So, the MN small business owner with enough cash for two $7.25/hr. unskilled teenage workers at his shop gets told he now must pay $9.50/hr. He decides to get by with one $9.50/hr. unskilled teenage worker. How has the minimum wage hike helped the unemployed teen?
Question 2:
A MN small business is in the habit of hiring people at the $7.25 minimum wage. After 9 months of proven work and acquiring skills, the owner has enough cash to offer a raise to $8.50. After a year and a half, some workers get a further bump to $9.50, since their skill and output allows the boss to afford it. Everyone at the job understands that sound work and output, over time, bumps you up the levels. Now, MN tells the business owner that his lowest level unskilled workers must get what he used to pay his most experienced help. How should he address the situation if his payroll is held at the same level by the economy?
How then can we be free? How can we live in complete mental harmony ? How can we brake the shackles of shame showered by guilt of senseless sin ? The burden of sense is so severe that we are senseless deep within. How can we take the trouble of tasks and turn them into triumph ? How can The tic and the tock of the ticktock clock seize to be our foe? How can we live our lives like ... How then can we be free ?
"freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose"-Janis Joplin ... "Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better"- Albert Camus ... "Freedom is the last, best hope of earth"- Abraham Lincoln ... "Freedom is the right to live as we wish" Epictetus ... "freedom is the secret of happiness and courage is the secret of freedom"-Thucydides ... "freedom is the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires"- Bertrand Russell ... "freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves"-Fredric Nietzsche ... "freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear"- George Orwell ... Free is what we are not . How then can we be free ?
In order to attain the true tenants of freedom we must first determine its meaning. In order to establish the meaning of freedom we must resolve the meaning of meaning. These confusing concepts might be a concocted conspiracy, or maybe it just is what it is ... Or perhaps it actually is what it was and history is nothing but the present. Thus the future will actually be nothing but the past and nothing will be established because nothing always lasts but we still have to come back to the basic fundamental task which is: How then can we be free ?
A recent conversation from Facebook had me thinking. Will science eventually be able to explain everything? I believe so. They asked me to explain how science can explain:
1. Origins 2. Morality 3. Purpose 4. Destiny
This was my response.
1. Origins
I absolutely believe that one day, even if it's a thousand years or more from now that science will eventually discover the origins of life. I can tell you right now, I do not believe in the invisible sky wizard.
2. Morality
I think this comes from upbringing, brain patterns, and experiences. I do not believe there is a force of evil and good. In science, and life it is choices. I also believe that people who do, "evil" believe they are doing right, and good.
3. Purpose
While this one is a bit harder, I think some people are, "wired" for certain things. For instance, I am really good at computers and how they work, but automobile functions/repairs are so hard/un-interesting for me to understand. I have also tried to learn how, from the atomic level, electricity works. I just can not wrap my head around it. Anyway, yes I think certain people might be born to do certain things. I think science may eventually prove this and it will also have to do with the same things as morality (as far as the brain goes.)
4. Destiny
This is subjective. I personally believe that we all have one, but it is altered by our choices. Maybe this is the most difficult to prove because to me, it involves psychic connections that we all have, but they have just not been proven. We are all one. Examples: You get a call from someone you haven't talked to in a long time (or short) that you were just thinking about. No one can explain that (yet). I believe again that in time science will show how this works. It will be as common as how light bulbs work.
So yes, I believe with enough time, experimentation, exploration, and discovery; science will be able to explain everything. It may take thousands or millions of years ( I don't think so ) but it WILL happen.
The crucifixion story of Jesus Christ is mythical, based on pagan religions, and makes no sense. These are the concluding points from "The Crucifixion Facade" by Vexen Crabtree (2002) which I rewrite today:
There is a complete absence of evidence for the events described - no authors mention the phenomenal events that supposedly occurred at the time of Jesus' resurrection, and, there are no records of Jesus being crucified in the first place. This is despite there being multiple historians of the time who kept extensive records of events in that era, especially of unusual events and the misdeeds of rulers. The only records we have are those written by Christians themselves, the Gospels. And within each of those gospels nearly all details of the crucifixion and resurrection are different. Very important details, such as Jesus' last words, are so different that it appears they are simply being made up by the authors. The earliest Christians did not know simple details such as where Jesus was buried.
Most the details of Jesus' death and rebirth are similar to the existing myths surrounding god-men in that era. The similarities to the Christs of other pagan religions are shockingly detailed, so much so that early Church fathers had to defend themselves against pagan critics who said that the stories of Jesus were simply pagan stories with new names.
The crucifixion makes no sense; God judged and accepted people into Heaven before the time when Jesus existed so it was not necessary for God's judgment, and anyhow, God is perfectly knowing and perfectly just, so it seems impossible that the crucifixion should somehow make God's system of salvation better than it was. It did not aid God's understanding of Human suffering, as God is omniscient (all-knowing). God knows the depths of Human suffering better than anyone alive.
It seems like me that in this day and age that no one really gets any respect for being themselves.
If you dress any differently, you get shit for it. If you listen to different music than everyone else, you get shit for it. If you have a freaking accent, you get shit for it.
What is going on? Why can no one just be themselves anymore?
I think it's the person's choice to be homo or hetero. And I think it's their right to be respected for who they are as humans, regardless of their orientation.
However, that's not always the case. There are people who are against homosexuality and they are two types:
>> People who disapprove of it, but do no harm. They disagree with the homosexuals' beliefs or opinions but they look past these differences and get along greatly with homos. I mean, they (that type) are allowed to have an opinion after all, right?
>>People who disapprove of it AND do harm, be it physically, verbally or emotionally. that's forcing beliefs on people, and it's merely a sick desire to control other people's lives. Interfering with something they have no right to judge. I even once saw these group of people making a small march with the "turn or burn" signs.
What are your thoughts on homosexuality? Do you think homosexuals now have all their rights? Why? Why not?
If there is one thing I can't stand more than anything, it's a pathological liar, as in a person who will tell obviously cockamamie bullshit stories and expect you to just nod your head. The most common offenders are your fast-talking histrionic-type individuals who come across as losers with a frantic need to impress people. Men and women are equally prone to this behavior. Here are a few whoppers I've heard in the past:
1.) (From a guy) My dad is a hitman who was trained to KILL in the military. If you ever need anyone whacked, he's the guy to call. 2.) (From a girl) I'm really a genius who got straight A's in high school, yet the reason I flunked out is because I would attend classes on Monday, get the lesson plan for the whole week, do all the work, then spend the rest of the week partying. I failed because of poor attendence.
Whenever I encounter an obvious pathological liar, I get this insatiable need to make sarcastic comments. Sometimes I'll even come up with a bs story of my own to make fun of them, IE: "Yeah, one time I was taking my second shot on a par five and suddenly this TORNADO appeared out of nowhere. It picked up my ball and dropped it right in the hole". People in my family have told me that it isn't proper to make sarcastic comments and the best thing to do is to keep ones mouth shut. I find this difficult, as I am often forced to be in the company of people I'd never choose to associate with, given a choice.
What do you think? Call out a liar? Keep ones mouth shut?
bouncy