all reports indicate they are decades away from producing Nukes
Huh? All reports indicate that they are a few months to a couple of years away from producing nukes.
Sigh. I think it's a good war. But that's based on knowing a hell of a lot more stuff than I can put into a posting.
But just because I'll fail is no excuse not to try:
1. Saddam IS so oppressive that we should go in and liberate the country. I know we're all too damn cynical these days to use words like "liberate" but that's the damn reality. Our grandparents weren't too sophisticated to believe that you can liberate a country, but were too damn "smart".
2. The middle east is a fucking hell hole. Saudi Arabia has 1/4 of all of the world's oil and for them it's fucking free, on tap. But the Saudi princes claim to be descendants of Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab the founder of an Islamist cult that teaches it is the duty of his followers to invade the entire earth, subjugate all infidels and convert by the sword. Guess what the Saudis spend their oil money on? Spreading the good word. That's why oil matters. The Saudis are our enemies, but whenever they raise the price of oil a little our economy completely tanks. We need enough independent sources of oil that we are no longer reliant on our enemies and can put them in their place.
3. In other ways I'll say it again, "the middle east is a fucking hell hole." It's very hard to describe what you'll read if you read Arab newspapers.
It's a constant stream of what, to western eyes, looks like nonsensical hatred and lies about the west, about Americans and about Isralies. Their sense of history is SO screwed, and they really don't consider non-mulsims to be human beings worthy of survival. I hate to bring up the big old German Fuerer again, but he is a hero over there - every now and then you can find an article moaning that it's too bad he didn't get to finish the holocaust.
Anyway the problem is this. Remember Soviet newpapers? They printed nothing but propaganda too, but there's a difference. No one believed Soviet propaganda, not even the folks back in Russia. They were too well educated and Soviet propaganda was dry, it didn't stir up passion.
Arab's are different. They are very poorly educated when they are educated at all (50% illiteracy) and their propaganda is pure passion. The mob wants blood and lots of it.
Despite all the oil, the regular people in the Arab world are very poor, mostly because they're governments are archaic and becase they've rejected everything the rest of the world has learned over the past couple of hundred years - it's absolutely beneath their dignity to learn anything from us non-muslim trash.
But their newspapers have a ready excuse for every failure. It's a conspiracy. They believe that the Jews (and to a lesser but significant extent, the Americans and other westerners) have stolen them blind. It can be funny. When a poorly constructed radio tower in Afganistan blows over in the wind, the authorities say Massad (Israeli intelligence) must have destroyed it. When the date crop in Saudi Arabia doesn't bring good money on the world market, it must be because the Israelis (who's crop is 1/100th the size) must have spitefully undercut their price.
The place is drowning in ignorance, foolishness, oppression, misery and unimaginable violence.
Oh the violence... I'll get to that in a second, but I want to finish my point.
* The people there are living in a closed society. It's not changing from within. They're stuck.
* They're under terrible oppression.
* Because of Militant Islam, the Suadis, Al Qa'eda etc. they're a danger to us. We need to mess with their society so that, in the eyes of 100 million Militant Mulsims and 400 million Militant Muslim sympathizers around the world, modernity, with 3 squares a day, freedom, tolerance, prosparity and peace look better than destroying all infidels for Allah. I know it sounds crazy, but they don't all believe that right now.
We need to shoehorn a good example into the middle east as soon as possible.
I don't know as much about Korea. On thing I keep hearing is that we can't fight on two fronts at once, so Korea gets a temporary pass.
I should write more but I've got to go...
Rocky J. Squirrel
Here's a very old article on why we are attacking Iraq.
The original is no longer available for free on Strategic Forcasting's web site (it costs $120/year to join these days and it's worth it if your rich). So here's a link to a usenet posting of it post
After eight months of searching I've only turned up four sane Arabs. Since I've included all of their web sites this will give you an unrealistic view that of the sanity of Arab society, but these have to go on any list of the best web sites on the Middle east. Other good sites: http://www.memri.org/index.html (best selection of translations from the Arab press)
You can also look up Arab newspapers with english translations on Google Web Directory under newspapers. There's one fake Saudi newspaper to look out for. The editor lives and writes in California if that tells you anything.
Never assume things of strangers. Of course you don't see sarcasm/exageration when you see it? Did you also know the US Government supported and funded Hussein even when we knew he was killing his own? Not to get into all the facts of *that* dirty situation, I was just exagerating in my statement. We do plenty of good in the world also. I don't think that the US Government is all evil; but I do believe most of congress is corrupted.
Your definition of sarcasm must be as standard as Alanis Morissette's definition of irony.
Anyway, of course I know that the US government supported Hussein through many of his crimes.
This is morally irrelevent to any arguement over what current and future policy should be.
I'm getting tired of people acting as though the fact that previous congresses and administrations have turned their heads away from crimes and at times participated in them, makes us duty bound to allow crimes to continue now, or worse yet, means that the American people deserve no protection from enemies.
There are many more falicies in common arguments, such as those that ignore the differences between legitimate democracies and oppressive monarchies and those that ignore all shades of grey (for instance those that assume that if the US government has ever had some corruption then there is no difference at all between the US and, for instance, states that completely terrorize and oppress their own populations).
Since I find that such arguments are all that get printed in the Arab yellow press, I have to suspect that they did not originate among honest but stupid western pacificts, but that they were actually carefully crafted by professional propagandists in the east, and that our activists, in a state of innocent ignorance, were as mesmerized by this tripe as the Arab public is.
"But I do believe most of congress is corrupted." is a very vague phrase.
I know this is going even further afield, but has it ever occured to you that the big problem with American politics is NOT the one that people assume: * Money goes to politicians campaigns from businesses, which buys their loyalty.
That campaign the money is only used to buy lie filled political adverts that have no reliable information at all, and no competent person would believe a single word of.
The problem is: * The American public is so ignorant, stupid and uniformed that they will listen to a political add!
