BellGab.com Archive

Quote from: onan on September 07, 2011, 06:55:09 AM
I think you sum it up very well. By and large we are all motivated for personal reasons. And many do enlist in the military for noble reasons. Reasons like not finding work, the potential for academic advancements after serving. But there are also reasons of propaganda, like the video of brave adventurers slaying a dragon then morphing into marines or repositioning a satellite to bring the world safe.

It has been my experience that many in positions of authority do believe spending time in the military is counter productive to achieving the "American Dream", whatever that means. When a talking head uses the terms brave, safeguarding, patriotism, they are blowing smoke up your ass.

All that being said, I do not think, Silent, you may have a full understanding of just how many never consider enlisting in the military. Because of the let some other (stupid) guy do it.

Is Kissinger wrong that many that enlist are not near the brightest? No, and he is a fucknut for not raging against that mentality. More soldiers than not never face combat. But combat isn't the only aspect of what is noble in the military. The very thing that so many are not interested in is the sacrifice. And even if one has no other options, once someone signs and swears they are not leaving. Even if they have fulfilled their "contract", the small print can keep them there for years.

It isn't a comfortable spot to accept praise when one is being sincerely humble. I appreciate what you have done.

Very nicely put, your posts usually get my brain going.  I think our definitions of noble are a bit different is all.  I can see how your ideas can be seen that way but I was thinking more in a strict sense of a selfless, putting others first, mentality.  Which I don't believe exists in any form when you really peel away the layers of motivation and look at the psycology of why we make decisions.

I was being too all inclusive with my comment about stupid people joining the military.  Sure there's some who buy into the propoganda or for whatever reason don't know what they're getting into, and maybe never realize, but by and large I think most know exactly what they're doing and don't fit the stereotype of the dumb grunt.  It's easy for some people to see the whole thing as a dumb idea because they just can't mentally put themselves into a position where joining would be advantageous.  I'm fully aware of the stereotype society has about enlisted military, and the unwillingness to join, no matter how hidden it is in the name of political correctness.  In fact I can totally understand it since for most people there's no reason to take those risks.  It's not a question of brave vs. coward but a question of "what's in it for me?"  If everyone were well educated and had decent access to good paying jobs we would need to have mandatory military service.

Quote from: Frys Girl on September 06, 2011, 02:15:37 PM
I agree. I don't like Soulja Boy OR Hoffa, but there must be freedom of speech and it must be respected. Joining the military is noble, but take a look at Pat Tilman's (and other soldiers' problems/exploitation) outcome and I think there's something important in it. Henry Kissinger once said that if someone is stupid enough to join the military, he deserves to be used. Wow. And he is a regular on Faux News.

I don't know about that being a noble cause.  Or anything else for that matter.  The reality is that all service members are there, first and foremost, for personal reasons.  The noble cause idea is just used as a shield from criticism and a way of forcing respect, real or false, to feel superior.  Anything they do in the military which positively affects the country is completely secondary to their own ambitions.  I realize much of what they do, and have done, has a huge impact on average citizens but all niceties aside that's the reality of it.  If that paraphrase from Kissinger is accurate then he's being a bit harsh maybe.  I don't think stupid people join the military, just people who are willing to risk more than Kissinger in order to advance themselves.  Some might call that stupid but I think there's a distinct difference.

Two random news articles I read today:

http://www.tmz.com/2011/09/05/soulja-boy-military-veteran-fred-a-flores-marines-army-troops-fbi-offensive-911/?adid=hero1#.TmYylGpTJZ0

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/06/tea-party-groups-condemn-hoffa-sob-remark/

Does anyone else think this hypersensitivity to language is getting way out of hand?  It seems like anymore that people can't say anything without someone else examining the words used in an effort to be offended.  Being offended by words has become some kind of victimizing game used to silence the speaker.

Quote from: M Knight on September 04, 2011, 05:23:14 PM

Heaven forbid one writes with words reflecting meaningful concepts.  "...diarrhea of the mouth" is another way of saying "I don't understand your big words, please write at the 8th grade level".

Onan probably sends me to google or the dictionary more often than anyone else here.  Your diarrhea is my education.  That's sick.

They have a nice selection of documentaries and new ones I saw added often.  I didn't watch new releases of movies often but from what I saw I agree with you.  There wasn't much for Hollywood new releases.

Quote from: Morgus on August 31, 2011, 01:43:46 PM
Netflix still has a $2/month extra surcharge to access Blu-Ray titles.
Blockbuster online doesn't have that extra surcharge for Blu-Rays for comparison.

