It's no more fair or truthful than saying A.C.Clark or Roddenberry or Lucas are visionaries. All these people had visions of what the future should be. So did Hitler and Ghandi. It just depends on which future vision you want to subscribe to.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
You're assuming there will be non-online fridges to buy. I can see it now. Every geek from the 1990s sometime in the 2030s scavenging for ancient relics so noone will be able to get into their fridge and see their food. (Or reverse engineering their refrigerators... hmmm, I'd better look up that cousin of mine in the refrigeration maint biz.)
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
Say you go to a restaurant and they present you with a cup of mocha mandarino with no whipped cream because they know from the coffee shop three states away that's what you order every afternoon. That's cool. I'd love that. But I may not want to buy it but it's sitting ready for me when I get there. Or the restaurant knows my date for the last three months has been a honey-blond and tonight I'm with a firey red-head so the waiter compliments her on her new hair colour because he doesn't know and is totally tactless. That's decidedly uncool. So, toast, cool. Date's hair colour, uncool.:)
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
Can we say that about nuclear technology? A lot of people can't and I'm really grateful to be a long way off from the nearest reactor. What about Agent Orange? That was safe too. Smoking? Anyone, anyone. If it looks good people will use it indiscriminantly and claim it's safe because they test it to the extent they are willing to test it and no more. Look at genetic engineering. Does anyone have any long term studies? Not one. And just try to buy food that isn't engineered. Nope, sorry, I'm a pessimist/cynic/curmudgeon.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
Reminds me of that prophesies of armageddon show some cable station keeps showing every quarter where the machines go berzerk and attack everyone. Yeah, embed all this IT in everything. Have waffle irons jump up in your face. Okay, far fetched but along the same lines. I'm not happy about everything being on line. I mean, do I want a database that knows how I like my toast? Is that necessary?
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
I read Katz's piece. I read the original link. I read the kid's story. I became totally infuriated.
Is it post-Columbine or just a symptom of something else happening in western society? Sounds to me like a general lack of responsibility on everyone's part. That the child could have been given a 50% for this garbage is beyond me let alone a 100%. So what happened to the teacher that she thinks this is perfect? What happened to the school system that allows kids to think they can write this poorly? And what in God's names were they thinking locking the kid up for something he wrote? (*&%$#(*!!! If they lock people up for that then they should line every actor in Hollywood up against a wall and execute them for crimes against humanity. What about the folks who did Pulp Fiction?
What's with everyone these days? Hypocrites all! First people worship this stuff if it's spoon fed to them by the media giants, they fawn over celebrities, then they do this to kids trying to emulate what they see as being the holy cow of their society. Excuse me but it's all (*&823ed up right now!
ALSO...
Firstly, if this is average fare for today's thirteen-year-olds then I suggest making them read a book.
Secondly, if a teacher gives this stuff a 100% I suggest she read a book. And for goodness sake enforce standardized testing.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
The internet is fine for a distributed, poorly catalogued repository. If, that is, you know where to look. As a casual (i.e. non-professional) programmer I haven't the slightest idea where to start if I want a GPL module to do task-x in any language other than Python or Perl. Sure there's lots of places for code but I've had to wade through commercial garbage for hours and still not find anything useful.
I'd like to see a site that kept material up to date and indexed by task and by language. And not just say basic but also who's version of basic (or C/C++, Pascal, etc). Something that could say to the green programmer "What do you want? We have this abailable for platform X, language Y, etc."
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
But don't you get the feeling that folks like Katz want us to be just like them? The phrase, "One of us. One of us." comes to mind if I can quote one of my favorite sources of Satanism. That's sarcasm by the way if anyone missed the intent.;) Sometimes the idea of freedom just gets lost here in the lands of the free. It's a qualified freedom. So long as you behave in a socially acceptable manner, and the individual has no say in what is defined as acceptable, then you're free. Which means for Christians don't be open about your faith and don't ever express your opinion. Work for the betterment of the collective just so long as you have no moral input. No, that's alright, someone else will do your thinking for you and decide what's best for you and your children.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
I would like to know when all these self righteous secular humanists are going to sit down and read a book about Galileo and discover the truth of what happened. I would like to know when they are going to look in a mirror and apply their morality to their own knee-jerk condemnations of others. They cry foul about all geeks being tarred with the same mop but it's okay to call all Christians dangerous zealots. They cry foul when pot is illegal but call someone who talks to God insane. They think it's horible that a Christian (or Muslim or Jew)would force (or try to convince) their views on the world but it's okay for humanists to do everything in their power to publicly destroy Christians. Grow up!