It's not all our fault. Our press, while heavenly compared with the yellow presses of despotic regimes like all of those in the middle east, is not particularly informative. Compared with the CBC all American news sources suck, and compared the Toronto Globe and Mail (before it was bought by a chain) we've never had a single good newspaper.
People believe political adds, largely because there are no informing and reliable sources of unformation in this country.
Under it all it is our fault. If we demanded an informing press, the thousands of disappointed journalism could find somewhere decent to work.
I'm sure Dr Kopeikin is aware of what a circular arguement is and avoided using one.
What worries me is that so many moderators wasted their points modding up posts with this silly assumption that you can read that sentence in the article absolutely literally.
I'm sure there was SOMETHING to test or they wouldn't have bothered.
Almost. If the American GOVERNMENT has anything to do with it. The people and scientists are not on the whole evil and destructive like our government is.
Your definition of evil must be the common "has different priorities or beliefs than I do and isn't perfect"
There are better choices for a definition of evil, like the following that applies to Saddam Hussain: "kills millions, brutally supresses all opposition and all human rights, hires the worst profesional torturers and rapists in history"
You know I assumed that George Senior was full of shit when he called Saddam "another Hitler".
I was wrong. The problem here is that our media doesn't care enough to actually inform us of all the slaughter and oppression around the world and our local do-gooder activists are so busy hating their republican neighbors that they couldn't be bothered to check out the possibilty that they are occasionally right.
Cognitive dissonance makes it easier to believe whatever propaganda is floating around as long as it isn't our propaganda.
The situation in the Middle east is complicated, so of course we know nothing about it. It's scary but the people currently in the White House actually know more about that issue than the activists.
I don't want the "total information awareness" geeks reading my email. But you know, I can oppose some policies of my government without doing a full "you evil bastard" hissy fit.
It seems to me that there has been a dearth in people eligible for immortalization in a mountain face (for example) for quite a while now.
That's crass. There's lots of people I care about more than anyone on a mountain face...
I think monuments with the faces of the innocent victims would be appropriate.
By the way, I'm tired of reading that 9/11 was our fault. It was our fault for not being members of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabist invasion cult.
You know, 9/11 happened because Osama Bin Laudin is no weirdo to the Saudis, he's a pretty typical result of the Saudi Wahhabist education system. It's an education system that the Saudis use all that oil money to spread to the rest of the world (Pakistan and Afganistan are filled with their schools).
Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab was an 18th century Islamist cult founder who the Saudis princes claim to be descended from.
He taught that his followers were destined by god to invade the rest of the world that it is their duty to be everyone else's enemy, to take everything for themselves and to convert by the sword. Among his wonderful fatwas is one that forbids his followers to have friends who are not muslims - hatred is required. It is also forbidden to wish a non muslim well on his holidays etc. etc.. In Saudi Arabia, preaching Christianity is punishable by death.
Here's some quotes from modern Saudi society and education taken from various places: http://www.mideastweb.org/index.html http://ww w.memri.org/index.html http://www.amarji.org/inde x.htm
Sheikh Majed 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Firian recently stated in the Suleiman Bin Muqiran mosque in Riyadh: "Muslims must... educate their children to Jihad. This is the greatest benefit of the situation: educating the children to Jihad and to hatred of the Jews, the Christians, and the infidels; educating the children to Jihad and to revival of the embers of Jihad in their souls. This is what is needed now..."
A schoolbook for the 9th grade on Hadith introduces a famous narration known by the name, "The Promise of the Stone and the Tree."It tells a story about Abu Hurayra, one of the Prophet's companions who quoted the Prophet as saying: "The hour [the Day of Judgment] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them.A Jew will [then] hide behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or tree will call upon the Muslim: 'O Muslim, O slave of Allah! there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!' - except for the gharqad tree, for it is one of the trees of the Jews."[27] The Hadith is accompanied by a number of statements:
"It is Allah's wisdom that the struggle between Muslims and Jews shall continue until the Day of Judgment."
"The Hadithbrings forth the glad tidings about the ultimate victory, with Allah's help, of Muslims over Jews."
"The Jews and the Christians are the enemies of the believers.They will not be favorably disposed toward Muslims and it is necessary to be cautious [in dealing with them]."
The book asks questions for class discussion:
"Who will be victorious in the Day of Judgment?"
"With what types of weapons should Muslims arm themselves against the Jews?"
"Name four factors leading to the victory of Muslims over their enemies."
"On a television programme that provides religious counseling [fatwa] a viewer asked the counseling Sheikh if he could travel to Egypt to hand an item he had in safekeeping over to a Christian friend's family. The Sheikh reprimanded the viewer for having a Christian friend in the first place - Muslims were not permitted to take Christian friends. He then went on to advise the viewer to keep the item in question for himself, since all possessions of kuffaar [non-believers] were the rightful property of Muslims."
"The same Sheikh was asked for advice by a Saudi student who was leaving to the U.S to study, and feared for his virtue. The Sheikh advised him to marry an American as soon as he arrived to the U.S., on condition that he would not have any babies by that 'wife,' then divorce her once his scholarship was over and he was ready to head back home."
All the while the only really accepted view of Israelis in the Arab world is that every last Israeli (down to each baby) deserves death. Look out, we've always been second on their hate list.
As it's been in Israel it's going to be here.
The One Narrative Crisis September 5, 2002
Dr. Mohamed Mosaad
A large group of Arab intellectuals, reflecting the whole spectrum of Arab intelligentsia, was presented in a talk show program broadcast on one of the Arab satellite channels. The subject was the Arab Israeli conflict, Intifada and the suicide bombing. The guests included Marxist, Nasserist, Nationalist, Islamist, and right wing intellectuals. One, thus, should expect a variety of conflicting ideas, a heated debate and an exciting show. One should, at least, expect an exchange of strong arguments, a reflection of different sources and a presentation of multiple analyses. Different ideologies, paradigms and historical, economic, political and cultural grounding of the subject must be displayed in a show like this, with guests like those discussing an issue like that!
