Messages

211

Geopolitics / Re: Ted Talk: The Wisdom of the Unabomber

« on: August 08, 2013, 12:34:16 PM »

Thank you WDH for posting this piece.  We mow with Austrian scythes and just love them.  I got rid of the string trimmer years ago, hated the noise and smell, and the author is right, gasoline burning yard machines are a religion.

I love my string trimmer... of course, it is a rechargeable electric one, so the only smell is fresh cut grass and the only sound is the whirring of the string.  Scythes are absolutely wonderful for cutting large swathes of tall grass, but I prefer my string trimmer for close work, like around my Square Foot Gardens.

"To ask that question in those terms is to misunderstand what is going on. Brushcutters are not used instead of scythes because they are better; they are used because their use is conditioned by our attitudes toward technology. Performance is not really the point, and neither is efficiency. Religion is the point: the religion of complexity. The myth of progress manifested in tool form. Plastic is better than wood. Moving parts are better than fixed parts. Noisy things are better than quiet things. Complicated things are better than simple things. New things are better than old things. We all believe this, whether we like it or not. It’s how we were brought up."

212

The Kitchen Sink / Re: Top 13 best movies ever made...a list

« on: August 08, 2013, 10:04:19 AM »

Yes!
More great films to watch!
Randy

213

Geopolitics / Re: Ted Talk: The Wisdom of the Unabomber

« on: August 08, 2013, 08:07:33 AM »

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/7277

Here is another take on Kaczyinski. This one was a revelation for me, insofar as I was still laboring under the FBI/Federal narrative about who Kaczyinski is. Then I went and read some of Kaczyinski myself. Another case of, Americans will believe whatever the FBI/MSM tell them.

Thank you WDH for posting this piece.  We mow with Austrian scythes and just love them.  I got rid of the string trimmer years ago, hated the noise and smell, and the author is right, gasoline burning yard machines are a religion.  I do have a Gravely two wheeled tractor which is good for bush hogging weeds and pasture as well as garden plowing but I still love mowing with the scythe and yes it takes a long time to learn how to sharpen one.  I'm still learning....

214

Geopolitics / Re: Remember

« on: August 07, 2013, 06:26:40 PM »

There were officers within the Japanese military that believed that Japan must be extinguished if it could not rise towards the top in world affairs.  Some were ready for Japan to fight to the last man.  After the second bomb dropped the emperor intervened and called an end to the war.

It is easy to play Monday morning quarter back on the end of WWII, but given the way the Japanese had fought I don't think many American service men were looking forward to shipping out of Europe and heading to Japan for an invasion.

Were it not for the fear that the Germans might develop such a weapon, the US might not have pursued it and the Soviets would not have had the help they had from Fuchs in developing their weapons.  Then the issue would have been how Stalin would have behaved in Europe without the believed US atomic deterrent.

One must also keep in mind that the atom bomb didn't win WWII, radar did.  It may have ended the war in the Pacific quicker but it didn't win it.

215

The Kitchen Sink / Re: Top 13 best movies ever made...a list

« on: August 07, 2013, 06:03:59 PM »

Inception

Master and Commander

K2

Citizen Kane

The Shawshank Redemption

The Godfather

Dr. Strangelove

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Office Space

The Thing

Silence of the Lambs

Patton

216

Bugout Plans / Re: This Was The Week That Was in Doom August 5, 2013

« on: August 06, 2013, 01:13:05 PM »

This shit would be comedy if it wasn't so serious.  A SWAT team killing a fawn, sounds like the clustercuss knows as Wisconsin.  Spent 33 years of my life caged up in that mess, so glad I left when I did.