The devel is in the detail. Sure I can demonstrate printing to you using some chimney soot and half a potato. Its quite a bit harder to produce a 100,000 copies of a newspaper (including those AOL CD's) for just a few pence.
Hm. I guess it is. But doesn't it have that sheen of, "Why the heck wasn't somebody making these things ten years ago?"
I mean, they have those traces-printed-on-plastic ribbon cables connecting things like keyboards and calculator screens to components. And printer heads in inkjets.
Plus, we have alloys which can be deposited on substrates a micron-layer at a time. How tough is it to dope conducting inks with Gallium-Arsenide? (Or whatever).
Why the heck hasn't this technology been around for a decade or more? It doesn't seem so much like an advance as it does a, "They finally got off their asses and assembled the stupid thing."
So there I was, bee-bopping through my work day, and the phone rings.
"Hello?"
"Is this Mr. Fantastic Lad?"
"Why, yes it is! What can I-"
"Please hold."
"What?" I'm on hold. So I hang up.
Ring ring ring:
"Y'ello?"
"Um, Mr. Fantastic Lad?"
"That's me. Who is this?"
"I'm calling from Network Solutions. Are you the owner of *********.com?"
"I don't think you understood my question. I don't care who you work for. Who are YOU? What's your name?"
"Um. . , (gives name)" Let's call him, 'Bob'.
"Okay, Bob. Did you just call ten seconds ago, ask for me, and then put me on hold?"
"Well, yes, but I have an important-"
"Stop talking Bob. You blew your chance at 'nice' by being incredibly rude. Nobody likes to be put on hold for no good reason. Do you understand just how rude it is to call somebody and then immediately put them on hold? It's a psychological trick used to establish dominance in a conversation. Do you think I want to be in a submissive position when I'm talking to a total stranger? Bob?"
Pause. "It's not a psychological trick. I'm just calling-"
"Look, Bob. You might be a somewhat nice guy on your own time, but for the purposes of here and now, I've decided that I really don't like you. I don't want to have an actual conversation with you. So I'm only looking for one word answers here. Look up from your little script, and answer either 'Yes' or 'No', or I'm ending this call. Got it?"
"But I've got important information about your account. I've-"
"Bob. . !"
"Sorry. Sorry."
"Alright then. Okay. Now first things first: Please answer this question: --Do you think I like being called up and put on hold by a total stranger?"
(Annoyed sound) ". . . No."
"That's right, I don't. And most people don't. In the future, you should consider that before being acting like a dick on the phone. I don't care if this is how you were instructed to treat people. If you find yourself faced with having to choose between being socially decent and following instructions by your boss to mistreat people, you should take it up with your employer and if you can't get beyond the impasse, you should quit. You've got a crappy job anyway. There are a lot of other things you could be doing in the world. Being rude to people over the phone is a choice you're making. And it's a dumb one. Now then. . , you tell me you work for Network Solutions?"
"Yeah."
"Alright. Now then, does Network Solutions really have something to call me about that I actually need to hear, or is it just an attempt to sell me something I don't want?"
"You might want it."
"Ahh. I see. So this is a sales call, then. So what, exactly, are you selling?"
"Well, I don't know, actually. . . My job is just to call people up, and verify that they own the web address on my list, and then connect them to the sales people."
"Sigh. Oh, Bob. I see you've been compartmentalized. I sympathize with you, Bob. -I'd quit your shit job in five seconds flat if I were you, but I do sympathize with you. And you don't actually have any idea what your sales people want to push on me?"
"I'm just told to tell people that it's important."
"Gotcha. Well, I'm sure if it's that important, they'll be in touch. I'm going to hang up now, Bob. Good luck with your life, and honestly. You should really consider quitting. Don't let the world bully you into thinking that you need to take their bullshit treatment of you. You won't die if you take the jump, Bob. Goodbye."
"Bye."
Click.
I got this call about five months ago. I'm told by others who received similar calls, that Network Solutions was trying to get people to buy similar sounding website names before competitors bought them up. A lame sales fear-tactic.
Uhm, ok, excuse me... by whom was 9/11 manufactured? Before someone really starts to argue with you, I'm just curious what exactly that
meant.
Hm. Yes.
To be very precise: After looking at the available information, much of which conflicts or is filled with peculiar elements which do not mesh with the official story, it seems evident that numerous parties other than the terrorist body may have been aware before hand what was going to happen, did nothing to prevent it, and may in fact have been assisting in its development.
By whom was 9/11 manufactured?
Not easy to answer in a word, however.
The party/ies, assuming they exist, were either able to:
*Quash FBI investigative efforts which would have prevented the disaster.
see interview with David Shippers, the attorney who headed the Clinton impeachment trials, now representing FBI officers who charge that they were regularly prohibited or coerced into withholding their discoveries of the terrorist activities long before, not just the 9/11 attack, but Oklahoma and others.
*Affect the airline check-in systems so that none of the alleged hijackers names appeared on the passenger lists.
See Perplexing puzzle (I linked to this one already in the post above. I assume you have read through it?)
*Affect the major news outlets by removing seasoned staffers to replace them with young and untested journalists all throughout 2001, with many cuts right around 9/11. CNN launched it's new 'look' and staff structure only days prior to the 9/11.
Link 1, Link 2, Link 3
(This is just a brief sampling of pages I looked for just now. I seem to have lost my links which contained a list of CNN staffers fired just prior to 9/11. Can't find it on-line anymore. Annoying. In any case, this last might have been coincidence, but it was very convenient that the American news structure was reduced in brain-size right when it was most critical that good journalists be around to question the weak points of this story. The powers involved, if they were opperating from such high levels, would certainly have been both able to affect such changes and would have been foolish not to. But, of course, that's just speculation.)
There are numerous other aspects of this which are not quickly summed up and require more detailed searching, and indeed, the above links were only selected for their simplicity in demonstrating what I'm talking about; there is much more information for those willing to look. Other aspects include:
*The possibility of remote piloting. (Although, while there are three specific points which indicate a strong possibility of this, including private documents recovered from the terrorists written the day prior to the event wherein they described their willingness to serve jail sentences for the crimes they intended to commit the next day, (ie, they didn't realize they were on a suicide mission), and other crash investigations (AirIndia) the black box voice recordings from which indicated a strong possibility that control of the plane was removed from the pilots and directed into the ocean against their will, (ie, demonstrating that such a thing may be possible), and the 100% perfect paths of descent and vectoring, with zero corrections made, that the planes used to make their impacts into the towers; calculated only once from the first moment the planes changed course, (i.e. suggesting that the human pilots were not involved. In any case, I think these particular arguments, while in themselves are interesting, do not necessarily indicate remote piloting.)
*The numerous links between Bin Laden, Bush and the CIA.
*The various reports of warnings hours before and 'lucky' absentees
*The numerous strange questions surrounding the rented car and Arabic flight manuals.
The list goes on.
Anyway, that should clarify what I meant by, "Manufactured."
How else, for example, do you expect for your bank to do business with you and not run afoul of impostors? Ultimately, it comes down to biometric IDs and secrets, whether implemented by the neighborhood clerk you have known for 20 years or by a machine.
Try going to the same bank each time you work with your money and deal with human employees. That's what I do. They know me. I know them. There is no chance of an imposter, short of a disguise artist, ripping me off.
The problem is that people are being encouraged by the banks and corporate bodies to engage in impersonal money practices which ARE prone to identity theft, and in which Bio-metrics would be useful. As you pointed out yourself, the problem is only when such systems are abused.
And THE problem is that those who are trying to implement identity tracking systems will almost certainly perpetuate abuse. They cannot be trusted.
I have cut & pasted a short response made to somebody else above which I think addresses some of your conceptions. . .
Down at my local business supplies warehouse outlet, you can already buy thumb print readers designed to lock all but 'favored users' out of computers or whatever.)
For those of you who don't see why this is bad, consider how much fun it would be to have yourself locked out of the economy for having dissident political views. --Or for failing to pay a traffic ticket. You only get to buy bread if you heartily agree that Arabs are evil. Mm. Fun!
Being able to accurately trace & identify any individual, (National I.D. cards), and the on-going movement towards a virtual money society, (debit & credit cards: note the effects of the Euro introduction, where citizens are being strongly encouraged by authorities to avoid 'confusion' with the new cash by relying only on plastic money), will make it MUCH easier to control the populace.
Anybody who thinks that any aspect of this is a good thing should remove from their ears and eyes the filters which only allow in the 'Very Reasonable Sounding' B.S. arguments as supplied by the U.S. propaganda departments, and take a good, hard look around.
9/11 was almost certainly manufactured, and even if it wasn't, it is being exploited to the hilt. Turn off CNN, (propaganda), grow a spine, (ignore the accusations by the popular kids of 'tin-foil hatters'; Time to grow up, ignore the Gap wearing sheep and their desperate to be accepted/. counterparts, (Harsh, I know, but unfortunately quite true), and rely on yourself to form your own conclusions), --And get down to doing some critical research.
If you are critical enough, (of words from BOTH sides of the fence; Very important), intelligent enough, -and if you work for long enough to get a solid feel for all the available information, then you will begin to see another reality rise from the fog.
Otherwise, you might as well just accept a nice ear-tag.
Remember: Sheep get tagged & numbered. They also get fleeced. And eaten.
Empty but maintained concentration camps in the U.S. This link is half sensationalist, alarmist B.S.. Read with caution. Although it is worth noting that FEMA and the Rex 80 programs are real; the laws can be found on-line. Food for thought.
