I hope you get thrown in jail for being an asshole hippie
You'll probably get your wish, child. But in the world which is rising, (largely due to people like you being dupes), it wont be long before you find yourself next in line.
You're a lot more likely to have your PIN stolen than you are to ever even meet a true sociopath.
I know what you're saying; eye snatching probably isn't going to become a big problem. Especially when, as it has been purported, all you currently need is a color photocopy of somebody's eye to fool a recognition system. But I did want to put this in; I happen to know a couple of sociopaths. You probably do as well. They're a lot more common than people would like to think. Psychopaths are just the ones which went wrong. Or got elected.
Awesome! You probably shouldn't have told me any of this!
Though, you know, I think the end result will simply be banks throwing up their hands and declaring, "Well if you kids aren't willing to play nice, then we'll just revoke your paper-cash privileges altogether!"
"Awwww!"
"Now, now, children. Debit card consumerism isn't so bad! In any case, only those with something to hide need fear the fact that the government will know what you like to read, eat, drink, watch and spread on your toast. Now then, Dolly, Billy and Jeffy, please go visit the school nurse; it's time for your Paxol."
I had no idea that plug-in clocks worked this way! Am I just reading all these posts incorrectly or what? You mess with the input electrical power of a digital clock and 'time' speeds up or slows down???
What about power regulation circuits? What about. . . I don't know. I guess it makes sense in a variety of . . , but that's a whole can of conspiracy even I am hesitant to open this early in the A.M.
Well. ..
Maybe just a peek. But, bewarned; this is unfinished thinking. Not yet certified by the Lad's Fantasti-Corp proving ground and safety testing facilities. ..
So. . , time is moving faster these days. Have you noticed? Sure you have. But, of course, if you're like the average bear, you've chalked it up to shifting perceptions resulting from growing older and such. When you were a kid, those long summer days back in the 70's just seemed to mosey on forever. (Anybody born in the 80's, sorry. You don't have enough reference to play in this thread, and frankly you got gyped out of a good childhood. But don't feel bad! You got those Ninja Turtles, right? They were cool. Sort of. Whatever. My condolances. You'll get another chance in another life.) Anyway, when I was a kid, Time was really nice and slow! I even remember getting confused trying to count how many years had passed since Star Wars came out. We'd get mixed up because we kept counting the summer holidays as a whole year. A legit error, in my books. Damn! You could get so much stuff done in a day back then!
Not like these days, boy! Holy smokes, I get up, eat breakfast, take a shower and it's already lunch time! I do maybe two things, work like a bastard right till bed time, (getting almost nothing done), and that's it Bob! That's the day. Gone in a flash. And I certainly don't think it's just a matter of perceptions. (Well, technically, everything is a matter of perceptions on a certain level, but that's not what I'm talking about here.)
Time always speeds up before the end, according to a variety of schools of thought. Heck, even the bible in all it's propagandized, muddied, corrupted and manipulated paragraphs describes the days being shortened near the end. --Though, I prefer the Star Fleet reasoning; Ahem. "To explain the Time Differential we are experiencing, the analogy of a sea shore is an apt example; The water is being sucked out as the Wave approaches." Or something pseudo-technical. Screw it. Blast 'em with the photon torpedos and let's get the hell out of here while everybody's confused.
Oh, best of all! (This is just hilarious!) Even the king of tow-the-line science geeks, buddy boy, Jay Ingram over on Canada's Discovery Channel, did a short piece on how Time is speeding up. Can you believe it? It's getting so damned noticable that they had to pull out their big guns!
Of course, Jay-boy put the expected spin on things, (Perceptions. What was the word they came up with. . ? Hm, gone now. But it was a very clever and chalk-dusty sort of phrase at any rate), and with the time-tested propagandic, "Trust your warm and safe Educational Authority Figures, Kids!" video production qualities stamped on the segment, pencil neck Jay signed off on yet another piece of "Nothing to see here, Citizen," documentary, and stalked away with that quiet yet moody air of job disatisfaction he has been displaying ever since the mid nineties when he landed the job of Science-Boy Anchor. --I wonder if perhaps on a deep level he realizes that he's shoveling shit for the Man, and despises himself for it. The world may never know. Or care.)
Anyway. ..
So all the clocks are rigged, eh? That's almost too juicy an idea to jump on! So I don't think I will. --Cuz, while time is a certainly deeply rooted function of awareness, and while having a round, numbered face pounding away the seconds with rhythmic All-Seeing enforcement, might serve to hold this rapidly unraveling reality in place for a short while longer, (while the power elite pack their underwear and finalize their highly unlikely escape plans), I just don't think that Time is at the beck and call of a nation of wrong clocks.
Still. . . It's a neat idea, in a Twilight Zone kind of way!
And when it comes to battling geeks, I bet Rod Serling could kick Jay Ingram's butt any day of the week. That's the power of imagination, baby!
This battery, as well as many other things were found in locations that were known to be occupied by shamen/medicine men of the time. It is believed they used these very small currents to reduce some of the muscular pain of their patients, much as doctors would use it today on athletes and such.
I tend to agree. --Interestingly, the currents required to stimulate healing biological responses have been described as vanishingly small by Robert O. Becker, who spent a life time researching this line of inquiry. --Why and how salimanders are able to regrow limbs while more complex animals cannot; how cells can and do dedifferentiate on the DNA level, (which throws cold water on the while stem cell research parade). . . Among other things.
It's annoying that the bulk of interest here seems centered on U.S. bombing campaigns. Especially on a tech-news site!
Thanks Jim! I was really stuck there as to when I ought to go into headless chicken & duct tape mode. The authorities don't circulate flyers, you know.
1. Those who want to see this reporter prosecuted post-haste, should perhaps stop and re-think their arguments supporting hackers who infiltrate systems, do no damage, and then inform the company of the various ways in which they ought to fix their security. Hypocrisy ain't a zoo attraction.
2. All Right!!! Now we get even more paranoid delusional security where none has been needed before. Los Alamos? The grand daddy of research facilities infiltrated by a measly reporter? Wow! What a great way to sell fear and Big Brother's gun-toting orcs to every two-bit research outpost in the entire nation! Cool! Next thing we'll see is scientists required to wear hand guns in the cockpit-er, lab.
3. What is an 'Orange Alert' anyway? What color comes next? At what tint and shade should I drop my replicated food dish and dash to my battle station? (The nation not programmed? Please.)
Ah. The Book Burn-a-Dex. The ever-reliable meter by which one can measure the level of ignorance and stupidity accompanying any social movement, religion or government.
Cute story! I shudder at the memories it conjures. I remember a jr. High teacher who came to one of our D&D sessions to instill similar fears in us kids. A respectable adult in a position of authority talking about the imagination being the realm of the Devil. And REALLY meaning it! Now THAT was creepy.
When I was in Vermont I didn't even realize there was a business personal property tax until I read in the newspaper that the town voted to phase it out over 5 years to be more competitive (for attracting business) with neighboring towns that didn't have the tax.
OH MY GOD!!! This is the FIRST time I've actually be envious of the U.S.
The best part is that you were able to vote that kind of nonsense out of existence! (Wipes tear from corner of eye.)
There is still some sense left in the world. Thanks for an uplifting piece of info! The last few days around here have been depressing as hell for a variety of reasons, and I think this has been reflected in my recent posts.
