You think a revolution is going to help? Replacing one government with another is only a temporary reprieve. Once the generation that dragged the last batch of tyrants to the guillotine dies off, people will forget what happened and grow complacent. They'll go back to saying "there ought to be a law" every time something doesn't go the way they think it should, and a new bunch of tyrants will corrupt the new government. Every revolution, even the American revolution of 1776, is a case of "Meet the New Boss, same as the Old Boss".
Go ahead and have your revolution. Found a new government on the ashes of the old. Swear in a new parliament while the heads of the old rot on pikes. It won't help you for long. You will get fooled again.
It's a bit like blaming the rape victim for wearing a short skirt. Bullshit. A tiger is not a human being. Human beings are supposed to know the difference between right and wrong, and most of us know that rape is wrong. Do you honestly think a tiger is going to think, "Oh, dear, I know that stupid human is teasing me, but it's not right to jump the barrier and rip his throat out." No, the tiger is going to think of one thing when she sees a stupid human teasing her: "CHOW TIME!!"
The repeated mentioning of this guy taunting the animal irritates me, because it seems to imply it was his fault.
Wasn't it? If you annoy a domestic cat, you're going to get scratched or bitten. How hard it is to deduce that if annoying a little cat will get you hurt, then annoying a big cat is likely to get you killed? There is a reason that many zoos have signings warning people not to tease the animals. The reason is simple: humans are fragile, and easily hurt by angry animals.
The guy pissed off the tiger, and paid for it with his life. If he hadn't been so careless, he'd still be alive. Frankly, he should be put into the running for a Darwin Award.
So, unless you want to claim to have invented sex, which I seriously doubt you're going to, you don't have the authority to put claims on what is permissible and what isn't. Now, the pope didn't invent it either, but the Pope does speak for the one who *did* invent it. As an atheist, I am under no obligation to grant any moral authority to the Pope or believe that he speaks for anybody or anything but himself. Therefore, I have as much authority to determine what is permissible and what isn't, and I have determined the following: Between consenting adults, it's all good.
Yea, you could say he's making a terrible argument, but you're not saying whether or not his conclusion is a good one. No, I'm not. I am simply refusing to grant him any more credibility when it comes to ethics than I would my cat.
I was made in a laboratory, and I turned out fine. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
That's why, in the original post, I specified that the Pope is the leader of one sect of a Christianity, a religion that considers humanity to be sinful by nature.
Then I'm sure you are familiar with Psalm 51:5, Romans 5:12-14,18-21? All of which state humans are sinful from conception, and sin is passed on from one generation to the next? I'm sure you have. I am familiar with those verses. Why do you think I turned my back on Christianity?
If you had any familiarity with the book they follow then you'd understand how silly that sounds. I have three different translations of the Christian Bible: the New International Version, the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, and the King James. I keep them with the Eddas, the Ramayana, and Bullfinch's Mythology. I used to be a Catholic myself, before I got tired of adhering to a religion that portrays the architect of the universe as a petty, vengeful tyrant. I don't care how silly you think it sounds: as far as I'm concerned, adhering to Christianity means that you must ask God to forgive you for having been born human. I will not do that.
Unfortunately, they're not. Compared to some religions (like the Wahhabi branch of Islam, for example), old-school Roman Catholicism sounds quite reasonable. I'll take Thomas Aquinas over some imam using the Quran to tell a man how big a stick he can use to beat his wife.
Considering that the Pope is the head of one sect of a religion that preaches that humankind is inherently sinful and must seek forgiveness for being human through faith in Jesus Christ, I refuse to grant him any credence when he presumes to speak of "human dignity". Get rid of the doctrine of original sin, and then we can talk.
Some of the more cynical among us might be inclined to wonder if the abuse is the real purpose. Call me paranoid, but I don't just wonder if abuse is the real purpose. I am convinced that it is. After a while, the governing class stops looking for excuses to obtain power: power itself becomes the excuse. Show me a man running for office for the first time, and I'll show you a powerslave in the making.
I don't think that would work. Perhaps hitting the summary sites might work, but in my experience it usually doesn't work. This problem seems to rear its head when one tries to fake the emotional parts of the story... script readers have no connection while the show-watchers do. It's worked well enough for me so far. Most of the people who bother to talk to me about TV are content to see me nod at the right times, stroke my chin, and say, "Yeah, that was cool". I call such people "coworkers", by the way. My actual friends know that I don't give a single little fuckin' shit about TV. Most of my friends don't care either. My wife sometimes misses the idiot box, but when I offer to get cable, she tells me not to worry about it.
OK, what's your take on this situation? I pay $60/month or whatever it is for satellite TV service (Star Choice in Canada). That includes a whole bunch of HD channels. However, none of the HD receivers I can buy (without spending $700 for a hacked one) let me output a high definition feed to my computer, which runs my PVR.
If you're paying for access, then I see no reason to apply the "I bought it, it's mine, fuck you!" principle.
Taking this to the next step (which, as you will note, I have not as I still pay for satellite service), if I can't watch the HD programming that I'm PAYING FOR anyway in the way that I want to watch it, and it's easier and cheaper for me to downloading it from the internet, why am I paying for TV service anyway?
Don't ask me. I haven't watched TV since 1996. One night I was channel surfing, didn't find anything I wanted to see, and decided that I had had enough. Even the pay-per-view porn was tame. As far as I'm concerned, only a sucker would pay for the privilege of having 500 channels and nothing to watch.