Okay. That's enough for now. Read. Think. And I hope nobody bothers me with dip-shit flames unless you've actually read this stuff. Flames are usually a waste of time with me, but if you have legit questions or criticisms, I'm always happy to respond and/or update my own knowledge base. Growing and learning is fun!
Down at my local business supplies warehouse outlet, you can already buy thumb print readers designed to lock all but 'favored users' out of computers or whatever.)
For those of you who don't see why this is bad, consider how much fun it would be to have yourself locked out of the economy for having dissident political views. --Or for failing to pay a traffic ticket. You only get to buy bread if you heartily agree that Arabs are evil. Mm. Fun!
Being able to accurately trace & identify any individual, (National I.D. cards), and the on-going movement towards a virtual money society, (debit & credit cards: note the effects of the Euro introduction, where citizens are being strongly encouraged by authorities to avoid 'confusion' with the new cash by relying only on plastic money), will make it MUCH easier to control the populace.
Anybody who thinks that any aspect of this is a good thing should remove from their ears and eyes the filters which only allow in the 'Very Reasonable Sounding' B.S. arguments as supplied by the U.S. propaganda departments, and take a good, hard look around.
9/11 was almost certainly manufactured, and even if it wasn't, it is being exploited to the hilt. Turn off CNN, (propaganda), grow a spine, (ignore the accusations by the popular kids of 'tin-foil hatters'; Time to grow up, ignore the Gap wearing sheep and their desperate to be accepted/. counterparts, (Harsh, I know, but unfortunately quite true), and rely on yourself to form your own conclusions), --And get down to doing some critical research.
If you are critical enough, (of words from BOTH sides of the fence; Very important), intelligent enough, -and if you work for long enough to get a solid feel for all the available information, then you will begin to see another reality rise from the fog.
Otherwise, you might as well just accept a nice ear-tag.
Remember: Sheep get tagged & numbered. They also get fleeced. And eaten.
Empty but maintained concentration camps in the U.S. This link is half sensationalist, alarmist B.S.. Read with caution. Although it is worth noting that FEMA and the Rex 80 programs are real; the laws can be found on-line. Food for thought.
Okay. That's enough for now. Read. Think. And don't waste my time with dip-shit flames unless you've actually read this stuff. Flames are usually a waste of time with me, but if you have legit questions or criticisms, I'm always happy to respond and/or update my own knowledge base. Growing and learning is fun!
Down at my local business supplies warehouse outlet, you can already buy thumb print readers designed to lock all but 'favored users' out of computers or whatever.)
For those of you who don't see why this is bad, consider how much fun it would be to have yourself locked out of the economy for having dissident political views. --Or for failing to pay a traffic ticket. You only get to buy bread if you heartily agree that Arabs are evil. Mm. Fun!
Being able to accurately trace & identify any individual, (National I.D. cards), and the on-going movement towards a virtual money society, (debit & credit cards: note the effects of the Euro introduction, where citizens are being strongly encouraged by authorities to avoid 'confusion' with the new cash by relying only on plastic money), will make it MUCH easier to control the populace.
Anybody who thinks that any aspect of this is a good thing should remove from their ears and eyes the filters which only allow in the 'Very Reasonable Sounding' B.S. arguments as supplied by the U.S. propaganda departments, and take a good, hard look around.
9/11 was almost certainly manufactured, and even if it wasn't, it is being exploited to the hilt. Turn off CNN, (propaganda), grow a spine, (ignore the accusations by the popular kids of 'tin-foil hatters'; Time to grow up, ignore the Gap wearing sheep and their desperate to be accepted/. counterparts, (Harsh, I know, but unfortunately quite true), and rely on yourself to form your own conclusions), --And get down to doing some critical research.
If you are critical enough, (of words from BOTH sides of the fence; Very important), intelligent enough, -and if you work for long enough to get a solid feel for all the available information, then you will begin to see another reality rise from the fog.
Otherwise, you might as well just accept a nice ear-tag.
Remember: Sheep get tagged & numbered. They also get fleeced. And eaten.
Empty but maintained concentration camps in the U.S. This link is half sensationalist, alarmist B.S.. Read with caution. Although it is worth noting that FEMA and the Rex 80 programs are real; the laws can be found on-line. Food for thought.
Okay. That's enough for now. Read. Think. And don't waste my time with dip-shit flames unless you've actually read this stuff. Flames are usually a waste of time with me, but if you have legit questions or criticisms, I'm always happy to respond and/or update my own knowledge base. Growing and learning is fun!
I mentioned this technology in the summer. I've been expecting it to be 'discovered' by the private sector for about a year now.
It's old. 'Crystal Matrix' technology has been used successfully in real military data and power applications for at least a decade. -That's 'real military' as opposed to the highschool production version of it currently unfolding in the Middle East.
From my perspective, I see one aspect of it working like this:
Get everybody addicted to data technology. --Almost done. Note the introduction of the Euro, ("Citizens: To avoid confusion, try to only use credit and debit cards. Thank you. -Yours truly, The New Europe.") and the ever-growing specter of bio-metrics. (Down at my local business supplies warehouse outlet, you can already buy thumb print readers designed to lock all but 'favored users' out of computers or whatever.)
For those of you who don't see why this is bad, consider how much fun it would be to have yourself locked out of the economy for having dissident political views. --Or for failing to pay a traffic ticket. You only get to buy bread if you heartily agree that Arabs are evil. Mm. Fun!
After we spend the next few years allowing this paradigm to settle into place, new computer systems will be introduced which EVERYBODY must upgrade to, and which industry/government will be able to design from the ground up with the objective of making it impossible to flip on your computer without the goons being able to look over your shoulder. -That 'Encrypting Hard Drives' thing from last year? A dry run in order to learn the proper P.R. population handling techniques. They won't screw it up twice, and it's the second time that will count.
Whatever. It's just an elaborate show. Nothing to be scared of. Sit back and enjoy.
As such, being a lover of geek toys, my favorite part about Crystal Matrix technology is its ability to store industrial strength power in very small batteries. --Military vehicles powered by batteries the size of cigarette packs. Neat stuff. Old, but neat.
-Fantastic Lad --"He's just making it up, right guys? He's just crazy, right? Guys. . ?"
It would have to be pretty damn advanced if they were able to conceal shuttle re-entry...
Are you serious? How old are you? Nobody was hiding the military aspect of NASA during the 80's.
I said 'low profile', as in, page five coverage in newspapers as opposed to Time Magazine dedicating issues to the public side of NASA.
Go visit a library sometime. I never make up what I say. --Although, you DID just demonstrate one of the amazing things about conspiracy theory; that truth can be obscured far more easily than people realize. People are conditioned to not believe anything unless CNN tells them it's okay to believe.
Sure, the monitoring system would be pointless in terms of saving ourselves, but where it would be most useful would be in extending the anarchy before the impact. Say from 30days to a full year.
Now, see that raises an interesting point.
Anarchy scares the controlling players of any political power structure, so who's to say that those in charge would share sky-watch information with the populace if they had it?
NASA, back during the Reagan years, had this really low profile military mirror version of itself; A whole second program complete with it's own shuttles which made space runs to plant military satellites in orbit. There's a lot of very expensive & very powerful junk up there which uses classified technologies far in advance of what John Q. Private Sector is allowed to sell in his hard drives. I'd be pretty surprised if there wasn't already enough hardware up there to do decent asteroid surveillance. --In fact, while it might seem like a long shot, I don't think it's that long a shot. . . I'd be willing to gamble that the American government knows a whole lot more about what's going on in Earth's vicinity than they talk about.
Of course, the way things seem to be run on this planet, I'd also be willing to gamble that even with the right hardware and regular reports, wishful thinking is far more pleasing to the mind, and far more distracting. Probably something along the lines of; "Yech! I don't want to worry about this asteroid stuff. I'm sure I'll be okay. I just need to make a pile of luxury resources for my wife and kids before the planet becomes a toxic waste land. This asteroid stuff only happens to poor people. Or at least, I'm sure it's possible to arrange it so it works out that way. .."
A response where you begin to analyze the formations of your own comments.
That's a start. But now you're actively engaged in that common and painfully boring game of "bending other's words and interpretations of your own previously said words in order to project an image where you remain Entirely Right and Without Flaw."
Yawn.
If you honestly think you are "dedicated to viewing the world objectively; without emotionalism, wishful thinking, cynicism or silly prejudices", then I would suggest you are, (ahem). . . rather wishful.
Here's my own demonstration of word bending just to show the futility of the exercise. (Don't take it too seriously. I know where you're trying to come from, and I respect the goal even if yours is a half-baked effort). . .
Declaring that "doing Google Searches is guranteed to find you the loonies" is rather (ahem) cynical, don't you think? (A more correct thing to say is that Google will find you a tangle of both good and bad information. People must be given the freedom to sort that stuff out on their own.)
Do you realize the tin-foil hat ravings you're parroting?
Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. So far, the ravers have shown that they had very little scientific understanding of the processes that they claim. Show me a peer reviewed study that shows harmful effects of aspartame. You can't, because they don't exist. [cough. That's an un-objective viewpoint. Rather final. Rather (ahem) prejudiced.] All we have are some pseudo-scientific bullshit that is just plain wrong.
My, oh my! That was an (ahem) emotionally charged bit of writing, don't you think? No? Let me attempt to rephrase what you wrote without the emotionalism you claim to avoid. . .
Do you even realize the misinformed hysteria you're parroting?
Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. [A concept which doesn't even apply here, btw. It's the responsibility of the manufacturer to prove that their product is safe, not the other way around.] So far those who insist Aspartame is a health hazard have demonstrated limited scientific understanding of the processes they claim. Show me a peer reviewed study detailing the harmful effects of Aspartame. I've never seen one, and until I do, I must remain unconvinced.
