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Apple Deals with Devil, Communists

rschroeder writes "I keep thinking that this article can't be real, but it looks like it. Among the juicier bits: 'The real operating system hiding under the newest version of the Macintosh operating system (Mac OS X) is called... Darwin! That's right, new Macs are based on Darwinism! While they currently don't advertise this fact to consumers, it is well known among the computer elite, who are mostly Atheists and Pagans. Furthermore, the Darwin OS is released under an 'Open Source' license, which is just another name for Communism.'" Yes, of course. And I am still waiting for Jesux to be released.

60 of 699 comments (clear)

  1. From the article... by ocie · · Score: 5, Funny
    Dr. Richard Paley is a teacher of Divinity and Theobiology at Fellowship University

    Makes me wonder if they have Theomathematics, Theochemistry, Theophysics and Theoengineering as well.

    --
    JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
    1. Re:From the article... by Coryoth · · Score: 3, Funny
      Makes me wonder if they have Theomathematics, Theochemistry, Theophysics and Theoengineering as well.

      I remeber seeing a "Theological Engineering" paper once. It had such wonderful questions as: If 30ml of red wine is placed in the mouth of a devout catholic, and transubstantiation takes 3s, how many joules of energy are produced?

      Jedidiah

    2. Re:From the article... by PD · · Score: 3, Funny

      In Theomathematics, pi is defined to be 3.0.

    3. Re:From the article... by czardonic · · Score: 5, Funny

      Makes me wonder if they have Theomathematics, . . .as well.

      Don't forget Theohuxtabology.

      --
      Takahashi Rumiko made beats! DON, taku, DON, taku. . .
    4. Re:From the article... by ghack · · Score: 3, Funny

      It is!

      In Kings 7:23:

      He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits to measure around it.
      weird!
      the laws of thermodynamics are there too...

      I wonder why darwinism and christianity can't coexist: they both make sense.

    5. Re:From the article... by operagost · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Because no one has ever demonstrated one instance of macroevolution, yet it's sold as scientific fact to every kid who manages to stay awake in science class. Naturally, by definition faith in creation cannot be proved. However, I feel that the way you talk about reptiles sloooooooowly turning into birds and everyone in the room nods as if he saw it happen himself, disturbs me.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    6. Re:From the article... by GMontag451 · · Score: 4, Informative
      Because no one has ever demonstrated one instance of macroevolution,

      Observed Instances Of Speciation
      Five Major Misconceptions about Evolution
      29 Evidences For Macroevolution

      Maybe you should do a little research before you make a greatly incorrect factual statement like that.

    7. Re:From the article... by Gerv · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Observed Instances of Speciation" indicates examples of microevolution only.

      "Five Major Misconceptions..." just points to "Observed Instances of Speciation".

      "29 Evidences for Macroevolution" says, at the beginning: "Whether microevolutionary theories are sufficient to account for macroevolutionary adaptations is a question that is left open." In other words, they are theorising about macroevolution without a scientific mechanistic basis to support the theories.

      It also cops out by saying "In evolutionary theory it is taken as axiomatic that an original self-replicating life form existed in the distant past, regardless of its origin." But that's the hard bit - if you can't explain the first self-replicating life form, then the argument that life appeared from nothing (as opposed to being created) doesn't hold water.

      Gerv

  2. To be fair, they're right sortof by Crag · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Open Source and Free Software are heavily based in the ideals of anarchism and communism, and many of us are athiest or agnostic.

    I don't have a problem with this, but _they_ do. This isn't really that funny. It's a clash between the age of pisces and the age of aquarius, much like a similiar clash 2000 years ago, and one 2000 years before that...

    Don't take them too seriously, but don't discard them as complete nuts, either. These people are holding views which were sacred to a much wider community in the past. 2000 years from now (if anyone's still around), this will happen again, and _our_ views will be the silly ones.

    1. Re:To be fair, they're right sortof by gilroy · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Blockquoth the poster:

      Its like saying any time you give something away for free, you are exercising communism. It only becomes communism when you are forced to give stuff away for free.

