If the Bush administration had been less concerned about how to maximize profit for civilian contractors and more interested in studying what MacArthur did for Japan and what the Marshall Plan did for Europe we wouldn't have such a mess in Iraq right now.
Of course, for reasons of symetry, we would first have to reduce all the major cities in Iraq to rubble before we could begin rebuilding.
If it refers to Christianity it is indicative of the fact that most people don't know diddly about Christianity. Even someone as smart as 'ol Einstein himself.
The entire range of human actions from compassionate self sacrifice to self serving murder can be comitted during a believer's lifetime and have no impact on their afterlife destination. One small decision determines that, faith in Christ.
The idea that man must perform daily acts of obesance and must constrain himself to ascetic doldrums for all his days are decidedly not Christian in origin (though I constantly hear non-Christians ascribing them to Christians.)
I wonder also about the surface of the propeller. Particularly, whether or not it is completely smooth or not.
If you read about baseballs, scuffing the smooth surface can actually make the ball travel faster through the air due to less drag. I wonder if the surface of a propeller can be made rough in such a way that it could reduce drag, cavitation, etc.
I think that your hatred and anger has clouded not only your judgment but also your reading skills, Darby. You may want to re-read the post you are replying to, paying attention not only to what is actually said but to who is actually saying it. You also seem all too ready to ascribe motives to people that their text does not convey. This strikes me as a bit unhinged.
When I mention revision I do not deny brutality or violence on the part of the Catholic Church nor have I denied it. I have my own problems with the Catholic Church that encompass yours and oh so much more. But I digress. The deceptions and revisions you perpetrate are that you ascribe the basis of Christianity to the Catholics. This is impossible as there are extant texts of the Bible that predate the Catholic Church and you ignore the many Christian sects who existed outside the influence of Catholicism. As a student of the Bible and its history I understand all too well the way you are trying to poison the well, however the truth flagrantly denies your claims about the origin of the Christianity.
In addition you claim that simply by declaring myself a Christian I am responsible for all the atrocities of people who came before me who called themselves Christians. If that is the case then you, as a non-Christian must take the blame for all the atrocities committed against all Christians. All of the crucifixions, the many tortures, murders, hangings, burnings, and unjust imprisonments committed against all Christians for all time. What you say? That's unfair? You had absolutely nothing to do with that? Forgive me if your hollow protestations fall on deaf ears. They sound too similar to the points I raised and that you graciously instructed me in the folly of.
Furthermore, the people who committed those atrocious acts are d-e-a-d, dead. I mean like totally rotted to dust dead. They have been for quite awhile if you haven't checked your calendar in the last 100 years. The people who call themselves Christians today wouldn't commit those acts today if you prodded them with a pitchfork. And yet, somehow, just by invoking the name Christian we need to take the blame for those people?
I would never commit those actions myself, would not condone those actions myself, and have never provided material support to anyone who is associated with a Church that has ever sponsored ideas that are in any way remotely associated with murder of innocents, burning of unbelievers and heretics, or any other such actions that are strictly forbidden by the Book that I hold dear to my soul. Your sloppy logic, overzealous bending of the facts, and incredible outrage against people who have nothing to do with the things you are angry about leads me to believe that you would be better helped by a psychologist than a world without something to hate.
Your last tirade in your post really brought your insanity home to me. You don't even care about atrocities unless they re being committed by your pet hatred. You are more inflamed by the specter of ancient happenings than you are of innocent children being mutilated and murdered right now. You have perfectly good targets to be mad at, even religious people falling prey to the same depraved motivations that the Catholics you hate did, and yet, since they are not Catholic you pass them off as an excuse and diversion. You could even DO something about it but you obviously feel better hating (certain) people and calling out offensive names from behind your keyboard than you would actually making a difference in the world and stopping some of the actions you claim to hate so much. How pathetic.
I have come to the conclusion that you, sir, are a silly fucking twit or an intentional troll. What you are suggesting is not only is that absurd, it's downright loony. I am hoping you are a troll because I find it difficult to believe that someone who can type multi-syllabic words can hold such a goofy grasp of fairness and justice.