Ahh. That's better, isn't it? THAT's an example of how you might try to write were you truly unemotional. Fact is, you're not.
Okay. Enough of that.
Basically, you seem like a guy who's not entirely bad. Your goals are okay, but you do need to work on your method.
In particular you should watch your logical fallacies, i.e.:
1. Aspartame affects behavior and brain chemistry.
2. Carbohydrates affect behavior and chemistry.
3. Carboyhdrates are safe.
4. All chemicals which affect behavior and brain chemistry are safe.
And:
1. Hysterical People are given to dwelling on ominious claims.
2. Claims about Aspartame are ominous.
3. Therefore all ominous claims about Aspartame are hysterical.
Yeah, I know. That first example can work the other way around as well. The difference, however, is that I am proceeding from the following points:
1. Scientists, doctors, policy makers and regular citizens from all across the academic spectrum, both hysterical and not-hysterical, have claimed that there are significant problems with Aspartame.
2. Aspartame is owned and manufactured by a corporation, (Monsanto), which has often been shown, (most recently with this PCB issue), to have extrememly dubious ethical standards.
3. Monsanto, being an entity commanding enormous resources, can be expected to lie, distort, or otherwise suppress any damning information in order to protect themselves.
4. Public information regarding Aspartame is, by its very nature, a mixed bag in terms of reliablility.
5. Therefore it makes sense to search through all the information available carefully, and be particularly cautious with any documents which state that Aspartame is safe.
Now, having read over my own previous comments, I think it is fair to concede you the point that my suggesting 20 minutes with Google is not likely to garner the kind of results people need in order to properly understand everything going on. --I can only assure you that it was by no means my intent that people should absorb hysterical data without criticism.
The fact is, I was making the possibly idealistic assumption that people would be smart enough on their own to make their own progress through the reams of data and form their own opinions. I was just annoyed when you posted your ridiculing and very biased comment.
Unfortunately, most people, no matter how clever they become, tend to still shy away from something if their peers tell them it's 'not cool.' I put up with it in school, and I see it in the adult world all the time. It's destructive, bullying and it prevents people from taking the chances they need in order to learn and grow beyond the crushing social limits set by the world around them, which in this case may even include self-poisoning. I hate to see it when it happens, and it seems to me that a person with the aspirations you claim ought to know better.
Bzzzt. Wrong again, Assumptions Lad!
on
Monsanto and PCBs
·
· Score: 2
Show me a peer reviewed study that shows harmful effects of aspartame. You can't, because they don't exist. All we have are some pseudo-scientific bullshit that is just plain wrong.
What on earth are you talking about? Now I know you didn't even read your own references!
Go look at the Medline indexing service, (The bottom link on your brief "Urban Myth Page", posted as a kind of 'final word from the world of proper science' on the subject).
--Yes, while they only provide summaries and abstracts of paid subscriber journals & documents, (which take a bit more work and money to find, but are by no means unavailable), Medline, "Pub-Med", an index of available current medical publications, has right this moment, numerous studies available which describe Aspartame as having significant impact upon the neurochemistry of the brain. --Everything from affecting migraine headaches to dramatically raising serotonin levels in rats.
And what's with calling me a Tin-Foil Hatter? For goodness sake, man! THAT is exactly what I'm talking about. Generalization. Labels. Shutting your eyes because of natural generalities which are never going to go away.
Yes. The traffic of human information is littered with emotion and misinformation and it always will be. But there IS reliable data out there; you simply haven't tried to look. Throwing out the Baby with the Bathwater is foolhardy. --Yes, we've all been conditioned to ignore the human information traffic because of its inherent flaws, but the solution is NOT to tune into the corporate information feeds without criticism.
Listen carefully:
Information is messy; it's not easy. If you want to learn, then you have to be prepared to do some work, to sort and study and think. To earn knowledge.
Your tag name is 'RealityMaster101' -A brief look at your posting history and self proclaimed charter, seems to indicate that you've set yourself up in such a way that your ego is heavily involved before you even open your mouth around here.
If you REALLY want to find pure truth as you claim, then you are going to have to disentangle your powers of examination from that of your self-image.
-Fantastic Lad
(And before you waste my time with the obvious moronic dig, my signature is designed precisely to make fun of those who take themselves too seriously. All the 'RealityMasters' out there. Get it? Good.)
Where do guys like you come from?
on
Monsanto and PCBs
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Or you can ignore all the ravings of web lunatics, and read this page [snopes.com] which gives some useful information and links about this crapola.
Do you even realize the multi-million dollar P.R. bullshit you're parroting?
Did you even read the page you linked to? It didn't hold any actual core information, but it did suggest that you read through the available papers before rendering judgement.
Now maybe there has been a mountain of new data made available since you last looked at the question. But from my searches, based on the thousands of documents collected over the last thirty years from every imaginable level of the medical/scientific/governmental community, the conclusion you reached seems to me, frankly, ill-considered to say the least.
It seems to me that you are jumping very, very quickly to pre-set conclusions, your thought processes masquerading under the guise of scientific rationale. Sorry Charlie. You may have read a few clever books, but Real scientists aren't made into fools by the P.R. jockeys.
Honestly. People think that just because the X-Files were stupid that bad things don't actually happen in the world. "I don't believe in Conspiracies." Well genius, do you believe in "Corruption"?
Go look at the fish in Anniston.
Better hurry, because in another year, there'll be some new & dangerous fool just like you, sir, declaring that it never happened because he's been programmed since birth to reject everything but the 'official' story.
Do you even understand the basic principals behind advertising and mass persuasion?
Sheesh.
-Fantastic Lad
Ahh! Monsanto! Makers of Aspertame/Nutrisweet
on
Monsanto and PCBs
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
The PCB story should be no surprise.
I was doing a little light reading a week back and discovered that an absolutely RAGING but hopelessly ignored debate regarding the toxicity of Nutrisweet and the apparently spectactular corruption throughout the food manufacturing/safety industry.
Get this: Aspertame is apparently highly unstable, especially in fluid form, (the reason they put best before dates on Diet Pepsi).
Did you know that when Aspertame breaks down, about 10% of the by-product is Methyl Alcohol!, --which in turn breaks down into Formadyhide, which in turn causes a mess of neurological damage including the dissolving of the optic nerve.
--One of the ways the Monsanto P.R. people deal with this is to quickly point out that there's more Methyl Alcohol in a glass of Tomato juice. --But further research explains that Tomato juice also naturally contains more than enough Ethyl alcohol to neutralize the effects of the wood alcohol, which Nutrisweet does not.
Anyway, there's a TON of information on this and it makes for fascinating reading. Do yourself a favor and spend twenty minutes with Google over this.
-Fantastic Lad
Re:Yeah, but the trailer I saw was REALLY GOOD.
on
Attack of the Clones
·
· Score: 1
It gave me shivers because Lucas doesn't have a good track record for filming believable romance. Look at the creepy Luke/Leia flirting in Ep. IV and V or the weird exchanges between the 14-yr. old Queen and 9-yr. old Anakin in Ep. I, for example... And when the Queen exclaims "My Anny, you've grown!" in the preview, I could sense a million voices crying out in pain, only to be suddenly silenced.
[Laughs]
Yeah. I know what you're saying. It is very hit and miss with Lucas when it comes to romance. About half the Young Indies dealing with relationships were absolutely terrible, (Indy and Mata Hari. (penned by Lucas and Carrie Fisher, incidentally. -A bad sign, possibly.) --And that strange episode in Istanbul with Indy's fiance.)
But then there were some Young Indies which were absolutely charming. (As a young boy with the (same-aged) pricess Sophie of Vienna in 1908). And that amazing episode with Elizabeth and the many-languages scene in 1916.
I've not given up hope just yet. (Though, I do have a creepy feeling that trailer makers might sometimes be more talented than film makers. ..)
Hm. It just struck me that some/.ers might be the sorts who still think that love stories are "Yucky".
Hm. Well, like I said, I've not given up hope just yet.
-Fantastic Lad
Yeah, but the trailer I saw was REALLY GOOD.
on
Attack of the Clones
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
--The one dealing with the budding romance between Anakin and the Queen. And the frustration of youth.
That trailer actually gave me shivers in ways that NOTHING about the previous film was even remotely able.
To be honest, I have high hopes for this film. --We might actually see some good messages. How passion of any type can lead to the dark side. And, anyway, there's nothing quite like a good romance story when it's well told.
Weird about the boy-band members having cameos, although I'd venture to guess that this is a sly attempt to capture the female viewership fully and completely. Interesting ploy.
We'll have to see. I do sort of worry, though, that the new film might serve primarily to reinforce certain messed up societal ideals, a la "Titanic". --Including, of course, that the perfect boyfriend must now die of hypothermia in the North Atlantic in order to be properly acceptable to a girl.
Aside from the fact that I felt like was watching yet another fucking computer animated movie where gravity and the natural fluidty of animal movement was either ignored or entirely overlooked, --principals which at one time animators not only understood, but actually tried to capture; go watch some of the original Disney features like, "Snow White" or "Pinocchio" just to see how far animators have fallen in terms of skill and general awareness of how the real world actually moves and behaves.
Aside from all that. . , I came out of that film feeling really unsettled, and to be honest, I'm still not entirely sure why. Might have been the, "Being Short is Not Socially Acceptable," message. Or the black guy playing the side-kick comedy relief just like it was the 20's all over again. . .
