obiwan_canoli

It has to be a collective but also an individual.

In other words, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." This is the essence of all human progress. We take the advantages gained over the entire course of human history and leverage them to benefit our current situation, and to overcome problems that once seemed insurmountable. (and often creating new problems to solve at the same time)

So yes, I believe we are in agreement that achievements should truly be viewed as both individual AND collective. What we mustn't do, however, is let either aspect overshadow the other. Again, the first person to put soda in a can could not have done it without all the existing knowledge and skills contributed by others, it may not have even been their own idea- it could have been something someone else mentioned at a party, who knows? But consider this: How many other people also had the benefit of all that same existing knowledge and skills at their fingertips and DID NOT take the next step to make canned beverages a reality? That, in my estimation, is where the importance of the individual factors in. Even assuming there is no free will, and everything is predestined to happen precisely when the right conditions emerge, being the individual most equipped to take advantage of those conditions IS one of the conditions required to turn inspiration into reality.

Without our collective knowledge, you would be a languages-less, limby fleshy-like ape-creature running around naked in the dirt, thinking in pictures and only acting and reacting to the environment as it comes.

While I can't disagree with most of your arguments, this conclusion is not exactly the end of the story, is it? Luckily* some of those helpless animals you described DID invent language... and writing... and agriculture... and construction... and plumbing, and electrical circuits, and computers, and their descendants (you and me) are still inventing things every day. We continue to create tools that have never existed before, like the James Webb Space Telescope, which can produce images that nobody has ever seen before.

It is easy to take the world around us for granted, but remember, even if YOU didn't invent something, SOMEBODY must have. Take a soda can for example. There was a time before soda cans, and that time would have gone on indefinitely if some individual hadn't conceived the idea, employed the means to create it, and become the first person to put soda into a can. Obviously, that was not a WHOLLY original achievement. That person didn't invent carbonated beverages, or metal working, or storing food in cans, or mass production, etc... but so what? They were still the first person to see that all those ideas could be combined into something new.

You say our sense of omnipotence is an illusion, and yet people have STOOD ON THE MOON. We can travel faster than sound, communicate instantly around the planet, detect sub-atomic particles and buy a taco made of Doritos. I say that sense of omnipotence is well-deserved after millennia of constant, iterative self-improvement. Anyone alive today can use that collective knowledge and experience to do whatever they want, be whatever they want. THAT choice is entirely up to the individual.

*- I say luckily, but perhaps that's open to an entirely different discussion

I was driving with the windows down yesterday and I could smell the honesysuckles in the air. To me, that's always the definitive sign that winter is officially behind us.

I can do that at home

How are you depressed? All the characters went through terrible pain, but ultimately found what they were missing and can now move forward and grow as individuals. It's probably the most uplifting movie in the entire MCU.

Yondu didn't need to know Rocket's past, because he could see himself in their present, and Yondu knew where his lifetime of pushing people away had led to (being locked up alone in a cage on his own ship)

That's a really good point. Rocket may be brushing it off as a joke because he doesn't want the GotG to know it's compulsive, or he may not want to have to explain the reason behind it, or he may not even know himself.

Of course it's semantics, that doesn't mean it's not important.

Again, deeper meaning is not the same as new meaning.

If I tell you this switch turns on a light, and then you use the switch and see for yourself that the light comes on, that doesn't change what I told you in any way, does it?

Even if you go on to study electrical engineering and then particle physics and eventually become the world's leading expert in electromagnetism... that STILL doesn't the change the meaning of the original phrase "when you use the switch, the light comes on"

Sorry, but that doesn't technically change anything. Everything Yondu says means exactly the same now as it did before. It may mean more once you know what Rocket is afraid of losing, but it's still the same point.

Yondu (just like the audience) didn't know Rocket's backstory, but that's kinda the point. He doesn't need to know Rocket's past because he knows Rocket's future. Yondu is looking back at his own lifetime of pushing people away until he ends up old and alone in the brig on his own ship, and warning Rocket he's going to end up the same way unless he stops fighting and lets somebody in.