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
As you have just illustrated religion cannot fade away because the social phenomenon called religion is not based on an irrationalism and belief in the supernatural. It is a system of beliefs centred on a single value. You speak in an anti-theistic manner so I suspect your highest values are rationalISM, humanISM and scientISM... all of which any learned (non-bigoted) person today recognizes has no more (or less) validity than deistic religions. Why is that? Lack of absolute certainty. You have no way of knowing anything. What you _know_ will likely change with new discoveries and then you will believe you have the Real Truth when you possess those discoveries.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
Some pretty good, common sense-type answers there. I don't know how the US system works regarding parties other than the traditional big-two but in Canada it makes election time quite interesting (and sometimes the results maddening.)
So how does one organize real political parties when the traditional electoral system is demarcated by physical borders whereas the issues/.ers are interested in are culture, nation and planet wide.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
No, it's humans who are violent and annoying all the time. Even atheists *gasp, no, not the only sane ones in the world* commit acts of murder, racism, bigotry and, what a shocker this one is, intolerance.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
I think it's amazing how thousands of people can scream about cultural acceptance over geeks on one week then be totally culturally bigoted over religious and scientific issues the next. You people astound me.
In my own lifetime I have seen more scientists waffle over the facts of species evolution , black holes, stellar evolution, social engineering and you name it. And every time some new theory gains popularity it is announced as being irrefutable. If Kansas wants to remove evolution then good for them. That's your democracy in action after all.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
Absolutely!!! I mean come off it North America! For crying out loud you ignore your kids, expect TV to raise them, don't instill any values in them, and you don't force your school boards to teach the essentials of literacy, history and mathematics and now you complain of the disparity! Get real! Quit smoking. Quit drinking. Spend some time with your kids. Get your priorities straight. And when the kid can't read, do simple long divisionin or write a legible sentence in long hand in the first place, regardless of colour, a computer isn't going to help until they can. Technology is wonderful but you have to have the mental tools to know how to use it in the first place. And why, can someone tell me, is the internet required for research today? Are there no libraries anymore? No newspapers? What gives? Or am I a Luddite?
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
Okay, so he's got like 5 minutes of screen time. In three movies but like Han, Wedge is an every-man who rises to heroic acts.
But Brin is missing a lot more and personally I think he's read Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy" about a thousand times too many.
For instance:
+Chebacca and Yoda aren't pretty and they're good guys. So much for his beauty=good theory.
+Luke craved adventure, he wasn't in the least bit reticent about embarking on heroic journeys even if he is the son of the dark king.
+Leia and Luke joined a Rebellion already years in progress before they showed up.
+Leia and her foster father spent years trying to reform the Senate but Palpatine dissolved it so there was _no longer any government to reform._
+When my government starts blowing up towns, enslaving races and killing priests I'm sure as hell going to declare it too late to reform and I'll pick up a gun to get rid of the unelected lout on the big comfy chair.
Brin's just another one of those bitter folk who claim the intellectual high ground. Before science fiction became popularly accepted they used to call what they wrote speculative fiction to distance themselves from Doc Smith-style high adventure. He's way too wrapped up in Dionysiac aesthetic. Always found that sort in classics class to be elitist prigs themselves.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
After all, for years 90% of the PC/IT industry has praised MS and pooh-poohed everythng non-MS. Even to the extent where supposedly intelligent people will austracize another just because they don't like a certain MS product. And it is always rationalized by saying "If they can't see that MSProggyX is better, has more features and allows us to do our work better then they're obviously not modern, progressive and with-it enough to play on the team."
