First, companies like Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, etc... use intellectual property law to crush most of the bubbles forming down below. "If you can't beat them, sue them into oblivion for patent infringement." And every big company has a hand in lobbying legislators to get favorable legislation, from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) trying for SOPA and PIPA, to Comcast and Verizon trying to get township-funded broadband declared illegal in as many states as they can.
Well, I just signed a new 2-year contact with Telenor, but they gave me a free Samsung Galaxy III and cut my monthly rate by about 10%, so hell yeah, I signed. (I also noticed that they finally got real 3G working consistently in my neighbourhood *and* lifted my data cap.) They do something like this every time my contract's up to try to keep me from jumping ship.
So far, it's worked. And I've got both a Galaxy I and a Galaxy III gratis out of the deal.
For private communications, I use an old dumbphone I picked up from a street vendor a few years ago in Penang (and thus the IMEI is not traceable to me), and a prepaid SIM for which I paid cash here in Sweden. And I buy recharges with cash. Is this not possible in the US?
When was the last time somebody said something nice about Facebook's UI/UX? They're like the Ebay of social networking: network effects are very strongly in their favor; but everyone spends all their time loathing them for everything else. Why would Microsoft do anything but distance themselves from that?
Actually one of the fundamental creeds of Scientology is "what is true is what's true for you." - L. Ron Hubbard
Ron was not talking about liberation, you idiot, he was talking about how to brainwash people like you.
Basically, Scientology believes in the same things as Buddhism, except it's also based on science.
Dog vomit like this is just plain fucking twisted.
Buddhism says Truth is all around us and we have only to see it with our own eyes and senses. Scientology says it's all a lie, and that they're the only ones knowing the truth.
Scientology says there's a bunch of secrets you have to pay them for. Buddhism says there are no secrets.
Night and day.
And there is no "science" in Scientology. It's complete batshit insanity that someone just made up.
The Buddha asked us to use our minds and senses to discover truth. The Buddha: "Don't believe what I say because I say so; you must test it for yourself, before it can be true."
L. Ron asked us to believe in funky space aliens a zillion years old. L. Ron: "Believe what I say. Because I say so. And don't listen to yourself."
If both of these guys showed up at my doorstep today, I know which one I'd be more inclined to invite in for tea.
There's also the inconvenient little fact that L. Ron stated explicitly and unambiguously that he was setting out to design the "perfect" cult, and did just exactly that. He even managed to take in J.W. Campbell (or maybe Campbell was in on it, I've never been able to decide).
The script you're obviously working from also supposes that I'll be impressed by the phrase "real religion" or "bona fide religion".
Since I know that *all* religion is *false* religion, what you've really just said to me is, "Scientology is a real, bona fide, honest-to-goodness pack of fantasy and lies". Which is a statement I can find little fault with.
Nice to see that we agree on that point, at least.
In other countries, notably Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, Scientology does not have comparable religious status although Churches are allowed.
In any event, all you've really shown is that some countries recognise Scientology as an official Collective Fantasy with a Distinctive Name/Logotype.
(In other news, a court can just as easily rule that the sky is green. Which, as we all know, instantly causes the heavens to change colour in order to comply.)
You are here to practise mind control, vacuuming-out of wallets and bank accounts, and that disarming, boyish Tom Cruise grin.
BTW, I have a friend who says your friend is not necessary. My friend says each of us has senses and a brain, and it is up to each of us to use these as tools to discover Truth, and that each of us is responsible for his or her own liberation.
Furthermore, my friend says anyone claiming to offer you salvation provided you take their word *on faith alone* is a charlatan.
My friend's name was Siddharta Gautama, and he never claimed to be anything other than a man who thought he'd found Truth, and who invited others to test this Truth for themselves.
Did Ron Hubbard ever invite you to *test* for yourself? No, he did not. He insisted, as his successors continue to do, that you accept his dogma without question. Therefore, Ron Hubbard was a charlatan.
Zontar's Laws of RealityTruth:
1. Never trust anyone who tells you not to think for yourself.
2. Never trust anybody named 'Ron'. (This has worked so far for me with regard to Hubbard, Paul, and Bradford.)
2 is optional. 1 is not. Otherwise, you're someone's slave AND I AM NOT AND NEVER WILL BE YOUR SLAVE, MOTHERFUCKER.
And yes, I hassle slavers, er, Scientologists whenever the opportunity arises.
There's also the fact that real journalists tend to be more accountable.
And that real journalists also tend to understand much better the distinction between journalism and editorialising. (One of the benefits of actually going to school for something you plan to do as a profession.)
At least, when I was in the business, I knew pretty well that if I ran something on the air that I couldn't back up with independently verifiable facts, I might be looking for another job the next day. In a different broadcast market.