      Indeed, people like the author most likely would get quite agitated if you suggested that their charity work was actually "communistic". Sometimes, even in a free capitalist society, it's good to give to the community.
    2. Re:To be fair, they're right sortof by Mandelbrute · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Open Source and Free Software are heavily based in the ideals of anarchism and communism
      Only one reply to this - bullshit.

      This sort of stuff is peddled by those that say there is only one way to do things and that's my way - all else is evil/communism/insert_name_here.

      The idea of sharing knowledge dates back to the start of recorded history (which is shared knowledge).

    3. Re:To be fair, they're right sortof by GMontag451 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      It only becomes communism when you are forced to give stuff away for free.

      I disagree with this. I must have a very different impression of communism than most people. To me, the word communism conjures up images of The Hawg Farm, The Rainbow Family, and other 60's style communes rather than images of Stalinst Russia and Maoist China. These types of societies do abolish the concept of personal property for the most part, but it is most certainly voluntary.

  3. A related site by interiot · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Also at the same site...

    Objective Landover Baptist Shutdown aims to get religious parody (?) site Landover Baptist shut down, removed from the internet, basically because they disagree with their message... very little to no legal ground to stand on. They're just trying to use tactics like contacting the hosting ISP and talking to WIPO to reach their goals. They apparently don't even pretend to grasp the first amendment.

    1. Re:A related site by interiot · · Score: 3

      I guess I don't even pretend to grasp a parody of an anti-parody site. Sheesh.

  4. Netcraft Says... by bjtuna · · Score: 5, Funny

    The site members.truepath.com is running Apache/1.3.22 (Unix) mod_perl/1.26 PHP/4.0.6 on Linux.

    That is all.

    1. Re:Netcraft Says... by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 5, Funny

      Heh, nobody better tell them that their sites are being served by a daemon...

      --
      main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
  5. Funny by Calle+Ballz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Visit the Landover Baptist Church webpage for more fun, logical christian humor.

  6. Re:Theomathematics by dissonant7 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Actually, "theomathematics" have been around in numerous religions for millenia, though it's usually called arithmosophy.

  7. spoof by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Guys, this is a spoof. There is no "Fellowship University" do a google search on it for cryin' out loud!

    I'm a evangelical pastor. I think Jesus is the only way, I'm also a geek who thinks that the darwin kernel is a wonderful thing. Even spoofs like this make me nervous, because people actually think that evangelicals are taught to think like this (well, they are if they listen to christian radio, I tell my congregation to watch the simpsons instead...).

    It has one valid point though....chmod 666 can be an evil command, depending on the file your sicking it on! :-)

  8. Apple/Devil by NickRob · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, Apple did have a well-publicized dealing with the Church of Satan. They had a "Made with Macintosh" logo on their homepage, and they had a b/w pic of their founder with "Think DIfferent" next to him. The kicker? They were (obviously) against those things. They demanded the removal of such things. The CoSatan, being the dissenters they are, naturally didn't remove them.

  9. Church of Satan by dissonant7 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, the Church of Satan, so far as I know, actually *does* (or at least used to) run on Apples. They even used to proudly advertise the fact on their web site with a parody of Apple's "Think Different" campaign featuring Anton LaVey (the Church's founder).

  10. Re:Fucking HELL!!! by iCharles · · Score: 3, Insightful
    No No No No No!

    The pastor dude is an idiot--'Nuff said. Anyone who can't see past a word or a name, and sees "communism" and "godlessness" behind every corner probably doesn't know his a** from his elbow. It saddens me to think of how many people are so closed- and literally-minded.

    That said, I feel strongly that reprisals of the sort that are described here should not be tolerated. I worry that if a DoS is tolerated in this instance, replicating it will be regarded as socially acceptable. So, someone else will write a DoS attack, or a worm, or whatever.

    And, whoever writes it will feel he will be held up by his peers here on \. because, after all, they speak about how bad the target of the day (today the document in question, in another Microsoft, in another--who knows?!?).

    Win people with your minds and your ideas, not random acts of terrorism. IF they listen, then you truelly have one. If they don't, then you move on.

