dusqi

I was reading a psychology journal article the other day (Tyler, 2006) that suggested that society likes to stereotype groups so that it feels like social inequalities are justified and everyone benefits from how the social system is. The poor are viewed as 'disadvantaged but happy' and the rich are viewed as 'deserving of the wealth they have but miserable'. So, the poor feel satisfied with their situation, because 'at least they're happy'.. and the rich don't care about the poor because they 'worked hard for their wealth in a meritocratic society'. I encourage the poor not to accept their situation, and the rich to recognise that life isn't fair, and they probably just got lucky. Finally: "Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple" (Switzer, 2005).

Preferably the family would be rich but I'd be able to keep it away from my kids to give them the proper values and such :) Although I would provide for them in ways such as a decent high school >.> It's very possible to not spoil a child but still be "rich". Would your child have to share a bedroom? Would your child be able to invite lots of friends over because there was space in your garden rather than living in a flat? Would your child grow up in a nice area where he was unlikely to be pressured to join drug groups? Would you like to be able to pay for your child's college education? Would you prefer to get home from work at 6pm every day at the latest so that you could spend time with your child? Would you like to be able to take your child on vacations abroad so that it could learn about and experience different cultures? None of these are particularly "spoiling" a child, yet poor people cannot necessarily do them.

Congratulations! The future is exciting :D

$50,000 doesn't go far. I'd probably save it for a deposit for a house. I would like a second monitor for my PC though.

I had a horrible day yesterday, despite the daylight savings being a nice surprise. Today however has been good :D Got lots done, and talked to some people I wanted to :D

I admire MTV for changing their branding from "just another music channel", to one with teen programs that has been ridiculously successful. I like to imagine the meeting of the directors, where they were sitting round a big table, and one of the newer ones tentatively suggested putting on teen programs, and everyone else looked at him as if he was insane, and asked why the heck there would be teen programs on a music channel :) Of course, MTV is all complete and utter trash, and I look down on anyone who watches it for being suckered in 8-)

Weed has strong links with developing schizophrenia. I would say that it increases the risk of it, but I know someone would pull me up on the correlational aspect.. and although I've seen a study that establishes the causality, I can't remember where it is, and I'm not going to find it. I'm against legalising hard drugs, because although in theory it's good that individuals make their own decisions without state interference, people are just really really bad at making good decisions. Especially decisions where drugs are concerned.

The programmer wouldn't be God. The thing about God is that, you can't just ask "who created God". Because God created himself. The programmer is just another stage up from the point of view of the simulation, but he was created just like the simulation was, he didn't always exist.

The real question is.. would you want your own children to grow up in a rich or poor environment? Though people may say that being rich isn't necessarily a better life.. I imagine that few people would deny their children the opportunity.

Interestingly, they used to carry out operations on children younger than about 1.5 years old (before language) without anaesthetic, because they weren't considered conscious yet.

Start sentences with "what do you think about..." Everyone has opinions :)

It always amuses me when guys talk about fighting some other guy over a girl. They usually talk about it as if it's a chivalrous act, trying to win her love by beating someone else senseless. If you win the fight.. does it mean that you get the girl? Nope.. because girls make their own decisions.. and they probably don't base them on who can win a fight. So if you can't trust her to make a decision, then you probably don't respect her as a person enough. And if a girl can't make her own decisions without letting guys fight over her love, then she's probably some pathetic decadent girl who will dump you as soon as a stronger or richer guy comes along anyway. So, in conclusion, the fact that he might or might not be stronger than you doesn't matter at all. It's what she thinks of you both that matters. And the mere fact that you felt it necessary to mention that you would fight this guy, suggests that you don't respect that.

They've been doing this for years and years (though not with replacing them with adverts - that seems to be the new thing). I read an article about it about a year ago, so only remember it vaguely. It talked about one of these outside companies they hired to plant fake files, and said that basically it wasn't worth it because the 'critical mass' required to get the fake file prominently shared over real files was too high and required too many resources. If you're looking for humorous anti-piracy practices, I read about this on Slashdot recently. The MPAA has introduced a merit badge in Scouts for not pirating.

Happy (late) Diwali!! I don't really know what it is.. but I have an Indian friend who was vaguely celebrating it yesterday

deformed skittles? missing Ss? Bah Find a rat in a skittles bag. Then you've hit the jackpot :D

The government just didn't like not being able to tax it since the gambling companies were based off-shore.

That's ridiculously expensive! :shock: As for me? I tend not to buy things.. I just looked round the room and realised that I didn't really buy any of the significant things I 'own' :P I also don't earn any money either, so it balances out. So, I guess, the best is the 6 speaker surround sound set that I got from an acquaintance friend for free.. :P Oh, and the plane ticket to America that I bought which led to a great experience :), and the worst is.. mm.. the money that I keep spending when I go shopping every week, buying cakes and treats :P Oh, and also the money I spend every time I use my cellphone. They're such a rip-off.

(just to say that I've seen these sticky hands in the UK, and we don't have Walmart either. So that's the best of both worlds! :D ;) )

Yup.. just like to back up Rick concerning Anesthesia.. we've known him for a good few years.. and he's not 10.. and has a hotter gf (fiance) than most of us will ever have 8-)

I consider myself more of a reader (I refuse to be called a lurker :P ). Though I don't have as few posts as many of you that are posting here, so maybe I'm too verbose to join the club really :P

I dislike advertising after reading about the psychological principles behind it. Adverts aren't about giving product information so that you can make an informed choice about buying it, they're about spamming a brand in every way possible to make you familiar with it. And what is a brand? It's up to about 3 buzzwords, like "sophisticated, intelligent, modern" etc. because we're all so stupid that we can only remember 3 words about each product. Even if you think that adverts don't affect you (which most people do), they will bias you still.

Find out your result first, and see the paper to find out what happened on the question.

I think that in some cases there is a trade-off between liberty and safety. However, I think that currently the governments of the world are over-representing the threat that terrorists pose (intentionally or unintentionally), and using this in order to limit more liberties than are necessary.

Apparently the daughter came to the father and said that she had reservations about reading it because of language. So it's not necessarily that he's protecting her from the real world in a fruitless attempt to keep her pious all of her life, she just didn't want to read it.

16 days*