The surprise, which is not really surprising to an Arab audience, was the absolute consensus prevailing on the stage. Israel is evil, peace is a big deception, the Israelis are monsters, Israel lives on extending its borders, and those who favor peace are daydreamers, not to mention betrayers and collaborators. There were some differences though. For instance the Nasserist representative said a suicide bomb is more effective than an atomic bomb. The Marxist representative objected, not to say it is immoral, Heaven forbid, but rather to say it is an exaggeration. Of course an atomic bomb is more effective; we should be objective and scientific, the Marxist said. The Nasserist, however, challenged him by saying that he is not exaggerating anything. An atomic bomb could be expected, but no one can know exactly when and where the suicide bomber will blow him/herself, he proudly commented. When the question of the victims being civilians was raised, the guests all murmured and waved their hands. There is not a single Israeli civilian; all of them are a part of the military establishment. The Nationalist frankly said that a one-day old baby living in Tel Aviv is an occupier who is naturally a legitimate target of suicide bombing.
This two-hour show is a drop in the Arab media ocean. But the other drops are no different. The same boring song has been chanted day and night for years in the Arab World. Western commentators are usually amazed and sometimes panicked by this propaganda, wondering how peace would be possible in such a context. My point, however, is not the content of the song, but rather, that it is the only song one can hear. The single narrative is not just the only view of Israel and the Arabs. It dominates the entire program of Arab national life. A conflict with a tiny country in a small corner of the Arab world has pushed almost all other issues off the stage for over half a century. Crazy people do say crazy things all the time, but we might expect to see and hear some other voices too.. Some other reasonable people should be also presented. Why are those reasonable people muted, and why is the crazy discourse flourishing?....
There was no official list of words you can't broadcast and punishments for doing so when George Carlin came up with his "7 words you can't say on TV" routine.
But when that routine was played on a radio station in New York, the FCC got 1 complaint and used that as an excuse to make up a draconian set of rules.
Talking about censorship reminds me of a passage I just read in Christopher Hitchen's book, "letters to a young contrarian": Theodor Adorno wrote that an artistically satisifying film could doubtless be made that met all of the terms and conditions of the Hays Office (the Hollywood censor of the day), but only as long as there was no Hays Office. I have always taken that observation to imply two things: First, virtue and merit can become their opposites if they are exacted or compelled. Second, no self description or definition can be relied upon.
I can't believe you equated Tipper Gore with the "Read a banned book" woman.
It didn't occur to you that they are opposites?
Anyway, when the truth is that any teacher who DIRECTLY said some of the stuff that gets books banned would get fired instantly, I think a person who points out where the better thought out subversion is is doing a MUCH needed public service. Books that got banned in other places may not be banned in VA, but they still say things that your teachers can't say and that you TV won't. Stuff like: "religion is nonsense" and "you better learn to think for yourself because most people are idiots and the rest are liars"
Also, banned books prove how fucked up your neighbors who banned them are. Knowing that is an education in itself.
Still, I wish our busibodies were less shrill.
Major Danby replied indulgently with a superior smile, "But, Yosarian, what if everyone thought that way?"
"Then I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?" -- Catch 22
records then cassettes then cds then audio dvds... vhs then dvd...
Finally they came up with a new format to make us buy all of our books over again.
I remember hearing about this in Japan a while ago. An English work book was printed on this stuff and came with a grease pencil so that you could do your school work in the bathtub.
It may cost twice as much, but now I can study in the bathtub...
All this talk about memories that some people find hard to believe reminds me of Gir (Zim's little robot) being interviewed in the Zim episode "mysterious mysteries":
Anchor: Now, what can you tell us about Dib?
GIR: He's so mean to my master! He not like the Zim! I seen it! Dib is bad! Yeeheeheehe!
Anchor: And about the night in question?
The screen fades to the black screen that says 'dramatic reenactment.' The screen cuts to the set where the actors are. The Zim actor climbs down the ladder.
GIR (voice over): I was the chubby lady hiding in the bushes!
A camera zooms in on a woman hiding behind a cardboard bush. Her face is blurred out.
Anchor (voice over): Uh huh... And what about Dib?
GIR (voice over): I'm on TV!
Up in the tree, the GIR actor uses the flashlight to make a shadow puppet with his claw.
Anchor (voice over): Yes, then what happened?
GIR (voice over): That's when the giant squirrel showed up!
An actor in a squirrel suit walks out from behind the tree.
Zim (voice over): GIR!
Anchor (voice over): Let her talk!
The GIR actor shines the light on the squirrel.
Anchor (voice over): Can't you see she's upset? Now, don't you mean Dib showed up?
The GIR actor shines the flashlight up at the sky.
GIR (voice over): No! The squirrel showed up first, then Dib showed up.
The Dib and Gaz actors walk into view. The Dib actor spots the squirrel and starts screaming. He throws the camera down.
Dib actor: Whoa man! What is that thing!?!
GIR (voice over): And then the squirrel ate Dib's greasy head!
The squirrel actor leaps on the Dib actor and pretends to eat his head. The Dib actor kicks his legs, screaming. The Zim actor lifts up his mask. The squirrel actor then gets up.
GIR (voice over): And then the squirrel flew away!
Two cables lower down and attach to the squirrel, one to his head and one to his tail. They start to lift him up. The cable on his head rips through the costume so that only the one on his tail is attached. It pulls the squirrel into the air and through the set. The squirrel then appear against a blue screen background of outer space.
GIR (voice over): After that, he went back to his home planet to fight all the bad guys.
The tail of the squirrel costume rips off and the squirrel actor plummets down. Two guys dressed, one dressed as a bird creature and the other as an axe-wielding beetle/turtle monster, sit in a sandbox with the space background behind them. The squirrel actor crashes down on the bird actor and then bounces back and hits the beetle actor, knocking him down and sending the axe flying. The screen fades and cuts back to the set where everyone is sitting.
Anchor: What does that have to do with anything?
GIR: Me and the squirrel are friends!
Zim episode transcript from http://www.thescarymonkeyshow.com
I do work in sound compression and I find that with music I know and love, I can ALWAYS find some bit of it where the compressed version is missing something. Even Ogg at it's lowest possible compress "-m500" doesn't sound quite as good as the original.
