wakefield26

So, I was reading the paper this morning and came across this article. Until the 70s, North Carolina had a eugenics program that forcibly sterilized the 'dregs of society'; any inmate or person at a state run institution deemed mentally unfit or morally unbalanced could be sterilized without their consent. This is the first time I've ever heard of this practice in America, but apparently it wasn't uncommon. I did some more reading about it, and it wasn't the only program in the States. In fact, the supreme court declared the practice legal in a decision (Buck vs Bell) that has never been formally overruled. According to wikipedia, between 1907 and 1963 over 64,000 people were sterilized in the United states. These sterilizations were focused on minority races and immigrants, mostly women, to keep them out of the gene pool. Hilter's eugenics programs were said to be modeled off programs in the US. I decided to post about this because it's the first time I've heard of it, never taught in history class. Any thoughts? I thought the reparations talked about in the article seemed low for such an intrusive disregard of rights.

I played piano for a couple years when I was a kid, I can't sight read but if I focus for long enough I can play some simple things. I played cello in grade school, I loved it and it is my favorite instrument I've ever had. Unfortunately, when I switched schools cello was no longer an option, I had to switch to french horn. I always tell myself that when I'm rich and successful I'd buy myself a cello and learn how to play again. About a year ago I got myself a guitar, a fender acoustic. I'm pretty horrible at it, but it's fun to mess around with. Starting last month, I've been teaching myself to play the harmonica. I get so out of breath playing it though, I need to learn better techniques.

I think that a supervolcano, disease/epidemic, overpopulation and famine, and climate change would all potentially cause a lot of deaths, but wouldn't wipe out the entire human species. They would cause massive population loss that would disrupt economies, decrease peace, and set us back technologically and culturally, possibly to a subsistence lifestyle in hard hit areas. It would be interesting to see the renaissance period after a potential 'dark age' if this happened. Even an MAD nuclear situation wouldn't wipe out everyone. Say America and its allies, China and its allies, were all destroyed by nukes. Casualties in each of the participating countries would be huge, but some countries, not participating in the war, would not get directly bombed. The fallout would be terrible worldwide, and there would be lots of death and disease, probably shortened lifespans, but again, not total extinction. I do think humans will go extinct some day. Geologic time pretty much assures it. The earth's end will be our end if we don't create colonies off-planet someday. I think if earth is knocked out of its orbit, gets too close/too far from the sun, we'll have some real problems. That would take some crazy massive asteroid though. Another problem might be lack of water, some time in the distant future. Just think, humans might (d)evolve, (like dinosaurs into chickens) into something lesser to a new dominant species on earth, like mammals overtaking reptiles.

I have these recurring nightmares that planes are bombing my town. Every time it happens, I wake up in a panic, and run out of my room to escape a fiery death. Most of the time I realize it was a dream in the hallway, but once I got to the lower level and almost out the door before I realized I was safe. It's certainly an adrenaline rush. I think I must have lived through the blitz in a previous life.

You could write in to one of those newspaper articles where they pressure companies into righting wrongs. For instance, in Chicago we have the fixer. I don't know if your area has one, but they might be able to help.

Ross, if you wouldn't mind a small suggestion, you might want to change the thumbnail for your youtube copy. Your video doesn't look as "official" not having the same format and I'll admit, I skipped over it the 1st time. It might be easier to find (for fans who don't frequent the forums) if it matched. This is what the video results look like in a search for "freeman's mind 45":

I think that might mess up your code's formatting. Stick it up on Pastebin, that should work.

Put the file on an outside site and link to it, maybe.

Riott, did you make the "every episode of freeman's mind at once" video? Because its a little terrifying and awesome and has great hilarity value. I bet if I listened to it on repeat while I was sleeping I would wake up either insane or a complete genius (my money's on crazy). Also, I am totally up for it, I'll run your view increasing thing too. Sounds like a good way to up the ol' view counter.

Yay! We're out of limbo! Congratulations on getting out in one piece! I was sure Machinima would have hidden a legal trap in there somewhere.

Okaaay, I'm sensing a little animosity here, but I think this thread is the best place for this: There is this coursera class, "A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior" that talks about, among other things, why people make bad economic decisions. I thought that you might find it interesting. There is a lot of material and unfortunately, we're already pretty far along in the lesson, but if anyone is interested I will link the class's lecture/reading notes, which are more concise.

But isn't the idea behind buying the game to... you know, play the game? I think it wouldn't be good to release Freeman's Mind on DVD because the animation/design is Valve's property, but in a hypothetical situation, I don't think it would stop people from buying Half Life.

I'm happiest when I'm doing something with good people, or when I'm doing productive work by myself. It's sort of a clean feeling to work hard and end up exhausted, but with a final product done right. If there's nice weather, a good breeze, sun, or even a rain shower, I'll be in a happy mood. Here's a mini-story of something that made me happy. I was in a shop, and I overheard a dad speaking with his (6 year old?) son. The son wanted a shirt, and brought it to his dad. "Honey, that shirt is too big for you." The kid runs away, and comes back with a different one. "This is a large. Go see if they have a small for you." The son looks at the tag, perplexed. "Oh. I thought the L was for little." A cute conversation, it really made me smile.

If you go to machinima.com, they have this nifty little box at the bottom of the page: [attachment=0]contact them.jpg[/attachment] I am all about sending (polite) complaint letters. I know that it won't have a great effect, but at least it's something.