I find it discouraging and a bit depressing when I notice the unequal treatment afforded by the media to UFO believers on the one hand, and on the other, to those who believe in an invisible supreme being who inhabits the sky. Especially as the latter belief applies to the whole Jesus-Messiah-Son-of-God fable.
You may have noticed that, in the media, UFO believers are usually referred to as buffs, a term used to diminish and marginalize them by relegating them to the ranks of hobbyists and mere enthusiasts. They are made to seem like kooks and quaint dingbats who have the nerve to believe that, in an observable universe of trillions upon trillions of stars, and most likely many hundreds of billions of potentially inhabitable planets, some of those planets may have produced life-forms capable of doing things that we can't do.
On the other hand those who believe in an eternal, all-powerful being, a being who demands to be loved and adored unconditionally and who punishes and rewards according to his whims are thought to be worthy, upright, credible people. This, in spite of the large numbers of believers who are clearly close-minded fanatics.
To my way of thinking, there is every bit as much evidence for the existence of UFOs as there is for the existence of God. Probably far more. At least in the case of UFOs there have been countless taped and filmed and, by the way, unexplained sightings from all over the world, along with documented radar evidence seen by experienced military and civilian radar operators.
This does not even begin to include the widespread testimony of not only highly trained, experienced military and civilian pilots who are selected for their jobs, in part, for their above-average eyesight and mental stability, but also of equally well-trained, experienced law-enforcement officers. Such pilots and law-enforcement people are known to be serious, sober individuals who would have quite a bit to lose were they to be associated with anything resembling kooky, outlandish beliefs. Nonetheless, they have taken the risk of revealing their experiences because they are convinced they have seen something objectively real that they consider important. All of these accounts are ignored by the media.
Granted, the world of UFO-belief has its share of kooks, nuts and fringe people, but have you ever listened to some of these religious true-believers? Have you ever heard of any extreme, bizarre behavior and outlandish claims associated with religious zealots? Could any of them be considered kooks, nuts or dingbats? A fair person would have to say yes. But the marginal people in these two groups don't matter in this argument. What matters is the prejudice and superstition built into the media coverage of the two sets of beliefs. One is treated reverently and accepted as received truth, the other is treated laughingly and dismissed out of hand.
As evidence of the above premise, I offer one version of a typical television news story heard each year on the final Friday of Lent:
"Today is Good Friday, observed by Christians worldwide as a day that commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose death redeemed the sins of mankind."
Here is the way it should be written:
"Today is Good Friday, observed worldwide by Jesus buffs as the day on which the popular, bearded cultural figure, sometimes referred to as The Messiah, was allegedly crucified and according to legend died for mankind's so-called sins. Today kicks off a 'holy' weekend that culminates on Easter Sunday, when, it is widely believed, this dead 'savior' who also, by the way, claimed to be the son of a sky-dwelling, invisible being known as God mysteriously 'rose from the dead.'
"According to the legend, by volunteering to be killed and actually going through with it, Jesus saved every person who has ever lived and every person who ever will live from an eternity of suffering in a fiery region popularly known as hell, providing so the story goes that the person to be 'saved' firmly believes this rather fanciful tale."
That would be an example of unbiased news reporting. Don't wait around for it to happen. The aliens will land first.
-- From "When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?" (George Carlin, 2004)
No, more like "Way to show the world you cannot read very well". Re-read it: "Having two competing browsers is definitely a better playing field than just one monopolistic browser."
Key concepts: Having two is better than ONE. Only if there was a single browser would it be monopolistic. Having TWO makes it so there's NOT a single monopolistic browser.
Wow, kneejerk response to a buzzword there? "Me see word 'monopolistic', me must post that there no such thing." Your plutocratic handlers are doing a good job! You immediately spout bullshit upon encountering a key word from your brainwashing/mental training.
What a shitty lame reason - Waaah, someone might get killed. WTF is wrong with us? We have no problem sending 150,000 troops into Iraq with a relative certainty that some will get killed.
However, we are too much of a bunch of chickens to run the same risk to fix a telescope that has a far more positive effect on this country than Iraq ever will.
I thought the French were supposed to be the wimps, but it's looking more like us in this case, as the French are launching a lot more spacecraft than we are. I bet they'd go fix it for us if we asked (and paid for it).
This is really embarrassing for the United States.
It will happen during the third term of Bush - Although not to save the planet, but to continue with his God-complex and rush to create the conditions of the Apocalypse.
As it says in Revelations - the seas will turn to blood.