Before the Matrix movie was made I read that the brothers W wanted to make a movie where the main characters had amazing powers and could engage in epic battles with anime-like powers. In their quest to achieve this they made the Matrix movie to set the stage and provide justification for the true focus of the movies to take place.
Oddly enough, the metaphysical questions and the "what if" scenario seemed to capture the imagination of the viewing public much more than the anime/action side of the movie. Essentially, their original intentions for making the movie became sidelined because of the unpredictable focus of the audience and an overly auspicious start resulted in the downfall of a good action series.
"As an aside, I have been trying to read the bible (KJV)..."
If you are trying to study the Bible I would suggest approaching it from a viewpoint other than the KJV. To point you in the right direction I would suggest looking up the antecedents of that version of the Bible and other antecedent texts to the other modern versions of the Bible. Codex Sinaiticus, the Ephreami Rescriptus, Codex Vaticanus (fascinating to hear about how this was revealed) and numerous papyri reveal that there are some incinsistencies in the KJV. Further progress through teh subject of textural criticism will help you understand what you read no matter the translation.
If you are just trying to study literature you can read the KJV all you want. Its a pretty neat piece of poetry and an epic translation. If you are lookinf for the truth of what the Bible says you are better served by a close examination of the original languages or a deeply informed reading of a good translation.
I would postulate that because the actions you describe (torture, burning people, murder of innocents) not only predate Christianity but also are expressed in every cutlture known to man, you might want to condemn all of humanity with the same vigor you attack the Christians. You see, the motivations to destroy those who are different than us, or those who do not bow to the prevailing powers structure that we ascribe to, are universal to all mankind. The vituperous way you attack Christianity and the revisionist way you view historic facts are proof positive of the same propensity, even in yourself. The seeds of motivation and self justifcation necessary to destroy that which you find distasteful are even evident in your absolute condemnation of Christianity.
Fortunately the "Christian" church has moved beyond this method of enforcement of the status quo and on to a system of tolerance of other doctrinal stances. In fact, for people who want to have their choice of belief systems no place is better than our current USA. Persecuting/ridiculing current Christians and their dogma because of the actions of people seperated not only by generations of time, but also by the great societal changes of the recent era would be akin to me ridiculing you because some of your evolutionary ancestors were cannibalistic.
Your ire is outdated due to the time of your birth by a few lifetimes at least. Fortunately for you that it was, those bloodthirsty bastards would have burned you for sure. If you would like a more reasonable and timely way to express your religiously motivated anger I might be able to suggest a certain other religion that is performing your most hated of acts throughout many countries of the world right now. These guys take the cake too. You don't even have to disagree with them to be a target of their violence. Even better, you could actuall DO something about it if you were so motivated, and possibly end another 1000 years of violence and the emergence of a new "most brutal evil organization."
In addition to your very valid and relevant points:
Are you truly a believer in man made global warming, or have you been told to believe? Do you see perfect coroborating data, or have you been told that all the data perfectly coroborates human induced warming? Have you been getting your information from sources that have much to gain if the status quo changes? Are your sources known for their rigorous condemnation of others and yet they fly around in private jets that pollute more in 2 hours most of us do in a decade?
THAT would be a good start on the road to self examination and scepticism.
No matter what side of an issue you are on, your belief can be used to manipulate you. Above all, be sceptical of your own beliefs and those you think are championing them. In this age almost all the champions are in it for themselves and you, their supporter, are a resource to be used and expended in their quest for self enrichment.
Whether or not someone believes in evolution is in what way relevant to their ability to govern?
Similarly, if someone believes in evolution, on what basis do they accept evolution? Have they read more than just the theory summary on wikipedia? Have they witnessed first hand experiments and evidence that irrefutably reinforce the theoretical knowledge that they have read? If not, aren't they guilty of the same "faith" that Christians, Muslims, and all other religious people suffer from and that they are being derided and condemned as irrational fools for?
Or is that irrelevant because they ascribe to the same set of beliefs that you do?