Trivia Time! The word, "Moke," (also from the 20's), means both "Donkey" and "Nigger" --Look it up! --Of course, I don't know if that's at all relevant, but it hit me in the face like a cold bucket of water the instant Eddy Murphy's donkey character opened his mouth to speak.
Didn't we just go through a version of this same shit with the Phantom Menace?
And then, there was that bizarre 'beauty myth with a twist' thing which should have felt enlightened but which made my skin crawl in really weird ways.
I'm still trying to work through the psychology of that whole thing. I certainly hope the creators were just morons and didn't actually know what they were doing!
Anyway, I must ask: Why does everybody like this film? Any jack-ass company with a 'Beowolf Cluster' can 'ReBoot' and make a poorly animated computer generated movie these days. While it had some good gags, the overall writing was full of bad timing, bad story logic, and fucked up messages.
Honestly? Am I being over-sensitive? Am I really the only one who noticed any of this shit?
I'm off to see "Monsters Inc.", shortly. I hope that one doesn't suck too, or I'll know for certain that I no longer fit in the human race. . .
-Fantastic Lad
Thing is, it doesn't NEED to work, now does it?
on
The Eyes Have It
·
· Score: 1
See, here's how it goes. . .
If, for whatever reason, (and I can think of a half dozen or so right off the bat), the authorities want to detain you without legal cause, then this easily allows them that power.
"He made the machine go beep. Drag him off. Search his ass!"
Sure, it's just another little black box in the airport; just little tiny tear in the umbrella of social freedom, --people will hardly notice it! --But, I say! That brolly has got an awful lot of little holes torn in it these days. . .
And somebody already made the point: Polygraphs don't work very well, but that doesn't matter either. People believe. "Ooh. Did you hear? The machine went 'beep' for that young man. I never would have thought him to be a terrorist! Just goes to show how little you can trust people these days. . !"
I'd love to switch over to Linux, but I depend on applications like Pagemaker, Photoshop and CorelDraw.
I know there is a program called 'Gimp' which sounds as though it might be able to do the job, but my question is this:
Is there a decent print layout package out there which can run in the Linux universe? And can those packages produce documents which will be readable by Windows and Mac-dependant industrial printing agencies?
As well, how available are Linux drivers for defunct legacy scanners, CDR burners, tablets, printers and that sort of thing?
Software IS like a lot of other products out there. Music, literature, movies. They're all infinitely reproducable at no material loss to the company or individual producing them. I would think the better term to use would be Intellectual Property. It covers all of this stuff in one label.
When I said 'software', I should perhaps have said, 'content'. I HATE the idea of Intellectual Property. --That's an idea which has been seruptitiously sold to us by the Powers That Be, and which we have been conditioned by Money Culture to accept as vaild. Ideas are not and cannot be property. Period. Copyright, when it was created, was trying in essence, to capture the mood and feel of the basic respect one has for a creator; When Bob tells a cool story, you don't retell his story as your own; you give him credit, and then if it's a good story, after a while, you allow it to become mythology. And during the time when it is a new story, you give Bob the good chair, and buy him dinner and a pint for the privilage of hearing him talk; out of respect and even love.
We've fallen a LONG way from this source. We've become less than what we were.
I've heard arguments like yours for years when people tried to justify pirating software. We're not shmucks so don't try to claim you're doing something for the good of humanity by pirating the latest games. If you want to continue to pirate software then quit claiming to be a hero and do it for the real reason: you're too cheap to pay for it and don't think the cost is justified. That's a perfectly acceptable reason! Again though, what you're doing isn't hurting the industry in the least. If you wouldn't have bought that game in the first place they wouldn't have gotten your money anyway.
That argument is also pretty old, but it's also a reasonably good one, with an exception. --That being, I've not played a video game in. . . Wow. Years now. Like I said, I find them very boring. Swiping and distributing software from the web however, is far more interesting. It both elates and pisses people off because people believe, (either rightly or wrongly), that there are livelihoods at stake. It's a redistribution and reshaping of power. Anarchy in action. I find these things utterly fascinating!
And for the record. . . I think you're wrong. There is something heroic about rejecting such paradigms which include terms like, 'Too Cheep.' (Words designed to impose an emotional response to one's position in money-culture.) Ideas of that sort are common, shallow and, I believe, serve only to degrade the higher qualities of humanity. They are a prime example of what I reject.
Right now things are very much out of balance. Corporations and governments have far, far too much power, and individuals have be reduced. -Reduced to accumulation drones who seem to believe, with a very few exceptions, almost everything they are told by the powers that be; and they do so without even realizing it. If you tell somebody that the current education system, news distribution sources, and public science forums, are in a large part heavy retailers of propaganda, you get violent, knee-jerk disagreement from almost everybody. --And people rarely stop to ask themselves why they react to this so quickly and thoughtlessly.
In any case, imbalanced systems are unhealthy. I'll fight, in my small ways, on whatever side I believe the underdog to be.
Now before you react strongly, either on-line or just in your mind; (For there are several departure points in my response here which can appear at first glance to be hypocritical/paradoxical); DO make an attempt to see the version of what I'm talking about which makes something close to full sense. (There is one, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered writing it in the first place.)
It's easy for the point of the extending of a useless debate, to intentionally find flaw with words, which are an imperfect medium for conveying ideas.
Software is unlike any other product out there. Infinitely reproducable, without substance. And people want to treat it like a material good.
If as many argue, computers are like brains, or like extensions of our brains, then the patterns of code which flow through them are the thoughts and the ideas.
Now, I don't charge for my ideas, even though they take life energy, (Time, food, security), to generate. I share them freely. (A little too freely, some of you might suggest!)
The whole charade of selling ideas, and licences for ideas was pretty bloody weird to begin with. Just because something takes hard work doesn't mean that it must automatically be compensated. If you don't want an idea shared, then DON'T TELL IT TO ANYBODY! Like any secret, once you let the cat out of the bag, it's out of your control. It's ridiculous to imagine people running around trying to sell limited licences for secrets and punishing people who re-tell a secret to somebody else. (Except that's what the whole spy/espionage/cold-war culture was all about. . . And how nice was that to live in?)
And yet, millionaires are made and broken today based on this farcical software industry, and as such people have come to accept the reality of it. They give it power by playing along with it, as though it were something with actual legitimacy.
The fact is that ideas need to be communicated in order for them to thrive. But our society has become increasingly dependent upon maintaining a thought restriction and control system, (complete with 'Thought Police'!). This is making all our lives miserable in many ways which are invisible because we have already accepted the premise that ideas can and should be controlled by those who think them up.
Basically:
1. An operating system should be made by the computer manufacturer and come as part of the system, burned on a rom. It should be part of the cost of manufacture, as it is an essential part of the computer; it should be free and open for people to manipulate as they please.
2. The kind of games we see today should basically not exist under a sensible system. The enormous effort and resource which goes into their manufacture is moronic, like the crazy hedonistic parties the Roman emperors threw; highly enjoyed by the participants, but which can only be maintained at enormous cost to the civilization. That cost being, the sale and ultimate control of thought.
I find games boring, and bloat-ware lame. I steal and distribute it all in the hopes that the whole architecture of the software industry will collapse under the weight of its own insanity. Sad thing is that it benefits the Evil Overlords for people to be distracted by their flickering boxes, (makes you soft and stupid and easy to control), so this state of affairs where people are inundated with software/programming will likely continue regardless of whether it's free, stolen or paid for.
Pardon me. There are some gentlemen in black at my front door. . .
Software is unlike any other product out there. Infinitely reproducable, without substance. And people want to treat it like a material good.
If as many argue, computers are like brains, or like extensions of our brains, then the patterns of code which flow through them are the thoughts and the ideas.
Now, I don't charge for my ideas, even though they take life energy, (Time, food, security), to generate. I share them freely. (A little too freely, some of you might suggest!)
The whole charade of selling ideas, and licences for ideas was pretty bloody weird to begin with. Just because something takes hard work doesn't mean that it must automatically be compensated. If you don't want an idea shared, then DON'T TELL IT TO ANYBODY! Like any secret, once you let the cat out of the bag, it's out of your control. It's ridiculous to imagine people running around trying to sell limited licences for secrets and punishing people who re-tell a secret to somebody else. (Except that's what the whole spy/espionage/cold-war culture was all about. . . How nice was that to live in?)
And yet, millionaires are made and broken today based on this farcical software industry, and as such people have come to accept the reality of it. They give it power by playing along with it, as though it were something with actual legitimacy.
The fact is that ideas need to be communicated in order for them to thrive. But our society has become increasingly dependent upon maintaining a thought restriction and control system, (complete with 'Thought Police'!). This is making all our lives miserable in many ways which are invisible because we have already accepted the premise that ideas can and should be controlled by those who think them up.
Basically:
1. An operating system should be made by the computer manufacturer and come as part of the system, burned on a rom. It should be part of the cost of manufacture, as it is an essential part of the computer; it should be free and open for people to manipulate as they please.
2. The kind of games we see today should basically not exist under a sensible system. The enormous effort and resource which goes into their manufacture is moronic, like the crazy hedonistic parties the Roman emperors threw; highly enjoyed by the participants, but which can only be maintained at enormous cost to the civilization. That cost being, the sale and ultimate control of thought.
I find games boring, and bloat-ware lame. I steal and distribute it all in the hopes that the whole architecture of the software industry will collapse under the weight of its own insanity. I'm probably only helping to speed us toward the end of things.
Pardon me. There are some gentlemen in black at my front door. . .
Personally, I think you're dead wrong. What you and many others seem to forget is that the US is still a republic. Now I realise that could change and we could become a dictatorship, but I find that highly unlikely.
