I disagree with all interpretations of the Gospels that permit the taking of life under any circumstance.
This makes it possible for you to live in a society where murder is not the norm.
But there have been societies -- and religions -- where murder ("sacrifice", conversion of the infidel, extirpation of heresy, Holy War) has been acceptable. You're saying they're all wrong and you're right. Some of these societies still stand strongly today. And more such will exist long after the name of Jesus is forgotten. Assuming that humanity lives through the next Ice Age/meteor strike.:o)
If you read them now, you'd probably be amazed at how clearly that instruction is spelled out, in specific contrast to the current-at-the-time interpretations of the existing Israeli law.
The book was assembled by an editorial staff and further editions have been produced throughout history. I'd like to believe that a future version will explicitly say that women are equal to men in every way, divorce is good, and that polluting the planet is a damnable sin. The "scripture" evolves to suit the followers. Usury was a venal sin among Christians... until Christian kings needed to borrow money.
I think a distinction worth making is the separation of what I believe and what I advocate. I specifically advocate each person arriving at their own belief.
This is the "invisible church" in Christianity. It's really one of the few things that I can accept from the Bible. But a strongly personal feeling of reverence cannot bond large groups of people. We could be reverent about opposites. Community requires trust and common goals.
Muslim extremists are doing serious damage to "faith-based philosophies", in my opinion. As are Christian extremists. It's a Punch-And-Judy show with calamitous consequences for people.
I think one ought to be free to believe whatever one wants and remain free from suspicion of mental illness, so long as what one advocates in the name of that belief is no cause for concern.
Pardon me, I know that the suggestion is insulting. Some pathologies are not dangerous to the community or neighbours. But our interdependence will determine how much of each other's beliefs we can tolerate.
Taking a life is a necessary recourse in certain circumstances. If you didn't defend your family (I wish it may never happen) or other helpless people if they were attacked , and you told me that you prayed for the assailant to see the divine light instead of taking action to restrain or kill him, I would call you deluded. A very large percentage of the human population would agree. Maybe that's because it's practical, or maybe it's because they have abandoned Messiah X. The odd thing is that many believers of Messiah X would also commit murder if necessary.
If you believed that this world is corrupt and we must withdraw from its corruptive influence, I could not argue against your position. I would also not call you an ally. But I would wonder why you wouldn't simply hang yourself to get out of here right away. I would attribute no suicide on the part of a Renouncer to Augustinian Delayed Gratification.
If you believed in something outright silly, I wouldn't care unless your silly belief became a movement and indoctrinated others. Suddenly, you could have a political influence that I would deplore.
I can't think of a more eloquent way to answer your question than to quote Mohandas Gandhi: "The best religion is the one that brings you closest to God."
I like Gandhi and he was a great man whereas I am zilch. But I have to say that this axiom is so vague in its effect that I see no value in it. I would rather say that the best religion is one that does not have a God.
The best religion is one that explicitly teaches humility
I agree that a challenge exists, but I don't think it's for the innocent to combat a presumption of guilt when it comes to insanity or dementia.
In other words, I am saying that if you are going to believe in something that you can't see or demonstrate (your "faith"), you need to demonstrate that you're not nuts. You can have your bugbears and superstitions, but you had better not think that they or the "voice in your head" can justify your deciding to kill someone. (I mean don't mean the "tu" you, by the way. You seem reasonable enough... for a Slashdot user.:o)
In my vocabulary, atheists really are "God playing hide and go seek" with itself in the sense that every human has a divine spark, whether they like it or not. Each is no more or less "divine" than the worst criminal or the most highly lauded icon.
You speculate that every human being has a divine spark. You're welcome to the speculation. I don't see this spark -- there's no evidence of it. I do sometimes see evidence of truly incorrigible, dangerous deportment. Forgive it if you want... I'd rather see these people jailed. Now, believing what we each do, if we can work together to solve our problems, it doesn't matter where we disagree. If you feel I am "damned" because I don't see what you see, or that I am an infidel, we have a problem. Jesus means nothing to many people in the world. How do you feel about, say, Osiris?:o)
Tying together the concepts of "Trinity" and "Christianity" is tricky business.... I personally don't have much to say about it other than the above -- the message of Christ is the focus.