  11. 'Clearly' is a keyword to look for in propganda... by Bonker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This OS -- and its Darwin offspring -- extensively use what are called "daemons" (which is how Pagans write "demon" -- they are notoriously poor spellers: magick, vampyre, etc.) which is a program that hides in the background, doing things without the user's notice. If you are using a new Macintosh running OS X then you probably have these "daemons" on your computer, hardly something a good Christian would want! This clearly illustrates that not only is Macintosh based on Darwinism, but Darwinism is based on Satanism.

    Lordy, Lordy, this is so thick that you need a shovel to get rid of that high holy smell.

    When looking at *any* kind of text that may or may not be slanted towards or away from any given viewpoint, please keep a look out for the world 'Clearly'. It usually indicates that the author is expecting the reader to make a logic jump that might otherwise not be warranted.

    Examples:

    Some people who live in capitalist societies are homeless and hungry, therefore we can CLEARLY determine that capitalism is responsible for homelessness and hunger.

    Some people who live in socialist societies are oppressed and have no rights. Therefore we can CLEARLY determine that socialism is equivalent to a dearth of human rights.


    Religous types are especially bad about this. I am a Christian... a very liberal Christian... but for a long time I lost my faith because of a poorly produced anti-evolution video I was forced to watch in high school (in Texas). Typical contents of the video can be summarized as follows.

    Because of [poorly documented and inadequately evidence] we can CLEARLY see that this discovery is a sham designed to discredit the world of our Lord...

    'Clearly' gives away propoganda 9 out of 10 times.

    --
    The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
  12. hrm by interiot · · Score: 5, Funny
    view source, see:
    • <META name="generator" content="Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath generated all">
  13. Lickable? by sweatyboatman · · Score: 5, Funny

    They try to hide all of this under a facade of shiny, "lickable" buttons, but the truth has finally come out: Apple Computers promote Godless Darwinism and Communism.

    I've been licking the buttons on my Dell laptop, and that's okay, but have you tasted the new IMac? Apple has again leaped way ahead in terms of user interface.

    Lickable Buttons. Hmmm... I wonder if he's thinking about those candies you used to get at street-fairs and the like which were just little dots on a roll of paper. Or perhaps those weren't really candies and this is all one long, crazy trip...

    Sweat

    --
    It breaks my pluginses, my precious!
  14. Re:Is this really worth a mention on Slashdot? by GigsVT · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's Funny, Laugh

    That foot icon is not just for putting in your mouth you know. :)

    --
    I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  15. I was waiting for this to show up on /. by Space+Coyote · · Score: 3, Informative
    ... Since it's been on every other website I regularly surf, and seems to fit the classic definition of a meme.

    There are discussions about this site on MetaFilter, a MacSlash article, a very funny Fark thread, as well as mentions on Ars and Memepool.

    Seems the tech subset of the Internet has been well and truly trolled, if indeed this is a hoax, which I am inclined to believe, given that all of the banner ads on the site seem to lead to the same domain.

    --
    ___
    Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
  16. It's a hoax by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Informative
    Go to the "updates" link at the top. Scroll down until you see a picture of a purple teddybear. Read the accompanying "story". Now scroll up until you see a multicoloured... "rainbow"?... teddybear. Read story.

    Laugh. There are probably more examples, I didn't have time to check.

    It's a hoax, a very clever one, but a hoax nonetheless.

    As a Brit in America, I suspect my non-American friends are reading this entire thread bemused. "Well, of course it's an effing hoax!" they're exclaiming. "It's too over the top! You Americans are {...}"

    Response: Nope. There really are people like that around here, especially in the South and the mid-West. Even many "moderate" Christians see concepts like evolution as major threats to their beliefs and are actively trying to remove it from public education (sometimes successfully.) And moderate Christians do sometimes seem to form the minority of Christians in this God-forsaken country...

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    1. Re:It's a hoax by FFFish · · Score: 3, Funny

      Here's the Best Page of the site. It's the Kid's Page. :-)

      What should you do if you find an atheist?

      Atheists such as crotchety old Mr. Gruff think they've got it all figured out...
      ...but then why are they always so sad?

      If you find an atheist in your neighborhood, TELL A PARENT OR PASTOR RIGHT AWAY!