--If you sell everything off or DESTROY goods, (as some manufacturers do), then you don't get to reclaim the tax you paid on them at the end of the year.
Obviously that was an unintentional negation. --If you sell off or destroy stock by year's end, you DO get to claim back the tax you paid up front upon the creation of the goods in question. --Not that it does an artist much good, but that's what round holes and square pegs are all about! One size DOES fit all, or something is maybe wrong with you citizen! Are you criticizing Amerika? Let me see your papers, please!
Tax law is insane. --But it has no lack of proponants and logical arguments. (Not that they mean squat; you can use 'logic' to argue from any stupid position on the map!)
I actually had an accountant and his civil servant friend engage me in debate on this very subject. They were both frothing at the mouth by the end of it. The stupid really do believe that it's okay to tax small people into the ground while corporations and the already wealthy should go scott free. Just goes to show that mixing a bit of propaganda into the educational system goes a long, long way!
-Because I happen to have a web-page and linked to a couple of e-retailers, I fell under the umbrella for a MASSIVE government initiative to deal with the 'problem' of e-busineses.
Very, Very annoying.
I have managed to learn during this whole process, (or rather, make that, I have been 'informed' by my auditor), that Canada had participated in an international symposium on e-business and the problem of tax-collection this past summer and that this was part of an international 'crack-down'.
Essentially, all the industrialized governments of the world are dancing in a fit of greed-inspired agony over the perception that PEOPLE ARE ENGAGING IN TRADE WITHOUT INVOLVING GOVERNMENT!!!!! --And by golly, Big Brother wants his cut. Up front and right now.
I recently started using Paypal, and I swear, two weeks later, I got a call from the government demanding that I give them my access codes so that they could pick over my records. Wow. I mean, Wow.
And this is the auditing department. In today's virtually cashless society, if they decide that you are being uncooperative, they can freeze your accounts. No money in, no money out. How many employers will pay you in cash? Exactly.
And to all those of you who thought, "Wow! Cashless society! Cool!" Thanks guys. --I know personally three unrelated people who have had their lives put on hold, one for several weeks, one for the whole last year, and another for going on five years, because the Government in all its red-tape glory, saw fit to punch the 'Hold' switch at their banks, preventing them from depositing or withdrawing money in any form. --And these people are not assholes or anything. They're smart and capable. But they also committed the crime of being out of work and unable to make student loan payments. --And one of them is still in school! (Ah, red, red tape. ..)
--Now they live hand to mouth on kindness, bent rules and what little cash remains circulating outside the digital system. Gee, I sure love the government. You think this stuff doesn't happen? Think it can't happen to you? Stick around. The steam roller is just shifting into drive. ..
So. ..
Faced with this threat, I pretty had to do what I was told by my Auditor. Thankfully, he seems to be a fairly un-corrupted individual; I don't see him asking for bribes or such, which is nice. But he's also a fairly bland civil servant without any imagination. Indeed, he actually told me that taxes were fair and normal and that people who complained were selfish.
I told him that he'd been duped, and we got into a long, albeit fruitless conversation. --He was surprised to learn that Income Tax had been a WWII war measures act which was supposed to exist for the duration of hostiliies only, but which somehow, just seemed to linger 'till today. He didn't know this! He seemed to think that Income Tax had been around forever and that it was normal and right. And when he did learn that it was a relatively new phenomenon, he just shrugged. "Oh well. It's here now. Nothing we can do about it."
Yeah, except ratchet up the pressure on Tom, Dick & Harry making sales over Ebay. There was a time when you could buy something off a friend and not even think about taxation. That'll end really soon, kids!
This world has gone insane. Microsoft pays no tax and the private citizen is being bled dry. Insane.
Not convinced?
Let me share the story of another friend of mine; She's an artist. She paints and draws cartoons and illustrations for magazines and children's books. --That's where all her income comes from, and she lives a frugal, but otherwise happy life. Well, anyway, she has a small following and recently she decided to start selling some of her original paintings. When tax time came around last year, she dutifully declared the extra income. Well, guess what? She got audited. (A lot of that going around these days, it seems! Control. Control. . . Big Brother is watching you.)
Well, when the government learned that she had sold some of her paintings, the auditing department declared that she no longer qualified under tax law as an artist; that she now had to be considered differently. --That is, they came and they fucking counted all her paintings, (several hundred), made an assessment of the value of them all based on what she had made through her recent sales, and then handed her a bill for the tax she now owed on all the unsold paintings she had in 'stock'.
See, when it comes to manufacturing, the government demands tax payment up front on all goods produced, before they go to market. Ever wonder why there are end of year liquidation sales? This is why. --If you sell everything off or DESTROY goods, (as some manufacturers do), then you don't get to reclaim the tax you paid on them at the end of the year.
My friend is currently fighting this insanity, but guess what? She's making installment payments anyway on the thousands of dollars she suddenly 'owes' the government because the threat of having all her accounts frozen and assets siezed was too much for her.
I can't wait until this whole bullshit parade of a society, which punishes its teachers and its artitst, burns to the ground. There are going to be a lot of greedy morons running around in panic and grief of their own making because suddenly all the money and material wealth they have spent their lives accumulating will be worth zip. None of this shit will be important soon.
Soon. Soon. ..
When those trade towers fell, I was enraged because the people who died were honest custodial workers and support staff. If the towers had collapsed around 2:30 P.M., I would have been MUCH more content. I think this was perhaps the biggest indicator of who was REALLY responsible for that stage-production 'terrorist' act.
They are quietly, steadily warming the public so that all the fragile little human brains won't "Pop" when the aliens tap you on the shoulder one day and say,
The people in this forum who deny the 'Greenhouse Effect' (and whenever there's an article about the environment, there are plenty saying things like "We don't have enough data..." or "It's a bit arrogant to think that man can have an effect on the environment..." or "It's bad science...") how come they don't they come out and blast the science of terraforming a planet like Mars?
I don't believe in 'Mars'.
We don't have enough data. ..
It's a bit arrogant to think that man can say with any authority that other planets exist.
It's bad science.
I mean, really. Nobody can prove it to me! I have a perfectly logical explanation for all of the so-called, 'Data'.
--Seriously, I keep thinking I ought to make a website where I 'debunk' standard beliefs just to demonstrate how retarded skeptics actually are. "Oh, you had another so-called, 'Dream' did you. . ? And what proof can you offer us?"
Credit cards were a major step forward, but no one really considers them, "the Mark of the Beast"
Actually, I read a treatis which tried to demonstrate that VISA was the number 666 if you used ancient alphabets and used a 'Z' instead of an 'S', (which everybody pronounces that way anyway). --Not numerologist stuff. Just that in contemporary languages which were around during the writing of the Bible, 'VI' = 6, 'Z' was written like a 6, and in another language's alphabet, 'A' was also written like a 6.
Not that it really matters beyond a simple indication of what's going on. --Those in the know feel that the whole "Those marked will be sent to Hell" charade is just a corruption of the bible intended to create mass, society-wide anxiety. (Fear is Food). Just look at the marketing and the set-up. . . Millions upon millions of good Christians know about the "Mark of the Beast" thing, they're already programmed to feel guilt and anxiety over pretty much everything, and check it out. ..
Unless you have your very own number of the beast, you won't be able to buy food!
This particular manipulation has more to do with creating havoc than it does with any garbage about heaven and hell.