That's the reason to listen to the original. Because you will enjoy it more.
Not only was RTF never fully documented, but different versions of Word had incompatable RTF readers.
If you examine an RTF file you'll notice all kinds of redundant codes that are put in to cope with incompatable MSWord versions.
Fully design, fully document a protocol, Microsoft? I just spit out my drink.
Rocky J. Squirrel
Re:How about a relationship built on trust?
on
Googling For Dates?
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· Score: 2
Sounds good to me.
Asshole filters are useful!
The "I did a web search on you" test might be a good one.
Rocky J. Squirrel
Re:Does this seem bass-ackward to anyone else?
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Googling For Dates?
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· Score: 2
This really does sound like one of those "In Soviet Russia" jokes: First stalk her, THEN date her.
Seriously, is it going to become necessary for women to get preemptive restraining orders against guys they haven't dated yet, to keep from being stalked on line "as a precautionary measure?" And on the gripping hand, how can we condemn the Feds for doing this kind of thing wholesale, when we aren't above doing it on a piecemeal basis, with no oversight or regulatory structure to govern our actions?
Just a thought or two...
Doing a google search on someone to is STALKING them?!!!! There should be restraining orders to stop people from doing web searches??!!!
I say you're a liberal wimp. Stop coddling these scummy men. Doing a web search is date rape!
Put this on your tee shirt and wear it proud grrl! Do a web search, go to jail.
Back to the world of reality where many of us live and recieve our mail. Web searching dates is a good idea. I never go for a job interview without doing a thorough google search first.
Worse still, if you have a script that generates an arbitrary number of 4:33.mp3s of nothing, you can violate John Cages [mindspring.com] copyright in truly efficient fashion. Now, if the product is a copyright violation, is the script itself a violation as well? What does the I-ANAL crowd think?
Although, Cage did produce some good music, a lot of his "art" was a sort of performance art based on putting the WORST, INHERENTLY UNINTERESTING CRAP POSSIBLE into a performance and proving that if you have a good intellectual sounding bullshit rap going you can con audiences full of pretentious losers into pretending to appreciate it.
For instance he had a "piece" that consisted of elaborate mathematical style instructions to "performers" whoes instruments were AM/FM radio dials. Obviously the the "instructions" were irrelevent and bogus, and all the audience heard were a bunch of radio programs and commercials running at the same time.
Ooh. Deep.
My dad had a John Cage record of fake recorded explosions. That's right, the guy, picked up a microphone and blew into it occasionally (making that explosion sound) for 30 minutes and managed to sell the album.
Obiously, scamming the distributers into selling this crap and a bunch of pretentious stoner college students into buying it was the real art involved.
Anyone who uses the word suits to describe people whose responsibilities are focused on the bottom line is way out of touch.
Well, "Suits" do have the problem that they are human beings.
When I thing about the "suits" I've had big problems with they fall into two catagories (me having a big problem is my definition of evil of course):
1. idiots who're faking their way through their jobs, and making a big mess
2. intelligent, capable people who are insecure and neurotic (read - "great big, egotistical assholes")
Since most people aren't brilliant and since pushy neurotic people are the ones who push themselves to the top while the sane people send out their resumes to get away from the carnage, these problems are common as water.
So there's enough bad blood between "suits" and everyone else based on the fact that we're all unfortunately human to justify the use of all sorts of epethets.
Rocky J. Squirrel
Re:Which is all well and good, for *you*
on
Decentralization
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· Score: 1
Rubbish. Specialization is for specific cases in a templated function.
Giggle.
Don't bother, I modded myself down (No Score +1 Bonus)
Rocky J. Squirrel
Re:Listen up, this is the last time I'll say this
on
Decentralization
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· Score: 2
That's a load of crap, and you know it. [blah blah blah] blatant generalization [blah blah blah] racist joke [bizarre analogy to racism] [blah blah blah] I'm sick of these "it's either this way, or that way" people [hissy fit] [blah blah blah]
And I'm sick of knee-jerks who go into spasms of rightous indignation every time they see a generalization.
The reality is that what the guy said is true a lot of the time, so what'cha bitchin about?
You could have made the simple point that some people are polymaths without the overheated accusations and spitting frenzy.
To be fair to 3G I have to say I have a suspicion that some of the latency is in the USB connection to the cell phone, because I get data for a little while AFTER the phone shuts down when the batteries run out.
I'll have to try a pcmcia card version of the connection to make sure.
Slashdot Mirror
all reports indicate they are decades away from producing Nukes
y pe=1
,m .html and0 1/playwright_11-27.html
Huh? All reports indicate that they are a few months to a couple of years away from producing nukes.
Sigh. I think it's a good war. But that's based on knowing a hell of a lot more stuff than I can put into a posting.
But just because I'll fail is no excuse not to try:
1. Saddam IS so oppressive that we should go in and liberate the country. I know we're all too damn cynical these days to use words like "liberate" but that's the damn reality. Our grandparents weren't too sophisticated to believe that you can liberate a country, but were too damn "smart".
2. The middle east is a fucking hell hole. Saudi Arabia has 1/4 of all of the world's oil and for them it's fucking free, on tap. But the Saudi princes claim to be descendants of Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab the founder of an Islamist cult that teaches it is the duty of his followers to invade the entire earth, subjugate all infidels and convert by the sword. Guess what the Saudis spend their oil money on? Spreading the good word. That's why oil matters. The Saudis are our enemies, but whenever they raise the price of oil a little our economy completely tanks. We need enough independent sources of oil that we are no longer reliant on our enemies and can put them in their place.
3. In other ways I'll say it again, "the middle east is a fucking hell hole." It's very hard to describe what you'll read if you read Arab newspapers.
It's a constant stream of what, to western eyes, looks like nonsensical hatred and lies about the west, about Americans and about Isralies. Their sense of history is SO screwed, and they really don't consider non-mulsims to be human beings worthy of survival. I hate to bring up the big old German Fuerer again, but he is a hero over there - every now and then you can find an article moaning that it's too bad he didn't get to finish the holocaust.
