To me, it's unlikely that he was mad or high. The reason for that is that all of the books, including revelation, match all the other books. There's no mistakes. Things John says in the book of revelation match exactly things said in the book of daniel for example. You could argue that John could have been an expert in the books of the old testament and intentionally made his account of what he saw match. But if he were high or mad, he'd simply write down any old thing that popped into his head. It would be a completely unique account that would be disconnected from the rest of the bible.
When you consider the prophecy in the bible, it's hard to refute some of it. The prophecy is there to serve as proof that it comes from God. Some of the prophecy can seem a little vague, but others are very detailed. And it's never been wrong. I'm not aware of any other religious book on the planet that can make this claim.
By the way, the christians are closely watching the middle east right now. There's a prophecy that says damascus will be completely leveled by israel, most likely by a nuke because of how it's described. This prophecy is in Isaiah 17. If Syria, Jordan, Hamas, and Egypt gang up on Israel and lose, with Israel annexing all of these countries, and with damascus and maybe some other cities leveled, would you believe the bible then?
I was saddened by the number of people deliberately lying in an effort to get out of jury duty.
Could it be, possibly, that those people couldn't afford to be away from work for jury duty? Our society creates a bunch of people barely making it paycheck to paycheck, then wonders why they're not willing to take time off from work to do their civic duty.
I'm surprised at what people will and will not believe is possible. People believe in extra terrestrial life, black holes, string theory, the big bang, an infinite universe, worm holes, the existence of other dimensions, that evolution sprang up out of nothing in spite of entropy...
But they won't believe that life exists in other dimensions... intelligent life... and that maybe there's an all-powerful inter-dimensional being who's responsible for creating everything in this dimension.
"But we have proof!" I think your religion requires more faith than mine.
Personally, I think scientists should stay completely out of the religious sphere. They're not going to change anyone's mind, science and religion mix very badly, and commenting on theological issues only increases the perception among many religious types that science is their enemy/competitor.
The problem isn't science, it's the scientists. To me, science is the study of God's creation. If you've rejected God, it doesn't matter what your reasoning is. I believe you've rejected God because you're unwilling to surrender your will, and/or you're unwilling to change your lifestyle.
For the huge argument between scientists and christians, I think we're both doing it wrong. One doesn't disprove the other. Christians and scientists should be working together to understand the universe. Adversarial relationships tend to make people stick stead-fast to their beliefs no matter what, even if they're based on incorrect science, even if they're based on an incorrect interpretation of the bible.
Because "God did it" adds nothing to our understanding and adds an extra, seemingly unnecessary link in the chain of reasoning. It's a platitude, not an explanation. On top of that, "God did it" has never, in the entire history of mankind, been the correct answer where such answers became knowable:
Why does the sun move across the sky? God did it... no wait, the earth is rotating so it only seems the sun moves across the sky. Why do people get sick? God did it... no wait, it turns out there are things called germs and pathogens that affect our bodies and make us sick. Where does thunder and lightning come from? How is wine formed from grape juice? What causes the seasons to change? There used to be a "God did it" explanation for all of these.
I'd like to point out that christians still wouldn't be wrong by suggesting that God did it, even if a later scientific explanation were available, since it's all a creation of God. To me, science is simply the study of God's creation. If we discover some scientific explanation for something, it may be that previous assumptions that were made by christians about the nature of the universe might have been incorrect. But I think the difference between me and non-christians is that I'm open-minded enough to consider the possibility that "facts" proven by science may actually be inaccurate or even totally incorrect. I'm also not hard-headed enough to think that christians are always 100% right about the nature of the universe and the current mainstream belief about the age of the earth for example. Time has has no meaning (or at least is perceived totally differently) in the afterlife. It may be that both christians and scientists are technically right about the age of the earth.
So why should we accept "God did it" as the reason the universe exists?
Why should I accept that there is no God? Because of science?
And many theists assume that, even if there is a God, that it's important to him that you believe in him during this life. (Why would that be so important to God anyway?!)
I believe you're given an opportunity to redeem yourself here on earth. Once you're out of here permanently, you've either missed your chance or you haven't. Why it's been setup this way, I have no idea.
And many theists assume that, if you don't believe in God before you die, that God will be so upset that he'll send you to hell for eternity. (Why do so many theists think God is a psychopath?)
