The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

For whatever reason,has there been something you're for,liked,loved.....Then for whatever reason...Didn't like,hated,were against?

Netflix - When I first joined,it was great...I got the new release movies I wanted,then got the streaming stuff thrown in for free...Then the started delaying the new releases,raised the prices,and split off the streaming as a different package...I know,you can say well the price broke down into streaming,and a DVDs before,it's just wasn't listed that on the account...I dropped the streaming,for me there wasn't enough good content to pay for it,and now the Blurays are gone too...I ended up renting movies,that I really didn't want to see,or had marginal interest in,because I was paying roughly $19 a month for it...Then I'd have to watch the movies,and exchange them for more movies I just marginally had an interest in seeing.To justify the money I had spent,added to the postal service woes.It was too much....Dave's money thread,made me feel like...WTF am I doing? I switched to redbox,and really like it...I have 3 kiosks within .5 mile,like 7-or 8 of them with in a mile or so...(one about 150 yards from my front door) It's a$1.61 a night to rent a Bluray disc...I don't have a monthly fees,I don't watch the crap I don't want to see....

On the tipping point
Directv - the frustrations with them are mounting quickly,between the NFL sunday ticket screw up,a couple of billing screw ups,the WGN fight less than a week before Opening day,and the MLB extra innings billing.They're on thin ice,unfortunately,for me there isn't a better alternative for me at this moment...

At&t -  is getting there also,with my phone bill,and when I was thinking of upgrading my service. (phone,and internet)

Geico - I used to think they were great but they've been jacking my rates 10% every 6 months for the past 3 years and now I think they suck.  I'm ready to shop for new insurance.  Cause they suck.

I could put Adobe Photoshop on the list of things I've done a 180 on.....But I've only done actually done a 167.5 degree flip,as it does have some usefulness (just because I was playing with it yesterday)...I've at least adopted Dave Gray's theory on sports games applies to Photoshop,(and Illustrator for that matter,but I've not flipped on illustrator..Still awesome) There isn't enough improvement,add ons, functionality,and too many dummy features for me to upgrade/learn each new version....Not too mention price...

Nintendo - I used to love everything they do.

Now, I own their system of which I get almost no use.  Even when a supposedly great game comes out, I end up looking at it for novelty, but it never ends up really grabbing me.  Sometimes the games are fun, but it's a passing fun.  If I want passing fun, I find myself playing something on my phone.  If I want a real experience, I play on the 360 or PS3.

Ditto on Nintendo.
I used to make fun of people for having vanity license plates, but I have one now.

Twitter

When Twitter first came out I said "what a dumb idea, who the hell would use that?"
Now I'm a full-blown Tweet-a-holic.  I have almost completely ditched Facebook in favor of Twitter.

Thought really hard about this, and the only thing I can think of is TV shows.

The Walking Dead - First season was really good, then, it turned to absolute shit. Season 2 was nothing but contradictions, bad writing, got boring, and the action/zombies went right out the window. Stopped watching S2 ep3. It's a soap opera for men now.

Big Bang Theory - The first three seasons were great, bordered at being one of my all time favorite shows. Then, the introduction of the new characters (girlfriends) and all the relationship crap storylines that goes with it. They broke up the chemistry between the four main characters and Penny. The science/comic related episodes are now but fading.

I also have a couple, but in reverse order: something I hated/didn't care for, now I love.

Supernatural - Heard of this show a few times, didn't even think twice about it. Thought it was some teenage girl crap show on CW. Man was I wrong, this show absolutely rocks. It's my current TV obsession.

Facebook - Thought it was stupid at first, yeah, I'm a regular on it now.

Capitol Punishment. At one time I strongly opposed it, now I support it. 

That was a mistake.  Season 2 is considerably better than season 1.  All of the slow episodes at the beginning of the season paid off.

Word,on Twitter..I have 180ed on Twitter,I was anti social media,and now Twitter is right up there with music...I love it can be ,fun,news,entertainment,voyeuristic,you can be vocal,say nothing...I admit,I worry about being too annoying on Twitter,and get shocked when I tweet a random thought,and someone replies...If I'm in a bad mood,frustrated it can pick me up....I love it...

Computer games in general. I used to be a console girl. Then I didn't game for a while just due to working all the time / school work. I tried a free trial on a game that shall remain nameless and I'm hooked. Like, run home from work to play.

Welcome to the club Buddha   :D   

I agree with Twitter.....I was never interested as I had a Facebook account and figured that was all I needed. While I am still a Facebook whore I have signed up for twitter and while I don't really follow a bunch of my friends or people that I have on Facebook, I do follow a lot of the sports reporters and team and get a ton of up to the minute information from it. For that reason alone I love twitter.

Shhhh....don't tell anyone.

I have trouble describing Twitter to people like my Dad.  I can explain what it is and how it works, but I've been unable to explain WHY people use it.  It's difficult to pin down.

Interesting. Expand on this.

How do your current positions conflict with the arguments you used to make?

My main opposition to the death penalty is a matter of fairness, as well as wanting a limited government, unable to execute its own citizens on a matter of principle.  Cost, too.

^^^ That sort of questioning can only lead to people breaking out the popcorn.  ;D

I'm not really interested in debating it.  We've done that before.  ...just wondering what led to the change in position and more importantly, how he's resolved his previous opposition.

It was not a gradual position change based on logic or principal, it was based on emotion, fear, anger, and vengence.

My opinion changed the night the Burger King I was working at was robbed.  

And while my view has softened (I am no longer promoting that the death penality be expanded to included armed robbery) I still feel it has a place in society.  Although severely flawed as applied in most states today.  