You have a particular interpretation of Christianity. Some of the major branches of the cult would burn you at the stake... or simply consider you damned.:o)
Spacetime is just the slice of life that most everyone has wrapped their minds around and is now predictable and boring by comparison!
How well connected a bunch of monkeys are at the quantum level really isn't going to change much, it seems to me. This doesn't make the universe less interesting but it doesn't support your belief in Jesus in any practical way that I can see.
Occam's razor only applies to the degree that we are conscious of the simplest explanation in the first place. At one point in history, the simplest explanation of world geography was that the Earth was flat.
Any concept can be misapplied. The world was thought flat. The world really is spherical. It tooks science -- battling against religion -- to discover that. Atoms are dancing everywhere above 276 Kelvin. It took science to discover that. But these things don't change human behaviour.
There has been a succession of Creationist theologies, each superceded by the next, stretching back into the mists of prehistoric man. Each new faith claimed its predecessors (as well as contemporaries) were false. Hmmm. Maybe one day, people will finally humbly accept that there is no Father, Son, nor Holy Spook, no Virgin Mother, no God to smite our foes... It's just monkeys trying to act civilized while they sink to varying degrees of infamy. A few see the virtue in virtues. But social organization (game theory) explains that well enough.
So you think that the Bible doesn't have any good moral guidelines in it? Even if it were all a work of fiction (which I don't believe), it's still a good source of practical knowledge on how to relate to others.
The Jewish-Christian writings were written over a long period of time by a bunch of different blokes. Their "guidelines" aren't consistent, are often unclear, and range from quaint to obsolete. It's a mess. I don't believe that a sane Creator would write so badly. But then, I don't believe that a sane creator would try to talk to anyone through fiery vegetation.:o)
For anything you chose as a principle in your holy book, there's something somewhere else to contradict. Religions come and go. They last longest if they are used to justify tribalism and imperialism.
It's because of the Bible that I gave up 4 spring breaks in college to work in a homeless shelter, serving food and cleaning up after drug addicts instead of partying in Cancun with all of my classmates.
Well... helping people is who you are. Attribute it to "the Bible" if you like.
Many people read their holy book and then beat their spouses, steal, and have naughty liaisons that contradict what they proclaim.
This was the intended post. I pasted some of your text for reference while writing and then forgot to delete it. Silly monkey!
= = =
Terrahertz, I appreciate your considered reply. I want to let you know that I read the references you cited.
At best, a religion can give a person a philosophy for facing tough times. A positive attitude helps people survive prolonged exposure to doctors and in general makes things seem easier to endure.
Unfortunately, so do insanity and dementia. So the challenge for the Faithful is to prove that they're not insane or demented.
When I see religious zealots condemning scientific research and killing people in the name of Tribe, Scripture, and Kalashnikov, I have to say that these zealots have by their actions classified themselves.
Bill Hicks seems likable. But the holographic explanation and the Christian Trinity are complicated theories for the world in which we live.
Six billion monkeys who only needed cunning, aggressiveness, and a small measure of sociability to survive explains it all much more simply.
Terrahertz, I appreciate your considered reply. I want to let you know that I read the references you cited.
At best, a religion can give a person a philosophy for facing tough times. A positive attitude helps people survive prolonged exposure to doctors and in general makes things seem easier to endure.
Unfortunately, so do insanity and dementia. So the challenge for the Faithful is to prove that they're not insane or demented.
When I see religious zealots condemning scientific research and killing people in the name of Tribe, Scripture, and Kalashnikov, I have to say that these zealots have by their actions classified themselves.
Bill Hicks seems likable. But the holographic explanation and the Christian Trinity are complicated theories for the world in which we live.
Six billion monkeys who only needed cunning, aggressiveness, and a small measure of sociability to survive explains it all much more simply.