I checked into what Blockbuster offers after reading this.  While true there's no extra charge for Blu-Ray, it still costs $3 more per month than I'm currently paying for an equivalent plan.  I see a few perks they offer like games and in store trades but it's nothing I'm interested in.  Plus I still hold a grudge against them from years ago when they'd charge almost $5 to rent new releases.  Although the intentional crippling of PC streaming is disappointing, overall I'm happy with Netfix's service and plans.

lol maybe I should try some ice packs then.

Quote from: fysisist on August 29, 2011, 01:12:12 PM
Wow, I'm surprised.  Are you watching on your computer or on your TV with a separate device (Roku, etc)?  I haven't had any problems.  I've been watching via WiFi to a Roku player for about a year now.  Mostly Netflix, but also Amazon Instant Video, and occasionally a couple of the other free channels.  Cable broadband with Comcast.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the problem is.  From everything i've read it should be better but it's not.  I run it through a PC to my TV.  I've tried it on several different PCs and seen no difference.  There was something I read a while back that said Netflix doesn't stream in HD to PCs, only to the stand alone boxes like Roku, Blu-Ray players and things like that.  I did try it on a Wii for a while and saw no difference though.  It's a mystery.

That's all I can figure.  It certainly isn't due to slow internet connection and I doubt my expectations on video quality are much different than an average user.  I've also used it on several different IPs over the years so I doubt it's a throttling by them.

As a side note I've been watching the US Open all day and I love their streaming setup.  Check it out at http://www.usopen.org/en_US/index.html.  I wish more sports would take note of this.  They don't even run commercials once the stream gets going.

I recently cancelled the streaming portion of Netflix sine they are raising their rates.  I found the video quality of it totally inadequate.  I was able to deal with it on some TV shows and documentaries but movies were just unwatchable with all the pixelation and horizontal tearing.

Quote from: Jackpine Savage on August 24, 2011, 03:35:40 PM
I don't fear the future, I plan on making the future my bitch. Turn fear into motivation, if you expect to get your ass handed to you, you will. I chalk this attitude up to the emasculation of our society. How many men really get their ass kicked in a fight these days? Shit, how many men have actually been in a fight anymore? It used to be a common way of solving disputes, we've become so soft that we are afraid of struggle. I've gotten my ass kicked more than once, and I found it to be a profoundly motivating experience. Guess what, you soft white Americans, there are about 6 billion people in the world who are born of a desperate existence, and are not afraid to kill or fight to get what they want. Are you? It's only fear of your piad cop and military mercenaries, like Rome's, that holds the barbarians from the gates. "Peace and love", what a self serving joke. Easy to preach peace and love when you are enjoying a cushy lifestyle delivered to you on a silver fucking platter. Our forefathers destroyed, killed, and pillaged to carve out an existence for their progeny, a progeny that squandered that inheritance in a single self-serving generation. The 60s cultural revolution sewed the breeze, and they are about to reap a fucking F5 tornado. I for one can't wait. The future brings a reckoning. Bring it on.

Are you for reals or like Arnold Schwarzenegger from Last Action Hero?

I fell asleep last night with the coastgab stream running and awoke to some woman screaming at Art's guest.  Boy she was pissed off.  I was in that half asleep half awake state and I was trying to stay concious enough to find out what she was all upset about and who the guest was.  I'm almost positive it was Charles Ostman and she was calling him a cancer and other things.  I recall Art mentioning something about nano technology so the guest being Ostman makes sense.  Anyway, does anyone remember this show well enough to give me a air date or anything?  Ever since I got up this morning I've been wondering about what he could've said that was so upsetting to her.

Quote from: b_dubb on August 23, 2011, 01:42:18 PM
5.8 earthquake  here in NC .... hurricane irene is coming right at us ... catastrophe sandwhich ... well the earthquake was pretty much nothing but ... whatevs

It's the Quickening!

Haha how sad is this?

Izzard on World War 2

This guy cracks me up.

Quote from: Flaxen Hegemony on August 18, 2011, 08:02:00 PM
In addition to the idea of blame that you mention, sometimes I wonder if the appeal of people like Alex Jones lies in the twisted hope that there's someone out there more organized and competent than we are.  Of course, I'm not speaking of Jones, but of the Illuminati / NWO / Knights Templar, or whoever.  What would be scarier to the average person if the poop hits the proverbial propeller?  An organized shadow group pulling strings, or everyone in sight without a clue? 

People - particularly the young - often fight order, and at the same time, find it securing.  When we make that order a hidden entity, it is easier for us to juggle those two beliefs simultaneously.