Oh, and just as a point of interest. ..
"George Walker Bush" boils down to '6' in each of the three major numerologist's systems currently in use; the Pythagorean System, and the Chaldean System, and the basic 26-letters-of-the-alphabet-assigned-numbers-1-thru -26 system.
Each system gets about a third of the attention of numerolgist's at large. So the logic is, Georgie Porgie's name reduced to 6 three times = 666.
Ain't math fun?
-Fantastic Lad "--Quick mod him 'Funny'! Peace of mind lies in ridicule. .."
The most interesting thing I found by following these links is what Defense Secretary Cohen said about terrorists who are working on electromagnetic weapons that can trigger earthquakes and volcanos remotely.
I mean, did the guy forget his medication or does stuff like that exist?
Probably both.
According to several sources I consider fairly reliable, humans currently have technology capable of shattering the Earth. I'm not 100% about that; our technology, while enormously more advanced than the current public perception would allow, we're nowhere nearly as advanced as some previous incarntions of humanity, (Atlatian, Lemurian, etc.), and frankly, even to me, shattering the Earth seems like a fairly inconceivable affair.
Mind you, early work by Tesla demonstrated that knowing the correct frequency of an object gave one the power to make it vibrate using sympathetic resonance from a distance, (the basics of radio), and that if you continually pumped energy into that object in a certain way, you could literally shake the object apart. And as one great mind once said. . , "With a lever big enough. .."
Though, screwing up in such a way is supposedly what destroyed the planet which we now know of as the Asteroid belt. And that's not from Lee & Kirby.
This stuff only seems far-out to people because everybody has been led to believe in an excruciatingly simple description of reality. When you start to think and look and overcome your programming. ..
-Fantastic Lad --None Rival DOOM!
And now for what (may have) REALLY happened. . .
on
Latest Columbia News
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· Score: 1, Funny
Okay. I have two interesting items for everybody here. --I've been waiting around for a few bits and pieces to line up before posting this soon-to-be modded into dust article.
Read fast, kids, this one is not likely going to survive long around these parts where foam, mini-meteors and 'old computers' rule the roost.
Top investigators of the Columbia space shuttle disaster are analyzing a startling photograph -- snapped by an amateur astronomer from a San Francisco hillside -- that appears to show a purplish electrical bolt striking the craft as it streaked across the California sky.
The digital image is one of five snapped by the shuttle buff at roughly 5: 53 a.m. Saturday as sensors on the doomed orbiter began showing the first indications of trouble. Seven minutes later, the craft broke up in flames over Texas.
The photographer requested that his name not be used and said he would not release the image to the public until NASA experts had time to examine it.
Although there are several possible benign explanations for the image -- such as a barely perceptable jiggle of the camera as it took the time exposure -- NASA's zeal to examine the photo demonstrates the lengths at which the agency is going to tap the resources of ordinary Americans in solving the puzzle.
Late Tuesday, NASA dispatched former shuttle astronaut Tammy Jernigan, now a manager at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, to the San Francisco home of the astronomer to examine his digital images and to take the camera itself to Mountain View, where it was to be transported by a NASA T-38 jet to Houston this morning.
A Chronicle reporter was present when the astronaut arrived. First seeing the image on a large computer screen, she had one word: "Wow."
Jernigan, who is no longer working for NASA, quizzed the photographer on the aperture of the camera, the direction he faced and the estimated exposure time -- about four to six seconds on the automatic Nikon 880 camera. It was mounted on a tripod, and the shutter was triggered manually.
In the critical shot, a glowing purple rope of light corkscrews down toward the plasma trail, appears to pass behind it, then cuts sharply toward it from below. As it merges with the plasma trail, the streak itself brightens for a distance, then fades.
"It certainly appears very anomalous," said Jernigan. "We sure will be very interested in taking a very hard look at this."
Jernigan flew five shuttle missions herself during the 1990s, including three on Columbia. On her last flight, the pilot of the craft was Rick Husband, who was at the controls when Columbia perished.
"He was one of the finest people I could ever hope to know," said Jernigan.
It was an astounding day for the San Francisco photographer, who said he had not had any success in reaching NASA through its published telephone hot lines.
He ultimately reached investigators through a connection with a relative who attends the same church as former astronaut Jack Lousma, who flew 24 million miles in the Skylab 3 mission in 1973.
Lousma put him in direct touch with Ralph Roe Jr., chief engineer for the shuttle program at Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston.
After a series of telephone conversations Tuesday afternoon, the photographer had a veteran shuttle mission specialist knocking at his door by dinnertime. Within hours, he was left with a receipt, and his camera was on its way to Houston.
Cassiopaeans comment on the Shuttle "Event": Session: February 2, 2003
Q: One of the first questions we want to ask tonight is about the event of the Space Shuttle that was lost. First, was it an explosion, or was it just disintegration, or breaking up? A: It was a "direct hit."
Q: A direct hit by what? A: EM pulse.
Q: (S) What was the source of the EM pulse? A: 3/4th density Consortium.
Q: Well, I thought Bush was a puppet of the Consortium? (A) Well, we know that the military are scrambling planes to go after UFOs...there are even reports of firing on them and there have been reports of military jets being disintegrated by UFOs. The UFOs are, somehow, in cahoots with the consortium. It seems that Bush and the gang are not in control of the Consortium and maybe they needed to be "reminded?" A: It is not so much that he needs to be reminded, as he needs to be stimulated to react.
Q: (L) You once before said that Bush knows very little anyway - or that the "White House" level is pretty much in the dark about the plans of the Consortium - even if they are carrying them out. So, you are suggesting that they are being driven by forces of which they are unaware and do not understand? A: Exactly. Bush is a "reaction machine."
Q: (L) I would like to know about this supposed "body guard" of Saddam recently presented by MOSSAD? Was he one of Saddam's former bodyguards? A: To an extent, yes. But certainly not in the way presented. Just remember this: if pilots can be conditioned to commandeer airliners that will fly into certain death, how hard is it to "Produce" a "bodyguard?"
Q: (L) Piece of cake to produce a bodyguard, I guess. (A) He is saying exactly what the Israelis want him to say. He is not revealing any particular data that counts. It is just general things. Anybody could say such things and be called a "bodyguard." (L) Exactly. Okay, you say that an EM pulse brought down the shuttle. (A) Where did the EM pulse come from? A: From space based satellite.
Q: (A) Does NASA know about the cause? A: There are some who suspect.
Q: (L) Which explains why they are so anxious to convince everyone that it was NOT sabotage. Like Wellstone's death, there was "no question" about it being a terrorist attack. The likelihood is that the Bush Junta was behind Wellstone's death. In both cases they "know" the cause and want to divert the attention away from it. But, in the case of the shuttle, they aren't "dirty," but they most definitely do NOT want anyone to realize that they also are not "in charge." It makes me think of the remark the C's made a few years ago about the reason for the Military Industrial Complex build-up and manipulations. C's said that the REAL enemy is "out there" and that war was just a "cover" to prevent the masses from realizing what they were really doing. Maybe Bush and the gang are really convinced, in their own minds, that they are acting to "protect" humanity from this threat. Meanwhile, they are simply being driven to fulfill the agenda of the Consortium. And it is so interesting that the shuttle broke up over Palestine, Texas... as though it was saying to Bush: this is what is going to happen to you: Palestine is going to be your destruction. But, of course, Bush would be incapable of perceiving it in that context. Is it so that a message was intended in this event? A: As always, confusion is the mask.