Yes, it even explains the Pope.:o)
That the philosophy of Jesus has been distorted, twisted, and flat-out ignored by others who merely label themselves "Christians" (eg how can you truly obey the command to "turn the other cheek" while participating in a military organization that requires you to kill?) is a tragedy more or less unmatched in recorded human history. I readily admit and accept that the name of Christ has been abused by some of the most repulsive and frightening people to walk this Earth. Perhaps it is such an inviting target for deceivers because of its proven and considerable power to affect people?
The Bible outside the Gospels is worth reading for context, but I don't base my core beliefs on those texts. The Gospels themselves are enough for me to live on. If I had to "speak for God" I'd say that it cares less about what "holy" book we bury our noses in and what building we spend our time in over the weekend and more about how we treat all of our fellow humans.
If you want a more modern crystallization of what I believe, the closest I have found is this Bill Hicks bit:
"The world is like a ride at an amusement park. It goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: Is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey, don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride..." And we... kill those people. Ha ha, "Shut him up. We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real." It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. Jesus murdered; Martin Luther King murdered; Malcolm X murdered; Gandhi murdered; John Lennon murdered; Reagan... wounded. But it doesn't matter because: It's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love.
The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace. Thank you very much, you've been great."
The only good things that religion can do are 1) move people away from dogma, selfishness and tribalism, and 2) teach people to care for this planet.
No, religion hasn't crippled my mind, but it has helped me to grasp the fact that no matter how much I know there will always be an infinite amount that I don't know. Has intellectual hubris crippled your mind?
Both Science and Religion can help a person understand that his or her mind is too small to know everything and that we never will know everything. It's the subsequent assumptions that a person makes that will distinguish him or her from a superstitious (and frequently dogmatic) lunatic.
The Earth's much older than any of humanity's current religions. Today's religions are yesterday's and tomorrow's superstitious raving.
Pick up a piece of litter today: you will be doing more for humanity than anything written in a holy book.
MS Salesman: Hello, you left a voice message for us. You said you are looking for Susie. There's no Susie here. My name's Steve. How may I help you?
Customer: Oh, hi Steve. Not "Susie", "Suse".
MS Salesman: No one here by that name. But how may I help you?
Customer: Well, we need highly scalable, robust Web services with low cost-per-seat and low TCO running on older hardware with industry-leading uptime.
MS Saleman: Gotcha! I'll ship you some Windows Vista licences right away. Don't worry, there's a GUI for all that Interweb stuff.
If you understand even the basic concepts surrouding an omnipotent creator
You got me laughing there. It seems to me that it's the most "basic" reflex of all to invent a Big Daddy who's watching over everything, including my spelling in this post, all the planetary life wiped out by geological cataclysms and asteroid strikes, and the 700,000 Iraqis who are now dead because Haliburton shares needed a boost.
Unfortunately, this teensy bit of elementary school logic is lost on the more frothy-mouthed "supporters" of my faith. God help them!
Christians putting on airs because other Christians are even more stultified... That's funny. If you're a Christian, you've drunk the Kool-Aid in the form of some cheap table wine. (To wash down a three-cent biscuit if you do Communions.)
So... your omnipotent God. Either an omnipotent God created everything and lets the innocent suffer and everything rot without giving a damn, or a silly little species among countless others evolved and had to struggle with its fears so it invented Gods for comfort.
And this omnipotent God talked to Christians how? Via shrubbery? By helping Moses do magic tricks? By narrowcasting to humanity ~one~ son who talked in a dialect and letting mere Romans nail him up? The Gnostic interpretation of the Christian holy book makes more sense.
God, if Thou readest Slashdot, please smite Digg as Thou hast smote PayPal!
"Your Honor, my client Microsoft seeks to cancel these contracts because we object to China's - lying - unfair practices - unprincipled use of its economic potential - painfully slow turnaround time for patching bugs
Sorry, Your Honour... We can strike that last one from the record."
The Musical-Idolatry Complex already controls me completely, just like Hunter S. Eisenhower predicted.
