*laughs*   let's be honest.   they won't see the Matrix if you drew them a map.

oh, so it's like they'd see the tree, but not the forest

or then they'll see the trees and make it into a field, cause money

Yes, they see the glorious parking lot they can make.   :)

I'll disagree with you there Nuric. It is not just traditionally labeled bigots and zealots that live in their own reality.

Everyone has a finite amount of memory and knowledge, and so our experiences of reality are limited to our courses in life. Everyone lives in their own little matrix world. We just do our best to observe as much as we can outside the bubble, but all that data is still compressed and oversimplified for us to do so.

And if we try to absorb uncompressed knowledge we have to specialize and thus forget other things in life. Why do you think so many incredibly intelligent people are socially inept or just a little "out of it" or morally bankrupt?

Bigots and zealots are no different, it's just WHAT they have chosen to focus on and WHAT they have chosen to specialize in seem to be particularly poor choices. Overspecialization in knowledge or culture of any kind inevitably leads to a form of bigotry and zealotry (even if it's something as simple as having a favorite food you refuse to deviate from). That's life.

The trick is to analyze this aspect of human nature and TRY our best not to let it make us all jerkfaces.

And parking lots are wastes of space. We need more parking garages and less parking lots. :P

In reply to Arkrim (msg # 514):

I understand what you are saying, but I think that too is an oversimplification.   I might be misunderstanding what you mean, though.    You make it sound like smart people, or just obsessed people, just don't have room in their brains for common sense or for other people's points of view.
I know there's a limit to memory,  but socially inept people are usually that way from not being able to practice the skills, not because there's no "room" for them.    Similarly, morally bankrupt people either never had a good chance to learn, or choose not to.
Bigots and zealots learn a lot of their nonsense growing up, but also choose to remain ignorant, since their worldview is very closely tied to their self esteem.   Granted,  many people on the other side of the debate, some liberals and progressives, ca. Also have similar blinders on, but it's much more of a choice to not accept or process information, rather than some physical limit.


And I prefer parking garages too, but they can be more expensive.    :)

humans is always simplifying things to be able to grasp the meaning of it, of to be able to explain it to someone else

I usually tell people that humans are like cars, we can't run on empty stomachs more than they can run on an empty tank

but that's too simple, as humans that don't eat, will run for a long time, before they crash and burn, thanks to the body 'eating' the muscle, but explaining that to someone, will take ages, so I simplify it

and parking garages is good and all, as long as no one just leaves their car there to rust

I know I'll try to simplify things as well, to make them more understandable, but I try to not ignore facts if I can help it.
I know we've had a few commercials comparing the human body to cars (and vice versa), so it's not a bad analogy

Cars, like almost every to thst humans have made, is just a simplified version of the human body, or at least a part of it.

I do so know that people put more money on cars than on themselves

I used to date a nutcase, he poured so much money on accessories that he couldn't afford to fuel it

I paid for it a few times, then I dumped his ass when I found out just how much debt he was in, because of cars, as the idiot could not sell them with profit

he just lost money at it, and the banks kept accepting his loans... gah!!!

but yes, I ranted again, simplifying is good, specializing is what bugs do

*smiles*   Yes, it's not all that uncommon to see someone with a cheap, crappy care with expensive rims, or to see someone in a crappy apartment or cheap house with a luxury car.

Of course, America has long made a huge deal about cars, much more than is warranted, really.

I just got so disappointed in a person older than me, owing 25,000 euros to the bank, adding another 15,000 to the debt "to manage his pay off amount" as in he used to pay 800 a month over the period off 40 years, added 15,000 to get it to 250 a month to pay it off in... I have no idea how much time

all I thought was "all for a car......!?!"

if it had been something more worth anything, I mean he bought cars worth about 2000 euros, dumped accessories worth 6000 or so on them, most of the illegal, and then he sold them for 4000, and he thought it was profitable

my mind imploded over the stupid

also, it doesn't seem like a lot of money for someone that studies in USA, as your schools make you indebted to the gills, but to us, school is free, we have to buy the books, but that's it (Most of them are online, so one downloads the pdf, but still)

I have this debt, it is 2000 euros, because I had to borrow money to pay rent one time, and it takes me forever to pay it off, as I have no education, sorta hate teachers, which means small income...

and now I have no job, aaaaaaaaaaah, and I have no idea where I was going with this...

It can be tough to get money when jobs are scarce.  You just have to do your best to manage everything carefully.  It's a tough thing to do , though.


I have a friend who's terrible with money.  She'll spend and spend, then get loans to pay her rent and bills, thinking that as long as she can get loans, there's no money problem.

0,o

I hated having to take a loan, I won't get more loans til I absolutely have to

I even hate having a credit-card, but I want to travel and one isn't allowed to buy an air-travel ticket without a credit card, which is silly...

Yes, it's sad how credit cards are required now for so much, even if you don't use them to pay, like renting cars, getting hotel rooms, or even renting a movie.

They're good things, but easy to abuse.

I don't think it's possible to rent movies anymore

I've only been able to borrow them from libraries

Most of the big rental chains are out of business, but there are still places that rent them.

I have never liven in a town where one could rent them

so I suppose it's not as big in Scandinavia as in USA

It's very big in America, though most of the chain stores, like Blockbuster, are out of business.  There are DVD stores that rent them, plus a few things called "Red Box" that are like large Vending machines for movie rentals.

or then my family always just told us to go to library as it's for free

and other rent places charge money...

or something

I buy my movies, but I do extensive research before I do so, buying bad movies is a waste of money

Yes, I know many people who buy any movie they like as soon as they come out (and one of them is the woman who's always out of money; strange, right?  *smiles*), but we only buy one that we REALLY want, or at least can get super cheap.   Rather than the 200 or 300 movies that many of our friends have, we have about 20, maybe.

I should try to get to our library, to borrow movies, but I haven't gotten around to it.

I have this archiving box for movies, to get rid of their plastic thingies, less waste of space

so I have two, one for movies and one for tv-series

I have about 300 DVDs, but you wouldn't know it, the box is as big as a bread-box

and it contains only the things I like most

I thought about just storing the disks, but I'm afraid of scratching them.

The problem was me is that once I see a movie, I usually don't want to go out of my way to watch it again unless I'm crazy about it.

I think I've only watched two or three of the movies we have bought, to be honest.

I re-watch many of my movies, when I hear some music from the movie, I need to re-watch it

so I'm a sucker for soundtracks, they are like ads for my mind to play up the movie in my brain

and then I have to check that I remembered it all correctly

I just watched "Watchmen" again the other day.  I was craving a silly but cool superhero movie.
I might watch "Avengers" soon, too.


I've also been long obsessed with Soundtracks, I'll admit.  Just today I've been totally obsessed with "Let It Go" from the movie "Frozen" and have listened to it a dozen times already.   I still get chills from it.  Weird, I know.   :)

I clearly must see frozen

I haven't yet, and everyone mentions 'let it go'

and I won't listen to it until I've seen the movie, or it might spoil something

The previews had it looking like a fairly unremarkable Disney movie, and we went to see it because we were with my inlaws and their young kids.

I really liked it, though it's one of those that kind of grew on you as well.

The song is very powerful.  A bit corny and cartoony, but very powerful.

The movie, while still very cliched and typical in some ways, did manage to change a few things about the "normal Disney formula" and surprise me.

I highly recommend it.