I can't say I agree. There are some subjects that are just plain boring. Creating the expectation that learning should be entertaining could lead to inatettion and lack of subscription in those subjects where it is difficult to make the subject entertaining.
In addition, repetetion is in many ways the fundamental basis of learning. Even an entertaining subject can become boring on the third repetetion and that many not be enough to make the knowledge permanent.
If we create the false expectation that knowledge should be entertaining the first time some kid is bored by a subject they will not learn anything. And even then, something that is entertaining to one kid may be brain rottingly boring to another. A better solution is to teach children that knowledge is valuable and even though it may be boring to attain the benefits are immense.
As well as my interest in programming, I credit my uncanny sense of direction to Zork and its sequels. I still have those games mapped out in my head after all these years. Practically every other text based adventure game I played still exists in 3D scale model form inside my noggin.
With the law of unintended consequences in mind, I wonder what side effects today's games will have on my children?
If we assume for the moment that ID is atually correct, and mix in the flaw in Pascal's wager (how do you know your god is teh real god) it could very well be that life was created by Satan.
Due to pressures from various groups that are motivated in part by the kind of emotional blindness that results from the death of a loved one in a drunk driving accident, many people could face imprisonment, loss of their license, and even their career if they have just one drink and then drive. This could even happen to someone who is completely unimpaired, as the legal limits are not in any way realted to attention, reaction time, and judgement; only a reading on a sometimes not-so-accurate device. Even worse, things like good 'ol wonder bread, if eaten in recently, can cause people to blow positive on a field breathalyzer without having a drink.
Gaming a system designed to secure a conviction regardless of the facts is EXACTLY what an informed and intelligent citizen should do.
I can understand your anger though less so your obvious hatred of the person who did that to your friend. My father had his harrington rod displaced by a drunk driver and lived through more suffering than any human should have to endure because of it. However, I don't think that necessitates a response like you have formulated. For once I am glad we have the rowdy mass of bloodthirsty, inhumane, rabid, ethically bankrupt, merciless bastards running our DA's offices and juduicial system instead of someone like you.
Funny thing is the context that you take from it barely scratches the surface of the understanding I take from it. As someone who has studied the story and the rest of the text it is from I would say that this story describes epic events in human history. Unfortunately, the price of entry into the theatre of understanding is quite high.
Don't be fooled into thinking that the proximity of this story to the front cover of the book makes it easier to understand. Similarly, don't think that because the premise is simple (one guy killing another) that the interaction itself is simple, or that the events, when viewed through the proper epistemological lens, won't be enlightening.
The symbolic and literal meaning of the two brothers and their interaction with God mean a lot more than just one guy killing another. Cain is the seminal example of what happens when you eschew basic principles and live in ignorance of facts. Abel is, on one level, the example of why bad things happen to good people, and on another the everyman. Of course there are deeper lessons with regard to the interaction of God and mankind that intertwine the two brothers. However, these greater lessons may be wasted here on/. because they presuppose a certain type of eternal being with integral characteristics that differ greatly from your average/.er's idea of who and what God is. Suffice it to say that with the proper understanding of the characters in this example, the knowledge and life lessons are quite a bit more enlightening than a news story about a couple of guys in a fight.
This kind of thing always makes me wonder as well, about how often people place things in the category of "known" and then write them off, never re-examining them again.
Ahh the problem with people who place too much ego value on intelligence (most engineers) is that they consistently fail to realize a few things about people.
First is that observation (while important in many ways) is an incomplete form of experience. Doubly so for rational examination from a distance. Trebly so when dealing with human interaction and the awesome reality of biological imperatives.
Secondly, even with direct experience of something, rationality and mental cogitation will not always complete the picture. Sex can be just a primal, physical experience. In fact it usually is for many/most people. However, with the proper research, motivation, forethought, and preparation it can be an enlightening experience on par with any acsetic's divine revelation. However, this takes some "spiritual" knowledge that is not evident from the practice of the sex act itself.
My sincere wish is that one day you will meet a brilliant young woman that you find to be stunning both mentally and physically and who feels the same way about you. Then, if you are mature enough, you will realize that the pleasure (not just physical mind you) that you can provide her is a gift of unsurpassed value. You might also find that the pleasure you can derive from serving someone you love is greater than anything you could get from self-serving, primal, animalistic sex.