Oh yeah, and Jones is nuts, too.

Interesting discussion and comparison.  When it comes to believers in things like the Illuminati and other groups I can only come to one conclusion about where their illusions come from.  There's a large population of people who are perpetual victims in everything that happens to them.  You know the type.  They'll take no responsibility over things which happen in their life, as small as spilling a coffee, or as large as the string of shitty jobs they continually got fired from over their lifetimes.  I think the Illuminati believers are a small extreme sub-class of this personality and the idea of these groups running their lives removes responsibility from choices they are faced with.

After moving back home I've had the chance to go through a bunch of my old stuff including a huge box of my old CD's.  It's been fun relistening to some stuff I havn't heard in years and there's the occasional album which I wonder why I ever bought in the first place.  Last night in particular I put in Shania Twain - Come on Over which I remember buying when it was new.  While flipping through songs I was checking out Wikipedia for some info on the CD just for fun and I found this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_worldwide#Best-selling_albums_by_country

I still kind of like that CD but how the hell did it sell 40 million albums??  After skimming that list further I noticed there's a grand total of two albums on there from the past ten years both of which are near the bottom.  That got me to wondering about WTF happened to music.  Obviously pirating today takes a hefty chunk out of sales but there has to be more than that.  Also I don't really buy into the idea that crappy music today is affecting sales all that much since according to that list the Backstreet Boys have a total of 94 million records sold.  Among that list there's actually not many albums I would call great music personally.  Popular music today is horrible IMO but there's quite a number of albums on there I would consider horrible and maybe half I would consider mediocre.

I've tried thinking of modern albums that may have made the chart were it not for piracy and I can't really think of any.  I wouldn't have put Ace of Base there back in the day either so maybe I'm not a good judge of these things.  As I said I don't buy into the idea of piracy destroying sales so badly anyway.

All I could really come up with are two ideas.  One, I don't think they really try to make music anymore that has mass appeal accross genres.  Possibly at a point in the 80's and 90's the music appealed to multiple generations where as today I don't think that's true.  Two, the internet has allowed people to more easily branch out their tastes in music.  We're not really forced to hear a select few artists on the local radio stations anymore.

Yeah I know this whole thing isn't news but I enjoy these topics on culture and how and why it changes.  Anyone elses thoughts on the topic are welcome.

I'm tired of reading news articles, written by supposed professionals, which use quotes from Facebook, Twitter, forums, and other anonymous comments around the internet.  Have you ever been reading an article on a serious topic and suddenly the journalist thought it was important to let you you know what Bigballzbilly009 thought about the subject?  WTF?

I meant WHY it won't happen.  It looks like there's no longer an edit option unless I'm missing something.

Quote from: texaskdog on August 07, 2011, 03:44:05 PM
Heck I just want these doofuses to balance the budget.  I don't care who gets the credit/blame for it.

Minus the mass conspiracy undertones, here's what it won't happen IMO.


George Carlin They Don't Give a Fu@k About You

Quote from: Agent : Orange on August 11, 2011, 12:21:46 AM
During my undergraduate years, my Mother was diagnosed with liver cancer.......

Better than any ghost story I've heard.  Thanks for sharing, and no offense to ghost story tellers. 

Quote from: onan on August 16, 2011, 10:41:36 AM
Whatever your take on funny, on inappropriateness, or any other point of contention... I guarantee you the internet will find a way to go way the fuck past your tolerance level.

Probably one of the greatest truths of the internet.  I've found this forum to be much more enjoyable as a frequent lurker with infrequent posts than an active participant.  Don't take that as a suggestion.  If everyone were like me then it wouldn't be entertaining at all!  Sometimes it's best to just step away, get some perspective, and come back with adjusted expectations.

Quote from: Michael Vandeven on August 16, 2011, 10:23:13 AM
i assume you're referring to this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Douglas_Wells

Exactly.

I remember watching those Faces of Death videos years ago and thinking they were cool to see.  At some point since that time those kinds of things just turn my stomach.  It has less to with with the violence itself than the idea of it being presented as entertainment for me.  A few weeks ago there was an update to some story about a bank robbery from a few years back where a man had a bomb attached to his neck.  Something went wrong and the bomb went off and killed the guy.  It was all caught on police cameras.  While looking through the news stories I found one with the actual video to watch.  I clicked play and saw him sitting on the pavement pleading with police to help him and I had to stop the video, close out the page and walk away from the computer.


TOOL - Vicarious ( with lyrics ) - 10,000 days

Cusco-Inca Dance

I believe that's what you're looking for.