It's little wonder that some people who are really gung-ho over Linux (or any other alternative-to-MS product) act a little crazy when rediculous "scientific" claims are made using the holy word "fact." I don't like it, but it's a religious matter and such behaviour can be expected. Lets just hope the minority are so impolite. After all, it's been the FUDdites who have been name-calling for years, we should rise above that kind of childish behaviour.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
It's really a shame that noone ever learns about Christian mysticism (not Gnostic stuff) or the monastic tradition (not Jesuits) but dwells on the negative or popular image. Lucas has said many times about wanting to portray a Totaliter Aliter religiosity in Star Wars that is neither eastern nor western. Until TPM he was doing good with that but now he has betrayed it by introducing pseudo-science with his notion of midichlorians. That's a cop-out to post-Enlightment theology where everything that could be explained by science was ceded to scientists. It's like saying magic operates because our brains generate magic-particles. It's dime-store comic stuff. But then again, that's the kinda thing Lucas wanted, right?
I agree, the "Chosen One" is way too messianic although I don't mind a bit of prophesy one way or another. (Messianism is by no means restricted to Christianity... just look as Marxism/Communism.)I am just going to say that Shmi meant she wasn't going to talk about the father. He wasn't ever there for them so she doesn't consider that he exists.
Transition from Eastern mysticism to Christanity: NO! Transition from mystical to pseudo-science: YES!
Qui-Gonn not disappearing? Is he really a Jedi Master or just a Jedi Knight? Sure he has an apprentice (who calls him master) but does that make him as spiritually advanced as Yoda? The yoga teacher I had was a master sure, but he couldn't walk on water or climb castle (university) walls like he says the mythical masters could. And remember, Qui-Gonn was pretty convinced about the importance of "the Now", so maybe discorporation wasn't important to him.
I loved it even though it wasn't a perfect movie. I found the other movies did far more to advance character. Remember there was a lot of plot in this one. Maybe it should have been three hours or four. Maybe the special edition released in two years (heh heh heh) will have the cut scenes.
I suspect the next movie will be better again.
I will see it again, many times.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
Read the report before making judgements.
on
WSJ Says Linux Lags
·
· Score: 1
I've been following the MSJ and MSNBC reports on Linux for some time out of shear(sp?) perversity and simple amusement.
Take it from whence it comes... even the good stuff and there has been quite a bit of good stuff on Linux from these sources.
Meaning? Not all FUD! But all done for MS's benefit. Make Linux look good so it can be competition to keep the DoJ at bay as well as spur some of the Redmondites to better/faster coding. Then make it look not as good and MS look better. It's a dangerous gamble but I think it's the only one MS can make given the supposed fear or the 'garage factor' Bill might really have.
If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
This is very reminiscent of a short discussion on the ML of the LUG I belong to. We wanted to appraoch a local org'n and introduce low-cost, dependable Linux computing. The trouble was selling something they did not want.
Let's face it. Most of them want MSWindoze. Correction. Most of them have been socialized to want MSWindoze. It is correct to use MSW. It is acceptable to use MSW. It is good to use MSW. It is right to use MSW.
People have to be re-educated and ignoring them does not accomplish that. Similarly a batch of industry collumnists(sp?) who want to be known for touting the Next Big Thing but who really know very little doesn't teach anyone anything.
Sure, you have to ignore the obnoxious newbies who really aren't trying to learn anything, but they cannot be taught. But the 90% of disinterested persons who are only trying to catch the wave... now they can be turned to good instead of evil.;-) But you cannot ignore them. If they are ignored the obnoxious ones and the voices filled with promises will take them and turn them against us. If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
Doesn't the US Constitution entitle someone to a jury of their peers?
Somehow I don't think people who learn most of what they know about the world from the Big Three networks are anywhere near being the peer of most/.ers or the technically savy internet stalker.