Is it just me or does that ratio seem to be kind of large?
Also doesn't it seem strange that an organization like, say, planned parenthood would offer free condoms that are made this poorly? If they wanted to prevent pregnancy and STD transfers wouldn't they use something more robust? Or is it merely convenient coincidence that an organization that performs abortions would distribute condoms that break easily?
Hmm this seems familiar:
1) Organization that performs abortions gives free condoms to horny coeds. 2) Make sure the condoms break at the slightest provocation 3) Profit!
Someone PLEASE talk sense to me. I am way too suspicious and cynical, right? That can't be right can it?
I remember from highschool that better grades were, for many students, the result of copying homework assignments, collaborative take home projects (that were supposed to be individual), and cheating on tests.
Sorry, that was my initial reaction. Heres the reason why I reacted this way:
The bank manager probably looked at the details of your Aunt's account and figured that the interest and fees taht they generate off of her business were a better investment than tryting to screw her out of $200.
Rest assured that there are customers at your Aunt's bank that have not fared so well or had such good service merely because the bank knew that it was more cost effective to fuck their customer rather than own up to their own mistakes.
While on duty police should be constantly monitored. They should be drug tested as well, at least weekly. We should also require random searches of police vehicles with citizen oversight.
While on the subject of observing our public servants, we should also do the same for our lawmakers. Random drug testing with no less than 26 tests per year would be a good start. A good financial reaming by the IRS with, again, citizen oversight would be another nice perk for the citizens of the US.
Slashdot Mirror
If the Bush administration had been less concerned about how to maximize profit for civilian contractors and more interested in studying what MacArthur did for Japan and what the Marshall Plan did for Europe we wouldn't have such a mess in Iraq right now.
Of course, for reasons of symetry, we would first have to reduce all the major cities in Iraq to rubble before we could begin rebuilding.
Nice quote.
If it refers to Christianity it is indicative of the fact that most people don't know diddly about Christianity. Even someone as smart as 'ol Einstein himself.
The entire range of human actions from compassionate self sacrifice to self serving murder can be comitted during a believer's lifetime and have no impact on their afterlife destination. One small decision determines that, faith in Christ.
The idea that man must perform daily acts of obesance and must constrain himself to ascetic doldrums for all his days are decidedly not Christian in origin (though I constantly hear non-Christians ascribing them to Christians.)
I wonder also about the surface of the propeller. Particularly, whether or not it is completely smooth or not.
If you read about baseballs, scuffing the smooth surface can actually make the ball travel faster through the air due to less drag. I wonder if the surface of a propeller can be made rough in such a way that it could reduce drag, cavitation, etc.
I think you just explained why the room always spins counter-clockwise when I get drunk.
I think that your hatred and anger has clouded not only your judgment but also your reading skills, Darby. You may want to re-read the post you are replying to, paying attention not only to what is actually said but to who is actually saying it. You also seem all too ready to ascribe motives to people that their text does not convey. This strikes me as a bit unhinged.
When I mention revision I do not deny brutality or violence on the part of the Catholic Church nor have I denied it. I have my own problems with the Catholic Church that encompass yours and oh so much more. But I digress. The deceptions and revisions you perpetrate are that you ascribe the basis of Christianity to the Catholics. This is impossible as there are extant texts of the Bible that predate the Catholic Church and you ignore the many Christian sects who existed outside the influence of Catholicism. As a student of the Bible and its history I understand all too well the way you are trying to poison the well, however the truth flagrantly denies your claims about the origin of the Christianity.
In addition you claim that simply by declaring myself a Christian I am responsible for all the atrocities of people who came before me who called themselves Christians. If that is the case then you, as a non-Christian must take the blame for all the atrocities committed against all Christians. All of the crucifixions, the many tortures, murders, hangings, burnings, and unjust imprisonments committed against all Christians for all time. What you say? That's unfair? You had absolutely nothing to do with that? Forgive me if your hollow protestations fall on deaf ears. They sound too similar to the points I raised and that you graciously instructed me in the folly of.