Anyway the problem is this. Remember Soviet newpapers? They printed nothing but propaganda too, but there's a difference. No one believed Soviet propaganda, not even the folks back in Russia. They were too well educated and Soviet propaganda was dry, it didn't stir up passion.
Arab's are different. They are very poorly educated when they are educated at all (50% illiteracy) and their propaganda is pure passion. The mob wants blood and lots of it.
Despite all the oil, the regular people in the Arab world are very poor, mostly because they're governments are archaic and becase they've rejected everything the rest of the world has learned over the past couple of hundred years - it's absolutely beneath their dignity to learn anything from us non-muslim trash.
But their newspapers have a ready excuse for every failure. It's a conspiracy. They believe that the Jews (and to a lesser but significant extent, the Americans and other westerners) have stolen them blind. It can be funny. When a poorly constructed radio tower in Afganistan blows over in the wind, the authorities say Massad (Israeli intelligence) must have destroyed it. When the date crop in Saudi Arabia doesn't bring good money on the world market, it must be because the Israelis (who's crop is 1/100th the size) must have spitefully undercut their price.
The place is drowning in ignorance, foolishness, oppression, misery and unimaginable violence.
Oh the violence... I'll get to that in a second, but I want to finish my point.
* The people there are living in a closed society. It's not changing from within. They're stuck.
* They're under terrible oppression.
* Because of Militant Islam, the Suadis, Al Qa'eda etc. they're a danger to us. We need to mess with their society so that, in the eyes of 100 million Militant Mulsims and 400 million Militant Muslim sympathizers around the world, modernity, with 3 squares a day, freedom, tolerance, prosparity and peace look better than destroying all infidels for Allah. I know it sounds crazy, but they don't all believe that right now.
We need to shoehorn a good example into the middle east as soon as possible.
I don't know as much about Korea. On thing I keep hearing is that we can't fight on two fronts at once, so Korea gets a temporary pass.
I should write more but I've got to go...
Rocky J. Squirrel
Here's a very old article on why we are attacking Iraq.
The original is no longer available for free on Strategic Forcasting's web site (it costs $120/year to join these days and it's worth it if your rich). So here's a link to a usenet posting of it post
After eight months of searching I've only turned up four sane Arabs. Since I've included all of their web sites this will give you an unrealistic view that of the sanity of Arab society, but these have to go on any list of the best web sites on the Middle east.
Other good sites:
http://www.memri.org/index.html
(best selection of translations from the Arab press)
http://www.mideastweb.org/LessonofIraq.htm
(other articles by Mahamad Mosaad)
http://www.mideastweb.org/arabpeacenow.htm
http://www.mideastweb.org/Arabpeace.htm
http://www.mideastweb.org/nothinghappened.htm
http://www.mideastweb.org/onlythem.htm
http://www.danielpipes.org
http://www.amarji.org/index.htm
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/articles.php3?t
(this should be their translations of the arab press)
Tarek Heggy (Egyptian writer)
http://www.heggy.org
turn down your sound card before
going there
Ali Salem (an Egyptian writer and playwrite).
My favorite articles so far are at
http://www.meforum.org/pf.php?id=130
http://sol.spaceports.com/~melinks/site2/ali_sale
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/july-dec
You can also look up Arab newspapers with english translations on Google Web Directory under newspapers. There's one fake Saudi newspaper to look out for. The editor lives and writes in California if that tells you anything.
Never assume things of strangers. Of course you don't see sarcasm/exageration when you see it? Did you also know the US Government supported and funded Hussein even when we knew he was killing his own? Not to get into all the facts of *that* dirty situation, I was just exagerating in my statement. We do plenty of good in the world also. I don't think that the US Government is all evil; but I do believe most of congress is corrupted.
Your definition of sarcasm must be as standard as Alanis Morissette's definition of irony.
Anyway, of course I know that the US government supported Hussein through many of his crimes.
This is morally irrelevent to any arguement over what current and future policy should be.
I'm getting tired of people acting as though the fact that previous congresses and administrations have turned their heads away from crimes and at times participated in them, makes us duty bound to allow crimes to continue now, or worse yet, means that the American people deserve no protection from enemies.
There are many more falicies in common arguments, such as those that ignore the differences between legitimate democracies and oppressive monarchies and those that ignore all shades of grey (for instance those that assume that if the US government has ever had some corruption then there is no difference at all between the US and, for instance, states that completely terrorize and oppress their own populations).
Since I find that such arguments are all that get printed in the Arab yellow press, I have to suspect that they did not originate among honest but stupid western pacificts, but that they were actually carefully crafted by professional propagandists in the east, and that our activists, in a state of innocent ignorance, were as mesmerized by this tripe as the Arab public is.
"But I do believe most of congress is corrupted." is a very vague phrase.
I know this is going even further afield, but has it ever occured to you that the big problem with American politics is NOT the one that people assume:
* Money goes to politicians campaigns from businesses, which buys their loyalty.
That campaign the money is only used to buy lie filled political adverts that have no reliable information at all, and no competent person would believe a single word of.
The problem is:
* The American public is so ignorant, stupid and uniformed that they will listen to a political add!
It's not all our fault. Our press, while heavenly compared with the yellow presses of despotic regimes like all of those in the middle east, is not particularly informative. Compared with the CBC all American news sources suck, and compared the Toronto Globe and Mail (before it was bought by a chain) we've never had a single good newspaper.
People believe political adds, largely because there are no informing and reliable sources of unformation in this country.
Under it all it is our fault. If we demanded an informing press, the thousands of disappointed journalism could find somewhere decent to work.
Rocky J. Squirrel
Gravimetrics to Geopolitics in record time...
And I mentioned Hitler!
Rocky J. Squirrel
[No Score +1 Bonus]
I'm sure Dr Kopeikin is aware of what a circular arguement is and avoided using one.
What worries me is that so many moderators wasted their points modding up posts with this silly assumption that you can read that sentence in the article absolutely literally.
