He looks badass.

I think Cap being black makes way more sense than Thor being a woman. Thor is the name of a (mythical) person who has been a (mythical) male for 3,000 years. Cap is a persona, so it makes sense for Cap to be the best man (or woman or otherkin or whatever) for the job.

I have no skin in the game because I haven't read comic books since I was young, but making Thor a woman seems like pandering to me.

That's a really good deal for a super classy knife. I might just pick one up...

I got an Ontario RAT from Amazon for like $26. It's been in my pocket for months now, and I love it. It's nice and slim so it doesn't bulge in my pocket, and the blade holds a good edge. I have owned nicer (and significantly more expensive) pocket knives, but for the price, I'm really pleased.

It's $29 right now but it usually hovers around $25 or $26:

www.amazon.com/Ontario-8848-Folding-Knife-Black/dp/B0013ASG3E/

Nice. Have a good time!

Maybe mention something about having it in your car in case you break down or just need a screwdriver when you're away from home. IMHO, everyone should have one (as well as a Maglite) in their glovebox at all times.

It's great. I use it all the time. I've also owned a Gerber multitool and a SOG multitool, and I prefer the Leatherman. The SOG feels clunky in my pocket and pulling out the attachments is too complex, and the Gerber didn't feel as solid as the Leatherman. The knife on the Gerber was sharper out of the box, but I used the Leatherman more because it felt more solid as I used it.

I've owned both (and a SOG multitool). Anecdotally, I thought the Gerber blade was sharper, but I liked the overall function of the Leatherman more. The SOG was a little more complicated than necessary and, in my opinion, didn't really have any advantages over the Leatherman.

Gotta agree with the others--go with a Leatherman. This is what I've got:

http://www.amazon.com/Leatherman-831102-Tool-300-Multitool-Sheath/dp/B002KKB0AW/

Love it.

Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end…

I'm re-reading The Lord of the Rings for probably the 10th time. I love that book. (This is a quote from Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring)

I agree. So far I'm one of two people who scored right-leaning and I definitely felt the test was biased. There were several questions that were leading, several questions that had no answer for persons of a more conservative bent, and several questions where I didn't agree with the initial assumptions.

Hey, sorry for the delayed reply. I think it's more me than hubski--so far hubki's conversation level seems very high, and I don't think anyone would be rude or mean-spirited. I do see a lot of passion around certain topics, however, and I wind up keeping my opinion to myself because I'd just rather not engage and spend all my time on hubski defending my viewpoints instead of using hubski as a jumping-off point for the greater internet. And I don't want to mute anyone (at least not yet) because while I may totally disagree with someone's perspective on feminism or basic income, I might still want to hear what they have to contribute to a conversation on colonizing Mars.

The Personal Curation Algorithm (tm) is kind of a double-edged sword in that way--while I may prevent someone from going off on me for my regressive attitude toward tax policy, I also prevent myself from experiencing all the other positive things they contribute to the site. Hence, I choose to keep my opinion to myself when I'm obviously and dramatically outnumbered on a particular issue.

Edit: Also, I tend to be a lurker more than anything. I'm trying to get better about it, but I can't post much from work, and I don't have internet access at home. Makes it difficult.

Also see https://hubski.com/pub?id=162336

As the sole right-leaning person (so far) in the thread you linked to, I will say that I often don't feel comfortable posting thoughts or opinions on hubski because I am obviously in the minority and I don't want to spend all my time on hubski debating or defending my perspective. I just don't care for it. I prefer to post cool science news or read stuff from hubski's arty side.

I definitely think hubski would benefit from intelligent, respectful, active commenters of varied political persuasions; I'm just not sure where they'd come from. Seems like most hubskiers are reddit refugees, and reddit has a solidly liberal, progressive userbase.

I don't know why I hang out with you hippies....

That's awesome. Only getting awesomer.

I'd like the option to collapse/expand comment chains. On more active threads, I sometimes get lost in the responses and lose track of who's saying what to whom.

yeah, even though I love the US color scheme, I actually prefer the symmetry and broad fields of the Puerto Rican flag. What would you say is the most aesthetically perfect national flag?

For example, the mortgage interest deduction encourages borrowing of sums that otherwise would be untenable, which is a monster gift to the finance industry.

Well said. I would add that that particular deduction is destructive because it 1) disincentivizes prepayment and 2) it artificially inflates the cost of housing, which makes home ownership less accessible to people with low (or no) credit.

The first principles from which I operate are self-reliance and self-determination. That's the metric by which I evaluate proposed laws. As far as the role of a national government, I believe it should be restricted to these four things:

1. Enforcing contracts (i.e. judiciary)

2. Ensuring for the defense of the nation

3. Maintaining infrastructure

4. Regulate commerce (lightly)

There are some areas of public activity that are, in my opinion, appropriate for local government action but should be outside the national government's purview:

5. Education

6. Building codes

7. Law enforcement

I do not believe government at any level should engage in social engineering programs or advocacy, which is primarily what puts me at odds with my more liberal-minded brethren. I don't believe that personal choices of free adults that impact no one other than the consenting parties should be restricted, monitored or prohibited, which is where I come into conflict with my more conservative friends.

I tend toward free-market libertarianism inasmuch as I think that quick, reactive markets create efficient marketplaces, and an efficient marketplace is the best way to create prosperity. I'll never argue that it's a perfect system, but I believe that erring on the side of ground-up (rather than top-down) solutions will do the most good for the most people.

That's really cool. I once tried my hand at designing a new American flag and ended up making what was essentially a Puerto Rican flag by accident. I suppose vexillology is not my forté.

Well, I was thinking more drug crime, gang activity and general economic disenfranchisement than a specific ethnicity. I seem to recall that there are stats to back that up but I can't look up right now because Brazil v Chile. And I focused on the 11,000 gun homicides because that's what the person interviewed did.

I agree with you--I think economic action (and the decriminalization/regulation of recreational drugs) will do FAR more to reduce violence than enacting (what I consider to be) impractical gun control legislation. I'm on the fence about drastic changes to a minimum wage, but I definitely agree that making proper financial services and/or financial literacy education available to people in redlined areas will do immense good.

If I understand the nuts and bolts of his argument, he essentially wants private parties to do background checks before selling guns, since all purchases through a dealer already have mandatory background checks. This would require giving private citizens access to the NICS database and keeping a registry of guns and gun owners. I don't think either of these are feasible in the US.

Sweden is a much smaller, culturally homogenous country without many of the structural urban poverty issues found in the US. It's an apples to lingonberries comparison.

Suh-weeet...

Just out of curiosity, who is "all of you"? Like, all all, or just the core 20 or so?

Question regarding muting: Is the muted party informed that they've been muted?

Disagree. I appreciate the option to cultivate my Hubski experience. I don't think it's an action I'll take often, but I like that it's there. Plus, it's a great way to combat spammers and trolls.

Neat! I'll try to keep the good stuff coming :)

I think you're right. My brother was telling me the other day that his new phone has learned where "home" and "work" are, and it automatically changes settings based on where he's at. I don't think he inputted that information; I think the phone just extrapolated based on GPS data. Kinda creepy to me...

It seems like we're both jumping on board hubski at the right time, so onward and upward :)

Yeah, I'm not too worried about it. In fact, I even laughed at a gif a few minutes ago! http://i.imgur.com/q87B3YQ.gif

Homer Simpson. Classic.