Q: (L) In other words, everyone's reaction to the event will depend on their own context. There is the view that it was a "message to Bush." Bush and gang will, of course, see it only as a stimulus to faster and more "decisive" military action. So, it will really work on them the way it is wanted. (A) And of course, we wonder how they will make use of this event.
A: The primary effect among the masses will be shock, thus making them less resistant to Bush's policies. Still other groups will see the clear threat to Bush and Co. from their activities. Bush and Co. will, of course, seek to capitalize on the event even while remaining in the dark as to its meaning. But there most certainly is awareness among them that there is a "Maverick" element at loose. Bush has even "felt" a bit of primal fear in respect of this event.
There. Now didn't that make your day more interesting?
Pardon me while I re-post the parent message in this thread back above the -1 threshold. Apparently some jack-ass with a penchant for knee-jerk reactionism and a cranium filled with gummy worms got mod-points today. ..
-Fantastic Lad
I have mixed feelings about anime. On the one hand, it's nice to see the influence of east-Asian art in American popular culture for a change (perhaps as retribution for what we did to Japanese folk music with disco). On the other hand, anime (especially manga) has historically been no better than pornography: it systematically dissects women into their component anatomical parts, except they're just fictionaly women. Now, this may be changing with the times, and there is a new crop of feminist apologists who'll tell you there's nothing wrong, that it is no more degrading to women than to men and that people of all genders are avid consumers. But again, to draw an analogy to pornography, it may just be that women are starting to internalize oppression.
There's nothing inherently wrong with the medium; just in how it's been realized and implemented. If only people were more aware of the intrinsic relationship between art and effects on society as a whole, then we might be a little slower to choose to make that buck at the expense of our common weal.
The problem with The Matrix was its message: technology is inherently bad. The dialog places the blame of the whole Matrix world being due to "scientists messing with things they shouldn't" (paraphrased). Other movies, like the Terminator series, are just as bad. I don't get why such a blatantly anti-technology movie is so popular with the technology crowd, other than appreciation for the work that went into the special effects.
Don't be silly. The insistence that people must belong to one camp or another is tiresome in the extreme.
Technology is just technology. It's not something to be For or Against. All it represents is the ability to use the natural elements of the Universe around us. What bothers people is the total lack of regard and responsibility displayed by those who make big, messy displays as they use Technology; as they interact with the Universe in destructive, dirty and dangerous ways which affect the world and everybody around them whether we like it or not. Technology isn't ruining the world. It's the greedy morons who are using technology in the negative who are ruining the world.
Films like The Matrix and Terminator aren't anti-technology. Heck, Frankenstein, the grand daddy of Luddite-style thinking, isn't anti-technology, even if Mary Shelly thought that it was, (and I'm not at all convinced that English professors are correct in their claim that she did!). These are messages which address the very real concerns that technology placed in the hands of greedy assholes is, in no uncertain terms, bloody dangerous!
I don't see anything wrong or misplaced in these concerns, or in being interested in the issues raised by those concerns. And in any case, The Matrix and Terminator were entertaining for more than just their sociological and special effects values. They were exciting films, for flip's sake! Change out of your camp tee-shirt, get on the bus, and come back to reality.
In addition to the many worthy comments made in this thread, I would like to address the fact that jumping in and trying to realize one's dream, and just hoping for the best doesn't always result in success. ..
I know many people who cashed in their chips and made the brave and bold move to start up their own business, and nearly all of them failed. --I know a LOT of people who ended up in debt up to their ears, out of business and out of luck less than two years later. The banks tell us that statistically, only 1 in 5 business start-ups go anywhere. This is the truth.
HOWEVER. . . This does not mean that following one's dream is a bad idea. In fact, I happen to believe that it is the ONLY idea worth investing in, and that it can't go wrong so long as you are true to yourself. --You've heard that before, but let's think about it. ..
You see, there are commonalities to all of the stories of failure, and they are, Too Little Planning and Too Much Wishful Thinking. The results are poor execution, and then failure. This cannot be overstated! --It is entirely true that if you follow your heart, you cannot fail. But many, many people don't follow their hearts. They follow illusions.
I have been amazed at the number of times I have watched a friend or acquaintance make a stupendously awful business decision, and when I gently suggest a way to correct the problem, I am barked at for, "Being Mean," for "Attacking my Dream," for, "Undermining my Positive Thinking." Etc, etc.
Yes, it is a million times more comfortable to pretend that Everything Is Alright, than it is to acknowledge that one has made an error in judgment and to then fix that error, but if you conduct yourself in such a delusional manner, you can be pretty much guaranteed to be on the skids 2 years later. This seems obvious, but clearly it is a huge issue. (1 in 5. ..)
When people ask my advice on starting one's own company, I stress 2 things.
1. Ask yourself; Are you following your dream, or are you following a prescribed dream. --This one is worth thinking about. For example; Joe wants to get into making comics, (a common and fairly pre-packaged 'dream', these days). Why? Well, everybody else is doing it, and it looks like fun, and Joe has some good ideas and he can sort of handle a pencil. . . Bzzt. That's not a reason. Answer the question; WHY? What is it about comics that turns Joe's head?
Okay, well, as it turns out after some digging, Joe really is primarily interested in having a 'cool' job which everybody else agrees is cool. Plus it looks like fun to go to comic shows and be part of that whole scene. Plus he likes anime. And drawing is fun. --Joe doesn't mention anything about needing to write or paint or such. In fact, as it turns out, Joe's dream doesn't really have much to do with the actual making of comics at all. And so, Joe will almost certainly be an astonishing failure, because he'll find himself competing with people who can't sleep at night because they are unable to tear themselves away from the roar of passion in their gut, driving them to draw one more picture, or write one more page of script or what-have-you. Those guys know what their dream is. Joe does not, and so Joe will fail. I've seen it happen dozens of times to dozens of Joes. Joe doesn't know who he is yet, and so he can't even take the first step.
2. Make sure you put in enough time and effortbefore you launch your company, acquiring the skills you will need to actually provide a desired product or service. If you can't sing or play a guitar better than the next guy, then it's stupid to try to compete in the music industry. Seems obvious, but apparently, it isn't. Following a dream is noble and entirely possible, BUT one must accept that it takes work and practice and skill in order to deliver the goods, and that you can expect to fail if you can't provide something people will actually want. Essentially, make sure your ship is in order before you sail. If you can't sing well enough, then learn. If you can't draw well enough, LEARN. (Mind you, I have seen several people fail, tank a company and fall into debt, and still not give up; this kind of failure can also provide the skills you need ten years later to continue with your efforts. So I'm not being entirely fair; it's not always so cut and dried as "1 in 5. ..")
In any case, though, you can sort of see why people get upset with me. Living in illusion is a helluva lot more comfy than facing these kinds of truths. But that's life; it's hard and it's unforgiving to those who refuse to look at things in an honest light. If you can't deal with that, then go back to selling burgers and quit complaining. --By contrast, however, when you DO start looking at the hard questions and when you DO start working to solve those problems in a diligent manner, then the Universe will start doling out luck and opportunities galore. I'm not kidding one little bit. Once you stop chasing illusions and determine the true nature of your path, then the Universe falls in love with you and will help you along. The Universe loves those who are willing to self-examine and strive for self-improvement. The reason for this is that the Universe knows just how devastatingly difficult this is to actually do, it knows how hard it is to earn the skills required to participate in a field in a meaningful way, and it rewards people accordingly.
