MEN ONLY THREAD part two

[The Battle Chef]

The Man's Prayer from the Red Green Show:

 

I'm a Man, and I can change
If I have to

I guess

[RisenPhoenix]

1 hour ago, Rusk said:

The Man's Prayer from the Red Green Show:

 

I'm a Man, and I can change
If I have to

I guess

 

But Never Will I Ask

For Directions.

 

 

>.>
<.<

[Artinum]

22 hours ago, Frost of the Gloaming said:

Question, What is a Man? 

 

"Iron enough to make a nail
Lime enough to paint a wall
Water enough to drown a dog
Sulphur enough to stop the fleas
Potash enough to wash a shirt
Gold enough to buy a bean
Silver enough to coat a pin
Lead enough to ballast a bird
Phosfor enough to light the town
Poison enough to kill a cow
Strength enough to build a home,
Time enough to hold a child,
Love enough to break a heart."

- Terry Pratchett, "Wintersmith"

[The Battle Chef]

 

[WolfDreamer]

On 7/2/2018 at 4:28 PM, Frost of the Gloaming said:

Question, What is a Man? 

 

[Red1263]

On 7/4/2018 at 8:50 PM, Wolfen said:

 

I have this as a poster on my wall. It's rather inspirational.

[WolfDreamer]

13 hours ago, Red1263 said:

I have this as a poster on my wall. It's rather inspirational.

 

My favorite poem of all time. 

[Nomad Jay]

On 7/2/2018 at 2:28 PM, Frost of the Gloaming said:

Question, What is a Man? 

I'm praying this doesn't spark a culture war* but I think there's a distinction between "man" and "male".  "Male" is biological while "man" is very much socially-contextual. Societies across time have had a set of traits that males must possess and a series of test/conditions/gates males must pass through in order to obtain the status of "man". From my admittedly limited knowledge, the requisite traits usually include personal courage, physical prowess, and a certain amount of wisdom. The gates are less easy to nail down but generally include something requiring personal risk. I'm not sure that anything like that exists in modern Western culture or if it does it's not explicitly defined. Then again, I do hear people tell their sons that "football will make a man out of you".

 

*This whole forum is blessedly free of such things, which is why I keep coming back.

[The Battle Chef]

13 hours ago, Nomad Jay said:

I'm praying this doesn't spark a culture war* but I think there's a distinction between "man" and "male".  "Male" is biological while "man" is very much socially-contextual. Societies across time have had a set of traits that males must possess and a series of test/conditions/gates males must pass through in order to obtain the status of "man". From my admittedly limited knowledge, the requisite traits usually include personal courage, physical prowess, and a certain amount of wisdom. The gates are less easy to nail down but generally include something requiring personal risk. I'm not sure that anything like that exists in modern Western culture or if it does it's not explicitly defined. Then again, I do hear people tell their sons that "football will make a man out of you".

 

*This whole forum is blessedly free of such things, which is why I keep coming back.

You're not wrong.  

This is doubly frustrating for me.  My province is officially more than 50% senior citizens aged 65 or older.  My parents had me later in their lives than most and they attempted to raise me with values more commonly found in the 50s/60s (back when they were young-ish).  This frequently clashed with the attitudes of my schoolmates who had younger parents, and again with co-workers I have who are a full 10 years younger than me.  I have to CONSTANTLY remind myself not to judge these younger people for traits that I find annoying and useless, but in the context of their own lives make sense.  

Seriosuly though, next person to complain about slow wifi is going to get the "you don't know what slow internet means because you NEVER HEARD OF DIAL UP" rant.  >.>

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

4 hours ago, Rusk said:

Seriosuly though, next person to complain about slow wifi is going to get the "you don't know what slow internet means because you NEVER HEARD OF DIAL UP" rant.  >.>

 

[Nomad Jay]

Ah, the sounds of history...

[Artinum]

I remember being on dial-up many years ago. Broadband was so much better (and still a lot slower then than it is now).

 

The problem isn't the connection speed so much as the endless crap that pollutes the bandwidth. Ads, tracking data, background updates to pretty much any software on your device... none of this was feasible with dial-up.

[Nomad Jay]

Amen to that. I get particularly annoyed with websites with that employ scripts to detect AdBlock and the like and refuse to let you in if you're employing it. Just go to a subscription model and be done with it. I don't owe your advertisers my eyeball time.

[Artinum]

I tried Adblock a long time ago and found it caused me problems, so I removed it again. Went back to it a few months ago and it's a lot happier now. I appreciate that a lot of websites need advertising to survive, but these ads are getting more intrusive all the time. I'd have adblock on my iPhone if I could. The adverts that ignore my silent settings and PLAY VERY LOUDLY are particularly irritating. I will never use the products these adverts are offering.

[RubiksCat]

58 minutes ago, Artinum said:

I tried Adblock a long time ago and found it caused me problems, so I removed it again. Went back to it a few months ago and it's a lot happier now. I appreciate that a lot of websites need advertising to survive, but these ads are getting more intrusive all the time. I'd have adblock on my iPhone if I could. The adverts that ignore my silent settings and PLAY VERY LOUDLY are particularly irritating. I will never use the products these adverts are offering.

 

And when I have 2 or 3 tabs open and an ad starts playing somewhere in one of them. Or when the ad before a YouTube video plays perfectly fine but the actual content I came for keeps buffering. 