      You may be moved to try and witness to these poor lost souls yourself, however AVOID TALKING TO THEM! Atheists are often very grumpy and bitter and will lash out at children or they may even try to trick you into neglecting God's Word.

      Very advanced witnessing techniques are needed for these grouches. Let the adults handle them.


      The TruePath host is gonna be some stiffed what with all the Slashdot, MeFi, Fark, ARS, and Memepool hits... Atheist geeks destroy Christianity!

      --

      --
      Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
    2. Re:It's a hoax by superyooser · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Response: Nope. There really are people like that around here, especially in the South and the mid-West.

      I've been a conservative Christian in the South (churches on every street corner) all my life, and I don't know any Christians who think like that. To be sure, there are crackpots in every niche of humanity, though.

      This web site is embarrassing whether it's a hoax or not, because it fits with one of the stereotypes that non-believers have of Christians. The media loves to report quotes, dutifully taken out of context, that have been spouted by some knee-jerk, shoot-from-the-hip, camera-happy televangelist.

      What if the media consistently (or even once) projected Dr. "Death" Kevorkian as a typical doctor in the medical community, or v1urU$ h4X0r$ as typical IT professionals? You'd never see that, because they are not widely respected among their peers. (This is why "peer review" is so important in the scientific community; it helps to weed out crackpots.)

      But for believers in "Jeebus" -- they're fair game for mockery and wild distortions (actually, the Simpsons is pretty fair in this respect). Unfortunately, you'll never see prominent articles in the mainstream/secular news media quoting truly great pastors and evangelists who are widely respected in the Christian community, such as Ravi Zacharias, Adrian Rogers, Charles Stanley, James Dobson, and Ken Ham.

  17. Hey, them's fightin' words!!!! by trailerparkcassanova · · Score: 3, Funny

    Apparently the Darwin OS is not the original creation of Apple Computers but is instead based off of an older, obsolete OS called "BSD Unix".

    Grrrrrr!!!!!!!!

  18. From Google by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 5, Funny

    http://www.ironycentral.com/archives/theoexam.html

    "1. (20 pts.) Bob and Joe are standing on a street corner. God loves each an equal amount L. Bob then accelerates to .9c. In Joe's rest frame, how much does God now love Bob? "

    1. Re:From Google by Cryptnotic · · Score: 5, Funny


      Since God is omnipotent and not bound by the laws of physics, that answer is L



      Omnipotence doesn't affect anything. God loves rapidly moving humans less, because they die more often (e.g., plane crashes, car crashes, falling out of buildings, et cetera). How much less? Unfortunately, I can't tell you because I'm not a theophysicist.

      --
      My other first post is car post.
  19. Re:'Clearly' is a keyword to look for in propganda by Hard_Code · · Score: 4, Funny

    What you say??? Clearly you are a heathen and must rot in hell.

    --

    It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
  20. Re:Yes, it's a hoax, but it's funny by joel8x · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, the fine community at Macslash.com debunked this hoax earlier today - This was one of the greatest attempts at trolldom I have ever witnessed toward the Mac community (we're such an easy target too).

    --
    Sound waves should be free!
  21. Re:Yes, it's a hoax, but it's funny by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 3, Informative

    is it a coincidence that Richard Paley is one of the aliases that Warren Beatty uses in The Parallax View? I smell something fishy.

    --
    That was classic intercourse!
  22. FreeBSD in Texas by seanadams.com · · Score: 5, Funny


    It hasn't been a problem in California, but twice I was accused of being a devil worshipper while wearing my FreeBSD polo shirt in Texas.

    Noo... you see, it's an "operating system". There's these "processes" that run in the "background" and the little demon is just a mascot, sort of like... fuck it... you got me, it's Satan.

  23. Re:Apple/Devil - Half of the Story by Redline · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can see the parody image on the home page of The Church of Satan near the end of the page. (Don't worry, it's not that offensive.) They also tell their half of the story regarding the "Made with Macintosh" debacle.

    At least the Church of Satan really uses Macs. Didn't Apple's actual "Think Different" campaign feature Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and other people who never used Apple computers?