So if you are innocent they will find you guilty and if you're guilty you'll likely get off?;)
Hell, I know a lot of highly educated people (engineers and software developers) without a shred of common sense and still pressume the worst of skilled internet users. If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
Speaking as simply a geek-of-all-trades and only part-time choir boy I don't think it's unnecessary to preach to the converted. And I do agree with getting the historical perspective on it. I would have said what we are living in today is similar to the Axial Period some two millenia ago (give or take up to 2.5 centuries) when many of the great prophets and sages really came into their own. It was a time when the priest-kings of the old civilisations started to lose absolute control because too many plebians knew how to read and write and many nut-case prophets (at least to the establishment of the day) started speaking up. But that's just me. If what I said is nonsense, I'm making a point with it. If what I said makes perfect sense, you obviously missed the point.
If someone _claims_ they are a Christian, or Nazi, or Neo-Pagan and shows by example their interpretation of said religion (organized or otherwise) then we must accept that individual as a member of the greater religious community they claim membership in. If a weenie file leach claims to be a hacker, God forbid;), then he/she/it is a hacker.
Who sets definitions? Is it the elite? The people? Who are the people? The prolitariate? Only those educated enough to make an informed decision?
Right now most Protestant churches bear little resemblance to the original _cults_ of Christ that existed 1500-1900 years ago. Hell, I'm a Christian cultist myself. (As well as Linux preselyte, heh heh.)
The thing is, the churches (lets say ROs / religious organizations so we're not so narrow of scope) will change and either betray their beliefs to suit potential members or find means to rationalize popular, humanist thought with the RO's traditional idea of the divine. Now is that coming to new revelations about truth or is it spin doctoring old dogma.
And as far as I know, dogma is only dogma if you don't want to listen and noone takes the time to explain it.
---- if there's only one window, you can't see the whole world knock down the walls open source
Slashdot Mirror
It's no more fair or truthful than saying A.C.Clark or Roddenberry or Lucas are visionaries. All these people had visions of what the future should be. So did Hitler and Ghandi. It just depends on which future vision you want to subscribe to.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
If my fridge can get hacked, I won't buy it.
You're assuming there will be non-online fridges to buy. I can see it now. Every geek from the 1990s sometime in the 2030s scavenging for ancient relics so noone will be able to get into their fridge and see their food. (Or reverse engineering their refrigerators... hmmm, I'd better look up that cousin of mine in the refrigeration maint biz.)
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
Say you go to a restaurant and they present you with a cup of mocha mandarino with no whipped cream because they know from the coffee shop three states away that's what you order every afternoon. That's cool. I'd love that. But I may not want to buy it but it's sitting ready for me when I get there. Or the restaurant knows my date for the last three months has been a honey-blond and tonight I'm with a firey red-head so the waiter compliments her on her new hair colour because he doesn't know and is totally tactless. That's decidedly uncool. So, toast, cool. Date's hair colour, uncool. :)
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
Can we say that about nuclear technology? A lot of people can't and I'm really grateful to be a long way off from the nearest reactor. What about Agent Orange? That was safe too. Smoking? Anyone, anyone. If it looks good people will use it indiscriminantly and claim it's safe because they test it to the extent they are willing to test it and no more. Look at genetic engineering. Does anyone have any long term studies? Not one. And just try to buy food that isn't engineered. Nope, sorry, I'm a pessimist/cynic/curmudgeon.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
Reminds me of that prophesies of armageddon show some cable station keeps showing every quarter where the machines go berzerk and attack everyone. Yeah, embed all this IT in everything. Have waffle irons jump up in your face. Okay, far fetched but along the same lines. I'm not happy about everything being on line. I mean, do I want a database that knows how I like my toast? Is that necessary?
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
I read Katz's piece. I read the original link. I read the kid's story. I became totally infuriated.
Is it post-Columbine or just a symptom of something else happening in western society? Sounds to me like a general lack of responsibility on everyone's part. That the child could have been given a 50% for this garbage is beyond me let alone a 100%. So what happened to the teacher that she thinks this is perfect? What happened to the school system that allows kids to think they can write this poorly? And what in God's names were they thinking locking the kid up for something he wrote? (*&%$#(*!!! If they lock people up for that then they should line every actor in Hollywood up against a wall and execute them for crimes against humanity. What about the folks who did Pulp Fiction?