God doesn't want anyone to end up in hell. If you end up in hell, it's because you've sent yourself there by not accepting the offer of rescue.
And even if you do believe in God, what are the chances you've chosen the right one to believe in?
Deeply personal things have happened in my life to prove it to me. I became a christian at 14. At that instant, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of peace and love, something I had never felt before, not even from my parents. I believe this was the holy spirit. I know it sounds fantastic. And you might be able to explain it away with some scientific explanation. But it doesn't matter to me what other people think about my experience and decision.
Christianity? What if the Muslims are right?
Islam? What if the Jews are right?
Judaism? What if the Hindus are right?
Hinduism? What if the Buddhists are right?
What if all the major religions are wrong?
Bible prophecy exists, not so that people can predict the future (although you can), but so that people can look back at the prophecy and know that the bible predicted it before it happened. There are 100s of prophecies in the bible that have been fulfilled. It's never been wrong. Some of them are vague and could maybe be explained away by a skeptic. But others are impossible to explain away. (The Daniel 11 (iirc) prophecy for example.) Some of the prophecies are so dead on that historians insist that they were written after the event, even when much proof exists that says otherwise.
I believe the other religions in the world are demonic in origin, specifically designed to direct people away from salvation.
And on and on it goes...
It seems overwhelmingly self evident to me that people inherit their religious beliefs from their parents and the society around them. They don't wait until they're adults, capable of making these kinds of Big Decisions with a rational mind. They don't research all the alternatives and make an informed decision. They're basically brainwashed from birth.
I became a christian at the age of 14 in spite of my parents.
If God really is a psychopath; i.e., if God really is going to send you to hell for eternity because you didn't believe or did believe, but believed in the wrong God,
Like I said, you send yourself there. God (Jesus) will rescue you if you only accept the offer. It's true that people are deceived into believing the wrong thing. This is why satan is called the great deceiver. But have people been completely deceived, or have people allowed themselves to be deceived because the deception is more compatible with their desire to live in opposition to God?
then the vast, vast majority of humanity is screwed, and is going to hell, because even if you do believe in the right God, chances are your faith and adherence to your religion is watered down enough to piss him off to send you to hell anyway...
Sadly, it's true that the vast majority of humanity won't make it. But getting into heaven is about accepting the offer of redemption. Once you're saved, you're always saved, no matter what.
In other words, they choose to do the "right" thing because it is right, not because someone else said it was right and threatened them with torture if they disobeyed.
I'd like to point out something about christianity. It's not that you're threatened with torture for failing to do right things. God doesn't want anyone to go to Hell. People send themselves there by failing to reject the offer to be rescued. It's like you're floating in the ocean, then when the coast guard throws you a life preserver you refuse to grab onto it, expecting to be rescued some other way, then curse the coast guard for allowing you to drown.
Whether or not you escape from hell depends only on your willingness to accept the offer to pull you out. That's it. It doesn't matter how awful a person you were over your life. You're still in.
Some might say this is unjust because a serial killer could be allowed into heaven while a "moral" person might be condemned. But from my perspective, it's comforting to know that there's nothing I have done that is so bad that it couldn't be forgiven.
I find it interesting that people assume (maybe I'm making another assumption) that christianity claims that the earth is held up by turtles or atlas or elephants or something. The bible says that God hangs the earth on nothing, and claimed this while the rest of the world was envisioning animals or a giant lamp stand or something.
Was he mad or describing things that are difficult to describe?
Here's an exercise for you: It's 2000 years ago and technology is nothing like it is today. Describe a helicopter using only plants, animals, minerals, and sounds from the natural world.
What about using prison labour to provide cheap goods and services?
This is already done, but it's a terrible idea. Prisoners, who are working very cheaply, compete with free people who are working for a reasonable wage, distorting market prices. Maintaining the supply of cheap goods requires maintaining the supply of prisoners, giving the state an incentive to create more laws that poor people will routinely break so that they can be put to work at below the market rate.
You already have this system in the USA. You also have the highest proportion of your population incarcerated of any country.
Expect this trend to be played out in the US to the furthest extent possible. We have to compete against china after all.:-/ I would point out however that it won't be the state by themselves creating more laws. The corporations in the private prison system will write the laws, then pay lobbyists to bribe politicians to pass the laws. That is, if "muslim terrorists" don't conveniently burn down the capitol building. I wonder who the scapegoat will be this time.
