Posts by casualharbor9

$667 fine for cyclists riding while fatigued, ill, or in an impaired mental or physical state

How on earth is anyone supposed to measure if a person is tired, sick, or just having a rough mental health day? It honestly feels like they’re just passing laws for the sake of having something to point to when it suits them—like during a court hearing. Wouldn't it be better if they actually invested in decent bike lanes and infrastructure everywhere first, instead of jumping straight to handing out tickets?

I assume we’ll also be required to hop off and push our bikes while riding on the sidewalk...

And what about those reflective vests? Are those mandatory now too?

... and also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossamer_Condor

I found some more links here; just check out the human Powered Aircraft section
...
... though, let's be honest, flying a balloon is probably much easier:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008...sh-channel.php
http://home.teleport.com/~reedg/whitedwarf.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQdwx...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D63PK2IyJ4

... Of course there’s such a thing as a human Powered Aircraft (it looks more like a glider, really) that’s actually flown across the English Channel, traveling from the UK coast all the way to France—dedicated to Daedalus, naturally. But you won't find any useless wheels on those (so it's definitely not a bicycle), nor any other dead weight. The human body can only generate a very limited amount of energy, just barely enough to provide lift for an ultra-light aircraft like that, and even then, it requires some incredibly light-weight professionals to pull it off. I'll dig up some photos and links for you...

Brenda Cooper3 said:He probably is just tedious. It seems we all love to manufacture these grand narratives here, trying to convince the OP about some pervasive goodness or humanity that should reside in our hearts—his heart, specifically. Apparently, he’s strayed from the path of righteousness, which is quite a development.
yada yada yada 🤣

Of course the guy is as exhausting as a nagging neighbor on a Sunday morning. 😠
Why bother chasing after anyone on a bike?

The real question is: is a person truly incapable of cutting someone off if they want to, or have they just been gripped by a sudden burst of sentimentality that they feel compelled to share on a forum? We all know who this psychoanalysis is actually aimed at—the OP himself!!

How could you, honestly? 😠 🙂
🤣🤣
Imagine how you would feel if your friends refused to tell you that you're redundant. You partially know you are, yet you keep hoping and convincing yourself that you aren't... ??

The author isn't to blame. It's this primitive society that creates these awkward situations and eagerly anticipates them.
In America, people find it entertaining to mock those who are struggling... I have countless examples from growing up...
Someone is socially awkward or difficult? Wow, let's gang up and make fun of them! 🙏

... So, what you're actually saying is there’s zero empathy for anyone who doesn't fit our specific little mold? That we'd much rather take our frustrations out on others instead of actually meeting them halfway? Yeah, I'm with you on that... (though, granted, not everyone is quite that cynical...)

... you guys are some pretty weak cyclists...

Quincy:

...the moderator is penalizing people for bumping "old" posts...

???... wow, first vote... I honestly thought everyone hated opening the exact same threads over and over again... damn, I guess I’ll have to go back and re-read those rules one more time...

... people have just as much of a biological craving for hatred as they do for any other emotion... I don't really feel like getting into the weeds with an explanation right now; I've spent plenty of time trying to blunt that edge before...

... kids learn how to navigate the real world through play... meanwhile, adults go to absurd lengths to follow their raw instincts—even if they’re too proud to admit it—by weaponizing every social mechanism at their disposal... when it comes to sexuality, instinct tells them that they alone should be allowed to reproduce, and that everyone else should be blocked from doing so. So, they bake that bias right into their morality, their worldview, their legal systems, and their basic etiquette. Honestly, I might as well be from Mars... and that's how we end up in this ridiculous situation where society says, "Sure, you can kill him, but you definitely can't kiss him"... right?

Nicholas Allen2 said:Exactly, a lack of empathy is the primary issue, despite everything else. But tell me more about Singapore; I'm curious now. What kind of laws and penalties are we talking about? Were you referring to animal cruelty, or did you mean penalties for abusing people? And if it's the latter, are they actually severe?

... Oh, they definitely are. I haven't come across specific data on animal cruelty laws (though I assume they exist), but when it comes to interpersonal crimes—and I won't get too far off track here—it looks like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_law_of_Singapore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caning_in_Singapore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital...t_in_Singapore

... and the results speak for themselves:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Singapore

http://www.nationmaster.com/red/coun...ri-crime&all=1

(Assuming your English is up to speed 😉 )

I should clarify again: I'm not advocating for this, nor do I agree with all their laws, but the underlying concept is interesting to study...
... and we actually had a pretty compelling discussion over here regarding abuse, punishment, and upbringing:

Nicholas Allen2 said:So, the rational approach is using a saw on someone who hit a cat? That seems more likely to just make everything worse.
Action is necessary because there's a high chance this person will do it again, perhaps worse, unless someone stops them. But one must be careful; Nietzsche explained this well when he noted that anyone fighting monsters should be careful not to become a monster themselves.

