Upheaval like...?

Goddammit. Firefox at least gave me the illusion of online privacy. Any alternatives?

As I read your comment, it seems you think I don't know the difference between crossbred/selected breeding and the genetically-modified/gene-infused Monsanto-monstrosities. I have no problem with the first: we've been doing that for as long as there's been agriculture. That's way different than eating a vegetable which thrives on a patch of land that has to be heavily sprayed with chemicals. There are already plenty of examples of people falling ill because of GMO's (the explosion in gluten-intolerance comes to mind). And that's just the short run. THe indications that GMOs have a negative influence on fertility aren't made up. Btw, remember the rat-tumor-research where tghe rats had been fed GMO-corn. Yeah.

Ever seen a farmer spraying his GMO-crop with special pesticides? He's fitted out as if going into space, helmet and airtight suit and all. THe farmers who aren't protected like that and either inhale of touch the stuff fall ill, often violently. So no, I don't want to eat food which has to be chemically blasted and drenched before it yields crop. Heirloom-plants don't seem to need that.

But even if we would have frontiers for expansion (the window of opportunity opened once more thanks to Rosetta) we are stuck with a suffering environment, not to mention human suffering. You'd have to ignore the plight of the Native Americans, for whom the suffering still isn't over but also take into account that as soon as that Western Frontier was closed, the suffering of the rest of the world began (see America's expansion-politics which date in more covert forms back from the early 1800's). Yes, art, culture, laws have benefited, for a time. But the complexity with which laws for example have formed have nothing to do with justice anymore, only with legality. And right now that means that whoever has the big bucks makes the rules. And the rules are kept in place to profit, which inevitably means there has to be suffering (for without it, many flourishing businesses would cease to exist. THat will vex the companies' respective shareholders). Art, music, transport, communication: it's no longer about improving the all-over state of the species (which one could state when talking about the old inventions) but to make a fast buck and plenty of them. The idea of programmed obsolescence abhors me to the core.

In other words, what is there to expand TO? We haven't even been able to fix our already existing problems, how would we ever be able to get it right if we were to explore/colonise/utilise other comets or planets? You cannot fix problems using the same attitude and tools which have created the problem in the first place.

Yeah, she should have lightly sanded it beforehand, otherwise she'd never get an even coat.

Oww, that's horrible

When I saved a lost dog from being run over by heavy traffic by taking it home with me, only to have it die on me within 7 days because of parvovirus.

When my guinea pig had fallen over and I fruitlessly tried to prep her up using popsicle-sticks, I realized she had died.

Corn? No, unless I either planted it myself and thus know what is feeding me or know the farmer who planted it. And even then, it's rare. Apples: yes, I happen to have acces to a couple of older specimen. The pre-war varieties, don't ask me the strain.

Mozilla, could be the problem right there.

There are plenty of pages where I don't see the text; the ones who automatically redirect me to the source work fine, but the user-gerenated ones (by lack of a different term) don't always. Thanks thenewgreen, your copy/paste worked :) Lemme have a look.

Edit: had a look. Damn, that's a beautiful text, I really liked it. I have to agree that exploring the space around us we choose to better understand our reality, (hope I quoted the right part), and that we need to explore things we have not yet explored. Fully with you on the fact that if we don't explore what's out there, we look at what we already know. But. There's plenty down here we don't yet know. And if we don't act- as a species- in the here and now, there unfortunately won't be a liveable place for those who come after us. And that's the whole point I've tried to make. You know what I'm trying to say here?

Interested in opening it: however I don't see anything else but 2 comments. :s

Yeah, because not wanting to eat something which has unforseen results on the long-term health makes me some kind of looney. Good on yer, buddy.

Nope, they were private factories profiting from public forests, public subsidies and public funding. For a 100% PRIVATE profit.

And the best way to fix this system is to not participate in the system but to abandon it altogether. Don't know if I know better than everybody else. I try to leave this planet in a better shape than I found it.

Apparently you haven't read the other 'contributions' as you call them but you've made your mind up already eh? RTFR and then get back to me. Btw, weren't YOU the one who called himself 'literally Hitler'? I'm not suggesting you kill yourself; I do however agree with his remark that people like that are filling the world with garbage.

