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According to the Society of Professional Journalists, journalism is about providing "information in an accurate, comprehensive, timely and understandable manner." Sadly, in the mainstream media, jour...
editorial posted by
braincrave
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When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first thing to be bought and sold are legislators. - P.J. O'Rourke
DISCUSS!
Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on Mar 4,...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
From the "all governments are stupid" files, Italy brings us this: Sticking out your tongue ruled illegal
ROME, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Italy's highest court of appeal affirmed the illegality of insu...
editorial posted by
braincrave
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What a completely ridiculous statement, right? Calling Ron Paul a progressive? So why are some prominent progressives suggesting that Ron Paul is more progressive than Obama?
Liberals and progress...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Jesse Ventura did his latest conspiracy theory show on 9/11, something that's been a passion of his since the event. I've followed his interviews over the years and know he knows substantially more t...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
For those of you who refuse to vote for the lesser of two evils, take comfort in knowing that you're in the majority. Politicians are always claiming their wins indicate that "the people have spoken....
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Meanwhile, as people in Haiti continue to starve in a country "occupied" by 10,000 aid organizations under the government umbrella of the United Nations (an organization designed for war)... They're...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Ayn Rand warned us. She did it in her books such as Atlas Shrugged (and, to a certain extent, >The Fountainhead). She did it on TV such as in this famous interview between her and Mike Wallace on...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Throughout history, machines, tools, devices, etc. have become smaller. But not until recently have we been able to see down to the lowest level - to that of the nano. With electron microscopes, nano...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Today I learned through math that Aristotle was correct on the law of identify (i.e., A = A), and that everything that exists does have a specific nature. Specifically, all numbers do not equal all o...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Do you think a virtual reality, or 'Matrix' is possible? Obviously the Matrix in the movie to replicate real world physics and a universe is far to complicated but something like a 'Third Life' kind...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Contrary to what the United Nations does, Mother Earth doesn't have a conscience. She can't tell us which of her resources she wants us to save, which to take care of, and which to use. Ergo, how we...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Today I learned that Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Richard Palmer is "sorry" for the way he voted in the infamous eminent domain Kelo v. New London case.
In that case, the US Supreme Court aff...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
It's the typical Catch-22. You can't get hired for a job because you have limited experience, and you can't get experience until you get a job. It appears there are many young people who are having ...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
History repeats itself. Men have constantly fought and died in the war for equality throughout the centuries. However, not all of them had in mind the same idea of equality when they gave their lives...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Have we become a culture of dependence? As far as we can see, the "producers" continue to support the "non-producers" instead of, say, "going on strike." Why do people generally think that they have...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Braincrave.com has been highlighted as one of the top 10 Cool Things to Do in Second Life for intellectual discussions!
Of course, we're very honored and want to thank all of you who help us make...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Today I learned that there is a "paper" in production that can be erased and reused 260 times and currently costs about $2.00/sheet. (And we all know that, just like with any technology, that price w...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Can we all agree that, no matter who it is, the US president does not have the legitimate power to bomb another nation without an act of Congress formally declaring war?
Five wars have been declar...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Many have developed tests that attempt to gauge a person's intelligence. There are many high IQ societies that use these tests as membership criteria. However, as of yet, the "secret" of intelligence...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Our current culture appears to revolve more around "dos and don'ts," which is to suggest that society appears more focused on rules of what you are and aren't allowed to do. With that premise, perha...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
People always complain that freedom, self-rule, and/or anarchy are unworkable and too extreme. Why are any of those more radical or extreme than going into $14 trillion of debt, being in a permanent...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Ayn Rand wrote that the process of thinking "is the process of defining identity and discovering causal connections." She claimed that thinking is a choice - not an automatic function - and she admon...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Today I learned condoms were originally made of linen and Casanova, the womanizer, called them "The English Overcoat." Who created the first colored condom? The Japanese, of course. (In other news, 8...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
To claim that the US supports freedom (i.e., the absence of physical coercion) is nonsensical. Everything the US government does is anti-freedom. Take the situation in Egypt, for example. American ad...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
US soldier holds flag protest sign: "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people." Well put. Controversial?