The other thing to keep in mind, (and this one is golden!), is that dreams are easily transferable from one industry to another, and that aiming to acquire one stream of income is not the only or the best model for success.
For example, let's say you want to be a musician; you want to sing and write music for a living. Well, there are many, many ways to write music and sing which entirely by-pass the whole Top 40, going on tour, strutting on stage, big music label, route. There are, in fact, many unexplored ways to make music and also pay the bills. Music is a valued commodity, and there are many aspects to it which require skilled people in many different fields, in many different mediums.
Just because you happen to, say, end up as a technical producer at a recording studio, doesn't mean that you can't also write and record your own songs, etc. You might be able to book free time at the studio you work in. You might be able to take a summer off and play at pubs and sell your CD. You might meet other musicians and share ideas. Heck, perhaps you'll go the other way and discover that you find joy in repairing and building guitars and selling hand-crafted instruments. There are a million ways to build a fulfilling career. It's vital to remember that it's okay to not be on the cover of Rolling Stone. --Of course, if your heart is set on being a famous musician, if that is where the lodestone of your soul directs you without mercy, then chances are, if you play it smart and do your homework, then yes, you probably WILL end up on the cover of Rolling Stone. But most people's lodestones do not point that way, and those people need to be honest and listen more carefully to themselves in order to learn what will make them happy in the long run.
So it's OK for Bush to CONSTANTLY lie to America about EVERYTHING, but not for Clinton to lie about an affair?
Not to mention that Bush is also on the verge of becoming a mass murderer through his lies.
Plus, (and I don't know about the veracity of this), but, it looks like the CIA under Bush Sr. may have some dirty laundry, (of the psychotic criminal variety) when it comes to matters of sex. ..
This post was not meant to see air. Something went screwy with the interface and the damned thing posted double when I meant to scrap it altogether as sub-par posting from yours truly. My apologies to the original poster.
What? People thinking and exchanging news and information on the web? Horrors! They might all be saying bad things about us, (the Powers That Be)! We must put a stop to this!
The best part is that, after all is said and done, after all the fire works and torture and human carnage, the bastards will lose. You cannot channel that much destructive force without being destroyed. Such minds deteriorate as they cling to their nice comfy illusions of grandeur, (and they are illusions. Everybody knows that Bush is a coke-snorting moron, no matter how hard he tries to pretend otherwise, no matter what sly tricks he participates in, his brain remains a piece of cheese. And he continues to rot.)
In the end, the darkness is self-consuming. It's like a black hole; that's the perfect metaphor, actually. The perfect symbol. Selfishness wants and takes and takes until it collapses under its own weight. Selfishness is the frightened child which wants to cling to (and control) its mother, and damn it, climb back into the womb if at all possible. Because the bright and beautiful world is just too damned frightening. (Beware the clingy child.)
Beauty and the Unknown are for the strong and bright-eyed children, who grow accordingly, and seek outwards; never to control, but to test themselves against the world and grow stronger and more capable of participating in the wonders they seek.
Selfishness and Fearfulness, by contrast, seek ultimately, to return to the dark warmth of sleep, and there disintegrate into dream and into nothingness. --And that's fine, (Let 'em vanish!). The only problem being that they can't bear to think there is a bright and beautiful world out there populated with heros and the brave. --Simply, because the contrast between the worms and the brave is a painful one! Nobody wants to be a fearful worm; especially not the worms; especially not the worms! --They have the least ability of all in dealing with hard truths. They are not about growing or changing; they are about warm illusions and control. A brave man winces at his faults but then sets about the task of fixing them. While, a coward cringes in horror at his faults, and seeks to tell himself stories where really, he, is the hero, and then he goes about trying to enforce this image upon all those around him; to maintain the illusion. And all the while, in reality, he degenerates further while the Brave Man grows ever stronger.
Like I have said many times before, Good Guys Always Win. Always. Always. (Despite the millions of messages to the opposite we are bombarded with daily by the Fear-controlled media! Despite the deep cultural programming which begs women to seek 'bad' boys while in the same stroke, casts a homosexual in the role of Smallville's 'Superman') But you watch. You'll see. It all pans out in the end. There will be carnage and there will be blood, but in the end, the worms will turn to mud and vanish, and the heros and the brave will remain. --I firmly believe in reincarnation and in many lives, and that the Heros and the Brave will continue; that Death is just a train station platform. I also believe that the worms will return as well, although in a reduced form, (thanks to Karma). The only way to destroy a soul is for it to continually participate in debauchery and petty fear, until it regresses, finally, into primal matter. Let 'em regress. Let 'em go. Let the little worm people try to control the world and the internet, let them try to control thought itself. (And if it's an MS clone who'll be running things over at the White House, then you can bet they'll keep a thumb on the pulse of such net indicators as Slashdot; Are you listening, you chumps? I am talking about YOU.)
The forces of Fear will cause friction for a time, and they can influence thought, even to a large degree. But only for a time. And not the minds of the strong, who will only shake their heads. And then, finally, they will pass. Good riddance.
Slashdot Mirror
You'll probably get your wish, child. But in the world which is rising, (largely due to people like you being dupes), it wont be long before you find yourself next in line.
-Fantastic Lad
I know what you're saying; eye snatching probably isn't going to become a big problem. Especially when, as it has been purported, all you currently need is a color photocopy of somebody's eye to fool a recognition system. But I did want to put this in; I happen to know a couple of sociopaths. You probably do as well. They're a lot more common than people would like to think. Psychopaths are just the ones which went wrong. Or got elected.
-Fantastic Lad
Though, you know, I think the end result will simply be banks throwing up their hands and declaring, "Well if you kids aren't willing to play nice, then we'll just revoke your paper-cash privileges altogether!"
"Awwww!"
"Now, now, children. Debit card consumerism isn't so bad! In any case, only those with something to hide need fear the fact that the government will know what you like to read, eat, drink, watch and spread on your toast. Now then, Dolly, Billy and Jeffy, please go visit the school nurse; it's time for your Paxol."
Fantastic Lad
What about power regulation circuits? What about. . . I don't know. I guess it makes sense in a variety of . . , but that's a whole can of conspiracy even I am hesitant to open this early in the A.M.
Well. .
Maybe just a peek. But, bewarned; this is unfinished thinking. Not yet certified by the Lad's Fantasti-Corp proving ground and safety testing facilities. .
So. . , time is moving faster these days. Have you noticed? Sure you have. But, of course, if you're like the average bear, you've chalked it up to shifting perceptions resulting from growing older and such. When you were a kid, those long summer days back in the 70's just seemed to mosey on forever. (Anybody born in the 80's, sorry. You don't have enough reference to play in this thread, and frankly you got gyped out of a good childhood. But don't feel bad! You got those Ninja Turtles, right? They were cool. Sort of. Whatever. My condolances. You'll get another chance in another life.) Anyway, when I was a kid, Time was really nice and slow! I even remember getting confused trying to count how many years had passed since Star Wars came out. We'd get mixed up because we kept counting the summer holidays as a whole year. A legit error, in my books. Damn! You could get so much stuff done in a day back then!