What's with everyone these days? Hypocrites all! First people worship this stuff if it's spoon fed to them by the media giants, they fawn over celebrities, then they do this to kids trying to emulate what they see as being the holy cow of their society. Excuse me but it's all (*&823ed up right now!
ALSO...
Firstly, if this is average fare for today's thirteen-year-olds then I suggest making them read a book.
Secondly, if a teacher gives this stuff a 100% I suggest she read a book. And for goodness sake enforce standardized testing.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
The internet is fine for a distributed, poorly catalogued repository. If, that is, you know where to look. As a casual (i.e. non-professional) programmer I haven't the slightest idea where to start if I want a GPL module to do task-x in any language other than Python or Perl. Sure there's lots of places for code but I've had to wade through commercial garbage for hours and still not find anything useful.
I'd like to see a site that kept material up to date and indexed by task and by language. And not just say basic but also who's version of basic (or C/C++, Pascal, etc). Something that could say to the green programmer "What do you want? We have this abailable for platform X, language Y, etc."
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
"We Christians are NOT the Borg."
;) Sometimes the idea of freedom just gets lost here in the lands of the free. It's a qualified freedom. So long as you behave in a socially acceptable manner, and the individual has no say in what is defined as acceptable, then you're free. Which means for Christians don't be open about your faith and don't ever express your opinion. Work for the betterment of the collective just so long as you have no moral input. No, that's alright, someone else will do your thinking for you and decide what's best for you and your children.
But don't you get the feeling that folks like Katz want us to be just like them? The phrase, "One of us. One of us." comes to mind if I can quote one of my favorite sources of Satanism. That's sarcasm by the way if anyone missed the intent.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
I would like to know when all these self righteous secular humanists are going to sit down and read a book about Galileo and discover the truth of what happened. I would like to know when they are going to look in a mirror and apply their morality to their own knee-jerk condemnations of others. They cry foul about all geeks being tarred with the same mop but it's okay to call all Christians dangerous zealots. They cry foul when pot is illegal but call someone who talks to God insane. They think it's horible that a Christian (or Muslim or Jew)would force (or try to convince) their views on the world but it's okay for humanists to do everything in their power to publicly destroy Christians. Grow up!
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
As you have just illustrated religion cannot fade away because the social phenomenon called religion is not based on an irrationalism and belief in the supernatural. It is a system of beliefs centred on a single value. You speak in an anti-theistic manner so I suspect your highest values are rationalISM, humanISM and scientISM... all of which any learned (non-bigoted) person today recognizes has no more (or less) validity than deistic religions. Why is that? Lack of absolute certainty. You have no way of knowing anything. What you _know_ will likely change with new discoveries and then you will believe you have the Real Truth when you possess those discoveries.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
Some pretty good, common sense-type answers there. I don't know how the US system works regarding parties other than the traditional big-two but in Canada it makes election time quite interesting (and sometimes the results maddening.)
So how does one organize real political parties when the traditional electoral system is demarcated by physical borders whereas the issuesIf what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
No, it's humans who are violent and annoying all the time. Even atheists *gasp, no, not the only sane ones in the world* commit acts of murder, racism, bigotry and, what a shocker this one is, intolerance.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
I think it's amazing how thousands of people can scream about cultural acceptance over geeks on one week then be totally culturally bigoted over religious and scientific issues the next. You people astound me.
In my own lifetime I have seen more scientists waffle over the facts of species evolution , black holes, stellar evolution, social engineering and you name it. And every time some new theory gains popularity it is announced as being irrefutable. If Kansas wants to remove evolution then good for them. That's your democracy in action after all.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
Absolutely!!! I mean come off it North America! For crying out loud you ignore your kids, expect TV to raise them, don't instill any values in them, and you don't force your school boards to teach the essentials of literacy, history and mathematics and now you complain of the disparity! Get real! Quit smoking. Quit drinking. Spend some time with your kids. Get your priorities straight. And when the kid can't read, do simple long divisionin or write a legible sentence in long hand in the first place, regardless of colour, a computer isn't going to help until they can. Technology is wonderful but you have to have the mental tools to know how to use it in the first place. And why, can someone tell me, is the internet required for research today? Are there no libraries anymore? No newspapers? What gives? Or am I a Luddite?