US Soldier Holds American Flag Protest Sign
DISCUSS!...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
It is said that bad habits die hard. How many times have you read in someone's dating profile: "I'm a positive person?" How often have you told someone to "think positive?" Psychology suggests this m...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
You've just got to love science... one of the great things about science fiction is how quickly it becomes non-fiction. Putting aside the potential for Skynet or I, Robot, imagine for a moment artifi...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Although cutting edge research gives me reason for hope, pancreatic cancer is the fourth most deadly cancer known and THE most horrible and personal disease to me. Two years ago, I lost my mother to...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
We all have previously learned about the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918, which killed between 20-40 million people worldwide in our history classes. Now with the advance of modern molecular biology techn...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Welcome to the bizarre world of union ideology. Unions are hiring unemployed people at the minimum wage to walk picket lines. (Snicker.) Why aren't they being paid union rates? I personally think the...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
What's the fundamental problem that's leading to so many teenagers having sex, including anal sex and even prostitution? Is this the result of poor sex education? Why isn't the $200 million the US go...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Sadists are those who enjoy giving pain. Masochists are those who enjoy receiving pain. However, most of us attempt to avoid pain, especially emotional pain. In fact, research suggests that emotional...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Ron Paul nails it again in the simplest of terms. Is it acceptable for someone to incur debt on your behalf and in your name if you don't know about it or, even worse, are opposed to it? Does it matt...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Contrasted with being a "good guy," what does it mean to be a "real man?" Putting aside the obvious requirements of XY chromosomes "and a pair of testicles," what determines masculinity? Is there a w...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
There's a funny t-shirt for babies that says "Santa doesn't exist but I can't read, so it's okay." Do you lie to children about Santa Claus (or leave it ambiguous)? What are the benefits and limitati...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Milton Friedman, the originator of the withholding tax, once said "we're all Keynesians now" (referring to the disastrous economic policies promoted by John Maynard Keynes). More recently, Newsweek (...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
As those of you in the US enjoy the holiday, thought you might want to learn about the true story of thanksgiving - this might make some interesting conversation around the dinner table... it's calle...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
If you're looking for the meaning of life, religions are ready with an answer. As of yet, science doesn't have an answer, other than to possibly claim that there isn't any purpose. (Nihilists of the...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
So I'm at this place listening to 80s music and I read a profile that has this quote: "to wish you were someone else is to waste the beautiful person that you are." A contradiction in SL?
DISCUSS!...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Christina Hoff Sommers wrote in her book The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men that "it's a bad time to be a boy." Certainly, government curriculums in schools is misg...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Guess you can't call them hypocrites for this particular action, unlike most liberals who railed against Bush but now ignore the fact that Obama has continued with (and gone beyond) Bush’s anti-ter...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Today I learned that tea parties were established in the 1830s. But if the Boston Tea Party was in 1773, why did they call it the Boston Tea Party? Answer - they didn't: the actually called it "The d...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
The mystical Fountain of Youth so long sought after... What if it were real, and the key to life could be discovered in an 18-year old girl that, for all intents and purposes, is a baby? What if, in...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Today I learned which countries make up the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), the difference between the United Kingdom (four countries) and Great Britain (England, Sco...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Let's say you're a woman and you're looking for a roommate to share the rent. Should it be illegal to ask for female candidates only? Of course not. That would be absurd. But did you know that the sa...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Will someone please remind me again why the Europeans and Americans are at war with Iraq and Afghanistan, killing anywhere from hundreds of thousands of people to, by some estimates, over 1 million?...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Today, a man committed suicide by flying his plane into an IRS office. I think this is only the beginning of more to come. The IRS has been terrorizing people illegally for decades. The courts and mi...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
The problem really is crime, isn't it? It doesn't matter whether it's legal crime, as committed by government agents, or whether it's crimes committed by communal garden scumbags. Before we can enjoy...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
I was reading an article from a Libertarian today that suggested that people will never change their mindset (i.e., of supporting the government) by talking to them about principles and the philosoph...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Through John Galt in Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand said: "The source of man's rights is not divine law or congressional law, but the law of identity. A is A - and Man is Man. Rights are conditions of exis...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
All economic goods must be produced by someone. They aren't gifts of nature or something that can be conjured up by waiving a magic wand. Somehow, people have gotten the false idea that it is governm...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Get out your barf bags for this one. FTA: "This points to a massive conspiracy to deprive innocent people of their rights by the U.S. on a scale not seen since the U.S. interned its own Japanese-Amer...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
In On The Duty of Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau wrote "How does it become a man to behave toward this American government to-day? I answer that he cannot without disgrace be associated with...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
We experience art as an emotional reaction to our senses. Enjoying art has a personal meaning and relevance; therefore, we evaluate art differently depending upon our own values, perceptions, and kno...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
BrainCrave.com Book Club starting now. We will attempt to do this in group chat unless there is significant lag. If so, we'll switch to local. Please join us at Within Ten Years
http://www.braincr...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Less than one month ago, Linden Labs laid off 30% of their employees. Just yesterday, Mark Kingdon stepped down as CEO, with company founder Philip Rosedale (Philip Linden) named interim CEO. (Also,...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
"Gamers are super-empowered hopeful individuals." They are masters at figuring things out, even medical problems. So who wants to use gaming to change the world?
There are many problems to address...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Have you ever seen posts on social networks where someone will say to all of her friends indiscriminately "I love you all!" or something to that effect? Well, if the Beatles were right, that all you...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Robert Heinlein once wrote: "Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor."
The number of students going to UK universities is falling. Additionally,...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
The higher your self-esteem, the more confidence you have in your ability to cope with life's never-ending challenges. Strong self-esteem is based on many factors, one of which is self-responsibility...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
In the future, will you look back, shake your head, and regret that you didn't follow your passions? Feel that you went against who you really wanted to be? Don't wait until another New Year's Eve -...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home
School-sanctioned privacy intrusion? "Schools are only interested in a child's best interests" claim those who ignore knowledge...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about getting a blow job. But here we have President Obama, a constitutional lawyer and professor, who is technically now a dictator without anyone calling for im...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Remember the guy who talked about change? Where'd he go?