Furthermore, the people who committed those atrocious acts are d-e-a-d, dead. I mean like totally rotted to dust dead. They have been for quite awhile if you haven't checked your calendar in the last 100 years. The people who call themselves Christians today wouldn't commit those acts today if you prodded them with a pitchfork. And yet, somehow, just by invoking the name Christian we need to take the blame for those people?
I would never commit those actions myself, would not condone those actions myself, and have never provided material support to anyone who is associated with a Church that has ever sponsored ideas that are in any way remotely associated with murder of innocents, burning of unbelievers and heretics, or any other such actions that are strictly forbidden by the Book that I hold dear to my soul. Your sloppy logic, overzealous bending of the facts, and incredible outrage against people who have nothing to do with the things you are angry about leads me to believe that you would be better helped by a psychologist than a world without something to hate.
Your last tirade in your post really brought your insanity home to me. You don't even care about atrocities unless they re being committed by your pet hatred. You are more inflamed by the specter of ancient happenings than you are of innocent children being mutilated and murdered right now. You have perfectly good targets to be mad at, even religious people falling prey to the same depraved motivations that the Catholics you hate did, and yet, since they are not Catholic you pass them off as an excuse and diversion. You could even DO something about it but you obviously feel better hating (certain) people and calling out offensive names from behind your keyboard than you would actually making a difference in the world and stopping some of the actions you claim to hate so much. How pathetic.
I have come to the conclusion that you, sir, are a silly fucking twit or an intentional troll. What you are suggesting is not only is that absurd, it's downright loony. I am hoping you are a troll because I find it difficult to believe that someone who can type multi-syllabic words can hold such a goofy grasp of fairness and justice.
By DoD I mean Dungeons of Daggorath.
Not only was it hard to figure out what to do and how to do it, but my fingers are still whacked from typing "A (SPACE) L" a hundred times a second.
Before the Matrix movie was made I read that the brothers W wanted to make a movie where the main characters had amazing powers and could engage in epic battles with anime-like powers. In their quest to achieve this they made the Matrix movie to set the stage and provide justification for the true focus of the movies to take place.
Oddly enough, the metaphysical questions and the "what if" scenario seemed to capture the imagination of the viewing public much more than the anime/action side of the movie. Essentially, their original intentions for making the movie became sidelined because of the unpredictable focus of the audience and an overly auspicious start resulted in the downfall of a good action series.
If they have no idea what "dark matter" is how do they know its not there?
Yes, yes, I know, gravitation/lensing etc., but its funny!
"As an aside, I have been trying to read the bible (KJV)..."
If you are trying to study the Bible I would suggest approaching it from a viewpoint other than the KJV. To point you in the right direction I would suggest looking up the antecedents of that version of the Bible and other antecedent texts to the other modern versions of the Bible. Codex Sinaiticus, the Ephreami Rescriptus, Codex Vaticanus (fascinating to hear about how this was revealed) and numerous papyri reveal that there are some incinsistencies in the KJV. Further progress through teh subject of textural criticism will help you understand what you read no matter the translation.
If you are just trying to study literature you can read the KJV all you want. Its a pretty neat piece of poetry and an epic translation. If you are lookinf for the truth of what the Bible says you are better served by a close examination of the original languages or a deeply informed reading of a good translation.
I would postulate that because the actions you describe (torture, burning people, murder of innocents) not only predate Christianity but also are expressed in every cutlture known to man, you might want to condemn all of humanity with the same vigor you attack the Christians. You see, the motivations to destroy those who are different than us, or those who do not bow to the prevailing powers structure that we ascribe to, are universal to all mankind. The vituperous way you attack Christianity and the revisionist way you view historic facts are proof positive of the same propensity, even in yourself. The seeds of motivation and self justifcation necessary to destroy that which you find distasteful are even evident in your absolute condemnation of Christianity.