I'm sure there was SOMETHING to test or they wouldn't have bothered.
Rocky J. Squirrel
Almost. If the American GOVERNMENT has anything to do with it. The people and scientists are not on the whole evil and destructive like our government is.
Your definition of evil must be the common "has different priorities or beliefs than I do and isn't perfect"
There are better choices for a definition of evil, like the following that applies to Saddam Hussain:
"kills millions, brutally supresses all opposition and all human rights, hires the worst profesional torturers and rapists in history"
You know I assumed that George Senior was full of shit when he called Saddam "another Hitler".
I was wrong. The problem here is that our media doesn't care enough to actually inform us of all the slaughter and oppression around the world and our local do-gooder activists are so busy hating their republican neighbors that they couldn't be bothered to check out the possibilty that they are occasionally right.
Cognitive dissonance makes it easier to believe whatever propaganda is floating around as long as it isn't our propaganda.
The situation in the Middle east is complicated, so of course we know nothing about it. It's scary but the people currently in the White House actually know more about that issue than the activists.
I don't want the "total information awareness" geeks reading my email. But you know, I can oppose some policies of my government without doing a full "you evil bastard" hissy fit.
Rocky J. Squirrel
Your mind guard link is a german metal band.
The wonderful "MindGuard Psychotronic Mind Control Protection" software is at
http://zapatopi.net/mindguard.html
Damn! You have to see the add for the Linux version!
Rocky J. Squirrel
Your kind of attitude is what makes the world a shitty place to live in.
You are worthless.
Hmm. This is an example of the sort of attitude that that makes the world wonderful?
I'm not sure if we need a:
"+1 Unintentionally Funny"
mod
or a
"-1 No Clue at all"
mod.
Though to tell the truth, I find your own narrow minded self rightious hostility more depressing than funny.
Rocky J. Squirrel
The real question is if the US Government thinks an attack is coming, shouldn't the US Citizens and non US Citizens who come to tour the country?
I think Al Qa'eda's promise to kill 4 million Americans and Jews was a good hint.
Do you know anyone who thinks we're safe?
Ford stood up. "We're safe," he said.
"Oh good, said Arthur."
"We're in a small galley cabin," said Ford, in one of the spaceships of the Vogon Constructor Fleet."
"Ah," said Arthur," this is obviously some strange usage of the word safe that I wasn't previously aware of."
Rocky J. Squirrel
How about the USA changing its destructive foreign policy so we don't have terrorists trying to kill us and destroy monuments.
Like that would ever happen though...
And no. I didn't vote for Bush.
Stanley Feinbaum, professional journalist. I have no tolerance for bad journalism!
Since I already responded to this idea, in the wrong part of the thread (sigh), here's a link to my answer:
Link
Of course, basing your conclusions on false premises is bad journalism.
Rocky J. Squirrel
It seems to me that there has been a dearth in people eligible for immortalization in a mountain face (for example) for quite a while now.
:w w.memri.org/index.htmle x.htm
."
....
That's crass. There's lots of people I care about more than anyone on a mountain face...
I think monuments with the faces of the innocent victims would be appropriate.
By the way, I'm tired of reading that 9/11 was our fault. It was our fault for not being members of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabist invasion cult.
You know, 9/11 happened because Osama Bin Laudin is no weirdo to the Saudis, he's a pretty typical result of the Saudi Wahhabist education system. It's an education system that the Saudis use all that oil money to spread to the rest of the world (Pakistan and Afganistan are filled with their schools).
Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab was an 18th century Islamist cult founder who the Saudis princes claim to be descended from.
He taught that his followers were destined by god to invade the rest of the world that it is their duty to be everyone else's enemy, to take everything for themselves and to convert by the sword. Among his wonderful fatwas is one that forbids his followers to have friends who are not muslims - hatred is required. It is also forbidden to wish a non muslim well on his holidays etc. etc.. In Saudi Arabia, preaching Christianity is punishable by death.
Here's some quotes from modern Saudi society and education taken from various places
http://www.mideastweb.org/index.html
http://w
http://www.amarji.org/ind
Sheikh Majed 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Firian recently stated in the Suleiman Bin Muqiran mosque in Riyadh: "Muslims must... educate their children to Jihad. This is the greatest benefit of the situation: educating the children to Jihad and to hatred of the Jews, the Christians, and the infidels; educating the children to Jihad and to revival of the embers of Jihad in their souls. This is what is needed now..."
A schoolbook for the 9th grade on Hadith introduces a famous narration known by the name, "The Promise of the Stone and the Tree."It tells a story about Abu Hurayra, one of the Prophet's companions who quoted the Prophet as saying: "The hour [the Day of Judgment] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them.A Jew will [then] hide behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or tree will call upon the Muslim: 'O Muslim, O slave of Allah! there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!' - except for the gharqad tree, for it is one of the trees of the Jews."[27] The Hadith is accompanied by a number of statements:
"It is Allah's wisdom that the struggle between Muslims and Jews shall continue until the Day of Judgment."
"The Hadithbrings forth the glad tidings about the ultimate victory, with Allah's help, of Muslims over Jews."
"The Jews and the Christians are the enemies of the believers.They will not be favorably disposed toward Muslims and it is necessary to be cautious [in dealing with them]
The book asks questions for class discussion:
"Who will be victorious in the Day of Judgment?"
"With what types of weapons should Muslims arm themselves against the Jews?"
"Name four factors leading to the victory of Muslims over their enemies."
"On a television programme that provides religious counseling [fatwa] a viewer asked the counseling Sheikh if he could travel to Egypt to hand an item he had in safekeeping over to a Christian friend's family. The Sheikh reprimanded the viewer for having a Christian friend in the first place - Muslims were not permitted to take Christian friends. He then went on to advise the viewer to keep the item in question for himself, since all possessions of kuffaar [non-believers] were the rightful property of Muslims."
"The same Sheikh was asked for advice by a Saudi student who was leaving to the U.S to study, and feared for his virtue. The Sheikh advised him to marry an American as soon as he arrived to the U.S., on condition that he would not have any babies by that 'wife,' then divorce her once his scholarship was over and he was ready to head back home."