In 2006, Obama said this:
The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
In the movie Extreme Measures, a brilliant doctor attempts experimental surgeries on live patients (who eventually die), trying to find a way to help spinal cord victims walk again. I think most agre...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Nowadays, you have to take on massive amounts of debt to go to college, only to graduate and find that there aren't any jobs available. So you leave college, go back to living with your parents, and...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
In the movie Braveheart, William Wallace says, "Every man dies, not every man really lives." For thousands of years, people have thought about the values to live for. Aristotle suggest we should live...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
More than any other politician by a Grand Canyon-wide margin, Ron Paul is a man of impeccable character when it comes to supporting the ideas of freedom and "is a force for good." (He easily won his...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
The government is coming for your retirement accounts, 401Ks, and pension plan. After all, they want to make sure you have enough for retirement of course... It's all about your safety and well-being...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Before the 1950s, the future confronting the human race was bleak. With the global population increasing and becoming more dependent on energy-dense technologies to sustain its food supplies and risi...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Welcome to TIL (Today I Learned) Tuesdays, where we will discuss specific facts about something. Looking to learn about something new every day? Reddit.com has a wonderful and very active TIL communi...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Hitler once said "Our strategy is to destroy the enemy from within, to conquer him through himself." US politicians, laws, and regulations are destroying people who live in America like a cancer. Her...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
The stupidity in government never takes a break, especially in the public school system. FTA: "It seems to me that it may be time to give all school administrators a course in remedial thinking. Here...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
The senses have no power of distortion; what they observe is what is. Optical illusions do not validate the claim that the senses can deceive us: optical illusions are the senses making valid observa...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
FTA: "U.S. colleges and universities, like their counterparts in other Western countries, are doing a poor job of preparing graduates for today's workplace. The biggest weakness in the postsecondary-...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Men have been taught that the highest virtue is not to achieve, but to give. Yet one cannot give that which has not been created. Creation comes before distribution - or there will be nothing to dist...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
The Road Not Taken (by Robert Frost)
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To w...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
In Atlas Shrugged, Dr. Floyd Ferris states: "Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed? ...We want them broken... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
"Meet the fast-growing "patriot" group that's recruiting soldiers to resist the Obama administration."
"But beyond the predictable stereotypes, "the reality is a lot of them are fairly intelligent...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Selfishness is often defined as an evil that deals with one caring for oneself more than for others. Many evils in the world are blamed on selfishness. Hunger, poverty and illness are supposedly all...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Today I learned the power of the scroll wheel in Firefox. You can use it to close tabs (click the scroll wheel on a tab), open hyperlinks in new pages (click the scroll wheel on a link), scroll throu...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
The US government consists of a bunch of hypocrites. I know, tell you something you don't know, right?
Recently, Hillary Clinton and her lackeys at the US State Department released the Country Re...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Talk about creating an atmosphere of fear... FTA: "It was meant to be an imaginative way of hammering home the message that some householders are making life too easy for burglars. But police were un...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Don't expect gas prices to "tank" anytime soon. (Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.) Today I learned that Americans live in a distorted world when it comes to gas prices. The average price of gas across...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
As Murray Rothbard put it in his marvelous article The Anatomy of the State, "Some theorists venerate the State as the apotheosis of society; others regard it as an amiable, though often inefficient,...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Today I learned that, without a magic wand, levitation is real.
The physics behind it consists of a ceramic material that is famous for superconductivity when cooled below -185ºC (-301ºF). The s...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Monty Python famously sang "life's a piece of shit when you look at it." There's also the adage that, if everyone threw all their problems on the table, most would reach back down and pick up their...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Newton's Third Law suggests that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Is it morally proper for people to develop into militias to defend themselves and act in defiance of terrori...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Today I learned that Platonic love isn't what we thought it was. In fact, Plato didn't even believe in it, was pro-sex, thought erotica was a spiritual force that helps us find our true selves, and e...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
The great political theorist and economist Frédéric Bastiat wrote in The State: "The oppressor no longer acts directly by his own force on the oppressed. No, our conscience has become too fastidiou...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Today I learned that my belief that the purpose of yawning is to bring oxygen into the brain has never been proven. Scientists still don't know why we yawn.
FTA:
Everyone yawns, but no one kn...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Wait - you're upset because the government promised you something and then did the exact opposite? This is government's modus operandi - why all the fuss? Look, just vote for the other party next tim...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
Ayn Rand once wrote that "Definitions are the guardians of rationality, the first line of defense against the chaos of mental disintegration." Perhaps that's one of the reasons politics always appear...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
"I believe there are three rules we must teach our children if we have any hope of humanity seeing freedom some day: 1. Question everything. 2. Never accept an answer just because it is presented by...
editorial posted by
braincrave
in braincrave
My last article dealt with the various aspects of romantic love. However, value comes in many forms and so does the emotional payment, love. Acts of kindness are pleasant in many aspects and many of...