Fortunately the "Christian" church has moved beyond this method of enforcement of the status quo and on to a system of tolerance of other doctrinal stances. In fact, for people who want to have their choice of belief systems no place is better than our current USA. Persecuting/ridiculing current Christians and their dogma because of the actions of people seperated not only by generations of time, but also by the great societal changes of the recent era would be akin to me ridiculing you because some of your evolutionary ancestors were cannibalistic.
Your ire is outdated due to the time of your birth by a few lifetimes at least. Fortunately for you that it was, those bloodthirsty bastards would have burned you for sure. If you would like a more reasonable and timely way to express your religiously motivated anger I might be able to suggest a certain other religion that is performing your most hated of acts throughout many countries of the world right now. These guys take the cake too. You don't even have to disagree with them to be a target of their violence. Even better, you could actuall DO something about it if you were so motivated, and possibly end another 1000 years of violence and the emergence of a new "most brutal evil organization."
In addition to your very valid and relevant points:
Are you truly a believer in man made global warming, or have you been told to believe?
Do you see perfect coroborating data, or have you been told that all the data perfectly coroborates human induced warming?
Have you been getting your information from sources that have much to gain if the status quo changes?
Are your sources known for their rigorous condemnation of others and yet they fly around in private jets that pollute more in 2 hours most of us do in a decade?
THAT would be a good start on the road to self examination and scepticism.
No matter what side of an issue you are on, your belief can be used to manipulate you. Above all, be sceptical of your own beliefs and those you think are championing them. In this age almost all the champions are in it for themselves and you, their supporter, are a resource to be used and expended in their quest for self enrichment.
Consider this:
Whether or not someone believes in evolution is in what way relevant to their ability to govern?
Similarly, if someone believes in evolution, on what basis do they accept evolution? Have they read more than just the theory summary on wikipedia? Have they witnessed first hand experiments and evidence that irrefutably reinforce the theoretical knowledge that they have read? If not, aren't they guilty of the same "faith" that Christians, Muslims, and all other religious people suffer from and that they are being derided and condemned as irrational fools for?
Or is that irrelevant because they ascribe to the same set of beliefs that you do?
"Learning and education should be entertaining"
I can't say I agree. There are some subjects that are just plain boring. Creating the expectation that learning should be entertaining could lead to inatettion and lack of subscription in those subjects where it is difficult to make the subject entertaining.
In addition, repetetion is in many ways the fundamental basis of learning. Even an entertaining subject can become boring on the third repetetion and that many not be enough to make the knowledge permanent.
If we create the false expectation that knowledge should be entertaining the first time some kid is bored by a subject they will not learn anything. And even then, something that is entertaining to one kid may be brain rottingly boring to another. A better solution is to teach children that knowledge is valuable and even though it may be boring to attain the benefits are immense.
As well as my interest in programming, I credit my uncanny sense of direction to Zork and its sequels. I still have those games mapped out in my head after all these years. Practically every other text based adventure game I played still exists in 3D scale model form inside my noggin.
With the law of unintended consequences in mind, I wonder what side effects today's games will have on my children?
If we assume for the moment that ID is atually correct, and mix in the flaw in Pascal's wager (how do you know your god is teh real god) it could very well be that life was created by Satan.
Due to pressures from various groups that are motivated in part by the kind of emotional blindness that results from the death of a loved one in a drunk driving accident, many people could face imprisonment, loss of their license, and even their career if they have just one drink and then drive. This could even happen to someone who is completely unimpaired, as the legal limits are not in any way realted to attention, reaction time, and judgement; only a reading on a sometimes not-so-accurate device. Even worse, things like good 'ol wonder bread, if eaten in recently, can cause people to blow positive on a field breathalyzer without having a drink.
Gaming a system designed to secure a conviction regardless of the facts is EXACTLY what an informed and intelligent citizen should do.
I can understand your anger though less so your obvious hatred of the person who did that to your friend. My father had his harrington rod displaced by a drunk driver and lived through more suffering than any human should have to endure because of it. However, I don't think that necessitates a response like you have formulated. For once I am glad we have the rowdy mass of bloodthirsty, inhumane, rabid, ethically bankrupt, merciless bastards running our DA's offices and juduicial system instead of someone like you.