My "rather dire attitude" towards the US is not objective, and I don't think I ever claimed it was. The American people are going to get the government they deserve after decades of believing politicians who claim to be able to buy prosperity with taxes and deficit spending, and they're going to get it good and hard. Just watch and wait -- preferably from a safe distance.
I can't help you with that one. I couldn't stand kids' anything as a kid. Hell, the only reason I know what Bugs Bunny is is that I'd humor my father by watching Warner Bros. shorts with him.
A nation cannot "recover" from tyranny as if it were just another illness for the body politic to fight off. The natural course of all governments, no matter how carefully designed, is to obtain more power and become more meddlesome. The end result is always tyranny. It happened in Rome, it happened all over Europe and Asia, and it's happening in the United States. All we can do is either keep our heads down until the current tyranny destroys itself and try to pick up the pieces, or die with rifles in our hands and a regret in our hearts that we had but one life to give for our country. The USA is fucked. Better luck next time, folks.
Cultural literacy as a reason to download bootleg music/movies? That's new to me. I'm not sure I buy it. If I wanted to talk with a fan of Lost, I wouldn't bother watching the show on TV or downloading bootleg copies. I'd just find a plot summary on the net.
Slashdot Mirror
You think a revolution is going to help? Replacing one government with another is only a temporary reprieve. Once the generation that dragged the last batch of tyrants to the guillotine dies off, people will forget what happened and grow complacent. They'll go back to saying "there ought to be a law" every time something doesn't go the way they think it should, and a new bunch of tyrants will corrupt the new government. Every revolution, even the American revolution of 1776, is a case of "Meet the New Boss, same as the Old Boss".
Go ahead and have your revolution. Found a new government on the ashes of the old. Swear in a new parliament while the heads of the old rot on pikes. It won't help you for long. You will get fooled again.
Wasn't it? If you annoy a domestic cat, you're going to get scratched or bitten. How hard it is to deduce that if annoying a little cat will get you hurt, then annoying a big cat is likely to get you killed? There is a reason that many zoos have signings warning people not to tease the animals. The reason is simple: humans are fragile, and easily hurt by angry animals.
The guy pissed off the tiger, and paid for it with his life. If he hadn't been so careless, he'd still be alive. Frankly, he should be put into the running for a Darwin Award.
I was made in a laboratory, and I turned out fine. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
Bullshit. He can claim to have had a revelation from his god and hide behind papal infallibility. What "good Catholic" would gainsay him?
That's why, in the original post, I specified that the Pope is the leader of one sect of a Christianity, a religion that considers humanity to be sinful by nature.
As an ex-Christian, I have every right to do so.
Unfortunately, they're not. Compared to some religions (like the Wahhabi branch of Islam, for example), old-school Roman Catholicism sounds quite reasonable. I'll take Thomas Aquinas over some imam using the Quran to tell a man how big a stick he can use to beat his wife.
I'm trying to stay on topic. Why bash Islam in a thread about the Pope's latest inane proclamation?
So am I, but I can't kill God because my Gear is in the shop.
Considering that the Pope is the head of one sect of a religion that preaches that humankind is inherently sinful and must seek forgiveness for being human through faith in Jesus Christ, I refuse to grant him any credence when he presumes to speak of "human dignity". Get rid of the doctrine of original sin, and then we can talk.
If you think Mandriva is bloated, then use a different distro. Goddess knows there's only a few hundred to choose from.
Is wanting to be left the fuck alone as long as I'm not hurting anybody else a radical position now?
OK, what's your take on this situation? I pay $60/month or whatever it is for satellite TV service (Star Choice in Canada). That includes a whole bunch of HD channels. However, none of the HD receivers I can buy (without spending $700 for a hacked one) let me output a high definition feed to my computer, which runs my PVR.
If you're paying for access, then I see no reason to apply the "I bought it, it's mine, fuck you!" principle.Taking this to the next step (which, as you will note, I have not as I still pay for satellite service), if I can't watch the HD programming that I'm PAYING FOR anyway in the way that I want to watch it, and it's easier and cheaper for me to downloading it from the internet, why am I paying for TV service anyway?
Don't ask me. I haven't watched TV since 1996. One night I was channel surfing, didn't find anything I wanted to see, and decided that I had had enough. Even the pay-per-view porn was tame. As far as I'm concerned, only a sucker would pay for the privilege of having 500 channels and nothing to watch.My "rather dire attitude" towards the US is not objective, and I don't think I ever claimed it was. The American people are going to get the government they deserve after decades of believing politicians who claim to be able to buy prosperity with taxes and deficit spending, and they're going to get it good and hard. Just watch and wait -- preferably from a safe distance.
I can't help you with that one. I couldn't stand kids' anything as a kid. Hell, the only reason I know what Bugs Bunny is is that I'd humor my father by watching Warner Bros. shorts with him.
A nation cannot "recover" from tyranny as if it were just another illness for the body politic to fight off. The natural course of all governments, no matter how carefully designed, is to obtain more power and become more meddlesome. The end result is always tyranny. It happened in Rome, it happened all over Europe and Asia, and it's happening in the United States. All we can do is either keep our heads down until the current tyranny destroys itself and try to pick up the pieces, or die with rifles in our hands and a regret in our hearts that we had but one life to give for our country. The USA is fucked. Better luck next time, folks.
Cultural literacy as a reason to download bootleg music/movies? That's new to me. I'm not sure I buy it. If I wanted to talk with a fan of Lost, I wouldn't bother watching the show on TV or downloading bootleg copies. I'd just find a plot summary on the net.
You're probably just remembering the good videogames, and have forgotten (or never played) the crappy ones. Remember Tengen?