All the while the only really accepted view of Israelis in the Arab world is that every last Israeli (down to each baby) deserves death. Look out, we've always been second on their hate list.
As it's been in Israel it's going to be here.
The One Narrative Crisis
September 5, 2002
Dr. Mohamed Mosaad
A large group of Arab intellectuals, reflecting the whole spectrum of Arab intelligentsia, was presented in a talk show program broadcast on one of the Arab satellite channels. The subject was the Arab Israeli conflict, Intifada and the suicide bombing. The guests included Marxist, Nasserist, Nationalist, Islamist, and right wing intellectuals. One, thus, should expect a variety of conflicting ideas, a heated debate and an exciting show. One should, at least, expect an exchange of strong arguments, a reflection of different sources and a presentation of multiple analyses. Different ideologies, paradigms and historical, economic, political and cultural grounding of the subject must be displayed in a show like this, with guests like those discussing an issue like that!
The surprise, which is not really surprising to an Arab audience, was the absolute consensus prevailing on the stage. Israel is evil, peace is a big deception, the Israelis are monsters, Israel lives on extending its borders, and those who favor peace are daydreamers, not to mention betrayers and collaborators. There were some differences though. For instance the Nasserist representative said a suicide bomb is more effective than an atomic bomb. The Marxist representative objected, not to say it is immoral, Heaven forbid, but rather to say it is an exaggeration. Of course an atomic bomb is more effective; we should be objective and scientific, the Marxist said. The Nasserist, however, challenged him by saying that he is not exaggerating anything. An atomic bomb could be expected, but no one can know exactly when and where the suicide bomber will blow him/herself, he proudly commented. When the question of the victims being civilians was raised, the guests all murmured and waved their hands. There is not a single Israeli civilian; all of them are a part of the military establishment. The Nationalist frankly said that a one-day old baby living in Tel Aviv is an occupier who is naturally a legitimate target of suicide bombing.
This two-hour show is a drop in the Arab media ocean. But the other drops are no different. The same boring song has been chanted day and night for years in the Arab World. Western commentators are usually amazed and sometimes panicked by this propaganda, wondering how peace would be possible in such a context. My point, however, is not the content of the song, but rather, that it is the only song one can hear. The single narrative is not just the only view of Israel and the Arabs. It dominates the entire program of Arab national life. A conflict with a tiny country in a small corner of the Arab world has pushed almost all other issues off the stage for over half a century. Crazy people do say crazy things all the time, but we might expect to see and hear some other voices too.. Some other reasonable people should be also presented. Why are those reasonable people muted, and why is the crazy discourse flourishing?
Yeah, jokes and satire can backfire politically.
There was no official list of words you can't broadcast and punishments for doing so when George Carlin came up with his "7 words you can't say on TV" routine.
But when that routine was played on a radio station in New York, the FCC got 1 complaint and used that as an excuse to make up a draconian set of rules.
Talking about censorship reminds me of a passage I just read in Christopher Hitchen's book, "letters to a young contrarian":
Theodor Adorno wrote that an artistically satisifying film could doubtless be made that met all of the terms and conditions of the Hays Office (the Hollywood censor of the day), but only as long as there was no Hays Office. I have always taken that observation to imply two things: First, virtue and merit can become their opposites if they are exacted or compelled. Second, no self description or definition can be relied upon.
I can't believe you equated Tipper Gore with the "Read a banned book" woman.
It didn't occur to you that they are opposites?
Anyway, when the truth is that any teacher who DIRECTLY said some of the stuff that gets books banned would get fired instantly, I think a person who points out where the better thought out subversion is is doing a MUCH needed public service. Books that got banned in other places may not be banned in VA, but they still say things that your teachers can't say and that you TV won't. Stuff like: "religion is nonsense" and "you better learn to think for yourself because most people are idiots and the rest are liars"
Also, banned books prove how fucked up your neighbors who banned them are. Knowing that is an education in itself.
Still, I wish our busibodies were less shrill.
Major Danby replied indulgently with a superior smile, "But, Yosarian, what if everyone thought that way?"
"Then I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?"
-- Catch 22
records then cassettes then cds then audio dvds...
vhs then dvd...
Finally they came up with a new format to make us buy all of our books over again.
I remember hearing about this in Japan a while ago. An English work book was printed on this stuff and came with a grease pencil so that you could do your school work in the bathtub.
It may cost twice as much, but now I can study in the bathtub...
Rocky J. Squirrel
All this talk about memories that some people find hard to believe reminds me of Gir (Zim's little robot) being interviewed in the Zim episode "mysterious mysteries":
Anchor: Now, what can you tell us about Dib?
GIR: He's so mean to my master! He not like the Zim! I seen it! Dib is bad! Yeeheeheehe!
Anchor: And about the night in question?
The screen fades to the black screen that says 'dramatic reenactment.' The screen cuts to the set where the actors are. The Zim actor climbs down the ladder.
GIR (voice over): I was the chubby lady hiding in the bushes!
A camera zooms in on a woman hiding behind a cardboard bush. Her face is blurred out.
Anchor (voice over): Uh huh... And what about Dib?
GIR (voice over): I'm on TV!
Up in the tree, the GIR actor uses the flashlight to make a shadow puppet with his claw.
Anchor (voice over): Yes, then what happened?
GIR (voice over): That's when the giant squirrel showed up!
An actor in a squirrel suit walks out from behind the tree.
Zim (voice over): GIR!
Anchor (voice over): Let her talk!
The GIR actor shines the light on the squirrel.
Anchor (voice over): Can't you see she's upset? Now, don't you mean Dib showed up?
The GIR actor shines the flashlight up at the sky.
GIR (voice over): No! The squirrel showed up first, then Dib showed up.
The Dib and Gaz actors walk into view. The Dib actor spots the squirrel and starts screaming. He throws the camera down.
Dib actor: Whoa man! What is that thing!?!
GIR (voice over): And then the squirrel ate Dib's greasy head!