It feeds me proto-literate lyrics, expertly Photoshopped images of poseurs, titillating videos that don't make any sense, the instrumental talent of digitized samples and vocal harmonizers, and -- if I can afford it -- maybe a ticket to a lip-synched World Tour performance with a team of 30 dancers and some fireworks.
People who download music miss all of this. They aren't cool. They hurt the Artists.
That's why Mariah Carey made "Glitter", you bastards. She was hurt.
PowerPoint is the preferred communication tool of the Idiocracy.
If knowledge of this vulnerability falls into the wrong hands (Kim Jong-Il, Fascist Moozlams, Treacherous Liberals, or the French) it could destroy Corporate America!
Fortunately, it can't destroy the White House. They draw all their ideas on big sheets of paper with crayons.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reminded corporate customers that the Open Source model is dangerous to their business.
"I squirt a picture to you, you squirt multimedia back to me," said Ballmer. "Sure, boom boom boom, we can do that and we ~do~ do that. In fact, no one squirts better than we do. But with Open Source, you don't know whose rights you are violating when you squirt.
And worse, open-source programmers tend to have police records. I'm just sayin'."
Rumour has it the marketing decal on computers with these CPUs will say "India Inside".
Duct-tape is passé... dare I even say, Web 1.
on
Ballmer Sounds Off
·
· Score: 1
Because now we can apply a protein gel to Ballmer's mouth to cover it up.
"Some surgeons are already excited about the material. 'I see great potential in the eye field, the gastro-intestinal field, in neurosurgery, and in stopping Steve Ballmer's fat gob,' says Dimitri Azyuar, head of maunderology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, US."
Although a growing percentage of the Slashdot demographic considers under-car light-effects and Digg.com to be good investments, the more experienced Slashdot visitors know a good potential for return when they see it.
Slashdot Investments Inc is bullish on California garages. That's right, we are marking this a strong BUY. Analysts agree that all creativity has either been crushed out of US corporations by bureaucracy or simply shipped to Bangalore to learn some manners.
The future of US creativity is clearly back where HP, Apple, Sun, Microsoft and Occidental Petroleum started: back among the old tires, oil stains, ham radios and bicycle parts.
Why, even the iPod was discovered in a California garage 10 years ago by a guy who was dosed with Klum-Sharapova Rays while trying to convert a personal massage device into a remote control for his Blaupunkt.
Forget California houses, they have weird things in them like Wozniak's Cave. The real potential is back in the Camaro Cradle... the Beemer Bedroom... in short, in the Tranny House!
Now's the time to get in on the ground floor of California garages! Call now, Vista and MemoryCard accepted.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't go to Singapore looking for an easy Wifi connection... They don't tolerate your Western Decadence there.
This makes it possible for you to live in a society where murder is not the norm.
:o)
But there have been societies -- and religions -- where murder ("sacrifice", conversion of the infidel, extirpation of heresy, Holy War) has been acceptable. You're saying they're all wrong and you're right. Some of these societies still stand strongly today. And more such will exist long after the name of Jesus is forgotten. Assuming that humanity lives through the next Ice Age/meteor strike.
The book was assembled by an editorial staff and further editions have been produced throughout history. I'd like to believe that a future version will explicitly say that women are equal to men in every way, divorce is good, and that polluting the planet is a damnable sin. The "scripture" evolves to suit the followers. Usury was a venal sin among Christians... until Christian kings needed to borrow money.
This is the "invisible church" in Christianity. It's really one of the few things that I can accept from the Bible. But a strongly personal feeling of reverence cannot bond large groups of people. We could be reverent about opposites. Community requires trust and common goals.
Muslim extremists are doing serious damage to "faith-based philosophies", in my opinion. As are Christian extremists. It's a Punch-And-Judy show with calamitous consequences for people.
Pardon me, I know that the suggestion is insulting. Some pathologies are not dangerous to the community or neighbours. But our interdependence will determine how much of each other's beliefs we can tolerate.