I don't know man, haven't watched TV in years, haven't bought one in ages. I was really wondering: 'can you buy a non-smart tv at all?'

Have a nice day.

Responded after your initial response, but just before your edit. See above.

I have no problems with other people's comments. As far as I remember, it wasn't me who didn't want to read my 'misanthropic garbage comments', which you have figured out by now. Kudos.

Misanthropic, as in hatred for mankind, would be quite incorrect for someone who wishes that we as a species had saved more of our own kind than we have done.

By definition, wishing for less human suffering as well as an improvement of the human condition in general (which, if you have read my other comments closely, was what I was talking about) is quite the opposite from misanthropic.

In other words, learn to read. I don't hate mankind. I love the human species. I don't like individual assholes, nor political unwill. And lashing out if some one points out something you don't like to hear, means you lost any argument in beforehand.

Edit: response given while posting

You know what the good thing about comments are with which you don't agree? You don't have to read them. Or react to them. Btw, do you know what misanthropic means? Because I don't think that you do.

Exactly: we do have the means to make this planet into a paradise instead of the partial hellhole it is today, but we as a species lack the (political) will to do so, and as far as 2) goes, I don't think science is the be-all and end-all of our problems though it might help a lot. I'm merely stating that the funds for a mission like this could have been used to save many lives.

See comment below. What have you been doing to make this a better planet?

Money? About 1% of my income, which, since I made less than minimum for the most time of the last decade, wasn't that much, I grant you that. Please, don't thump your chest like that. You can at least try to give arguments in a reasonable fashion instead of stating you've done more than I have. I have no way of veryfying, neither have you. So a statement like that looks silly. Time? Last 2.5 years I'm full-time trying to improve the situation. You? THe fact that you did both makes already a difference. You can do that, I do this, the only problem is politicians find it far more profitable to invest in other things than in saving lives.

Btw, I already gave away my stuff. I need nothing more than what I can carry on my back. The comp I'm on right now belongs to the lady whose mom's dying right now, and for whose animals and house I've been taking care this last couple of weeks. Cost me a couple of thousand in seasonal-work, but there's things more importat than just colored pieces of paper. So yes, you're absolutely right: if you want to speak about improving the world, lead by example. That's what I'm doing. You?

So what have you done?

-Living in a forest and guarding/surveilling it 24/7 for 7 months in order to protect an area of 300km2 of woods and forests; which were to be cut down illegally in order to install a highly polluting incinerator. Try and do that yourself when your nadgers are freezing off. -Protecting highly fertile acres of agricultural lands which would have been paved over in order ro make 'room' for an aeroport (the fact that there's an other aeroport a few miles away which hasn't even reached peak-capacity). Cops who just have nothing better to do than 'follow orders' and start bashing some skulls. Want to know more? Do some research on Notre-Dame-des-Landes, and you'll find out what I'm talking about. -Trying to protect some areas of natural wildlife for my children and children's children, only to have a friend getting slaughtered by cops (see Remi Fraisse, Barrage de Sivens). -Apart from volunteering in order to give until-very-recently homeless people a set of lodgings, clothes, furniture, etc etc free of charge in order for them to make their life better than before, working with abused and maltreated adolescents who are so messed up emotionally you couldn't handle their life for a day. You try to get a kid back on a stable emotional plane when his dad raped him, then killed his mom before his eyes. Good luck. -I help build eco-houses on a voluntary basis.

So yeah, I have been doing something to leave this a better planet for my children. What about you? Again, kudos for your father and friends father. There should be more people like them. Then we'd be in a lot less trouble as a species. Don't get upset when I come with counter-arguments for your Cold War pissing contest; it was okay to drag it in the discussion to prove your point when it came to wound-plasters but as soon as I pointed out the darker sides of that, I'm reactionary? So you put a social worker through grad school: good work, there should be more people who do that, I mean that.