A great algal bloom is red (due to the iron) rather than it's normal green, thus giving the seas the look of blood. It also, will cause massive sealife death due depletion of free oxygen in the water, and the heavy intake of C02 from the air)
Eventually, we'll return to the old Testament and be commanded by a burning Bush.
(My distopian conspiracy theory for the day, enjoy!:) )
No, that's one point where the "security"* folks are misplaced. Security guys are perfect for firewalls, file access, anything that makes sure that people cannot DO things that they should not be doing. Anything truely anti-hacker - protecting data from modification or access by unauthorized people.
On the other hand, these things called "Denial of Service" by the security guys are really a responsibility of the system or network engineers. Say you get DOS'd, who is it that really fixes the problem - the smug, fat data security guy? Nah... At this point, the fat-assed security punk tries to glom onto the situation "We've been DOS'd - this is a security issue!". Fuck no, nobody's got any unauthorized access to data (security's job) - What we've got is on overloaded network or set of executing processes. This is where the skilled network or systems tech comes in, does some analysis, and takes care of the issue. All the security guy has done at this point is slow things down and create unneccessary paperwork to be done before the systems can get back in production. They are generally a bunch of over-rated script kiddies who found jobs doing stupid shit. They have good insight into configuring pre-production systems, but get the fuck out of the way when there is a production issue that does not involved unauthorized access to data.
*Security is the wrong word for these people/this profession. I'm not sure what the correct name should be, but it's not security, as it makes no one feel secure. (As in kicked back with a blankie, sucking on your thumb without a care in the world - that's security. Some big guy with a club and a hat that says "Security" on it doesn't make you feel that way...)
You can still get Dave William's DOS Technical Reference Manual at http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/freedos/files/d ocs/ which contains a very technical reference to the BIOS inside. (Note that it is now located inside the FreeDOS documentation, as it was used as a reference in creating FreeDOS)
Start refusing any document sent to you in non-OpenDocument format. Refusal will help. Might force a few people to install OpenOffice, if only for document conversion from Word, "until" Microsoft comes out with an OpenDocument convertor. (Wonder how long that will take? They'll fight that kicking and screaming until it's made a legal standard in a majority of locations...)
You've got to negotiate it out during the hiring process. If you wait till after that, you have no leverage. It's a bit scary, especially if you really need the job, but you tell them either "Remove this requirement, in writing" or have an addendum added stating that anything you do on your own time, including previous projects, remains yours. Whatever you do for the company, under their direction is obviously theirs, but anything beyond that it yours.
Have done it three times now, including two Fortune 100 companies, so it's not "The way it is" - you can stand up for yourself.
"Sorta standard" - Yah, because of pussies like you that sign them at the drop of a hat bacause you have no self-confidence in your abilities and are too dumb to realize that it's just a negotiation tool. Sure, you might have to negotiate down $2000 on your pay to get out of it, but for me to sign my rights away, they're going to have to give me a LOT more than $2000.
I suppose for your next trick, you'll blow a goat on the internet for $5, because you have no confidence and have been programmed to think "It's kinda standard".
Good point. Done in a very aggressive tone, so some inexperienced moderators may be tempted to mark this as a flamebait, but all in all, a very good question - how is the rest of the non-muslim world supposed to co-exist with a religion that commands the destruction of non-beleivers (infidels).
How is that made to work? Is there something I don't understand here? It looks to me like the Muslim doctrine has a 'poison pill' built into it - be like us, or die. With language of that nature in the Koran/Quran/whatever, how can we find peace in the world without everyone conforming to Muslim beliefs? Are the Muslims going to budge on this issue? Or is the world condemned to eternal war?
They are stewards of the same class as Denethor, steward of Gondor. With probably the same result, stark, raving lunacy, leading to a flaming leap of a cliff...
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If there's two things I can't stand, it's people who are intolerant of other cultures, and the Dutch.
Linux for cops?
I find it discouraging and a bit depressing when I notice the unequal treatment afforded by the media to UFO believers on the one hand, and on the other, to those who believe in an invisible supreme being who inhabits the sky. Especially as the latter belief applies to the whole Jesus-Messiah-Son-of-God fable.
You may have noticed that, in the media, UFO believers are usually referred to as buffs, a term used to diminish and marginalize them by relegating them to the ranks of hobbyists and mere enthusiasts. They are made to seem like kooks and quaint dingbats who have the nerve to believe that, in an observable universe of trillions upon trillions of stars, and most likely many hundreds of billions of potentially inhabitable planets, some of those planets may have produced life-forms capable of doing things that we can't do.