^ I see.

I actually wrote (and then deleted) that the only arguments I see for the death penalty are based on emotion, specifically revenge.  I deleted it because I didn't want to color the conversation unfairly before it began.

Not entirely true.  There is an argument of deterence. 

Gaming isn't a dirty word anymore for women. I know plenty of women that play either along with their husbands/significant other or with others online. WoW and some other games are very social which fits in well with what women enjoy for entertainment value.

I also flipped on capital punishment. As a teen, I supported it. Then, I got older and realized how it is applied. Especially in Florida. I agree that it does have a place in society. Then you listen to "Ride The Lightning" by Metallica. And you put yourself into a different perspective. What if you are convicted of a murder that you didn't commit? The supreme court has ruled that even if new DNA evidence is revealed, that you do NOT have the right to a new trial. In the Troy Davis case, you have witnesses who retract their stories. And they still execute you. I can't be in favor of a form of punishment that doesn't allow for fairness even after a conviction. Let alone the trial itself.

On a lighter note: other flips were Seinfeld and the Xbox.
Seinfeld, because I didn't get into until the last two seasons. From that point, I can't get enough.
Xbox, because I had the original PlayStation. I couldn't imagine a better system with a more complicated controller. Boy, was I wrong.

It doesn't deter anyone. The latest data shows average murder rate for the 38 states with capital punishment was 5.22 murders per 100,000 people. The average murder rate for the 13 states (including the District of Columbia) without capital punishment was 5.96. I hardly think that qualifies as a deterent. A few other stats of note:

Studies in Oklahoma and California failed to find that capital punishment had a deterrent effect on violent crime and, in fact, found a significant increase in stranger killings and homicide rates after the death penalty had been reinstated. (William Bailey, “Deterrence, Brutalization, and the Death Penalty,” Criminology, 1998; Ernie Thompson, “Effects of an Execution on Homicides in California.” Homicide Studies, 1999)
 
The murder rate in Canada has dropped by 27% since the death penalty was abolished in that country in 1976. (Amnesty International)
 
A Texas study determined in 1999 that there was no relation between the number of executions and murder rates in general. (Victoria Brewer, Robert Wrinkle, John Sorenson and James Marquart)
 
A New York Times survey demonstrated that the homicide rate in states with capital punishment have been 48% to 101% higher than those without the death penalty. (Raymond Bonner and Ford Fessenden, “Absence of Executions,” New York Times, September 22, 2000)
 
The five countries with the highest homicide rates that do not impose the death penalty average 21.6 murders per 100,000 people. The five countries with the highest homicide rate that do impose the death penalty average 41.6 murders for every 100,000 people. (United Nations Development Program)

There doesn't seem to be any link that it deters anyone from commiting murder. -EK

^ I don't believe it is a legitmate deterrent either, but your stat above doesn't really prove that.  It could very well be correlation.

For example, places that have high crime rates are more likely to continue supporting legislation to execute.  ...just a logical fallacy, though I agree with your larger point.

I didn't say there was a strong argument.  Just that there is an argument.  As murders are typically either a crime of passion (so no thought of the consequences) or done by folks who expect to get away with the crime (once again no thought of punishment) it is not a great deterant.  It can deter a very small percent of criminals.

However, during the period when there was a national moriturm on the death penality the murder rate did increase signficantly. 

It is also very affective at preventing recidism. 

Here is a stat to chew on: 

# of crime committed by those who where put to death after being put to death : 0

That is right zero, not a single one.  OTOH, criminals who where not put to death or while waiting to be put to death have committed crimes against guards, other immates and in many cases escaped or were paroled and committed crimes against the general public. 

Once you put a person to death, you no longer have to worry about them committing another crime. 

I hear what you're saying, but that's the ultimate in extremist thinking, and whether or not they commit further crimes, doesn't mean that they were deterred by the death penalty. At all. All of the modern data- that is, since 1976- shows no deterrent effect. If there were such an effect, how do you account for Canada's results? 27% decrease since capital punishment was made illegal. I'll revise my statement to say- I'm not saying there's no effect at all, but I believe it is so minimal, it can't really be a reason to keep capital punishment. -EK

Again, I agree with your position, but your stats to get you there still don't fit.

Things like murder rate are determined by a whole host of things -- economic conditions among them, as well as general attitude of the population.  If you were to observe the same 1:1 results between many countries, where other variables could be discounted, I would trust this statistic.  I believe it's much more likely they those are correlated statistics, not causal.

I agree that capital punnishment is not a deterrent.  The reason I say that is that I don't see anyone thinking "should I commit this crime?   I mean, it's not worth it to risk my life over, but I'll risk 30 years in prison."  I think that the majority of murders either don't take getting caught into consideration or they are emotional or compulsion-based, where consequences simply do not matter.

This true.  Two different issues -- deterance and preventing recitism. 

And while extreme -- highly effective.  Chopping off someones hand for the crime of theft is extreme -- but highly effective.  Castration for rapists is extreme but highly effective in preventing repeat offenses. 

Dave- help me out here- I SWEAR I'm not being purposefully dense, but the "whole host of things" you mention is the same between states with or without the death penalty (I concur that Canada as an example may have too many variables), and homicide rates are the same in either case. What am I missing? -EK

1. While Canada has seen a decrease in murder since banning, when the US had a similiar ban the murder rate went up.

2.  As for comparing state to state or country to contry.  In States with a low crime rate there is less public outcry for a death penality, in states with a high crime rate the death penality becomes more popular.  Therefore states with a high murder rate are more likely to enact a death penality. 

OK, if you say so. I was not aware of that- especially the second one. -EK