Taking a life is a necessary recourse in certain circumstances. If you didn't defend your family (I wish it may never happen) or other helpless people if they were attacked , and you told me that you prayed for the assailant to see the divine light instead of taking action to restrain or kill him, I would call you deluded. A very large percentage of the human population would agree. Maybe that's because it's practical, or maybe it's because they have abandoned Messiah X. The odd thing is that many believers of Messiah X would also commit murder if necessary.
If you believed that this world is corrupt and we must withdraw from its corruptive influence, I could not argue against your position. I would also not call you an ally. But I would wonder why you wouldn't simply hang yourself to get out of here right away. I would attribute no suicide on the part of a Renouncer to Augustinian Delayed Gratification.
If you believed in something outright silly, I wouldn't care unless your silly belief became a movement and indoctrinated others. Suddenly, you could have a political influence that I would deplore.
I like Gandhi and he was a great man whereas I am zilch. But I have to say that this axiom is so vague in its effect that I see no value in it. I would rather say that the best religion is one that does not have a God.
The best religion is one that explicitly teaches humility
In other words, I am saying that if you are going to believe in something that you can't see or demonstrate (your "faith"), you need to demonstrate that you're not nuts. You can have your bugbears and superstitions, but you had better not think that they or the "voice in your head" can justify your deciding to kill someone. (I mean don't mean the "tu" you, by the way. You seem reasonable enough... for a Slashdot user.
You speculate that every human being has a divine spark. You're welcome to the speculation. I don't see this spark -- there's no evidence of it. I do sometimes see evidence of truly incorrigible, dangerous deportment. Forgive it if you want... I'd rather see these people jailed. Now, believing what we each do, if we can work together to solve our problems, it doesn't matter where we disagree. If you feel I am "damned" because I don't see what you see, or that I am an infidel, we have a problem. Jesus means nothing to many people in the world. How do you feel about, say, Osiris?
You have a particular interpretation of Christianity. Some of the major branches of the cult would burn you at the stake... or simply consider you damned.
How well connected a bunch of monkeys are at the quantum level really isn't going to change much, it seems to me. This doesn't make the universe less interesting but it doesn't support your belief in Jesus in any practical way that I can see.
Any concept can be misapplied. The world was thought flat. The world really is spherical. It tooks science -- battling against religion -- to discover that. Atoms are dancing everywhere above 276 Kelvin. It took science to discover that. But these things don't change human behaviour.
There has been a succession of Creationist theologies, each superceded by the next, stretching back into the mists of prehistoric man. Each new faith claimed its predecessors (as well as contemporaries) were false. Hmmm. Maybe one day, people will finally humbly accept that there is no Father, Son, nor Holy Spook, no Virgin Mother, no God to smite our foes... It's just monkeys trying to act civilized while they sink to varying degrees of infamy. A few see the virtue in virtues. But social organization (game theory) explains that well enough.
Yes, but it will be a war in which the sick and elderly are conscripted.
The Jewish-Christian writings were written over a long period of time by a bunch of different blokes. Their "guidelines" aren't consistent, are often unclear, and range from quaint to obsolete. It's a mess. I don't believe that a sane Creator would write so badly. But then, I don't believe that a sane creator would try to talk to anyone through fiery vegetation.
For anything you chose as a principle in your holy book, there's something somewhere else to contradict. Religions come and go. They last longest if they are used to justify tribalism and imperialism.
Well... helping people is who you are. Attribute it to "the Bible" if you like.
Many people read their holy book and then beat their spouses, steal, and have naughty liaisons that contradict what they proclaim.
This was the intended post. I pasted some of your text for reference while writing and then forgot to delete it. Silly monkey!
:o)
= = =
Terrahertz, I appreciate your considered reply. I want to let you know that I read the references you cited.
At best, a religion can give a person a philosophy for facing tough times. A positive attitude helps people survive prolonged exposure to doctors and in general makes things seem easier to endure.
Unfortunately, so do insanity and dementia. So the challenge for the Faithful is to prove that they're not insane or demented.
When I see religious zealots condemning scientific research and killing people in the name of Tribe, Scripture, and Kalashnikov, I have to say that these zealots have by their actions classified themselves.