The U.S. is already a dictatorship. Did you miss the last election, or was the cheesy writing of that choreographed event too subtle for you?
Anyway, this whole kafuffle about software piracy is nothing new, and who the hell cares? The Evil Overlords WANT you to be plugged into your flickering boxes, because they make you soft and dumb and easy to control. GTA3 and all those retarded shooting games? Whether or not they create Columbine Kids is totally irrelivent. Fact is, the power/money/establisment people THINK that such games raise the danger level of society, which makes it easier for heavier internal security measures to be passed into law.
No matter what the playing field happens to look like over the next ten years, whether you have to pay through the nose, duck arrests or trade software in a free for all, Joe Asshole WILL be plugged in, he WILL think that his choice to be plugged in will have been un-affected by the general miasma of social programming which surrounds us all, and as a result, his brain WILL be all mushy and ripe for 'instruction' and easy control.
Slashdot Mirror
LOL! I like that! "Spuds and soot." Nice one!
-Fantastic Lad
Hm. I guess it is. But doesn't it have that sheen of, "Why the heck wasn't somebody making these things ten years ago?"
I mean, they have those traces-printed-on-plastic ribbon cables connecting things like keyboards and calculator screens to components. And printer heads in inkjets.
Plus, we have alloys which can be deposited on substrates a micron-layer at a time. How tough is it to dope conducting inks with Gallium-Arsenide? (Or whatever).
Why the heck hasn't this technology been around for a decade or more? It doesn't seem so much like an advance as it does a, "They finally got off their asses and assembled the stupid thing."
-Fantastic Lad
"Hello?"
"Is this Mr. Fantastic Lad?"
"Why, yes it is! What can I-"
"Please hold."
"What?" I'm on hold. So I hang up.
Ring ring ring:
"Y'ello?"
"Um, Mr. Fantastic Lad?"
"That's me. Who is this?"
"I'm calling from Network Solutions. Are you the owner of *********.com?"
"I don't think you understood my question. I don't care who you work for. Who are YOU? What's your name?"
"Um. . , (gives name)" Let's call him, 'Bob'.
"Okay, Bob. Did you just call ten seconds ago, ask for me, and then put me on hold?"
"Well, yes, but I have an important-"
"Stop talking Bob. You blew your chance at 'nice' by being incredibly rude. Nobody likes to be put on hold for no good reason. Do you understand just how rude it is to call somebody and then immediately put them on hold? It's a psychological trick used to establish dominance in a conversation. Do you think I want to be in a submissive position when I'm talking to a total stranger? Bob?"
Pause. "It's not a psychological trick. I'm just calling-"
"Look, Bob. You might be a somewhat nice guy on your own time, but for the purposes of here and now, I've decided that I really don't like you. I don't want to have an actual conversation with you. So I'm only looking for one word answers here. Look up from your little script, and answer either 'Yes' or 'No', or I'm ending this call. Got it?"
"But I've got important information about your account. I've-"
"Bob. . !"
"Sorry. Sorry."
"Alright then. Okay. Now first things first: Please answer this question: --Do you think I like being called up and put on hold by a total stranger?"
(Annoyed sound) ". . . No."
"That's right, I don't. And most people don't. In the future, you should consider that before being acting like a dick on the phone. I don't care if this is how you were instructed to treat people. If you find yourself faced with having to choose between being socially decent and following instructions by your boss to mistreat people, you should take it up with your employer and if you can't get beyond the impasse, you should quit. You've got a crappy job anyway. There are a lot of other things you could be doing in the world. Being rude to people over the phone is a choice you're making. And it's a dumb one. Now then. . , you tell me you work for Network Solutions?"
"Yeah."
"Alright. Now then, does Network Solutions really have something to call me about that I actually need to hear, or is it just an attempt to sell me something I don't want?"
"You might want it."
"Ahh. I see. So this is a sales call, then. So what, exactly, are you selling?"
"Well, I don't know, actually. . . My job is just to call people up, and verify that they own the web address on my list, and then connect them to the sales people."
"Sigh. Oh, Bob. I see you've been compartmentalized. I sympathize with you, Bob. -I'd quit your shit job in five seconds flat if I were you, but I do sympathize with you. And you don't actually have any idea what your sales people want to push on me?"
"I'm just told to tell people that it's important."
"Gotcha. Well, I'm sure if it's that important, they'll be in touch. I'm going to hang up now, Bob. Good luck with your life, and honestly. You should really consider quitting. Don't let the world bully you into thinking that you need to take their bullshit treatment of you. You won't die if you take the jump, Bob. Goodbye."
"Bye."
Click.
I got this call about five months ago. I'm told by others who received similar calls, that Network Solutions was trying to get people to buy similar sounding website names before competitors bought them up. A lame sales fear-tactic.
Verisign can go to hell.
-Fantastic Lad
meant.
Hm. Yes.
To be very precise: After looking at the available information, much of which conflicts or is filled with peculiar elements which do not mesh with the official story, it seems evident that numerous parties other than the terrorist body may have been aware before hand what was going to happen, did nothing to prevent it, and may in fact have been assisting in its development.
By whom was 9/11 manufactured?
Not easy to answer in a word, however.
The party/ies, assuming they exist, were either able to:
*Quash FBI investigative efforts which would have prevented the disaster.
see interview with David Shippers, the attorney who headed the Clinton impeachment trials, now representing FBI officers who charge that they were regularly prohibited or coerced into withholding their discoveries of the terrorist activities long before, not just the 9/11 attack, but Oklahoma and others.
*Affect the airline check-in systems so that none of the alleged hijackers names appeared on the passenger lists.
See Perplexing puzzle (I linked to this one already in the post above. I assume you have read through it?)
*Affect the major news outlets by removing seasoned staffers to replace them with young and untested journalists all throughout 2001, with many cuts right around 9/11. CNN launched it's new 'look' and staff structure only days prior to the 9/11.
Link 1, Link 2, Link 3
(This is just a brief sampling of pages I looked for just now. I seem to have lost my links which contained a list of CNN staffers fired just prior to 9/11. Can't find it on-line anymore. Annoying. In any case, this last might have been coincidence, but it was very convenient that the American news structure was reduced in brain-size right when it was most critical that good journalists be around to question the weak points of this story. The powers involved, if they were opperating from such high levels, would certainly have been both able to affect such changes and would have been foolish not to. But, of course, that's just speculation.)
There are numerous other aspects of this which are not quickly summed up and require more detailed searching, and indeed, the above links were only selected for their simplicity in demonstrating what I'm talking about; there is much more information for those willing to look. Other aspects include:
*The possibility of remote piloting. (Although, while there are three specific points which indicate a strong possibility of this, including private documents recovered from the terrorists written the day prior to the event wherein they described their willingness to serve jail sentences for the crimes they intended to commit the next day, (ie, they didn't realize they were on a suicide mission), and other crash investigations (AirIndia) the black box voice recordings from which indicated a strong possibility that control of the plane was removed from the pilots and directed into the ocean against their will, (ie, demonstrating that such a thing may be possible), and the 100% perfect paths of descent and vectoring, with zero corrections made, that the planes used to make their impacts into the towers; calculated only once from the first moment the planes changed course, (i.e. suggesting that the human pilots were not involved. In any case, I think these particular arguments, while in themselves are interesting, do not necessarily indicate remote piloting.)
*The numerous links between Bin Laden, Bush and the CIA.
*The various reports of warnings hours before and 'lucky' absentees
*The numerous strange questions surrounding the rented car and Arabic flight manuals.
The list goes on.
Anyway, that should clarify what I meant by, "Manufactured."
Hope this helps.
-Fantastic Lad
Try going to the same bank each time you work with your money and deal with human employees. That's what I do. They know me. I know them. There is no chance of an imposter, short of a disguise artist, ripping me off.
The problem is that people are being encouraged by the banks and corporate bodies to engage in impersonal money practices which ARE prone to identity theft, and in which Bio-metrics would be useful. As you pointed out yourself, the problem is only when such systems are abused.
And THE problem is that those who are trying to implement identity tracking systems will almost certainly perpetuate abuse. They cannot be trusted.
I have cut & pasted a short response made to somebody else above which I think addresses some of your conceptions. . .
Down at my local business supplies warehouse outlet, you can already buy thumb print readers designed to lock all but 'favored users' out of computers or whatever.)
For those of you who don't see why this is bad, consider how much fun it would be to have yourself locked out of the economy for having dissident political views. --Or for failing to pay a traffic ticket. You only get to buy bread if you heartily agree that Arabs are evil. Mm. Fun!
Being able to accurately trace & identify any individual, (National I.D. cards), and the on-going movement towards a virtual money society, (debit & credit cards: note the effects of the Euro introduction, where citizens are being strongly encouraged by authorities to avoid 'confusion' with the new cash by relying only on plastic money), will make it MUCH easier to control the populace.
Anybody who thinks that any aspect of this is a good thing should remove from their ears and eyes the filters which only allow in the 'Very Reasonable Sounding' B.S. arguments as supplied by the U.S. propaganda departments, and take a good, hard look around.
9/11 was almost certainly manufactured, and even if it wasn't, it is being exploited to the hilt. Turn off CNN, (propaganda), grow a spine, (ignore the accusations by the popular kids of 'tin-foil hatters'; Time to grow up, ignore the Gap wearing sheep and their desperate to be accepted
If you are critical enough, (of words from BOTH sides of the fence; Very important), intelligent enough, -and if you work for long enough to get a solid feel for all the available information, then you will begin to see another reality rise from the fog.
Otherwise, you might as well just accept a nice ear-tag.
