dharmach

There was a time when tolerating second-hand smoke, if not smoking itself, was considered necessary evil for socializing.

>>go explain that to people every time you are drinking water in a pub

Don't go to pub.

Pub: A public house where beverages, primarily alcoholic, may be bought and consumed.

A company will hire and keep only those who are able and willing to worry about company's issues. For such employees it makes sense to pay them decent wage so they are free to worry about company. How should government fire citizen who are not performing well?

Some languages are more explicit and formal compared to others for historical reasons. That's why so many things get lost in translation.

This phenomenon is not limited to Asia, Africa or South America. In Europe, especially in southern countries, girls with blonde hair and blue eyes are admired explicitly. In US/Canada as well, how many women color their hair blond/red?

Logic of a rich pirate: my stomach is full so now onwards piracy is banned.

The basic US premise is that we are the good side so the same rule for all does not apply to us. Only police can have weapons not everyone.

>To say that in other words, to Muslims, a graphical satire is acceptable on anyone except the prophets, which includes Moses, Jesus, Abraham, etc.

Disregarding the past, even today Muslims (most) respect only their religious figures. They respect Moses, Jesus, Abraham since they are considered prophet by Islam. Muslims (again, most) have no respect for other religions like Hinduism, Buddhism (You can see this on many occasions when they talk about Muslim tolerance and mention only Jesus, Moses and Abraham). Why being a Hindu or Buddhist, should I respect your prophet?

>women were harder on women than men

Seen similar behaviour in many minorities (gender, race, religion, nationality)

Depends on the level of intolerance. If some are intolerant of my existence itself, do I have option to tolerate them?

>Land has been changing hands more or less continuously, forever. Before North America was "seized" by the people who came to be called Americans, parts of it were being seized and re-seized and re-re-seized by various groups of people who lived there at that time.

The scale and the speed were different. When a group of people moves in occupying part of the land, gradually over a long period is very different to one just moves in, kills all and takes everything.

No one likes surveillance but can anyone provide a better/cheaper option to prevent large scale crime like terrorist attack?

It is about the resource consumption, not just population number. If a species X has population 10 times than species Y but if Y consumes 100 times more then they will cause larger impact to the earth.

> because we have to in order to ensure the continued survival of (known) life in the universe

Why not send bacteria which may evolve or may create environment for other form of life? If by known life you mean human, why is it so important to ensure the continued survival of human species in the universe?

>Should we not assume he was happy with discovering the unimaginable?

He had nervous breakdowns, one of the causes: chronic psychological depression

intelligence in one domain does not necessarily help in other one.

My bad, should have checked. All hate mongers may not be fundamentalist.

being christian fundamentalist, her stance is obvious.

The article reads so convoluted being in English, like reading an article about latest computer technology in pure Hindi.

roughly comes down to GDP per capita.

> The saddest thing about this post to me is the fact that he could only write it because his startup is apparently doing great.

Because if his startup was doing bad and he says what he said, he will be ridiculed and/or pitied for being a loser.

"little less" and "difference of scale" are not same thing.

Blaming only leaders for the intolerance of Islam is far fetched. And Hindu's killing minorities cannot be equated to what happens in Pakistan, if not only what happens but at what scale happens mattered.

Pretty smart generalization!

Muslims in Pakistan regularly kill minorities and is that due to butterfly effect? And still you are more worried about fascism in India!

Why unreliable, incompetent and introvert faces in the article look northern and the other ones southern?

- Government's support to freedom of expression depends considerably on availability of resources. If enough resources are unavailable, government has to give priority to law and order instead of freedom of speech.

- Surveillance is bad but depending on country's internal and external security situation, it may be a necessary evil.

- Removing content offensive to politicians is unacceptable.

Must watch "Pom Poko (1994)", if you haven't already.

He was active in Indian Rationalist Association since long time and in 1990s he visited many villages exposing miracles. Only when he exposed Catholic miracle he got in trouble. It shows how much Catholic money and muscle power is capable in a country where Christian population is 2.3%.

Ultimately it all comes down to empathy and compassion. When your child, spouse, or parent is sick, you will not go and develop a tool for improving life of future generations. The people in scientific or innovation fields are rarely motivated by empathy; they are driven by something that is cool, interesting and exciting.

Charitable organizations are not effective enough, that's a separate issue.