  24. It angers up the blood. by interstellar_donkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm not sure who I dislike more; idiot people like this who don't know what their talking about bringing computers and religion together in insane ways, or the idiot athiests who look down their noses and say 'See! See what I told you. Look at how silly those closed mided Christians are!'

    Darwin was a scientist. He observed phonomonea and came to a conclusion. His findings do not disprove creationism or God. All he has done has provided us with, based on observable phonomonea, the best possible understanding about the development of life on this planet.

    It's innane to ignore that in the face of so much compelling evidence. At the same time, athiests take up Darwin's name as a banner with as much fervor, closed mindedness, and compleate lack of a world view as any firebranding preacher.

    There is a spirtual side to the Universe. You can ignore it in the lab and get better results, but don't poo-pah people who like to keep it in mind.

    --
    The Internet is generally stupid
  25. Early Christian Church was Communist.... by Slurpee · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In practise, obviously not in name.

    Members of the early church gave all their belongings to the church, which was then used to support all the members of the church.

    Check out Acts (don't have the exact reference with me). For those who may not know, Acts is the book of the bible that describes what happens to Christianity straight after Jesus Leaves the Diciples. It shows how the church grew and spread through the world.

    For those who know no better....realise that this is a statement of fact by the author of Acts, and in no way does it promote nor demote Communisim.

    Any "preacher" who claims that Christianity supports capitalism (or communism) has no idea what the bible says (or doesn't say).

  26. Re:the apple logo by 90XDoubleSide · · Score: 3, Interesting
    From Woz’s 86th letters page:
    Comment from E-mail:

    I really need your help about who designed the logo, the story behind it, the meaning of the logo, how the logo work with the company and all the employee, and maybe you could help me how to contact the designer.

    Woz:

    We ran a small partnership 'out of the garage' for a year, selling about 150 Apple I's. The closest thing to a 'logo' that we had was an etching of Newton under an Apple tree. We then developed a great product, the Apple ][. It looked like we could sell thousands of them, but we needed a lot of money. When we secured the money, from Mike Markkula who joined us as a third and equal partner, we hired an agency to help us with public related marketing concerns. On topic was a logo. We had a great company name, Apple, and wanted to leverage our company off the ideas that this healthful word represented.

    The Regis McKenna agency came back with some proposals, many based on the Apple shape. One of the most notable things about the Apple ][ was that the display was in color, with patents too. No other low cost computers were near such a feature. So the multicolored logo made sense. The McKenna version had the colors in rainbow order. Steve Jobs rearranged them to get the darker (heavier) colors toward the bottom, and the logo was born.

    I have no idea how to contact logo designers.

    --
    "Reality is just a convenient measure of complexity" -Alvy Ray Smith
  27. The funniest part of the site.... by pressman · · Score: 3, Funny

    The kids section.

    The section on what to do if you discover that there is a grumpy old atheist in the neighborhood is hilarious. Also the little cartoon about how dinosaurs and humankind used to walk the earth together because the earth is only 10,000 years old is beyond compare. Evolution as a tool of Satan! I love it! Almost as funny as good ole Elron's theory about intergalactic genocide 75,000,000 years ago being the cause of all suffering for humans.

    --
    Pooty tweet
  28. At least he got something right. by SrlKlr · · Score: 3, Funny

    [Apple] is well known for its cult-like following. It isn't much of a stretch to say that it is a cult.

    Well the article got one thing right... I just did not know MAC people were so weird because they were in with Satan...

  29. It's a parody, albeit a brilliant one. by lumpenprole · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We spent a lot of time debating that today. The nail in the coffin was when we noticed the site uses the same retailer for its t-shirts as the landover baptist site. I really want a Bazooka Jesus shirt.
    -M

    --
    Disclaimer: MINAA (Mummy! I'm Not An Animal!)
  30. Re:Obviously satire by pressman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I would not go so far as to say it's obviously satire. If you look at the lengths they went to to provide links to other Christian sites and texts is pretty extensive. I checked out a lot of the links, especially the ones on the Christian roots of the US and of the US and various state and township Constitutions. On the surface I can see where one might think it is satire, but the level of research and effort that went in to build this monstrosity definitely goes beyond satire.