Bill Hicks seems likable. But the holographic explanation and the Christian Trinity are complicated theories for the world in which we live.
Six billion monkeys who only needed cunning, aggressiveness, and a small measure of sociability to survive explains it all much more simply.
Yes, it even explains the Pope.
Terrahertz, I appreciate your considered reply. I want to let you know that I read the references you cited.
:o)
..." And we ... kill those people. Ha ha, "Shut him up. We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real." It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. Jesus murdered; Martin Luther King murdered; Malcolm X murdered; Gandhi murdered; John Lennon murdered; Reagan ... wounded. But it doesn't matter because: It's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love.
At best, a religion can give a person a philosophy for facing tough times. A positive attitude helps people survive prolonged exposure to doctors and in general makes things seem easier to endure.
Unfortunately, so do insanity and dementia. So the challenge for the Faithful is to prove that they're not insane or demented.
When I see religious zealots condemning scientific research and killing people in the name of Tribe, Scripture, and Kalashnikov, I have to say that these zealots have by their actions classified themselves.
Bill Hicks seems likable. But the holographic explanation and the Christian Trinity are complicated theories for the world in which we live.
Six billion monkeys who only needed cunning, aggressiveness, and a small measure of sociability to survive explains it all much more simply.
Yes, it even explains the Pope.
That the philosophy of Jesus has been distorted, twisted, and flat-out ignored by others who merely label themselves "Christians" (eg how can you truly obey the command to "turn the other cheek" while participating in a military organization that requires you to kill?) is a tragedy more or less unmatched in recorded human history. I readily admit and accept that the name of Christ has been abused by some of the most repulsive and frightening people to walk this Earth. Perhaps it is such an inviting target for deceivers because of its proven and considerable power to affect people?
The Bible outside the Gospels is worth reading for context, but I don't base my core beliefs on those texts. The Gospels themselves are enough for me to live on. If I had to "speak for God" I'd say that it cares less about what "holy" book we bury our noses in and what building we spend our time in over the weekend and more about how we treat all of our fellow humans.
If you want a more modern crystallization of what I believe, the closest I have found is this Bill Hicks bit:
"The world is like a ride at an amusement park. It goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: Is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey, don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride
The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace. Thank you very much, you've been great."
The only good things that religion can do are 1) move people away from dogma, selfishness and tribalism, and 2) teach people to care for this planet.
Any religion that
Both Science and Religion can help a person understand that his or her mind is too small to know everything and that we never will know everything. It's the subsequent assumptions that a person makes that will distinguish him or her from a superstitious (and frequently dogmatic) lunatic.
The Earth's much older than any of humanity's current religions. Today's religions are yesterday's and tomorrow's superstitious raving.
Pick up a piece of litter today: you will be doing more for humanity than anything written in a holy book.
MS Salesman: Hello, you left a voice message for us. You said you are looking for Susie. There's no Susie here. My name's Steve. How may I help you?
Customer: Oh, hi Steve. Not "Susie", "Suse".
MS Salesman: No one here by that name. But how may I help you?
Customer: Well, we need highly scalable, robust Web services with low cost-per-seat and low TCO running on older hardware with industry-leading uptime.
MS Saleman: Gotcha! I'll ship you some Windows Vista licences right away. Don't worry, there's a GUI for all that Interweb stuff.
You got me laughing there. It seems to me that it's the most "basic" reflex of all to invent a Big Daddy who's watching over everything, including my spelling in this post, all the planetary life wiped out by geological cataclysms and asteroid strikes, and the 700,000 Iraqis who are now dead because Haliburton shares needed a boost.
Christians putting on airs because other Christians are even more stultified... That's funny. If you're a Christian, you've drunk the Kool-Aid in the form of some cheap table wine. (To wash down a three-cent biscuit if you do Communions.)
So... your omnipotent God. Either an omnipotent God created everything and lets the innocent suffer and everything rot without giving a damn, or a silly little species among countless others evolved and had to struggle with its fears so it invented Gods for comfort.