Funny thing is the context that you take from it barely scratches the surface of the understanding I take from it. As someone who has studied the story and the rest of the text it is from I would say that this story describes epic events in human history. Unfortunately, the price of entry into the theatre of understanding is quite high.
/. because they presuppose a certain type of eternal being with integral characteristics that differ greatly from your average /.er's idea of who and what God is. Suffice it to say that with the proper understanding of the characters in this example, the knowledge and life lessons are quite a bit more enlightening than a news story about a couple of guys in a fight.
Don't be fooled into thinking that the proximity of this story to the front cover of the book makes it easier to understand. Similarly, don't think that because the premise is simple (one guy killing another) that the interaction itself is simple, or that the events, when viewed through the proper epistemological lens, won't be enlightening.
The symbolic and literal meaning of the two brothers and their interaction with God mean a lot more than just one guy killing another. Cain is the seminal example of what happens when you eschew basic principles and live in ignorance of facts. Abel is, on one level, the example of why bad things happen to good people, and on another the everyman. Of course there are deeper lessons with regard to the interaction of God and mankind that intertwine the two brothers. However, these greater lessons may be wasted here on
This kind of thing always makes me wonder as well, about how often people place things in the category of "known" and then write them off, never re-examining them again.
That sounds like a prayer to the great god of "Random Chance."
Ahh the problem with people who place too much ego value on intelligence (most engineers) is that they consistently fail to realize a few things about people.
First is that observation (while important in many ways) is an incomplete form of experience. Doubly so for rational examination from a distance. Trebly so when dealing with human interaction and the awesome reality of biological imperatives.
Secondly, even with direct experience of something, rationality and mental cogitation will not always complete the picture. Sex can be just a primal, physical experience. In fact it usually is for many/most people. However, with the proper research, motivation, forethought, and preparation it can be an enlightening experience on par with any acsetic's divine revelation. However, this takes some "spiritual" knowledge that is not evident from the practice of the sex act itself.
My sincere wish is that one day you will meet a brilliant young woman that you find to be stunning both mentally and physically and who feels the same way about you. Then, if you are mature enough, you will realize that the pleasure (not just physical mind you) that you can provide her is a gift of unsurpassed value. You might also find that the pleasure you can derive from serving someone you love is greater than anything you could get from self-serving, primal, animalistic sex.
Is it just me or does that ratio seem to be kind of large?
Also doesn't it seem strange that an organization like, say, planned parenthood would offer free condoms that are made this poorly? If they wanted to prevent pregnancy and STD transfers wouldn't they use something more robust? Or is it merely convenient coincidence that an organization that performs abortions would distribute condoms that break easily?
Hmm this seems familiar:
1) Organization that performs abortions gives free condoms to horny coeds.
2) Make sure the condoms break at the slightest provocation
3) Profit!
Someone PLEASE talk sense to me. I am way too suspicious and cynical, right? That can't be right can it?
I remember from highschool that better grades were, for many students, the result of copying homework assignments, collaborative take home projects (that were supposed to be individual), and cheating on tests.
How about this easy, concise answer:
Smart kids lie about having (or not having) sex more than dumb kids.
"...I'd strongly advocate getting a life."
Isn't that what (unprotectected) sex is all about?
HA!
Sorry, that was my initial reaction. Heres the reason why I reacted this way:
The bank manager probably looked at the details of your Aunt's account and figured that the interest and fees taht they generate off of her business were a better investment than tryting to screw her out of $200.
Rest assured that there are customers at your Aunt's bank that have not fared so well or had such good service merely because the bank knew that it was more cost effective to fuck their customer rather than own up to their own mistakes.
A resounding HELL YES to that last comment.
While on duty police should be constantly monitored. They should be drug tested as well, at least weekly. We should also require random searches of police vehicles with citizen oversight.
While on the subject of observing our public servants, we should also do the same for our lawmakers. Random drug testing with no less than 26 tests per year would be a good start. A good financial reaming by the IRS with, again, citizen oversight would be another nice perk for the citizens of the US.