Remember: Sheep get tagged & numbered. They also get fleeced. And eaten.
Some links to get started:
A brief, but solid essay on the nature & mechanics of propaganda, with examples from the U.S. during WWI to present. A 7 minute read, approx.
An article about Gulf War propaganda, outlining how the 'Babies Torn from Incubators by Iraqi Soldiers' was manufactured and used by Bush to instill war fever. 2 minute read.
Article on how IBM made a fortune during WWII by covertly supplying Hitler with the punch card technology used to process Jews for termination -Throws an interesting light upon national identification tracking systems.
7 minute read including excerpt.
Significant anomalies regarding the flight lists of the planes used in the terror attacks. 5 minute read, (10, including searches of the passenger lists to verify the writer's sources)
Empty but maintained concentration camps in the U.S. This link is half sensationalist, alarmist B.S.. Read with caution. Although it is worth noting that FEMA and the Rex 80 programs are real; the laws can be found on-line. Food for thought.
Okay. That's enough for now. Read. Think. And I hope nobody bothers me with dip-shit flames unless you've actually read this stuff. Flames are usually a waste of time with me, but if you have legit questions or criticisms, I'm always happy to respond and/or update my own knowledge base. Growing and learning is fun!
Good luck.
-Fantastic Lad
For those of you who don't see why this is bad, consider how much fun it would be to have yourself locked out of the economy for having dissident political views. --Or for failing to pay a traffic ticket. You only get to buy bread if you heartily agree that Arabs are evil. Mm. Fun!
Being able to accurately trace & identify any individual, (National I.D. cards), and the on-going movement towards a virtual money society, (debit & credit cards: note the effects of the Euro introduction, where citizens are being strongly encouraged by authorities to avoid 'confusion' with the new cash by relying only on plastic money), will make it MUCH easier to control the populace.
Anybody who thinks that any aspect of this is a good thing should remove from their ears and eyes the filters which only allow in the 'Very Reasonable Sounding' B.S. arguments as supplied by the U.S. propaganda departments, and take a good, hard look around.
9/11 was almost certainly manufactured, and even if it wasn't, it is being exploited to the hilt. Turn off CNN, (propaganda), grow a spine, (ignore the accusations by the popular kids of 'tin-foil hatters'; Time to grow up, ignore the Gap wearing sheep and their desperate to be accepted
If you are critical enough, (of words from BOTH sides of the fence; Very important), intelligent enough, -and if you work for long enough to get a solid feel for all the available information, then you will begin to see another reality rise from the fog.
Otherwise, you might as well just accept a nice ear-tag.
Remember: Sheep get tagged & numbered. They also get fleeced. And eaten.
Some links to get started:
A brief, but solid essay on the nature & mechanics of propaganda, with examples from the U.S. during WWI to present. A 7 minute read, approx.
An article about Gulf War propaganda, outlining how the 'Babies Torn from Incubators by Iraqi Soldiers' was manufactured and used by Bush to instill war fever. 2 minute read.
Article on how IBM made a fortune during WWII by covertly supplying Hitler with the punch card technology used to process Jews for termination -Throws an interesting light upon national identification tracking systems.
7 minute read including excerpt.
Significant anomalies regarding the flight lists of the planes used in the terror attacks. 5 minute read, (10, including searches of the passenger lists to verify the writer's sources)
Empty but maintained concentration camps in the U.S. This link is half sensationalist, alarmist B.S.. Read with caution. Although it is worth noting that FEMA and the Rex 80 programs are real; the laws can be found on-line. Food for thought.
Okay. That's enough for now. Read. Think. And don't waste my time with dip-shit flames unless you've actually read this stuff. Flames are usually a waste of time with me, but if you have legit questions or criticisms, I'm always happy to respond and/or update my own knowledge base. Growing and learning is fun!
Good luck.
-Fantastic Lad
For those of you who don't see why this is bad, consider how much fun it would be to have yourself locked out of the economy for having dissident political views. --Or for failing to pay a traffic ticket. You only get to buy bread if you heartily agree that Arabs are evil. Mm. Fun!
Being able to accurately trace & identify any individual, (National I.D. cards), and the on-going movement towards a virtual money society, (debit & credit cards: note the effects of the Euro introduction, where citizens are being strongly encouraged by authorities to avoid 'confusion' with the new cash by relying only on plastic money), will make it MUCH easier to control the populace.
Anybody who thinks that any aspect of this is a good thing should remove from their ears and eyes the filters which only allow in the 'Very Reasonable Sounding' B.S. arguments as supplied by the U.S. propaganda departments, and take a good, hard look around.
9/11 was almost certainly manufactured, and even if it wasn't, it is being exploited to the hilt. Turn off CNN, (propaganda), grow a spine, (ignore the accusations by the popular kids of 'tin-foil hatters'; Time to grow up, ignore the Gap wearing sheep and their desperate to be accepted
If you are critical enough, (of words from BOTH sides of the fence; Very important), intelligent enough, -and if you work for long enough to get a solid feel for all the available information, then you will begin to see another reality rise from the fog.
Otherwise, you might as well just accept a nice ear-tag.
Remember: Sheep get tagged & numbered. They also get fleeced. And eaten.
Some links to get started:
A brief, but solid essay on the nature & mechanics of propaganda, with examples from the U.S. during WWI to present. A 7 minute read, approx.
An article about Gulf War propaganda, outlining how the 'Babies Torn from Incubators by Iraqi Soldiers' was manufactured and used by Bush to instill war fever. 2 minute read.
Article on how IBM made a fortune during WWII by covertly supplying Hitler with the punch card technology used to process Jews for termination -Throws an interesting light upon national identification tracking systems.
7 minute read including excerpt.
Significant anomalies regarding the flight lists of the planes used in the terror attacks. 5 minute read, (10, including searches of the passenger lists to verify the writer's sources)
Empty but maintained concentration camps in the U.S. This link is half sensationalist, alarmist B.S.. Read with caution. Although it is worth noting that FEMA and the Rex 80 programs are real; the laws can be found on-line. Food for thought.
Okay. That's enough for now. Read. Think. And don't waste my time with dip-shit flames unless you've actually read this stuff. Flames are usually a waste of time with me, but if you have legit questions or criticisms, I'm always happy to respond and/or update my own knowledge base. Growing and learning is fun!
Good luck.
-Fantastic Lad
No, I think I read one once in highschool. They ripped down a wall and found that it had been packed with newspaper insulation from the. . .
Oh, wait. That was from before the Nevada desert 'political contingency & media sweetener' thing.
Nevermind.
-Fantastic Lad --"Lights! Camera! Roll 'Plan B!'"
It's old. 'Crystal Matrix' technology has been used successfully in real military data and power applications for at least a decade. -That's 'real military' as opposed to the highschool production version of it currently unfolding in the Middle East.
From my perspective, I see one aspect of it working like this:
Get everybody addicted to data technology. --Almost done. Note the introduction of the Euro, ("Citizens: To avoid confusion, try to only use credit and debit cards. Thank you. -Yours truly, The New Europe.") and the ever-growing specter of bio-metrics. (Down at my local business supplies warehouse outlet, you can already buy thumb print readers designed to lock all but 'favored users' out of computers or whatever.)
For those of you who don't see why this is bad, consider how much fun it would be to have yourself locked out of the economy for having dissident political views. --Or for failing to pay a traffic ticket. You only get to buy bread if you heartily agree that Arabs are evil. Mm. Fun!
After we spend the next few years allowing this paradigm to settle into place, new computer systems will be introduced which EVERYBODY must upgrade to, and which industry/government will be able to design from the ground up with the objective of making it impossible to flip on your computer without the goons being able to look over your shoulder. -That 'Encrypting Hard Drives' thing from last year? A dry run in order to learn the proper P.R. population handling techniques. They won't screw it up twice, and it's the second time that will count.
Whatever. It's just an elaborate show. Nothing to be scared of. Sit back and enjoy.
As such, being a lover of geek toys, my favorite part about Crystal Matrix technology is its ability to store industrial strength power in very small batteries. --Military vehicles powered by batteries the size of cigarette packs. Neat stuff. Old, but neat.
-Fantastic Lad --"He's just making it up, right guys? He's just crazy, right? Guys. . ?"
It would have to be pretty damn advanced if they were able to conceal shuttle re-entry...
Are you serious? How old are you? Nobody was hiding the military aspect of NASA during the 80's.
I said 'low profile', as in, page five coverage in newspapers as opposed to Time Magazine dedicating issues to the public side of NASA.
Go visit a library sometime. I never make up what I say. --Although, you DID just demonstrate one of the amazing things about conspiracy theory; that truth can be obscured far more easily than people realize. People are conditioned to not believe anything unless CNN tells them it's okay to believe.
--A good, unscheduled demonstration, actually. Thank you!
-Fantastic Lad
Now, see that raises an interesting point.
Anarchy scares the controlling players of any political power structure, so who's to say that those in charge would share sky-watch information with the populace if they had it?
NASA, back during the Reagan years, had this really low profile military mirror version of itself; A whole second program complete with it's own shuttles which made space runs to plant military satellites in orbit. There's a lot of very expensive & very powerful junk up there which uses classified technologies far in advance of what John Q. Private Sector is allowed to sell in his hard drives. I'd be pretty surprised if there wasn't already enough hardware up there to do decent asteroid surveillance. --In fact, while it might seem like a long shot, I don't think it's that long a shot. . . I'd be willing to gamble that the American government knows a whole lot more about what's going on in Earth's vicinity than they talk about.