    Some people just are that zealous. Make a subtle, sarcastic anti-linux comment here and see what happens!

    --
    Pooty tweet
  31. Re:Yes, it's a hoax, but it's funny by DennyK · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, www.truepath.com is a free Christian web hosting service...so it's quite possible that this particular member is having some fun... ;)

    Of course, the author does have several other articles up there. Like the Apple one, it's hard to tell whether he is being humorous or serious in them. Half his writings sound like tongue-in-cheek exaggerated Christian zealotry, and half sound like somewhat serious arguments (though these are usually backed up only by "Because the Bible tells us so...").

    Whether intentionally or unintentionally, his stuff is still pretty funny. I hope he truly isn't as paranoid about "Evolutionists" as it seems from his writing, though... I have the utmost respect for any and all belief systems, but it's pretty sad to go through life thinking that everyone who believes differently than you do is out to get you and corrupt your soul... :-/

    DennyK

  32. His Site Runs Communist Linux by dew · · Score: 3, Interesting
    look here -- he's running Linux:
    The site members.truepath.com is running Apache/1.3.22 (Unix) mod_perl/1.26 PHP/4.0.6 on Linux.
    --

    David E. Weekly
    Code / Think / Teach / Learn
    h4x0r for

  33. It's a Chickenhead operation by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative
    Chickenhead Productions put in a lot of work on this. They also have WhiteHouse.org and several other parody sites. And there's real depth at each site.

    I'm impressed.

    They have some cool merchandise, too.

  34. Communism, Anarchism, blah blah by afxgrin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well, it all depends what flavour of communism(probably Marxism) you're thinking.

    If you take the complete social-libertarian perspective (Anarchism), you would be having contributions to a community that benefit everyone as a whole. GPL'd software is not viable in a capitalist market because you're selling software that gives you no edge over someone else who's selling the same thing. If money was to be made on the software alone, the market would get flooded with the GPL'd software and the price would bottom out to the lowest cost of distribution.

    Companies that make money by providing Free Software are not capitalizing on the software itself, but the 'value-added' services, manuals, and most likely proprietary software tossed in. If they were generating huge income from the sole sale of software, we'd see Microsoft join the Free Software movement.

    Marxism, would have us hand over our code for the 'greater good of the people' - as history has taught us, a totalitarian regime would ensure this. Anarchism, it's an individual choice. But anarchism works on the ideals that we can live better by working together, but working together because you want to. Not because someone in a position of authority has forced you to.

    For more info on Anarchism:
    www.infoshop.org/faq/index.html
    To determine your political standing:
    www.politicalcompass.org

  35. Coming soon to fundamentalists near you by jamie · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I won't be at all surprised when this anti-Apple satire shows up in far-right-wing Christian literature. Remember the Onion story, "Harry Potter Books Spark Rise in Satanism Among Children"? Turns out it was taken seriously by many fundamentalist "news" agencies, including WorldNetDaily.

    So many people believed the Onion story was true that Snopes had to debunk it!

  36. not bullshit. by afxgrin · · Score: 3, Informative

    umm ...

    Isn't the concept of sharing Communism?
    Communism/Socialism, it's the idea of doing things together. It's just a matter of how it's implemented is what has left the bad imagery in our minds.

    If we ever do hit the absolute extreme of capitalism, information such as recorded history, will only be availible to those who can pay for it. But that's speaking of the ridiculous extreme ... wait a second, we are commodifying water now. Keeping that in mind, sharing knowledge in the future might be regarded as some to be 'communist' in nature, and those who do so must be imprisoned.

    Hmmm ... how many people do I need to start listing for those who've been persecuted by a social and economic structure we've approved of for sharing knowledge?

    Wasn't there some kid arrested or charged for releasing some code to decrypt DVDs?
    Was there not a Russian guy arrested in the United States for code he wrote while in Russia? Had something to do with Adobe eBooks if I remember correctly ...
    Was there not a man who released code to encrypt information, and wasn't he threatened with criminal charges?
    Older examples ...
    What about Galileo? Thomas Aquinas?

    There's good reasons why Free Software can be seen as having ideals of anarchism and communism.

