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  #121 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 03:44 AM
tommac tommac is offline
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Originally Posted by Neverfly View Post
So you see- we actually agree.

Only because of your fear of frivolous and superfluous lawsuits that wrack todays courtrooms with nonsense, do you feel that you need to support oppressive laws?
I think we have way too many lawyers. But at the same time I would like to sue the crap out of you if you crashed into me and caused me to be paralyzed.

Although I think we can really cut down on frivolous law suits in the US ... I think our system is pretty good. Let me ask you this ... do you think everyone should be forced to have insurance to drive a car?
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  #122 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 03:47 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tommac View Post
I think we have way too many lawyers. But at the same time I would like to sue the crap out of you if you crashed into me and caused me to be paralyzed.

Although I think we can really cut down on frivolous law suits in the US ... I think our system is pretty good. Let me ask you this ... do you think everyone should be forced to have insurance to drive a car?
I don't have a problem with the insurance laws as much.

The difference is in- are you putting yourself or others into danger?

Saying I MUST wear a seat belt is the same as forbidding me from Bungee Jumping, cliff diving, skydiving or many other activities that are my own business.

Realistically, If I crashed into you and you were NOT wearing your seat belt which caused you to be paralyzed- and you sued me, the judge should throw the case out.
Because You Chose to not wear a seat belt.
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  #123 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 03:48 AM
Acolyte Acolyte is offline
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Originally Posted by tommac View Post
Like I said ... I can agree with that as long as the person not wearing the seatbelt gives up their right to sue as they are not using the safety equipment that comes with their car OR at utter lease give up the rights on any injury that occured from not using the safety device that is installed in the car.
I think the right they need to release us from is the right to medical treatment at any of Society's expense.

I know this isn't as valid in the States where it's no pay - no treatment, but in other countries the medical system is run to benefit the citizens - requiring our taxes go to provide medical aid to those who choose to not avail themselves of basic safety precautions is why seatbelt & helmet laws are a good idea.

Now, maybe we could run the ignition current through the seatbelt buckle? *grins*

Quote:
Originally Posted by disinfo agent
He was wrong on both counts.

First, what makes a particular race better or worse is and will always remain a matter of opinion and of context. There is no objective criterion you can apply to decide such a thing. We may agree on what "a better sheep dog" or "a better hunting dog" or "a better poodle" mean, but "a better dog", period, is a meaningless notion. It depends on what you want the dog for.
No he wasn't wrong about being able to breed a better race. Failing to have a workable definition for 'better' doesn't mean it can't be done.

PLUS, simply breeding out congenital defects would improve the lot of the majority of humanity.

And I'm pretty sure there are a number of Govts around who would happily breed for a 'better ciitizen' if they could work out how to make us more docile. The same bunch (Nazis) used Sodium Fluoride in the Concentration Camp water supplies to do that job.
from http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=14949
Quote:
At the end of World War II, the US government sent Charles Eliot Perkins, a research worker in chemistry, biochemistry, physiology and pathology, to take charge of the vast Farben chemical plants in Germany. The German chemists told Perkins of a scheme which they had devised during the war and had been adapted by the German General Staff. The German chemists explained of their attempt to control the population in any given area through the mass medication of drinking water with sodium fluoride, a tactic used in German and Russian prisoner of war camps to make the prisoners "stupid and docile"(Stephen 1995)

I think to avoid contaminating this thread further I should leave it to readers to do their own investigation into why it is being added to water supplies in the current times.

Breeding out defects is, I will agree, fraught with danger until we know how it all works, (think Malaria & Sickle Cell anaemia) but once we have it to a decent level of understanding there should be no reason why we can't start removing illness & degenerate disease from the population - apart from the pharmaceuticals of course.

So it is quite possible to breed a better race just by breeding out the defects
Quote:
Originally Posted by disinfo agent
Second, even if a government or an individual knew how to breed a better race, they would have no moral authority to do it. Humans are not household animals.
Can't say I disagree with this... Particularly on the part of any Govt - they are the least likely to have any concept of a moral imperative although I think most of them have amoral imperatives. *grins*
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  #124 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 04:35 AM
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Default Re: corellations of intellegence

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Originally Posted by Acolyte View Post
[edit]The same bunch (Nazis) used Sodium Fluoride in the Concentration Camp water supplies to do that job....
Uh oh...
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  #125 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 04:51 AM
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Oh, Boy...
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  #126 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 05:24 AM
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I have here an abstract from a 1999 article in Science Direct looking at the IQ/noggin relationship.

Quote:
Intelligence
Volume 27, Issue 1, February 1999, Pages 83-92

Magnetic resonance imaging brain size/IQ relations in Turkish University students

Üner Tan, , a, Mel ha Tana, Pinar Polatb, Ya ar Ceylanb, Selam Sumab and Adnan Okurb

a Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey

b Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey

Abstract
The relation of IQ (Cattell's Culture Fair Intelligence Test) to brain size was studied in 103 right- and left-handed men and women at Atatürk University in eastern Turkey. Cerebral areas were measured on a midsagittal section of the brain using MRI. An overall correlation of 40 was found between MRI-measured total area and IQ thereby further supporting the IQ–brain size hypothesis. Additional analyses suggested that these results may need qualification. In men, only anterior cerebral area correlated with IQ. In women, total and posterior cerebral areas were correlated with IQ. Other results varied by handedness.

I liked the part near the end:

"Additional analyses suggested that these results may need qualification. In men, only anterior cerebral area correlated with IQ. In women, total and posterior cerebral areas were correlated with IQ. Other results varied by handedness."

So it turns out that to get the correlation different parts of male and female brains must be measured. But not the whole brain in either case. And IQ varied with handedness?