Of course, the way things seem to be run on this planet, I'd also be willing to gamble that even with the right hardware and regular reports, wishful thinking is far more pleasing to the mind, and far more distracting. Probably something along the lines of; "Yech! I don't want to worry about this asteroid stuff. I'm sure I'll be okay. I just need to make a pile of luxury resources for my wife and kids before the planet becomes a toxic waste land. This asteroid stuff only happens to poor people. Or at least, I'm sure it's possible to arrange it so it works out that way. .
-Fantastic Lad
That's a start. But now you're actively engaged in that common and painfully boring game of "bending other's words and interpretations of your own previously said words in order to project an image where you remain Entirely Right and Without Flaw."
Yawn.
If you honestly think you are "dedicated to viewing the world objectively; without emotionalism, wishful thinking, cynicism or silly prejudices", then I would suggest you are, (ahem). . . rather wishful.
Here's my own demonstration of word bending just to show the futility of the exercise. (Don't take it too seriously. I know where you're trying to come from, and I respect the goal even if yours is a half-baked effort). . .
Declaring that "doing Google Searches is guranteed to find you the loonies" is rather (ahem) cynical, don't you think? (A more correct thing to say is that Google will find you a tangle of both good and bad information. People must be given the freedom to sort that stuff out on their own.)
My, oh my! That was an (ahem) emotionally charged bit of writing, don't you think? No? Let me attempt to rephrase what you wrote without the emotionalism you claim to avoid. . .
Ahh. That's better, isn't it? THAT's an example of how you might try to write were you truly unemotional. Fact is, you're not.
Okay. Enough of that.
Basically, you seem like a guy who's not entirely bad. Your goals are okay, but you do need to work on your method.
In particular you should watch your logical fallacies, i.e.:
1. Aspartame affects behavior and brain chemistry.
2. Carbohydrates affect behavior and chemistry.
3. Carboyhdrates are safe.
4. All chemicals which affect behavior and brain chemistry are safe.
And:
1. Hysterical People are given to dwelling on ominious claims.
2. Claims about Aspartame are ominous.
3. Therefore all ominous claims about Aspartame are hysterical.
Yeah, I know. That first example can work the other way around as well. The difference, however, is that I am proceeding from the following points:
1. Scientists, doctors, policy makers and regular citizens from all across the academic spectrum, both hysterical and not-hysterical, have claimed that there are significant problems with Aspartame.
2. Aspartame is owned and manufactured by a corporation, (Monsanto), which has often been shown, (most recently with this PCB issue), to have extrememly dubious ethical standards.
3. Monsanto, being an entity commanding enormous resources, can be expected to lie, distort, or otherwise suppress any damning information in order to protect themselves.
4. Public information regarding Aspartame is, by its very nature, a mixed bag in terms of reliablility.
5. Therefore it makes sense to search through all the information available carefully, and be particularly cautious with any documents which state that Aspartame is safe.
Now, having read over my own previous comments, I think it is fair to concede you the point that my suggesting 20 minutes with Google is not likely to garner the kind of results people need in order to properly understand everything going on. --I can only assure you that it was by no means my intent that people should absorb hysterical data without criticism.
The fact is, I was making the possibly idealistic assumption that people would be smart enough on their own to make their own progress through the reams of data and form their own opinions. I was just annoyed when you posted your ridiculing and very biased comment.
Unfortunately, most people, no matter how clever they become, tend to still shy away from something if their peers tell them it's 'not cool.' I put up with it in school, and I see it in the adult world all the time. It's destructive, bullying and it prevents people from taking the chances they need in order to learn and grow beyond the crushing social limits set by the world around them, which in this case may even include self-poisoning. I hate to see it when it happens, and it seems to me that a person with the aspirations you claim ought to know better.
-Fantastic Lad
Whew!
I was worried there for a second!
-Fantastic Lad
What on earth are you talking about? Now I know you didn't even read your own references!
Go look at the Medline indexing service, (The bottom link on your brief "Urban Myth Page", posted as a kind of 'final word from the world of proper science' on the subject).
--Yes, while they only provide summaries and abstracts of paid subscriber journals & documents, (which take a bit more work and money to find, but are by no means unavailable), Medline, "Pub-Med", an index of available current medical publications, has right this moment, numerous studies available which describe Aspartame as having significant impact upon the neurochemistry of the brain. --Everything from affecting migraine headaches to dramatically raising serotonin levels in rats.
And what's with calling me a Tin-Foil Hatter? For goodness sake, man! THAT is exactly what I'm talking about. Generalization. Labels. Shutting your eyes because of natural generalities which are never going to go away.
Yes. The traffic of human information is littered with emotion and misinformation and it always will be. But there IS reliable data out there; you simply haven't tried to look. Throwing out the Baby with the Bathwater is foolhardy. --Yes, we've all been conditioned to ignore the human information traffic because of its inherent flaws, but the solution is NOT to tune into the corporate information feeds without criticism.
Listen carefully:
Information is messy; it's not easy. If you want to learn, then you have to be prepared to do some work, to sort and study and think. To earn knowledge.
Your tag name is 'RealityMaster101' -A brief look at your posting history and self proclaimed charter, seems to indicate that you've set yourself up in such a way that your ego is heavily involved before you even open your mouth around here.
If you REALLY want to find pure truth as you claim, then you are going to have to disentangle your powers of examination from that of your self-image.
-Fantastic Lad
(And before you waste my time with the obvious moronic dig, my signature is designed precisely to make fun of those who take themselves too seriously. All the 'RealityMasters' out there. Get it? Good.)
Do you even realize the multi-million dollar P.R. bullshit you're parroting?
Did you even read the page you linked to? It didn't hold any actual core information, but it did suggest that you read through the available papers before rendering judgement.
Now maybe there has been a mountain of new data made available since you last looked at the question. But from my searches, based on the thousands of documents collected over the last thirty years from every imaginable level of the medical/scientific/governmental community, the conclusion you reached seems to me, frankly, ill-considered to say the least.
It seems to me that you are jumping very, very quickly to pre-set conclusions, your thought processes masquerading under the guise of scientific rationale. Sorry Charlie. You may have read a few clever books, but Real scientists aren't made into fools by the P.R. jockeys.
Honestly. People think that just because the X-Files were stupid that bad things don't actually happen in the world. "I don't believe in Conspiracies." Well genius, do you believe in "Corruption"?
Go look at the fish in Anniston.
Better hurry, because in another year, there'll be some new & dangerous fool just like you, sir, declaring that it never happened because he's been programmed since birth to reject everything but the 'official' story.
Do you even understand the basic principals behind advertising and mass persuasion?
Sheesh.
-Fantastic Lad
I was doing a little light reading a week back and discovered that an absolutely RAGING but hopelessly ignored debate regarding the toxicity of Nutrisweet and the apparently spectactular corruption throughout the food manufacturing/safety industry.
Get this: Aspertame is apparently highly unstable, especially in fluid form, (the reason they put best before dates on Diet Pepsi).
Did you know that when Aspertame breaks down, about 10% of the by-product is Methyl Alcohol!, --which in turn breaks down into Formadyhide, which in turn causes a mess of neurological damage including the dissolving of the optic nerve.
--One of the ways the Monsanto P.R. people deal with this is to quickly point out that there's more Methyl Alcohol in a glass of Tomato juice. --But further research explains that Tomato juice also naturally contains more than enough Ethyl alcohol to neutralize the effects of the wood alcohol, which Nutrisweet does not.
Anyway, there's a TON of information on this and it makes for fascinating reading. Do yourself a favor and spend twenty minutes with Google over this.
-Fantastic Lad
[Laughs]
Yeah. I know what you're saying. It is very hit and miss with Lucas when it comes to romance. About half the Young Indies dealing with relationships were absolutely terrible, (Indy and Mata Hari. (penned by Lucas and Carrie Fisher, incidentally. -A bad sign, possibly.) --And that strange episode in Istanbul with Indy's fiance.)
But then there were some Young Indies which were absolutely charming. (As a young boy with the (same-aged) pricess Sophie of Vienna in 1908). And that amazing episode with Elizabeth and the many-languages scene in 1916.
I've not given up hope just yet. (Though, I do have a creepy feeling that trailer makers might sometimes be more talented than film makers. .
Hm. It just struck me that some
Hm. Well, like I said, I've not given up hope just yet.
-Fantastic Lad
That trailer actually gave me shivers in ways that NOTHING about the previous film was even remotely able.
To be honest, I have high hopes for this film. --We might actually see some good messages. How passion of any type can lead to the dark side. And, anyway, there's nothing quite like a good romance story when it's well told.
Weird about the boy-band members having cameos, although I'd venture to guess that this is a sly attempt to capture the female viewership fully and completely. Interesting ploy.
We'll have to see. I do sort of worry, though, that the new film might serve primarily to reinforce certain messed up societal ideals, a la "Titanic". --Including, of course, that the perfect boyfriend must now die of hypothermia in the North Atlantic in order to be properly acceptable to a girl.
Ah well. We'll just have to see, won't we.
Fingers crossed!
--Fantastic Lad
Aside from all that. . , I came out of that film feeling really unsettled, and to be honest, I'm still not entirely sure why. Might have been the, "Being Short is Not Socially Acceptable," message. Or the black guy playing the side-kick comedy relief just like it was the 20's all over again. . .
Trivia Time! The word, "Moke," (also from the 20's), means both "Donkey" and "Nigger" --Look it up! --Of course, I don't know if that's at all relevant, but it hit me in the face like a cold bucket of water the instant Eddy Murphy's donkey character opened his mouth to speak.
Didn't we just go through a version of this same shit with the Phantom Menace?