On the other hand those who believe in an eternal, all-powerful being, a being who demands to be loved and adored unconditionally and who punishes and rewards according to his whims are thought to be worthy, upright, credible people. This, in spite of the large numbers of believers who are clearly close-minded fanatics.
To my way of thinking, there is every bit as much evidence for the existence of UFOs as there is for the existence of God. Probably far more. At least in the case of UFOs there have been countless taped and filmed and, by the way, unexplained sightings from all over the world, along with documented radar evidence seen by experienced military and civilian radar operators.
This does not even begin to include the widespread testimony of not only highly trained, experienced military and civilian pilots who are selected for their jobs, in part, for their above-average eyesight and mental stability, but also of equally well-trained, experienced law-enforcement officers. Such pilots and law-enforcement people are known to be serious, sober individuals who would have quite a bit to lose were they to be associated with anything resembling kooky, outlandish beliefs. Nonetheless, they have taken the risk of revealing their experiences because they are convinced they have seen something objectively real that they consider important. All of these accounts are ignored by the media.
Granted, the world of UFO-belief has its share of kooks, nuts and fringe people, but have you ever listened to some of these religious true-believers? Have you ever heard of any extreme, bizarre behavior and outlandish claims associated with religious zealots? Could any of them be considered kooks, nuts or dingbats? A fair person would have to say yes.
But the marginal people in these two groups don't matter in this argument. What matters is the prejudice and superstition built into the media coverage of the two sets of beliefs. One is treated reverently and accepted as received truth, the other is treated laughingly and dismissed out of hand.
As evidence of the above premise, I offer one version of a typical television news story heard each year on the final Friday of Lent:
"Today is Good Friday, observed by Christians worldwide as a day that commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose death redeemed the sins of mankind."
Here is the way it should be written:
"Today is Good Friday, observed worldwide by Jesus buffs as the day on which the popular, bearded cultural figure, sometimes referred to as The Messiah, was allegedly crucified and according to legend died for mankind's so-called sins. Today kicks off a 'holy' weekend that culminates on Easter Sunday, when, it is widely believed, this dead 'savior' who also, by the way, claimed to be the son of a sky-dwelling, invisible being known as God mysteriously 'rose from the dead.'
"According to the legend, by volunteering to be killed and actually going through with it, Jesus saved every person who has ever lived and every person who ever will live from an eternity of suffering in a fiery region popularly known as hell, providing so the story goes that the person to be 'saved' firmly believes this rather fanciful tale."
That would be an example of unbiased news reporting. Don't wait around for it to happen. The aliens will land first.
-- From "When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?" (George Carlin, 2004)
Please explain "thanks to Brinkhorst telling porkies"! What is "telling porkies" and who is this Brinkhorst fellow anyway?
It still doesn't matter sir, you're going to have to pay that speeding ticket regardless of how you have baffled the court.
You punk-ass bitch
Nice troll there! Well done by old-style standards. :)
No, more like "Way to show the world you cannot read very well". Re-read it: "Having two competing browsers is definitely a better playing field than just one monopolistic browser."
Key concepts: Having two is better than ONE. Only if there was a single browser would it be monopolistic. Having TWO makes it so there's NOT a single monopolistic browser.
Wow, kneejerk response to a buzzword there? "Me see word 'monopolistic', me must post that there no such thing." Your plutocratic handlers are doing a good job! You immediately spout bullshit upon encountering a key word from your brainwashing/mental training.
What a shitty lame reason - Waaah, someone might get killed. WTF is wrong with us? We have no problem sending 150,000 troops into Iraq with a relative certainty that some will get killed.
However, we are too much of a bunch of chickens to run the same risk to fix a telescope that has a far more positive effect on this country than Iraq ever will.
I thought the French were supposed to be the wimps, but it's looking more like us in this case, as the French are launching a lot more spacecraft than we are. I bet they'd go fix it for us if we asked (and paid for it).
This is really embarrassing for the United States.
It will happen during the third term of Bush - Although not to save the planet, but to continue with his God-complex and rush to create the conditions of the Apocalypse.
:) )
As it says in Revelations - the seas will turn to blood.
A great algal bloom is red (due to the iron) rather than it's normal green, thus giving the seas the look of blood. It also, will cause massive sealife death due depletion of free oxygen in the water, and the heavy intake of C02 from the air)
Eventually, we'll return to the old Testament and be commanded by a burning Bush.
(My distopian conspiracy theory for the day, enjoy!