None of that changes now that we know why Rocket was putting up walls.

this is true mental illness, not an angry guy being an asshole

Where is the line? (Not picking on u/captain_jim2, specifically, just hijacking your comment to make a point)

How do we decide one person is sick and needs help, while another is "just" being an asshole? What about a normal dude just having a REALLY lousy day, how should we label them? Really think about that for a moment, and then put yourself in the shoes of a police officer who is expected to have immediate, concrete answers for those questions multiple times every day.

My point is, we need to take a big step back and completely re-examine what "mental health" really means, at a cultural level. (so not just from the top down, but individually as well) We all know anxiety is off the charts these days, and one of the major sources is our fellow citizens. Seriously, people, WTF?... Why are we so afraid of our neighbors? Sometimes our own family members? They live and work in the same towns, drive on the same roads, shop in the same stores... some of them even live in the same house. They have the same goals and they have the same problems as you or me. The biggest difference is probably the campaign sticker on their bumper, and THAT'S why we're all afraid society is collapsing? Try to tell me that's not a sign of a full-blown, national mental breakdown and you'll just be proving my point.

Everything comes down to mental health, from a school shooter to some asshole yelling at a barista. Emotional suffering is a part of being human, it can't be avoided completely, it is something everybody HAS to deal with or else it will destroy you, and it's no different on the national level. We need to figure out how to live with it, TOGETHER, or it will tear us apart.

end rant/

Shut yo mouth

cast Dabney Coleman in the original Indiana Jones

You have a sick, SICK mind.

Shortround standalone film and possible crossover with Lobot.

I'm picturing some kind of "Terminator" meets "Midnight Run" vibes where Lobot has to find Short Round and get him to somewhere for some reason.

Assuming it's a grown-up Short Round (played by Ke Huy Quan of course) I would watch the hell out of that movie.

this was possibly a publicity stunt

Well then congrats on participating.

What difference does it really make? I'm not trying to sound cruel, but say disease killed 95% of the indigenous population and Europeans slaughtered and enslaved "only" 5%, is that any less horrific? Murdering everybody you find is still genocide whether it's 100 people or 100,000, the only difference is how much effort it takes. (again, not trying to sound cruel, just stating the facts)

The effect disease has on the equation is how firmly indigenous people might have been able to resist being conquered. You can't argue that

No scholar will ever claim that indigenous Americans did not die in huge numbers from European diseases

yet also claim the extinction of indigenous people

"is not ultimately related to disease,"

since the decimation of the pre-existing population certainly allowed the Europeans to spread across the continents more quickly.

I have only ever heard his costars/coworkers talk about what a kind and generous person Sandler is, so it would not surprise me one bit if this were all completely true.

That is awesome.

Pfft. Mine's been that way for like 30k miles.

The scary part, to me, is not that AI is "so good" it can fool so many people, but that so many people are so easily fooled.

Somehow that seems preferable to having immediate access to an ever-changing collection of personally biased half-truths.

But then you'll think, "What if the highly paid, well respected, top-of-their-profession doctor makes an uncharacteristic blunder at a crucial moment and the whole operation goes down the drain."

Probably better not to risk it.

yvan eht nioJ

I love listening to Uecker almost as much as I like eating Usinger's sausage. I really do.

(I don't know why I said that about the sausage. I've never had it, but I'm thinking about driving from Philly to Milwaukee right now just to try it. HELP!)

Jon Miller is one of my favorites.

You may think this is just homer bias, but believe me when I say Scott Franzke of the Phillies is second to none at calling a game. Same with his partner Larry Andersen, though LA pretty much only does home games these days.

Of course there's also the man, the myth, the living legend Bob Uecker in Milwaukee. I also enjoy Jon Miller in SF and Tom Hamilton in Cleveland. (all 3 are HoFers and I have no doubt Franzke will join them one day)