Although this sounds like it will help with a few of the issues that are faced with managing the criminal population, I don't see any way of preventing it's eventual use to control society as a whole. Though if history has taught us anything it's that the eventual measures of control which are used will be more insidious than we could imagine from looking at this technology now.
I know most people on slashdot like to bash christianity, but the bible really does contain a warning about this. It warns of a one-world government with so much control over the individual that each buy/sell transaction is approved or not approved at the point of sale. Whatever device is used for this, it would be trivial to include a gps feature also. This is why christians freak out over biometrics and implanting rfid tags in animals and people.
30 years ago, none of this was possible. Now, a good many of us could probably design this system ourselves.
I'm more worried about this from a libertarian perspective. Once the cost of "imprisoning" someone is low enough, then its a lot easier to increase sentences and criminalize a lot more stuff.
"It seems you're missing a tail light... the penalty for that is being tagged for 20 years."
Mark my words...
This system will never be used and here's why. The long-term plan for the US is to turn the prison system into a system of forced labor camps. Inmates will be forced to work in factories for 10c an hour making shoes or TVs or whatever. You can't force labor on someone if they're out running around. This way, instead of costing the government money to house and feed inmates, they'll pay for their own incarceration, plus a fat profit. It becomes a cash-cow for a well-connected corporation and some politicians. And the government gets a cut... 20 years for a broken tail-light in deed. Expect lots of life sentences.
I guess this could be used in conjunction with a penalty tax of some sort. That is, you have to "lease" the device that enslaves you. If you don't make the payment, you get to keep it longer. And they garnish your wages to make you pay for it.
I would like to hear from programmers that have been at it for 10 or more years that aren't 'burned out'
I have 20 years of experience. I'm starting to burn out. But it's not because I don't like the work, or because it's getting too hard for me or something... it's because the job market sucks. On one hand, I should count my blessings. I have a good contract rate at a stable client that I've worked with for years. But my rate is still far below where I've been in the past. And the impression that I'm getting is that my rate is likely to continue to decline. Not because I'm less effective, but because of three other reasons: The influx of indians, outsourcing entire operations, and a general attitude by employers that developers are overpaid and should be ground down to the income of an office clerk... the first two existing to encourage the third. A country, any country, should protect its labor force. Canada does it. But the US doesn't. And for that reason, working here sucks. I'm seriously considering changing to a different career... maybe something like car repair.
My bonuses equaled my salary at the end of the first year, at the end of the second year, my bonus were 3 times as high as my salary.
After spending 20 years in IT, I would argue that this is the exception and not the rule. I've been promised bonuses 9 times in my career and received it once. Always the excuse was company performance. I did great... it just wasn't in the budget this year. sorry.
Better to know what you are getting into than be shocked with a $1000 bill later.
Good luck with that. My son recently needed an ambulance ride after a severe drug reaction. When the doctor called 911, we got who we got. Turns out they were out of network and we were on the hook for something like half of the cost of the ambulance ride, somewhere around $1000 iirc. So much for health insurance.
The counterargument from these religious fundie assholes - and yes I HAVE heard them discussing this - is "well if you build them into every car, it'll be cheaper by economy of scale" and "it's just like requiring a seat belt and that's a safety device too."
These fuckers would love - just LOVE - to have the damn things loaded into every single car, and required to be checked up and maintenanced when you get your car emissions-tested.
My beliefs might be considered fundamentalist christian by many. This may come as a shock to you, but I drink beer. Not very much, mind you, but enough that I might get in trouble if I drive after eating at a restaurant. So I simply choose not to drink beer while I'm out.
Here's another shock: I think these devices are a bad idea. I'm a real big fan of personal responsibility and throwing the book at people who drink and drive. How about this: first offense, no license for two years. Second offense, lose license permanently. Drive on a revoked license while DUI, 5 years in jail. Then enforce it uniformly and consistently. How does that sound? And no one had to lose and personal liberties.
Religious fundies are not all hypocritical abolitionist prudes. Try to meet some and be open-minded.
The cost of (relatively) cheap gasoline? War, war, and more war. That cheap gasoline is only cheap because we're willing to bankrupt ourselves to get it.