No, that's one point where the "security"* folks are misplaced. Security guys are perfect for firewalls, file access, anything that makes sure that people cannot DO things that they should not be doing. Anything truely anti-hacker - protecting data from modification or access by unauthorized people.
On the other hand, these things called "Denial of Service" by the security guys are really a responsibility of the system or network engineers. Say you get DOS'd, who is it that really fixes the problem - the smug, fat data security guy? Nah... At this point, the fat-assed security punk tries to glom onto the situation "We've been DOS'd - this is a security issue!". Fuck no, nobody's got any unauthorized access to data (security's job) - What we've got is on overloaded network or set of executing processes. This is where the skilled network or systems tech comes in, does some analysis, and takes care of the issue. All the security guy has done at this point is slow things down and create unneccessary paperwork to be done before the systems can get back in production. They are generally a bunch of over-rated script kiddies who found jobs doing stupid shit. They have good insight into configuring pre-production systems, but get the fuck out of the way when there is a production issue that does not involved unauthorized access to data.
*Security is the wrong word for these people/this profession. I'm not sure what the correct name should be, but it's not security, as it makes no one feel secure. (As in kicked back with a blankie, sucking on your thumb without a care in the world - that's security. Some big guy with a club and a hat that says "Security" on it doesn't make you feel that way...)
Buahhhh, Mr Hand, like, I was thinking about this, uh huh, and if you're here, and I'm here, isn't it technically, OUR space-time continuum?
Law & Order: SVU
Law & Order: CI
Law & Order: TBJ
Law & Order: WTF
You can still get Dave William's DOS Technical Reference Manual at http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/freedos/files/d ocs/ which contains a very technical reference to the BIOS inside. (Note that it is now located inside the FreeDOS documentation, as it was used as a reference in creating FreeDOS)
Start refusing any document sent to you in non-OpenDocument format. Refusal will help. Might force a few people to install OpenOffice, if only for document conversion from Word, "until" Microsoft comes out with an OpenDocument convertor. (Wonder how long that will take? They'll fight that kicking and screaming until it's made a legal standard in a majority of locations...)
Make sure and flush after you shit-click...
Oooh man, smells like somebody shit-click in here!
How come people say that they 'took' a shit-click when they actually 'left' a shit-click?
How does a blind person know when they are done shit-clicking?
Man, that Jobs guy really thinks he's the shit-click!!
That's about enough of this shit-click.
Yes, and just think of how organized crime usually results when stupid and unenforcable laws are created. (Think prohibition, the drug "war", etc.)
It does sound a lot like it, because it is a common human reaction to overreaching stupidity.
The real question is: How to blind people know when they are done wiping their ass? Smell?
Here's a link to all the secret meanings on a US Dollar Bill.
You've got to negotiate it out during the hiring process. If you wait till after that, you have no leverage. It's a bit scary, especially if you really need the job, but you tell them either "Remove this requirement, in writing" or have an addendum added stating that anything you do on your own time, including previous projects, remains yours. Whatever you do for the company, under their direction is obviously theirs, but anything beyond that it yours.
Have done it three times now, including two Fortune 100 companies, so it's not "The way it is" - you can stand up for yourself.
"Sorta standard" - Yah, because of pussies like you that sign them at the drop of a hat bacause you have no self-confidence in your abilities and are too dumb to realize that it's just a negotiation tool. Sure, you might have to negotiate down $2000 on your pay to get out of it, but for me to sign my rights away, they're going to have to give me a LOT more than $2000.
I suppose for your next trick, you'll blow a goat on the internet for $5, because you have no confidence and have been programmed to think "It's kinda standard".
the system had NOT figured out how to tell if it was sunny or not.
Good point. Done in a very aggressive tone, so some inexperienced moderators may be tempted to mark this as a flamebait, but all in all, a very good question - how is the rest of the non-muslim world supposed to co-exist with a religion that commands the destruction of non-beleivers (infidels).
How is that made to work? Is there something I don't understand here? It looks to me like the Muslim doctrine has a 'poison pill' built into it - be like us, or die. With language of that nature in the Koran/Quran/whatever, how can we find peace in the world without everyone conforming to Muslim beliefs? Are the Muslims going to budge on this issue? Or is the world condemned to eternal war?
They are stewards of the same class as Denethor, steward of Gondor. With probably the same result, stark, raving lunacy, leading to a flaming leap of a cliff...
I was going to ask the same. But you FPd the same question. I have no idea how exclusivity encourages competition. That seems completely oxymoronic.