wow....
/me is honored.

Focus and motivation, fueled by a specific goal.

Off to dinner w/Family.  Mom is in town and off to Air Port later, after dinner.

Let me get back to this, and will post later tonight.  Just general I suppose ?

Passionate and motivated.

Leaving the question open, you do realize passion is the opposite of your usual extreme rationalism?

On a more serious note, and despite my surprise, I have to admit I got the same feeling sometimes. I would tell you stalin/hitler/nero/jacktheripper is a goodlooking peacfull warm guy who would never hurt a fly if you were my boss and I need promotion and don't give a damn even if he was my neighboor. I would analyze the cost/gain factor like I do with anything. I analyzed rather then sympathized with others emotions. Out of self intrest I don't bring this forth in RL. So maybe this thread proves me an answere as well.

I find that being upset at wrongs motivates me...

Come on Theo....no need to edit that out.

Its good to watch Fools make asses of themselves.

When I write about the people that post on this forum:
"But, the truly smart ones come to the top.  Its shows."

Obviously, the Fool is not included in that group.

didn't read the whole post, read the top part....

well said.

and i think i agree with most the stuff you said from what i read, which is kinda shocking, since we mostly have a different view of things.

If your College courses were wasting your time, than either you made bad choices, or you were not College material. Acquiring knowledge can never be a waste of time.

Anyway, what it boils down to is you answering J's question about why you go out to work every day, give all you got, take risks and wrestle to come out on top, beat the other guy to it, with the a rather longstretched and pompous equivalent of "I have to put bread on the table".

Also, the hypocrisy in "Im a conservative, I dont rate myself better or worse than anyone. " is rather staggering.

But I'll grant you that having a family changes everything. However, it's unlikely Justinian was looking for an advice that implied having children.

How so? Even if it doesn't serve any direct practical purpose, it can still broaden your mind. If there's one thing we don't need, it's narrowminded or mentally inflexible people.

Elaborate on your point

Zoz,

You didnt have to even comment.  You could have stayed away, or learned something, but you are what you are.
You had to thrust yourself into the convo.  So here it is.

Yea....mandatory [crap] courses in college.  Like Humanities, philosophy, art  and to some extent for me, English all at the 101 and 102 Level.

For one, I was able to write just fine.  I was also quite apt at Speech 101 as well, toss that in.  I was addressing large assemblies already, as I was quite a good speaker, and able to deliver a presentation to my fellow soldiers.

[crap] Humanities and Philosophy.......WTF...... I went to good high schools, and had 5 years in the military Infantry, Gulf war combat vet w/the 2nd ACR, and here I am learning in PHI101, "I Think, therefor I am."  WTF !!!!!!!

Or how the white man should feel so bad about himself for the atrocities he brought upon the Native Americans or the African Americans in HUM101......WTF !!!!!!!!

Or in ART150 learning about arches and flying buttresses, fertility busts, and.....WTF !!!!!!!

I have to PAY for this BULLSHIT !!!

Yea.  A waste of time.   Because some leftist-Elitist Socialist believes this is important to me.  F that.  A waste.
I spent 3 years in Europe traveling about to Milan, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, etc.  I saw the beautiful city of Dubrovnik (sic?) while it was still communist, before the Serbs/Croats/whatevers decided to ruin it.

I didnt need an ART class Dult of a waste called a Uni professor bore me half to death w/endless slide shows that put us all to sleep.

I didnt need my Humanities professor to walk into a classroom w/a Pacifier in his mouth, asking us all what we thought of him when he walked in sucking on a babies baba.

I didnt need someone to explain to me how "I think, therefor I am."  So, we really do Exist.

I didnt need some Socialist weanie, tell me the funniest Oxymoron he knows is "Military Intelligence" and chuckle smugly, while I sat in the class 4 months removed from the Battle of Easting.   He didnt need to be eating my boot either in the hall after he called me a Nazi.  Imagine, he avoided me the rest of the semester.

If YOU find these classes informative and entertaining, fine.   Who are you to judge me ??  If you are so defunct of actually educating yourself on these things and fulfilling your day in an enlightening way....... Hey, thats you, let your Uni-Professor enlighten you in the mundane.

BTW, you are not on that list either.  I find you quite annoying, and boring.

Justinian asked what motivates me.  My family, and my responsibilities to them genius.  Why didnt you ask a Uni Professor to show you how to interpret my post ??

"How so? Even if it doesn't serve any direct practical purpose, it can still broaden your mind. If there's one thing we don't need, it's narrowminded or mentally inflexible people."
Well, its perhabs to complicated for my english vocabulary but here it comes. There are many good things about learning something let us try to debate a few important ones.

practical purpous
Not knowing something you should about a subject can lead to a wrong immage or narrowminded people as you describe but it doesn't necessarely go the other way around. Knowing something doesn't mean you can think broad about a certain subject. I can learn what smilies IC currently has but if I never see nor use them its practicly useless. You could argue it brings "insight" and method to learn, wich brings me to another point but I'll post about it later when I have more time.

age and devellopement
You devellop your mind by learning. It is prooven to a certain extend(not scientificly i.m.o. but ok) or lets say it is semi-prooven that people without education potentially have lower IQ's. Again here you don't know were it stops or begins and if it is true the other way around. Personally,I believe keeping your mind busy with wathever thinking excercise will keep your mind sharp later on. Starting with an education when you are little however is a different matter but I wasn't talking about that.

I'll post the rest later like "insight and method to learn".

"Oh, and not all communists are left-wing."
That is debateble. If a communist is a self-proclaimed communist then yes. Otherwise you have an uncommon definition for left. But to your defence its a stupid generalisation anyway.

I share BW's feeling of hatred towards the art classes as well btw. Such things should only be done voluntarely. I was lucky enough not to have philosophy.