I don't know why they were ever removed. Back in my day, classrooms not in use were locked as a matter of policy (when no staff was present). Otherwise, students could enter and utilize them for 'unsanctioned' activities. I have many interesting stories from my high scool music department practice rooms.
I had a private smoking lounge in the maintenance space above ours. (Wonder if anyone ever found the bong I think I left up there.) I was in practically every musical group the school had, and so received a key that just so happened to open *that* lock, too, my sophomore year...:)
Nobody ever guessed how I managed never to get busted in the restrooms or trying to sneak out to the far parking lot. Since I wasn't supposed to tell any of the other students that I had what turned out to be a master key to every room and office in the whole music wing... I of course abided by the conditions under which I'd been given the key, and didn't tell a soul!
The humanitarian side of it would be difficult regardless of when the war started. China might have to invade from the north and set up refugee camps inside North Korea to prevent millions of refugees from spilling over the border. Now you have to take care to not bomb the Chinese soldiers inside North Korea.
Not too many people outside China seem to get this.
The Chinese would probably be just as glad as not to see Kim and his posse jet off to Tenerife or someplace and leave the place to the South (see DDR, dissolution of). The Chinese would no longer have to be bothered with propping up a régime that has become an embarrassment if not outright liability to them; they wouldn't have to deal with (yes, potentially millions of) North Korean refugees (if anything, they'd probably like to move back about 10 million ethnic Koreans who already live on the Chinese side); and the South would be kept occupied for the next 20 years or so rehabilitating the North, they don't have any islands we think ought to be ours--so sure, let the US continue to be their good friend. Whatever.
Slashdot Mirror
First, companies like Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, etc... use intellectual property law to crush most of the bubbles forming down below. "If you can't beat them, sue them into oblivion for patent infringement." And every big company has a hand in lobbying legislators to get favorable legislation, from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) trying for SOPA and PIPA, to Comcast and Verizon trying to get township-funded broadband declared illegal in as many states as they can.
Let them.
I knew about this when I was still building websites and that was something like... ten years ago. Jesus.
Tinfoil does not set off metal detectors.
Yes, I have first-hand knowledge of this.
And this is the third or fourth time I've seen this same quote posted.
Let's hope you find a new one soon, eh.
What about 2002?
I was playing with a Linux/Mozilla tablet a year before that. When the iPad showed up, I wondered what had taken them so long.
Well, I just signed a new 2-year contact with Telenor, but they gave me a free Samsung Galaxy III and cut my monthly rate by about 10%, so hell yeah, I signed. (I also noticed that they finally got real 3G working consistently in my neighbourhood *and* lifted my data cap.) They do something like this every time my contract's up to try to keep me from jumping ship.
So far, it's worked. And I've got both a Galaxy I and a Galaxy III gratis out of the deal.
For private communications, I use an old dumbphone I picked up from a street vendor a few years ago in Penang (and thus the IMEI is not traceable to me), and a prepaid SIM for which I paid cash here in Sweden. And I buy recharges with cash. Is this not possible in the US?
But didn't a few people actually like new Coke?
When was the last time somebody said something nice about Facebook's UI/UX? They're like the Ebay of social networking: network effects are very strongly in their favor; but everyone spends all their time loathing them for everything else. Why would Microsoft do anything but distance themselves from that?
A sense of nostalgia, I'm guessing.
AC for the trifecta!
Yeah, the tribal thing, exactly.
Adolescent males and those who've never quite grown out of that mindset seem to be the most militant ones.
Actually one of the fundamental creeds of Scientology is "what is true is what's true for you." - L. Ron Hubbard
Ron was not talking about liberation, you idiot, he was talking about how to brainwash people like you.
Basically, Scientology believes in the same things as Buddhism, except it's also based on science.
Dog vomit like this is just plain fucking twisted.
Buddhism says Truth is all around us and we have only to see it with our own eyes and senses. Scientology says it's all a lie, and that they're the only ones knowing the truth.
Scientology says there's a bunch of secrets you have to pay them for. Buddhism says there are no secrets.
Night and day.
And there is no "science" in Scientology. It's complete batshit insanity that someone just made up.
I reveal a secret I've kept for 33 years, and that's the best you can come up with? Meh.
I'm gratified that you found my typo so exciting.
(Nevermind all those folks getting vaporised or whatever.)
"No place in a world of free and thinking beings" - you could equally say that for any religion, Christianity, Judaism and Islam among them.
I do. (Especially the Abrahamic religions.)
I'm sorry if I wasn't clear about this.
Nice way to sidestep the point.
The Buddha asked us to use our minds and senses to discover truth. The Buddha: "Don't believe what I say because I say so; you must test it for yourself, before it can be true."