And this omnipotent God talked to Christians how? Via shrubbery? By helping Moses do magic tricks? By narrowcasting to humanity ~one~ son who talked in a dialect and letting mere Romans nail him up? The Gnostic interpretation of the Christian holy book makes more sense.
God, if Thou readest Slashdot, please smite Digg as Thou hast smote PayPal!
"Your Honor, my client Microsoft seeks to cancel these contracts because we object to China's
- lying
- unfair practices
- unprincipled use of its economic potential
- painfully slow turnaround time for patching bugs
Sorry, Your Honour... We can strike that last one from the record."
"Get G-G-G-Girls To Call You"
The Musical-Idolatry Complex already controls me completely, just like Hunter S. Eisenhower predicted.
It feeds me proto-literate lyrics, expertly Photoshopped images of poseurs, titillating videos that don't make any sense, the instrumental talent of digitized samples and vocal harmonizers, and -- if I can afford it -- maybe a ticket to a lip-synched World Tour performance with a team of 30 dancers and some fireworks.
People who download music miss all of this. They aren't cool. They hurt the Artists.
That's why Mariah Carey made "Glitter", you bastards. She was hurt.
There wouldn't be such a crisis if the brains of voters had not already been severely hacked.
I'd like to metadebate your comment, Digg style:
lmao omg lol you r such a L3w53r !!!
PowerPoint is the preferred communication tool of the Idiocracy.
If knowledge of this vulnerability falls into the wrong hands (Kim Jong-Il, Fascist Moozlams, Treacherous Liberals, or the French) it could destroy Corporate America!
Fortunately, it can't destroy the White House. They draw all their ideas on big sheets of paper with crayons.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reminded corporate customers that the Open Source model is dangerous to their business.
"I squirt a picture to you, you squirt multimedia back to me," said Ballmer. "Sure, boom boom boom, we can do that and we ~do~ do that. In fact, no one squirts better than we do. But with Open Source, you don't know whose rights you are violating when you squirt.
And worse, open-source programmers tend to have police records. I'm just sayin'."
1.) Stop making DVDs. Distribute the crap by download only.
2.) Put Adam Sandler in every film.
"1" is already happening, although Mal-Wart and the rest of the retailers are not happy about it.
"2" would be a crime against humanity.
It's hard to believe they are serious when they have Steve Ballboy representing them. He's embarrassing.
Rumour has it the marketing decal on computers with these CPUs will say "India Inside".
Because now we can apply a protein gel to Ballmer's mouth to cover it up.
"Some surgeons are already excited about the material. 'I see great potential in the eye field, the gastro-intestinal field, in neurosurgery, and in stopping Steve Ballmer's fat gob,' says Dimitri Azyuar, head of maunderology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, US."
Although a growing percentage of the Slashdot demographic considers under-car light-effects and Digg.com to be good investments, the more experienced Slashdot visitors know a good potential for return when they see it.
Slashdot Investments Inc is bullish on California garages. That's right, we are marking this a strong BUY. Analysts agree that all creativity has either been crushed out of US corporations by bureaucracy or simply shipped to Bangalore to learn some manners.
The future of US creativity is clearly back where HP, Apple, Sun, Microsoft and Occidental Petroleum started: back among the old tires, oil stains, ham radios and bicycle parts.
Why, even the iPod was discovered in a California garage 10 years ago by a guy who was dosed with Klum-Sharapova Rays while trying to convert a personal massage device into a remote control for his Blaupunkt.
Forget California houses, they have weird things in them like Wozniak's Cave. The real potential is back in the Camaro Cradle... the Beemer Bedroom... in short, in the Tranny House!
Now's the time to get in on the ground floor of California garages! Call now, Vista and MemoryCard accepted.
Until next month... Happy profits!
In Firefox, users can use about:config to disable the fetching of the favicon by changing these properties:
browser.chrome.site_icons
browser.chrome.favicons
Does this help?
Have you tested Epiphany and Safari?
"Mission Accomplished! Er, no we don't have any evidence yet. Only an enemy would ask for evidence!"