The price of gasoline in America is all about refinery capacity and not the price of oil. So why don't they just build more refineries? That's right.. because the price of gasoline in America is artificially controlled.
The wars are about the control of natural resources (including oil) and the control of money.
The United States will never, ever, pay down its debt. Ever. It will not ever pay it back. Not because it's not possible, but because those in control choose not to. It's the exact same thing as running up a credit card because you're about to file bankruptcy.
The US will continue to print money (I mean the federal reserve will buy treasuries), until the cows come home. And one day, when every golden egg has finally been squeezed out of the golden goose, our goose will be cooked. And men in expensive tailored suits will leave our country, with bulging pockets, to head for greener pastures. And we'll be left to rot.
I think I'll start making protection payments to the warlord of my county.
As a christian, I can assure you that you have no idea what you're talking about.
Aside from the funny part, that is closer to the truth than you like.
Most of our current mainstream religions, i.e. the monotheistic, abrahamic ones, basically need you to feel horrible because their story says the world is bad and the afterlife can be good if (and only if) you follow their teachings.
There are a lot of happy/unhappy people who are/aren't christian. Maybe it's not about that?
Is the world bad? Just ask the millions of non-upper-middle-class-white-western-civilization people for whom life most assuredly sucks on a daily basis. You don't need Christianity to prove the world is bad.
It's hard to feel like shit after a good night with a lover. Your desire for spiritual salvation is quite a bit low after a hot threesome.
And when was the last time that happened to you? Oh right, never. There are studies that show that christian couples have more and better sex than non-christian couples, even, gasp, those that waited until they were married.
Let's see how much fun that threesome is after you get multiple diseases.
Look at the pope and try to take him seriously.
I'm not catholic. I don't take the pope seriously. Please stop lumping us all together.
Slashdot Mirror
To me, it's unlikely that he was mad or high. The reason for that is that all of the books, including revelation, match all the other books. There's no mistakes. Things John says in the book of revelation match exactly things said in the book of daniel for example. You could argue that John could have been an expert in the books of the old testament and intentionally made his account of what he saw match. But if he were high or mad, he'd simply write down any old thing that popped into his head. It would be a completely unique account that would be disconnected from the rest of the bible.
When you consider the prophecy in the bible, it's hard to refute some of it. The prophecy is there to serve as proof that it comes from God. Some of the prophecy can seem a little vague, but others are very detailed. And it's never been wrong. I'm not aware of any other religious book on the planet that can make this claim.
By the way, the christians are closely watching the middle east right now. There's a prophecy that says damascus will be completely leveled by israel, most likely by a nuke because of how it's described. This prophecy is in Isaiah 17. If Syria, Jordan, Hamas, and Egypt gang up on Israel and lose, with Israel annexing all of these countries, and with damascus and maybe some other cities leveled, would you believe the bible then?
I was saddened by the number of people deliberately lying in an effort to get out of jury duty.
Could it be, possibly, that those people couldn't afford to be away from work for jury duty? Our society creates a bunch of people barely making it paycheck to paycheck, then wonders why they're not willing to take time off from work to do their civic duty.
I'm surprised at what people will and will not believe is possible. People believe in extra terrestrial life, black holes, string theory, the big bang, an infinite universe, worm holes, the existence of other dimensions, that evolution sprang up out of nothing in spite of entropy...
But they won't believe that life exists in other dimensions... intelligent life... and that maybe there's an all-powerful inter-dimensional being who's responsible for creating everything in this dimension.
"But we have proof!" I think your religion requires more faith than mine.
Personally, I think scientists should stay completely out of the religious sphere. They're not going to change anyone's mind, science and religion mix very badly, and commenting on theological issues only increases the perception among many religious types that science is their enemy/competitor.
The problem isn't science, it's the scientists. To me, science is the study of God's creation. If you've rejected God, it doesn't matter what your reasoning is. I believe you've rejected God because you're unwilling to surrender your will, and/or you're unwilling to change your lifestyle.
For the huge argument between scientists and christians, I think we're both doing it wrong. One doesn't disprove the other. Christians and scientists should be working together to understand the universe. Adversarial relationships tend to make people stick stead-fast to their beliefs no matter what, even if they're based on incorrect science, even if they're based on an incorrect interpretation of the bible.