    1. Re:not bullshit. by Mandelbrute · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Isn't the concept of sharing Communism?
      No more than the idea of swapping stuff is capitalism. There is a lot more to both - and without both sharing and swapping we would not be civilised.

      Shared intellectual property between indivuals may offend the sensibilities of some business, but they need it to survive in their current form (otherwise they would be unable to get trained staff). Linux has spread and developed the way USENET was supposed to spread scientific knowledge .

  37. AC/DC, Apple in league with the devil by Ilan+Volow · · Score: 4, Funny

    No wonder I've had a strange urge to a rip an MP3 of "Highway to Hell" on my iMac.

    --
    Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
  38. An Evil Parody by Arandir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is an evil parody. This is not real. I can't believe so many of you fell for it.

    Christians do not believe this tripe. Not even the fundamentalists or evangelicals. If all you know about christianity is what Hollywood and the MPAA tell you, then this guy sound genuine, but it most certainly is not. Distrust all stereotypes. A christian would be as likely to spout this blather as a geek would wear a pocket protector and taped glasses.

    The members.truepath.com website is hoax. A very elaborate hoax to be sure, but still a hoax. Just go to the members' bios page if you don't believe me.

    The proof of this hoax is simple: there is no theology anwhere. There's a lot of shouting about darwinism, communism and anti-christian terrorists, but I can't find any scriptural references anwhere in their arguments. Not one bible thump in evidence.

    I am a christian. I was raised in a christian household. I grew up in the California version of the bible-belt. But I've never met anyone who even remotely resembles these turkeys. Not even the nutbags on the Patriot Network or JT Chick come close.

    --
    A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
  39. Sigh by Danse · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think it might be better for the universe if we humans never make it out of this solar system. I'd really hate to see the kind of harm we could inflict due to the almost willfull stupidity that is so commonly displayed on this planet.

    --
    It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    1. Re:Sigh by GypC · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Feeling a bit misanthropistic today?

      Personally, I hope we perfect immortality treatments, interstellar travel, and terraforming so I can see the human race infest the entire galaxy.

      I mean, if you aren't for the human race who are you for?

  40. Re:Yes, it's a hoax, but it's funny by blibbleblobble · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "Dr. Richard Paley comes to our movement through his involvement in fighting other forms of anti-Christian hatecrimes. He has lead successful boycotts against Sears and Piggly-Wiggly and has spearheaded the movement to stop Evolutionism from being forced on the children of Marian County. His experience in dealing with secularism's desperate grasp on power has proved invaluable as we move into the next phase of our campaign. Dr. Paley teaches Divinity and Theobiology at Fellowship University."

    Author's biography, from the site

  41. Evolution (and Science in general) is NOT "belief" by moorewr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Thanks for your post. I have to point something out, though, that is forever being ignored in these discussion, which is that science, and evolutionary science in particular, is not a belief system. I don't "believe in" evolution, or gravity, or optics. I accept the scientific evidence.

    There is a serious attempt in the country to make a false equivalence of religion and science, and we must guard against it.

  42. Wrong.... by Wntrmute · · Score: 4, Informative

    Wrong, wrong, wrong.... I am *so* tired of hearing this.

    You see, it's a THEORY, in the same vain that creationism is a theory.

    Creationism is *not* a theory. It is not testable. It is not falsifiable. It is not predictive. There is no such thing as a "Scientific Theory of Creationism." Ask any long-time poster to talk.origins. They've been asking for one for years, and noone's ever offered one up that meets the actual criteria of being a theory.

    Secondly, evolution is both a fact and a theory.

    Sorry if I'm sounding harsh, but I see these same misconceptions all the time, and they drive me crazy sometimes.

  43. Re:guess the internet is evil too.. by kindbud · · Score: 3

    Spiritualist == irrationalist. The moment you agree that the supernatural is possible, every idea becomes equally credible. If the supernatural exists, then it is just as likely that your opinions about spirituality were implanted in your mind last Thursday by god, along with fake memories of your life and what you believed before then. Go ahead, try to disprove it. You can't. That is what is wrong with the idea of the supernatural. It makes any attempt to understand anything futile.

    --
    Edith Keeler Must Die