Not like these days, boy! Holy smokes, I get up, eat breakfast, take a shower and it's already lunch time! I do maybe two things, work like a bastard right till bed time, (getting almost nothing done), and that's it Bob! That's the day. Gone in a flash. And I certainly don't think it's just a matter of perceptions. (Well, technically, everything is a matter of perceptions on a certain level, but that's not what I'm talking about here.)
Time always speeds up before the end, according to a variety of schools of thought. Heck, even the bible in all it's propagandized, muddied, corrupted and manipulated paragraphs describes the days being shortened near the end. --Though, I prefer the Star Fleet reasoning; Ahem. "To explain the Time Differential we are experiencing, the analogy of a sea shore is an apt example; The water is being sucked out as the Wave approaches." Or something pseudo-technical. Screw it. Blast 'em with the photon torpedos and let's get the hell out of here while everybody's confused.
Oh, best of all! (This is just hilarious!) Even the king of tow-the-line science geeks, buddy boy, Jay Ingram over on Canada's Discovery Channel, did a short piece on how Time is speeding up. Can you believe it? It's getting so damned noticable that they had to pull out their big guns!
Of course, Jay-boy put the expected spin on things, (Perceptions. What was the word they came up with. . ? Hm, gone now. But it was a very clever and chalk-dusty sort of phrase at any rate), and with the time-tested propagandic, "Trust your warm and safe Educational Authority Figures, Kids!" video production qualities stamped on the segment, pencil neck Jay signed off on yet another piece of "Nothing to see here, Citizen," documentary, and stalked away with that quiet yet moody air of job disatisfaction he has been displaying ever since the mid nineties when he landed the job of Science-Boy Anchor. --I wonder if perhaps on a deep level he realizes that he's shoveling shit for the Man, and despises himself for it. The world may never know. Or care.)
Anyway. .
So all the clocks are rigged, eh? That's almost too juicy an idea to jump on! So I don't think I will. --Cuz, while time is a certainly deeply rooted function of awareness, and while having a round, numbered face pounding away the seconds with rhythmic All-Seeing enforcement, might serve to hold this rapidly unraveling reality in place for a short while longer, (while the power elite pack their underwear and finalize their highly unlikely escape plans), I just don't think that Time is at the beck and call of a nation of wrong clocks.
Still. . . It's a neat idea, in a Twilight Zone kind of way!
And when it comes to battling geeks, I bet Rod Serling could kick Jay Ingram's butt any day of the week. That's the power of imagination, baby!
-Fantastic Lad
I tend to agree. --Interestingly, the currents required to stimulate healing biological responses have been described as vanishingly small by Robert O. Becker, who spent a life time researching this line of inquiry. --Why and how salimanders are able to regrow limbs while more complex animals cannot; how cells can and do dedifferentiate on the DNA level, (which throws cold water on the while stem cell research parade). . . Among other things.
It's annoying that the bulk of interest here seems centered on U.S. bombing campaigns. Especially on a tech-news site!
-Fantastic Lad
Thanks Jim! I was really stuck there as to when I ought to go into headless chicken & duct tape mode. The authorities don't circulate flyers, you know.
Oh, wait. .
-Fantastic Lad
2. All Right!!! Now we get even more paranoid delusional security where none has been needed before. Los Alamos? The grand daddy of research facilities infiltrated by a measly reporter? Wow! What a great way to sell fear and Big Brother's gun-toting orcs to every two-bit research outpost in the entire nation! Cool! Next thing we'll see is scientists required to wear hand guns in the cockpit-er, lab.
3. What is an 'Orange Alert' anyway? What color comes next? At what tint and shade should I drop my replicated food dish and dash to my battle station? (The nation not programmed? Please.)
-Fantastic Lad
Ah. The Book Burn-a-Dex. The ever-reliable meter by which one can measure the level of ignorance and stupidity accompanying any social movement, religion or government.
Cute story! I shudder at the memories it conjures. I remember a jr. High teacher who came to one of our D&D sessions to instill similar fears in us kids. A respectable adult in a position of authority talking about the imagination being the realm of the Devil. And REALLY meaning it! Now THAT was creepy.
-Fantastic Lad
OH MY GOD!!! This is the FIRST time I've actually be envious of the U.S.
The best part is that you were able to vote that kind of nonsense out of existence! (Wipes tear from corner of eye.)
There is still some sense left in the world. Thanks for an uplifting piece of info! The last few days around here have been depressing as hell for a variety of reasons, and I think this has been reflected in my recent posts.
-Fantastic Lad
Obviously that was an unintentional negation. --If you sell off or destroy stock by year's end, you DO get to claim back the tax you paid up front upon the creation of the goods in question. --Not that it does an artist much good, but that's what round holes and square pegs are all about! One size DOES fit all, or something is maybe wrong with you citizen! Are you criticizing Amerika? Let me see your papers, please!
Tax law is insane. --But it has no lack of proponants and logical arguments. (Not that they mean squat; you can use 'logic' to argue from any stupid position on the map!)
I actually had an accountant and his civil servant friend engage me in debate on this very subject. They were both frothing at the mouth by the end of it. The stupid really do believe that it's okay to tax small people into the ground while corporations and the already wealthy should go scott free. Just goes to show that mixing a bit of propaganda into the educational system goes a long, long way!
-Fantastic Lad
Very, Very annoying.
I have managed to learn during this whole process, (or rather, make that, I have been 'informed' by my auditor), that Canada had participated in an international symposium on e-business and the problem of tax-collection this past summer and that this was part of an international 'crack-down'.
Essentially, all the industrialized governments of the world are dancing in a fit of greed-inspired agony over the perception that PEOPLE ARE ENGAGING IN TRADE WITHOUT INVOLVING GOVERNMENT!!!!! --And by golly, Big Brother wants his cut. Up front and right now.
I recently started using Paypal, and I swear, two weeks later, I got a call from the government demanding that I give them my access codes so that they could pick over my records. Wow. I mean, Wow.
And this is the auditing department. In today's virtually cashless society, if they decide that you are being uncooperative, they can freeze your accounts. No money in, no money out. How many employers will pay you in cash? Exactly.
And to all those of you who thought, "Wow! Cashless society! Cool!" Thanks guys. --I know personally three unrelated people who have had their lives put on hold, one for several weeks, one for the whole last year, and another for going on five years, because the Government in all its red-tape glory, saw fit to punch the 'Hold' switch at their banks, preventing them from depositing or withdrawing money in any form. --And these people are not assholes or anything. They're smart and capable. But they also committed the crime of being out of work and unable to make student loan payments. --And one of them is still in school! (Ah, red, red tape. .
--Now they live hand to mouth on kindness, bent rules and what little cash remains circulating outside the digital system. Gee, I sure love the government. You think this stuff doesn't happen? Think it can't happen to you? Stick around. The steam roller is just shifting into drive. .
So. .
Faced with this threat, I pretty had to do what I was told by my Auditor. Thankfully, he seems to be a fairly un-corrupted individual; I don't see him asking for bribes or such, which is nice. But he's also a fairly bland civil servant without any imagination. Indeed, he actually told me that taxes were fair and normal and that people who complained were selfish.