It has nothing to do with me being an atheist, I'm just an asshole.
God loves you in spite of this and wants you to accept his invitation to live forever. :-)
Because "God did it" adds nothing to our understanding and adds an extra, seemingly unnecessary link in the chain of reasoning. It's a platitude, not an explanation. On top of that, "God did it" has never, in the entire history of mankind, been the correct answer where such answers became knowable:
Why does the sun move across the sky? God did it... no wait, the earth is rotating so it only seems the sun moves across the sky. Why do people get sick? God did it... no wait, it turns out there are things called germs and pathogens that affect our bodies and make us sick. Where does thunder and lightning come from? How is wine formed from grape juice? What causes the seasons to change? There used to be a "God did it" explanation for all of these.
I'd like to point out that christians still wouldn't be wrong by suggesting that God did it, even if a later scientific explanation were available, since it's all a creation of God. To me, science is simply the study of God's creation. If we discover some scientific explanation for something, it may be that previous assumptions that were made by christians about the nature of the universe might have been incorrect. But I think the difference between me and non-christians is that I'm open-minded enough to consider the possibility that "facts" proven by science may actually be inaccurate or even totally incorrect. I'm also not hard-headed enough to think that christians are always 100% right about the nature of the universe and the current mainstream belief about the age of the earth for example. Time has has no meaning (or at least is perceived totally differently) in the afterlife. It may be that both christians and scientists are technically right about the age of the earth.
So why should we accept "God did it" as the reason the universe exists?
Why should I accept that there is no God? Because of science?
I'm a christian.
And many theists assume that, even if there is a God, that it's important to him that you believe in him during this life. (Why would that be so important to God anyway?!)
I believe you're given an opportunity to redeem yourself here on earth. Once you're out of here permanently, you've either missed your chance or you haven't. Why it's been setup this way, I have no idea.
And many theists assume that, if you don't believe in God before you die, that God will be so upset that he'll send you to hell for eternity. (Why do so many theists think God is a psychopath?)
God doesn't want anyone to end up in hell. If you end up in hell, it's because you've sent yourself there by not accepting the offer of rescue.
And even if you do believe in God, what are the chances you've chosen the right one to believe in?
Deeply personal things have happened in my life to prove it to me. I became a christian at 14. At that instant, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of peace and love, something I had never felt before, not even from my parents. I believe this was the holy spirit. I know it sounds fantastic. And you might be able to explain it away with some scientific explanation. But it doesn't matter to me what other people think about my experience and decision.
Christianity? What if the Muslims are right?
Islam? What if the Jews are right?
Judaism? What if the Hindus are right?
Hinduism? What if the Buddhists are right?
What if all the major religions are wrong?
Bible prophecy exists, not so that people can predict the future (although you can), but so that people can look back at the prophecy and know that the bible predicted it before it happened. There are 100s of prophecies in the bible that have been fulfilled. It's never been wrong. Some of them are vague and could maybe be explained away by a skeptic. But others are impossible to explain away. (The Daniel 11 (iirc) prophecy for example.) Some of the prophecies are so dead on that historians insist that they were written after the event, even when much proof exists that says otherwise.
I believe the other religions in the world are demonic in origin, specifically designed to direct people away from salvation.
And on and on it goes...
It seems overwhelmingly self evident to me that people inherit their religious beliefs from their parents and the society around them. They don't wait until they're adults, capable of making these kinds of Big Decisions with a rational mind. They don't research all the alternatives and make an informed decision. They're basically brainwashed from birth.
I became a christian at the age of 14 in spite of my parents.
If God really is a psychopath; i.e., if God really is going to send you to hell for eternity because you didn't believe or did believe, but believed in the wrong God,
Like I said, you send yourself there. God (Jesus) will rescue you if you only accept the offer. It's true that people are deceived into believing the wrong thing. This is why satan is called the great deceiver. But have people been completely deceived, or have people allowed themselves to be deceived because the deception is more compatible with their desire to live in opposition to God?
then the vast, vast majority of humanity is screwed, and is going to hell, because even if you do believe in the right God, chances are your faith and adherence to your religion is watered down enough to piss him off to send you to hell anyway...
