Kara Connor

Jake – ruby, rust, russet.  In Europe we’re surrounded by a bunch of related languages, all with the same roots.

Apparently though Finnish is a strange outlier that doesn’t bear any relation to the other European languages.  According to Wikipedia it’s Uralic rather than Indo-European in its family.  I went to Norway for 10 days once, and they se…[Read more]

Jake – yes, Rus, rose, rouge, red, etc.

jakelafort wrote:
Vikings went all the way into Russia

Apparently Russia is named after the red hair of the vikings.

@Jakelafort – Is this the video version of the same podcast?

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
each state must ensure its own survival.

They also need to work together to ensure their own and each other’s survival.

We can argue about how Putin’s perception of this ‘threat’ being irrational or morally wrong but from Moscow’s standpoint, ignoring such a development would be irrational.

What is irrational about P…[Read more]

In a recent book, ‘How States Think’, Mearsheimer says that in an ‘anarchic international system’ (one with no world government – i.e. the real world), each state must ensure its own survival. Great powers seek to maintain or expand their security buffer zones to prevent potential threats from getting too close. Russia’s view of NATO expansion,…[Read more]

@jakelafort – it doesn’t take a lot to destroy the feeling of “I feel your pain”.  All it takes is if we don’t approve of someone, so for some reason, they are not “deserving” of our empathic concern.  A set of people we don’t approve of is hated out-group members.

Strega wrote:
But that’s not what stops us from randomly killing annoying people. We don’t think “I want to throttle you but I’d better not because it’s wrong”.

Well, this is true I agree.  There’s no such thing as moral obligation, having to do things because it’s the morally right thing to do.  We follow moral principles because we don’t like…[Read more]

I wonder if the Saudi’s in partnership with Jared would be interested in this ‘piece of prime real estate’.

That last one?  Made me laugh out loud.

Potential Darwin Award winner?

I ridicule my efforts to get a fly out of the kitchen alive. 

I opened the back door fully, you stoopid fly…and the front window too!  Can you not see the gaps with the most light? The one you just entered through? The stray cats stare at me. Earn your keep you lazy band of…..ah, ok he’s gone. Buzz……Arrgh! your brother stayed behind!! T…[Read more]

@simonpaynton

“Murder is wrong”.  You are presenting this as a choice. We choose not to murder because it’s wrong.

But that’s not what stops us from randomly killing annoying people.  We don’t think “I want to throttle you but I’d better not because it’s wrong”.

I mock myself for my revulsion of killing. I ridicule my efforts to get a fl…[Read more]