And making reality tv for a living... well, this comes to mind

I haven't said everyone should subvert their skillsets to the imlmediate task, however it might not be a bad idea if we took a few steps in that direction once in a while. The other result of the Cold War pissing contest were the Berlin Wall, the Stasi (whose tactics we've been enjoying so very recently again, see Snowden etc), the dividing of Yugoslavia and Tito's brilliant legacy, etc etc etc. So please don't come with a wound-closer: it's not worth the suffering, as far as I'm concerned. I have yet to read where in my previous posts I have been talking down on 'astronomy' or on your familiarity with the subject. I'm happy your dad landed himself a good job, same for your best friends' dad. Congratulations, I mean it. I don't know what 'my attitude' should be. Maybe feeling frustrated we're letting half the planet die and burn up because our scientists are allowed to examine comets instead of being funded to help and alleviate human suffering has something to do with it. Nobody is supposed to work for me, nor is it beneath me: we're back at the priorities-part of the discussion. I'm not suggesting the human race lacks the diversity, ingenuity, manpower and initiative to explore space and help the world. Far from it. Mankind merely lacks the will to do so. And that's disgusting.

It's not just worldhunger I'm talking about: I'm talking about the clean water, clean air, the non-GMO food, the non-radioactive regions etc etc. There are a lot of problems right now, maybe even more than we can handle, but to aim for the one that will hit us in the (far) future instead of tackling more pressing matters closer at hand does not justify the almighty hoopla Rosetta has stirred up.

Not a bad find. You're talking nationally, I'm talking humanely. Whitey/whiney on the moon has nothing to do with it.

It might not be space vs food per se but it's (take-your-pick) vs human decency. Yes, naive I might be but I do not see the importance of shouting 'excelsior!' for landing on a speck of spacedust whilst allowing individuals of your own species to die of malnourishment, preventable disease and pollution.

First of all, I have reacted on 2 related posts. Second, I apologize for having hurt your feelings. You 'hate that'? Man up. The fact people out there are dying by the droves is something I hate. Third, I haven't seen other peoples' reaction here, but if there are more then apparently I'm not the only one who thinks we have made wrong priorities. Call them problems in allocation, I do not care/ fact of the matter is that there is not enough political will to help other human beings who are forced to live in utter misery on this planet of ours yet there's plenty of political will to sponsor a mission to land a piece of equipment on a barren piece of rock. Like I said in the other thread, technologically very impressive, yet I cannot help wondering how many children, mothers and fathers could have been saved with the funding poured in Rosetta. But that's just raining on a parade.

Call it priorities. While I'm impressed that humanity has reached a technological level where it can land on comets, I'm less impressed with the fact people were and still are starving from hunger, dirty drinkingwater, poor nutrition etc, even as far back as 2004. The gentle radiation of this planet by a nuclearplant which is still spewing radioactive waste after 3 years might sound snark but the 'victory' of human inginuity as I feel it's being portrayed feels hollow as long as we haven't cleaned up our mess and misery which we could have done. But hey, who cares? We landed on a comet. Yay!

Nice example of human inginuity, kudos. Now, when are we starting to clean up Fukushima?

Now if only we could get people to clean up our own planet before we mess up stuff on other celestial bodies, I'd be sooooooo happy

And buying a non-smart TV isn't an option?

That's quite the blanket statement you're supporting there. All conspiracy-theorists are as dumb as a bag of inbred hammers? What's so bizarre about the idea of a conspiracy? We know there's been several in the last decades, propagated by those inpolitical power in order to get what they want. Weapons of mass destruction, anyone? Babies pulled out of incubators, another good one. And don't forget the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which ignited the Vietnam war. All of them never happened. however, the politicians at the time conspired amongst themselves to further their goals.

So anyone seeing or thinking there might be a conspiracy is an idiot? Please think again, think critically and remember that just because you cannot imagine someone conspiring against you or something happening which was planned beforehand, doesn't mean there's not people absolutely willing to lie, steal, cheat and kill in secrecy to attain what they want.

Because Yahoo a) has way too much money and b) not enough material to actively and thoughtfully compete with other apps, software etc. What better way to corner the market and keep revenue up than buying up the competitors and then terminating them?