The squirrel actor leaps on the Dib actor and pretends to eat his head. The Dib actor kicks his legs, screaming. The Zim actor lifts up his mask. The squirrel actor then gets up.
GIR (voice over): And then the squirrel flew away!
Two cables lower down and attach to the squirrel, one to his head and one to his tail. They start to lift him up. The cable on his head rips through the costume so that only the one on his tail is attached. It pulls the squirrel into the air and through the set. The squirrel then appear against a blue screen background of outer space.
GIR (voice over): After that, he went back to his home planet to fight all the bad guys.
The tail of the squirrel costume rips off and the squirrel actor plummets down. Two guys dressed, one dressed as a bird creature and the other as an axe-wielding beetle/turtle monster, sit in a sandbox with the space background behind them. The squirrel actor crashes down on the bird actor and then bounces back and hits the beetle actor, knocking him down and sending the axe flying. The screen fades and cuts back to the set where everyone is sitting.
Anchor: What does that have to do with anything?
GIR: Me and the squirrel are friends!
Zim episode transcript from
http://www.thescarymonkeyshow.com
I do work in sound compression and I find that with music I know and love, I can ALWAYS find some bit of it where the compressed version is missing something. Even Ogg at it's lowest possible compress "-m500" doesn't sound quite as good as the original.
That's the reason to listen to the original. Because you will enjoy it more.
Rocky J. Squirrel
Not only was RTF never fully documented, but different versions of Word had incompatable RTF readers.
If you examine an RTF file you'll notice all kinds of redundant codes that are put in to cope with incompatable MSWord versions.
Fully design, fully document a protocol, Microsoft?
I just spit out my drink.
Rocky J. Squirrel
Sounds good to me.
Asshole filters are useful!
The "I did a web search on you" test might be a good one.
Rocky J. Squirrel
This really does sound like one of those "In Soviet Russia" jokes: First stalk her, THEN date her.
Seriously, is it going to become necessary for women to get preemptive restraining orders against guys they haven't dated yet, to keep from being stalked on line "as a precautionary measure?" And on the gripping hand, how can we condemn the Feds for doing this kind of thing wholesale, when we aren't above doing it on a piecemeal basis, with no oversight or regulatory structure to govern our actions?
Just a thought or two...
Doing a google search on someone to is STALKING them?!!!!
There should be restraining orders to stop people from doing web searches??!!!
I say you're a liberal wimp. Stop coddling these scummy men. Doing a web search is date rape!
Put this on your tee shirt and wear it proud grrl! Do a web search, go to jail.
Back to the world of reality where many of us live and recieve our mail. Web searching dates is a good idea. I never go for a job interview without doing a thorough google search first.
Rocky J. Squirrel
Worse still, if you have a script that generates an arbitrary number of 4:33 .mp3s of nothing, you can violate John Cages [mindspring.com] copyright in truly efficient fashion.
;)
Now, if the product is a copyright violation, is the script itself a violation as well? What does the I-ANAL crowd think?
Although, Cage did produce some good music, a lot of his "art" was a sort of performance art based on putting the WORST, INHERENTLY UNINTERESTING CRAP POSSIBLE into a performance and proving that if you have a good intellectual sounding bullshit rap going you can con audiences full of pretentious losers into pretending to appreciate it.
For instance he had a "piece" that consisted of elaborate mathematical style instructions to "performers" whoes instruments were AM/FM radio dials. Obviously the the "instructions" were irrelevent and bogus, and all the audience heard were a bunch of radio programs and commercials running at the same time.
Ooh. Deep.
My dad had a John Cage record of fake recorded explosions. That's right, the guy, picked up a microphone and blew into it occasionally (making that explosion sound) for 30 minutes and managed to sell the album.
Obiously, scamming the distributers into selling this crap and a bunch of pretentious stoner college students into buying it was the real art involved.
Genius
Rocky J. Squirrel
Anyone who uses the word suits to describe people whose responsibilities are focused on the bottom line is way out of touch.
Well, "Suits" do have the problem that they are human beings.
When I thing about the "suits" I've had big problems with they fall into two catagories (me having a big problem is my definition of evil of course):
1. idiots who're faking their way through their jobs, and making a big mess
2. intelligent, capable people who are insecure and neurotic (read - "great big, egotistical assholes")
Since most people aren't brilliant and since pushy neurotic people are the ones who push themselves to the top while the sane people send out their resumes to get away from the carnage, these problems are common as water.
So there's enough bad blood between "suits" and everyone else based on the fact that we're all unfortunately human to justify the use of all sorts of epethets.
Rocky J. Squirrel
Rubbish. Specialization is for specific cases in a templated function.
Giggle.
Don't bother, I modded myself down
(No Score +1 Bonus)
Rocky J. Squirrel
That's a load of crap, and you know it. [blah blah blah] blatant generalization [blah blah blah] racist joke [bizarre analogy to racism] [blah blah blah] I'm sick of these "it's either this way, or that way" people [hissy fit] [blah blah blah]
And I'm sick of knee-jerks who go into spasms of rightous indignation every time they see a generalization.
The reality is that what the guy said is true a lot of the time, so what'cha bitchin about?
You could have made the simple point that some people are polymaths without the overheated accusations and spitting frenzy.
"Don't have a cow, man"
Rocky J. Squirrel
You meant 'vampire hunter D".
There was a sequel. Unfortunately it was made in English only, with the worst cast of losers on the American side of the production ever.
Hopefully the Japanese learned their lesson and will never trust fly by night LA idiots again.
Rocky J. Squirrel
huh.. I just like saying Bjork
:)
Me too
Björk
Björk
Björk
ahhh.
I even know how to pronounce it!
I'm a little less sure how to pronounce Guðmundsdóttir though.
Me, obsessed?
Rocky J. Squirrel
To be fair to 3G I have to say I have a suspicion that some of the latency is in the USB connection to the cell phone, because I get data for a little while AFTER the phone shuts down when the batteries run out.
I'll have to try a pcmcia card version of the connection to make sure.
Rocky J. Squirrel