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
...and it's anti-radiation damage effects, otherwise I might be really worried. Can everyone sing that BNL song about the "hydrofield in my backyard?"
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
Or significant power stations that have to be shut down because of leaks and fires in Japan, Canada and the USA? Hmmm?
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
Okay, so he's got like 5 minutes of screen time. In three movies but like Han, Wedge is an every-man who rises to heroic acts.
But Brin is missing a lot more and personally I think he's read Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy" about a thousand times too many.
For instance:
+Chebacca and Yoda aren't pretty and they're good guys. So much for his beauty=good theory.
+Luke craved adventure, he wasn't in the least bit reticent about embarking on heroic journeys even if he is the son of the dark king.
+Leia and Luke joined a Rebellion already years in progress before they showed up.
+Leia and her foster father spent years trying to reform the Senate but Palpatine dissolved it so there was _no longer any government to reform._
+When my government starts blowing up towns, enslaving races and killing priests I'm sure as hell going to declare it too late to reform and I'll pick up a gun to get rid of the unelected lout on the big comfy chair.
Brin's just another one of those bitter folk who claim the intellectual high ground. Before science fiction became popularly accepted they used to call what they wrote speculative fiction to distance themselves from Doc Smith-style high adventure. He's way too wrapped up in Dionysiac aesthetic. Always found that sort in classics class to be elitist prigs themselves.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
After all, for years 90% of the PC/IT industry has praised MS and pooh-poohed everythng non-MS. Even to the extent where supposedly intelligent people will austracize another just because they don't like a certain MS product. And it is always rationalized by saying "If they can't see that MSProggyX is better, has more features and allows us to do our work better then they're obviously not modern, progressive and with-it enough to play on the team."
It's little wonder that some people who are really gung-ho over Linux (or any other alternative-to-MS product) act a little crazy when rediculous "scientific" claims are made using the holy word "fact." I don't like it, but it's a religious matter and such behaviour can be expected. Lets just hope the minority are so impolite. After all, it's been the FUDdites who have been name-calling for years, we should rise above that kind of childish behaviour.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
It's really a shame that noone ever learns about Christian mysticism (not Gnostic stuff) or the monastic tradition (not Jesuits) but dwells on the negative or popular image. Lucas has said many times about wanting to portray a Totaliter Aliter religiosity in Star Wars that is neither eastern nor western. Until TPM he was doing good with that but now he has betrayed it by introducing pseudo-science with his notion of midichlorians. That's a cop-out to post-Enlightment theology where everything that could be explained by science was ceded to scientists. It's like saying magic operates because our brains generate magic-particles. It's dime-store comic stuff. But then again, that's the kinda thing Lucas wanted, right?
I agree, the "Chosen One" is way too messianic although I don't mind a bit of prophesy one way or another. (Messianism is by no means restricted to Christianity... just look as Marxism/Communism.)I am just going to say that Shmi meant she wasn't going to talk about the father. He wasn't ever there for them so she doesn't consider that he exists.
Transition from Eastern mysticism to Christanity: NO! Transition from mystical to pseudo-science: YES!
Qui-Gonn not disappearing? Is he really a Jedi Master or just a Jedi Knight? Sure he has an apprentice (who calls him master) but does that make him as spiritually advanced as Yoda? The yoga teacher I had was a master sure, but he couldn't walk on water or climb castle (university) walls like he says the mythical masters could. And remember, Qui-Gonn was pretty convinced about the importance of "the Now", so maybe discorporation wasn't important to him.
I loved it even though it wasn't a perfect movie. I found the other movies did far more to advance character. Remember there was a lot of plot in this one. Maybe it should have been three hours or four. Maybe the special edition released in two years (heh heh heh) will have the cut scenes.