And then, there was that bizarre 'beauty myth with a twist' thing which should have felt enlightened but which made my skin crawl in really weird ways.
I'm still trying to work through the psychology of that whole thing. I certainly hope the creators were just morons and didn't actually know what they were doing!
Anyway, I must ask: Why does everybody like this film? Any jack-ass company with a 'Beowolf Cluster' can 'ReBoot' and make a poorly animated computer generated movie these days. While it had some good gags, the overall writing was full of bad timing, bad story logic, and fucked up messages.
Honestly? Am I being over-sensitive? Am I really the only one who noticed any of this shit?
I'm off to see "Monsters Inc.", shortly. I hope that one doesn't suck too, or I'll know for certain that I no longer fit in the human race. . .
-Fantastic Lad
If, for whatever reason, (and I can think of a half dozen or so right off the bat), the authorities want to detain you without legal cause, then this easily allows them that power.
"He made the machine go beep. Drag him off. Search his ass!"
Sure, it's just another little black box in the airport; just little tiny tear in the umbrella of social freedom, --people will hardly notice it! --But, I say! That brolly has got an awful lot of little holes torn in it these days. . .
And somebody already made the point: Polygraphs don't work very well, but that doesn't matter either. People believe. "Ooh. Did you hear? The machine went 'beep' for that young man. I never would have thought him to be a terrorist! Just goes to show how little you can trust people these days. . !"
-Fantastic Lad
I know there is a program called 'Gimp' which sounds as though it might be able to do the job, but my question is this:
Is there a decent print layout package out there which can run in the Linux universe? And can those packages produce documents which will be readable by Windows and Mac-dependant industrial printing agencies?
As well, how available are Linux drivers for defunct legacy scanners, CDR burners, tablets, printers and that sort of thing?
Thanks!
-Fantastic Lad
When I said 'software', I should perhaps have said, 'content'. I HATE the idea of Intellectual Property. --That's an idea which has been seruptitiously sold to us by the Powers That Be, and which we have been conditioned by Money Culture to accept as vaild. Ideas are not and cannot be property. Period. Copyright, when it was created, was trying in essence, to capture the mood and feel of the basic respect one has for a creator; When Bob tells a cool story, you don't retell his story as your own; you give him credit, and then if it's a good story, after a while, you allow it to become mythology. And during the time when it is a new story, you give Bob the good chair, and buy him dinner and a pint for the privilage of hearing him talk; out of respect and even love.
We've fallen a LONG way from this source. We've become less than what we were.
I've heard arguments like yours for years when people tried to justify pirating software. We're not shmucks so don't try to claim you're doing something for the good of humanity by pirating the latest games. If you want to continue to pirate software then quit claiming to be a hero and do it for the real reason: you're too cheap to pay for it and don't think the cost is justified. That's a perfectly acceptable reason! Again though, what you're doing isn't hurting the industry in the least. If you wouldn't have bought that game in the first place they wouldn't have gotten your money anyway.
That argument is also pretty old, but it's also a reasonably good one, with an exception. --That being, I've not played a video game in. . . Wow. Years now. Like I said, I find them very boring. Swiping and distributing software from the web however, is far more interesting. It both elates and pisses people off because people believe, (either rightly or wrongly), that there are livelihoods at stake. It's a redistribution and reshaping of power. Anarchy in action. I find these things utterly fascinating!
And for the record. . . I think you're wrong. There is something heroic about rejecting such paradigms which include terms like, 'Too Cheep.' (Words designed to impose an emotional response to one's position in money-culture.) Ideas of that sort are common, shallow and, I believe, serve only to degrade the higher qualities of humanity. They are a prime example of what I reject.
Right now things are very much out of balance. Corporations and governments have far, far too much power, and individuals have be reduced. -Reduced to accumulation drones who seem to believe, with a very few exceptions, almost everything they are told by the powers that be; and they do so without even realizing it. If you tell somebody that the current education system, news distribution sources, and public science forums, are in a large part heavy retailers of propaganda, you get violent, knee-jerk disagreement from almost everybody. --And people rarely stop to ask themselves why they react to this so quickly and thoughtlessly.
In any case, imbalanced systems are unhealthy. I'll fight, in my small ways, on whatever side I believe the underdog to be.
Now before you react strongly, either on-line or just in your mind; (For there are several departure points in my response here which can appear at first glance to be hypocritical/paradoxical); DO make an attempt to see the version of what I'm talking about which makes something close to full sense. (There is one, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered writing it in the first place.)
It's easy for the point of the extending of a useless debate, to intentionally find flaw with words, which are an imperfect medium for conveying ideas.
-Fantastic Lad
If as many argue, computers are like brains, or like extensions of our brains, then the patterns of code which flow through them are the thoughts and the ideas.
Now, I don't charge for my ideas, even though they take life energy, (Time, food, security), to generate. I share them freely. (A little too freely, some of you might suggest!)
The whole charade of selling ideas, and licences for ideas was pretty bloody weird to begin with. Just because something takes hard work doesn't mean that it must automatically be compensated. If you don't want an idea shared, then DON'T TELL IT TO ANYBODY! Like any secret, once you let the cat out of the bag, it's out of your control. It's ridiculous to imagine people running around trying to sell limited licences for secrets and punishing people who re-tell a secret to somebody else. (Except that's what the whole spy/espionage/cold-war culture was all about. . . And how nice was that to live in?)
And yet, millionaires are made and broken today based on this farcical software industry, and as such people have come to accept the reality of it. They give it power by playing along with it, as though it were something with actual legitimacy.
The fact is that ideas need to be communicated in order for them to thrive. But our society has become increasingly dependent upon maintaining a thought restriction and control system, (complete with 'Thought Police'!). This is making all our lives miserable in many ways which are invisible because we have already accepted the premise that ideas can and should be controlled by those who think them up.
Basically:
1. An operating system should be made by the computer manufacturer and come as part of the system, burned on a rom. It should be part of the cost of manufacture, as it is an essential part of the computer; it should be free and open for people to manipulate as they please.
2. The kind of games we see today should basically not exist under a sensible system. The enormous effort and resource which goes into their manufacture is moronic, like the crazy hedonistic parties the Roman emperors threw; highly enjoyed by the participants, but which can only be maintained at enormous cost to the civilization. That cost being, the sale and ultimate control of thought.
I find games boring, and bloat-ware lame. I steal and distribute it all in the hopes that the whole architecture of the software industry will collapse under the weight of its own insanity. Sad thing is that it benefits the Evil Overlords for people to be distracted by their flickering boxes, (makes you soft and stupid and easy to control), so this state of affairs where people are inundated with software/programming will likely continue regardless of whether it's free, stolen or paid for.
Pardon me. There are some gentlemen in black at my front door. . .
-Fantastic Lad
If as many argue, computers are like brains, or like extensions of our brains, then the patterns of code which flow through them are the thoughts and the ideas.
Now, I don't charge for my ideas, even though they take life energy, (Time, food, security), to generate. I share them freely. (A little too freely, some of you might suggest!)
The whole charade of selling ideas, and licences for ideas was pretty bloody weird to begin with. Just because something takes hard work doesn't mean that it must automatically be compensated. If you don't want an idea shared, then DON'T TELL IT TO ANYBODY! Like any secret, once you let the cat out of the bag, it's out of your control. It's ridiculous to imagine people running around trying to sell limited licences for secrets and punishing people who re-tell a secret to somebody else. (Except that's what the whole spy/espionage/cold-war culture was all about. . . How nice was that to live in?)
And yet, millionaires are made and broken today based on this farcical software industry, and as such people have come to accept the reality of it. They give it power by playing along with it, as though it were something with actual legitimacy.
The fact is that ideas need to be communicated in order for them to thrive. But our society has become increasingly dependent upon maintaining a thought restriction and control system, (complete with 'Thought Police'!). This is making all our lives miserable in many ways which are invisible because we have already accepted the premise that ideas can and should be controlled by those who think them up.
Basically:
1. An operating system should be made by the computer manufacturer and come as part of the system, burned on a rom. It should be part of the cost of manufacture, as it is an essential part of the computer; it should be free and open for people to manipulate as they please.
2. The kind of games we see today should basically not exist under a sensible system. The enormous effort and resource which goes into their manufacture is moronic, like the crazy hedonistic parties the Roman emperors threw; highly enjoyed by the participants, but which can only be maintained at enormous cost to the civilization. That cost being, the sale and ultimate control of thought.
I find games boring, and bloat-ware lame. I steal and distribute it all in the hopes that the whole architecture of the software industry will collapse under the weight of its own insanity. I'm probably only helping to speed us toward the end of things.
Pardon me. There are some gentlemen in black at my front door. . .
-Fantastic Lad
The U.S. is already a dictatorship. Did you miss the last election, or was the cheesy writing of that choreographed event too subtle for you?
Anyway, this whole kafuffle about software piracy is nothing new, and who the hell cares? The Evil Overlords WANT you to be plugged into your flickering boxes, because they make you soft and dumb and easy to control. GTA3 and all those retarded shooting games? Whether or not they create Columbine Kids is totally irrelivent. Fact is, the power/money/establisment people THINK that such games raise the danger level of society, which makes it easier for heavier internal security measures to be passed into law.
No matter what the playing field happens to look like over the next ten years, whether you have to pay through the nose, duck arrests or trade software in a free for all, Joe Asshole WILL be plugged in, he WILL think that his choice to be plugged in will have been un-affected by the general miasma of social programming which surrounds us all, and as a result, his brain WILL be all mushy and ripe for 'instruction' and easy control.
What are YOU going to do about it?
-Fantastic Lad