[Red1263]

7 hours ago, Rubik'sCat said:

 

And when I have 2 or 3 tabs open and an ad starts playing somewhere in one of them. Or when the ad before a YouTube video plays perfectly fine but the actual content I came for keeps buffering. 

I have this reaction in my head whenever this happens:

[TGP]

so... this thread is about Anything a man wants to talk about?

sounds edgy.

 

anywhichit'

 

there are only three great results to the big controversies of Today.

 

*Things change for the better

*Things stay the same

*Things change for the worse

 

I would likely put my money on #3- but I can't deny the logic of #2.  two sides ; both of whom are screaming and see their cause as a existential exercise of basic human rights.

 

public opinion, they say, supports moderate compromise in the hopes of making things better.  BUT.  when did public opinion polls really matter anyways?

 

idk.

Do you think people Could get SO upset about this Left vs Right stuff that some kind of civil war erupts?  sometimes I wonder.  other times; I think plain ole media is just drumming up tension and controversy to sell their media and that basic human cogeniality is more of a factor then it might appear.

 

 

[Artinum]

2 hours ago, TGP said:

so... this thread is about Anything a man wants to talk about?

sounds edgy.

 

[...]

 

Do you think people Could get SO upset about this Left vs Right stuff that some kind of civil war erupts?  sometimes I wonder.  other times; I think plain ole media is just drumming up tension and controversy to sell their media and that basic human cogeniality is more of a factor then it might appear.

 

It gets a bit hairy in here sometimes. Especially the bits about beards.

 

As for civil war - it's happened before. But I don't think it's likely at the moment - people don't follow movements. They follow leaders. At the moment, the left wing of the US government has nothing. It's fallen apart. There's a whole swathe of people out there with no-one to rally behind. Eventually they will find someone, and it may not be a political leader.

 

Meanwhile, here in the UK, all this Brexit nonsense is continuing in chaos. I'm hearing rumours that Boris Johnson could end up the next Prime Minister. Typical of this country - always copying America a few years later. Soon we'll have our own chubby lunatic with bad hair in charge...

[TGP]

I have mused on the civil war-ish thing and this is my own opinion of the likeliest scenario.

 

let us imagine for a moment that in future time; demagraphics eventually swing the political side of things Liberal.  Liberal politics get control, maintain and reinforce it.

 

Liberal particularly cater to urban places and make good on things many millions in the cities really do seem to want;  Tightened gun laws,  Standardized national health care,  University subsidies galore etc.

 

this instigates the Right side of the govt that already seems pretty paranoid.  now in the midst of this; the Return of the Elites (if you will)

 

some awful catastrophe comes along.  not just the peicemeal hurricanes but the stuff "preppers" worry about all the time.  for example a solar flare; a weapon of mass destruction hitting a major city.

 

Urban people suffer and then feel the need to grasp lots of resources.  this is the spark, the start of a new American civil war.

 

but rather than state to state... huge swaths of the country seceed not as states; but as districts; convinced that "state" politics have allowed Liberals and Elites to screw the hardworking farmers of the Midwest and South from their resources.

 

the secessionists do not have a comparable military to counter national guard deployments.  but some states are so rural; that there is barely any politicians left to Call up national guard.  and the New Civil war is more like a terroristic insurrection against the National Government.

 

the emnity works to both sides of the fight and violence break out along all over the place; but particularly in border areas.  Cities are protected by massive protection; and American freedom is all but gone.  If the Goverment of Abraham Lincoln felt it neccesity to invalidate most american freedoms; what of a time when thousands of domestic terrorists pray daily for the chance of blowing up an American City with a weapon of mass destruction.

 

OTOH; how does the government win ,exactly, either?  if the Left/urbanists win the political argument permanently the feeling of disenfranchisement would be pervasive; even in places like my part of PA.

 

BTW; In that kind  of fight I would expect to be in the crosshairs of a big border area.  With a major Refinery as important for neccesary resources of the cities; yet close to rural places.

 

-----

Given where we are RIGHT now.  we in America are polarized enough; what prevents this kind of thing is the economy and our modern life.  In some 3rd world countries where this exact scenario plays out.... its not that different from syria.

[TGP]

and that is why;

even the tone of some of the Prepping websites, frankly scare me.

 

they are prepared for Americans killing Americans.  

 

I wish they could see how much darker their expectations might make some future catastrophic problem.

we could surmount some amazingly awful stuff if we came together as a country like we did for WW2.  

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Just a friendly reminder, let's leave politics out of things on this thread. Everyone has been behaving themselves so far, I'm just asking we stop and change the subject before someone comes in and chooses not to behave.

[Artinum]

Suits me. Between the constant misery of modern politics and the constant World Cup coverage, I'd rather like to spend the next few weeks in a remote cabin somewhere far away from everything. I'm not sure work would allow it, though.

[Frost of the Gloaming]

Hmmmmm next question....

 

Spell every word right and use proper grammar or be able to do complex math problems in your head?

[Artinum]

52 minutes ago, Frost of the Gloaming said:

Hmmmmm next question....

 

Spell every word right and use proper grammar or be able to do complex math problems in your head?

 

I'm a maths graduate providing a copywriting/proofreading service. Trust me - neither of these will get you laid.

[Frost of the Gloaming]

Besides Sports Stars and Uniform jobs (police/fire) does any job really get you laid?

 

 

And getting paid to get laid, porn star/male gigolo doesn't count.