I suspect the next movie will be better again.
I will see it again, many times.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
I've been following the MSJ and MSNBC reports on Linux for some time out of shear(sp?) perversity and simple amusement.
Take it from whence it comes... even the good stuff and there has been quite a bit of good stuff on Linux from these sources.
Meaning? Not all FUD! But all done for MS's benefit. Make Linux look good so it can be competition to keep the DoJ at bay as well as spur some of the Redmondites to better/faster coding. Then make it look not as good and MS look better. It's a dangerous gamble but I think it's the only one MS can make given the supposed fear or the 'garage factor' Bill might really have.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
Because they are more numerous than us.
;-) But you cannot ignore them. If they are ignored the obnoxious ones and the voices filled with promises will take them and turn them against us.
This is very reminiscent of a short discussion on the ML of the LUG I belong to. We wanted to appraoch a local org'n and introduce low-cost, dependable Linux computing. The trouble was selling something they did not want.
Let's face it. Most of them want MSWindoze. Correction. Most of them have been socialized to want MSWindoze. It is correct to use MSW. It is acceptable to use MSW. It is good to use MSW. It is right to use MSW.
People have to be re-educated and ignoring them does not accomplish that. Similarly a batch of industry collumnists(sp?) who want to be known for touting the Next Big Thing but who really know very little doesn't teach anyone anything.
Sure, you have to ignore the obnoxious newbies who really aren't trying to learn anything, but they cannot be taught. But the 90% of disinterested persons who are only trying to catch the wave... now they can be turned to good instead of evil.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
Doesn't the US Constitution entitle someone to a jury of their peers?
/.ers or the technically savy internet stalker.
;)
Somehow I don't think people who learn most of what they know about the world from the Big Three networks are anywhere near being the peer of most
So if you are innocent they will find you guilty and if you're guilty you'll likely get off?
Hell, I know a lot of highly educated people (engineers and software developers) without a shred of common sense and still pressume the worst of skilled internet users.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
Speaking as simply a geek-of-all-trades and only part-time choir boy I don't think it's unnecessary to preach to the converted. And I do agree with getting the historical perspective on it.
I would have said what we are living in today is similar to the Axial Period some two millenia ago (give or take up to 2.5 centuries) when many of the great prophets and sages really came into their own.
It was a time when the priest-kings of the old civilisations started to lose absolute control because too many plebians knew how to read and write and many nut-case prophets (at least to the establishment of the day) started speaking up.
But that's just me.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
Now tell me how long until some sick SOB engineers a woman with four breasts in front and two in back?
;)
Hunh? Tell me!
And how long until they start engineering men to have penises that actually are from horses?
Hunh? Tell me!
Especially now that they really have done penis transplants!
And if you think I'm sick for thinking this stuff up, well, you've got to wonder where the ideas came from in the first place.
Doomed, ladies and gentlemen.
We are all doomed.
If what I said is nonsense,
I'm making a point with it.
If what I said makes perfect sense,
you obviously missed the point.
If someone _claims_ they are a Christian, or Nazi, or Neo-Pagan and shows by example their interpretation of said religion (organized or otherwise) then we must accept that individual as a member of the greater religious community they claim membership in. If a weenie file leach claims to be a hacker, God forbid ;), then he/she/it is a hacker.
Who sets definitions? Is it the elite? The people? Who are the people? The prolitariate? Only those educated enough to make an informed decision?
Right now most Protestant churches bear little resemblance to the original _cults_ of Christ that existed 1500-1900 years ago. Hell, I'm a Christian cultist myself. (As well as Linux preselyte, heh heh.)
The thing is, the churches (lets say ROs / religious organizations so we're not so narrow of scope) will change and either betray their beliefs to suit potential members or find means to rationalize popular, humanist thought with the RO's traditional idea of the divine. Now is that coming to new revelations about truth or is it spin doctoring old dogma.
And as far as I know, dogma is only dogma if you don't want to listen and noone takes the time to explain it.
----
if there's only one window,
you can't see the whole world
knock down the walls
open source