... I was being hyperbolic. My point was simply that the threat of a severe penalty serves as a highly effective deterrent. As for making things worse, I have to disagree. Take Singapore, for example; they utilize very drastic penalties—which I don't necessarily advocate for every offense—yet they maintain some of the lowest crime rates in the world. I’m fairly certain nobody is out there kicking cats there... though maybe they just eat them (it is East Asia, after all)...

Something needs to be done because there's a high probability this kind of person will keep doing it, perhaps even worse, if no one tries to stop them. But it's best to be cautious; Nietzsche explained this quite well when he noted that anyone fighting monsters should be careful not to become a monster themselves.

... well, there's an old saying about fighting fire with fire... but I fear we are drifting more into philosophy and ethics than actual psychology here. That said, @kor-im made a great point about how difficult it is to recognize a monster, let alone define one. I'd lean toward agreeing with the earlier commenters who suggested the core issue is a fundamental lack of empathy...

Brenda Cooper3 said:True, what you mentioned at the end is an interesting point.

But then again, those Buddhist priests... they might be just as horrified seeing how easily we handle pests over here. 🤷

The Dalai Lama was once asked how he deals with a mosquito biting him... his response? He said: "First, I wave my hand near it just to let it know that isn't okay... if it comes back, I slap near it as a second warning... if it keeps going, I'll squash it once and for all." So, apparently, even they have a limit to their tolerance... (personally, I still find the monks from the Monte Carlo temple a bit more appealing 😍 )

... yeah, this is slowly turning into just another "venting session" thread...

Brenda Cooper3 As I was saying:
mistyseal11, maybe dial back the intensity just a notch and run the actual numbers for us? What are the odds someone actually tracks this idiot down and delivers him to justice like some kind of cosmic joke?
It’s all just stuck in your head. 😉

So, what’s the play here? You really think he can just break him mentally until there's nothing left? 😁
How many people like that actually exist? You don't even have to look hard to find them—maybe just check the neighbors' doorstep. It’s an old story: the state has always been the most effective tool for repression, provided you can first get it properly mobilized.

placidwolf27 said:That was more or less my point regarding the Smithfield Foods situation...

Because, seriously, people...

Thousands upon thousands

every single day

let's not be naive here—if we can justify slaughtering a pig, we can justify kicking a cat, for Christ's sake...

... so, are we just supposed to accept this? Where does this lack of empathy lead us—this obsession with the suffering of living beings, whether it's for entertainment or whatever else? ...except maybe in Rwanda...

Joshua Anderson17 said:I’d actually suggest that anyone here who's feeling revolted by a cat being left in a slaughterhouse for a week—just like I was during my college studies—take a look at the actual methods used to take the lives of cows and calves. It might put things in perspective...

... look, I’m just as disgusted as you are, and honestly, so are my colleagues, though I wouldn't exactly recommend watching those videos either... so what exactly was the point you were trying to make? That we should all just be indifferent to everything?

Brenda Cooper3 said:Look, casualharbor9, it’s like when you act without giving much thought to the consequences. I think we’ve all been in a situation like that at some point. We usually just call those mistakes.
But these creeps who target animals clearly have a lower IQ, which correlates with a diminished capacity for reasoning or considering the outcome before they act.
Whatever passes through their minds in that moment probably stems from some twisted part of the brain dedicated to "entertainment," or whatever you want to call it. They simply don't think long enough to realize that this particular brand of fun is fundamentally wrong.
Because they aren't factoring in a few key things:
1. Animals feel pain too.
2. Animals are innocent, helpless creatures, and you never touch them because it is—how should I put this?—an unwritten rule.

In that specific moment, they simply don't account for any of that. 😠
Perhaps they were raised in environments where animals are viewed merely as objects—typically rural areas.
In the countryside, it’s considered perfectly normal to kill a rat, or to shoot a dog or cat if they're even slightly injured instead of taking them to a vet. Birds are either food or target practice.
I’d say animals suffer quite a bit in rural settings, especially when dealing with certain human morons—and trust me, they exist. ☕
I’m not saying the idiots from the city are any better—those guys who spend 24/7 playing shooters on a PlayStation or a PC, craving the thrill of killing "for real" 🙄 only to find an animal and lash out at it. In more extreme cases of gaming addiction, they grab an AR-15 and open fire on their classmates at a university (we’ve all heard the news stories about those types).

... I get exactly what you're getting at, I really do. But the issue is that certain people just don't seem to grasp it, which means they might need a much more blunt way of having it hammered into their heads. When it comes to stuff like this, I’m firmly in favor of zero tolerance, if only to ensure the most vulnerable among us are actually protected...

