Odracirys

The Most Evil Empire That Has Ever Existed In the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (1911), the first paragraph for the article "British Empire" states: "BRITISH EMPIRE, the name now loosely given to the whole aggregate of territory, the inhabitants of which, under various forms of government, ultimately look to the British crown as the supreme head. The term 'empire' is in this connexion obviously used rather for convenience than in any sense equivalent to that of the older or despotic empires of history." Some might chuckle at this description while noting that the British had quite a high opinion of themselves.  Of course, in some sense, the empire was despotic...not in the sense that there was one tyrant in charge of it, but rather that only a minority of people in the empire were able to participate democratically in it. Yet with a short memory, society has pretty much forgotten about the atrocities committed by the empires that the

Getting Things Straight About Israel I think that Israel is one of the most divisive subjects among people, particularly because people with similar opinions on most issues can vociferously disagree on this issue.  I've wondered what causes people to come to completely different conclusions using the same evidence, and I realized that people often live in different realities.  And it's impossible to have a useful debate on a topic if people are trapped in separate realities.  So I think that it's of utmost importance that people share their version of reality.  Those with different realities can never agree, but if we come to understand the same reality, there is a chance at real understanding. Let me give you an example.  If I say, "All dinosaurs died out around 65 million years ago." and someone else says, "No, they didn't.", then we can go back and forth and argue forever and not get anywhere because  we don't know the assumptions t

"A Defense of Israel" And "Why Are Most Liberals Always Against Israel?" In this post, I want to defend Israel's recent actions and express my thoughts on why most liberals are always against Israel, no matter what the circumstances.  First, let me say a few things: 1) I realize that there is not one "liberal" viewpoint and that not all liberals are the way I describe them.  My name for the type of liberals I'm talking about is "Chomskyan Liberals" (from "Noam Chomsky", whose opinion is gospel to these people).  However, I will refer to these liberals as "liberals" or "many liberals". 2) I do not consider myself a liberal, just like Bernie Sanders (an Independent senator from Vermont) doesn't consider himself a Democrat.  (For the record, I don't consider myself a Democrat, either.)  Bernie Sanders caucuses with the Democrats, however.  He realizes that of the established groups, he

Statistics Are Interesting! The Wall Street Journal 2012 Election Map This is a brilliant map, showing each county (or county-equivalent state subdivision, seemingly aside from those in Alaska and Hawaii).  You can see that the deeper the blue, the more skewed towards Obama, and the deeper the read, the more skewed towards Romney the counties are. Although there are Red States and Blue States, it easy to see that things aren't so simple as that.  Maps like these tell us that it's mostly urban areas (as well as rural areas with large minority populations) that go for Democrats, and rural areas that go for Republicans. Even looking at New York, California, Washington, and Oregon (among others) you can see that lots of rural counties went Red.  It was the same in recent past elections. Nevada is a Blue state, yet the only Blue areas of the state are Las Vegas and Reno.  All other counties are Red.  Yet the population distribution is such that just those cities can

Obama Wins Re-Election, and More Well, I called it.  Not so much me, but the pollsters and electoral vote mapping sites whom I've been checking in on quite frequently for the past 6 months or so.  I thought that the result would be Obama: 332 and Romney: 206 (I put down Obama: 332-247 and Romney 191-206 just because I was a bit hopeful about North Carolina, which didn't go Obama's way this time).  It turns out that I (and hence, the polls leading up until now) were correct. Here are some major things that have happened today: -  Obama re-elected -  Gay marriage legalized by ballot initiative in Maryland and Maine -  Recreational use of marijuana legalized for the first time ever in the U.S., in Colorado and Washington. -  Alan Grayson (outspoken Democrat representative who was defeated 2 years ago) reclaims a house seat. There are others.  As for marijuana, I've never tried it and don't care to try it (neither do I like to drink alcohol or

The Next Bear Market Sometimes, I predict things and keep them to myself.  Then, when they happen, I don't get credit.  I have written publicly about things that turned out to be true.  Check the first post of my blog if you want to see a few examples.  This time, too, I want to make some predictions publicly.  If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong, and you can tell me about it.  But if I'm right, then I'll refer back to this to show you how smart I am! Anyway, it looks like the next bear market is nearing.  A bear market is a stock market downturn.  And by using technical analysis (just looking at charts to find patterns), one can see that we're nearly at the turning point. First, some background.  Since March 2008, just after Obama took office, the stock market turned around and over the past three and a half years, we have witnessed one of the fastest stock market increases in history.  To be sure, unemployment didn't decrease nor did wages increase nearly

Intelligence Squared Debates - BETTER ELECTED ISLAMISTS THAN DICTATORS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLJ4AKdXZ44 I actually don't think that this question can be answered simply.  I generally tend towards elected Islamists, because people generally grow to hate any government in charge of them.  People always expect the world.  Their expectations are set so high that no government can satisfy them.  On top of that, there are various scandals that come to light, and Islamist governments are sure to keep their populations in dire poverty, through lack of scientific education and an aversion of others to those regimes.  Thus, I feel that if only Islamists stay in power for long enough (and democracy survives for that long), the people will end up hating them one way or another.  Whether they go to an even more radical group or a more liberal group is uncertain, but there has to be a point at which their government becomes the most radical.  At some point, people will get fed up

How Mitt Romney and Joe Biden Won Their Debates (or How We Are Making Society Worse) I do listen to what others say, but I always apply thought to it and never just follow the herd.  This is what happened during the recent American presidential and vice presidential debates.  And I came to the exact opposite conclusions as were generally announced in the media. Now, the way I determine if someone won a debate is whether I feel they did a good job getting across their message in a good way.  I may not agree with someone's message at all, but if I think that person got it across better, I'll give that person the win.  Such was the case when I saw Thunderf00t (a YouTube atheist) debating certain creationists.  In most instances, I felt that the creationists won...not because they were right, but because Thunderf00t's showing made me feel embarrassed for him.  He just has trouble debating. Now, I watched the debates before I heard any of the talking heads on TV