Sadly, it's true that the vast majority of humanity won't make it. But getting into heaven is about accepting the offer of redemption. Once you're saved, you're always saved, no matter what.
I would argue that to have true faith and
In other words, they choose to do the "right" thing because it is right, not because someone else said it was right and threatened them with torture if they disobeyed.
I'd like to point out something about christianity. It's not that you're threatened with torture for failing to do right things. God doesn't want anyone to go to Hell. People send themselves there by failing to reject the offer to be rescued. It's like you're floating in the ocean, then when the coast guard throws you a life preserver you refuse to grab onto it, expecting to be rescued some other way, then curse the coast guard for allowing you to drown.
Whether or not you escape from hell depends only on your willingness to accept the offer to pull you out. That's it. It doesn't matter how awful a person you were over your life. You're still in.
Some might say this is unjust because a serial killer could be allowed into heaven while a "moral" person might be condemned. But from my perspective, it's comforting to know that there's nothing I have done that is so bad that it couldn't be forgiven.
I find it interesting that people assume (maybe I'm making another assumption) that christianity claims that the earth is held up by turtles or atlas or elephants or something. The bible says that God hangs the earth on nothing, and claimed this while the rest of the world was envisioning animals or a giant lamp stand or something.
Was he mad or describing things that are difficult to describe?
Here's an exercise for you: It's 2000 years ago and technology is nothing like it is today. Describe a helicopter using only plants, animals, minerals, and sounds from the natural world.
What about using prison labour to provide cheap goods and services?
This is already done, but it's a terrible idea. Prisoners, who are working very cheaply, compete with free people who are working for a reasonable wage, distorting market prices. Maintaining the supply of cheap goods requires maintaining the supply of prisoners, giving the state an incentive to create more laws that poor people will routinely break so that they can be put to work at below the market rate.
You already have this system in the USA. You also have the highest proportion of your population incarcerated of any country.
Expect this trend to be played out in the US to the furthest extent possible. We have to compete against china after all. :-/ I would point out however that it won't be the state by themselves creating more laws. The corporations in the private prison system will write the laws, then pay lobbyists to bribe politicians to pass the laws. That is, if "muslim terrorists" don't conveniently burn down the capitol building. I wonder who the scapegoat will be this time.
Dark times are coming.
Although this sounds like it will help with a few of the issues that are faced with managing the criminal population, I don't see any way of preventing it's eventual use to control society as a whole. Though if history has taught us anything it's that the eventual measures of control which are used will be more insidious than we could imagine from looking at this technology now.
I know most people on slashdot like to bash christianity, but the bible really does contain a warning about this. It warns of a one-world government with so much control over the individual that each buy/sell transaction is approved or not approved at the point of sale. Whatever device is used for this, it would be trivial to include a gps feature also. This is why christians freak out over biometrics and implanting rfid tags in animals and people.
30 years ago, none of this was possible. Now, a good many of us could probably design this system ourselves.
Liberal hippies?
I'm more worried about this from a libertarian perspective. Once the cost of "imprisoning" someone is low enough, then its a lot easier to increase sentences and criminalize a lot more stuff.
"It seems you're missing a tail light... the penalty for that is being tagged for 20 years."
Mark my words...
This system will never be used and here's why. The long-term plan for the US is to turn the prison system into a system of forced labor camps. Inmates will be forced to work in factories for 10c an hour making shoes or TVs or whatever. You can't force labor on someone if they're out running around. This way, instead of costing the government money to house and feed inmates, they'll pay for their own incarceration, plus a fat profit. It becomes a cash-cow for a well-connected corporation and some politicians. And the government gets a cut... 20 years for a broken tail-light in deed. Expect lots of life sentences.
I guess this could be used in conjunction with a penalty tax of some sort. That is, you have to "lease" the device that enslaves you. If you don't make the payment, you get to keep it longer. And they garnish your wages to make you pay for it.
I would like to hear from programmers that have been at it for 10 or more years that aren't 'burned out'
I have 20 years of experience. I'm starting to burn out. But it's not because I don't like the work, or because it's getting too hard for me or something... it's because the job market sucks. On one hand, I should count my blessings. I have a good contract rate at a stable client that I've worked with for years. But my rate is still far below where I've been in the past. And the impression that I'm getting is that my rate is likely to continue to decline. Not because I'm less effective, but because of three other reasons: The influx of indians, outsourcing entire operations, and a general attitude by employers that developers are overpaid and should be ground down to the income of an office clerk... the first two existing to encourage the third. A country, any country, should protect its labor force. Canada does it. But the US doesn't. And for that reason, working here sucks. I'm seriously considering changing to a different career... maybe something like car repair.