I told him that he'd been duped, and we got into a long, albeit fruitless conversation. --He was surprised to learn that Income Tax had been a WWII war measures act which was supposed to exist for the duration of hostiliies only, but which somehow, just seemed to linger 'till today. He didn't know this! He seemed to think that Income Tax had been around forever and that it was normal and right. And when he did learn that it was a relatively new phenomenon, he just shrugged. "Oh well. It's here now. Nothing we can do about it."
Yeah, except ratchet up the pressure on Tom, Dick & Harry making sales over Ebay. There was a time when you could buy something off a friend and not even think about taxation. That'll end really soon, kids!
This world has gone insane. Microsoft pays no tax and the private citizen is being bled dry. Insane.
Not convinced?
Let me share the story of another friend of mine; She's an artist. She paints and draws cartoons and illustrations for magazines and children's books. --That's where all her income comes from, and she lives a frugal, but otherwise happy life. Well, anyway, she has a small following and recently she decided to start selling some of her original paintings. When tax time came around last year, she dutifully declared the extra income. Well, guess what? She got audited. (A lot of that going around these days, it seems! Control. Control. . . Big Brother is watching you.)
Well, when the government learned that she had sold some of her paintings, the auditing department declared that she no longer qualified under tax law as an artist; that she now had to be considered differently. --That is, they came and they fucking counted all her paintings, (several hundred), made an assessment of the value of them all based on what she had made through her recent sales, and then handed her a bill for the tax she now owed on all the unsold paintings she had in 'stock'.
See, when it comes to manufacturing, the government demands tax payment up front on all goods produced, before they go to market. Ever wonder why there are end of year liquidation sales? This is why. --If you sell everything off or DESTROY goods, (as some manufacturers do), then you don't get to reclaim the tax you paid on them at the end of the year.
My friend is currently fighting this insanity, but guess what? She's making installment payments anyway on the thousands of dollars she suddenly 'owes' the government because the threat of having all her accounts frozen and assets siezed was too much for her.
I can't wait until this whole bullshit parade of a society, which punishes its teachers and its artitst, burns to the ground. There are going to be a lot of greedy morons running around in panic and grief of their own making because suddenly all the money and material wealth they have spent their lives accumulating will be worth zip. None of this shit will be important soon.
Soon. Soon. .
When those trade towers fell, I was enraged because the people who died were honest custodial workers and support staff. If the towers had collapsed around 2:30 P.M., I would have been MUCH more content. I think this was perhaps the biggest indicator of who was REALLY responsible for that stage-production 'terrorist' act.
Reichstag, Reichstag. .
-Fantastic Lad
Fact of the matter is that anybody who might want to kill you, already knows where you live. --So you might as well relax.
Paranoia is so 90's.
-Fantastic Lad
And the hint of monoliths all along. .
They are quietly, steadily warming the public so that all the fragile little human brains won't "Pop" when the aliens tap you on the shoulder one day and say,
"Stick 'em up!"
-Fantastic Lad --"Pathetic Hoo-Mahn!"
I don't believe in 'Mars'.
We don't have enough data. .
It's a bit arrogant to think that man can say with any authority that other planets exist.
It's bad science.
I mean, really. Nobody can prove it to me! I have a perfectly logical explanation for all of the so-called, 'Data'.
--Seriously, I keep thinking I ought to make a website where I 'debunk' standard beliefs just to demonstrate how retarded skeptics actually are. "Oh, you had another so-called, 'Dream' did you. . ? And what proof can you offer us?"
-Fantastic Lad --La La La, I can't hear you!
Actually, I read a treatis which tried to demonstrate that VISA was the number 666 if you used ancient alphabets and used a 'Z' instead of an 'S', (which everybody pronounces that way anyway). --Not numerologist stuff. Just that in contemporary languages which were around during the writing of the Bible, 'VI' = 6, 'Z' was written like a 6, and in another language's alphabet, 'A' was also written like a 6.
Not that it really matters beyond a simple indication of what's going on. --Those in the know feel that the whole "Those marked will be sent to Hell" charade is just a corruption of the bible intended to create mass, society-wide anxiety. (Fear is Food). Just look at the marketing and the set-up. . . Millions upon millions of good Christians know about the "Mark of the Beast" thing, they're already programmed to feel guilt and anxiety over pretty much everything, and check it out. .
Unless you have your very own number of the beast, you won't be able to buy food!
This particular manipulation has more to do with creating havoc than it does with any garbage about heaven and hell.
Oh, and just as a point of interest. .
"George Walker Bush" boils down to '6' in each of the three major numerologist's systems currently in use; the Pythagorean System, and the Chaldean System, and the basic 26-letters-of-the-alphabet-assigned-numbers-1-thr
Each system gets about a third of the attention of numerolgist's at large. So the logic is, Georgie Porgie's name reduced to 6 three times = 666.
Ain't math fun?
-Fantastic Lad "--Quick mod him 'Funny'! Peace of mind lies in ridicule. .
I mean, did the guy forget his medication or does stuff like that exist?
Probably both.
According to several sources I consider fairly reliable, humans currently have technology capable of shattering the Earth. I'm not 100% about that; our technology, while enormously more advanced than the current public perception would allow, we're nowhere nearly as advanced as some previous incarntions of humanity, (Atlatian, Lemurian, etc.), and frankly, even to me, shattering the Earth seems like a fairly inconceivable affair.
Mind you, early work by Tesla demonstrated that knowing the correct frequency of an object gave one the power to make it vibrate using sympathetic resonance from a distance, (the basics of radio), and that if you continually pumped energy into that object in a certain way, you could literally shake the object apart. And as one great mind once said. . , "With a lever big enough. .
Though, screwing up in such a way is supposedly what destroyed the planet which we now know of as the Asteroid belt. And that's not from Lee & Kirby.
This stuff only seems far-out to people because everybody has been led to believe in an excruciatingly simple description of reality. When you start to think and look and overcome your programming. .
-Fantastic Lad --None Rival DOOM!
Read fast, kids, this one is not likely going to survive long around these parts where foam, mini-meteors and 'old computers' rule the roost.
In reverse chronological order of appearance. .
Item number one: The below clipped from photos taken; orignal story here.
Item number two: From a channeling experiment in Florida. .
There. Now didn't that make your day more interesting?
You're welcome.
-Fantastic Lad
-Fantastic Lad
Because 97% of anime looks spectacular but is otherwise incredibly fucking stupid?
But that's just me.
-Fantastic Lad
-Fantastic Lad
Don't be silly. The insistence that people must belong to one camp or another is tiresome in the extreme.
Technology is just technology. It's not something to be For or Against. All it represents is the ability to use the natural elements of the Universe around us. What bothers people is the total lack of regard and responsibility displayed by those who make big, messy displays as they use Technology; as they interact with the Universe in destructive, dirty and dangerous ways which affect the world and everybody around them whether we like it or not. Technology isn't ruining the world. It's the greedy morons who are using technology in the negative who are ruining the world.
Films like The Matrix and Terminator aren't anti-technology. Heck, Frankenstein, the grand daddy of Luddite-style thinking, isn't anti-technology, even if Mary Shelly thought that it was, (and I'm not at all convinced that English professors are correct in their claim that she did!). These are messages which address the very real concerns that technology placed in the hands of greedy assholes is, in no uncertain terms, bloody dangerous!