L. Ron asked us to believe in funky space aliens a zillion years old. L. Ron: "Believe what I say. Because I say so. And don't listen to yourself."
If both of these guys showed up at my doorstep today, I know which one I'd be more inclined to invite in for tea.
There's also the inconvenient little fact that L. Ron stated explicitly and unambiguously that he was setting out to design the "perfect" cult, and did just exactly that. He even managed to take in J.W. Campbell (or maybe Campbell was in on it, I've never been able to decide).
Then he laughed all the way to the bank.
One other thing:
The script you're obviously working from also supposes that I'll be impressed by the phrase "real religion" or "bona fide religion".
Since I know that *all* religion is *false* religion, what you've really just said to me is, "Scientology is a real, bona fide, honest-to-goodness pack of fantasy and lies". Which is a statement I can find little fault with.
Nice to see that we agree on that point, at least.
Wow, you can quote Wikipedia. So can I:
In other countries, notably Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, Scientology does not have comparable religious status although Churches are allowed.
In any event, all you've really shown is that some countries recognise Scientology as an official Collective Fantasy with a Distinctive Name/Logotype.
(In other news, a court can just as easily rule that the sky is green. Which, as we all know, instantly causes the heavens to change colour in order to comply.)
Scientology is a slave cult, pure and simple. It has no place in a world of free and thinking beings.
You are here to practise mind control, vacuuming-out of wallets and bank accounts, and that disarming, boyish Tom Cruise grin.
BTW, I have a friend who says your friend is not necessary. My friend says each of us has senses and a brain, and it is up to each of us to use these as tools to discover Truth, and that each of us is responsible for his or her own liberation.
Furthermore, my friend says anyone claiming to offer you salvation provided you take their word *on faith alone* is a charlatan.
My friend's name was Siddharta Gautama, and he never claimed to be anything other than a man who thought he'd found Truth, and who invited others to test this Truth for themselves.
Did Ron Hubbard ever invite you to *test* for yourself? No, he did not. He insisted, as his successors continue to do, that you accept his dogma without question. Therefore, Ron Hubbard was a charlatan.
Zontar's Laws of RealityTruth:
1. Never trust anyone who tells you not to think for yourself.
2. Never trust anybody named 'Ron'. (This has worked so far for me with regard to Hubbard, Paul, and Bradford.)
2 is optional. 1 is not. Otherwise, you're someone's slave
AND I AM NOT AND NEVER WILL BE YOUR SLAVE, MOTHERFUCKER.
And yes, I hassle slavers, er, Scientologists whenever the opportunity arises.
There's also the fact that real journalists tend to be more accountable.
And that real journalists also tend to understand much better the distinction between journalism and editorialising. (One of the benefits of actually going to school for something you plan to do as a profession.)
At least, when I was in the business, I knew pretty well that if I ran something on the air that I couldn't back up with independently verifiable facts, I might be looking for another job the next day. In a different broadcast market.
Remember, everything you read on the Internet is false!
I don't know why they were ever removed. Back in my day, classrooms not in use were locked as a matter of policy (when no staff was present). Otherwise, students could enter and utilize them for 'unsanctioned' activities. I have many interesting stories from my high scool music department practice rooms.
I had a private smoking lounge in the maintenance space above ours. (Wonder if anyone ever found the bong I think I left up there.) I was in practically every musical group the school had, and so received a key that just so happened to open *that* lock, too, my sophomore year... :)
Nobody ever guessed how I managed never to get busted in the restrooms or trying to sneak out to the far parking lot. Since I wasn't supposed to tell any of the other students that I had what turned out to be a master key to every room and office in the whole music wing... I of course abided by the conditions under which I'd been given the key, and didn't tell a soul!
It's the 48th parallel, and it has actually not been the border for about 60 years now.
Level the country = kill tens of millions for no other reason than they had the misfortune to be born residents of a pustule state.
There... Does your dick-waving make you feel like more of a man now?
The humanitarian side of it would be difficult regardless of when the war started. China might have to invade from the north and set up refugee camps inside North Korea to prevent millions of refugees from spilling over the border. Now you have to take care to not bomb the Chinese soldiers inside North Korea.
Not too many people outside China seem to get this.
The Chinese would probably be just as glad as not to see Kim and his posse jet off to Tenerife or someplace and leave the place to the South (see DDR, dissolution of). The Chinese would no longer have to be bothered with propping up a régime that has become an embarrassment if not outright liability to them; they wouldn't have to deal with (yes, potentially millions of) North Korean refugees (if anything, they'd probably like to move back about 10 million ethnic Koreans who already live on the Chinese side); and the South would be kept occupied for the next 20 years or so rehabilitating the North, they don't have any islands we think ought to be ours--so sure, let the US continue to be their good friend. Whatever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJUuxouy1Fg