I want that Korean Howard Cosell impersonator from Better Off Dead.
My bonuses equaled my salary at the end of the first year, at the end of the second year, my bonus were 3 times as high as my salary.
After spending 20 years in IT, I would argue that this is the exception and not the rule. I've been promised bonuses 9 times in my career and received it once. Always the excuse was company performance. I did great... it just wasn't in the budget this year. sorry.
You cannot create an adversarial relationship with your employees, then expect them to treat you like anything other than an adversary.
Better to know what you are getting into than be shocked with a $1000 bill later.
Good luck with that. My son recently needed an ambulance ride after a severe drug reaction. When the doctor called 911, we got who we got. Turns out they were out of network and we were on the hook for something like half of the cost of the ambulance ride, somewhere around $1000 iirc. So much for health insurance.
Here, hold this rock for a second.
Autistic kids rock.
You know, if you'd just apply yourself and try harder, you'd be more successful. ;-)
The counterargument from these religious fundie assholes - and yes I HAVE heard them discussing this - is "well if you build them into every car, it'll be cheaper by economy of scale" and "it's just like requiring a seat belt and that's a safety device too."
These fuckers would love - just LOVE - to have the damn things loaded into every single car, and required to be checked up and maintenanced when you get your car emissions-tested.
My beliefs might be considered fundamentalist christian by many. This may come as a shock to you, but I drink beer. Not very much, mind you, but enough that I might get in trouble if I drive after eating at a restaurant. So I simply choose not to drink beer while I'm out.
Here's another shock: I think these devices are a bad idea. I'm a real big fan of personal responsibility and throwing the book at people who drink and drive. How about this: first offense, no license for two years. Second offense, lose license permanently. Drive on a revoked license while DUI, 5 years in jail. Then enforce it uniformly and consistently. How does that sound? And no one had to lose and personal liberties.
Religious fundies are not all hypocritical abolitionist prudes. Try to meet some and be open-minded.
The cost of (relatively) cheap gasoline? War, war, and more war. That cheap gasoline is only cheap because we're willing to bankrupt ourselves to get it.
The price of gasoline in America is all about refinery capacity and not the price of oil. So why don't they just build more refineries? That's right.. because the price of gasoline in America is artificially controlled.
The wars are about the control of natural resources (including oil) and the control of money.
It was easy for congress to do:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100808/22161110540.shtml
And once you start paying down the debt...
The United States will never, ever, pay down its debt. Ever. It will not ever pay it back. Not because it's not possible, but because those in control choose not to. It's the exact same thing as running up a credit card because you're about to file bankruptcy.
The US will continue to print money (I mean the federal reserve will buy treasuries), until the cows come home. And one day, when every golden egg has finally been squeezed out of the golden goose, our goose will be cooked. And men in expensive tailored suits will leave our country, with bulging pockets, to head for greener pastures. And we'll be left to rot.
I think I'll start making protection payments to the warlord of my county.
As a christian, I can assure you that you have no idea what you're talking about.
Aside from the funny part, that is closer to the truth than you like.
Most of our current mainstream religions, i.e. the monotheistic, abrahamic ones, basically need you to feel horrible because their story says the world is bad and the afterlife can be good if (and only if) you follow their teachings.
There are a lot of happy/unhappy people who are/aren't christian. Maybe it's not about that?
Is the world bad? Just ask the millions of non-upper-middle-class-white-western-civilization people for whom life most assuredly sucks on a daily basis. You don't need Christianity to prove the world is bad.
It's hard to feel like shit after a good night with a lover. Your desire for spiritual salvation is quite a bit low after a hot threesome.
And when was the last time that happened to you? Oh right, never. There are studies that show that christian couples have more and better sex than non-christian couples, even, gasp, those that waited until they were married.
Let's see how much fun that threesome is after you get multiple diseases.
Look at the pope and try to take him seriously.
I'm not catholic. I don't take the pope seriously. Please stop lumping us all together.