I don't see anything wrong or misplaced in these concerns, or in being interested in the issues raised by those concerns. And in any case, The Matrix and Terminator were entertaining for more than just their sociological and special effects values. They were exciting films, for flip's sake! Change out of your camp tee-shirt, get on the bus, and come back to reality.
-Fantastic Lad --"Ain't no flies on us!"
I know many people who cashed in their chips and made the brave and bold move to start up their own business, and nearly all of them failed. --I know a LOT of people who ended up in debt up to their ears, out of business and out of luck less than two years later. The banks tell us that statistically, only 1 in 5 business start-ups go anywhere. This is the truth.
HOWEVER. . . This does not mean that following one's dream is a bad idea. In fact, I happen to believe that it is the ONLY idea worth investing in, and that it can't go wrong so long as you are true to yourself. --You've heard that before, but let's think about it. .
You see, there are commonalities to all of the stories of failure, and they are, Too Little Planning and Too Much Wishful Thinking. The results are poor execution, and then failure. This cannot be overstated! --It is entirely true that if you follow your heart, you cannot fail. But many, many people don't follow their hearts. They follow illusions.
I have been amazed at the number of times I have watched a friend or acquaintance make a stupendously awful business decision, and when I gently suggest a way to correct the problem, I am barked at for, "Being Mean," for "Attacking my Dream," for, "Undermining my Positive Thinking." Etc, etc.
Yes, it is a million times more comfortable to pretend that Everything Is Alright, than it is to acknowledge that one has made an error in judgment and to then fix that error, but if you conduct yourself in such a delusional manner, you can be pretty much guaranteed to be on the skids 2 years later. This seems obvious, but clearly it is a huge issue. (1 in 5. .
When people ask my advice on starting one's own company, I stress 2 things.
In any case, though, you can sort of see why people get upset with me. Living in illusion is a helluva lot more comfy than facing these kinds of truths. But that's life; it's hard and it's unforgiving to those who refuse to look at things in an honest light. If you can't deal with that, then go back to selling burgers and quit complaining. --By contrast, however, when you DO start looking at the hard questions and when you DO start working to solve those problems in a diligent manner, then the Universe will start doling out luck and opportunities galore. I'm not kidding one little bit. Once you stop chasing illusions and determine the true nature of your path, then the Universe falls in love with you and will help you along. The Universe loves those who are willing to self-examine and strive for self-improvement. The reason for this is that the Universe knows just how devastatingly difficult this is to actually do, it knows how hard it is to earn the skills required to participate in a field in a meaningful way, and it rewards people accordingly.
The other thing to keep in mind, (and this one is golden!), is that dreams are easily transferable from one industry to another, and that aiming to acquire one stream of income is not the only or the best model for success.
For example, let's say you want to be a musician; you want to sing and write music for a living. Well, there are many, many ways to write music and sing which entirely by-pass the whole Top 40, going on tour, strutting on stage, big music label, route. There are, in fact, many unexplored ways to make music and also pay the bills. Music is a valued commodity, and there are many aspects to it which require skilled people in many different fields, in many different mediums.
Just because you happen to, say, end up as a technical producer at a recording studio, doesn't mean that you can't also write and record your own songs, etc. You might be able to book free time at the studio you work in. You might be able to take a summer off and play at pubs and sell your CD. You might meet other musicians and share ideas. Heck, perhaps you'll go the other way and discover that you find joy in repairing and building guitars and selling hand-crafted instruments. There are a million ways to build a fulfilling career. It's vital to remember that it's okay to not be on the cover of Rolling Stone. --Of course, if your heart is set on being a famous musician, if that is where the lodestone of your soul directs you without mercy, then chances are, if you play it smart and do your homework, then yes, you probably WILL end up on the cover of Rolling Stone. But most people's lodestones do not point that way, and those people need to be honest and listen more carefully to themselves in order to learn what will make them happy in the long run.
Just a few thoughts to consider.
-Fantastic Lad
Not to mention that Bush is also on the verge of becoming a mass murderer through his lies.
Plus, (and I don't know about the veracity of this), but, it looks like the CIA under Bush Sr. may have some dirty laundry, (of the psychotic criminal variety) when it comes to matters of sex. .
-Fantastic Lad
-Fantastic Lad
It's all about Fear.
What? People thinking and exchanging news and information on the web? Horrors! They might all be saying bad things about us, (the Powers That Be)! We must put a stop to this!
The best part is that, after all is said and done, after all the fire works and torture and human carnage, the bastards will lose. You cannot channel that much destructive force without being destroyed. Such minds deteriorate as they cling to their nice comfy illusions of grandeur, (and they are illusions. Everybody knows that Bush is a coke-snorting moron, no matter how hard he tries to pretend otherwise, no matter what sly tricks he participates in, his brain remains a piece of cheese. And he continues to rot.)
In the end, the darkness is self-consuming. It's like a black hole; that's the perfect metaphor, actually. The perfect symbol. Selfishness wants and takes and takes until it collapses under its own weight. Selfishness is the frightened child which wants to cling to (and control) its mother, and damn it, climb back into the womb if at all possible. Because the bright and beautiful world is just too damned frightening. (Beware the clingy child.)
Beauty and the Unknown are for the strong and bright-eyed children, who grow accordingly, and seek outwards; never to control, but to test themselves against the world and grow stronger and more capable of participating in the wonders they seek.
Selfishness and Fearfulness, by contrast, seek ultimately, to return to the dark warmth of sleep, and there disintegrate into dream and into nothingness. --And that's fine, (Let 'em vanish!). The only problem being that they can't bear to think there is a bright and beautiful world out there populated with heros and the brave. --Simply, because the contrast between the worms and the brave is a painful one! Nobody wants to be a fearful worm; especially not the worms; especially not the worms! --They have the least ability of all in dealing with hard truths. They are not about growing or changing; they are about warm illusions and control. A brave man winces at his faults but then sets about the task of fixing them. While, a coward cringes in horror at his faults, and seeks to tell himself stories where really, he, is the hero, and then he goes about trying to enforce this image upon all those around him; to maintain the illusion. And all the while, in reality, he degenerates further while the Brave Man grows ever stronger.
Like I have said many times before, Good Guys Always Win. Always. Always. (Despite the millions of messages to the opposite we are bombarded with daily by the Fear-controlled media! Despite the deep cultural programming which begs women to seek 'bad' boys while in the same stroke, casts a homosexual in the role of Smallville's 'Superman') But you watch. You'll see. It all pans out in the end. There will be carnage and there will be blood, but in the end, the worms will turn to mud and vanish, and the heros and the brave will remain. --I firmly believe in reincarnation and in many lives, and that the Heros and the Brave will continue; that Death is just a train station platform. I also believe that the worms will return as well, although in a reduced form, (thanks to Karma). The only way to destroy a soul is for it to continually participate in debauchery and petty fear, until it regresses, finally, into primal matter. Let 'em regress. Let 'em go. Let the little worm people try to control the world and the internet, let them try to control thought itself. (And if it's an MS clone who'll be running things over at the White House, then you can bet they'll keep a thumb on the pulse of such net indicators as Slashdot; Are you listening, you chumps? I am talking about YOU.)
The forces of Fear will cause friction for a time, and they can influence thought, even to a large degree. But only for a time. And not the minds of the strong, who will only shake their heads. And then, finally, they will pass. Good riddance.
Chumps.
-Fantastic Lad