Gerald Morgan4 said:Pairing Weedeemer's cynicism with a long-overdue voice of reason here. This perspective actually looks at all sides instead of reaching for the 'instant fix' that has unfortunately become the mainstream mindset today...

... and honestly? If I had the chance, my first instinct would be to chop off the leg of whoever kicked that poor kitten and blinded the mindless crowd watching it happen... so much for being the "voice of reason." "I am human, and nothing human is foreign to me"... 🤷
But things need to be handled rationally... even if that means using a saw...

Whenever a headline breaks about someone being needlessly cruel—whether it’s toward people or animals—it always triggers this predictable chain reaction. First, you get the group of people with visceral, gut-wrenching reactions (myself included) who immediately call for heavy-handed sanctions or swift retribution against the perpetrator, fueled by pure empathy for the victim. Then, predictably, a second group emerges to lecture us on ethics, preaching compassion for the offender and finding ways to rationalize or defend their behavior through endless verbal gymnastics. I remember there was a debate over on Reddit regarding whether physical discipline is actually a primitive method for social reintegration—it's a shame that thread got buried.
In short, my take is that the penalties for such disgusting behavior should be genuinely transformative. They need to be harsh enough to ensure the offender never repeats the act, and terrifying enough to make anyone else contemplating something similar freeze in their tracks. If we applied that kind of deterrent, wouldn't the number of these crimes be reduced to an absolute minimum?

But it raises a deeper question: what is actually going on in the mind of someone capable of such cruelty? How does that psyche develop? Were we all, at some point in our early lives, potentially capable of this? I honestly think we were. Every single one of us carries both Mother Teresa and Mengele within us from birth. It really just comes down to which side of that duality we end up nurturing based on the circumstances that shape our personalities. Beyond that, it becomes a question of how much society is willing to tolerate or inadvertently encourage through its own standards and political manipulations.

Nicole Barrett76 said:It strikes me that people simply desire to be mercenaries.

😂 ... yeah, I’ve been meaning to write that for a while now...

Aaron Anderson72 said:Honestly, being happy seems way too easy and kind of boring!

If there’s an 80% chance things are awesome and only a 20% chance they suck, everyone still finds a way to spiral and act like it's the end of the world!
It’s like that classic move: "I GOT AN A!!!!!!!!!!!!!" even though you actually scored an 87% on the test.

Like when some girl starts a thread panicking that she might be pregnant, driving herself crazy, even though the odds are basically 0.00000046 %.
She could have just grabbed a Starbucks and worked on a crossword, or even just sat out in the sun for a bit!

Then you see another thread where a ton of people say they wouldn't have even been born if they had the choice!

If there isn't a problem, we can always just invent one!
When everything is going great, we start worrying about a black hole swallowing the country, or a meteor hitting YOUR specific car, or a volcano erupting in your backyard. And if nothing else works, there's always: "Ugh, I can never be 100% sure my partner isn't cheating on me!"

Just look at the whole swine flu scare. Even if you're perfectly healthy and it would just be a couple of days of fever, we turned it into a massive panic. It was all over the news and every newspaper, everywhere you looked!

To wrap it up, it feels like people would rather choose suffering over an easy life. They just ignore everything that gives them a reason to smile and focus entirely on why things suck!

By the way, what’s the big symbol of faith in our society? THE CROSS!!!!!
The Cross, folks! It's a symbol used to glorify Jesus' SUFFERING! We celebrate it in church constantly. You hear it during Mass—stuff like "blessed are the poor," "blessed are the hungry," "blessed are the oppressed." The church glorifies suffering! It teaches that you need to suffer here on Earth to make it into heaven later. Like, Jesus was on the cross for a few hours after living 33 years, so that's all we focus on!

And if your life is actually perfect, you can always just reminisce about some drama you had ten years ago!
Or look at those old ladies on the bus who look like they want to bite your head off, wearing enough makeup to barely hold their faces up, lecturing everyone about kids, politics, or quoting Latin to complain about how teenagers play violent video games (when they probably don't even know what a computer is). Basically, if nothing is bothering you, you can always stress out over someone else's lack of morals! Then you become a victim again because: "I live in such a wicked and cruel world, I just can't stand the suffering and evil people inflict on each other."

We can even stress about how millions of chickens are slaughtered every single day just to feed people! Gross.😢

Mostly, this whole pile of mental issues and nonsense... come on people, snap out of it! You're healthy, you have food, you can grab a drink, you can afford your coffee, the sun is still yellow, the air is fresh, you've got friends, maybe a dog, a TV, and if you've got a partner, hey, that's great too. Life is beautiful if you actually choose to see it that way!

Cheers! 🙂

... well, I guess you ended up shitting the bed after all...