msiyer

Language is a poor way to comprehend the cosmos. It is very limiting. Words are not enough to explain what happens when rain drops fall on my skin or the wet smell of sand intoxicates me or wind ruffles my hair...

I have seen cows chewing cud and they seem more in touch with the cosmos than 99.99 percent humans.

the problem we are discussing in this thread can be rephrased as - do i own my thoughts?

only when we have an answer to this question can we properly progress as a society. else, we will keep expending resources to keep these debates alive.

I totally agree.

I gave you enough info. If you are really interested, search on the internet.

Did you even read? The PDF has list of companies that form the prison-industrial complex and Amazon has a place there.

>> This report exposes over 3,100 corporations that profit from the devastating mass incarceration of our nation’s marginalized communities

What else do you expect me to do?

It is a real problem. People think downvoting will make the problem disappear.

Link 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison%E2%80%93industrial_comp...

Link 2: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58e127cb1b10e31ed45b2...

Many of these workers are from the prison industrial complex. Pay is non-existent or abysmally low, AFAIK.

You and I are thinking about this totally differently. Humans and their activities can create new variables, but nature will adjust to that. We are an inseparable part of nature. So are our activities.

>> Do you not think things which are balanced should remain so unless acted upon by an outside force?

The net effect is what is important. A complex, interconnected and ever-changing system like nature cannot be evaluated so easily. You can evaluate the 'state' at a particular 'point in time', but there is no way to know if the equilibrium has been disturbed.

And the motion of electrons is totally predictable?

And what exactly are the 'outside forces' when it comes to the closed system which we refer to as 'nature'?

Ridiculous. What next? The 'balance of an atom' is a totally wrong concept and the universe is about to crumble?

The executives in any corporation are in no way normal people. More so in a behemoth like Boeing. They have nothing in common with common people.

They might not be clapping hands at the death of few humans, but they would not be crying either.

The building blocks of this universe are "things" vibrating. That is all I know.

Consciousness is a very tricky problem. I often question what happens when a man loses his "mind". Is the being now just a machine with stored memory which responds to stimuli?

What happens when a person loses his memory? What role does consciousness play in this scenario?

How do we let split personality disorder and consciousness to play together?

Also, I look around and see the geometry of flowers and seeds. Geometry that emanates from the universe. Everything that looks chaotic at one level becomes extremely beautiful and organized at another.

Also, I see that everything is terribly interconnected. If we think deeply enough we can easily see that a stone lying outside and us are all the same as far as building blocks are concerned. The stone is not an unnecessary object, but our existence and the stone's existence are inextricable.

The universe, whatever is visible to me, is absolutely too grand and too well engineered to not have some sort of intelligence working behind it.

I do not know.

you are not doomed. you are just fine.

you can be talkative or you can go in to deep meditation in the middle of a crowd. whatever be it do it consciously. remove all guilt and all negativity from it. experience everything deeply - silence or noise.

Morality has no place when dealing with a corporation. Legality is the only thing that counts.

>> If you accidentally purchased a bag of M&Ms from Amazon for 500 dollars instead of 5, they will let you undo it

If it is technically possible, then it is the seller's mistake and the customer deserves a refund. The seller may choose to not undo. The customer may choose to sue them. It is a PR nightmare in today's world. It is illegal.

>> On the other hand, if the matter is reversed, Amazon is expected to be a good sport and take the loss — even if the purchase was made in bad faith (ie- knowing Amazon mis-priced it but purchasing it anyways.)

If it is technically possible, and if the customer has not hacked the system in any way, it is the seller's mistake. The customer should not care. Once the sale is made, it is legally over. The seller has no legal way of recovering the money from the customer. The seller should have verified the prices.

Half a decade ago, I visited some very distant relatives in Delhi. I woke up at night unable to breathe properly. The next morning, when I told them about my ordeal, people boasted about their ability to breathe such air and laughed at my inability. The situation has not improved.

Life is a zero-sum game. Give your full attention to whatever it is that you are doing at the moment - mopping the floor or solving partial differential equations. Live.

Human race has a lot of intellectual growing up to do.

This is, in effect, the same Modus Operandi that resulted in the Opium Wars - addict a populace to "free" some thing and bankrupt them intellectually.

My mother is bed-ridden and partially blind. She cannot use a smartphone. Alexa helps her call me.

I do not deserve to have my privacy obliterated.

Maybe, you are looking for this:

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20031224-00/?p=41...

>> As far I've been able to determine, a human being could live 5 years on Mars with a stockpile of processed food[2], water, and oxygen, and without the microbiome or any organism within a hundred million kilometers. It would be very interesting if that's proven wrong.

How did you prove this? How do I prove you wrong?

Why do we need to expend our energies to debate? Facebook cannot be trusted. Facebook should not be allowed anywhere near our finances. This is a nightmare in the making. Gullible public will start using it in the name of convenience and it might suddenly become ubiquitous.

Can you please try cutting out oil from your diet for 2 weeks? You will see what I mean.

>>Not downvoting, but not everybody can reverse it.

I am OK with people downvoting as long as they reason it out. Here in HN, people are not willing to accept that changing food habits can reverse most lifestyle disease.

There are two types - Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1, where pancreas do not produce enough insulin, is not reversible as per current understanding. Type 2 is reversible, at least up to a point (maybe, a few decades).

>>For some it's linked to obesity and such, but others have a perfectly healthy body weight and still have diabetes.

Yes, this is true. Cells become inefficient in processing sugars and blood glucose levels may spike. This can happen in lean people and obese.

I am not confused. Fast food is bad because it contains excess amounts of oils and animal fats and a lot many other things.

Oils are bad. They are especially bad after heat is applied to them.

I said the same thing in a previous HN discussion and my comment was down voted into oblivion. Many Asian cultures had this thing figured out thousands of years ago. Less or no meat. Many famous martial arts schools (Indian, Chinese and Japanese) are totally vegetarian. So, the argument that meat is needed for extreme physical activity goes out of the window. Almost all Asian monks (Buddhist, Jain or Hindu) are vegetarians. So, the argument that meat is needed for better mental\intellectual health also goes out the window.

We can learn from Nature - atoms, photons, DNA... all last long. Really long.

I so wish we could duplicate a pomegranate shell or an orange skin. Such materials would be great for packaging. I have seen pomegranates and certain varieties of oranges last for more than two months when stored in cool and dry places.

No. The moment bribe is legalized, it stops being a bribe. That is, the officials get a kick out of this whole shady operation. If we deny them this pleasure, they will find other ways.

As it stands today, there is no accountability in the whole system. An official can sit on a file for years with no repercussions. You can drag them to court, but sooner than later you will understand that this is a battle you can never win. The official has the power and money of the government behind him while you are totally alone. Most importantly, the official has time while you do not.

I think it is prudent if we are constantly vigilant and detect monopolistic behaviors ASAP. Why wait till the entity truly becomes a monopoly and has enough power to topple governments?