Did anyone else see this?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/10/pakistan.us.military.fight/index.html?hpt=C1

I'm all for disclosure but this might be a case where keeping your mouth shut is the best thing.  I think the way the operation was conducted tells more about relations between the US and Pakistan than anything else but why antagonize aggression through the media?

Quote from: anagrammy on May 10, 2011, 09:18:58 AM
It is critical to the success of our nation that we reduce military spending.

From my view on the bottom rung of the military this is already underway.  In the past six months or maybe year there's been a pretty dramatic shift.  It looks like they want to cut down personel size by quite a bit.  It's not something that's been put out in any explicit way but changes to regulations and the behavior of those higher up make it obvious.

It seems like these things always go through ebbs and flows.  In a few years they'll probably be scrambling to recruit as many as they can again.

Completely unrelated to the topics at hand but my last post brought a question to mind and maybe one of you guys knows the answer.

What is the deal with the accents that people like Ozzy have?  Nicko McBrain talks in a similar way (although he's lesser known so not as good of an example).  Both are very hard to understand even though they're speaking english.  Most everyone has heard Ozzy speak and heard all the jokes about it.  I have some recordings of Nicko talking and I can make out about half of what he's saying.

I've had someone tell me that this accent is common in England among some poor or lower class people and carries a certain stigma or mark.  Does anyone know if this is true?

Quote from: anagrammy on May 08, 2011, 10:11:53 PM
Wait, wait, it was "Snowblind!"  that played backwards and said "Smoke Marijuana!"   

Do you mean the Black Sabbath song that is about cocaine when played forward?

Funny story though.  I think you can play anything backwards and find something if that's what you're looking for.  There's a lot of those accusations in rock music that I've heard but only a few were ever proven to be real.

Of the real ones this has always been my favorite: (cut from wikipedia)

Iron Maiden's 1983 album Piece of Mind features a short backwards message, included by the band in response to allegations of Satanism that were surrounding them at the time.[66] Between the songs "The Trooper" and "Still Life" is inebriated drummer Nicko McBrain doing an impression of Idi Amin Dada: "'What ho', sed de t'ing wid de t'ree bonce [said the thing with the three heads]. Don't meddle wid t'ings you don't understand," followed by a belch.

Quote from: Usagi on May 08, 2011, 11:28:39 AM
I hate when people make fun of the Allman Brothers, like you are instantly a redneck if you listen to them.  They had some awesome music.

Haha I didn't realize they had a stigma to them.  They never caught my attention till a few years ago when I heard Statesboro Blues from Filmore East.  I'd never heard a slide guitar played like that and thought it was awesome.

On a related note I recommend anyone into the blues catch a BB King show before the old guy kicks off.  Not to be crude, but he is 85 now.  On a whim a few years ago I bought two tickets to see him.  It was in a smaller auditorium which I was excited about.  I don't like shows at huge stadiums anymore.  It started off with his band jamming for a while until finally old BB came hobling out, with an escort to help, and took a seat on a chair at the center stage.  He started talking about how he can barely see anymore.  He coulud hear the audiance but couldn't see them he said.  My heart started to sink thinking I just got ripped off for almost $200.  But from that point on it was pure awesomeness for the entire show.  Not only can he still jam and sing he's a hell of an entertainer through the stories he tells between songs.  Hands down the most enjoyable concert I've ever seen.

Quote from: The General on May 08, 2011, 10:18:42 AM
I have to disagree about Stevie Ray Vaughan on one aspect.  Guitar players!  As a guitar player myself who ran a blues jam here in Seattle for a while, and frequented many blues jams over the last many years, I can tell you that about half of the guitar players that came to jam idolized SRV to the point of making it laughable.  They'd show up with beat up strats, the big hat and everything, and just play note for note SRV stuff!  I always tell people, "Get your own identity!  You're a good player, you don't have to imitate somebody!"  It was ESPECIALLY bad in the years following his death.

Oh yeah I can believe that.  From my experience musicians will have a much different view on what is good and what is not compared to your average listener.  The two more often than not don't intersect, I think because musicians often listen for different reasons.  SRV is held in very high esteem among the guitar players I know.

Do you still play in a band or anything these days or have any samples online to listen to?

Another player whose death didn't seem to help their popularity is Duane Allman.  I guess stuff like SRV and Allman just isn't something the mainstream can latch onto.  Neither is that far off from the style of Hendrix though.  Maybe it's a case of right place right time.  It's a topic I like to think about so I'm sorry if I get a little long winded or overly critical.