “I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.”

This caught my eye as I skimmed through it.
Holy shit the matrix is taking over my brain.

Here is the part that worries me.

When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Kids today are not learning to process the information so that it has any real meaning nor creates any long term memory. The instant availability of info makes it unnecessary to remember so they don't even try.

What many avid users of internet resources don't get is that there is an enormous difference between locating information and copy/pasting the text on the one hand, and actually absorbing and integrating the information in one's brain on the other hand. — Bitter Crank

Like the friend of mine that I mentioned earlier, he made the comment to me after receiving an assignment that was 32 pages long when it should not have been more than 10. They fail to even check out the content to make sure it is correct, probably because the don't know how to analyze it.

When I was the age of the students you are working with, I didn't know any better. I did slipshod work and wasn't very interesting in much of anything. The efforts of several teachers eventually paid off - years later - when I finally did get interested and worked harder. — Bitter Crank

To be honest, I never tried too hard either. I was happy to get middling grades. I used to make sure that I never failed by reading the chapters of the book and writing summaries. But even then I did recognize the fact that a decent education would be beneficial even though all I wanted to do in life was be a hippie. Kids nowadays do not seem to realize that they will need an education simply because the good jobs are so much more complicated and there is going to be more competition for decent jobs as more and more people go to university.

“His brief life cut short simply because he was five dollars short. Brandon Gridner, February 29, 2002 – November 12, 2017.” — FrankGSterleJr

His life was not cut short because he did not have the $5. It was cut short because of the inhumanity of the other members of society. The one that wanted to kill him for a few dollars and the one that refused to help a person in need.

For the same reason a broken twig without an explanation would raise anxiety (for it may be a predator), — darthbarracuda

This is a possibility. Counting anxiety as fear of the unknown sounds about right.

the very existence of the human being without an explanation raises anxiety as a defense mechanism. — darthbarracuda

This is doubtful. Why would it cause anxiety? I could understand curiosity maybe but not anxiety. What would there be to fear?

I have met some children, teenagers, and young adults who are doing just great in school. They are doing just fine intellectually. These people are not elite children -- just the children of parents with reasonably high aspirations who are insisting on performance. — Bitter Crank

One of my ex students came to see me last week, she had been accepted into Harvard. I honestly never thought that she would get quite that high but apparently the competition is not as intense as it was before.

IF the parents' aspirations are high, they will insist on literacy and if necessary move to a district where the schools are good. Unfortunately, not all parents insist on literacy, and it isn't possible for everyone to move into a good school district.

Whatever the solution is, it will be achieved in the community with actual job opportunities with decent pay, — Bitter Crank

This is something that pisses me off. Where I work is a private school and I know a lot of other teachers in both public and private sectors. We all have a common complaint, even the ones with economic means and insistent parents show little interest in getting ahead. I don't mean all of them, there are always some that want to better their situation even if it is good already. So many of them pick careers like doctors or lawyers because they can earn good money here not because of interest in the job itself.
Parents who are rarely there for them because they are working to bring in cash often have high aspirations for their kids, but they INSIST the teachers to do all of the work. I have been cursed at because I did not make sure kids have done their HOMEWORK. How the hell am I expected to do that, go home with them maybe.

Their attitude sucks. I have been told so many times that they don't need to remember this or that because they can always GOOGLE it, but then they use the internet to farcebookize and twatterize instead of doing something useful.

O what tangled webs we weave
when first we practice to deceive. — Bitter Crank

Damned right, I ain'ta gonna be putin me stuff out der fer ever'un t'see.

Didn't you know that? What sort of failed media observer are you anyway? You're a disgrace!!! — Bitter Crank

What sort of a failed criticizer are you that you don't recognize a bit of sarcasm when you see it? Maybe I worded the question wrong though, let me try again.
How the fuck do they know that I am not me when I don't even know that?

Yes, the schools are doing a crappy job--but only as a secondary or tertiary knock on effect.

"School" [[i]for 70% of the population, give or take a few[/i]] beyond a minimal levels of literacy and social functioning is no longer important.
Why?

Because faster, cheaper, better, ubiquitous means of training people have been found: MEDIA. — Bitter Crank

I agree to a point , but.

• There are too many leaving school without the minimum level of literacy
• It is no good having all of the information out there if they people don't know what to do with it nor how to evaluate it. For example: a university instructor that I chat occasionally with on another forum(educational) told me about the growing number of students that have no idea if the internet research information they are presenting is what was asked for. They bring everything they can find in the hope that what was asked for is in there somewhere and the the instructor will find it.
• School is supposed to teach kids not just to read but to understand as well. I have met students from the US of A and Europe that are taking their break year and they cannot differentiate between the main idea in a paragraph and the supporting information.
• School is supposed to teach not just how to write but also the correct things to right. A lot of colleges have dropped their basic language course to force the responsibility back on the schools where it should be. Student should know how to write an essay before they leave school I think.

School will always have a place in society until they find a way to upload the info straight to the brain.

For the 80%, school now functioned as a control on the labor pool: keeping people in school (off the labor market) for as long as possible. Keeping youth under observation and corralled is another function. Training them into a lifetime of empty tedium at work and trivial pursuits after work is the primary task. — Bitter Crank

I will try to remember to post a sign that I have over my desk.

School is a 12 year minimum sentence for the crime of being ignorant.