I'm assuming a typo and that the correlation was really 0.40. And I should note this appears to be a correlation of brain cross-sectional area, not volume.

I'll keep looking for other stuff.
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  #127 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 10:50 AM
Acolyte Acolyte is offline
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Originally Posted by Maksutov View Post
Uh oh...
Well, I'd say I was just messing with your heads, but I can't find my fluoride...
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  #128 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 11:04 AM
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Default Re: corellations of intellegence

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Well, I'd say I was just messing with your heads, but I can't find my fluoride...
Where's ZaphodBeeblebrox when he needs to respond to a post?
Quote:
Mandrake: Jack... Jack, listen, tell me, ah... when did you first become, well, develop this theory?
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  #129 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 11:15 AM
Acolyte Acolyte is offline
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Originally Posted by Maksutov View Post
Where's ZaphodBeeblebrox when he needs to respond to a post?
Last seen trying to brush both sets of teeth with a toothbrush 3 foot wide - the fluoride froth spread & frothed & imploded into his own quantum-frothy universe, effectively removing any possibility of further entanglement.
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  #130 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 11:42 AM
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Originally Posted by Celestial Mechanic View Post
tommac:

Why are you so obsessed with "dumb people"? This is the fourth thread you've started on topics related to "dumb people", two of them closed.

Be a smart person. Please don't start anymore "dumb people" threads.
eighty six threads. march 24. that's approx. fifty days. a BAUT record?
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  #131 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 03:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Neverfly View Post

Realistically, If I crashed into you and you were NOT wearing your seat belt which caused you to be paralyzed- and you sued me, the judge should throw the case out.
Because You Chose to not wear a seat belt.
I am not sure that is the case. I bet there would be a settlement of some sort.
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  #132 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 03:35 PM
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eighty six threads. march 24. that's approx. fifty days. a BAUT record?
Awesome!!!
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  #133 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 05:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Celestial Mechanic View Post
tommac:

Why are you so obsessed with "dumb people"? This is the fourth thread you've started on topics related to "dumb people", two of them closed.

Be a smart person. Please don't start anymore "dumb people" threads.
When I wrote the above in post #8 of this thread, I was also hoping that this thread would die a timely and well-deserved death shortly thereafter. It almost worked, too: nobody posted to this thread for nine hours after that post.

Given the contentious direction(s) that this thread has taken, it is still my wish that this thread die. All it takes is for the "smart people" to stop posting to this thread. I will stop with this post; won't you help me? Please?
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Old 12-May-2008, 05:59 PM
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  #134 (permalink)  
Old 12-May-2008, 08:29 PM
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No ... all smart people please post! Dumb ones stop!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Celestial Mechanic View Post
When I wrote the above in post #8 of this thread, I was also hoping that this thread would die a timely and well-deserved death shortly thereafter. It almost worked, too: nobody posted to this thread for nine hours after that post.

Given the contentious direction(s) that this thread has taken, it is still my wish that this thread die. All it takes is for the "smart people" to stop posting to this thread. I will stop with this post; won't you help me? Please?
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  #135 (permalink)  
Old 13-May-2008, 04:15 AM
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Ok, I'll stop....
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  #136 (permalink)  
Old 13-May-2008, 01:22 PM
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Originally Posted by tommac View Post
We need a seatbelt law and a helment law to protect the other drivers on the road. Think of hitting a car with someone not wearing a seat belt or a motorcycle with someone not wearing a helmet. Say that they died but would have lived if they were wearing it. Say the accident was your fault.

Should you get sued for the death? I may be willing to agree to someone forfieting all of their rights to sue if they were not wearing a helmet or seatbelt, otherwise I am OK with the law.
Do I understand you right? I am required to wear a seatbelt in order to prevent you from being too overly inconvenienced by an accident you caused? How about you just don't cause the accident in the first place?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Neverfly View Post
Realistically, If I crashed into you and you were NOT wearing your seat belt which caused you to be paralyzed- and you sued me, the judge should throw the case out.
Because You Chose to not wear a seat belt.
I can't speak for other states, but...

South Dakota has a mandatory seat-belt law. However:

Quote:
Originally Posted by SDCL 32-38-4
Failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter does not constitute contributory negligence, comparative negligence, or assumption of the risk. Failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter may not be introduced as evidence in any criminal litigation other than a prosecution under this chapter or in any civil litigation on the issue of injuries or on the issue of mitigation of damages.
If you cause an accident that injures me, you're responsible for those injuries even if they were exacerbated by my failure to wear a seatbelt. Which, IMHO, is as it should be.
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  #137 (permalink)  
Old 13-May-2008, 01:58 PM
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I disagree.

I mean south Dakota is out in the booneys so not too many people own cars out there ... but in NJ / NY the roads are filled not only with drivers but with aggressive drivers. Accidents are common place.

Cars have certain safety standards seatbelts are part of those standards. Here in NJ it is a law that everyone needs to wear their seatbelt. If I crash into you ... I am responsible for damages but if you have ignored the safety features of your car then you are partially negligent. I agree with this and although I sometimes dont like wearing my seat belt I do like the law.


Quote:
Originally Posted by SeanF View Post
Do I understand you right? I am required to wear a seatbelt in order to prevent you from being too overly inconvenienced by an accident you caused? How about you just don't cause the accident in the first place?


I can't speak for other states, but...

South Dakota has a mandatory seat-belt law. However:


If you cause an accident that injures me, you're responsible for those injuries even if they were exacerbated by my failure to wear a seatbelt. Which, IMHO, is as it should be.
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  #138 (permalink)  
Old 13-May-2008, 02:34 PM
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South Dakota is NOT in the boonies. It's just coastally challenged.
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